water 's nigh That is 〈◊〉 suffers thirst God could indeed by his miracle in which he is wonderfully powerfull have done all that that the Jews should not be hungry nor dry nor their clothes be worn nor their shoes be spent And there haâ—â—â—en need of these miracles if they had had no wool nor no leather but they wanted none of these things nor was any such miracle needfull Yea this miracle would rather have manifestly evidenced the want of clothes and shoes if for want of clothes and shoes and by the virtue of that miracle they had always put on the same clothes and the same shoes which could never wear out On the other side it shew'd the abundance of clothes and shoes which they had because neither their clothes nor shoes grew old because they chang'd both so often And ascribe this to the providence and care of the Lord by which all things which were necessary for the Jews were provided for them because he led them sometimes through pleasant and plentifull places from whose Inhabitants Deut. 2. and elsewhere They bought mâ—at for money and did eat and bought water for money and did drink for which the Israelites were beholding to the Edomites and Moabites And when Sehon forbad them this privilege they smote him with all his people and all his Cities and took the prey and spoil of his Towns Deuteronomie Chap. 2. And in the third Chapter they destroyed Og the King of Basan And that time they took the land from the Amorites which is beyond Jordan Moses himself would have said On this side Jordan which observe And that amongst the prey and spoils of these two Kings there were garments and shooes found and more than enough of materials to make both clothes and shooes This you may imagin also of the Amalekites oververcom by the Jews Exodus Chap. 17. before the Law given in Sinai To this you may add that the Jews for many years compassed Mount Seir inhabited by the Edomites from whom they bought victuals and water which I made now appear and from whose Cities they had clothes and shooes at a price CHAP. VII That the Flood of Noah was not upon the whole earth but only upon the Land of the Jews Not to destroy all men but only the Jews GIve us leave to discusse this last miracle of the flood of Noah which is believ'd to have overflow'd the kingdoms of the earth with most mighty overflowings and which I rather believe overflow'd only Palestine and the Land of the Jews The causes of this conjecture are chiefly the causes of the Deluge which here I shall mention from their beginnings I show'd you before that the Jews were framed in Adam and esteem'd the peculiar sons of God that they were separated from all other Nations which God had created in the beginning And that those Nations were call'd the sons of men in many places of holy writ I have set forth at large The Lord likewise set the Jews apart from all Nations when he plac'd them in his holy Land as in a fenced garden whither it should not be granted to other Nations to come God then had forbidden the Jews to make any mixture with other Nations Chiefly he suffer'd them not to defile their sons with the daughters of men Against the command of God the Jews had admitted the Gentiles into their land Who sayes Genesis when they began to multiply upon the earth the sons of God seeing the daughters of men that they were fair or which is the same the sons of Adam who were after called Jews seeing the daughters of the Gentiles took to themselves wives of all which they chose and by that copulation Giants were begotten For the Jews being made strong and lively by Gods late framing of them and going in to the daughters of men as strong men are begot by strong and divine seed mix'd with humane begets Heroes the sons of God lying with the daughters of men begat Heroes valiant men as they are set down in that same place by valiant and famous men in their age It repented God being angry at the wickednesse of the Jews that he had made men and wrought the clay of which he fram'd Adam of whom the Jews were born an earthie and corrupt generation of men The cogitation of whose heart was bent upon evil continually at all times that is from their first beginning both in Adam their Father who had transgressed the commandement of God and in themselves who had likewise broken the covenant of God I will cut off saith the Lord in that place man whom I have created from the face of the earth from the man to the beast from the creeping thing to the fowl of the heaven for I repent my self that I have made them Here take notice that by earth we understand Palestine according to the Hebrew who by earth simply express'd mean their own As I observ'd of the darknesse before in the death of the Lord. God then had decreed to destroy man whom he had created from the face of the earth By the man whom he had created understand the Jews the posterity of Adam I say of that Adam whom he had created or fram'd for creation and framing here is the same By living creatures understand also the Gentiles mingled amongst the Jews and causes of the sins of the Jews according to what I formerly set down at large where I made it appear that the Jews are simply call'd men in comparison of the Gentiles that the Gentiles on the other side compar'd to the Jews were call'd beasts and a people which was not a people in holy Scripture And such was Gods anger that he resolved not only to destroy all those Jews and Gentiles but all the men of that Land and all the cattel of it from the creeping things to the birds of the air except only Noe the Jew who according to Gods command fram'd an Ark to escape the violence of the Deluge The treasures of the great depth were opened sayes Genesis and the windows of heaven were opened and it rained upon the earth forty dayes and forty nights And there was a deluge upon the earth and the waters were multiplyed and they lifted up the Ark high from the earth for they increas'd exceedingly and fill'd all things upon the face of the earth And the waters preval'd exceedingly upon the earth And all the high hils were cover'd under the whole heaven The water was fifteen cubits above the mountaines which it had cover'd And all flesh upon the earth was destroyed birds living creatures and beasts and all creeping things All men and all things wherein is the breath of life died And he destroyed all things that was upon the earth from the man to the beast as well creeping things as fowls of the heaven and they were cut off from the earth Only Noe remained and those that were with him in the Ark. All which Genesis prophetically expressing and opening
evidenc'd this to us in the last Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans and in the third Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians and in the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians when he call'd the Gospel in these places An opening of the mysterie which was hidden and conceal'd from ages and eternal times In his 1 Epist to the Cor. 2. Chap. he defined tother The hidden wisdom of God which he appointed before all times As also in his second Epistle to Tim. Chap. 1. The Grace which was given to us in Christ before the times of eternity And in his Epistle to Titus The hopes of eternal life which God had promis'd before eternal times St. Peter speaking of the same in his first Catholick Epistle ch 1. sayes That Christ was foreknown before the foundations of the world were laid By which places that difference of eternities which I observ'd is evidently found That eternity is call'd first before ages and eternal times That eternity is called secondly from all time and from all things That the eternity which is before eternity and before eternal times is the same which Peter calls before the foundation of the world Therefore the eternity from the foundations of the world is the same with that from eternal times and that therefore the foundations of the World were laid from eternal times or from eternity in regard of us or from times and ages to us unknown or from that beginning of which there is no certain knowledge That eternity of the world is not that eternity of God but the resemblance of it according to that of Mercurie in Asclepius God eternal says he had the World before it was found within himself But as the World is the image of God it is also the imitation of eternity CHAP. XI Of eternity beyond eternity Of eternity to eternity The Kingdom of Messias how eternal AS God is call'd eternal before eternity he is likewise call'd eternal after eternity or beyond eternity God shall reign to eternity and beyond it said Moses in his â—ong When the Scripture would expresse the continuance of any thing not to eternity which is only attributed to God but to eternity according to the duration of the world it uses to expresse it by the eternity of the Sun and the eternal course of the Moon and Stars Thus says the Lord who gives the Sun for the light of the day and the Moon and Stars for night If these Laws be left before me then shall the seed of Israel fail before me that it shall be no mâ—â—â—a Nation before me That Covenant made with the Israelites is call'd an eternal Covenant Genesis 17. Isay 55. Ieremie 32. Ezech. 37. and many other places eternal and for ever which is the same The Sun then and the Moon and the Stars are plac'd with Israel for eternity Take that eternity not beyond eternity but to eternity in which sense Ecclesiasteâ— is to be understood But the earth continues to eternity God does prove that the Kingdom of Messias shall continue to eternity by this argument Ieremie 33. If says he my Covenant with the day can be frustrate and my Covenant with the night that night and day be not in their own time then can my Covenant be in vain with my servant David which not in the same words but in the same sense the 72 Psalm has â—et down and it shall abide with the Sun and Moon from generation to generation Where observe that the Sun and Moon there answer to the night and day of Jeremy that is expounded in the 72 Psalm In generation and generation In the 88 Psalm I have once sworn to my holy one if Iâ—le to David his seed shall last for ever and his throne as the Sun in my sight and as the Moon perfect unto eternity as a faithfull witnesse in heaven Where a faithfull witnesse is the same with one permanent and eternal The tenth Psalm speaks that openly The Lord shall reign for ever And in the tenth of Daniel His kingdom shall not perish As also in the 6 of Chronicles I will confirm his Throne for ever That was it which was written in the 11 Chapter of Iohn Christ endures for ever But that the Kingdom of Messias should be eternal and for ever The Angel did most expresly say speaking to the blessed Virgin concerning her Son and of his Kingdom there shall be no end And notwithstanding there shall be an end of the Kingdom of Messias as Paul firmly bears witnesse of in the 15 chapter 1 Cor. And then an end shall be when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to the Father but he must reign till he have put all his enemies under his fect The eternity then of the Kingdom of Messias in the forementioned places is to be underhood of that only which being taken in the second acception shall continue till eternity and not beyond eternity as in the same regard there was no beginning of the eternal beginning What the Kingdom of Messias was and what it shall be we may clearly see out of the forementioned Chapter of the Proverbs as also out of this place of St. Paul to the Corinthians thus says the Wisdom of the Father who is the Messias and Christ Proverb 8. The Lord hath possessed me from the beginning of his ways before he made any thing in the beginning the great depth was not when I was conceived and the fountains of water had not as yet broke out nor the mountains were rais'd up before the hills I was brought forth As yet he had not made the earth the winds and the hinges of the world which are to be understood of the eternity of Christ before eternity of that eternity I say which was before ages before the times of eternity and before the foundations of the world I was ordained from the beginning says the same Wisdom or I had a rule from the head from the beginnings of the earth when he prepared the heaven I was there when he confin'd the depths when he placed the heaven above and weigh'd the fountains of waters when he gave bounds to the Seas and gave a law to the waters least they should passe their limits when he weigh'd the foundation of the earth I was with him Framing all things Which are to be understood of the eternity of Christ by whom all things were made who moderates all things and rules over all things of that eternity I say which was from ages from eternal times from the foundations of the world The Kingdom of Messias begins thâ—n from the creation of the world from the laying of the foundation of the world and from eternal times It was from the beginning which was without beginning And that Kingdom shall also end within that eternity which shall have no end by which the world which had its beginning from ages times eternal shall be swallowed in eternal times and in the end of ages Then shall
of years that the Aegyptian Kings are said to have reign'd The Kings of the Aegyptians Gods Heroes and men 164 VII Of the Aegyptian Kings who were men Plato in Timaeus concerning the warriâ—rs of the Atlantick Ilands is cited The sons of this age wiser than the sons of light Of the prodigious account of the Chinensians according to Scaliger 171 VIII The most antient creation of the world is prov'd from the progress of Astronomy Theology and Magick of the Gentiles In this Chapter the fabrick of the sphere is handled 177 IX Of the antiquity of Astronomy 182 X. Of the antiquity of Astrologie 185 XI Of the antiquity of the Divinity and Magick of the Gentiles 192 The Contents of the fourth Book CHAP. I. ADam though fram'd perfect could not that hour he was made understand the Sphere Astronomy and Astrology But in progress of time might gain the knowledge of them Of holy Writ Many things copied not original 200 II. God made himself obscurely known to men God in a cloud Of the Bible copied out There were writers before Moses Genesis could not mention all He wrote not the history of the first men but the first Iews The Ark was not the first of ships The Vine planted by Noe was not the first Vine How Melchizedech is to be understood without father mother or original 210 III. Men err as often as they understand any thing more generally which ought to be more particularly taken The darkness at the death of our Saviour was over the whole Land of the Iews not over all the world The Starr which appear'd to the Wise men was a stream of light in the air not a Star in heaven 219 IV. In the miracle of Ezechiahs sicknesse the Sunne went not back in heaven but in the Dyal of Achaz 222 V. How the Sun stood still in Gabaon in the miracle of Joshua That long day should not extend it self beyond the Country of Gabaon 229 VI. Where the miracle is of the Iews garments not worn out in the Wilderness and the not wearing of their shooes 235 VII That the Flood of Noah was not upon the whole earth but only upon the Land of the Iews Not to destroy all men but only the Iews 239 VIII The same which was proved in the former Chapter by the Dove sent out by Noah and by the natural descent of waters 244 IX This same is proved by the history of the sons and posterity of Noah By Eusebius in his Chronicle There were particular deluges Aegypt never drowned Strabo of the Turdetanian Spaniards Scaliger and Servius concerning the Trojans are cited Solinus of the Indians Sanchoniato Jombal 248 X. Of Eternity before Eternity Of Eternity from Eternity 258 XI Of eternity beyond eternity Of eternity to eternity The Kingdom of Messias how eternal 261 XII Eternity uses to be understood in Scripture by the duration of the Sun Moon Of an age Of eternal times St. Paul expounded Eternity indefinite 265 XIII Of the ages of creatures described by Hesiod and Ausonius Why the Histories of the first men were not known Out of Plato By the change of the Epoche The Aboriginal Nations of the world are not known 271 XIV They are deceived who deduce the Originals of men from the Grand-children of Noah Grotius concerning the original of the Nations in America confuted 276 The Contents of the Chapters in the fifth Book CHAP. I. MEn behov'd to die to become immortal Men die in Christ They behov'd first to sin and be condemn'd in Adam Men dye in Christ spiritually mystically Of the fictions mysteries of the Law Of divine mysteries which were either fictions or parables or mystical similitudes We die spiritually according to the similitude of Christ We sinned spiritually according to the similitude of the sin of Adam 282 II. Of Original sin It is inherent It is imputed What it is to impute That is imputed which is joyned in a kind of communion with that to which it is imputed Of communions and conjunctions of things Physical Political and Mystical Christ the end of all mysteries Adam ought to be referred to Christ not Christ to Adam Adam ought to be imputed to men as Christ is imputed to them spiritually and mystically 287 III. Of the two chief in the two mystical imputations Adam and Christ Abraham in the middle betwixt them We passe from the sin of Adam to the Iustice of Christ by the faith of Abraham Punishments inflicted by mystical imputations are mystically and spiritually to be understood No man no not Adam himself dy'd for Adams sin Only Christ dyed for that sin All men are understood dead in Christ spiritually mystically 294 IV. The imputation of another mans sin is not conceivable but by some supposition in Law Adams sin was imputed to all men in a spiritual manner not by natural propagation Divines confuse nature and guilt which ought to be understood apart in original sin Nature is before guilt Guilt did not corrupt nature yea on the contrary corrupt nature caus'd guilt Which is prov'd by the example of Adam when he sinn'd 303 V. Those who think that the imputation of Adams sin was ingendred by traduction from Adam do gather it from thence in that they believe that Adam was the Father of all men The Apostle hath distinguish'd and not joyn'd sin naturally inherent and that which is imputed He hath distinguished and not joyn'd natural death with that which is inflicted by the Law Death which was by the sin of Adam began with Adam and ended with Moses and Christ Natural sin and natural death were before Adam and shall be after Moses and Christ to the end of all time 308 VI. How the sin of Adam was cause of mens salvation not condemnation Since the death of Christ no mans sin is imputed to another but every one bears his own sin 316 VII Why Adam who sinn'd in the nature of a head not was likewise punish'd in the nature of the head The sin of Adam was disobedience Natural and Legal sin was the two-fold barricado against men to shut them out of Paradise Christ dying broke the barr of the Law Christ rising again and sanctifying us shall also break the natural sin 327 VII All men have sinned according to the similitude of Adams sin Infants have sinned according to the same similitude 335 IX How the imputation of the sin of Adam was imputed backward and upon the predecessors of Adam by a mystery provided for their salvation How the predecessors of Adam could be sav'd 342 A SYSTEME OF DIVINITY Part I. Book I. CHAP. I. The verses of the Apostle Original sin in them is chiefly handled The Law there meant is the Law of Adam not the Law of Moses Of sin natural and legal imputed and not imputed As also of Death natural and legal Humane Laws were appointed for the governing of right reason They are bounded by men The Laws of God are above men I Will present
God so intimate with the Jews that he entrusted them with his laws and decrees that they were admitted to the secrets of God that they were called a wise and understanding people Deut. 4. Nor was there any other Nation so honourable which had those Ceremonies just Judgements and the whole Law In the same Chapter What is all flesh that it should hear the voice of the living God which speaks out of the fire and can live cries out Moses Deut. 5. where observe the prerogative of the chosen Jews and of the second creation of men which is not granted unto flesh that is to say to the first creation for flesh the first creation consumes at the hearing and sight of God here the same Moses in the same Ch. Behold the Lord our God shews unto us his Majesty and his greatness ye have heard his voice from the middle of the fire we have found this day that a man can speak with God and live The holy Prophet could not be satisfied thinking upon the beginnings and first fruits of the Jews regeneration what should be their full election by force of which they received the fery words of God into their eyes and ears and by which they shone and did not burn with that holy lightning Enquire of the days of old which were before thee from that day on which God created man upon the earth from the height of heaven to the foundation of it if at any time there was such a thing done or was ever known that a people should hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire as thou hast heard and lâ—v'd Hence it is that they were the chief and choice in Gods esteem that the Jews were called a Nation drawing near unto God that they were stiled a great Nation nor that there was any other Nation so great which had Gods drawing near to it Ch. 4. For this cause you shall read That God carryed them upon Eagles wings Exod. 9. and very often that he freed them and took them with a strong hand and stretched out arm What Nation is like thy people Israel for whom thou hast done so great and horrible things upon earth to redeem them Sam. 2. Chap. 7. And that was the matter that God appointed the Jews to be the head and not the rail of the Nations Nor did God only chuse the Jews for a time according to the distiny of empires and people but God did chuse his people for ever Thou hast confirmed Israel to thy self for an eternal people As David prophecies Sam. 2. Chap. 7. And many things to that sense we read in the Prophets which I must handle another time and which was a special token of their election The Lord would not have the Jews defil'd by mixture of Nations but set them apart for an inheritance out of all the Nations of the earth 1 Kings Chap. 8. I have set you aside from all people that you might be mine Lev. 20. Hence it is that God is said to have hedg'd enclos'd and as it were with a wall of fence surrounded Israel his possession his land his vine Hence it is that the Church and the Israelitish Spouse is called a fenced garden and a sealed fountain in the Canticles least being plac'd in the high-way it might be trodden by passengers nor the South wind spoyl her flowers nor the Boar spoil her waters Because the Nations were not partakers of that mystical Election by which God had elected the Jews Neither would God that the Jews should enter into fellowship with the Nations either in body or mind either in Matrimony or Religion either in civil affairs or in divine Thou shalt not enter into a league with the Nations or joyn thy self in marriage with them Deut. 7. Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son nor take his daughter to thy son that the Jews might not be mingled with other Nations who taught the worshipping of Idols CHAP. III. To the elected Iews an elected Land was given A holy Land because the Land of the holy And the land of Promise because it was promised with an Oath to the Fathers of the Iews A description of the Holy Land That was a choice Land not of its own nature but according to the pleasure of God who bless'd and chus'd it The land of the Iews And for the Iews only to dwell in TO the elected Jews God gave elected ground which was likewise called holy because the Land of the Holy That there is elected and blessed earth as likewise rejected and cursed earth is witnessed in the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 6. A land says he drinking the shower that comes upon it and bearing seasonable fruit to them who tills it receives a blessing from God But that which brings forth thorns and bryars is rejected and almost curs'd the end of which is to be burnt Which the Gospel according to St. Matthew express'd in these words Chap. 13. God loves not that earth which is in the way that is commune trodden and unclean nor that which is full of briars but he loves good ground in which the son of man may sow good seed Nor am I ignorant that these things are allegorically spoken of the hearts of the Elect but we must likewise know that Christ here meant literally the Holy Land in which the sanctified Jews who are meant by good seed shall be sown by Jesus Christ which sowing we shall have occasion to set forth more at large That the Land of Canaan which the Jews inhabited was that choice blessed earth and belov'd of the Lord is set down in the 8. of Deuteronomy where Moses call'd it A Land of rivers waters and fountains in the fields of which should break out pools of water A Land of corn barley and vines in which grow olives and pomgranats A Land of oyl and honey where the Iews should eat their bread without want and should enjoy abundance of all things A Land which Ezechiel Chap. 20. calls An excellent Land amongst all Lands and chief of all Lands Which therefore God call'd a high land Deut. Chapt. 32. God hath plac'd Israel upon a high land to eat the fruit of the field to suck honey out of the rock and oyl out of the most hard rock butter from the heard and milk from the sheep with the fat of the Lambs and Rams of the sons of Basan with the marrow of wheat and that he might drink the most choice bloud of the grape Canaan was call'd a high land not for the lying of it for it is a Valley according to that in Numb 14. The Canaanite and Amalekite dwell in the valleys which he had said in the former and thirteenth Chapter By the Sea and near the streams of Iordan For which cause Esdras called that Land a Furrow Book 4. cha 5. Thou hast saies he of all the world chosen one furrow that is Canaan which is a valley Therefore it was
directly set down There has not been nor shall be so long a day Than which there is nothing more expresse nothing more clear And we should sayes he makes the holy Scripture a liar a thing horrid and not to be thought of if that were true which the Mathematician did demonstrate and therefore that Princes did very well who did banish Mathematicians out of Christendom My little Priest says the Mathematician be not so fierce Your zeal carries you beyond your wit For both the word of God is true and that Mathematical demonstration is likewise true It is true that neither before that time nor since could there be so long a day in Gabaon as there was by the command of Ioshua But extend not that miracle and that length of day beyond Gabaon to Neighbouring Nations For it is true nor can there be any thing more true that in those Countries which are near the poles those days are and shall always be longer than that day in which according to the command of Joshua the Sun made not hast to goe down upon Gabaon for the space of one whole day and one was made as two For they are really days under the pole not of two days but of a hundred and eighty two days and more which the Mathematician by irrefragable arguments made clear But the Divine being here baffled did wrangle to no purpose But that our speech may return whence it begun The miracle of Joshua must in effect not be placed in heaven but upon the earth nor upon all the earth neither but only in the Country of Gabaon In which there never was before nor shall be after so long a day for that could not be made good every wher else There will not be wanting men of ill conceits who will either render me suspitious as having an ill opinion of the faith in miracles or think me mad or desperately bold that I depart so far and wide from the received opinion who undoubtedly believe that the Sun upon the command of Joshua stood still in heaven as they also think that in the recovery of Eze. it went back They will detract from my conjectures defame them as rising from bad Principles that wil offer to overcloud the Scripture where it seems to speak so clearly saying that in the miracle of Ioshua It stood still in the midst of heaven and upon the prayer of Isaiah it returned ten lines Such men as these think all things that people wil not believe Religion Divinity miracles with them have the greater repute of sanctity the more incredible they are and which is a strange thing the more they are past belief the more they believe them I Ingenuously confesse I doe not give in my name amongst those enormous upholders of miracles who put all reason out of square I am reasonable and any thing that is belonging to reason I pretend an interest in it I believe those miracles of Iosua and Isaiah and doe very much magnifie God in them but think them not greater than they were nor as is agreeable to reason therefore I have contained them within their own limits And I beseech the Reader will not be so rash in his judgement concerning those those things which I have here written For I have written far from any ambition not to triumph over mens common errors but to search them out for the love which I bear to truth and whosoever is a friend to reason and truth let him judge of my observations CHAP. VI. Where the miracle is of the Iews garments not worn out in the Wildernesse and the not wearing of their shooes SUch another wonder that is thought indeed not a miracle which is read in the 29 Chapter of Deuteronomie where Moses rehearses this miracle and bounty of God to the Jews The Lord says he led you forty years through the Desart Thy clothes were not worn nor thy shoes wax'd not old It is cōmonly thought that the clothes of the Israelites therefore were not worn out because God had made their clothes incorruptible as also one occult facultie of growing bigger that the clothes which the Israelites put on so soon as they grew they grew likewise which they also wore Concerning their shooes that could not be spent nor grow old and so soon as they put shooes upon their childrens feet as the childrens feet grew so the shooes grew likewise This they believe because they consider not that the force of this miracle was nor placed in those idle fancies and childish stories but in that wonderfull providence by which God led the Israelites forty years through the Desart destitute of all things notwithstanding they had such abundance that they wanted not materials to make clothes shooes of that their clothes were not worn out because they had several changes that their shooes were not spent because they found new ones to put on that they fed a thousand Flocks in the desart of whose wool they made cloth and rayment and of their skins and leather made shoes and wanted besides no Weavers Taylors Curriers and Shoemakers God says moreover in that place Bread ye did not eat Wine or strong drink you did not drink in the Desart that you might know that I was the Lord your God Manna had reign'd down to them out of Heaven Water flow'd to them out of the Rock both by a miracle from God that they might eat drink Manna Water in lieu of Bread and strong drink It was likewise a miracle from God that their Flocks should find whereupon to feed and what to drink in the barren and dry Wildernesse This was then the force of the miracle meant by Moses to shew that the Jews wanted nothing for forty years which by several ways but always to the same sence he expressed He opened himself more clear in the 2 Chapter of Deuteronomie The Lord knows thy journey how thou pass'd through this great Desert dwelling with thee forty years and thou lacked'st nothing In which sense understand the 8 Chapter of the same Deuteronomie Thy clothes was not worn out with age and thy feet were not beaten behold this is now the fortieth year The Garments of the Israelites might grow old but not fail them with antiquity God not suffering them to want new garments to repair the losse of the old Their shooes might burst in their upper leather but their feet not to be gall'd because they had leather enough in the Desert so that they could not be bruis'd either with a worn or cobled shooe So understand that place where t is said The Jews did not thirst in the Desert For the Jews might thirst in the Desert but they wanted not water wherewith to quench their thirst Yea whatsoever the words of Isay may seem to imporr The Children of Israel must needs be dry in the Desert or else they had drink in the Desert for none drinks water but he that is dry The fool is dry when
as by inspiration sets forth to declare that all the beasts of the land of Iudah perish'd when Palestine was drown'd which words if you take only the literal sence of them seem to intimate that all the earth or both Hemispheres round about which the Sun takes his course were overflow'd Nor is it material to me that which is said that the treasures of the great deep were broke up and the windows of heaven opened For that great Abysse was the sea of Palestine from which all the fountains spring Which Genesis sets down to us were to have been broken up to represent to us that all Palestine was dissolv'd in water and did sweat out all the moisture in its veins But there are some who to adde force to such things as are hyperbolically written interpret the Cataracts of heaven The waterie heaven disgorg'd upon the whole earth which is a meer soppery For these things were written in a high stile to expresse the abundance of rain by which the Land of the Jews was overflow'd The mountains were covered under the whole heaven must be understood of the high mountains of Palestine as also the whole heaven was that which covered Palestine For it is ordinary to assign every Country it s own heaven In the same sense understand the 2 Chapter of Deutr. where God casting a fear upon all the nations of the Holy Land to which he was to lead his people Israel exhorts them in these words To day I will begin to send thy fear and terrour upon the Nations which dwell under the whole heaven All the heaven is here understood which was over the whole Land of Palestine For God did not that time send the fear of the Jews upon the Nations that dwelt in China America the South or Greenland But if we will take notice of the thing and not of the words it will appear that the Deluge came only upon the Land of the Jews and not upon the whole world Both from the causes of the Deluge which I now spoke of and which I now told you were the sins of the Jews As also by Noe the Jew and his sons the reliques of the Jews as also from the place upon which the Ark stood upon the decay of the waters upon the mountains of Armenia sayes Genesis Which mountains of Armenia as they look toward Palestme make up a part of Syria next to Palestine But certainly Iosephus meâ—nt that that was a particular Deiuge where writing against Appion lib. 2. he speaks of all the authors Gentiles who have made mention of the Jews amongst whom he mentions Berosus Berosus says he hath â—ritten of the Ark in which the chief of our Family was prâ—served He said not in which the chief of mankind was saved but the chief of our stock or linage that is of the Jews For there he speaks of the Jâ—ws whom Iosephus calls his own and his own stick bâ—ing a Jew himself Who I say was the chief of the people of the Jews after the Fâ—oud for Iosephus derives the first kinred of the Jews before the Flood from Adam by which it is very clear that only the reliques of the Jews were sav'd in the Ark and that the Family of the Jews was restor'd by Noe who was the second beginner of that kinred after the Deluge CHAP. VIII The same which was prov'd in the former Chapter by the Dove sent out by Noe and by the natural descent of waters IT is clear that this Deluge was peculiar to the Jews not universal in all Nations by that which is written of the Dove which Noe sent out and she return'd to him at night For that branch with green leaves which the Dove pull'd from the tree was not of those Olives which the Deluge had overwhelm'd and for a whole year buried them in mudd Therefore it is more probable to say That that Dove being sent from the mountains of Armenia flew over all the waters of the Deluge and in the higher fields of Asia gather'd from an 〈◊〉 free from dirt and slime that branch with green leaves to shew to Noe a flourishing not a wither'd hope of his deliverance Which that we may more clearly perceive let us consider and recollect that violence with which the showers of the flood in great bodies of water broke out and did beat the whole earth without rest or interruption day or night Let us bethink us how great muddy streams fell from the mountains into the valleys And that deluge made up and sweld with those torrents was nothing else but Water mix'd with slime and clay which being afterwards macerated for a whole year in which it was upon the highest mountains and fifteen cubits above them the dregs of that slime falling down to the bottom stuck in the branches of the trees and every leaf of them For this we are taught by dayly experience where troubled and clayie rivers break over their banks For after theâ—e waters are driven off we see the reeds and the trees with which these banks are planted pressed down with the weight of the slime and defil'd with most filthy clay As also all the Olives were drown'd at the Flood of Noah As likewise we may very well read that all those Olives for a whole year in which the deluge is said to have whelm'd them to have been altogether spoil'd and destroyed and to have rotted at last And thus I conceive that the fields of upper Asia are higher than the Mountains of Armenia because I think the lowest earth lies always to the Sea side and those grounds are higher which are the farthest from the Sea and are higher raised within the uppermost and continued Globe of the earth which we see clearly when we see famous and swift rivers through great and long tracts of land hasten to the sea according to that reason by which they flow down from upper ground to a continued descent Nor shall I omit to relate what a most experienced Geometrician related to me That he had try'd the descent by which the river of Garonne run from Tholouse through the land of Burdeaux into the Ocean and measuring a hundred rods he found many timâ—s a whole rod of deâ—cent for this swift course to the Sea I perswaded my self that it had been so accounted by Ausonius in his Mosella Smooth Loyrs and swift Rhoans strong Garonns stream If you will not grant such a declination as the Geometrician said the Garonne run into the Ocean take the Danow that famous and swift River which runns six hundred miles of continual descent from its own soâ—ntain into the Euxine sea And let us know his deâ—cent not in a hundred but six hundred roâ—s measuring as also that after the measuring ofâ—â—x hundred miles there is found one mile of descent By which reason the fountain of the River Danew may be found higher than the shore of the Euxine sea one whole mile Grant also that decâ—iâ—itie not to be hindred
the whole Sea betwixt a grain of sand and all the sand in the shore For a drop of water and the whole Sea are things omogeneal as also a grain of Sand and the whole shore as also these are here compared according to their habitude of number and measure by which they have relation one to another But there can be no proportion betwixt a thousand years which is a body of years and a Homogeneous body These are likewise compared together according to the habitude of number and measure which have relation one to another but there can be no proportion betwixt the eternity of God and a thousand years because they are of different kinds A thousand years and that pure eternity are of several kinds because that eternity consists not of years nor is compounded of ages or times and they cannot be compared according to their habitudes and measures for they have none common to both The things which I mentioned before of the beginnings of things and of the creation of the world from eternity out of Diodorus agree very well wiâ—h these testimonies of holy Scripture That the ancient Physiologists and Historians did believe that the world was eternal as also affirm'd that men were from eternity which Diodorus peaking of the Chaldeans expounds thus That they believed that the world was eternal having no certain determinate beginning for they did not deny the beginning of the world but thought it unknown and uncertain according to that of Ecclesiasticus There is no remembrance of former things That eternity was uncertain and undeterminate Wherefore in the Bible eternity is often undeterminate As it is read Genesis 6. My spirit shall not contend with man always Eternity in that place is long after undeterminâ—d which appears by what follows And his days shall be a hundred and twenty years For God determined here the age of man a hundred and twenty years which before was far longer and undetermined so it is to be understood of that servant whose ear his Master pierced with an Awl Deut. 5. He shall seâ—ve thee for ever that is undeterminately and so long as he liâ—es I passe by a great many places of this same sorâ— Let it therefore be taken for good that the creation of the world which is said from eternity by the authority of both Testaments could by no means be undersâ—ood since Adam was made according to the definition of both ages Whether you call eternity which is reckoned from many ages and times Or whether you understand it indefinitely or undeterminatly For it is known that the time betwixt â—s and Adam is within account For the times from Adam are of a known period without the account of ages Besides there is a great deal of difference betwixt those things that preceeded the beginning of all things and those things which were before 〈◊〉 Adam Of these there is neither mention nor knowledge Of the other there is certain knowledge and memory CHAP. XIII Of the ages of creatures describâ—d by Hesiod and Ausonius Why the Histories of the first men were not known Out of Plato By the change of the Epoche The Aboriginal Nations of the world are not known I Often have wondred at the ages of creatures which Hesiod relates That the just age of a man is Ninety six The age of a Crow eight hundred and sixty four The age of a Hart three thousand three hundred and fifty six The Rooks ten thousand three hundred and sixty eight The Phoenixes ninety three thousand three hundred and twelve The Nymphs live Nine hundred thirty three thousand a hundred and twenty For he put those very ages into a Verse from a tradition far more antient as we may conjecture than Hesiod There Hesiod was antienter than Ausonius who since that time a long while did translate them in Latine Verses But Plinie thinks that but a Fable which he writes concerning the Phoenix and the Nymphs Well grant they bee fabulous notwitstanding it appears by this that Hesiod receiv'd them of a fabulous and most ancient tradition I say from that tradition which had set down the ages of Crows Harts and Rooks of which the Antients doubted not and which they could not affirm the certainty of without many and frequent experiments Neither had Hesiod a most learned and elegant old Poet vouchsaf'd to have describ'd such idle stories in such excellent Verses nor Ausonius after him a sweet and acute Poet translated them if both of them had thought that the beginning of things was to be reckon'd from Adam from whom to Hâ—siod there was not as yet passed the age of an Hart. Those Poets set down such ages such bounds to the lives of Beasts but thought that God the Judge of eternity knew all other ages namely that of the world heaven and stars Of eternity I say which in that place Ausonius sets down as a secret and known to God alone The knowledge of those eternal ages which were from the beginning was hid from men according to that decree by which he has hindred men to know all things and through which he thought it fit in his wisdom that they should be ignorant of the dispensations of time According to that of the Lord when he was ascending to heaven It is not for you to know the times which the father has put in his own power Acts. ch 1. The Egyptians according to Plato ascrib'd the cause of this ignorance to the several destructions of men of which the greatest were by fire and water the lesser by many other several ways They said in some long tract of time there were some changes and differences of things in motion both in heaven earth in some long tract of time Whence higher Countries either were consum'd with too much fire or the lower drown'd by too large effusion of showrs But the Egyptians were free from fire and floud Nile saving them from fire And such was the temper of their climate that no showr from above had ever water'd them or ever should Nor were they water'd at any time with any other water than which either flow'd over from Nilus or sprung out of the bowels of the earth And for that cause being not much subject to fire nor overwhelm'd with water some men were always preserv'd with them sometimes more sometimes lesse but never a general desolation For which reasons they reserâ—'d alone the most antient Records And that both their own actions and the actions of other Nations which were memorable were diligently set down and written in the Records kept in their Temples That the Greeks and other Nations either by Plagues sent down from heaven or being desâ—royed either by water or fire in certain space of time had lost both letters and knowledge and enter'd as it were again into their childhood beginning at their Alphabet nor knew what had been at home or abroad but through a cloud and by hear-say Therefore they believe that the head of all