Selected quad for the lemma: blood_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
blood_n	body_n	bread_n	consecration_n	9,959	5	11.0641	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16282	The manners, lauues, and customes of all nations collected out of the best vvriters by Ioannes Boemus ... ; with many other things of the same argument, gathered out of the historie of Nicholas Damascen ; the like also out of the history of America, or Brasill, written by Iohn Lerius ; the faith, religion and manners of the Aethiopians, and the deploration of the people of Lappia, compiled by Damianus a ̀Goes ; with a short discourse of the Aethiopians, taken out of Ioseph Scaliger his seuenth booke de emendatione temporum ; written in Latin, and now newly translated into English, by Ed. Aston.; Omnium gentium mores, leges, et ritus. English. 1611	Boemus, Joannes, ca. 1485-1535.; Góis, Damião de, 1502-1574.; Nicolaus, of Damascus.; Léry, Jean de, 1534-1611. Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre du Brésil.; Scaliger, Joseph Juste, 1540-1609. De emendatione temporum.; Aston, Edward, b. 1573 or 4.	1611 (1611)	STC 3198.5; ESTC S102777	343,933	572

yet of that validity estimation as the people of euery village yeeld there obedience to their parish Priest the parish Priest to the Deane the Deane to the Bishop the Bishop to the Archbishop the Archbishop to the Primate or Patriarch the primate or Patriarch to the Legate the Legate to the Pope the Pope to general councels and general councels only vnto God 4 The fourth Sacrament is the most holsome Sacramēt of the body bloud of our Lord Sauiour Iesus Christ euery priest that is duly called ordained according to the rules of the Church and intendeth to consecrate may by obseruing the vsual forme of words vsed in the consecration make the true body of Christ of a peece of wheaten bread and of wine his right and perfect bloud And this Sacrament the same Lord Iesus Christ in the night before he suffered his bitter passion did celebrate with his disciples consecrating it and ordaining that it should euer after be celebrated and eaten in remembrance of him It behoueth euery one that receiueth this Sacrament to bee strong in faith that he may beleeue and credit these thirteene things following First that he beleeue the transmutation or transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and bloud of Christ Secondly that though this be done euery day yet is not the body of Christ thereby augmented Thirdly that the body of Christ is not diminished though it be eatē euery day Fourthly that though this Sacrament be deuided into many parts that yet the whole and intire body of Christ remaineth in euery little particle Fiftly that though it be eaten of wicked malicious men yet is not the Sacrament thereby defiled Sixtly that to those which receiue it worthily as they ought it bringeth saluation eternal damnation to those which receiue it vnworthily Seuenthly that when it is eaten it conuerteth not into the nature property of him that eateth it as other meate doth but rather conuerteth the eater into the nature of the Sacrament rightly that being eaten it is taken vp into heauen without hurt Ninthly that in euery little forme of bread and wine is comprehended the great and incomprehensible God and Man Christ Iesus Tenthly that one and the same body of Christ is receiued and taken at one moment in diuers places of diuers men and vnder a diuers forme Eleuenthly that the substance of the bread being turned into the true body of Christ and the substance of the wine into his bloud the natural accidents of bread and wine doe yet remaine and that they are not receiued in forme of flesh and bloud Twelfthly that vnto those that eate it worthily it bringeth twelue great commodities which are expressed in these verses following Inflammat memorat substentat roborat auget Hostin spem purgat reficit vitam dat vnit Confirmat fidem minuit fomitemque remittit The effect whereof is that the hoast inflameth remembreth sustaineth strengthneth and augmenteth our hope It purgeth refresheth quickneth and vniteth It confirmeth our faith and mitigateth and vtterly quencheth in vs all concupiscence Lastly that it is wonderfull good and profitable for all those for whom the priest specially offereth it as a sacrifice be they liuing or dead and that therefore it is called the communion or Sacrament of the Eucharist In the beginning of Christian religion yet in some places there was consecrated at one time such a loafe of bread as being afterwards cut into small mamocks by the priest and laid vpon a sawcer or plate might well serue all the communicants that were present at the sacrifice and at that time did Christians communicate thereof dayly And afterwards they were limitted to receiue it only vpon sundaies but when the Church perceiued that this sacrament was not taken euery sunday so worthily and with such due obseruation as was sitting it was ordained that euery Christian man of perfect reason vnderstanding should with all diligence he could and with his best preparation both of body and soule receiue the same thrice a yeere or at the least euery yeere once at Easter as also when hee found himselfe in any danger of death as a ready preparatiue against al perils by which name it is often called 5 Matrimony which is a lawfull coniunction of man and wife instituted and ordained by the law of God the law of nature the law of nations is the fift Sacrament and the holy fathers in Christian piety haue commanded that but one marriage shall be solemnized at one time and that it shal not be done in secret but publikely either in the Church or Church-porch but most commonly in the Church-porch where the priest meeting the parties that are to be married first asketh of the man and then of the woman whether they be willing to be contracted who answering that they are content and agreed which is a thing most necessary in that Sacrament he taketh them by the right hands ioyning them togither in the name of the blessed and indeuided trinity in vnity the Father Sonne and holy Ghost hee admonisheth and exhorteth them that being euer mindefull of this vnion and holy communion they neuer after forsake one an other but to liue in mutual loue honor and obedience one to an other that they should not desire one an others company for lust but for procreation of children and that they should bring vp their children honestly carefully and in the feare of God this done he marrieth them with the ring and sprinkleth holy water on them and then putting on his stole which is thither brought him he leadeth them into the church and causing them to kneele humbly before the Altar there blesseth them if they were not blessed before the woman when she is married hath her haire tied vp with a red fillet or headband and a white veile ouer it without which veile or head couer it is neuer lawful for her after that time to goe abroad or to be in the company of men There be twelue impediments that hinder marriage before it be solemnized and dissolue it after it is contracted that is to say the error or mistaking of either party the breach of some condition kindred a manifest offence disparity of religion violence or forcible rauishment from their parents holy orders breach of reputation publike defamation affinity and dissability to performe the act of matrimony 6 The sixt Sacrament of the church is penance which is giuen by Christ as a second repaire of our shipwrake and euery Christian man is bound vndoubtedly to belceue that this Sacrament consisteth of these foure things to wit repentance for sins past cannonical confession absolution and satisfaction for he that will be partaker of this Sacrament must first of al repent be sorrowful in his very soule that through his grieuous and heinous sins hee hath lost that purity and innocency which he once had either by the Sacrament of Baptisme or by this Sacramēt formerly

together like beasts skinnes and thereof make them short garments or cloakes and weare them Some others flea the right hands of their slaine enemies and with the same make couerings for their quiuers and many flea the whole bodies and stretching out the skinnes vppon blockes of wood carrie them about vpon their horses the heads being cut off in this manner as I haue sayd they couer the vtmost side of them with Oxe leather and those which be rich guild them within with gold and so vse them for pots to drinke in And such men of estimation as giue intertainement to strangers will shew vnto them that those were the heades of such men as they had vanquished in the wars bragging thereof as a point of great man-hood Once euery yeare all the Princes and gouernors of the region fill a pot full of wine of which all the Scythians which haue slaughtered any of their enemies do drinke but they which haue done no notable exploit tast not thereof but sit by without honor or regard which among them is the greatest ignominie that may be And those which haue committed the most slaughters shall drinke of two pots which they haue there readie prouided for the purpose Their gods which they worship and adore are the virgin Vesta as principall next vnto her Iupiter and Tellus for Tellus they suppose to be the wife of Iupiter after these they honor Apollo Venus Mars and Hercules but they thinke it not fit to make Idols Altars or Temples to any of these gods or goddesses but onely to Mars to whom they sacrifice euery hundreth captiue to the rest of their gods they sacrifice beasts and especially horses Hogges are in no account amongst them neither breed they any throughout the whole region When the King punisheth any man by death hee spareth none of his male-children but slayeth them all but he hurteth no woman-kind When the Scythians confirme friendship or make a league or peace one with another they put wine into a great earthen pot and then cutting some part of their bodies which make the peace with a knife or with a sword they mingle their bloud with the wine after that they dip their swords arrowes axes and iauelins into the cuppe which when they haue done they vow friendship one to another with many protestations And then is the wine drunke vp not onely by those which make the league but all their followers and partakers which bee of most dignitie and estimation drinke of it also The maner of buriall of Kings which is vsed of the people that inhabite about the riuer of Gerrus where Borysthenes is now nauigable is in this maner when their King is deceased they digge a great foure-square hole in the earth and there lay him for a space after that they take the dead bodie and bowell it and ceare it with waxe and fill it full of ozier branches brused a sweet perfume called red Stirax the seed of percely smallage and annis-seeds and so sow it vp againe and then putting the carcase into a cart they conuey it into another country where it is vsed as before and so interred But the Scythians cut off their dead kings eares clip his haire round cut his armes about wound him in the forehead and nose strike his left hand through with a dart and then carry the carcase into another nation which is vnder their gouernment the people whereof attend vpon them vnto another country And when they haue beheld all nations and the kings corps with them they leaue it to bee buried of those people that inhabite the vttermost parts of their kingdome who when they haue put it into a coffin and laid it vpon a bed they sticke downe certaine speares and laying him vpon the speares couer him with a coat then do they strangle one of his strumpets which he loued most dearely in his life time one groome one cooke one horse-keeper or muletor one sergeant one butler or cup-bearer and one horse and bury them altogether with golden cups and the first fruites of all their increase in the spatiousnesse of the Tombe or Sepulchre And when hee hath lyen there a yeare they take the most neere of the kings houshold seruants and all the Scythian seruants attending on the king he free borne and by him commanded to serue and no seruant bought with money doth minister to the king And after they haue strangled fiftie of these men-servants and as many of the best horses the mens bowels beeing first taken out and their garments stretched abroade and sowed together they set vp round about the circuit of the Kings tombe vppon arched worke those fiftie horses and the seruants sitting vppon their backes so as they may seeme afarre off to the beholders like a troupe of horsemen keeping their dead King And this is the maner and custome of interring and sepulture of their Kings in Scythia Priuate men also obserue a certaine custome in their burials for when one dyeth all his neighbours laying him in a cart carrie him about to his friends and each one of his friends receiuing him maketh a banket as well to his neighbours and kinsfolke as to the rest which accompany the coarse His bodie beeing thus carried from place to place for the space of fortie dayes is then interred his head beeing first emptied and cleane washed aboue the bodie they set three stickes bending one towards another vppon which they set wollen cappes as many as they can and then they put the carcase into a chest or coffin made of one tree like a trough and set it vnder the cappes and so fill vp the coffin with bright stones The men of Scythia do neuer wash themselues but their wiues infusing water vppon their bodies rubbe them against a rough stone with Cypresse Cedar or the wood of Frankinsence and after their bodies are rubbed and beginne to smell they besmeare their faces ouer with medicines or oyntments these oyntments make them to haue an odoriferous sme●● And the next day after they remooue those medicines and make their faces cleane and bright againe Their manner of swearing and ministring an oath to others is by the Kings throne whereby if any one be conuinced of periurie by the Deuinors which make triall thereof with willow rods or wands hee is put to death without delay and forfeiteth all his goods to those which prooued him periured The Massagetae a people of Scythia in Asia beyond the Caspian sea in apparell and liuing be very like vnto these Scythians and therefore supposed of many to be Scythians indeed They fight both on foote and horse-backe and in both sorts of fight be almost invincible Their weapons be darts and speares and a certaine sword or weapon which they vsually weare about them called a sangar they vse gold in their belts sword-hangars and head attires and in guilding their pottes they put vppon their horses breasts brest-plates of gold their bridles and trappings be

of their bodyes they weare such garments as their abilities bee able to affoord them the richer sort of women goe in Purple and silke and their husbands likewise their coates bee of a very strange fashion for the slitte or hole whereby they put them off and on is vppon the left side and buttoned with foure or fiue buttons In the Summer they weare black garments and in Winter and rainy wether white and their clothes come downe no lower then their knees they weare garments also made of skinnes but not as wee doe with the hayrie side inwards but with the flesh sides towards their bodyes and the hayrie sides outwards shewing the hayre for comlinesse and decencie maides by their apparell can hardly bee discerned from marryed women nor the marryed women be distinguished from the men for there is no great difference betwixt them eyther in habite or behauiour for all weare breeches alike When they prepare themselues to the warres some of them couer their armes which otherwise bee naked with yron plates lincked together with Letherne thongs and some with diuerse foldes of Lether with which also they make defences for their heads shields they haue none and but few of them eyther launces or long swords yet they haue swords but not aboue the length of ones arme and made with an edge vpon the one side like back-swords wherwith when they fight they strike with that side which is sharpe they be very light and perfect horse-men and maruelous good archers and he is accounted of the greatest courage and valour which is most obedient vnto gouernment They serue in the warres without wages and bee very subtil and cunning both in the warres and other businesses and ready to take vpon them any charge or to vndergoe any matter of importance whatsoeuer the Captaines and gouernors enter not into the battell them-selues but standing aloofe incourrage exhort their souldiers diligently foreseeing and considering what is necessary to bee done and to the end their army may seeme the greater and more terrible to the enemy they bring their wiues and children into the army with them and sometimes the images of men set fast vpon horses nor do they thinke it a disgrace for them to fly if it bee either behouefull or necessary when they shoote they disarme their right armes and then their darts fly with such vehement forces as they will perce any kind of armor they begin the battell in order and keepe their aray in retyring euen then destroying and slaying with their darts their enimies which pursue them and if they perceiue the number of those which pursue them to bee but small they sodainly returne into the battell wounding with their darts both men and horse and euen then they get the greatest conquest when they were thought to haue beene conquered When they intend to inuade or make warre vpon any country they deuide their army into sundry companies and giue the assaulte on euery side so as they can hardly bee incountred or resisted nor any of the inhabitants escape and by this policie they haue alwaies the victory in their owne owne hands And they vse their victory very proudly and cruelly sparing neither old men women nor children but put all to the sword without difference artificers onely excepted which they reserue to worke for them They deuide them to bee slaine by the Centurions assigning to euery seruant for his part of the slaughter tenne or more or lesse as the number of the Captiues bee which when they haue butchered with Axes like Swine for a greater terror to others they take euery thousand Captiue and turning his head downe-wards hang him vp by the heeles vppon a stake made fast in the ground in the middle of those which bee slaine as if hee should then admonish and aduise his friends whilst the most of those murtherers approching to the slaine bodyes doe with their mouthes swill vp the bloud which springeth from their greene wounds They keepe their faith and promise with none how euer they bee obliged vnto them but rage towards their owne subiects in this manner and farre more greeuously It is lawfull for them to deflowre as many young Virgins as they will or can get and those which bee any thing beautifull bee carryed away with them and constrained to serue continually in extreame penurie of all things The Tartarians of all men be most incontinent for although they may marry as many wiues as they will or as they bee able to keepe and that they bee not forbidden mariage with any degree of affinitie or consanguinity mothers daughters and sisters onely excepted yet bee they exceedingly giuen to the sinne of Sodome accompanying both with their owne sex and with beasts as vilely as the Sarrasins without eyther difference or punishment They account not the woman which they marry for their wife nor yet receiue her dower before shee hath had a childe and if shee bee barren it is lawfull for them to put her a way and to marry another And this is strange that although many women haue but one husband yet they neuer fall out for him amongst them-selues although one bee preferred before another and hee sleepeth now with one and by and by with another and euery one of these wiues haue their abyding place by them-selues and euery one keepeth her owne family They liue most chast from other mens wiues for as well the men as women which bee taken in adultery suffer death by their lawe those men which bee not trayned vp in the warres keepe Cattell in the fields practise hunting and wrestling without doing any other domesticall businesse but commit all to women vpon whose care it resteth to prouide all things necessary both for victualls and clothing This nation obserueth many superstitions for to put a knife into the fire or at the least to let it touch the fire or to pull flesh out of a potte with a knife is held a great offence moreouer they cut nothing with a hatchet neere vnto the fire least they should hurt it any manner of way for they honour the fire most religiously perswading them-selues that there-with all things ought to bee purified and clensed They greatly abhore to lay either their body or armes when they sleepe or take their rest vpon a whippe where-with they driue their horses for spurres they vse none or to tuch their darts with a whip and yong men doe not onely auoyd the killing of birds but the taking of them also they will not beate a horse with his brydle nor breake one bone with an other nor yet spend ether meate or drinke out of measure and especially milke noe one dare pisse within his pauillion or mansion house for if any one doe it abstinately he is put to death without mercy but if necessity constraine one to doe it as oftentimes it happeneth then the tent or pauilion wherein it was done and all things within it ought to bee purged and clensed on

receiued his griefe must be so hearty effectual as he must thereby assuredly hope to bee reconciled againe vnto God then must he humbly acknowledge and make verball recitall vnto some reuerent priest his confessor as vnto the vicar and minister of God of al thse sins offences as were causers of the losse of that innocency stirred vp the wrath of God against him then let him firmly beleeue that such power and authority is giuen by Christ vnto his priests ministers on earth that they can cleerely absolue him from al such sins as he confesseth is heartily sory for Lastly for a satisfaction amends for al his sins let him with alacrity cheerefulnes vndergo do whatsoeuer his confessor shall enioyne him beleeuing most stedfastly that he is absolued from al his sins as soone as the priest hath pronounced the words of absolution 7 The seuenth and last Sacrament is the Sacrament of extreame vnction which is ministred with oyle which for that purpose is yeerely consecrated and hallowed in euery Diocesse by the bishop himselfe vpon the thursday before Easterday as the holy Chrisine is cōsecrated by the priest This Sacrament according to the councel of the holy Apostle Saint Iames the institutiō of Pope Felix the 4. is ministred only to such as are at the point of death of ful age and not then neither vnlesse they desire it and by the prescript form repeating of the words of the Sacramēt often inuocation of the Saints those parts of the body being annointed which are the seats of the fiue sences seeing hearing tasting smelling and touching and are the chiefest instrumēts in offending as the mouth eyes eares nose hands and feet the holy fathers haue bin euer of this opinion and firme beleefe that he which is so anointed receiueth it worthily is not only thereby remitted purged frō al his light and venial sins but is either sodenly restored to his former health or else yeeldeth vp his spirit in more tranquility and peace of conscience The festiual daies which were cōmanded to be obserued in The festiuall dayes which were commanded to be obserued in the Church throughout the yeare begin with the Aduent of our Lord Iesus Christ In which by the institution of Saint Peter in the month of December the continuall exercise of fasting and prayer was commanded for full three weekes and a halfe together before the feast of the Natiuity of our Lord with vs called Christmas which with all ioy and solemnity is celebrated all the last eight dayes of December The yeare is deuided into 52. weekes the weekes into twelue months and euery month for the most part into thirty dayes vpon the first day of Ianuary the Church celebrateth the circumcision of our Lord according to the law of Moses Vpon the third day after is represented vnto vs how our Sauiour Christ by the adoration of the three Kings and his beeing Baptised of Iohn in the riuer Iordane laid the foundation of the new law vpon the second of February is shewed how his imaculate mother shewing her selfe obedient to the ceremonies of the Iewes presented her sonne Iesus in the Temple and was purified in memory whereof there is on that day a solemne procession vsed by the Church and all the tapers and wax lights bee then hallowed Vpon the 25. day of March is represented vnto vs the Annuntiation of the birth of Christ to the Virgin Mary by the Angel and how he was conceiued in her wombe by the inspiration of the holy ghost at which time is commended vnto vs also the remembrance of the forty daies which our Sauiour when he liued here on earth amongst vs vouchsafed to fast willing vs likewise to fast that time after his example then to celebrate his passion and death which willingly he offered himselfe to suffer to enfranchise and redeeme vs from the thraldome and slauery of the diuell Vpon the last day of which feast which often falleth out in Aprill is solemnised the greatest of all feasts how Christ hauing conquered death descended into hell where after hee had ouercome the Diuell he returned aliue againe to his Disciples and in a glorified body appeared vnto them In May is solemnized his Ascension into Heauen by his owne vertue in the sight of al his Disciples at which time by the ordinance of Saint Mamertine Bishoppe of Vienna it was instituted that throughout the whole Christian world Pilgrimages and processions should bee vsed vpon that day from one Church to an other In Iune and sometimes in May is the feast of the comming of the Holy Ghost who being before promised was on that day infused vpon all the Disciples of our Sauiour Christ appearing vnto them in the forme of fiery tongs by vertue whereof they spake and vnderstood the languages of all nations The eight day after is the feast of the blessed Trinity and then out of the first decretal of Pope Vrban the sixt the feast of Corpus Christi was instituted and with great solemnity generally celebrated the fifth day after Trinity Sunday as a perpetual memoriall of the most wholesome Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ by him bequeathed vnto vs in his last supper vnder the formes of bread and wine and continually of vs to be seene and eaten after his departure vpon the fifteenth day of Iuly wee are put in minde by a new festiuity of the departure of the blessed Apostles according to their seueral alotment the twelfth yeare after the assention of our Lord into heauen to preach the Gospell vnto all nations of the world The death of the Mother of Christ is celebrated the fifteenth day of August and her natiuity the eight of September How being presented in the Temple she continued in the dayly seruice of God from three yeares of age till shee was maryageable is shewed the one and twentih day of nouember vpon the eight day of December the Church reuerenceth her immaculate conception of her long barren parents And the second of Iuly how passing ouer the Mountaines shee visited her Cosin Elizabeth There are likewise holy-daies dedicated to the memory of the twelue Apostles of whom some were martirs some confessors and some Virgins as namely the twenty foure of February to Saint Mathias the twenty fiue of Aprill to Saint Marke the Euangelist on which day Saint Gregory ordained the litanies called the greater litanies to be said To Saint Philip and Iacob the elder the first of May to Saint Peter and Paul the twenty nine of Iune the twenty foure day of which moneth is dedicated to the natiuity of Saint Iohn Baptist the twenty fiue of Iuly to Saint Iames the younger to Saint Bartholemew the twenty foure of August to S. Mathew the twenty one of September the twenty eight of October to S. Simon and Iude the last of Nouember to Saint Andrew the twenty one of December to Saint Thomas and the twenty seauen

arriued into an Island in forme round and in compasse about fiue thousand stadia into which when they were entred some of the Inhabitants came to meete them and some others runing towards them being greatly amazed and wondering at the comming of strangers into their Island receiued them very curteously and bountifully offered them such things as their country afforded The Inhabitants of that Island are nothing like to vs either in stature or manners for though they carry the same proportion of body and members yet bee they farre taller then wee are the most of them being aboue foure cubits hie and notwithstanding their exceeding height their bones bee not solid like ours but flexible like nerues or sinewes by which meanes they exceed vs in agility and nimblenesse of body and they are so strong with al as what euer they grasp with their hands can hardly bee wrested from them They be a very beautiful comely and well featured people and their skinnes so smooth and so slike as you can hardly perceiue any wrinkle or haire vpon any part of their bodies The hollownesse of their eares is much wider then ours and their tongues as farre different for nature assisted with their ingenious wits and dispositions hath indued them with this extraordinary priuiledge that their tongues are naturally so cleft and deuided from the roote to the tip as they seeme to haue euery one two tongues by which meanes they doe not onely speake a humaine and intelligible voice but they can truely imitate the chirping and singing of diuers birdes likewise and that which is more strange they will talke and conferre with two seuerall persons of seuerall matters at one and the selfe same time the one part of the tongue speaking and giuing answere vnto one and the other part to the other The ayre is there very pure and wholesome all the yeere long according to the saying of the poet that apples peares and grapes will rotte and corrupt vpon the trees and vines and the daies and nights are euer of an equall length and when the Sunne is directly ouer their heads there is no shadow of any thing towards the South All the people of one stocke or kindred liue together so as they exceed not the number of foure hundred their chiefest abode is in the fields for the earth naturally produceth great store of fruits without tillage or trauell in so much as through the vertue and quality of the Island and temperature of the aire they haue more then they are able to spend There be a kinde of reeds growing in that Island which beare great store of fruite like vnto white vetches the fruite of these reedes they gather and sprinkle with warme water and then euery graine will bee as bigge as a Doues egge which they afterwards grinde or beate into meale and make thereof a kinde of bread which in taste is most pleasant and delicious There bee many great springs and fountaines of water whereof some bee hot and serue for bathes and to cure diseases and some cold and withall maruelous sweete and very phisicall likewise They be a people very industrious and greedy of learning and especially of Astrology Their letters which they vse in sence and signification are eight and twentie but their carecters are but seuen in number for euery caractar hath foure seuerall significations or interpretations and they write not from the left hand towards the right as wee doe but beginne at the top and write downewards They be very long of life the most of them liuing the full age of a hundred and fifty yeeres and for the most part without any sicknesse at all and if any hap to fall either into an ague or any other infirmity of body they are compelled by their law to die forth-with They are also appointed how long they shall liue which age when they haue accomplished they willingly procure their owne deathes some by one meanes and some by an other There is an herbe in that countrie vpon which if any one lay his body hee falleth into a sweete and delectable slumber and in that sheepe departeth his life without paine Mariages they haue none but women bee there common to all children equally loued of al and brought vp in common amongst al so as no man can say this is my wife or this is my child yet oftentimes they take the children from their nurses least mothers should afterwards reknowledge their owne sonnes through which community it happeneth that being voide of ambition and affectation or curious desire of that which nature denieth them they liue quietly and peaceably without sedition or dissention There bee also in that Island certaine beasts which though they bee little of body yet in respect of their nature and vertue of their bloud they bee most rare and admirab they bee of a round body like vnto a Tortoise or Seacrable and haue two lines crossing their middle vpon euery end whereof standeth an eare and an eye so as they heare with foure eares and see with foure eyes and yet haue but one belly or paunch that receiueth their meate and round about their body grow many feete with which they can goe backward and forward at their pleasure the bloud of this beast is said to be of a maruelous strange efficacy for if a body bee cut and mangled into peeces so as it appeare to haue life in it be anointed with the bloud of this beast euery part wil instantly grow to other and the body will bee whole againe Euery family or company that liue together doe likewise breed and norish vp great birds of a diuerse nature and by those birds they make triall how their children will prooue afterwards for they set them when they bee very young vpon the backes of the birds and if they sit fast when the birds biginne to flutter and flie without feare of falling those children they bring vp but if they shew themselues dastardly and timerous they are reiected and thrust away and suffered to liue no longer as beeing vnprofitable for any excercise of the minde And the eldest of euery kindred or company that so liue together is Lord and commander ouer the rest to whom they yeeld obedience as to their King and when he accomplisheth the age of an hundred and fifty yeers he depriueth himself of life for so their law commands and hee that is next vnto him in age taketh the gouernment vpon him The sea that incloseth the Island is very boysterous rugged yet is the water most pleasant delightsome in taste the North pole and many other starres which are seene in our Horison appeare not in theirs There bee other seuen Islands of like quantitie and of like distance one from an other and indued with like manners and lawes as this is The Inhabitants of these Ilands vse the fruites of the earth which shee bountifully affordeth of her owne accord very sparingly for their dyet is

execute those offices of the court the women likewise by the commandement and decree of the same Maqueda be circumcised shee being induced therevnto by this reason that euen as men haue a fore-skinne that couereth their yards in like manner haue women a certaine kernelly flesh which is called Nympha arysing vp in the middle of their priuy partes which is very fit to take the character of circumcision and this is done both to males and females vpon the eight day and after circumcision the men children be baptised vpon the fortieth day and the women children vpon the eighteeth day vnlesse any sicknesse or infirmity hapneth which may cause it to bee done sooner but if any children be baptised before the time appointed it is not lawfull to giue them sucke of their mothers milke but onely of their nurses vntill their mothers bee purified and the water wherein they bee baptised is consecrated and blessed with exorcismes and that very same day wherein children bee baptised they receiue the blessed bodie of our Lord in a little forme of bread wee receiued baptisme almost before all other Christians from the Eunuch of Candace Queene of Aethiopia whose name was Indich as it is said in the Acts of the Apostles which together with circumcision which wee had at that time as before is sayd wee obserue most holily and Christian like and by Gods assistance euer shall obserue nor doe we obserue or admit of any thing but of those onely which are expressed in the law and the prophets and in the Gospell and in the bookes of the councels of the Apostles and if wee receiue any things besides those they bee onely obserued for the time for that they seeme to appertaine to the gouernment and peace of the Church and that without any bond of sinne Wherefore our circumcision is not vncleane but the law and grace is giuen to our father Abraham which hee receiued of God as a signe not that either he or his children should be saued through circumcision but that the children of Abraham should be known from other nations And that which is inwardly vnderstood by the signe or mistery of circumcision wee doe highly obserue that is that wee may bee circumcised in our hearts neither doe wee boast of circumcision nor therefore thinke our selues more noble then other Christians nor more acceptable vnto God with whom is no acception of persons as Paul saith who also sheweth vs that wee bee not saued through circumcision but by faith because in Christ Iesus neither circumcision nor the cutting off the foreskinne preualeth but the new creature but Paul preached not to destroy the law but to establish it who was also baptised and beeing of the seed of Beniamin hee also circumcised Tymothy who was become a Christian his mother beeing an Hebrew and his father a Gentile knowing that God doth iustifie circumcision by faith and the fore-skinne by faith and as he himselfe was made all to all that hee might saue all To the Iewes hee was as a Iew that thereby hee might winne the Iewes and to those which were vnder the law hee was as one vnder the law although hee was not vnder the law to the end hee might gaine those which were vnder the lawe and to those which were without the law hee was as one without the law although hee was not without the law of GOD but vnder the law of Christ that hee might get those which were without the law and hee became weake that hee might gaine those which were weake which he did to shew that we bee saued not by circumcision but by faith And therefore when he preached to the Hebrewes hee spake vnto them in diuers speeches like an Hebrew saying God heretofore spake many waies and in many manners to our fathers in the prophets shewing vnto them out of the same prophets that Christ was of the seed of Dauid after the flesh Moreouer he preached vnto them that Christ was with our fathers in the tents in the Desert and that he led them into the Land of promise by the hand of Iosua And Paul also testifieth in the same place that Christ was the chiefe of priests and that hee entred into a new tent which is the Sanctum sanctorum The holy of holies and that with the sacrifice of his bodie and bloud hee abolished the bloud of goates and bulles whereby none that killeth them shall bee iustified and so hee spake sundry waies to the Iewes and also suffering himselfe to bee worshipped of his people by many ceremonies in a holy and vncorrupted faith Moreouer those children with vs bee accounted halfe Christians which here I vnderstand in the Romane Church bee called Paganes who because they die without baptisme ought to bee called halfe Christians because they be children of the sanctified bloud of parents baptised and of the holy Ghost and of the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ by which three Testimonies all Christians bee so reputed because there bee three things which giue testimony in earth the spirite water and bloud as Saint Iohn witnesseth in his first canonicall Epistle the Gospell also saith a good tree bringeth forth good fruite and an euill tree bringeth forth euill fruite and therefore the children of Christians are not like vnto the children of the Gentiles and of the Iewes and of the Moores which bee withered trees without any fruit but the Christians bee elected in their mothers wombes as holy Ieremias the prophet and Saint Iohn Baptist were Furthermore the children of Christian women are elected and consecrated by the communication and imparting of the body bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ for when women great with child do take the most blessed body of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ the infant in the wombe receiuing nutriment is thereby sanctified for euen as the child in the mothers wombe conceiueth either sorrow or ioy according as the mother is affected so also is it nourished by the mothers norishment and as our Lord saith in his holy Ghospell if any one eate my body and drinke my bloud hee shall not tast of eternall death and againe if any one eate of my body and drinke my bloud hee shall remaine with mee and Paul the teacher of the Gentiles saith the vnbeleeuing husband is iustified by the beleeuing wife the vnbeleeuing wife is sanctified by the beleeuing husband otherwise your children should be vncleane but now they bee sanctified which if it bee so that the children of an vnbeleeuing mother bee sanctified by the saithfulnesse of the father then be they much more holy that bee borne of faithfull fathers and mothers for which cause it is farre more holy to call children before they bee christned halfe Christians then Pagans and the Apostles also haue said in their bookes of councels that al which beleeue and be not baptised may iustly bee termed halfe Christians who also say in the said bookes if Iew Moore or Gentile will receiue the faith hee is