and this he relateth by way of recapitulation as it was reuealed vnto him I saw saith he a great white throne and one that sate on it from whose face flew away both the earth and heauen and their place was no more found He saith not and heauen and earth flew away from his face as importing their present flight for that befell not vntill after the iudgement but from whose face flew away both heauen and earth namely afterwards when the iudgment shall be finished then this heauen and this earth shall cease and a new world shall begin But the old one shall not be vtterly consumed it shall onely passe through an vniuersall change and therefore the Apostle saith The fashion of this world goeth away and I would haue you with-out care The fashion goeth away not the nature Well let vs follow Saint Iohn who after the sight of this throne c. proceedeth thus And I sawe the dead both great and small stand before God and the bookes were opened and another booke was opened which is the booke a of life and the dead were iudged of those things which were written in the bookes according to their workes Behold the opening of bookes and of one booke This what it was hee sheweth which is the booke of life The other are the holy ones of the Old and New-Testament that therein might be shewed what God had commanded but in the booke b of life were the commissions and omissions of euery man on â—…th particularly recorded If we should imagine this to be an earthly booke 〈◊〉 as ours are who is he that could imagine how huge a volume it were or how long the contents of it all would be a reading Shall there be as many Angells as men and each one recite his deeds that were commited to his guard then shall there not bee one booke for all but each one shall haue one I but the Scripture here mentions but one in this kind It is therefore some diuine power â—…ed into the consciences of each peculiar calling all their workes wonderfully strangely vnto memory and so making each mans knowledge accuse or excuse his owne conscience these are all and singular iudged in themselues This power diuine is called a booke and fitly for therein is read all the facts that the doer hath committed by the working of this hee remembreth all But the Apostle to explaine the iudgement of the dead more fully and to shâ—…w how it compriseth greate and small he makes at it were a returne to what he had omitted or rather deferred saying And the sea gaue vp her dead which were within 〈◊〉 and death and Hell deliuered vp the dead which were in them This was before that they were iudged yet was the iudgment mentioned before so that as I said he returnes to his intermission hauing said thus much The sea gaue vp her dead c. As afore he now proceedeth in the true order saying And they were iudged euery 〈◊〉 according to his workes This hee repeateth againe here to shew the order 〈◊〉 was to manage the iudgment whereof hee had spoken before in these words And the dead were iudged of those things which were written in the bookes acâ—…g to their workes L. VIVES OF a life So readeth Hierome and so readeth the vulgar wee finde not any that readeth it Of the life of euery one as it is in some copies of Augustine The Greeke is iust as wee â—…d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of life without addition Of the dead whom the Sea and death and hell shall giue vp to Iudgement CHAP. 15. BVt what dead are they that the Sea shall giue vp for all that die in the sea are not kept from hell neither are their bodyes kept in the sea Shall we say that the sea keepeth the death that were good and hell those that were euill horrible â—…dity Who is so sottish as to beleeue this no the sea here is fitly vnderstood to imply the whole world Christ therefore intending to shew that those whome he found on earth at the time appointed should be iudged with those that were to rise againe calleth them dead men and yet good men vnto whom it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God But them he calleth euill of whome hee sayd Let the dead bury their dead Besides they may bee called dead in that their bodies are deaths obiects wherefore the Apostle saith The 〈◊〉 is dead because of sinne but the spirit is life for righteousnesse sake shew that in a mortall man there is both a dead body and a liuing spirit yet said hee not the body is mortall but dead although according to his manner of speach hee had called bodies mortall but alittle before Thus then the sea gaue vppe her dead the world waue vppe all mankinde that as yet had not approached the graue And death and hell quoth hee gaue vp the dead which were in them The sea gaue vp his for as they were then so were they found but death and hell had theirs first called to the life which they had left then gaue them vp Perhaps it were not sufficient to say death onely or hell onely but hee saith both death and hell death for such as might onely die and not enter hell and hell for such as did both for if it bee not absurd to beleeue that the ancient fathers beleeuing in Christ to come were all at rest a in a place farre from all torments and yet within hell vntill Christs passion and descension thether set them at liberty then surely the faithfull that are already redeemed by that passion neuer know what hell meaneth from their death vntill they arise and receiue their rewards And they iudged euery one according to their deedes a briefe declaration of the iudgement And death and hell saith he were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death Death and Hell are but the diuell and his angells the onely authors of death and hells torments This hee did but recite before when he said And the Diuell that deceiued them was cast into a lake of fire and brimstone But his mistical addition Where the beast and the false Prophet shall be tormented c. That he sheweth plainly here Whosoeuer was not found written in the booke of life was cast into the lake of fire Now as for the booke of life it is not meant to put God in remembrance of any thing least hee should forget but it sheweth who are predestinate vnto saluation for God is not ignorant of their number neither readeth hee this booke to finde it his prescience is rather the booke it selfe wherein all are written that is fore-knowen L. VIVES IN a a place They call this place Abrahams bosome wherein were no paines felt as Christ sheweth plainely of Lazarus Luc. 16. and that this place was farre from the dungeon of the wicked but where it is or what is
razed out Surely the loue of Saluting one another was great in Rome Highly was hee honored that was saluted and well was hee mannerd that did salute but great plausibility attended on both both were very popular and great steps to powrefulnesse Salust in Iugurth Truely some are verie industrious in saluting the people All the Latines writings are full of salutations b Sardanapalus The Grecians called Sardanapalus Thonos Concoloros Hee was the last King of the Assyrians a man throwne head-long into all kinde of pleasures Who knowing that Arbaces the Median prepared to make warres against him resolued to trie the fortune of warre in this affaire But beeing conquered as he was an effeminate fellow and vnfit for all martiall exercises hee fled vnto his house and set it on fire with himselfe and all his ritches in it Long before this when hee was in his fullest madnesse after pleasures hee causes this epitaph to bee engrauen vpon his tombe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Tully translates it thus Haec habeò quae edi quaeque exaturata voluptas Hausit at illa iacent multa et preclara relicta What I consum'd and what my guts engross't I haue but all the wealth I left I lost What else could any man haue written saith Aristotle in Cicero vpon the graue of an Oxe rather then of a King hee saith he hath that being dead which he neuer had whilest hee liued but onely while he was a wasting of it Chrysippus applies the verses vnto his Stoicisme hereof reade Athenaeus lib. 5. Tully his opinion of the Romaine Common-wealth CHAP. 21. BVt if hee be scorned that said their common-wealth was most dishonest and dishonorable and that these fellowes regard not what contagion and corruption of manners doe rage amongst them so that their state may stand and continue now shall they heare that it is not true that Salust saith that their common-wealth is but become vile and so wicked but as Cicero saith it is absolutely gone it is lost and nothing of it remaines For hee brings in Scipio him that destroied Carthage disputing of the weale-publike at such time as it was a presaged that it would perish by that corruption which Saluste describeth For this disputation was b at that time when one of the Gracchi was slaine from which point Salust affirmeth all the great seditions to haue had their originall for in those bookes there is mention made of his death Now Scipio hauing said in the end of the second booke that as in instruments that go with strings or wind or as in voices consorted there is one certaine proportion of discrepant notes vnto one harmony the least alteration whereof is harsh in the care of the skilfull hearer and that this concord doth â—…onsist of a number of contrary sounds and yet all combined into one perfect musicall melody so in a cittye that is gouerned by reason of all the heighest meane and lowest estates as of soundes there is one true concord made out of discordant natures and that which is harmony in musike is vnity in a citty that this is the firmest and surest bond of safety vnto the commonweale and that a commonweale can neuer stand without equity when hee had dilated at large of the benefit that equity brings to any gouernment and of the inconuenience following the absence therof then c Pilus one of the company begins to speake and intreated him to handle this question more fully and make a larger discourse of iustice because it was then become a common report d that a commonwealth could not be gouerned without iniustice and iniury herevpon Scipio agreed that this theame was to be handled more exactly and replied that what was as yet spoken of the commonwealth was nothing and that they could not proceed any farther vntill it were proued not onely that it is faulse that a weale publike cannot stand without iniury but also that it is true that it cannot stand without exact iustice So the disputation concerning this point being deferred vntill the next day following in the third booke it is handled with great controuersie For Pilus he vndertakes the defence of their opinion that hold that a state cannot be gouerned without iniustice but with this prouision that they should not thinke him to bee of that opinion himselfe And he argued very diligently for this iniustice against iustice endevoring by likely reasons and examples to shew that the part hee defended was vse-full in the weale publike and that the contrary was altogether needlesse Then e Laelius being intreated on all sides stept vp and tooke the defence of iustice in hand and withal his knowledge laboured to proue that nothing wrackt a citty sooner then vniustice and that no state could stand without perfect iustice which when hee had concluded and the question seemed to be throughly discussed Scipio betooke himselfe againe to his intermitted discourse and first he rehearseth and approueth his definition of a commonwealth wherein he said it was the estate of the commonty then he determineth this that this commonty is not meant of euery rablement of the multitude but that it is a society gathered together in one consent of law and in one participation of profite Then he teacheth f the profite of definitions in al disputations and out of his definitions he gathereth that onely there is a commonwealth that is onely there is a good estate of the commonty where iustice and honesty hath free execution whether it be by g a King by nobles or by the whole people But when the King becomes vniust whom he calleth h Tyranne as the Greekes do or the nobles be vniust whose combination hee termeth i faction or the people them-selues be vniust for which hee cannot finde a fit name vnlesse he should call the whole company as he called the King a Tyran then that this is not a vicious common-wealth aswas affirmed the day before but as the reasons depending vpon those definitions proued most directly it is iust no common-wealth at all for it is no Estate of the people when the Tyran vsurpeth on it by Faction nor is the commonty a commonty when it is not a society gathered together in one consent of law and one participation of commodities as hee had defined a commonty before VVherefore seeing the Romane Estate was such as Saluste doth descipher it to bee it was now no dishonest or dishonorable Common-wealth as hee affirmed but it was directly no common-wealth at all according vnto the reasons proposed in that discourse of a common-wealth k before so many great Princes and heads thereof and as Tully himselfe not speaking by Scipio or any other but in his owne person doth demonstrate in the beginning of his fift booke where hauing first rehearsed that verse of l Ennius where he saith Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque Old manners and old men vpholden Rome Which verse quoth Tully whether you respect the
Cattell dyed also so sore that one would haue thought the worldes vtter vastation was entered And then there was a winter how strangely vnseasonable The snow lying in the Market-place forty daies together in a monstrous depth all Tiber beeing frozen quite ouer If this hadde hapened in our times Lord how it would haue beene scanned vppon And then for that o great pestilence how many thousand tooke it hence which maugre all Aesculapius his druggs lasting till the next yeare they were faine to betake them-selues to the bookes of the Sybils p In which kind of Oracles as Tully saith well in his booke De diuinat the expounders of them are oftener trusted then otherwise gesse they neuer so vnlikely and then it was said that the pestilence raged so because that q many of the Temples were put vnto priuat mens vses Hereby freeing Aesculapius either from great ignorance or negligence But why were these Temples turned vnto priuate habitations without prohibition but onely because they saw they hadde lost too much labour in praying to such a crue of goddes so long and so becomming wiser by degrees had left haunting of those places by little and little and at length abandoned them wholy for the priuate vses of such as would inhabit them For those houses that as then for auoiding of this pestilence were so dilligently repared if they were not afterwards vtterly neglected and so incroched vppon by priuat men as before Varro should bee too blame to say speaking of Temples that many of them were vnknowne But in the meane time this fetch was a pretty excuse for the goddes but no cure at all for the Pestilence L. VIVES A Few a of the greatest The Plebeians either through hate to the Nobles or ambition in them-selues disturbed the common state exceedingly to assure and augment their owne pretending the defence of the peoples freedome notwithstanding in all their courses the Patriots opposed them abstracting from the peoples meanes to share amongst them-selues pretending the defence of the Senates dignity which the state would haue most eminent but indeed they did nothing but contend bandy factions each with other according to his power b deserts Some books put in incesserant but it hurteth the sence c Where then were All this relation of Augustines is out of Liuie read it in him least our repitition becomme both tedious and troublesome d It was scaled Incensum scaled and not incensum fired e SP. Aemilius This must be Melius assuredly by the history f Bed-spreadings It was an old fashion to banket vpon beds But in their appeasiue and sacrifical banquets in the Temples and in the night orgies they made beds in the place for the gods to lye and reuel vpon and this was called Lectisterium Bed-spreading the Citty being sore infected with the plague saith Liuie lib. 5. a few yeares ere it was taken by the Galles the Sybils bookes directed the first Bed-spreading to last eight dayes three beds were fitted one for Apollo and Latona one for Diana and Hercules one for Mercury and Neptune But how this can bee the first Bed-spreading I cannot see seeing that in the secular games that Poplicola Brutus his Collegue ordayned there were three nights Bed-spreadings Valer lib. 2. Censorin de die Natall g Another In yâ— Consulship of C L. Marcellus T. Ualerius was a great question in the Court about poisons because many great men had bene killed by their wiues vsing such meanes h Then grew wars Against the Samnites Galles Tarentines Lucans Brutians and Hetrurians after al which followed Pyrrhus the King of Epirus his warre But now a word or two of the Proletarij the Brood-men here named Seruius Tullus the sixt King of Rome diuided the people into six companies or formes in the first was those that were censured worth C. M. Asses or more but vnder that King the greatest Censure was but C X M. Plin lib. 33. the second contained all of an estate between C. and LXXV Asses the third them vnder L. the fourth them vnder XXXV the fift them vnder XI the last was a Century of men freed from warre-fare Proletarii or Brood-men and Capiti-censi A Brood-man was hee that was rated ML Asses in the Censors booke more or lesse and such were euer forborne from all offices and vses in the Cittie beeing reserued onely to begette children and therefore were stiled Proletarii of Proles brood or ofspring The Capite Censi were poorer and valued but at CCCLXXV asses Who because they were not censured by their states were counted by the poll as augmenting the number of the Cittizens These two last sorts did Seru. Tullius exempt from all seruice in warre not that they were vnfit them-selues or hadde not pledges to leaue for their fealty but because they could not beare the charges of warre for the soldiers in those daies maintained them-selues It may be this old custome remained after the institution of tribute and the people of Rome thought it not fitte that such men should go to warre because that they accounted all by the purse This reason is giuen by Valerius and Gellius But these Brood-men were diuers times ledde forth to the wars afterward mary the Capite Censi neuer vntill Marius his time and the warre of Iugurthe Salust Valer. Quintillian also toucheth this In milite mariano And here-vppon Marius their Generall was called Capite Census i Pyrrhus Descended by his mother from Achilles by his father from Hercules by both from Ioue This man dreaming on the worlds Monarchy went with speed at the Tarentines intreaty against the Romaines hence hoping to subdue Italie and then the whole world as Alexander had done a while before him k Who asking Cicero de diuinat lib. 2 saith that it is a verse in Ennius Aio and as in the text Which the Poet affirmeth that the Oracle returned as answer to Pyrrhus in his inquiry hereof Whence Tully writeth thus But now to thee Apollo thou that sittest vpon the earths nauell from whence this cruel and superstitious voice first brake Chrysippus fill'd a booke with thine Oracles but partly fained I thinke and partly casuall as is often seene in ordinary discourses and partly equiuocall that the interpreter shall need an interpreter and the lotte must abide the try all by lotte and partly doutful requiring the skil of Logike Thus farre he seeming to taxe Poets verse with falshood Pyrrhus is called Aeacides for Achilles was son to Peleus and Peleus vnto Aacus Virgill ipsumque Aeacidem c. meaning Pyrrhus l Pyrrhus was conqueror Pyrrhus at Heraclea ouerthrew Valerius Consull but got a bloudy victory whence the Heraclean victory grew to a prouerb but after Sulpitius and Decius foyled him and Curius Dentatus at length ouerthrew him and chased him out of Italy m And in this This is out of Orosius lib. 4. hapning in the Consulship of Gurges and Genutiuâ—… in Pyrrhus his warre n Prince of
physicke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iatros is a Physitian Obstetrix a mid-wife and Archiatri were also the Princes Physitians Iustin Codic Of the Comites and Archiatri which the Spaniards call Protomedici c. o Great pestilence Oros. lib. 4. In the entrance of the first Affrican warre p In which Cice. de diuini lib. 2 at large of the Sybils and their books q Many of the temples The Sooth saiers answer in Tullies time concerning the prodigies was yâ— very same Cic. Orat. de Aruspic respons The miseries of the Romaines in the Affrican warres and the small stead their gods stood them therein CHAP. 18. BVt now in the wars of Affrica victory still houering doubtfully betwixt both sides and two mighty and powerful nations vsing all their might power to reciprocrall ruine how many petty Kingdomes perished herein How many faire citties were demolished or afflicted or vtterly lost How sar did this disastrous contention spread to the ruine of so many Realmes and great Estates How often were the conquerors on either side conquered What store of men armed and naked was there that perished How many ships were sunke at â—…eas by fight and tempest Should we particularize wee should become a direct Historiographer Then Rome beeing in these deep plunges ran head-long vnder those vaine and rediculous remedies for then a were the Secular plaies renued by the admonition of the Sibils books which institution had bin ordained an hundred yeares before but was now worn out of al memory in those so happy times The high priests also b renued the sacred plaies to the hel-gods with the better times had in like manner abolished before nor was it any wonder to see theÌ„ now reuenged for the hel-gods desired now to becom reuellers being inriched by this continual vncesing world of men who like wretches in following those blody vnrelenting wars did nothing but act the diuels reuels and prepare banquets for the infernal spirits Nor was there a more laudable accident in al this whole war then that Regulus should be taken prisoner a worthy man and before that mishap a scourge to the Carthaginians who had ended the Affrican war long before but that he would haue bouÌ„d the Carthaginians to stricter conditions then they could beare The most sodaine captiuity the most faithful oth of this man and his most cruel death if the gods do not blush at c surely they are brazen-fac'd and haue no blood in them Nay for all this Romes wals stood not safe but tasted of some mischiefe and all those within them for the riuer Tiber d ouer-flowing drown'd almost al the leuel parts of the citty turning some places as it were into torrents and other some into fens or lakes this plague vshered in a worse of fire e which beginning in the market-place burned al the higher buildings therabouts sparing not the owne f harbor and temple of Vesta where it was so duly kept in by those g not so honorable as damnable Votaresses Now it did not only continue here burning but raging with the fury wherof the virgins being amazed h Metcllus the high Priest ran into the fire and was half burned in fetching out of those fatal reliques which had bin the ruin of i three citties where they had bin resident k The fire neuer spared him for all he was the Priest Or else the true Deity was not there but was fled before though the fire were there still but here you see how a mortal man could do Vests more good then she could do him for if these gods could not guard them-selues from the fire how could they guard their citty which they were thought to guard froÌ„ burnings and inundations Truly not a whit as the thing shewed it selfe Herein we would not obiect these calamities against the Romains if they would affirme that al these their sacred obseruations only aime at eternity and not at the goods of this transitory world and that therefore when those corporall things perished there was yet no losse by that vnto the endes for which they were ordained because that they might soone be made fit for the same vses againe But now such is their miserable blindnesse that they think yâ— those idols that might haue perished in this fiery extremity had power to preserue the temporall happines of the citty but now seeing that they remained vnconsumed and yet were able to shew how such ruins of their safeties and such great mischiefs hath befalne the citty this makes them ashamed to change that opinion which they see they cannot possibly defend L. VIVES THen were a the secular plaies I think it will not be amisse if I say somwhat of those plaies from their first originall Ualesius Sabinus a rustick as the best were then praying for his three sick children heard a voice yâ— said they should recouer if he would carry them ouer Tiber to Terentum there recreate them with the warm water of Dis and Proserpina Valesius dreaming of the citty Terentum though it were far off and no such riuer as Tiber neer it yet hiring a ship sailed with his sons to Ostia setting them on shore to refresh them-selues in Mars his field he asked yâ— ship-master where he might haue som fire he replied at the adioining TerentuÌ„ for ther he saw som that the sheapheards had made it was called Terentum of Tero to weare because the riuer ware away the shore or because Dis his alter was there inhumed Ualesius hearing the name commanded the shippe to put ouer thether thinking this was the place meanâ—… by the Oracle and departing to the citty to buy an altar hee bad his seruants meane while to digge a place for it They digged 20. foot deep and there they found an old altar inscrib'd To Dis and Proserpina This the Romaines had inhumed after their infernall sacrifices beeing to fight with the Albasnes for so the deuil bad them doe ere they ioyned battaile Ualesius returnes and finding the altar offers blacke offrings to Dis and Proserp and spreading beddes for the gods staied there three nights for so long after were they sicke with reuells and dances that these children had escaped this sicknesse This custome P. V. Poplicola one of Valesius his progeny brought into the Citty in the first yeare of the freedome Three daies and nights the people watched at the altars of Ioue and Apollo offring a white bull and certaine children whose parents were liuing sung a song to Apollo Then watched they at Iuno's offring a white Heifer this was in the day time on the night at Dianas Proserpina's Terra's and the Destenies offring black creatures and burning of tapers and then were Stage-plaies presented to Apollo and Diana and the Circian Games and those stately and famous spectacles were called the Secular plaies because they were acted once euery age taking an age here for the longest space of mans life Some giue it more yeares some lesse as it is in
much moment as the natiuitie d We haue knowne Such were Procles and Cyresteus Kings of Lacedaemon Cic. de diuinat lib. 2. e Diuersitie of This is one of the cauâ—…es why an Astrologian cannot iudge perfectly of natiuities Ptol. Apoteleusmaton lib. 1. f Horoscope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the looking vpon an houre and is that part of the Zodiake which ascendeth our Hemisphere at any euent For the reuolution of this Zodiake is perpetuall and still one part of it ariseth in our Horison and the part directly opposite setteth all the other are diuided amongst the other houses of heauen g Cannot be found Nature neuer bound any one thing to another in such proprietie but she set some differencs betweene them what skilleth it whether those two had originall from one feede Euery man is framed and borne to his owne fortune and be they two or three brethren borne at once their destinies promise no fraternitie but each one must vndergoe his particular fate Quintil. In Geminis Languentibus h Difference of parents why should not the riuers be like that flow both from one head Of Nigidius the Astrologians argument in this question of the twinnes drawne from the potters wheele CHAP. 3. FRustrate therefore is that notable fiction of the Potters wheele which Nigidius a they say answered to one that plunged him in this controuersie whervpon he was called b Potter Turning a potters wheele twice or thrise about as fast as he could he tooke inke in the turning made two markes as it seemed in one place of the wheeles egde and then staying the wheele the markes were found far a sunder one from another vpon the edge of the wheele c euen so saith he in the swift course of heauen though one child be borne after another in as short a time as I gaue these two markes yet in the heauens will be passed a great space And that quoth he is the cause of the diuersity of conditions and fortunes betwixt two twinnes d Here is a figment now farre more brittle then the Pottes that were made by that wheele for if there bee thuâ—… much power in Heauen and yet cannot bee comprehended by the constellations that one of the twins may bee an heyre and inherite and not the other how dare those Astrologians giue such presages vnto others that are not twinnes when as they are included in those secret points in natiuities which none can comprehend But if they say they do prognosticate this to others because they know that it belongeth vnto the knowne and discerned spaces that passe in natiuities and that those moments that may come betweene the birth of two twins do but concerne slight things and such as the Astrologian vseth not to bee troubled with for no man will aske the calculator when he should sit walke or dine How can this be said when wee shew such diuersity in the manners states actions and fortunes of two twinnes L. VIVES NIgidius a they say P. Nigidius figulus was borne of a very honest family and came to be Praetor he was of great wit and exellent both in many other worthy sciences so that hee was compared with Uarro in whose time or thereaboutes he liued and especially in the Mathematiques Tully nameth him often Suetonius saith that out of Octauius his figure of natiuity he presaged that he should be Lord of all the world Lucane lib. 1. At Figulus eâ—…i â—…ra deos Secretaque caeli Nâ—…sse fuit quem non stellarum Aegiptia Memphis 〈◊〉 â—…isu numerisque mouentibus asâ—…a c. But Figulus whose study was to scan Heauens high presage whome no Aegiptian In Mathematique skill could paralel c. b Called Potter In latine Figulus This man was of the Nigidian family there were other Figuli of a more honored house namely the Martians whereof one was confull with L. Iul. Caesar two yeares before Ciceros consulship Another with Nasica but was put from his place because the auguries were against his election c So quoth he How much time thinke you saith Quintilian was betweene the first birth and the second but a little truely in mortall mens iudgement but if you will consider the immensity of this vniuerse you shall find much passed betweene their two productions In geminis langu d Here is a figment This one answere of Nigidius which the Mathematitians thinke was most acute doth vtterly subuert all their presages positions and calculations in natiuities for if so little a space of time bee capable not onely of diuersities but euen of contraries who can prognosticate any thing of any childe borne when as the moment both of his conception and his natiuity is so hard to be knowne So that were it graunted that the starres haue power in vs yet vnto man it is incomprehensible the moments whereto the figure must be erected being impossible to bee found and the swift course of the Heauens ouerrunning our slow consideration Iulius firmicus a man idlely eloquent hauing obiected this reason against him-selfe and his arte and promising to dissolue it after he hath tumbled himselfe sufficiently in a multitude of common places lets it alone with silence and thinkes he hath done very wel supposing that this whirle-winde of his eloquence had cast dust inough into the readers eies to make him forget the aduerse argument But it is neither he nor any Chalde of them al that can answer it Thomas Aquinas in like manner entangleth himselfe exceedingly in circumstances of times and minuites and places for in his booke De fato he saith that twins are of diuers dispositions because the seed of generation was not receiued into the place of conception al at one time so that the center of the heart being not one in both they must needs haue different egresses and Horizous But how small a space is their spent in the full receiuing of the â—…eede how little a time passeth betweene the coagulation of the hearts that this should be sufficient to tâ—…asmute the whole nature of man So that hereby it is not sufficient to tel the Mathematician that such an one was borne at Pariâ—… or Ualencia but hee must know in which streete in which chamber nay in what part of the chamber But in another worke I will handle this theame of another fashion and proue that there is no trust to be put in those vaine superstitions but that all dependeth vpon our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ whome we are to intreat for them all Of Esau and Iacob two twinnes and of the diuersity of their conditions and qualities CHAP. 4. IN the memory of our fore-fathers to speake of men of note there were two a twins borne so nere to gether that the second held the first by the heele yet in their liues maners and actions was such a maine disparity that that very difference made them enemies one to another I meane not this that the one sat when the other stood nor that the one
compared should bee in the guift of any of them Nor can their state and hight compared with the basenesse of an earthly Kingdome in respect of them bee a sufficient cloake for their defect in not beeing able to giue it because forsooth they doe not respect it No what euer hee bee that considering the frailty of mans nature maketh a scorne of the momentary state of earthly dominion he will thinke it aâ—… vnworthy iniury to the gods to haue the giuing and guarding of such vanities imposed vpon them And by this if that according as wee proued sufficiently in the two bookes last past no one god of all this catalogue of noble and ignoble godâ—… were fit to behold the bestower of earthly states how much lesse fit were they all to make a mortall man pertaker of immortality Besides because now wee dispute against those that stand for their worship in respect of the life to come they are not to bee worshipped for those things which these mens erronious opinion farre from all truth haue put as their proprieties and things peculiarly in their powre as they beleeue that hold the honouring of them very vsefull in things of this present life against whom I haue spoken to my powre in the 〈◊〉 precedent volumes Which being thus if such as adore Iuuentas flourish in vâ—…or of youth and those that doe not either die vnder age or passe it with the â—…fes of decrepite sicknesse If the chinnes of Fortuna Barbata her seruants 〈◊〉 â—…ll of haire and all others be beardlesse then iustly might we say that thus 〈◊〉 â—…ese goddesses are limited in their offices and therefore it were no asking liâ—…â—…nall of Iuuentas that could not giue one a beard nor were any good to 〈◊〉 â—…cted of Fortuna Barbata after this life that had not powre to make one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he had a beard But now their worship beeing of no vse for those things in their powre seeing many haue worshipped Iuuentas that liued not to bee 〈◊〉 and as many honoured Fortuna Barbata that neuer had good beards and many without beardes that worshiped her were mocked by them that had beâ—…ds and scorâ—…â—…r is any man then so mad that knowing the worshipping â—…f thâ—…m to bee 〈◊〉 in those things whereto their pretended powre extendeth yet will beleeue it to be effectuall in the obtayning life eternall Nay euen those that did share out their authority for them least beeing so many there should some sit idle and so taught their worshippe to the rude vulgar nor these themselues durst affirme that the life eternall was a gift comprised in any of their powers L. VIVES BLessed a is the man The Septuagints translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That maketh the 〈◊〉 of the LORD his hope But the Hebrew originall hath it as Augustine citeth it Indeed the difference is not of any moment b Though they durst not They feared the lawes as they did the Areopagites at Athens as Tully saith of Epicurus c Being all Plato in Tiâ—… d Prâ—… to laughter Alluding to Virgill in his Palaemon Et quo sed faciles Nymphae risere sacello c. The shrine wherein the pleasant Nymphes were merry 〈◊〉 not call them Faciles pleasant or kind because they were soone mooued to laughter but beâ—…use they were soone appeased and easie to bee intreated Faciles venerare Napâ—…s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his Georgikes to adore the gentle Napaeae And in the same sence are men called Geâ—… â—…iles What may bee thought of Varro's opinion of the gods who dealeth so with them in his discouery of them and their ceremonies that with more reuerence vnto them he might haue held his peace CHAP 2. VVâ—… was euer a more curious inquisitor of these matters then Varro a â—…re learned inuentor a more diligent iudge a more elegant diuider or a â—…act recorder And though he be not eloquent yet is hee so documentaâ—… 〈◊〉 sententious that to reade his vniuersall learning will delight one that 〈◊〉 matter as much as Tâ—…lly will one that loueth wordes Yea Tully a himâ—…e leaueth this testimony of him that the same disputation that hee handleth in his Academicke dialogues hee had hee saith with Marcus Varro a man the most â—…ute and d doubâ—…lesse the most learned of his time c Hee saith noâ—… the moâ—…â—…quent because herein hee had his betters but most acute and in his Aâ—…kes where hee maketh doubts of all things hee calleth him Doutlesse the â—…st learned being so assured hereof that he would take away all doubt which hee â—…ed to induce into all questions onely in this Academicall disputation forgetting himselfe to bee an Academike And in his first booke hauing comâ—…ed his workes d Wee saith â—…ee in the Citty were but as wandring pâ—…lgrimes 〈◊〉 â—…kes brought vs home and taught vs to know what and whom wee were Thy 〈◊〉 age time religious and politique discipline habitations order all the formes causes 〈◊〉 kindes of diuine and ciuill discipline by these are fully discouered So great was his learning as e Terentius also testifieth of him in the verse Vir doctissiâ—… vâ—…decunque Varro Varro a man of vniuersall skill Who hath reade so much â—…t â—…ee wonder how hee hath had time to write and f hath written so much that we 〈◊〉 how any man should read so much This man I say so learned and so witty 〈◊〉 he bin a direct opposer of that religion he wrote for held the ceremonies 〈◊〉 â—…ay religious but wholy superstitious could not I imagine haue recorded 〈◊〉 â—…testable absurdities thereof then hee hath already But being a worshippeâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…ame gods a teacher of that worship that hee proffesseth he feareth that his worke should bee lost not by the enemies incursion but by the citizens negligence and affirmeth that with a more worthy and commodious care were they to bee preserued then that wherewith Metellus fetched the Palladium from the slaues and Aeneas his houshold gods from the sacke of Troy yet for all this doth hee leaue such things to memory as all both learned and ignorant do iudge most absurd and vnworthy to bee mentioned in religion What ought wee then to gather but that this depely Skild man beeing not freed by the holy spirit was ouer-pressed with the custome of his city and yet vnder shew of commending their religion gaue the world notice of his opinion L. VIVES TUlly a himselfe What Tully ment to handle in his Academikes his thirteeneth Epistle of his first booke to Atticus openeth fully beeing rather indeed a whole volume then an Epistle He writeth also de diuinat lib. 2. that hee wrote fourth bookes of Academicall questions And though he certifie Atticus that hee hath drawne them into two yet wanteth there much and of the two that wee haue extant Nonius Marcellus quoteth the second diuers times by the name of the fourth The place Augustine citeth is not extant in the bookes wee haue b Doutbtlesse the most Uarro in his life time when enuy stirre
not This I say is the way that will free all beleeuers wherein Abraham trusting receiued that diuine promise In thy seede shall all the nations bee blessed Abrahamâ—… as a Chaldaean but for to receiue this promise that the seede which was disposed by the Angells in the mediators power to giue this vniuersall way of the soules freedome vnto all nations he was commanded to leaue his owne land and kinred and his fathers house And then was hee first freed from the Chaldaean superstitions and serued the true God to whose promise he firmely trusted This is the way recorded in the Prophet God bee mercifull vnto vs and blesse vs and shew vs the light of his countenance and bee mercifull vnto vs. That thy way may be knowne vpon earth thy sauing health among all nations And long aftâ—…r Abrahams seede beeing incarnate Christ sayth of himselfe I am the way the truth and the life This is the vniuersall way mentioned so long before by the Prophets It shal be in the last daies that the g mountaine of the house of the Lord shal be prepared in the toppe of the mountaines and shal be exalted aboue the hills and all nations shall flie vnto it And many people shall goe and say come let vs goe vppe to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and hee will teach vs his way and wee will walke therein For the lawe shall goe forth of Syon and the word of the LORD from Ierusalem This way therefore is not peculiar to some one nation but common to all Nor did the law and word of God stay in Ierusalem or Syon but come from thence to ouerspread all the world Therevpon the mediator being risen from death sayd vnto his amazed and amated disciples Al things must be fulfilled which are written of mee in the law the Prophets and the Psalmes Then opened hee their vnderstanding that they might vnderstand the scriptures saying thus it behooued CHRIST to suffer and to rise againe from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sinnes should be preached in his name amongst all nations beginning at Ierusalem This then is the vniuersall way of the soules freedome which the Saints and Prophets beeing at first but a fewe as God gaue grace and those all Hebrewes for that estate was in a h manner consecrated did both adumbrate in their temple sacrifice and Priest-hood and fore-told also in their prophecy often mistically and some-times plainely And the Mediator himselfe and his Apostles reuealing the grace of the new testament made plaine all those significations that successe of precedent times had retained as it pleased God the miracls which I spoke of before euermore giuing confirmation to them For they had not onely angelicall visions and saw the ministers of heauen but euen these simple men relying wholy vpon Gods word cast out deuills cured diseases i commanded wild-beasts waters birds trees elements and starres raised the dead I except the miracles peculiar to our Sauiour chiefly in his birth and resurrection shewing in the first the mistery of k maternall virginity and in the other the example of our renouation This way cleanseth euery soule and prepareth a mortall man in euery part of his for immortality For least that which Prophyry calls the intellect should haue one purgation the spirital another and the body another therefore did our true and powerfull Sauiour take all vpon him Besides this way which hath neuer failed man-kinde either l in prophecies or in their m performances no man hath euer had freedome or euer hath or euer shall haue And wheras Porphyry saith he neuer had any historicall notice of this way what history can be more famous then this that lookes from such a towring authority downe vpon all the world or more faithfull since it so relateth things past as it prophecyeth things to come a great part whereof wee see already performed which giueth vs assured hope of the fulfilling of the rest Porphyry nor euer a Platonist in the world can contemne the predictions of this way albee they concerne but temporall affaires as they doe all other prophecies and diuinations of what sort soeuer for them they say they neither are spoken by worthy men nor to any worthy purpose true for they are either drawne from inferiour causes as 〈◊〉 can presage much n concerning health vpon such or such signes or cls the vncleane spirits fore-tell the artes that they haue already disposed of o confirming the mindes of the guilty and wicked with deedes fitting their words or words fitting their deedes to get themselues a domination in mans infirmity But the holy men of this vniuersall way of ours neuer respect the prophecying of those things holding them iustly trifles yet doe they both know them and often fore-tell them to confirme the faith in things beyond sence and hard to present vnto plainnesse But they were other and greater matters which they as God inspired them did prophecy namely the incarnation of Christ and all things thereto belonging and fulfilled in his name repentance and conuersion of the will vnto God remission of sinnes the grace of iustice faith and increase of beleeuers throughout all the world destinction of Idolatry temptation for triall mundifying of the proficients freedom from euill the day of iudgement resurrection damnation of the wicked and glorification of the City of GOD in 〈◊〉 eternall Kingdome These are the prophecies of them of this way many are fullfilled and the rest assuredly are to come That this streight way leading to the knowledge and coherence of GOD lieth plaine in the holy scriptures vpon whose truth it is grounded they that beleeue not and therefore know not may oppose this but can neuer ouerthrow it And therefore in these ten bookes I 〈◊〉 spoken by the good assistance of GOD sufficient in sound iudgements though some expected more against the impious contradictors that preferre 〈◊〉 gods before the founder of the holy citty whereof wee are to dispute The 〈◊〉 fiue of the ten opposed them that adored their gods for temporall respects 〈◊〉 fiue later against those that adored them for the life to come It remaines now according as wee promised in the first booke to proceede in our discourse of the two citties that are confused together in this world and distinct in the other of whose originall progresse and consummation I now enter to dispute eâ—…â—…oking the assistance of the almighty L. VIVES KInges a high or road the Kinges the Prâ—…tors and the Soldiors way the lawes held holy b Indian The Gymnosophists and the Brachmans much recorded for admirable deeds and doctrine c All the world Therfore is our fayth called Catholike because it was not taught to any peculiar nation as the Iewes was but to all mankind excluding none all may be saued by it and none can without it nor hath euery nation herein as they haue in Paganisme a seuerall religion But
eyther excerciseth the humility or beates downe the pride nothing a at all in nature being euill euill being but a priuation of good but euery thing from earth to heauen ascending in a degree of goodnesse and so from the visible vnto the inuisible vnto which all are vnequall And in the greatest is God the great workeman yet b no lesser in the lesse which little thinges are not to be measured to their owne greatnesse beeing neare to nothing but by their makers wisedome as in a mans shape shane his eye-brow a very nothing to the body yet how much doth it deforme him his beauty consisting more of proportion and parilyty of parts then magnitude Nor is it a wonder that c those that hold some nature bad and produced from a bad beginning do not receiue GODS goodnesse for the cause of the creation but rather thinke that hee was compelled by this rebellious euill of meere necessity to fall a creating and mixing of his owne good nature with euill in the suppression and reforming thereof by which it was so foyled and so toyled that he had much adoe to re-create and mundifie it nor can yet cleanse it all but that which hee could cleanse serues as the future prison of the captiued enemy This was not the Maniches foolishnes but their madnesse which they should abandon would they like Christians beleeue that Gods nature is vnchangeable incorruptible impassible and that the soule which may be changed by the will vnto worse and by the corruption of sinne be depriued of that vnchangeable light is no part of God nor Gods nature but by him created of a farre inferiour mould L. VIVES NOthing a at all This Augustine repeats often and herein do al writers of our religion besides Plato Aristotle Tully and many other Philosophers agree with him Plato in his Timaeus holds it wicked to imagine any thing that God made euill he being so good a God him-selfe for his honesty enuied nothing but made all like him-selfe And in his 2. de rep he saith The good was author of no euill but only of things good blaming Hesiod and Homer for making Ioue the author of mischiefe confessing God to be the Creator of this vniuerse therby shewing nothing to be euill in nature I will say briefly what I thinke That is good as Aristotle saith iâ—…â—…s â—…etorik which we desire either for it selfe or for another vse And the iust contrary is euil wâ—…efore in the world some things are vsefull and good some auoideble bad Some 〈◊〉 and indifferent and to some men one thing is good and to others bad yea vnto one man at seuerall times seuerall good bad or neuter vpon seueral causes This opinioÌ„ the weaknesse of our iudgements respects of profit do produce But only that is the diuine iudgement which so disposeth all things that each one is of vse in the worlds gouernment And hee knoweth all without error that seeth all things to bee good and vsefull in their due seasons which the wise man intimates when hee saith That God made all things good each in the due time Therefore did hee blesse all with increase and multiplication If any thing were alwayes vnprofitable it should bee rooted out of the creation b No lesse Nature is in the least creatures pismires gnats bees spiders as potent as in horses oxâ—…n whales or elephants and as admirable Pliny lib. 11. c Those This heresie of the Manichees Augustine declareth De heres ad Quod vult deum Contra Faust. Manich. De Genes ad liter Of the error that Origen incurreth CHAP. 23. Bvt the great wonder is that some hold one beginning with vs of all thinges and that God created all thinges that are not of his essence otherwise they could neuer haue had beeing And yet wil not hold that plaine good beleefe of the Worlds simple and good course of creation that the good God made all thinges good They hold that all that is not GOD after him and yet that all is not good which none but God could make But the a soules they say not part but creatures of God sinned in falling from the maker being cast according to their deserts into diuers degrees down from heauen got certaine bodies for their prisons And ther-upon the world was made say they not for increase of good but restrrint of bad and this is the World Herein is Origen iustly culpable for in his Periarchion or booke of beginnings he affirmes this wherein I haue much maruaile that a man so read indiuine scriptures should not obserue first how contrary this was to the testimony of scripture that confirmeth all Gods workes with this And God saw that it was good And at the conclusion God saw all that hee made and loe it was very good Auerring no cause for this creation but onely that the good God should produce good things where if no man had sinned the world should haue beene adorned and filled b onely with good natures But sin being commited it did not follow that all should be filled with badnes the far greater part remaining still good keeping the course of their nature in heauen nor could the euil willers in breaking the lawes of nature auoyd the iust lawes of the al-disposed God For as a picture sheweth well though it haue black colors in diuers places so the Vniuerse is most faire for all these staines of sins which notwithstaÌ„ding being waighed by themselues do disgrace the lustre of it Besides Origen should haue seene and all wise men with him that if the world were made onely for a penall prison for the transgressing powers to bee imbodyed in each one according to the guilt the lesse offenders the higher and lighter and the greater ones the baser and heauier that then the Diuels the worst preuaricators should rather haue bin thurst into the basest that is earthly bodies then the worst men But that we might know that the spirits merits are not repaid by the bodies qualitie the worst diuell hath an c ayry body and man though he be bad yet of farre lesse malice and guilt hath an earthly body yea had ere his fall And what can be more fond then to thinke that the Sunne was rather made for a soule to be punished in as a prison rather then by the prouidence of God to bee one in one world as a light to the beauty and a comfort to the creatures Otherwise two ten or en hundred soules sinning all a like the world should haue so many Sunnes To auoyd which we must rather beleeue that there was but one soule sinned in that kind deseruing such a body rather then that the Makers miraculous prouidence did so dispose of the Sunne for the light comfort of things created It is not the soules whereof speake they know not what but it is their owne soules that are so farre from truth that they must needes be attanted and restraned Therefore these three I
the eyes of the spirit though not of the dull flesh hence it is that scriptures call a prophecy a vision and Nathan is called the Seer 1. Kings The Greekes some-times vse the name of Prophet for their priests poets or teachers Adam was the first man and the first Prophet who saw the mistery of Christ and his church in his sleepe Then followeth Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac Iacob and his children Moyses c. Yet are not these reckned amongst the prophets for none of them left any bookes of the visions but Moyses whose bookes concerned ceremonies sacrifices and ciuill orders also But these were all figures of future things nor were those the propheticall times as those from Samuel were wherein there neuer were prophets wanting whereas before God spake but seldome and his visions were not so manifest as they were from the first King vnto the captiuity wherein were foure great bookes of prophecies written and twelue of the small At what time Gods promise concerning the Land of Canaan was fulfilled and Israell receiued it to dwell in and possesse CHAP. 2. VVEE said in the last booke that God promised two things vnto Abraham one was the possession of the Land of Canaan for his seed in these words Goe into the Land that I will shew thee and I will make thee a great nation c. The other of farre more excellence not concerning the carnall but the spirituall seed nor Israell onely but all the beleeuing nations of the world in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall all nations of the earth be blessed c. This we confirmed by many testiâ—… Now therefore was Abrahams carnall seed that is the Israelites in the 〈◊〉 promise now had they townes citties yea and Kings therein and Gods 〈◊〉 were performed vnto them in great measure not onely those that hee 〈◊〉 signes or by word of mouth vnto Abraham Isaac and Iacob but euen 〈◊〉 â—…so that Moyses who brought them out of the Egyptian bondage or any 〈◊〉 him vnto this instant had promised them from God But the proâ—…â—…cerning the land of Canaan that Israel should reigne ouer it from the 〈◊〉 Egipt vnto the great Euphrates was neither fulfilled by Iosuah that worâ—… of them into the Land of promise and hee that diuided the whole aâ—… the twelue tribes nor by any other of the Iudges in all the time after 〈◊〉 was there any more prophecies that it was to come but at this instant 〈◊〉 â—…ected And by a Dauid and his son Salomon it was fulfilled indeed and 〈◊〉 â—…gdome enlarged as farre as was promised for these two made all 〈◊〉 â—…ations their seruants and tributaries Thus then was Abrahams seed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so settled in this land of Canaan by these Kings that now no part of 〈◊〉 â—…ly promise was left vnfulfilled but that the Hebrewes obeying Gods â—…ements might continue their dominion therein without all disturâ—… in all security and happinesse of estate But God knowing they would 〈◊〉 vsed some temporall afflictions to excercise the few faithfull therein 〈◊〉 â—…ad left and by them to giue warning to all his seruants that the nations 〈◊〉 â—…erwards to containe who were to bee warned by those as in whom hee 〈◊〉 â—…llfill his other promise by opening the New Testament in the death of 〈◊〉 L. VIVES Bâ—…â—…id Hierome epist. ad Dardan sheweth that the Iewes possessed not all the lands 〈◊〉 promised theÌ„ for in the booke of Numbers it is sayd to be bounded on the South by the salt sea and the wildernesse of sinne vnto that riuer of Egypt that ranne into the sea by Rhinocorura on the west by the sea of Palestina Phaenicia Coele Syria and Cylicia on the North by Mount Taurus and Zephyrius as farre as Emath or Epiphania in Syria on the East by Antioch and the Lake Genesareth called now Tabarie and by Iordan that runneth into the salt sea called now The dead sea Beyond Iordan halfe of the land of the tribes of Ruben Gad lay and halfe of the tribe of Manasses Thus much Hierome But Dauid possessed not all these but onely that within the bounds of Rhinocorura and Euphrates wherein the Israelites still kept themselues The Prophets three meanings of earthly Ierusalem of heauenly Ierusalem and of both CHAP. 3. WHerefore as those prophecies spoken to Abraham Isaac Iacob or any other in the times before the Kings so likewise all that the Prophets spoke afterwards had their double refereÌ„ce partly to Abraháms seed in the flesh partly to that wherein al the nations of the earth are blessed in him being made Co-heires with Christ in the glory and kingdome of heauen by this New Testament So then they concerne partly the bond-woman bringing forth vnto bondage that is the earthly Ierusalem which serueth with her sonnes and partly to the free Citty of God the true Ierusalem eternall and heauenly whose children are pilgrims vpon earth in the way of Gods word And there are some that belong vnto both properly to the bond-woman and figuratiuely vnto the free woman for the Prophets haue a triple meaning in their prophecies some concerning the earthly Ierusalem some the heauenly and some both as for example The Prophet a Nathan was sent to tell Dauid of his sinne and to fortell him the euills that should ensue thereof Now who doubteth that these words concerned the temporall City whether they were spoken publikely for the peoples generall good or priuately for some mans knowledge for some temporall vse in the life present But now whereas wee read Behold the daies come saith the LORD that I will make a new couenant with the house of Israell and the house of Iudah not according to the couenant that I made with their fathers when I tooke them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egipt which couenant they brake although I was an husband vnto them saith the Lord but this is the couenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those daies saith the LORD I will put my law in their mindes and write it in their hearts and I wil be their GOD and they shal be my people This without aâ—…l doubt is a prophecy of the celestiall Ierusalem to whom God himselfe stands as a reward and vnto which the enioying of him is the perfection of good Yet belongeth it vnto them both in that the earthly Ierusalem was called Gods Cittie and his house promised to bee therein which seemed to be fulfilled in Salomons building of that magnificent temple These things were both relations of things acted on earth and figures of things concerning heauen which kinde of prophecy compounded of both is of great efficacy in the canonicall scriptures of the Old Testament and doth exercise the readers of scripture very laudably in seeking how the things that are spoken of Abrahams carnall seed are allegorically fulfilled in his seed by faith In b so much that some held that there was nothing in the scriptures fore-told and effected or
were to raigne there â—…ingly The Lord will seeke him a man saith hee meaning either Dauid or the mediator prefigured in the vnction of Dauid and his posterity Hee doth not say he will seeke as if hee knew not where to finde but hee speaketh as one that seeketh our vnderstanding for wee were all knowen both to God the father and his sonne the seeker of the lost sheepe and elected in him also before the beginning of the world c He will seeke that is he will shew the world that which hee himselfe knoweth already And so haue we acquiro in the latine with a preposition to attaine and may vse quaero in that sence also as questus the substantiue for gaine L. VIVES Tâ—… a skirt Or hemme or edge any thing that he could come nearest to cut the Iewes vsed edged garments much according to that command in the booke of Numbers The Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wing of his doublet Ruffinus translateth it Summitatem b His 〈◊〉 Which were three hundred saith Iosephus lib. 6. c He will seeke A diuersity of reaâ—… I thinke the words from And so haue we acquiro to the end of the chapter bee some 〈◊〉 of others The Kingdome of Israell rent prefiguring the perpetuall diuision betweene the spirituall and carnall Israell CHAP. 7. SAul fell againe by a disobedience and Samuell told him againe from God Thou hast cast off the Lord and the Lord hath cast off thee that thou shalt no more bee King of Israell Now Saul confessing this sinne and praying for pardon and that Samuell would go with him to intreat the Lord. Not I saith Samuell thou hast cast off the Lord c. And Samuell turned him-selfe to depart and Saul held him by the lappe of his coate and it rent Then quoth Samuell the Lord hath rent the Kingdome of Israell from thee this day and hath giuen it vnto thy neighbor which is better then thee and Israell shall bee parted into two and shall no more bee vnited nor hee is not a man that hee should repent c. Now hee vnto whome these words were said ruled Israell fourty yeares euen as long as Dauid and yet was told this in the beginning of his Kingdome to shew vs that none of his race should reigne after him and to turne our eyes vppon the line of Dauid whence Christ our mediator tooke his humanity Now the originall read not this place as the Latines doe The Lord shall rend the Kingdome of Israell from thee this day but the Lord hath rent c. from thee that is from Israell so that this man was a type of Israell that was to loose the Kingdome as soone as Christ came with the New Testament to rule spiritually not carnally Of whome these wordes and hath giuen it vnto thy neighbour sheweth the consanguinity with Israell in the flesh and so with Saul and that following who is better then thee implyeth not any good in Saul or Israell but that which the Psalme saith vntill I make thine enemies thy footstoole whereof Israell the persecutor whence Christ rent the Kingdome was one Although there were Israell the wheat amongst Israell the chaffe also for the Apostles were thence and Stephen with a many Martyrs besides and from their seed grew up so many Churches as Saint Paul reckoneth all glory fiing God in his conuersion And that which followeth Israell shall bee parted into two concerning this point assuredly namely into Israell Christs friend and Israell Christs foe into Israell the free woman and Israell the slaue For these two were first vnited Abraham accompanying with his maid vntill his wiues barrennesse being fruitfull she cryed out Cast out the bondwoman her sonne Indeed because of Salomons sin we know that in his sonne Roboams time Israell diuided it selfe into two parts and either had a King vntill the Chaldeans came subdued and ren-versed all But what was this vnto Saul Such an euen was rather to be threatned vnto Dauid Salomons father And now in these times the Hebrews are not diuided but dispersed all ouer the world continuing on still in their errour But that diuision that God threatned vnto Saul who was a figure of this people was a premonstration of the eternall irreuocable separation because presently it followeth And shall no more bee vnited nor repent of it for it is no man that it should repent Mans threatnings are transitory but what God once resolueth is irremoueable For where wee read that God repented it portends an alteration of things out of his eternall prescience And likewise where hee did not it portends a fixing of things as they are So here wee see the diuision of Israell perpetuall and irreuocable grounded vppon this prophecy For they that come from thence to Christ or contrary were to doe so by Gods prouidence though humaine concâ—… cannot apprehend it and their separation is in the spirit also not in the flesh And those Israelites that shall stand in Christ vnto the end shall neuer perâ—… with those that stayed with his enemies vnto the end but be as it is here said 〈◊〉 seperate For the Old Testament of Sina begetting in bondage shall doe them no good nor any other further then confirmeth the New Otherwise as long as Moses is read d the vaile is drawne ouer their hearts and when they 〈◊〉 to Christ then is remooued For the thoughts of those that passe from 〈◊〉 to him are changed and bettered in their passe and thence their felicitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is spirituall no more carnall Wherefore the great Prophet Samuel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had annointed Saul when hee cryed to the Lord for Israel and hee â—…d him and when hee offered the burnt offering the Philistins comming against Israell and the Lord thundred vpon them and scattered them so that they fell before Israell tooke e a stone and placed it betweene the f two Maspha's the Old and the New and named the place Eben Ezer that is the stone of 〈◊〉 saying Hetherto the Lâ—… hath helped vs that stone is the mediation of our 〈◊〉 by which wee come from the Old Maspha to the New from the thought of a carnall kingdome in all felicitie vnto the expectation of a crowne of spiriâ—… glory as the New Testamenâ—… teacheth vs and seeing that that is the sum â—…ope of all euen â—…itherto hath God helped vs. L. VIVES Bâ—… disobedience For being commanded by Samuel from God to kill all the Amalechites 〈◊〉 and beast hee tooke Agag the King aliue and droue away a multitude of Cattle 〈◊〉 lappe of his coate Diplois is any double garment c The Lord hath rent Shall rend â—…us But hath rent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is in the LXX d The vaile The vaile that Moiâ—…â—…ed â—…ed his face was a tipe of that where-with the Iewes couer their hearts vntill they bee 〈◊〉 1. Corinth 3. e Astone Iosephus saith that hee placed it at Charron and called 〈◊〉 lib. 6. f
the small of some of whom I now spake He prophecied vnder Iosia King of Iuda Ancus Martius being King of Rome hard before Israels captiuity vnto the fifth month of which hee prophecied as his owne booke prooueth Zephany b a small prophet was also in his time and prophecied in Iosias time also as himselfe saith but how long he saith not Hieremies time lasted all Ancus Martius his and part of Tarquinius Priscus his reigne the fift Romaine King For in the beginning of his reigne the Iewes were captiued This prophecie of Christ wee read in Hieremy The breath of our mouth the annoynted our Lord was taken in our sinnes Heere hee 〈◊〉 brieflie both Christ his deity and his sufferance for vs. Againe This is 〈◊〉 Gâ—…d nor is there any besides him he hath found all the wayes of wisdome taught 〈◊〉 to his seruant Iacob and to Israel his beloued Afterwards was hee seene vpon earth and hee conuersed with men This some say is not Hieremyes but d Baruchs his transcribers But the most hold it Hieremies Hee saith further Behold the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come saith the Lord that I will raise vnto Dauid a iust branch which shall 〈◊〉 as King and be wise and shall exetute iustice and iudgement vpon the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dayes shall Iudah be saued and Israell shall dwell safely and this is the name that they shall call him The Lord our righteousnesse Of the calling of the Gentiles which we see now fullfilled he saith thus O Lord my God and refuge in the day of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thee shall the Gentiles come from the ends oâ—… the world and shall say Our fatherâ—… haue adored false Images wherein there was no profit And because the Iewes would noâ—… acknowledge Christ but should kill him the Prophet saith e The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all things he is a man and who shall know him His was the testimoâ—… 〈◊〉 of the New Testament and Christ the mediatour which I recited in my 〈◊〉 Booke for hee saith Behold the dayes come that I will make a new couenant 〈◊〉 the house of Israel c. Now Zephany that was of this time also hath this of 〈◊〉 Wayte vpon me saith the Lord in the day of my resurrection wherein my â—…dgement shall gather the nations and againe The Lord will bee terrible vnto 〈◊〉 hee will consume all the gods of the earth euery man shall adore him from his 〈◊〉 â—…en all the Iles of the Heathen and a little after Then will I turne to the peoâ—… pure language that they may all call vpon the Lord and serue him with one conâ—… and from beyond the riuers of Ethiopia shall they bring mee offerings In that day 〈◊〉 thâ—… not bee ashamed for all thy workes wherein thou hast offended mee for then 〈◊〉 â—…use thee of the wicked that haue wronged thee and thou shalt no more bee proud of mine holie mountaine and I will leaue a meeke and lowly people in the mindes of thee and the remnant of Israell shall reuerence the name of the Lord. This is the remnant that is prophecied of else-where and that the Apostle mentioneth saying there is a remnant at this present time through the election of grace For a remnant of that nation beleeued in Christ. L. VIVES HIeremy a Of him already b Zephany Hee was a prophet and father to prophets and had prophets to his grand-father and great grand-father say the Hebrewes Chusi was his father who was sonne to Godolias the sonne of Amariaâ—… the son of Ezechias all prophets for al the prophets progeny named in their titles were prophets say the Hebrew doctors c The annointed There are many anointed many Lords but that breath of our mouth this annoynted is none but CHRIST our SAVIOVR the SON of GOD by whom we breath we moue and haue our being who if he leaue vs leaueth vs lesse life then if we lackt our soules d Baruchâ—… Hee was Hieremies seruant as Hieremies prophecy sheweth and wrote a little prophecy allowed by the Church because it much concerned Christ and those later times e Thâ—… heart This is the Septuagints interpretation Hierome hath it otherwise from the hebrew Daniels and Ezechiels prophecies concerning Christ and his Church CHAP. 34. NOw in the captiuity it selfe a Daniel and b Ezechiel two of the greater prophets prophecied first Daniel fore-told the very number of yeares vntill the comming of Christ and his passion It is too tedious to perticularize and others haue done it before vs. But of his power and glorie this he sayd I beheld a vision by night and behold the sonne of man came in the cloudes of heauen and approached vnto the ancient of daies and they brought him before him and hee gaue him dominion and honor and a Kingdome that all people nations and languages should serue him his dominion is an euerlasting dominion and shall neuer bee tane away his Kingdome shall neuer be destroied Ezechiel also prefiguring Christ by Dauid as the prophets vse because Christ tooke his flesh and the forme of a seruant from Dauids seed in the person of GOD the Father doth thus prophecy of him I will set vppe a sheapheard ouer my sheepe and hee shall feed them euen my seruant Dauid hee shall feed them and be their sheapheard I the Lord wil be their God and my seruant Dauid shal be Prince amongst them I the LORD haue spoaken it And againe One King shal be King to them all they shal be no more two peoples nor bee deuided from thence-forth into two Kingdomes nor shall they bee any more polluted in their Idols nor with their abhominations nor with all their transgressions but I will saue them out of all their dwelling places wherein they haue sinned and will cleanse them they shal be my people and I wil be their GOD and Dauid my seruant shal be King ouer them and they all shall haue one sheapheard L. VIVES DAniel a Hee was one of the captiâ—…ed sonnes of Iudah and so Daniel was named Balthazar by the Kings Eunuch that had charge of the children His wisdome made him highly esteemed of Balthazar the last King of Babilon and after that of Darius the Monarch of Media as Daniel himselfe and Iosephus lib. 10. doe testifie Methodius Apollinaris and Eusebius Pamphilus defended this prophet against the callumnies of Porphiry b Ezechiel A priest and one of the captiuity with Daniell as his writings doe record Of the three prophecies of Aggee Zachary and Malachy CHAP. 35. THre of the small prophets a Aggee b Zachary and c Malachy all prophecying in the end of this captiuity remaine still Aggee prophecyeth of Christ and his church thus diuersly and plainely Yet a little while and I will shake the heauens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will mooue all nations and the desire of all nations shall come saith the Lord of hostes This prophecie is partly come to effect and partly to bee effected
Apostle saith Wee know but in part Besides it beleeueth the sence in obiects of which the minde iudgeth by the sensitiue organs because hee is in a grosse error that taketh all trust from them It beleeueth also the holy canonicall scriptures both old and new from which the iust man hath his faith by which hee liueth and wherein a wee all walke with-out doubt as long as wee are in our pilgrimage and personally absent from God and this faith being kept firme wee may lawfully doubt of all such other things as are not manifested vnto vs eyther by sence reason scripture nor testimony of grounded authoritie L. VIVES WE all walke a without doubt We haue no knowledge of it but beleeue it as firmely as what wee see with our eyes Of the habite and manners belonging to a Christian. CHAP. 19. IT is nothing to the Citty of God what attyre the cittizens weare or what rules they obserue as long as they contradict not Gods holy precepts but each one keepe the faith the true path to saluation and therefore when a Philosopher becommeth a Christian they neuer make him alter his habite nor his manners which are no hindrance to his religion but his false opinions They respect not Varro's distinction of the Cynikes as long as they forbeare vncleane and intemperate actions But as concerning the three kindes of life actiue contemplatiue and the meanes betweene both although one may keepe the faith in any of those courses yet there is a difference betweene the loue of the truth and the duties of charitie One may not bee so giuen to contemplation that hee neglect the good of his neighbour nor so farre in loue with action that hee forget diuine speculation In contemplation one may not seeke for idlenesse but for truth to benefite him-selfe by the knowledge thereof and not to grudge to impart it vnto others In action one may not ayme at highnesse or honor because all vnder the sunne is meere vanitie but to performe the worke of a superiour vnto the true end that is vnto the benefite and saluation of the sub ect as wee sayd before And this made the Apostle say If any man desiâ—…e the office of a Bishop hee desireth a good worke what this office was hee explaineth not it is an office of labour and not of honour a The Greeke word signifieth that hee that is heerein installed is to watch ouer his people that are vnder him Episcopus a Bishop commeth of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is ouer and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a watching or an attendance so that wee may very well translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a superintendent to shew that hee is no true Bishop who desireth rather to be Lordly him-selfe then profitable vnto others No man therefore is forbidden to proceed in a lawdable forme of contemplation But to affect soueraignty though the people must bee gouerned though the place be well discharged yet notwithstanding is b taxable of indecencie Wherefore the loue of truth requireth a holy retirednesse and the necessity of charity a iust employment which if it bee not imposed vpon vs wee ought not to seeke it but be take our selues wholy to the holy inquest of truth but if wee bee called forth vnto a place the law and need of charity bindeth vs to vnder-take it c Yet may wee not for all this giue ouer our first resolution least wee loose the sweetnesse of that and bee surcharged with the weight of the other L. VIVES THe a Greeke word of this before lib. 1. cap. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes either of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to consider or of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to visit The Scripture where the seauenty translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe read it a watch-man as in Ezechiel Osee chap. 5. where the Lord complaineth that they had beene a snare in their watching and a net vpon mount Thabor As if hee had spoken of the Bishops of these times who set snares for benefices and spread large netts for money but not too wide wasted least the coyne should scatter forth b Taxable of indecencie O but some fine braines haue now brought it so about that bishoprickes may not onely bee sued for but euen bought and sold with-out any preiudice at all vnto this lawe c Yet may wee not Hee sheweth that a Bishop should conuerse with the holy scriptures often and drawe him-selfe home vnto God now and then from all his businesses liuing if he did well as a pilgrim of Gods in this life and one that had a charge of Gods and his owne soules in hand not any temporall trash and yet ought he not to forsake his ministery to which he should be preserred by an heauenly calling and not by an heauy pursse Hope the blisse of the heauenly Cittizens during this life CHAP. 20. THen therefore is the good of the Holy society perfect when their peace is established in eternity not running any more in successions as mortall men doe in life and death one to another but confirmed vnto them together with their immortalitie for euer with-out touch of the least imperfection What is hee that would not accompt such an estate most happy or comparing it with that which man hath heere vpon earth would not auouch this later to bee most miserable were it neuer so well fraught with temporall conueniences yet hee that hath the latter in possession and applyeth it all vnto the vse of his hopeâ—… firme and faithfull obiect the former may not vnfitly bee called happy already but that is rather in his expectation of the first then in his fruition of the later For this possession with-out the other hope is a false beatitude and a most true misery For herein is no vse of the mindes truest goods because there wanteth the true wisdome which in the prudent discretion resolute performance temperate restraint and iust distribution of these things should referre his intent in all these vnto that end where God shall bee all in all where eternity shall be firme and peace most perfect and absolute Whether the Citâ—…y of Rome had euer a true common-wealth according to Scipio's definition of a common-wealth in Tully CHAP. 21. NOw it is time to performe a promise which I passed in the second booke of this worke and that was to shew that Rome neuer had a true common-wealth as Scipio defineth one in Tullyes booke De Repub. his Definition was A common-wealth is the estate of the people Respub est res populi If this be true Rome neuer had any for it neuer had an estate of the people which hee defines the common-wealth by For he defineth the people to bee a multitude vnited in one consent of lawe and profite what hee meaneth by a consent of lawe hee sheweth him-selfe and sheweth there-by that a state cannot stand with-out iustice so that where true iustice wanteth there can bee no law