humane science mens actions and inventions Solon who was the wisest thought and the learnedst man of his age and whose times are just betwixt ours and Adams and whom we think not very far distant from us and who told as is credible to the Egyptian the History of many thousand years could he have been ignorant of the beginning of the world if it had been from Adam from whom to Solons time were not as yet passed three thousand years Would not he have confuted those tales and fables of the Egyptian with such a pregnant argument for telling him stories which transcended his record ten thousand years Beside shall we think those Egyptians chronicled for Wise men by St. Stephen himself to have been so unskilfull as not to know the beginning of the world which had been so lately or so much Sycophants as to relate those things for truths which they knew to be lies if they had either known or supected any thing concerning such a beginning What shall I say more of so many famous Philosophers excellent in learning who flock'd to those Priests that they might learn the Egyptian customs knowledg with such a general opinion of the Egyptian learning and prudence Do we think that those Philosophers were such blockheads that they would not have found themselves grosly gull'd and abus'd in Histories of so many thousand years ago if they had but smelled or had the least hint that the world was so lately made and only from the time of Adam To these adde what is reported of the Scythians alwayes reputed most antient as also that contention which continued long betwixt the Scythians and Egyptians As likewise that which is spoken of the antient descent of the Phaenicians The French imagin'd their own beginnings so obscure that they were said to be begotten by the Night or by Pluto which is the same For that reason they defin'd the space of any time not by the number of dayes but nights and observ'd the birth-dayes the beginnings of yeares and moneths ' so that the day followed alwayes the night which Caesar diligently observ'd of them The account likewise of the Americans concerning the original of the world runs backward a great many ages Scaliger thought the time from which the Chinensians reckon'd most prodigious According to which sayes he this year of Christ 1594. in which he wrote his Book De emendatione temporum is since the creation according to their account eight hundred eightscore thousand and seventy three And no doubt we should find a great many such accounts in the Southern parts if they were but known to us For in those thousands of ages there is a general Harmonie of those new found Nations with the Chaldaeans Egyptians Phoenicians and French CHAP. VIII The most antient creation of the World is prov'd from the progresse of Astronomy Theology and Magick of the Gentiles In this Chapter the fabrick of the Sphaere is handled IT is certain that those Sciences of the Chaldaeans that is to say Astronomy which observ'd the motion of the stars Astrology which observ'd their Periods and Magick which found out the harmony of things celestial with terrestrial flourish'd in the time of Abraham Yea Abraham made exceeding skilfull in all these arts by his own Nation is said to have taught them to the Egyptians when he sojourn'd amongst them Besides Moses is said to have been learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians Acts 7. But the Egyptians wisdom was the same with the Chaldaeans for it consisted chiefly in Astronomy Astrology and Magick It will be worth while here to consider whether or no it was profitable for the Chaldeans to gain that exact knowledge of those sciences which they had in the time of Abraham in that space which was betwixt the creation of Adam and Abraham and which Scaliger according to the Jewish Greeks reckoned to be a thousand nine hundred and eight years And whether or no the Egyptians could perfectly learn those sciences as they had them in Moses time in that thousand years space which is reckoned from Adam to Moses his writing of Exodus and which according to the former Authors is two thousand four hundred and fifty three years They which have the least knowledge in Astronomy not to speak of those that are perfectly skill'd in it could no otherwise have been found out but by knowledge of the earth For the first men by several experiments observ'd that the Inhabitants of the earth in diverse places did inhabite some cold some hot climates and according to their several dwellings that they had diversities in their nights days and seasons and that the shadows fell contrary to one as to the other Nor were these observations made slightly or by chance but by long and reiterated journeys by many and wise searchers of these truths Which after long and grounded experience when they found to be certain and indubitable from the earth turning towards heaven they enquir'd from the Sun the causes of all these vanities and changes of dayes and nights Summers and Winters They observ'd that the Sun went out and return'd to the Aequator as they call'd it being confin'd in his course by two circles on both sides call'd the Tropicks through a circle which they call'd the Zodiack which touches the two Tropicks but cuts though obliquely the Aequator And that those Countries which the Sun look'd upon betwixt the Tropicks his rayes were upon them directly but his beams more distant from the other the more distant they were from the Tropicks and nigher to the Poles of heaven Then were the five Zones found out and distinguished The Torrid Zone which was under the scorching Sun betwixt the Tropicks two temperate ones which being plac'd betwixt the Tropicks and the Poles enjoy'd a meeker heat The two cold ones which from the Polar circles environing the Pole it self were always benumm'd with ice and cold There were imagined also two Colures one of the Solstices another of the Aequinoxes the two props of the Sphaere To these the Meridian was added which standing still when the rest moved might be assign'd to move and every motion might have his own Meridian The Sphaere being thus invented and fram'd and according to his position fitted to the Horizon they observed a three-fold Sphaere a direct an oblique and Parallel In the direct Sphaere they plac'd those that inhabited betwixt the Aequator In the Parallel those which were under both Poles In oblique those which liv'd in places betwixt the Aequator and either of the Poles To those that inhabited the direct Sphaere they observ'd that all the Stars did rise and set But to those that inhabited the oblique Sphaere some did rise and set others never did arise but remain'd perpetually under the Horizon that some did never set but were continually upon the brink of the Horizon That in the Parallel Sphaere none ever did arise or set but part of them were alwayes above the Horizon and part
that is the name thereof Here I imagine two things first because it is said that he might see what Adam would call them that he might see denotes that Adam made use of his reason in the proper and determinate Names which he gave to all the living creatures and fowls And hence I gather That Adam being now of ripe age was taught the natural history of all Creatures and Fowls As is known of Moses whom we read to have been by the care of Pharaohs daughter bred in all the wisdom of the Egyptians As also Rabbi Moses Ben-Maymon makes mention of the books of his Predecessors which make relation of Adam's Master whose name say they was Somboscer And although I give little credit to the Fables of the Rabbins yet there is nothing so fabulous but has a tast of an ancient truth Then it is written all which Adam called any living thing that is the name of it Hence I guess that at what time Adam did conceive the nature of all creatures and fowls he at the same time set them down in writing and made a book of all their names for how could it come to passe that every thing which Adam called any thing should be the name of it unlesse Adam at the same time when he nam'd them had then composed a Dictionary of them for the use of posterity least Adam himself should have forgotten all those living creatures and fowls which he was never afterwards to see For all Lands and Countries are not stored with all manner of Cattel and Fowls Adam call'd by their names all creatures and all Fowls and all Beasts of the earth But for Adam sayes Genesis was not found a helper like to himself It would be absurd to think that a helper was sought for Adam amongst the Beasts of the earth and the Fowls of heaven For what similitude or relation has a man with a four-footed Beast or a Bird But here you must observe that the Gentiles and those men of the first creation are here numbred amongst the rest of the living creatures as you shall finde them without distinction called with the rest of the beasts The People that treads the earth Isa 42. Yea that they were called Beasts by the Jews and so esteem'd as is prov'd before This then is the meaning of Genesis That Adam did not find a helper amongst the Females of those creatures that is the Gentiles For Adam such an excellent man who was Isch an excellent wife must be chosen who should be Ischa and not an ordinary and Gentile-woman Therefore a wife was fram'd for Adam But as a house does not arise from the bottom nor is perfected so soon as in one day to be inhabited so doe I believe that Eve was not made so perfect in that very day wherein she was taken out of the side of Adam that she was marriageable Besides Eve was a mystical figure of the Church of Christ for that same reason as we laid before Adam was a type of Christ Yea and that is most certain that the marriage of Adam and Eve was a Sacrament and mystery signifying that unanimous conjunction by which God adheres to his Church Again we understand that the Church the spouse of Christ was built thus Mat. 16. as we find Eve built in this Chapter of Genesis where God speaks to his Church in these words I multiplyed thee as the herb of the field Thou wast multiplyed and made great and thou enter'dst in and came to have womens attire Thy brests swell'd and thy hair sprouted and behold thy time a time of lovers I guesse that Eve the wife of Adam grew from her infancle to ripe age by little and little as a house grows as trees grow which are call'd the sprouts of the field from twigs to large branches so as we read in this place the Church did which was the Spouse of Christ The Lord brought Eve to Adam I guesse that Eve being now of age and ready for a man was brought to Adam at that same time when Adam was of ripe age about the three and thirtieth year of his age so as Adam may be thought to have sinned in the same year of his age as Christ dyed for the sinne of Adam Which things if they be so what difference was there betwixt the forming of Adam and building of Eve which are rehearsed in the second Chapter of Genesis and the creation of man whom God created male and female upon the sixth day of the creation which is made mention of Chapter 1. of the said Moses CHAP. IV. Cain a tiller of the ground Abel a shepherd and a keeper of sheep Cain having kill'd his brother Abel is afraid Flies the punishment of fratricide Flies like all guilty men to the East of Eden Marries a wife begets a son and in the same East of Eden builds a City Adam is said to have begotten sons and daughters from the birth of Seth to the death of Adam himself It is not written that he begat either sons or daughters from the death of Abel to the birth of Seth. WIthout doubt it is so That except the framing of Adam who was made of the dust of the earth and except the building of Eve which was taken out of the side of Adam it is probable in all other things that they grew and liu'd as other men who were created long before yea after the same manner as we know that Christ the Antitype of Adam conceiv'd after a more wonderfull manner did live and grow Which that by the History of Genesis it may be more clear let us go on After Adam had sinned he was afraid because he was naked And God made coats of skins for Adam and his wife and cloth'd them with the skins of cattel which had been kill'd With which it is probable men in those dayes did use to cloath themselves but who from thence will not guesse that there were in those dayes Curriers Shoo-makers and Skinners Adam knew his wise Eve and she conceived and bare Cain her first-born then Abel her younger son And Adam divided his substance among his children being men of age as men do who are under the verge of the Civil Law He gave his lands to till to Cain and his sheep to keep to Abel Therefore there was at that time a Meum and Tuum as there is and has been alwayes in all societies well ordered Cain had his Patrimony and his grounds to till Abel had his own goods his sheep to keep Such division being made betwixt them as uses to be made by all good Masters of Families Cain was a Husbandman Abel a keeper of sheep He that speaks of tilling presupposes a great mony other arts and he that speaks of a husbandman pre-supposes a great many other artificers But if there was no artificer in those dayes beside Cain certainly Cain was a very busy-body Therefore he digg'd Iron-Mines made Fornaces made his Hammers and his Anvile and
A THEOLOGICAL SYSTEME Upon that PRESVPPOSITION That MEN were before ADAM The first PART LONDON Printed in the Year 1655. THE PROEME IT is a natural suspition that the beginning of the world is not to be receiv'd according to that common beginning which is pitched in Adam inherent in all men who have but an ordinary knowledge in things For that beginning seems enquirable at a â—ar greater distance and from ages past very long before both by the most ancient accounts of the Chaldaeans as also by the most ancient Records of the Aegyptians Aethiopians and Scythians and by parts of the frame of the world newly discovered as also from those unknown Countries to which the Hollandeâ—s have sayled of late the men of which as is probable did not descend from Adam I had this suspition also being a Child when I heard or read the History of Genesis Where Cain goes forth where he kiâ—ls his brother when they were in the fields doing it warily like a thief least it should be discovered by any Where he flies where he fears punishment for the death of his Brother Lastly where he marries a a wife far from his Ancestors and builds a City Yet although I had this doubt in my mind yet durst I not speak any thing of it which did not rellish of that received opinion concerning Adam created first of all men till I met with the 12 13 14 verses of the 5 ch of the Epist of St. Paul to the Rom. which I have in hand and consider of now twenty years or thereabouts And as he who goes upon Ice goes warily where he cracks it being not well frozen or tender but where he finds it frozen and well hardned waâ—ks boldly So I dreaded first least this doubtfull dispute might either cuâ— my soles or throw me headlong into some deep Heresie if I should insist upon it But so soon as I knew by these verses of the Apostle that sin was in the world before it was imputed and when I knew and that certainly that sin began from Adam to be imputed I took heart and found all this dispute so solid that I pasâ—'d through it with lesse fear I found men who beyond that imputation of sin which had its original from Adam had indeed sinned but their sin was not imputed to them according to the similitude of Adam to whom first of all sin was imputed and so imputed that it was â—eputed a crime to him and to all men and turned to death But as the nature is of things that are firm in themselves the firmnesse of this Tenent appeared to me to be such that the more questions of Divinity I did turn it to and those the greater and most difficult so much the purer greater and solid Christian Religion shined forth to me Such as to Heaven So great as there she seems A tryal of which I put forth in that Essay which for that purpose I did compose for the clearing of those verses of the Apostle Nor considering the bulk of the work could I then make an end Now I intend still by way of Essay to open the body of Divinity it self by which the Doctrine of the Gospel upon presupposition of men before Adam may be laid open more at large and that it may appear that this Tenet is no ways disadvantagious to our faith which is in Christ nay that it unrevelled it from a great many niceties with which it 's entangled and does almost in every place make it clearer to our eyes and minds Which I promise without boasting Whether I do it and bring it to passe let the courteous Reader judge I doe not doubt but a great many persons who shall see the title and the intention of this book not reading the work it self with tongue and hand will streight fall upon this work as a new thing and streight draw their pens to fall upon that which they have not understood To all whom I now answer That whatsoe'r they write I shall not answer them But if there be any more calm and wise as I hope there will be a great many such who shall refrain themselves And if there be any thing in my writings which after diligent perusal shall offend them and shall admonish me in a civil and Christian way I shall yeeld my self wholly to them and affording them all respect shall endeavour to satisfie them But this especially and most exactly I promise If any man in a known case shall shew me my error that is to say that I contradict the History of Genesis in the least or any other place of the holy and Orthodox scripture which are contained in both the Testaments or step aside from them a nails breadth or from any head of Christian faith First I shall thank him for his teaching of me then I shall not be ashamed to set down my name nay I shall think it my greatest credit to fill it with capital letter in confessing my fault which I detest if any such I have committed For although I am my own greatest friend yet truth's more dear to me which I only professe My name I do not now mention for modesties sake not as conscious of any evil action For I fear lest I should abuse so noble a subject by the slendernesse of my Treatise and lest all which I shall study or frame upon such high matter should be far inferiour But let them account which know me what and how great have been my tossings up and down these thirty years and what chances have drawn me in that time forward and backward So that more by meditation than reading and serious study as was needfull I have at last finisht this ill compos'd and undigested work Therefore I intreat my Reader he will be pleased to take this beginning howsoever in good part The Contents of the Chapters in the first Book CHAP. I. THe verses of the Apostle Original sin in them is chiefly handled The Law there meant is the Law of Adam not the Law of Moses Of sin natural and legal imputed and not imputed As also of Death natural and legal Humane Laws were appointed for the governing of right reason They are bounded by men The Laws of God are above men Pag. 1 II. The natural sins of men are the very defaults of humane nature the causes of which are not to be ascribed to the sins of Adam Legal sin imputed to men by the sin of Adam is additional Conceiv'd spiritually and not propagated naturally 7 III. The natural death of meâ—arises from the nature of man which is mortal nor is caus'd by the condemnation of death decreed against Adam Which is the legal death And is meant spiritually not naturally 12 IV. Men were in the beginning created according to the Image of God and very good Of the Image of God in the first creation Of the Image of God in the second creation Men were created upright in the beginning but of vitious matter
which in another place we shall speak more at large as in Deut. 26. Thou hast chosen the Lord to be thy God and the Lord hath chosen thee to day to be to him a peculâ—ar people and in the 27 Chapter Thou art made this day the people of the Lord thy God Therefore God as he is above Kings and as he is a God not only good but exceeding good was mov'd towards the people of the Jews with all those affections of love compassion and care above all the affections with which good Kings are mov'd towards their people That love by which the Lord chose the Jews to be his people was with command and â—ower inasmuch as he was made both their God and King Inasmuch I say as Kings govern their own people and God goâ—erns and commands the Kings themselves by which right and title God is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords But the Lordship and Government of God over the Jews was with majesty and power for their security and salvation not of tyranny to their ruine and destruction God said to Abraham Do not fear Gen. 15. I am thy defender and thy very great reward As also Deut. 33. Blessed art thou Israel who is like to thee a people who art sav'd by the Lord who is the shield of thy help and the sword of thy glory Therefore Gods chief rule and government was over the Jews for which reason he is called the Lord God of the Jews and the Jews were called the people of God a peculiar people and the Lords own Inheritance A people in respect of God by right of government and Kingly power A propertie in respect of the Lord and by right of Lordship By which signification also the Jews are called the lot and inheritance of the Lord Israel my inheritance Isay 19. To a part of which they come as servants and for which cause the Jews are call'd the servants of God The seed of Israel my servant Chro. 1.16 I have said to thee Israel thou art my servant Isa 14. And Psalm 123. Behold as the eys of the servants are in the hands of his master as the eys of the handmaid in the hands of their mistresses so are our eys towards the Lord our God Where observe that God is Lord and Mistresse of the Jews as he was before their Father and Mother It is so ordinary to call the Jews the propertie lot and inheritance of the Lord his servants his vineyard as also his vessels his houshold-stuff and whatsoever comes under the compass of inheritance and Lordship I say all these things are so frequent in holy Scripture that if I should stay longer in rehearsal of them I should lose time God was bound to the Jews and as it is in the 7. Chapter of Deut. God was joyn'd to them he chus'd and lov'd them that in requital the Jews might chuse God be joyn'd to God and entirely love God Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength Deut. 6. Yea which was the greatest relation symnathie and tie of friendship betwixt God and the Jews God exalted the Jews to a name to a praise and to a glory that they might be honoured by thoâ—e who were renowned commended and glorious Praise becomes the upright Psal 33. As a girdle cleaves to the loyns of a man so have I joyn'd to my self all the house of Israel that it might be to me a people a renown a praise and a glory But first of all the Lord call'd the Jews unto holinesse that he might be sanctified by those that were holy Be ye holy as I am holy You shall be holy unto me because I the Lord am holy Levit. 20. and Exod. 19. You shall be to me a Kingly Priesthood and a holy Nation As you also may read every where the Jews anointed and elected to be Kings Priests and Prophets which are most exquisite and choice names of holinesse Because the Jews were elected unto holinesse they are commonly called a Holy Nation and a Holy People in the Bible yea and simply holy In which St. Paul is to be understood Eph. 3. where speaking of himself he says To me the least of the Saints that is to me least of the Jews For Paul who was a great example of Christian humility was not such a one as in regard of his sanctity would boast himself a Saint So must you likewise understand that Acts 16. That the nations may receive their lot amongst the Saints that is to say that the Nations may become partakers of the blessing and election of the Jews for the Saints in that place are the Jews That lot and those Saints the Apostle Peter hath expounded in his 2 Epist Chap. 1. Peter sayes he the Apostle to those who have their lot with us in the common faith which is in Christ But Peter wrote to the Gentiles who had the same faith with the Jews the same blessing the same election in Christ for which cause St. Peters Epistles are call'd General Epistles To this adde what Paul wrote to the Gentiles the Colossians chap 1. Giving thanks to God who makes us worthy of a part of the lot of the Saints in light The Apostle makes himself a gentile of gentiles when he writes who made us worthy In the light was meant the same Christ mentioned by St. Peter Further these things are clear'd by St. John who was himself a Jew in his general Epistle or in his Epistle written to all the Gentiles Chap. 1. That you may likewise have fellowship of blessednesse with us With us that is with the Jews Therefore the Jews are holy and the Nation unholy or the Gentiles Psalm 33. Judge me O Lord and judge my cause against the unholy Nation That is Gentile and not Israelitish For that holinesse from which the Jews were called holy the Lord taught his people as also for that he gave his word to Iacob and his judgements to Israel And in that regard that the Jews were called to the justice of God they were called a just generation Psal 14. The Lord is in the just generation that is the Lord is in the nation and generation of the Jews The Jews were likewise called simply just in which sense take those words of the Wife of Pontius Pilate advising him not to meddle with Christ Have nothing to do with that just man as likewise that of Luke And the Jews observing sent deceiptfull men to take him in his speech by pretending to be just who should feign themselves just that is Jews to whom as the Priests and Scribes believed Christ would easilier discover his opinion of not paying tribute to Caesar As likewise the Histories of the Jews are called the Books of the just Josue 10. Is it not written in the books of the just that is to say in the books wherein the acts of the Jews were written For that cause also was
to the particular Lords of time and that these particular Lords who receiv'd it of their general distributed them likewise to their followers so that every star had its lordship of time in order That also those general Lords had special ones in their bosoms yearly monthly daily hourly in the accounting of which and placing them in order it cannot be set down how diligent the antient Astrologers have been especially in the giving and receiving of time which the stars substitute to another did borrow from one another They observ'd that stars did alter and change from good to evil and that one Lord of time did not confer good or evil but many and when good or bad at one time happen'd to one man these contrarieties could not have been foreseen from one Lord but many For as the aspects of the stars their courses circulations and meetings were mix'd so were mens actions and fortunes mix'd upon earth Several things besides were observ'd of this kind which are common with the Masters of this Science And a great many more things which by the antiquity and malice of time are bereft us and lost with the books of the Chaldaeans and Egyptians Of which if they were extant we would perhaps see what Psellus hath written of the Books of Teucer of Babylon Whosoever sayes he reads them shall find many things in them wonderful of the Celestial signs and Decans which arise with them which have influence on several actions and events I confesse that all these things and all matters of Nativity consisted of wandring and arbitrary principles but being various and so often reiterated for that very same reason were to be found out by observation and experiment And for that cause must needs have been a perfecting through a great many ages For which canse the antient tradition of them was in such repute amongst the antients that it had Patrons both Gods Heroes and men Mercurius Aesculapius Anubius Petosiris Necepson Orpheus and a great many more who have written Aphorisms concerning the determinations of the stars and who have thought that something which wee think idle stories and have added weight to this smoke Which things so often as I consider with my self I wonder no longer at so many Thousand years which Cicero sayes the Chaldaeans set down in trying of Children according to their Nativities Hence that scrupulous care amongst the ancient Casters of Nativities in finding out the partile Horoscope in distributing the lordships of time among the stars in searching out the Climactericals Most of which to this age unknown the singular and excellent Salmasius hath wonderfull exactly and learnedly laid open according to his hidden learning in all sciences in which he is excellent CHAP. XI Of the antiquity of the Divinity and Magick of the Gentiles THat the Divinitie of the Gentiles was an addition to that most ancient and first Astrologie none can deny For the first men strayed a great while upon earth before they turn'd towards heaven and gaind from the dimensions of the earth the dimensions of heaven Astronomers who succeeded them stray'd long in heaven in finding out the courses of the stars Astrologers who followed them look'd long down upon the earth to find out by diligent consideration what power the stars had upon earth The Divines who were the Disciples of the Astrologers turn'd their eyes back again upon heaven and when they saw those celestial fires as it were pierce our inferiour bodies with their rayes for which cause the Bible calls them the host of heaven they thought them to be Gods omnipotent to whom all things did give obedience and turn'd all things towards themselves and so gave them names either from the power they exercised upon earthly things or from some peculiar effect that they had in mens destinies They attributed to the world its God or genius whom before I did shew at large to have been the Prince of the inferiour Gods and a spirit of the first creation They call'd him Pan and gave to him a whistle of seven reeds at the sound of which all the rest of the Satires and Pans did dance signifying that that universal spirit and God did move and moderate all the rest by the harmony and consent of the seven Plants Afterwards they assign'd to particular places towns peoples houses their own Genius All which because they are tedious and known to most I passe But likewise because most men did referr the beginnings and causes of things not only to stars but to supercelestial intelligences and to the author of the world many things were spoken of gods and their degrees which contentions Mercury of Egypt to compose call'd by them Trismegistus and esteem'd a God perform'd a wonderfull thing as Firmicus relates Mercury of Egypt says he wrote twenty thousand volumes of divers substances and beginnings of degrees of celestial powers which were diversly related In which the Astrologie and Divinity of the Egyptians was explained Which arts he had taught Aesculapius and Anubius The which that it may be confirm'd by good authority Iamblichus relates this of those bookes in his Mercurials Mercury says he made twenty thousand books as Meneteus says yea thirty thousand threescore thousand five hundred and twenty five books He wrote a hundred books of the Empyrean Gods as many of the ethereal a thousand of the selestial Hence we may guesse how exceeding antient the Theologie of the Gentiles was both by the Antiquitie of Mercury himself as also from the first authors of the Theologie of the Gentiles who long before Mercury could not agree concerning their own Gods Hence it is also manifest that the Theologie of the Gentils flow'd frō the knowledg of the stars because whatsoever fables the Gentils did invent concerning their own Gods were understood of the influences of the Planets their aspects and conjunctions Therefore they feign'd that Saturn was harsh and cruel because the appearance of that star in heaven was malignant and hurtfull That Jove was given to love because his star was bountifull and exhilarated mens hearts That Mars being fierce and bloodie was mollified by the intervening of Venus That their conjunction was hinder'd by the Sun And the rest which in relating I should be troublesom Besides the Theologie of the Gentiles begot their Magick and those which were the Priests of their Gods were also their Magicians The Antients thorght there were hidden vertues in all things terrestrial either by a divine ray or a vertue so disposing them or infus'd by intelligences by ways of mediate or impress'd in them in the creation by primitive copies That likewise all things terrestrial were in heaven in a celestial and pure form in the intelligences more simply and intellectually in the primitive copies purely and in manner of Idea's And that all things by divine attraction and symbolical love were reciprocable and by mutual breathings fed one upon another That things celestial and supercelestial by their influxions did draw things
if that day he was made he had perfectly known all arts and sciences Therefore he understood them not Let us grant that the world was made with Adam it will not therefore follow that all sciences and arts were fram'd with Adam Truly in the beginning the prime causes and means of all sciences were in God but the seeds of them were only sowed in Adam which could not arise but by meditation reasoning with himself by cultivating and time Adam might attain all arts and sciences but not for that cause he attained to them that minute he was born Besides Adam could not understand any thing of things past or judge of things to come as a man though most perfect unlesse by knowledge or conjecture or rather by consideration of things present according to the common phrase that there can be nothing in the knowledge or intellect of the most perfect man which is not first his sense For Example then Adam could not subdivide the regions of heaven which is the knowledge of the Sphere but that he first must find out the regions of the earth unlesse he had first travel'd about the world and view'd it But such a thing could not be perform'd but by daily journeys meditation and comparing according to the Psalm One day â—elates to another and one night preaches knowledge to another In which place the day signifies the apprehension of things which is signified by the sight the most noble of the senses The night the recollection of those things apprehended by consultation and meditation But if Adam as a man yea in the integrity of his perfection or before sin which is the same thing could not but by little and little and succession of time gain all sciences arts and disciplines Certainly he must be far longer time in gaining them after his fall especially according to their supposition who think that his mine was darkned and dulld by ignorance of all things Besides according to them there is so short a time betwixt the framing of Adam and his sin that Adam could know nothing but what cost him travel enough yea the same travel and rate as all disciplines are sold for to sinful men Those which are scrupulously addicted to thâ— books of Moses use to referre the inventions oâ— all arts sciences and disciplines either to Adaem or his posterity because in Moses there is no man read of before Adam This they believe upon the same score as they believe that all antiquities both in natural and humane historie are rontained in holy Writ especially in Moses I intend not God forbid I should either diminish the authority of the Scriptures or doubt the truth of them I will tell you ingenuously what 's my opinion 〈◊〉 if I be mistaken let it be upon my self 〈…〉 and will still hold That there is as much in the Bible as God has granted us to know either of the Original of the World of Prophecies Divine mysteries or our salvation Those things which belong meerly to our Salvation consist but in a few things And in them the holy Spirit has bestow'd so much pains and clearnesse as belongs to humane capacity Those things which concern other things are set down more at large And concerning them I shall openly declare that which all know but most are loath to speak That so great things are written with so great carelessness and obscuritie that sometimes nothing can be more obscure nothing more intricate Seeking with my self what should be the reason of this I answered thus in reason to my self as any one would have done That God who would have himself known by men hid himself and would not be perfectly seen For that he professed concerning himself to the Jews That he would dwell in a cloud And therefore in the Old Testament open'd himself unto them not always under one name And in the Gospel hinder'd the Devils and the Spirits from divulging who he was Besides whatsoever he said was a Parable and by divers circumlocutions he delay'd his auditors But if God speaking face to face spoke intricately and aenigmatically it is not unlike that the Scriptures remitted to posterity should be more knottie and intricate Hence those unusual apparitions which we read to have been seen by holy Writers set down in unusual and strange ways of expression But howsoever who will make it good although all we have received be knotty and intricate that those are the Originals which we now have Certainly it cannot be denyed but the Books of Josuah Chronicles and Kings have been copied out and I shall make it appear The miracle of Joshua at whose command the Sun and Moon stood still is manifestly copied out For it is written in the 10th Chapter of that book And the Sun and Moon stood still till the people were avenged of their enemies Is it not written in the books of the just This miracle then is taken out of the books of the just that is out of the books of the Jews who were called just as I observ'd before I say taken out of another book whether it were the Original or no. And nothing more frequent in other books Behold they are written in the books of Nathan or in the books of Gad or in the books of the remembrances of the Kings of Israel and the Kings of Judah or in the words of Jehu the son of Hanani or in the words of Hosea the Prophet or in the Prophet Isay every one of them having their own History to which it had relation now lost Whatsoever is read in the Kings or Châ—onicles are gather'd out of the books of Nathan Gad Jehu Hosea Isay c. Whence they are taken and gather'd as is found by the confession of the authors who wrote them I know not by what author it is found out that the Pentateuch is Moses his own copy It is so reported but not believ'd by all These Reasons 〈…〉 believe that those Five Books are not the Originals but copied out by another Because Moses is there read to have died For how could Moses write after his death They say that Josuah added the death of Moses to Deuteronomic But who added the death of Josuah to that book which is so call'd and which being written by Josuah himself is reckon'd in Moses his Pentateuch Besides we read in the 1. Cha. of Deut. These are the words which Moses spake beyond Jordan Which if Moses had spoken he had said on this side Jordan For Moses had not pass'd Jordan nay he never pass'd it but he that writes Deuteronomy sayes beyond Jordan because it was in the holy Land and because that place in the plains of Moab where Moses last spoke to the Israelites was beyond Jordan And this beyond Jordan you shall find repeated often by the same Moses It being to him on this side Jordan There is also a passage cited out of a Book whose Title was The Warrs of the Lord. The words in Numbers are these Whence
it is said in the book of the warrs of the Lord. As he did in the red sea so shall he do in the brooks of Arnon But that Book of the Wars of the Lord could not be cited by Moses in which there could be mention made of those things which were done at Arnon in the very place where Moses perform'd this exploit Truly I believe that Moses made a Diarie of all those wonderfull things which God did for the people of Israel under the conduct of Moses From which collections the books of the wars of the Lord might afterwards be taken Which for that cause was neither the Original nor the Original of the Original but indeed a Copy from a Copy That which we read in the third Chapter of Dentronomy does manifest that they are written long after Moses Jair the son of Manasses possessed all the Country of Argob and it is call'd after his name Basan Hanoch Jair to this day Moses could never have said to this day For Jair scarcely had possession of his own Villages at that time when Moses is brought in so speaking And hence it manifestly appears that the author intended to shew whence according to the most antient and first original that City was call'd Jair deriving the cause from Moses to his own time and therfore as was fit call'd it Jair from that antient Jair unto this day The like we read in the same Deuteronomy in the same Chapter Only Og King of Basan was remaining of the race of the Giants His iron bed is shown which is at Rabbath of the children of Ammon For what needed Moses to have said to the Jews that his bed was shown at Rabbath of the children of Ammon that they might learn the bignesse of the Giant Why I say needed he to send the Jews to another place to see the bed of the Giant who had seen him in his own Land and overcome him and measur'd him as he lay along in the fields of Basan It is a great deal more likely to think that this Writer to gain credit to what he wrote concerning the King and Giant Ogâ— of whom he made mention spake of his iron bed as a testimony of the wonderfull spoils of that terrible Giant which were not at that time to be seen at Basan where Og lay but in Rabbath of the children of Ammon the succession of ages having changed the place We read also in the 2. of Deuteronomy The Horraeans first dwelt in Seir whom the children of Esau driving out dwelt there as Israel did in the Land of his possession which the Lord gave him In these words it is said That the Idumeans who are the Sons of Esau inhabited Mount Seir driving out the Inhabitants of those Mountains And that the Jews again inhabited this Mount Seir and gain'd Mount Seir as a possession driving out and destroying those Idumaeans Yet it is most certain that the Idumaeans according to Moses himself were not thrown out in his time as it is in Deutronomy in the same Chapter And the Lord said to me saith Moses You shall pass through the confines of your brethren the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir and they shall be afraid of you Therefore take heed you move not against them for I will not give you of their Land one foot for I have given Mount Seir in possession to Esau Therefore Idumaea was not given to the Jews in the dayes of Moses but long time after as David Prophesies Psalm 108. Over Edom will I cast out my shooe that is I will extend my possession over Idumaea For possession is taken by setting down of the foot and the shoe in this place is the foot the thing containing for that which is contained And David made also good his prophecie 1 Chro. chap. 18. where we read that David consecrated silver and gold Which he had taken from 〈◊〉 Nations Edom Moab and Ammon And befides in the same place Abishai the son of Zervia smtoe Edom in the valley of salt eighteen thousand and put a Garrison in Edom that Edom might serve David Therefore in the time of Davâ—d and not of Moses Edom became a land of possession to Israel as God had promis'd as being a lot and part of the Holy Land And hence it is gather'd that these essayes of Deutronomie were written long after Davids time a great while after Moses I need not trouble the Reader much further to prove a thing in it self sufficiently evident that the five first books of the Bible were not written by Moses as is thought Nor need any one wonder after this when he reads many things confus'd and out of order obscure deficient many things omitted and misplaced when they shall consider with themselves that they are a heap of Copie confusedly taken Those things which we read concerning Lamech Gen. 4. are defective Because I have slain a man to my hurt and a young man to my grief For there is no mention made of that young man whom Lamech slew That History which is related in the fourth book of Moses concerning the circumcision of the son of Moses is desicient and is conjectur'd to be deficient because we see clearly what it should be The The 20 Chapter of Genesis of Abrahams sojourning with Abimelech King of Gerar is misplaced For it is not likely that the King would lust after Sarah who was an old woman and with whom it left off to be according to the manner of women and who was not capable of pleasure As also Genesis 26. the same is to be thought of Rebecca Nor must we think that the King was then in love with Rebecca Jacob and Esau being thâ—n of age That which we read in the 10 of Deuteronomy is misplac'd The Children of Israel remov'd their camp from Beeroth of the sons of Jacan where Aaron dyed And in the same place He separated the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant Though long before the death of Aaron the Levites were seperated to look to the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant according to Gods command often iterated both in Leviticus and Numbers Yea whilst Aaron himself was alive yea still after that the Tabernacle was perfected the Levites carried the Ark as often as the Children of Israel remoâ—ed their Camp And if the Reader will take pains let him but run over this tenth Chapter of Deut. and he shall find the death of Aaron preposterously inserted in that Narration having nothing there to do and nothing beâ—onging to the buâ—nesse Yea he shall find it contrary to the computation of time whilst they were talking of the delivery of the Law of Sinai long before Aarons death You shall likewise find that passage in the 18 of Exodus misplaced And Jethro came the Father-in-law of Moses and his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped by Joâ—dan For how could Jethro come to Moses hiâ— son-in-law after the going
the light of the Sun upon the dyal should be taken for the Sun it self as Strato of Sydon was saluted and proclaimed King without any dispute because first of all the Sydonians on the top of all their City he shew'd not the Sun it self but the light of the Sun over against the East and found first of all the rising of the sun in the West others in vain expecting towards the East to see the Sun which Justin relates out of Troyus Pompeius in his 18th book Right reason therefore and approved authority joyn themselves with these places and the wordâ— of the Scripture that this miracle should only be understood of the dyal of Achaz In which the Sun running his course as he uses to doe the dyal standing in his own place and the gnomon of the dyal not being stirr'd against the custom order and natural effect of the Sun and shadow by a miracle and way to men unknown the shadow was brought back ten degrees and that they are deceiv'd who think that the heaven and the Sun went backward I say that they are deceiv'd because they have averr'd it as a general miracle in the heaven and Sun which was to be understood particularly and in the dyal of Achaz CHAP. V. How the Sun stood still in Gabaon in the miracle of Joshua That long day should not extend it self beyond the Country of Gabaon LEt us try if any such thing may be understood in the miracle of Joshua in whose wrath the Sun was stop'd Ecclus. Chap. 20. As also stood stil and obey'd the voice of a man Joshua 10. God had routed the Amorrhites before Israel who being beaten from the top of Gabaon to the descents of Bethoron sought for shelter in the valleys Joshua was resolv'd to destroy them utterly whom least the night should rescue from his sword and revenge he said in the sight of Israel Thou Sun stirr not from Gabaon nor thou Moon from the valley of Ajalon And the Sun Moon stood stil til the people had reveng'd themselves on their enemies And in the same place The Sun stood still for the space of a whole day and made no hast to go down There is none but upon the first sight of these words will affirm that the Sun stood still in heaven But if any one weigh more attentively the force of the miracle and contain the miracle within its own bounds he shall easily find that the light and rayes of the Sun are understood not the Sun it self It gives us boldnesse to conjecture so because it is said That the Sun stood still in the midst of heaven For the Sun was then going down when Joshua bid it stand still Nor could the Sun then stand in the middle of heaven where he was not for the going down of the Sun is distant from the middle of the heaven a whole Quadrant Therefore this miracle is so to be understood That when the Sun was really going down the light of the Sun without the Sun it self by a great miracle remain'd as yet in the Atmosphaere or region of vapours which is over the middle of the air and the skie And that light of the Sun without the Sun it self did beat upon the City of Gabaon and the mountain of Gabaon so that those rayes which came from that light being reverberated from that mountain shone through all the valley insomuch as the Amorrhites who fled could not eschew Joshua who pursued them which was the cause of the miracle I began to be of this opinion long ago living in a very pleasant valley amongst the Cadurcian Mountaines whence a little of the heaven appearing allow'd us the sight of the Sun about six hours in the Summer in the foresaid valley But the Sun in the mean time who to my thinking was set before through the distances and openings betwixt the hills did beat upon and guild the high ground over against it with which light the whole valley shone till the Sun was under the Horizon So it came to passe that in the hill over against me I saw a Sun without a Sun for many hours together which was to me like a miracle which so often as I saw I bethought my self of the miracle of Ioshua that God by a greater miracle could retain the light of the Sun without the Sun than that by which I had seen the Sun over against me upon the mountain As far as my reason could serve me I thought I was arrived to a conjecture because it is written Thou Sun upon Gabaon move not for the Sun at his going down did enlighten the opposite Mountain of Gabaon and not every Region of the Horizon which no doubt it had look'd upon had it stood still in the midst of heaven God therefore retain'd in the Mountain of Gabaon and not in all the places of the Horizon by a memorable miracle that light by which the Sun going down shone in that Mountain and the neighbouring places Or whether it were better to believe that the similitude of the Sun going down by the Atmosphaere and refractions which are ordinary in it did appear after the Sun was down As the Hollanders in Nova Zembla after a night of 2 moneths and a half long say that they saw the Sun a little sooner than they could expect him because the Atmosphaere represented the light of the Sun to them some days before they saw the Sun it self which Petrus Gassendus a famous man and a great Philosopher known over all the World hath related and taken special notice of 1 Book Chap. 19. Of his Instâ—tution of Astronomy It is like wise written in Josua And the Sun hastened not to goe down for the space of a whole day Which is expounded in the 46 Chapter of Ecclesiasticus And one day was made as two The space of one day which Josua observed not a whole day but to be understood For that light of the Sun which gilded the hill of Gabaon vanished by little and little and a light like that of the Moon did succeed till the Israelites had revenged themselves of their enemies In which sense those places in Iosua are taken Thou Moon move not beyond the Valley of Ajalon Also in the same place of Iosua There was not before nor shall there be hereafter so long a day And truly that one day is made as two It will take but little time up and it will be worth while to relate a contention betwixt a Minorite Frier and a Mathematician The Mathematician was shewing that there were days which extended the length of many according to the obliquitie of the Sphaere yea a day of six moneths with them who live under the parallel The Divine at this wax'd angry crying it was impious and to be punished with a branding Iron with which Hereticks are marked to affirm that there could be any longer days than in the miracle of Iosua where one day was made as two Especially since it is
inconvenient to joyn Strabo to Plato in his third Book of Geographie where he relates this of the Turdetans the Inhabitants of Spain These sayes he are held the most learned amongst all the Spaniards they use Grammar and have their monuments of Antiquitie written and Poems and Laws in Verse for six thousand years as they say The Turdetans then had their Laws long before the floud if in the days of Strabo they had then written six thousand years which they being themselves in that deluge untouch'd kept likewise untouch'd for the space of six thousand years continually and us'd and observ'd them Scaliger likewise thinks that the first Olympiad was celebrated in the year of the world 3074 and that the destruction of Troy was four hundred and eight years or thereabouts before the first Olympiad And Servius has observ'd upon that Verse of Virgils Th' old Cities sack'd reign'd in for many years Ancient sayes he or noble because it is said to have reigned two thousand eight hundred years The beginning then of the Kingdom of Troy must be before the beginning of the world and if Troy was rul'd in for two thousand and eight hundred years Phrygia as also Spain must be said to be freed from the floud of Noah Which you may also think of India which Father Liber first enter'd From him says Solinus in his 25 Chap. unto Alexander the great there are reckon'd six thousand four hundred and fifty years and three moneths over accounting it by the Kings who are said in his time a hundred and fifty three of them to have liv'd Salmasius the restorer of Pliny in Solinus and the disperser of his errours sets down this number in Pliny Besides the same Scaliger is author that Semiramis was before the destruction of Troy and places her in the first age after the Floud and sayes that Sanchoniato liv'd in her time and makes Iombal more antient than Sanchoniato and sayes that Sanchoniato receiv'd many things from Iombal out of Porphyrius And Eusebius relates that Sanchoniato met with some reserv'd pieces or volumes of the Ammonites which he took out of the Repositorie of the Church where they had lain But how can such stories agree with the time of Noahs floud To this add that neither Sanchoniato nor Iombal antienter than he are reckon'd amongst the sons of Noah And it must needs be that those volumes lay without the Ark and were preserv'd on which Sanchoniato lighted as Eusebius says Here to reckon those things which I set out before more at large That is an inconsistent time which is reckon'd from Adam to Abraham the Chaldaean or to Moses the Egyptian and it is unadviâ—edly set down to be sufficient to gain the knowledge of those arts which Abraham and Moses were exact in But certainly the time 'twixt Noahs floud and Abraham would be likewise a great deal more incompetent if according to the same inconsideratenesse it should be proportioned as sufficient for the attainment of the forementioned disciplines especially Astronomy Theology and Magick The which that they did flourish in the time of Abraham is evidently prov'd because Vr of the Chaldees is call'd by Eusebius Camarina and Camarina is the same with the City of the Chaldaeans And the Camarini were call'd Chaldaeans aswell as Astrologers and Magicians For the name of the Chaldaeans was a token of Nation and Art It is likewise written of the Camarinian Magicians that they raise Leviathan who is the Devil That there is a land and water Leviathan is certain or which is as much that there are land and water Devils â—rom whom Philippus Codurcus a learned man and â—ell skillâ—â— in the Hebrew imagined that those Spirits which we in our mother tongue call Luithons or Luthins have taken their derivation To think that these Theorems of Magick or spels hatefull to God were kept in the Ark that they might not be lost in the floud were a wickedness to believe But to say that the art was invented or repaired betwixt the floud and Abraham were impossible to prove as other things are CHAP. X. Of Eternity before Eternity Of Eternity from Eternity THose who think that the floud of Noah was over all Nations erre much in the ordering of all actions and dispensing of them since that time They are likewise very much deceiv'd in the ordering and dispensing of all actions since the beginning of the world who affirm that the world was made with Adam They have streightned the beginning and the ending in such narrow bounds that it cannot by any means fit to so small room which is read of the world created from eternity and which shall endure to eternity I need not say amongst Historians and Philophers who were Gentiâ—es but likewise amongst the Prophets and Apostles But indeed that little space of time to which they limit the things past and things to come those two eternities how well does it accord with that expression of the short garment in Isay Chapter 4â—28 A short garment sayes he cannot cover both It is written I confesse That God created the heaven and the earth in the beginning That I dare boldly affirm we know not that beginning I know there is a setled number of the stars in heaven there is a determinate number of the grains of sand in the Sea shore But I think to make up a sum of all those stars all those grains all those ages which have bin from the beginning is without the compasse of all Arithmetick and humane account In these numbers there is no number nor need we to comprehend the number of them It is enough that God doth know the number of the stars which he created The times are not hidden from the Almighty Moreover I find two several acceptions of eternity in the holy Scripture The first is by which God is call'd eternal before time and before all things created Another by which eternity is bounded by ages and the beginning of the creation These two â—gnifications of eternity are both together comprehended in that place of the Proverbs where Wisdom is brought in speaking after this manner God possess'd me from the beginning of his wayes before he made any thing Or according to others I had a rule from eternity from the head from the beginnings of the earth or from the creation of the world There appears here a two-fold beginning one before time and before the creation of the earth one from ages from the beginnings of the earth or since the creation of the world The first is distinguished from the second because in the first God is only said to have possessed wisdom in the second place to have ordain'd and install'd her to have a rule over all things created Both beginnings then are eternal but the first antientest The first beginning was eternal by its self eternal before eternity The second begining was eternal in regard of us since our understanstanding cannot reach its number St. Paul hath most clearly
believe the number of years that the College of Chaldaeans affirm'd that they had spent in the consideration of the world sayes Diodorus For til the expedition of Alexander into Asia they reckon'd four hundred and seventy thousand years since the time they had begun to observe the stars Diodorusâ— thought it hard to be believ'd but not impossible as believing himself that the motion of the eternal circuit by an eternal Law was ordered by the constellations and the stars And that was it which made Cicero living at the same time with Diodorus write the same things of the Chaldaeans whom he calls Babylonians For they deceive us sayes he in saying that the Chaldaeans busied themselvs four hundred and seventy thousand years in calculating the nativities of all children for if they had so done they had not left off But we know no body that can inform us that such a thing is practised or ever was Cicero refutes not the account of years in that place which he did not think impossible otherwise by impossibility he had refuted it but the vanity of the Caldaeans predictions those careful trials and experiments given by tradition concerning the Nativities of Children all through the continuation of so many years which to Cicero seem'd improbable For why sayes he should the Chaldaeans have discontinued and not in his time likewise have calculated Nativities Besides that wonderful number of years which as Diodorus and Cicero relates the Chaldaeans bestowed either in the observation of the stars or in the raising of Schemes in Nativities is not different from those bundles of times and years which as I shewed before the Chaldaeans made use of in the computation of the inaugurating of their Kings For the number of those times was so great and return'd so far upon former ages that they numbred not those many sums of ages by years not by thousands of years but by several compactions of years The Egyptians contending in Astrologie with the Chaldaeans thought that the motions of all the stars and constellations and every particular one of them was ordained from eternity And the same Diodorus affirms that they had preserved in memorie the descriptions of those motions all through an incredible computation of years As it is likewise known that they kept the Histories of their Kings all along through incredible computations of time Having Gods for their Kings and Heroes and men Of whose most ancient Dynasties marvellous things are related by Herodotus and other Writers of the Egyptian affairs Salmasius the learnedst both amongst those Greeks and Romans makes mention of a most antient Writer who sets down thirty Dynasties of Kings and writes that they endur'd three Myriads of years expounds those myriads to have been ten thousand thousand and three thousand years There are those in Egypt who say that the times of their King God Vulcan was worn out of memory whom they affirm to have reign'd infinite ages in Egypt And that the Sun the Son of Vulcan did possesse the Kingdom of Egypt six hundred thousand six hundred and seventy six years after his Father Salmasius the most acute inquirer of their affairs recounting the number in his Climacterical years Nor must we traduce the truth of Herodotus and other Writers of the Egyptian affairs because Diodorus has written That they embrac'd those wonderful relations for truths For those words of Diodorus have relation to something else than those almost infinite accounts of time For Diodorus in so doing should have turned those monstrous relations back upon himself who doubted not to relate those four hundred and seventy thousand years of the Chaldaeans which were also hard to be believ'd For it is indeed probable that Herodotus an excellent Writer and very acurate in most things and Diodorus himself an assertor of Historical truths spake nothing of those accounts but what they had heard either from Egyptian Priests out of their records and had acuratly examin'd and seen them in Egypt which for their own parts both Herodotus and Diodorus ingenuously confesse But Diodorus himself also relates this of the Egyptians nor thinks it any wonder in part 2. book 1. of his Library That the Egyptian Kings born in that Country rul'd Egypt above 4700 Yeares Whose times we shall find to have surpassed above threescore thousand years if we reckon that there is already a thousand two hundred years past since threescore of the Kings of France began to reign But to say that those thousands of years and myriads which I have mentioned are to be understood of Lunary years or of the the third part of the year as they say it was sometimes divided into the Spring Summer and Autumn were to make Objections to no purpose Since Diodorus himself says this of the Chaldaeans That they said that the Sun and Moon runs through the twelve signs of the Zodiack That the Sun ends his course in a year The Moon in a month As likewise Herodotus says this expresly of the Egyptians that he had learned of the Inhabitants of Heliopolis who were thought the most skilfull of all the Egyptians That the Egyptians were the first of all men that found out years and divided them into twelve months This division of years and months is meant in the first Chapter of Genesis where he speaks thus of the creation of the Sun and Moon Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven and let them divide the night and the day and let them be for signs and times and dayes and years For the dayes in this place are moneths which are divided into thirty days and years which are made up of twelve moneths The Sun being the greater Luminary had alotted to him the greatest parts of the year The Moon had alotted to it the lesse that is the dision of the moneths Therefore that division of years and moneths was alotted by creation and nature from God himself to the Sun and Moon nor was there ever any other account used among the Chaldaeans and Egyptians men most expert and skilfull in the knowledge of the stars But the Chaldaeans were so far from augmenting the numbers by breaking their years which they reckoned always by the Sun by dividing them into monethly and Lunary years that of those very Solar years they bound up their years into compacted numbers which they us'd for conveniency of reckoning and a farr shorter way of account Let them alone then who ever uses such trifling diminutions and divisions to make such handfuls and heaps of years which they neither know or ever could satisfie themselves in to this day However it comes to pass it will always appear that those myriads I spoke of will alwayes much exceed in the least computation that beginning of the creation which is alwayes set down in Adam CHAP. VII Of the Egyptian Kings who were men Plato in Timaeus concerning the warriers of the Atlantick Ilands is cited The sons of this age wiser than the sons of light Of the
prodigious account of the Chinensians according to Scaliger BUt grant that Herodotus were negligent and carelesse in many things wrote by hatred or favour related Fables and that Cicero in his first book of Laws tells many of them Shall we likewise call him a cheater and a truthlesse person whom Cicero calls The father of History that we shall not believe him in those things wherein he had no interest and wherein he was both an eye and ear-witnesse with others and upon certain and sure grounds hath left us the relation He relates in his Euterpe That he was brought in by the Egyptian Priests into a great room that he there saw three hundred forty and one woodden Colosses whom the Egyptian Priests related had been the images of so many Egyptian Kings And as many woodden Colosses which were the images of so many Egyptian Priests And in the time of their discourse one Hecataeus relating his descent and ascribing it to the sixteenth God that they on the other side did likewise rehearse their descens but would not admit what was spoken by Hecataeus that a man could be progenerated of God They likewise agreed in that that every one of those woodden Colosses had one honest man to his Father And those men that were Kings the Priests declar'd to have been all such but far distant from those Kings who were Gods On the other side stood the images of the Priests according to the life that every one had liv'd The Priests rehearsing them and shewing every one of their Statues til they had shown them all affirm'd That every one of them was says Herodotus the son of a Priest deceased The Priests told that the time that those Kings had reign'd was ten thousand three hundred and forty years In which time they affirm'd that no God had reign'd in humane shape in Egypt But in relating these and the like stories Herodotus very warily provides in the said Euterpe And these things sayes he the Egyptians affirm that they know upon continual account and setting down the years By which records it's plain how trustie and conscientious Chronologers the Egyptians were and how conscientious a Writer of the Egyptian affaires Herodotus was who was so cautions in these relations And grant that Plato though call'd Divine did mix his Philosophy with a great many Fables Shall we think therefore that the History which Critias in his Dialogue call'd Timaeus relates a matter of fact not opinion is a fable And which Critias by all probable reasons did demonstrate to be true and certain as having learned by a continued tenor of tradition he from his Father his Father from his Granfather Critias his Grandfather Critias from his great Grandfather Dropidas and Dropidas himself from Solon his acquaintance He related that an antient Egyptian Priest mocked Solon who told him of the antient acts of his Athenians of Phoroneus and Niobe before the flood of Deucalion and Pyrrha after the flood That this Priest I say laught at these Histories which Solon related as of great authority and antiquity as if they had been boyish tales First because he had mentioned but one flood there having been many more before Next that he had not known the most famous of his ancestors That he had no knowledge of another Athens the most antient which had stood before the Flood which had destroyed them Nor had not heard of those famous enterprises and glorious actions which those Athenians had perform'd ten thousand years before the flood At which time an innumerable company of most fierce Warriers had invaded Egypt and Greece and all that was within Hercules pillars Against all whom the only valour of the Citizens of Athens amongst all Nations was only then shown The same History is cited likewise in Arnobius a Writer of a very high spirit where writing for the Christians against the Pagan Gentiles he uses these words We were the cause sayes he that ten thousand years ago a great Army of men came from the Atlantick Islands as Plato relates and destroyed a great many Cities Let us return to Solon He wonder'd at the relation of the Egyptian Nor did he doubt of those things he had heard because he had occasion to inquire of those things seriously and diligently at the Fountain head in the Histories of the Egyptians which were of indubitable truth which they reserv'd so sacred in their Temples in their holy Bibliotheicks which they entituled the Medicine of the mind as the Library of the most antient King of Egypt Osimandius was styled Solon believed before that the floud of Deucalion was the most antient and taken out of the most over-worn records and believ'd that there was nothing known before it He wonder'd at the Egyptian History which he found had surpassed that long in extent of time Nor did Solon reject that jeer of the Egyptian Priest in which he call'd him and all the Grecians children in the knowledge of History he knowing very well that neither Solon nor any other Grecian knew any thing of true antiquity For so soon as Solon return'd to Athens being convicted of his error and certainly perswaded of the truth of these things he had heard in Egypt made Verses in the commendation of those gallant men that had performed so valiant actions ten thousand years ago before Deucalions flood Certainly it were great madnesse to affirm that the Gentiles ever had any other knowledge of God than that which they might gain by the things which are visible in the creation The invisible things of that true God were first reveal'd to the Jews to whom God first manifested and declar'd himself to them first in Adam and afterwards in the rest of the Patriarchs of the Jews This God was hid and conceal'd from the Gentiles as was the Altar in Athenâ— dedicated to the unknown God The Gentiles were blind in the knowledge of the true God But who caâ— say that they were blind in the knowledge of thâ— world and of those things that were cone in the world In Divinity they were blind but who will deny but that in humane affairs they were clear-sighted The Lord himself says The sons of this age are wiser than the sons of light in their own generation Lu. 16. In which place the sons of this age are the Gentiles the sons of light are meant by the Jews In which signification we see Israel call'd A light of them that were in darkness Rom. 2. As likewise St. Stephen in the 7th of the Acts commends the wisdom of the Egyptians Nor did he think that all their humane knowledge was lies Therefore the sons of this age the Gentiles were clearer sighted and wiser than the Jews who were the sons of light not in the knowledge of God but in their generation sayes the Lord that is in things which rellish'd of the deduction and kinred of the Gentiles of their own creation which belong'd to the History of the world the nature of men