Exod. 34.29 Abac. 3 4. For the Africanes attributed unto him a head shooting forth rayes xxii And the same ignorance gave occasion of the fable of Bacchus drawne out of the thigh of Iupiter For the Orientall people say that children come forth of the thigh of their father as Exod. Cap. 1. ver 5. Seventy soules are said to have come out of the thigh of Iacob But Liber pater King of the Assyrians who extended his victories farre in the East from whence also were Tygers adjoyned to his Chariot But the Grecians whatsoever they heard of that Oriencall Liber transferred it to their Bacchus of Thebes a very drunken person xxiii But if Grammarians and Geographers had any tast of the Hebrew tongue they needed not so sollicitously to have searched from whence the Erythrean Sea that is the red Sea is so called whether from King Erytheus or from the red Sands which are but dreams of sicke men whereas it is manifest that the Erythrean that is the red Sea was so called because it runneth coasting upon Idumea which word amongst the Hebrewes and Idumeans doth signifie Red. xxiv Neither is it doubtfull but that Iapetus whom the Grecians report to be the most ancient of men was Iaphet the Sonne of Noah from whom the Grecians had their Originall and all the inhabitants of Europe which is betokened by the names of the Children of Iaphet from whom the Nations of Europe were named from Iavan the Ionians from Mesech Moschi from Tiras the Thracians from Gomer the Cymnierians from Ascenas the Ascanians from Elisca Hellones the Grecians from Riphat the Ripheans from Tarsus the Cilicians whose Metropolitane City is Tarsis from Dodanim the Dodoneans from Cittim the Macedonians and Thessalians for that these are Cittim is apparent in the Maccab. Cap. 1. ver 1. Where Alexander is said to have come from the Country of Cittim and passed unto Asia xxv And also the Gyants wars and the setting of Mountain upon Mountaine which Iupiter cast downe with his lightnings what other are they but the building of Babell which mad structure God overthrew by sending a confusion of Tongues amongst them xxvi It is great delight to observe the manifest impressions of sacred History in Herodotus his Enterpe Hee sayes that the Egyptians were circumcised in his time and also the Phaenicians Æthopians and Cholchians To which Nations how circumcision was derived it is an easie thing to know For Ismael was circumcised and Esau whose of-spring peopled all Arabia and Idumea by whom circumcision was brought into Ægypt when the Arabians over-ran Ægypt which oftentimes they did Now the Iewes are reckoned among the Syrians But how circumcision was deduced unto the people of Colchos is gathered by no obscure arguments out of the fifth Chap. of the first booke of the Chronieles For there Teglat Pilhesar King of the Assyrians is said to have carried the Rubenites and Gadites and the halfe Tribe of Manasses unto Galach and Habor which are the Colchians and Iberians amongst whom Herodotus admired that hee found circumcision xxvii In the same book also we have the name of Phero-King of Egypt and of King Neco who is mentioned 2 Chron. 35. ver 20. and of King Aprias who by Ieremy is called Ophra Ier. cap. 44. ver 30 and of Senacharib King of the Assyrians and Arabians who with a great power invaded Ægypt whose Army was put to flight by the Mice of the field by eating off their bow-strings and the leathers of their shields XXVIII In the 2. of Chronicles Chap. 35. It is storied that King Iosias raised a terrible Army against Necho King of Ægypt who overcame Iosias and slew him in the Plaine of Megiddo And this is the selfe-same which is related by Herodotus in his second book where he sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Necos with an Army of foot en countring with the Syrians overthrew them in Magdolo XXIX But whereas Circumcision amongst the Hebrewes was done with a knife of stone that is with a very sharp flint as we may see Exod. 4. ver 5. the Curetes who are also called Corybantes imitating this custome did with a very sharpe flint cut off their Genitals Ovid Fast 4. Ille etiam saxo c. Hee mangled his body with a sharpe Stone It is a very remarkable thing that Numenius Pythagoricus in his book De bono makes mention of Iannes and Iambres Magitians who as St. Paul testifies 2 Tim. 3. ver 8. resisted Moses These as sayes Numenius did withstand Muscus so calleth he Moses and by their wisdome removed those plagues which Moses brought upon the Egyptians Eusebius citing it in the 9. of his Prepar This is that Numenius whose Apothegme is reported abroad What else is Plato but Moses speaking Greeke The Author Clemens Alexandrinus in his first booke of Tapistry xxxi The prophecy of Nahum Cap. 2. doth fore-tell the destruction of Nineve which was the City where their Kings kept their abode and the Metropolis of Assyria But amongst other things ver 6. he prophesies that the Gates of the City should bee opened by the breaking in of the River This is the very thing which Dioderus Siculus in the 2. booke of his Histor Library doth more fully expresse As that it was fore-told to Sardanapalus who then raigned in Nineve and was narrowly besieged that Ninive should then be overthrown when the River Tigris did wage warre against the City and that not long after it happened that the Gates and Walls thereof were broken downe by the inundation of Tigris which when Sardanapalus heard he burned himselfe with his Pallace Where notwithstanding Diodorus confoundeth Tigris with Euphrates using Babilon instead of Ninive as if Ninive were scituated upon the River Euphrates xxxii What need J to mention the prophecies of Sybilla Cumana out of whose Verses Virgill professeth that hee tooke his fourth Eclogue There the Poet fore-telleth the comming of a Virgin and the nativity of a Child that should be the Sonne of God who should put away our offences kill the Serpent reduce the golden age and should have a large dominion which things indeed were written by him in the same time that Christ was borne XXXIII About fifty yeares before the Nativity of Christ Cicero writ his bookes of divination where hee speaketh of a Prophecy that a King should come whom wee must obey if wee would be saved XXXIV Cornelius Tacitus in the 5. booke of his History uttereth many things vainly concerning the Iewes and their originall and misbecomming so great a man reports things of heare-say for certaine Nor doth Instino doe better in the 36. booke But in Tacitus this is memorable Hee sayes there was a perswasion in many that it was contained in the antient writings of the Priests that in that time it should come to passe that the East should prevaile and that those that came from Iudea should have the sway and dominion which Ambages foretold Vespatian and Titus For the prophane
man Lutum princeps that is the first Clay Iuvenall in his 6 Satyr of the first men sayes that being composed of Clay they had no Parents from whence homo a man is ab humo from the Ground And the first men being borne of the Earth and transported no whether else were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and aborigines that is â—hen borne and bred in the same Earth Hesiod in his workes sayes that Iupiter bade Vulcane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 temper earth with water and give them a humane voice X. But the Creation of the woman out of a portion cut off from the body of the man Plato describeth about the end of his Banquet Hâ—e relateth that at the first a man had foure feet and so many armes but when by reason of his strength hee grew insolent towards God he cut him into two parts and of one man made two who had but two feet XI As for the Garden of the Hesperides so much famed in the Verses of Poets and the golden Apples therein and the Serpent keeper of the Apples they are plainly an imitation of the History of the Garden of Heden where the Apples were forbidden to man and the Serpent came unto Eve XII But that the Heathens had heard somwhat of the Sanctification of the Seventh day is made manifest out of Hesiod Who sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The first new Moone and the fourth and seventh day were holy c. XIII And what was the estate and happinesse of man before the fall Plato doth copiously recite in his Polit. Then sayes he there were no ravenous Creatures God was then the pastor and keeper of men they lived by the fruits which the Earth brought forth of its owne accord naked and without houses did they live in the open Ayre and had conference with Beasts For Plato had heard spoken of the talke betweene Eve and the Serpent Neither is it doubtfull but that from thence were Æsops Fables derived where are brought in Beasts discoursing with men xiv That men fell from his estate of happinesse because hee gave trust unto the woman is expressed by Hesiod Relating that to the first man whom he calleth Epimetheus were given all good things in custody shut up in one great Vessâ—ll but that God gave to Epimetheus a Woman whom he called Pandora who by opening the vessell was the cause that all those blessings flew away unto Heaven Notwithstanding Hope remained in the mouth of the Vessell which hope what else is it but that promise which was made unto Adam concerning the seed which should bruise the head of the Serpent xv But when the tentation whereby Satan in the shape of a Serpent assailed Eve succeeded with him according to his intention the cursed Devill applauding himselfe for this mischiefe would be adored in the shape of a Serpent-In this figure was hee worshipped at Epidaurum from whence the same Religion was transported to Rome Read Aristophanes his Plutus Lucians Pseudomantis and Valerius Maximus Lib. 1. Cap. 8 § 2. O vid Metamorph. Lib. 15. Fab. 50. xvi Poets doe faine that the age of Iupiter succeded the golden age which past away under Saturne That this Iove was Cain whose dominions stretched farre upon the face of the earth and who was the first that built a City is gathered by many manifest tokens For this Cain brought trouble upon his Father and tooke his Sister to wife which is reported of Iupiter c. Virg. Æneid 1. Ast ego que divum But I who walke Queene of the Gods above And am both wife and Sister vnto Iove And whereas Poets say that Vulcane the inventer of Iron-workes was descended from Iupiter Moses affirmeth that Tuval-Cain was a Grand-child unto Cain the name not much difsering and the inventour of the Black-Smiths craft Which Vulcane they say made Thunderbolts for his Father Iupiter because Tuval-Cain made weapons for his father Cain wherby he became terrible to his enemies xvii Of the Floud there are wonderfull things reported among the Heathens not contrary to those things which are related in the sacred Scripture But that the Grecians doe confound that inundation in the time of King Deucalian which overflowed no parts but Thessaly with universall inundation which is called the Ogygian deluge Iosephus in the 1. Booke of Originals cap. 4. sayes that the place where the Arke setled is called by the Armenians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mount and that in his time their could be shewen some reliques of the Arke In the same place hee citeth one Berosus a Chaldean avouching that some portions of this Vessell may bee seene on the Mountaine of the Cordyi in Armenia and that Travellers doe scrape from them a clammy bituminous substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to divert from evills which may betide them In the same place he also citeth Ierome an Egyptian who writ Commentaries of the Antiquities of Phoenicia and Mnaseas and Nicholas Damascen who writ of the Deluge almost consonantly to the holy Scripture This Nicholas relateth in the ninety fixt booke of his Histories that there is above Minias a high Mountaine of Armenia which is called Baris into which many fled for feare of the floud and that one carryed in an Arke arrived to the very top of the Mountaine and that some reliques of the wood of the Arke are there still reserved and lastly that it is likely that this is the same man whom Moses the Law-giver of the Hebrewes doth speake of It is a thing remarkable that an Heathen man seateth Minias in Armenia for Ieremy also Cap. 51.5.7 Ioyneth Minu and Ararat as neare borderers xviii Yea and Abydenus who writ Medicinall treatises in Arabick makes mention of Birds which Seisitris so doth hee call Noah sent out of his Ark and received them again with hope of good successe when he observed the feete of one of them to bee dirty You have the place entire in Eusebius his 9. Booke of Evangelicall Preperation xix The same Author in the same Booke doth since Iosephus alleage many Testimonies of Heathens who have affirmed that men before the Deluge did live for the space of a thousand yeares xx And that two fac'd Ianus was none other but Noah is made evident by his name For Ianus is derived from Iaijn which among the Hebrewes doth signifie wine because hee was the inventor of Wine And he is painted with a double face one before and another behind because hee saw both Ages the one before and the other after the Flood xxi This Noah had a Sonne named Cham or Ham who obtained Egypt by lot and Africa where hee was worshipped for a God and hee is that God Hammon whose Temple and Oracle were in Lybia and he is painted with hornes by the same error that Moses is commonly painted with an horned forehead that is to say by reason of the ignorance of the Hebrew and Syriack idiom wherein the Beames of the Sunne are called hornes
the civill Law who deeply concealing his hatred with-holdeth his hand from the injury being restrained by feare of the Lawes Neither is vertue the end of civill Lawes but peace and concord And truly they are infinitely mistaken who suppose that the efficacy of civill Lawes doth consist in this that they are just For a Law hath its authority not because it is a Iust but because it is a Law and a rule established by him that hath power yea men live peacefully under evill lawes and miserably under good ones They live peacefully under wicked lawes when the Citizens do agree in the observation of them They live miserably under good lawes when the disobedient Citizens doe contemne the authority of the Law giver the force of the lawes doth lauguish From hence it is that divers people doe live after divers Lawes That by the Law of the twelve Tables it was lawfull for Creditors to cut in pieces the Debtour that was not able to pay them That by the same Lawes a father might thrice sell his Son and a Husband might kill his wife if his wine did stincke or if she counterfeited Child-bâ—râ—h That amongst the Lacedemonians theevery was permitted and that in Cyprus Virgins got their dowry by the use of their bodies That amongst the Calecut Indians that wife that was more beloved of her husband then the rest being gorgeously apparelled even to allurement is led forth unto her Funerall and burned alive with her husband that Kings are not to take to theÌ„selves wives but first laine withall by their Priests which are called Bramins That among the Turkes Polyga my is lawfull that men goe to Market to be sold as Cattell and to drinke wine is a matter of conscience Of all which things no one is observed amongst us so that it is evident that that Iustice which is commanded in humane Lawes is not so much a vertue as a custome and that therefore are things just because they are decreed but not decreed because they are just and lastly those Lawes are just which being founded upon nature are consentaneous to the Law of God If any one doth object to the contrary those intricate contentions of Divines and that men in matters of religion encounter with most inveterate hatred we answer that it is not the fault of the faculty but of men who seeke a knot in a bulrush as sayes the Proverb and abuse the depravation of most certain things for their avarice and ambition He doth ill that attributeth the faults of artificers to their Arts as if any one should impute his blearednesse to the Sunne or being stricken with sudden blindnesse should thinke that the Sun doth suffer an Eclypse But whosoever doth not obstinately stick to prejudicate opinions nor hath made his faith subject to his belly nor enslaved it to anothers will he shall find in the holy Scripture many evident sentences and needing no interpretation which are abundantly sufficient vnto salvation But whereas the nobility of practique sciences doth consist in the nobility of their end and in the fitnesse of meanes to attaine vnto this end it cannot be spoken how many degrees Theologie doth herein excell all other Arts and Sciences For every Science doth propose unto it selfe some particular end which is not extended to our whole life much lesse doth it reach unto those things which ensue this mortall life So Oeconomy serves for the instruction of an Nouse-holder Politickes of a good Subject and a good Prince Tactickes for the well marshalling of an Army Astronomy measutes the motions of heavenly bodies Their number and distances Only Theologie doth instruct a man as he is a man and coÌ„prchendeth the whole life of man and extending its care bey ond the bounds of nature is sollicitous for the life to come But men being preposterously wise and adicted to present things doe deliberate of the severall portions of their lives and have the manner of the whole disordered and fayle of their universall end From whence it comes to passe that by many things prudently provided for there amounteth one generall imprudence whilst they endeavor to abound in good things when themselves are evill Onely Theologie designeth the last end which is union with God and supplying fit means therunto it layeth open a way which was never trodden by any humane wisedome It onely restoreth the Image of GOD in Man which was almost defaced It onely poynteth out the way unto salvation It alone teacheth us to live as in the sight of God by whom the coverts of the darkest hypocrisie are most clearely seene through before whose tribunall are admitted no exceptions nor procrastinations nor escape by idle excuses Theologie instructeth the heart with holy meditations represseth anger bridleth the appetite detesteth fraud and lying by the feare of God expelleth all feare of men by the more vehement affection of the mind subduing and as it were swallowing up all inferiour perturbations And it so elevateth the soule above the body that it becomes a candidate of Divinity and begins to live an heavenly life in this mortall body For whereas the soule is united with the body in a two-fold bond whereof the one is naturall the other voluntary Theology either looseth or cutteth off the voluntary so long as by the Law of nature or the will of God a naturall dissolution is expected That J may not hold you long I esteeme that man truly a Divine who is a Divine not only in his word but in his life Cicero defined an Orator A good man skilfull in Ornaments of language But we more rightly define a Theologer a good man skilfull in divine things For as saye the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. The Kingdome of God doth not consist in word but in vertue This truly is a great praise of Theology and a remarkeable perogative that whereas there are but few Physitians among common people and few who are versed in the Lawes onely Theology doth forme and instruct every common man and in the Amphitheater of this life sits not onely amongst Senators and noble personages or amongst the fourteen orders but is also extended to the very utmost scaffold and the meaner sort of people Wee will also speake somewhat of the Antiquity of Theologie for that also doth much conduce unto its praise It is delight to contemplate the venerable Antiquity of this sacred Discipline Where in much ancient hoarinesse is seene But such old age as is both fresh and greene We are wont to wonder at the Pyramids of Egypt being the most ancient structure in the whole world And those raw Schollers who are called Philologers doe with great labour search after the old inscriptions of Tombes Coines eaten and worne out and Words which are mouldy obsolete with age and preserve them as precious treasuries But how late and fresh are these things yea how frivolous are they in respect of the reverend age of Theologie which doth almost challenge the Sunne in Antiquity and deriveth its
originall from the infancy of the world as being the Daughter of the ancient of Dayes and from her fathers bosome sent downe unto the Earth But if any contest in antiquity of bookes and letters the Greekes are reputed to be the Princes of all learning and Greece the mother of Arts and the most ancient ingrosser of wisedome But first of all Cadmus brought the letters into Greece out of Phoeniciae which is neere bordering on Iudea and anciently did vse the Hebrew idiome Which the Greeke Characters doe make manifest being not much vnlike to those amongst the ancient Samaritanes and the names and order of the Greeke alphabet but little differing from the Hebrew And also the name of Cadmus which signifieth a man of the East Homer the most ancient of the Greeke authors that is extant was after Moses sixe hundred and odde yeares Moses was five hundred and fifty yeares before David in whose age notwithstanding the Grecians did fetch both their food and the oracles of their God from the Oake and Walnut tree From whence juglans was as much as to say Iovis glans The first amongst the Greekes renowned for wisedome were the seaven Wise men But their age was in the time of Cyrus Cambyses and Darius which was the age of Zacharias and Aggai the latest of the Prophets We can also prove by sixe hundred examples that the Grecians were Schollers vnto the Hebrewes that they drew out of the Theologie of the Hebrewes whatsoever is contained in their Philosophers or their Poets coÌ„cerning divine things agreeable to the truth but these things are so corrupted by the craft of the Devill that to find out some small particles of Gold a whole heape of dung is to be remooved I. I will take my beginning froÌ„ those names of God which are attributed to him in Scripture In the old Testament the name of JEHOVA is most frequent and God calleth himselfe by this name Exod. 3.6 From this name it is evident-that the name of Iove amongst the Greoians was deduced There is extant in Ensebius his 10. booke of Evangelicall preparation a fragment of Porphyry a most cruell enemy vnto Christians citing a place of Sanchoniata Beritius a most ancient Author that writ before the time of the Trojan warres where hee sayes that hee received his Commentaries from Ierombaall a Priest of the GOD Iove which name is not much vnlike to the name JEHOVA And this Beritius was of Phoeniciae which is adjacent to Iudea Adde hereunto that Diodorus Siculus in the 1. booke of his Histor Library sayes that the God of Moses was called IAΩ II. But even God himselfe giveth himselfe this name I am or he who is as if in comparison with God other things had no being Which learning Plato following calleth God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him that hath being Whose words are cited by Eusebius in the 11. of his Evangelicall Preparat Cap. 8. out of his bookes of the Lawes where Plato sets downe two things the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which alwayes is never is made to wit God the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which alwayes is made but never is to wit Time whose parts past are not that which is to come is not yet but that which is present is not time but a fleeting moment Wherupon Numenius a Pythagerean discourseth many things excellently in the same Eusebius Lib. 11. Cap. 10. III. In the Porch of the Temple at Delphos was inscribed in capitall letters of Gold this word El which with us is thou art with this title of praise would some wise man have God to be illustrated as if he alone had existence Vpon which word Plutarch hath written a Booke where amongst many other admirable things of Gods eternall immutability hee hath these words most remarkeable and divine God sayes he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being one doth in one instant make compleat his Eternity Which words being drawne out of the secrets of more sublime Divinity Plurarch being a man most ignorant in divine things did not understand buthad culled some where else and inserted in his worke IV. The name of Adonai is also very frequent in the Scripture it signifies Lord which name I see to be used also by Greeke Authors for Father Liber the Sonne of Iupiter Belus who raigned very farre in the East is by Poets called Edoneus Hor. Carm. Lib. â— Non ego sanius bacchabor Edonis And in Euschius his 14. Booke of Evangelicall Preparat Cap. 14. Wee have Verses of Empedocles a most ancient Poet in which Edoneus is relaâ—ed to be one of the prime principles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. lupiter life bringing Iuno and Edoneus And the Paramouâ— of Venus of Syria who is called Astarte was named Adonis that is Lord. v. The Scripture sayes that the Devill being precipitated and excluded from heaven brought discord into the Earth This hath Homer described in most elegant verses which was first observed by Iustine Martyr in his exhortation to the Greekes There Homer relateth that Iupiter caught Ate that is the Goddesse of revenge and discord by the haire and cast her downe from Heaven withall swearing that it should be for ever interdicted for her to come thither againe Forthwith hee addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. This said he her from the bright Heaven did throw And shee soone came into mens workes below VI. Iustine Martyr in his Exhortation to the Greekes and Eusebius in the 9. Booke of Preparation doe speake of an Oracle of Apollos who being demanded what men are truly wise made answere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Hebrewes and Chaldeans are The men true wisedome doth adorne Who for their God doth serve and seare A King that of himselfe was borne VII But we will run over the most principall Chapters of the Mosaical History for we shall find some evident foot-steps thereof in the Bookes of the Heathen In the beginning sayes Moses God made the Heaven and the Earth and the Earth was without forme and void The Ceptuagint translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is invisible and without order This is that Chaos of Hefied of which Ovid speaketh much in the beginning of his Metamorphosis where he cals it a rude and indisposed masse c. VIII Moses goes forward and darknesse were upon the face of the deepe and God said Let there bee light This is the very selfe-same which Hesiod sayes in his Theogonia The first of all was Chaos and a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Of Chaos Erebus and night were borne Of Night faire Æther and the beautious morne Hee could not more plainly say that darknes did over spread the earth and that darknesse was before light and that light was brought forth of darknesse IX The Creation of Man out of the clay or dust tempered with water was not unknowne to Heathens Hor. Carm. 1. bâ—oke 3 Ode Calleth the first