generall yet there will be many in particular and we shall observe new Religions that will result out of the mixture of Judaism with Christianism Who knows what monsters will proceed from thence All the precautions which other States do use to hinder that Judaism corrupts not Christians are found too feeble there where the torrent of an unbounded licence hath already in so many places over-topp'd and broken down the bounds which ought to restrain it I shall alwaies wish that we travail to convert the enemies of the Faith but without indangering those who are of the Houshold of it For this were to do evill that good may come thereby and GOD who knows both the time and the means he will imploy for the conversion of the Jews hath no need that we should do evill for the performance of such a good It were rather to be desired that those English vvho have such an affection to the Jews who blaspheme the name of Christ had as much charity towards some strangers vvho do here profess the name of Christ their own Country not vouchsafing them the liberty to exercise the Arts necessary for the sustenance of their own persons and families unless they will abjure the Orthodox Religion to become Idolaters Of the Presagers who boast they have a prophetick Spirits Of the follies and Blasphemies which they produce WE have sometimes seen in Holland one Doctor Stephens a Divine who published a Book of his own on one part of the Revelations That which is spoken of Christ this man did attribute to Frederick King of Bohemia who then lived He also foretold that the said Prince should take the Pope and the King of Spain Prisoners commence a Process against them and cause them to suffer under the stroak of the Executioner Time hath since confuted this Doctor who notwithstanding was discreet and modest in all other things About that time there was at Geneva a Boy of twelve years of age of honest Parentage who took upon him to discover marvailous things he discoursed pertinently and magnificently which caused an admiration of him in all that heard him Insomuch that some excellent Divines were at a stand about it doubting whether it were not an extraordinary inspiration of GOD But at last the Spirit which made the Boy to speak did discover himself for the Divill vvho served himself with the tongue of that poor creature did cause him to speak the most ridiculous things in the vvorld making mocks himself at the credulity of those whom he had abused It is commonly seen that a knowing and a vvise man is never so much admired as an ignorant fool who speaketh like a wise man for we imagine that he proceeds from God when oftentimes there do come causes from him vvhich are vvorse than folly it self And it is a great simplicity to give more regard to one good vvord proceeding from the mouth of a frantick man than to the knovvledge and wisdom of him who is alvvaies discreet and judicious As for those vvho counterfeit the Prophets the vvisdom of God hath alwaies left some mark on them to be known to be Impostors One dead Fly onely doth trouble and cause the vvhole perfume to stink Eccl. 10. One onely Impertinency vvhich is found in a prophecy doth discover the falshood of the Author How much more if there be blasphemies in it Hovv much more if they be unnumbred and in the swarm Aâ— this day a senseless fellovv hath dared to publish that there is none but himself alone who hath the Spirit oâ— Illumination and Instruction Thaâ— all Divines are in darkness Thaâ— many places which cannot be understood but of the Son of GOD onely do signify a King mortall which according to the saying of that man shall reign for ever throughout the vvorld That Jesus Christ hath not been in possession of this Kingdom untill the coming of this King who nevertheless dyed some few years since that this King is truly the third person and whosoever speaketh against him shall never be pardoned That in this King all the Scripture is accomplished That the Elect are no where but here in England and that they are confined onely to this Country That the Liturgy of England otherwise called the Book of Common Prayers is the rule of the Spirit of truth nay and the onely Rule That the Reformation of Luther of the Calvinists and Huguenots in France and Scotland and others are but onely rules of Rebellion like unto the Rods of the Sorcerers of Egypt That the Saviour who is spoken of Esay 19. 20. is not Jesus Christ but another I would not vouchsafe to make mention of such horrors were it not that there are men of understanding who do lend an ear to the predictions of such senceless people because they meet sometimes vvith some events which have followed them To speak no more their Blasphemies sufficiently do demonstrate what is the Spirit which doth dictate these prophecies unto them Of some false Miracles which have been held for true ones THere hath been in our time a flying report of a maid who hath lived many years vvithout eating or drinking It hath been beleeved for a truth and on this presumption all the world hath cryed out a miracle The Philosophers the Physitians the Divines have been exercised on the question It there could be any naturall cause for so long an abstinence But there was no need for it for it hath been verified and confessed that this pretended fast was but an Imposture and the greatest miracle to be seen was the credulity of the people It is recorded that at Cairo in Egypt there is seen every year on a certain day a spectacle worthy of admiration which is the Bodies of men which appear some half out of the earth others shewing their heads onely and some having nothing to be seen but their Arms or their Legs The Evening before their is no appearance of any such thing at all but the wonder doth discover it self on the Morning following and there are then to be seen pieces of Bodies which in this posture do shew themselves as if they had been forced out of the Earth They are all that day to be beheld but if you return the next morning there is nothing to be seen On the Day of this Prodigy for it is yearly on a prefixed Day they flock thither from all parts far and neet to behold the miracle which hath been a fruitfull Argument for many discourses For amongst the divers causes which are rendred of it there are some who report that heretofore in the self same place the Pagans devoured a great number of Christians who were there assembled to pray unto GOD And that every year since on the same Day in which the Massacre was committed these imperfect and dismembred Bodies do shew themselves out of the Earth as if still they would attest the truth for which they were murthered This was a brave miracle if it were a true one
was the Prince of the Devils or that such was the Name of the chief of evill Spirits We ought to know that the Scripture gives no proper or peculiar name to any of the evill Angels Some of the good Angels and onely one or two of them have a particular name as Gabriel and Michael But the evill Spirits have but one common name as Satan The Adversary The Devill The Slanderer And although there is a chief of the evill Angels yet he hath not a particular name See Mat. 25. 41. We ought not then to imagin with the vulgar that Beelzebub is the proper name of the Prince of the Devilâ— It were the Pharises and not Christ that said so Of Easter Day improperly so called or ill assigned I Dispute not the antient custom to solemnize one Day every year in the memory of the Resurrection of our Saviour although that every Sunday is observed for that end But as for that Day which every year is celebrated there is no reason to call it the Day of the Passeover But rather clean contrary we ought to give that name to that Day in which Christ our Paschall Lamb vvas Sacrificed to that Day in vvhich he dyed and not unto that Day in which he did rise from the Dead For the word of the Passeover being applyed to Christ hath reference to his Death and not at all to his Resurrection so the Day which is called the Passeover is not the true Day of it but rather the contrary It will be alledged that every one doth so understand it and that the words are indifferent if they give an agreeable sense unto them But whereâ—ore do we give unto words a sense which they have not nay a sense which is contrary to that which they have or wherefore do we speak otherwise than we do understand Of the word the CROSSE which is ordinarily abused when mention is made of afflictions THere is nothing more common in the mouths of afflicted Persons or of those who would comfort them then to say that they do bear their Cross and that their â—ross is heavy and man is subject â—o many crosses But according to the language of GOD there are no afflictions which can be called crosses those afflictions being excepted which men make us to suffer for the cause of our crucified Saviour and for the cause of his Gospel To such sufferings GOD hath reserved and appropriated this honourable title of the Cross In the like manner the persecutions which are raised against us for the cause of Christ the punishments the proscriptions the losses the reproaches and whatsoever a Christian endureth for that quarrell are honoured with this Name of the Cross by reason of the Communion which they have with the sufferings of Christ and more particularly of his Death The afflictions which do proceed from other causes have no part in so glorious an Epithete Nevertheless a man who is chastised or even punished for his sins or by his Improvidence or Intemperance hath plucked an affliction on himself will say that it is a Cross which GOD hath sent him This is to abuse the word Such afflictions and those which proceed from hidden causes as that of the man who vvas born blind John 9. 2 3. cannot be called Crosses And yet this Impropriety is not onely in the language of the common people but also of many Divines nay and in their Books also For they do vvrite in their Books that a wicked man hath his Cross also A great mistake For the afflictions of a wicked man are not worthy of that Name If he himself be an enemy to the Cross and is punished shall vve say that his punishment is a Cross can that be spoken of a Malefactor vvho suffereth for his crimes All the afflictions even of a good Christian are not to be called Crosses Of crying sins which men do not discern from others THere are some sins to which the Divines have given the name of crying sins And this Epithet is taken from the Scripture By this name the effusion of Innocent bloud is called because the bloud of Abel did cry unto GOD So also is the abhominable sin of Sodom Gen. 18. 20 21. and 19. 13. So also is the detaining of the hire of the labourer James 4. 5. So also a House builded by rapine is called a crying sin because it is said that the stones of the wall do cry out against it Habakuk 2. 11. And so generally all violence and oppression is called a crying sin Exod. 3. 17. and 22. 23 27. Now there are reasons wherefore these sins more than others are called crying But without entring into the search thereof we are not to think that this name ought to be given to all those sins which are more enormous and exorbitant than others for neither Idolatry nor Blasphemy no nor the worshipping of Devil are called crying sins And in generall I do observe that of all the sins which do violate the first table of the Law there is not one which is called a crying sin All those sins also which are committed against the second table have not that name in the Scripture but those onely which I have specifyed This distinction although it oftentimes be too much neglected even by men of knowledge themselves yet we ought nevertheless to observe it if we will follow the language of the Spirit and not that of the common people for there is nothing more triviall than these words you may here see what it is that cryeth for vengeance It is a crying sin And nevertheless the common speak thus of such a sin which the Scripture doth not put in the number of crying sins By this confusion there will be no sin which we may not call a crying sin if we will be governed by passion by zeal without knowledge Of faults committed in citing the Histories of the Antients I Will produce but two examples A very famous Scholar in his Book of the truth of Christian Religion doth alledge an Author who doth recite a very strange story concerning Jesus Christ which is that the Jews did choose him to be one of those who offered sacrifice and that they received him into their order qualifying thus the Son of GOD and of the Virgin Mary This story if there were no other thing to object against it doth directly oppose that which the Apostle speaks in the Hebrews that our Saviour came from the tribe of Juda a tribe none whereof did assist at the Altar a tribe of which Moses spake nothing at all concerning the Leviticall Priesthood that if Christ again were upon the earth he would not be a Priest c. These fabulous stories which are used to maintain Christianism doe onely serve but to render it suspected nay ridiculous to the Jews and other Miscreants The other example is not of so great importance nevertheless it will serve to shew how the most learned do mistake themselves men in matters purely Historicall
who in the Name of the Romans as they alledge was Commander above one hundred years before The consequences are far greater then they seem to be at the first appearance of which I will not speak at this present So great lyars are these malicious people proved to be by their own Historian who in express tearms affirmeth that Jesus of whom the Christians took their Name was crucified by Pilate Of the name Jehovah which the French Bible marketh not in the twelfth Chapter of Job ver. 9. IN all the pleadings of the friends of Job we never read of the Name of Jehovah Job himself did never but once pronounce it in this place above named so that from the beginning of the 3. Chapter of this Book to the end of the the 37. the Name Jehovah is found but once although divers other Names of God as the strong the Almighty are there very frequent I have not now to speak wherefore the Name of Jehovah the importance whereof is represented Exod. 6. 31. is not at all in the mouth of the friends of Job nor but once in the mouth of Job many remarkeable considerations may hereupon be produced I shall onely say that as we at least ought to mark and distinguish this place which is onely to be found where Job expresseth this great name of Jehovah And because this name cannot be translated into any other language the new Testament represents it by the word Signior And in the imitation of it is the English translation of the old Testament The French doth note it by another word which is the Eternall We dispute not which of these names doth approach most neer to that of Jehovah But since the French Bible doth represent it under the name of Eternall This name Eternall ought to be in this place of Job where the name of Jehovah is found For it saith thaâ— it is the hand of Jehovah which hath made all things Of Jehovah that iâ— to say of the Eternall as the French translation doth usually interpret in And nevertheless the same translatioâ— forgetting it self in this place instead of saying the hand of the Eternal doth say the hand of God A mistake by so much the more remarkable that in this place eclipsing the name of the Eternall which representeth that of Jehovah it will follow that Job never pronounced this name of Jehovah And having but once pronounced it so much the more illustrious is this place and so much the more important is it to retain here this word which doth distinguish it self from all the other words of Job and from those of his friends by a mark so much the more considerable that it is not obvious to the vulgar The word Heaven in the singular number is not found in any place of the old Testament A difference in that respect between the Originall and many translations especially the English IT is known that neither the Hebrew nor Caldean which are the originall tongues of the old Testament have this word Heaven but alwaies say Heavens in the Plurall or the Duall numbers From hence it comes that in all the old Testament this word is never read in the singular number and nevertheless the greatest part of the Latine and vulgar translations have introduced it in divers places especially the English which doth serve it self more often with the Singular then the Plurall which is very strange In the beginning of this treatise I prevented some objections that might be made hereon and I will not now 〈…〉 〈…〉 rily abused when we speak of afflictions page 47 Of â—rying sins which we discern not from others page 50 Of the faults committed in citing the Histories of the Antients page 52 The first words of the ten Commandements which the Ignorance of some have razed from the walls in their Churches page 56 Of some pictures which are in certain Bibles page 59 Of the Name of the Son of GOD which some of our Bibles give unto Adam Luke 3 ver. last page 62 Of the twelfth stone which was on the Breast of the High Priest which the French Bible calleth a Berill and the English a Jasper Exod. 28. 20. page 64 Of certain Books written on the Revelations and steemed as propheticall page 66 Of a prejudging common to many of thâ—se who read or interpret the prophecies especially the Revelations page 67 Of some Interpreters who censure St. Paul for wishing to be Anathema or separated from Christ for the love of the Israelites Rom. 9. 3. page 68 Of the vulgar Book intituled The Practise of Piâ—ty page 71 〈◊〉 the word Amen which the people ought to pronounce at the end of publick prayers and benedictions page 79 Of the buildings of Ierusalem represented in a picture on the beginning of many English Bibles page 82 Of the tree of life which was thought to be but one onely plant page 84 Of the Nature of the Viper in some Editions marked in the Index at the end of the new Testament in French page 88 Of those who beleive that in the unfolding of a Text they must alwaies divide it into parts page 90 Of the divers sense given to the 2th Chapter of Revel. ver. 1. page 92 Of the Brazen Serpent which was thought to be a figure of Christ page 98 Of the Jews If it were convenient to grant them a residence in England page 100 Of Presagers who boast they have a prophetick Spirit and of the Follies and Blasphemies they produce page 104 Of some false Miracles which have been held for true page 109 Of the curing of the Evill attributed to the Kings of England page 113 Of an advertisement in the Margent of some places in the Bible page 115 Of the Dragon which was thought to be a flying Serpent page 117 Of the Serpent which tempted Eve which many think had the face of a woman page 119 Of a discord in modern Musick and paâ—ticularly in that of the Psalms page 123 Of thâ—se who in the first day of the year do make a scruple to wish a good year to any And of a passage which is in the French Bible page 127 Of the salutation given to those who sâ—eeze page 130 Of those who without any Distinction do pronounce that Divines ought not to meddle with the affairs of State page 135 Of the Angell of Satan who buffetted Saint Paul 2 Cor. 12. 7. A new Interpretation on that place page 137 A greâ—t number of places which mention the cure of Demoniacks in which our Translations dâ— chaâ—ge the word which is in the originall Text page 140 Of the Bulls crowned with garlands which are read in the French Bible Acts 14. 13. page 143 Of one word which the French adde at the close of the Lords Prayer page 145 How the word ages which in the originall is in the Lords Prayer is translated in the French and English Bibles page 147 Of the sacrifice of Isaac ill represented in maâ—y pictures and particularly at the beginning 〈…〉
Father which art in the Heavens But not that he ever said The Father which art in Heaven Wherefore then Do we make him to change his stile in the Prayer which he hath prescribed to us But the English Translation doth change also all the other places in which Jesus Christ doth express the Heavens in the Plurall Number when he speaketh of the Father To the same purpose our Lord did never say the Kingdom of Heaven but alwaies the Kingdom of the Heavens One onely of the Evangelists hath this terme of the Kingdom of the Heavens no less then six and thirty times but the Kingdom of Heaven not once which plainly doth demonstrate seeing the multitude of passages in which the Plurall number is alwaies imployed and never the Singular that there is a mystery or an Emphasis in the one which is not in the other But the English Translation to the contrary doth never say the Kingdom of the Heavens but alwaies the Kingdom of Heaven Amongst all the places of the New Testament where the Original nameth the Heavens there are very few where the English do express the Plurall It is in their translation of the 2 Cor. 5. 1. and Heb. 1. 10. Why ought it not to be or could it not be as well in all the other places which the holy Ghost hath dictated And in Ephes. 1. 10. where the Originall mentioneth the Heavens in the Plurall the English Translation doth onely put it in the Margent and placeth the Singular in the text it self Of Lucifer who is mentioned in the English Translation Esay 14. ver. 12. THe School-Boys know that Lucifer is a Latin word and it is the name of the Star which sheweth its self before the rising of the Sun The Hebrew which signifies this Star is indeed expressed it self by the word Lucifer but it is when we speak in Latine not when it is translated into English To what purpose then is this Lucifer in the English translation The translators in the Margent have inserted the true word of the English tongue which is the Day-Star but in the body of the text they had rather imploy the Name of Lucifer as if it were better English or as if there were some great cause which did oblige them to it It is indeed no other thing but the tracing of an antient Allegory which applyeth to the Devill that which is spoken to the King of Babylon and of the Name of a Star hath made it to be the proper Name of the Prince of evill Spirits and give it him in Latin that is to say Lucifer And because proper Names do retain themselves in whatsoever language they are spoken it was beleived that this ought not to be changed for any other But wherefore do we yet retain the relicks of such notorious folly censured a long time since and disavowed by our selves who is he amongst the vulgar that finding in his Bible this word Lucifer doth not immediatly believe that it is the Name of a great Devill whom common ignorance so calleth It is true that the Divines who have published the last annotations on the English Bible have also condemned those who do so understand the name of Lucifer But so long as that word shall remain in the text the error will continue What need is there to retain a word which is not of the English tongue since the English can express the Hebrew without this Latin word which onely serveth to nourish an antient folly The common people of England have a long time thought that the evill Rich man Luke 16. verse 19 c. was called Dives according to his proper Name And for the greatest part they do to this day believe it for they ordinarily say that Dives is in Hell that Dives spoke with Abraham c. As if Dives had been his Christen-name or at least his Sirname Now this ridiculous opinion was conceived and born at that time when the people had not the Bible but in Latin For because that Dives doth signify a rich man in the Latin tongue when mention was made of Dives the ignorant did imagin that it was the name of a man An interpretation as vain as that which is recited in a modern Satyre of one who maintained that the name of Tobyes Dog was Canis because it is said that Canis followed his Master But it is to be admired how this ignorance hath been fomented even by the Orthodox themselves since the Reformation when they published the Scriptures in the English tongue for in the Contents of the Chapter which they have prefixed to the 16. of Luke we do yet read as if that Chapter did speak of Dives and Lazarus The last translation hath not this word Dives No more ought Lucifer to be any more especially in the text it self Of Mary Magdalen who falsly is said to be a Woman of a bad life The injuries which Divines for the most part aâ— her in their Sermons and their Books And especially the English Bible in the Argument of the seventh Chapter of St. Luke THe injury which the Roman Church doth to another Mary who was the Sister of Lazarus hath been sufficiently confuted by the Orthodox Ignorance hath caused to believe that this Mary and another who was of Magdala and the Sinner mentioned in the 7th of Saint Luke were but one and the same person confounding these three in one now we have truly and already vindicated one of the three who is Mary of Bethany who was the Sister of Lazarus but we do still defame her of Magdala as if this Magdalen were the Sinner of whom Saint Luke speaketh There is nothing more common in the mouth of the vulgar then the wicked life of Magdalen The Preachers willing to comfort Souls afflicted with the horror of their sins do represent unto them this Woman as one of the most unchast and most dissolute that ever was to whom nevertheless GOD hath been mercifull On the same prejudice which is but imaginary the reason is builded wherefore the Son of God being raised from the dead did appear first to Mary Magdalen before he appeared to any other for it is alleged it was because she had more need of comfort having been a greater finner than others The common places the Indexes even that of Marlâ—rat himself and other Books which serve for an Address to Students do give them betimes this impression which alwaies afterwards they retain He who hath wrote the Practise of Piety of whom I shall speak more hereafter doth rank this Magdalen with the most enormous sinners yea with Manasse himself one of the most wicked that ever was And yet more to atuhorize this error it is inserted into the Bible it self For the Contents of the 7th Chapter of Saint Luke in the English translation doth tell us that the Woman whose sins were in a greater number then the sins of others the Woman who untill then had led a wicked life and full
great miracle was wrought It was seated in Galile the less in a champian place it was round on the ridge thereof it was equall on all sides fourteen furlongs in height according to the levell I do therefore willingly yeild to the vulgar opinion provided it be said to be an opinion onely and not a certainty This transfiguration is recited four times in the new Testament to wit by three Evangelists and by the Apostle Saint Peter who with his eyes did behold it But none of them hath given us the Name of that Mountain Their silence in this particular should also shut up our mouths concerning this No doubt it was not without a speciall cause that the Holy Ghost abstained from naming that place seeing other places are named which seem to be less considerable Nevertheless if we say that it was Mount Thabor we ought not to pronounce it as an assured truth as ordinarily it is done even in Sermons and in our Books also of devotion For they who say so do speak it as if it were most true and not to be doubted without thinking that it is an uncertain fore-judgement Of the Son of God whom the English Bible saith is mentioned by Nebuchadnezar Dan. 3. 5. IN this translation Nebuchadnezzar speaketh that of the four men whom he saw in the fornace one of them resembled the Son of GOD This would make us to believe that Nebuchadnezzar did understand the mystery of the Trinity which nevertheless was obscure in the old Testament When we do say the Son of GOD it is presently understood that wee do speak of him who is the onely Son of the Father But there is no appearance that this Heathen Prince did speak in this sense The Prophets themselves when they touched on this point have never expressed the name of the Son of GOD but in a figure as in the persons of David and of Solomon or of the entire Body of Israel Mat. 3. 15. Nay Daniel from whom Nebuchadnezzar received all that he did know concerning the true GOD did never in express terms name the Son of GOD Nay speaking of him he reciteth that he saw him like unto the Son of man Dan. 7. The French Bible doth otherwise render the words of Nebuchadnezzar The fourth saith it is like unto a Son of GOD to a man divine excellent extraordinary So spoke the Pagans themselves when they would represent a man of rare qualities whether of Body or of Mind So the best Interpreters have observed And so this place ought to be translated Between these two the Son of GOD and a Son of GOD there is an infinite distance Of the Name of Children which was given to the three Companions of Daniel IN our vulgar tongues the Name of Child when it is understood without any correlative is taken for one of a very tender age It is commonly said that the three Children were cast into the Furnace And the Song which is attributed to them is called the Song of the three Children But certainly they were not Children then when they chose rather to be cast into the flame than to adore the Image Before that time they were reputed amongst the wise men of Babylon and they should have dyed amongst those who could not interpret the dream of Nebuchadnezar And before they were cast into the Furnace they managed all the great affairs of the Province of Babylon of which they were Governours And were they yet but Children The History also which recites the Martyrdom from whence they were miraculously delivered doth make mention of them as of men of age and not as of Children Daniel 3. ver. 12. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27. Of the first words of the French Bible IN the Originall the first words of the Book of Genesis are couched in this order In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth The Scripture begins with the same word of beginning so do all the Translations which I have seen the French onely excepted which saith God created in the beginning c. It may be said that I stand here upon too nice a punctilio For what â—oth it import if we read it God created in the beginning Or In the beginning GOD created It is true It is the same sense indeed nevertheless besides the generall reason which doth oblige us to follow the order of the originall words as neer as the propriety of our vulgar languages will permit there is a more particular consideration on this place Saint John doth in the same manner begin his Gospel In the beginning was the word c. The first Syllables of the Evangelist do represent those which are first in the Bible And that this was his design is evident by that which followeth For immediatly afterwards he doth mention that word by which all things were made and doth make use of those terms which do manifestly reflect on the words of Moses when he describeth the Creation of the world And as this term in the beginning is the first in Moses and in the Scripture so it is first of all expressed by this Evangelist This Concurrence which is so considerable doth not so plainly appear when we read it God created in the beginning I 〈◊〉 most clear when we hear Moses who saith In the beginning GOD created And the Evangelist who saith In the beginning was the word The Tabernacles of the Israelites being in the Wilderness ill represented in the pictures inserted in the Bible THese Tabernacles were Cabbins made of the branches of certain trees Such were the lodgings of the Hebrews after their departure out of Egypt untill they entred into the Land of Canaan In memory whereof they were enjoyned to celebrate every year a Feast of seven days during which they lodged in Tabernacies made of the branches of divers trees Le. 23. Nâ—h. 8. But the Painters do make them of materials very different For representing the Israelites on the foot of Mount Sinai or in some other place of the Wilderness they do lodge them in tents which according to the painting were made of Linnen or of the skins of Beasts So that the Figure doth not answer either to the matter or to the form of those tabernacles of which we speak now in the pictures of many of our Bibles we may see pourtrayed the Camp of Israel and a certain number of Pavilions such as at this day are used when our Armies lye in the field but they do in no wise resemble the tents of the Israelites Such a portraict doth disguise the History and the Jews have a cause to taxe us for it of ignorance Of the Name of Beelzebub which is imposea on the Prince of the Devils IT is known that the Jews gave him this Name which is the Name of an Idol And the Pharises when they blasphemed the Son of GOD did call him after that Name But when Christ did answer them concerning Beelzebb he did not say as they that Beelzebub
the Spirit of GOD That of Jeremy ought not to be here objected who in the midst of his divine expressions doth pass so fâ—r as to curse the Day of his Nativity For the Prophet did record these words onely by way of Narration to shew that they escaped from him and his desultory stile in this expression is far different from Saint Pauls in this place Of a vulgar Book intituled the PRACTICE of PIETY I Have often admired at the folly of the common people yea and of many persons that were conceived to be more judicious who have almost adored this Book and have made more account thereof than of the Bible it self This little vvhich concerning it I have extracted shall serve to disabuse those who will give regard unto it At the beginning the Author very magisterially yea and with terrible threatnings doth advertise all sorts of people yea and the most learned vvithout exception whosoever thou art saith he who dost cast thy eyes on this Book make haste to read it for fear that before thou hast read it over GOD by some suddain Death doth cut the thread of thy life you see then it is very dangerous to dye before this Book be read over which is so necessary to salvation O unhappy those vvho are dead before they can come to the last page What Apostlâ—e hath ever spoken thus concerning his own writings Is it less dangerous to dye without reading over the Bible it self The Prologue of this man â—o shevv the excess of a Spirit vvhich hath a marvailous opinion of it self But his work doth not answer to his boastings I omit that which may be spoken on the generality of the Book In many thing he is defective in many superfluous in some obsâ—ur in others frivolous and ridiculous and which carry with them even a â—â—avâ—n of Popery it self First he describeth to us the torments of Hâ—ll after the manner of the monks very curiously and as it were by parcels so far as to particularize the ill smell of the Brimstone which doth offend the Nostrill And speaking of the Evill Angels he calls them Furies which is the Name that the Pagans give to their Infernall Goddesses Secondly he represents the damned soul who doth accuse the Body and doth impute unto it the sins which she hath committed This Prosopopeia is extracted from the Contemplations of certain Monks who have feigned a Dialogue where the damned soul reproacheth the Body with the faults she hath done And this smells of the Heresy of those who affirm that the soul doth not sin but onely by the inducement of the Body Thirdly According to the same Monasticall stile he describes the diversity of the Crowns in Bliss As the Crown of Martyrdom the Crown of Virginity which hath overcome the temptations of the Flesh The Crown of those who are marryed The Crown of good works for the â—ivers of Almes as if no other works were good but the giving of Almes onely c. He represents the faithfull soul incountring the Body at the Resurrection to whom she makes this joyfull Complement O welcome are you O well met my beloved Sister These Indeerments cannot but carry a great Grace no doubt with them He doth make it remarkable that the Virgin Queen Elizabeth vvas born on the Eve of the Nativity of the Virgin and that she dyed on the Eve of the Annunciation of the Virgin But who told him either the Eve or Day in vvhich the Virgin vvas born For as for that annual Feast which the Church of Rome doth celebrate there is no proof that it is the Day of the Birth of the Virgin It is onely an ungrounded and an uncertain tradition In the same manner the Day of the Annunciation is unknown to us because we know not the Day of the Nativity of Christ And thus the observation of this Author is buildâ—â— in the Ayr And though it should appear unto us that the said Queen was born on the same Day as was the Virgin and dyed on the same Day wherein the Angell appeared to the Virgin could not the same thing happen to divers other persons And would not the same accident be as mysterious in every one of them It is very likely saith he that on the seventh Day which is Sunday the world will end And to this purpose he alleageth a tradition which imports that the second comming of Christ shall be on the Sunday But the same Day is not Sunday throughout all the world In some places of the world it is Sunday when in other places it is hardly Saturday In which Country then shall it be Sunday when our Lord shall come Shall it be in England or rather in the East Indyes Speaking of Fasts he saith that they were instituted in the terrestrial Paradise because GOD did forbid Adam the fruit of the Tree of knowledge On this account First Adam did fast although he did eat of all the other fruits of the Garden The Isaelites also did fast all their lives because many viands were forbidden them although they did eat of others By the same reason it may be said that a man doth fast even when he is eating This is the language of the Church of Rome to say we fast when we abstain from flesh although we then feed upon abundance of fish Secondly the Fasts of which he there speaketh had other ends than had the abstinence from the forbidden fruit For we fast especially either to promote or to testify our repentance which could not be spoken of Adam who had no need of repentance because he had not as yet sinned when this abstinence was enjoyned Adam saith he was overcome by the Serpent for having not observed this Fast But first he ought rather to have said that Adam did not keep this Fast because he was overcome by the Serpent or to speak more properly by Eve already overcome by the Serpent Secondly these words are doubtfull and dangerous to affirm that the Fall of Adam did proceed because he did not keep the Fast As if his sin did arise from gluttony which is a gross error This Book in the end thereof doth represent a Colloquy between the soul and her Saviour concerning which take these parcels Lord wherfore wast thou covered with a Garment of purple R. Because I take away thy sins which are as red as Scarlet Wherefore was a Reed put into thy hand R. I am not come to bruise the broken Reed Wherefore were thy eyes blinded and covered R. That thy eyes may be opened from spirituall blindness Wherefore were thy feet and thy hands nayled to the Cross R. To embrace thee more affectionately Wherefore didst thou suffer thy face to be spitted on R. That I might make thee clean from the ordure of sin Wherefore was thy side opened with the point of a spear R. To the end that thou mightst find an entrance to draw neer unto my heart O gallant Demonstrations In all these answers and