man applyed prophecies of Christ unto Vespatian XXXV But whence was that drawne but out of the true and ancient Theologie which Plato doth inculcate in so many places of the punishment of the soule and of the judgment of God And that which Ovid singeth of the last burning of the World Metamorph. 1. Esse quoque in fatis c. He callâ— to mind it doom'd in fate doth stand That time shall come wherin the Sea and Land And Heav'ns bright pallaces shall shake and burn And all this stately frame to ruine turne It were a tedious thing to insist on all particulars Hee that would know more of this kind let him read Iustine Martyr his Parenesis to the Greekes and Clemens Alexandrinus his Protrept and his Stromata and Iosephus his bookes against Appio but especially Eusebius of Evangelicall Preparation These things are sufficient for the praise of Theologie for the time will not permit any more but especially is these times wherein wee see prostrated as it were the Carcasses of so many Churches and Vniversities and fires overwhelmed with ruines So that now Theologie it selfe if it could speake without the helpe of men would require lamentations rather then praises Vertue is coÌ„mended butis cold unregarded Adulterous Theology flowing in wealth environed with armes and greedy of bloud doth most horribly rage for the chaire insults upon the ruines of the Sanctuary Whilst in the meane while true Theologie whispereth her Doctrine into a few eares and hath not where to lay her head From whence it ariseth that few doe apply themselves to these Arts and his profession is better reputed who swaggers with a feather in his Cap and walkes with a sword by his side then his who weildeth the spirituall sword of the divine word and it is a greater glory â—o break a horse into the Ring then to compell mens minds into the compasse of true Piety and Fathers had rather place their Sons in a way of Merchandize or to make them common Lawyers then addict theÌ„ to this sacred discipline Let my Sonne say they be an Atourny in Court let him be a Solliciter of causes let him bee a Steward or a Factour that getteth mony rather then a Pastor of the Church that with an empty purse speaketh of great things and thundereth out heavenly matters But as for our parts if we have true wisedome or if we contemne earthly things in respect of heavenly neither the perverse judgements of men nor these rigorous times in which studies grow cold and nothing is fervent but cruelty nor the deceitfull lustre of riches nor the very ruine of the tottering World shal ever remove us from our sacred purpose Divine wisedome is a sufficient reward unto it self and whom it admitteth into its discipline it carryes the whole race without dependance of the judgements of men it raiseth our minds unto God For whose sake to suffer contumely is an honourable rebuke and a reproch more illustrious then all humane glory Wherefore casting all our cares upon GOD whose counsells cannot be kept backe by the Devill nor moved forward by our sorrow let us absolve our taske and finish our intended worke with what fidelity and industry we may The Inauguration of ALEXANDER COLVINUS IT remaineth therefore that we now come unto that which hath beene the cause of this frequent Congregation With Gods good-will we are about to elect unto the profession of Divinity and the degree of a Doctor Alexander Colvinus a man by descent noble endued with much learning and commendable for his disposition and maÌ„ners whose knowledge above his yeares elegant and piercing wit acute judgement tenacious memory happy flowing speech and stile lofty with naturall decency lastly whose great and constant labour doe not need our commendation Hee hath with much praise performed the office of Philosophy and Hebrew reader for some yeares already But revolving greater things in his mind he applyed himselfe to the studies of Divinity Wherein having very much profitted hee is by his own just desert and the will of our most illustrious Dutchesse called unto the profession of Theologie To wit that this profession which by the death of Professors or by other casualties may suffer hurt and dammage might bee confirmed by the more props and defences In your sight hee hath given testimonies of his wit and learning both in disputing and teaching Not as if we desired trial of his wit nor that wee have the lest doubt of his learning but that wee might satisfie custome Let therefore the university Register stand up and read unto thee Alexander Colvinus the usuall forme of Oath whereunto thou shalt sweare that thou mayest know to what Offices thou doest tye thy selfe and what are the duties of thy profession Here is read the forme of of the Oath NOw then thou most worthy man that shalt be a member of our Colledge ascend this Chaire where thou shalt be graced with the dignity of a Doctor as is due unto thy vertue The Doctor to be admitted ascendeth the Chaire and the Promotor speakes thus unto him FIrst of all I warn thee and will againe and againe admonish thee that thou prove all thy doctrine according to the rule of Gods word which is contained in the Canonicall bookes of the new and the old Testament and that thou entangle not mens minds in false opinons and corrupt the use of the pulpit which is consecrated to truth That thou applaud not thy selfe in a vaine subtilty of wit or giue thy selfe to curiosity That thou tire not thine auditour with multiplicity of speech raising questions out of questions and being too busily diligent in unnecessaries but forth with invade the maine force of the controversie and strike at the heart of false Doctrine That thou intermit not thy Lectures with too long neglect and bee thou more carefull of the benefit of thy Schollers then thine owne fame And as thou wouldest have thine Auditors attentive and earnest so let thine care be open to the questions of thy Schollers when they aske thee Let thy manners bee blamelesse thy life honest thy correction perpetual be thou courteous to thy Schollers peacefull with those of thy society and upright before all men I know that I admonish one that is mindfull and adde spurres to one that freely runneth But it is better to advise what is superfluous then to bee deficient in what is necessary Whatsoever thou shalt judge to bee needlesse in our exhortation impute it partly to the custome and partly to our love The Forme of Inaugration THerefore in the name of the Father the Son and the holy Ghost the Individuall Trinity J create and declare thee Alexander Coluinus to be Doctor of Divinity And with the consent and allowance of our worthy fellowes I admit thee into the body and Colledge of Professors that thou may'st teach out of this Chaire And that from henceforth thou enjoy all the priviledges and immunities which are granted to this sacred order by the Illustrious Dukes of Bulloigne I propose unto thee the booke of the sacred Scripture open that thou mayst learne wisedome from thence and continually cast thine eyes on it I propose the same unto thee shut that without the helpe of bookes thou mayst as often as shall be needfull answere unto mens demands Extempore I give thee mine hand as to a fellow Collegian for a pledge of our brotherly society And with this brotherly embrace I salute thee With the good prospering and the guidance of one good and great God take on thy selfe this office that it may be an honou◠〈◊〉 â—hee delight to our most illustrious Dutchesse profit to this Vniversity and 〈◊〉 safegard to Truth To the glory of Gods name and the edifying of his Church through JESUS CHRIST our Lord Amen FJNJS Imprimatur T. WYKES January 28. 1639.
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
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
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