Arguments and talk in wrangling Syllogisms with Hereticks but to labour to convince them by the Word of God then to determine the matter according to the Decrees and Canons of the Church and either to reduce him to the Orthodox Faith or pronounce him a Hereticks for he is no Heretick who is not obstinate nor is he a favourer of Hereticks who seeks to defend an innocent person condemned of Heresie left he should be deliver'd up by these cruel and ravenous Inquisitors to be butchered without a cause And although it be expresly provided in the Law that the Inquisitors shall have no power of Examining nor any Jurisdiction over any suspition defence or favour of Heresie which is not a Heresie manifestly exprest and absolutely already condemn'd yet these bloudy Vultures going beyond the Priviledges and Commission of their Office against all right and contrary to the Canons themselves take upon them to meddle with ordinary things arrogating and usurping the power of Popes in those things which are not Heretical but onely Scandalous or offensive to the ear most cruelly raging against the poor Country-women whom being once accused of Witchcraft and condemned without the examination of any lawful Judge they expose to most strange and unheard-of Torments till having extorted from them what they least thought to confess they finde matter to proceed upon to condemnation and then they think they do the Office of Inquisitors truly when they never leave the business off till the poor woman be burnt or else have so far gilded the Inquisitors hand until he take pitie of her as sufficiently purg'd for an Inquisitor may alter the punishment from penal into pecuniary and convert it to the use of the Office by which there is not a little Money to be got and some of these poor creatures are forc'd to pay them an annual Stipend for fear of being harass'd to Torment And when the Goods of Hereticks are confiscated then the Inquisitor gets no small matter The very accusation or highest suspicion of Heresie nay the very Citation of the Inquisitor is enough to bring a womans credit in question which is not to be salved without money given to the Inquisitor which is no small gain Thus while I was in Millain several Inquisitors did torment many honest Matrons some of very good Quality and privately milk very large sums from the poor affrighted and terrified women till at length their Cheating being discovered they were severely handled by the Gentry hardly escaping Fire and Sword When I was President of the Commonwealth in the Citie of Mediomatricum I had a very great Contest with an Inquisitor who being a loose fellow had hal'd a poor Country-woman into his Slaughter-house being a place of disrepute and all for a very slight Accusation not so much to Examine her as to Crucifie her This woman when I undertook to defend her Cause and found and had made it evident that there was nothing of Proof to make out the Crime the Inquisitor made answer that there was one proof not to be question'd That her mother many years ago was burnt for a Witch Which Article when I shew'd how impertinent it was and that it was not for the Law to condemn one for the fact of another presently he lest he should have seemed to have talkt out of Reason before produces this Argument That therefore it was so and the Proof good because Witches were wont to devote their children to the devil as also because they are wont to Conceive by lying with the devil and therefore there is an inherent Guiltiness in the Off-spring Wicked Father said I is this thy way of Theologie Are these the Fictions for which thou harriest silly women to Torture are these the Sophisms with which thou condemnest Hereticks Thou thy self in my opinion art far worse than Faustus or Donatus Grant it were as thou sayst dost thou not hereby abrogate the grace of Baptism if for the impiety of a Parent the Off-spring should be the devils due And if it were true that Incubi did generate yet was never any one of that opinion so infatuated as to think those Spirits did mingle any thing of their own nature with the suffoced seed But I tell thee upon the true grounds of Faith and by the true natures of our Humanities we are all one mass of sin and eternal malediction sons of perdition sons of the devil sons of the wrath of God and heirs of hell but by the grace of Baptism Satan is cast out of us and we are made new creatures in Jesus Christ from whom no man can be separated but by his own sin for far is it from truth that he should suffer for another mans sin Seest thou not now how invalid thy most sufficient Proof is how vain in Law and indeed how absolutely Heretical it is The cruel Hypocrite grew very wroth against me and threatned to sue me as a favourer of Hereticks However I persisted in defence of the poor creature and at length by the power of the Law I delivered her out of the Lions mouth and the bloudy Monk stood rebuk'd and sham'd before um all and ever after infamous for his Cruelty and the Accusers of the poor woman in the Capitol of the Church of Metz whose Subjects they were were very considerably Fin'd CHAP. XCVII Of Scholastick Theologie IT remains that we discourse concerning Theologie I shall pass by the Theologie of the Gentiles mentioned in Orpheus Musaeus and Hesiod which all men acknowledge to be Poetical and fictitious and which Lactantius and Eusebius and many other eminent Doctors of the Christians have convinced by most strenuous Arguments Nor shall we speak of the Religion of Plato or the rest of the Philosophers whom we have already shew'd to be the teachers of nothing but Errour But we shall here discourse concerning the Christian Religion This onely depends upon the faith of its Doctors seeing that it can fall under no Art or Science And first of Scholastick Divinity a certain Hodge-podge or Mixture of Divine Precepts and Philosophical Reasons looking like a Centaur written after a new manner far different from the antient way of delivery diffus'd into little Questions and subtil Syllogisms without any Elegancie of speech and which has brought not a little profit to the Church in the convincing of Hereticks The first Authors whereof and who were most excellent therein were Thomas Aquinas Albertus sirnamed the Great and many other famous men besides Johannes Scotus a most subtil and acute Writer though a little more given to Contention Hence Scholastick Theologie sell into Sophisms while those newer Theosophists and as it were Sutlers of the Word of God never worthy of the title of Divines but for their money of so sublime a Studie and Contemplation made a meer Logomachie wandring from School to School starting little Questions framing Opinions forcing the Scriptures inducing a strange sence with intricate words and more nimble to ventilate
and Prince of this World in Leviticus nam'd the Prince of the Deserts to whom it was said in Genesis Thou shalt eat the dust all the days of thy life And in Isaiah The Dust is thy bread that is our Corporeal Body Created out of the dust of the Earth so long as it remains unsanctifi'd and not chang'd for the better to be no longer then at the disposal of the Serpent but of God according to the word of St. Paul It is sow'd corporal but shall rise spiritual And in another place All shall rise but all shall not be chang'd for that many shall remain perpetual food for the Serpent This foul and detestable matter of the Flesh the food of the Serpent lies in the Grave in hopes of a better Lot and spiritual Transmutation which is already come to pass in those that have already tasted the first-Fruits of Redemption and some have attain'd it by vertue of the Deifick Spirit as Elias and Enoch and as some are of opinion Moses whose bodies being chang'd into the nature of Spirits never saw corruption nor as other Carcasses were left to the power of the Serpent And something to this purpose it was thought was the great dispute of Michael with the Devil about the body of Moses which St. Jude mentions in his Epistle Thus much concerning Conjuring and Necromancy CHAP. XLVI Of Theurgy MAny there are that believe Theurgy not to be unlawful which pretends to have to do with none but good Angels and the Divine Numen himself though under the names of God and Angels it proves to be onely the delusion and mockery of evil Spirits It pretends no natural Power but to make use of Celestial Ceremonies by which they think to attract and reconcile the Divine Natures Concerning which the antient Magi have deliver'd several Rules in several Volumes But the chiefest part of their Ceremonies is in observing Cleanliness first of the Soul then of the Body then of those things about the Body as in the Skin the Garments the Dwelling Vessels Utensils Immolations and Sacrifices which cleanliness renders them capable of being the receptacles and fit for the entertainment of Divine Spirits and is very much encourag'd and commended in Sacred Scripture according to the words of Esay Be glad and be clean and take away the evil of your thoughts But uncleanness which often corrupts and defiles and infects man disturbs the most clean and pure Society of Celestial Beings and chases away the spotless Spirits and Angels of God It is true that many times unclean and delusive powers to the end they may be ador'd and worship'd for Gods do counterfeit this Purity and therefore great diligence and care is to be us'd for the avoiding thereof and therefore we have abundantly discours'd thereof in our Books of Occult Philosophy Now of this Theurgy or Divine Magick Porphyrius having delivered many things at length concludes that by Theurgick Operations the soul may be made fit to receive Spirits and Angels and to see and converse with them but that there can be any access to the Deity thereby he altogether denies His Rules and Directions are contain'd in his Art Almabel his Notorious Art his Art Pauline his Art of Revelations where are abundance of Superstitions to be found which are so much the more pernicious by how much they seem more Losty and Divine to the unskilful CHAP. XLVII Of the Cabalists HEre the words of Pliny come into my minde There is saith he another Sect of Magicians of which Moses and Latopea Jews were the first Authors which words bring to my remembrance the Cabala of the Jews which as the constant opinion among the Hebrews goes was delivered by God to Moses and thence through succession of Ages even to the times of Ezra preserv'd by Tradition onely without the help of writing As of old the Doctrine of Pythagoras was delivered by Archippus and Lysiades who kept School at Thebes in Greece where the Scholars learning all their Masters Precepts by heart made use onely of their Memories instead of Books So certain Jews despising Letters plac'd all their Learning in Memory Observation and verbal Tradition whence it was call'd by the Hebrews Cabala that is to say a receiving from one to another by the Ear An Art by report very antient though the name be but of later times known among the Christians Now this Cabala they divide into three parts the first contains the knowledge of Bresith which they call also Cosmology explaining and teaching the force and efficacie of things created Natural or Celestial expounding also the Laws and Mysteries of the Bible according to Philosophical reasons which for that cause differs little from Natural Magick wherein they say K. Solomon excell'd Therefore we finde in the Sacred Histories of the Jews that he was wont to discourse from the Cedar of Libanon to the low Hyssop as also of Cattle Birds Reptiles and Fish all which contain within themselves a certain kinde of Magical vertue Moses also the Egyptian in his Expositions upon the Pentateuch and most of the Talmudists have followed the Rules of this Art The other part thereof contains the knowledge of more sublime things as of Divine and Angelical Powers the contemplation of Sacred Names and Characters being a certain kinde of Symbolical Theology wherein the Letters Figures Numbers Names Points Lines Accents are esteemed to contain the significations of most profound things and great Mysteries This part again is twofold Arithmantick handling the nature of Angels the Powers Names Characters of Spirits and Souls departed and Theomantick which searches into the mysteries of the Divine Majesty his Emanations his Names and Pentacula which he that attains to they account endu'd with most admirable power By vertue of this Art they say Moses wrought so many Miracles changing his Rod into a Serpent the Water into Blood and plagu'd Egypt with Frogs Flyes Lice Locusts Emrodes and Pestilence slaying the first-born of Man and Beast By this Art he divided the Red-sea caus'd Water to flow out of the Rock brought the Qualls into the Wilderness sweeten'd the bitter Waters made Lightning by day and a Pillar of Fire by night to lead the March of his people call'd down the Voice of God among the people By this Art he punish'd the Arrogant with Fire the Murmurers with Leprosie Mutiners with sudden Destruction causing the Earth to swallow them up preserv'd the Clothes of the Israelites from wearing out and gave them Victory over their Enemies Lastly by means of this Art Josua commanded the Sun to stand still Elias call'd down Fire from Heaven and rais'd the dead Youth to life Daniel muzzled the Lions mouths and the three Children sang in the middle of the fiery Furnace Nay the perfidious and unbelieving Jews stick not to aver that Christ himself wrought all his Miracles by vertue of this Art Solomon as they say did excel in this Art and that he discovered several secrets thereof
the Infinite Intellect moveable of it self Pythagoras would have a certain Soul diffus'd and passing through the Nature of all things from whom all things receive Life to be God Alcmaeon of Crotona Deified the Sun Moon and other Stars Zenophanes would have God to be All whatever had a Being Parmenides makes a certain Circumscrib'd Orb of Light which he calls a Crown to be God Aristotle as if a certain Knowledge of God could be collected from the Motion of the Heavens hath invented Fictitious Gods of the Nature of them and sometimes will have the Mind to be Divine and sometimes he calls the World iâ— self God sometimes he makes another God far more Supream and Superintendent over it whom Theophrastus imitates with the same inconstancy I omit what Strato Perseus Aristo the Disciple of Zeno Plato Xenophon Speusippus Democritus Heraclitus Diogenes the Babylonian Hermes Trismegistus Cicero Seneâ—a Pliny and many others have delivered whose Opinions notwithstanding are far different from the former not yet recited I might here run through all their Debates and Monstrosities of words concerning Idea's Incorporeals Atomes Hyle Matter Form Vacuum Infinity Eternity Fate introduction of Forms Matter of the Heavens whether the Stars consist of the Elements or of the Fifth Essence which Aristotle invented with many other such kind of Trifles that have afforded Men great cause of Dispute and Contention But I suppose I have made it sufficiently apparent how far Philosophers are from agreeing about the Truth it self to whom the nearer a man adheres the more remote he is from any certainty and the farther he wanders from right Religion Hence it is That we find John the Twenty second Pope in a very great Error who was of Opinion That the Souls of the Blessed should not see the Face of God before the day of Judgment We know also that Julian the Apostate did Abjure Christ for no other Cause than that because being much addicted to Philosophy he began to scorn and contemn the Humility of the Christian Faith For the same cause Celius Porphyrius Lucian Pelagius Arrius Manichaeus Averroes have with so much madness bark'd against Christ and his Church Hence that common Proverb among the Vulgar That the greatest Philosophers are the greated Hereticks St. Jerom therefore calls them the Patriarchs of Heresie the First-born of Aegypt seeing that all Heresie whatsoever hath had its first rise out of the Fountain of Philosophy By this Philosophy is all Divinity almost Adulterated so that instead of Evangelical Doctors and Teachers false Prophets and Heretical Philosophers have appear'd in the World who have adventur'd to Equalize the Divine Oracles with Humane Inventions polluting the same with strange Opinions of Men have Tranform'd true and simple Divinity as Gerson saith into swelling and Sophistical Loquacity and Mathematical Figments Which St. Paul the Apostle foreseeing with many timesâ—repeated admonitions commands us to beware left any person should prevail over us and seduce us through vain Philosophy St. Austin defends and fortifies his City of God against them All other Divines and Holy Fathers have condemned it to be wholly extirpated out of the Church Neither are there wanting Examples of the Heathen by which we find that they have done the same For the Athenians put Socrates to Death that was the Father of the Philosophers The Romans threw Philosophers out of their City The Messanians and Lacedemonians never admitted them and in the Raign of Domitian they were not only Expell'd the City but forbid through all Italy There was also a Decree of Antiochus the King against those young Men that durst take upon them to study Philosophy and more than that against their very Parents that permitted them Neither have Philosophers been only condemn'd and expell'd by Kings and Emperors but also exploded by most Learned Men in their several Writings Extant of which Number is Phliasius Timon who wrote a Treatise Entitled Sylli in derision of Philosophers and Aristophâ—nes who wrote a Play in Contempt of them which he call'd Nubes or the Clouds and Lastly Dion Prusaeus who made a most Eloquent Oration against them Aristides also made a most Learned Oration in the behalf of Four Noble Athenians against Plato and Hortensius a most Noble and Eloquent Roman hath with most strong and powerful Reasons most sharply oppugned the same CHAP. LIV. Of Moral Philosophy IT remains now that if there be any part of Philosophy that contains the Discipline of Manners to inquire whether the same do not rather consist in variety of use custom observation and perservation of life than in the little Rules of Philosophy which are changeable according to the times places and opininions of men and such as threats and fair words teach Children Laws and Punishments cause men to learn Of some things which cannot be taught natural Industry makes an addition in men for many things wax out of use through process of time and consent of the people Hence it comes to pass that that was then a Vice which is now accompted a Virtue and that which is here a Virtue in another place is compted a Vice what one man thinks honest another man thinks dishonest what some hold to be just others condemn as unjust as the Laws Opinions Times Places and Interests of Government vary Among the Athenians it was lawful for a man to marry his Couzen-german among the Romans it was altogether forbidden Formerly among the Jews and now among the Turks it is lawful to have plurality of Wives besides Curtisans and Concubines but among us Christians it is not onely forbid but accompted a most horrible sin Lastly that the women should go to Play-houses and be seen publickly by all persons was among those Nations accompted no dishonour and yet among the Romans so to do was held infamous and dishonest However the Romans were wont to take their Wives with them to great Entertainments where they went to appear in great Splendor and abide in the best parts of the house but in Greece no married wife was admitted to any Banquet or Feast unless it were among their neerest Relations nor was she to converse but in the most retir'd parts of the house where no man went but the nearest of Kin. Among the Lacedaemonians and Egyptians it was accompted an honourable thing to steal but among us Thieves are taken and hang'd Some Nations are so planted by Heaven that they appear eminent for the unity and singularity of their Customs The Seythians were always infamous for Savageness and Cruelty The Italians were always eminent for their Magnanimity The Gaules were reproach'd for Stupidity The Sicilians were always subtile The Asiaticks Luxurious the Spaniards Jealous and great Boasters Besides several Nations have some particular marks of distinction which are the more immediate marks of Heaven so that a man may easily discern of what Nation such or such a stranger may be by his Voice Speech Tone Designe Conversation Diet Love or Hatred Anger and Malice and the
Mathematicks in general IT is now time to discourse of the Mathematicks surely the most certain of all the Arts. Yet all of them chiefly consist in the Opinions of their Teacheâ—s who have got the most credit yet in their several Opinions have committed sundry Errors which Albumazar among the rest acknowledges saying That the Ancients long after Aristotles time did not rightly understand the Mathematicks And that though all these Arts are chiefly invented for the understanding of Figures Number and Motion yet are their Professors forc'd to confess that there was never any Figure yet found either according to Art or Nature perfectly Spherical And though these Arts have been the occasion of little or no Heresie in the Church yet St. Austin saith That they avail nothing at all to Salvation and that they do rather lead men into Error and take men off from the Contemplation of true Divinity and as St. Hierome observes are not the Sciences of Piety CHAP. XII Of Arithmetick OF these Sciences the first is Arithmetick or the Doctrine of Numbers which is indeed the Mother of all the rest not less superstitions than vain and only valu'd among Merchants for the low and mean benefit of keeping their Accounts it treats of Numbers and their Divisions which is even which odde which is evenly odde and which odly even which superfluous which a Fraction which perfect which compounded also of proportion and proportionality and their kinds Lastly of Geometrical and Harmonical Numbers the Effects and use of Number and their Fractions and the wayes and rules of casting Accompts CHAP. XIII Of Geomancy A Rithmetick produces to us Geomantick Divination Cards Tables and Dice and whatsoever else in the Nature of Numeral Chances This Geomancy most men do rather make a Member of Astrology by reason that their method of judgment is the same and because the force and vertue thereof consists not so much in Number as in Motion according to the saying of Aristotle The Motion of Heaven is perpetual and is the Principle and Cause of all Inferiour Motions Of this Geomancy among the Ancients Haly hath written among our Modern Authors Gerard of Cremona Bartholomaeus of Parma and one Tundinus I my self have written a Geomancy far different from those before mentioned though not less superstitious and fallacious or if you will I may say not less crowded with Lyes CHAP. XIV Of the Art of Dicing THE Art of Dicing is one of those Arts that depends wholly upon Chance wherein he that is most studious and most expert becomes so much the more vile and wicked while out of covetousness of another mans he bears no reverence to his own Patrimony This is the Mother of Lies Perjury Thefts Quarrels Injustice and Murther rightly an Invention of Evil Spirits which after the overthrow of the Asian Empire was carried away Captive into Greece among the Spoils of those Cities where afterwards 〈◊〉 enslav'd and bewitch'd the Conquerors themselves It is said that Attalus King of Asia was the first Inventor of that Game having found it out by his skill in Arithmetick Among the Romans it is reported that Claudius the Emperour wrote a Treatise thereof He together with Augustus Caesar being great Admirers of this Game An Exercise most Infamous and forbidden by the Laws of Nations insomuch that Cobilon the Lacaedemonian being sent to Corinth for the obtaining a mutual League and Friendship between those two Cities when he saw the Captains and Senators of Corinth playing at Dice return'd without doing any thing saying that he would not so much defile the Glory of the Spartan's as that it should be said they had made a League with Gamesters This Art was so much dis-esteem'd among the greatest of men formerly that the King of Parthia is reported to have sent a Bale of Golden Dice to Demetrius on purpose to upbraid his Inconstancy Now adayes it is a Game in the greatest Request even among the greatest Princes and the chief Nobility How do I say a Play Yea the only Wisdom and highest Knowledge of Men most carefully and wickedly bred up to Cheat and Cozen. CHAP. XV. Of the Pythagorean Chance NEither do I think it fitting to pass by what the Pythagoreans did Assert what others thought and what Aristotle himself did believe That there are certain Numbers in the Elements of Letters from whence some will undertake to tell Fortunes by the Propeâ— Names the Letters whereof being added together and the Names repeated as oft as there be Letters they give the day to him whose Name comes to be last reckon'd whether the Question be concerning War Quarrel Marriage Life or any other concernment And thus they say it was foretold that Patroclus should be kill'd by Hector thaâ— he should be slain by Achilles Of which Terence makes mention in Verse and how they made use of the Letters of their Names These greater Numbers those the less require He that in doubtful War his Chance would know If the great number stop may safely go But signes of Death the lesser sums presage And thus Patroclus fell by Hector's Rage Thus from small sums they did of old foretel How Conquering Hector by Achilles fell Some will undertake to Erect Horoscopes by these kind of Computations as one Alchandrius an obscure Philosopher said to be the Scholar of Aristotle hath been ready to assert And Pliny relates That by the â—inventions of Pythagoras there is in the Eye a peculiar property to foretel Lameness and some other mischances CHAP. XVI Yet of Arithmetick BUT to return to Arithmetick Plato saith That this was first Invented by some Cacodaemon together with Cards and Dice and Lycurgus that great Law-giver among the Lacedaemonians expell'd it as a most turbulent and factious Science out of his Commonwealth For it requires a great deal of idle Labor and diverts men from other more lawful and honest imployments raising great and mischievous quarrels many times about the smallest matters Hence arises that irreconcilable dispute among Arithmeticians Whether an even or odd Number be most to be prefer'd which is the most perfect Number between Three Six and Ten and whether any Number may be properly said to be evenly even in which matter of so great consequence they say that Euclid the Prince of Geometricians has very much err'd It is a hard matter to say what strange Pythagorical Mysteries what Magick Vertues they Dream there be in number though naked and abstracted from things and with a great deal of Presumption aver That the World could not have been Created by God had not Numbers been Instrumental and that all Divine Knowledge is contain'd in Numbers as in a certain Rule From these beginnings the Heresies of Marcus Magus and Valentinus took their first growth and progression who presum'd that they were able to discover an innumerable company of Divine Secrets of Truth and Religion by the dull and weak assistance of Numbers Some accompt the Pythagorean inventions among the Sacraments with
said to have made a Brazen Heaven in such sort that it shew'd all the Motions of the Planets and Sphears the like whereof we have seen brought to pass in our time From this Art also proceed the several varieties of Guns and Fire-vomiting Engines of which lately my self have Written a special Treatise Entituled Pyrographie which I now Repent me to have done seeing that it only Teaches a most pernicious and destructive Art Lastly Painting Measuring of Land Agriculture Founders Statuaries Smiths Carpenters â—nd all that make use of Wood or Metals all borrow â—heir Experience from Geometry CHAP. XXIII Of Optick and Perspective NEarest of kin to Geometry is the Art Perspective Now Perspective is an Art that teaches a Threefold way of seeing Direct Reflex'd and Broken as also the difference of Light Shadows and Spaces how Visibles appear through false Intervals how the beams of the Sun are receiv'd through one or more perspicuous Bodies and how they play upon several figures of Bodies the several accidents of Object Sight and Medium and how the Object and the Sight are affected according to the variety of the Medium Now as concerning the reason of Seeing there are sundry and different Opinions Plato thinks that the sight proceeds from an equal clearness in the Eye and the Object the clearness from the Eye being caus'd by the flowing of the Light to one extrinsick Air that which proceeds from the Body being caus'd by a reverberation of the Sight to the Eye the middle clearness about the Air being easily fluid and apt to receive shape according to the force of the Sight that always extends it self in a firy Form Galen agrees with Plato But Hipparchus saith that the Beams extended from the Eyes to the Bodies themselves touching them as it were with a certain Palpitation returns back the apprehension thereof to the Sight Aristotle is of Opinion that the Images of things pass from the Object to the Sight according to their quality through the alteration of the middle Air. Porphyrius believes neither Beams nor Images nor any thing else to be the Cause of Sight but that the Soul knowing her self apprehends and sees her own self in all visible beings But the Geometricians and Opticks coming near to Hipparchus have invented certain Cones made by the co-incidence or falling together of the Beams which are emitted through the Eyes so that the Eye apprehends many visibles at one time but those most certainly where the Beams meet together But Alchinduâ— teaches another thing which St. Austin thinks to be most true That the Power of the Soul doth act something in the Eye which is above humane Wisdome to find out This Art therefore much conduces to the understanding the variety of Coelestial Bodies their Distance Magnitude Motions and Reflections and is also a great help to Architecture in the measuring adorning and perfecting great Buildings But in the Art of Painting and making of Landskips is of so great use that neither can be done without it For it shews us how to make Figures seem undeformed and in Symmetry at whatsoever height or distance they are to be seen CHAP. XXIV Of Painting PAinting is a wonderful Art imitating the shapes of Natural things by an accurate description of the Lineaments and apt choice of Colours This was once in such high esteem that it was accompted the chief of all the Liberal Sciences Not less Liberal than Poetry in the Opinion of Horace Painters and Poets have free leave With equal power to dare and to deceive For Painting is nothing else but mute Poetry and Poetry a speaking Picture so neer akin they be to each other for as Poets so Painters feign Histories and Fables and representations of all things expressing and figuring Light Splendor Shades Heights and Depths This moreover it borrows from Opticks to deceive the sight and in one Picture the scituation being varied to represent various shapes to the sight and what the Statuary cannot reach this attains to it represents in lively colours fire beams light thunder lightning evening morning dawn clouds passions of Men the senses of the Mind and even almost the Voice it self and by falsifying measures and dimensions makes these things appear to be which are not and those things which are not to appear to be As is related of Zeuxis and Parrhasius Painters who contending both for Excellency the first shewed painted Grapes so like that the Birds flew to feed upon them The other shew'd a Coverlet only Painted which was so rarely done that when the First went to put it aside that he might see the Workmanship that was under and found his Error he was forc'd to yield the Victory to the Latter whereas he had only deceiv'd the Birds but Parrasius an Artist And Pliny relates That in the Plays of Claudius there was such excellent Painting that the Crows have flown to the representation of Tiles mistaking them for the tops of Houses And the same Pliny relates How it had been found by experience that the singing of Birds has been stinted by the sight of a painted Dragon This moreover is always attributed to Painting That in all her Works there is more to be understood and judged of than is to be seen as Plutarch has diligently found out in his Icons so that though the Art be extraordinary yet the Ingenuity thereof is beyond the Art CHAP. XXV Of Statuary and Plastick PAinting is accompanied with the Arts Statuary Plastick Casting and Engraving the Inventions of Laborious Wit which may notwithstanding be all comprehended in Architecture The Statuary makes the likeness of things either in Stone Wood or Ivory the Plaster performs the same in Earth the like Images the Caster performs by casting melted Brass and other metals in Moulds The Graver expresses the same things in Stones and Gems Of all which Pomponius Gauricus among Modern Writers hath chiefly Treated But all these Arts together with Painting were meerly invented by the Devil for the nourishment of Pride Lust and Superstition the Authors were those who first according to the words of St. Paul Chang'd the Glory of the Incorruptible God into the likeness of Corruptible man of Birds of Beasts and of Serpents the first who contrary to Divine Command that forbids the Graven Image or the likness of any thing either in heaven above or in the earth beneath introduc'd Idolatry so detested of God Of whom the wise man saith The Idol is curs'd and be that made the same together with the thing made shall suffer Torments For the Vanity of Men as the same Author saith invented these Arts to tempt the Soul of Man and to deceive the Ignorant And the Invention it self is the Corruption of Life However we Christians above all other People are so mad and carried so headlong into this corruption of Life and Manners that in all our Courts Houses and Chambers we are not asham'd to keep and admire these wicked Ornaments thereby to invite Women and Virgins
both toward Religion toward Men and God himself affirming That the secrets of Conscience may be discovered from such a part of the Sun being in the ninth third eleventh houses of the Heaven and many have prescrib'd Rules whereby they pretend to disclose the very thoughts and intentions of Men. Exalting the Coelestial Constellations above the Miraculous Works of God as the superintendant Causes of the Universal Flood the Law given by Moses and the Child-bearing of a Virgin and vainly attributing to Mars the occasion and necessary cause of Christs All-redeeming death Yea they do affirm That Christ himself did make choice of his hours wherein to work his Miracles and when he rode in Triumph into Jerusalem what times he knew the Jews could have no power to hurt him which was the reason he chid his Disciples in these words Are there not Twelve hours of the day They say moreover That if any one were happily placed under Mars being in the Ninth House such a one shall be able to cast out Devils with his presence only But he that shall Pray to God Luna and Jupiter being in Conjunction in the Mid-Heaven with the Dragons-head shall obtain all his desires and that Saturn and Jupiter do promise future prosperity of Life Moreover that he who hath Saturn happily constituted with Leo at his Nativity shall when he departs this Life immediately return to Heaven again Now who could think it as silly and as idle as these Heresies are yet want they not abettors Petrus Aponensis Roger Bacon Guido Bonatus Arnoldus de Villa Nova Philosophers Alyacensis Cardinal and Divine and many other famous Christian Doctors who have not without great Infamy given their Assent to the same and more than that have been so bold as to testifie and defend the truth thereof Against these Astrologers of later years Johannes Picus Mirandula wrote Twelve Books so fully that he hath scarce omitted one Argument but with such a force of Eloquence that neither Lucius Balantius a most strenuous Champion of Astrology nor any other Hector of this Art could ever defend it from the ruine of those Arguments that Mirandula hath brought against it For he makes it out by most strong Arguments That Astrology is an Invention not of Men but of the Devil which Firmianus confirms by which he endeavours to exterminate and abolish all Philosophy Physick Law and Religion to the general mischief of Mankind for first it takes away the use of Faith in Religion lessens the reverence of Miracles takes away Divine Providence while it teaches That all things happen by force and vertue of the Stars and from the Influences of the Constellations by a kind of fatal Necessity It patronizes Sin excusing Vice as descending from Heaven it defiles and subverts all good Arts in the first place Philosophy translating the Causes of things from right Reason to Fables translating the practice of Physick from the application of Natural and Efficacious Remedies to vain Observations and idle Superstitions deadly both to Body and Soul Abrogating all Laws Customes and Rules of humane Prudence when Astrology must be only consulted at what time how and by what means to Act as if she only held the Scepter that governs humane Life and Manners together with all Affairs publick and private deriving an uncontrolable Authority from Heaven and accompting all things else vain and ridiculous that will not submit to her jurisdiction A most worthy Art which the Devils heretofore Professed in contempt of God and to the deceipt of Men. Neither can we think that the Heresie of the Manicheans which takes away all liberty of Free-will had any other Original than the false Opinions and Doctrines of Astrology From the same Fountain sprang that Heresie of Basilides who believed that there were Three hundred sixty five Heavens all made successively and in the same likeness according to the number of the days of the year and assigning to every one of them certain Qualities Principles and Angels and also giving them names he calls the supreme Ruler of them all Abraxas which name according to the Greek Letters contains the Numerals of Three hundred sixty five to answer the Number of Heavens which he had invented These things I have therefore set forth that ye may understand Astrology to be the Mother of Heresie Besides this same Fortune-telling Astrology not only the best of Moral Philosophers explode but also Moses Isaias Job Jeremiah and all the other Prophets of the Ancient Law and among the Catholick Writers St. Austin condemns it to be utterly expell'd and banish'd out of the Territories of Christianity St. Hierome argues the same to be a kind of of Idolatry Basil and Cyprian laught at it as most contemptible Chrysostome Eusebius and Lactantius utterly condemn it Gregory Ambrose and Severianus inveigh against it The Council of Toledo utterly abandon and prohibit it In the Synod of Martinus and by Gregory the younger and Alexander the third it was Anathematiz'd and punish'd by the Civil Laws of the Emperours Among the Ancient Romans it was prohibited by Tiberius Vitellius Dioclesian Constantine Gratian Valentinian and Theodosius Ejected also and Punish'd by Justinian made a Capital Crime as may appear in his Codex CHAP. XXXII Of Divinination in general IT willnot be amiss here to bring in those other sorts of Divination drawing predictions not so much from the observation of heavenly bodies but of inferiour things that retain a kinde of shadow and resemblance of heavenly things that those things being understood ye may the better understand this Astrological Tree that yields such trashie Fruit and from whence as from a Lernaean Hydra the Beast of so many Heads is generated Among the Arts therefore of Fortune-telling Vulgarly professed in hope of gain are Physiognomy Metoposcopie Chiromancy Soothsaying Speculatory and Interpretation of Dreams to which we may adde the mad Oracles of former times All which have not the least of solid Learning in them nor have any ground of Reason to fix on but depend upon Chance familiarity with Spirits or some apparent Conjectures which are gathered from ancient Traditions or long Observations For all these prodigious Arts of Divination defend themselves with the Buckler of Experience and to dis-entangle themselves out of the bonds of hampring Objections by suggesting to work beyond Faith and Reason of all which the Law takes notice thus Commanding Let none be found among you that maketh his Son go through the fiâ—e or that useth Witchcraft or a regarder of times or a marker of the flying of fowls or a Sorcerer or a Charmer or that councelleth with Spirits or a Soothsayer for all that do those things are an abomination unto the Lord. CHAP. XXXIII Of Physiognomy PHysiognomy taking Nature for her Guide upon an inspection and well observing the outward parts of the Body presumes to conjecture by probable tokens at the qualities of the Mind and Fortune of the Person making one Man to be Saturnal another a
makes interpretations of Thunder and Lightning and other Airy Meteors as also of Monsters and Prodigies but no otherwise than by Conjecture and Comparison which how false and erronious it is is notoriously manifest CHAP. XXXIX Of Interpretation of Dreams HEre we may usher in the Interpretation of Dreams call'd Onirocritica whose Interpreters are properly call'd Conjecturers according to that Verse in Euripides He that Conjectures least amiss Of all the best of Prophets is To this Delusion not a few great Philosophers have given not a little credit especially Democritus Aristotle and his follower Themistius Sinesius also the Platonick so far building upon Examples of Dreams which some accident hath made to be true that thence they endeavour to perswade Men that there are no Dreams but what are real For say they as the Celestial Influences produce divers Forms in Corporeal Matter so out of certain Influences predominating over the power of the Fancy the impression of Visions is made being Consentaneous through the disposition of the Heavens to the Effect which is to be produc'd more especially in Dreams because the mind being then at liberty from all corporeal Cares and Exercises more freely receives the Divine Influences therefore it happens that many things are reveal'd in Dreams to them that are asleep which are conceal'd from them that wake With these reasons they pretend to beget a good Opinion of the Truth of Dreams But as to the Causes of Dreams both External and Internal they do not all agree in one judgment For the Platonicks reckon them among the specifick and concrete Notions of the Soul Avicen makes the Cause of Dreams to be an Vltimate Intelligence moving the Moon in the middle of that Light with which the Fancies of men are Illuminate while they sleep Aristotle refers the Cause thereof to Common Sence but plac'd in the Fancy Averroes places the Cause in the Imagination Democritus ascribes it to little Images or Representatives separated from the things themselves Albertus to the Superior Influences which continually flow from the Skie through many Specifick Mediums The Physicians impute the Cause thereof to Vapours and Humours others to the affections and cares predominant in persons when awake Others joyn the powers of the Soul Celestial Influences and Images together all making but one Cause Arthemidorus and Daldianus have written of the Interpretation of Dreams and certain Books go about under Abrahams Name whom Philo in his Book of the Gyants and of Civil Life asserts to have been the first Practiser thereof Other Treatises there are falsified under the Names of David and Solomon wherein are to be read nothing but meer Dreams concerning Dreams But Marcus Cicero in his Book of Divination hath given sufficient Reasons against the vanity and folly of those that give Credit to Dreams which I purposely here omit CHAP. XL. Of Madness BUT though I had almost forgot it let us with these Dreamers number those that give a kind of sacred Credit to the Prophesies of Mad-folks who themselves have lost all knowledge of things present memory of past and indeed all humane sense fondly imagining them to have the gift of Foreknowledg as if what the wise and waking know not Mad-folks and Dreamers should see as if God were nearer at hand to them than to the vigilant watchful intelligible and those that are full of premeditation Unhappy men that believe such Vanity that give obedience to such Impostures that cherish such Deluders submitting their own Faith and Discretion to their Bellies For what can we imagine Madness to be but a departure of Reason persecuted by evil Spirits convey'd through the Stars or through the Inferiour Bodies by the bad Angels which Lucan seems to intimate when he brings in Arvus the Thuscan Prophet In Thunders motion skill'd and Lightnings bright And in the downy Feathers airy flight Then after the City-Procession after the Offering slain after the Entrails inspected he brings in a Potter thus delivering his judgment What rage ye Gods what wâ—es do ye preparâ— If Saturn's baneful Star in topmost Air Should kindle his dull Fires we then should moan To see Aquarius pour whole Rivers down And all the World in total deluge drown If Sol should mount the Nemaean Lions back In Flame would all the Worlds whole Fabrick crack And all the Skie with Sol's burnt Chariot blaze These Aspects cease but thou that burntst the claws And firk'st the Tail of threatning Scorpion What great thing breed'st thou Mars milde Jove goes down Oppressed in his fall and in the Skies The wholsome Star of Venus dulled is Mercury looses his swift motion And fiery Mars rules in the Skie alone Why do the Stars their Course forsaking glide Obscurely through the Air why does the side Of Sword-breaking Orion shine too bright Wars rage is threatned the Swords power all right Confounds by force Impiety shall bear The name of Vertue and for many a year This fury lasts Therefore all these delusions of Divination have their root and foundation from Astrology For whether the Lineaments of the Body Countenance or Hand be inspected whether Dream or Vision be seen whethe marking of Entrails or mad Inspiration be consulted there must be a Celestial Figure first erected by the means of whose indications together with the conjectures of Signes and Similitudes they endeavour to finde out the truth of what is desired So requisite is the use of Astrology to the Arts of Divination as if it were the Key that opens the door of all their Mysteries Therefore how much all these Arts are distant from Truth is evident from this that they make use of principles so absolutely false and feigned which being such as neither are ever were or will be and yet they will have to be the causes of future Events what can appear to be more contrary to all Truth CHAP. XLI Of Magick in general IT is requisite that we should here say something of Magick which is so linkt to Astrology as being her neer Kinswoman that whoever professes Magick without Astrology does nothing but is altogether out of the way Suidas is of opinion that Magick took its Original and Name from the Magusaei The common opinion is that it is a Persian name with whom Porphyrius and Apuleius consent and that Magos signifies in that Language no more than a Wise man or a Philosopher so that Magick containing both Natural Philosophy and the Mathematicks takes into the same Society the forces and bands of all Religions joyning to its self Goetia and Theurgy which is the reason that Magick is generally divided into Natural and Ceremonial CHAP. XLII Of Natural Magick NAtural Magick is taken to be nothing else but the chief power of all the natural Sciences which therefore they call the top and perfection of Natural Philosophy and which is indeed the active part of the same which by the assistance of natural force and faculties through their mutual opportune application performs those things that are
So Orpheus asswag'd the Tempest of the Argonauts with a Song and Homer relates how the course of Vlysses blood was stopt by the power of words Moreover in the Law of the Twelve Tables there is a Law against those that did inchant the standing Corn whereby it is apparent that Witches have a power by the force of words to produce strange Effects not onely upon themselves but also upon outward things All which things that is to say to separate the hidden force of things and either draw them to themselves and repel them from themselves they credibly believe themselves to effect no other way than as the Loadstone draws Iron or Amber or Jet draws Chaff and as Onions again destroys the Magnetick Power So that by this Gradual and Concatenated Sympathy not only Natural and Celestial Gifts but also Intellectual and Divine may be receiv'd into humane Souls as Iamblicus Proculus and Sinesius gather from the Opinions of Great Men and that by this Consent and Harmony of things Magicians do call up the very Spirits For some of them are arriv'd at such a height of Madness that they believe that upon the right Observation of such and such Constellations at such intervals of time and by such reason of Proportions an Image being made would receive Life and Motion which upon counsel desired should be able to give Answers and Reveal the hidden Secrets of Truth Hence it is manifest That this Natural Magick inclining toward Conjuring and Necromancy is often entangled in the Snares and Delusions of Evil Spirits CHAP. XLV Of Conjuring and Necromancy THE Ceremonial Parts of Magick Conjuring and Necromancy Geocie or Conjuring curs'd for being familiar with unclean Spirits ceremonies of wicked curiosity compos'd of Prayers and Inchantments is held Abominable and wholly Condemn'd by the Decrees of all Lawgivers Men hateful to the Gods that stain the Skie And blot the Stars though Natures Progenie The setled course of things they can confound Can fix the Poles send Lightnings on the ground Pull down the Heavens and Hills eradicate These are those that Invoke the Souls of dead Bodies who Inchant Children and cause them to give the Answer of the Oracle and as we read of Socrates carry about with them certain Pocket Daemons and who as they say nourish little Spirits in Glasses by which they pretend to Foretel and Prophesie All these proceed in a twofold manner For some of them make it their business to adjure and compel Evil Spirits to appearance by the Efficacy and Power of sacred Names because seeing that every Creature doth fear and reverence the Name of its Creator no wonder if Conjurors and other Infidels Pagans Jews Saracens or prophane Persons do think to force the Devils Obedience by the Terrour of his Creators Name Others more to be detested than they and worthy the utmost punishment of Fire submitting themselves to the Devils sacrifice to them and Worship them become guilty of the vilest subjection and Idolatry that may be to which Crimes though the former are not quite so obnoxious yet they expose themselves to manifest dangers For the Devils are always watchful to intrap Men in the Errors they heedlesly run into From this insipid crowd of Conjurors have flow'd all those Books of Darkness which Vlpian the Civilian calls by the name of forbidden Writings Of which one of the first Authors is said to be Zabulus a man wholly inclin'd to unlawful Arts. Then Barnabas 〈◊〉 Cyprian and now frequently other Books are Published up and down under the feigned Titles and Names of Adam Abel Enoch Abraham and Solomon others under the Names of Paulus Honorius Cyprian Albertus Thomas Hierome and one Eboracensis to whose silly trifles Alphonsus King of Castile Robert the Englishman Bacon Apponus and many other of deprav'd Fancies have adher'd But besides this they have not only made the holy Patriarchs and Angels Authors and Upholders of their detestable Studies but also shew several Books which they pretend were written and delivered by Razial and Raphael tutelar Angels of Adam and Tobias Which Books notwithstanding to any one that narrowly considers the Rules of the Masters the Customes and Ordinances of their Ceremonies the Nature and Choice of their Words and Characters their insipid and barbarous Pharases sufficiently betray themselves to contain nothing but meer Toys and Geugaws and that they were in far later Ages contriv'd by such as were utterly ignorant of that Magick Profess'd by the Ancients being â—ounded only upon certain prophane Observations mixt with the Ceremonies of our Religion with an addition of many unknown Names and Characters to terrifie ignorant and silly people and to amuse those that are void of sence and understanding Neither doth it therefore follow that these Delusions are Fables for unless there were something of reality in them and that many mischievous and wicked things were accomplish'd thereby both Divine and Humane Laws had not so strictly provided for the punishment thereof and Ordain'd them to be quite extirpated from the Earth Now why these Conjurers make use only of evil Spirits the reason is because the Good Angels seldome appear being only attendant on the Commands of God and not vouchsafing to be known but only to upright and holy Men. But evil Spirits submit themselves more willingly to their Invocations falsely assuming to themselves and counterfeiting Divinity always ready to deceive and delighting to be ador'd and worship'd and because Women are more covetous of the Knowledge of Secrets and not less cautious and prone to Superstition and more easily Deluded therefore to them the Devils show themselves more familiar and make them the performers of many Miracles as are related of Circe and Medaea of many others the Stories of the Poets are full and Cicero Pliny Seneca St. Austin and many others both Philosophers Doctors and Historians as also Sacred Writ bring many Testimonies For in the Book of Samuel we read of a certain Woman-Witch that liv'd in Endor that rais'd the Soul of Samuel though most Interpreters agree that it was not the soul of Samuel but an Evil spirit that took upon him the shape of the Prophet Yet some of the Hebrew Doctors aver neither doth St. Austin to Simplician deny the possibility thereof that it was the true Soul of Samuel which before a compleat Year after its departure from the Body might be easily call'd up according to the rule of Necromancy The Necromantick Magicians believe that the same may be performed by certain Natural tyes and Obligations which was the reason that the Ancient Fathers well-read in Spirituals not without good cause ordain'd that the Bodies of the Dead might be buried in Holy-ground should be assisted with Lights and sprinkled with Holy-water be perfumed with Incense and pray'd for by the Living so long as they were above Ground For say the Hebrew Doctors All our Carnal Body remains as Food for the Serpent which they call Arazel which is Lord of the Flesh and the Blood
on his freedom of Humour at which time Mirth yields a more easie Audience to discourse and then beginning to tickle the Ears with some pleasing story they proceed by degrees to the sum of their Request Observing the Counsel of Aristotle to Calisthenes That to a Prince a man should either discourse very wittily and pleasantly or else be very silent by silence either to keep himself secure or by pleasing-Discourse to render him self more acceptable Wherefore if the Prince seem to be pleas'd with any one of 'um to shew any liking of what they have spoken or done if he trust him with any thing or be plea'd to Discourse in private with any one Then shall such a one be Magnifi'd in the Eyes of Men he shall presume to do any thing he shall revile all men laugh at all men slight all men talk ill of 'um privately rebuke 'um publickly he shall speak great things and all People shall fear him he shall spurn at his Inferiors contemn his Equals disdain his Superiours altogether puft up and seeking to enlarge his Power Freedom of doing ill is vertue thought And high command Whoever is not pleas'd and applauds him not when he has done evil is therefore guilty for he shall be thought either to envy his Good Fortune or not give him his due Honour Nor are they only troublesome to their Equals and Inferiours but also most pestilent to their Princes themselves whom under pretence of severity prudence and giving wholesome Counsel they perniciously Flatter and cause to commit most horrid Crimes as in Lucan Curio instigates Caesar. What remiss Power withholds thy Potent Arms Is it mistrust of us thy Courage charms While in my breathing Veins warm Blood doth flow And brawny Arms the Massie Pile can throw Caesar shall never brook the Senates Reign Nor the Degenerate Gown Such instigators had Alexander the Great who being hot-headed enough of himself when he was in his maddest humours stir'd him up the more to Wars and Mischief such advisers were the Councellors of Rehoboam the Son of Solomon and such and too many do the present Courts of our Princes abound with who yielding and soothing 'um up in their Pleasures obey and humour 'um to bring about their wicked Designs and with such cunning they perswade or disswade that thereby with greater force they work 'um to their Ends and where they would have things done urging slender and impotent Reasons against the doing of it that by seeming to be convinc'd they may the better confirm the Error of the Prince So deceiving that they cannot be found out but rather receive a Reward for their Perfidy Such Councellors Francis the King of France at this time makes use of so prone to take all Evil Councel that while they perswade him to act all sorts of Perfidie and Rigour against Caesar are notwithstanding accompted Faithful and Loyal Subjects Thus far of Court-Nobility CHAP. LXX Of the Vulgar sort of Courtiers THere are the Common sort of Court-Attendants a very wicked Generation who live in a perpetual Slavery visiting Noblemens Houses and parasitically hanging on upon other mens Tables And as their chiefest Good they daily seek The Trenchers of another man to lick Therefore they are submissive to every body flatter every one studying to become all things to all counterfeiting more shapes than Proteus whereby to gain the savour of a Lord To which purpose they mainly study to remember Discourses at Table that they may not want matter for Report with great craft they inquire into the secrecies of such as are at odds which they discover sometimes to their Friends sometimes to their Enemies so to render themselves acceptable to both to both Treacherous so much the fitter for Treason as pretending a great deal of simplicity and harmlesness For though there be no Crime so wicked as Treachery yet for the obtaining of Riches and Preferment there is no way more ready nor more compendious nothing more pleasing or grateful to Princes They strive the Secrets of a House to know To keep the Master under And if at any time any person make 'um privie to any Treason then they are brave Fellows and hold up their heads above measure Dear shall he be to Verres in whose power The Life of Verres lies Thereby familiarity and kindred is Contracted in confidence whereof they aspire to great things First therefore some greatly labour to be listed in the number of Noblemens Servants though they serve 'um without Salary For they doubt not to get the favour of the Great Ones having now fair opportunities of Flatterie and to insinuate themselves with all manner of obsequiousness and small gifts what duties others out of Laziness Fear or Covetousness omit they greedily undertake they watch day and night run ride post to and fro with Messages undertake and suffer any toyl Daring to Act nor fearing to endure The Punishments provided for the Poor Till by this means they become Secretaries Treasurers or other very great Ministers of State And now having pass'd the Straits and Difficulties of Labour double diligence and fawning obsequiousness are quite laid aside nor regarded by them in others there being now nothing in esteem but Money Their new Honours have chang'd their Manners they forget what they were contemn their Beginnings they covet what is to come and wholly devoted to Avarice bend all their endeavours and studies in the pursuit of gain and riches sparing in the performance of Promises yet full of Words Flattering yet at the same time Treacherous dark in their Sentences and like Oracles hard to be understood whatever they see whatever they hear they consture to the worst sense they trust only themselves love only themselves are wise only to themselves they trust in no mans faith or friendship they care for no Society but for the love of Gain their own Profit they prefer above all things their Friends their Guests their Companions their Kindred they Despise 'um all and look upon 'um as barren Trees if there be nothing to be got by 'um and their former Companions and great Chronics if they meet 'um in their Dish they will take no more notice of 'um than if they had never seen ' um If any one requires their Friendship or Assistance they feed 'um with Words and Promises promising Ten times more than they will perform and perchance if there be no feeling in the Case they will not only not help him but ruine his Cause all Kindness and Courtesie is vendible they despise all Vertue clouding the Praises of others with Ambiguous Sayings and Feigned Detractions behind their backs they themselves speak in the Praise of no man without a Reserve as the Orator said of Julius That he was fortunate indeed that he was a stout man and had done many valiant Acts but how he could evade being accounted guilty of Bribes I should admire but that I know the force of Elocution And as another says Happy in Children
of his Life The Rhetorician will rather deny the manifest Truth than yield to his Opposer in the least Syllogistical Conclusion Arithmeticians and Geometricians number and measure all things but neglect the Measures and Numbers of their lives and souls The Musicians are all for Sounds and Songs not minding the Discords of corrupt Manners Therefore Diogenes the Sinopian was wont to reprove them that they would fitly make the Harmony and Strings agree but that there was neither measure nor harmony in their customs of living Astrologers behold the Heavens and the Stars and foretel others what shall happen in this world but they never minde the evil which every moment hangs over their own heads Cosmographers describe the situations of Countries the forms of Mountains the course of Rivers and limits of distinct Regions but they make a man never the wiser nor better Philosophers with great vaunting dive into the Causes and Beginnings of things while they neglect perhaps not so much as know God the Creator of all things There is no Peace among Princes and Magistrates being easily drawn for small advantages to seek the destruction one of another Physicians cure the bodies of the sick and neglect the health of their souls Lawyers diligent in observing the Laws of Men however transgress the Commands of God whence it is grown to be a Proverb Neither physicians live well nor Lawyers die well Physicians being the most disorderly sort of men and Lawyers the most dishonest Divines make a great noise while they preach to us the observation of the Commands of God and holy Doctrine but their words and conversations differ very much being such as had rather seem to know than love God Now then he which knows all things to speak and write well he who understands the nature of Verse the course of Times the ways of Reasoning the ornaments of Speech the colours of Rhetorick he that remembers all things the proportions and sums of Numbers the harmony of Sounds the measures of Dancing the measures of all Quantities the inflexions and reflexions of the Sun-beams the situation of the Earth and Sea the various ways of rearing all sorts of Edifices and Engines the ordering of Battels the tilling of Ground the taking feeding fatting of Beasts Birds and Fish every kinde of Country-trade every species of Mechanick Industry Painting Graving Founding Hammering Hewing Factoring Sayling the course of the Stars their Influences upon inferiour Bodies the forebodings of Destiny Divinations of all sorts the hidden monstrosities of Magick Art the secrets of the Cabalists the causes of all Natural things the reformation of Manners the Governments of Commonwealths Family-order Remedies for Diseases vertues of Medicines and skill in mixture the delicate Dressing of Meats Let him know both Laws all the Pleadings of the most learned Doctors and Council the wrangling of the Sorbonnists the hypocrisie of the Monks with all the Learning of the holy Fathers he I say who knoweth all this and more if there be any thing yet remaining yet he knoweth nothing unless he know the will of Gods Word and perform the same He that hath learned all things and hath not learned this hath learn'd in vain and all his Knowledge is in vain In the Word of God is the Way there is the Rule there is the Gole or Mark whither he ought to bend his Course that will not go astray but drives to reach the Truth All other Sciences are subject to Time and Forgetfulness and not onely these Sciences and Arts but also the Letters Characters and Languages which we use shall perish and others rise in their places and peradventure they have more than once been already lost and have as often come to light again Neither has there been one manner of Orthography in one Age nor alike with all men Nor is the true Pronunciation of the Latine Tongue at this day any where to be found The ancient Characters of the Hebrew are quite lost they which are now in use being found out by Esdras for the Hebrew Language was corrupted by the Caldeans a Misfortune that has happened well-near to all the Languages of the world so that there is hardly one at this day which understands its own Antiquity new words growing into use and the old ones decaying So that there is nothing fixt or durable Finally the opinion of Terence is That nothing is now spoken which has not been spoken before And many there are among whom Volaterrane is one that would have it that the Gun which is by most accounted a New Invention of the Germans was used in ancient time and this they endeavour to prove out of Virgil. There Salmon lay in cruel torments bound Curs'd Imitator of th' Olympick Sound He born by four fleet Steeds his Flambean shaking Through Greece and Elis Towns his journey taking Triumphing went and call'd himself a God Mad as he was still thundring as he rode Thunder and Tempests seem'd to fill the skie With so much noise his speedy Coursers flie Much to this purpose hath Ecclesiastes spoken when he saith There is nothing new under the sun nor can any man say Behold this is new for it hath been in times past before us There is no remembrance of things past neither they which shall be in the later days shall remember the things which shall be hereafter And in another place he saith The learned and the ignorant also shall die What then shall we here say but that all Sciences and Arts are subject to death and forgetfulness neither shall they for ever remain alive but together with death shall pass to death forasmuch as Christ himself saith That every plant which the heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out and cast into everlasting fire So far are we to be from believing that Knowledge availeth to Immortality but that the Word of God alone endures for ever The knowledge whereof is so needful to us that he that despiseth it that esteems it not and is not a hearer thereof as the Word it self testifies in the holy Scripture God will send upon him a Curse Damnation and everlasting Judgement Ye are not therefore to think that it belongeth onely to Divines but to every one man and woman old and young so that every one according to the grace and capacity given to them is bound to have the knowledge thereof and not of dissent a hairs breadth from the true sence and meaning of it For this cause the Old Testament commands us in this manner These words shall be in thy heart all the days of thy life and thou shalt declare them to thy children and grandchildren and command them to keep and observe them Thou shalt ponder them sitting in thy house and going thorow the street sleeping and waking and shalt binde them as a token to thy hand they shall always be and move before thy eyes and thou shalt write them over the doors of thy house Thus Josiah read all the words and