Linus Anaximenes Anaxagoras Empedocles Melissus Pherecydes Thales Cleanthus Pythagoras Plato and many others who found in the necessity of invincible Reason one Eternal Infinite Being to be the Parent of the Vniverse Whose Opinions tho' uncertain saith Lactantius shew that they agree upon one Lord Providence whether Nature Light Reason Understanding Destiny or Divine Ordination which is the same we call God For as all Rivers in the World tho' rising and running diversly fall at last in the Ocean So after all searches made by Human Capacity all Man's Reason dissolves it self in the Necessity of this Infinite Power Those who held the Matter of the World Eternal hardly deserve an Answer as giving part of the Work to God part to Fortune by which God found this Matter And were it Eternal it either fitted it self to God or he accommodated himself to it both which are foul Absurdities But suppose this Chaos or Matter had been too little for the Work God then Created out of nothing so much New Matter as was wanting or if the Matter were too much he must annihilate what was supersflous both which are alike proper to God only It could not therefore be caused by a less than an All-sufficient Power for to say it was the Cause of it self were the greatest tism Again if Matter were eternal of necessity it must be infinite and so left no place for infinite Form but the finite Form proves the Matter finite and so not eternal He who will believe the contrary eternal Death be his Reward for what Reason of Man not stupify'd by presumption hath doubted that That infinite Power of which we comprehend but the Shadow can want either Matter or Form for as many Worlds as there are Sands in the Sea if it were his Will which is the only limitation of his Works Can a finite Man a Fool and meer Dust change the Form of Matter made to his Hand and infinite Power cannot make a finite World without preexisting Matter The universal World has not shew'd us all his Wisdom and Power which cannot be bounded But others who hold the Worlds Eternity upon the ground of nothing nothing is made which is true where the Agent is finite may consider their Master Aristotle confessing That all the Ancients Decree a kind of Beginning and the same infinite and he farther saith There is no beginning of it but it is found the beginning of all things and embraceth and governs all things If we compare the universal World that Infinite it self we may say of the most unmeasurable Orbs of Heaven that they are neither quid quale nor quantum and therefore to bring Finite out of Infinite is no wonder in God's Power Therefore Anaximander Melissus and Empedocles call the World not Vniversal but a part of the Universality and Infinite Plato calls it a Shadow of God God's being a sufficient effectual cause of the World proves it not Eternal as he is For as his Sufficiency is free so is his Will no difficulty can hinder nor necessity force his Will in choice of Time Again tho' natural Agents which can work do it not 'till they are moved which argueth Change in them yet it followeth not that because God cannot be moved therefore he caused the World from Eternity For the same action of his Will which intended the World for ever from Eternity did also set down the time to effect it 'till which time he withheld it Others answer That the Pattern of the World was Eternally with God which the Platonists call the spiritual World but the Material World was not eternal but shall continue for ever which Christians understood of a new Heaven and Earth yet without new Creation of Matter They who deny the World shall have any End Reason from the Heavens which are neither Corrupted nor have any shew of Age. The little Change may argue Newness but not Perpeuity Yet to Answer Conjectures with Conjectures many of old held the Torrid Zone not habitable by reason of the Suns Heat nor the Sea Navigable under the Equinoctial Line but now we know the contrary which argueth that the Suns Heat is decayed And if little Change did prove perperuity then also many Stone-walls which have stood two or three Thousand Years and many things digged out of the Earth might seem to remain unchanged ever since the Flood and Gold probably held Created from the Beginning c. If Elementary Bodies shew so little Change no marvel if Celestial shew none And seeing inferiour Creatures are generated by help of Celestial and receive Virtue from the Sun their general decay argueth its decay also But if the World were eternal why not all things in it especially Man who is more Rational why did he not provide for his Eternity Again if there were no common order of the divers Natures how came that Difference who set the Earth in the Center the Sun and Celestial Bodies in their Courses c. If those keep their Course of their own accord to do good to the inferior Bodies they are then eternal Love yea so many Gods c. And if they be limited to their Course there is an efficient Cause which hath bounded them Now as to Nature As Aristotle hath by the Ambiguity of the Name recommended Errors and obscured God's glory in the Creation and Government of the World so his best Definition of it is but Nominal only differencing natural Motion from artificial which yet the Academicks explain better calling it Seminary strength infused into Matter by the Soul of the World and why give they the first place to Providence the second to Fate and third to Nature But be Nature what it will it cannot be the Cause of all things if it hath not both Will and Knowledge said Lactantius Nature cannot but work if Matter be present and then also it can but produce the same things except she have divers Matters to work upon said Ficinus But Nature could not chuse diversity of Matters without Understanding and Will Reason and Power why then is such a Cause callâ—d Nature rather than God All Men assign the highest place among all their Gods to One by Aristotle's confession de Coelo and Reason teacheth us to Acknowledge and Adore the most Sublime Power I account it therefore monstrous Impiety to confound God who disposes all things according to his own Will with Nature which disposes of nothing but as the Matter wherein it worketh will permit Nature existeth not of her self but as a Faculty infused into things existing by the supreamest Power who therefore is to be Worshipped for creating such a Nature in all things as without understanding what or how it worketh yet bringeth all things to perfection If therefore Men will rest upon that ground which all Antiquity held That there is a Power infinite and eternal all things deliver'd in Holy Scripture do as easily flow to the Proof of it as the Waters to that of a running
which hath held us in Chase from the Womb hath put an end to both Let him therefore whom Fortune hath served and Time befriended take an Accompt of his Memory the only Keeper of Pleasures past and truly examine what it hath reserved of Beauty Youth or past Delights or of his dearest Affections or whatsoever Contentment the amorous Spring time gave his Thoughts and he shall find that all the Art which his Elder Years had can draw no other Vapour out of these Dissolutions than heavy secret and sad Sighs He shall find nothing remaining but those Sorrows which grow up after our fast Springing Youth overtook it when it was at a Stand and overtopping it utterly when it began to wither Looking back therefore from the Instant of our present Being And the poor diseased Captive hath as little Sense of all former Miseries and Pains as the Man so blessed in common Opinion hath of fore-past Pleasures and Delights For whatsoever is cast behind us is just nothing and what is to come depends upon deceitful Hope Only I must except those few black Swans who having had the Grace to value worldly Vanities at no more than their worth do by retaining the comfortable Memory of a well-acted Life behold Death without Dread the Grave without Fear and imbrace both as necessary Guides to Endless Glory For my self this is my Comfort and all that I can offer to others That the Sorrows of this Life either respect God when we complain to him against our selves for our Offences and confess Thou Lord art just in all that hath befallen us Or respect the World when we complain to our selves against God as doing us wrong either in not giving what we desire or taking away what we enjoyed Forgetting that humble and just Acknowledgment of Job The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken And out of doubt he is either a Fool or ungrateful to God or both that doth not acknowledge that how mean soever his Estate be it is far greater than God owes him Or how sharp soever his Afflâ—ctions be the same are yet fâ—r less than those that are due to him If an Heathen called Adversities the Tributes of living a wise Christian ought to know them and bear them as the Tributes of offending For seeing God who is Author of all our Tragedies hath written out and appointed what every Man must play using no Partiality to the mightiest Princes Why should other Men who are but as the least Worms complain of Wrongs Did not the Lord set Darius to play the part of the greatest Emperor and the part of the most miserable Beggar that begged Water of an Enemy to quench the Drought of Death Bajazet the Grand Seignior of the Turks in the Morning the same Day became the Footstool of Tamberlane both which parts Valerian the Emperor had played being taken by Sapores Bellisarius had performed the part of a most Victorious Captain and after became a Blind Beggar with a Thousand like Examples Certainly there is no other Accompt to be made of this ridiculous World than to resolve That the change of Fortune on this great Theatre is but as the change of Garments on the lesser For when every Man weareth but his own Skin the Players are all alike If any Man out of Weakness judge otherwise for it is a Point of great Wit to call the Mind from the Senses it is by reason of that unhappy Fancy of ours which forgeth in Men's Brains all the Miseries to which he is subject the Corporal excepted therein it is that Misfortune and Adversity effect what they do For seeing Death is the end of the Play and takes from all whatsoever Fortune or Force takes from any one It were foolish Madness in the Shipwrack of Worldly Things where all sinks but the Sorrow for the Loss of them to sink under Fortune which according to Seneca is of all other the most miserable Destiny Now to the Picture of Time which we call History let my good Intent excuse my drawing it in so large a Table The Examples of Divine Providence every where to be found the first Divine Histories being nothing else but a Continuation of such Examples have perswaded me to fetch my Beginning from all Beginnings the Creation For these two glorious Actions of the Almighty are so linked together that the one necessarily implieth the other Creation inferring Providence and Providence presuming Creation though many seeming wise have gone about to separate them Epicurus denies both yet allows a Beginning The Aristotelians grant Providence but deny all Beginning whose verbal Doctrine grounded upon a rotten Ground was not able to stand against the Doctrine of Faith touching the Creation in time Heb. 1. though natural Reason might have inform'd him better And though Aristotle failed herein and taught little other than Terms in the rest yet many do absolutely subject themselves to him as not to indure any other search of Truth The Law of their Philosophical Principles doth not so bind but that where Natural Reason is in Force against them it ought to stand in all Questions of Nature and Finite Power as a Fundamental Law of Human Knowledge For every Human Proposition hath equal Authority if Reason make no difference But where Reason is not admitted and Inventions of Ancestors approved without Iudgment Men suffer themselves to be led after the manner of Beasts This Sloath and Dulness has made Ignorance a powerful Tyrant and has set true Philosophy Phisick and Divinity on the Pillory and written over the First Contra Principia negantem over the Second Virtus specifica and the Third Ecclesia Romana But I will never believe that all natural Knowledge was shut up in Aristotle's Brain or that the Heathen only invaded Nature and found out her Strength We know that Time and not Reason Experience and not Art both taught the Causes of such Effects as that Sowerness doth Coâ—gulate Milk but ask the Reason why and how it does it and Vulgar Philosophy cannot satisfie you nor in many Things of the like Nature as why Grass is green rather than red Man hardly discerns the Things on Earth his Time is but short to learn and begins no sooner to learn than to dye Whose Memory has but a borrowed Knowledge understanding nothing truly and is ignorant of the Essence of his own Soul which Aristotle could never define but by effects which all Men know as well as he Man I say who is an Idiot in the next cause of his own Life and actions thereof will notwithstanding examin the Art of God in Creating the World and will disable him from making a World without Matter â—nd rather ascribe it to Atoms in the Air or to Fate Fortune Nature or to two Powers of which one was Author of Matter the other of Form And lastly for want of a Work-man Aristottle brought in that New Doctrin of the Worlds Eternity contrary to these Ancients Hermes Zoroaster Musaeus Orpheus
216 CHAP. VII The Greek Affairs from the Persian Wars to the Peloponesian 221 CHAP. VIII The Peloponesian War with the Condition of Athens and Sparta at the beginning of it Alcibiades his Victories his deposing 224 CHAP. IX Matters concurring with the Peloponesian War and some time after 230 CHAP. X. Cyrus the Younger his Expedition into Persia and the great Services of Xenophon 232 CHAP. XI Of the Greek Affairs under the Lacedemonians Command 237 CHAP. XII Of the flourishing Condition of Thebes from the Battle of Leuctra to that of Mantinea Of the Peace that succeeded A Comparison between Agasilaus and the Roman Pompey 241 BOOK IV. CHAP. I. Of the Macedonian Kingdom from Philip Father to Alexander the Great to the Race of Antigonus 247 CHAP. II. Of Alexander the Great his Wars with Darius and others his Cruelty Death and Character 251 CHAP. III. Aordaeus's Reign after Alexander 271 CHAP. IV. Of Antigonus's growth in Asia 282 CHAP. V. Of the Civil Wars of Alexander's Captains 286 CHAP. VI. Of the Wars between the New Kings 'till they were all destroy'd 287 CHAP. VII Rome's Growth and the setling of the Eastern State 299 BOOK V. From the setled Rule of Alexander's Successors 'till the Romans Conquer'd Asia and Macedon CHAP. I. Of the First Punick War 307 CHAP. II. What pass'd between the First and Second Punick War 326 CHAP. III. Of the Second Punick War 336 CHAP. IV. Philip King of Macedon Father of Perseus subdu'd by the Romans 370 CHAP. V. Of the Roman Wars with Antiochus and his Adherents 380 CHAP. VI. Of the Second Macedonian War With the death of Philopoemen Hannibal Scipio c. 396 ERRATA PAge 13. l. 31. r. but one p. 32. l. ult after slew add many thousands of them p. 37. l. 25. instead of Cursed r. not needful to be taken in p. 38. l. 19. dele Toy E. p. 54. l. 26. r. of Chush p. 64. l. 9. for Legal r. Regal p. 65. l. 29. for Babel r. Babylon p. 70. l. 23. for no r. a. p. 94. l. 13. for Linages r. Images p. 96. l. 10. r. many things p. 96. l. 19. for Their r. Therefore and for that r. a. p. 131. l. 15. for lightsomely r. plainly p. 139. l. 24. for Three r. Third p. 216. l. 27. after Thousand r. Darici p. 220. l. 10. for thirty thousand r. three hundred thousand ibid l. 20. after fifty thousand r. more p. 226. l. 26. for first r. worst p. 243. l. 35. after grown r. powerful p. 248. l. 28. r. set up Pausanius p. 286. l. 13. r. he would not share THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART I. OF THE First Ages from the Creation to Abraham CHAP. I. Of the Creation and Preservation of the World § GOD Invisible is seen in his Creatures God acknowledged by the wisest men to be a Power uneffable a Virtue infinite a Light by the abundant Clarity invisible an Understanding which it self can only comprehend an Essence eternal and spiritual of absolute Pureness and Simplicity was and is pleased to make himself known by the Works of the World In the wonderful magnitude whereof we behold the Image of that Glory which cannot be measured and that one Universal Nature which cannot be defined In the glorious Lights of Heaven we perceive a shadow of his Divine Countenance in his Provision for all that live his manifold Goodness and in creating by the absolute power of his own Word his All-sufficiency which All-sufficiency in Power and Wisdom which Light Virtue and Goodness being but Attributes of one simple Essence and one God we in all admire and in part discern by the Glass of his Creatures in the disposition order and variety of Bodies Celestial and Terrestrial Terrestrial in strange manifold Diversities Celestial in their Beauty Magnitude and continual contrary motions yet neither repugned intermixed nor confounded By these potent Effects we approach to the knowledge of the Omnipotent Cause and by these motions their Almighty wise Mover In these more than wonderful Works God speaketh to Men who by their Reason may know their Maker to be God who with Corporal Eyes can no otherways be seen but by his Word and this visible World Of all which Works there was no other Cause preceding but his Will no Matter but his Power no Workman but his Word no other Consideration but his own Goodness § 2. The Worlds Creation acknowledged by ancient Philosophers Mercurius Trismegistus called God the Original of the Vniverse and that God made it only by his Word Jupiter having hidden all things in himself did after send forth into the grateful Light the admirable Works he had fore-thought Pindar calls him the one God Father and Creator of all And Original of all saith Pâ—ato Though Scripture have no need of Foreign Testimonies yet St. Paul despised not the Use of Philosophers c. Truth by whomsoever uttered is of the Holy Ghost said Ambrose § 3. All things began to be in the Creation before which was neither Matter nor Form of any thing but the Eternal For had there been a former Matter the Creation had not been first and if any thing were before Created there must be a double Creation if any thing had been uncreated but God there must have been a Beginning and two infinite Eternals § 4. Heaven and Earth first Created was not Matter without all Form without which nothing can exist but it was that solid Substance and Matter as well of the Heavens and Orbs as of the Globe of the Earth and Waters which cover'd it the Seed of that Vniversal saith Calvin § 5. As Moses by Heaven meant the Matter of all Heavenly Bodies and Natures so by Earth comprehending the Waters he meant the Matter of all things under the Moon Waters in the plural signifying a double Liquor of divers natures mixed with Earth 'till God separated them § 6. Spirit of God moved c. Seeing that God is every way above Reason though the Effects which follow his wonderful ways of working may in some measure be perceived by Man's Understanding yet that manner and first operation of his divine Power cannot be conceived by any Mind or Spirit united with a mortal Body And St. Paul saith they are past finding out Therefore whether that motion vitality and operation were by Incubation or any other way that 's only known to God The English word Moved is most proper and significant for of motion proceeds all production and whatsoever is effected This moving â—pirit can be no other but that infinite Power of God which then formed and distinguished and which now sustains the Universe This motion of the Spirit upon the Waters produced their Spiritual and Natural motion which brought forth Heat whereof came rarefaction of Parts thus was Air begotten an Element lighter and superiour to the Waters § 7. The Light is next which for Excellency is first called good but as I conceive did not yet distinguish Day
from Night but with reference to the Sun's Creation in which this dispersed Light was united v. 14. 'till when there was no Motion to be measur'd by Time So that the Day named v. 5. was but such a space as after by the Sun's motion made a natural Day As then the Earth and the Waters were the Matter of the Air Firmament upper and lower Waters and of the Creatures therein so may the Light be called the Material Substance of the Sun and other Lights of Heaven How beit neither the Sun nor other Heavenly Bodies are that Light but the Sun is enlightned by it most of all other and by it the Moon and so the next Region which the Greeks call Aether the supposed Element of Fire is affected and by it all Bodies living in this our Air. And though the nature of Light be not yet understood yet I suppose the Light Created the First Day was the substance of the Sun though it had not formal Perfection Beauty Circle and bounded Magnitude 'till the Fourth Day when dispersed Light was united and fixed to a certain place after which it had Life and Motion and from that time separated Day from Night So that what is said of the Day before was by Anticipation for 'till the Creatures were produced God's Wisdom found no Cause why Light should move or give heat or operation § 8. Firmament between the Waters is the extended distance between the Sea and Waters in the Earth and those in the Clouds ingendred in the superiour Air This Firmament in which the Birds flye is also called Heaven in Scripture Gen. 49.25 Psal. 104.18 Mat. 8.26 The Crystalline Heaven Basil calls Childish § 9. God having Created the Matter of all things and distinguished every general Nature and given their proper Form as Levity to what should ascend and Gravity to what should descend and set each in his place in the three first Days in the three last he beautified and furnish'd them with their proper kinds as the Sun Moon and Stars in the higher Firmament of Heaven Fowls in the Air Fishes in the Waters Beasts on the Earth giving generative power for continuation of their Kinds to such as in the Individuals should be subject to decay or needed increase § 10. Nature is an operating Power infused by God into every Creature not any self-ability to be the Original of any thing of it self no more than the Helm can guide the Ship without an Hand or an Hand without Judgment All Agents work by virtue of the first Act and as the Eye seeth Ear heareth c. yet it is the Soul which giveth Power Life and Motions to these Organs So it is God which worketh by Angels Men Nature Stars or infus'd Properties as by his Instruments all second Causes being but Conduits to convey and disperse what they have received from the Fountain of the Universal It is God's infinite Power and Omnipotence that giveth Power to the Sun and all second Causes and to Nature her self to perform their Offices which operative Power from God being once stopp'd Nature is without Virtue Things flourish by God said Orpheus I endeavour not to destroy those various Virtues given by God to his Creatures for all his Works in their Virtues praise him but how he works in or by them no Man could ever conceive as Lactantius confounding the Wisdom of Philosophers denyed that all their study had found it for could the precise Knowledge of any thing be had then of necessity all other things might be known § 11. Destiny might safely be admitted but for the inevitable necessity even over Mens Minds and Wills held by Stoicks Chaldeans Pharisees Priscilianists c. Hermes and Apuleius conceived well That Fate is an obedience of second Causes to the First Plotinus calls it a disposing from the Acts of the Celestial Orbs working unchangeably in inferiour Bodies which is true in things not ordered by a rational Mind Fate is that which God hath spoken concerning us say the Stoicks Seneca Ptolomy And no doubt Stars are of a greater use than to give an obscure Light neither are the Seasons of Winter and Summer so certain in Heat and Cold by the motions of Sun and Moon which are so certain but the working of the Stars with them God hath given Virtues to Springs Planâ—â— Stones c. yea to Excrements of base Creatures Why then should we rob the Beautiful Stars of working power being so many in Number and so eminent in Beauty and Magnitude The Treasure of His Wisdom who is so Infinite could not be short in giving them their peculiar Virtues and Operations as he gave to Herbs Plants c. which adorn the Earth As therefore these Ornaments of the Earth have their Virtue to feed and cure so no doubt those Heavenly Ornaments want not their further use wherein to serve his Divine Providence as his just Will shall please to determine But in this question of Fate let us neither bind God to his Creatures nor rob them of the Office he hath given them If second Causes restrain God or God by them inforce Man's Mind or Will then wicked Men might lay the fault on God § 12. Prescience or Fore-knowledge if we may speak of God after the manner of Men goeth before his Providence for God infallibly foreknew all things before they had any Being to be cared for yet was it not the Cause of things following nor did it impose a Necessity § 13. Providence is an intellectual Knowledg Foreseeing Caring for and Ordering all things Beholding things past present and to come and is the Cause of their so being and such we call Provident who considering things Past and comparing them with the Present can thereby with Judgment provide for the Future § 14. Predestination we distinguish from Prescience and Providence these belong to all Creatures from the highest Angel to the basest Worm but this only concerns Mens Salvation in the common use of Divines or Perdition according to some Augustine sets it out by two Cities one predestinated eternally to reign with God the other to everlasting Torments Calvin Beza Buchanus and the like are of the same Opinion Why it pleased God to create some Vessâ—ls to honour some to dishonour though the Reason may be hid unjust it cannot be § 15. Fortune the God of Fools so much Reverenced and as much Reviled falleth before Fate and Providence and was little known before Homer and Hesiod who taught the Birth of those humane Gods have not a Word of this new Goddess which at length grew so potent that she ordered all things from Kings and Kingdoms to the Beggar and his Cottage She made the Wise miserable and prospered Fools and Man's life was but her Pastime This Image of Power was made by Ignorants who ascribed that to Fortune of which they saw no manifest Cause Yet Plato taught That nothing ever came to pass under the Sun of which there was not a just
greater difference in the rest which cannot be ascribed to the long abstinence from Marriage upon Religious respect as we see in holy Enoch Noah's Brethren perished in the Flood and so might some unnamed Children begotten before the three named being 500 Years old before § 5. The Patriarchs Years have been questioned some holding them Lunary or Egyptian but that cannot be for then some should beget Children at 6 7 or 8 Years old and the Eldest should live not 100 Years which is short of many after the Flood yea long since Pliny witnesseth under Vespasian in a search many were found above 120 and some 140 Years Old Simple Diet and temperate Life made the Essaeans Egyptian Priests Persian Magicians Indian Brachmans live long saith Iosephus Pliny reports Nestor's 3 Ages Tyresia's 6 Sybils 300 Years Endymion's little less Ant. Fumea a good Historian reports of an Indian above 300 Years Old and my self knew the old Countess of Desmond An. 1589 who lived many Years after who had been married in the Reign of King Edw. 4. To conclude there are three things not to speak of Constellations which are natural Causes of long and healthful Life Strong Parents pure Air and temperate use of Dyet Pleasure and Rest all which excelled in the First Ages And though the Flood infused an impure quality into the Earth to hurt the means of Man's Life yet Time hath more consumed Natures Vigour as that which hath made the Heavens wax old like a Garment Hereto add our strange Education of Children upon unnatural Curiosity nourished by a strange Dugg Hasty Marriage before Natures Seed be ripe or Stock well rooted to yield a Branch fit to replant But above all the Luxury of latter Ages which wilfully oppresseth Nature and then thinks to relieve her with strong Waters hot Spices Sauces c. § 6. The Patriarchs knowledge of the Creation might well come by Tradition from Adam to Moses seeing Methusalem lived with Adam 243 Years and with Noah 500 Years and he with Abraham 58 Years from whom it was not hard to pass by Isaac Iacob and his Posterity to Moses Yet for the more certainty of the Truth it was undoubtedly delivered to Moses by immediate Inspiration of the Holy Ghost as his many Miracles do prove Questionless also Letters were from the Infancy of the World as Enoch's Pillars and his Prophecy witness of which part was found in Saba saith Origen and Tertullian read some Pages neither can it be denyed there was such saith Augustine § 7. The Patriarchs Lives were lightly passed over 'till Enoch whose Piety is commended and his leaving the World not by Death Whether his Change were such as shall be at the last day let Divines judge Lamech's Prophecy of his Son Noah is touch'd upon but Noah's Life is handled more amply The Wisdom Policy and Wars of that World were no doubt great as may be gathered Gen. 5.4 but the Universal Impiety which brought the Universal Destruction deserved that the Memory of their Actions should be drowned with their Bodies It were madness to imagine the Sons of God spoken of Gen. 5.24 were good Angels which begat Giants on Women as Iosephus dreamt and deceived Lactantius Confuted by Augustine and Chrysostom § 8. The Giants spoken of Gen. 5. Becanus strains his Wit to prove they were not such properly but so called for their Oppression But Moses calling them Mighty which argueth extraordinary Strength and Men of Renown and great undertaking there is more Reason to hold them Giants in a proper sense especially considering what Scripture Reporteth of such in the Days of Abraham Moses and Ioshua David c. yea of whole Kindreds and Countries If such were found in the Third and Fourth Ages of the Worlds decay there is no Reason to doubt thereof in the First and Second flourishing Ages From this Story grew the Conceit That Giants were the Sons of Heaven and Earth And from Nimrod grew the Tale of Giants casting up Mountains to the top of Heaven CHAP. VI. The Original of Idolatry and Reliques of Antiquity in Fables §. 1 THE Greeks and others corrupting the Story of the Creation and mingling their Fables with them suppos'd that After-Ages would take those Discourses of God and Nature for Inventions of Philosophers and Poets But as skilful Chymists can extract healthful Medicines out of Poison and Poison out of wholsome Herbs c. so may much Truth be found out of those Fables §. 2 The Antiquity of Corruption was even from Noah's Family For the liberal Grace of God being withdrawn after Man's Fall such a perpetual Eclipse of spiritual things follow'd and produc'd such effects as the general Deluge could not cleanse them even in the selected Family of Noah wherein were found those that renewed the Defection from God for which they had seen the Worlds destruction Hence the Caldeans Egyptians and Phaenicians soon after became Idolaters and the Greeks received their 12 Gods from Egypt and erected to them Altars Images and Temples saith Herodotus §. 3 As Men departed out of the way of Truth stray on in unknown Vices to Eternal Perdition so these blind Idolaters being fallen from the God of Heaven to seek God's on Earth to Worship beginning with Men they proceed to Beasts Fouls Fishes Trees Herbs the Four Elements Winds Morning Evening Stars Yea Affections Passions Sorrow Sickness besides Spirits infernal and among Terrestrials even the basest wanted not divine Honour as Dogs Cats Swine Leeks Onions c. which barbarous Blasphemy Iuvenal thus derided O happy Nations which of their own sowing Have store of Gods in every Garden growing § 4. Of Iupiter and other Gods That Egypt had knowledge of the First Age by Misraim the Son of Cham who had lived 100 Years in it we doubt not Having therefore learned that Cain did first build Cities they made him ancient Iupiter whom the Athenians also called Pollyeus and Herceios Founder and Fortifier of Cities This Iupiter married his Sister as did Cain His Father Adam they made Saturn and his Sons Iubal Tubal and Tubal-Cain were made Mercury Vulcan and Apollo Inventers of Pastorage Smiths-craft and Musick Naome Augustine expounds Venusta which was Venus Vulcan's Wife and Eva was Rhea the Dragon which kept the Golden Apple was the Serpent that beguiled Eva. Paradise was the Garden of Hesperides So Saturn's dividing the World between Three Sons came of Noah and his Sons and Nimrod's Tower was the attempt of Giants against Heaven The Egyptians also Worshipped Seth as their most Ancient Parent from whom they called their chief Province Setheitica and in Bithinia we â—ind the City Cethia § 5. Of the Three Chief Iupiters the First was Son of Aether Dies the Second of Coelum an Arcadian and King of Athens the Third Famous in the Greek Fables was of Creet or Candia as some say but there is no certainty c. § 6. Iupiter Chammon more Ancient than all the Grecian Iupiters was Cham Father
of Misraim in Egypt and before Iupiter Belus Son of Saturnus Babilonious or Nimrod As for the latter Grecian Iupiter he was a little before the Wars of Troy § 7. The Philosophers opinion of God Pythagoras Plato Orpheus c. believed not the Fooleries of their Times though they mingled their Inventions with Scripture Pythagoras hung Homer and Hesiod in Hell forever to be stung with Serpents for their Fictions yet Homer had seen Moses as Iustine Martyr â—heweth in a Treatise converted by Mirandula Plato dissembled his Knowledge for fear of the Areopagits Inquisition yet Augustin excused him He delighted much in the Doctrine of one God though he durst not be known of it or of Moses the Author of it as may be gathered out of Iustin Martyr Origen Eusebius and Cyril though he had from Moses what he writ of God and of Divinity as Ambrose also judged of Pythagoras Iustine Martyr observed that Moses described God to be I am he who is It is as hard to find out this Creator of the World as it is impossible if he were found to speak of him worthily said Plato who also said God is absolutely good and so the Cause of all that is Good but no Cause at all of any thing that is Evil. The Love of God is the cause of the Worlds Creation and Original of all things Apuleius saith The most high God is also Infinite not only by exclusion of Place but also by dignity of Nature neither is any thing more like or more acceptable to God than a Man of a perfect Heart Thales said God comprehended all things because he never had a Beginning And he beholdeth all the thoughts of Men said Zeno therefore said Athenodorus All men ought to be careful of their Actions because God was every where present and beholding all things Orpheus calling Men to behold the King of the World describes him to be one begotten of himself from whom all things spring who is in all beholds all but is beheld of none c. Who is the First and Last Head and Middle from whom all things be Foundation of Earth and Skye Male and Female which never dyeth He is the Spirit of all of Sun Moon c. The Original and End of all in whom all things were hidden 'till he produced them to Light Cleanthes calls God Good Iust Holy possessing himself alway doing good and Charity it self Pindarus saith he is one God and Father most high Creator and best Artificer who giveth to all things divers proceedings c. Antistbenes saith God cannot be likened to anything and therefore not elsewhere to be known but only in the everlasting Country of whom thou hast no Image God said Xenophon shaketh and setteth all things at rest Is great and mighty as is manifest to all but of what Form he is none knoweth but himself who illuminateth all things with his Light God saith Plato is the Cause Ground and Original of the whole nature of things the most high Father of the Soul the eternal preserver of living Creatures and continual framer of the World a Begetter without propagation comprehended neither in place nor time whom few conceive none can express him Thus as Ierom said We find among the Heathen part of the Vessels of God But of them all none have with more Reverence acknowledged or more learnedly expressed One True God and everlasting Being all ever-causing and sustaining than Hermes the Egyptian But of all these see Iustin Martyr Clemens Alexandrinus Lactantius Eusebius Du Pless Danaeus § 8. Hethanism and Iudaism when confounded Touching the Religions of the Heathen they being the Inventions of Mortal Men they are no less Mortal than themselves The Caldean Fire is quenched and as the Bodies of Iupiter and the rest were by Death devoured so were their Images and lasting Marble Temples by Time The Trade of Riddles for Oracles and Predictions by Apollo's Priests is now taken up by Counterfeit Egyptians and Cozening Astrologers yet was it long before the Devil gave way For after Six several spoilings and sackings of his Temple at Delphos and as many repairings thereof at last when Iulian sought unto it God from Heaven consum'd all with Fire So when the same Apostate incourag'd the Iews to re-build a Temple God by Earth-quake over-threw all and slew many Thousands § 9. Satan's last Refuge to uphold his Kingdom who being driven off the open Stage of the World crept into the Minds of Men and there set up the high and shining Idol of Glory and all commanding Image of Gold He tells men that Truth is the Goddess of Danger and Oppression Chastity is an Enemy to Nature and all Virtue is without Taste but Pleasure delighteth every Sense and true Wisdom gets Power and Riches to fulfil all our Desires And if this Arch-politician find Remorse in any of his People or any fear of future Judgment he persuadeth them that God hath such need of Souls to re-plenish Heaven that he will accept them at any time and upon any Condition And to interrupt their return to God he layeth those great Blocks of rugged Poverty and Contempt in the narrow way which leadeth to his Divine Presence Neither was he ever more industrious and diligent than now when the long Day of Man-kind draweth fast to the Evening and the World's Tragedy and Time near to an end CHAP. VII Noah's Flood the Vniversality of it and Noah's memory of Antiquity § 1. MOses's Divine Testimony of Noah's Flood natural Men regard no farther than Reason can reach and therefore may have disputed the Vniversality of it and Iosephus citeth Nic. Damascen who reports that many were saved on the Mount Baris in Armenia and the Talmudists held the same saith Annius § 2. Ogyges's Flood the Greeks the Corrupters of all Truth saith Lactantius make the most ancient when yet Ogyges's Flood was sixty seven Years after Iacob and short of Noah's Flood by 500 Years neither do any Authors report that it over-flowed any part of Syria as Mela Pliny and Solinus do of Noah's speaking of Ioppa's Ruins c. As for this Flood as it exceeded not Peloponesus so was it foreseen by a concurrence of Causes which Noah's was not Touching Varro's Report out of Castor of the strange Colour quantity and shape of Venus the Fogs which then rise might cause such Apperances For Galilaeus a Modern Worthy Astronomer by Perspective Glasses observed many undiscover'd things in Stars unknown to former Ages § 3. Deucalion's Flood more certain for Time being in the Reign of Cranaus King of Athens according to Varro cited by Augustin or under Cecrop's after Eusebius and Ierom in whose latter times Israel came out of Egypt which after Functius was 753 or 739 Years according to Mercator after Noah's Flood But following the better Account which giveth Abraham 60 Years more after the Flood I reckon the Flood thus The general Flood Anno Mundi 1656 Iacob's Birth 2169 which is 519 Years after
in largeness This number may be thought strange in so small a Territory being far greater than any Muster ever taken of that Country Ioab had found 500000 Rehoboam 180000 Abia 408000 Asa 580000 Amazia found 300000 Uzziah 307000 and surely if Iehosophat had 1160000 Men he would not have feared Moab and Ammon c. I am therefore of Opinion submitting to better Judgments that the numbers spoken of 2 Chron. 17. were not all at one time but that the two first numbers under Adnah and Iehobanan were after Mustred and Commanded by Amasia Eliada and Iehosabad yet this Mighty Prince made a League with Ahab and matched his Son Ioram with his Daughter and assisted him at Ramoth-Gilead for which he was reproved by Iehu the Prophet as he was a second time by the Prophet Eliezer for joyning with Ahab's Son in preparing a Fleet. So he joyned with Iehoram against Moab and had perished by Famine if Elisha had not relieved them from God whose Goodness was ever prone to save the Evil for the sake of the Good but never destroyed the Good for the Evil. Ophratenes now Reigned in Assyria Capetas and Tiberinus at Alba in Italy Atazedes in Athens Agesilaus in Corinth Archilochus in Lacedemon Badesorus in Tyrus Achab Ochozias and Iehoram in Israel CHAP. XVI Of Jehoram and Ahazia JEhoram the Son of Iehosaphat being thirty two Years old began to Reign and Reigned 8 Year of which 4 was in his Father's Life who at his two Journeys with Ahab and Iehoram Kings of Israel left him Viceroy 'till his return The first was in Iehosaphat's 17th Year when also Ahazia Son of Ahab began to Reign whose Brother Iehoram the 2 d year after succeeded K. of Israel in the 2 d year of Iehoram King of Iuda that is of his Reign when his Father Iehosaphat took the sole Government again upon him 'till the Fifth year after when he reassumed his Son Ioram into the Government 2 Kings 8. two years before his death in the fifth year of Iehoram King of Israel So that Iehosaphat Reigning Twenty five years 2 King 22.42 it is evident his Son Iehoram could not be King of Iuda 'till the Eighth year of Iehoram King of Israel The like regard is to be had in accounting the Reigns of other Kings of Iuda and Israel whose years are sometime to be taken compleat current or confounded with other Kings preceding or succeeding as the comparing of their Times together shall require In this History consider that Iehosaphat a Religious King is the first of Rehoboam's Issue that entred a League both Offensive and Defensive with the Kings of Israel with whom his Predecessors had tyred themselves in vain with continual Wars This Confederacy with one which hated the Lord could not long prosper not issuing from the true Root and Fountain of all Wisdom yet as a piece of sound Policy it wanted not fair Pretences of much common good as mutual Fortification of both Kingdoms against Uncircumcised Ancient Enemies For confirmation of such an apparent Good unto Posterity therefore the Bond of Affinity was knit by Marriage of Iehoram with Athalia a Lady of a Masculine Spirit who had learned so much of Iezabel her Brother's Wife that she durst undertake more in Ierusalem than the other in Samaria as a Fire-brand ordained by God to Consume many Nobles in Iuda and perhaps some whose Worldly Wisdom regardless of God's pleasure had brought her in The Syrian Wars at Ramoth-Gilead were the first Fruits of this League undertaken upon equal Adventure but upon the hope of Benefit only to Ahab As godly Princes seldom thrive by matching with Idolaters but rather serve the Turns of those false Friends who being ill-affected towards God cannot be well affected to his Servants At this time also as Ahaziah was designed King by Ahab his Father so was Ioram by Iehosaphat after the others Example without Example in any of their Predecessors § 2. Iehoram's Reign so diversly dated in Scripture argueth that Iehosaphat having taken him into the Government as Ahab had given Example found cause after to recall that Power Probable it is that his Insolent Idolatrous Wife having corrupted him was the cause that the Government both for Religion and Justice grew so far out of order that Iehosaphat was forced to the Reformation we read of and sequestred his Son from the Government 'till it were setled again and so after five years called him to it the second time which bred a new Date as did his Father's death two years after breed a third Many things might move Iehosaphat to Iehoram's second calling to Govern him as to try what Wisdom his restraint had wrought or to prevent his Brethrens Insolency against him if Iehosaphat had at his Death left him in disgrace which might be the cause of great Tumults it may be also Iehoram by dissimulation had won the good Opinion on of his â—ather and Brethren formerly offended it being usual in violent fierce Natures to be as abject and servile in their Adversity as insolent and bloody upon Advantage Howsoever it was this is manifest that his Father at his death doubting his Affection to his Brethren for their better Security besides great Riches gave them the custody of strong Cities and unusual means against unusual Perils § 3. Jehoram 's Reign alone in which Edom and Libna Rebel § Iehosaphat's providence for his younger Sons availed nothing against the determination of an higher Providence for these strong Cities were a weak defence for the young Princes against his Power to whom the Citizens were obedient If they came in upon the King's Summons he had them without difficulty if they refused they were Traytors yet could not hold out when all would fail them for fear of a Potent King However it was all were slain and many great Men with them who had any way offended the Tyrant either formerly or in behalf of his Brethren Iehoram after this made innovation in Religion not only incouraging the People prone to Idolatry of all other sins detested of God but using Compulsion also and was the first we read of that inforced Irreligion Edom in the mean time revolted and made themselves a King having from David's days been Tributaries and govern'd by Vice-Roys Now Isaac's Prophecy began to take effect that Esau should break the Yoke of Iacob for after this Edom was never subject to the Kings of Iuda Yea in process of time Antipater and Herod Elumeans Reigned as Kings in Ierusalem Lybna also a City of the Levites in Iuda rebelled against him because he had forsaken the Lord God of his Fathers In defence of whose Worship these Levites thought themselves bound especially against his inforcement to the contrary Wherein also they might take Incouragement for Iehosaphat's Charge 2 Chron. 29.8 But as Iehoram had left Edom in their defection so he attempted nothing against Libna which seemeth to proceed from a doubtful Mind whether to put Weapons into the Hands of his