anew that was neuer acciâ—… 〈◊〉 it before e If they say that the happinesse misery haue bin coeternaleâ—… then must they be so still then followes this absurdity that the soule being 〈◊〉 shall not be happy in this that it foreseeth the misery to come If it 〈◊〉 foresee their blisse nor their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is it happily a false vnderstandâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most fond assertion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they hold that the misery and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ed each other froÌ„ al eternity but that afterwards the soule beâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no more to misery yet doth not this saue theÌ„ from being câ—…ed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was neuer truly happy before but then begineth to enioy 〈◊〉 new vncertâ—… happines so they coÌ„fesse that this so strang vnexpected 〈◊〉 thing befâ—…ls the soule then that neuer befel it before which new changes cause 〈◊〉 â—…y deny yâ— God eternally foreknew they deny him also to be the author of that 〈◊〉 which were wicked to doe And then if they should say that hee 〈◊〉 resolued that the soule should not become eternally blessed how farre 〈◊〉 â—…m quitting him from that mutability which they disallow But if 〈◊〉 â—…ledge that it had f a true temporall beginning but shall neuer 〈◊〉 â—…ral end hauing once tried misery and gotten cleare of it shal neuer 〈◊〉 â—…ble more this they may boldly affirme with preiudice to Gods immuâ—… will And so they may beeleeue that the world had a temporall origiâ—… 〈◊〉 that God did not alter his eternall resolution in creating of it L. VIVES 〈◊〉 a made Epicurus his question Câ—…c de nat deor 1. Uelleius reasons of it b They 〈◊〉 This is a maine doubt mightily diuided and tossed into parts by great wittes and 〈◊〉 â—…tes Some hold the world neuer made nor euer ending so doe the Peripatetiâ—…â—…y â—…y Latines as Pliny and Manilius follow them Cato the elder saith that of the 〈◊〉 â—…me said it was created but must bee eternall as they in the other booke said Plaâ—… said it was from eternity but must haue an end Some that God made it corrupâ—…â—…dlesse as preserued by the diuine essence and these are Pythagoreans Some say it 〈◊〉 beginning and must haue an end the Epicureans Anaxagoras Empedocles and the 〈◊〉 this Of these Plut. de Plac. Philoso Galen Histor. Philosoph if that booke bee his 〈◊〉 die nat Macrobius and others doe write Aphrodiseus stands to Aristotle beâ—…â—…inion was the most battered at Galen made the sences iudges of all the whole 〈◊〉 because wee see the same world all in the same fashion therefore it was vncreaâ—… bee eternall For as Manilius saith The Father sees not one world the Sonne anoâ—… of them that make it eternall say that God made it Some giue it no cause of beeâ—… it cause of it selfe and all besides Arist. de caelo mundo c Order Chance 〈◊〉 â—…ke so singularly an ordered worke nor any other reason or work-man but beauâ—… could produce so beauteous an obiect All the Philosophers schooles that smelt of 〈◊〉 held directly that nothing prooued the world to bee of Gods creating so much 〈◊〉 â—…ll beauty thereof Plato the Stoikes Cicero Plutarch and Aristotle were all thus 〈◊〉 Cic. de nat de lib. 2. d In that of the soule Plato thrusts their eternal soules into 〈◊〉 â—…nto prisons for sins coÌ„mitted e If they They must needs say they were either euer 〈◊〉 euer wretched or successiuely both which if it be the alteration of the soules naâ—…â—…use it perforce For what vicissitude of guilt and expiation could there bee for so 〈◊〉 â—…sand yeares of eternity so constant as to make the soules now blessed and now miâ—… A true Some read a beginning as number hath number begins at one and so runs 〈◊〉 the great number may stil be increased nor can you euer come to the end of numâ—… hath no end but is iustly called infinite 〈◊〉 we ought not to seeke to comprehend the infinite spaces of time or place ere the world was made CHAP. 5. 〈◊〉 then let vs see what wee must say to those that make God the worlds 〈◊〉 and yet examine the time and what they wil say to vs when wee exaâ—… of the place They aske why it was made then and no sooner as wee â—…ke why was it made in this place and in no other for if they imagine inâ—…â—…paces of time before the world herein they cannot thinke that God did 〈◊〉 so likewise may they suppose infinite spaces of place besides the world 〈◊〉 if they doe not make the Deity to rest and not operate they must fall to 〈◊〉 a his dreame of innumerable worlds onely this difference there wil be 〈◊〉 all his worlds of the b casuall coagulation of Atomes and so by their 〈◊〉 dissolues them but they must make all theirs Gods handiworkes if the will not let him rest in all the inter-mirable space beyond the world and haue none of all them worlds no more then this of ours to bee subiect to dissolution c foâ—… we now dispute with those that doe as wee doe make God the incorporeall Creator of all things that are not of his owne essence For those that stand for many gods they are vnworthy to bee made disputants in this question of religion The other Philosophers haue quite d out-stript all the rest in fame and credit because though they werefarre from the truth yet were they nearer then the rest Perhaps they will neither make Gods essence dilatable not limmitable but as one should indeed hold will affirme his incorporeall presence in all that spacious distance besides the world imploied onely in this little place in respect of his immensity that the world is fixt in I doe not thinke they will talke so idly If they set God on worke in this one determinate though greatly dilated world that reason that they gaue why God should not worke in all those infinite places beyond the world let them giue the same why God wrought not in all the infinite times before the world But as it is not consequent that God followed chance rather then reason in placing of the worlds frame where it now standeth in no other place though this place had no merit to deserue it before the infinite others yet no mans reason can comprehend why the diuine will placed it so euen so no more is it consequent that wee should thinke that it was any chance made God create this world than rather then at any other time whereas all times before had their equall course and none was more meritorious of the creation then another But if they say men are fond to thinke there is any place besides that wherein the world is so are they say wee to immagine any time for God to bee idle in since there was no time before the worldes creation L. VIVES EPicurus a his dreame Who held not onely many worlds but infinite I shewed it elsewhere Metrodorus saith it as absurd to imagine but
that it was good CHAP. 20. 〈◊〉 may we ouerslip yâ— these words of God Let there be light there was light 〈◊〉 immediatly seconded by these And God saw the light that it was good not 〈◊〉 â—…ad seperated the light and darknes and named them day and night least â—…d haue seemed to haue shewne his liking of the darknes as wel as yâ— light â—…ras the darknes which the conspicuous lights of heauen diuide from the 〈◊〉 inculpable therfore it was said after it was not before And God saw that 〈◊〉 And God saith he Set them in the firmament of heauen to shine vpon the â—…d to rule in the day and night and to seperate the light from the darknes and 〈◊〉 that it was good Both those he liked for both were sin-les but hauing sayd 〈◊〉 be light and there was so hee adioines immediatly And God saw the light 〈◊〉 good And then followeth God seperated the light from the darknes and 〈◊〉 the light day and the darknesse night but heere he addeth not And God 〈◊〉 it was good least hee should seeme to allow well of both the one beeing â—…turally but voluntary euill Therfore the light onely pleased the Creator the Angelicall darknesses though they were to bee ordained were not to bee approued L. VIVES IMmediately a seconded The Scripture speaking of the spirituall light the Angels before yâ— part of this light that is part of the Angels became dark God approued the light that is all the Angels whom he had made good light but speaking of our visible light made the fourth day God approueth both light and darknes for that darknes God created and it was not euil as yâ— Angels that became dark were therfore were not approued as the fourth daies darknesse was Of Gods eternal vnchanging will and knowledge wherein he pleased to create al things in forme as they were created CHAP. 21. VVHat meanes that saying that goeth through all and God saw that it was good but the approbation of the worke made according to the work-mans art Gods wisedome God doth not see it is good beeing made as if he saw it not so ere it was made But in seeing that it is good being made which could not haue beene made so but that hee fore-saw it hee teacheth but learneth not that it is good Plato a durst go further and say That God had great ioy in the beauty of the Vniuerse He was not so fond to thinke the newnesse of the worke increased Gods ioy but hee shewed that that pleased him beeing effected which had pleased his wisedome to fore-know should be so effected not that Gods knowledge varyeth or apprehends diuersly of thinges past present and future He doth not foresee thinges to come as we do nor beholds things present or remembers thinges past as wee doe But in a maner farre different from our imagination Hee seeth them not by change in thought but immutably bee they past or not past to come or not to come all these hath he eternall present nor thus in his eye and thus in his minde he consisteth not of body and soule nor thus now and otherwise hereafter or heretofore his knowledge is not as our is admitting alteration by circumstance of time but b exempted from all change and all variation of moments For his intention runnes not from thought to thought all thinges hee knowes are in his vnbodily presence Hee hath no temporall notions of the time nor moued he the time by any temporall motions in him-selfe Therfore hee saw that which hee had made was good because he fore-saw that he should make it good Nor doubted his knowledge in seeing it made or augmented it as if it had beene lesse ere he made it he could not do his works in such absolute perfection but out of his most perfect knowledge VVherfore if one vrge vs with who made this light It sufficeth to answer God if wee be asked by what meanes sufficeth this God said let there be light and there was light God making it by his very word But because there are three necessary questions of euery creature who made it how hee made it and wherefore hee made it God sayd quoth Moyses let there bee light and there was light and God saw the light that it was good Who made it God How God sayd but let it be and it was wherfore It was good No better author can there bee then God no better art then his Word no better cause why then that a good God should make a good creature And this c Plato praysed as the iustest cause of the worlds creation whether he had read it or heard it or got it by speculation of the creatures or learned it of those that had this speculation L. VIVES PLato a durst not In his Timaeus The father of the vniuerse seeing the beauty of it and the formes of the eternall goddes approued it and reioyced b Expelled from all Iames 1. 17. in whom is no variablenes nor shadowing by turning Hierome contra Iouin reades it in whome is no difference or shadowing by moment Augustine vseth moment also whether referring it to time or quality I know not For neyther retyres at all from his light to a shadow nor is any the least shadow intermixt with his light Momentum is also a turning a conuersion or a changeable motion comming of moueo to moue it is also an inclination as in balances This place may meane that God entertaines no vicissitude or passe from contrary to contrary as we doe c Plato Let vs see saith hee What made the Worldes Creator go about so huge a worke Truly hee excelled in honesty and honesty enuyeth not any mâ—…an and therefore hee made all things like him-selfe beeing the iustest cause of their originall Concerning those that disliked some of the good Creators creatures and thought some things naturaly euil CHAP. 22. YEt this good cause of the creation Gods goodnesse this iust fit cause which being well considered would giue end to all further inuestigation in this kind some heretikes could not discerne because many thinges by not agreeing with this poore fray le mortall flesh beeing now our iust punishment doe offend and hurt it as fire cold wilde beastes c. These do not obserue in what place of nature they liue and are placed nor how much they grace the vniuerse like a fayre state with their stations nor what commodity redounds to vs froÌ„ them if we can know how to vse them in so much that poyson a thing one way pernicious being conueniently ministred procureth health and contrary wise our meat drinke nay the very light immoderately vsed is hurtfull Hence doth Gods prouidence advize vs not to dispraise any thing rashly but to seeke out the vse of it warily and where our wittte and weakenesse failes there to beleeue the rest that is hidden as wee doe in other thinges past our reach for the obscurity of the vse
eyther excerciseth the humility or beates downe the pride nothing a at all in nature being euill euill being but a priuation of good but euery thing from earth to heauen ascending in a degree of goodnesse and so from the visible vnto the inuisible vnto which all are vnequall And in the greatest is God the great workeman yet b no lesser in the lesse which little thinges are not to be measured to their owne greatnesse beeing neare to nothing but by their makers wisedome as in a mans shape shane his eye-brow a very nothing to the body yet how much doth it deforme him his beauty consisting more of proportion and parilyty of parts then magnitude Nor is it a wonder that c those that hold some nature bad and produced from a bad beginning do not receiue GODS goodnesse for the cause of the creation but rather thinke that hee was compelled by this rebellious euill of meere necessity to fall a creating and mixing of his owne good nature with euill in the suppression and reforming thereof by which it was so foyled and so toyled that he had much adoe to re-create and mundifie it nor can yet cleanse it all but that which hee could cleanse serues as the future prison of the captiued enemy This was not the Maniches foolishnes but their madnesse which they should abandon would they like Christians beleeue that Gods nature is vnchangeable incorruptible impassible and that the soule which may be changed by the will vnto worse and by the corruption of sinne be depriued of that vnchangeable light is no part of God nor Gods nature but by him created of a farre inferiour mould L. VIVES NOthing a at all This Augustine repeats often and herein do al writers of our religion besides Plato Aristotle Tully and many other Philosophers agree with him Plato in his Timaeus holds it wicked to imagine any thing that God made euill he being so good a God him-selfe for his honesty enuied nothing but made all like him-selfe And in his 2. de rep he saith The good was author of no euill but only of things good blaming Hesiod and Homer for making Ioue the author of mischiefe confessing God to be the Creator of this vniuerse therby shewing nothing to be euill in nature I will say briefly what I thinke That is good as Aristotle saith iâ—…â—…s â—…etorik which we desire either for it selfe or for another vse And the iust contrary is euil wâ—…efore in the world some things are vsefull and good some auoideble bad Some 〈◊〉 and indifferent and to some men one thing is good and to others bad yea vnto one man at seuerall times seuerall good bad or neuter vpon seueral causes This opinioÌ„ the weaknesse of our iudgements respects of profit do produce But only that is the diuine iudgement which so disposeth all things that each one is of vse in the worlds gouernment And hee knoweth all without error that seeth all things to bee good and vsefull in their due seasons which the wise man intimates when hee saith That God made all things good each in the due time Therefore did hee blesse all with increase and multiplication If any thing were alwayes vnprofitable it should bee rooted out of the creation b No lesse Nature is in the least creatures pismires gnats bees spiders as potent as in horses oxâ—…n whales or elephants and as admirable Pliny lib. 11. c Those This heresie of the Manichees Augustine declareth De heres ad Quod vult deum Contra Faust. Manich. De Genes ad liter Of the error that Origen incurreth CHAP. 23. Bvt the great wonder is that some hold one beginning with vs of all thinges and that God created all thinges that are not of his essence otherwise they could neuer haue had beeing And yet wil not hold that plaine good beleefe of the Worlds simple and good course of creation that the good God made all thinges good They hold that all that is not GOD after him and yet that all is not good which none but God could make But the a soules they say not part but creatures of God sinned in falling from the maker being cast according to their deserts into diuers degrees down from heauen got certaine bodies for their prisons And ther-upon the world was made say they not for increase of good but restrrint of bad and this is the World Herein is Origen iustly culpable for in his Periarchion or booke of beginnings he affirmes this wherein I haue much maruaile that a man so read indiuine scriptures should not obserue first how contrary this was to the testimony of scripture that confirmeth all Gods workes with this And God saw that it was good And at the conclusion God saw all that hee made and loe it was very good Auerring no cause for this creation but onely that the good God should produce good things where if no man had sinned the world should haue beene adorned and filled b onely with good natures But sin being commited it did not follow that all should be filled with badnes the far greater part remaining still good keeping the course of their nature in heauen nor could the euil willers in breaking the lawes of nature auoyd the iust lawes of the al-disposed God For as a picture sheweth well though it haue black colors in diuers places so the Vniuerse is most faire for all these staines of sins which notwithstaÌ„ding being waighed by themselues do disgrace the lustre of it Besides Origen should haue seene and all wise men with him that if the world were made onely for a penall prison for the transgressing powers to bee imbodyed in each one according to the guilt the lesse offenders the higher and lighter and the greater ones the baser and heauier that then the Diuels the worst preuaricators should rather haue bin thurst into the basest that is earthly bodies then the worst men But that we might know that the spirits merits are not repaid by the bodies qualitie the worst diuell hath an c ayry body and man though he be bad yet of farre lesse malice and guilt hath an earthly body yea had ere his fall And what can be more fond then to thinke that the Sunne was rather made for a soule to be punished in as a prison rather then by the prouidence of God to bee one in one world as a light to the beauty and a comfort to the creatures Otherwise two ten or en hundred soules sinning all a like the world should haue so many Sunnes To auoyd which we must rather beleeue that there was but one soule sinned in that kind deseruing such a body rather then that the Makers miraculous prouidence did so dispose of the Sunne for the light comfort of things created It is not the soules whereof speake they know not what but it is their owne soules that are so farre from truth that they must needes be attanted and restraned Therefore these three I
and in my selfe avowed Moreouer as they tell that haue tryed you are open-handed hearted to such kind of presents then which scarse any may be more welcome to you For who should offer you gold filuer or gems garments horses or armoâ—… should power water into the sea and bring trees to the wood And truely as in all other thinges so in this you do most wisely to thinke that glory beseeming your vertue and deserts is purchased with al posterity by bookes monumeÌ„ts of learned men if not by mine or those like me yet surely by shewing your selfe affable and gratious to learned men you shall light vpon some one by whose stile as a most conning pencill the picture of that excellent and al-surmounting minde purtraied and polished may be commended to eternity not to bee couered with the rust of obliuion nor corrupted by iniury of after ages but that posterity an vncorrupted witnesse of vertues should not be silent of what is worthy to bee spoken of both to the glory of your selfe when you are restored to heauen though that be the best and best to be regarded and also which is principall and most to be aspired to the example of them that shall then liue Besides all this this worke is most agreeable to your disposition and studies wherein Saint AVGVSTINE hath collected as in a treasury the best part of those readings which hee had selected in the ancient authors as ready to dispute with sharpest wits best furnished with choisest eloquence and learning Whereby it is fallne out that he intending another point hath preserued the reliques of some the best things whose natiue seate and dwelling where they vsed to be fet and found was fouly ouerturned And therfore some great men of this later age haue bin much holpen by these writings of AVGVSTINE for VARRO SALVST LIVY and TVLLIE de republica as HERMOLAVS POLITIANVS BLONDVS BEROALDVS all which you shal so read not as they were new or vnheard-of but recognize them as of old Adde herevnto that you and Saint AVGVSTINES point and purpose in writing seeme almost to intend attaine the same end For as you wrote for that better Rome against Babylon so Saint AVGVSTINE against Babylon defended that ancient christian and holier Rome This worke not mine but Saint AVGVSTINES by whom I am protected is also sutable vnto your greatnesse whether the author bee respected or the matter of the worke The author is AVGVSTINE good GOD how holy how learned a man what a light what a leane to the christian common-wealth on whom onely it rested for many rites many statutes customes holy and venerable ceremonies and not without cause For in that man was most plentifull study most exact knowledge of holy writ a sharpe and cleare iudgement a wit admirably quick and piercing He was a most diligent defender of vndefiled piety of most sweet behauior composed and conformed to the charity of the Gospell renowned and honored for his integrity and holinesse of life all which a man might hardly prosecute in a full volume much lesse in an Epistle It is well I speake of a writer knowne of all and familiar to you Now the worke is not concerning the children of Niobe or the gates of Thebes or mending cloathes or preparing pleasures or manuring grounds which yet haue beene arguments presented euen to Kings but concerning both Citties of the World and GOD wherein Angells deuills and all men are contained how they were borne how bred how growne whether they tend and what they shall doe when they come to their worke which to vnfold hee hath omitted no prophane nor sacred learning which hee doth not both touch and explane as the exploites of the Romanes their gods and ceremonies the Philosophers opinions the originall of heauen and earth of Angells deuills and men from what grounds Gods people grew and how thence brought along to our LORD CHRIST Then are the Two Citties compared of GOD and the World and the Assyrian Sicyonian Argiue Attick Latine and Persian gouernments induced Next what the Prophets both Heathenish and Iewish did foretell of CHRIST Then speaking of true felicity he refuteth and refelleth the opinions of the ancient Philosophers concerning it Afterwards how CHRIST shall come the iudge of quick and dead to sentence good and euill Moreouer of the torments of the damned Lastly of the ioyes and eternally felicity of Godly men And all this with a wonderfull wit exceeding sharpenesse most neate learning a cleare and polisht stile such as became an author trauersed and exercised in all kinde of learning and writings and as beseemed those great and excellent matters and fitted those with whom hee disputed Him therefore shall you read most famous and best minded King at such houres as you with-draw from the mighty affaires and turmoiles of your kingdome to employ on learning and ornaments of the minde and withall take a taste of our Commentaries whereof let mee say as Ouid sayd of his bookes de Faestis when he presented them to GERMANICVS CaeSAR A learned Princes iudgement t' vnder goe As sent to reade to Phaebus our leaues goe Which if I shall finde they dislike not you I shall not feare the allowance of others for who will be so impudent as not to bee ashamed to dissent from so exact a iudgement which if any dare doe your euen silent authority shall yet protect me Farewell worthiest King and recon VIVES most deuoted to you in any place so he be reconed one of yours From Louaine the seauenth of Iuly M. D. XXII AN ADVERTISMENT OF IOANNES LODOVICVS VIVES Of Ualentia DECLARING VVHAT Manner of people the Gothes were and how they toooke Rome WHERE AS AVGVSTINE TOOKE OCcasion by the captiuity of the Romaines to write of the Cittie of GOD to answer them which iniuriouslie slaundered the Christian Religion as the cause of those enormities and miseries which befell them It shall not be lost labour for vs sounding the depth of the matter to relate from the Originall what kinde of people the Gothes were how they came into Italie and surprized the Cittie of Rome ¶ First it is cleare and euident that the former age named those Getes whome the succeeding age named Gothes because this age adulterated and corrupted many of the ancient wordes For those two Poets to wit RVTILVS and CLAVDIAN when-soeuer they speake of the Gothes doe alwaies name Getes OROSIVS also in his Historie sayth the Getes who now are named Goths departing out of their Countrie with bagge and baggage leauing their houses emptie entred safely into the Romaine Prouinces with all their forces being such a people as ALEXANDER said were to be auoided PYRRHVS abhorred and CaeSAR shunned HIEROME vpon Genesis testifieth that the Gothes were named Getes of the learned in former time Also they were Getes which inhabited about the Riuer Ister as STRABO MELA PLINIE and others auerre possessing the Region adiacent a great part of it lying waste and vnmanured being
Manichees VVherefore setting aside these dotages when we read this precept Thou shalt not kill If wee hold it not to bee meant of fruites or trees because they are not sensitiue nor of vnreasonable creatures either going flying swimming or creeping because they haue no society with vs in reason which God the Creator hath not made common both to them and vs and therefore by his iust ordinance their deaths and liues are both most seruiceable and vse-full vnto vs then it followes necessarily that thou shalt not kil is meant only ofmen Thou shalt not kill namely Neither thy self or another For he that kils him-selfe kils no other but a man L. VIVES TO haue a sence Aristotle saith that plants are animate and liuing creatures but yet not sensitiue But Plato being of Empedocles his opinion holds them both liuing and sensitiue Either may be they may die because they do liue howsoeuer Of some sort of killing men which notwithstanding are no murthers CHAP. 20. Indeed the authority of the law diuine hath sette downe some exceptions wherein it is lawfull to kill a man But excepting those whome God commaundes to bee slayne either by his expresse law or by some particular commaund vnto any person by any temporall occasion and hee committeth not homicide that owes his seruice vnto him that commaundeth him beeing but as the sword is a helpe to him that vseth it And therefore those men do not breake the commandement which forbiddeth killing who doe make warre by the authority of a Gods commaund or beeing in some place of publike magistracie do putte to death malefactors according to their lawes that is according to the rule of iustice and reason Abraham was not onely freed from beeing blamed as a murtherer but he was also commended as a godly man in that hee would haue killed his sonne Isaack not in wickednesse but in obedience And it is a doubtfull question whether it bee to bee held as a command from God that b Iepthe killed his daughter that met him in his returne seeing that he had vowed to sacrifice the first liuing thing that came out of his house to meete him when hee returned conqueror from the warres c Nor could Sampson be excused pulling downe the house vpon him-selfe and his enemies but that the spirit within him which wrought miracles by him did prompt him vnto this act Those therfore beeing excepted which either the iustice of the law or the fountaine of all iustice Gods particular commaund would haue killed he that killeth either himself or any other incurreth the guilt of a homicide L. VIVES AVthority a of Gods command As the Iewes did they waged warres but it was by Gods expresse command But if they were counted godly that to please God though against natural humanitie afflicted his enemies with war and slaughter truly then cannot we butbe held the most vngodly of the world that butcher vp so many thousand Christians against the expresse will of God b Iepthe Iudges the 11. Chapt. Verse 31. Whose fact was like that which the Tragedians write of Agamemnon who sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia vnto Diana at Aulis Many reproue this sacrifice of Iephte for his vowe was to bee interpreted as ment of those things which were accustomed to be offred with Gods good pleasure and so was that of Agamemnons to haue bene construed also c Nor could Sampson Iudges the 16. chapter and the 30. verse That voluntary death can neuer be any signe of magnanimity or greatnes of spirit CHAP 21. WHo soeuer haue committed this homicide vppon them-selues may perhaps bee commended of some for their greatnesse of spirit but neuer for their soundnesse of iudgement But indeed if you looke a little deeper into the matter it cannot bee rightly termed magnanimitie when a man beeing vnable to indure either casuall miseries or others oppressions to auoid them destroyeth him-selfe For that minde discouereth it selfe to bee of the greatest infirmitie that can neither indure hard bondage in his bodie or the fond opinion of the vulgar and worthily is that spirit entitled great that can rather indure calamities then auoyde them And in respect of their owne purity and inlightned conscience can sette at naught the triuiall censures of mortall men a which are most commonly enclowded in a mist of ignorance and errour If wee shall thinke it a part of magnanimity to putte a mans selfe to death then is b Cleombrotus most worthie of this magnanimous title who hauing read Platoes booke of the immortality of the soule cast himself headlong from the toppe of a wall and so leauing this life went vnto another which hee beleeued was better For neither calamity nor guiltinesse either true or false vrged him to avoide it by destroying himselfe but his great spirit alone was sufficient to make him catch at his death and breake all the pleasing fetters of this life Which deed notwithstanding that it was rather great then good Plato himselfe whom he read might haue assured him who be sure would haue done it or taught it himselfe if he had not discerned by the same instinct whereby he discerned the soules eternity that this was at no hand to bee practised but rather vtterly c prohibited L. VIVES VVHich a Are indeed The ancient wise men were euer wont to call the people the great Maister of Error b Cleombrotus This was the Ambraciot who hauing read Plato's dialogue called Phaedo of the immortality of the soule that hee might leaue this life which is but as a death and passe vnto immortality threw himselfe ouer a wall into the sea without any other cause in the world Of him did Callimachus make an epigrame in Greeke and in Latine I haue seene it thus Vita vale muro praeceps delapsus ab alto Dixisti moriens Ambraciota puer Nullum in morte malum credens sed scripta Platonis Non ita erant animo percipienda tuo When Cleombrotus from the turret threw Himselfe to death he cried new life adue Holding death hurtlesse But graue Plato's sense He should haue read with no such reference There was also another Cleombrotus King of Lacedaemon whom Epaminondas the Thebane ouercame c Rather vtterly prohibited For in the beginning of his Phaedo hee saith it is wickednesse for a man to kill himselfe and that God is angred at such a fact like the maister of a family when any of his slaues haue killed themselues and in many other places he saith that without Gods command no man ought to leaue this life For here we are all as in a set front of battell euery one placed as God our Emperor and Generall pleaseth to appoint vs and greater is his punishment that forsaketh his life then his that forsaketh his colours Of Cato who killed himselfe being not able to endure Caesars victory CHAP. 22. BVt many haue killed themselues for feare to fal into the hands of their foes We dispute not here de facto whether
beastes from beeing part of him But what needes all this Lette vs go but vnto this reasonable creature man can there be a more damnable absurdity then to beleeue that part of Gods essence is beaten when an offending childis beaten To make the subsistence of almighty God be so lasciuious vniust wicked and damnable as diuers men are What man can indure to heare it but hee that is absolutely madde lastly how can God bee iustly angry with those that doe not worshippe him when as they are partes of his owne selfe that are guilty So then they are forced to say that euery particular godde hath his life and subsistence by him-selfe and that they are not peeces of one another but each one that is particularly knowne must haue his peculiar worshippe that is knowne I say because they cannot all bee knowne Ouer all whome Iupiter beeing King thence it comes as I imagine that they beleeue him to bee the sole erecter and protector of Romes Monarchy For if it were not hee that didde it whome should they thinke able to performe so great a worke each one hauing his peculiar taske already so distinctty assigned that one must by no meanes meddle with that which was vnder the charge of another So then the conclusion is it must needs bee onely the King of goddes that erected and preserued this Kingdome of men That the augmentations of Kingdomes are vnfitly ascribed to Ioue Victory whome they call a goddesse being sufficient of her selfe to giue a full dispatch to all such businesses CHAP. 14. NOw heree is a question why may not Soueraignty it selfe bee a God What should hinder it more then a hinders Victory Or what need men trouble Iâ—…e if Victory be but fauourable ynough and will stay with such as she meaneth to make conquerors If she be but propitious let Ioue mind his own businesse the nations shall come vnder b Yea but it may bee they are good men and loth to wrong their neighbours that wrong not them or to prouoke them to warre withoâ—…t a iuster cause then meere desire to inlarge their Kingdome Nay bee they of that minde I commend them with all mine heart L. VIVES THen a Victory Cato the elder built hir a little Temple by the Market place She had also a greater Temple by that little one which P Posth Megellus beeing Aedile built with the mulot-money hee hadde gathered and dedicated it in his Consulship with M. Attill Regulns in the Samnites warre Sylla ordained playes for her in the ciuill warres Ascon Pâ—…d Cicer. in Verr. Actio 1. She was daughter to Styx and Pallas Hesiod and had Zeale Power and Force to her bretheren which alwaies sitte by Ioue nor raigneth he nor any King without them b It may be There are some copyes that differ from vs heere but they are corrupted Whether an honest man ought to intertaine any desire to inlarge his Empire CHAP. 15. VVWherefore lette them obserue whether it befitte a good and vpright man to reioyce in the inlarging of his dominions For it was the badnesse of those against whome iust warres were whilome vnder-taken that hath aduanced earthly soueraignties to that port they now hold which would haue beene little still if no enemy had giuen cause nor prouocation to war by offring his neighbour wrong If men had alwaies beene thus conditioned the Kingdomes of the earth would haue continued little in quantity and peacefull in neighbourly agreement And then a many Kingdomes would haue beene in the world as a many families are now in a citty So that the waging warre and the augmentation of dominions by conquest may seeme to the badde as a great felicity but the good must needs hold it a meere necessity But because it would bee worse if the badde should gette all the Soueraignty and so ouer-rule the good therefore in that respect the honest men may esteem their owne soueraingty a felicity But doubtlesse hee is farre more happy that hath a good neighbour by him in quiet then hee that must bee forced to subdue an euil neighbour by contention It is an euill wish to wish for one that thou hatest or fearest or for one to trouble thee that thou mightst haue one to conquer VVherfore if the Romaines attained to so great an Empire by honest vpright iust wars why should they not reuerence their enemies iniquity take itfor their goddesses good For we see that Iniquity hath giuen good assistance to the increase of this Empire by setting on others vppon vniust prouocation to iust warre that so the Romaines might haue iust cause to subdue them and so consequently to inlarge their owne dominions And why should not Iniquity be a goddesse at least among forreyne Nations as well as Feare and Palenesse and Feuer was at Rome So that by these two Deities Iniquity and Victory the first beginning the warres and the latter ending them with the conquest Romes Empire was inlarged infinitely whilest Ioue kept holyday in the Capitoll For what hath Iupiter to doe heere whâ—…e those which they may say are but meerely his benefits are worshipped iâ—…ed and accoumpted for direct deities and partes of his essence Indeed 〈◊〉 should haue hadde a faire good hand in this businesse if that hee were called â—…eraignty as well as shee is called Victory But if that a Soueraignty bee but a meere guift of Ioues then why may not Victory bee so too Both would bee 〈◊〉 to bee so if the Romaines didde not worshippe a dead stone in the Capitoll bâ—… the true King of Kinges and Lord of all domination both in earth and Heauen L. VIVES Iâ—… a Kingdome So saith Homer in diuers places The reason why the Romaines in their appointments of seuerall Goddes for euery thing and euery action would needes place the Temple of Rest or Quiet with-out the Gates CHAP. 16. BVt I wonder much that the Romaines appointing particular goddes ouer euery thing and almost euery motion Agenoria that stirred men to action Stimula a that forced them forward b Murcia that neuer went out of her pace And as c Pomponius saith made men slouthfull and disabled them from action Strenua that made men resolute Vnto all which goddes and goddesses they offered publike sacrifices and kept sollemne feasts Beeing to dispose d of Quiet the goddesse of Rest her they onely vouchsafed a Temple without Port Collina but allowed hir no publike honors at all in the citty VVhether was this a signe of their vnquiet and turbulent spirits or that those who hadde such a rable of diuell-gods No worship and reuerence should neuer come to inioy that Rest where-vnto the true Phsition inuiteth vs Saying Learne of me that I am meeke Math. 11. 29. and lowly in heart and you shall find rest vnto your soules L. VIVES STimula a This may bee Horta that in her life-time was called Hersilia Romulus his wife called Horta of exhorting men to action Labeo Her Temple was neuer shutte to signifie
that they were men and died as other men do To what end is this but that the citties should bee filled with statues of such as are no true gods the true god hauing neither sex age nor body But this Seâ—…uola would not haue the people to know because he did not thinke it was faulse himselfe So that he holds it fit citties should bee deluded in religion which indeed Varro stickes not plainely to affirme De. re vin A godly religion whereto when weake mindes going for refuge and seeking to bee freed by the truth must bee tolde that it is fitte that they bee illuded Nor doth the same booke conceale the cause why Scaeuola reiecteth the Poets gods It is because they doe so deforme them with their stories that they are not fitte to keepe good men company c one being described to steale and another to commit adulterie as also to doe and say so filthily and fondly as that the d three goddesses striuing for eminence of beauty the other two being cast by Venus destroyed Troy That Ioue was turned to e a Bull or a f Swanne to haue the company of some wench or other that g a goddesse married a man and that Saturne eate vp his sonnes No wonder No vice but there you haue it set downe quite against the natures of the deities O Scaeuola abolish those playes if it bee in thy power tell the people what absurd honors they offer the gods gazing on their guilt and remembring their prankes as a licence for their owne practise If they say you Priests brought them vs intreate the gods that commanded them to suffer their abolishment If they bee bad and therefore at no hand credible with reuerence to the Gods Maiesties then the greater is the iniurie that is offered vnto them of whome they are so freely inuented But they are Deuills Scaeuola teaching guiltinesse and ioying in filthinesse they will not heare thee They thinke it no iniurie to haue such blacke crimes imputed vnto them but rather holde them-selues wronged if they bee not imputed and exhibited Now if thou callest on Ioue against them were there no other cause for it but the most frequent presenting of his h enormities though you call him the God and King of the world would hee not thinke himselfe highly wronged by you in ranking him in worship with such filthy companions and making him gouernor of them L. VIVES SCaeuola a their There were many of this name but this man was priest in Marius his ciuill warre and killed by Marius the yonger Tully saith hee went often to heare him dispute after Scaeuola the Augur was dead b The first Dionysius writeth that the Romaines reiected all the factions of the gods fights wranglings adulteries c. which were neither to bee spoken of gods nor good men and that Romulus made his Quirites vse to speake well of the gods Antiqu. Rom. lib. 2. Euseb. de praep Euang. c One Mercurie that stole Tyresias Oxen Mars his sword Uulcans tonges Neptunes Mace Apollos bow and shafts Venus her girdle and Ioues Scepter d Three euery childe knowes this e A Bull for Europa f A Swanne for Laeda of these read Ouid. lib. 6. Metamorph. g A goddesse married Ceres to Iasius Harmonia to Cadmus Callirrhoe to Chrysaoras Aurora to Tython Thetis to Peleus Uenus to Anchises Circe and Callipso to Vlysses Read Hesiods Theognia h Enormities of letchery cruelty and such like Whether the Romaines diligence in this worship of those gods did their Empire any good at all CHAP. 28. BY no meanes then could these gods preserue the Romaine Empire being so criminous in their owne filthy desiring of such honors as these are which rather serue to condemne them then appease them For if they could haue done that the Greekes should haue had their helpes before who afforded them farre better store of such sacrifices as these with farre more stage-playes and showes For they seeing the Poets taxe their gods so freelye neuer thought shame to let them taxe them-selues but allowed them free leaue to traduce whom they pleased and held the Stage-players worthy of the best honors of their state But euen as Rome might haue had golden coynes yet neuer worshipped Aurinus for it so might they haue had siluer and brasse ones without Argentinus or his father Aesculanus and so of all other necessaries But so could they not possesse their kingdome against the will of the true God but in despite of all the other let them doe what they list that one vnkowne God being well and duly worshipped would haue kept their kingdome on earth in better estate then euer and afterward haue bestowed a kingdome on each of them in heauen had they a kingdome before or had they none that should endure for euer Of the falsenesse of that Augury that presaged courage and stabilitie to the state of Rome CHAP. 29. FOr what a goodly presage was that which I spake of but now of the obstinacie of Mars Terminus and Iuuentas that it should signifie that Mars a his nation the Romaines should yeeld the place to no man that no man should remooue the limittes of their Empire because of Terminus and that their youth should yeeld to none because of Iuuentas Now marke but how these gods misused their King daring to giue these Auguries as in his defiance and as glorying in the keeping of their places though if these antiquities were true they neede feare nothing For they confessed not that they must giue place to Christ that would not giue place to Ioue and they might giue Christ place without preiudice to the Empires limits both out of the temples and the hearts that they held But this we write was long before Christ came or that Augurie was recorded notwithstanding after that presage in Tarquins time the Romaines lost many a battel and prooued Iuuentas a lyer in hir Prophesie and Mars his nation was cut in peeces within the very walles by the conquering Galles and the limites of the Empire were brought to a narrow compasse in Hannibals time when most of the citties of Italy fell from Rome to him Thus was this fine Augurie fulfilled and the obstinacie of the presagers remained to prooue them rebellious deuils For it is one thing not to giue place and another to giue place and regaine it afterwards Though afterwards the bounds of the Empire were altered in the East by b Hadrianus meanes who lost Armenia Mesopotamia and Syria vnto the Persians to shew god Terminus that would not giue place to Ioue him-selfe but guarded the Romaine limites against all men to let him see that Hadrian a King of men could doe more then Ioue the King of gods c The sayd Prouinces being recouered afterward now almost in our times god Terminus hath giuen ground againe d Iulian that was giuen so to the Oracles desperately commanding all the ships to bee burned that brought the armie victuals so that the souldiours fainting and hee
Sarpedon from death the fates constrayning him to die and Neptune greeues that hee coulâ—… not hinder Vlisses his returne home and reuenge the blindnesse of his sonne Ciclops Fate hauing decreede the contrary and Iupiter in Ouid saith Tu sola insuperabile satum Nate mouere putas Daughter'tis onely thou Canst mooue relentlesse fate Saith he And a little after Quae â—…que conâ—…ursum caeli nec fulminiâ—… iram Nec â—…tuunt vllas tuta atque aeterna ruinas Which feare nor thunders gods nor powers infernall But stand vnaw'd vnmooued and eternall There were some that held nothing casuall but all fixed certaine and immutable Democritus Empedocles and Heraclitus were all of this opinion which many others maintained after them as others did the positions of Epicurus Lucane Phars lib. 2. declareth both the opinions in these words Siue parens rerum primùm informia regna Materiamque rudem flammâ cedente recepit Fiâ—…xit in aeternum causas quà cuncta coâ—… cet Se quoque lege tenens secula iussa â—…rentem Fatorum immoto diuisit limite mundum Siue nihil positum est sed sors incerta vagatur Fértque refertque vices habent mortalia casum c. Or natures God when first he bound the fire And wrought this maâ—…e into one forme intire Forged eternall causes all effecting Himâ—…elfe and all the worlds estate subiecting To destenies inchangeable directing Oâ—… bene our states in fortunes gouernance To rise or fall and all by onely chance Fortune is often vsed for destenie and the euents of things which when they fall out as wee desire that we call Felicitie if contrary Infelicitie Thus much here more else-where b The will of God Of this by and by c A power of the starrrs wherein the Stoickes Plato and almost all the other Philosophers do place Fate following the Chaldees and Aegiptians to whom all the Mathematitians also doe giue their voyces d Some do seperate Some say the operation of the starres is a distinct power from the will of God and in attributing this vniuersall power to them exclude Gods prouidence from humaine affaires Besides there are that affirme that although God doe looke to the state of the world yet the starres haue their peculiar dominion in vs neuerthelesse So hold Manilius and Firmicus and the Poets most commonly Others subiect them all vnto the will of GOD omnipotent as Plato and the Stoikes doe affirming all their operations to bee but the praescript lawes of him e But if the starres Origen vpon that place of Genesis Let them be for signes Chapt. 1. vers 14. Saith that the starres doe signifie but effect nothing They are saith he as a booke opened wherein may bee read all things to come which may bee prooued by this that they haue often signified things past But this booke cannot bee read by any witte of man Plotine was of Origens opinion also denying the starres any acte in those things but onely signification Seneca speaking of the Starres saith they either cause or signifie the effects of all things but if they doe cause them what auaileth it vs to know that we cannot alter and if they but signifie them what good doth it thee to fore-see that thou canst not auoide f Mars in such Mars is a starre bloudie fiery and violent Being in the seuenth house saith Firmicus lib. 3. in a partise aspect with the Horoscope that is in the West hee portendeth huge mischieues stayning the natiuities with murthers and many other villanies g To grant them Hee alludeth vnto Tullies Chrysippus de Fato that would teach the Mathematicians how to speake in their art Of the mutuall simpathie and dissimilitude of health of body and many other accidents in twins of one birth CHAP. 2. CIcero a saith that Hippocrates that excellent Phisitian wrote that two children that were brethren falling sicke and the sicknesse waxing and waning in both alike were here-vpon suspected to be twinnes b And Posidonius a Stoike and one much affected to Astrologie laboureth to prooue them to haue bin borne both vnder one constellation and c conceiued both vnder one So that which the Phisitian ascribeth to the similitude of their temperatures of body the Astrologian attributes to the power and position of the starrs in their natiuities But truly in this question the Phisitians coniecture standeth vpon more probabilitie because their parents temperature might bee easily transfused into them both alike at their conception and their first growth might participate equally of their mothers disposition of body then being nourished both in one house with one nourishment in one ayre countrie and other things correspondent this now might haue much power in the proportionating of both their natures alike as Physicke will testifie Besides vse of one exercise equally in both might forme their bodies into a similitude which might very well admit all alterations of health alike and equally in both But to drawe the figure of heauen and the starres vnto this purity of passions it being likely that a great companie of the greatest diuersitie of affects that could bee might haue originall in diuerse parts of the world at one and the same time were a presumption vnpardonable For d we haue knowne two twinnes that haue had both diuerse fortunes and different sicknesses both in time and nature whereof mee thinkes Hipocrates giueth a very good reason from the e diuersitie of nourishment and exercise which might bee cause of different health in them yet that diuersitie was effected by their wills and elections at first and not by their temperature of body But neither Posidonius nor any patron of this fate in the starres can tell what to say in this case and doe not illude the single and ignorant with a discourse of that they know not for that they talke of the space of time between that point which they call the f Horoscope in both the twinnes natiuities it is either not so significant as the diuersitie of will acte manners and fortune of the twinnes borne doth require or else it is more significant then their difference of honors state nobilitie or meannesse will permit both which diuersities they place onely in the figure of the natiuitie But if they should be both borne ere the Horoscope were fully varied then would I require an vnitie in each particular of their fortunes which g cannot be found in any two twinnes that euer yet were borne But if the Horoscope be changed ere both bee borne then for this diuersitie I will require a h difference of parents which twins cannot possibly haue L. VIVES CIcero a saith I cannot remember where I beleeue in his booke De fato which is wonderfully mutilate and defectiue as we haue it now and so shall any one finde that will obserue it b Whom Posidonius A Rhodian and a teacher of Rhodes Hee was also at Rome a follower of Panaetius Cicero c conceiued both for the conception is of as
asked him if he would go to Epirus with him he would giue him the forth part of his kingdom he replied it was not fit for al the people would wish rather to be vnder his coÌ„mand then Pirrhus his Pirrhus content with this answer admired the plaine magnanimity of the man offered him mony as a friend he would none m One that Cornelius Ruffinus this was Fabritius the Censor put him off the Senat for being worth ten pound in coined siluer Liu. libâ—… nay he had beene Dictator saith Gellius lib. 4. this was the first Cornelius that was called Sybiâ—… and then Silla of all the Cornelian family Macrob he was first consull with Manl. Cur. denatus and thirteen yeares after with C. Iunius n poore men Rome was neuer more fertile of continent honest men then in the warre of Pirrhus The difference betweene the desire of glory and the desire of rule CHAP. 19. THere is a difference betweene desire of glory and desire of rule for though the first do incline to the second yet such as affect the true humane glory haue a desire to be pleasing vnto good iudgments for ther is much good in manners whereof many can iudge well although many againe haue not this good not go that honest way to glory honor and soueraignty that Salust saith of He goeth the true way But whosoeuer desires to rule without that desire of glory which keeps men in awe of good iudgments he careth not by what villany he compasse affect and so his going about it will shew And therefore the hunter of glory either followeth the true tract or couers his courses so well that he is held to bee still in the true tract and thought to be good when hee is not so wherefore to the vertuous contempt of glory is a great vertue because God beholdeth it and not the iudgemeÌ„t of man for whatsoeuer he doth before men to shew this contempt hee hath no reason to thinke they suspect him amisse that thinke hee doth it for his more glory But he that contemneth their opinatiue praise contemneth also with it their vnaduised suspect yet not their saluation if he be good because he that hath his goodnesse from God is of that iustice that he loueth his very enemies and so loueth them that he wisheth his slanderers backe-bitâ—…rs reformed and to become his companions not here but in his eternall country for his commenders as he respecteth not their praises so hee neglecteth not their loues desiring neither to falsefie their prayses nor delude their loues and therefore vrgeth theÌ„ to the praise of him from whom euery one hath al his praise-worthy endowments But that man that despising glory doteth on dominatioÌ„ is worse then a beast both in a manners barbarisme lustes extremity Such men Rome hath had for though it had lost the care of credit yet it retained stil the affect of souerainty nay Rome saith History had many such But b Nero Caesar was he that got first of all to the top-turret of all this enormity whose luxury was such that one would not haue feared any manly act of his yet was his cruelty such as one ignoraÌ„t of him would not haue thought any effeminat sparke resideÌ„t in him yet euen such as this man was haue no dominion but from the great Gods prouidence holding mans vices soÌ„etimes worthy of such plagues The scripture of him is plaine By me kings raigne Princes Tyrans by me gouerne the earth But c least Tyrannus here should be taken only for vild wicked kings not as it it meant for al the old worthies heare Vir. Pars mihi pacis crit dextraÌ„ tetigisse Tâ—…ranni d Some peace I hope by touching your kings hands But elsewhere it is more plainely spoken of God that he maketh an hipocrite to raigne because the people are snared in peruersnesse Wherefore though I haue done what I can to show the cause why the true and iust God gaue the Romaines such assistance in erecting their Empires and Citties earthly glory vpon such a frame of Monarchy yet there may be a more secret cause then yet we see namely the diuers deserts of the world open to God though not to vs it being plaine to all godly men that no man can haue true vertue without true piety that is the true adoration of the one and true God nor is that vertue true neither when it serueth but for humane ostentation But those that are not of the etereternall citty called in the scriptures the citty of God they are more vse-full to their earthly citty e in possessing of that world-respecting vertue then if they wanted that also But if f those that are truly Godly and vp-right of life come to haue the gouernment of estates there can no greater happines befall the world then through the mercy of God to be gouerned by such men And they do attribute all their vertues be they neuer so admired vnto the grace of God only g who gaue them to their desires their faith and prayers besides they know how far they are from true perfection of iustice I meane such as is in the angelicall powers for whose fellowship they make them-selues fit But let that vertue that serueth humaine glory without piety be neuer so much extolled it is not comparable so much as with the vnperfect beginnings of the Saints vertues whose assured hope standeth fixed in the grace and mercy of the true God L. VIVES MAnners a Barbarisme or vices barbarisme read whether you will b Nero Sonne to Domitius Aenobarbus and Agrippina daughter to Germanicus adopted by Cl. Caesar his Stepfather and named Nero â—…aesar after him he succeded him and was the last of Caesars bloud that was emperor a man of strange cruelty and beastlinesse and for these vices left noted to all posterity otherwise as Suetonius saith he was desirous of eternity of same He called Aprâ—… after him-selfe Neroneus and ment to haue named Rome Neropolis c Least Tirans Of this before the King the tyran diffred not of old the word comes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to command or sway Uirgill Te propter lybicae gentis Nomadumque Tyranni Odêre incensi for thee the Libians and Numidian Kings hated him fore c. and Horace carm 3. Princeps et innantem Maricae Littoribus tenuisse Lyrim latè Tyrannus c. Tyrannus is some-times Lord some-times a cruell Prince sometimes a Potent Prince Acron So Augustine here putteth worthy for Potent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke being both power and fortitude as Homer Pindarus often vse it In Nemeis de Hercule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my sonnes valor d Some peace Latinus his words of Aeneas whom he held to be a good man e In possessing A falty place the sence is when they haue that desire of human glory they are of more vse in an ea thly state theÌ„ when they want
〈◊〉 O â—…en say they it is a hard controuersie and so leaue it neuer looking nor if they woâ—…ld could they discerne whose cause is better defended because they doe not vnderstand it 〈◊〉 euen as Augustine saith here Uanity hauing more words then veritie those fooles ofteâ—…â—…on that side that kept the most coyle c O wretched Tusc. l. 5. speaking of Cinâ—… Is 〈◊〉 â—…appy that slew those men no I rather thinke him wretched not onely for dooing it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ied himselfe so to gette the licence to doe it Though to offend is vnlawfull and liâ—…â—…o man wee abuse the world for that is lawfull which each mans good hath left 〈◊〉 â—…o performe or follow Finis lib. 5. THE CONTENTS OF THE sixt booke of the City of God 1. Of those that affirme they do worship these Gods for eternall life and not for temporall respects 2. What may be thought of Varroes opinion of the gods who dealeth so with them in his discouery of them and their ceremonies that with more reuerence vnto them he might haue held his peace 3. The diuision of Varroes bookes which 〈◊〉 stileth The Antiquities of Diuine Humaine affaires 4. That by Varroes disputations the affaires of those men that worshipped the gods are of far more antiquitie then those of the Gods themselues 5. Of Varroes three kinds of Diuinity Fabulous Naturall and Politique 6. Of the Fabulous and Politique Diuinity against Varro 7. The coherence and similitude between the fabulous Diuinitie and the ciuill 8. Of the naturall interpretations which the Paynim Doctors pretend for their Gods 9. Of the offices of each peculiar God 10. Of Senecaes freer reprehension of the ciuill Theology then Varroes was of the Fabulous 11. Senecaes opinion of the Iewes 12. That it is plaine by this discouery of the Pagan Gods vanity that they cannot giue eternall life hauing no power to helpe in the temporall FINIS THE SIXTH BOOKE OF THE CITTIE OF GOD Written by Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo vnto Marcellinus Of those that affirme they do worship these gods for eternall life and not for temporall respects CHAP. 1. IN the fiue precedent bookes I thinke they be sufficiently confounded that hold that worship iustly giuen vnto these false gods which is peculiar onely to one true GOD and in greeke is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that this worshippe ought to bee offered vnto them for temporall commodities all which Gods Christianity conuinceth either to bee friuilous and vnprofitable Images and damned spirits or at least and at best no Creators but Creatures But who knoweth not that neither those fiue bookes nor all that a man could make would stay and satisfie excesse of obstinacy for it is some mens glory vaine indeed neuer to yeeld to the truth but oppose it to their owne perdition in whose bosomes sinne hath so large an Empire for their disease exceedth all cure not through the Phisitians want of skill but the patients impatient frowardnesse But as for such as read the sayd bookes without any obstinate intent or with little and ponder the things they reade in an vnpartiall discretion those shall approue that our labour in their satisfaction hath rather performed more then the question required then otherwise and that all the malice wherein they â—…ke Christianity the cause of all the afflictions falling vpon this transitory world the best learned of them dissembling their knowledge against their oâ—…â—…sciences is not onely voide of all reason and honesty but frought 〈◊〉 rashnesse and pernicious impudence Now therefore as our method 〈◊〉 are they to bee dealt withall that make eternity the end of this erroniâ—… worship which Christian religion so reiecteth let vs take our beginning from the holy and oraculous Psalmist that saith a Blessed is the man that maketh the â—…rd his trust and regardeth not the proude nor such as turne aside to lies But of al such as doe goe astray in those errors the Philosophers are least falty that could neuer abide the fond opinions of the vulgar who made their gods images fabled diuers things of them most false and vnworthy the Deities or els beleeued them from the reports of others and from that beleefe intruded them into the ceremonies and made them parts of their worships Wherefore with such as b though they durst not openly yet secretly disliked those things this question may beâ—…lty disputed of Whether it bee fit to worship one God the maker of al bodies and spirits for the life to come or many gods c beeing all by their best Philosophers confessions both created and aduanced But who can endure to heare it said that the gods which I reckned vp in part in the 4. booke and haue peculiar charges can giue one life eternall And those sharpe witted men that 〈◊〉 of the good they doe by writing of these things in instructing the people what to intreate at each of their hands would they commit such a grosse absurdity as that which the Mimickes doe in ieast asking water of Bacchus and 〈◊〉 of the Nymphes As thus would they teach a man that praied unâ—… the Nymphes for wine if they answered him wee haue no wine goe to â—…hus for that Then to replie if you haue no wine I praie you then giue mee life eternall what grosser foolery could there bee then this would not the Nymphes fall a laughing for they are d prone to laughter when they do not affect deceite as the deuills vse to do and say to him why fond man dost thou thinke we haue life eternall at command that haue not a cuppe of wine at command as thou hearest Such fruitlesse absurdity should it bee to aske eternall life or hope for it of such Gods as are so bound to peculiar charges in things respecting this fraile and transitory life that it were like mymicall scurrility to demaund any thing of any one of them which resteth vnder the disposing of another Which when the Mimikes doe men doe very worthily laugh at them in the Theater and when ignorant fooles doe it they are farre more worthyly derided in the world Wherefore the peculiar positions that wee ought to make vnto euery god by the gouernours of cities their learned men haue compiled and left vnto memory which must bee made to Bacchus which to the Nymphes Vulcan c. part whereof I recited in the fourth booke and part I willingly omitted Now then if it bee an error to aske wine of Ceres bread of Bacchus water of Vulcan and sire of the Nymphes how much more were it an error to aske life eternall of any one of them wherefore if that in our disputation about the earthly Kingdomes and in whose powre they should bee wee shewed that it was directly false to beleeue that they consisted in the powre of any one of those imaginary gods were it not outragious madnesse then to beleeue that the life eternall with which the Kingdomes of the earth are no way worthy to be
compared should bee in the guift of any of them Nor can their state and hight compared with the basenesse of an earthly Kingdome in respect of them bee a sufficient cloake for their defect in not beeing able to giue it because forsooth they doe not respect it No what euer hee bee that considering the frailty of mans nature maketh a scorne of the momentary state of earthly dominion he will thinke it aâ—… vnworthy iniury to the gods to haue the giuing and guarding of such vanities imposed vpon them And by this if that according as wee proued sufficiently in the two bookes last past no one god of all this catalogue of noble and ignoble godâ—… were fit to behold the bestower of earthly states how much lesse fit were they all to make a mortall man pertaker of immortality Besides because now wee dispute against those that stand for their worship in respect of the life to come they are not to bee worshipped for those things which these mens erronious opinion farre from all truth haue put as their proprieties and things peculiarly in their powre as they beleeue that hold the honouring of them very vsefull in things of this present life against whom I haue spoken to my powre in the 〈◊〉 precedent volumes Which being thus if such as adore Iuuentas flourish in vâ—…or of youth and those that doe not either die vnder age or passe it with the â—…fes of decrepite sicknesse If the chinnes of Fortuna Barbata her seruants 〈◊〉 â—…ll of haire and all others be beardlesse then iustly might we say that thus 〈◊〉 â—…ese goddesses are limited in their offices and therefore it were no asking liâ—…â—…nall of Iuuentas that could not giue one a beard nor were any good to 〈◊〉 â—…cted of Fortuna Barbata after this life that had not powre to make one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he had a beard But now their worship beeing of no vse for those things in their powre seeing many haue worshipped Iuuentas that liued not to bee 〈◊〉 and as many honoured Fortuna Barbata that neuer had good beards and many without beardes that worshiped her were mocked by them that had beâ—…ds and scorâ—…â—…r is any man then so mad that knowing the worshipping â—…f thâ—…m to bee 〈◊〉 in those things whereto their pretended powre extendeth yet will beleeue it to be effectuall in the obtayning life eternall Nay euen those that did share out their authority for them least beeing so many there should some sit idle and so taught their worshippe to the rude vulgar nor these themselues durst affirme that the life eternall was a gift comprised in any of their powers L. VIVES BLessed a is the man The Septuagints translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That maketh the 〈◊〉 of the LORD his hope But the Hebrew originall hath it as Augustine citeth it Indeed the difference is not of any moment b Though they durst not They feared the lawes as they did the Areopagites at Athens as Tully saith of Epicurus c Being all Plato in Tiâ—… d Prâ—… to laughter Alluding to Virgill in his Palaemon Et quo sed faciles Nymphae risere sacello c. The shrine wherein the pleasant Nymphes were merry 〈◊〉 not call them Faciles pleasant or kind because they were soone mooued to laughter but beâ—…use they were soone appeased and easie to bee intreated Faciles venerare Napâ—…s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his Georgikes to adore the gentle Napaeae And in the same sence are men called Geâ—… â—…iles What may bee thought of Varro's opinion of the gods who dealeth so with them in his discouery of them and their ceremonies that with more reuerence vnto them he might haue held his peace CHAP 2. VVâ—… was euer a more curious inquisitor of these matters then Varro a â—…re learned inuentor a more diligent iudge a more elegant diuider or a â—…act recorder And though he be not eloquent yet is hee so documentaâ—… 〈◊〉 sententious that to reade his vniuersall learning will delight one that 〈◊〉 matter as much as Tâ—…lly will one that loueth wordes Yea Tully a himâ—…e leaueth this testimony of him that the same disputation that hee handleth in his Academicke dialogues hee had hee saith with Marcus Varro a man the most â—…ute and d doubâ—…lesse the most learned of his time c Hee saith noâ—… the moâ—…â—…quent because herein hee had his betters but most acute and in his Aâ—…kes where hee maketh doubts of all things hee calleth him Doutlesse the â—…st learned being so assured hereof that he would take away all doubt which hee â—…ed to induce into all questions onely in this Academicall disputation forgetting himselfe to bee an Academike And in his first booke hauing comâ—…ed his workes d Wee saith â—…ee in the Citty were but as wandring pâ—…lgrimes 〈◊〉 â—…kes brought vs home and taught vs to know what and whom wee were Thy 〈◊〉 age time religious and politique discipline habitations order all the formes causes 〈◊〉 kindes of diuine and ciuill discipline by these are fully discouered So great was his learning as e Terentius also testifieth of him in the verse Vir doctissiâ—… vâ—…decunque Varro Varro a man of vniuersall skill Who hath reade so much â—…t â—…ee wonder how hee hath had time to write and f hath written so much that we 〈◊〉 how any man should read so much This man I say so learned and so witty 〈◊〉 he bin a direct opposer of that religion he wrote for held the ceremonies 〈◊〉 â—…ay religious but wholy superstitious could not I imagine haue recorded 〈◊〉 â—…testable absurdities thereof then hee hath already But being a worshippeâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…ame gods a teacher of that worship that hee proffesseth he feareth that his worke should bee lost not by the enemies incursion but by the citizens negligence and affirmeth that with a more worthy and commodious care were they to bee preserued then that wherewith Metellus fetched the Palladium from the slaues and Aeneas his houshold gods from the sacke of Troy yet for all this doth hee leaue such things to memory as all both learned and ignorant do iudge most absurd and vnworthy to bee mentioned in religion What ought wee then to gather but that this depely Skild man beeing not freed by the holy spirit was ouer-pressed with the custome of his city and yet vnder shew of commending their religion gaue the world notice of his opinion L. VIVES TUlly a himselfe What Tully ment to handle in his Academikes his thirteeneth Epistle of his first booke to Atticus openeth fully beeing rather indeed a whole volume then an Epistle He writeth also de diuinat lib. 2. that hee wrote fourth bookes of Academicall questions And though he certifie Atticus that hee hath drawne them into two yet wanteth there much and of the two that wee haue extant Nonius Marcellus quoteth the second diuers times by the name of the fourth The place Augustine citeth is not extant in the bookes wee haue b Doutbtlesse the most Uarro in his life time when enuy stirre
in the same sence because saith Porphyry that the witches often practised their crafts vpon this member but I think rather because it kept away witch-crafts for in Dionysius his feasts Pryapus being rightly consecrated and crowned with a garland by the most honest Matron of the town this was an auoidance of al witch-craft from the corne as Augustine sheweth in the next book out of Varro and for the auoidance of witch-craft was the Bride bidden to â—…it vpon it for Pompeius Festus saith that the fescenine verses that were sung at marriages seem to deriue their name froÌ„ driuing away this fascinum so was Pryapus the god of seed in marriages as wel as the fields and worshipped that witch-craft should not hinder their fruitfulnesse Vnles it be as Lactantius saith l. 1. yâ— Mutinus was a god vpon whose priuy part the bride vsed to â—…it in signe that he had first tasted their chastity that this was Priapus we shewed in the 〈◊〉 book his office was toÌ„ make the man more actiue and the woman more patient in the first copâ—…ion as Augustin here implieth Festusâ—…aith â—…aith also that the bride vsed to sitte on 〈◊〉 sheep-skin to shew either that the old attire was such or that hir chief office now was spinning of wooll Plutarch saith that when they brought the bride they laid a sheep-skin vnder hir and she bore home a distaâ—…e and a spindle m Naenia It was indeed a funerall song sung to the fluâ—… in praise of the dead by the hired mourner all the rest weeping Simonides his inuention Hâ—… she was also a goddesse hauing a Chappel without Port Viminall hir name was deriued from the voyce of the mourners some it signifieth the end other thinke it is drawne from the collâ—… 〈◊〉 which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the out-most and treble string in Instruments is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hereof 〈◊〉 the last song sung to one called Naenia Fest. lib. 12. n Get a place The sence is Vaâ—…s 〈◊〉 vnder-hand is to worke out both the poetique and politique Diâ—…ity out of mens hearts and leaue place onely for the naturall Of Seneca's freer reprehension of the ciuill Theologie then Varro's was of the fabulous CHAP. 10. BVt the liberty that this man wanted in reprehending that ciuill diuinity which was so like to the stages Anneus Seneca whom some proofes confirme to 〈◊〉 liued in the a Apostles times wanâ—…ed it not fully though in part he did In his workes written he had it but in his life he lackt it For in his b booke against superstitions farre more free is he in beating downe the politicall kinde of Theology then Varro was against the poeticall For speaking of Images the Immortall and sacred gods saith he doe they consecrate in a vile dead and deiected substance confining them to shapes of men beasts fishes and ambiguous monster-like creatures calling them deities which if one should meete aliue wâ—…â—…sters and prodigies And a little after speaking of naturall diuinity 〈◊〉 reiected some opinions proposeth himselfe a question thus shall I beleâ—… â—…aith one that Heauen and Earth are Gods that their are some vnder the 〈◊〉 and some aboue it shall I respect Plato or c Strato the Peripatetique while this makes God without a soule and that without a body Answering then to the question what then saith he dost thou thinke there is more truth in the dâ—…eams of Romulus Tatius or Tullus Hostilius Tatius dedicated goddesse Cloacinia 〈◊〉 Picus and Tiberinus Hostilius Feare and Palenes two extreame affects of 〈◊〉 the one beeing a perturbation of an affrighted minde the other of the bodie not a disease but a colour Are these more like Gods inhabitants of heauen Aâ—… of their cruell and obscaene ceremonies how freely did hee strike at them One geldeth himselfe another cuts off his torne partes and this is their propitiation for the gods anger but no worship at all ought they to haue that delight in such as this is The fury and disturbance of minde in some is raised to that hight by seekeing to appease the gods that d not the most barbarous and e recorded tyrants would desire to behold it Tyrants indeed haue 〈◊〉 off the parts of some men but neuer made them their owne tormentors f 〈◊〉 haue beene gelded for tâ—…eir Princes lust but neuer commanded to bee their owne gelders But these kill themselues in the temples offring their vowes in 〈◊〉 and wounds If one had time to take enterview of their actions hee 〈◊〉 â—…ee them do things so vnbeseeming honesty so vnworthy of freedome â—…like to sobernesse that none would make question of their madnesse if they 〈◊〉 fewer but now their multitude is their priuiledge And then the capitoll 〈◊〉 that hee recordeth and fearelessly inueigheth at who would not hold 〈◊〉 mad ones or mockeries For first in the loosing of g Osyris in the Aegiptian sacrifices and then in the finding him againe first the sorrow and then â—…eir great ioye all this is a puppettry and a fiction yet the fond people â—…ugh they finde nor loose not any thing weepe for all that and reioice againe 〈◊〉 heartily as if they had I but this madnesse hath his time It is tolerable 〈◊〉 hee to bee but once a yeare madde But come into the Capitol and you 〈◊〉 shame at the madde acts of publike furor One sets the gods vnder their King mother tells Ioue what a clocke it is another is his serieant and another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rubbing of him as if hee anointed him Others dresse Iuno and Minerua th aire standing a farre off the temple not onely of the Image and tricking wiâ—…â—…ir fingers as if they were a combing and crisping it another holds the glasse and another bids the gods to h bee his aduocates Some present them with scrolles and propound their causes to them One old i arch-plaier plaid the Mimike continually in the Capitoll as if the gods had found great sport in him whom the world had reiected Nay there yee haue all trades worke to the gods and a little after But these though they bee idle before the gods yet they are not bawdy or offensiue But some sit there that thinke Ioue is in loue with them neuer respecting Iuno 's poetically supposed k terrible aspect This freedome Varro durst not assume hee durst goe no farther then Theology poeticall but not to the ciuil which this man crusheth in sunder But if we marke the truth the temples where these things are done are worse then the Theaters where they are but fained And therefore Seneca selecteth those parts of this ciuill Theology for a wise man to obserue in his actions but not to make a religion of A wise man saith he will obserue these as commands of the lawes not as the pleasures of the gods and againe Wee can make mariages nay and those vnlawfull ones amongst the gods ioyning brother and sister Mars and l Bellona Vulcan and Venus Neptune and Salacia Yet some
we leaue single as wanting m meanes of the bargaine chiefly some beeing widowes as Populonia Fulgura and Rumina nor wonder if these want sutors But this rable of base gods forged by inueterate superstition wee will adore saith hee rather for lawes sake then for religions or any other respect So that neither law nor custome gaue induction to those things either as gratefull to the gods or vse-full vnto men But this man whom the Philosophers as n free yet beeing a great o Senator of Rome worshipped that hee disauowed professed that hee condemned and adored that hee accused because his philosophy had taught him this great matter not to bee superstitious in the world but for law and customes sake to imitate those things in the Temple but not acte them in the Theater so much the more damnably because that which he counterfeited he did it so that the p people thought hee had not counterfeited But the plaier rather delighted them with sport then wronged them with deceite L. VIVES APostles a times It may bee the proofes are the Epistles that are dispersed vnder the name of him to Paul and Paul vnto him but I thinke there was no such matter But sure it is that he liued in Nero's time and was Consull then and that Peter and Paul suffred martirdome about the same time For they and hee left this life both within two yeares it may be both in one yeare when Silius Nerua and Atticus Vestinus were Consulls b Booke against superstitions These and other workes of his are lost one of matrimony quoted by Hierome against Iouinian of timely death Lactant of earth-quakes mentioned by himselfe These and other losses of old authors Andrew Straneo my countriman in his notes vpon Seneca deploreth a tast of which he sent me in his Epistle that vnited vs in friendship He is one highly learned and honest as highly furthering good studies with all his power himselfe and fauoring all good enterprises in others c Strato Son to Archelaus of Lanpsacus who was called the Phisicall because it was his most delightfull studie hee was Theophrastus his scholler his executor his successor in his schoole and maister to Ptolomy Philadelphus There were eight Strato's Laërt in Uit. d That not the The grammarians cannot endure Nâ—… and quidem to come together but wee reade it so in sixe hundred places of Tully Pliny Lâ—… and others vnlesse they answere vnto all these places that the copiers did falsify them I doe not thinke but an interposition doth better this I say e Recorded As Dyonisius Phalaris Mezentius Tarquin the Proud Sylla Câ—…a Marius Tiberius Claâ—… and Caligula f Some haue The Persian Kings had their Eunuches in whome they put especiall trust So had Nero g Osyris Hee beeing cut in peeces by his brother Typhon and that Isis and Orus Apollo had reuenged his death vpon Typhon they went to seeke the body of Osyris with great lamentation and to Isis her great ioy found it though it were disparkled in diuers places and herevpon a yearely feast was instituted on the seeking of Osyris with teares and finding him with ioy Lucane saith herevpon Nunquam satis quaâ—…us Osyris the ne're wel-sought Osyris h Be his aduocates Uadaeri is to bring one to the iudge at a day appointed Vadimonium the promise to bee there So the phrase is vsed in Tully to come into the Court and the contrary of it is non obire not to appeare Pliny in the preface of his history and many other authors vse it the sence here is they made the gods their aduocates like men when they went to try their causes i Arch-plaier Archimimus coâ—… of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to imitate because they imitated their gestures whom they would make ridiculous as also their conditions and then they were called Ethopaei and Ethologi whereof comes Ethopeia Quintil. Pantomimi were vniuersall imitators Archimimi the chiefe of all the Mimikes as Fano was in Vespasians time Who this was that Seneca mentions I know not k Terrible She was iealous and maligned all her step-sons and Ioues harlots so that shee would not forbeare that same Daedalian statue which Ioue beeing angry threatned to marry in 〈◊〉 For being reconciled to him she made it be burnt Plut. Hence was Numa's old law No 〈◊〉 touch Iuno's altar Sacrifice a female lambe to Iuno with disheueled hayre l Bellona Some â—…ke her his mother and Nerione or as Varro saith Neriene his wife which is as Gelâ—… a Sabine word signifieth vertue and valour and thence came the Nero's surname â—…es had it from the Greekes who call the sinewes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thence comes our Nerâ—… and the Latine Neruus Plaut Trucul Mars returning from a iourney salutes his wife Neâ—… 〈◊〉 Noct. Att. lib. 10. m Meanes of the bargaine That is one to bee coupled with henâ—…â—…es the Latine phrase Quaerere condicionem filiae to seeke a match for his daughter 〈◊〉 lib. 4. Cic. Philipp It was vsed also of the Lawiers in diuorses Conditione tua 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I le not vse thy company n As free We must seeme Philosophy saith Seneca to be free vsing free as with a respect not simply o Seneca Hee was banished by Claudius but 〈◊〉 being executed and Agrippina made Empresse she got his reuocation and senatorship â—…torship of the Emperor that hee might bring vp her sonne Nero. So afterward Trâ—…â—…ximus and he were Consulls Ulp. Pandect 36. Hee was won derfull ritch Tranquill Tatius The gardens of ritch Seneca p People His example did the harme which Eleâ—…â—…ed â—…ed to auoide Macchab. 2. 6. with far more holinesse and Philosophicall truth Seneca his opinion of the Iewes CHAP. 11. THis man amongst his other inuectiues against the superstitions of politique 〈◊〉 Theology condemnes also the Iewes sacrifices chiefly their saboaths sayâ—… 〈◊〉 by their seauenth day interposed they spend the seauenth part of their 〈◊〉 idlenesse and hurt themselues by not taking diuers things in their time â—…et dares he not medle with the Christians though then the Iewes deadly 〈◊〉 vpon either hand least he should praise them against his countries old cusâ—… or dispraise them perhaps against a his owne conscience Speaking of the 〈◊〉 he saith The custome of that wicked nation getting head through all the world the vanquished gaue lawes to the vanquishers This hee admired not â—…ing the worke of the god-head But his opinion of their sacraments hee subscribeth They know the cause of their ceremonies saith hee but most of the people doe they know not what But of the Iewish sacrifices how farre gods institutions first directed them and then how by the men of God that had the mistery of eternity reuealed to them they were by the same authority abolished wee haue both els-where spoken chiefly against the b Manichees and in this worke in conuenient place meane to say some-what more L. VIVES AGainst a his owne Nero hauing fired Rome many were blamed for the
fact by the villens of his Court and amongst the rest the Christians whom Nero was assured should smart for all because they were of a new religion so they did indeede and were so extreamely tortured that their pangs drew teares from their seuerest spectators Seneca meane while begged leaue to retire into the contrie for his healths sake which not obtayning hee kept himselfe close in his chamber for diuers moneths Tacitus saith it was because hee would not pertake in the malice that Nero's sacriledge procured but I thinke rather it was for that hee could not endure to see those massacres of innocents b Manichees They reuiled the old Testament and the Iewes lawe August de Haeres ad Quodvultdeum Them scriptures they sayd GOD did not giue but one of the princes of darkenesse Against those Augustine wrote many bookes That it is plaine by this discouery of the Pagan gods vanity that they cannot giue eternall life hauing not power to helpe in the temporall CHAP. 12. NOw for the three Theologies mythycall physicall and politicall or fabulous naturall and ciuill That the life eternall is neither to be expected from the fabulous for that the Pagans themselues reiect and reprehend nor from the ciuill for that is prooued but a part of the other if this bee not sufficient to proue let that bee added which the fore-passed bookes containe chiefely the 4. concerning the giuer of happinesse for if Felicity were a goddesse to whom should one goe for eternall life but to her But being none but a gift of GOD to what god must we offer our selues but to the giuer of that felicity for that eternall and true happinesse which wee so intirely affect But let no man doubt that none of those filth-adored gods can giue it those that are more filthyly angry vnlesse that worship be giuen them in that manner and herein proouing themselues direct deuills what is sayd I thinke is sufficient to conuince this Now hee that cannot giue felicity how can he giue eternall life eternall life wee call endlesse felicity for if the soule liue eternally in paines as the deuills do that is rather eternall death For there is no death so sore nor sure as that which neuer endeth But the soule beeing of that immortall nature that it cannot but liue some way therefore the greatest death it can endure is the depriuation of it from glory and constitution in endlesse punishment So hee onely giueth eternall life that is endlessely happy that giueth true felicity Which since the politique gods cannot giue as is proued they are not to bee adored for their benefits of this life as wee shewed in our first fiue precedent bookes and much lesse for life eternall as this last booke of all by their owne helpes hath conuinced But if any man thinke because old customes keepe fast rootes that we haue not shewne cause sufficient for the reiecting of their politique Theology let him peruse the next booke which by the assistance of GOD I intend shall immediately follow this former Finis lib. 6. THE CONTENTS OF THE seauenth booke of the City of God 1. Whether diuinity be to be found in the select gods since it is not extant in the politique Theology chapter 1. 2. The selected gods and whither they be excepted from the baser gods functions 3. That these gods elections are without all reason since that baser gods haue nobler charges 4. That the meaner gods beeing buried in silence more better vsed then the select whose 〈◊〉 were so shamefully traduced 〈◊〉 Of the Pagans more abstruse Phisiologicall doctrine 6. Of â—…rro his opinion that GOD was the soule 〈◊〉 world and yet had many soules vnder 〈◊〉 on his parts al which were of the diuine nature 7. Whether it stand with reason that Ianus and Terminus should be two gods 8. 〈◊〉 the worshippers of Ianus made him two 〈◊〉 yet would haue him set forth with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…es power and Ianus his compared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ther Ianus and Ioue bee rightly diâ—… 〈◊〉 or no. 〈◊〉 Of Ioues surnames referred all vnto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God not as to many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iupiter is called Pecunia also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the interpretation of Saturne and 〈◊〉 â—…roue them both to be Iupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the functions of Mars and Mercury 〈◊〉 Of certaine starres that the Pagans call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of Apollo Diana and other select gods 〈◊〉 â—…ts of the world 〈◊〉 That Varro himselfe held his opinions of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be ambiguous 18. The likeliest cause of the propagation of Paganisme 19. The interpretations of the worship of Saturne 20. Of the sacrifices of Ceres Elusyna 21. Of the obscaenity of Bacchus sacrifice 22. Of Neptune Salacia and Venillia 23. Of the earth held by Varro to be a goddesse because the worlds soule his God doth penetrate his lowest part and communicateth his essence there-with 24. Of Earths surnames and significations which though they arose of diuers originalls yet should they not be accounted diuers gods 25. What exposition the Greeke wise-men giue of the gelding of Atys 26. Of the filthinesse of this great Mothers sacrifice 27. Of the Naturallists figments that neither adore the true Diety nor vse the adoration thereto belonging 28. That Varro's doctrine of Theology hangeth no way togither 29. That all that the Naturalists refer to the worlds parts should be referred to GOD. 30. The means to discerne the Creator from the Creatures and to auoide the worshipping of so many gods for one because their are so many powers in one 31. The peculiar benefits besides his common bounty that GOD bestoweth vpon his seruants 32. That the mistery of our redemption by Christ was not obscure in the precedent times but continually intimated in diuers significations 33. That Christianity onely is of power to lay open the diuills subtilly and delight in illuding of ignorant men 34. Of Numa his bookes which the Senate for keeping their misteries in secret did command should be burned 35. Of Hydromancy whereby Numa was mocked with apparitions FINIS THE SEVENTH BOOKE OF THE CITTIE OF GOD Written by Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo vnto Marcellinus Whether diuinity be to be found in the select Gods since it is not extant in the Politique Theologie CHAP. 1. VVHereas I employ my most diligent endeauor about the extirpation of inueterate and depraued opinions which the continuance of error hath deeply rooted in the hearts of mortall men and whereas I worke by that grace of GOD who as the true GOD is able to bring this worke to effect according to my poore talent The quicke and apprehensiue spirits that haue drawne full satisfaction from the workes precedent must beare my proceedings with pardon and pacience and not thinke my subsequent discourse to bee superfluous vnto others because it is needlesse vnto them The affirmation that diuinity is not to bee sought for terrestriall vies though thence wee must desire all earthly supplies that we neede but for the celestiall glory which is neuer not eternall
the better place for the glory is in the conclusion of euery act and the beginnings are ful of doubt and feare till they bee brought to perfection which euery one at his beginning of an act doth desire intend and expect nor ioyeth hee in the beginning but in the consummation of his intents L. VIVES THe a world Macrob Saturn 1. b The rule of Xenon saith because he did first induce religion into Italy therefore he deserued to be ruler of the beginnings of sacrifices he that would know moreof this let him read Macrobius a known author c Months The Romaine yeâ—… before Numa had but 10. months with the Albanes Numa added the 2. last Ianuary February Varro Plutarch Ouid thinketh that Ianuary of old began the yeare Fast. 2. February ended it the last day wherof was Terminus his feast and that afterwards the Decemuirs in the 12. tables ioyned Ianuary and February together d Terminalia the last feast of February before the expulsion of Tarquin but after they kept the kings-flight feast after the other The Terminalia saith Bede were the 23. of February De nat rerum e The purgatory The Terminalia were no purgations but the Februa were which were kept that moneth also f Febrâ—… Ouid fastoruÌ„ 2. Februa Romani dixere pia mina Patres Our father 's said the Februa were purgations And a little after Denique quocumque est quo corpora nostra piantur Hoc apud intonsos nomen habebat auos What euer washt the bodies guilt away Vnkempt antiquity call'd Februa And hence carne our February g To call that double-faced Cicero seemes to make Ianus God both of beginnings ends De nat deor 2. Macrob. doth the like following the opinion of many Why the worshippers of Ianus made him two faces and yet would haue him set forth-with foure also CHAP. 8. BVt now to the meaning of Ianus a his two faces Two hee had say they one before another behind because when we gape our mouth is like the world therefore the Greeke called them b palate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heauen And some Latine poets haue called the palate Coelum heauen also from whence is a way out-ward to the teeth inward to the throate See now to what a passe the world is come for your Greeke or poeticall name of the palate What is all this to life eternall or the soule here is gods worship all bestowed for a little spittle to spit out or swallow downe as the gates shall open or shut But who is so foolish that cannot finde in the world two contrary passages whereat one may enter in or out but of our mouth throte whose like is not in the world must frame the similitude of the world in Ianus onely for the palate c whose similitude is not in Ianus And whereas they make him 4. faces calling his statue double Ianus these they attribute to the 4. corners of the world as if the worlds foure corners looked all forward as his 4. faces do Againe if Ianus be the world the world consist of 4. parts then the picture of two faced d Ianus is false for though he be foure-faced somtimes yet he neuer hath foure gates Or if the two-faced picture be true because east west includeth vsually all the world will any man when we name the north and the south call the world double as they doe Ianus with his 4. faces nor haue they any similitude in the world correspondent to their foure gates of ingresse egresse as they haue found for the 2-faces in the mouth of a man e vnlesse Neptune come with a fish there indeed in his mouth is a passage in and a passage out and waies forth on either side his chaps But of all these wayes there is none leadeth any soule from vanity but such as heare the truth say I am the way L. VIVES IAnus a his Some say his wisdom prouidence procured him this double fronted statue as Homer saith of a valia nt fellow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee looked both before behinde at once Plutarch gaue two reasons for this statue First because he was first a Grecian called Perâ—…bus as is recorded and then comming into Italy changed both name language and conditions Secondly because he taught the Italians both husbandry and pollicy Problem Others as Ouid which reason Augustine here toucheth say hee signifieth the world one face being the east and another the west Some say he had reference to the rising and settâ—…ng of the sunne signified the sun Nigidius he also saith that the Greekes worshipped Apollo Thyanues and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Porter and the â—…ourney-guider But I thinke not in that shape that the Romaines worshipped Ianus for Ouid saith Quem tamen esse deum dic am te Iane biformis Naâ—… tibi par nullum Grâ—…cia numen habet In English thâ—… What god two-fronted Ianus shouldst thou be Of all the gods of 〈◊〉 is none like thee He was framed with foure faces also C. Bass de diis apud Macrob. Ianus hath two faces as the doore-keeper of heauen and hell foure faces because in his Maiestie hee compriseth all the earths climates This is that Ianus who in their ceremonies they called double Ianus the two faced one was called Ianus the simple the others Temple was open in war and shut in peace b Palate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. de part Animal And Pliny imitating him vseth caelum for the palate l. 11. speaking of the brain this quoth he is the most excellent of the spermatiue parts nearest to the heauen of the head palate c Whose similitude or from whose similitude Ianus hath his name d Ianus is false Some hold the rest vnto Or if the two fac'd picture to bee â—…oisted in It is not very vnlikely by the subsequence e Vnlesse Neptune for in men it cannot bee found Of Ioues power and Ianus his compared together CHAP. 9. BVt let them tell vs now whom they meane by Ioue a or Iupiter He is a God quoth they that rules the causes of all effects in the world This is a great charge Aske b Virgils excellent verse else Foelix qui potuit rerum cognoscerâ—… causas O blessed he and excellent that kens the cause of each euent But why then is Ianus preferred before him let the great absolute scholler speake Because saith he Ianus rules the first things and Ioue the greatest Why then Ioue is still worthy of the superioritie the greatest things controule the first and excell them in dignity though they be short of them in time If the beginnings and the excellencies of all actes be compared together this is true To goe is the beginning of an acte but to finish the iourney is the perfection To begin to learne is another but the habite of learning is the excellence and so in all things the beginning is the first and the end the best But the cause of Ianus
Terminus is already heard But the causes that Ioue swayeth are not effects but efficients nor can the facts begun or ended be before them for the agent is alwayes before the acte Wherefore let Ianus haue sway in beginnings of acts Ioue yet hath dominion in things before his For nothing is either ended or begun without a precedent efficient cause Now as for this great natures maister and cause-disposing God if the vulgar call him Ioue and adore him with such horrible imputations of villanie as they doe they had better and with lesse sacriledge beleeue no God at all They had better call any one Ioue that were worthy of these horred and hatefull horrors or set a stocke before them and call it Ioue with intent to blaspheme him as Saturne had a stone laide him to deuoure in his sonnes stead then to call him both thunderer and letcher the worlds ruler and the womens rauisher the giuer of all good causes to nature and the receiuer of all bad in himselfe Againe if Iaâ—…s bee the world I aske where Ioues seate is is our author hath said that the true Gods are but parts of the worlds soule and the soule it selfe well then hee that is not such is no true God How then Is Ioue the worlds soule and Ianus the body this visible world If it be so Ianus is no god for the worlds body is none but the soule and his parts onely witnesse them-selues So Varro saith plainly hee holds that God is the worlds soule and this soule is god But as a wise man hath body and soule and yet his name of â—…ise is onely in respect of his soule So the world hath soule and body yet is called God onely in reference to the soule So then the worlds body alone is no god but the soule either seperate or combined with the body yet so that the god-head rest onely in it selfe if Iâ—… then be the world and a god how can Ioue be a part of Ianus onely and yet so great a god for they giue more to Ioue then Ianus Iouis omnia plena all is full of Ioâ—…e say they Therefore if Ioue be a god the king of gods they cannot make any but him to bee the world because hee must reigne ouer the rest as ouer his owne parts To this purpose Varro in his booke of the worship of the gods which he published seuerall from these other set downe a distich of Valerius c Sorâ—…nus his making it is this Iupiter omnipotens regum rex ipse deusque Progenitor genitrixque deum deus vâ—…us omnis High Ioue Kings King and Parent Generall To all the gods God onely and God all These verses Varro expâ—…undeth and calling the giuer of seed the male and the receiuer the female accounted Ioue the world that both giueth all seed it selfe and receiueth it into it selfe And therefore Soranus saith hee called Ioue Progenitor genitrixque father and mother Full Parent generall to all c. and by the same reason is it that he was called one and the same all for the f world is one and all things are in that one L. VIVES IOue a or Iupiter For they are both declinable nominatiues Genetiuo Iouis and Iupâ—…ris though wee vse the nominatiue onely of the later and the other cases of the first as the Greekes doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Uirgils Georgic 2. calling the inuestigators of causes happy as the Philosophers did of the Peripatetiques and Academikes Arist. Ethic. 10. Cicero de finib 5. c Soranus Mentioned by Cicero de Oratore 1. Plin. lib. 3. Solin Polihist Plut. Probl. Macrob. Saturn Seru. in Georg. 1. Hee was a learned Latine counted the best scholler of the Gowned professors Cic. de orat 1. Varro was so held also but Soranus before him as Ennius the best Poet before Uirgill Hee had honors at Rome and the tribuneship for one and because hee spoake the secret name of Rome which no man might vtter hee lost his life Pliâ—… Solin Macrob. and Plutarch though in Pompeyes life Plutarch saith that Q. Valeriâ—… the Philosopher which most vnderstood to be Soranus was put to death by Pompey But this is but at the second hand saith he from Oppius let vs beware how wee trust a friend to Caesar in a storiâ—… of Pompey Some say hee died suddenly Others that hee was crucified Seru. d Iupiter The old copies read Iupiter omnipotens regum rerumque deumque for the first verse e Gâ—…uer of seede Orph. Hymn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. God as a man begets as woman breedes f World is So held all the best Philosophers against Anaximander Anaximenes Aristarchus Xenophanâ—…s Diogenes Leucippus Democritus and Epicurus all which held many worlds Whether Ianus and Ioue be rightly distinguished or no. CHAP. 10. WHerefore Ianus being the world and Ioue the world also and yet the world but one why then are not Ianus and Ioue one Why haue the seuerall Temples seuerall altars rites and statues all seuerall Because the originall is one thing and the cause another and therefore their names and natures are distinct herein Why how can this bee If one man haue two authorities or two sciences because they are distinct is he therefore two officers or two tradesmen So then if one GOD haue two powers ouer causes and ouer originalls must hee needs therefore be two Gods because they are two things If this may bee faith then let Ioue be as many gods as he hath surnames for his seuerall authorities for all his powers whence they are deriued are truly distinct let vs looke in a few of them and see if this be not true Of Ioues surnames referred all vnto him as one god not as to many CHAP. 11. THey called him a Victor Inâ—…incible Helper Impulsor Stator b Hundred footeâ—… the Râ—…fter c the Nourisher Ruminus and inunmerable other names too long d to rehearse All the names they gaue one God for diuers respect and powers yet did they not make him a god for each peculiar because he conquered was vnconquered helped the needy had power to inforce to stay to establish to ouerturne because he bore vp the world like a e rafter because he nourished all and as it were gaue all the world suck Marke these powers conferred with the epithites Some are of worth some idle yet one gods worke they are f all as they say I thinke there is more neerenesse of nature betweene the causes and the beginnings of things for which they make one world two gods Ianus and Ioue who they say both contayneth all and yet giueth creatures sucke yet for these two works of such different qualities is not Ioue compelled to become two gods but playeth the one part as he is Tigillus The Rafter and the other as he in Ruminus the Dugg-bearer I will not say that it were fitter for Iuno to suckle the words creatures then Iupiter especially hauing power to make a
extracted as Eusebius saith both out of Sanchoniato proueth also by argument De praeparat Euang. lib. 1. As Augustine doth also here b The mooâ—… also Mac. Sat. 1. alledging Philochorus in Atis that Uenus is the Moone and that men in womens apparell sacrificed to her and women in mens because she was held both Thou heauenly Venus saith Apuleius to the Moone that caused all copulation in the beginning propagating humane original thou art now adored in the sacred oratory of Paphos Transform lib. 11. c Golden apple The goddesses contention about the golden apple is plainer then that it needs my rehersall of Lucifer Pliny saith thus Vnder the Sun is the bright star Venus moouing diurnally and planetarily called both Uenus and Luna in the morning being Sols harbinger she is called Lucifer as the pety-sun and light-giuer of the day at night following the sun she is stiled Uesper as the light continuer and the moones vice-gerent lib. 2. Pithagoras first of all found her nature magnitude and motion Olympiad 4â—… about the yeare of Rome 142. shee is bigger then all the other starres and so cleare that some-times her beames make a shadowe That maketh her haue such variety of names as Iuno Isis Berecynthia c. d In his Kingdome Whence he was driuen by his son Ioue as also from the Capitol that before was called Saturnia vntill it was dedicated to Iupiter Capitolinus e Ioue Vsing Iouis the Latine nominatiue as Tully doth in 6. De republ that happy starre called Ioue f Highest The Zodiake in the 8. Sphere so called of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a creature euery signe whereof conteyneth diuers bright starres g Certaine motion Perpetually and diurnally once about from East to West in 24. houres making night and day and euer keeping place whereas the Planets are now ioyned now opposite now swift now retrograde which change gaue them the greeke name Planet of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 error though they keepe a certaine motion neuerthelesse yet seemingly they erre and wander through their alteration in motion which the Zodiake neuer alters as situate in the 8. Sphere called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of Apollo Diana and other select gods called parts of the world CHAP. 16. ANd though they make a Apollo a b wizard a c phisitian yet to making him a part of the world they say he is the Sunne Diana his sister is the Moone and d goddesse of iourneyes So is shee e a Virgin also vntouched and they both beare shafts f because these 2. stars only do send to the earth Vulcan they say is the worlds fire Neptune the water father Dis the earths foundation and depth Bacchus and Ceres seed-gods he to the masculine shee of the feminine or hee of the moysture and shee of the dry part of the seede All this now hath reference to the world to Ioue who is called the full parent generall because hee both begets and brings forth all things seminall And Ceres the great mother her they make the earth and Iuno besides Thus the second cause of things are in her power though Ioue be called the full parent as they affirme him to bee all the world And Minerua because they had made her the artes goddesse and had neuer a starre for her they made her also the sky or g the Moone Vesta they accounted the chiefe of all the goddesses being taken for the earth and yet gaue her the protection of the h worlds fire more light and not so violent as that of Vulcans was And thus by all these select gods they intend but the world in some totall and in others partiall to all as Ioue is partiall as Genius the great mother Soll and Luna or rather Apollo and Diana sometimes one god stands for many things and sometimes one thing presents many gods the first is true in Iupiter hee is all the world hee but onely i Heauen and hee is onely a starre in Heauen So is Iuno goddesse of all second causes yet onely the ayre and yet the earth though shee might k get the starre from Venus So is Minerua the highest sky and the Moone in the lowest sky as they hold The second is true in the world which is both Ioue and Ianus and in the earth which is both Iuno the Great mother and Ceres L. VIVES APollo a Tully de dat deor lib. 3. makes 4. Apollos and 3. Dianas The 3. Apollo and the 2. Diana were the children of Ioue and Latona b Wizard Commonly affirmed in all authors of this subiect Greeke and Latine Plato saith the Thessalonians called him not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simple because of his diuination wherein was required 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truth and simplicity which are all one In Cratilo Glaucus taught him his diuination he that was afterward made a Sea-god and called Melicerta Nicand in Aâ—…tolicis c Phisitian Macrob. Satur. They counted the vestalls thus Apollo phisitiâ—…n Apollo Paean c. He proues him to bee Aesculapius that is a strength of health a rising soly from the substance of animated creatures Much of Apollo yea may read in the said place d Goddesse of Her statues were cut all youthfull because that age beareth trauell lest Festus lib. 9. for Diana was held a goddesse of waies and iournies shee ruled also mountaines and groues and vsed the â—…hes often in her hunting as shal bee shewed hereafter e Virgin So it is reported that it was not lawfull for men to come in her temple at Rome because one rauished a woman there once that came to salute the goddesse and the dogs tare him in peeces immediatly Plato calleth her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. because of the integrity and modesty that she professed in her loue of virginity or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. because she hath the copulation of man and woman Though the fables go that shee lay with Endymyon and that Pan Mercuries sonne gaue her a white sheepe for 〈◊〉 Uirg 3. Georg. Munere sic niueo lanae si credere digum est Pandeus Archadiae captam te Luna fefellit In Nemora alta vocans nec tu aspernata vocaâ—…tem es c. Arcadian Pans white fleece t is said so blinded Thine eyes faire Phaebe he being breefely minded Call'd the thou yeeldest and to the thicke you went c. f Shaftes Apollo beareth those that hee killed the serpent Python withall and therefore Homer calleth him oftentimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is far-darting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is shooting high and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eternall archer Now Diana vowed a perpetuall virgine haunteth the woods and hills hunting as Virgill describeth Uenus when Aeneas saw her buskind and tucked round and a quiuer at her backe as ready for the pursute These shaftes are nothing all say but the beames of those starres as Lactantius saith of the Sonne Armatus radiis elementa liquentia lustrans Armed with raies he vewes
for what pride those wicked fiendes had their fall Hence arose those routes of gods whereof partly wee haue spoken and others of other nations as well as those wee now are in hand with the Senate of selected gods selected indeed but for villany not for vertue Whose rites Varro seeking by reason to reduce to nature and to couer turpitude with an honest cloake can by no meanes make them square together because indeed the causes that hee held or would haue others hold for their worship are no such as he takes them nor causes of their worship For if they or their like were so though they should not concerne the true God nor life eternall which true religion must affoord yet their colour of reason would be some mitigation for the absurd actes of Ignorance which Varro did endeuour to bring about in diuers their theater-fables or temple-mysteries wherein hee freed not the theaters for their correspondence with the temples but condemned the temples for their correspondence with the theaters yet endeuouring with naturall reasons to wipe away the filthy shapes that those presentments imprinted in the sences Of Numa his bookes which the Senate for keeping their mysteries in secret did command should be burned CHAP. 34. BVt contrarywise we do finde as Varro himselfe said of Numa his bookes that these naturall reasons giuen for these ceremonies could no way be allowed of nor worthy of their priests reading no not so much as their secret reseruing For now I will tell yee what I promised in my third booke to relate in conuenient place One a Terentius as Varro hath it in his booke de Cultu deorum had some ground neare to mount Ianiculus and his seruants plowing neare to Nâ—… his tombe the plough turned vp some bookes conteining the ceremonies institutions b Terentius brought them into the citty to the Praetor who hauing looked in them brought this so weighty an affaire before the Senate where hauing read some of the first causes why hee had instituted this and that in their religion The Senate agreed with dead Numa and like c religious fathers gaue order to the Praetor for the burning of them Euery one here may beleeue as he list nay let any contentious mad patron of absurd vanity say here what he list Sufficeth it I shew that the causes that Nâ—… their King gaue for his owne institutions ought neither to bee shewed to people senate no nor to the Priests them-selues and that Numa by his vnlawfull 〈◊〉 came to the knowledge of such deuillish secrets as he was worthy to be 〈◊〉 â—…ded for writing of Yet though hee were a King that feared no man hee duâ—… for all that either publish them or abolish them publish them he would noâ—…â—…are of teaching wickednesse burne them he durst not for feare of offendiâ—… deuils so he buried them where he thought they would be safe d not 〈◊〉 â—…he turning vp of his graue by a plough But the Senate fearing to reâ—… their ancestors religion and so agreeing with Numa's doctrine yet held 〈◊〉 â—…kes too pernicious either to bee buried againe least mens madder cuâ—… should seeke them out or to bee put to any vse but burning to the end 〈◊〉 seeiâ—…g they must needs stick to their old superstition they might doe it with â—…ame by concealing the causes of it whose knowledge would haue disturâ—… whole cittie L. VIVES 〈◊〉 Terentius The storie is written by Liuy Ualerius Plutarch and Lactantius Liuy 〈◊〉 â—…erius his ordinary follower say that Q. Petilius found the bookes Pliny out of 〈◊〉 that Gn. Terentius found them in one chest not two Liuy calles that yeares 〈◊〉 C. Bebius Pamphilus and M. Amilius Lepidus for whom Hemina putteth P. Corâ—…â—…gus after Numa his reigne DXXXV of the bookes the seuerall opinions are 〈◊〉 13. cap. 13. b Terentius Petilius they sayd some say he desired the Pretor they 〈◊〉 â—…ead others that he brought a Scriuener to read them The historie in Liuy lib. 40. 〈◊〉 and Plinie lib. 1. 'T is sufficient to shew the places He saith he brought them inâ—… for though Numa's tombe were in the cittie namely in the foureteenth region 〈◊〉 yet being beyond Tyber such as came to the Senate house seemed to come out 〈◊〉 â—…bes or countrie c Religious fathers as touched with feare that religion should 〈◊〉 by the publication of those bookes Some read religious in reference vnto bookes 〈◊〉 â—…ng scruples of religion in mens mindes for that is the signification of the Latine 〈◊〉 any man will read it irreligious d Not fearing It was a great and religious 〈◊〉 â—…as had ouer Sepulchers of old none might violate or pull them downe it was a 〈◊〉 twelue tables and also one of Solons and Numa's of most old law-giuers Greekes â—…es belonging rather to their religion then their ciuill law for they held Sepulchers 〈◊〉 â—…les of th' Infernall gods and therefore they wrote vpon them these letters D. M. S. 〈◊〉 â—…anibus sacrum A place sacred to the gods of Hell and their sollemnities were 〈◊〉 â—…cia Cicero de legib lib. 2. Of Hydromancie whereby Numa was mocked with apparitions CHAP. 35. 〈◊〉 Nâ—…ma him-selfe being not instructed by any Prophet or Angell of God 〈◊〉 faine to fall to d Hydromancie making his gods or rather his deuills to 〈◊〉 in water and instruct him in his religious institutions Which kinde of 〈◊〉 â—…n saith Varro came from Persia and was vsed by Numa and afterwards 〈◊〉 â—…thagoras wherein they vsed bloud also and called forth spirits infernall 〈◊〉 â—…ncie the greekes call it but Necromancie or Hydromancie whether ye like 〈◊〉 it is that the dead seeme to speake How they doe these things looke they 〈◊〉 for I will not say that their lawes prohibited the vse of such things in 〈◊〉 cities before the comming of our Sauiour I doe not say so perhaps they 〈◊〉 allowed it But hence did Numa learne his ordinances which he published 〈◊〉 publishing their causes so afraide was he of that which he had learned 〈◊〉 which afterward the Senate burned But why then doth Varro giue them such a sort of other naturall reasons which had they beene in Numa's bookes they had 〈◊〉 beene burned or else Varro's that were dedicated to c Caesar the priest should haue beene burned for company So that Numa's hauing nymph a â—…ia to his wife was as Varro saith nothing but his vse of water in Hydromâ—…cy For so vse actions to bee spiced with falshood and turned into fables So by that Hydromancy did this curious King learne his religious lawes that hee gaue the Romaines and which the Priests haue in their bookes marry for their causes them hee learned also but kept to himselfe and after a sort entoumbed them in death with himselfe such was his desire to conceale them from the world So then either were these bookes filled with the deuills best all desires and thereby all the politique Theology that presenteth them such filthynesses made
called Golfo De Venetia which the Grecians vsed oftentimes to crosse ouer I wonder that sâ—…e haue held al Italy to be called so because Pliny doth write thus What haue the Greciaâ—…s a most vanie-glorious nation shewne of themselues in calling such a part of Italy Magna Grecia Great Greece Whereby hee sheweth that it was but a little part of Italy that they 〈◊〉 thus Of the 3. baies I spoke of one of them containes these fiue Citties Tarentum Meâ—…us Heraclea Croto and Turii and lieth betweene the promontories of Sales and Laâ—… Mela. It is called now Golfo di Taranto Here it is said Pythagoras did teach c Ioâ—… Ionia is a country in Asia Minor betweene the Lydians the Lycaonians and our sea â—…ing Aeolia and Caria on the sides this on the South-side that on the North Miletus is the â—…se Citty saith Mela both for all artes of warre and peace the natiue soile of Thales the â—…sopher Tymotheus the Musician Anaximander the Naturalist and diuers other whose wâ—…s haue made it famous Thales taught his fellow cittizen Anaximander he his fellow cittizen also Anaximenes hee Anaxagoras of Clazomene Pericles Archelaus and Socrates of Athens and Socrates almost all Athens d Pythagoras Aristoxenus saith hee was of Tyrrheâ—… in â—…e that the Greekes tooke from the Italians hee went into Egipt with King Amasis and râ—…ng backe disliking the tyrannous rule of Polycrates of Samos hee passed ouer to Italy â—…y who also Cicero Tnsc. 5. out of Heraclides of Pontus relateth that Pythagoras beeing â—…ked of Leontes the Phliasian King what hee professed hee answered that whereas the rest of his prosâ—… had called themselues wise men Sophi hee would bee called But a louer of wisdome a Pâ—…pher with a more modest respect of his glory And herevpon the name Sophi grew quite â—…of custome as ambitious and arrogant and all were called Philosophers after that foâ—… indeâ—… the name of wise is Gods peculiar onely f Thales The first Naturalist of Greece 〈◊〉 first yeare of the 35. Olympiad after Apollodorus his account in Laertius g 〈◊〉 A sort of youthes hauing bought at a venture a draught of the Milesian fishers 〈◊〉 â—…awne vp a tablet of gold they fell to strife about it each would haue had it so vnto 〈◊〉 his oracle they went who bad them giue it vnto the wise So first they gaue it vnâ—… 〈◊〉 whom the Ionians held wise he sent it vnto another of the seauen and hee to anâ—… and so till it came to Solon who dedicated it to Apollo as the wisest indeed And these 〈◊〉 had the same of wisdome ouer all Greece and were called the seauen Sages h The otâ—… Chilo of Lecedaemon Pittacus of Mitilene Bias of Priene Cleobulus oâ—… Lindus Periâ—… â—…orynthe and Solon of Athens of these at large in the eighteenth booke i Comâ—… 〈◊〉 Some say that the Astrology of the Saylers was his worke others ascribe it vnto Râ—…â—…f â—…f Samos Laban the Argiue saith he wrote 200. verses of Astrology k Astrologiâ—… Endâ—…s saith hee presaged the eclipses Hist. Astrolog Amongst the Greeks saith Pliny lib. 〈◊〉 Thales in the fourth yeare of the 48. Olympiade was the first that found their 〈◊〉 of eclipses and prognosticated that which fell out in King Halliattes time in the â—…XX yeare after the building of Rome So saith Eusebius and Cicero de diuinat lib. 1. Whâ—…e for Haliattes he writeth Astiages But they liued both at one time and had warres one â—…ith another l Water As Homere calls the sea father of all Plutarch in Placit Philos and oâ—…e giue Thales his reason because the seede of all creatures animate is moist and so is all â—…nt Nay they held that the seas moisture nourisheth and increaseth the stars m Nor did 〈◊〉 Velleius in Tully affirmeth that Thales thought all things to bee made of water and 〈◊〉 the essence that was the cause of all their production is God and Laertius saith that hee 〈◊〉 all things full of Daemones and beeing asked whether the gods knew not a mans euill â—…ds Yes said he and thoughts too But this proues Gods knowledge onely and noâ—… his operation to be auouched by him n Anaximander A Milesian also but not hee that wrote the Histories He held an infinite element was the substance of the production of all things but â—…er shewed whether it was fiery ayry earthly or watry Hee held besides that the partes of 〈◊〉 infinite thinÌ„g were successiuely changed but that the whole was imâ—…utable Aristot. Pluâ—… 〈◊〉 Euseb. o Nor did he Herein Plutarch reprehendeth him for finding the mattâ—… and â—…t the efficient cause For that infinite element is the matter but without some efficient cause it can doe nothing But Tully saith that hee affirmed that there were naturall gods farre distance East and West and that these were their inumerable worlds De nat deor lib. 1. So that these contraries their originall and there efficient are all one namely that eternall cold and heate as Euseb â—…e prâ—…par Euang. saith and Aristotle intymateth Phys. lib. 1. p Anaximenes Sonne to Eurystratus a Mâ—…lesian also borne Olympiad 64. He died in the yeare of Craesus his ouerthrow as Apollodorus counteth q Infinite ayre Infinite saith Eusebius in kinde but not in qualities of whose condensation and rarefaction all things haue their generation Hee held the ayre god generated infinite and eternally mouing The stars the Sunne and the Moone were created hee held of the earth Cicero r Anaxagoras Borne at Clazomene a towne in Ionia he died Olymp. 88. beeing 62. yeares of age His worke saith Plutarch and Laertius beganne thus There was one vniuersall masse an essence came and disioyned it and disposed it For hee held a matter or masse including infinite formes of creation and parcells of contraries and others all confused together which the diuine essence did compose and seperate and so made flesh of many parcells of flesh of bones bone and so of the rest yet are these other parcells formally extant in the whole as in their bones there is parcells of flesh and fire and sinewes c. For should bread or meate giue encrease to a bone or the bloud vnlesse there were seedes or little parcells of bone and bloud in the bread though from their smallenesse they be inuifible Arist. Plutarch Laertius s Vnlike Or like either is right For as Aristotle saith Anaxagoras held infinite partes in euery body both contrary and correspondent which hee called Homogenia or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 similaria like Symilarities Gaza translateth it For in bodies they are partes that are similare as in fire water flesh bone c. and here the name of each part is the name of the whole each drop of water is water and each bit of flesh is flesh and so of the rest then are there also partes dissimilar as in a man an horse and so forth wherein are parts seuerally called as bones nerues bloud skin and such
be other beginnings found eyther knowne to God or his fâ—…es saith Apulcius out of Plato e Which conteyneth This is Plato's opinion related by Augustine not his owne This I adde because our truth-hunter sets it as Augustines and then comes in with his realityes and formalities such as Augustine neuer dreamed of For Plato saith God is the mindes light like as the sunne wee see is the light of the body whereby we see So is God the cause of our vnderstanding whose sacred light infuseth things and the knowledge of truth into vs. De Rep. 6. The sunne is the light of the world visible and God of the inuisible Nazanz f He did with most Plato Xenophon Aeschines Xenocrates and other reduced Socrates his wordes into Dialogues wherein hee most elegantly reprehendeth their ignorance that perswaded both them-selues and the multitude that they knew all things Such were Protogoras Gorgias Euthydemus Dionysodorus and others g Wher-vpon His disputation saith Plato ouerthrew him Three saith Laertius accused him Anytus Melitus Lycon an Orator in Anytus his defence of the trades-mens tumultuous crew and the other Cittizens whome Socrates had often derided Melitus defended the Poets whom Socrates would haue expelled the Citty Of these thinges read Plato and Xenophon in their Apologies for Socrates But the playnest of all is Laertius in his life of Socartes He was condemned by two hundred eighty one sentences h Callumnious My accusers saith Socrates nor my crymes can kill me but enuy onely which both hath destroyed and will destroy the worthyest euer i Yet did Athens They did so greeue for his death that they shut vp all the schooles and made a sad vacation all ouer the Citty put Melitus to death banished Anitus and erected Socrates a brazen statue of Lysippus his workemanship k Many All the sects almost deriued from Socrates the Platonists Academikes Cyrenaikes Cynikes Peripatetiques Megarians and Stoikes t Study and emulation This onely question made all the sects m Which being not For his disputations rather were confutations of others then doctrines of his owne For professing himselfe to know nothing hee thought it vnfit to affirme any thing Plato's Thaeatetus n The finall good To which all things haue reference Cic. de finib For this saith hee lib. 3. beeing the vtmost you knowe I interprete the greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Wee may call it the last or the end for which all thinges are desired and it selfe onely for it selfe as Plato Aristotle and the rest affirme o Aristippus A Cyrenian the first Socratist that taught for money as hee would haue also paid for his learning But Socrates neuer tooke pay saying his Genius forbad him Hee suffered also Dionysius of Syracusa the younger to deride him and flattered him for gayne Hee made bodily pleasure the greatest good Diog. Laert. Of them the Cyrenaikes Phylosophers had their originall An end of this with a briefe note out of Hierome vppon Ecclesiastes speaking of pleasure Let this quoth he Be affirmed by some Epicurus or Aristippus or the Cynikes or such Phylosophicall cattell it must bee the Cyrenaikes for what had the Cynikes to doe with bodily pleasures p Antisthenes The author of the Cynikes or Dogsect maister to Diogines of Synope the Cynike hee held vertue the greatest good q Each of The diuersity of opinions herein you may read in Cicero his 2. de finibus And wee haue toucht them briefely in the preface to his worke de legibus Of Plato the cheefe of Socrates his schollers who diuided Phylosophy into three kindes CHAP. 4. BVt of all Socrates his schollers there was one whose glory worthily obscured all the rest Plato a Hee was an Athenian borne of honest parentage and endowed with perfection of vnderstanding farre more then all his fellowes So hee thinking that his inuention and b Socrates his instructions were all too short of the true ayme of Phylosophy and therefore would needes goe trauell to any place where Fame tolde him he might drinke of the fount of noble sapience So went hee into c Aegipt and there learnt all that hee held worth learning and from thence into d Italy where the Pythagoreans were famous and there didde he drayne from the most eminent teachers all the Phylosophy of Italy And because hee dearely affected his maister Socratâ—…s hee maketh him in all his Dialogues to temperate that which a either he had learned of others or inuented of him-selfe with his delicate vrbanity and motality So whereas the study of f wisedome is eyther concerning action or contemplation and thence assumeth two seuerall names actiue and contemplatiue the actiue consisting in the practise of morality in ones life and the contemplatiue in penetrating into the abstruse causes of nature and the nature of Diuinity g Socrates is said to excell in the actiue Pythagoras in the contemplatiue But Plato conioyned them into one perfect kinde which h hee subdiuided into three sorts The Morall consisting chiefly in action The Naturall in contemplation The Rationall in i distinction of true and false k which though it bee vsefull in both the other yet it pertaineth more particularly to contemplation And therefore this Trichotomy or triple diuision doth not contradict the other Dichotomy that includeth all in action and contemplation But as for Plato's opinion herein what should be the end of all actions the cause of all natures and the light of all reasons is both tedious to follow and may not bee rashly affirmed For l delighting in his maister Socrates his dissembling of his knowledge whome hee maketh disputant in all his dialogues and affecting that he left his owne opinions in these great questions as ambiguous very neare as his maisters yet do we intend out of his owne discourses and his relations m from others to repeat some of his positions eyther such as do square with truth of that religion which our faith professeth and defendeth or such as oppose it as farre as shall concerne the singularity or multititude of goddes whome the Catholike religion sayth we must worship for the obtayning of eternall felicity in the life to come For it may be that such as knew Plato to excell al the other Phlosophers of al nations and vnderstood him far bettter then others do think that in God is the cause of natures the light of reason and the rule of life which haue reference to the three Phylosophies Naturall Rationall and Morall n For if a man were created by his excelling part to aspire to that which excelleth all that is the One True almighty God without whome nothing hath being no reason instructeth and no vse assisteth o then let him be searched out in whom we haue all security let him be beheld in whom is al our certainty let him bee beloued in whome is all our morality L. VIVES PLato a His parents were Aristo and Perictione Hee came from Codrus by the father the last King of Athens by the mother
before the time that is the iudgement wherein they and all men their sectaries are to bee cast into eternall torments as that l truth saith that neither deceiueth nor is deceiued not as hee saith that following the puffes of Philosophy flies here and there mixing truth and falshood greeuing at the ouerthrow of that religion which afterwards hee affirmes is all error L. VIVES HErmes a Of him by and by b His words We haue seene of his bookes greeke and latine This is out of his Asclepius translated by Apuleius c So doth humanity So humanity adapting it selfe to the nature and originall saith Hermes his booke d Trust So hath Hermes it Bruges copy hath Mistrust not your selfe e Beyond Apuleius and the Coleâ—…ne copy haue it both in this maner onely Mirth the Coleynists haue more then he f For Hermes I would haue cited some of his places but his bookes are common and so it is needelesse 〈◊〉 It being easier A diuersity of reading but of no moment nor alteration of sence h Of that which Reioycing that Christ is come whom the law and Prophets had promised So Iohn bad his disciples aske art thou he that should come or shall wee looke for an other i Peter This confession is the Churches corner stone neuer decaying to beleeue and affirme THAT IESVS IS CHRIST THE SONNE OF THE LIVING GOD. This is no Philosophicall reuelation no inuention no quirke no worldly wisdome but reuealed by GOD the father of all to such as hee doth loue and vouchsafe it k Because Hee sheweth why the deuills thought that Christ vndid them before the time l Truth Mat. 25. 41. Depart from meâ—… yee cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the deuill and his angells How Hermes openly confessed his progenitors error and yet bewayled the destruction of it CHAP. 24. FOr after much discourse hee comes againe to speake of the gods men made but of these sufficient saith hee let vs returne againe to man to reason by which diuine guift man hath the name of reasonable For we haue yet spoken no wonderfull thing of man the a wonder of all wonders is that man could fiâ—…e out the diuine nature and giue it effect Wherefore our fathers erring exceedinly in incredulity b concerning the deities and neuer penetrating into the depth of diuine religioÌ„ they inueÌ„ted an art to make gods whervnto they ioyned a vertue out of some part of the worlds nature like to the other and conioyning these two because they could make no soules they framed certaine Images whereinto they called either Angells or deuills and so by these mysteries gaue these Idols power to hurt or helpe them I know not whether the deuills being admited would say asmuch as this man saith Our fathers exceedingly erring saith he in incredulity concerning the deities not penetrating into the depth of diuine religion inuented an arte to make gods Was hee content to say they but erred in this inuention no he addeth Exceedingly thus this exceeding error and incredulity of those that looked not into matters diuine gaue life to this inuention of making gods And yet though it were so though this was but an inuention of error incredulity and irreligiousnes yet this wise man lamenteth that future times should abolish it Marke now whether Gods power compell him to confesse his progenitors error the diuills to bee made the future wrack of the said error If it were their exceeding error incredulity negligence in matters diuine that giue first life to this god-making inuention what wonder if this arte bee detestable and all that it did against the truth cast out from the truth this truth correcting that errour this faith that incredulity this conuersion that neglect If he conceale the cause and yet confesse that rite to be their inuention we if we haue any wit cannot but gather that had they bin in the right way they would neuer haue fallen to that folly had they either thought worthily or meditated seriously of religion yet should wee a ffirme that their great incredulous contemptuous error in the cause of diuinity was the cause of this inuention wee should neuerthelesse stand in need to prepare our selues to endure the impudence of the truths obstinate opponeÌ„ts But since he that admires yâ— power of this art aboue all other things in man and greeues that the time should come wherein al those illusions should claspe with ruine through the power of legall authority since he confesseth the causes that gaue this art first original namely the exceeding error incredulity negligeÌ„ce of his ancestor in matters diuine what should wee doe but thinke GOD hath ouerthrowne these institutions by their iust contrary causes that which errors multitude ordained hath truths tract abolished faith hath subuerted the worke of incredulity and conuersion vnto Gods truth hath suppressed the effects of true Gods neglect not in Egipt only where onely the diabolicall spirit bewaileth but in all the world which heareth a new song sung vnto the Lord as the holy scripture saith Sing vnto the Lord a new song Sing vnto the Lord all the earth for the c title of this Psalme is when the house was built after the captiuity the City of God the Lords house is built that is the holy Church all the earth ouer after captiuity wherein the deuills held those men slaues who after by their faith in God became principall stones in the building for mans making of these gods did not acquit him from beeing slaue to these works of his but by his willing worship he was drawn into their society a society of suttle diuills not of stupid Idols for what are Idols but as the Scripture saith haue eyes and see not all the other properties that may be said of a dead sencelesse Image how well soeuer carued But the vncleane spirits therein by that truly black art bouÌ„d their soules that adored theÌ„ in their society most horrid captiuity therefore saith the Apostle We know that an Idol is nothing in the world But the Gentiles offer to deuilis not vnto God I wil not haue them to haue society with the deuils So then after this captiuity that bound men slaue to the deuils Gods house began to be built through the earth thence had the Psalme the beginning Sing vnto the Lord a new song sing vnto the Lord all the earth Sing vnto the Lord and praise his name d declare his saluation e from day to day Declare his glorie amongst all nations and his wonders amongst all people For the Lord is great and much to be praised hee is to be feared aboue all gods For all the gods of the people are Idols but the Lord made the heauens Hee then that bewailed the abolishment of these Idols in the time to come and of the slauery wherein the deuills held men captiue did it out of an euill spirits inspiration and from that did desire the continuance of that captiuity
otâ—… iâ—…â—…uffeth vp that is filleth one with vaine glory So then In the diuels is thâ—…â—…owledge without charity and thence they are puffed so big so proud that thâ—… 〈◊〉 honours which they well know to be Gods due they haue euer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…em-selues and as far as they can doe so still Now what power the 〈◊〉 oâ—… Câ—…â—…hat came in forme of a seruant hath against this diuels pride as men deserued â—…ered in their hearts mens wretched minds beeing diueleshly as yet puffed vppe can by no meanes because of their proud tumor compâ—…hend or conceiue L. VIVES GReeke a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the old greeke was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to know Thence came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the author of the great Etymology All knowing And 〈◊〉 of the same minde for their knowledge In Cratylo Capella followeth him and so â—…ers Lactantius also lib. 2. giues them this name for their vnderstanding And so doth â—…lcidius vpon Plato his Timaeus In what manner the Lord would make him-selfe knowne to the Diuells CHAP. 21. FOâ—… the diuels hadde this knowledge they could say to the Lord in the flesh 〈◊〉 haue we to do with thee O Iesus of Nazareth Art thou come to destroy vs 〈◊〉 time Here is a plaine knowledge without charity they feare to be plaâ—…y him but loued not the iustice in him Their knowledge was bounded â—…is will and his will with conuenience But they knew him not as the Angels 〈◊〉 him that participate of his Deity in all eternity but vnto their terror out of 〈◊〉 clutches he quit those yâ— he had predestinated to his Kingdom of true eterâ—…y and eternall glorious truth The diuels therefore knew him not as hee 〈◊〉 life eternall the vnchangeable light illuminating all the godly who reâ—…hat light to the purification of their hearts by faith but they knew him by â—…mporall effects of his presence and secret signes of his vertue which the diâ—… angelicall sences might easilier obserue then mans naturall infirmity â—…gnes when he suppressed the Prince of diuels made question of his Deiâ—…empted him for the b tryall of his Deity trying how farre hee would â—…m-selfe to bee tempted in c adapting his humanity vnto our imitatiâ—… d after his temptation when the good and glorious Angels whome â—…els extremely feared came and ministred vnto him then the diuels gotte â—…nd more knowledge of him and not one of them durst resist his command 〈◊〉 hee seemed infirme and e contemptible in the flesh L. VIVES ANgelicall a sences Christs miracles were more admired of the Angells and Diuels then of men because they knowing the causes of thinges saw natures power conâ—… and transcended Now men though they saw them strange yet wanted there not 〈◊〉 to say hee cast out diuels by Beelzebub their Prince not so much beleeuing this indeed â—…g that the simple multitude should beleeue it And others of later time haue falseâ—…ged him with art Magicke against whome by GODS helpe I will deale at large 〈◊〉 bookes De sapientia Christiana b For tryall The Diuell generally tempts man to 〈◊〉 but here he aymed not so much at sinne for he knew his sanctity at least neare inexâ—…ble but his fetch was to see whether the Deity were in this humaine forme c Aâ—…g Because he would not seeme exempted by passing vntempted from humaine conâ—… Nor should his seruants after him thinke much to be tempted seeing that old 〈◊〉 â—…nemy of man didde not spare CHRIST him-selfe d After temptation This â—…mplary also For as none shall passe vntempted so if none yeeld to the temptation 〈◊〉 shall all inioy the solace and ministery of Angels as Hierome saith e Contemptible 〈◊〉 needy of meane birth and place farre from ostentation and hauing his society of such like as hee was The difference of the holy Angels knowledge and the Diuels CHAP. 22. VNto the good Angels the knowledge of all temporall things that puffes vp the Diuels is vile not that they want it but in that they wholy respect the loue of that God that sanctifieth them in comparison of which ineffable and vnchangeable glory with the a loue of with they are inflamed they contemne al that is vnder it that is b not it yea and euen them-selues that al their good may be imployed in inioying that onely good And so came they to a more sure knowledge of the world viewing in God the principall causes of the worlds creation which causes do confirme this frustrate that and dispose of all now the c diuels are fat from beholding those eternall and fundamentall causes in the wisedome of God only they can extract a notion from certaine secret signes which man is ignorant in haue more experience and therefore may oftener presage euents But they are often deceiued mary the Angels neuer For it is one thing to presage changes euents from changeable and casuall grounds and to confound them by as changeable a will as the diuels are permitted to do another thing to fore-see the changes of times and the wil of God in his eternall vnalterable decrees most d certain most powerful by the participatioÌ„ of his diuine spirit as the Angels ar vouchsafed by due gradation to do So are they eternal and blessed He is their God that made them for his participation and contemplation they do e continually inioy L. VIVES THe a loue Loue alwayes worketh on beauteous obiects Socrates in Plato's Phado saith that if corporall eyes could behold the face of honesty and wisedome they would hold it most deer and amiable What then if we could see Gods face whose fayrenesse saith the booke of wisedom appeares euen in this that our fayrest obiects are of his making Diotina in Plato's Conui as wee said aboue holds but one pulchritude worthy the loue of an honest man that desires beatitude b Is not all that is not God being vile in respect of God the Angels contemne both all and them-selues in respect of him which cogitation fastneth them so firme in Vnion with God that his beatitude sufficeth without all other appendances to make them eternally blessed c The diuels For they cannot behold the pole or foundation where-vpon all causes are grounded and turned nor the fount whence they arise but only by their pregnancy and wit surmounting ours as also by experence more then ours beeing immortall they haue a quicke conceipt of things present and a surer presage in things to come then we haue Whereby coniecturing euents not from the proper cause but their owne coniectures they are oftentimes deceiued ly when they think they speak most true boasting that they know al things Nor do the vnpure diuels faile herein onely but euen the gods them-selues saith Porphyry d Most certaine Gods will hath this certainty it effecteth what it pleaseth else were it not certaine as not being in his power but all effects
hearts with 〈◊〉 and those that forbid it and stand all for GOD should not haue 〈◊〉 at all to worke the like yet their part should gaine more by reason 〈◊〉 others by sence But seeing that GOD to confirme his truth hath 〈◊〉 ministerie that debase them-selues for his honour wrought more great cleare and certaine miracles then the others least they should drawe weaâ—…e hearts vnto their false deuotion by inueigling their sences with amazements who is so grosely fond as will not choose to follow the truth seeing it confirmed with more miraculous prooues for the recorded miracles of the Pagan gods I speake not of such as time and natures secret causes by Gods prouidence haue produced beyond custome as monstrous byrths sights in the ayre and earth fearefull or hurtfull also c all which the deuills subtilty perswaded the world they both procured and cured I meane of such as were their euident actes as the d remoouall of the gods that Aeneas brought from Troy from place to place by them-selues e Tarquins cutting of a Whetstone f the Epidaurian serpents g accompanying Esculapius in his transportation to Rome the h drawing on of the shippe that brought Berecynthia's statue from Phrygia being other-wise not to bee mooued by so huge strength of men and beasts by one woman with her girdle in testimony of her chastitie and the i carrying of water from Tyber in a siue by a k vestall thereby acquitting her selfe from an accusation of adultery These nor such as these are comparable to those done in presence of the people of GOD eyther for rarity or greatnesse How much lesse then the strange effects of those artes which the Pagans them-selues did legally prohibite namely of Magicke and Theurgie l many whereof are meere Deceptiones visus and flatte falsehoods indeed as the m fetching downe of the Moone till saith Lucan shee spume vpon such hearbes as they desire Now though some in their arte seeme to come neere others of the Saints wonderous deeds yet their end that discerneth the latter ones farre to excell the first theirs For their multitude the more sacrifiâ—…ices they desire the fewer they deserne But ours doe but prooue vnto vs one that needeth no such as hee hath shewed both by his holy writte and whole abolishment of them ceremonies afterwards If therefore these Angels require sacrifice then are these their betters that require none but referre all to God for herein they shew their true loue to vs that they desire not our subiection to them by sacrifice but vnto him in contemplation of whome is their felicitie and desire to see vs ioyned to him from whome they neuer are seperate But suppose the other Angells that seeke sacrifices for many and not for one onely would not haue them for them selues but for the gods they are vnder yet for all this are the other to bee preferred before them as beeing vnder bâ—… one GOD to whome onely they referre all religion and to none other and the other no waye daring to forbid this GOD all worshippe to whome the former ascribe all But if they bee neyther good Angels nor GODS as their proud falsenesse prooueth but wicked deuills desiring to share diuine honours with that one glorious GOD what greater ayde can wee haue agâ—…inst them then to serue that GOD to whome those good Angells serue that châ—…ge vs to sacrifice not to them but vnto him to whome our selues ought to bee a sacrifice L. VIVES PLato a didâ—… It iâ—…â—…is in many places all things with-out vertue and the knowledge of the true 〈◊〉 is vile and abiect b Per-â—…gikes Of 〈◊〉 to burne most likeâ—… c All which By sacrifice saith Ualerius are the presages of visions and thunders procured The Hetrurians vsed the arte and Numa brought it to Rome It is much mentioned in 〈◊〉 Seneca Liuie and other Latine authors Procurare is in this place to sacrifice to such a 〈◊〉 as fitteth the time to make the euent prosperous d Remoouall Ual. lib. 1. They were brought to Lauinium and placed there by Aeneas and being borne to Alba by Ascanius theâ—…â—…ned to their other seate againe and because they might bee perhaps seâ—…retly remâ—… they were brought to Alba againe and they departed the second time e Tarquins Hee â—…ing to increase the number of his trained souldiors Actius Naeuius the Augur forbâ—… â—…till hee had beheld the Auguries Tarquin to scoffe his arte Presage by thâ—… arte 〈◊〉 hee whether my thoughts shall come to passe It shall quoâ—…h Actius out of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Whetstone quoth Tarquin with this razour Hee did â—…t in that full presence and whilest he liued euer after was honourably respected and had a statue erected hâ—… in that 〈◊〉 where it was done namely the Consistorie with a Wheâ—…tone and a râ—…zor as teâ—… of the fact Liu. lib. 1. Gâ—…ero de diuinat lib. 1. but they say Actius cut it not Tarquin f 〈◊〉 Epidaurian This is that Aesculapius that was brought from his Temple fiue miles 〈◊〉 â—…aurus to Rome in forme of a Serpent The great deuill it was surely saith Lactanâ—…â—…out â—…out dissembling for the Scriptures call him a Serpent and â—…herecides the Syrian 〈◊〉 â—…y all haue serpentine feete g Accompanying Nay the serpent it selfe was Aesâ—… vnlesse they held him inuisible and this serpent his companion visible Aesculapius 〈◊〉 â—…ted with a Serpent wound about a rodde and called Ophinchus that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was a statute also that Phisitians should vse Snakes Higin Histor. Caelest Pliniâ—… tâ—…kes the Snake was sacred to him because it is so medicinable but Macrobius saith beâ—… is so quick-sighted Horace Cur in amicorum vitium tam cernis acutum Quam aut aquila aut serpens Epidaurius Why doost into thy friends ill carriage prye With a quick Eagles or a Serpents eye 〈◊〉 â—…ing The ship that came from Pessinuns with the Mother of the gods sticking imâ—… in Tyber on ground Q. Claudia a Vestall slandered for incontinencie because 〈◊〉 to goe handsome tooke hir girdle and knitting it to the shippe praide Berecynâ—…â—…ee â—…ee knew her chaste to follow her and so shee did where-vpon Claudia had a statue 〈◊〉 the goddesses temple that stood safe when the Temple was twise burned Liu. l. 2. 〈◊〉 Ualer Maximus i Carrying of water A diuerse reading but of no moâ—… 〈◊〉 A Uestall Turria Ualer lib. 8. l Many Mens thoughts often make them 〈◊〉 see that which they see not indeede and this is often done by a Phantâ—…sme or apâ—… And hence is most of our reportes of spirites walking arisen Yea the spirits themâ—… deceiue our sences which is no wonder seeing that our iuglers can doe the like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mayn which if another should doe you should haue some make a miracle of 〈◊〉 dooings truely are admirable and their manner very harde to conceiue Some 〈◊〉 are not done but by the deuils meanes not so they are but the quick conueyâ—… and exercise their swift motion
one world in that so infinite a space as to say that but one care of corne growes in a huge field This error Aristotle the Stoâ—…kes beat quite downe putting but that one for the world which Plato and the wisest Philosophers called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vniuerse b Casuall Great adoe the Philosophers keepe about natures principles Democritas makes all things of little bodies that flie about in the voide places hauing forme and magnitude yet indiuisible and therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Atomes Epicurus gaue them weight also more then Democritus did and made those indiuisible diuersly-formed things to 〈◊〉 about of diuers quantities and weights vp and down casually in the voyd and shuffling together in diuers formes thus produce infinite worlds and thus infinite worlds do arise continue and end without any certaine cause at all and seeking of a place without the world we may not take it as we do our places circumscribing a body but as a certaine continuance before the world was made wherein many things may possibly be produced and liue So though their bee nothing without this world yet the minde conceiueth a space wherein God may boâ—… place this and infinite worlds more c For wee With the Platâ—…nists he means d Out 〈◊〉 The ancients held the Platonists and Stoickes in great respect and reuerence Cicero That the world and time had both one beginning nor was the one before the other CHAP. 6. FOr if eternity and time be wel considered time a neuer to be extant without motion and b eternity to admit no change who would not see that time could not haue being before some mouable thing were created whose motion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alteration necessarily following one part another the time might run 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore that God whose eternity alters not created the world and 〈◊〉 can he bee said to haue created the world in time vnlesse you will say 〈◊〉 some-thing created before the world whose course time did follow 〈◊〉 holy and most true scriptures say that In the beginning God created heaâ—…â—…h to wit that there was nothing before then because this was the Beâ—… which the other should haue beene if ought had beene made before 〈◊〉 the world was made with Time not in Time for that which is made 〈◊〉 â—…s made both before some Time after some Before iâ—… is Time past afâ—…â—…me to come But no Time passed before the world because no creature 〈◊〉 by whose course it might passe But it was made with the Time if moâ—… Times condition as that order of the first sixe or seauen daies went 〈◊〉 were counted morning euening vntill the Lord fulfilled all the worke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sixth day and commended the seauenth to vs in the mistery of sanctifiâ—… Of what fashion those daies were it is either exceeding hard or altogeâ—…â—…possible to thinke much more to speake L. VIVES Iâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…euer Aristotle defined time the measure of motion makeing them vtterly inseâ—… Some Philosophers define it motion so doe the Stoikes b Eternity So saith Auâ—…â—…en â—…en Boetius also Nazianzene and others all out of Plato these are his wordes When 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this great mooueable and eternall vniuerse beheld his worke he was very well pleased 〈◊〉 â—…ake it yet a little liker to the Archetype And so euen as this creature is immortall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make the world eternall as neare as the nature thereof would permit but his naâ—…â—…ll and squared not with this made worke But hee conceiued a moueable forme of eâ—… together with ornament of the heauenly structure gaue it this progressiue eternall Iâ—…â—…ity which he named Time diuiding it into daies nights monthes and yeares all which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heauen and none of them were before heauen Thus Plato in his Timaeus Time saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Image of eternity but time mooueth and eternity moueth not being naturally fixed â—…able towards it doth time passe and endeth in the perfection therof and may be dissolued 〈◊〉 â—…orlds creator will In dogm Platon Of the first sixe daies that had morning and euening â—…re the Sunne was made CHAP. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordinary a daies wee see they haue neither morning nor euening but 〈◊〉 â—…e Sunne rises and sets But the first three daies of all had no Sunne for 〈◊〉 made the fourth day And first God made the light and seuered it from 〈◊〉 â—…nesse calling it day and darkenesse night but what that light was and 〈◊〉 â—…nne a course to make morning and night is out of our sence to iudge 〈◊〉 we vnderstand it which neuerthelesse we must make no question but beâ—… b for the light was either a bodily thing placed in the worlds highest paâ—… farre from our eye or there where the Sunne was afterwards made c or 〈◊〉 the name of light signified that holy citty with the Angells and spirits whereof the Apostle saith Ierusalem which is aboue is our eternall mother in heauen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another place hee saith yee are all the children of light and the sonnes of the 〈◊〉 â—…re not sonnes of night and darkenesse d Yet hath this day the morne and eâ—… because e the knowledge of the creature compared to the Creators is 〈◊〉 â—…ery twilight And day breaketh with man when he draweth neare the loue and praise of the Creator Nor is the creature euer be nighted but when the loue of the Creator forsakes him The scripture orderly reciting those daies neuer mentions the night nor saith night was but the euening and the morning were the first day so of the second and soon For the creatures knowledge of it selfe is as it were farre more discoloured then when it ioynes with the Creators as in the arte that framed it Therefore euen is more congruently spoken then night yet when all is referred to the loue praise of the Creator night becomes morning and when it comes to the knowledge of it selfe it is one full day When it comes to the Firmament that seperateth the waters aboue and below it is the second day When vnto the knowledge of the earth and all things that haue roote thereon it is the third day When vnto the knowledge of the two lights the greater and the lesse the fourth when it knowes all water-creatures foules and fishes it is the fifth and when it knowes all earthly creatures and man himselfe it is the sixth day L. VIVES ORdinary a daies Coleynes coppy reades not this place so well b For the The schoole men Sent. 2. dist 24. dispute much of this But Augustine calleth not the light a body here but saith God made it either some bright body as the Sunne or eâ—…s the contraction of the incorporeall light made night and the extension day as Basil saith moouing like the Sun in the egresse making morning in the regresse euening Hug. de S. Victore de Sacram. lib. 1. c Or els Aug. de genes ad lit lib. 1. d Yet hath A diuers reading both to one purpose e
originall of it selfe and returned vppon it selfe it would 〈◊〉 vnto beatitude exempting vs from need of any other good But seeing 〈◊〉 hath beeing from GOD our author doubtlesse wee must both 〈◊〉 to teach vs true wisedome and to inspire vs with the meanes to beâ—…â—…essed by his high sweetnesse L. VIVES 〈◊〉 a by the vse vsuâ—… I translate practise fructus vse otherwise Here seemes to bee an 〈◊〉 of the word vse for whereas he sayth workmanships stands on three grounds naâ—…â—…d vse vse is here practise But he wrested it to his meaning namely the practise of eâ—…â—…eferred to vse or profit therby iudged b I Know we haue fruition of yâ— wee deâ—…â—…er end therfore saith Aug. We only inioy God and vse al things else Of this read â—…tr Christ. In 80. quest De trinit where he ties fruition to eternal felicity vse to the 〈◊〉 him had Peter Lumbard inough Sent. l. 1. the schoolmeÌ„ euen more then inough Of the Image of the Trinity which is in some sort in euery mans nature euen before his glorification CHAP. 26. 〈◊〉 we haue in our selues an image of that holy Trinity which shal be perfecâ—…â—…y reformation and made very like it though it be far vnequall and farre 〈◊〉 from it briefly neither coeternall with God nor of his substance yet is it 〈◊〉 â—…est it of any creature for we both haue a being know it and loue both our â—…d knowledge And in these three no false apparance euer can deceiue vs. 〈◊〉 not discerne them as thinges visible by sence as wee see colours heare 〈◊〉 â—…scent smels taste sauors and touch things hard and soft the a abstacts of 〈◊〉 â—…bleÅ› we conceiue remember desire in incorporeal formes most like 〈◊〉 â—…ther in those three it is not so I know b without al phantastical imagiâ—…â—…at I am my selfe that this I know and loue I feare not the c Academike 〈◊〉 â—…s in these truths yâ— say what if you er d if I er I am For he that hath no 〈◊〉 â—…ot er and therfore mine error proues my beeing which being so how 〈◊〉 â—…holding my being for though I be one that may er yet doubtles in that 〈◊〉 being I er not consequently if I know that I know my being loâ—…e two I adioyne this loue as a third of equall esteeme with the two 〈◊〉 not erre in that I loue knowing the two thinges I loue without 〈◊〉 they were false it were true that I loued false thinges For how could I bee iustly checked for louing of false thinges if it were false that I loued them But â—…ing the thinges loued are true and sure how can the loue of them bee bâ—… true and sure And there is no man that desireth not to bee as there is none deâ—… not to be happy for how can he haue happinesse and haue no beeing L. VIVES THe a abstracts For shutte our eyes and tast our thought tells vs what a thing whitenesse and sweetnesse is wher-vpon our dreames are fraught with such thinges and we are able to iudge of them without their presence But these are in our exterior sences our imagination our common sence and our memory all which beasts haue as well as wee and in these many things are rashly obserued which if wee assent vnto wee erre for the sences are their weake dull and vnsure teachers teaching those other to apprehend things often false for true But the reasonable mind being proper only to man that ponders al and vseth all dilligence to auoyd falsehoods for truth warning vs to obserue well ere we iudge b Phantasticall Of fancy already c Academickes These took away the trust of the sences and held that nothing was known If you said I know this stone to moue because I see it or touch it they replyed What if you erre Did you neuer thinke you saw some-what moue that stood still as in sayling or riding Did you neuer thinke some-what moued that moued not vnder your touch There you were deceiued so may you bee now Restrayne your assent nothing offends wisedome more then consent before full knowledge d If I erre Therefore our Phylosophers vppon Aristotles Posteriora say that this proposition is of the greatest euidence Of essence knowledge of essence and loue of both CHAP. 27. SO a naturally doth this delight that very wretches for nothing else but this would rather leaue their misery then the World knowing them-selues wretches tho yet would they not dye And the most wretched of all eyther in wise iudgements for b their foolishnesse or in theirs that hold themselues blessed for their defect hereof If one should profer them an immortality of misery and tell them if they refused it they should become iust nothing and loose all beeing verily they would reioyce and choose an eternall misery before a millity of beeing This our common sence testifieth For why doe they feare to end their misery by death rather then continue it but that nature still wisheth to hold a beeing And therefore seeing they know they must dye they do make such great accoumpt of a long life in their misery ere they dye Wherein doubtlesse they shew how thankefull they will bee for immortality though it had not end of their misery And what of brute beasts that vnderstand not this from the Dragon to the worme Do they not shew their loue of being by auoyding death al waies possible The trees and plants that haue no sence of death nor meanes to auoyd it do they not put forth one sprig into the aire another c deeper into the earth whereby to attract nutriment and preserue their beeing Nay the very bodyes that 〈◊〉 neyther sence nor vegetation by their very motion vpwardes downewardes or middle suspension moue to the conseruation of their essence and nature Now then may bee gathered how much mans nature is beloued and loth to bee deceiued from hence that man had rather d lament in a sound minde then reiâ—… in folly Which power is in no mortal creature but man others haue sharper sights then wee yet not any can behold the incorporeall light which in some sort lightneth our mindes producing a true iudgement of all these thinges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as wee are capable of it But though the vnreasonable creatures senâ—…â—…eine no knowledge yet some similitude of knowledge there is in them 〈◊〉 â—…er corporall creatures hauing no sence in themselues are but the obiâ—… of others sences therefore called sensible and the growth and power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the trees drawe nutriment this is like their sence But these and all othâ—…â—…porall bodies causes are hid in nature marry their formes in the diuerâ—… 〈◊〉 parts of the worlds structure are apparant to vs seemingly professing a 〈◊〉 be knowne since they could not know themselues but our bodily senâ—…â—…ge not of them though they apprehend them That is left vnto a farre 〈◊〉 â—…cellent interior sence discerning iust and vniust f iust by the intelliâ—…â—…rme vniust by
that end which the order of the vniuerse requireth so that that corruption which bringeth all natures mortall vnto dissolution cannot so dissolue that which was but it may become that afterwards which it was before or that which it should be which being so then God the highest being who made all things that are not him-selfe no creature being fitte for that equalitie being made of â—…othing and consequently being not able to haue beene but by him is not to be discommended through the taking offence at some faults but to bee honored vpon the due consideration of the perfection of all natures L. VIVES A a certaine Euery thing keeping harmonious agreement both with it selfe and others without corrupting discorde which made some ancient writers affirme that the world 〈◊〉 vpon loue The cause of the good Angells blisse and the euills misery CHAP. 6. THE true cause therefore of the good Angells blisse is their adherence to that most high essence and the iust cause of the bad Angels misery is their departure from that high essence to reside vpon them-selues that were not such which vice what is it else but a pride For pride is the roote of all sinne These would not therefore stick vnto him their strength and hauing power to bee more b perfect by adherence to this highest good they preferred them-selues that were his inferiours before him This was the first fall misery and vice of this nature which all were it not created to haue the highest being yet might it haue beatitude by fruition of the highest being but falling from him not bee â—…de nothing but yet lesse then it was and consequently miserable Seeke the câ—…e of this euill will and you shall finde iust none For what can cause the wills 〈◊〉 the will being sole cause of all euill The euill will therefore causeth euill workes but nothing causeth the euill will If there be then either it hath a will or â—…one If it haue it is either a good one or a bad if good what foole will say a good will is cause of an euill will It should if it caused sinne but this were extreame absurditie to affirme But if that it haue an euill will then I aâ—…ke what caused this euill will in it and to limite my questions I aske the cause of the first euill will For not that which an other euill will hath caused is the first euill will but that which none hath caused for still that which causeth is before the other caused If I bee answered that nothing caused it but it was from the beginning I aske then wheâ—…er it were in any nature If it were in none it had no being if it were in any it corrupted it hurt it and depriued it of all good and therefore this Vice could not be in an euill nature but in a good where it might doe hurt for if it could not hurt it was no vice and therefore no bad will and if it did hurt it was by priuation of good or diminishing of it Therfore a bad will could be from eternity in that wherein a good nature had beene before which the euill will destroied by hurt Well if it were not eternall who made it It must be answered something that had no euill will what was this inferior superior or equall vnto it If it were the superior it was better and why then had it not a will nay a better will This may also bee said of the equall for two good wills neuer make the one the other bad It remaines then that some inferior thing that had no will was cause of that vicious will in the Angels I but all things below them euen to the lowest earth being naturall is also good and hath the goodnesse of forme and kinde in all order how then can a good thing produce an euill will how can good be cause of euill for the will turning from the superior to the inferior becomes bad not because the thing where-vnto it turneth is bad but because the diuision is bad and peruerse No inferior thing then doth depraue the will but the will depraues it selfe by following inferior things inordinately For if two of like affect in body and minde should beholde one beautious personage and the one of them be stirred with a lustfull desire towards it and the others thoughts stand chaste what shall wee thinke was cause of the euill will in the one and not in the other Not the seene beauty for it transformed not the will in both and yet both saw it alike not the flesh of the beholders face why not both nor the minde we presupposed them both alike before in body and minde Shall we say the deuill secretly suggested it into one of them as though hee consented not to it in his owne proper will This consent therefore the cause of this assent of the will to vicious desire is that wee seeke For to take away one let more in the question if both were tempted and the one yeelded and the other did not why was this but because the one would continue chaste and the other would not whence then was this secret fall but from the proper will where there was such parity in body and minde a like sight and a like temptation So then hee that desires to know the cause of the vicious will in the one of them if hee maâ—…ke iâ—… well shall finde nothing For if wee say that hee caused it what was hee ere his vicious will but a creature of a good nature the worke of GOD that vnchangeable good Wherefore hee that saith that hee that consented to this lustfull desire which the other with-stood both beeing before alike affected and beholding the beautifull obiect alike was cause of his owne euill will whereas he was good before this vice of will Let him aske why he caused this whether from his nature or for that hee was made of nothing and he shall finde that his euill will arose not from his naâ—…ure but from his nothing for if wee shall make his nature the effecter of his vicious will what shall wee doe but affirme that good is the efficient cause of euill But how can it bee that nature though it bee mutable before it haue a vicious will should doe viciously namely in making the will vicious L. VIVES BVt a pride Scotus holds that the Angels offence was not pride I thinke onely because hee will oppose Saint Thomas who held with the Fathers the contrary b Perfect in essence and exellence That we ought not to seeke out the cause of the vicious will CHAP. 7. LEt none therefore seeke the efficient cause of an euill will for it is not efficient but deficient nor is there effect but defect namely falling from that highest essence vnto a lower this is to haue an euill will The causes whereof beeing not efficient but deficient if one endeuour to seeke it is as if hee should seeke to see the darknesse or to heare
this subsequent that since they were Egiptians Heauen hath had foure changes of reuolutions and the Sunne hath set twise where it riseth now Diodorus also writteth that from Osyris vnto Alexander that built Alexandria some recken 10000. and some 13000. yeares and some fable that the Gods had the Kingdome of Isis and then that men reigned afterward very neare 15000. yeares vntill the 180. Olympiad when Ptolomy beganne to reigne Incredible was this abâ—… vanity of the Egiptians who to make themselues the first of the creation lied so many thousand yeares Which was the cause that many were deceiued and deceiued oâ—…hers also as concâ—…ning the worlds originall Tully followes Plato and maketh Egipt infinitly old and so doth â—…ristotle Polit 7. g Yeares but Pliny lib. 7. saith the Nations diuided their yeares some by the Sommer some by the Winter some by the quarters as the Archadians whose yeare was three monethes some by the age of the Moone as the Egiptians So that some of them haue liued a thousand of their yeares Censorinus saith that the Egiptians most ancient yeares was two moneths Then King Piso made it foure at last it came to thirteene moneths and fiue daies Diodorus saith that it being reported that some of the ancient Kings had reigned 1200. yeares beeing to much to beleeue they found for certaine that the course of the Sunne beeing not yet knowne they counted their yeares by the Moones So then the wonder of old 〈◊〉 ceaseth some diuiding our yeare into foure as diuers of the Greekes did Diodorus saith also that the Chaldees had monethes to their yeares But to shew what my coniecture is of these numbers of yeares amongst the nations I hold that men beeing so much giâ—…n to the starres counted the course of euery starre for a yeare So that in 30. yeares of the Sâ—…e are one of Saturne fiue of Iupiter sixe of Mars more then 30. of Uenus and Mercury and almost 400 of the Moone So they are in all neare 500. Of those that hold not the eternity of the World but either a dissolution and generation of inumeraâ—…le Worlds or of this one at the eâ—…piration of certaine yeares CHAP. 11. BVt others there are that doe not thinke the World eternall and yet either imagine it not to be one a world but many or b one onely dissolued and regenerate at the date of certaine yeares Now these must needs confesse that there were first men of themselues ere any men were begotten c For they cannot thinke that the whole world perishing any man could remaine as they may doe in those burnings invndations which left still some men to repaire man-kinde but as they hold the world to bee re-edified out of the owne ruines so must they beleeue that man-kinde first was produced out of the elements and from these first as mans following propagation as other creatures by generation of their like L. VIVES NOt to bee one a world Which Democritus and Epicurus held b One onely Heraclytus Hippasus and the Stoickes held that the world should be consumed by fire and then be reâ—…ed c For they cannot Plato and Aristotle hold that there cannot be an vniuersall deluge or burning But the Stoickes as Tully saith beleeued that the World at length should become all on fire and the moisture so dried as neither the earth could nourish the plants nor the ayre be drawn in bredth â—…or produced all the water being consumed So that Plato and Aristotle still reserued 〈◊〉 then for propagation these none but destroied All to re-edifie All. Of such as held Mans Creation too lately effected CHAP. 12. WHerefore our answere to those that held the world to haue beene ab aeterno against Plato's expresse confession though some say hee spake not as hee thought the same shal be our answere still to those that thinke Mans Creation too lately effected hauing letten those innumerable spaces of time passe and by the scriptures authority beene made but so late as within this sixe thousand yeares If the bâ—…ity of time be offensiue and that the yeares since Man was made seeme so few let them consider that a nothing that hath an extreame is continuall and that all the definite spaces of the World being compared to the interminate Trinity are as a very little Nay as iust nothing And therefore though wee should recken fiue or sixe or sixty or six hundred thousand yeares and multiply them so often till the number wanted a name and say then GOD made man yet may we aske why he made him no sooner For GODS pause before Mans Creation beeing from all eternity was so great that compare a definite number with it of neuer so vnspeakeable a quantity and it is not so much as one halfe drop of water being counterpoised with the whole Ocean for in these though the one be so exceeding small and the other so incomparably great yet b both are definite But that time which hath any originall runne it on to neuer so huge a quantity being compared vnto that which hath no beginning I know not whether to call it small or nothing For with-draw but moments from the end of the first and be the number neuer so great it will as if one should diminish the number of a mans daies from the time he liues in to his birth day decrease vntill we come to the very beginning But from the later abstract not moments nor daies nor monethes nor years but as much time as the other whole number contained lie it out of the compasse of all computation and that as often as you please preuaile you when you can neuer attaine the Beginning it hauing none at all Wherefore that which we aske now after fiue thousand yeares and the ouerpâ—…s our posterity may as well aske after sixe hundreth thousand years if our mortallity should succeede and our infirmity endure so long And our forefathers presently vpon the first mans time might haue called this in question Nay the first man himselfe that very day that he was made or the next might haue asked why he was made no sooner But when soeuer hee had beene made this controâ—…ie of his originall and the worlds should haue no better foundation then is 〈◊〉 now L. VIVES NOthing a that Cic. de senect When the extreame comes then that which is past is gone b Both are Therefore is there some propertion betweene them whereas betweene definite and indefinite there is none Of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Times at whose expiration some Philosophers held that the Vâ—… should 〈◊〉 to the state it was in at first CHAP. 13. NOw these Philosophers beleeued that this world had no other dissolution 〈◊〉 renewing of it continually at certaine a reuolutions of time wherein the 〈◊〉 of things was repaired and so passed on a continuall b rotation of ages 〈◊〉 and comming whether this fell out in the continuance of one world or the 〈◊〉 arising and falling gaue this succession and date of things by
not exclude numbers from Gods knowledge Plato hauing so commended God for vsing them in the worlds creation and our Scripture saith of God Tâ—… 〈◊〉 ordered al things in measure number and weight and the Prophet saith He 〈◊〉 the world and the Gospell saith All the heires of your heads are numbred God forbid the that we should think yâ— he knoweth not number whose wisdome 〈◊〉 â—…standing is in numerably infinite as Dauid saith for the infinitenesse of 〈◊〉 â—…hough it bee beyond number is not vnknowne to him whose knowâ—… infinite Therefore if whatsoeuer bee knowne be comprehended in the 〈◊〉 that knowledge then is all infinitenesse bounded in the knowledge of 〈◊〉 â—…ecause his knowledge is infinite and because it is not vncomprehensiâ—… 〈◊〉 knowledge Wherefore if numbers infinitenesse bee not infinite vnâ—… knowledge nor cannot bee what are wee meane wretches that dare preâ—…â—…mit his knowledge or say that if this reuolution bee not admitted in 〈◊〉 renewing God cannot either fore-know althings ere hee made them 〈◊〉 them when hee made them whereas his wisdome beeing simply and â—…ly manifold can comprehend all incomprehensibility by his incomâ—…le comprehension so that whatsoeuer thing that is new and vnlike to all 〈◊〉 should please to make it could not bee new nor strange vnto him nor 〈◊〉 â—…ore-see it a little before but containe it in his eternall prescience L. VIVES 〈◊〉 Two men two horses or whatsoeuer make both one number I inquire not 〈◊〉 â—…hether the number and the thing numbred bee one or no the schooles ring of that â—…gh b Doth not The best reading Of the worlds without end or ages of ages CHAP. 19. 〈◊〉 doth so and that there is a continual connexion of those times which 〈◊〉 â—…lled Secula a seculorum ages of ages or worlds without end running 〈◊〉 indestinate difference onely the soules that are freed from misery reâ—…â—…ernally blessed or that these words Secula seculorum doe import the 〈◊〉 remayning firme in Gods wisdome and beeing the efficient cause of â—…ory world I dare not affirme The singular may bee an explication of 〈◊〉 as if wee should say Heauen of heauen for the Heauens of heauens â—…D calls the firmament aboue which the waters are Heauen in the sinâ—… 〈◊〉 and yet the Psalme saith and you waters that bee aboue the Heauens 〈◊〉 of the LORD Which of those two it be or whether Secula 〈◊〉 another meaning is a deepe question We may let it passe it belongs 〈◊〉 proposed theame but whether wee could define or but obserue 〈◊〉 discourse let vs not aduenture to affirme ought rashly in so obsâ—…â—…ouersie Now are wee in hand with the circulary persons that 〈◊〉 â—…ings round about till they become repaired But which of these opiniâ—… be true concerning these Secula seculorum it is nothing to these revoâ—…â—…reuoâ—…â—…cause whether the worlds of worlds bee not the same revolued but oâ—…â—…uely depending on the former the freed soules remayning still 〈◊〉 â—…lesse blisse or whether the Worldes of worldes bee the formes 〈◊〉 â—…sitorie ages and ruling them as their subiects yet the circulariâ—…â—…o place heere how-soeuer The Saints b eternall life ouerthroweth 〈◊〉 L. VIVES 〈◊〉 a The scriptures often vse these two words both together Hierome in â—…p ad Gal. expounds them thus we 〈◊〉 saith he the difference betweene Seculum Seculum Secuâ—… and secula seculorum Seculuâ—… some-times a space of time some-times eternity the hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and when it is written with the letter van before it it is eternity when otherwise it is 50. yeares or a Iubily And therefore the Hebrew seruant that loued his Maister for his wife and children had his care bored and was commanded to serue an age Seculum 50. yeares And the Moabites and Amonites enter not into the Church of God vntill the 15. generation and not vntill an age for the yeare of Iubily quit all hard conditions Some say that Seculum seculorum hath the same respect that Sanctu Sanctorum Caelum Caelorum the Heauens of heauens had or as the Works of workes or Song of songs That difference that the heauens had to those whose heauens they were and so the rest the holy aboue all holy the song excelling all songs c. So was secula seculorum the ages excelling all ages So they say that this present age includeth all from the worlds beginning vnto the iudgement And then they goe further and begin to graduate the ages past before and to come after it whether they were or shal be good or ill falling into such a forrest of questions as whole volumes haue beene written onely of this kinde b Eternall Returning no more to misery nor were that happy without certeynty of eternity nor eternall if death should end it Of that impious assertion that soules truely blessed shall haue diuers reuolutions into misery againe CHAP. 20. FOr what a Godly eares can endure to heare that after the passage of this life in such misery if I may call it a life b being rather so offensiue a death and yet c we loue it rather then that death that frees vs from it after so many intollerable mischieues ended all at length by true zeale and piety wee should be admitted to the sight of God and bee placed in the fruition and perticipation of that incorporeall light and vnchangeable immortall essence with loue of which we burne all vpon this condition to leaue it againe at length and bee re-infolded in mortall misery amongst the hellish immortalls where GOD is lost where truth is sought by hate where blessednesse is sought by vncleanesse and bee cast from all enioying of eternity truth or felicity and this not once but often being eternally reuolued by the course of the times from the first to the later and all this because by meanes of these circularities transforming vs and our false beaâ—…des in true miseries successiuely but yet eternally GOD might come to â—…ow his owne workes Whereas otherwise hee should neither bee able to rest from working not know ought that is infinite Who can heare or endure this Which were it true there were not onely more wit in concealing it but also 〈◊〉 speake my minde as I can more learning in not knowing it d for if wee shalbâ—…â—…ssed in not remembring them there e why doe wee agrauate our misery 〈◊〉 knowing them here But if wee must needs know them there yet let vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selues ignorant of them here to haue the happier expectation then the 〈◊〉 that wee shall attaine here expecting blessed eternity and there 〈◊〉 onely blisse but with assurance that it is but transitory But if they â—…y that no man can attaine this blisse vnlesse hee know the transitory reuolutions thereof ere hee leaue this life how then doe they confesse that the more one loues GOD the easilier shall hee attaine blisse and yet teach the way how 〈◊〉 â—…ll this louing affect 〈◊〉 will not but loue him lightly whome hee
by feare of misery My mother Blanche a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had wâ—…t to tell me whâ—…n I was a childe that the Syrens sung 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 in faire wether hhoping the later in the first and fearing the first in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our hope Not of vnhappinesse but vnhappy of the happinesse to come 〈◊〉 Gâ—… from Hee toucheth the Platomists controuersie some holding the soules giuen of GOD 〈◊〉 others that they were cast downe for their guilt and for their punnishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k sportes of soules A diuersity of reading but let vs make good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the state of the first man and man-kinde in him CHAP. 21. â—…rd question of Gods power to create new things without change of 〈◊〉 because of his eternitie being I hope sufficiently handled wee may 〈◊〉 that he did farre better in producing man-kinde from one man onely 〈◊〉 had made many for whereas he created some creatures that loue to be 〈◊〉 in deserts as Eagles Kites Lyons Wolues and such like and others 〈◊〉 rather liue in flockes and companies as Doues Stares Stagges a 〈◊〉 and such like yet neither of those sorts did hee produce of one alone 〈◊〉 many together But man whose nature he made as meane betweene Anâ—…asts that if hee obeyed the Lord his true creator and kept his hests 〈◊〉 be transported to the Angels society but if hee became peruerse in 〈◊〉 offended his Lord God by pride of heart then that hee might bee cast â—…h like a beast and liuing the slaue of his lusts after death bee destinate â—…all paines him did hee create one alone but meant not to leaue him â—…th-out another humaine fellow thereby the more zealously commendâ—… concord vnto vs men being not onely of one kinde in nature but also â—…dred in affect creating not the woman hee meant to ioyne with man â—…did man of earth but of man and man whom hee ioyned with her not of 〈◊〉 of himselfe that all man-kinde might haue their propagation from one L. VIVES 〈◊〉 Daâ—… in the diminutiue because it is a timorous creature neither wilde noâ—… 〈◊〉 God fore-knew that the first Man should sinne and how many people hee was to translate out of his kinde into the Angels society CHAP. â—…22 〈◊〉 was not ignorant that Man would sinne and so incurre mortallitye 〈◊〉 for him-selfe and his progenie nor that mortalls should runne on in 〈◊〉 of iniquitie that brute a beasts should liue at more attonement 〈◊〉 betweene them-selues whose originall was out of water and earth 〈◊〉 whose kinde came all out of one in honor of concord for Lyons neâ—… among them-selues nor Dragons as men haue done But God fore-saw 〈◊〉 that his grace should adopt the godly iustifie them by the holy spirit â—…ir sinnes and ranke them in eternall peace with the Angels the last 〈◊〉 dangerous death being destroyed and those should make vse of Godsâ—…g â—…g all man-kinde from one in learning how well God respected vnity in 〈◊〉 L. VIVES 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Any place will holde bruite-beasts without contention sooner then 〈◊〉 mâ—…n is Woolâ—…e to man as the Greeke Prouerbe saith Pliâ—… lib. 7. and all other â—…gree among them-selues and oppose strangers The sterne Lion fights not with 〈◊〉 nor doth the Serpent sting the Serpent the beasts and fishes of the sea aâ—… with their owne kinde But man doth man the most mischiefe Dicâ—… saith Tully wrote a booke of the death of men He is a free and copious Peripatetique and herein hauing reckned vp inondations plagues burning exceeding aboundance of beaâ—… and other externall causes he compares then with the warres and seditions wherewith man hath destroyed man and finds the later farre exceeding the former This warre amongst men did Christ desire to haue abolished and for the fury of wrath to haue grafted the heate of zeale and charity This should bee preached and taught that Christians ought not to bee as wars but at loue one with another and to beare one with another mens minds are already to forward to shed bloud and do wickedly they neede not be set on Of the nature of mans soule being created according to the image of God CHAP. 23. THerefore God made man according to his a image and likenesse giuing him a soule whereby in reason and vnderstanding hee excelled all the other creatures that had no such soule And when hee had made man thus of earth and either b breathed the soule which he had made into him or rather made that breath one which he breathed into him for to breath is but to make a breth then c out of his side did hee take a bone whereof he made him a wife and an helpe as he was God for we are not to conceiue this carnally as wee see an artificer worke vp any thing into the shape of a man by art Gods hand is his power working visible things inuisibly Such as measure Gods vertue and power that can make seedes of seeds by those daily and vsuall workes hold this rather for a fable then a truth But they know not this creation and therefore thinke vnfaithfully thereof as though the workes of ordinary conception and production are not strange to those that know them not though they assigne them rather to naturall causes then account them the deities workes L. VIVES HIs a Image Origen thinkes that man is Christs image and therfore the scripture calls man Gods image for the Sonne is the fathers image some thinke the Holy Ghost is ment in the simyly But truely the simyly consists in nothing but man and the likenesse of God A man saith Paul is Gods image It may be referred to his nature and in that he is Gods likenesse may be referred to his guifts immortallity and such wherein he is like God b Breathed It is a doubt whether the soule were made before infused after or created with the body Aug de gens ad lit li. 7. saith that the soule was made with the other spiritual substances infused afterwards and so interpreteth this place Hee breathed into his face the breath of life Others take it as though the soule were but then made and so doth Augustine here c Out of his Why the woman was made after the man why of his ribbe when he was a sleepe and how of his rib read Magister sentent lib. 2. Dist. 18. Whether the Angels may be called creators of any the least creature CHAP. 24. BVt here wee haue nothing to doe with a them that hold the diuine essence not to medle with those things at all But b those that follow Plato in affirming that all mortall creatures of which man is the chiefe were made by the lesser created Gods through the permission or command of the creator and not by him-selfe that framed the world let them but absure the superstition wherein thy seeke to giue those inferiors iust honors and sacrifices and they shall quickly avoid the error of this
opinion for it is not lawfull to hold any creature be it neuer so small to haue any other Creator then God euen before it could be vnderstood But the Angells whome they had rather call Gods though c at his command they worke in things of the world yet wee no more call them creators of liuing things then we call husband-men the creators of fruites and trees L. VIVES WIth a therâ—… With the Epicurists that held althings from chance or from meere nature without GOD althings I meane in this sublâ—…ary world which opinion some say was Aâ—…les or with the heretikes some of whome held the diuills creators of al things corporal b Those that Plato in his Timaeus brings in God the Father commanding the lesser Gods to make the lesser liuing creatures for they are creatures also and so they tooke the immortall beginning of a creature the soule from the starres imitating the Father and Creator and borrowing parcells of earth water and ayre from the world knit them together in one not as they were knit but yet in an insensible connexion because of the combination of such small parts whereof the whole body was framed One Menander a Scholler of Symon Magus said the Angells made the world Saturninus said that 7. Angells made it beyond the Fathers knowledge c Though The Angells as Paul saith are Gods ministers and deputies and do â—…y things vpon earth at his command for as Augustine saith euery visible thing on earth is under an Angelicall power and Gregory saith that nothing in the visible would but is ordered by a visible creature I will except Miracles if any one contend But Plato as he followeth Mâ—…s in the worlds creation had this place also of the creation of liuing things from the Scripures for hauing read that God this great architect of so new a worke said â—…et vs make 〈◊〉 after our owne Image thought he had spoken to the Angells to whose ministery he supposed mans creation committed But it seemed vnworthy to him that God should vse them in â—…king of man the noblest creature and make all the rest with his own hands and therfore he thought the Angels made all whose words if one consider them in Tullies translation which I vse he shal find that Plato held none made the soule but God and that of the stars which â—…ully de 〈◊〉 1. confirmes out of Plato saying that the soule is created by God within the elementary body which he made also and the lesser Gods did nothing but as ministers câ—…e those which hee â—…ad first created and forme it into the essence of a liuing creature Seneca explanes Plaâ—… more plainely saying That when God had laid the first foundation of this rare and excellent frame of nature and begun it he ordayned that each peculiar should haue a peculiar gouernor and though himselfe â—…ad modelled and dilated the whole vniuerse yet created he the lesser gods to be his ministers 〈◊〉 vice-gerents in this his kingdome That no nature or forme of any thing liuing hath any other Creator but God CHAP. 25. WHereas there is one forme giuen externally to all corporall substances according to the which Potters Carpenters and other shape antiques and figures of creatures and another that containeth the efficient causes hereof in the secret power of the vniting and vnderstanding nature which maketh not onely the natural formes but euen the liuing soules when they are not extant The first each artificer hath in his brayne but the later belongs to none but God who formed the world and the Angells without either world or Angells for from that 〈◊〉 all diuiding and all effectiue diuine power which cannot be made but makes and which in the beginning gaue rotundity both to the Heauens Sunne from the same had the eye the apple and all other round figures that wee see in nature their rotundity not from any externall effectiue but from the depth of that creators power that said I fill heauen and earth and whose wisdome reacheth from end to end ordering all in a delicate Decorum wherefore what vse he made of the Angels in the creation making all himselfe I know not I dare neither ascribe them more then their power nor detract any thing from that But with their fauours I attribute the estate of althings as they are natures vnto God onely of whome they thankefully aknowledge their being we do not then call husbandmen the creators of trees or plants or any thing else fot we read Neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giueth the increase No not the earth neither though it seemes the fruitful mother of al things that grow for wee read also God giueth bodies vnto what hee will euen to euery seed his owne body Nor call wee a woman the creatrixe of her child but him that said to a seruant of his Before I formed thee in the wombe I knew thee although the womans soule being thus or thus affected may put some quality vpon her burthen b as we read that Iacob coloured his sheepe diuersly by spotted stickes yet shee can no more make the nature that is produced then shee could make her selfe what seminall causes then soeuer that Angells or men do vse in producing of things liuing or dead or c proceed from the copulation of male and female d or what affections soeuer of the mother dispose thus or thus of the coullour or feature of her conception the natures thus or thus affected in each of their kindes are the workes of none but God whose secret power passeth through all giuing all being to all what soeuer in that it hath being e because without that hee made it it should not bee thus nor thus but haue no being at all wherefore if in those formes externall imposed vpon things corporall we say that not workemen but Kings Romulus was the builder of Rome and Alexander of f Alexandria because by their direction these citties were built how much the rather ought we to call God the builder of nature who neither makes any thing of any substance but what hee had made before nor by any other ministers but those hee had made before and if hee withdraw his g efficient power from things they shall haue no more being then they had ere they were created Ere they were I meane in eternity not in time for who created time but he that made them creatures whose motions time followeth L. VIVES THat a all-diuiding All diuiding may be some addition the sence is good without it b As we Pliny saith that looke in the Rammes mouth and the collour of the veines vnder his tongue shal be the colour of the lambe he getteth if diuers diuers and change of waters varieth it Their shepehards then may haue sheep of what collour they will which Iacob knew well inough for he liking the particolours cast white straked rods into the watring places at Ramming
time that the sight of them might forme the Images of such collours in the conception and so it did Gen. 30. c Proceed The same Pliny lib 7. saith that the mind hath are collection of similitudes in it wherein a chance of sight hearing or remembrance is of much effect the images taken into the conceit at the time of conception are held to be powerfull in framing the thing conceiued and so is the cogitation of either party how swift soeuer it be wherevpon is more difference in man then in any other creature but the swiftnes of thought and variety of conceites formeth vs so diuersly the thoughts of other creatures being immoueable and like themselues in all kinds Thus much Pliny The Philosophers stand wholly vpon immagination in conception At Hertzogenbosh in Brabant on a certaine day of the yeare whereon they say there chiefe Church was dedicated they haue publike playes vnto the honor of the Saints as they haue in other places also of that country some act Saints and some deuils one of these diuels spying a pretty wench grew hot in al hast danceth home casting his wife vpon a bed told her he would beget a yong diuâ—…l vpon her so lay with her the woman conceiued the child was no sooner borne but it began to dance was rust of the shape that we paynt our deuills in This Margueret of Austria Maximilians Daughter Charles the 〈◊〉 told Iohn Lamuza King Ferdinands graue ambassador and now Charles his 〈◊〉 in Aragon a man as able to discharge the place of a Prince as of a Lieuâ—…enant d What â—…ctions Child-bearing women do often long for many euill things as coales and ashes I 〈◊〉 one long for a bit of a young mans neeke and had lost her birth but that shee bitte of his â—…ke vntill he was almost dead shee tooke such hold The Phisicians write much hereof â—…d the Philosophers somewhat Arist de animall They all ascribe it to the vicious humors in the stomake which if they happen in men procure the like distemper e Because So read the old bookes f Alexandria Asia Sogdia Troas Cilicia India and Egipt haue al cities called Alexandria built by Alexander the great this that Augustine meanes of is that of Egipt the most famous of all sytuate vpon the Mediterrane sea neare Bicchieri the mouth of Nile called now Scanderia or Scandaroun g Efficient Fabricatiuam pertayning to composition and diuiâ—… of matter in things created by it selfe for these are not the workes of creation Angells 〈◊〉 beasts and liuelesse things can effect them The Platonists opinion that held the Angells Gods creatures and man the Angells CHAP. 26. ANd Plato would haue the lesser Gods made by the highest to create all other things by taking their immortall part from him and framing the mortall themselues herein making them not the creators of our selues but our bodies onely And therefore Porphiry in holding that the body must be avoyded ere the soule be purged and thinking with Plato and his sect that the soules of bad liuers were for punishment thrust into bodies into beasts also saith Plato but into mans onely saith Porphiry affirmeth directly that these gods whom they wil haue vs to worship as our parents creators are but the forgers of our prisons and not our formers but only our iaylors locking vs in those dolorous grates and wretched setters wherfore the Platonists must either giue vs no punishmeÌ„t in our bodies or else make not those gods our creators whose worke they exhort vs by all meanes to avoid to escape though both these positions be most false for the soules are neither put into bodies to be thereby punished noâ—… hath any thing in heauen or earth any creator but the maker of heauen and earth For if there be no cause of our life but our punishment how a is it that Plato saith the world could neuer haue beene made most beautifull but that it was filled with all kind of creatures But if our creation albe it mortall be the worke oâ—… God how iâ—… iâ—… punishment then to enter into Gods benefites that is our bodies b and if God as Plato saith often had all the creatures of the world in his prescience why then did not hee make them all would he not make some and yet in his vnbounded knowledge knew how to make all wherefore our true religion rightly affirmes him the maker both of the world and all creatures therein bodies and soules of which in earth man the chiefe Piece was made alone after his Image for the reason shewed before if not for a greater yet was he not left alone for there is nothing in the world so sociable by nature and so iarring by vice as man is nor can mans â—…re speake better either to the keeping of discord whilst it is out or expelling it when it is entred then in recording our first Father whom God created single from him to propagate all the rest to giue vs a true admonition to preserue an vnion ouer greatest multitudes And in that the woman was made of his ribbe was a plaine intimation of the concord that should bee betweene man and wife These were the strange workes of God for they were the first Hee that beleeues them not must vtterly deny all wonders for if they had followed the vsuall course of nature they had beene no wonders But what is there in all this whole worke of the diuine prouidence that is not of vse though wee know it not The holy Psalme saith Come and behold the workes of the Lord what wonders hee hath wrought vpon the earth Wherefore why the Woman was made of Mans ribbe and what this first seeming wonder prefigured if God vouchsafe I will shew in another place L. VIVES HOw a is it that Plato His words are these GOD speaketh to the lesser Gods Marks what I say vnto you we haue three kindes remaining all mortall which if wee omit the creation will not bee perfect for wee shall not comprehend all kindes of creatures in it which wee must needs doe to haue it fully absolute b And if GOD There also hee saith that God hath the Ideas of all creatures mortall and immortall in him-selfe which he looked vpon the immortall ones when hee made the things that should neuer perish the mortall in the rest I aske not here whether that God be those Ideae or whether they bee some-thing else the Platonists know not them-selues c The concord that should Because the woman was not made of any externall parts but of mans selfe as his daughter that there might bee a fatherly loue of his wife in him and a filiall duty towards him in the wife shee was taken out of his side as his fellow not out of his head as his Lady nor out of his feete as his seruant That the fulnesse of man-kinde was created in the first man in whom God fore-saw both who
both as humaine vanity not as diuine verity teacheth him indeed the a Plotonists are not so mad as the Manichees that hate the carnal body as the naturall cause of all mischiefe and yet make God the creator of all the elements parts and qualities that this visible world is composed of Yet the Platonists hold that these our mortall members do produce the affects of feare desire ioy and sorrow in our bodies from which foure perturbations as Tully calles them or passions as other translators giue them the whole inundation of mans enormities haue their source and spring If this be so why doth Aeneas in Virgill hearing by his father that the soules were to returne backe into bodies wunder at this opinion and cry out O pater anne aliquas ad caelum hinc ire putandum est Sublimes animas iterumque ad tarda reuerti Corpora quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido What father do you thinke the soules are taine To heauen and thence to this dull flesh returne What dire affect should vrge them to their paine Is this same dire affect as yet remayning in the soule being now quit from the carnall burden in such a commended purity doth hee not say they are purged from all bodily infection when as they desire to returne into the body againe if it were so then as it is most vaine to hold so that there were an eternall reuolution of the pollution and the purgation then can it not bee truely said that all vicious affects are the effects of the flesh for as this b noble speaker saith that dire affect which doth compell the soule being purged from all earthly c contagion 〈◊〉 desire the body againe is not of the body And therefore they confesse that all the soules ill affects arise not from the flesh as desire feare ioy and d sorrow but it may haue those passions of it selfe L. VIVES THe a Maniches They held all flesh the worke of the deuill not of GOD and therefore they forbad their hearers to kill any creatures least they should offend the Princes of darkenesse from whom they sayd all flesh had originall and if they vsed their wiues yet must they auoide generation least the diuine substance which goeth into them by their nourishment should bebound in the fleshly bonds of the child begotten Aug ad Quod vult deum The Prisciâ—…ianists held thus also b Noble speâ—…ker So he called Tully before and Virgil now c contagion Or habitacle d Sorrow Tullie calls it egritudo Tusc. 3. Of the quality of mans will vnto with all affections good and bad are subiect CHAP. 6. BVt the quality of mans will is of some moment for if it be bad so are all those motions if good they are both blamelesse and praise-worthy for there is a a will in them all nay they are all direct wills what is desire and ioy but a will b consenting to that which wee affect and what is feare and sorrow but a will contrary vnto what we like But when we consent to the desire of any thing that is desire and when wee consent in enioying any thing this is delight â—…o when wee dislike a thing and would not haue it come to passe this will is feare when we dislike it being come to passe this is griefe or sorrow And this according to the variety of the things desired and avoided as the will consents or dislikes so are our diuersity of passions Whereof a Man that maketh GOD aâ—…d noâ—… Man the steeres-man of his life ought to loue good and consequently to hate euill and because none is euill by nature but all by vice hee that liueth after Gods loue oweth his c full hate vnto the Euill not to hate the man for his vice nor to loue the vice for the man but hate the vice and loue the man for the vice being cured hee shall finde no obiect of his hate but all for his loue L. VIVES a A Will The Stoickes hold that onely to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Tully translates will when a thing is firmely and constantly desired therefore it is defined a desire of any thing with reason which is in a wise man only but that which is against reason is called a lust or an inordinate desire beeing resident in all fooles The Peripatetiques call both these wills the one good and the other badde the controuersie as I said else-where is but verball For the Stoickes call affects wills also nor skilleth it whether Will follow Naâ—…e or Reason for it is euer-more Will though that be properly called Will wherein is that freedome of election and is harbour to Vice or Vertue b Consenting To beleeue a thing to bee or not to bee is no consent or dissent but Knowledge Faith or Opinion Arist. in Analyt Posterior but to will or not to will in any thing that belongs to the will which perteineth to the minde and as it were appoints and decrees what is to be done or not done c Full hate Explayning that of the Psalme 139. 22. I hate them with a perfect hatred That amor and dilectio are of indifferent vse in the scriptures both for good and euill CHAP. 7. FOr hee that is resolued to loue GOD and his neighbor according vnto God and not Man for this loue is called a Man of a good will and this is called more commonly charity in the scriptures though some-times it bee called loue therein also For the Apostle will haue his magistrate to bee a louer of good And our LORD asking Peter thus Symon the sonne of Ionah louest thou me a more then these hee answered Lord b thou knowest that I loue thee hee asked him so againe and hee answered so againe then they asked him the third time by 〈◊〉 amo whereas he had vsed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 diligo in the other two onely to shew that diligere and amare were both one to loue as Peter had vsed the one in all the three questions This I thought worth recitall but some say c dilectio charity is one thing and amor loue another and that the first is d vsed in the good and the later in the badde But sure it is that the profane authors neuer vsed them so But let the Philosophers looke to their distinctions For their bookes vse amor loue in good senses and in reference to GOD most frequently But wee were to e shew that our scriptures whome wee place farre aboue their authorities doe not vse amor and dilectio with any such distinct difference for wee haue shewne that they vse amor in a good sence If any one thinke it is vsed both in good respect and bad and dilectio onely in the good let him looke in that of the Psalme Hee that loueth diligit iniquity hateth his owne soule here is diligo vpon a badde subiect And here the Apostle Iohn If any man loue Dilexerit the vvorld the loue dilectio of the Father is not
absolute security from all incursions of hostility The place therefore 〈◊〉 this promised peace is to haue residence is eternall it is that heauenly â—…alem that free-woman where the true Israel shall haue their blessed aâ—… the name importeth Hierusalem a that is Beholding God the desire 〈◊〉 reward must beare vs out in Godlynesse through all this sorrowfull â—…ge L. VIVES HIerusalem a that is Hierome saith it was first called Iebus then Salem thirdly Hierusalem and 〈◊〉 Aelia Salem is peace as the Apostle saith vnto the Hebrewes Hierusalem the vision of peace This was that Salem wherein Melchisedech raigned Ioseph and Hegesip It was called Aelia of Aelius Adrian the emperor that repayred it after the destruction by Titus in emulation of his auncestors glory The Gentiles called it both Solymae Solymi and Hierusalem Some draw that Solymi from the Pisidians in Lycia called of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some from the Solymi a people of Pontus in Asia who perished as Eratosthenes writeth with the Peleges and Bebricians Eupolemus as Eusebius saith deriued the name Solymi from Salomon quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salomons temple and some thinke Homer called it so but Iosephus lib. 7. saith it was called Solyma in Abrahams time And when Dauid had built a tower in it the Iebuzites hauing taken it before and fortified it it was named Hierosolyma for the Hebrewes call a fortification Hieron but it was rather called Iebus after it was called Salem then before for it is held that Melchisedech built it and he called it Salem And the Canaanites whose King he was dwelt therein and he was otherwise called the iust King saith Hegesippus for so was he named after his father yet Hierome De loc Hebraic ad Damas. saith that Salem was not Hierusalem but another Citty in the country of Sychem a part of Chanaan where the ruines of Melchisedechs palace are yet to be seene as the memories of a most ancient and magnificent structure I omit to relate whence Strabo deriueth the originall of Hierusalem out of Moyses for Strabo was neuer in Chanaan I omit those also that say that Hierusalem was Luz and Bethel Bethel being a village long after it as I said before Of Dauids endeuours in composing of the Psalmes CHAP. 14. GOds citty hauing this progresse Dauid raigned first in the tipe therof the terrestrial Hierusalem now Dauid had great skil in songs and loued musike not out of his priuat pleasure but in his zealous faith whereby in the seruice of his and the true God in diuersity of harmonious and proportionat sounds hee mistically describeth the concord and vnity of the celestiall Citty of God composed of diuers particulars Al his prophecies almost are in his Psalmes A hundred and fifty whereof that which wee call the booke of Psalmes or the Psalter contayneth Of which b some will haue them onely to be Dauids that beare his name ouer their title Some thinke that onely they that are intitled each peculiarly a Psalme of Dauid arâ—… his the rest that are intitled to Dauid were made by others and fitted vnto his person But this our Sauiour confuteth his owne selfe saying that Dauid called Christ in the spirit his Lord cyting the hundreth and tenth Psalme that beginneth thus The Lord sayd vnto my Lord sit thou on my right hand vntill I make thine enemies thy foote-stoole Now this Psalme is not entituled of Dauid but to Dauid as many more are But I like their opinion best that say hee made all the 150. entitling them sometimes with other names and those pertinent vnto some prefiguration or other and leauing some others vntituled at all as God pleased to inspire these darke misteries and hidden varieties all vsefull how-so-euer into his minde Nor is it any thing against this that wee read the Psalmes of some great Prophets that lined after him vpon some of his Psalmes as if they were made by them for the spirit of prophecy might aswel foretel him their names as other maters that â—…tained to their persons as the Reigne of King Iosias was reuealed vnto a Prophet who fore-told of his doings and his very name about three hundred of yeares before it came to passe L. VIVES DIuersity of a Harmonious and. The seuerall â—…nstruments vsed in this harmony are rehersed 1. Chron. 15. Augustine in Proaem Quinquag saith of the instrument called the 〈◊〉 that it is fit â—…or celestiall harmony and to be vsed in matters diuine because the 〈◊〉 of it in the tuning do all ascend vpwards b Some will Iames Perez my countryman who wrote the last not so eloquent as learned large commentaries vpon the Psalmes In the beginning of them disputeth a while about the authors of the Psalmes and affirmeth that the Iewes neuer made question of it before Origens time but all both wrot and beleeued 〈◊〉 Dauid wrot them all But when Origen began with rare learning and delicate wit to draw all the propheticall sayings of the Old-testament vnto Christ already borne hee made the Iewes runne into opinions farre contrarying the positions of their old maisters and fall to depâ—…ing of the scriptures in all they could yet were there some Hebrewes afterwards that held as the ancents did that Dauid was the onely author of all the Psalmes Some againe held that he made but nine and that other Prophets wrot the rest viz. some of the sonnes of Corah Ethan Asaph or Idythim Those that haue no titles they do not know whose they are onely they are the workes of holy men they say Marry Rabby Salomon that impudent Rabbine maketh tenne authors of the Psalmes Melchisedech Abraham Moyses the sonnes of Chora Dauid Salomon Asaph Ieduthim and Ethan but Origen Ambrose Hillary Augustine and Casâ—… make Dauid the author of them all vnto whome Iames Perez agreeth confirming it for the trueth by many arguments read them in him-selfe for the bookes are common I 〈◊〉 Hieromes words to Sophronius and Cyprians concerning this poynt let this suffice at this 〈◊〉 c To Dauid So is the Greeke indeed but I haue heard diuers good Hebraicians sâ—…y that the Hebrewes vse the datiue case for the genitiue d As the raigne 1. Kings 11. Whether all things concerning Christ and his Church in the Psalmes be to be rehearsed in this worke CHAP. 15. I see my reader expecteth now that I should deliuer all the prophecies concerâ—… Christ and his Church contayned in the Psalmes But the abundance 〈◊〉 rather then the want hindreth me from explaning all the rest as I haue 〈◊〉 and as the cause seemes to require I should be too tedious in reciting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feare to choose any part least some should thinke I had omitted any that 〈◊〉 more necessary Againe another reason is because the testimony wee 〈◊〉 is to be confirmed by the whole body of the Psalter so that though all 〈◊〉 affirme it yet nothing may contrary it least wee should otherwise seeme â—…ch out verses for our purpose
oppressed and such like as these Oh who can stand to collect or recount them These now albeit they kept this seemingly absurd order continually that in 〈◊〉 whole life wherein as the Prophet saith in the Psalme Man is like to 〈◊〉 and his daies like a shadow that vanisheth the wicked alone should posâ—… those temporall goods and the good onelie suffer euills yet might this 〈◊〉 referred to GODS iust iudgements yea euen to his mercies that such 〈◊〉 â—…ught not for eternall felicitie might either for their malice bee iustly 〈◊〉 by this transitory happinesse or by GODS mercie bee a comfort vnto the good and that they beeing not to loose the blisse eternall might for 〈◊〉 while bee excercised by crosses temporall either for the correction of 〈◊〉 or a augmentation of their vertues 〈◊〉 now seeing that not onely the good are afflicted and the badde exâ—… which seemes iniustice but the good also often enioy good and the 〈◊〉 euill this prooues GODS iudgements more inscrutable and his 〈◊〉 more vnsearcheable Although then wee see no cause why GOD â—…ld doe thus or thus hee in whome is all wisdome and iustice and no â—…nesse nor rashnesse nor iniustice yet heere wee learne that wee may 〈◊〉 esteeme much of those goods or misfortunes which wee see the badde share with the righteous But to seeke the good peculiar to the one and to aâ—… the euill reserued for the other And when we come to that great iudgement properly called the day of doome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consummation of time there we shall not onely see all things apparant but â—…ledge all the iudgements of GOD from the first to the last to bee firmeâ—…â—…ded vpon iustice And there wee shall learne and know this also why 〈◊〉 iudgements are generally incomprehensible vnto vs and how iust his â—…nts are in that point also although already indeede it is manifest vnto â—…full that wee are iustly as yet ignorant in them all or at least in the 〈◊〉 them L. VIVES 〈◊〉 augmentation That vertue might haue meanes to exercise her powers for shee 〈◊〉 â—…ction and leauing that shee languisheth nay euen perisheth as fire doth which 〈◊〉 â—…ell to worke vpon dieth But practise her vpon obiects of aduerse fortune and she 〈◊〉 out her owne perfection Salomons disputation in Ecclesiastes concerning those goods which both the iust and the vniust doe share in CHAP. 3. 〈◊〉 the wisest King that euer reigned ouer Israel beginneth his booke calâ—… a Ecclesiastes which the Iewes themselues hold for Canonicall in this 〈◊〉 b Vanity of Vanities all is vanity What remaineth vnto man of all â—…uells which hee suffereth vnder the Sunne Vnto which hee annexâ—… tormentes and tribulations of this declining worlde and the short â—…ift courses of time wherein nothing is firme nothing constant 〈◊〉 vanitie of althings vnder the Sunne hee bewayleth this also 〈◊〉 that seeing c There is more profitte in wisdome then in follie 〈◊〉 light is more excellent then darkenesse and seeing the wise-mans eyes are in his head when the foole wallketh in darkenesse yet that one condition one estate should befall them both as touching this vaine and transitory life meaning hereby that they were both a like exposed to those euills that good men and bad do some-times both a like endure Hee saith further that the good shall suffer as the bad do and the bad shall enioy goods as the good do in these words There is a vanity which is done vpon the earth that there bee righteous men to whome it commeth according to the worke of the wicked and there bee wicked men to whome it commeth according to the worke of the iust I thought also that this is vanity In discouery of this vanity the wise man wrote al this whole worke for no other cause but that wee might discerne that life which is not vanity vnder the sunne but truth vnder him that made the sunne But as d touching this worldly vanity is it not Gods iust iudgement that man being made like it should vanish also like it yet in these his daies of vanity there is much betweene the obeying and the opposing of truth and betweene partaking and neglecting of Godlinesse and goodnesse but this is not in respect of attayning or auoyding any terrestriall goods or euills but of the great future iudgment which shall distribute goods to the good and euils to the euil to remaine with them for euer Finally the said wise King concludeth his booke thus feare God and keepe his commandements for this is the whole duty of man for GOD will bring euery worke vnto iudgment e of euery dispisedman be it good or be it euill how can wee haue an instruction more briefe more true or more wholesome feare God saith he and keepe his commandements for this is the whole duty of man for he that doth this is full man and he that doth it not is in accompt nothing because he is not reformed according to the Image of truth but sticketh still in the shape of vanity for God will bring euery worke that is euery act of man in this life vnto iudgement be it good or euill yea the workes of euery dispised man of euery contemptible person that seemeth not tâ—… be noted at all God seeth him and despiseth him not neither ouer-passeth him in his iudgement L. VIVES ECclesiastes a Or the Preacher Many of the Hebrewes say that Salomon wrot this in the time of his repentance for the wicked course that he had runne Others say that he fore-saw the diuision of his kingdome vnder his sonne Rehoboam and therefore wrote it in contempt of the worlds vnstable vanity b Uanity of So the seauenty read it but other read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 smoke of fumes Hierome c There is more Wisdome and folly are as much opposed as light and darkenesse d Touching this But that GOD instructeth our vnderstanding in this vanity it would vanish away and come to nought conceyuing falshood for truth and lying all consumed with putrifiing sinne at length like a fume it would exhale a way vnto che second death e Of euery despised man Our translations read it with euery secret thing Hierome hath it Pro omni errato The authors resolution in this discourse of the iudgement to produce the testimonies of the New-Testament first and then of the old CHAP. 4. THe testimonies of holy Scriptures by which I meane to proue this last iudgement of God must bee first of all taken out of the New-Testament and then out of the Old For though the later bee the more ancient yet the former are more worthie as beeing the true contents of the later The former then shall proceed first and they shal be backt by the later These that is the old ones the law and the prophets afford vs the former the new ones the Gospells and the writings of the Apostles Now the Apostle saith By the law commeth the knowledge of sinne But now
his workes which GOD began to make For we our selues also bee the seauenth day when wee shall be replenished and repaired with his benediction and sanctification There being freed from toyle wee shall see because hee is GOD which wee our selues would haue beene when we fell from him hearing from the Seducer Ye shal be as goods and departing from the true GOD by whose meanes we should be gods by participation of him not by forsaking him For what haue wee done without him but that we haue fayled from him and gone back in his anger Of whom we being restored and perfected with a greater grace shall rest for euer seeing that he is GOD with whom we shal be replenished when hee shal be all in all for our good workes also although they are rather vnderstood to bee his then ours are then imputed vnto vs to obtaine this Sabbath because if wee shall atrribute them vnto our selues they shal be seruile when it is sayd of the Sabboth Yee shall not doe any seruile worke in it For which cause it is sayd also by the Prophet Ezechiel And I haue giuen my Sabbaths vnto them for a signe betweene mee and them that they might know that I am the LORD which sanctifie them Then shall wee know this thing perfectly and wee shall perfectly rest and shall perfectly see that he is GOD. If therefore that number of ages as of daies bee accompted according to the distinctions of times which seeme to bee expressed in the sacred Scriptures that Sabbath day shall appeare more euidently because it is found to be the seauenth that the first age as it were the first day bee from Adam vnto the floud then the second from thence vnto Abraham not by equality of times but by number of generations For they are found to haue a tenth number From hence now as Mathew the Euangelist doth conclude three ages doe follow euen vnto the comming of CHRIST euery one of which is expressed by foureteene Generations From Abraham vnto Dauid is one from thence euen vntill the Transmigration into Babilon is another the third from thence vnto the incarnat Natiuity of CHRIST So all of them are made fiue Now this age is the sixt to bee measured by no number because of that which is spoken It is not for you to know the seasons which the father hath placed in his owne powre After this age GOD shall rest as in the seauenth day when GOD shall make that same seauenth day to rest in himselfe which wee shal be Furthermore it would take vp a long time to discourse now exactly of euery one of those seuerall ages But this seauenth shal be our Sabbath whose end shall not be the euening but the LORDS day as the eight eternall day which is sanctified and made holy by the resurrection of CHRIST not onely prefiguring the eternal rest of the spirit but also of the body There we shall rest and see wee shall see and loue wee shall loue and we shall praise Behold what shal be in the end without end For what other thing is our end but to come to that Kingdome of which there is no end b I thinke I haue discharged the debt of this great worke by the helpe of GOD. Let them which thinke I haue done too little and they which thinke I haue done too much grant mee a fauorable pardon But let them which thinke I haue performed enough accepting it with a kinde congratulation giue no thankes vnto me but vnto the LORD with me Amen L. VIVES HOw a great shall that felicity be Innumerable things might be sayd but Augustine is to bee imitated in this and wee must neither speake nor write any thing rashly of so sacred and holy a matter neither is it lawfull for vs to search out that by Philosophy and disputations of men which the LORD hath commaunded to be most secret neither hath vnuailed to the eies nor vttered to the eares nor hath infused into the thoughts and vnderstandings of mortall men It is his will that we should beleeue them to bee great and admirable and onely to hope after them then at last to vnderstand them when we being made partakers of our desire shall behold openly all things being present and with our eyes and so conioyned and affixed vnto our selues that we may so know as we are now knowne neither ought we to enquire whether that blessednesse be an action of the vnderstanding or rather of the will whether our vnderstanding shal behold al things in GOD or whether it shal be restrained from some things least if we enquire these things ouer contentiously there be neither blessednesse of our vnderstanding nor of our will nor wee see any thing in GOD. Althings shal be full of ioyes and beatitudes not onely the will and vnderstanding but the eyes eares hands the whole body the whole minde the whole soule Wee shall see al things in GOD which wee will and euery one shal be content with the degree of his owne felicity nor will enuy another whom hee shall behold to bee nearer vnto GOD because euery man shal be so blessed as hee shall desire I thinke a I haue discharged the debt of this great worke And I likewise thinke that I haue finished no lesse worke and disburdened my selfe of no lesse labour then Augustine thinketh hee hath done For the burden of these meane and light Commentaries hath beene as heauy to our imbecillity and vnskilfullnesse as the admirable burden of those volumes was to the vigor and strength of his wit learning and sanctity If I haue sayd any thing which may please let the Reader giue thankes vnto GOD for mee if any thing which may displease let him pardon me for GODS sake and let things well spoken obtaine fauour for things il-spoken But if he shall kindly amend and take away the errors he shall deserue a good turne of me and the Readers which peraduenture relying vpon me might be deceiued FINIS An alphabeticall Index pointing out memorable matters contained in these bookes of the Citty of God A ARion who hee was fol. 24 Ttilius Regulus fol. 26 Abraham no murtherer fol. 37 Agamemnon who hee was fol. 34 Atis who he was fol. 56 Alcibiades his law fol. 64 Aeschines who he was fol. 69 Aristodemus who he was ibid. Attelan Comedies fol. 73 Athens lawes imitated in Rome fol. 78 Agrarian lawes fol. 84 Apollo and Neptune build Troy fol. 108 Anubis who he was fol. 76 Aedile his office fol. 103 Athenian ambassadors fol. 90 Ages of men fol. 117 Aesculapius who he was fol. 120 Aetnas burning fol. 157 Assyrian monarchie fol. 161 Anaximander who hee was fol. 299 Anaximines who hee was fol. 300 Anaxogoras who he was ibid. Archelaus who hee was ibid. Aristippus who he was fol. 302 Antisthenes who he was ibid. Atlas who he was fol. 313 Aristole who hee was fol. 318 Academia what it was ibid. Alcibiades who he was fol. 507 Arke
5. 44. Abbot Agatho Ancid 4. Virg. Aâ—…g log 8. Apuleius accused of Magick Magike forbidden The elements chaiâ—…ed The deuills habâ—…ion Rom 1. 21. 22. 23. Isay 19 1 Luc. 1. Luc. 1. Mat 16. â—…6 Mat 8. 29 Spirits and deuills called into Images Psal. 96. 1. Cor. 1. 8. 4. How man doth make the deuill god The deuills benefâ—…es hurtfull De Philosoph Orac. Malice The Martires memory succeeded the Idols Mercuries tombe The Necia plaâ—…es Three Aesculapiâ—… The Crocodile The Mercury Hermopolis Trismegistus Cypâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Martires not to be adored Plaies of the passion of Iesus Christ vnlawfull The Louanists want this Isis. Ceres Wheate put barley out of credit In coÌ„uiuio Daemones Dâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pasâ—… An history of a Philosopher thaâ—… was in a stoâ—… at sea 〈◊〉 of 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phantasie Opinion Affects how 〈◊〉 man Pyey 〈◊〉 Angells why called after the affect that their offices releâ—…e Tâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subâ—…s â—…o pasâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Circian colours Apuleâ—… his description of maâ—… The deuills miserable immortality Plotine Eudemonâ—… Genâ—… Lareâ—… 〈◊〉 The golden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daemon Lâ—…res Lemures Maâ—…s The diâ—… eternally miserable Enuy. Phil 2. God not polluted by being present vnto wise men God incoÌ„prehensible God is to be partly knoâ—…ne of his creatures God assumed man All this commenâ—…ary the Lovanists do lâ—…aue quite out Daemon vsed alway in the scripture on the worst part 〈◊〉 â—…t it is 〈…〉 Daemâ—… Maâ—… 1. â—…4 Math 4. Christs miracles Temptation The diuels knowledge The diuels oâ—…en decemed Loue of fâ—…e obiâ—…s The certâ—…y of Gods wâ—… â—…s 50. 1. Pâ—… 130. 2. â—…s 95 3. â—…s 96 4 5. Mar. 1. 24. Ps. 82. 6. Men called Gods Why. Cor 1. 8. ver 5. 6 The diuelâ—… not to be worshipped 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods seruants Laâ—… Dulâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hier. 17 Mat. 5. 14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psa. 116. 12 13. Râ—…ligon The sum of â—…lle eligion Neighbors who bee they Our friend our second selfe Psal. 15. 2 Psa. 51 16 17. 〈◊〉 Psal. 50 1â—… 13. Ver. 14 15 Mich. 6 6 7. 8 Heb. 13. 16 Mercy â—…el 30. 23 Rom. 12 1 Verse 2. Psam â—…3 28 The christâ—…ans sacrifice The sacrament of the altar Psal. 87. 2 Gen. 17 1â—… Gen. 21 Genâ—…s Geâ—… 9 Exod. 14 Exod. 15 â—…od 23 The Teletae Goetia Magike Pharmacy Theurgy Plato's law Platos gods Psellus his Daemones Porphyries gods The deuills apparitions 2. Cor. 11. 14 Proâ—… Lib. 2. Chaeremon Porphyryes 〈◊〉 of the gods that loue sacrifices Isis. Osyris Man a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All time 〈◊〉 to God 〈◊〉 33 〈◊〉 Whether the Fathers â—…aw God or no. Heb 2. 2. Io 5 37. Exo. 33. 20 veâ—…se 23. Lycurgus Mâ—… 6. 2â—… 29. 30. Godâ—… proâ—… Periurgikes Tâ—… 〈◊〉 excell the Pagans The angels 〈◊〉 god Procurare Actius Naeuius Augur The 〈◊〉 â—…pent Claudia a Vestall Iuglerâ—… Illusionâ—… Aâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tâ—…e 〈◊〉 Exod. 13. â—…os 4. Ios. 6. 1 Kingâ—… 5. The diuels vvorke vvonders for their vvorship Ps. 72. Offices The Angels refuse honours Apoc. 19. Acts. 〈◊〉 The church a sacrifice Hovv The Martâ—…rs the diuels conquerers Heroes and Semigods 〈◊〉 Heâ—… Rapâ—… Proseâ—…p lib. 2. Scipio African Sin onely â—…euers man from God Exorcisme Porphyry his opinion of the Trinity Heed must bee had of discourse of the Trinity The Sabellian Heretikes Whether the Phylosophers kneâ—… the â—…inity Serapis his answere Plotine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 24. Pride 〈◊〉 one from light of the mistery of redemption Io. 1. 14. Io. 6. 60. Io. 8. 25. The 〈◊〉 â—…s 73. 28. Ps. 83. The flesh is cleansed by the heart Rom. 8. 24. Christ 〈◊〉 vpon hâ—…m whole mâ—…n Virgil. Eâ—… 4. The Theurgikes cannot purge or cleanse 〈◊〉 spâ—… 1. Cor. Abd. 1. Esay 33. The wisdome of the word foolishnesse Amelita Plato's opinion of thâ—… worlds creaâ—…on The Kings lâ—…gh way Genes 22 Psalm 60 Iohn 14 Esay 2 Luk. 24 A recâ—…pitulation of the former ten bookâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…7 2 〈◊〉 4â—… 1 〈◊〉 â—…6 How God speaketh vnto man No Godhead of the sonnes waisted in his assumption of man Faith concernes things inuisible Sensâ—… To see Whether the world be created Mâ—…odorus 〈◊〉 Time Eternity Gal. 4. 26. Knowledge of a creature Gods rest not personall but efficient Iob. 38. 7â—… Vnitie in 〈◊〉 Religious phrases God â—…ly 〈◊〉 〈…〉 A pure conscience Ioh. 8. 44. 〈◊〉 1. 3. 8. Thâ—… 〈◊〉 Iohn 8. 44 Psâ—… 17. 16. 〈◊〉 â—…4 12 〈◊〉 28. 13. 〈◊〉 15. Iob. 40. Psal. 104 Good 〈◊〉 better 〈◊〉 bad Angells Iob. 40 〈◊〉 â—…ill Câ—… 1 6 7 8 9 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Louvaine copie defectiue Gen 1. 4. 5. Darknes Gen. 1. Plato The iust cause of the worlds creation Nothing â—…aturaly â—…ell Questons in the consideration of nature The holy spirit 〈◊〉 persoâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Louâ—…aine copy defectiue The parts of a vvorke man Vse Fruit. Fruitiâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wâ—… 1â—… The number of sixe Pro. 24. 16. The number of â—…auen Ps. 104. Mat. 18. 10. A beginning Iohn 13. Ps. 104. 30. Eph. 5. 8. Iameâ—… 4. Gen. 1. Ps. 95. Waters aboue heauen Elements how commixtures The seat of the brayne God the onely immutable good To adhere vâ—…o God Exod. 3. Essence Apoâ—…a Gods enemies Vice and 〈◊〉 Exod. 8 Natures absolute excellence euen in things that punish man Punishment of malefactor in the sunne The goodnesse of fire Salamander Eccl. 10. Psal. 19. The diuine essence neuer can faile Tâ—… inordinate loue of things bad not the things â—…selues The fall from good the cause of euill Psal. 73. The creation of the Angells Eze. 28. 12 The dgreeâ—… of grace The Egiptian yeares The Greeke histories 〈◊〉 thâ—…n the Egiptianâ—… in the computation of the Monarchies The liberty that the old wriâ—…ers vsed in computation of time The monthly years Nothing coâ—…uall that hath an extreame Ecc. 1. 9. 10 Rom 6. 〈◊〉 Thess. 4. Psal. 12. 7. Reuolution of times Isâ—… 65. 17. God eternall Psal. 11. Rom. 11. 14 Wisâ—… 3. Times 〈◊〉 12 〈◊〉 2 The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what they are Arguments against the creation of things in time 2. Cor. 10 1â—… Gods vvorking his resting 〈◊〉 Number 〈◊〉 Wâ—… 11 17 Mâ—… 10 30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Genes 〈◊〉 Psal. 148 Secula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 True felicity Our life 〈◊〉 to death Rom. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The goodnesse of obedience Disâ—… amongst men vvorâ—… Gen. 2. Breathing in his face 1. Cor. 11. Angells the creators of nothing Angells Gods deputies and â—…rs Gen. 1. 〈◊〉 Cor. 37. 1. Cor. 1538 Hier. 1. Pliâ—…ib 8. A child like a dâ—…uill Iohn Lamuza Womens longing that are with child Alexandria Psal. 46. 8. In Timaeo Mariage commended in the creation Psa. 25. 10 The Louaynists are deafe on this side but not blind they can see to leaue out all this The forsaking of God â—…e death of the soule Maâ—… 10. 28 Death by sinne Psal 49 â—…0 Infants weaker theâ—… the young of any other creature Why death remaineth after baptisâ—… Gen. 2.