100. yeares and Xenophon that he very yong began warre so his glory might well by Greekes begin where scripture placeth the Chaldean to whom Heathen Greekes giue no superioritie over the Persians After Cyrus tooke Babel he reigned three yeares when Daniel fasted because the building of the Temple was hindred by letters written to Artaxata named in Ezra 4. and called Prince of Persia Dan. 10. And soone Cyrus might dye Otherwise Daniel would stirr him to further his own decree and Herodot bringeth his death neare Babels fall by Scythian Thamar Artaxata or Cambyses had reigned so long with his father that he had put to death all the chief Nobility By Lucian citing Persique writers and after his hinderance of the Temple Christ with his eyes like a flame of fire Dan. 10. would rewarde him according to his workes being Can-byshes a Prince of shame and Herodot sheweth his badnes and quick death after his sole governement And as counsellers prevayled al his dayes to hinder the Temple which counsels hardly could be long vniforme that record in Ezra 4. argueth that he reigned not long sole Emperour though Heathen in Clemens giue him 19. yeares which might be almost all vnder his Father Next cometh the King which maried Atossa Hester famous in Hellanicus for inventing Epistles as he thought Mardochai telleth of her Letters through 127. Provinces for the Iewes safety And of them Hellanicus might speake Hester was maried to him in his seaventh yeare So her sonne Darius Artaxasta mentioned Ezra 6 ver 14. might be six yeares old in his fathers twelfth mentioned by Mardochai then actiue though he were caried to Babel with King Iechonias This King Esters husband is called Darius in Herodot and Ctesias and he liued by Ctesias 43 yeres and by Herodotus he was 20. when Cyrus went to Scythia vpon the taking of Babel and dreamed of his Empire So if Cambyses called Artaxata by his Imperiall name reigned after Babels fall 7. yeares Darius had 16. who by his Imperiall name is Oxyares Assuerus or Xerx Two sonnes he left who gently strove for the Empire while neither sought to defeate the other as Iustine recordeth and Herodot recordeth that Athossaes sonne borne after the father was Emperour prevailed The wisedome of Mardochai and Nehemias and Ester might cause that quietnesse Seeing Mardochai was a chief in the kingdome And somwhat the yong yeares of Atossaes sonne ten at his fathers death So the other brother hath his fathers Imperiall name Xerx Est. 10. by the Ierusalem copy in the Massoreth This Xers six yeares prepared warre for Grecia in his brothers minority When he was in Grecia then was Atossaes sonne 16. and might well licence the building of the Temple and take the other Imperiall name Artaxasta being king of Assur or Babel before he was sole Emperour and mention prayer for the Kinges sonnes and acknowledge Gods wrath in the overthrow of Xerx for hindering the Temple And the style of Aggei sheweth that he exhorted the returned whereof some had sene Salomons Temple to build before the King gaue leaue otherwise exhortation were cold And seeing Hester was of Beniamin in whose tribe the Temple was built Sems sonne by Elam and Arphaxad was fit to be the builder And God prospered him and his sonne and his grand child No other would so favour Iuda In his second he authoriseth the Temple with great charges for sacrifice with menacies vpon the hinderers in his sixt it is built In his seaventh he sendeth Ezra to set forward lawes with great giftes from the Persian worthies being taught with the King the religion of God In his twentieth Nehemias the third in the Cataloge of the returned walleth the City by seaven seavens from the seaventieth of Babel And Ierusalem is not more walled by stones then trueth of storie to check Heathē by the Chronicle Whē 49000. Iewes teach vs to make frō Cyrus decree to build Ierusalē vnto the building but 49. yeres wher Persians haue since their own chalēge of Empire 149. So that 100. must be cut off when we examine their time as they touch the 490. yeares told vnto the Kings of Sem and Iaphet for persuading Iapheth to dwell in the tentes of Sem And there the Heathen deceyue where prophets most clearly correct their deceipt that Daniels ch 10. and 11. and Ezra 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. And Nehem and Ester and Aggei Zacharie and Malachi chase their errour who can not stick to Heathen but will wrest Gods word more grossely then any thing is spoken in all the Alkoran Yet our Ecclesiasticall bragg what Maister Liuely hath done against all these holy bookes Particular texts and stories of Kings shal be compared with his learning and our right reverend fathers shal see who be the lyers against all duty and raylers against all honesty foming out their owne shame as the raging waves of the Sea they shall resume their owne phrases and by their eares heare their tongue Of 2. Chro. 36. or Ezra 1. THus saith Cyrus King of Paras The Eternall the God of heaven hath given me all the kingdomes of the earth and hath commaunded me to build him a Temple in Ierusalem which is in Iudah Who is amongst you of all his people The Eternall his God be with him and let him go vp c. Of Cyrus first yeare what it meaneth SEeing Cyrus came vp as a warrier vnto all the kingdomes of the earth reason would tell that in his first yeare of reigne in Persia he overcame not 120. countreis but his first yeare of Empire aboue all mightie is meant yet our Ecclesiasticall make the FIRST here the first of Cyrus thirty in M. Liuelies thirty yeares skill for Ebrew writers when he bringeth one Ebrew of his minde the Earth shall beare starres and the sky shal be plowed Of Ezra Chap. 3. ver 8. IN the second yere after returne vnto the house of God in Ierusalem the second moneth Zorobabel sonne of Salathiel and Iesus sonne of Iosadak and the rest of their brethren the Sacrificers and the Levites and all they which came from the captiuity to Ierusalem began to lay the foundation of the Temple c. then this Epistle was written to hinder the building to Artax King of Paras Ezr. 4.12 Be it knowen to the King that the Iewes which are come from him to vs are come to Ierusalem and builde the rebelleous and mischevous Citie c. And ver 24. Then the worke of the house of God was stayed For this staying Daniel fasted as he writeth Cha. 10. v. 1. 2. And the Ebrewes that write vpon Daniel would tell M. Liuely so And reason telleth that this Artax was ruler whē the Iewes vnder Cyrus came home M. Liuelies corruption Cyrus reigned 30. yeares Cambyses 7. Darius 36. Xerxes 21. Artaxerxes 40. And by him the Temple was hindered by M. Liuely So he would make about 100. yeares of a few monethes and Zorobabel and Iesus aliue all the while and the
Melea. Eliakim Ionan Ioseph Iuda Simeon Levi. Matthaâ— Iorim Eliezer Iose Er. Melchi Neri Salatthiel Elmodam Cosam Addi * These bad three and worse Iehoiakim Saint Matthewe omitteth ZOROBABEL Abiud Abiud or Mesullam 1. Chro. 3. to whom the Crowne belonged and from whom Heathen toke it Eliakim Azor. Sadoc Achim Eliud Elâ—azar Matthan Iacob Ioseph * Ioseph should haue bene King if Tyrants would haue given all men their right and our Lord his Sonne by lawes esteeme so had bene Kinge of the Iewes And would haue it in no other right that his heavenlie Kingdome might bee knowne Rhesa Ioanna Iuda Ioseph Semei Mattathias Maath Nagge Essi Naum. Amos. Mattathias Ioseph Ianna Melchi Levi. Matthan Eli father in lawe to Ioseph only y e note was good in the former table Marie IESVS our Lord Thus the Table neuer had doubt For seeing Salathiel was the sonne of Neri by S. Luke a priuate man who must needs be a father naturally not as K. Baasa whose family was rooted out was father to King Achab in the speach of King Benadad and seeing God sware that Iechonias should dye childlesse as auctour of the Kingdomes ruine there and not in Ochosias should the Iewes place the Catachresis of begetting Our Lord doeth nothing but he telleth his servants the Prophetes But he told not that hee would end Salomons house in Ochosias and would not passe so great a matter in silence a matter the greatest for the kingdomes of this world Therefore Salomons race ended not in Ochosias but our right Reuerend Fathers are vnspeakably to seeke for the trueth of holy story And Aggei with Zacharie help S. Luke to be vnderstood Aggei bringeth wordes from God for Zorobabel that he shal be a signet vpon the finger of God at the day of glory when the Macedonian kings should be shaken and our Lord should come into the world 29. yeares by Num. 4. before hee entred into the worke of the Tabernacle And so by Moses and Daniel in Aggeis time his nation knew in what yere the west Cittim named Num. 24. generally and Dan. xi more distinctly should haue a full token of Empire the Macedonians should be vtterly bestript of all gouernement Then Zorobabel in Christ should be a signet vpon the finger of God Zorobabel a poore gouernour of 49000. captiues which left Babel hauing litle but what Daniel gote by his wisedome to help the Iewes home Zorobabel poore in spirit and looking for a citie whereof God was the builder soone called away from Sion to Susan as a Pilgrome and stranger on the earth But God sware as was noted from Ier. 22. that if Iechonias were a signet vpon the finger of the Lord he would pluck him thence Therefore Salathiel may no further be sonne to Iechonias then a succeeder in governement as Achab is sonne to Baasa rooted out 1. K. 20.34 Heathen vsed Adoption but Dauids house was bound to the next man of kindred And in adoption the terme begetting is vsual as in a naturall father So Ovid the mirrour of plaine Latin speaketh of Iulius and Augustus Metam 15. being of seuerall families by the father side and Augustus is progenies of Iulius and Nec enim de Caesaris actis Vllum maius opus quam quod Pater extitit huius And againe Scilicet aequoreos plus est domuisse Britannos c. quam tantum genuisse virum As they are very simple in learning that know not Britanie famous 2000. yeares agoe Before Brennus spoiled Delphos and Graecia with his Trimarchiâ of our Britanie and are bare Chorographers that know not all borne within our Iland seas to be Penitus toto diuisos orbe Britannos So they haue litle stomake against Italy that would not remember this place of Naso And as the Emperours are famous Diui So the first beginning in Diuus Iulius and Diuus Augustus is famous thus Ne foret hic igitur mortali semine cretus Ille Deus faciendus erat Hence to all learned and specially to vs the terme of begetting for a successour should bee familiar Thus I speak only for the simple as for our right Reverend Fathers they doe take it for successioÌ„ in all after Ochosias as begotten of him by succession and all that like of them for the phrase there caÌ„not mislike the Catachresis in Iechonias and Salathiel And all must graunt that Salomons house must be brokeÌ„ off vnlesse they will make two Salathiels and two Zorobabels the one couple fathers to Ioseph the other to Mary So doe some learned but vnlearnedly For Zorobabel Aggei 2. was both heyr to Salomon and father to our Lord. And they had bene rash namegeuers that should name a couple of ech family with the same names to disturbe all the world Now that Zorobabel the gouernour in Salomons house cometh of Nathan Zacharie sheweth naming Leui and his chief family Simeon Dauid with Nathan as chief in his family Ch. 12.10 So this cause is past doubt to cleare the Table that in Iechonias not in Ochosias Salomons house was buried that family kingdome should end togeather That Ier. 22. all lam might be plain And an other as great a dotage as any euer came from brainsick head haue the right revereÌ„d Fathers sold to torment the simple who over the realme haue marked them how they make Ochosias to be two yeares Elder then his Father and many yeares Elder then his Mother Of Ochosias or Achaziah made Elder then his Father OF King Ioram thus it is written 2. Chr. 21.20 When he beganne to reigne he was thirty and two yeres old and reigned in Ierusalem eight yeres and liued wretchedly Howbeit they buried him in the city of David but not among the sepulchres of the Kings And the inhabitants of IerusaleÌ„ made Achaziahu his youngest sonne King in his steed for the men of warre that came with the host of the Arabians had slayne all his eldest sonnes and so Ahaziahu the sonne of Iehoram King of Iuda was made King Two and fourtie yeares old was he when he began to raigne and he raigned one yeare in Hierusalem his Mothers name was Athalia the daughter of Amry Of the errours how many very grosse follow vpon one 1. OChosias is called the youngest and made king by the people That had bene needles if he had reygned twenty yeares afore 2. Besides his father reigned but 8. yeres And foure of them with Iosaphat And it were senseles to make him reigne 16. yeres or 12. at the lest afore his father 3. MoÌ„reover nether was Iosaphat king in Iuda nor Achab king of Israel nor Ioram borne 42. yeres afore Achazias death So elder then his Father and Mother and Mothers house should he be For Omri was not theÌ„ setled King but only made King by his souldiers vpon the death of Zimri And Tibni was made King by his men and foure yeares were spent before the people made Omri King Now by our Bishops notes
Iosephus the Iew for a work foūd once at Rome but neuer shewed to any againe wherein he writeth that Zacharie ministred in the seuenth moneth and then was spoken to by the Angell Gabriel and soone went home and his wife conceaued and bare Iohn six moneths elder then our Lord after the flesh This auctoritie though it were true were nothing Scripture should be our ground And seeing God telleth not the day we should not say that according to our feastes the trueth of stories fell And if we relyed vpon Iosephus we should haue kept his workes Of confounding S. Mathew and S. Luke and the Kings A Table is prefixed afore the N.T. which dasheth al the Gospell if it be regarded in these wordes it standeth A Table to make plaine the difficulty that is found in S. Matthew and S. Luke touching the generation of Iesus Christ the sonne of Dauid and his right successour in the kingdome which description beginneth at David and no hygher because the difficultie is only in his posteritie Saint Matthew  Saint Luke David begate Salomon king  Nathan the kings brother Roboam The posteritie of Solomō leaft in Ochosias wherby the kingdom was transported to the line of Nathan in the person of Ioas sonn to Iuda Mathatha Abia. Menna Asa Melcha Iosaphat Eliacim Ioram Iona. Ochosias Ioseph  Iuda Simeon called Ioas which begate Amasias The names here conteyned aswell on the leaft side as on the right issuing frō Ioas haue diuers names yet are all one person Therefore note that the persons on the leaft side named by Saint Ma. are the very same that are otherwise named by S. Lu. on the right side till Salathiel Leui. Azari◠Matthat Ioatham Ioram Achaz Eliezer Ezechias Jesu Manasses Her Amon. Holmadā Iosias Cosan Achaas Addi Ioacim Melchi Iechonias Neri Salathiel Salathiel Zorobabel which begate Abiud Eliacim Azor. Sadoc Achin Eliud Eleazar Mathan Iacob Ioseph the husbande of Mary the virgin mother to our Sauiour Christ After the people were returned in to the land with Zorobabel being delyuered from the captivity of Babylon he governed the same people 58. yeres left diuers childrē among whō Resa and Abiud were the cheefe So the governement rule ouer the people remayned to Resa his posteritie vntill Janne and thēce discended the virgine Marie as is declared in the generatiō described by Sa. Lu. Ioseph her husband descended frō the said Zorobabel by Abiud brother to Resa as S Matt. delareth in the generation by him described Resa which governed 66. yeares Ioanna 53 yeares Iuda 14. Joseph 7. Semei 11. Mathathias 12. Nathat 9 Nagge 10 Heli. 8. Naum. 7. Amos. 14. Mathathias 10. Ioseph 66 Ianne 16. Melchi Leui. Matthath Hely called Ioachim Mary the mother of Christ. IESVS CHRIST Of the faultes conteyned in this Table THE cockles of sea-shores and the leaues of a forest and the granes of the Popy may as well be numbred as the grosse errours of this Table disgracing the ground of our owne hope That Salomons house ended not in Ochorias THat Ioas was sonne to Ochorias properly we may bee sure because six times the Scripture termeth him so And if he had not bene sonne in proprietie the repetitions must haue opened that Prophets repeat not narrations without some change if the matters could suffer And if Salomons house had there ended some speach had bene of it in the holy story And all the Thalmudiques holde that the kings of Iuda vnto Sedekias were of Salomons loynes And if our Gospel crossed the plain story all Iewes would sweare God neuer penned it And well might they So our Diuinitie giueth strong occasion to reiect the Gospell of our owne salvation That King Ioas Matth. 1. is not Simeon Luk. 3. 1 SAint Luke writing of the true light was to refuse darknes But if hee had called king Ioas Simeon all the world would haue sayd hee loued darkenes Ioas was famous Symeon was not heard off but in priuate record 2 Again if Salomons house was ended for badnes in Ochosias he that first of Nathan should succeed had bene a good man As God changeth dignities for a better to succeed But Ioas the king was worse then Ochosias For he fell to strange Gods and kild Zacharie the sonne of Barachias or Iehoiadagh And our Lord Mat. 23. maketh him as a new Cain And the Iewes in Ierusalemy in their treatise of poenance fol. 69. hold that for his sinn the temple and nation was destroyed and 80. thousand sacrificers destroyed for the blood of Zacharie And thus they augment the matter saying fo 69. Col. 1. Seauen transgressions Israel transgressed that day They kild a Priest and a Prophet and a Iudge and shed innocent blood and polluted the court betwixt the altar and the Temple as our Lord telleth them the same and it was the expiation day And when Nebuzaradan came thither he saw the blood vpon the pauement and asked whose blood was this They say the blood of a Sacrificer and a Prophete and a Iudge which prophecied against vs all that thou hast done vnto vs and we stood vp against him and kild him Then he caused 80000. youthes of the sacrificers race to be there killed for him Thus they write in their Rhetorique amplification of murthering the prophet as their maner is feigning narrations to make lively short speaches And this much doeth the Scripture speake 2. Ch. 24. of Zacharias and Ioas. The spirit of God came vpon Zacharia the sonne of Iehoiada the priest which stood by the people sayd vnto them thus sayth God Why transgresse you the cōmaundements of the Lord that ye can not prosper For because ye haue forsaken the Lord he also hath forsaken you And they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the commaundement of the King euen in the court of the house of the Lord. And so Ioas the king remembred not the kindnesse which Iehoiada his father had done to him but slue his sonne and when hee died hee sayd The Lord looke vpon it and require it And when the yeare was out it came to passe that the host of Siria came vp against him and they came against Iuda and Hierusalem and destroyed all the Lords of the people from among the people and sent all the spoyle of them vnto the king to Damascon For the Sirians came with a small company of men and the Lord delyuered a very great host vnto their hand because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers and they gaue sentence against Ioas. And when they were departed from him they left him in great diseases and his owne servants conspired against him for the blood of the children of Iehoiada the priest and slue him on is bed and he died and they buried him in the citie of David but not in the sepulchres of the King Thus shamefull King Ioas lyeth in the holy Scripture and yet our right reuerend Fathers would make
time in the first Apostasie The Cataloge of their testimonies would occupie much paper Yet the malicious of them who know that we bring the hope of our Saviour from the promesse told Adam on his first day that Christ should destroy the workes of Satan would fayne haue the 2000 afore circumcision to be but a Chaos or confusion that in Abraham their glory might begin and all afore to be but some small calling vpon God and that men began at Enos birth to call vpon God Aben Ezra is of this sort later David Kimchi in his Spanish translation but in his Dictionary he bringeth first that which I first here layd downe And Kimchies owne hath vntrueth and open folly and a iarring from all Moses purpose First it is vntrue that vntill Enos birth men called not vpon the name of God in 235. yeres They who beleeved that the Eternall word would be made flesh were from the beginning and were many as we reade that troupes were called the sonnes of God And Cainites the sonnes of men and how theyr fayr Daughters deceaued the better that they tooke to prophane Religion And Seth the iust for this cause might name his sonne sorowfull Enos for a perpetuall memory of the first Apostasie But not without open folly if men then began to call vpon God Now we see that through the Bible in the Ebrew and Chaldy part of Daniel man as sorowfull is called Enos after our fathers name Whereby we might better consider the first Apostasie And Moses shews how the curse vpon the earth hastned by mans cursidnes the destruction by the flood without any offre to amendement as our Father Lamec complayned 1056. yeres after the fall of our wicked workes euer since God cursed the earth hopelesse but for Noes few saved by water for that Noe called vpon God with right knowledge Where the corrupt invocation brought the deluge To this agreeth the Arabique translation old allowed so far as Arabique goeth that is as farre as Daniels image of old reigned Thus it speaketh in Britan letters chinid thebadallah el daghva be ism allah Then was corrupted the calling vpon the name of God The root Badal here is vsed Gen. 49. to the Hebrew chalal to corrupt So the Arabique is manifest and the sence is clear and we haue observed the first Apostasie and reason why all men be called sorowfull Enos in the toung of Adam and Aram. And thus our particular errours haue disturbed all the Bible Some that reach through it all may be briefly considered Of Aharons Ephod OVR translation giveth to the Ephod bleew silke purple and scarlat and white twined silke The Iewes vniversally hold that wolle threed bleew and purple and scarlate and white linen and golden plates cut as threed made the cope not the vncleane worme and they will may well holde vs Battes and Moulwates that cannot see that for the tongue and ceremony by their so plentifull and agreeable writings And of touching a worme thus they write Yf a worme bee in a mans hand though hee wash him selfe in the waters of Siloam or in all the waters that God made he shall not find absolute cleannes Now the worme vnclean by Ceremony might not be in Ceremony figuring holinesse This errour our reverend Fathers will amend Of the twelue Stones THe holy Ghost translated all Aharons twelue stones with fourfold Greek the Heathen the Lxx the Apostles vsing of an Heathen terme fitter and the Thalmudiques that is by a Greek terme made from the Thalmud The heathen and Lxx. agree for eight of the stones and the Lxx. giue Iaspes to Zabulon though the Ebrew Iaspeh falleth to beare engreauen the name of Beniamin where their translation would disturbe conference with the Hebrew So to Beniamin doeth the holy Ghost giue Iaspis Also the stone of Iuda is called Anthrax which terme in Gen. 2. in the Lxx. was an other stone The same in Chaldy is Cadcedona in Ebrew Exo. 20. Nophech and in Ezek. 27. Nophech or Codcod was brought from Aram to Tyrus Mar◠As Thargum Ierusalemy would expound Ezekiel And as Kimchi noteth vpon Es 54. in the Iewel Codcod Thence the holy Ghost maketh Chaldy to be Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Iewel that bare Nepthaly was Achates SHEBO in Ebrew Iohn calleth it a Chrysoprase named of a golden list and greenes in the white Achate In the Septuaginta Sardius was the first and Onychion Beniaminus the last Sardonyx compounded of both names pleaseth Zabulon for his Iaspis taken from him Now by the New Testament thus should Moses be turned to our language Exo. 28. v. 9. and 10. And thou shalt take the two Beryl stones and graue in them the names of the sonnes of Israel six of their names vpon the one stone the names of the six that remayne vpon the other stone according to their birth That is as their mothers first bare but all of one mother togeather That Isachar Zabulon come next Iudah though they were borne after the four of the two hand-mayds And we haue no prescription of order but here wherby each Patriarks should haue his fitt stone whereof a little shal be spoken anone vers 17 c. And thou shalt embosse it with Embosment for stones four rowes of stones a row of Sardius Topaz and Smaragd the first row and the second row of Chalcedon Saphir and Sardonyx and the third row of Hyacinth Chrysoprase Amenthyst Leshem or Hyacinth befell Dan a token that Leshem the Towne should bee his by his conquest mentioned Ios chap. 18. and Iud. 19. And the fourth row of Chrysolite Beryl and Iasper Thus the holy Ghost teacheth vs to translate Moses Also by the order in the revelation the Saphir must be for Isachar the noble Leahs sonne not for Dan of Rachels hand-maid though by birth in age Dan should haue it and the second foundation in the holy city and Isachar should be the last where in trueth Gad is last And the Greek Philo endeth the strife who liued in Caius Caligulaes time saw the stones and tribes names ingrauē He sayth Iudah was in the Anthrax Chalcedō Apo. 21 Isachar in the Saphir fol 37. That one word discusseth all the doubt in what stones each Patriark was engrauen that is all of one mother togeather as the mother first bare So Chizkum learnedly expoundeth the terme birth vpon Exod. 28. Of the Patriarkes order in the Iewels THus the stones held the Patriarkes where the noble Matrones sonnes Leahs Rachels were in their own stomake as Lords aboue the hand-maides all but the blemished as Ruben and Symeon who were made as the basest ODEM Sardius in the 70. and Apo. 21. bare engrauen Ruben he was placed vpon the Hagarens a red stone was a prophecy that he should haue a warrier Frontiers place God fighting for his Church Ap. 4. is like the Sardius defending of his Martyrs against the
could thinke that Iuda was in Babylon aboue 130. And their millions will rather come short then come so farre as 130. yeares And M. Livelies 230. marre the strongest prophecie for the salvation of the world and light of the New Testament So the holy story doth receyue extreeme disgrace What kinde of testimonies M. Liuely bringeth to rent all the last holy Prophetes the stretch the liues in them 100. yeares more then their liues will suffer MAister Liuely citeth Iulius Africanus for Cyrus first yere to be in Olympiad 55. And ill set by Beroldus in Olympiad 80. Aunswere to Olympiades MAister Liuely hath seene or might three treatises iustly checking them which holde Olympiades in any accompt or accompt by Rome or the Archontes of Apollodorus or the distances which Exatosthenes maketh betwixt Cyrus and Xerx thence to The Peloponnesian warres and how Thucidides and Demosthenes make fifty yeares for 35. And how from Lysanders vnwalling of Athens he maketh 34 yeares where Isocrates Strabo with Lysias would make but ten twelue thence to Phil. Macedon for never an one And the true accomptes of Greekes living in Persicq times were brought forth against one that had better skill then M. Liuely in Greeke and did all that Greeke could doe for defence that he might well say as Hector in Vergil Si Pergama dextrâ Defendi possent etiam hâc defensa fuissent And as careles VC-alegon had soone his house on fire for resistance past all hope so M. Liuely might haue seene what would become of his Librarie For Olympiades this was part EZekiel prophecied in Olympiad 48. by Clemens and by him Aggei ninety yeares after in Olympiad 48 So our Ecclesiasticall skill maketh Ezekiel and Aggei of one age This wil be small commendation for right reverend Fathers that haue taken so many hundreth thousande poundes sterling for teaching Diuinitie To make Ezekiel prophecying in the fift of King Sedekias kild by Nabucodonosor Aggei that built the Temple by his tongue to be of one and the same Olympiad in sad trueth and trueth to examine an Angels prophecie Reuerend Fathers should haue dealt more reuerendlie then to check Gods word for the very houre of our redemption set in Daniels time sure for all the world more reuerendly they should haue dealt then to alter the borders which Prophetes and Angels had settled More of this stuffe shal be shewed Xexes in of Esthers time and Oebotas a Greeke and Gelo King of Syracusa were of one time and dealers in the same warres Yet Oebotas warred then in Olympiad the sixt and so Gelo built Camarina in Olympiad the third by the commētarie vpon Pindarus So by our Ecclesiasticall men King Cyrus should be in Antiochus Epiphanes dayes Or Xerxes in King Ezekias time Thus we corrupt religion by ignorance of all groundes of study This ground is sure worthy of all interteynment which Thalmud Ierusalemy citeth but cōfirmed afore in the Gospel Ein dibre Thorah zaricin chizuk Thaaniut fol. 66. col 1. The words of the Law need no fortification So our Lord sayth I receaue no testimony from men When Abraham saw Ismael persecute Isaak he knew that that time four hūdreth yeares Israel should come from Egypt as well as Moses in the end So Ezekias knew fiftine yeres afore he died when he should die so well as they that saw his death So Ieremy knew seauenty yeares before Babel fell when it should fall as well as Daniel that saw it fall so Daniel knew that 490. yeares from his prayer Christ our Lord should confirme the covenant for Heathē as well as the Disciples knew that it was done And all Iewes of any religion in the Gospell looked at the same time for the kingdom of heaven to appeare by the plain proprietie of Gods word Further dotage in Olympiades may be wayed Chilon the wise the Old Lacedemonian of Solons age was Ephorus in Sparte in the fiftie sixt Olympiad of Solons age and much ancienter then Cyrus Sosigenes in Laertius is the authour By Pamphyla a learned Romane woman which wrote of Olympiades whose worke Photius honoreth in his Librarie it was the sixt Olympiade when this Chilon was Ephorus So by Olympiades there is a doubt of 200. yeares that is 50 Olympiades when Chilon one of the seaven sages florished Whose time without Olympiades helpe is knowen wel enough So for the deceaved these Olympiades if they be not farre enough out of the way by them selues these Olympiades would prick them forward And it must needes be counted a most grievous iniurie against the Maiestie of God to torment all the Byble by them and to deny the gracious light of Salvation whiche the holy Angel Gabriel left as mount Sion that can not be mooved And as the mountaynes are about Ierusalem so are holy Scriptures about that oration of the holy Gabriel who taught all at Babels fall that 490. yeares after that yeare the King of Glory should be kild but death should not holde him but his iustice should appeare by his Resurrection that he was kild not for him selfe but to make reconciliation for our sinnes and to seale Vision Prophet and to make Heathen syssoma one body with Israel The Lord knew that as plain a prefixed time as time could bee prefixed was needfull for all the world And the holy Angel might not speake deceipt as Iuppiter in Homer by a dreame deceaved Agamemnon by the word NOW saying Now thou shalt take Troy Agamemnon tooke it for THAT DAY but Iuppiter meant that yeare and so caused for amendes to Achilles infinite slaughter of Greekes By M. Liuely the Angel deceaued all that ever read his wordes till M. Liuely came to teach their right meaning and he should no more be an holy Angel then Iuppiters dreame was a God Our reverend fathers might haue spared the Princes authoritie frō cōfirming such Agamemnonean dreames They that adventure their eternall state on this that they will with all hart might and strength that Gods grace will graciously afford further the trueth and light of the Gospell will not reioyce to haue their authority vsurped to the Eternall destruction of their People and them selves This cosinage to check the holy Angel by Olympiades to turne the prophecy from light to darknes from trueth to falshood from Christ his name to prophane Atheistes from his covenaunt in the Lords supper vnto a covenant of Romane dogges with as dogged Iewes from the times beginning certen and cleare to all heartes of sage vnto one never knowen afore M. Liuely told and to end not at our Lordes death to ende Moses there but to ende at Ierusalems fall and sacrifice to be lefull so farre this matcheth Eves fall by the Serpent and passeth the building of Babel And Esay thought and taught that by Cyrus Decree Ierusalem should be built And seeing he gaue them vnder letters Patentes leave to returne to Ierusalem to builde the Temple the Decree for City and Temple
must needes be at that time and so Daniel would vnderstand him that from that yeare all the world might date their writinges thus Dated 490. yeares afore the kingdome of Messias Cyri primo Dated 460. Darij Artax 20 when Aggei prophecieth Dated 442. vicesimo Artax before Messias kingdome when Ierusalem was walled And as Men on a iourney knowen know stil how fewer miles they haue to their Inne or rest so all the world yere by yere since the Angell taught Daniel might know how neare they were to the opening of the kingdome of heaven by our Lord his most holy soule going through the veile of his flesh into heaven by Saint Paule into Paradise by the Gospell into Hades by the Greeke but in Hades to the Gardens of the godly and not Tartarus to make reconciliation for vs having found Eternall redemption Such limites are fitt markes for a Chronicle The first yeare of Cyrus Empire who had revenged Babel that oppressed Gods children 70. yeares that yeare which saw an Angell tell Daniel of an Eternall kingdome in hope of which 49697. leaue Babel for Ierusalem sure to be still in affliction and a Proclamation of the God that made the heavens over six score nations and a willing subsidie from so many for them that goe to Ierusalem in this hope Such noble stories should be the mark of a Chronicle for Christ chayned from Adam 3470. yeares thither and thence seaven times the captivities length that is 490. yeares vntill the King of glory doth open freedom for all when the sun darkened three houres when the earth trembleth when the stones burst when the curtine of the Temple rent as a Draper would part a peece of cloth when the dead arose when our Lord forty dayes was seene of the faithfull to send his spirit and a fiery law to teach all nations Such noble markes should the Angel Gabriels Chronicle haue and not obscure dennes of Cacus to bring errours in numbre as the leaues of a forest And yet let vs more consider the vanity taken by the Games of Olympia renued every fift yeare having full foure yeares to an Olympiade That by a fuller discourse such wicked toyes might be banished for ever and made a lothsomenes to all men of iudgement Olympiades miracles for Thales the wise man THales Milesius was well knowen that he liued in Solons times Croesus King of Lydia whom Cyrus cōquered and yet Croesus was of King Iosias times as Greekes cōferred will convict This Thales is said by some to be borne in the thirty fift Olympiade and to florish in the seaventh that is about 120. yeres afore he was born And this stuffe is goodly to obscure the time of Salvation shining in Daniel more then doth the sunne in his greatest brightnes Mast. Liuely hath drawne Olympiades into our Ecclesiasticall authoritie to make vs a skoff to all Iewes of the world that wee looke by them how to vnderstand an Angel of light sent by the grace of God to teach all the simple world into whose lippes if grace were not powred to be vnderstood as soone as he spake heathen would say Daniel sawe no Angel And M. Lively neuer heard of any Iew that more regarded Olympiades thē we regard Lucianes true stories And if he had read such Grecians as marke them how they iarre he would haue helde them as weake as Cobwebbes which a fly would breake Of Cyrus and Cambyses to what Olympiad M. Lively might apply them Suidas in the name Anacreon the Poët sayth he liued in the dayes of Polycrates the tyrant of Samos in the fiftie two Olympiade But others place him in the twenty fift Olympiade vnder Cyrus and Cambyses So by Suidas Cyrus Cambyses reigne togeather And by Olympiades an hundreth yeares sooner then M. Liuely would and almost an hundreth yeares before Nebuchadnezar if Ezechiel prophecieth in Olympiad 48. as Clemens of Alexandria writeth he did And so the Ebrew professour may see to what passe his Musae Olympiades bring Ebrew writers if his penne were regarded The recordes of his Eclipses are lesse regarded of Iewes and Grekes and of Arabians cited by Christmannus vpon Alfragan which euen from great Alexander whence Greekes better agree make lesse yeares by much then Ptolemies recorders of Eclipses And they from Nabonassar Mardocempad Nabopollasar Cambyses Darius the first compared with King Ezekias calling back of the sun Esthers time can haue no possibility of agreement or likelyhood Galen vpon Hippocrates sayth well that the most part of the bookes in Alexandria Librarie were forged And Laertius telleth of forging many thousand yeres with pretense of marking eclipses odde monethes and dayes Chrysostome the learned regarded them not Maximus Monachus bringeth other reckonings Epiphanius other and Clemens of Alexandria infinite varieties and yet no care of those calculations and expressely telleth there was no Chronique observation in record before Eratosthenes vnder the Ptolemeis times cōpiled one ROME also is brought in Chronicle who before great Alexander had no writers And Onuphrius Panvinius wondereth at varieties when by whom Rome should be built Also ARCHONTES or Maiors of Athenes are brought to fight with an Angel Three writers wrote of thē Demetrius Stesichorus Apollodorus the third auctour was late and of Chroniclers that would seeme exact folowed But their names many together running vpon a letter shew that from some Alphabet table they wee fetched and very vnlearnedly For many extant in Demosthenes Aeschines and Lysias oratours speaking of their owne times are not in Apollodorus And beyond the times of Xerx there is no table of them extant As Athenes saw not to what purpose they should keep any record of times And Apollodorus hath about 40. where the life of Euripides the Tragique will confute him That shal be shewed in few wordes Of Euripides thus writeth Suidas in Euripides Euripides c. was borne the very same day that Greekes turned the Persians vnto flight c. he lived seaventie five yeares This writeth Suidas in the terme EVRIPIDES And in the terme Timotheus thus Timotheus the Lyrique was in the dayes of Euripides the Tragique when Philip Macedon reigned So it is a sure demonstration that Xerxes flight Philip Macedones reigne are not sundred aboue 75. yeares So M. Liuely is convicted to bring about 40. Mayors of Athenes for Euripides life time more then his dayes saw there It is great pity that our Archepiscopall authoritie should check the Date for salvation to all the world with such Acherontean bables where even Greekes fight for scripture Of the distance from Xerxes flight to the taking of Athens by Lysander to be 65. yeares and thence but ten to Philip Macedon WHen the Athenians dealt most manfully against the Persianes they had the superioritie of Grecia commēded vnto them That they helde till Lacedemon vnwalled their towne after 27. yeares warre That space of rule is in Lysias in Epitaph and in Isocrates Panygyrico 65. yeares And both they being