compage of bones wee shall readily discover thaâ— mâ—n and women have foure and twenty ribs that is twelve on each side seven greater annexed unto the Sternon and five lesser which come short thereof wherein if it sometimes happen that either sex exceed the conformation is irregular deflecting from the common rate or number and no more inferrible upon mankinde then the monstrosity of the son of Rapha or the vicious excesse in the number of fingers and toes and although some difference there be in figure and the female â—s inominatum be somewhat more protuberant to make a fayrer cavity for the Infant the coccyx sometime more reflected to give the easier delivery and the ribs themselves seeme a little flatter yet are they equall in number And therefore while Aristotle doubteth the relations made of Nations which had but seven ribs on a side and yet delivereth that men have generally no more then eight as he rejecteth their history so can we not accept of his Anatomy Againe although we concede there wanted one rib in the Sceleton of Adam yet were it repugnant unto reason and common observation that his posterity should want the same for we observe that mutilations are not transmitted from father unto son the blind begetting such as can see men with one eye children with two and criples mutilate in their owne persons do come out perfect in their generations For the seed conveigheth with it not onely the extract and single Idea of every part whereby it transmits their perfections or infirmities but double and over againe whereby sometimes it multipliciously delineates the same as in Twins in mixed and numerous generations And to speake more strictly parts of the seed do seeme to containe the Idea and power of the whole so parents deprived of hands beget manuall issues and the defect of those parts is supplyed by the Idea of others So in one graine of corne appearing similary and insufficient for a plurall germination there lyeth dormant the virtuality of many other and from thence sometimes proceed an hundred eares and thus may bee made out the cause of multiparous productions for though the seminall materialls disperse and separate in the matrix the formative operator will not delineat a part but endeavour the formation of the whole effecting the same as farre as the matter will permit and from devided materials attempt entire formations And therefore though wondrous strange it may not be impossible what is confirmed at Lausdun concerning the Countesse of Holland nor what Albertus reports of the birth of an hundred and fifty and if we consider the magnalities of Generation in some things wee shall not controverâ—â—â— possibilities in others nor easily question that great worke whose wonders are onely second unto those of the Creation and a close apprehension of the one might perhaps afford a glimmering light and crepusculous glance of the other CHAP. III. Of Methâ—selah VVHat hath beene every where opinion'd by all men and in all times is more then Paradoxicall to dispute and so that Methuselah was the longest liver of all the posterity of Adam we quietly beleeve but that he must needs be so is perhaps below Paralogy to deny For hereof there is no determination from the Text wherein it is onely particular'd hee was the longest liver of all the Patriarchs whose age is there expressed but that he outlived all others we cannot well conclude For of those nine whose death is mentioned before the flood the Text expresseth that Enoch was the shortest liver who saw but three hundred sixty five yeares but to affirme from hence none of the rest whose age is not expressed did dye before that time is surely an illation whereto we cannot assent Againe many persons there were in those dayes of longevity of whose age notwithstanding there is no account in Scripture as of the race of Caine the wives of the nine Patriarches with all the sons and daughters that every one begat whereof perhaps some persons might outlive Methuselaâ— the Text intending onely the masculine line of Seth conduceable unto the Genealogy of our Saviour and the ante-diluvian Chronology And therefore we must not contract the lives of those which are left in silence by Moses for neither is the age of Abel expressed in the Scripture yet is he conceived farre elder then commonly is opinion'd and if wee beleeve the conclusion of his Epitaph as made by Adam and so set downe by Salian Posuit maerens pater cui à silio justius positum foret Anno ab ortu rerum 130. ab â—bele nato 129. we shall not need to doubt which notwithstanding Cajetan and others confirme nor is it improbable if wee conceive that Abel was borne in the second yeare of Adam and Seth a yeare after the death of Abel for so it being said that Adam was an hundred and thirty yeares old when he begat Seth Abel must perish the yeare before which was one hundred twenty nine And if the account of Cain extend unto the Deluge it may not bee improbable that some thereof exceeded any of Seth nor is it unlikely in life riches power and temporall blessings they might surpasse â—hem in this world whose lives reâ—erred unto the next for so when the seed oâ— Jacob was under affliction and captivity that of Ismael and 〈…〉 and grew mighty there proceeding from the one â—welve Princes from the other no lesse then foureteene Dukes and â—ight Kings And whereas the age of Cain and his posterity is not delivered in the Text some doe salve it from the secret method of Scripâ—â—e which sometimes wholly omits but seldome or never deliveâ—s the entire duration of wicked and faithlesse persons as is observable in the history of Esau and the Kings of Israel and Judah And thereâ—ore that mention is made that Ismael lived 137. yeares some conceive he adhered unto the faith of Abraham for so did others who were not descended from Jacob for Job is thought to be an Idumean and of the seed of Esau. Lastly although we rely not thereon we will not omit that conceit uâ—ged by learned men that Adam was elder then Methuselah in as much as he was created in thâ— perfect age of Man which was in those dayes fifty or sixty yeares for about that time wee reade that they begat children so that if unto 930. we adde sixty yeares he will exceed Methuselah And therefore if not in length of dayes at least in old age he surpassed others he was older then all who was never so young as any for though hee knew old age he was never acquainted with puberty youth or Infancy and so in a strict account he begat children at one yeare old and if the usuall compute will hold that men are of the same age which are borne within compasse of the same yeare Eve was as old as her husband and parent Adam and Cain their son coetaneous unto both Now that conception that no man did ever attaine
It hath therefore seemed strange unto some shee should be deluded by a Serpent or subject her reason unto a beast of the field which God had subjected unto hers It hath empuzzeled the enquiries of others to apprehend and enforced them unto strange conceptions to make out how without feare or doubt she could discourse with such a creature or heare a Serpent speake without suspition of imposture The wits of others have been so bold as to accuse her simplicity in receiving his temptation so coldly and when such specious effects of the fruit were promised as to make them like gods not to desire at least not to wonder he pursued not that benefit himselfe and had it been their owne case would perhaps have replied If the taste of this fruit maketh the eaters like gods why remainest thou a beast If it maketh us but like gods we are so already If thereby our eyes shall be opened hereafter they are at present quicke enough to discover thy deceit and we desire them no opener to behold our owne shame If to know good and evill be our advantage although we have free will unto both wee desire to performe but one we know 't is good to obey the Commandement of God but evill if we transgresse it They were deceived by one another in the greatest disadvantage of delusion that is the stronger by the weaker For Eve presented the fruit and Adam received it from her Thus the Serpent was cunning enough to begin the deceit in the weaker and the weaker of strength sufficient to consummate the fraud in the stronger Art and fallacy was used unto her a naked offer proved sufficient unto him so his superstruction was his ruin the fertility of his sleep an issue of death unto him And although the condition of sex posterity of creation might somewhat extenuate the error of the woman Yet was it very strange and inexcusable in the man especially if as some affirme he was the wisest of all men since or if as others have conceived he was not ignorant of the fall of the Angels and had thereby example and punishment to deterre him They were deceived from themselves and their owne apprehensions for Eve either mistooke or traduced the commandement of God Of every tree of the garden thou maiâ—st freely eat but of the tree of knowledge of good aâ—d evill thou shalt not eat for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Now Eve upon the question of the Serpent returned the precept in different tâ—armes You shall not eat of it neither shall you touch it lest perhaps you dye In which delivery there were no lesse then two mistakes or rather additionall mendacites for the commandement forbids not the touch of the fruit and positively said ye shall surely dye but she extenuating replied ne forte â—oriamini lest perhaps ye dye For so in the vulgar translation it runneth and so is it expressed in the Thargum or Paraphrase of Jonathan And therefore although it be said and that very truly that the divell was a liar from the beginning yet was the woman herein the first expresse beginner and falsified twice before the replye of Satan and therefore also to speak strictly the sin of the fruit was not the first offence they first transgressed the rule of their own reason â—nd after the commandement of God They were deceived through the conduct of their senses and by temptations from the object it selfe whereby although their intellectualls had not failed in the theoriâ— of truth yet did the inservient and brutall faculties controle the suggestion of reason Pleasure and profit already overswaying the instructions of honesty and sensuallity perturbing the reasonable commands of vertue For so is it delivered in the text That when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant unto the eye and a tree to be desired to make one wise she tooke of the fruit thereof and did eat Now hereby it appeareth that Eve before the fall was by the same and beaten way of allurements inveigled whereby her posterity hath been deluded ever since that is those three delivered by Sâ— John the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life wherein indeed they seemed as weakly to faile as their debilitated posterity ever after Whereof notwithstanding some in their imperfections have resisted â—ore powerfull temptations and in many moralities condemned the facility of their seductions Againe they might for ought we know be still deceived in the unâ—beliefe of their mortality even after they had eat of the fruit For Eve observing no immediate execution of the curse she delivered the fruit unto Adam who after the taste thereof perceiving himselfe still to live might yet remaine in doubt whether he had incurred death which perhaps he did not indubitably believe untill he was after convicted in the visible example of Abel for he that would not believe the menace of God at first it may be doubted whether before an ocular example hee believed the curse at last and therefore they are not without all reason who have disputed the fact of Cain that is although he purposed to mischiefe whether he intended to murther his brother or designed that whereof he had not beheld an example in his owne kinde there might be somewhat in it that he would not have done or desired undone when he brake forth as desperately as before hee had done unmannerly My iniquity is greater then can be forgiven me Some nicities I confesse there are which extenuate but many more that aggravate this delusion which exceeding the bounds of our Discourse and perhaps our satisfaction we shall at present passe over And therefoâ—e whether the sinne of our first parents were the greatest of any since whether the transgression of Eve seducing did not exceed that of Adam seduced or whether the resistibility of his reason did not equivalence the facility of her seduction wee shall referre it unto the Schoolman Whether there were not in Eve as great injustice in deceiving her husband as imprudence in being deceived her self we leave it unto the Morallist Whether the whole relation be not Allegoricall that is whether the temptation of the man by the woman bee not the seduction of the rationall and higher parts by the inferiour and feminine faculties or whether the tree in the middest of the garden were not that part in the centre of the body on which was afterward the appointment of circumcision in males we leave it unto the Thalmudist Whether there were any policie in the devill to tempt them before conjunction or whether the issue before tentation might in justice have suffered with those after we leave it unto the Lawyer Whether Adam foreknew the advent of Christ or the reparation of his error by his Saviour how the execution of the curse should have been ordered if after Eve had eaten Adam had yet refused Whether if they had tasted
well understanding the omniscience of his nature he is not so ready to deceive himselfe as to falsifie unto him whose cognition is no way deludable And therefore when in the tentation of Christ he played upon the falacy and thought to deceive the Author of truth the method of this proceeding arose from the uncertainty of his divinity whereof had he remained assured he had continued silent nor would his discretion attempt so unsucceedable a temptation And so againe at the last day when our offences shall be drawne into accompt the subtilty of that Inquisitor shall not present unto God a bundle of calumnies or confutable accusations but will discreetly offer up unto his Omnisciencie a sure and undeniable list of our transgressions The fifth is another reply of Cain upon the denouncement of his curse My iniquity is greater then can be forgiven For so is it expressed in some translations The assertion was not onely desperate but the conceit erroneous overthrowing that glorious attribute of God his mercy and conceiving the sinne of murder unpardonable which how great soever is not above the repentance of man but far below the mercies of God and was as some conceive expiated in that punishment he suffered temporally for it There are but two examples of this errour in holy Scripture and they both for murder and both as it were of the same person for Christ was mystically slaine in Abel and therefore Cain had some influence on his death as well as Judas but the sinne had a different effect on Cain from that it had on Judas and most that since have fallen into it for they like Judas desire death and not unfrequently pursue it Cain on the contrary grew afraid thereof and obtained a securement from it Assuredly if his despaire continued there was punishment enough in life and justice sufficient in the mercy of his protection For the life of the desperate equals the anxieties of death who in uncessant inquietudes but act the life of the damned and anticipate the desolations of hell T is indeed a sinne in man but a punishment onely in the devils who offend not God but afflict themselves in the appointed despaire of his mercies And as to be without all hope is the affliction of the damned so is it the happinesse of the blessed who having their expectations present are not distracted with futurities So is it also their felicity to have no faith for enjoying the beatifical vision there is nothing unto them inevident and in the fruition of the object of faith they have received the full evacuation of it The last speech was that of Lamech I have slaine a man to my wound and a young man to my hurt If Cain be avenged seven fold truly Lamech seventy and seven fold Now herein there seemes to be a very erroneous illation from the indulgence of God unto Cain concluding an immunity unto himselfe that is a regular protection from a single example and an exemption from punishment in a fact that naturally deserved it The Error of this offendor was contrary to that of Cain whom the Rabbins conceive that Lamech at this time killed He despaired of Gods mercy in the same fact where this presumed of it he by a decollation of all hope annihilated his mercy this by an immoderancy thereof destroyed his justice though the sin were lesse the errour was as great For as it is untrue that his mercy will not forgive offenders or his benignity cooperate to their conversions So is it also of no lesse falsity to affirme his Justice will not exact account of sinners or punish such as continue in their transgressions And thus may we perceive how weakely our fathers did erre before the floud how continually and upon common discourse they fell upon errours after it is therefore no wonder we have been erroneous ever since And being now at greatest distance from the beginning of erâ—our are almost lost in its dissemination whose wayes are boundlesse and confesse no circumscription CHAP. III. Of the second cause of Popular Errors the erroneous disposition of the people HAving thus declared the fallible nature of man even from his first production we have beheld the generall cause of error but as for popular errors they are more neerely founded upon an erroneous inclination of the people as being the most deceptible part of mankind and ready with open armâ—s to receive the encroachments of Error which condition of theirs although deduceable from many grounds yet shall we evidence it but from a few and such as most neerely and undeniably declare their natures How unequall discerners of truth they are and openly exposed unto errour will first appeare from their unqualified intellectuals unable to umpire the difficulty of its dissentions For Error to speake strictly is a firme assent unto falsity Now whether the object whereunto they deliver up their assent be true or false they are incompetent â—udges For the assured truth of things is derived from the principles of knowledge and causes which determine their verities whereof their uncultivated understandings scarce holding any theory they are but bad discerners of verity and in the numerous tract of error but casually do hit the point and unity of truth Their understanding is so feeble in the discernement of falsities and averting the errors of reason that it submitteth unto the fallacies of sence and is unable to rectifie the error of its sensations Thus the greater part of mankinde having but one eye of sence and reason conceive the earth farre bigger then the Sun the fixed Stars lesser then the Moone their figures plaine and their spaces equidistant For thus their sence enformeth them and herein their reason cannot rectifie them and therefore hopelesly continuing in their mistakes they live and dye in their absurdities passing their dayes in perverted apprehensions and conceptions of the world derogatory unto God and the wisdome of his creation Againe being so illiterate in point of intellect and their sence so incorrected they are farther indisposed ever to attaine unto truth as commonly proceeding in those wayes which have most reference unto sence and wherein there lyeth most notable and popular delusion For being unable to weild the intellectuall armes of reason they are faine to betake themselves unto wasters and the blunter weapons of truth affecting the grosse and sensible wayes of doctrine and such as will not consist with strict and subtile reason Thus unto them a piece of Rhetorick is asufficient argument of Logick an Apologue of Aâ—sope beyond a Syllogisme in Barbara parables then propositions and proverbs more powerfull then demonstrations And therefore are they led rather by example then precept receiving perswasions from visible inducements before intellectual instructions and therefore also do they judge of humane actions by the event for being uncapable of operable circumstances or rightly to judge the prudenciality of affairs they onely gaze upon the visible successe and thereafter condemn or cry up the whole
secrets there are in nature of difficult discovery unto man of naturall knowledge unto Satan whereof some his vain-glory cannot conceale others his envy will never discover Againe such is the mystery of his delusion that although he labour to make us beleeve that he is God and supremest nature whatsoever yet would he also perswade our beleefes that he is lesse then Angels or men and his condition not only subjected unto rationall powers but the action of things which have no efficacy on our selves thus hath hee inveigled no small part of the world into a credulity of artificiall Magick That there is an Art which withouâ— compact commandeâ—h the powers of hell whence some have delivered the policy of spirits and left an account even to their Provinciall dominions that they stand in awe of charmes spells and conjurations that he is afraid of letters and characters of notes and dashes which set together doe signifie nothing and not only in the dictionary of man but the subtiler vocabulary of Satan That there is any power in Bitumen pitch or brimstone to purifie the aire from his uncleannesse that any vertue there is in Hipericon to make good the name of fuga Demonis any such magick as is ascribed unto the root Baaras by Josephus or Cynospastus by Aelianus it is not easie to beleeve nor is it naturally made out what is delivered of Tobias that by the fume of a fishes liver he put to flight Asmodeus That they are afraid of the pentangle of Solomon though so set forth with the body of man as to touch and point out the five places wherein our Saviour was wounded I know not how to assent if perhaps he hath fled from holy water if he cares not to heare the sound of Tetragrammaton if his eye delight not in the signe of the Crosse and that sometimes he will seem to be charmed with words of holy Scripture and to flye from the letter and dead verbality who must only start at the life and animated interiors thereof It may be feared they are but Parthian flights Ambuscado retreats and elusory tergiversations whereby to confirme our credulities he will comply with the opinion of such powers which in themselves have no activities whereof having once begot in our mindes an assured dependence he makes us relye on powers which he but precariously obeyes and to desert those true and only charmes which hell cannot withstand Lastly to lead us farther into darknesse and quite to lose us in this maze of error he would make men beleeve there is no such creature as himselfe and that hee is not onely subject unto inferiour creatures but in the ranke of nothing Insinuating into mens mindes there is no divell at all and contriveth accordingly many wayes to conceale or indubitate his existency wherein beside that hee anihilates the blessed Angels and spirits in the ranke of his creation hee begets a security of himselfe and a carelesse eye unto the last remunerations And therefore hereto he inveigleth not only the Sadduces and such as retaine unto the Church of God but is also content that Epicurus Democritus or any of the heathen should hold the same And to this effect he maketh men beleeve that apparitions and such as confirme his existence are either deceptions of sight or melancholy depravements of phancy Thus when he had not only appeared but spake unto Brutus Cassius the Epicurian was ready at hand to perswade him it was but a mistake in his weary imagination and that indeed there were no such realities in nature Thus he endeavours to propagate the unbelief of witches whose concession infers his coexistency and by this means also he advanceth the opinion of totall death and staggereth the immortality of the soul for those which deny there are spirits subsistent without bodies will with more difficulty affirme the separated existence of their own Now to induce and bring about these falsities he hath laboured to destroy the evidence of truth that is the revealed verity and written word of God To which intent he hath obtained with some to repudiate the books of Moses others those of the Prophets and some both to deny the Gospell and authentick histories of Christ to reject that of John and receive that of Judas to disallow all and erect another of Thomas And when neither their corruption by Valentinus and Arrian their mutilation by Marcion Manes and Ebion could satisfie his designe he attempted the ruine and totall destruction thereof as he sedulously endeavoured by the power and subtilty of Julian Maximinus and Dioclesian But the longevity of that peece which hath so long escaped the common fate and the providence of that Spirit which ever waketh over it may at last discourage such attempts and if not make doubtfull its mortality at least indubitably declare this is a stone too bigge for Saturnes mouth and a bit indeed Oblivion cannot swallow And thus how strangely hee possesseth us with errors may clearely be observed deluding us into contradictory and inconsistent falsities whilest he would make us beleeve That there is no God That there are many That he himselfe is God That he is lesse then Angels or Men. That he is nothing at all Nor hath hee onely by these wiles depraved the conception of the Creator but with such riddles hath also entangled the Nature of our Redeemer Some denying his humanity and that he was one of the Angels as Ebion that the Father and Sonne were but one person as Sabellius That his body was phantasticall as Manes Basilides Priscillian Jovinianus that hee onely passed through Mary as Eutichus and Valentinus Some deny his Divinity that he was begotten of humanâ— principles and the seminall sonne of Joseph as Carpocras Symmachus Photinus That hee was Seth the sonne of Abraham as the Sethians That hee was lesse then Angells as Cherinthus That hee was inferiour unto Melchisedech as Theodotus That he was not God but God dwelt in him as Nicolaus And some embroyled them both So did they which converted the Trinity into a quaternity affirmed two persons in Christ as Paulus Samosatenus that held he was man without a soul and that the word performed that office in him as Apollinaris That he was both Sonne and Father as Montanus That Jesus suffered but Christ remained impatible as Cherinthus And thus he endeavours to entangle truths And when he cannot possibly destroy its substance he cunningly confounds its apprehensions that from the inconsistent and contrary determinations thereof collective impieties and hopefull conclusion may arise there 's no such thing at all CHAP. XI A further Illustration NOw although these wayes of delusions most Christians have escaped yet are there many other whereunto we are dayly betrayed and these we meet with in visible and obvious occurrents of the world wherein he induceth us to ascribe effects unto causes of no cognation and distorting the order and theorie of causes perpendicular to their effects he drawes them aside unto
especially if they have the advantage to precede it as sixty againe 63. and 63. again 66. for fewer attaine to the latter then the former and so surely in the first septenarie doe most die and probably also in the very fâ—â—st yeare for all that ever lived were in the account of that yeare beside the infirmities that attend it are so many and the body that receives them so confirmed we scarce count any alive that is not past it Franciscus Paduanius in his worke De catena temporis discoursing of the great Climactericall attempts a numeration of eminent men who dyed in that yeare but in so small a number as not sufficient to make a considerable Induction he mentioneth but foure Diogenes Cynicus Dionysius Heracleoticus Xenocrates Platonicus and Plato as for Dionysius as Censorinus witnesseth hee famished himselfe in the 82. yeare of his life Xenocrates by the testimony of Laertius fell into a cauldron and dyed the same yeare and Diogenes the Cynicke by the same testimony lived almost unto ninetie The date of Platoes death is not exactly agreed on but all dissent from this which he determineth Neanthes in Laertius extendeth his dayes unto 84. Suidas unto 82. but Hermippus defineth his death in 81. and this account seemeth most exact for if as hee delivereth Plato was borne in the 88. Olympiade and dyed in the first yeare of the 108. the account will not surpasse the year of 81. and so in his death he verified the opinion of his life and of the life of man whose Period as Censorinus recordeth he placed in the Quadrate of 9. or 9. times 9. that is 81. and therefore as Seneca delivereth the Magicians at Athens did sacrifice unto him as declaring in his death somewhat above humanity because he dyed in the day of his nativity and without deduction justly accomplished the year of eighty one Bodine I confesse delivers a larger list of men that died in this yeare whose words in his methode oâ— History are these Moriuntur innumerabiles anno sexagesimotertio Aristoteles Chrysippus Bocatius Bernardus Erasmus Lutherus Melancthon Sylvius Alexander Jacobus Sturmius Nicolaus Cusanus Thomas Linacer codem anno Cicero caesus est wherein beside that it were no difficult point to make a larger Catalogue of memorable persons that dyed in other yeares wee cannot but doubt the verity of his Induction as for Silvius and Alexander which of that name he meaneth I know not but for Chrysippus by the testimony of Laertius hee dyed in the 73. year Bocatius in the 62. Linacer the 64. and Erasmus exceeded 7â— as Paulus Jovius hath delivered in his Elogie of learned men and as for Cicero as Plutarch in his life affirmeth he was slain in the year of 64. and therefore sure the question is hard set and we have no easie reason to doubt when great and entire Authors shall introduce injustifiable examples and authorize their assertions by what is not authenticall Fourthly they which proceed upon strict numerations and will by such regular and determined wayes measure out the lives of men and periodically define the alterations of their tempers conceive a regularity in mutations with an equalitie in constitutions and forget that variety which Physitians therein discover For seeing we affirm that women doe naturally grow old before men that the cholerick fall short in longaevitie of the sanguine that there is senium ante senectutem and many grow old before they arive at age we cannot â—o reasonably affixe unto them all one common point of danger but should rather assigne a respective fatality unto each which is concordant unto the doctrine of the numerists and such as maintaine this opinion for they affirme that one number respecteth men another women as Bodin explaining that of Seneca Septimus quisque annus aetati signum imprimit subjoynes hoc de maribus dictum oportuit hoc primum intueri licet perfectum numerum id est saextum faeminas septenarium mores immutare Fiftly since we esteeme this opinion to have some ground in nature and that nine times seven revolutions of the Sunne imprints a dangerous Character on such as arive unto it it will leave some doubt behinde in what subjection hereunto were the lives of our forefathers presently after the flood and more especially before it who attaining unto 8. or 900. yeares had not their Climacters computable by digits or as we doe account them for the great Climactericall was past unto them before they begat children or gave any Testimony of their virilitie for we read not that any begat children before the age of sixtie five and this may also afford a hint to enquire what are the Climacters of other animated creatures whereof the lives of some attaine not so farre as this of ours and that of others extends a considerable space beyond Lastly the imperfect accounts that men have kept of time and the difference thereof both in the same and divers common wealths will much distract the certainty of this assertion for though there were a fatality in this yeare yet divers were and others might bee out in their account aberring severall wayes from the true and just compute and calling that one yeare which perhaps might be another For first they might be out in the commencement or beginning of their accouÌ„t for every man is many moneths elder then he computeth for although we begin the same from our nativitie and conceive that no arbitrary but naturall terme of compute yet for the duration of life or existence wee participate in the wombe the usuall distinctions of time and are not to bee exempted from the account of age and life where we are subject to diseases and often suffer death and therefore Pythagoras Hippocrates Diocles Avicenna and others have set upon us numerall relations and temporall considerations in the wombe not only affirming the birth of the seventh moneth to be vitall that of the eighth mortall but the progression thereto to be measured by rule and to hold a proportion unto motion and formation as what receiveth motion in the seventh is perfected in the Triplicities that is the time of conformation unto motion is double and that from motion unto the birth treble So what is formed the 35. day is moved the seaventy and borne the 210. day and therefore if any invisible causalitie there be that after so many yeares doth â—vidence it selfe at 63. it will be questionable whether its activitie onely set out at our nativitie and begin not rather in the womb wherein we place the like considerations which doth not only entangle this assertion but hath already embroiled the endeavours of Astrology in the erection of Schemes and the judgement of death or diseases for being not incontroulably determined at what time to beging whether at conception animation or exclusion it being indifferent unto the influence of heaven to begin at either they have invented another way that is to beginne ab Hâ—ra quaestionis as Haly Messahallach
tabulas proponunt Cumana Cumeae Erythraeae quâ—si trium diversarum Sibyllarum cum una eademque fuerit Cumana Cumaea Erythraea ex plurium doctissimorum Authorum sententia Boysardus gives us leave to opinion there was no more then one for so doth he conclude In tantâ Scriptorum varictate liberum relinquimâ—s Lectori credâ—re an una eadem in diversis regionibus peregrinata cognomen sortita sit ab iis locis ubi or acula reddidissâ— comperitur an plures extiterint And therefore not discovering a resolution of their number from the pens of the best Writers we have no reason to determine the same from the hand and pencill of Painters As touching their age that they are generally described as young women History will not allow for the Sibyll whereof Virgill speaketh is tearmed by him longava sacerdos and Servius in his Comment amplifieth the same The other that sold the bookes unto Tarquine and whose History is plainer then any by Livie and Gellius is tearmed Anus that is properly no woman of ordinary age but full of yeares and in the dayes of doteage according to the Etymology of Festus and consonant unto the History wherein it is said that Tarquine thought she doted with old age which duly perpended the Licentia pictoria is very large and with the same reason they may delineate old Nestor like Adonis Hecuba with Helens face and Time with Absalons head CHAP. XII Of the Picture describing the death of Cleopatra THe Picture concerning the death of Cleopatra with two Aspes or venemous Serpents unto her armes or breasts or both requires consideration for therein beside that this variety is not excusable the thing it selfe is questionable nor is it indisputably certaine what manner of death she dyed Plutarch in the life of Antonie plainly delivereth that no man knew the manner of her death for some affirmed she perished by poyson which she alwayes carried in a little bollow combe and wore it in her hayre beside there were never any Aspes discovered in the place of her death although two of her maids perished also with her only it was said two small and almost insensible prickes were sound upon her arme which was all the ground that Caesar had to presume the manner of her death Galen who was contemporary unto Plutarch delivereth two wayes of her death that is that shee killed her selfe by the bite of an Aspe or bit an hole in her arme and powred poyson therein Strabo that lived before them both hath also two opinions that she dyed by the byte of an Aspe or else a poysonous oyntment We might question the length of the Aspes which are sometimes described exceeding short whereas the Chersaea or land Aspe which most conceive she used is above foure cubits long their number is not unquestionable for whereas there are generally two described Augustus as Plutarch relateth did carry in his triumph the Image of Cleopatra but with one Aspe unto her arme as for the two pricks or little spots in her arme they rather infer the sex then plurality for like the viper the female Aspe hath foure but the male two teeth whereby it left this impression or double puncture behinde it And lastly we might question the place for some apply them unto her breast which notwithstanding will not consist with the history and Petrus Victorius hath well observed the same but herein the mistake was easie it being the custome in capitall malefactors to apply them unto the breast as the Author De Theriaca ad Pisonem an eye-witnesse hereof in Alexandria where Cleopatra dyed determineth I beheld saith he in Alexandria how suddenly these Serpents bereave a man of life for when any one is condemned to this kinde of death if they intend to use him favourably that is to dispatch him suddenly they fasten an Aspe unto his breast and bidding him walke about he presently perisheth thereby CHAP. XIII Of the Pictures of the nine Worthies THe pictures of the nine Worthies are not unquestionable and to criticall spectators may seeme to containe sundry improprieties Some will enquire why Alexander the Great is described upon an Elephant for indeed we do not finde he used that animall in his Armies much lesse in his owne person but his horse is famous in history and its name alive to this day Beside he fought but one remarkable battaile wherein there were any Elephants and that was with Porus King of India In which notwithstanding as Curtius Arrianus and Plutarch report he was on horseback himselfe and if because hee fought against Elephants he is with propriety set upon their backs with no lesse or greater reason is the same description agreeable unto Judas Maccabeus as may be observed from the history of the Maccabees and also unto Julius Caesar whose triumph was honoured with captive Elephants as may be observed in the order thereof set forth by Iacobus Laurus and if also wee should admit this description upon an Elephant yet were not the manner thereof unquestionable that is in his ruling the beast alone for beside the champion upon their back there was also a guide or Ruler which sate more forward to command or guide the beast Thus did King Porus ride when hee was overthrowne by Alexander and thus are also the towred Elephants described Maccab. 2. 6. Upon the beasts there were strong towres of wood which covered every one of them and were girt fast unto them by devices there were also upon every one of them thirty two strong men beside the Indian that ruled them Others will demand not onely why Alexander upon an Elephant but Hector upon an Horse whereas his manner of fighting or presenting himselfe in battaile was in a Chariot as did the other noble Trojans who as Pliny affirmeth were the first inventers thereof the same way of fight is testified by Diodorus and thus delivered by Sir Walter Raleigh Of the vulgar little reckoning was made for they fought all on foote slightly armed and commonly followed the successe of their Captaines who roade not upon horses but in Chariots drawne by two or three horses and this was also the ancient way of fight among the Britaines as is delivered by Diodorus Caesar and Tacitus and there want not some who have taken advantage hereof and made it one argument of their orginall from Troy Lastly by any man versed in Antiquity the question can hardly be avoyded why the horses of these Worthies especially of Caesar are described with the furniture of great sadles and styrrops for sadles largely taken though some defence there may be yet that they had not the use of stirrops seemeth out of doubt as Pancirollus hath observed as Polydore Virgil and Petrus Victorius have confirmed expresly discoursing hereon as is observable from Pliny and cannot escape our eyes in the ancient monuments medals and Triumphant arches of the Romanes Nor is there any genuine or classick word in Latine to expresse them for
for ever or by a covenant of Salt That Absalon was hanged by the haire of the 〈◊〉 and not caught up by the neâ—k as Josephus conceiveth and the common argument against long hair affirmeth we are not ready to deny Although I confesse a great and learned party there are of another opinion although if he had his Morion or helmet on I could not wâ—ll conceive it although the Translation of Jerome or Tremellius do not prove it and our owne seemes rather to overthrow it That Judas hanged himselfe much more that he perished thereby we shall not raise a doubt Although Jansenius discoursing the point produceth the testimony of Theophylact and Euthymius that he died not by the Gallowes but under a Cart wheele and Baronius also delivereth this was the opinion of the Greeks and derived a high as Papias one of the Disciples of John although how hardly the expression of Mathew is reconcilable unto that of Peter and that he plainely hanged himselfe with that that falling headlong he burst asunder in the midst with many other the learned Grotius plainely doth acknowledge And lastly although as hee also urgeth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Mathew doth not onely signiâ—ie suspension or pendelous illaqueation as the common picture describeth it but also suffocation strangulation or interception of breath which may arise from griefe despaire and deepe dejection of spirit in which sence it is used in the history of Tobit concerning Sâ—ra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ita tristata est ut strangulatione premeretur saith Junius and so might it happen from the horrour of mind unto Judas And so doe many of the Hebrewes affirme that Achitophell was also strangled that it not from the rope but passion For the Hebrew and Arabiâ—k word in the Text not onely signifies supension but indignation as Grotius hath also observed Many more there are of indifferent truths whose dubious expositions worthy Divines and Preachers doe often draw into wholesome and sober uses whereof neverthelesse we shall not speake with industry we decline such paradoxies and peaceably submit unto their received acceptions CHAP. XII Of the cessation of Oracles THat Oracles ceaed or grew 〈◊〉 at the comming of Christ is best understood in a qualified sense and not without all latitude as though precisely there were 〈◊〉 after nor any decay before For what we must conâ—esse 〈…〉 of Antiquity some pre-decay is observable from that of 〈…〉 by Baronius Cur isto modo jam oracula Delphis non eduntur non modo nostra aetate sed jam diu ut nihil possit esse contemptius That during his life they were not altogether dumbe is deduceable from Suâ—tonius in the life of Tiberius who attempting to subvert the Oracles adjoyning unto Rome was deâ—erred by the Lots or chances which were delivered at Preneste After his death wee meet with many Suetonius reports that the Oracle of Autium forewarned Caligula to beware of Cassius who was one that conspired his death Pluâ—arch enquiring why the Oracles of Greece ceased excepteth that of Lebadia and in the same place Demetrius affirmeth the Oracles of Mopsus and Amphilochus were much frequented in his dayes In briefe histories are frequent in examples and there want not some even to the reigne of Iulian. That therefore wee may consist with history by cessation of Oracles with Montacutius we may understand their intercision not absission or consummate desolation their rare delivery not a totall dereliction and yet in regard of divers Oracles we may speake strictly and say there was a proper Cessation And thus may wee reconcile the accounts of times and allow those few and broken Divinations whereof we reade in story and undeniable Authors For that they received this blow from Christ and no other causes alledged by the Heathens from oraculous confession they cannot deny whereof upon record there are some very remarkeable The first that Oracle of Delphos delivered unto Augustus Me puer Hebraeus Divos Deus ipse gubernans Cedere sede jubet tristemque redire sub orcum Arir ergo dehiâ—c tacitus discedito nostris An Hebrew child a God all gods excelling To hell againe commands me from this dwelling Our Altars leave in silence and no more A resolution ' ere from hence implore A second recorded by Plutarch of a voyce that was heard to cry unto Mariners at the Sea Great Pan is dead which is a relation very remarkeable and may be read in his Defect of Oracles A third reported by Eusebius in the life of his magniâ—ied Constantine that about that time Apollo mourned declaring his Oracles were false and that the righteous upon earth did hinder him from speaking truth And a fourth related by Theodoreâ— and delivered by Apollo Daphnes unto Julian upon his Persian Expedition that he should remove the bodies about him before he could returne an answer and not long after his Temple was burnt with Lightning All which were evident and convincing acknowledgements of that power which shut his lips and restrained that delusion which had reigned so many Centuries But as his malice is vigilant and the sins of men do still continue a toleration of his mischiefes he resteth not nor will he ever cease to circumvent the sons of the first deceaved and therefore expelled his Oracles and solemne Temples of delusion he runnes into corners exercising minor trumperies and acting his deceits in Witches Magicians Diviners and such inferiour seductions And yet what is deplorable while we apply our selves thereto and affirming that God hath left to speake by his Prophets expect in doubtfull matters a resolution from such Spirits while we say the Divell is mute yet confesse that these can speake while we deny the substance yet practise the effect and in the denyed solemnity maintaine the equivalent efficacy in vaine we cry that Oracles are downe Apolloe's alter yet doth smoake nor is the fire of Delphos out unto this day Impertinent it is unto our intention to speake in generall of Oracles and many have well perâ—ormed it The pâ—ainâ—st of others was that recorded by Herodotus and delivered unto Câ—aesus who as a tryall of hir omniscience sent unto distant Oracles and so contrived with the messengers that though in severall places yet at the same time they should demand what Câ—aesus was then a doing Among all others the Oracle of Deiphos onely hit it returning answer hee was boyling a Lambe with a Toâ—toyse in a brâ—zeâ— vessâ—ll with a cover of the same metall The stile is â—â—ughty in Gâ—eeke though somewhat lower in Latine Aequâ—ris est spatium numerus mihi notus arenae Mutum percipio fautis nihil audio vocem Venâ—â— ad hoâ— sensus nidor testudinis acris Quae semâ—l agâ—inâ coquitur cum carne lebete Aere infrastrato stratum cui desuper aes est I know the space of Sea â—he number of the sand I heare the silent mute I understand A tâ—nder Lambe joyned with Tortoise flesh Thy Master King
to be servâ—d up onely at the Table of Aâ—reus 2. While we laugh at the story of Pygmaleon an receive as a fable tha he fell in love with a 〈◊〉 wee cannot but feare it may bee 〈◊〉 what is delivered by 〈…〉 the Aegyptian Pollinctors or such as 〈◊〉 the dead 〈…〉 thereof were found in the act of carnality with them from 〈…〉 't is 〈◊〉 then incontinency foâ— Hylas to spâ—rt with Hecuba and youth to flame in the frozen embraces of age we require a name for this wherein Peronius or Martiall cannot relieve us The tyranny of Mâ—zenâ—ius did never equall the vitiosity of this 〈◊〉 that could embrace corruption and make a Mistresse of the grave that could not resist the dead provocations of beauty whose quick invitements scarce excuse submission Surely if such depâ—â—vities there be yet alive deformity need not despaire nor will the eldest 〈…〉 since death hath spurres and carcasses have beene courted 3. I am heartily sorry and wish it were not true what to the 〈◊〉 of Christianity is affiâ—med of the Italian who after he had 〈◊〉 his enemy to disclaime his faith for the redemption of his life did presâ—ntly 〈◊〉 him to prevent repentance and assure his eternall death The villany of this Christian exceeded the persecution of Heathens whose 〈◊〉 was never so Longimaâ—us as to reach the soule of their enemies or to 〈…〉 the exile of their Elyâ—â—â—â— And though the blindnesse of some ferities have savaged on the dead and beene so injurious unto wormes as to disenterre the bodies of the deceased yet had they therein no designe upon the soule and have beene so farre from the destruction of that or desires of a perpetuall death that for the satisfaction of their revenge they wisht them many soules and were it in their power would have reduced them unto life againe It is great depraviâ—y in our natures and surely an affection that somewhâ—â—â—avoureth of hell to desire the society or comfort our selves in the â—â—llowship of others that suffer with us but to procure the miseries of others in those extremities wherein we hold an hope to have no society our selves is me thinks a straine above Lucifer and a project beyond the primary seduction of Hell 4. I hope it is not true and some indeed have strongly denyed what is recorded of the Monke that poysoned Henry the Emperour in a draught of the holy Eucharist 'T was a scandalous wound unto Christian Religion and I hope all Pagans will forgive it when they shall reade that a Christian was poysoned in a cup of Christ and received his bane in a draught of his salvation Had I believed Transubstantiation I should have doubted the effect and surely the sinne it selfe received an aggravation in that opinion It much commendeth the Innocency of our forefathers and the simplicity of those times whose Laws could never dreame so high a crime as parricide whereas this at the least may seeme to outreach that fact and to exceed the regular distinctions of murder I will not say what sinne it was to act it yet may it seeme a kinde of martyrdome to suffer by it For although unknowingly he dyed for Christ his sake and lost hs life in the ordained testimony of his death Certainely had they knowne it some noble zeales would scarcely have refused it rather adventuring their owne death then refusing the memoriall of his Many other accounts like these we meet sometimes in history scandalous unto Christianity and even unto humanity whose verities not onely but whose relations honest minds doe deprecate For of sinnes heteroclitall and such as want either name or president there is oft times a sinne even in their histories We desire no records of such enormities sinnes should be accounted new that so they may be esteemed monstrous They omit of monstrosiâ—y as they fall from their rarity for men count it veniall to erre with their forefathers and foolishly conceive they divide a sinne in its socieâ—y The pens of men may sufficiently expatiate without these singularities of Villany For as they encrease the hatred of vice in some so doe they enlarge the theory of wickednesse in all And this is one thing that may make latter Ages worse then were the former For the vicious examples of Ages past poyson the curiosity of these present affording a hint of sin unto seduceable spirits and solliciting those unto the imitation of them whose heads were never so perversely principled as to invent them In this kinde we commend the wisdome and goodnesse of Galen who would not leave unto the world too subtile a Theory of poysons unarming thereby the malice of venemous spirits whose ignorance must be contented with Sublimate and Arsenick For surely there are subtiler venenations such as will invisibly destroy and like the Bâ—siliâ—ks of heaven In things of this nature silence condemneth history 't is the veniable part of things lost wherein there must never rise a Pancirollus nor remaine any Register but that of hell And yet if as some Stoicks opinion and Seneca himselfe disputeth these unruly affections that make us sinne such prodigies and even sinnes themselves be animals there is an history of Africa and story of Snakes in these And if the transanimation of Pythagoras or method thereof were true that the soules of men transmigrated into species answering their former natures some men must surely live over many Serpents and cannot escape that very brood whose sire Satan entered and though the objection of Plato should take place that bodies subjected unto corruption must faile at last before the period of all things and growing fewer in number must leave some soules apart unto themselves the spirits of many long before that time will finde but naked habitations and meeting no assimilables wherein to react their natures must certainely anticipate such naturall desolations FINIS Some errors in interpunctions or poyntings the advertency of the Reader may 〈◊〉 what others by â—eason of the obscurity of the Copy 〈…〉 him thus to rectifie PAge 〈…〉 for poâ—â—â—â—ity reade posteriority p. 14. l. 21. for understood misunderstood p. 21. l 10. for lives lines p. 33. l. 22 for 25 20 p. 35 l. 8 for induce to induce p. 38. l. 41. for miserable miserablest p. 59. l. 39. for Iron from 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Vrineâ— Areopagus the severe Court of Athens Nebros in Greek a Fawne Anagrammatically In the french Copy Against poyson Provoking urine Against the falling-sicknesse Commonly mistaken for the true Halcion That the world should last but six thousand years More especially This figuration to be fonnd in Elkes and not in common Swans Lavâ in parte mamillae * Of the cause whereof much dispute was made and at last proved an imposture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iejuntia olere Iam Procyon fuerit vesani Leonis Qui 〈◊〉 fallere potest nec falli Upon the biting of a mad dog there ensues an hydrophobia or fear of water Gen. 49. Deut. 33. Numb 2. Numb 10. Deut. 6. Ezek. 1. Anus quasi A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sine meÌ„te 1 Sam. 5. Deut 18. Esay 1â— Jer. 13. Or quarelsome with pictures Lev. 17. Hosea 4. Ezek. 24. Josh. 3. Dan. 6. Sir Wiliam Paston 1 Cor. 10. 2. Pes cedrus est truncus cupressuâ— oliva supremum palmâ—que transversum Christi sunt in cruce lignum Cant. â— Apoc. 14. Os ex â—ssibus meiâ— Risus plorantis Olympi Thaumantias Gen. 11. Gen. 28. Cant. 7. John 21. 12. Thess. 2. Exod. 30. Exod. 38. Zelus domus tuae comedit me Only in the vulgar Latine Judg. 9. 53. Terra Melitâ—a Vade quid moraris Egâ— vado tu auteÌ„ morare donec veâ—io In Rabelais Who writ in the praise of baldnesse Who writ de Antiquis deperditis or of inventions lost