A LEARNED TREATISE OF THE PLAGUE WHEREIN The two Questions Whether the PLAGUE be Infectious or no And Whether and how farr it may be shunned of Christians by going aside are resolved Written in Latine by the famous Theodore Beza Vezelian LONDON Printed by Thomas Ratcliffe and are to be sold by Edward Thomas at the Adam and Eve in Little Britain 1665 To the Honorable Sir JOHN ROBINSON Lieutenant of his Majestie 's Principal Fortress the Tower of London Honourable Sir THE confidence of a Stranger will I hope easily meet your pardon when the worth of the Author and the occasional Subject of the Discourse in these contagious and calamitous times have given me too sad an opportunity of presenting it to your Honour whose concerns for the Publick Welfare even in this Great City are as eminently great as any others The matter of the Discourse is a Confutation and reconciling the onely two destructive Opinions that in all Ages in Contagious and Infectious times have ever proved fatal to the World the one too much presuming and relying upon this bold Opinion That the PLAGUE is not Infectious and the other Tum pavor sapientiam omnem mihi ex animo expectorat out of a weak and unspirited Precipitation without exception flye away from it both of which are so contrarie to Humanity that as they are utter Enemies to each other so like the dis-agreeing Brothers they are both in opposition to Christian Community and Charity To say more were too great a wrong to the Judicious Beza and to anticipate Your Honours Judgement To whose Noble Approbation I commend the Author and hope from Your Noble Candour You will easily censure this Presumption in Honourable Sir Your Honours though unknown most devoted and most humble Servant Edward Percivall A LEARNED TREATISE OF THE PLAGUE Wherein the two Questions Whether the PLAGUE be Infectious or no And Whether and how far it may be shunned of Christians by going aside are resolved I Confess my self to have been so unacquainted with this question Whether the Plague be to be reckoned amongst infectious Diseases that untill within these few years I am of belief that it was never doubted but that this Sicknesse alone amongst all others was to be judged Contagious for testimony whereof before any man that is not given to quarrel I refer my self to the judgement of Writers of all Countries who have treated of these things But now in our times men have taken in hand to dispute this question upon this occasion That many do so greatly fear this disease and death which commonly followeth the same that forsaking all duties not onely of Christians but also of Humanity they have greatly increased the very wrath of God which is the chief cause of this Sicknesse and there hath in a manner been no stay or lett in them but where this great misery hath happened the bonds of Man's fellowships being once broken it is much to be wondered at that all Mankinde hath not perished and been destroyed And these men being demanded what they can alledge for so impious a crime for that they commonly bring nothing else for their excuse but the fear of Infection wherof it hath come to paâ—s that those in whom there is a greater boldness do think that they can no way more certainly finde a remedy for this evil than by teaching that this Sickness is falsly supposed to be infectious But I because I think that this Paradox or strange opinion can no more be proved by good reason then if a man with Anaxagoras should hold the Snow to be black or out of the Hypothesis of Copernicus labour to prove that the Earth doth really move and the Sun stand still as the Center of the World do judge that this so great fear which bringeth with it a forgetfulness of all duty both may and also ought otherwise to be put away neither will I believe this Disease not to be infectious untill some man shall teach me either out of the Word of God or by evident and good reasons to the contrary for there are in the very course of Nature certain and most sure grounds and proofs of this verity so long as the order of necessary Causes agree with themselves For I deny although it be agreed upon that the Plague of all other diseases is most infectious yea and that unavoidable death for the most part doth presently follow that therefore the Standing in which God hath placed every man is to be forsaken I deny I say that therefore that thing is not to be preferred before Life it self which we owe unto God to our Country and which we owe unto men either for some publick or private respect And I had much more rather they would bestow their endeavours in perswasive disputes to restrain mens flying away for fear of the Plague than that they should labor to prove their strange opinion of the Plague not to be contagious Indeed I had rather have the Consequent according to the School-phrase in that same Enthymeme to be denied than the Antecedent for by that means something might be brought to pass not only by probable but also by necessary Arguments according to their own desire namely That those do very greatly offend who for fear of any peril do offend against God or against their Neighbour For what Christian man dareth to call these things into controveisie or if he dare do it shall not be reproved by the restimony of his own Conscience though all the world should be silent For I do not think that there are any which do hold that with a good conscience the Plague by all means without exception is to be fled from which notwithstanding I see by some in such sort disputed against as if it were by others maintained Yet if there be any of that minde I do no more favour their errour than I allow of those men which of a clean contrary opinion do think that the Plague is not to be fled from But surely it is the part of a wise man to follow the Golden mean so that he fly not when he should tarry neither when he should go aside for the term of flying away in this Argument seemeth to me to be very improper by his rash tarrying offend against the self-same Charity which seemed to counsel him to stay These things I thought good in manner of a Preface to set down before I come to the handling of the matter To the end that all men at the first entrance may perceive what I have undertaken to defend and what to disprove Then for as much as there are some not wanting which do think that this discourse of the Plague to be fled from or not to be fled from doth depend upon the first question Whether the Plague be infectious or no let us examine with what reasons and arguments they so boldly deny the Plague to be infectious a thing which hitherto of all men without controversie
hath been believed For the better determining of this question they would have it to be considered what the Plague is from whence it commeth what is the cause of it by what means it is sent unto us what is the nature of it and what the end I take their Proposals for it is most lawful and reasonable But how shall we come to the knowledge of these things By no means say they from any reasons out of Physick but only by the word of God Then let all things disputed by Physicians be blotted out and instead of the Books of Hypocrates Galen and others Let Physicians read only the Bible and let there be no difference between them and Divines between the Physick of the body and the minde Nay God forbid will they say for we condemn no other reasons of Physick than such as are against the word of God Let us enquire then forasmuch as Infection hath its beginning from Natural causes and therefore proceedeth from them whether concerning Natural causes of the Plague there be any thing taught in the word of God contrary to the Rules and Judgement of Physicians They say that the Plague is caled by the Hebritians Dener of the word Daner which also signifieth to destroy by Sentence given by God and that the Grecians do render it Thanaton that is to say Death Be it so it is not much to the matter â—or hereof it followeth not that the Plague proceedeth not of Natural â—auses coming between because it is sent by God unless that we will â—ave therefore all Natural causes of Diseases taken away because no man diâ—th but God decreeing of what kinde and manner of death soever it be that he die Nay say they it is a folly to call the Sentence of God whereby he appointeth unto every man not only death it self but also the kinde of death and Second causes infections But who I pray ever doted so much as to call the Sentence it self of God infectious But that which we say is far otherwise namely That the Infection it self is to be reckoned amongst Second causes for who can deny that many Diseases are gotten by Handling and Touching of the which some are deadly and other some are less dangerous unless they will also contend that the Sun shineth not at noon day Sinne indeed wherewith we are all born infected and from which all this Dying cometh by a certain Spiritual infection not without the Decree of God it is conveyed and spread into all the posterity of Adam therefore there is no substance at all in this Reason But they also demand if Infection be reckoned amongst Second causes appointed by God how we can avoid that which is ordeined by God that hence they might gather that if the Plague be granted to be infectious that in vain a Remedy is sought against it by flying away But this is also a very dull reason For if this reason be good shall it not be lawful to affirm the same of all Second causes of death If so Let us neither eat nor drink nor seek any remedy against any Diseases let Souldiers go unarmed to Battel because Death ordained by God cannot be avoided But thus the Case standeth doubtless neither Death nor the Time or any kinde of Death appointed by God can be avoided Neither do we eat or use Remedies against Diseases or put on armor against our Enemies as if we meant to withstand God But leaving those things which God would have kept secret from us we must use those things which God himself going before Nature telleth us to be ordained by him to prolong our life so long as it shall please him which if we do not we shall worthily be deemed to tempt and most grievously to offend God so far off is it that using the means set down by him to avoid death we should sinne against him although that sometimes we use them in vain that is to say when as the end doth plainly shew that even then we must die when as we thought our life should yet for a time have been prolonged So is Asa rebuked not for that he sent for Physicians but for that he put his hope of life in the Physicians So that when experience hath taught us that Infection creepeth rather into things near than afar off he is not to be accused who leaving no part of Christian duty undone withdraweth himself and his Family Nay he shall be greatly blamed who rashly casteth himself and his into the danger of Infection when as the Apostle beareth witness he is worse than an Infidel which hath not so great care over his as with a pious safety and charity he ought to have Now let us see whether this following Reason be of any more force By those Names say they which in the holy Scripture are attributed to the Plague is sufficiently and thorowly expressed what the quality and manner of the same is Now the Plague is called The hand of God 2 Sam. 24. The word of God 1 Chron. 21. and is also signified by the name of Arrows Ps 31. 90. Therefore it cometh not of Infection when asneither Hand nor Sword nor Arrow woundeth by Infection But besides that peradventure I might worthily call into doubt whether all these testimonies alledged deny this Argument also for in another place as Psalm 17. David calleth his Enemies the hand of God who by natural means assaulted him And when as the hand of God is said to have made us Natural generation is not left out and it is manifest that in the Scripture all evils and punishments whatsoever God sendeth unto Mankinde using either ordinary Laws of Nature only or else using the service of Angels are called Arrows I demand moreover what they call the quality and manner of the Disease They will say The nature thereof it self But I say by those metaphorical terms of hand sword arrow is no more signified of what manner or quality this Disease is in it self than what is Hail or the Scabb when God is said with a stretched out hand to have smitten Aegypt And to be short what is the force and nature of every Disease when as in the additions of the Law they are reckoned up amongst the Curses which God would send upon them What then surely then it belongeth unto the Physicians to search out the nature of Diseases so far as they depend upon the laws of Nature which we often see by them performed with such good success and certainty that they can foreshew both them and what issue they are likely to come unto But concerning Supernatural and Divine causes of Sickness and other Miseries those do Divines declare teaching That we must mount far above Nature and all things appertaining unto Nature when with our Prayers we deal about the avoiding and removing of them far away from us for the true and principal cause of them is our Sins wherewith God being provoked doth raise and stir up against us
ship Ye cannot be saved unless these tarry Christ also though he well knew that his hour was not yet come yet did he more than once withdraw himself when the Jews sought to kill him Finally that which they take for most certain namely that happening or chance is repugnant unto the sure and stedfast Decree of God which notwithstanding it maketh not much to the matter yet who will grant it them we call those happening or chancing Causes which of their own nature may fall out unto either part if any man should take them out of the nature of things I know not whether he should have any man of a right Judgment to hold with him They say out of St. Augustine That the will of God is the necessity of things I grant so far as pertaineth unto the end and effects of the Causes themselves But as St. Augustine saith very well It followeth not that though all things which God hath decreed shall come to pass must needs come to pass that therefore they come to pass of necessary Causes like as the Stoicks did falsely conclude and the same may be proved by most certain and most plain examples For do we not believe that Christ had indeed Man's bones and therefore such as of their own nature might at any time have been broken and yet indeed they could not be broken for that it was otherwise decreed by God Therefore by hap and chance concerning their own nature they were not broken when as notwithstanding they were such as might have been broken and yet by God's Decree they remained of necessity unbroken Again that Christ from the very time that he took upon him our Human nature was indued with a Mortal body all Christians do confesse therefore of his own nature he might have been slain by Herod with the other little Children but by God's Decree he could not Therefore that he was not then slain fell out by hap and chance if you consider the nature of his Body when as it might have chanced otherwise But by God's Decree he could no more be slain by Herod than the will of God could be changed Christ when he was carried to be crucified was then undoubtedly of such health that he needed not at that time to have died he died therefore by chance if you do consider the cause of his Natural death and yet be died of necessity if you look to the unchangeable appointment of his Father because his hour was come and withall he died willingly because he laid down his Life for us Thus far therefore is neither chance nor will repugnant unto the most certain Decree of God There remaineth one Argument taken from Experience which in shew seemeth very strong yet is it of no force to take away Infection I mean to prove the Plague not to be infectious If say they the Plague come of Natural causes or of some certain Constellation or of corrupt Air then should all they doubtless be infected which dwell under the same Constellation or breath in the same corrupt Air which is found to be false for even reason it self doth prove the falshood of this Argument For who is so unskilfull that knoweth not that one and the same Cause doth not always operate alike much less equally nay that the effects are divers according unto the diversity of the matter it worketh upon one and the self-same North-winde doth not equally annoy men with Cold every man therefore seeth how weak this reason is But let us grant that in some place every man of himself is apt to receive the corrupt air yet may many things happen why the same effect in all would not follow as for example one man taketh a Preservative medicine another doth not one forthwith useth a good medicine another very late or never Lastly that which is the principal point is to be considered That Almighty God doth govern Natural causes and their effects as it pleaseth him So that hence it cometh to pass that Infection toucheth not every one which is in danger of it as it is written Psal 91. 6. Neither yet is it deadly unto every one that it hath infected like as Poyson also drunken is not as it is written Mark 16. 18. Therefore this Argument also is not of force to prove there is no infection in the Plague because that many which keep company with those that are sick of the Plague are not taken and contrariwise they that are absent are infected As if the poyson of a Viper were not deadly because that Paul being bitten of one felt no harm at all Acts 28. 5. And thus far concerning Infection Now we must treat of going aside for so I had rather call it than flying though I think it the part of a Wise-man to fly peril with reason There are some therefore which do without exception finde fault with going aside for the Plague that they count it a very heynous offence though they think that those which tarry ought not to use rashness There are on the other side which hold that every man so soon as the Plague cometh ought to provide for himself having no regard or but very small of the fellowship and duties which Christian Charity doth command Now I for my part do dissent from both these and especially from the latter as having most lawful causes But ere I set down my own judgement in this Controversie let us hear these disputing the one against the other Thus therefore they which think it not lawful to fly do first of all Philosophically dispute against those that hold it not lawfull to tarry at all they alledge out of Plato his Gorgias That it is foolishnesse to fear Death and that he cannot seem to be a temperate person which flyeth Death because it proceedeth of too much delight in life nor yet to be a just man for that he which in the time of the Plague provideth for himself by running away doth yield neither to God nor Man his due To these Reasons they set down others taken out of the holy Scriptures as That they think not well of the providence of God by whose unchangeable Decree the course of man's life is limitted That they distrust God and believe not his promise I will be thy God and the God of thy Seed That they are void of all Charity nay and more of all Natural pitty and affection That they tempt God after the example of the Israelites Exod. 17. 3. Psal 78. 18. appointing God by what manner time and place and by what means he may save them That they love not God from their hearts for being enamoured and in love with Earthly goods they neglect and are careless of the heavenly That they fear death too much for that they set themselves against the will of God which is always good That they think themselves stronger than God and that they can escape his hand That they do openly break the law of Christ and of Nature by
which they are commanded to do unto others as they would be done unto themselves That they do and teach that which no Christian hath done but that which hath often been done by the Heathens And thus much say the first unto whom these later have nothing to answer who under pretence of saving their lives perswade flying away without exception Wherefore if these things alledged against those which do in such sort fly the Plague so that they in any thing swerve from the Rules and Laws of Godlinesse and Charity I hold with their Adversaries and count them worthy of all blame which fly from thence whither they should rather run if they had but the least spark of humanity But if these Reasons be wrested against those who being moved with just causes go aside and keep that mean by which they let passe no part of their duty either towards God or their Neighbours which we say may oftentimes be done we affirm that all these Arguments in shew never so plausible and strong to be of no force or value if the matter it self be diligently weighed and considered For answer to their first Reason albeit the Decree of God be unchangeable and that his eternal providence hath set the unremovable bounds of our lives Yet doth not this take away the ordinary and lawful means to save our Lives no not although a man have received an answer from God of prolonging his life as we have shewed by the manifest example of Saint Paul Acts 27. 14. and 31. much lesse that we may not use these means when it is yet hid from us what God from everlasting hath decreed concerning the prolonging and ending of our life Moreover why should he be said to distrust the promises of God who doth follow the wayes appointed by God to avoid Evils that notwithstanding he dependeth wholly upon God unlesse peradventure we can any where finde in the holy Scriptures this Commandment expresly written When the Plague rageth flye not away And amongst them preservative Remedies are to be reckoned and amongst these going aside in due time the like also as the very name of Contagion doth manifest And this also is plain That he doth not onely not offend against Christian Charity neither yet tempt God who in such manner by going aside doth avoid the Plague so that in the mean time he let passe no act of Piety towards God or of Charity towards his Neighbour That on the contrary unlesse he perform these Duties he may be thought to provoke the wrath of God against himself and to be worse than an Infidel as being one that rashly puts himself in danger of deadly Infection without any care of himself or his The fifth and sixth Allegation is not any whit truer They love not God say they and gaping after earthly things they care not for heavenly Because they which love God desire nothing more than to be with him which falleth out unto us by death but they on the contrary fear nothing more Then truly he who in loving hath onely his last end before another for his own profit-sake to enjoy the thing he loveth by what means soever it be shall worthily be judged to love himself rather than his Friends Therefore the self-same person which desireth to be loosed and to be with Christ wisheth also for his Brethrens sake to be separated as a thing accursed Acts 9. 3. Neither doth he deliver up his Life into the hands of them that lay in wait for him appealing unto Caesar Acts 25. 11. and giveth thanks for his health restored unto him 2 Cor. 1. 11. That David also doth not so much flye Saul and Absalon as Death being notwithstanding a Worshipper of God That he and Ezekias do expresly pray against Death therefore whosoever flyeth Death is not rashly to be judged or censured not to love God as contrariwise whosoever desireth Death is not to be thought to love God but he onely who lawfully and with a good Conscience obeying the will of God prepareth himself either to suffer or avoid death The like also is to be judged of the fear of Death that is if it be grounded upon good reason and moderately it is not onely not to be condemned but also to be allowed as a Preserver of life grafted in us by God Therefore that fear of Evil is condemned by Philosophers which is contrary to Fortitude and calleth us from that which every one of us oweth unto each other and out of holy Scripture that Fear which is against Faith and Charity For it is one thing to take clean away Natural affections which no man could ever possibly do and another to moderate and rule them the which the Philosophers very well teach ought to be done but how it may bedone the Word of God by the Holy Ghost doth onely declare And concerning those things which they cite out of Tertullian they shoot partly beyond his Mark when as he speaketh of flying onely in Persecution and partly with the great consent of the Church are reckoned amongst his blemishes as one that in this Argument was carried beyond the Butt No man questionless that is godly and of right understanding ever condemned the going aside of Jacob no man ever condemned David flying the fury of Saul and conspiracy of Absolon nor Elias avoiding by his flight the rage of Jezabel no man ever condemned the going aside of Athanasius more than once neither do we here fly either unto the Agonie of Christ or unto that of Matthew 10. 23. If they persecute you in one City fly unto another which places I confesse are of some not fitly alledged for as touching the fears of Christ they are grounded upon a peculiar consideration and are not to be drawn into example when as there is handled of the mysterie of our Salvation the parts whereof Christ alone both could and did take upon him in the which he did see that fearful wrath of his Father and indeed felt it bearing the Punishment due unto our Sins we contrariwise are not at our Death 's tryed with the same fears because we have the Father appeased with us and through Faith behold Life in Death it self And that saying of Christ is doubtlesse no Command of flying away but on the contrary admonisheth faithful Pastors that being feared with no threatnings if they be driven out of one place they hasten unto another the which afterwards we see diligently to have been done by the Apostles But let us hear something else of more weight peradventure There can be nothing sent of God say they but that which is good nay there is nothing Good but that which cometh of God But the Plague is sent of God therefore it is good if not of its own nature yet in respect of the good end namely to punish our Sins to try our Faith to drive us to Repentance and to bring forth Hypocrites to light Who therefore say they can deny but that They fly
all these inferiour Causes to be revenged on Mankinde with just punishments I therefore say that it is an absurd and fond thing to confound these things so far severed asunder and distinguished by their most diverse yet not contrary ends but onely such as are placed the one under the other And because that in this Argument they contend that the Plague therefore is not infectious for that it is often called the hand and sword and arrow of God I demand of them whether the Leprosie were not the hand of God and whether it were not therefore infectious and the rather because it was infectious whether therefore the Leprous were not commanded to depart aside from the rest that were clean I demand this also If there be no evil in the City which the Lord doth not whether at this day notwithstanding the foul black sporty and scurvy Leprosie called the Elephantiasis be not accounted infectious And I would gladly ask of them which finde fault with our going aside in the Plague time whether they think that those which are infected with it are to be suffered in the Common company and society of men And if they suppose that they are to be suffered why they declaim not and cry out against them also by whom they are shut out if not and think them to be avoided for fear of the Infection why without all exceptions do they blame those that shun the infections of the Plague as the most hurtful to all persons But they will peradventure deny that kinde of Leprosie to be the hand of God Let us speak of the Pox whether it be the French or the Spanish I would to God it were not also the English That it is a punishment sent of God for Whoredom which in these times is accounted as a sportive recreation I think there is no man which dareth to deny that it is indeed the hand sword or arrow of God which striketh Whoremongers But is it not therefore infectious And doth not a Whore even infect many with this disease who again bewray one another So that this most filthy Sickness is gotten not onely with lying together but also by breathing and handling and is sucked out by infants from their Nurses Breasts and the Nurses get this Disease by giving suck unto the Infant which is is either conceived by an unclean Father or born of an unclean Mother Thsoe Arguments also are therefore such as do indeed need no confutation Without all question it is absurd and against all reason to think that there are immediately as they say rather sent unto every several man so many several Plagues than the kinde it self of the Disease by the which one corrupteth another by Infection For whether God kill at one stroak or whether as it fell out unto the Midianites he strike them down by one wounding another whomsoever he hath appointed to die what difference is there Neither concerning what we have in hand is there any difference whether any man be slain with the Dart of God himself or the Infection of another Let us now come unto that which they alledge concerning Second causes which they deny to be any certain placing of the Stars or corruption of the Aire Neither will the Physicians have any Plague or Infection to grow of those Causes But if we grant this and imagine that all Natural causes of the Plague are by them rehearsed they must tell me Why they shut out all these at once insomuch that they will have them to have but small skill in Scriptures who impute the plague next after God to these Causes Because say they that the Holy Scriptures bear Record that the Plague is sent by Angels as Psalm 88. 1. 1 Chron 21. Ezech. 9. also in the History of Zennacherib and in the Revelation where there is mention made of a most noysom Ulcer for say they that which God sendeth by Angels is not of Natural causes I grant that so far as concerneth the Angels themselves who I yield are not reckoned among Natural instruments But what hinders God so commanding the Natural causes themselves to be stirred up by the Angels For surely it cannot be doubted that they borh the good and the bad do stir up the minde of man after a certain sort what kinde of moving soever it be when as Satan is said to have entred into the heart of Judas unless we shall peradventure say that the Good Angels have somewhat less power than the Bad and that also is manifest by the Story of Achab and by the efficacy and power of the Spirits of Errour And who can deny that the will of man is to be reckoned amongst the very Chiefest causes of Mens actions But if the will of Man be not debarred from the Ministery of Angels why shall we think that other Natural causes must needs by the same be taken away Moses stretching forth his Rod raised up Lice and innumerable sorts of Flyes brought out upon the suddain fearful Hayl and struck the Aegyptians with most noysom Boyles and Botches And this Ministry of Moses was doubtless altogether as extraordinary as the Ministry of Angels But did not therefore the Lice and Flies come of Rottenness the Hayl of Vapours growing together on the sudden by restraint of the contrary and the Boyles and Botches also of corruptions of the Humors Satan receiving a Grant from God by a suddain raising of the Winde and by throwing abroad the Fire from Heaven overthrew and burnt the House of Job together with all his Children But doth it therefore follow that this came to pass without any Natural causes stepping in between Or shall we not rather say that those Princes of the Air as the Apostle not without cause calleth them made in a moment those indeed natural impressions of the Air The Devil sendeth the Godly to Prison Revel 2. 10. But by Tyrants and Persecutors of the Church In the same Book cap. 6. vers 8. The pale Horse on whom Death the Rider sitteth receiveth power to kill with the Sword Famine and Pestilence and sending of wilde Beasts Here if we shall by that Rider understand an Angel why shall we not aswell say that he used Natural matter to cause the Plague and Famine as a Sword and Wilde beasts when themselves are also natural instruments and afterterwards cap. 9. v. 1. The Angels are commanded to stand in the four quarters of the Earth and to keep back the Windes that they hurt not the Sea and the Land with blowing Whereof followeth that at the Commandment of God the Windes are in like manner sent forth by them from the which doubtless it is manifest that many Infections of the Air and chiefly infection doth proceed So that Natural causes whether they be moved by little and little of their own force planted in them by Nature or otherwise beyond Order God so commanding they be in a moment carried to their effects they are natural and so far forth are