About each roome blacke waters such as did Neuer see day Tysephone vp takes A scourge her vnkemb'd locks craule with liue Snakes Of such aspect th' Immortall eyes abhor her She in her rage doth driue the Ghosts before her Ixion there turn'd on his restlesse Wheele Followes and flies himselfe doth tortures feele For tempting Iuno's Chasti'ty Titius stretcht Vpon the earth and chain'd whose body reacht In length nine acres hath for his aspiring A Vulture on his intrals euer tyring Starv'd Tantalus there 's punisht for his sin Ripe Fruits touching his lip fresh Waues his chin But catching th' one to eat th' other to drinke The Fruit flies vp the Waters downeward shrinke There Danaus Daughters those that dar'd to kill Their innocent sleeping husbands striue to fill With waters fetcht from Lethe leaking tunnes Which as they poure out through the bottom runnes Another thus The Ghosts of men deceast Are exercis'd in torments hourely'encreast Where ev'ry punishment's exactly fitted According to th' offence in life committed Some you shall there behold hang'd vp on hye Expos'd to the bleake windes to qualifie Their former hot Lusts. Some are head-long cast Into deepe gulfes to wash their sinnes fore-past Others are scorcht in flames to purge by fire More cap'itall crimes that were in nature higher They with the lesse delinquents most dispence But mighty plagues pursue the great offence For all men suffer there as they haue done Without the least hope of euasion The sinne doth call th' offendor to the Bar The Iudges of the Bench vnpartiall ar ' No Nocent there the Sentence can evade But each one is his owne example made For when the Soule the Body doth forsake It turnes not into Aire as there to make It's last account Nor let the Wicked trust Their Bodies shall consume in their owne dust For meet they shall againe to heare recited All that was done since they were first vnited And suffer as they sinn'd in wrath in paines Of Frosts of Fires of Furies Whips and Chaines Yet contrary to this some Authors write As to the first opinion opposite Who to that doubt and diffidencie grow To question if there be such place or no. After our deaths saith one can there appeare Ought dreadfull when we neither see nor heare Can ought seeme sad by any strange inuention To him that hath nor fence nor apprehension Shall not all things involv'd in silence deepe Appeare to vs lesse frightfull than our sleepe Or are not all these feares confer'd vpon Th' infernall Riuers Styx and Acheron After our deaths in this our life made good No miserable Ghost plung'd in the floud Feares any stone impending full of dread Each minute space to fall vpon his head 'T is rather a vaine feare that hath possest vs Poore Mortals of the gods pow'r to molest vs That in this life may by the helpe of Fate Our fortunes crush and ruine our estate No Vulture doth on Titius intrals pray 'T is a meere Emblem that we fitly may Confer on passionat Tyteruâ—s and inuented To perso'nate such as are in Loue tormented Or with like griefe perplext c. Heare Seneca Is the fame true saith he that to this day Holds many in suspence That in the jawes Of Hell should be maintain'd such cruell Lawes That Malefactors at the Bar bee'ng try'de Are doom'd such horrid torments to abide Who is the Iudge to weigh in equall skale The Right or Wrong Who there commands the gaile Thus say the Ethnycks but we now retyre And from the Scriptures of this place enquire Hell is the Land of Darknesse desolate Ordain'd for Sinne to plague the Reprobate All such as to that dreadfull place descend Taste death that cannot die end without end For life begets new death the mulct of sin And where the end is it doth still begin Th' originall name we from the Hebrewes haue Sceol which is a Sepulchre or Graue Which nothing else but Darknesse doth include To which in these words Iob seemes to allude Before I go not to returne againe Into the Land where Darkenesse doth remaine Deaths dismall shadow to that Land I say As Darkenesse darke where is no sight of Day But Deaths blacke shadow which no order keepes For there the gladsome Light in Darkenesse sleepes The place where euerlasting Horror dwells 'T is call'd Gehenna too as Scripture tells The word it selfe imports The Land of Fire Not that of the knowne nature to aspire And vpward flame this hath no visi'ble light Burnes but wasts not and addes to Darknesse Night 'T is of invisi'ble substance and hath pow'r Things visible to burne but not deuour A Maxime from antiquity 't hath been There 's nothing that 's Immortall can be seen Nor is it wonder that this fire we call Invisible yet should torment withall For in a burning Feuer Canst thou see The inward flame that so afflicteth thee In Hell is Griefe Paine Anguish and Annoy All threatning Death yet nothing can destroy There 's Ejulation Clamor Weeping Wailing Cries Yels Howles Gnashes Curses neuer failing Sighes and Suspires Woe and vnpittied Mones Thirst Hunger Want with lacerating Grones Of Fire or Light no comfortable beames Heate not to be endur'd Cold in extreames Torments in ev'ry Attyre Nerve and Vaine In ev'ry Ioint insufferable paine In Head Brest Stomake and in all the Sences Each torture suting to the soule offences But with more terror than the heart can thinke The Sight with Darknesse and the Smel with Stinke The Taste with Gall in bitternesse extreme The Hearing with their Curses that blaspheme The Touch with Snakes Todes crauling about them Afflicted both within them and without them Hell 's in the Greeke call'd Tartarus because The torments are so great and without pause 'T is likewise Ades call'd because there be No objects that the Opticke Sence can see Because there 's no true temp'rature Avernus And because plac'd below 't is styl'd Infernus The Scriptures in some place name it th' Abisse A profound place that without bottom is As likewise Tophet of the cries and houles That hourely issue from tormented Soules There the Soules faculties alike shall be Tormented in their kindes eternally The Memory to thinke of pleasures past Which in their life they hop'd would euer last The Apprehension with their present state In horrid paines those endlesse without date The Vnderstanding which afflicts them most To recollect the great joyes they haue lost And these include Hells punishments in grosse Namely the paines of Torment and of Losse If we enquire of Lucian after these Betwixt Menippus and Philonides His Dialogue will then expressely tell How he and such like Atheists jeast at Hell The Dialogue HAile to the front and threshold of my dore Which I was once in feare toâ—haue seene no more How gladly I salute thee hauing done My voyage and againe behold the
giueth vs to know That excellent Spirits are not by Death extinguished or neglected but are rather transmigrated from the earth to reigne with the Powers aboue The second fore-shewes the calamitie of a People new left destitute of a Prince or Gouernor thereby fore-warning them to preuent and prepare themselues against all imminent perils The third giues vs warning that the time of the last expiration being come his friends and Allyes should take notice of the Diuine fauour that his body dying his Soule still suruiueth and that hee is not lost to his friends and familiars This was the opinion of some Philosophers Iamblic de Myster saith That as God oftentimes from the mouth of Fooles produceth wisedome declaring thereby that Man speaketh not but God himselfe so by euery sleight and vile thing hee portendeth what is to ensue keeping still his owne super-eminence and thereby instructing our weake vnderstanding And Guliel Pachimer Hist. lib. 6. saith Prodigium est Divinae irae signum c. A Prodegy is a signe of the wrath of God but whether it portendeth or looketh vpon things past or present is beyond our apprehension But this is an argument which I desire not too long to insist vpon c. In the discourse of Lucifer and his Adherents newly fallen from grace it will not be impertinent to speake something of his first and greatest master-piece in tempting our first Parents to sinne by which came death For Death was not made by God being nothing els as Saint Augustine against the Pelagians saith but a priuation of life hauing a name and no essence as Hunger is said to be a defect of food Thirst a want of moisture and Darknesse the priuation of light It therefore hauing a name and no Being God was neither the Creator nor Cause thereof Salomon saith God hath not made Death neither hath he any pleasure in the destruction of the Liuing for he created all things that they might haue their Being and the generations of the world are preserued And in an other place Through enuy of the Diuell came Death into the world He then being the author of Sin is likewise the author of Death And yet though he had power to tempt man to Sinne Man hauing Free-will he could not constraine him to giue consent This proud Angell by his owne insolence being cast from heauen began to enuy mans felicity vpon earth and to that purpose entred the Serpent which is said to be more subtill than any beast of the field And as Rupertus super Genesis saith Before the Serpent was made the Diuels Organ hee might haue beene termed most wise and prudent for it is said in Mathew Be ye therefore wise as Serpents Him as Saint Chrisostome writes the Diuell found best sitting for his hellish enterprise and in his spirituall malice by meanes of his Angelicall presence and excellent nature abusing both as instruments of his falsehood and treacherie hee wrought with to speake to the woman being the weaker Bodie and therefore the lesse able to resist temptation Neither did the Serpent speake vnto her but the Diuell in him as the good Angell did in Balaams Asse for the good Angels and euill work like operations but to diuers effects Petrus Commestor in his Scholasticall Historie writeth That at the time when the Serpent tempted the woman hee was straight and went upright like a man but after the Curse he was doomd to crawle vpon the face of the earth And Venerable Bede saith That the Diuell chose a Serpent which had the face of a woman Quod similia similibus applaudant That Like might be pleasing to Like The Holy Historie doth recite three distinct punishments of the Serpent the Woman and the Man the Serpent was cursed beyond any other beast or creature to crawle vpon his belly and eat dust all his life time enuy being put betweene the woman and her race on the one side and the Serpent and his race on the other so that Man should breake the head of the Serpent and the Serpent bruise the heele of Man The Woman was punished by pluralitie of paines in her conception and to bring forth her children with teares and lamentations c. In the next place comes Man who hauing heard and giuen consent to the words of his wife and eaten the fruit of the forbidden Tree hee must also be punished God said vnto him That the earth should be accursed for his sake in trauel and pain should he till it all his life time it should bring forth thornes and thistles vnto him he should feed on the herbs of the field and eat his bread in the sweat of his browes vntill he was returned vnto that earth from whence he had been taken Of this great Tempter the Diuell by whom sinne death and damnation first entred Saint Augustine in one of his Meditations vseth words to this purpose The Tempter was present neither wanted there time or place but thou keptst me ô Lord that I gaue not consent vnto him The Tempter came in Darknesse but thou didst comfort mee with thy Light The Tempter came armed and strong but thou didst strengthen mee and weaken him that he should not ouercome The Tempter came transfigured into an Angell of Light but thou didst illuminate mee to discouer him and curbe him that he could not preuaile against me He is the Great and Red Dragon the old Serpent called the Diuell and Sathan hauing seuen heads and ten hornes whom thou didst create a derider and mocker in the great and spacious sea in which creepe Creatures without number small and great These are the seuerall sorts of Diuels who night and day trauell from place to place seeking whom they may deuoure which doubtlesse they would do didst not thou preserue them This is the old Dragon who was borne in the Paradise of pleasure that with his taile sweepes away the third part of the Stars of heauen and casts them on the earth who with his poyson infects the waters of the earth that such men as drinke thereof may die who prostitutes gold before him as dust who thinkes hee can drinke Iordan dry at one draught and is made so that he doth not feare any And who shall defend vs from his bitings and plucke vs ou◠of his jawes but thou ô Lord who hast broken the head of the great Dragon Do thou helpe vs spread thy wings ouer vs that vnder them we may fly from this Dragon who pursueth vs and with thy shield and buckler defend vs from his hornes It is his sole desire and continuall study to destroy those Soules whom thou hast created And therefore ô God we call vnto thee to free vs from our deadly Aduersarie who whether we wake or sleepe whether we eat or drinke or whatsoeuer else wee doe is alwayes at hand night and day with his craft and fraud now openly then secretly directing his impoysoned
they Cannot endure it puts them to dismay Lactantius tells vs When vpon a season An Emp'ror of his Idoll askt the reason Of some doubt that perplext him a long space He answer'd not the cause was that in place A Christian then was present at that time Who had new blest him with the Crosses signe Good Angels when to man they first appeare Although they strike him with amase and feare Their em affies bee'ng done before they part They leaue him with great joy and cheare of heart As he at whose dread presence Daniel shooke As th' Angell Gabriel whom the Holy-Booke Makes mention of who when he came to bring To the blest Maid a message from heav'ns King Frightfull at first appear'd his salutation But th' end thereof was full of consolation But the bad Spirits bringing seeming ioy The end thereof's disaster and annoy From circumstance might many more arise But these for this place at this time suffice Be it held no digression to looke backe From whence I came inquiring if I lacke No fit accoutrement that may be found Behoofull for the journey I am bound Something I had forgot in my great speed Of Musicke then e're further I proceed I must deriue it from the first of dayes The Spheres chime Musicke to their Makers praise In the worlds first Creation it begunne From the word Fiat spoke and it was done Was sound and sweetnesse voice and symphonie Concord Consent and heav'nly harmonie The three great Orders of the Hierarchie Seruants vnto th' eternall Majestie In their degrees of Ternions hourely sing Loud Haleluiahs to th' Almighty King The Seraphins the Cherubins and Thrones Potestates Vertues Dominations The Principats Arch-Angels Angels all Resound his praise in accents musicall So doe the Heav'ns and Planets much below them Touching the first those that seeme best to know them Thus of their quicke velocitie relate As the supreme and highest agitate Their wheeles with swiftest motion so conclude The lowest finish their vicissitude That is their naturall courses much more soone As first in nine and twenty dayes the Moone The Sun and Venus in one twelue-month theirs And Saturne his in thirty compleat yeares But many thousands must be fully done Before the starry heav'ns their course haue runne Such and so great is mans innate ambition Into all knowledge to make inquisition The depth of Natures hidden wayes to sound Mystries to search and diue in arts profound As if we looke into the first of Time When as the World was in it's youth and prime Ev'n to this latest Age those much commended For deepe conceptions greatly haue contended Almost aboue capacitie indeed Laboriously each other to exceed But as the Fable of Ixion proud Saith he in Iuno's stead embrac'd a Cloud So for the most part those of wits refin'd Building vpon their amplitude of mind And by their owne vaine apprehensions sway'd In their maine course erroneously haue stray'd Either in all mistaking or some part Error for Truth and Ignorance for Art The reason is That in things vndecided By selfe-conceit bee'ng obstinatly guided And not acquiring out the perfect ground What 's finite they with infinite confound What 's humane with diuine what 's wrong with right As out of darknesse striuing to draw light Hence comes so many Sects and Schooles t' arise Amongst the Sophists thinking themselues wise As Pyâ—hagorians Epicures Platonicks Pythonicks Scepticks and Academicks Eleaticks Perepateticks Stoicks too With others more And all these as they doo Differ in names so in opinions and Vpon diuersitie of judgements stand For instance First as touching the foundation Of things that since the Chaos had creation And cause efficient some hold Earth some Fire Some Water others Aire some Sects conspire Vpon the full foure Elements to impose it One names the Heav'ns another saith he knowes it The Stars were workersâ— Atoms this man names Another Number and the former blames Some Musicall consent drawne from the Spheres Some Full some Empty by all which appeares Those things are only quarrel'd with not prov'd For nothing's constant sollid or immov'd In all their doctrines each with other jar And are indeed still in seditious war And therefore God reproues Iob for aspiring And to his hidden wayes too deepe inquiring Thus saying Who is he that doth obscure Knowledge with words imperfect and impure Gird vp thy loines thee like a man prepare I will demand and thou to me declare Where wast thou when I layd the earths foundation If thou hast knowledge giue me true narration Who measur'd it now if thou canst divine Or ouer it what 's he hath stretcht the line Vpon what are the solid Bases made Or who the corner stone thereof first layd When all the Morning Starres as but one-voic't Prais'd me together when all Saints reioyc't Who shut the Sea with dores vp when the same As from the wombe it selfe issu'd and came When for it I the Clouds a cov'ring found And as in swathing â—ands in darkenesse bound And said Thou hitherto shalt haue free way No further thou shalt here thy proud waues stay And after this the secrets doth pursue Of Snow Haile Tempests with the Light and Dew Raine Ice Death Darknesse and so further runnes To th' Pleiades Arcturus and his sonnes Saith Paul In this world none himselfe deceiue To thinke hee 's wise but such vaine phaâ—sies leaue And let him be a foole so to be wise For this worlds wisedome is a meere disguise Of foolishnesse with God Scriptures thus treat The Wise he catcheth in his owne conceit In Esays Prophesie the words thus sound The wisedome of the Wise I will confound The prudence of the Prudent reprehend Where is the wise man Where 's the Scribe now or He of this world the great Inquisitor Hath not God made all the worlds Wisedome Folly Who then dares thinke himselfe or wise or holy What was it that to Socrates first gaue Wisedomes great attribute and honour saue That he confest In all he did pursue He only knew this That he nothing knew What saith the Preacher When I did apply My heart to search out Wisedome curiously And to behold on earth the secrets deepe That day nor night the eyes of man take sleepe Gods entire worke before myne eyes I brought That Man could not finde out the worke he sought Beneath the Sun for which mans busie minde Labors to search but it can neuer finde And though the Wise man thinke it to conceiue He cannot doo 't without th' Almighties leaue When as the Academicks of the rest Of all the Ethnycke Sophists were held best Yet in their then supreme authoritie None durst contest and say So this shall be The Pyrhonicks of no lesse approbation Would not of any thing make attestation But made a doubt in all and held for true Whoeuer humane Science shall pursue No other base he hath whereon to sit Sauing the fraile
and Eusebius in his Chronicle to the thirty third yeare of Christ cite this Author Of the same witnesseth Lucianus Martyr saying Seeke in your Annals and you shall finde that in the time of Pilat the Sunne being banished the day gaue place to darkenesse These words Ruffinus vseth in his translation of his Ecclesiastical History into the Latine tongue So likewise Tertullian in Apollogeticon and Paulus Orosius in his historie But all these doubts may be decided and these difficulties be easily made plaine for where it was said That the defect of the Sunne still happeneth in the new Moone and not when it is at the full most true it is in all naturall Eclipses but that which happened at the death of our Sauior was singular and prodigious which could onely be done by him who created the Sunne the Moone the Heauens and the Earth For Dionysius Areopagita in the place before cited affirmeth That himselfe with one Apollophanes saw the Moon about mid-day with a most swift and vnusuall course haste vnto the Sunne and subiect it selfe vnto it and as it were cleaue thereunto vntill the ninth houre and then by the same way returne to it 's owne place in the East Concerning that which was added That no defect in the Sun could possibly continue for the space of three houres together so thaâ— darkenesse might ouershadow the whole earth it is thus answered Most true it is that in an vsuall and naturall Eclipse it remains infallibly so but this was not gouerned by the Lawes of Nature but by the will of the omnipotent Creator who as he could carry the Moone with a swift course from the Orient to meet with the Sunne in the meridian and after three houres returne it backe into it's owne place in the East so by his power he could bring to passe that these three houres hee could stay the Moone with the Sunne and command her to moue neither more slowly nor swiftly than the Sun Lastly where it was said That it was not possible this Eclipse should be seene ouer the face of the whole earth considering that the Moone is lesser than the earth and therefore much lesse than the Sunne there is no question but true it is if we reflect but vpon the interposition of the Moone alone but what the Moone of it selfe could not do the Creator of the Sunne and Moone had power to do For things created can doe nothing of themselues without the aid and co-operation of the Creator And whereas some may obiect and say That through the darkenesse made by the thicke and dusky clouds the light might be obscured from the vniuersall face of the earth Neither can that hold currant for then those foggie and tenebrous clouds had not only couered the Sunne and the Moone but those very Stars also which by reason of that darkenesse were visible and manifestly discouered to shine in the Firmament Now there are diuers reasons giuen why it pleased God Almightie that at the passion of our Sauior the Lord of life such darkenesse should be and two especially The first was To signifie the apparant blindenesse of the Iews which was then and doth still continue According to the Prophecie of Esay For behold Darkenesse shall couer the earth and thicke darknesse the people c. The second cause was To shew the great and apparant sinnes of the Iewes which Saint Hierome in his Comment vpon Saint Mathew doth thus illustrate Before saith he euill and wicked men did vex and persecute good and just men but now impious men haue dared to persecute and crucifie God himselfe cloathed in human flesh Before Citisens with Citisens had contention strife begot euill language ill words and sometimes slaughter but now seruants and slaues haue made insurrection against the King of Men and Angels and with incredible audacitie nailed him vnto the Crosse. At which the whole World quaked and trembled and the Sunne it selfe as ashamed to looke vpon so horrible and execrable an act withdrew his glorious lustre and couered all the aire with most terrible darknesse Thus you haue heard the Incarnation Life Doctrine Miracles and Death of the blessed Redeemer of the World God and Man from whom we ground our Christian Religion Now because I had occasion to speake of the Turkish Alcaron and the apparant absurdities contained therein it shall not be amisse to insert somthing concerning the Authour thereof that comparing his life with his doctrine the basenesse of the one may make the blasphemies of the other appeare the more odious and abhominable Platina writeth That he was descended nobly but his authoritie is not approued Therefore I rather follow Pomponius Lata in his Abridgement of the Romane Historie who agreeing with other authentik Authors deriues him from an ignoble vile obscure Linage Some say he was an Arab others a Persian nor are either of their opinions to be reiected because at that time the Persians had the predominance ouer Arabia His Father was a Gentile and an Idolater his Mother a Iew and lineally descended from Ismael the son of Abraham by his bond-woman Hagar He was of a quicke and actiue spirit left an Orphant and being yong was surprised by the Scenites who were of the Arabs in Africa and liued as Theeues and Robbers Being by them sold vnto a rich Merchant named Adimonepli because the Lad was wel featured and quicke witted hee vsed him not as his slaue but rather as his sonne Who accordingly mannaged all his masters affaires with great successe trading dayly both with Iewes and Christians by reason of which hee came to be acquainted with both their Lawes and Religions His master died without issue leauing his Widow who was about fifty yeares of age named Ladigna wonderous rich shee after tooke Mahomet to husband by which mariage hee suddenly became of a poore slaue a wealthy master of a family About that time one Sergius a Monke a debosht fellow of a spotted life and base condition who for maintaining of sundrie dangerous heresies was fled out of Constantinople and for the safegard of his threatned life thought to shelter himselfe in Arabia in processe of time grew into great acquaintance and familiaritie with Mahomet who consulted together and began to proiect great matters Now Mahomet hauing before been entred into the study of Magicke or Necromancie resolued to persuade the Gentiles that he was a Prophet To prepare which hee had practised diuers iugling trickes by which his wife and his owne houshold were first abused To further which credulitie hee was troubled with the Falling Sickenesse at which his wife and the rest of her Neighbours being amased he made of that this diuellish vse to persuade them That at such time as the fall took him the Angell of God came to confer with him and hee being but mortall and not able to endure his diuine presence was forced into those sudden agonies and alterations of spirit This being generally reported and
confidently beleeued his wife soon after died leauing him her vniuersall heire of great possessions and mighty summes of money which both emboldened and strengthened him in his diabolicall proceedings so that by the assistance of Sergius the Monke hee now openly proclaimed himselfe a Prophet and sent of God to prescribe new lawes vnto the Nations And hauing before made himselfe skilfull in all their Lawes the better to countenance and corroborate this his Innouation he thought to accord with the Iewes in some points to continue them his friends and in some things with the Christians lest he should make them his enemies He likewise complied with diuers Heretiques with the Macedonians he denied the Holy-Ghost to be God with the Nicolaitans he approued the multiplicitie of Wiues c. On the other side he confessed our Sauiour Christ to be an holy man and a Prophet and that the Virgin Mary was an holy and blessed woman whom in his Alcaron he much extolled With the Iews he held circumcision with many other of their ceremonies Besides his Religion gaue all the abhominable vices of the flesh free scope and libertie which drew vnto his new Sect much confluence of people from many Nations and Languages to be his abettors and followers His booke he called the Alchoran and lest his diuellish impieties and absurd impostures should be examined and by that meanes discouered hee made it a penaltie of death for any man To argue or make difficultie of any Tenent contained therein making protestation That they ought to be supported maintained by Armes and not by Arguments His first attempt was To set vpon the confines of Arabia Heraclius being then Emperor who held his seat at Constantinople at the same time Boniface the first was Pope and Honorius his successor The newes of this great insurrection comming to the Emperors eare he prepared to suppresse it with all speed possible and to that end he entertained into his Pay the Scenites a warre-like people of Arabia who before had in their hearts much fauoured Mahomet by whose aid in the first bloudy Conflict he was victorious and dispersed this new Sect and had hee followed his present fortune he had quite abandoned it from the face of the earth But supposing them by this first defeat sufficiently disabled and himselfe secured hee failed to keepe promise with the Scenites and detained their pay who in meere despight that they had bin deluded and so injuriously dealt with ioyned themselues with Mahomets dis-banded Forces and by reason of his former râ—putation elected him their Captaine and Generall growing in time to that strength and boldnesse that they attempted diuers places in the Roman Empire entring Syria and surprising the great city Damas inuading Egypt Iudaea with the bordering prouinces persuading the Saracins and people of Arabia That the Land of Promise solely appertained vnto them as the legitimate successors vnto their father Abraham and Sarah from whom they deriued their Name Thus animated by the successe in these wars he was suddenly puft vp with a vain glorious ambition to conquer and subdue the whole world His next expedition therefore he aimed against the Persians a Nation at that time very potent and held to be inuincible His first aduenture succeeded ill for his army was defeated but after hauing re-allyed his forces in his second attempt fortune so fauoured him that hee compelled them to embrace his Religion Briefly and to auoid circumstance after he had run through many hazards and prosperously ouercome them he was poysoned and dyed according to Sabellicus in the fourtieth yere of his age And because he had told his complices and adherents That his body after his death should ascend into heauen they kept it for some dayes vnburied expecting the wonderment so long till by reason of the infectious stench thereof none was able to come neere it At length they put it into a chest of iron and carried it to Mecha a City of Persia where it is stil adored not onely of the people of the East but the greatest part of the world euen to this day And so much concerning the Impostor Mahomet With which relation the most approued Authors agree as Platina in the liues of the Popes Blondâ—â— in his booke of the declining of the Roman Empire Baptista Ignatius in the Abridgement of the Emperours the Annals of Constantinople Nauclerus Antoninus and others And now when I truly consider the stubborne Atheist the misbeleeuing Mahumetan and stiffe-necked Iew it putteth mee in minde of that of the Psalmist Is it true ô Congregation Speake ye iustly ô sonnes of men iudge ye vprightly yea rather ye imagin mischiefe in your hearts your hands execute crueltie vpon the earth The Wicked are strangers from the wombe euen from the belly haue they erred and speak lies Their poyson is euen like the poyson of a Serpent like the deafe Adder that stoppeth his eares which heareth not the voice of the Inchanter though he be most expert in charming Breake their teeth ô God in their mouthes breake the jawes of the yong Lions ô Lord let them melt like the waters let them passe away when he shooteth his arrows let them be broken let them consume like a Snaile that melteth and like the vntimelâ— fruit of a woman that hath not seene the Sunne c. Amongst Theodore Beza's Epigrams those which by a more peculiar name he inscribeth Icona's I reade one of Religion in the manner of a Dialogue Quae nam age tam lacero vestita incedis amictu Religio summiver a patris sorholes c. What art thou in that poore and base attyre Religion The chiefe Father is my Sire Why in a robe so thread-bare course and thin Fraile Riches I despise which tempt to sin Vpon what Booke do'st thou so fix thine eyes My Fathers reue'rend Law which I much prise Why do'st thou go thus with thy breasts all bare It fits those best that Truths professors are Why leaning on a Crosse Because indeed It is my welcome rest none else I need But wherefore wing'd Because I looke on high And would teach men aboue the starres to fly And wherefore shining It becomes me well Who all grosse darknesse from the minde expell What doth that Bridle teach vs To restraine All the wilde fancies of the brest and braine But wherefore Death do'st thou beneath thee tread Because by me ev'n Death it selfe lies dead This shewes the qualitie and estate of true Religion and the Professors thereof which is builded on the Messiâ—â— whom the peruerse and obstinate Iewes will not euen to this day acknowledge Concerning which I obserue an excellent saying from Gregorie Pap. The Iewes saith hee would neither acknowledge Iesus Christ to be the Sonne of God by the words and testimonie of his Heralds and fore-runners the Prophets not by his infinite Miracles and yet the Heauens knew him who leant him a bright star to light him into the world The Sea knew him who against
voluptuousnesse and pleasure yet was neuer knowne to be either diseased in body or disquieted in minde by any temporall affliction whatsoeuer Which being related vnto the Emperour he made this answer Euen hence we may ground that the Soules of men be immortal for if there be a God who first created and since gouerneth the World as both the Philosophers and Theologists confesse and that there is none so stupid as to deny him to be iust in all his proceedings there must then of necessitie be other places prouided to which the Soules of men must remoue after death since in this life we neither see rewards conferred vpon those that be good and honest nor punishments condigne inflicted vpon the impious and wicked Cicero in Caton Maior reporteth That Cyrus lying vpon his death bed said vnto his sonnes I neuer persuaded my selfe ô my Children that the Soule did liue whilest it was comprehended within this mortall body neither that it shall die when it is deliuered from this fleshly prison Anaxarchus being surprised by Nicocreon the Tirant of Cyprus he commanded him to be contruded into a stone made hollow of purpose and there to be beaten to death with iron hammers In which torments he called vnto the Tyrant and said Beat batter and bruise the flesh and bones of Anaxarchus but Anaxarchus himselfe thou canst not harme or damnifie at all The excellent Philosopher intimating thereby That though the Tyrant had power to exercise his barbarous and inhumane crueltie vpon his body yet his Soule was immortal and that no tyrannie had power ouer either to suppresse or destroy it Brusonius Lib. 2. Cap. 3. ex Plutarc Of lesse constancie was Iohannes de Canis a Florentine Physition of great fame for his practise who when out of the Principles of Mataesophia he had grounded the Soule to be mortal with the Body and in his frequent discourses affirmed as much yet when his last houre drew on he began to doubt within himselfe and his last words were these So now I shall suddenly be resolued whether it be so or no. Iohan. Bapt. Gell. Dialog de Chimaerico As ill if not worse Bubracius lib. 28. reporteth of Barbara wife to the Emperour Sigismund who with Epicurus placed her Summum Bonum in voluptuousnesse and pleasure and with the Sadduces beleeued no resurrection or immortalitie of the Soule but God and the Diuell heauen and hell equally diuided From the Philosophers I come now to the Poets Ovid lib. Metam 15. saith Morte carent Animae semperque priore relicta Sede novis domibus vivunt c. The Soules can neuer dye when they forsake These houses then they other Mansions take Phocilides the Greeke Poet Anima autem immortalis insenesibilis vivit per omne tempus i. For the Soule is immortall not subject vnto age but surviveth beyond the date of Time And Menander Melius est corpus quam Animam aegrotare i. Better it is for thee to be sicke in body than in Soule and howsoeuer thy Body fare be sure to physicke thy Soule with all diligence Propert. 4.7 Sunt aliquid manes let hum non omnia fiunt Luridaque evictos effugit vmbra rogas Sp'rites something are Death doth not all expire And the thin Shadow scapes the conquer'd fire The ingenious Poet Tibullus either inclining to the opinion of Pythagoras or else playing with it who taught That the soule after death did transmigrate and shift into the bodies of other persons and creatures we reade thus Quin etiam meatunc tumulus cui texerit ossa Seu matura dies fato proper at mihi mortem Longa manet seu vita c. When these my bones a Sepulchre shall hide Whether ripe Fate a speedy day prouide Or that my time be lengthned when I change This figure and hereafter shall proue strange Vnto my selfe in some shape yet vnknowne Whether a Horse of seruice I be growne Taught how to tread the earth or Beast more dull Of speed the glory of the herd a Bull Whether a Fowle the liquid aire to cut Or into what Mans shape this Spirit be put These Papers that haue now begun thy praise I will continue in those after-dayes Manl. lib. 4. de Astronom is thus quoted An dubium est habitare Deum sub pectore nostr◠In coelumque redire Animas coeloque venire Who doubts but God dwells in this earthly Frame And Soules returne to Haev'n from whence they came And Lucretius we reade thus Cedit enim retro de terra quid fuit ante In terra sed quod missum est ex Etheris oris Id rursum Coeli fulgentia templa receptus c. That which before was made of earth the same Returnes backe vnto earth from whence it came But that which from th' aethereall parts was lent Is vp vnto those shining Temples sent I haue hitherto spoke of the two distinct parts of Man the Soule and the Body A word or two of Man in generall Homo Man is Anima Rationalis or Mortalis A Creature reasonable and mortall Not so denominated ab Humo as Varro would haue it for that is common with all other Creatures but rather of the Greeke word Omonoia that is Concordia or Consensus Concord or Con-societie because that Man is of all other the most sociable The Nobilitie of Man in regard of the sublimitie of his Soule is expressed in Genes 1. Let vs make Man after our owne Image and similitude c. The humility which ought to be in him concerning the substance whereof he was made Genes 2. The Lord made Man of the slime of the earth The shortnesse of his life Psal. 102. My dayes are declined like a shadow and I am as the Grasse of the field The multiplicitie of his miseries Gen. 3. In the sweat of thy browes shalt thou eat thy bread c. Gregory Nazianzen in Oration 10. vseth these words What is Man that thou art so mindefull of him What new miserie is this I am little and great humble and high mortall and immortal earthly and heauenly the first from this world the later from God the one from the Flesh the other from the Spirit Tertullian Apollogetic advers Gentil cap. 48. hath this Meditation Dost thou aske me how this dissolued Matter shall be again supplied Consider with thy selfe ô Man and bethinke thy selfe what thou wast before thou hadst Being Certainely nothing at all for if any thing thou shouldst remember what thou hadst beene Thou therefore that wast nothing before thou wert shalt againe be made nothing when thou shalt cease to be And why canst thou not againe from Nothing haue Being by the wil of the same Workeman whose will was That at the first thou shouldst haue existence from nothing What new thing shall betide thee Thou which wast not wert made when thou againe art not thou shalt be made Giue me if thou canst a reason how thou wert created at first and then thou