the reasonable soules which are parts in that order of nature are not to bee held for goddes Nor ought it to be subiect to those things ouer which God hath giuen it superiority Away with those thinges also which Numa buryed beeing pertinent to these religious ordinances and beeing afterwards turned vp by a plough were by the Senate buryed And those also to fauor our suspition of Numa Which Alexander the great wrote b to his Mother that hee hadde learned of Leon an Aegiptian Priest Where not onely Picus Faunus Aeneas Romulus Hercules A◅sculapius Bacchus Castor and Pollux and other mortal men whome they hadde for their goddes but euen the c gods of the greater families whom Tully not naming them though seemes to touch at in his Tusculane Questions Iupiter Iuno Saturne Vulcan Vesta and many other which Varro would make nothing but Elements and parts of the world there are they all shewne to haue beene but men For the Priest fearing the reuealing of these misteries warned Alexander that as soone as his Mother hadde read them hee should burne them So not all this fabulous and ciuill Theology shall giue place to the Platonists who held a true God the author of all thinges the clearer of all doubtes and the giuer of all goodnes but euen the other Phylosophers also whose grosse bodily inuentions held the worlds beginning to be bodily let al these giue place to those good god-conceiuing men let Thales depart with his water Anaximenes with the ayre the Stoikes with their d fire Epicurus with his Atomes his indiuisible and in sensible bodies and all other that now are not for vs to recount who placed natures originall in bodies eyther simple compound quicke or dead for there were e some and the Epicureans were they that held a possibility of producing the quicke out of the dead f others would produce out of the quick some things quick and some dead yet all bodily as of a body produced But the Stoikes held g the fire one of this visible worldes foure elements to bee wise liuing the Creator of the world whole and part yea euen God him-selfe Now these their fellowes followed euen the bare surmises of their owne fleshly opinions in these assertions For h they hadde that in them which they saw not and thought that to bee in them which they saw externally nay which they saw not but imagined onely now this in the sight of such a thought is no body but a bodies likenesse But that where-with our minde seeth seeth this bodyes likenesse is neither body nor likenesse and that which discerneth the other iudging of the deformity or beauty of it is more beautious then that which it iudgeth of This is the nature of mans minde and reasonable soule which is no body nor is the bodies likenesse revolued in the minde a body either So then it is neyther fire ayre water nor earth of which foure bodies which wee call Elements this visible World is composed Now if our soule bee no body how can God that made it bee a body So then let these giue place to the Platonists and i those also that shamed to say God was a body and yet would make him of the same essence that our s◅es ar being not moued by the soules mutability which it were vile to ascribe vnto God I but say they k the body it is that alters the soule of it self it is immutable So might they say that it is a body that woundeth the body for of it selfe it is invulnerable That which is immutable nothing externall can change But that that any body alters is not vnchangeable because it is externally alterable L. VIVES THey a make A difference of reading but not worthy the noting b Wrote this Cyprian affirming al y◠Pagan gods were men saith that this is so Alexander writeth in a famous volume to hi◅ mother that the feare of his power made such secrets of the gods to bee reuealed vnto him by that Pries◅ that they were he saw now nothing else but ancient kinges whose memories vsed to be kept at first and afterwards grew to sacrifices De Idoll Vanitate c Gods of the Tarquinius Pris◅s fist King of Rome added 100. Senators to the ancient Senate and these were called the fathers of the lesser families the former of the greater which phraze Tully vseth metaphorically for the ancient confirmed gods If we should seeke the truth of Greeke authors saith Tully euen these goddes of the greater families would be found to haue gone from vs here ◅n earth vp into heauen Thus farre he Tusc. Quaest. 1. Teaching the soules immortallity which beeing loosed from the body shall be such as they who are adored for gods Such were Romulus Hercules Bacchus c. And thus is heauen filled almost ful with men Tully also elsewhere calleth such gods of the greater families as haue alwaies bene held celestiall In Legib. Those that merit heauen he calleth Gods ascript d Fire Cic. de nat deor The Stoikes hold al actiue power fire following it seemes Heraclitus And Zeno their chiefe defineth the nature that he held for god to be a fire artificiall generatiue and moouing e Some The Epicureans held all men and each thing else to come out of Atomes flying about at randome and knitting together by chance f Others So the old Manuscripts do read it g Held the fire Cic. de ◅t de◅ h They had that They could not conceiue the soule to be incorporeall but corporall onely nor vniuersally that but sensible onely And it is triuiall in the Shooles Nothing is in the ◅derstanding that was not first in the sence That is our minde conceiueth but what is circumscribed with a body sensible or an obiect of our sence So we conceit incorporeall things corporally and corporall things neuer seene by imagination and cogitation of such or such formes as we haue seene As one that neuer saw Rome but thinkes of it he imagineth it hath walls churches buildings or such-like as he hath seene at Paris Louvaine Valencia or elsewhere Further Augustine teacheth that the thoughts are incorporeall and that the mindes internall sences which produce thoughts are both before thoughts and thinges them-selues which sences internal God being the Creator of must needs be no body but a power more excellent then al other bodies or soules i Those also Cic. de nat deor l. 1. for Pythagoras that held God to be a soule continuate diffused through al nature neuer marked the perturbations our soules are subiect to by which were God such he should be distracted and disturbed when the soules were wretched as many are so should god be also which is impossible but Plato deriued our soules frō the substance of the stars if they died yong he affirmed their returne theth◅ again each to the star whence it came and that as the stars were composed of the 4. Ele◅ so we◅e the soules but in a
videri aut tangi quod careat solido Solidum autem nihil quod terrae sit expers quamobrem mundâ—… efficere moliens deus terram primam ignemque iungebat The same is Tymaeus his opinion in his work De Mundo anima f He meaneth Plato said heauen was of fire the stars of the â—…oure elements because they seemâ—…d more solid But he held not heauen of the nature of our fire for he held fires of diuers nature g Two meanes Water and fire must needs haue a meane of coherence But solid bodies are hardly reconciled by one meane but must haue two which may of theÌ„selues their accidents compose a conuenient third such is water ayre between fire earth for water to earth ayre to fire beare the same proportion and so doth water and ayre betweene themselues which combination rules so in the elements that in the ascending and descending innumerable and imperceptible variations of nature all seemes but one body either rarified vnto fire or condensate vnto earth h Ayre is a spirit But not of God of this hereafter i I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a perticiple as one should say I am he that is For wee can not transtate it by one word as Seneca affirmeth Epist. lib. 8. But wee may call it Ens of sâ—… as Caesar did being of to bee as potent of possum So did Sergius Quintil. GOD meaneth thâ—… hee hath beeing whereas as nothing else hath properly any beeing but are as Isayas saith of nothing and Iob hath it often GOD onely hath beeing the rest haue not their existencâ—… saith Seneca because they are eternall themselues but because their maker guardeth them and should hee disist they would all vanish into nothing Plato also sayth that corporal things neuer haue true beeing but spirituall haue In Timeo Sophista And there and iâ—… his Parmenides hee saith that GOD is one and Ens of whom all things depend that â—…ature hath not a fitte expressiue name for his Excellence nor can hee bee defined 〈◊〉 ascribed nor knowne nor comprehended that hee begotte all these lesser goâ—… whom in his Tymaeus he saith are immortall only by their fathers wil not by their own power Him hee calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as he saith of a true Philosopher in his Phaedon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he conceiueth him which is and a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pertake of them which is and in his Timaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the eternall beeing vnbegotten And all the Platonists agree that the title of his Parmenides De ente vno rerum prinoipio and of his Sophista 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are both ment of GOD which is the true being and the beginning of all things and 〈◊〉 being a perticile is of the presentence sâ—…gnifying that GOD hath no time past nor to come but with him all is present and so his beeing is That he saith in his Tymeus Time hath parâ—…es past present and to come and these times of our diuiding are by our error falsely ascribed to the diuine essence and vnmeetely For wee vse to say hee was is and wil be but indâ—…ed he onely is properly and truely was and wil be belong to things that arise and proceede according to the times and with them For they are two motions but the onely Lord of eternâ—…ty hath no motion nor is elder nor hath beene younger nor hath not beene hitherto or shall not bee hereafter nor feeleth any affect of a corporall bodie but those partes past and to come are belonging to time that followeth eternity and are species of that which mooueth it selfe according to number and space Thus much out of Timaeus hee that will reade the author let him looke till hee finde these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. there this sentence beginneth Gregory vsed part of it in his Sermon of the birth of Christ and handled it largely in that place GOD was alwaies and is and shal be saith he nay rather God is alwaies was and shal be are parts of our time and defects in nature But hee is eternally beeing and so he told Moyses when hee asked him his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Then hee beginnes to mount and with diuine eloquence to spread the lustre of GODS eternity and inmutability but this worthy man is faine to yeeld vnder so huge a burden and shut his eyes dazeled wiâ—…h so fiery a splendor Plutarch tells that on one poste of the Temples dore at Delphos was written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know thy selfe and on the other 〈◊〉 thou art the first hauing reference to our preparation in matters of diuinity and the later vnto GODS nature which is alwaies sixt and firme whereas ours is fluxe and mutable Wherefore it may well bee said of him whose nature is not subiect to any alteration of time but alâ—…aies fixed and vnalterable thou art Thou art may also bee referred vnto the vnmoueable eternity without any respect of the time as Plato saith in his Parmenides who will not haue the time present made an attribute of GOD because it is a time nor will haue him called an essence but rather somewhat inexplicable aboue all essence to know what it is not is easie but what it is impossible Some thinke that Parmenides himselfe in his Philosophicall poeme meaneth of GOD there where hee saith all things are but one and so thought Symplicius for it is vnlike that so sharpe a wit as Parmenides found not the difference and multitude of things which hee setteth plainely downe in his poemes For hauing spoken largely of that onely Ens hee concludeth thus Thus much of the true high things now concerning the confused and mortall thing in which is much error Aristotle through desire to reprehend eâ—…roniously traduceth his opinion in his Physikes which Themistius toucheth at Parmenides saith he did not thinke an accident that hath existence but from another to bee the Ens hee meant of but hee spoke of the Ens which is properly especially and truely so which is indeed no other but Plato his very Ens. Nay what say you to Aristotle that saith himselfe that Parmenides ment of that one Ens which was the originall of all The other Platonists opinions I haue already related Now as for that sentence so common against them that the things intelligible onely not the sensible haue existence Alcymus in his worke to Amynthas declarâ—…th that Plato had both it and that of the Idea's out of Epicharmus his bookes and alledgeth the words of Epicharmus himselfe who was a Philosopher of Coos a Phythagorean who held that learning made a man as farre more excellent then others as the suâ—…ne excells the starres and all other light and the sea the riuers Plato himselfe in his Sophista auerreth the antiquity of that opinion that affirmed the essence of intelligibilities onely and that therevpon arose
and impious foulenesse of these deuills euen for honesties sake for if Plato's prohibition and proofe be iust then is their demand and desire most damnable So either Apulcius mistooke the kind of Socrates his Genius or Plato contradicts himselfe now d honoring those spirits and streight after abridging them their pleasures and expelling their delights from an honest state or else Socrates his spirit was not worth the approuing wherein Apuleius offended in being not ashamed to stâ—…le his booke e De deo Socratis of his god and yet proues by his owne distinction of Dij daemones that hee should haue called it De daemone Socratis of his diuell But this hee had rather professe in the body of his discourse then in his tiâ—…le for the name of a Daemon was by good doctrine brought into such hate that f whosoeuer had â—…ead Daemon in the title ere he had read the Daemons commendations in the booke would haue thought Apuleius g madde And what found he praise-worthy in them but their subtile durable bodies and eleuation of place when hee came to their conditions in generall hee found no good but spake much euill of them so that hee that readeth that booke will neuer maruell at their desiring plaies and that Iuch gods as they should be delighted with crimeâ—… beastly showes barbarous cruelty and what euer else is horrible or ridiculous that all this should square with their affects is no wonder L. VIVES REasonable a Creatures Plato reckoneth three sorts of gods the Deiâ—…yes the Daemones the Heroes but these last haue reference to men whence they arise De leg 4. Epinom Plutarch highly commends thoâ—…e that placed the spirits betwixt gods and men were it Orpheus some Phirgian or Aegiptian for both their sacrifices professeth it De defect oracul for they found the meanes saith he wherein gods and men concurre Homer saith he vseth the names at â—…don how calling them gods and now demones Hesiod fire made reasonable nature quadripartite into gods spirits Heroes and mortalles who liuing well arise both to Heroes and Daemones b The spirits Socrates in Platos Conuiuium mentioneth a disputation with Diotyma where hee affirmeth the spirits nature to bee meane betweene gods â—…nd mans c This power Socrates they say had a spirit that forbad him all acts whose euents it knew should not bee successefull but neuer incited him to any thing whatsoeuer d Honoring Teaching it also Epinom e De deo All that handled this before Apuleius called this spirit a Daemon not a deity him-selfe in aboue six hundreth places in Plato in Plato Zenophon also Cicero and Plutarch Maximus of Tyre who â—…rot a double demonstration hereof So did many other ca lit both Platonists and Philosophers of other nations â—…ecitall were tedious f Whosoeuer Whosoeuer reads the title before the booke ere he read the booke g Madde For the gentiles as then called the Demonyaks and such as were possessed with the deuill mad men That neither the ayry spirits bodies nor height of place make them excell men CHAP. 15. WHerfore God forbad that a soule that feares God should thinke those spirits to excell it because they haue more a perfect bodies So should beasts excel vs also many of which goe beyond vs in quicknes of sence nimblenes swiftnesse strength and long life what man sees like the Eagle or Vultur smells like to the dog is swifter then stags hares and birds strong as a lyon or an elephant or lines with the serpent b that with his skin put of his eares becomes yong again But as we excell these in vnderstanding so do wee the ayrie spirits in iust liuing or should do at least For therefore hath the high prouidence giuen them bodies in some sort excelling ours that we might haue the greater care to preserue and augment that wherein we excell them rather then our bodies and learne to contâ—…ne that bodily perfection which wee know they haue in respect of the goodnesse of life whereby we are before them and shall obtaine immortalitie of body also not for the eternitie of plagues to afflict but which purity of soule shall effect And for the c higher place they hauing the ayre and we the earth it were a ridiculous consequence to make them our betters in that for so should birds be by the same reason d I but birds being tyred or lacking meate come downe to earth to rest or to feede so doe not the spirits Well then will you preferre them before vs and the spirits before them if this bee a mad position as mad a consequence it is to make them excell vs by place whom we can nay must excell by pyety For as the birds of the ayre are not preferred before vs but subiected to vs for the equitie of our reason so though the deuills being higher then wee are not our betters because ayre is aboue earth but we are their betters because our saith farre surmounteth their despaire For Plato's reason diuiding the elements into foure and parting mooueable fire and immooueable earth by interposition of ayre and water giuing each an equall place aboue the other this prooues that the worth of creatures dependeth not vpon the placing of the elements And Apuleius making a man an earthly creature yet preferreth him before the water-creatures whereas Plato puts the water aboue the earth to shew that the worth of creatures is to be discerned by another methode then the posture of naturall bodies the meaner body may include the better soule and the perfecter the worse L. VIVES MOre a perfect Apuleius makes them of a meane temperature betweene earthly and aethereall more pure and transparent then a clowde coagulate of the most subtile parts of ayre and voide of all solidity inuisible vnlesse they please to forme themselues a groser shape b That with his skinne Casting his skinne he begins at his eies that one ignorant thereof would thinke him blind Then gettes he his head bare and in 24. houres putteth it of his whole body Looke Aristot. de gen anim lib. 8. c Higher place Which Apuleius gathers thus No element is voyde of creatures Earth hath men and beasts the water fishes fire some liuing things also witnesse Aristotle Ergo the ayre must haue some also but vnlesse those spirits bee they none can tell what they be So that the spirits are vnder the gods and aboue vs their inferiors our betters d I but birds Apuleius his answer thus Some giue the ayre to the birds to dwell in falsly For they neuer go higher then Olympus top which being the highest mount of the world yet perpendicularly measured is not two furlongs high whereas the ayre reacheth vp to the concaue of the Moones spheare and there the skies begin What is then in all that ayrie space betweene the Moone and Olympus top hath it no creatures is it a dead vselesse part of nature And-againe birds if one consider them well are rather creatures earthly
eldest holds them resolued into most pure ayre which S. Thomas dislikes for such bodies could neuer penetrate the fire nor the heauens But he is too Aristotelique thinking to binde incomprehensible effectes to the lawes of nature as if this were a worke of nature strictly taken and not at the liberty of GODS omnipotent power or that they had forced through fire and heauen by their condensed violence Some disliked the placing of an element aboue heauen and therefore held the Christalline heauens composed of waters of the same shew but of a farre other nature then the Elementary Both of them are transparent both cold but that is light and ours heauy Basill sayth those waters doe coole the heate of the heauens Our Astronomicall diuines say that Saturnes frigidity proceedeth from those waters ridiculous as though all the starres of the eighth spere are not cooler then Saturne These waters sayth Rede are lower then the spirituall heauens but higher then all corporeall creatures kept as some say to threaten a second deluge But as others hold better to coole the heate of the starres De nat◅rer But this is a weake coniecture Let vs conclude as Augustine doth vpon Genesis How or what they are we know not there they are we are sure for the scriptures authority weigheth downe mans witte c In stead of Another question tossed like the first How the elements are in our bodies In parcels and Atomes peculiar to each of the foure saith Anaxagoras Democritus Empedocles Plato Cicero and most of the Peripatetiques Arabians Auerroes and Auicen parcels enter not the bodies composition sayth another but natures only This is the schoole opinion with the leaders Scotus and Occam Aristole is doubtfull as hee is generally yet holdes the ingresse of elements into compoundes Of the Atomists some confound all making bodies of coherent remaynders Others destroy all substances Howsoeuer it is wee feele the Elementary powers heate and drought in our gall or choller of the fire heate and moysture ayry in the blood colde and moyst watery in the fleame Colde and dry earthly in the melancholly and in our bones solydity is earth in our brayne and marrow water in our blood ayre in our spirits cheefely of the heart fire And though wee haue lesse of one then another yet haue some of each f But there And thence is all our troublesome fleame deriued Fitly it is seated in the brayne whether all the heate aspyreth For were it belowe whither heate descendeth not so it would quickly growe dull and congeale Whereas now the heate keepes it in continuall acte vigor and vegetation Finis lib. II. THE CONTENTS OF THE twelfth booke of the Citty of God 1. Of the nature of good and euil Angells 2. That no essence is contrary to God though al the worlds frailty seeme to bee opposite vnto this immutable eternity 3. Of gods enemies not by nature but will which hurting them hurteth their good nature because there is no vice but hurteth nature 4. Of vselesse and reason-lesse natures whose order differeth not from the Decorum held in the whole vniuerse 5. That the Creator hath deserued praise in euery forme and kind of Nature 6. The cause of the good Angels blisse and the euills misery 7. That wee ought not to seeke out the cause of the vicious will 8. Of the peruerse loue wherby the soule goeth from the vnchangeable to the changeable good 9. Whether he that made the Angels natures made their wils good also by the infusion of his loue into them through his holy Spirit 10. Of the falsenes of that History that saith the world hath continued many thousand years 11. Of those that hold not the Eternity of the world but either a dissolution and generation of innumerable worlds or of this one at the expiration of certaine yeares 12. Of such as held Mans Creation too lately effected 13. Of the reuolution of Tymes at whose expiration some Phylosophers held that the Vniuerse should returne to the state it was in at first 14. Of Mans temporall estate made by God out of no newnesse or change of will 15. Whether to preserue Gods eternall domination we must suppose that he hath alwaies had creatures to rule ouer and how it may bee held alwaies created which is not coeternall with God 16. How wee must vnderstand that God promised Man life eternall before all eternity 17. The defence of Gods vnchanging will against those that fetch Gods works about frō eternity in circles from state to state 18. Against such as say thinges infinite are aboue Gods knowledge 19. Of the worlds without end or Ages of Ages 20. Of that impious assertion that soules truly blessed shall haue diuer s reuolutions into misery againe 21. Of the state of the first Man and Man-kinde in him 22. That God fore-knew that the first Man should sin and how many people he was to translate out of his kind into the Angels society 23. Of the nature of Mans soule being created according to the Image of God 24. Whether the Angels may bee called Creators of any the least creature 25. That no nature or forme of any thing liuing hath any other Creator but God 26. The Platonists opinion that held the Angels Gods creatures Man the Angels 27. That the fulnesse of Man-kind was created in the first Man in whome God fore-saw both who should bee saued and who should bee damned FINIS THE TVVELFTH BOOKE OF THE CITTIE OF GOD Written by Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo vnto Marcellinus Of the nature of good and euill Angels CHAP. 1. BEfore I speake of the creation of man wherein in respect of mortall reasonable creatures the two Citties had their originall as we shewed in the last booke of the Angels to shew as well as wee can the congruity and conuenience of the society of Men with Angels and that there are not foure but rather two societies of Men and Angels qualitied alike and combined in eyther the one consisting both of good Angels and Men and the other of euill that the contrariety of desires betweene the Angels good and euill arose from their diuers natures and beginnings wee may at no hand beleeue God hauing beene alike good in both their creations and in all things beside them But this diuersity ariseth from their wils some of them persisting in God their common good and in his truth loue and eternity and other some delighting more in their owne power as though it were from them-selues fell from that common al-blessing good to dote vppon their owne and taking pride for eternity vayne deceit for firme truth and factious enuy for perfect loue became proud deceiptfull and enuious The cause of their beatitude was their adherence with GOD their must their miseries cause bee the direct contrary namely their not adherence with GOD. Wherefore if when wee are asked why they are blessed and wee answere well because they stucke fast vnto GOD and beeing asked why they
away and therefore hurteth not for it cannot be both a vice and hurtlesse whence wee gather that though vice cannot hurt that vnchangeable good yet it can hurt nothing but good because it is not but where it hurteth And so we may say that vice cannot bee in the highest good nor cannot bee but in some good Good therefore may be alone but so cannot euill because the natures that an euill will hath corrupted though as they be polluted they are euill yet as they are natures they are good And when this vicious nature is punished there is this good besides the nature that it is not vnpunished for this is iust and what is iust is questionlesse good and no a man is punished for the falts of his nature but of his will for that vice that hath gotten from a custome into an habit and seemeth naturall had the originall from corruption of will for now wee speake of the vices of that nature wherein is a foule capable of the intellectuall light whereby wee discerne betweene iust and vniust L. VIVES NO a man Vice or a falt generally is a declining from the right So that there are of them naturall as if wee haue gotten any custome of any act against the Decorum of that kinde or haue it by nature as to haue more or fewer members then we should stammering of speach blindnesse deafnesse or any thing against perfection bee it in men beasts trees 〈◊〉 or whatsoeuer Then there is falte of manners and fault of art when the worke-man 〈◊〉 erred from his science b Naturall So that is dominereth and playeth the tyrant in a 〈◊〉 seeking to compell him to do thus wherevpon many say in excuse of sinnes that they cannot do withall whereas their owne will nousles it vp in them and they may oppose it if they 〈◊〉 Though it be not so easily expelled as admitted yet the expulsion is not impossible and vnlesse you expell it you shall not be acquit of the guilt Of liuelesse and reasonlesse natures whose order differeth not from the decorum held in the whole Vniuerse CHAP. 4. BVt it were a sottishnesse to thinke that the falts of beasts trees and other vnreasonable sencelesse or liuelesse creatures whereby their corruptible nature is damnified are damnable for the creators will hath disposed of those thus to perfect the inferior beauty of this vniuerse by this a successiue alteration of them For earthly things are not comparable to heauenly yet might not the world want those because the other are more glorious Wherefore in the succession of those things one to another in their due places and in the b change of the meaner into qualities of the better the order of things transitory consisteth Which orders glorie wee delight not in because wee are annexed to it as partes of mortality wee cannot discerne the whole Vniuerse though wee obserue how conueniently those parcells wee see are combined wherevpon in things out of our contemplations reach we must beleeue the prouidence of the Creator rather then be so rash as to condemne any part of the worlds Fâ—…brique of any imperfection Though if wee marke well by the same reason those vnvoluntary and vnpunishable falts to those creatures commend their natures vnto vs none of whome nath any other maker but GOD because wee our selues dislike that that nature of theirs which wee like should bee defaced by that falt vnlesse men will dislike the natures of things that hurt them not consider their natures but their oâ—…ne profit as c of those creatures that plagued the pride of Egipt But so they might dispraise the Sunne for some offenders or vniust deteiners of others right are by the Iudges condemned d to bee set in the hot Sunne Wherefore it is not the consideration of nature in respect of our profit but in it selfe that glorifieth the Creator The nature of the eternall fire is assuredly laudable though the wicked shal be therein euerlastingly tormented For what is more faire then the bright pure and flaming fire what more vsefull to heate cure or boile withall though not so hurtfull in burning Thus that e being penally applied is pernicious which being orderly vsed is conuenient f for who can explane the thousand vses of it in the world Heare them not g that praise the fires light and dispraise the heate respecting not the nature of it but their own profite and disprofite they would see but they would not burne But they consider not that this light they like so beeing immoderately vsed hurteth a tender eye and that in this heate which they dislike so many h creatures do very conueniently keepe and liue L. VIVES THe a successiue One decaying and another succeeding b Change of the He toucheth the perpetual alteration of elements and elementary bodies where some are transmuted into the more powerfull agent and sometimes the agent puts on the nature of the passiue Ayre continually taketh from water and water from ayre So doth fire from ayre and ayre from fire but in diuerâ—… places c Of those The frogs and â—…nats d To bee set A â—…inde of punishment especially infamous yet not without paine The bawdes in Spaine are thus punished set in the stockes and anointed al with hony which drawes all the Bees Fâ—…es and Waspes in a Country vnto them e Beeing penally So wee reade it for the best f â—…or who Thence is the common prouerbe of a thing of common vse Wee haue as much vse of it as of fire or water as Tâ—…lly saith of friendship Lael And to forbid one fire and water mans two chiefe necessaries is as it were to expell him of all humaine societie Uitruuius saith that the comming tâ—…her vnto the fire brought men first to talke together and so produced commerce societies and cities lib. 2. Lactantius prooueth man a diuine creature because hee onely of all creatures vseth the fire g That praise Taught by Plutarchs Satyre that loued Prometheus his new found fire so that hee fell a kissing of it and burning his lippes threw it downe and ran â—…way Such a tale tells Mela of the sea-bordering Affricans to whome Eudoxus caried fire h Câ—…res In Cyprus in the brasse furnaces where they burne redd Virrioll many dayeâ—… together are produced winged creatures a little bigger then the greatest flyes and those liue iâ—… the fire Arist. Hist. animal lib. 5. The Salamander they say not onely liues in thâ—… fire vnburned but also putteth it out with his very touch That the Creator hath deserued praise in euery forme and kinde of nature CHAP. 5. WHerefore all natures are good because they haue their forme kinde and a certaine rest withall in them-selues And when they are in their true posture of nature they preserue the essence in the full manner as they receiued it and that whose essence is not eternall followeth the lawes of the creator that swayeth it and changeth into better or worse tending by Gods disposition still to
disgrace banishment death and bondage which of these can be performed in so little time as the offence is excepting a the fourth which yeelds euery man the same measure that hee meateth vnto others according to that of the law An eye for an eye and a toâ—…th for a tooth Indeed one may loose his eye by this law in as small a time as hee put out another mans by violencâ—… 〈◊〉 is a man kisse another mans wife and bee therefore adiudged to bee whipt is not that which hee did in a moment paid for by a good deale longer sufferance is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pleasure repaide with a longer paine And what for imprisonâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…ry one iudged to lye there no longer then hee was a doing his villaâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seruant that hath but violently touched his maister is by a iust law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many yeares imprisonment And as for damages disgraces and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not many of them darelesse and lasting a mans whole life wherâ—… be 〈◊〉 a proportion with the paines eternall Fully eternall they cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the life which they afflict is but temporall and yet the sinnes they 〈◊〉 are all committed in an instant nor would any man aduise that the contiâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 penalty should be measured by the time of the fact for that be it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or what villany so-euer is quickly dispatched and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be weighed by the length of time but by the foulenesse of the crime 〈◊〉 for him that deserues death by an offence doth the law hold the time that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ing to bee the satisfaction for his guilt or his beeing taken away from the fellowship of men whether That then which the terrestriall Citty can do by the first death the celestiall can effect by the second in clearing her selfe of malefactors For as the lawes of the first cannot call a dead man back againe into their society no more do the lawes of the second call him back to saluation that is once entred into the second death How then is our Sauiours words say they With what measure yee mete with the same shall men mete to you againe if temporall sinnes be rewarded with eternall paines O but you marke not that those words haue a reference to the returning of euill for euill in our nature and not in one proportion of time that is hee that doth euill shall suffer euill without limitation of any time although this place be more properly vnderstood of the iudgments and condemnations whereof the Lord did there speake So that he that iudgeth vniustly if he be iudged vniustly is paid in the same measure that hee meated withall though not what he did for he did wrong in iudgment and such like he suffreth but he did it vniustly mary he is repaid according to iustice L. VIVES EXcepting the a fourth This was one of the Romanes lawes in the twelue tables and hereof doth Phauorinus dispute with Sep. Caecilius in Gellius lib. 20. The greatnesse of Adams sinne inflicting eternall damnation vpon all that are out of the state of Grace CHAP. 12. BVt therefore doth man imagine that this infliction of eternall torment is vniustice because his fraile imperfection cannot discerne the horriblenesse of that offence that was the first procurer thereof For the fuller fruition man had of God the greater impiety was it for him to renounce him and therein was hee worthy of euer-lasting euill in that he destroyed his owne good that otherwise had beene euerlasting Hence came damnation vpon all the stock of man parent and progenie vnder-going one curse from which none can be euer freed but by the free and gracious mercy of God which maketh a seperation of mankinde to shew in one of the remainders the power of grace and in the other the reuenge of iustice Both which could not bee expressed vpon all man-kinde for if all had tasted of the punishments of iustice the grace and mercy of the redeemer had had no place in any and againe if all had beene redeemed from death there had beene no obiect left for the manifestation of Gods iustice But now there is more left then taken to mercy that so it might appeare what was due vnto all without any impeachment of Gods iustice who not-withstanding hauing deliuered so many hath herein bound vs for euer to praise his gracious commiseration Against such as hold that the torments after the iudgement shall bee but the meanes whereby the soules shall bee purified CHAP. 13. SOme Platonists there are who though they assigne a punishment to euery sinne yet hold they that all such inflictions be they humaine or diuine in this life or in the next tend onely to the purgation of the soule from enormities Where-vpon Virgil hauing said of the soules Hinc metunt cupiuntque c. Hence feare desire c And immediatly Quin vt supremo cum lumine vita reliquit Non tamen omne malâ—…m miseris nec funditùs omnes Corporeae excedunt pestes penitùsque necesse est Multa diù concreta modis inolescere miris Ergo exercentur poenis veterumque malorum Supplicia expendunt aliae panduntur inanes Suspensa ad ventos aliis sub gurgite vasto Insectum eluitur scelus aut exuritur igni For when the soules do leaue the bodies dead Their miseries are not yet finished Nor all their times of torment yet compleate Many small crimes must needes make one that 's great Paine therefore purgeth them and makes them faire From their old staines some hang in duskie ayre Some in the deepe do pay the debt of sinne And fire is chosen to cleanse others in They that hold this affirme that no paines at all are to be suffered after death but onely such as purge the soules and those shall be cleared of all their earthly contagion by some of the three vpper elements the fire the ayre or the water The ayre in that he saith Suspensae ad ventos the water by the words Sub gurgite vasto the fire is expresly named aut exuritur igni Now indeed wee doe confesse that there are certaine paines during this life which do not properly afflict such as are not bettred but made worse by them but belong onely to the reforming of such 〈◊〉 take them for corrections All other paines temporall and eternall are laid vpon euery one as God pleaseth by his Angells good or bad either for some sinne past or wherein the party afflicted now liueth or else to excercise and declare the vertue of his seruants For if one man hurt another a willingly or by chance it is an offence in him to doe any man harme by will or through ignorance but God whose secret iudgement assigned it to be so offendeth not at all As for temporall paine some endure it heere and some here-after and some both here and there yet all is past before the last iudgement But all shall not come into these eternall paines which not-with-standing shall bee
miracles that the Pagans ascribe vnto their Idolds are no way comparable to the wonders wrought by our Martyrs But as Moyses ouer-threw the enchanters of Pharao so do our martyrs ouer-throw their deuills who wrought those wonders out of their owne pride onely to gaine the reputation of Gods But our Martyrs or rather GOD him-selfe through their prayers wrought vnto another end onely to confirme that faith which excludeth multitude of Gods and beleeueth but in one The Pagans built Temples to those Deuills ordeining Priests and sacrifices for them as for Gods But we build our martyrs no temples but onely erect them monuments as in memory of men departed whose spirits are at rest in God Wee erect no altars to sacrifice to them we offer onely to him who is both their God and ours at which offring those conquerors of the world as men of God haue each one his peculiar commemoration but no inuocation at all For the sacrifice is offred vnto Cod though it be in memory of them and he that offreth it is a Priest of the Lord and not of theirs and the offring is the body of the Lord which is not offred vnto them because they are that body them-selues Whose miracles shall wee then beleeue Theirs that would be accompted for Gods by those to whom they shew them or theirs which tend all to confirme our beleefe in one GOD which is CHRIST Those that would haue their filthiest acts held sacred or those that will not haue their very vertues held sacred in respect of their owne glories but referred vnto his glory who hath imparted such goodnesse vnto them Let vs beleeue them that doe both worke miracles and teach the truth for this latter gaue them power to performe the former A chiefe point of which truth is this CHRIST rose againe in the flesh and shewed the immortality of the resurrection in his owne body which hee promised vnto vs in the end of this world or in the beginning of the next Against the Platonists that oppose the eleuation of the body vp to heauen by arguments of elementary ponderosity CHAP. 11. AGainst this promise do many whose thoughts God knoweth to be vaine make oppositiō out of the nature of elements Plato their Mr. teaching them that the two most contrary bodies of the world are combined by other two meanes that is by ayre and water Therefore say they earth being lowest water next then ayre and then the heauen earth cannot possibly bee contained in heauen euery element hauing his peculiar poise and tending naturally to his proper place See with what vaine weake and weightlesse arguments mans infirmity opposeth Gods omnipotency Why then are there so many earthly bodies in the ayre ayre being the third element from earth Cannot he that gaue birds that are earthly bodyes fethers of power to sustaine them in the ayre giue the like power to glorified and immortall bodies to possesse the heauen Againe if this reason of theirs were true all that cannot flie should liue vnder the earth as fishes doe in the water Why then doe not the earthly creatures liue in the water which is the next element vnto earth but in the ayre which is the third And seeing they belong to the earth why doth the next element aboue the earth presently choake them and drowne them and the third feed and nourish them Are the elements out of order here now or are their arguments out of reason I will not stand heere to make a rehearsall of what I spake in the thirteene booke of many terrene substances of great weight as Lead Iron c. which not-with-standing may haue such a forme giuen it that it will swimme and support it selfe vpon the water And cannot God almighty giue the body of man such a forme like-wise that it may ascend and support it selfe in heauen Let them stick to their method of elements which is all their trust yet can they not tell what to say to my former assertion For earth is the lowest element and then water and ayre successiuely and heauen the fourth and highest but the soule is a fifth essence aboue them all Aristotle calleth it a fifth a body and Plato saith it is vtterly incorporeall If it were the fift in order then were it aboue the rest but being incorporeall it is much more aboue all substances corporeall What doth it then in a lumpe of earth it being the most subtile and this the most grosse essence It being the most actiue and this the most vnweeldy Cannot the excellencie of it haue power to lift vp this Hath the nature of the body power to draw downe a soule from heauen and shall not the soule haue power to carry the body thether whence it came it selfe And now if we should examine the miracles which they parallell with those of our martyrs wee should finde proofes against themselues out of their owne relations One of their greatest ones is that which Varro reports of a vestall votaresse who being suspected of whoredome filled a Siue with the water of Tiber and carried it vnto her Iudges with-out spilling a drop Who was it that kept the water in the siue so that not one droppe passed through those thousand holes Some God or some Diuell they must needs say Well if hee were a God is hee greater then hee that made the world if then an inferiour God Angell or Deuill had this power to dispose thus of an heauie element that the very nature of it seemed altered cannot then the Almighty maker of the whole world take away the ponderosity of earth and giue the quickned body an hability to dwell in the same place that the quickning spirit shall elect And where-as they place the ayre betweene the fire aboue and the water beneath how commeth it that wee often-times finde it betweene water and water or betweene water and earth for what will they make of those watry clowds betweene which and the sea the ayre hath an ordinary passage What order of the elements doth appoint that those flouds of raine that fall vpon the earth below the ayre should first hang in the clowds aboue the ayre And why is ayre in the midst betweene the heauen and the earth if it were as they say to haue the place betweene the heauens and the waters as water is betweene it and the earth And lastly if the elements bee so disposed as that the two meanes ayre and water doe combine the two extreames fire and earth heauen being in the highest place and earth in the lowest as the worlds foundation and therefore say they impossible to bee in heauen what doe wee then with fire here vpon earth for if this order of theirs bee kept inuiolate then as earth cannot haue any place in fire no more should fire haue any in earth as that which is lowest cannot haue residence aloft no more should that which is aloft haue residence below But we see this order renuersed We haue fire
both on the earth and in the earth the mountaine tops giue it vp in aboundance nay more wee see that fire is produced out of earthâ—… namely of wood and stones and what are these but earthly bodyes yea but the elementary fire say they is pure hurtlesse quiet and eternall and this of ours turbulent smoakie corrupting and corruptible Yet doth it not corrupt nor hurt the hills where-in it burneth perpetually nor the hollowes within ground where it worketh most powerfully It is not like the other indeed but adapted vnto the conuenient vse of man But why then may we not beleeue that the nature of a corruptible body may bee made incorruptible and fitte for heauen as well as we see the elementary fire made corruptible and fitte for vs So that these arguments drawne from the sight and qualities of the elements can no way diminish the power that Almighty God hath to make mans body of a quality fitte and able to inhabite the heauens L. VIVES A Fifth a body But Aristotle frees the soule from all corporeall beeing as you may read De anima lib. 1. disputing against Democritus Empedocles Alcmâ—…on Plato and Xenocrates But indeed Plato teaching that the soule was composed of celestiall fire taken from the starres and with-all that the starres were composed of the elementary bodies made Aristotle thinke else-where that it was of an elementary nature as well as the starres whence it was taken But in this hee mistooke him-selfe and miss-vnderstood his maister But indeed Saint Augustine in this place taketh the opinion of Aristotle from Tully for Aristotles bookes were rare and vntranslated as then who saith that hee held their soule to bee quintam naturam which Saint Augustine calleth quintum corpus a fifth body seuerall from the elementary compounds But indeede it is a question whether Aristotle hold the soule to bee corporeall or no hee is obscure on both sides though his followers â—…old that it is absolutely incorporeall as wee hold generally at this day And Tullyes words were cause both of Saint Augustines miss-prision and like-wise set almost all the Grecians both of this age and the last against him-selfe for calling the soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereas they say Aristotle calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is habitio perfecta and not motio pereâ—…nis as Tullyes word implieth But alas why should Tully be so baited for so small an error O let vs bee ashamed to vpbraide the father of Latine eloquence with any misprision for his errors are generally more learned then our labours Against the Infidels calumnies cast out in scorne of the Christians beleefe of the resurrection CHAP. 12. BVt in their scrupulous inquiries touching this point they come against vs with such scoffes as these Whether shall the Ab-ortiue births haue any part in the resurrection And seeing the LORD saith there shall noâ—… one haire of your headperish whether shall all men bee of one stature and bignesse or no If they bee how shall the Ab-ortiues if they rise againe haue that at the resurrection which they wanted at the first Or if they doe not rise againe because they were neuer borne but cast out wee may make the same doubt of infants where shall they haue that bignesse of body which they wanted when they died for they you know are capable of regeneration and therefore must haue their part in the resurrection And then these Pagans aske vs of what height and quantity shall mens bodies be then If they bee as tall as euer was any man then both little and many great ones shall want that which they wanted here on earth and whence shall they haue it But if it bee true that Saint Paul saith thâ—…t wee shall meete vnto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of CHRIST and againe if that place Hee predestinated them to bee made like to the Image of his Sonne imply that all the members of Christs Kingdome shal be like him in shape and stature then must many men say they forgoe part of the stature which they had vpon earth And then where is that great protection of euery haire if there bee such a diminution made of the stature and body Besides wee make a question say they whether man shall arise withall the haire that euer the Barber cut from his head If hee doe who will not loath such an ougly sight for so likewise must it follow that hee haue on all the parings of his nayles And where is then that comelinesse which ought in that immortality to bee so farre exceeding that of this world while man is in corruption But if hee doe not rise with all his haire then it is lost and where is your scriptures then Thus they proceed vnto fatnesse and leannesse If all bee a like say they then one shall bee fatte and another leane So that some must loose flesh and some must gaine some must haue what they wanted and some must leaue what they had Besides as touching the putrefaction and dissolution of mens bodies part going into dust part into ayre part into fire part into the guttes of beasts and birds part are drowned and dissolued into water these accidents trouble them much and make them thinke that such bodies can neuer gather to flesh againe Then passe they to deformities as monstrous births misse-shapen members scarres and such like inquiring with scoffes what formes these shall haue in the resurrection For if wee say they shall bee all taken away then they come vpon vs with our doctrine that CHRIST arose with his woundes vpon him still But their most difficult question of all is whose flesh shall that mans bee in the resurrection which is eaten by another man through compulsion of hunger for it is turned into his flesh that eateth it and filleth the parts that famine had made hollow and leane Whether therefore shall hee haue it againe that ought it at first or hee that eate it and so ought it afterwards These doubts are put vnto our resolutions by the scorners of our faith in the resurrection and they themselues doe either estate mens soules for euer in a state neuer certaine but now wretched and now blessed as Plato doth or else with Porphyry they affirme that these reuolutions doe tosse the soule along time but notwithstanding haue a finall end at last leauing the spirit at rest but beeing vtterly separated from the body for euer Whether Ab-ortiues belong not to the resurrection if they belong to the dead CHAP. 13. TO all which obiections of theirs I meane by GODS helpe to answere and first as touching Ab-ortiues which die after they are quick in the mothers wombe that such shall rise againe I dare neither affirme nor deny Yet if they bee reckned amongst the dead I see no reason to exclude them from the resurrection For either all the dead shall not rise againe and the soules that had no bodies sauing in the mothers wombe shall continue
for the thing it selfe and a flaggon a set in Libers 〈◊〉 to signifie wine taking the continent for the contained so by that huâ—… shape the reasonable soule in the like included might bee expressed of 〈◊〉 â—…ure they say that God or the gods are These are the mysticall doctrines 〈◊〉 â—…is sharpe witt went deepe into and so deliuered But tell mee thou accâ—…n hast thou lost that iudgement in these mysteries that made thee say that they that first made Images freed the Cittie from all awe and added error to error and that the old Romaines serued the gods in better order without any statues at all They were thy authors for that thou spokest against their successors For had they had statues also perhaps feare would haue made thee haue suppressed thy opinion of abolishing Images and haue made thee haue sought further for these vaine Mythologies and figments for thy soule so learned and so ingenious which we much bewaile in thee by being so ingratefull to that God by whom not with whom it was made nor was a part of him but a thing made by him who is not the life of all things but all lifes maker could neuer come to his knowledge by these mysteries But of what nature and worth they are let vs see Meane time this learned man affirmeth the worlds soule intirely to bee truly God so that all his Theologie being naturall extendeth it selfe euen to the nature of the reasonable soule Of this naturall kinde hee speaketh briefly in his booke whence we haue this wherein wee must see whether all his mysticall wrestings can bring the naturall to the ciuill of which he discourseth in his last booke of the select Gods if he can all shall be naturall And then what need hee bee so carefull in their distinction But if they be rightly diuided seeing that the naturall that he liketh so of is not true for hee comes but to the soule not to God that made the soule how much more is the ciuill kinde vntrue and subiect that is all corporall and conuersant about the body as his owne interpretations being dilligently called out shall by my rehearsall make most apparent L. VIVES FLaggon a Oenophorum of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wine and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to carry Iuuenall vseth the word Sat. 6. and Apuleius Asin. l. 2. 8. and Martiall Pliny saith it was a worke of the rare painter Praxitales but he meanes a boy bearing wine Beroaldus out of this place gathereth that they vsed to set a flaggon of wine in Bacchus temple It is more then hee can gather hence though it may be there was such an vse Of Varro his opinion that God was the soule of the world and yet had many soules vnder him in his parts all which were of the diuine nature CHAP. 6. THe same Varro speaking further of this Physicall Theology a saith that he holds God to be the soule of the world which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and b that this world is God But as a whole man body and soule is called wise of the soule onely so is the world called God in respect of the soule onely being both soule and body Here seemingly he confesseth one God but it is to bring in more for so he diuides the world into heauen and earth heauen into the ayre and the skie earth into land and water all which foure parts he filles with soules the skye c highest the ayre next then the water and then the earth the soules of the first two hee maketh immortall the latter mortall The space betweene the highest heauen and the Moone hee fills with soules ethereall and starres affirming that they both are and seeme celestiall Gods d Betweene the Moone and the toppes of the windes he bestoweth ayry soules but inuisible saue to the minde calling them Heroes Lares and Genij This he briefly recordeth in his prologue to his naturall Theologie which pleased not him alone but many Philosophers more whereof with Gods helpe we will discourse at full when wee handle the ciuill Theologie as it respecteth the select gods L. VIVES THeology a saith The Platonists Stoiks Pythagorians and the Ionikes before them all held God to bee a soule but diuersly Plato gaue the world a soule and made them conioyned god But his other god his Mens he puts before this later as father to him The Stoikes and hee agree that agree at all Thales and Democritus held the worlds soule the highest god b That this Plato the Stoikes and many Phylosophers held this c Skie the highest Aristotle puts the fire aboue the ayre and the heauen the Platonists held the heauen to be fiery and therefore called Aether And that the ayre next it was a hurtlesse fire kindled by it This many say that Plato heldâ—… following Pythagoras who made the vniuersall globe of 4. bodies But Uarro heere maketh ayre to be next heauen as the Stoikes did especially and others also Though the Platoâ—… and they differ not much nor the Peripatetiques if they speak as they meane and be rightly vnderstood But aether is the aire as well as the skie and fire as caelum is in latine Virgil. Illa leuem fugiens raptim secat aethera pennis With swift-wing'd speede she cuts the yeelding aire a 〈◊〉 the moone The first region of the Ayre Aristotle in his Physicks ending at the toppe of the cloudes the second contayning the cloudes thunder rayne hayle and snowâ—… the 〈◊〉 from thence to the Element of fire Whether it stand with reason that Ianus and Terminus should bee two godees CHAP. 7. I 〈◊〉 therfore whome I begun with what is he The a world Why this is a plaine and brief answer but why hath b he the rule and beginnings then and another one Terminus of the ends For therfore they haue two c months dedicated to them Ianuary to Ianus and February to Terminus And so the d Terminaâ—… then kept when the e purgatory sacrifice called f Februm was also kept 〈◊〉 the moneth hath the name Doth then the beginning of things belong to the â—…ld to Ianus and not the end but vnto another Is not al things beginning 〈◊〉 world to haue their end also therein What fondnesse is this to giue him 〈◊〉 â—…se a power and yet a double face were it not better g to call that double-faced statue both Ianus and Terminus and to giue the beginnings one face and the 〈◊〉 another because he that doth an act must respect both For in all actions 〈◊〉 that regardeth not the beginning fore-seeth not the end So that a respectiue memory and a memoratiue prouidence must of force go together But if they imagine that blessednes of life is but begun and not ended in this world and that therefore the world Ianus is to haue but power of the beginnings why then they should put Terminus amongst the selected gods before him For though they were both imploied about one subiect yet Terminus should haue
by temptations the other enuying this the recollection of the faithfull pilgrims the obscurity I say of the opinion of these two so contrary societies the one good in nature and wil the other good in nature also but bad by wil since it is not explaned by other places of scripture that this place in Genesiis of the light and darknes may bee applyed as Denominatiue vnto them both though the author hadde no such intent yet hath not beene vnprofitably handled because though wee could not knowe the authors will yet wee kept the rule of faith which many other places make manifest For though Gods corporall workes bee heere recited yet haue some similitude with the spiritual as the Apostle sayth you are all the children of the light and the children of the day wee are no sonnes of the night nor darknes But if this were the authors mind the other disputation hath attained perfection that so wise a man of God nay the spirit in him in reciting the workes of God all perfected in sixe dayes might by no meanes bee held to leaue out the Angels eyther in the beginning that is because hee had made them first or as wee may better vnderstand In the beginning because hee made them in his onely begotten Word in which beginning God made heauen and earth Which two names eyther include all the creation spirituall and temporall which is more credible Or the two great partes onely as continents of the lesser beeing first proposed in whole and then the parts performed orderly according to the mistery of the sixe dayes L. VIVES INto a cheynes This is playne in Saint Peters second Epistle and Saint Iudes also The Angels sayth the later which kept not their first estate but left their owne habitation hath hee reserued in euerlasting cheynes vnder Darkenesse vnto the iudgement of the great day Augustine vseth prisons for places whence they cannot passe as the horses were inclosed and could not passe out of the circuit vntill they had run b Pride Typhus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Pride and the Greeks vse Typhon of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee proud and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to burne for the fiery diuell So sayth Plutarch of Typhon Osyris his brother that he was a diuell that troubled all the world with acts of malice and torment Augustine rather vseth it then the Latine for it is of more force and was of much vse in those dayes Philip the Priest vseth it in his Commentaries vppon Iob. c Iustice For God doth iustly reuenge by his good Ministers He maketh the spirits his messengers flaming fire his Ministers Ps. 103. d The desired There is no power on the earth like the diuels Iob. 40. Which might they practise as they desire they would burne drowne waste poyson torture and vtterly destroy man and beast And though we know not the diuells power directly where it is limited and how farr extended yet are wee sure they can do vs more hurt then we can euer repaire Of the power of Angels read Augustâ—… de Trinit lib. 3. Of the opinion that some held that the Angels weee meant by the seueral waters and of others that held the waters vncreated CHAP. 34. YEt some there a were that thought that the b company of Angels were meant by the waters and that these wordes Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it seperate the waters from the waters meant by the vpperwaters the Angels and by the lower eyther the nations or the diuels But if this bee so there is no mention of the Angels creation but onely of their seperation c Though some most vainely and impiously deny that God made the waters because hee neuer said Let there be waters So they may say of earth for he neuer said Let there be earth I but say they it is written God created both heauen and earth Did he so Then is water included therein also for one name serues both for the Psalm sayth The sea is his and he made it and his hands prepared the dry land but the d elementary weights do moue these men to take the waters aboue for the Angels because so an element cannot remayne aboue the heauens No more would these men if they could make a man after their principles put fleame being e in stead of water in mans body in the head f but there is the seate of fleame most fitly appointed by God but so absurdly in these mens conceits that if wee know not though this booke told vs playne that God had placed this fluid cold and consequently heauy humor in the vppermost part of mans body these world-weighers would neuer beleeue it And if they were subiect to the scriptures authority they would yet haue some meaning to shift by But seeing that the consideration of all thinges that the Booke of God conteineth concerning the creation would draw vs farre from our resolued purpose lette vs now together with the conclusion of this booke giue end to this disputation of the two contrary societyes of Angells wherein are also some groundes of the two societies of mankinde vnto whome we intend now to proceed in a fitting discourse L. VIVES SOme a there were as Origen for one who held that the waters aboue the heauens were no waters but Angelicall powers and the waters vnder the heauens their contraries diuels Epiph. ad Ioan. Hierosol Episc. b Companies Apocal. The peaple are like many waters and here-vpon some thought the Psalme meant saying You waters that bee aboue the heauens praise the name of the Lord for that belongs only to reasonable creatures to do c Though some Augustine reckoneth this for an heresie to hold the waters coeternall with God but names no author I beleeue Hesiods Chaos and Homers all producing waters were his originals d Elementary I see all this growes into question whether there be waters aboue the heauens and whether they be elementary as ours are Of the first there is lesse doubt For if as some hold the firmament be the ayre then the seperation of waters from waters was but the parting of the cloudes from the sea But the holy men that affirme the waters of Genesis to be aboue the starry firmament preuaile I gesse now in this great question that a thicke clowd commixt with ayre was placed betwixt heauen and earth to darken the space betweene heauen and vs And that part of it beeing thickned into that sea we see was drawne by the Creator from the face of the earth to the place where it is that other part was borne vp by an vnknowne power to the vttermost parts of the world And hence it came that the vpper still including the lower heauen the fire fire the ayre ayre the water this water includeth not the earth because the whole element thereof is not vnder the Moone as fire and ayre is Now for the nature of those waters Origen to begin with the
not the lesser and lower doe so too If Ioue doe not like this whose oracle as Porphyry saith hath condemned the Christians credulity why doth hee not condemne the Hebrewes also for leauing this doctrine especially recorded in their holyest writings But if this Iewish wisdome which he doth so commend affirme that the heauens shall perish how vaine a thing is it to detest the Christian faith for auouching that the world shall perish which if it perish not then cannot the heauens perish Now our owne scriptures with which the Iewes haue nothing to doe our Ghospels and Apostolike writings do all affirme this The fashion of this world goeth away The world passeth away Heauen and earth shall passe away But I thinke that passeth away doth not imply so much as perisheth But in Saint Peters Epistle where hee saith how the world perished being ouer-flowed with water is plainly set downe both what he meant by the world how farre it perished and what was reserued for fire and the perdition of the wicked And by and by after The day of the Lord will come as a thiefe in the night in the which the Heauens shall passe away with a noyse the elements shall melt vvith heate and the earth vvith the rockes that are therein shall bee burnt vp and so concludeth that seeing all these perish what manner persons ought yee to be Now we may vnderstand that those heauens shall perish which he said were reserued for fire and those elements shall melt which are here below in this mole of discordant natures wherein also he saith those heauens are reserued not meaning the vpper spheres that are the seats of the stars for whereas it is written that the starres shall fall from heauen it is a good proofe that the heauens shall remaine vntouched if these words bee not figuratiue but that the starres shall fall indeed or some such wonderous apparitions fill this lower ayre as Virgil speaketh of Stella a facem ducens multa cum luce cucurrit A tailed Starre flew on with glistring light And so hid it selfe in the woods of Ida. But this place of the Psalme seemes to exempt none of all the heauens from perishing The heauens are the workes of thine hands they shall perish thus as hee made all so all shall bee destroyed The Pagans scorne I am sure to call Saint Peter to defend that Hebrew doctrine which their gods doe so approoue by alledging the figuratiue speaking hereof pars pro toto all shall perrish meaning onely all the lower parts as the Apostle saith there that the world perished in the deluge when it was onely the earth and some part of the ayre This shift they will not make least they should eyther yeeld to Saint Peter or allow this position that the fire at the last iudgement may doe as much as wee say the deluge did before their assertion that all man-kinde can neuer perish will allow them neither of these euasions Then they must needes say that when their gods commended the Hebrews wisdom they had not read this Psalme but there is another Psalme as plaine as this Our God shall come and shall not keepe silence a fire shall deuoure before him and a mightie tempest shall bee mooued round about him Hee shall call the heauen aboue and the earth to iudge his people Gather my Saints together vnto mee those that make a couenant with mee with sacrifice This is spoken of Christ whome wee beleeue shall come from heauen to iudge both the quick and the dead Hee shall come openly to iudge all most iustly who when hee came in secret was iudged himselfe most vniustly Hee shall come and shall not bee silent his voyce now shall confound the iudge before whome hee was silent when hee was lead like a sheepe to the slaughter and as a lambe before the shearer is dumbe as the Prophet saith of him and as it was fulfilled in the Ghospell Of this fire and tempest wee spake before in our discourse of Isaias prophecie touching this point But his calling the heauens aboue that is the Saints this is that which Saint Paul saith Then shall wee bee caught vp also in the clouds to meete the Lord in the â—…yre For if it meant not this how could the Heauens bee called aboue as though they could bee any where but aboue The words following And the earth if you adde not Aboue heere also may bee taken for those that are to bee iudged and the heauens for those that shall iudge with Christ. And then the calling of the heauens aboue implyeth the placing of the Saints in seates of iudgments not their raptures into the ayre Wee may further vnderstand it to bee his calling of the Angels from their high places to discend with him to iudgement and by the earth those that are to bee iudged But if wee doe vnderstand Aboue at both clauses it intimateth the Saints raptures directly putting the heauens for their soules and the earth for their bodyes to iudge or discerne his people that is to seperate the sheepe from the goates the good from the bad Then speaketh he to his Angels Gather my Saints together vnto mee this is done by the Angels ministery And whome gather they Those that make a couenant with mee with sacrifice and this is the duty of all iust men to doe For either they must offer their workes of mercy which is aboue sacrifice as the Lord saith I will haue mercy and not sacrifice or else their workes of mercy is the sacrifice it selfe that appeaseth Gods wrath as I prooued in the ninth booke of this present volume In such workes doe the iust make couenants with God in that they performe them for the promises made them in the New Testament So then Christ hauing gotten his righteous on his right hand will giue them this well-come Come yee blessed of my Father inherite yee the kingdome prepared for you from the foundations of the world for I was an hungred and you gaue me to eate and so forth of the good workes and their eternall rewards which shall be returned for them in the last iudgment L. VIVES SStella a facem ducens Virg. Aeneid 2. Anchises beeing vnwilling to leaue Troy and Aeneas being desperate and resoluing to dye Iupiter sent them a token for their flight namely this tailed starre all of which nature saith Aristotle are produced by vapours enflamed in the ayres mid region If their formes be only lineall they call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is lampes or torches Such an one saith Plynie glided amongst the people at noone day when Germanicus Caesar presented his Sword-players prize others of them are called Bolidae and such an one was seene at Mutina The first sort of these flye burning onely at one end the latter burneth all ouer Thus Pliny lib. 2. Malachies Prophecy of the iudgement and of such as are to be purged by fire CHAP. 25. THe Prophet a Malachiel or Malachi
that sorrow in the Scriptures though it be not expressed so yet it is vnderstood to bee a fruitlesse repentance conâ—…oyned with a corporall torment for the scripture saith the vengeance of the flesh of the wicked is fire and the worme hee might haue said more briefely the vengance of the wicked why did hee then ad of the flesh but to shew that both those plagues the fire and the worme shal be corporall If hee added it because that man shal be thus plagued for liuing according to the flesh for it is therefore that hee incurreth the second death which the Apostle meaneth of when hee saith If yee liue after the flesh yee die but euery man beleeue as hee like either giuing the fire truely to the body and the worme figuratiuely to the soule or both properly to the body for we haue fully proued already that a creature may burne and yet not consume may liue in paine and yet not dye which he that denyeth knoweth not him that is the author of all natures wonders that God who hath made all the miracles that I erst recounted and thousand thousands more and more admirable shutting them all in the world the most admirable worke of all Let euery man therefore choose what to thinke of this whether both the fire and the worme plague the body or whether the worme haue a metaphoricall reference to the soule The truth of this question shall then appeare plaine when the knowledge of the Saints shall bee such as shall require no triall of it but onely shal be fully satisfied and resolued by the perfection and plenitude of the diuine sapience We know but now in part vntill that which is perfect be come but yet may wee not beleeue those bodies to be such that the fire can worke them no anguish nor torment L. VIVES THeir a worme Is. 66. 24. this is the worme of conscience Hierome vpon this place Nor is there any villany saith Seneca how euer fortunate that escapeth vnpunished but is plague to it selfe by wringing the conscience with feare and distrust And this is Epicurus his reason to proue that man was created to avoyd sinne because hauing committed it it scourgeth the conscience and maketh it feare euen without all cause of feare This out of Seneca â—…pist lib. â—…6 And so singeth Iuuenall in these words Exemplo quodâ—…unque malo committitur ipsi Dâ—…splicet auctori prima est haec vltio quòd se Iudice nemo nocens absoluitur c. Each deed of mischiefe first of all dislikes The authout with this whip Reuenge first strikes That no stain'd thought can cleare it selfe c. And by and by after Cur tamen hos tuâ—… Euasisse putes quos diriconscia facti Mens habet â—…ttionitos surdo verbere caedit Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum Poena autem vehemens multo saeuior illis Quas Ceditius grauis inuenit Rhadamanthus Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem But why should you suppose Them free whose soule blackt ore with ougly deeds Affrights and teares the conscience still and feeds Reuenge by nousling terrour feare and warre Euen in it selfe O plagues farre lighter farre To beare guilts blisters in a brest vnsound Then Rhadamant or sterne Ceditius found Nay the conscience confoundeth more then a thousand witnesses Tully holdes there are no other hell furies then those stings of conscience and that the Poets had that inuention from hence In l. Pis. Pro Rosâ—… Amerin Hereof you may read more in Quintilians Orations Whether the fyre of hell if it be corporall can take effect vpon the incorporeall deuills CHAP. 10. BVt here now is another question whether this fire if it plague not spiritually but onely by a bodily touch can inflict any torment vpon the deuill and his Angels they are to remaine in one fire with the damned according to our Sauiours owne words Depart from mee you cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the deuill and his Angels But the deuills according as some learned men suppose haue bodies of condensate ayre such as wee feele in a winde and this ayre is passible and may suffer burning the heating of bathes prooueth where the ayre is set on fire to heate the water and doth that which first it suffereth If any will oppose and say the deuills haue no bodies at all the matter is not great nor much to be stood vpon For why may not vnbodyed spirits feele the force of bodily fire as well as mans incorporeall soule is now included in a carnall shape and shall at that day be bound into a body for euer These spirituall deuils therefore or those deuillish spirits though strangely yet shall they bee truly bound in this corporall fire which shall torment them for all that they are incorporeall Nor shall they bee so bound in it that they shall giue it a soule as it were and so become both one liuing creature but as I sayd by a wonderfull power shall they be so bound that in steed of giuing it life they shal frÌ„o it receiue intollerable torment although the coherence of spirits and bodies whereby both become one creature bee as admirable and exceede all humaine capacitie And surely I should thinke the deuills shall burne them as the riche glutton did when hee cryed saying I am tormented in this flame but that I should be answered that that fire was such as his tongue was to coole which hee seeing Lazarus a farre of intreated him to helpe him with a little water on the tippe of his finger Hee was not then in the body but in soule onely such likewise that is incorporeall was the fire hee burned in and the water hee wished for as the dreames of those that sleepe and the vision of men in extasies are which present the formes of bodies and yet are not bodies indeed And though man see these things onely in spirit yet thinketh he him-selfe so like to his body that hee cannot discerne whether hee haue it on or no. But that hell that â—…ake of fire and brimstone shall bee reall and the fire corporall burning both men and deuills the one in flesh and the other in ayre the one iâ—… the body adhaerent to the spirit and the other in spirit onely adhaerent to the fire and yet not infusing life but feeling torment for one fire shall torment both men and Deuills Christ hath spoken it Whether it bee not iustice that the time of the paines should be proportioned to the time of the sinnes and crimes CHAP. 11. BVt some of the aduersaries of Gods citty hold it iniustice for him that hath offended but temporally to be bound to suffer paine eternally this they say is â—…ly vnâ—… As though they knew any law chat adapted the time of the punishment to the time in which the crime was committed Eight kinde of punishments dâ—…th Tully affirme the lawes to inflict Damages imprisonment whipping like for like publicke
call her whore for to be a cuckold is a disgracefull thing x Minerua's forger Or fellow workers for they both haue charge of Ioues thunder and somtimes through his bolts Virgil Ipsa Iouis rapidum iaculata é nubibus ignem Quite through the cloud shee threw Ioues thundring fire Which there are but three may do saith Seruius Iupiter Minerua and Uulcan though Pliny bee of another mind De disciplin Etrusc Rom lib. 2. Minerua looketh vnto Iâ—…ues Aegis which was indeed his apparrell made by Minerua's wisdome and Vulcans labour And though Ioues bonnet be fire yet Pallas made it Mart. Nupt. Or is Vulcan her fellow forger because he begat Apollo on hir that hath the tuition of Athens Cic. de nat lib. 3. But Augustines minde I thinke rather is this that Uulcan is Minerua's fellow forger Because she is called the goddesse of all arts euen the mechanicall and he is godde of the Instruments vsed in all these mechanicall artes Fire is the instrument of all artes saith Plutarch if one knew how to vse it De vtilit inimic Besides Vulcan is said to gouerne artes him-selfe The warlike artes saith Eusebius were Minerua's charge the pyrotecknical or such as worke in fire Vulcans Theodoret saith that the Greekes vsed the word Vulcan for artes because few artes can be practised without fire Phurnutus saith that all arts are vnder Minerua and Vulcan because shee is the Theory and he the Instrument of practise And therefore Homer saith of a worke-man thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whome Vulcan taught and Minerua Of the multitude of Goddes which the Pagan Doctors auouch to bee but one and the same Iupiter CHAP. 11. WHerefore let them flourish with their physicks as long as they like Lette Iupiter be one while the a soule of this terrene world filling the whole fabrike of the foure Elements more or lesse as they please and another while but a quarter-ruler with his bretheren and sisters lette him be the skie now imbracing Iuno which is the aire vnder him and let him by and by be skye and aire both filling the lappe of the earth his wife and mother with fertile showers and seedes b This is no absurdity in their Diuinity And to omit the long and tedious catalogue of his remooues and strange transmutations lette him forth-with bee but one and that onely God of whome the famous Poet was thought to say Deumque namque ire per omnes Terrasque tractusque maris caelumque profundum c For God his spirit imparts To th' earths the seas and heauens profoundest parts d Let him be Iupiter in the sky Iuno in the Aire Neptune in the Sea Salacia in the seas depth Pluto in the earth Proserpina in the earths lowest part Vesta in the households fire Vulcan in the Smiths shop Sol Luna and the stars in the sphears e Apollo in diuination f Mercury in trafficke in g Ianus h the Porter in the Bounds Terminus in time Saturne in war Mars and i Bellona in the vineyards Bacchus in the Corne Ceres in the Woods k Diana in mens wits Minerua let him rule the l seed of man as Liber and of women as Libera as hee is father of the day let him be m Diespiter as ruler of the monthly disease of women lette him be the goddesse Mena and n Lucina that helpes in their child-birth And helping the fruits which increase let him take the name of Ops. Let him bee o Vaticanus that opens the childes mouth first to cry and Leuana that takes vp from the mother and Cunina that guards the Cradle Let none but him sing the destinies of the new-borne childe and be called p Carmentes lette him sway chance and bee stiled Fortune or womens dugges and bee called q Rumina because the ancients called a dugge Rumâ—… lette him bee r Potina and suckle the hog-babes or Educa and feed them Or Pauentia for frighting them or t Venilia for sodaine hope Volupia for pleasure Agenoria for action Stimula for prouocation Strenua for confirming mans courage Numeria for teaching children to tell twenty u and Camaena for singing Nay lette vs make him x Consus for his counsaile y Sentia for his sententious inspirations z Inuentas for the guiding of our a egresse from youth to fuller age For our chins sake which if he loue vs he clothes in haire let him be b Fortuna Barbata Nay free because he is a male-Godde lette him either bee Barbatus as Nodotus is or because hee hath a beard lette him not bee Fortuna but Fortunius Well on lette him bee Iugatine to looke to the Hills and at the loosing of a virgins nuptiall guirdle lette him bee inuoked by the name of Virginensis lette him bee c Mutinus which amongst the Greekes was Priapus but that it may bee hee will bee ashamed off Lette Iupiter alone bee all these that I haue reckoned and that I haue not reckoned for I haue thought fit to omit a great many or as those hold which make him the soule of the world many of whome are learned men let all these bee but as parts and vertues of him If it be so as I doe not yet inquire how it is what should they loose if they tooke a shorter course and adore but one God what one thing belonging vnto his power were dispised if him-selfe intirely were duly worshipped If they feare that some of his parts would be angry for being neglected why then it is not as they say that al this is but as the life of one soule containing all those gods as the parts powers vertues and faculties therof but euery part hath a life really and distinctly seperate from the other This must needs be true if one of them may be offended and another bee pleased and both with one act And to say that whole Ioue would be offended if al his parts were not seuerally worshipped this were foolish for ther were not one of them left out if the persoÌ„ were adored in whom they ar al iointly included For to permit the rest being inumerable wheras they say that the stars are al euery one real parts of Ioue and liue haue reasonable soules and therfore are absolute gods they say they know not what and see not how many of them they leaue without Altars without worship both which not-withstanding they haue exhibited them-selues and commanded others to exhibit vnto a certaine smal number of them Wherfore if they doubt the anger of the rest why are not they affraid to liue in the displeasure of the most part of heauen hauing giueÌ„ content but vnto so few Now if they worshipped al the stars inclusiuely in Iupiters particular person they might satisfie them all by this meanes in the adoration of him alone for so none of them would think much seeing they all were worshipped in him nor should any haue cause to think they were contemned VVhereas otherwise the greater part may conceiue iust anger for beeing thus omitted by those that giue all
likewise in artificiall things as a table a booke or so euery leafe is not a booke nor euery part of the table a table These parts are called Heterogenea or Of diuers kindes multigenae Agricola calles them The Symilar partes Anaxagoras held to bee in all things infinite either different as of wood bloud ayre fire bone and such or congruent as of water infinite parcells all of one nature and so of fire c for though bodies bee generate by this separation yet cannot these parts bee so distinguished but infinite will still remaine that euermore is best meanes for one thing to bee progenerate of another and nourished so that this communication continueth euerlastingly of nature place and nutriment But of the Heterogeneall parts hee did not put infinite in nature for hee did not hold that there were infinite men in the fire nor infinite bones in a man t Diogenes There were many of this name one of Synope called the Cynike one of Sicyon an Historiographer one a stoike fellow Embassador to Rome which Carneades borne at Seleucia but called the Babilonian or Tharsian one that writ of poeticall questions and Diogenes Laertius from whom wee haue this our Philosophy elder then them all one also called Apolloniata mentioned here by Augustine Our commentator like a good plaisterer daubed the Cynike and this into one as hee made one Thomas of Thomas Valois and Thomas Aquinas in his Commentaries vpon Boethius u Ayre Cic. de nat de What is that ayre that Diogenes Apolloniata calles God He affirmed also inumerable worlds in infinite spaces and that the ayre thickning it selfe into a globous body produceth a world x Archelaus Some say of Myletus some of Athens He first brought Physiologie from Ionia to Athens and therefore was called Physicus also because his scholler Socrates brought in the Morality y He also Plutarch saith he put the infinite ayre for the worlds generall principle and that the r◅ity and density thereof made fire and water z Consonance Eternity say the manuscripts a Socrates This is hee that none can sufficiently commend the wisest Pagan that euer was An Athenian begot by Sophroniscus a stone-cutter and Phanareta a mid-wife A man temperare chaste iust modest pacient scorning wealth pleasure and glory for he neuer wrote any thing he was the first that when others said he knew all affirmed himselfe hee knew nothing Of the Socratical◅ discipline CHAP. 3. SOcrates therefore was a the first that reduced Philosophy to the refor◅tion of manres for al before him aymed at naturall speculation rather then practise morality I cannot surely tel whether the tediousnesse b of these obscurities moued Socrates to apply his minde vnto some more set and certaine inuention for an assistance vnto beatitude which was the scope of all the other Phylosophers intents and labours or as some doe fauorably surmise hee c was vnwilling that mens mindes being suppressed with corrupt and earthly affects should ofter to crowd vnto the height of these Physicall causes whose totall and whose originall relyed soly as he held vpon the will of God omnipotent only and true wherefore he held that d no mind but a purified one could comprehend them and therfore first vrged a reformed course of life which effected the mind vnladen of terrestriall distractions might towre vp to eternity with the owne intelectuall purity sticke firme in contemplation of the nature of that incorporeal vnchanged and incomprehensible light which e conteyneth the causes of all creation Yet sure it is that in his morall disputations f he did with most elegant and acute vrbanity taxe and detect the ignorance of these ouer-weening fellowes that build Castles on their owne knowledge eyther in this confessing his owne ignorance or dissembling his vnderstanding g wher-vpon enuy taking hold he was wrackt by a h callumnious accusation and so put to death i Yet did Athens that condemned him afterward publikely lament for him and the wrath of the commonty fell so sore vpō his two accusers that one of them was troden to death by the multitude and another forced to auoid the like by a voluntary banishment This Socrates so famous in his life and death left many of his schollers behind him whose l study and emulation was about moralyty euer and that summum bonum that greatest good which no man wanting can attain beatitude m VVhich being not euident in Socrates his controuersiall questions each man followed his own opiniō and made that the finall good n The finall good is that which attained maketh man happy But Socrates his schollers were so diuided strange hauing all onemaister that some o Aristippus made pleasure this finall good others p Antisthenes vertue So q each of the rest had his choice too long to particularize L. VIVES WAs the a first Cicero Acad. Quest. I thinke and so do all that Socrates first called Phylosophy out of the mists of naturall speculations wherein all the Phylosophers before had beene busied and apllyed it to the institution of life and manners making it y◠meane to inquire out vertue and vice good and euill holding things celestiall too abstruse for natural powers to investigate far seperate from things natural which if they could be known were not vsefull in the reformation of life b Tediousnesse Xenophon Comment rer Socratic 1. writeth that Socrates was wont to wonder that these dayly and nightly inuestigators could neuer finde that their labour was stil rewarded with vncertainties and this he explaneth at large c Was vnwilling Lactantius his wordes in his first booke are these I deny not but that Socrates hath more witte then the rest that thought they could comprehend all natures courses wherein I thinke them not onely vnwise but impious also to dare to aduance their curious eyes to view the altitude of the diuine prouidence And after Much guiltter are they that lay their impious disputation vpon quest of the worlds secrets prophaning the celestial temple therby then either they that enter the Temples of Ceres Bona Dea Vesta d No minde Socrates disputeth this at large in Plato's P◅adon at his death Shewing that none can bee a true Phylosopher that is not abstracted in spirit from all the affects of the body which then is affected when in this life the soule is looseed from all perturbations and so truly contemplated the true good that is the true God And therefore Phylosophy is defined a meditation of death that is there is a seperation or diuorce betweene soule and body the soule auoyding the bodies impurities and so becomming pure of it selfe For it is sin for any impure thought to be present at the speculation of that most pure essence and therefore hee thought men attoned unto God haue far more knowledge then the impure that know him not In Plato's Cratylus hee saith good men are onely wise and that none can be skilfull in matters celestiall without Gods assistance In Epinomede There may
middlemost place of the world and keepes there in the owne nature immoueable The Philosophers maruelled that the earth fell not seeing it hung in the ayre but that which they thought a fall should then bee no fall but an ascending for which way soeuer earth should goe it should goe towards the heauen and as it is no maruell that our Hemisphere ascendeth not no more is it of any else for the motion should be all one aboue and beneath beeing all alike in a globe But is a thing to bee admired and adored that the earth should hang so in the ayre beeing so huge a masse as Ouidâ—…ith â—…ith Terra pila similis nullo fulcimine nixa Aëre suspenso tam graue pendet onus Earths massy globe in figure of a ball Hangs in the ayre vpheld by nought at all â—… With the eye Plato in his Timaeus speaking of mans fabrick saith that the eyes were endowâ—…â—…th part of that light that shines burnes not meaning the suns for the Gods commanded 〈◊〉 â—…re fire brother to that of heauen to flow from forth the apple of the eye and thereâ—… when that and the daies light do meete the coniunction of those two so well acquainted 〈◊〉 produceth sight And least that the sight should seeme effected by any other thing 〈◊〉 â—…re in the same worke hee defineth collours to bee nothing but fulgores e corporibus maâ—…s fulgors flowing out of the bodies wherein they are The question whether one seeth 〈◊〉 â—…ission or reception that is whether the eye send any beame to the obiect or receiue aâ—…â—…om it is not heere to bee argued Plato holds the first Aristotle confuteth him in his 〈◊〉 De sensoriis and yet seemes to approue him in his Problemes The Stoickes held the first 〈◊〉 whom Augustine De Trinitate and many of the Peripatetiques follow Aphrodiseus held 〈◊〉 the eye sends forth spirits Pliny saith it receiueth them Haly the Arabian maketh the 〈◊〉 to goe from the eye and returne suddainely all in a moment the later Peripatetiquesâ—…ing â—…ing Occam and Durandus admit no Species on either side But of this in another place 〈◊〉 both would haue the eye send some-thing forth and receiue some-thing in Against those that hold that man should not haue beene immortall if he had not sinned CHAP. 19. 〈◊〉 now let vs proceed with the bodies of the first men who if they had not â—…ed had neuer tasted of that death which we say is good only to the good 〈◊〉 â—…s all men know a seperation of soule and body wherein the body of the 〈◊〉 that had euident life hath euident end For although we may not doubt 〈◊〉 â—…he soules of the faithfull that are dead are in rest yet a it were so much 〈◊〉 for them to liue with their bodies in good state that they that hold it most 〈◊〉 to want a bodie may see themselues conuinced herein directly For 〈◊〉 man dare compare those wise men that haue either left their bodies or are to 〈◊〉 them vnto the immortall gods to whom the great GOD promised perpeâ—… of blisse and inherence in their bodies And Plato thought it the greatest â—…ing man could haue to bee taken out of the body after a course vertuously 〈◊〉 and placed in the bosomes of those gods that are neuer to leaue their 〈◊〉 Scilicet immemores supra vt conuexa reuisant Rursus incipiant in corpora velle reuerti The thought of Heauen is quite out of their braine Now gan they wish to liue on earth againe Which Virgil is commended for speaking after Plato So that hee holds that 〈◊〉 â—…oules of men can neither bee alwaies in their bodies but must of force bee â—…d from them nor can they bee alwaies without their bodies but must bee 〈◊〉 successiuely now to liue and now to die putting b this difference that 〈◊〉 men when they die are caried vp to the stars and euery one staies a while in 〈◊〉 fit for him thence to returne againe to misery in time and to follow the 〈◊〉 of being imbodied againe so to liue againe in earthly calamity but your 〈◊〉 are bestowed after their deaths in other bodies of men or beasts accorâ—…g to their merits In this hard and wretched case placeth hee the wisest soules who haue no other bodies giuen them to bee happy in but such as they can neither bee eternally within nor eternally abandon Of this Platonisme Porphyry as I said else-where was ashamed because of the christian times excluding the soules not onely from the bodies of beasts and from that reuolution but affirming them if they liued wisely to bee set free from their bodies so as they should neuer more bee incorporate but liue in eternall blisse with the Father Wherefore least he should seeme in this point to be exceeded by the Christans that promised the Saints eternall life the same doth hee giue to the purified soules and yet to contradict Christ hee denies the resurrection of their bodies in incorruptibility and placeth the soule in blisse without any body at all Yet did hee neuer teach that these soules should bee subiect vnto the incorporated gods in matter of religion Why so because he did not thinke them better then the Gods though they had no bodies Wherfore if they dare not as I think they dare not preferre humaine soules before their most blessed though corporeall gods why doe they thinke it absurd for christianity to teach that our first parents had they not sinned had beene immortall this beeing the reward of their true obedience and that the Saints at the resurrection shall haue the same bodies that they laboured in here but so that they shal be light and incorruptible as their blisse shal be perfect and vnchangeable L. VIVES YEs a were it If the following opinion of Plato concerning them were true b This difference Plato saith that some creatures follow God well are like him and are reuolued with the sphere of heauen vntill they come belowe and then they fall Some get vp againe some are ouer-whelmed these are the foolish and those the wise the meane haue a middle place So the wise soule is eleuated to heauen and sits there vntill the reuolution bring it downe againe from seeing of truth others voluntarily breake their wings and fall ere the time bee expired The Philosophers soules at the end of 3000. yeares returne to the starre whence they came the rest must stay 10000. yeares ere they ascend That the bodies of the Saints now resting in hope shal become better then our first Fathers was CHAP. 20. THe death that seuereth the soules of the Saints from their bodies is not troublesome vnto them because their bodies doe rest in hope and the efore they seemed sencelesse of all reproach here vpon earth For they do not as Plato will haue men to do desire to forget their bodies but rather remembâ—…ing what the truth that deceiueth none said vnto them a that they should not loose an
forth of GODS mouth 〈◊〉 that which is equall and consubstantiall with him let them read or heare 〈◊〉 owne words Because thou art luke warme and neither colde nor hotte it will 〈◊〉 to passe that I shall spew thee out of my mouth Therefore wee haue to contraâ—… the Apostles plainenesse in distinguishing the naturall body wherein wee now are from the spirituall wherein wee shall bee where he saith It is sowen a naturall body but ariseth a spirituall body as it is also written The first man Adam was made a liuing soule and the last Adam a quickning spirit The first was of earth earthly the second of heauen heauenly as is the earthly such are all the earthly and as the heauenly is such are the heauenly And as wee haue borne the Image of the earthly so shall wee beare the Image of the heauenly Of all which words wee spake before Therefore the naturall body wherein man was first made was not made immortall but yet was made so that it should not haue dyed vnlesse man had offended But the body that shall bee spirituall and immortall shall neuer haue power to dye as the soule is created immortall who though it doe in a manner lose the life by loosing the spirit of God which should aduance it vnto beatitude yet it reserueth the proper life that is it liueth in misery for euer for it cannot dye wholy The Apostaticall Angels after a sort are dead by sinning because they forsooke God the fountaine of life whereat they might haue drunke eternall felicity yet could they not dye so that their proper life and sence should leaue them because they were made immortall and at the last iudgement they shal be thrown headlong into the second death yet so as they shal liue therin for euer in perpetuall sence of torture But the Saints the Angels fellow-cittizens belonging to the grace of God shall be so inuested in spiritual bodies that from thence-forth they shall neither sinne nor die becomming so immortall as the Angels are that sinne can neuer subuert their eternity the nature of flesh shall still be theirs but quite extracted from all corruption vnweeldynesse and ponderosity Now followeth another question which by the true Gods helpe we meane to decide and that is this If the motion of concupiscence arose in the rebelling members of our first parents immediately vppon their transgression where-vppon they saw that is they did more curiously obserâ—…e their owne nakednesse and because the vncleane motion resisted their wils couered their priuie partes how should they haue begotten children had they remayned as they were created without preuarication But this booke being fit for an end and this question not fit for a too succinct discussion it is better to leaue it to the next volume L. VIVES DId not a then This the Manichees held Aug. de Genes ad lit lib. 2. Caâ—… 8. b And GOD formed They doe translate it And God framed man of earth taken from the earth I thinke Augustine wanteth a word taken or taking Laurinus his copy teadeth it as the Septuagints do Yet the Chaldee Thargum or paraphraze reading it as Augustine hath it and so it is in the Bible that Cardinall Ximenes my patron Crâ—… his predecessor published in foure languages beeing assisted by many learned men but for the greeke especially by Iohn Vergara a deepe vprightly iudicious and vnvulgar Scholler Their Pentateuch Lewis Coronelli lent me forbearing al the while that I was in hand with this worke for the common good c And God framed Hieromes translation d Whence 〈◊〉 Shewing that in his time the Church vsed the Latine translation from the seauentie and noâ—… Hiâ—…s I wonder therefore that men should be excluded from sober vsing of diuerse translations e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greeke is we vse it of those that forme any thing out of claye that is â—…gere and great authors vse it concerning men He made them finxit greedie and gluttonous Salust He made thee finxit wise temperate c. by nature Cic. 〈◊〉 Mâ—… speaking of Cato Maiâ—…r To forme I thinke is nothing but to giue forme property f Commonly If a moderne diuine had plaide the Gramarian thus hee should haue heard of it But Augustine may but if he and Paul liued now adayes hee should be held a Pedant 〈◊〉 a petty orator and Paul a madde man or an heretique Not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Chaldees read a speaking spirit Here Augustine shewes plainly how necessarie the true knowledge of the meaâ—…gs of words is in art and discipline h I haue made I say 57. 16. the 70. also read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all breath Many of the Latinists animus and anima for ayre and breath Uirg Semina terrarumque animaeque marisque fuissent They had beene seeds of earth of ayre and sea And Tully in his Academikes vseth it for breath Si vnus simplex vtrum sit ignis an anima 〈◊〉 sâ—…guis If it be simply one whether is it fire breath or bloud Terenc Compressi animam I 〈◊〉 my breath Plaut Faetet anima vxoris tuae Your wiues breath stinkes and Pliny Anima 〈◊〉 virus graue A Lions breath is deadly poison i Soule I like this reading better then Bâ—…es copies it squares better with the following Scriptures k Not as the If we say that Augustine held mans soule created without the body and then infused as Aristotle seemes to â—…rre De generat animal S. Thomas and a many more moderne authors goe downe the winde But if wee say it is not created as the mortall ones are that are produced out of the â—…osition of the substances wherein they are but that it is created from aboue within man â—…out all power of the materiall parts to worke any such effect this were the most common opinion and Aristotle should be thus vnderstood which seemes not to agree with this assertion that it commeth ab externo nor with his opinion that holdeth it immortall and inborne if I vnderstand his minde aright whereof I see his interpretors are very vncertaine l We must hold There were not onely a many Pagans as wee haue shewen but some Chriâ—… also that held the soule to be of Gods substance nor were these heretiques onely as 〈◊〉 â—…risilliannists and some others but euen that good Christian Lactantius not that I or 〈◊〉 wiser then I will approoue him in this but in that hee seemeth to stand zealously â—…d vnto Christ. His words are these Hauing made the body he breathed into it a soule out of 〈◊〉 lâ—…ing fountaine of his owne spirit which is eternall Institut diuin lib. 2. wherein hee seemes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that mans soule was infused into him from the spirit of God Finis lib. 13. THE CONTENTS OF THE foureteenth booke of the City of God 1. That the inobedience of the first man had drawne all mankind into the perpetuity of the second death but that Gods grace hath
ment hereby S. Augustine confesseth that he cannot define Sup. Genes lib. 8. These are secrets all vnneedfull to be knowne and all wee vnworthy to know them Of the new Heauen and the new Earth CHAP. 16. THe iudgement of the wicked being past as he fore-told the iudgement of the goodâ—…ust follow for hee hath already explained what Christ said in briefe They shall go into euerlasting paine now he must expresse the sequell And the righteous into life eternall And I saw saith he a new heauen and a new earth The first heauen and earth were gone and so was thesea for such was the order described before by him when he saw the great white throne one sitting vpon it froÌ„ whose face they fled So then they that were not in the booke of life being iudged and cast into eternall fire what or where it is I hold is vnknowne to a all but those vnto whome it please the spirit to reueale it then shall this world loose the figure by worldly fire as it was erst destroyed by earthly water Then as I said shall all the worlds corruptible qualities be burnt away all those that held correspondence with our corruption shall be agreeable with immortality that the world being so substantially renewed may bee fittly adapted vnto the men whose substances are renewed also But for that which followeth There 〈◊〉 no more sea whether it imply that the sea should bee dried vp by that vniuersall conflagration or bee transformed into a better essence I cannot easily determyne Heauen and Earth were read shal be renewed but as concerning the sea I haue not read any such matter that I can remember vnlesse that other place in this booke of that which hee calleth as it were a sea of glasse like vnto christall import any such alteration But in that place hee speaketh not of the worlds end neither doth hee say directly a sea but as a sea Notwithstanding it is the Prophets guise to speake of truths in misticall manner and to mixe truths and types together and so he might say there was no more sea in the same sence that hee sayd the sea shall giue vp hir dead intending that there should be no more turbulent times in the world which he insinuateth vnder the word Sea L. VIVES VNknowne a to all To all nay Saint Augustine it seemes you were neuer at the schoole-mens lectures There is no freshman there at least no graduate but can tell that it is the elementany fire which is betweene the sphere of the moone and the ayre that shall come downe and purge the earth of drosse together with the ayre and water If you like not this another will tell you that the beames of the Sonne kindle a fire in the midst of the ayre as in a burning glasse and so worke wonders But I doe not blame you fire was not of that vse in your time that it is now of when eâ—…y Philosopher to omit the diuines can carry his mouth his hands and his feete full of fire 〈◊〉 in the midst of Decembers cold and Iulies heate Of Philosophers they become diuines and yet keepe their old fiery formes of doctrine still so that they haue farre better iudgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hot case then you or your predecessors euer had Of the glorification of the Church after death for euer CHAP. 17. AND I Iohn saith hee sawe that Holie Cittie new Ierusalem come downe from GOD out of Heauen prepared as a bride trimmed for her husband And I heard a great voice out of Heauen saying behold the Tabernacle of GOD is with men and hee will dwell with them and they shal be his people and hee himselfe shal be their GOD with them And GOD shall wipeawaie all teares from their eyes and there shal be no more death neither teares neither crying neither shall there bee any more paine for the first things are passed And hee that sate vpon the Throne sayd behold I make althings new c. This cittie is sayd to come from Heauen because the grace of GOD that founded it is heauenly as GOD saith in Esay I am the LORD that made thee This grace of his came downe from heauen euen from the beginning and since the cittizens of GOD haue had their increase by the same grace giuen 〈◊〉 the spirit from heauen in the fount of regeneration But at the last Iudgement of GOD by his Sonne Christ this onely shall appeare in a state so glorious that all the ancient shape shal be cast aside for the bodies of each member shall cast aside their olde corruption and put on a new forme of immortality For it were too grosse impudence to thinke that this was 〈◊〉 of the thousand yeares afore-sayd wherein the Church is sayd to reigne with Christ because he saith directly GOD shall wipe awaie all teares from their eies and there shal be no more death neither sorrowes neither crying neither shall there bee any more paine Who is so obstinately absurd or so absurdly obstinate as to averre that any one Saint much lesse the whole society of them shall passe this transitory life without teares or sorrowes or euer hath passed it cleare of them seeing that the more holy his desires are and the more zealous his holinesse the more teares shall bedew his Orisons Is it not the Heauenly Ierusalem that sayth My teares haue beene my meate daie and night And againe I cause my bedde euerie night to swimme and water my couch with teares and besides My sorrow is renewed Are not they his Sonnes that bewayle that which they will not forsake But bee cloathed in it that their mortality may bee re-inuested with eternity and hauing the first fruites of the spirit doe sigh in themselues wayting for the adoption that is the redemption of their bodies Was not Saint Paul one of the Heauenlie Cittie nay and that the rather in that hee tooke so great care for the earthly Israelites And when a shall death haue to doe in that Cittie but when they may say Oh death where is thy sting Oh hell where is thy b victorie The sting of death is sinne This could not bee sayd there where death had no sting but as for this world Saint Iohn himselfe saith If wee say wee haue no sinne wee deceiue our selues and there is no truth in vs. And in this his Reuelation there are many things written for the excercising of the readers vnderstanding and there are but few things whose vnderstanding may bee an induction vnto the rest for hee repeteth the same thing so many waies that it seemes wholy pertinent vnto another purpose and indeed it may often bee found as spoken in another kinde But here where hee sayth GOD shall wipe awaie all teares from their eyes c this is directly meant of the world to come and the immortalitie of the Saints for there shal be no sorrow no teares nor cause of sorrowe or teares if any one
thinke this place obscure let him looke for no plainenesse in the Scriptures L. VIVES THy a victory Some read contention but the originall is Victory and so doe Hierom and Ambrose reade it often Saint Paul hath the place out of Osee. chap. â—…3 ver 14. and vseth it 1. Cor. 16. ver 55. b When shall death The Cittie of GOD shall see death vntill the words that were sayd of Christ after his resurrection Oh hell where is thy victory may bee said of all our bodies that is at the resurrection when they shal be like his glorified bodie Saint Peters doctrine of the resurrection of the dead CHAP. 18. NOw let vs heare what Saint Peter sayth of this Iudgement There shall come saith hee in the last daies mockers which will walke after their lusts and say Where is the promise of his comming For since the fathers died all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation For this they willingly know not that the heauens were of old and the earth that was of the water and by the water by the word of GOD wherefore the world that then was perished ouer-flowed with the water But the heauens and earth that now are are kept by the same word in store and reserued vnto fire against the day of iudgement and of the destruction of vngodly men Dearcly beloued bee not ignorant of this that one daie with the LORD is as a thousand years and a thousand yeares as one daie The LORD is not flack concerning his promise as some men count slackenesse but is pacient toward vs and would haue no man to perish but would haue all men to come to repentance But the daie of the LORD will come as a thiefe in the night in the which the heauens shall passe awaie with a noyse and the elements shall melt with 〈◊〉 and the earth with the workes that are therein shal be burnt vppe Seeing therefore all these must bee dissolued what manner of persons ought you to bee in holy conuersation and Godlinesse longing for and hasting vnto the comming of the daie of GOD by the which the heauens beeing on fire shal be dissolued and the elements shall melt vvith heate But vve-looke for a nevv heauen and a nevv earth according to his promise vvherein dvvelleth righteousnesse Thus sarre Now here is no mention of the resurrection of the dead but enough concerning the destruction of the world where his mention of the worlds destruction already past giueth vs sufficient warning to beleeue the dissolution to come For the world that was then perished saith hee at that time not onely the earth but that part of the ayre also which the watter a possessed or got aboue and so consequently almost all those ayry regions which hee calleth the heauen or rather in the plurall the heauens but not the spheres wherein the Sunne and the Starres haue their places they were not touched the rest was altered by humidity and so the earth perished and lost the first forme by the deluge But the heauens and earth saith hee that now are are kept by the same word in store and reserued vnto fire against the daie of iudgement and of the destruction of vngodly men Therefore the same heauen and earth that remained after the deluge are they that are reserued vnto the fire afore-said vnto the daie of iudgement and perdition of the wicked For because of this great change hee sticketh not to say there shal be a destruction of men also whereas indeed their essences shall neuer bee anniâ—…e although they liue in torment Yea but may some say if this old heauen and earth shall at the worlds end bee burned before the new ones be made where shal the Saints be in the time of this conflagration since they haue bodies and therefore must be in some bodily place We may answere in the vpper parts whither the fire as then shall no more ascend then the water did in the deluge For at this daie the Saints bodies shal be mooueable whither their wills doe please nor need they feare the fire beeing now both immortall and incorruptible b for the three children though their bodies were corruptible were notwithstanding preserued from loosing an haire by the fire and might not the Saints bodies be preserued by the same power L. VIVES THe a water possessed For the two vpper regions of the ayre doe come iust so low that they are bounded with a circle drawne round about the earthlie highest mountaines tops Now the water in the deluge beeing fifteene cubites higher then the highest mountaine it both drowned that part of the ayre wherein wee liue as also that part of the middle region wherein the birds do vsually flie both which in Holy writ and in Poetry also are called Heauens b The three Sidrach Misach and Abdenago at Babilon who were cast into a â—…nace for scorning of Nabuchadnezzars golden statue Dan. 3. Saint Pauls words to the Thessalonians Of the manifestations of Antichrist whose times shall immediately fore-runne the day of the Lord. CHAP. 19. I See I must ouer-passe many worthy sayings of the Saints concerning this day least my worke should grow to too great a volume but yet Saint Pauls I may by no meanes omit Thus sayth he Now I beseech you bretheren by the comming of our LORD IESVS CHRIST and by our assembling vnto him that you bee not suddenly mooued from your minde nor troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as if it were from vs as though the day of CHRIST were at hand Let no man deceiue you by any meanes for that day shall not come except there come a a fugitiue first and that that man of sinne bee disclosed euen the sonne of perdition which is an aduersary and exalteth himselfe against all is called god or that is worshipped so that he sitteth as God in the Temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God Remember yee not that when I was yet with you I told you these things And now yee know what withholdeth that he might be reuealed in his due time For the mistery of iniquity doth already worke onely he which now withholdeth shall let till he be taken out of the way and the wicked man shal be reuealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall abolish with the brightnesse of his comming euen him whose comming is by the working of Sathan with all power and signes and lying wonders and in all deceiuablenesse of vnrighteousnesse amongst them that perish because they receiued not the loue of the truth that they might be saued And therefore God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeue lyes that all they might bee damned which beleeue not in the truth but had pleasure in vnrighteousnesse This is doubtlesse meant of Antichrist and the day of iudgement For this day hee saith shall not come vntill that Antichrist be come before it he that is called here a fugitiue
iust opposite in nature to the loade-stone expelling all Iron from it l Lay but a diamond Plin. lib. vlt. m In India And in other places also But in India they say there are Rocks of them that draw the ships to them if they haue any Iron in them so that such as saile that way are faine to ioyne their ships together with pinnes of wood Of such things as cannot bee assuredly knowne to bee such and yet are not to be doubted of CHAP. 5. BVt the Infidels hearing of miracles and such things as wee cannot make apparant to their sence fall to aske vs the reason of them which because it surpasseth our humane powers to giue they deride them as false and ridiculous but let them but giue vs reason for all the wondrous things that wee haue seene or may easily see hereafter which if they cannot doe then let them not say that there is not nor can bee any thing without a reason why it should bee thus seeing that they are conuinced by their owne eye sight I will not therefore runne through all relations of authors but try their cunning in things which are extant for any to see that will take the paines a The salt of Agrigentum in Sicily beeing put in fire melteth into water and in water it crackleth like the fire b The Garamantes haue a fountaine so cold in the day that it cannot bee drunke oft so hot in the night that it cannot bee toucht c In Epyrus is another wherein if you quensh a toarch you may light it againe thereat The Arcadian b Asbest beeing once enflamed will neuer bee quenshed There is a kinde of fig-tree in Egypt whose wood e sinketh and being throughly steeped and the heauier one would thinke it riseth againe to the toppe of the water The apples of the country of f Sodome are faire to the eye but beeing touched fall to dust and ashes The Persian g Pyrites pressed hard in the hand burneth it wherevpon it hath the name h The Selenites is another stone wherein the waxing and waning of the Moone is euer visible The i Mares in Cappadocia conceiue with the winde but their foales liue but three yeares The trees of k Tilon an I le in India neuer cast their leaues All these and thousands more are no passed things but visible at this daie each in their places it were too long for mee to recite all my purpose is otherwise And now let those Infidels giue mee the reason of these things those that will not beleeue the scriptures but hold them to bee fictions in that they seeme to relate incredible things such as I haue now reckned Reason say they forbiddeth vs to thinke that a body should burne and yet not bee consumed that it should feele paine and yet liue euerlastingly O rare disputers You that can giue reason for all miraculous things giue mee the reasons of those strange effects of nature before named of those fewe onely which if you knew not to bee now visible and not future but present to the viewe of those that will make triall you would bee l more incredulous in them then in this which wee say shall come to passe hereafter For which of you would beleeue vs if wee should say as wee say that mens bodies hereafter shall burne and not consume so likewise that there is a salt that melteth in fire and crackleth in the water of a fountaine intollerably hot in the night and intollerably cold in the day or a stone that burneth him that holdeth it hard or another that beeing once fired neuer quensheth and so of the rest If wee had sayd these things shal be in the world to come and the infidells had bidden vs giue the reason why wee could freely confesse wee could not the power of GOD in his workes surpassing the weakenesse of humane reason and yet that wee knew that GOD did not without reason in putting mortall man by these past his reason Wee know not his will in many things yet know wee that what hee willeth is no way impossible as hee hath told vs to whome wee must neither impute falsenesse nor imperfection But what say our great Reasonists vnto those ordinary things which are so common and yet exceed all reason and seeme to oppose the lawes of nature If wee should say they were to come then the Infidells would forth-with aske reason for them as they doe for that which wee say is to come And therefore seeing that in those workes of GOD mans reason is to seeke as these things are such now and yet why no man can tell so shall the other bee also hereafter beyond humane capacity and apprehension L. VIVES THe a salt Hereof read Pliny lib. 21. b The Garamantes Plin. lib. 5. Neare vnto this fountaine is Hammons well of which you may read more in Diodorus Lueret Mela Ouid Silius Solinus c. c In Epirus Pomp. Mela lib. 2. and Plin. lib. 2. It is called the fountaine of Iupiter Dodonaeus d Asbest A stone of an Iron collour Plin. l 38. e Sinketh Plin. lib. 13. cap. 7. f Sodome Fiue citties perished in the burning of Sodome Sodome Gomorrha Adama Seborin and Segor whereof this last was a little one but all the rest were very large Paul Oros. hereof you may read in Solinus his Polyhistor as also of these apples Tacitus seemeth to giue the infection of the earth and the ayre from the lake for the reason of this strange effect vpon the fruites lib. vltimo Vide Hegesip lib. 4. Ambros. interprete g Tyrites So saith Pliny lib. vlt. Pur in greeke is fire Some call the Corall pyrites as Pliny wittnesseth lib. 36. but there is another Pyrites besides of the collour of brasse h The Selenites Plin. lib. vlt. out of Dioscorides affirmeth this to bee true i Mars So saith Solinus in his description of Cappadocia And it is commonly held that the Mares of Andaluzia doe conceiue by the south-west winde as Homere Uarro Columella Pliny and Solinus Plinies Ape doe all affirme k Tilon Pliny and Theophrastus affirme that it lieth in the read sea Pliny saith that a ship built of the wood of this Island will last two hundered yeares lib. 16. l More incredulous For some will beleeue onely what they can conceiue and hold althings else fictions nay some are so mad that they thinke it the onely wisedome to beleeue iust nothing but what they see despising and deriding the secrets of GOD and nature which are wisely therefore concealed from the vulgar and the witlesse eare All strange effects are not natures some are mans deuises some the deuills CHAP. 6. PErhaps they will answere Oh these are lies wee beleeue them not they are false relations if these be credible then beleeue you also if you list for one man hath relared both this and those that there was a temple of Venus wherein there burned a lampe which no winde nor water could euer quensh so that it was called the