Discours against the Jews writeth also of this Abraham and saith that hee was so called to express thus much in force to wit his Father's Friend one part of his name signifieth a Father indeed and the other according as it might bee written might bee forced to signifie a Friend but let that pass This Melo telleth of his two wives of his sons by both and summeth up his whole Storie Of these testimonies See more in Eusebius Pamp. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning Abraham thus Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 19. See also what Julius Africanus hath storied of Abraham and his Expedition to Pentapolis Euseb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 19. Semiramis ALL Writer have shewed their good will to make the world acquainted with the renown of this manly woman but in their discours there hath been as much deceit as in her desert Diodorus confesseth her pedigree to have no better Autoritie then from the Fables The most saie shee was the Wife of Ninus so Ctesias and Diodorus and manie besides but Conon in Photius saith shee was the Mother of Ninus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the error of this antient Autor is most apparant for by Ninus hee meaneth Ninias who also was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Affricanus witnesseth and so indeed shee was the Wife of Ninus and the Mother of his son Ninias which Conon undoubtedly meant for hee saith that the reason why shee was supposed to bee his wife was becaus shee unwittingly laie with him Justine expound's the Autors mistake who saith indeed that shee would have been incestuous with her Son which fact her son by an unnatural kinde of pietie punished with her life Becaus Diodorus saith that when this Semiramis was exposed according to the Antients a Shepheard took her in whose name was Simma Reyneccius conjectures from hence that shee was the Daughter of Sem. 'T is uncertain who or what shee was Semiramis shee was called which becaus it signifieth a Dove in their language therefore it seem's her Subjects for the sacred memorie of her names sake worshiped the Pigeons ever after But Scaliger saith hee findeth no such word in Syriack in that sens the Critick shall bee pardoned for that 't is like there is now no such world However there might Vetus verborum interit aetas Et juvenum ritu florent 〈◊〉 modò nata vigéntque So the Poët in his Arte Poëtica Words have their ages the Obsolete die and young Phrases grow up and thrive in their places Hesychius emboldeneth us for hee saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If Semiramis bee a Wood-Pigeon in Graece it may perchance have been an Hous-Pigeon in the Countrie of Ashur Semiramis her exploit of the Elephants in the Bactrian and Indian war see in Diodorus The German Writers saie her son Trebeta built Trevers which they peremptorily conclude out of their own presumption upon the rotten reputation of an old eaten Epitaph Of the great Stone which this Queen caussed to bee cut out of the Armenian Mountains see also Diodorus lib. 2. Justin relateth out of Trogus Pompeie that this Queen after her Husband's death fearing in the subjects hearts som disloial prejudice of her son's minoritie invested her Majestical spirit in her son's habite and approved her self to bee by valiant acts not what shee was a woman but what they thought her to bee a Prince discreet politick and most fortunate This Queen built the walls of Babylon So Ovid as wee have said so Dionysius Afer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Anonymus Scholiast upon Aristoph saith that shee builded the Citie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so manie others have been deceived with her fame and attributed to her name the building of the Citie who had erected nothing but the walls nor those walls whereof Diodorus speak's for both those and the Citie were builded by a Syrian King as Didorus confesseth of the Horti pensiles and might have don of these also however hee and they that think otherwise deceiv themselvs for this was don by the King of Babel as wee will prove out of Berosus in the life of Nebuchadonosor Semiramis reigned 42 years Justine Africanus Semiramis erected her self a Tomb inscribed thus What King soever wanteth monie let him open this Monument and take his desire This Darius Hystaspis assaying to do found a check within the Tomb wherein the Queen had thus written Nisi vir malus esses haud sanè mortuorum loculos scrutâsses Synchronismi SEmiramis fenceth in Babylon the Head-Citie with a famous wall Coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem Ovid. Metamorph. Shee builded a Wall but not that famous Wall which the Greeks tell of but for that are reprooved by the true Berosus In the time and by the appointment of Semiramis the first Eunuchs were instituted This the Queen did for necessitie but the Kings after her used it amongst their royall superfluities a thing ordinarie in the Persian and Babylonish Court That this Queen was the first appointer of this chaste attendance for her Bed-chamâ—â—â— Ammianus testifietâ— In honor of Semiramis the Kingdom of Ashur bare the Dove in their Coat armour but it is out of my element to blazon it either by Planets or otherwise for this Coat-armour is scarcely found among the Heralds nor can it bee certain what the Field was though the charge is known to bee a Dove yet becaus 't is a Princes one thing is undoubted that Emperors and Kings ought to bear Gold in their Arms and then it might bee thus The Field is Sol a Dove volant proper c. Learned Pierius endeavouring as near as hee can to read all things in Egyptian Characters supposeth the Storie of Semiramis her Dove to bee Hieroglyphical noting out her notable lasciviousness for so hee saith that this Queen was venereous Autors indeed are divers but the most are of a contrarie opinion Manie suppose that place in the Prophet Hieremie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mippene hreu haiônah fugite à facie Columbae to bee understood of the Assyrians becaus as wee said they bare the Dove in their Warlike ensigns So Cornelius à Lapide and manie others following the Interpretation of Hierome who at the 13 of Esaie writeth that God calleth Nebuchadnezar Columbam So a most Antient Saxon Translation in the Librarie of Christ-Church in Oxford from the face of the sword of the Kulver If the Interpretation pass as it may that which hath been said may make for the illustration for then 't is thus Flee from the Sword of the Dove that is from their sword who displaie their Banners in the field with the Ensign of a Dove Heralds may here take notice of the Antiquitie of their Art and for their greater credit blazon abroad this pretious piece of Antientrie for before the time of Semiramis wee hear no news of Coats or Crests Zames sive Ninias OF this King see Justine out of Trogus Pompeie A fragment out of Ctesias
c. The Raiment of a Man saith a Learned Rabbin is his Bodie And had our Father Adam stood wee had needed no other Thou hast Clothed mee saith holie Job with Skin and with Flesh when therefore wee die wee are said in S. Peter's language to put off this Tabernacle as in S. Paul when wee rise again to bee Clothed upon with our hous from Heaven O're night wee put off this weed of Mortalitie but the Morning cometh and wee shall bee covered again with our skin and put on Incorruption our Better Cloths as to go and see God in this Flesh The same flesh wee put off the night before but with this difference that this Fowl Garment which could not bee kept Unspotted of the world shall in the mean time bee washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb. Our Clothes put off wee laie our selvs down and take our rest And to Die In the Prophet Isaiah's Phrase Isa 43.17 57.1 is but to lie down in our Beds And when thy daies shall bee fulfilled saith Nathan to David and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers so indeed wee read it as wee may but the Original is And thou shalt lie down with thy Fathers 2 Sam. 7.12 So Asa the King's Coffin is called a Bed 2 Chron 16.14 and our forefathers in their Saxon tongue style a Burying place legerstoƿ or place to lie down in as in the Laws of King Canute Numb 3. In the Case of Natural Rest 't is not the whole man onely the Earthlie part falleth asleep the Soul is then most awake The Bodie 's Night is the Soul's Daie our Better part saith Cardan is never it 's own man till now when exalted unto a State of Separation as it were in the bodie it spendeth the time in Contemplations free and congeniall to its own Extraction So in the sleep of Death 't is not the totus Homo the Bodie indeed is dead becaus of sin the Soul is then most Alive Here as a Servant it is still required to the Exigencies of the Bodie having no time of it's own to spend but what it can get by stealth when the Master is gon to bed But there like it's Redeemer free among the Dead and delivered from the Incumbrances of the Bodie it begineth to bee a Soul to it self minding that which is above and looking with a more piercing eie upon the Invisible things of God It is noted by the Naturalists and wee finde it true in observation that no nois awaketh Natural Sleep more suddenly then an Humane voice Nay though it bee that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that dead and dangerous sleep as the Aphorism noteth it in Hippocrates But especially the Experiment holdeth if the voice calleth upon him in his own name But that wee shall all bee awaked out of this other Sleep by the sound of our Proper Names is more then I can pretend to though S. Peter's call was Tabitha surge and our Saviour's to his Friend Lazare veni foras Lazarus com forth To saie nothing to Epiphanius his Tradition that when our Lord went down into Hell and there found our Father Adam fast hee took him by the hand and called him by his own Name in the words of S. Paul Surge Adam qui dormis so indeed som Antient Copies read it Arise Adam thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead Christ taketh thee by the hand But this I am sure of that wee shall all bee awaked by a voice the voice of an Archangel and the word shall bee as som think Surgite mortui c Nor shall it bee the voice of a God and not of a Man it shall bee an Humane voice for by the Archangel wee are to mean the Son of Man For the hour cometh in which all they that are in the Graves shall hear his voice and shall com forth Job 5.28 Which why it should bee strange of us I know not since it is true of the Swallows by a certain and confest Experience that when the Winter cometh they lie down in the hollow of a Tree and there falling asleep quietly resolv into their first Principles But at the Spring 's approach they are n t so though throughly dead but that they hear the stil nois of Returning Nature and awaking out of their Mass rise up everie one to their life again Ego novi hominem c. I know a man saith the Learned Prince of Concordia who in his soundest Sleep could walk talk write and dispatch anie business of the most required Vigilance They seem to have had som such conceit of Death who hold it no absurditie to write Letters to their dead Friends as the Emperor Theodosius to S. Chrysostom more then thirtie Years after his deceas as if Death were a kinde of live Sleep Such an one as that which Jupiter sent of an Errand to awake Atamemnon And may wee not as properly saie that to bee Dead is to bee Alive as to saie to Die is to bee Born And yet the Antients as if Corruption had been their Father and the Worms their Mother were wont to call the daies of their Death Natalia not Dying but Birth-daies Mos inolevit in sancta Ecclesia it hath been the custom in the holie Church saith Haymo when a Saint of God departed this life to call it not the daie of his Death but the daie of his Nativitie That which wee call Death's they call Life's door Seneca himself said as much Dies iste quem Tutanquam Supremum reformidas Aeterni Natalis est As if all this were so indeed the Jews to this daie stick not to call their Golgotha's Batte Caiim the Houses or places of the Living At the least they have an Effectual life in them for the Mummies are known to bee most soveraign and Magistral in Medicine and the Principal Ingredient of the weapon-Salv is the Moss of a dead Man's-skul as the Recipe delivered by Paracelsus to Maximilian the Emperor Once more and I leav the Parallel Sleep wee know is most natural to Animal-Creatures and for Men so Necessarie that Aristotle saith that the end of it in us is Bene Ratiocinari And yet hee himself is cited by Olympiodorus to have known a Man who never slept in all his Life And the strangeness hath been quitted by an Experience of later daies The Comparison hold th in the Sleep of Death 't is Omnibus communis common to all men as wee use to saie And yet som Jews believ that the last age of Men shall bee so long liv'd as to prevent the Resurrection But S. Paul himself hath promised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that wee shall not all die som shall bee changed And therefore 't is no vain Article which wee so daily profess that our Saviour shall com to judg both the Quick and the Dead Wee are to saie then of all those that are departed this life as the Jews of their Father Jacob Non est Mortuus or as our
serra factus sum Quicquid comedi habeo quicquid volupe mihi fuit Et quiquid pulcharum foeminarum in amore lascivii Opes quibus eram beatus inimici coeuntes Auferent hoedum ut crudum quae bacchantur Thyades Ad inferos cùm descendi nec aurum nec equum Nec argenteum currum egi Cinis jam multus qui olim Mitram gestavi Athenaeus lib. 12. Diodorus speaking of this Ninus giveth another report for hee saith this Man was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 born to bee Martial and valorous even to emulation Ninus made war with the Armenians in which case their King Barzanes perceiving himself too weak conquered his enemie by his submission which Ninus ingeniously apprehending as generously rewarded and restored the Kingdom to the King again Diodor. lib. 2. Ninus dyeth and was buried in the Palace in memorial of whom was erected a most stately Monument in Height nine furlongs and in breadth ten a wonderful sumptuous Tomb if Ctesias saie true But Scaliger saith that hee was Scriptor Nugacissimus If hee were I wonder much that Diodorus should so often use his Autoritie as is most certain that hee doth Concerning the Citie which Ninus builded the Autor of the Chronological Abstract before cited saith thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Synchronismi FRom Ninus to Sardanapalus is 1300 years Justin out of Trogus Pompeie Zoroastres reigned in Bactria Justin Farnus in Media Diod. Ariaeus in Arabia Diod Barzanes in Armenia Diodorus In the time of Ninus also Vexores was King of Egypt Tanaïs of Scythia Justine ex Trogo Salian thinketh it absurd that there should bee anie King before the division of the World and therefore condemneth Julius Affricanus for his Dynasties of the Arabians and reprehendeth Justine for these Kings of Egypt and Scythia which are set down by Trogus Pompeie So as if the succession had been long But Justine and these Autors deserv our credit for the Aera of the Egyptian Dynastie or the Scythian I finde in the fals Berosus too much elswhere too little Diodorus is best but with him the first Kings of Egypt were all Gods See further Diod. Lib. 1. In the Reign of Ninus great Abraham was born Becaus the Nativivitie of this famous Patriarch Abraham is of special note and use in Historie it seemeth to deserv more at our hands then to bee carelesly committed to the protection of a bare Assertion meriting rather som peremptorie proof especially since learned Scaliger hath conceived the contrarie Rather therefore then wee will doubt of his credit wee will for his sake call the truth in Question doubtingly demanding Whether Abraham were born in the 43 year of King Ninus yea or no A great Master in Historie and our onely guide in Chronologie affirmeth Eusebius Pamphilus and hee out of the reverend reliques of old Castor Thallus c. first in his first Book and again in his second which hee calleth his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In both hee useth these and the same words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the same Autor pleasing himself in the veritie of this persuasion repeat's the same again in his Evangelical Preparative where hee beareth witness to himself and to what hee had said elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ità Epiphanius lib 1. pagina 10. edit Basiliensis The Reader may bee pleased to note his confidence in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his great industrie herein in those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. George Cedren and Epiphanius no waie mistrusting such elaborate Canons Cedâ—enus in Compendio Histor take it for granted proposing and approving the Autoritie of this great Chronologer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wonder wee then what should moov great Scaliger to set down Abraham born in the year of Beluchus long after Ninus His follower and admirer Helvicus hath no other reason but the autoritie of his great example The truth is Scaliger confesseth that his forerunner in this conceit was George Syncellus a Monk This George was learned but in the opinion of Scaliger a most severe Critick and Censorious judg of Fusebius Pamphilus whose Chronologie hee transcribed and examined In his Examination hee found that Eusebius undertaking to follow Affricanus yet when hee com's to the Trojan times forsaketh him interrupting the succession by rasing out four Kings at once Thus indeed Eusebius hath don Salian a diligent Writer among the Moderns Animad version Scalig. ad Eusebium pagin 15. in No tis excuseth the error of his Historie by the Heresie of his profession as if an Arrian if hee were one might not bee a good Historian Wee shall forbear to seek to save his credit by discovering so much of his infamie but the reason why hee thus did was to rectifie the errors of Affricanus whose Chronologie though it will no waies hold in all points yet it best agreeth this waies for if wee restore him his four Kings again hee himself will bee found subject to greater inconveniences and more abound in Anachronisms then before This I then rather incline to for my own particular becaus I have considered that though George Cedren professeth himself in the first page of his work constantly to follow the aforenamed Syncellus yet in this matter hee refuseth him at once acknowledging and leaving his error for Cedren plainly setteth down our Patriarch born in the 43 of Ninus as aforesaid Thus to the probable falshood of renowned Scaliger Thus also Salian Funccius Angelocrator Alapide Narclerus but this later desscenteth one year or els the the Printer was too blame wee have set down the probabilitie of the contrarie to his greatness wee oppose three to one and those all great who cannot but demerit our belief becaus their process is Astronomical and their Chronologies faithfully contracted out of the larger Volumes of Celestial Revolutions and infallibly grounded upon the Laws of Heaven These are Gerard Mercaâ—or Cethus Calvisius and Capellus who all consent in this that Abraham was born in the 43 of Ninus which was the thing to bee proved This Man for his Admirable skil in Celestial contemplations was noted by manie Autors among the Heathen Herataeus of Abdâ—ra wrote whole Volumes of his Acts and Monuments Berosus observeth that hee was a great Astronomer and Josephus saith hee read this part of the Mathematicks to the Egyptians Nicolas of Damascus relateth a brief Storie of his life agreeable to Moses Alexander out of Eupolemon maketh mention of this Abraham testifying that hee was the inventer of Astrologie among the Chaldeans they tell also of his Expedition and Melchisedeth c. Euseb Artapanus recordeth that the Jews were called Hebrews from Abraham hee saith also that Abraham went into Egypt and taught the King Astronomie the Kings name hee calleth Pharetho his words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee would saie Pharaoh Thus Artapanus in Euseb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Melo in his