painfull is iustly termed 〈◊〉 death then life and therefore is it called the second death because it folâ—…th the first breach of nature either betweene God and the soule or this and the â—…dy of the first death therefore wee may say that it is good to the good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the bad But the second is bad in all badnesse vnto all good to none L. VIVES IT a is called Bruges copy differs not much all is one in substance b Second death 〈◊〉 2. 11. and 21 8. Whether death propagated vnto all men from the first be punishment of sinne to the Saints CHAP. 3. â—…ere's a question not to be omitted whether the first death bee good to 〈◊〉 â—…ood If it be so how can it be the punishment of sinne for had not our 〈◊〉 sinned they had neuer tasted it how then can it bee good to the vpâ—… cannot happen but vnto offenders and if it happen but vnto offenders 〈◊〉 not be good for it should not be at all vnto the vpright for why should 〈◊〉 punishment that haue no guilt Wee must confesse then that had not 〈◊〉 parents sinned they had not dyed but sinning the punishment of death â—…cted vpon them and all their posteritie for they should not produce 〈◊〉 â—…ng but what them-selues were and the greatnesse of their crime depraued 〈◊〉 â—…ture so that that which was penall in the first mans offending was made 〈◊〉 in the birth of all the rest for they came not of man as man came of the 〈◊〉 The dust was mans materiall but man is mans parent That which is earth is 〈◊〉 flesh though flesh be made of earth but that which man the father is man the 〈◊〉 is also For all man-kinde was in the first man to bee deriued from him by the 〈◊〉 when this couple receiued their sentence of condemnation And that 〈◊〉 man was made not in his creation but in his fall and condemnation that 〈◊〉 â—…got in respect I meane of sinne and death For his sinne a was not cause of 〈◊〉 weaknesse in infancie or whitenesse of body as we see in infants those God would haue as the originall of the yonglings whose parents he had cast downe to 〈◊〉 mortality as it is written Man was in honor and vnderstood not but became 〈◊〉 the beasts that perish vnlesse that infants bee weaker in motion and appetite 〈◊〉 all other creatures to shew mans mounting excellence aboue them all comâ—…le to a shaft that flieth the stronger when it is drawne farthest back in the 〈◊〉 Therefore mans presumption and iust sentence adiudged him not to those â—…lities of nature but his nature was depraued vnto the admission of conâ—…entiall in-obedience in his members against his will thereby was bound to death by necessity and to produce his progeny vnder the same conditions that his crime deserued From which band of sin if infants by the mediators grace be freed they shall onely bee to suffer the first death of body but from the eternall penall second death their freedome from sinne shall quit them absolutely L. VIVES HIs sinne a was not Here is another question in what state men should haue beene borne had they not sinned Augustine propounds it in his booke De baptis paruul some thinke they should haue beene borne little and presently become perfect men Others borne little but in perfect strength onely not groweth and that they should presently haue followed the mother as we see chickens and lambes The former giue them immediate vse of sence and reason the later not so but to come by degrees as ours do Augustine leaues the doubt as hee findes it seeming to suppose no other kinde of birth but what we now haue Why the first death is not withheld from the regenerat from sinne by grace CHAP. 4. IF any thinke they should not suffer this being the punishment of guilt and there guilt cleared by grace he may be resolued in our booke called De baptismo paruulorum There we say that the seperation of soule and body remaineth to succeed though after sinne because if the sacrament of regeneration should be immediately seconded by immortality of body our faith were disanulled being an expectation of a thing vnseene But by the strength and vigor of faith was this feare of death to be formerly conquered as the Martires did whose conflicts had had no victory nor no glory nay had bin no conflicts if they had beene deified and freed from corporall death immediatly vpon their regeneration for if it were so who would not run vnto Christ to haue his child baptised least hee should die should his faith be approued by this visible reward no it should be no faith because he receiued his reward immediatly But now the wounderfull grace of our Sauiour hath turned the punishment of sinne vnto the greater good of righteousnesse Then it was said to man thou shalt die if thou sinne now it is said to the Martir die to auoid sin Then if you breake my lawes you shall dy now if you refuse to die you breake my lawes That which we feared then if we offended we must now choose not to offend Thus by Gods ineffable mercy the punishment of sin is become the instrument of vertue and the paine due to the sinners guilt is the iust mans merit Then did sinne purchase death and now death purchaseth righteousnes I meane in the Martires whome their persecutors bad either renounce their faith or their life and those iust men chose rather to suffer that for beleeuing which the first sinners suffred for not beleeuing for vnlesse they had sinned they had not dyed and Martires had sinned if they had not died They dyed for sinne these sinne not because they die The others crime made death good which before was euill but God hath giuen such grace to faith that death which is lifes contrary is here made the ladder whereby to ascend to life As the wicked vse the good law euill so the good vse death which is euill well CHAP. 5. FOr the Apostle desiring to shew the hurt of sin being vnpreuented by grace doubted not to say that the law which forbids sinne is the strength of sinne The sting 〈◊〉 saith he is sinne and the strength of sinne is the lawe Most true for a forbidding of vnlawfull desires increase them in him where righteousnesse is not of power to suppresse all such affects to sinne And righteousnesse can neuer be lâ—…d without gods grace procure this loue But yet to shew that the law is not euill though hee calls it the strength of sinne hee saith in another place in the 〈◊〉 question The law is holy and the commandement holy and iust and good Was that then which is good saith he made death to me GOD forbid buâ—… sinne that it might appeare sinne wrought death in me by that which is good b that siâ—…e might be out of measure sinfull by the commandement Out of measure 〈◊〉
CHAP. 15. O But they thinke they giue the Christians a foule blow when they aggrauate the disgrace of their captiuitie by vrging the rapes which were wrought not onely vpon maried and mariageable persons but euen vpon some Votaresses also Here are wee not to speake of faith or godlinesse or of the vertue of chastitie but our discourse must runne a narrow course a betwixt shame and reason b Nor care wee so much to giue an answer vnto strangers in this as to minister comfort vnto our fellow Christians Bee this therefore granted as our first position that that power by which man liueth well resting enthroned and established in the minde commands euery member of the body and the body is sanctified by the sanctification of the will which sactimonie of the will if it remaine firme and inuiolate what way soeuer the body bee disposed of or abused if the partie enduring this abuse cannot auoide it d without an expresse offence this sufferance layeth no crime vpon the soule But because euery body is subiect to suffer the effects both of the furie and the lusts of him that subdueth it that which it suffereth in this latter kinde though it bee not a destroyer of ones chastitie yet is it a procurer of ones shame Because otherwise it might bee thought that that was suffered with the consent of the minde which it may bee could not bee suffered without some delight of the flesh And therefore as for those who to auoide this did voluntarily destroy themselues what humaine heart can choose but pittie them yet as touching such as would not doe so fearing by auoyding others villanie to incurre their owne damnation hee that imputes this as a fault vnto them is not vnguiltie of the faulte of folly L. VIVES BEtweene a shame and reason for shame saith that the very violation of the body is to bee called euill but Reason denyes it b Nor care we This we will speake as a comforting vnto our Christian women that endured these violences c In the minde The Platonists place the soule and hir powers in the head as in a Tower sitting there as the commander of our actions and the ouer-seer of our labours as Claudian saith d Without sinne for if wee can auoyde it without sinne we ought to endeuour this auoydance with all our powers Of such as chose a voluntary death to auoyde the feare of paine and dishonour CHAP. 16. FOR if it bee not lawfull for a priuate man to kill any man how euer guiltie vnlesse the lawe haue granted a speciall allowance for it then surely whosoeuer killes himselfe is guiltie of homicide And so much the more guiltie doth that killing of himselfe make himselfe by how much the more guiltlesse hee was in that cause for which hee killd himselfe For if Iudas a his fact be worthily detested and yet the Truth b saith that by hanging of himselfe hee did rather augment then expiate the guilt of his wicked treacherie because his despaire of Gods mercy in his c damnable repentance left no place in his soule for sauing repentance how much more ought he to forbeare from being cause of his owne death that hath no guilt in him worthy of such a punishment as death for Iudas in hanging himselfe hanged but a wicked man and dyed guiltie not onely of Christs death but of his owne also adding the wickednesse of being his owne death to that other wickednesse of his for which he dyed L. VIVES IUdas a his fact which no man but hath heard out of the Gospell b Truth saith Peter in the first of the Actes affirmes that hee did wickedly and vngodlyly both in betraying of his Lord and in hanging of himselfe c Damnable repentance For he repented indeed but so as hee despaired of being euer able to repent sufficiently for so great a villanie Of the violent lust of the Souldiers executed vpon the bodies of the captiues against their consents CHAP. 17. BVt why should he that hath done no man euill do himselfe euill and by destroying himselfe destroy an innocent man for feare to suffer iniurie by the guilte of another and procure a sinne vnto himselfe by auoiding the sinne of another O but his feare is to be defiled by anothers lust tush anothers lust cannot pollute thee if it doe it is not anothers but thine owne But chastitie being a vertue of the minde and a accompanied with fortitude by which it learnes rather to endure all euills then consent to any and b no man of this fortitude and chastitie being able to dispose of his body as he list but onely of the consent and dissent of his minde what man of witte will thinke hee looseth his chastity though his captiued body be forcedly prostitute vnto anothers beastialitie If chastitie were lost thus easilie it were no vertue of the minde nor one of c those goods whereby a man liues in goodnesse but were to be reckoned amongst the goods of the body with strength beautie health and such like d which if a man do decrease in yet it doth not follow that he decreaseth in his vprightnesse of life but if chastitie be of e another kinde why should we endanger our bodies to no end which feare to loose it for if it be f a good belonging to the mind it is not lost though the body be violated Moreouer it is the vertue of holy continencie that when it withstands the pollution of carnall concupiscence thereby it sanctifies euen the body also and therefore when the intention stands firme and giues no way to vicious affects the chastitie of the body g is not lost because the will remaines still in the holy vse and in the power too as farre as it can For the body is not holy in that it is whole or vntouched in euery member for it may be hurt and wounded by many other casualties And the Physitian oftentimes for the preseruation of the health doth that vnto the body which the eye abhorres to beholde h A Midwife trying a certaine maides integretie of the Virginall part whether for malice or by chance it is vncertaine spoiled it Now I thinke none so foolish as to thinke that this virgin lost any part of her bodily sanctitie though that part endured this breach of integritie And therefore the intent of the minde standing firme which firmnesse it is that sanctifies the body the violence of anothers lust cannot depriue so much as the i body of this sanctity because the perseuerance of the minde in continency euer preserueth it But shall we say that any woman whose corrupt minde hath broken her promise vnto God and yeelded her self willingly to the lust of her deceiuer though but in purpose is as yet holy in her bodie when she hath lost that holinesse of minde which sanctified her body God forbid And heere let vs learne that the sanctity of bodie is no more lost if the sanctity of minde remaine though the bodie bee rauished then it
should be saued and who should be damned CHAP. 27. BVt now because we must end this booke let this bee our position that in the first man the fore-said two societies or cities had originall yet not euidentlie but vnto Gods prescience for from him were the rest of men to come some to be made fellow cittizens with the Angels in ioy and some with the Deuils in torment by the secret but iust iudgment of God For seeing that it is written All the wayes of the Lord bee mercy and truth his grace can neither bee vniust nor his iustice cruell Finis lib. 12. THE CONTENTS OF THE thirteenth booke of the City of God 1. Of the first Mans fall and the procurement of mortality 2. Of the death that may befall the immortal soule and of the bodies death 3. Whether death propagated vnto all men from the first bee punishment of sinne to the Saints 4. Why the first death is not with-held from the regenerate from sinne by grace 5. As the wicked vse the good law euill so the good vse death which is euill well 6. The generall euill of that death that seuereth soule and body 7. Of the death that such as are not regenerate doe suffer for Christ. 8. That the Saints in suffering the first death for the truth are quit from the second 9. Whether a man at the houre of his death may be said to be among the dead or the dying 10. Whether this mortall life be rather to bee called death then life 11. Whether one may bee liuing and dead both together 12. Of the death that God threatned to punish the first man withall if he transgressed 13. What punishment was first laid on mans preuarication 14. In what state God made Man and into what state he fell by his voluntary choyce 15. That Adam forsooke God ere God forsooke him and that the soules first death was the departure from God 16. Of the Philosophers that held corporall death not to bee penall whereas Plato brings in the Creator promising the lesser Gods that they should neuer leaue their bodies 17. Against the opinion that earthly bodies cannot be corruptible nor eternall 18. Of the terrene bodies which the Philosophers hold cannot bee in heauen but must fall to earth by their naturall weight 19 Against those that hold that Man should not haue beene immortall if hee had not sinned 20. That the bodies of the Saints now resting in hope shall become better then our first fathers was 21. Of the Paradice when our first parents were placed and that it may be taken spiritually also with-out any wrong to the truth of the historie as touching the reall place 22. That the Saints bodies after resurrection shall bee spirituall and yet not changed into spirits 23. Of bodies animate and spirituall these dying in Adam and those beeing quickned in Christ. 24. How Gods breathing a life into Adam and Christs breathing vpon his Apostles when hee said Receiue the holy spirit are to bee vnderstood FINIS THE THIRTEENTH BOOKE OF THE CITTIE OF GOD Written by Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo vnto Marcellinus Of the first Mans fall and the procurement of mortalitie CHAP. 1. HAuing gotten through the intricate questions of the worlds originall and man-kindes our methode now calleth vs to discourse of the first mans fall nay the first fall of both in that kind and consequently of the originall and propagation of our mortality for God made not man as he did Angels that though they sinned yet could not dye but so as hauing a performed their course in obedience death could not preuent them from partaking for euer of blessed and Angelicall immortality but hauing left this course death should take them into iust damnation as we said in the last booke L. VIVES HAuing a performed Euery man should haue liued a set time vpon earth and then being confirmed in nature by tasting of the tree of life haue beene immortally translated into heauen Here are many questions made first by Augustine and then by Lombard dist 2. What mans estate should haue beene had he not sinned but these are modest and timerous inquirers professing they cannot finde what they seeke But our later coments vpon Lumbard flie directly to affirmatiue positions vpon very coniectures or grounds of nature I heare them reason but I see them grauelled and in darknesse where yet they will not feele before them ere they goe but rush on despight of all break-neck play What man hath now wee all know to our cost what he should haue had it is a question whether Adam knew and what shall we then seeke why should we vse coniectures in a things so transcendent that it seemes miraculous to the heauens as if this must follow natures lawes which would haue amazed nature had it had existence then What light Augustine giues I will take and as my power and duty is explaine the rest I will not meddle with Of the death that may befall the immortall soule and of the bodyes death CHAP. 2. BVt I see I must open this kinde of death a little plainer For mans soule though it be immortall dyeth a kinde of death a It is called immortall because it can neuer leaue to bee liuing and sensitiue and the body is mortall because it may be destitute of life and left quite dead in it selfe But the death of the soule is when God leaueth it the death of the body is when the soule leaueth it so that the death of both is when the soule being left of God leaueth the body And this death is seconded by that which the Scripture calles the b second death This our Sauiour signified when hee said feare him which is able to destroy both body and soule in hell which comming not to passe before the body is ioyned to the soule neuer to be seperated it is strange that the body can be sayd to die by that death which seuereth not the soule from it but torments them both together For that â—…all paine of which wee will speake here-after is fitly called the soules deaâ—… because it liueth not with God but how is it the bodies which liueth with the soule for otherwise it could not feele the corporall paines that expect it after the resurrection is it because all life how-so-euer is good and all paine euill that the body is said to dye wherein the soule is cause of sorrow rather then life Therefore the soule liueth by God when it liueth well for it cannot liue without God working good in it and the body liueth by the soule when the soule liueth in the body whether it liue by God or no. For the wicked haue liâ—…â—…body but none of soule their soules being dead that is forsaken of God lâ—…g power as long as their immortall proper life failes not to afforde them 〈◊〉 but in the last damnation though man bee not insensitiue yet this sence of 〈◊〉 â—…ing neither pleasing nor peacefull but sore and
because preuarication is added c the lawe beeing also contemned 〈◊〉 the lust of sinne Why doe wee recite this Because as the lawe is not 〈◊〉 â—…en it exciteth concupiscence in the bad so earth is not good when it inâ—…th the glory of the good neither the law when it is forsaken by sinners and 〈◊〉 them Preuaricators nor death when it is vnder-taken for truth and maâ—… them Martyrs Consequently the law forbidding sinne is good and death 〈◊〉 the reward of sinne euill But as the wicked vse all things good and euill badly so the iust vse all things euil and good well Therefore the wicked vse the 〈◊〉 that is good badly and the vse death that is bad well L. VIVES 〈◊〉 a of It is naturall vnto exorbitant minds the more a thing is forbidden them 〈◊〉 to affect it as women whose mindes are most vnstayed desire that onely that 〈◊〉 â—…hibited So that whereas men knew not what it was to goe to the stewes nor 〈◊〉 vpon it in comes the lawe and saith thou shalt not goe and so taught them all 〈◊〉 to goe setting their depraued natures vpon pursuite of those vnlawfull actes I 〈◊〉 saith Paul what concupiscence was vntill the law told me Thou shalt not couet 〈◊〉 that Solâ—… set downe no lawe against parricide which being vnknowne hee was 〈◊〉 to declare then punish Pro Ros. Amerin b That sinne The old bookes read 〈◊〉 â—…ner Augustine ad Simplic an lib 1. quotes it thus that the sinner might bee out 〈◊〉 a sinner c. but his quotations are both false For thus it should be read indeed 〈◊〉 â—…er might bee out of measure sinfull c. Sinner being referred to sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ith the Greeke vnlesse you will make sinfull a nowne and no participle as Salust â—…tens and Terence Fugitans c The law All the terrors of the law being contemâ—… such as haue turned their custome of sinne into their nature The generall euill of that death that seuereth soule and body CHAP. 6. WHerefore as for the death that diuides soule and body when they suffer it whome we say are a dying it is good vnto none For it hath a sharpe a â—…rall sence by which nature is wrung this way and that in the composition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liuing creature vntill it bee dead and vntill all the sence be gone wherein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and body was combined Which great trouble one stroake of the boâ—… or one rapture of the soule often-times preuenteth and out runneth sence in â—…tnesse But what-so-euer it is in death that takes away b our sence with so â—…ous a sence being faithfully indured it augmenteth the merite of paciâ—…â—…ut taketh not away the name of paine It is sure the death of the first man â—…pagate though if it be endured for faith and iustice it bee the glory of â—…nerate Thus death being the reward of sinne some-time quitteth sinne 〈◊〉 â—…ll rewarde L. VIVES VNnaturall a sence Sence for passion b Our sence with so grieuous a sence The first actiue the second passiue the great passion taketh away our power of ience Of the death of such as are not regenerate do suffer for Christ. CHAP. 7. FOr whosoeuer hee is that beeing not yet regenerate dyeth for confessing of Christ it freeth him of his sinne as wel as if he had receaued the sacrament of Baptisme For he that said Vnlesse a man bee borne againe of water and of the holy spirit he shall not enter into the kingdome of God excepteth these else-where in as generall a saying whosoeuer confesseth me before men him will I confesse before my father which is in heauen And againe He that looseth his soule for me shall finde it Hereupon it is that Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the Saints For what is more deere then that death wherein all a mans badnes is abolished and his good augmented Those thad die daptized because they could liue no longer are not of that merite that those that die willingly where as they might haue liued longer because these had rather die in confessing of Christ then deny him and so come to baptisme a Which if they had done this sacrament wold haue for giuen it because they denied him for feare of death For in it euen their b villany was forgiuen that murdered Christ. c But how cold they loue Christ so dearely as to contemne life for him but by abounding in the grace of that spirit that inspireth where it pleaseth Pretious therefore is the death of those Saints who tooke such gratious hold of the death of Christ that they stuck not to engage their owne soules in the quest of him and whose death shewed that they made vse of that which before was the punishment of sinne to the producing of a greater haruest of glory But death ought not to seeme good because it is Gods helpe and not the owne power that hath made it of such good vse that beeing once propounded as a penalty laid vpon sinne it is now elected as a deliuerance from sinne and an expiation of sinne to the crowning of iustice with glorious victory L. VIVES WHich a if Intimating that no guilt is so great but Baptisme will purge it b Theâ—… villanie It is like he meanes of some that had holpen to crucifie Christ and were afterwards conuerted c But how It could not bee but out of great aboundance of grace that they should loue Christ as well as those that were baptized already in him That the Saints in suffering the first death for the truth are quit from the second CHAP. 8. FOr if wee marke well in dying well and laudably for the truth is a worse death â—…oyded and therefore wee take part of it least the whole should fall vpon 〈◊〉 and a second that should neuer haue end Wee vndertake the seperation of the body from the soule least wee should come to haue the soule seuered from God and then from the body and so mans first death beeing past the second that endlesse one should fall presently vpon him Wherefore the dâ—…th as I say that wee suffer a when wee die and causeth vs dye is good vnto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it is well tolerated for attaining of good But when men once are in death and called dead then we may say that it is good to the good and bad to the bad For the good soules being seuered from their bodies are in rest the euill in torment vntill the bodies of the first rise to life eternall and the later vnto the eternall or second death L. VIVES 〈◊〉 a when The dead and the dying are said both to be in death death being both in 〈◊〉 departure and after in the first as a passion in the second as a priuation Both are of 〈◊〉 the authors Virg. 〈◊〉 â—…amus quanquam media iam morte tenetur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lies now in midst of death that is a dying and the 〈◊〉 Morte Neoptolemi regnorum reddita
by the words increase and multiply the number of 〈◊〉 â—…nat were fulfilled then should a better haue beene giuen vs namely 〈◊〉 the Angells haue wherein there is an eternall security from sinne 〈◊〉 and so should the Saints haue liued then after no tast of labour sorâ—… death as they shall do now in the resurrection after they haue endured 〈◊〉 L. VIVES 〈◊〉 The desire is a sinne aswell as the act not onely by the Scriptures but by the â—…ct discipline of humanity also Cic. Philippic 2. Though there be no law against it for 〈◊〉 â—…th not if this man desire thus much land let him be fined as Cato the elder pleaded 〈◊〉 â—…odians The fall of the first man wherein nature was made good and cannot be repaired but by the maker CHAP. 11. BVt God foreknowing althings could not but know that man would fall therefore wee must ground our City vpon his prescience and ordinance not vpon that which we know not and God hath vnreuealed For mans sinne could not disturbe Gods decree nor force him to change his resolue God fore-knew and preuented both that is how bad man whome hee had made should become and what good hee meant to deriue from him for all his badnesse For though God bee said to change his resâ—… as the scriptures a tropically say that hee repented c. Yet this is in respect of mans hope or natures order not according to his own prescience So then God made man vpright and consequently well-willed otherwise he could not haue beene vpright So that this good will was Gods worke man being there-with created But the euill will which was in man before his euill worke was rather a fayling from the worke of God to the owne workes then any worke at all And therefore were the workes euill because they were according to them-selues and not to God this euill will being as a tree bearing such bad fruite or man himselfe in respect of his euill will Now this euill will though it do not follow but oppose nature being a falt yet is it of the same nature that vice is which cannot but bee in some nature but it must bee in that nature which God made of nothing not in that which he begot of himselfe as his word is whereby althings were made for although God made man of dust yet hee made dust of nothing and hee made the soule of nothing which he ioyned with the body making full man But euills are so farre vnder that which is good that though they be permitted to bee for to shew what good vse Gods prouident iustice can make of them yet may that which is good consist without them as that true and glorious God him selfe and all the visible resplendent heauens do aboue this darkned misty aire of ours but euills cannot consist but in that which is good for all the natures wherein they abide being considered as meere natures are good And euill is drawne from nature not by abscission of any nature contrary to this or any part of this but by purifiying of that onely which was thus depraued Then b therefore is the will truely free when it serueth neither vice nor sin Such God gaue vs such we lost and cannot recouer but by him that gaue it as the truth saith If the sonne free you you shal be truly freed it is all one as if hee should say If the sonne saue you you shal be truely saued c for hee is the freer that is the Sauiour Wherefore d in Paradise both locall and spirituall man made God his rule to liue by for it was not a Paradise locall for the bodies good and not spirituall for the spirits nor was it a spirituall 〈◊〉 the spirits good and no locall one for the bodies Noe it was both for both But after that e that proud and therefore enuious Angell falling through that pride from God vnto him-selfe and choosing in a tiranicall vain glory raâ—…r to rule then to be ruled fell from the spirituall paradise of whose fall and 〈◊〉 fellowes that therevpon of good Angells became his I disputed in my ninth booke 〈◊〉 God gaue grace and meanes hee desiring to creepe into mans minde by his ill-perswading suttlely and enuying mans constancy in his owne fall chose the serpent one of the creatures that as then liued hurtlesse with the man 〈◊〉 â—…oman in the earthly paradise a beast slippery and moueable wreatchd â—…ots and fit f for his worke this hee chose to speake through abusing it 〈◊〉 subiect vnto the greater excellency of his angelicall nature and making it 〈◊〉 â—…rument of his spirituall wickdnesse through it he began to speake deceitâ—… vnto the woman beginning at the meaner part of man-kind to inuade the 〈◊〉 by degrees thinking the man was not so credulous nor so soone deluded 〈◊〉 would be seing another so serued before him for as Aaron consented not by â—…sion but yeelded by compulsion vnto the Hebrewes idolatry to make 〈◊〉 an Idol nor Salomon as it is credible yeelded worship to idols of his owne â—…ous beleefe but was brought vnto that sacriledge by his wiues perswaâ—… So is it to bee thought that the first man did not yeeld to his wife in this â—…ession of Gods precept as if hee thought shee said two but onely being â—…elled to it by this sociall loue to her being but one with one and both of 〈◊〉 â—…ture and kind for it is not in vaine that the Apostle saith Adam was not 〈◊〉 â—…iued but the woman was deceiued but it sheweth that the woman did 〈◊〉 the serpents words true but Adam onely would not breake company 〈◊〉 â—…is fellow were it in sinne and so sinned wittingly wherefore the Apostle 〈◊〉 not He sinned not but He was not seduced for hee sheweth that hee sinned 〈◊〉 by one man sinne entred into the world and a little after more plainely after â—…er of the transgression of Adam And those he meanes are seduced that 〈◊〉 the first to be no sinn which he knew to bee a sinne otherwise why should 〈◊〉 Adam was not seduced But he that is not acquainted with the diuine seâ—… might therein be deceiued to conceiue that his sinne was but veniall And 〈◊〉 in that the woman was seduced he was not but this was it that i deceiâ—… that hee was to bee iudged for all that he had this excuse The woman 〈◊〉 gauest me to be with me she gaue me of the tree and I did eate what need we 〈◊〉 then though they were not both seduced they were both taken in sin 〈◊〉 the diuells captiues L. VIVES â—…ally a Say Figuratiuely A trope saith Quintilian is the translation of one word 〈◊〉 the fit signification of another from the owne that God repented is a Metaphor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 figure that who so knowes not and yet would learne for the vnderstanding of scripâ—… not go vnto Tully or Quintilian but vnto our great declamers who knowing not y◠〈◊〉 betweene Gramar
eight times thirtie for there are eight generations from Adam to Lameches children inclusiuely is two hundred and forty did they beget no children then all the residue of the time before the deluge what â—…as the cause then that this author reciteth not the rest for our bookes account from Adam to the deluge b two thousand two hundred sixty two yeares and the Hebrewes one thousaÌ„d six hundred fifty six To allow the lesser nuÌ„ber for the truer take two hundred and forty from one thousand six hundred fifty six and there remaines one thousaÌ„d foure hundreth and sixteen years Is it likely that Caines progeny had no children al this time But let him whom this troubleth obserue what I sayd before when the question was put how it were credible that the first men could for beare generation so long It was answered two waies either because of their late maturity proportioned to their length of life or because that they which were reckned in the descents were not necessarily the first borne but such onely as conueied the generation of Seth through themselues downe vnto Noah And therefore in Caines posterity if such an one wants as should bee the scope wherevnto the generation omitting the first borne and including onely such as were needefull might descend wee must impute it to the latelinesse of maturity whereby they were not enabled to geneâ—…ation vntill they were aboue one â—…ndred yeares olde that so the generation might still passe through the first borne and so descending through these multitudes of yeares meete with the â—…oud I cannot tell there may bee some more c secret course why the Earthly Citties generation should bee d reiected vntill Lamech and his sonnes and 〈◊〉 the rest vnto the deluge wholy suppressed by the authorâ—… And to â—…de this late maturity the reason why the pedegree descendeth not by tâ—…e first borne may bee for that Caine might reigne long in his Cittie of Heâ—… and begette many Kings who might each beget a sonne to reigne in 〈◊〉 owne stead Of these Caine I saâ—… might bee the first Henoch his sonne the next for whom the Citty was built that he might reigne there 〈◊〉 the sonne of Henoch the third e Manichel the sonne of Gaidaâ—… the fourth 〈◊〉 Mathusael the sonne of Manichel the fit Lamech the sonne of Mathusael the sixt and this man is the seauenth from Adam by Caine. Now it followeth not that each of these should bee their fathers first begotten their merits vertue policy chance or indeed their fathers loue might easily enthrone them And the deluge might befall in Lamechs reigne and drowne both him and all on earth but for those in the Arke for the diuersity of their ages might make it no â—…der that there should bee but seauen generations from Adam by Caine to the deluge and ten by Seth Lamech as I said beeing the seauenth from Adam and Noah the tenth and therefore Lamech is not said to haue one sonne but many because it is vncertaine who should haue succeeded him had hee died before the deluge But howsoeuer Caines progeny bee recorded by Kings or by eldest sonnes this I may not ' omit that Lamech the seauenth from Adam had as many children as made vppe eleauen the number of preuarication For hee had three sonnes and one daughter His wiues haue a reference to another thing not here to bee stood vpon For heere wee speake of descents but theirs is vnknowne Wherefore seeing that the lawe lieth in the number of ten as the tenne commandements testifie eleauen ouer-going ten in one signifieth the transgression of the law or sinne Hence it is that there were eleauen haire-cloath vailes made for the Tabernacle or mooueable Temple of GOD during the Israelites trauells For g in haire-cloath is the remembrance of sinne included because of the h goates that shal be set on the left hand for in repentance wee prostrate our selues in hayre-cloath saying as it is in the Psalme My sinne is euer in thy sight So then the progeny of Adam by wicked Caine endeth in the eleauenth the number of sinne and the last that consumaâ—…eth the number is a woman in whome that sinne beganne for which wee are all deaths slaues and which was committed that disobedience vnto the spirit and carnall affects might take place in vs. For i Naamah Lamechs daughter is interpreted beautifull pleasure But from Adam to Noah by Seth tenne the number of the lawe is consumate vnto which Noahs three sonnes are added two their father blessed and the third fell off that the reprobate beeing 〈◊〉 and the elect added to the whole k twelue the number of the Patriarches and Apostles might herein bee intimate which is glorious because of the multiplication of the partes of l seauen producing it for foure times three or three times foure is twelue This beeing so it remaineth to discusse how these two progenies distinctly intimating the two two Citties of the reprobate and the regenerate came to be so commixt and confused that all mankinde but for eight persons deserued to perish in the deluge L. VIVES THe a Gymnosophists Strab. lib. 15. b 2262. Eusebius and Bede haue it from the Sâ—…gints but 2242. it may bee Augustine saw the last number LXII in these charaâ—… and they had it thus XLII with the X. before The transcriber might easilie commit 〈◊〉 an error c Secret cause I thinke it was because they onely of Caines generation should bee named that were to bee plagued for his brothers murder for Iosephus writeth hereof 〈◊〉 these words Caine offring vnto God and praying him to bee appeased got his great guâ—… of homicide some-what lightned and remained cursed and his off-spring vnto the sâ—…uenth generation lyable vnto punishment for his desert Besides Caine liued so long himselfe and the author would not continue his generation farther then his death d Recided Not commended as some bookes read e Manichel Some read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath Maâ—…iel the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f Mathusael Eusebius Mathusalem the seauentie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g In hayre cloth The Prophets wore haire-cloth to â—…re the people to repentance Hier. sâ—…p Zachar. The Penitents also wore it h Goates Christ saith Hee wilâ—… gather the â—…Word that is the iust and simple men together in the worlds end and set them on his right hand and the Goates the luxurious persons and the wicked on his left This hayre-cloth was made of Goates hayre and called Cilicium because as Uarro saith the making of it was first inuented in Cilicia i Naamah It is both pleasure and delicate comlinesse 〈◊〉 k 〈◊〉 Of this read Hierome vpon Ezechiel lib. 10. l Seauen A number full of mysterious religion as I said before Why the generation of Caine is continued downe along from the naming of his sonne Enoch whereas the Scripture hauing named Enos Seths sonne goeth back againe to begin Seths generation at Adam CHAP. 21. BVt first we must see the reason why Cains
is the New Testament but the opening of the Old one Now Abraham is sayd to laugh but this was the extreamity of his ioy not any signe of his deriding this promise vpon distrust and his thoughts beeing these Shall he that is an hundred yeares old c. Are not doubts of the euents but admirations caused by so strange an euent Now if some stop at that where God saith he will giue him all the Land of Canaan for an eternall possession how this may be fulfilled seeing that no mans progeny can inherite the earth euerlastingly he must know that eternall is here taken as the Greekes take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is deriued of c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is seculum an age but the latine translation durst not say seculare here least it should haue beene taken in an other sence for seculare and transitorium are both alike vsed for things that last but for a little space but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that which is either endlesse at all or endeth not vntill the worlds end and in this later sence is eternall vsed here L. VIVES I Wil be a his God Or to be his GOD. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a grecisme hardly expressed in your latine b The very The gentiles had also their eight day wherevpon the distinguished the childs name from the fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is Seculum aetas annâ—…m eternitas in latine Tully and other great authors translate it all those waies from the greeke Of the man-child that if it were not circumcised the eight day iâ—… perished for breaking of Gods couenant CHAP. 27. SOme also may sticke vpon the vnderstanding of these words The man child in whose flesh the fore-skinne is not circumcised that person shal be cut off from his people because he had broaken my couenant Here is no fault of the childes who is hereexposed to destruction he brake no couenant of Gods but his parents that looked not to his circumcision vnlesse you say that the yongest child hath broken Gods command and couenant as well as the rest in the first man in whom all man-kinde sinned For there are a many Testaments or Couenants of God besides the old and new those two so great ones that euery one may read and know The first couenant was this vnto Adam Whensoeuer thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death wherevpon it is written in Ecclesiasticus All flesh waxeth 〈◊〉 as a garment and it is a couenant from the beginning that all sinners shall die the death for whereas the law was afterwards giuen and that brought the more light to mans iudgement in sinne as the Apostle saith Where no law is there is no transgression how is that true that the Psalmist said I accounted all the sinners of the earth transgressors b but that euery man is guilty in his owne conscience of some-what that hee hath done against some law and therefore seeing that little children as the true faith teacheth be guilty of originall sinne though not of actuall wherevpon wee confesse that they must necessarily haue the grace of the remission of their sinnes then verily in this they are breakers of Gods coueâ—… made with Adam in paradise so that both the Psalmists saying and the Apostles is true and consequently seeing that circumcision was a type of regeneration iustly shall the childs originall sinne breaking the first couenant that 〈◊〉 was made betweene God and man cut him off from his people vnlesse that regeneration engraffe him into the body of the true religion This then we must conceiue that GOD spake Hee that is not regenerate shall perish from â—…gst his people because he hath broke my couenant in offending me in Adam For if he had sayd he hath broke this my couenant it could haue beene meant of nothing but the circumcision onely but seeing hee saith not what couenant the child breaketh we must needes vnderstand him to meane of a couenant liable vnto the transgression of the child But if any one will tie it vnto circumcision and say that that is the couenant which the vncircumcised child hath broken let him beware of absurdity in saying that hee breaketh their couenant which is not broken by him but in him onely But howsoeuer we shall finde the childs condemnation to come onely from his originall sinne and not from any negligence of his owne iucurring this breach of the couenant L. VIVES THere a are many Hierome hath noted that wheresoeuer the Greekes read testament 〈◊〉 Hebrewes read couenant Berith is the Hebrew word b But that There is no man so barbarous but nature hath giuen him some formes of goodnesse in his heart whereby to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honest life if he follow them and if he refuse them to turne wicked Of the changing of Abram and Sara's names who being the one too barren and both to old to haue children yet by Gods bounty were both made fruitfull CHAP. 28. THus this great and euident promise beeing made vnto Abraham in these words A father of many nations haue I made thee and I will make thee exceeding fruitfull and nations yea euen Kings shall proceed of thee which promise wee see most euidently fulfilled in Christ from that time the man and wife are called no more Abram and Sarai but as wee called them before and all the world calleth them Abraham and Sarah But why was Abrahams name changed the reason followeth immediately vpon the change for a father of many nations haue I made thee This is signified by Abraham now Abram his former a name is interpreted an high father But b for the change of Sara's name there is no reason giuen but as they say that haue interpreted those Hebrew names Sarai is my Princesse and Sarah strength wherevpon it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrewes By faith Sarah receiued strength to conceiue seed c. Now they were both old as the scripture saith but c shee was barren also and past the age d wherein the menstruall bloud floweth in women which wanting she could neuer haue conceiued although she had not beene barren And if a woman be well in years and yet haue that menstruall humour remayning she may conceiue with a yongman but neuer by an old as the old man may beget children but it must bee vpon a young woman as Abraham after Sarahs death did vpon Keturah because shee was of a youthfull age as yet This therefore is that which the Apostle so highly admireth and herevpon he saith that Abrahams body was dead because hee was not able to beget a child vpon any woman that was not wholy past her age of child-bearing but onely of those that were in the prime and flowre thereof For his bodie was not simply dead but respectiuely otherwise it should haue beene a carcasse fit for a graue not an ancient father vpon earth Besides the guift of begetting children that GOD gaue him lasted after Sarahs death and he
rereward of the armie of the Gothes and by that meanes hinder them from making any great slaughter or spoile of the country Afterward hee marched forward towardes them by the coast of the vpper sea with all the forces of his horse-men and foote-men The two armies pitch their Tents neere Rauenna the Gothes got that part which is named Pollentia via who in respect of their infinit number did farre exceed the Romanes but in regard of skill and militarie discipline they were in no sort comparable vnto them Now STILICO had often times gotte the vpper hand ouer the Gothes by his warrelike policie and had cooped them vppe in such a narrow place that sitting idlie at home hee might haue ended the warres at his pleasure if hee had beene willing But hee resolued to remaine with his armie vntill the Vandalls his friends and fauorites were come into France For hee was perswaded without any doubt that then good occasion would bee offered vnto him for obteyning the Empire for EVCHLRIVS his sonne Therefore he trifled away the time by making a few light skrmishes with the enemy But when HALARICVS had ferrited out his hidden drift by secret passages hee disclosed it to HONORIVS And when as by this good turne as by a ritch gift hee supposed hee should both calme the fury and insinuate himselfe into the fauor of HONORIVS hee was encoraged to make petition vnto him by the same ambassadors which he sent to reueale the treason of STILICO that hee would grant part of France vnto him for his people to inhabit there promising that they should liue after the lawes of the Romans to the aduancment of the Romane Empire and their warres and that they would be inferior to none of their Prouinces either in fealty or dutifull seruice The Emperour amazed with this doubtfull mischiefe made choice rather to admit the Gothes into part of his dominion then to procure a finall destruction to him and his by the disloyalty of perfidious STILICO But HALARICVS was not the first that discouered to HONORIVS what villanie STâ—… was forging Neuerthelesse he thought it was dangerous for him at any time to put such a man to death as was father in law vnto him by his two wiues beeing also so potent and mighty by his ritches farre aboue the highest degree of any priuat person Therefore hauing dispatched his letters hee sendeth them vnto STILICO by the ambassadors of the Goths willing him without delay to permit the Goths to haue free accesse into France STILICO gaue but cold entertainment to this newes for hee saw thaâ—… he was defrauded of his great hope and hee likewise suspected that his secret consultations some-time hidden in his brest were now divulged and dispersed into the ayre Yet for all that his stout and stuborne minde made some pause vpon the matter at last making choice of that which was safest for him hee answered that hee would obey the commaundement of his Prince Neuerthelesse being loath to giue ouer so and that the matter might not slippe wholie out of his hands hee suborneth one named SAVLVS and the souldiers of the Iewes to follow the Gothes hard at the heeles who killing some thousands of them oportunitie beeing offered might by that meanes exasperat the mindes of the people and mooue them to breake the league Now this SAVLVS vpon the LORDS Day which by the ancient institution of our religion wee obserue as sacred and holie wherein the Gothes were wholie intentiue to diuine seruices made a suddaine and violent assault against them and in the first tumult and vprore slew some of them The Gothes being terrified with this vnexspected accident consult suddenlie as well as they might in such a sudden and fearefull case whether they should arme themselues for their defence or not For they held it a haynous crime to touch any weapons to shedde mans bloud to make any slaughter of men on the festiuall day of Our Sauiour But when the furie of the Iewes was without any meane and measure in killing murdering and slaying then euery priuat person following his owne minde armed himselfe for his owne safety attending no longer what councell might asigne them to doe Now many of them beeing armed and come together HALARICVS hauing put his companies in arr 〈◊〉 so â—…ll as shortnesse of time would giue leaue casilie repressed the rage and madnesse of this 〈◊〉 and vnwar like people For the Gothes hauing a little conflict with them 〈◊〉 the Iewes and put them to flight Afterward hauing complained that they were enforced to pollute and contaminate the sacred and diuine law by the cruelty of them who had violated the lawes of men and also calling vpon Christ in whose name they tooke their oth when the league was confirmed betweene them whose holy day they had polluted against their will with effusion of bloud murders and slaughter then without 〈◊〉 inflamed with furie and rage they march thorough Italie to displate their bloudie colloures before the Citty of Rome Now not long before STILICO had dismissed some of his souldiers as men of small reckning and of no vse but in time of warre but by reason of the instant terror of imminent daunger hee was constrained to send to the Emperor to haue them sent backe againe vnto him with a new supplie of other companies that hee might goe with all the strength they could make to withstand the enterprizes of the Gothes HONORIVS being throughly possessed concerning the plot of trayterous STILICO sendeth a great armie of souldiers vnto him hauing priuilie giuen the captaines in charge that watching fitte occasion they should suddenlie kill STILICO and his sonne Now they hauing consulted one with another concerning this action and appointed a certainâ—… day when they might coragiously execute the commaundent of their prince suddenly aâ—…dat vnawares set vpon STILICO and his sonne some on this side some on that and so slew them both and some of his kindered which made resistance to rescue them This quick dispatch of these two Traytors was acted at Rome in Foro Paci in the Market place of peace But the improuident and carclesse Emperour after his generall was slaine had no care to place another in his roome I think he did it to preuent that any other hauing the like powre should attempt the like practize So that now the army beeing destitute of a chiefe commander was pittifully discomfited by the Gothes who made such hauoke and slaughther of the souldiers that the very name of the Gothes bred an exceeding terror and discoragement in the hearts of them all Now the Gothes hauing put the Romanes to the foile bring their bloudie ensignes to the City of Rome and tooke the same afflicted with a long siege and beeing entered into the towne they beginne to rifle ransacke and spoile it beeing farre more greedy euery man to get a good bootie then to commit slaughters rapes adulteries and such like odious and filthy facts as are commonlie acted by
owne shame he shamed at the filthinesse that was committed vppon hir though it were l without her consent and m being a Romain and coueteous of glory she feared that n if she liued stil that which shee had indured by violence should be thought to haue been suffered with willingnesse And therfore she thought good to shew this punishment to the eies of men as a testimony of hir mind vnto whome shee could not shew her minde indeed Blushing to be held a partaker in the fact which beeing by another committed so filthyly she had indured so vnwillingly Now this course the Christian women did not take they liue still howsoeuer violated neither for all this reuenge they the ruines of others vppon them-selues least they should make an addition of their owne guilt vnto the others if they should go and murder them-selues barbarously because their enemies had forst them so beastially For howsoeuer they haue the glory of their chastity stil within them o being the restimony of their conscience this they haue before the eies of their God and this is all they care for hauing no more to looke to but to do wel that they decline not from the authority of the law diuine in any finister indeauour to auoid the offence of mortall mans suspition L. VIVES a LVcretia This history of Lucretia is common though Dionisius relate it some-what differing from Liuie they agree in the summe of the matter b Reuenge so sayth Liuie in his person But giue me your right hands and faiths to inflict iust reuenge vppon the adulterer and they all in order gaue her their faiths c One declaming Who this was I haue not yet read One Glosse saith it was Virgil as hee found recorded by a great scholler and one that had read much But Uirgil neuer was declamer nor euer pleaded in cause but one and that but once perhaps that great reader imagined that one to bee this which indeed was neuer extant Which he might the better doe becasue he had read such store of histories and better yet if he were Licentiat or Doctor d He was chased Tarquin the King and all his ofspring were chased out of the Cittie of this in the third book e The offender Cicero saith that touching a Romains life there was a decree that no Iudgement should passe vpon it without the assent of the whole people in the great Comitia or Parliaments called Centuriata The forme and manner of which iudgement he sets down in his oration for his house and so doth Plutarch in the Gracchi f Lucretia her selfe which aggrauats the fact done by Lucretia a noble and worthy matron of the Citty g Placed amongst these Uirgil in the 6. of his Aeneads diuides Hell into nine circles and of the third hee speaketh thus Proxima deinde tenent maesti loca qui sibi lethum Insontes peperere manu lucemque perosi Proiecere animas quam vellent athere in alto Nunc pauperiem durâ—…s perferre labores Fata obstant tristique palus innabilis vnda Alligat nouies Styx interfusa coercet In english thus In the succeeding round of woe they dwell That guiltlesse spoild them-selues through blacke despight And cast their soules away through hate of light O now they wish they might returne t' abide Extremest need and sharpest toile beside But fate and deepes forbid their passage thence And Styx that nine times cuttes those groundlesse fennes h Which none could know For who can tell whether shee gaue consent by the touch of some incited pleasure i Hir learned defenders * It is better to read her learned defenders or her not vnlearned defenders then her vnlearned defenders as some copies haue it k Is there any way It is a Dilemma If shee were an adulteresse why is she commended if chaste why murdered The old Rethoricians vsed to dissolue this kinde of Argument either by ouerthrowing one of the parts or by retorting it called in greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a conuersion or retortion Examples there are diuers in Cicero de Rethorica Now Augustine saith that this conclusion is inextricable vnavoidable by either way l Without her consent For shee abhorred to consent vnto this act of lust m A Romaine The Romaine Nation were alwaies most greedy of glory of whom it is said Vincet amor patriae laudumque immensa cupido Their countries loue boundles this of glory And Ouid saith of Lucrece in his Fasti Succubuit famae victa puella metu Conquer'd with feare to loose her fame she fell n If she liued after this vncleanesse committed vpon hir o Being the testimony for our glory is this saith Saint Paul 2. Cor. I. 12. the testimony of our consciences And this the Stoikes and all the heathenish wise men haue euer taught That there is no authority which allowes Christians to be their owne deaths in what cause soeuer CHAP. 19. FOr it is not for nothing that wee neuer finde it commended in the holy canonicall Scriptures or but allowed that either for attaining of immortalitie or auoyding of calamitie wee should bee our owne destructions we are forbidden it in the law Thou shalt not kill especially because it addes not Thy neighbour as it doth in the pohibition of false witnesse Thou shalt not beare false witnesse against thy neighbour Yet let no man thinke that he is free of this later crime if he beare false witnesse against him-selfe because hee that loues his neighbour begins his loue from him-selfe Seeing it is written Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe Now if hee bee no lesse guiltlesse of false witnesse that testifieth falsely against him-selfe then hee that doth so against his neighbour since that in that commandement wherein false witnesse is forbidden it is forbidden to be practised against ones neighbor whence misvnderstanding conceits may suppose that it is not forbiddeÌ„ to beare false witnesse against ones selfe how much plainer is it to bee vnderstood that a man may not kill him-selfe seeing that vnto the commandement Thou shalt not kil nothing being added excludes al exception both of others of him to whom the command is giuen And therefore some would extend the intent of this precept euen vnto beasts and cattell and would haue it vnlawfull to kill any of them But why not vnto hearbes also and all things that grow and are nourished by the earth for though these kindes cannot bee said to haue a sence or feeling yet they are said to be liuing and therfore they may die and consequently by violent vsage be killed VVherfore the Apostle speaking of these kinde of seedes saith thus Foole that which thou sowest is not quickened except first it die And the Psalmist saith He destrored their vines with baile but what Shall wee therefore thinke it sinne to cutte vp a twigge because the commandement sayes thou shalt not kill and so involue our selues in the foule error of the
Manichees VVherefore setting aside these dotages when we read this precept Thou shalt not kill If wee hold it not to bee meant of fruites or trees because they are not sensitiue nor of vnreasonable creatures either going flying swimming or creeping because they haue no society with vs in reason which God the Creator hath not made common both to them and vs and therefore by his iust ordinance their deaths and liues are both most seruiceable and vse-full vnto vs then it followes necessarily that thou shalt not kil is meant only ofmen Thou shalt not kill namely Neither thy self or another For he that kils him-selfe kils no other but a man L. VIVES TO haue a sence Aristotle saith that plants are animate and liuing creatures but yet not sensitiue But Plato being of Empedocles his opinion holds them both liuing and sensitiue Either may be they may die because they do liue howsoeuer Of some sort of killing men which notwithstanding are no murthers CHAP. 20. Indeed the authority of the law diuine hath sette downe some exceptions wherein it is lawfull to kill a man But excepting those whome God commaundes to bee slayne either by his expresse law or by some particular commaund vnto any person by any temporall occasion and hee committeth not homicide that owes his seruice vnto him that commaundeth him beeing but as the sword is a helpe to him that vseth it And therefore those men do not breake the commandement which forbiddeth killing who doe make warre by the authority of a Gods commaund or beeing in some place of publike magistracie do putte to death malefactors according to their lawes that is according to the rule of iustice and reason Abraham was not onely freed from beeing blamed as a murtherer but he was also commended as a godly man in that hee would haue killed his sonne Isaack not in wickednesse but in obedience And it is a doubtfull question whether it bee to bee held as a command from God that b Iepthe killed his daughter that met him in his returne seeing that he had vowed to sacrifice the first liuing thing that came out of his house to meete him when hee returned conqueror from the warres c Nor could Sampson be excused pulling downe the house vpon him-selfe and his enemies but that the spirit within him which wrought miracles by him did prompt him vnto this act Those therfore beeing excepted which either the iustice of the law or the fountaine of all iustice Gods particular commaund would haue killed he that killeth either himself or any other incurreth the guilt of a homicide L. VIVES AVthority a of Gods command As the Iewes did they waged warres but it was by Gods expresse command But if they were counted godly that to please God though against natural humanitie afflicted his enemies with war and slaughter truly then cannot we butbe held the most vngodly of the world that butcher vp so many thousand Christians against the expresse will of God b Iepthe Iudges the 11. Chapt. Verse 31. Whose fact was like that which the Tragedians write of Agamemnon who sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia vnto Diana at Aulis Many reproue this sacrifice of Iephte for his vowe was to bee interpreted as ment of those things which were accustomed to be offred with Gods good pleasure and so was that of Agamemnons to haue bene construed also c Nor could Sampson Iudges the 16. chapter and the 30. verse That voluntary death can neuer be any signe of magnanimity or greatnes of spirit CHAP 21. WHo soeuer haue committed this homicide vppon them-selues may perhaps bee commended of some for their greatnesse of spirit but neuer for their soundnesse of iudgement But indeed if you looke a little deeper into the matter it cannot bee rightly termed magnanimitie when a man beeing vnable to indure either casuall miseries or others oppressions to auoid them destroyeth him-selfe For that minde discouereth it selfe to bee of the greatest infirmitie that can neither indure hard bondage in his bodie or the fond opinion of the vulgar and worthily is that spirit entitled great that can rather indure calamities then auoyde them And in respect of their owne purity and inlightned conscience can sette at naught the triuiall censures of mortall men a which are most commonly enclowded in a mist of ignorance and errour If wee shall thinke it a part of magnanimity to putte a mans selfe to death then is b Cleombrotus most worthie of this magnanimous title who hauing read Platoes booke of the immortality of the soule cast himself headlong from the toppe of a wall and so leauing this life went vnto another which hee beleeued was better For neither calamity nor guiltinesse either true or false vrged him to avoide it by destroying himselfe but his great spirit alone was sufficient to make him catch at his death and breake all the pleasing fetters of this life Which deed notwithstanding that it was rather great then good Plato himselfe whom he read might haue assured him who be sure would haue done it or taught it himselfe if he had not discerned by the same instinct whereby he discerned the soules eternity that this was at no hand to bee practised but rather vtterly c prohibited L. VIVES VVHich a Are indeed The ancient wise men were euer wont to call the people the great Maister of Error b Cleombrotus This was the Ambraciot who hauing read Plato's dialogue called Phaedo of the immortality of the soule that hee might leaue this life which is but as a death and passe vnto immortality threw himselfe ouer a wall into the sea without any other cause in the world Of him did Callimachus make an epigrame in Greeke and in Latine I haue seene it thus Vita vale muro praeceps delapsus ab alto Dixisti moriens Ambraciota puer Nullum in morte malum credens sed scripta Platonis Non ita erant animo percipienda tuo When Cleombrotus from the turret threw Himselfe to death he cried new life adue Holding death hurtlesse But graue Plato's sense He should haue read with no such reference There was also another Cleombrotus King of Lacedaemon whom Epaminondas the Thebane ouercame c Rather vtterly prohibited For in the beginning of his Phaedo hee saith it is wickednesse for a man to kill himselfe and that God is angred at such a fact like the maister of a family when any of his slaues haue killed themselues and in many other places he saith that without Gods command no man ought to leaue this life For here we are all as in a set front of battell euery one placed as God our Emperor and Generall pleaseth to appoint vs and greater is his punishment that forsaketh his life then his that forsaketh his colours Of Cato who killed himselfe being not able to endure Caesars victory CHAP. 22. BVt many haue killed themselues for feare to fal into the hands of their foes We dispute not here de facto whether
fellow enemy to Nicias Demosthenes and almost vnto all honest men yet no euill souldior if wee may trust Thucidides and Plutarch against him did Aristophanes make a comedy and hee called it Equites the Knights and when the Poet would haue presented this view of Cleons extortion and tyrranous rapine to the people the workeman durst not make a visar like Cleons face for feare of his power So the Poet was faine to dawbe the actors faces with wine lees and yet they being afraid to enter vpon the Stage Aristophanes himselfe came forth alone and acted Cleon so great was his rancour against him For which afterwards hee was accused of Cleon and fined at fiue talents as himselfe complaineth in his comedy called Acharnenses that is hee cast vp as much as hee had taken in for perhaps Demosthenes and Nicias had hired him to write it as Melitus Anitus Socrates his enemies gotte him with money to pen that comedie called Nephelis He was a man that wrote much when he was drunke This Cleon Plutarch mentioneth in his Politickes also e Cleophon This fellow saith Plutarch was such another as Cleon. f Hyperbolus Thucidides and Plutarch and Lucian also in his Misanthropus do mention this fellow with the additions of a wicked Cittizen and affirme that he was banished the Citty by the law of Ostracisme a kinde of suffrage-giuing not for any feare of his power dignitie as others were but as the common shame and scandall of the whole towne Cicero in his Brutus speaking of Glaucias saith He was a man most like Hyperbolus of Athens whose vile conditions the olde Athenian Comedies gaue such bitter notes of That he was taxed by Eupolis Quintilian intimaâ—…es in his first booke of his Institutions speaking of Musick And Caelius Rhodoginus hath a whole Chapter of him Lection Antiquâ—…r lib. 9. g Of the Censor Euery fift yeare the Romaines elected two to ouer-see the Census that is to estimate and Iudge of the wealth manners and esteeme of euery particular citizen And herevpon they were called Censors for as Festus saith euery one held himselfe worth so much as they rated him at and the Maisters of the manners So saith Cicero vnto Appius Pulcher. h Pericles This man by his eloquence and other ciuill institutions did so winne the hearts of the Athenians to him that he was made the gouernor of that common-weale for many yeares together being euer both wise and fortunate in warres abroad and in peace at home Eupolis an old Comedian saith that On his lips sat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Goddesse of perswasion whom fully de oratore lib. 3 calleth Lepor Eanius Suada and Horace by the diminutiue Suadela of the matter of those verses Cicero and Quintilian make very often vse in Greeke fragments for the whole Comedies of Eupolis and many more are now lost These verses are extant in the first Booke of Plinius â—…ecilius his Epistles and part of them also in Suidas I much maruell that Politian mentions neither of them in his Chapter of his Centaures where hee speaketh of this The verses hee hath out of one of Aristides his interpretours whom he nameth not Indeed I deny not but that there are more of his verses then are either in Suidas or Plinie Aristophanes also the ancient Comedian said that Pericles cast lightning and thunder from his lippes and confounded all Greece And this both Eupolis and hee spake in the powring out of their callumnies against him as Tully de orat lib. 3. de perfecto oratore and Quintilian liber 12. doe both affirme The Comedian scoffed also at his long shaped head and therefore hee was alwayes pictured in his Helmitte i For our Plautus Liuie was the first Latine Poet as I haue sayd before and next after him Naeuius who serued as a souldiar in the first warre of Affricke Then Plautus almost of the same time with Naeuius hee left many comedies the most part whereof wee haue and there was no part of all that or the following age that pleased better then hee Scipio calleth him Our Plautus not that he euer knew him but because he was a latine Poet and he had spoken of the Greekes before k P. or C. Scipio These were brethren and as Seruius saith twinnes Publius was father to the Greater Scipio Affrican Cneius vnto Nasica that good man of whom wee spake before They were both slaine in Spaine by the Africanes in the second Carthaginian warre which began in the Consulship of Publius Tully in his Oration for Cornelius Gallus calles these two brethren the two Thunderbolts of the Empire and some say that that verse of Virgill is meant of them Geminos duo fulmina belli Scipiadas Aenaed 6. Scipiades belli â—…ulmen Carthaginis horror c. two thunderbolts of warre The Scipios taking it out of Lucretius Warres thunder Scipio Carthages dread feare c. So that these Poets liued in their times l Or Caecilius Caecilius Statius liued in the Macedonian and Asian warre and was chamber-fellow with Ennius Volcatius Sedigitus giues him the pricke and praise for Commedy and Horace approoues his grauity We haue nothing of his now extant Tully seemes not to like of his phrase m Marcus Cato The Elder hee that first made the Portian family honorable hee was borne at Tusculum and attained the honor of Consul Triumph and Censor Beeing but of meane discent the nobility enuied him wholy but his authority with the Commonalty was very great he liued in the times of Ennius and Caecilius n Few things vpon paine of death There were very few crimes with the old Romanes punished with death and farre fewer in the times that followed for the Portian lawe forbad the death of any condemned Citizen allowing onely his banishment So that it being held death-worthy to depraue any man by writing proues that the Romanes were extreamely afraid of infamy But here let the Reader obserue the meaning of this law out of Festus who speaking of this Capitis Diminutio this Capitall Punishment writeth thus He is said to be capite diminutus capitally punished that is banished that of a free man is made a bondslaue to another that is forbidden fire and water and this the Lawiers call Maxima capitis diminutio the most capitall punishment of all For there are three kindes of it the greatest the meane and the smallest This I thought good to set downe not out of mine owne iudgement Horace writeth thus vnto Augustus Quin etiam lex Paenaque dicta malo quae nollet carmine quenquam Describi vertêre modum formidine fustis c. besides a penall law Frobidding all such verse as shame prouokes So changed they their notes for feare of stroakes c. Porphiry vpon this place saith he that wrote infamous verses vpon any man was iudged to be beaten with clubs But Acron maketh Horace to speake metaphorically o Acte The
kinsfolkes bewailing her the Priests and other religious following the hearse with a sadde silence Neere to the gate was a caue to which they went downe by a ladder there they let downe the guilty person alone tooke away the ladder and shutte the caue close vp and least she should starue to death they set by her bread milke and oyle of each a quantitie together with a lighted lampe all this finished the Priests departed and on that day was no cause heard in law but it was as a vacation mixt with great sorrow and feare all men thinking that some great mischiefe was presaged to befall the weale publick by this punishment of the Vestall The vowes and duties of those Vestals Gellius amongst others relateth at large Noct. Atticarum lib. 1. b Neuer censuring others Before Augustus there was no law made against adulterers nor was euer cause heard that I know of concerning this offence Clodius indeed was accused for polluting the sacrifices of Bona Dea but not for adulterie which his foes would not haue omitted had it laine within the compasse of lawe Augustus first of all instituted the law Iulian against men adulterers it conteined some-what against vnchaste women also but with no capitall punishment though afterwards they were censured more sharpely as we read in the Caesars answers in Iustintans Code and the 47. of the Pandects Dionysius writeth that at Romes first originall Romulus made a lawe against adultery but I thinke hee speakes it Graecanicè as hee doth prettily well in many others matters Of Romulus his murther of his brother which the gods neuer reuenged CHAP. 6. NOw I will say more If those Deities tooke such grieuous and heinous displeasure at the enormities of men that for Paris his misdemeanour they would needes vtterly subuert the citty of Troy by fire and sword much more then ought the murder of Romulus his brother to incense their furies against the Romaines then the rape of Menelaus his wife against the Troians Parricide a in the first originall of a Citty is far more odious then adultery in the wealth and height of it Nor is it at all pertinent vnto our purpose b whether this murder were commanded or committed by Romulus which many impudently deny many doe doubt and many do dissemble Wee will not intangle our selues in the Laborinth of History vpon so laborious a quest Once sure it is Romulus his brother was murdered and that neither by open enemies nor by strangers If Romulus either willed it or wrought it so it is Romulus was rather the cheefe of Rome then Paris of Troy VVhy should the one then set all his goddes against his countrey for but rauishing another mans wife and the other obtaine the protection of c the same goddes for murdering of his owne brother If Romulus bee cleare of this imputation then is the whole citty guilty of the same crime howsoeuer in giuing so totall an assent vnto such a supposition and in steed of killing a brother hath done worse in killing a father For both the bretheren were fathers and founders to it alike though villany bard the one from dominion There is small reason to be showne in mine opinion why the Troians deserued so ill that their gods should leaue them to destruction and the Romaines so well that they would stay with them to their augmentation vnlesse it bee this that being so ouerthrowne and ruined in one place they were glad to flie away to practise their illusions in another nay they were cunninger then so they both stayed still at Troy to deceiue after their old custome such as afterwards were to inhabit there and likewise departed vnto Rome that hauing a greater scope to vse their impostures there they might haue more glorious honours assigned them to feede their vaine-glorious desires L. VIVES PArricide a in Parricide is not onely the murther of the parent but of any other equall some say ' Parricidium quasi patratio caedis committing of slaughter It is an old law of Num's He that willingly doth to death a free-man shall be counted a Parricide b Whether this murther There be that affirme that Remus being in contention for the Kingdome when both the factions had saluted the leaders with the name of King was slaine in the byâ—…kerng between them but whether by Romulus or some other none can certainely affirme Others and more in number saie that he was slaine by Fabius Tribune of the light horsemen of Romulus because he leaped in scorne ouer the newly founded walles of Rome and that Fabius did this by Romulus his charge Which fact Cicero tearmes wicked and inhumaine For thus in his fourth booke of Offices he discourseth of it But in that King that built the citty it was not so The glosse of commodity dazeled his spirits and since it seemed fitter for his profit to rule without a partner then with one he murdered his owne brother Here did he leape ouer piety nay and humanity also to reach the end hee aimed at profit though his pretence and coullour about the wall was neither probale nor sufficient wherfore be it spoken with reuerence to Quirinus or to Romulus Romulus in this did well c The same godds Which were first brought to Aeneas to I auiniun from thence to Alba by Ascanius and from Alba the Romaines had them by Romulus with the Assent of Numâ—…tor and so lastly were by Tullus transported all vnto Rome Of the subuersion of Ilium by Fimbria a Captaine of Marius his faction CHAP. 7. IN the first a heate of the b ciuill wars what hadde poore Ilium done that c Fimbria they veriest villaine of all d Marius his sette should raize it downe with more fury and e cruelty then euer the Grecians had shewed vpon it before For in their conquest many escaped captiuity by flight and many avoided death by captiuity But Fimbria charged in an expresse edicte that not a life should bee spared and made one fire of the Citty and all the creatures within it Thus was Ilium requited not by the Greekes whom her wronges had prouoked but by the Romaines whom her ruines had propagated their gods in this case a like adored of both sides doing iust nothing or rather beeing able to do iust nothing what were the gods gone from their shrines that protected this towne since the repayring of it after the Grecian victory If they were shew me why but still the better citizens I finde the worse gods They shut out Fimbria to keepe all for Sylla hee set the towne and them on fire and burned them both into dust and ashes And yet in meane-time f Sylla's side was stronger and euen now was hee working out his powre by force of armes his good beginnings as yet felt no crosses How then could the Ilians haue dealt more honestly or iustly or more worthy of the protection of Rome then to saue a citty of Romes for better endes and to keepe out a
it is shedde k If Marcus Puluillus in his dedication of the Temple to Ioue Iuno and Min◅ false newes beeing brought c by those that enuied his honour of his sonnes death that so hee might leaue all the dedication to his fellowe and goe perturbed away did neuerthelesse so contemne the newes that d hee bad them cast him forth vnburned his desire of glory vtterlie conquering his griefe of beeing childlesse why should that man say hee hath done much for the preaching of the gospell which freeth and gathereth Gods citizens out of so many errours to whome beeing carefull of his Fathers funerall the LORD sayd Follow mee and let the dead bury their dead If M. Regulus not to deale falsely with his most cruell enemies returned backe to them from Rome it selfe because as hee answered the Romaines that would haue staid him hee could not liue in the dignitie of an honest cittizen in Rome since hee had beene a slaue in Africke and that the Carthaginians put him to an horrible death for speaking against them in Romes Senate What torments are not bee scorned for the faith of the country vnto whose eternall happinesse faith it selfe conducteth vs Or what reward had GOD for all his benefits if for the faith which euery one owes to him hee should suffer as much torment as Regulus suffered for the faith which he ought to his bloudiest foes Or how dare any Christian boast of voluntary pouerty the f meanes to make his trauell vnto his country where GOD the true riches dwelleth more light and easie when he shall heare or read of g L. Valerius who dying consull was so poore that his buriall was paid for out of the common purse or of Q. h Cincinatus who hauing but 4. acres of land and tilling it himselfe with his owne hands was fetched from the plough to bee Dictator an office i more honorable then the Consulls and hauing k conquered his foes and gotten great honor returned to his old state of pouerty Or why should any man thinke it a great matter not to bee seduced from the fellowship of celestial powers by this worlds vanities when as hee reades how l Fabricius could not bee drawne from the Romaines by all Pyrrhus the King of Epirus his promises though extended euen to the 4. part of his Kingdome but would liue there still in his accustomed pouerty for whereas they had a ritch and powrefull weale-publike and yet were so poore themselues that m one that had been twise Cons◅ was put out of that Senate of n poore men by the Censors decree because hee was found to bee worth ten pound in siluer if those men that inritched the treasury by their triumphs were so poore themselues then much more ought the christians whose ritches are for a better intent all in common as the Apostles acts record to be distributed to euery man according to his neede neither any of them said that any thing he possessed was his owne but all was in common much more I say ought they to know that this is no iust thing to boast vpon seeing that they doe but that for gayning the society of the Angells which the other did or neere did for their preseruing of the glory of the Romaines These now and other such like in their bookes how should they haue beene so knowne and so famous had not Romes Empire had this great and magnificent exaltation and dilatation Wherefore that Empire so spacious and so contin◅ant renowned by the vertues of those illustrious men was giuen both to stand as a rewarde for their merrites and to produce examples for our vses That if wee obserue not the lawes of those vertues for attaining the celestiall Kingdome which they did for preseruing one but terrestriall wee might bee ashamed but if wee doe then that wee bee not exalted for as the Apostle saith The afflictions of this present time are not worthy of the glory which shal be shewed vnto vs. But their liues seemed worthy of that present temporall glory And therfore the Iewes that executed Christ the New testament reuealing what the old cōceiled that God was not be worshipped for the earthly benefites which he bestowes vpon bad as well as good but for life eternall and the perpetuall blessing of that supernall citty were iustly giuen to be the slaues and instruments of their glory that those that sought earthly glory by any vertue soeuer might ouercome and subdue those that refused and murdered the giuer of true glory and eternall felicity L. VIVES NO other a place Some texts want the second negatiue but erroneously I◅ must bee read as wee haue placed it a M. Puluillus Liu. lib. 2. Ualer lib. 5. Plut. in Poplicol Dionys and others This temple to Ioue Iuno and Minerua Tarquin Priscus vowed Tarquin the proud built and the dedication falling to the Consulls Puluillus had it and was informed as Augustine saith that his sonne c. c by those that by M. Ualerius brother to P. Valerius Consul who greeued that that magnifi◅nt temple should not be dedicated by one of his family and so brought that news of Puluillus his sonnes death that the greefe of his family might make him giue ouer the dedication d Hee bad them cast him Plutarch Liuy sayth hee bad them bury him then e Let the dead Liuing to the world but dead i◅ deed since dead to God let them bury such as they thinke are dead f the meanes In ones life as in ones trauell the lesse Burthen he hath about or vpon him the lighter he goeth on his iourny g L. Ualerius Liu Plutarch and Ualerius write that this Ualerius Poplicola was so poore that they were faine to bury him at the charge of the citty So doth Eutropius and others It is said each one gaue somewhat to his buriall Plut farthings a peece saith Apuleius Apolog. de Magia Augustine doth but touch at the story respecting neither his surname not the yeare of his death for he was called Publius not Lucius and died a yeare after his 4. consulship Uerginius and Cassius being Conss the sixt yeare after the expulsion of the Kings Liu. D◅ h Q. Cincinatus Liu. lib. 3. Ualer lib. 4. i More honorable The dictatorshippe was a regall office from it was no apeale to it were consulls and all obedient it continued by the law but sixe monethes and was in vse onely in dangerous times the election was made alwaies in Italy and in the night Hee was called the maister of the People and had the Maister of the horsemen ioyned with him This office had originall in the CCLII yeare of the Citty after Caesars death by the law of Antony the consul and for enuy of Caesar perpetuall dictatoriship was abolished for euer k conquered The Aequi and triumped ouer thē l Fabritius One not rich but a scorner of ritches Being sent Embassador to Pyrrhus King of Epirus abut the rans◅ming of the prisoners he
set vp vpon a pole herein beeing both a present helpe for the hurt and a type of the future destruction of death by death in the passion of Christ crucified The brazen serpent beeing for this memory reserued and afterward by the seduced people adored as an Idol Ezechias a religious King to his great praise brake in peeces L. VIVES IN a the same This Augustine Retract lib. 2. recanteth In the tenth booke saith he speaking of this worke the falling of the fire from heauen betweene Abrahams diuided sacrifices is to bee held no miracle For it was reuealed him in a vision Thus farre he Indeed it was 〈◊〉 miracle because Abraham woudered not at it because he knew it would come so to passe and so it was no nouelty to him Of vnlawfull artes concerning the deuils worship whereof Porphyry approoueth some and disalloweth others CHAP. 9. THese and multitudes more were done to commend the worship of one God vnto vs and to prohibite all other And they were done by pure faith and confident piety not by charmes and coniuration trickes of damned curiosity by Magike or which is in name worse by a Goetia or to call it more honorably b Theurgie which who so seekes to distinguish which none can they say that the damnable practises of all such as wee call witches belong to the Goetie mary the effects of Theurgy they hold lawdable But indeede they are both damnable and bound to the obseruations of false filthy deuills in stead of Angells Porphyry indeed promiseth a certaine purging of the soule to be done by Theurgy but he d fâ—…ers and is ashamed of his text hee denies vtterly that one may haue any recourse to God by this arte thus floteth he betweene the surges of sacrilegious curiosity and honest Philosophy For now he condemneth it as doubtfull perilous prohibited and giues vs warning of it and by and by giuing way to the praisers of it hee saith it is vsefull in purging the soule not in the intellectuall part that apprehendeth the truth of intelligibilities abstracted from all bodily formes but the e spirituall that apprehendeth all from corporall obiects This hee saith may be prepared by certaine Theurgike consecrations called f Teletae to receiue a spirit or Angell by which it may see the gods Yet confesseth hee that these Theurgike Teletae profit not the intellectuall part a iot to see the owne God and receiue apprehensions of truth Consequently we see what sweete apparitions of the gods these Teletae can cause when there can bee no truth discerned in these visions Finally he saith the reasonable soule or as he liketh better to say the intellectuall may mount aloft though the spirituall part haue no Thâ—…ke preparation and if the spirituall doe attaine such preparation yet it is thereby made capable of eternity For though he distinguish Angells and Daemones placing these in the ayre and those in the g skie and giue vs counsell to get the amity of a Daemon whereby to mount from the earth after death professing no other meanes for one to attaine the society of the Angells yet doth hee in manner openly professe that a Daemons company is dangerous saying that the soule beeing plagued for it after death abhorres to adore the Daemones that deceiued it Nor can he deny that this Theurgy which hee maketh as the league betweene the Gods and Angells dealeth with those deuillish powers which either enuy the soules purgation or els are seruile to them that enuy it A Chaldaean saith he a good man complained that all his endeuour to purge his soule was frustrate by reason a great Artyst enuying him this goodnesse a diured the powers hee was to deale with by holy inuocations and bound them from granting him any of his requests So hee bound them saith hee and this other could not loose them Here now is a plaine proofe that Theurgie is an arte effecting euill as well as good both with the gods and men and that the gods are wrought vpon by the same passions and perturbations that Apuleius laies vpon the deuills and men alike who notwithstanding following Plato in that acquits the gods from all such matters by their hight of place being celestiall L. VIVES BY a Goetia It is enchantment a kinde of witch-craft Goetia Magia and Pharmacia saith Suidas are diuers kindes inuented all in Persia. Magike is the inuocation of deuills but those to good endes as Apollonius Tyaneus vsed in his presages Goetie worketh vpon the dead by inuocation so called of the noyse that the practisers hereof make about graues Pharmacia worketh all by charmed potions thereby procuring death Magike and Astrology Magusis they say inuented And the Persian Mages had that name from their countrimen and so had they the name of Magusii Thus farre Suidas b Theurgy It calleth out the superior gods wherein when wee erre saith Iamblichus then doe not the good gods appeare but badde ones in their places So that a most diligent care must bee had in this operation to obserue the priests old tradition to a haires bredth c Witches Many hold that witches and charmes neuer can hurt a man but it is his owne conceite that doth it Bodies may hurt bodies naturally saith Plato de leg lib. 11. and those that goe about any such mischiefe with magicall enchantments or bondes as they call them thinke they can hurt others and that others by art Goetique may hurt them But how this may bee in nature is neither easie to know not make others know though men haue a great opinion of the power of Images and therefore let this stand for a lawe If any one doe hurt another by empoysoning though not deadly nor any of his house or family but his cattell or his bees if hee hurt them howsoeuer beeing a Phisition and conuict of the guilt let him die the death if hee did it ignorantly let the iudges fine or punish him at their pleasures If any one bee conuicted of doing such hurt by charmes or incantations if hee bee a priest or a sooth-saier let him die the death but if any one doe it that is ignorant of these artes let him bee punishable as the law pleaseth in equity Thus farre Plato de legib lib 11. Porphyry saith that the euill Daemones are euermore the effectors of witch-crafts and that they are chiefly to bee adored that ouerthrow them These deuills haue all shapes to take that they please and are most cunning and couzening in their prodigious shewes these also worke in these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those vnfortunate loues all intemperancy couetice and ambition doe these supplie men with and especially with deceipt for their propriety most especiall is lying De animal abst lib. 2. d Falters As seeing the deuills trickes in these workes selling themselues to vs by those illusiue operations But Iamblichus beeing initiate and as hee thought more religious held that the arte was not wholy reproueable beeing of that industrie
the strangest for man is a a greater miracle then all that hee can worke Wherefore God that made heauen and earth both miracles scorneth not as yet to worke miracles in heauen and earth to draw mens soules that yet affect visibilities vnto the worship of his inuisible essence But where and when he will doe this his vnchangeable will onely can declare b at whose disposing all time past hath beene and to come is He mooueth all things in time but time adoreth not him nor mooueth hee future effects otherwise then present Nor heareth our praiers otherwise then he fore-seeth them ere we pray for when his Angells here them he heareth in them as in his true temples not made with hands so doth he hold al things effected temporally in his Saints by his eternall disposition L. VIVES MAn is a a greater The saying is most common in Trismegistus Man is a great miracle b At whose disposing Paul saith all things lie open and bare vnto Gods knowledge for all time is neither past nor to come but present to him So doth hee determine and dispose of all things as present nor doth yesterday or this day passe or come with him as it doth with vs. His power and essence admitreth no such conditions nor restraintes All eternity is present to him much more our little percell of time yet he that made our soules adapted them times fit for their apprehensions and though hee see how wee see and know yet hee neither seeth nor knoweth like vs. Shall wee run on in a Philosophicall discourse hereof wanting rather wordes then matter or is it bettâ—…r to burst out with Paul into admiration and cry out O the altitude of the ritches wisdome and knowledge of God! How the inuisible God hath often made himselfe visible not as he is really but as we could be able to comprehend his sight CHAP. 13. NOr hurteth it his inuisibility to haue appeared a visible oftentimes vnto the fathers For as the impression of a sound of a sentence in the intellect is not the same that the sound was so the shape wherein they conceiued Gods inuisible nature was not the same that he is yet was he seene in that shape as the sentâ—…e was conceiued in that sound for they knew that no bodily forme could b containe God He talked with Moyses yet Moyses intreated him a If I haue found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy fight shew meÌ„e thy face that I may d know thee And seeing it behouâ—… the law of God to bee giuen from the mouthes of Angells with terror not to a 〈◊〉 of the wisest but to a whole nation great things were done in the mount 〈◊〉 â—…he sayd people the lawe beeing giuen by one and all the rest beholding the â—…ble and strange things that were done For the Israelites had not that confidence in Moyses that the Lacedemonians had in d Lycurgus to beleeue that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his lawes from Ioue or Apollo For when that lawe was giuen the people that enioynes the worshippe of one God in the view of the same people were strange prooâ—… shewne as many as Gods prouidence thought fit to proue that that was the Creator whom they his creatures ought to serue in thâ—… 〈◊〉 L. VIVES 〈◊〉 a visible Iohn in his Gospell saith that no man hath euer seene God and Paul conâ—… it yet Iacob saith Hee saw the Lord face to face And Exod. 33. it is said Moyses 〈◊〉 God face to face as one friend with another which many places of Scripture teâ—… 〈◊〉 is so sure that man cannot behold Gods inuisible nature that some haue said that 〈◊〉 Angels nor Archangels doe see him Chrysost. and Gregor The fathers therefore 〈◊〉 such Maiestie of forme as they thought was diuine for that the Angels spoake 〈◊〉 â—…ers and gaue them the lawe Paul affirmeth to the Hebrewes in these words If 〈◊〉 â—…ken by Angels was stedfast c. The same saith Steuen Actes 7. Now this was no 〈◊〉 for none hee hath saith Chrysostome that Christ saith the Iewes neuer sawe 〈◊〉 was that visible shape that the Angels by Gods appointment take vpon them so 〈◊〉 â—…ing ordinary shapes that it seemes diuine and is a degree to the view of the 〈◊〉 saith he Christ saith they had not seene though they thought they had Exo. 19. 〈◊〉 A diuerse reading in the Latine c If I haue It is plaine saith Gregorie that 〈◊〉 life man may see some images of God but neuer him-selfe in his proper nature as 〈◊〉 â—…pired with the spirit seemeth some figures of God but can neuer reach the view of 〈◊〉 Hence it is that Iacob seeing but an Angell thought hee had seene God And 〈◊〉 for all he was said to speake with him face to face yet said Shew mee thy face that I 〈◊〉 whence it is apparant that hee desired to behold that cleare vncircumscribed 〈◊〉 â—…ch he had but yet beheld in shadowes and figures Moralan Iob. lib. 17. But the Anâ—… 〈◊〉 deputy answered Moyses thus Thou canst not see my face for there shall no man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lâ—…e But a little after Thou shalt see my back parts but my face thou shalt not see 〈◊〉 of the deity left in his creatures we may see and so aspire towards his inuisibility 〈◊〉 knowledge thereof as God giues more grace But his true essence is more amâ—… weake sence and intellect can comprehend or then can be so farre debased But 〈◊〉 â—…th God it is not so nor doe I thinke it impious or absurd to hold that God spake 〈◊〉 â—…he Fathers and after Christ to many of the Saints God euen that God of heaâ—… 〈◊〉 it is not against his Maiestie but congruent to his infinite goodnesse His face 〈◊〉 as Augustine declares d Know thee Or see thee knowingly e Lycurgus 〈◊〉 King of Sparta and Dionassa brother to king Polibites or Plutarch Poliâ—… 〈◊〉 whose death he reigned vntill his brothers wife prooued with child for then hee 〈◊〉 â—…o the childe vnborne if it were a sonne and proouing so hee was protector He gaue 〈◊〉 â—…nians sharpe lawes and therefore feyned to haue them from Apollo of Delphos 〈◊〉 Ioue because hee went into Crete to auoide the maleuolence of some of his 〈◊〉 and there they say learned hee his lawes of Ioue that was borne there Iustine 〈◊〉 in Creete But the Historiographers doe neither agree of his birth lawes nor 〈◊〉 Plutarch nor of his time nor whether there were diuerse so called Timaeus 〈◊〉 and both Lacedemonians but saith that both their deedes were referred to the 〈◊〉 â—…e elder liued in Homers time or not long after Of Lycurgus lawes I omitte to 〈◊〉 seeing they are so rife in Plutarch and Zenophon common authors both 〈◊〉 but one God is to be worshipped for all things temporall and eternall all being in the power of his prouidence CHAP. 14. 〈◊〉 true religion of all mankinde referred to the people of God as well 〈◊〉 hath had increase and receiued
through the world how farre more honestly might we beleeue that the soules returne but once into their own bodies rather then so often into others But as I said Porphiry reclaimed this opinion much in subuerting those bestial transmigrations and restraining them only to humaine bodies He saith also that God gaue the world a soule that it learning the badnesse of the corporall substance by inhabiting it might returne to the father and desire no more to be ioyned to such contagion Wherin though he erre something for the soule is rather giuen to the body to do good by nor should it learne any euill but that it doth euil yet herein he exceeds corrects all the Platonists in houlding that the soule being once purified and placed with the father shal neuer more suffer worldly inconuenience Wher he ouerthrowes one great Platonisme viz. that the dead are continually made of the liuing the liuing of the dead prouing that c Platonical position of Virgill false wher hee saith that the soules being purified sent vnto th' Elisian fields vnder which fabulous name they figured the ioyes of the blessed were brought to drinke of the riuer Lethe that is to forget things past Scilicet immemores supera vt conuexa reuisent Rursus incipiant in corpora velle reuerti The thought of heauen is quite out of the brayne Now gin the wish to liue on earth againe Porphiry iustly disliked this because it were foolish to beleeue that men being in that life which the onely assurance of eternity maketh most happy should desire to see the corrupton of mortality as if the end of purification were still to returne to nâ—…w pollution for if their perfect purification require a forgetfulnesse of all euills and that forgetfulnesse produce a desire in them to be imbodied againe and consequently to bee againe corrupted Truely the height of happyinesse shall be the cause of the greatest vnhappynesse the perfection of wisdome the cause of fooâ—…nesse and the fullnesse of purity mother vnto impurity Nor can the â—…oule eâ—…r be blessed being still deceiued in the blessednesse to be blessed it must be seâ—…e to be secure it must beleeue it shal be euer blessed and that falsely because it must sometimes be wretched wherefore if this ioy must needs rise of a false cause how can it be truely ioyfull This Prophiry saw well and therefore held that the soules once fully purified returned immediatly to the Father least it should bee any more polluted with the contagion of earthly and corruptible affects L. VIVES SVâ—… a it is Plato Pythagorizing held that the soules after death passed into other boâ—… â—…n his Timaeus anâ—… his last de Repub. and in his Phaedrus also in which last hee proâ—…ds the necessity of the Adrastian law commanding euery soule that hath had any true spâ—…lation of God to passe straight to the superior circle without impediment and if it perseuer there then is it to become blessed eternally continuing the former course but if it â—…ge that and fall vnder the touch of punishment then must it returne to a body And if it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come to those aforesaid degrees then the knowledge maketh it a Philosopher the next degree vnder it a King Emperour or valiant man the third a magistrate or the father of a 〈◊〉 the fourth a Phisitian or chirurgian the fift a Priest or a Prophet the sixth a poet the â—…nth a tradesman or an husband man the eight a Sophister or guilder the ninth a tyâ—… Thus do soules passe vnto life and passing that well are exalted if not depressed for it is 10000. yeares ere the soule returne to his first state no soule recouereth his broken wings beâ—… that time but hee that hath beene a true Philosopher for he that passeth three courses so shall bee reinstalled at 3000. yeares end for the rest some of them shall bee bound vnder the earth in paines and others inuested with blisse in heauen at the prefixed time of iudgmâ—… but all shall returne to life after a 1000. yeares and each one shall haue his choice so that some that were men before become beasts and some that were beasts before men if so bee that they were euer men before for that soule that neuer looked vpon truth shall neuer haue 〈◊〉 forme This is Platonisme Now Plato speaking of these choices in his last de repub saith that their election still flolloweth the fashions of their former liues So that Orpheus his soule chose a swan to liue in nor would become a woman for his hate of them Thamiris soule went 〈◊〉 a nightingale and a swans soule went into a man Aiax into a lion Agamemnon into 〈◊〉 â—…gle and Thersites into an ape b Plato Some read Plotine Prophyry writes that in the 〈◊〉 yeare of Gallienus his raigne hee came into Italy Plotine being then fifty yeares of age 〈◊〉 that hee heard him fiue yeares And Plotine was a direct Platonist in this theame of transâ—…gration of soules So that both their names may well be recited in the text c Platonicall Plato de Rep. li. 10. saith that the soules go into the lâ—…thean field wherein groweth nothing and there they all ly downe and drinke of the riuer Amelita and those that drinke largly forget al things Amelita indeed is obliuion or neglect of things past this done they fall a sleepe and about mid-night a great thunder awaketh them and so they returne to life Anchises in Uirgil speaketh of these in this manner Has omnes vbi mille rotam voluere per annos Lethaum ad fluuium Deus euocat agmine maguo Scilicet immemores c. And when the thousand yeares are come and gone God calls them all to Letha euery one So they forget what is past and respect not what is to come and this they doe not willingly but of necessity Against the Platonists holding the soule coeternall with God CHAP. 31. BVt altogether erronious was that opinion of some Platonists importing the continuall and a necessary reuolution of soules from this or that and to it againe which if it were true what would it profit vs to know it vnlesse the Platonists will preferre them-selues before vs because we know not that they are to be made most wise in the next life and blessed by their false beleefe If it bee absurd and foolish to affirme this then is Porphyry to be preferred before all those transporters of soules from misery to blisse and back againe which if it be true then here is a Platonist refuseth Plato for the better and seeth that which he saw not not refusing correction after so great a maister but preferring truth before man and mans affection Why then doe we not beleeue diuinity in things aboue our capacitie which teacheth vs that the soule is not coeternall with God but created by God The Platonists refuse vpon this seeming sufficient reason that that which hath not beene for euer cannot be for euer I but Plato saith directly
not This I say is the way that will free all beleeuers wherein Abraham trusting receiued that diuine promise In thy seede shall all the nations bee blessed Abrahamâ—… as a Chaldaean but for to receiue this promise that the seede which was disposed by the Angells in the mediators power to giue this vniuersall way of the soules freedome vnto all nations he was commanded to leaue his owne land and kinred and his fathers house And then was hee first freed from the Chaldaean superstitions and serued the true God to whose promise he firmely trusted This is the way recorded in the Prophet God bee mercifull vnto vs and blesse vs and shew vs the light of his countenance and bee mercifull vnto vs. That thy way may be knowne vpon earth thy sauing health among all nations And long aftâ—…r Abrahams seede beeing incarnate Christ sayth of himselfe I am the way the truth and the life This is the vniuersall way mentioned so long before by the Prophets It shal be in the last daies that the g mountaine of the house of the Lord shal be prepared in the toppe of the mountaines and shal be exalted aboue the hills and all nations shall flie vnto it And many people shall goe and say come let vs goe vppe to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and hee will teach vs his way and wee will walke therein For the lawe shall goe forth of Syon and the word of the LORD from Ierusalem This way therefore is not peculiar to some one nation but common to all Nor did the law and word of God stay in Ierusalem or Syon but come from thence to ouerspread all the world Therevpon the mediator being risen from death sayd vnto his amazed and amated disciples Al things must be fulfilled which are written of mee in the law the Prophets and the Psalmes Then opened hee their vnderstanding that they might vnderstand the scriptures saying thus it behooued CHRIST to suffer and to rise againe from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sinnes should be preached in his name amongst all nations beginning at Ierusalem This then is the vniuersall way of the soules freedome which the Saints and Prophets beeing at first but a fewe as God gaue grace and those all Hebrewes for that estate was in a h manner consecrated did both adumbrate in their temple sacrifice and Priest-hood and fore-told also in their prophecy often mistically and some-times plainely And the Mediator himselfe and his Apostles reuealing the grace of the new testament made plaine all those significations that successe of precedent times had retained as it pleased God the miracls which I spoke of before euermore giuing confirmation to them For they had not onely angelicall visions and saw the ministers of heauen but euen these simple men relying wholy vpon Gods word cast out deuills cured diseases i commanded wild-beasts waters birds trees elements and starres raised the dead I except the miracles peculiar to our Sauiour chiefly in his birth and resurrection shewing in the first the mistery of k maternall virginity and in the other the example of our renouation This way cleanseth euery soule and prepareth a mortall man in euery part of his for immortality For least that which Prophyry calls the intellect should haue one purgation the spirital another and the body another therefore did our true and powerfull Sauiour take all vpon him Besides this way which hath neuer failed man-kinde either l in prophecies or in their m performances no man hath euer had freedome or euer hath or euer shall haue And wheras Porphyry saith he neuer had any historicall notice of this way what history can be more famous then this that lookes from such a towring authority downe vpon all the world or more faithfull since it so relateth things past as it prophecyeth things to come a great part whereof wee see already performed which giueth vs assured hope of the fulfilling of the rest Porphyry nor euer a Platonist in the world can contemne the predictions of this way albee they concerne but temporall affaires as they doe all other prophecies and diuinations of what sort soeuer for them they say they neither are spoken by worthy men nor to any worthy purpose true for they are either drawne from inferiour causes as 〈◊〉 can presage much n concerning health vpon such or such signes or cls the vncleane spirits fore-tell the artes that they haue already disposed of o confirming the mindes of the guilty and wicked with deedes fitting their words or words fitting their deedes to get themselues a domination in mans infirmity But the holy men of this vniuersall way of ours neuer respect the prophecying of those things holding them iustly trifles yet doe they both know them and often fore-tell them to confirme the faith in things beyond sence and hard to present vnto plainnesse But they were other and greater matters which they as God inspired them did prophecy namely the incarnation of Christ and all things thereto belonging and fulfilled in his name repentance and conuersion of the will vnto God remission of sinnes the grace of iustice faith and increase of beleeuers throughout all the world destinction of Idolatry temptation for triall mundifying of the proficients freedom from euill the day of iudgement resurrection damnation of the wicked and glorification of the City of GOD in 〈◊〉 eternall Kingdome These are the prophecies of them of this way many are fullfilled and the rest assuredly are to come That this streight way leading to the knowledge and coherence of GOD lieth plaine in the holy scriptures vpon whose truth it is grounded they that beleeue not and therefore know not may oppose this but can neuer ouerthrow it And therefore in these ten bookes I 〈◊〉 spoken by the good assistance of GOD sufficient in sound iudgements though some expected more against the impious contradictors that preferre 〈◊〉 gods before the founder of the holy citty whereof wee are to dispute The 〈◊〉 fiue of the ten opposed them that adored their gods for temporall respects 〈◊〉 fiue later against those that adored them for the life to come It remaines now according as wee promised in the first booke to proceede in our discourse of the two citties that are confused together in this world and distinct in the other of whose originall progresse and consummation I now enter to dispute eâ—…â—…oking the assistance of the almighty L. VIVES KInges a high or road the Kinges the Prâ—…tors and the Soldiors way the lawes held holy b Indian The Gymnosophists and the Brachmans much recorded for admirable deeds and doctrine c All the world Therfore is our fayth called Catholike because it was not taught to any peculiar nation as the Iewes was but to all mankind excluding none all may be saued by it and none can without it nor hath euery nation herein as they haue in Paganisme a seuerall religion But
first forsaken of Gods grace and confounded with his ownenakednesse and so with the figge leaues the first perhaps that came to hand they couered their nakednesse aâ—…d shame their members were before as they were then but they were not a shameful before whereas now they felt a new motion of their disobedient flesh as the reciprocal b punishment of their disobedience for the soule being now delighted with peruerse liberty and scorning to serue GOD could not haue the body at the former command hauing willingly forsaken GOD the superior iâ—… could not haue the inferior so seruiceable as it desired nor had the flesh subiect as it might haue had alwaies had it selfe remained Gods subiect For then the flesh beganne to couet and contend against the spirit and c with this contention are wee all borne d drawing death from our originall and bearing natures corruption and contention or victory in our members L. VIVES NOt a shamefull Not filthy nor procuring shame they had not beene offenside had wee 〈◊〉 sinned but had had the same vse that or feete our hands now but hauing offended there was an obscaene pleasure put in them which maketh them to bee ashamed of and couered b Reciprocall Which disobedience reflected vpon them as they obeied not GOD to 〈◊〉 nature subiected them so should they finde a rebell one of the members against the rule of reason d With this Some bookes ads some-thing here but it is needlesse d Drawing 〈◊〉 That is vpon the first sinne arose this contention betweene the minde and their affects which is perpetually in vs wherein the minde is some-times victor and some-times 〈◊〉 some read without victory implying that the affections cannot be so suppressed but then they will still rebell against reason and disturbe it This is the more subtile sence and seemeth best to mee In what state GOD made Man and into what state hee feil by his voluntary choice CHAP. 14. FOr GOD the Creator of nature and not of vice made man vpright who being willingly depraued and iustly condemned be got all his progeny vnder the 〈◊〉 deprauation and condemnation for in him were we all when as he beeing â—…ced by the woman corrupted a vs all by her that before sinne was made of himselfe VVee had not our perticular formes yet but there was he seede of 〈◊〉 naturall propagation which beeing corrupted by sinne must needs produce man of that same nature the slaue to death the obiect of iust condeÌ„nation and therefore this came from the bad vsing of b free will thence aroâ—… all this teame of calamity drawing al men on into misery excepting Gods Saints froÌ„ their corrupted originall euen to the beginning of the second death which hath no end L. VIVES COrrupted a vs all A diuersity of reading Augustines meaning is that we being all potentially in hm and hee beeing corrupted by sinne therefore wee arising all from him as our first fountaine draw the corruption a long with vs also b Free will For our first parents abused the freedome of it hauing power aswell to keepe Gods hests eternally as to breake them That Adam forsooke GOD ere GOD for sooke him and that the soules first death was the departure from GOD. CHAP. 15. VVHerefore in that it was sayd You shall die the death because it was not sayd the deaths if we vnderstand that death wherein the soule leaueth the life that is GOD for it was not forsaken ere it forsooke him but contrary the owne will being their first leader to euill but the Creators will being the first leader to good both in the creation of it before it had being and the restoring of it when it had falne wherefore if we doe vnderstand that God meant but of this death where hee saith whensoeuer thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death as if hee had sayd whensoeuer you forsake mee in disobedience I will forsake you in iustice yet verily doe all the other deaths follow the denunciation of this death For in that the soule felt a disobedient motion of the flesh and therevpon couered the bodies secret partes in this was the first death felt that is the departure of the soule from God Which was signified in that that when the man in mad feare had gone and hid himselfe God said to him Adam where art thou not ignorantly seeking him but watchfully warning him to looke well where hee was seeing God was not with him But when the soule forsaketh the body decaied with age then is the other death felt whereof God said in imposing mans future punishment earth thou wast and to earth thou shalt returne That by these two the first death which is of whole man might be accoÌ„plished which the second should second if Gods grace procure not mans freedome from it for the body which is earth returnes not to earth but by the owne death that is the departure of the soule from it Wherefore all christians b holding the Catholike faith beleeue that the bodily death lieth vpon mankind by no lawe of nature as if GOD had made man for to die but as a c due punishment for sin because God in scourging this sinne sayd vnto man of whom we all are descended Earth thou wast and 〈◊〉 earth thou shalt returne L. VIVES EArth a thou wast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Septuagints by the later article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implying the element of earth the graue of althings dying b Holding the Augustine often auerreth directly that man had not died had he not sinned nor had had a body subiect to death or disease the tree of life should haue made him immortall And S. Thomas Aquiâ—…as the best schoole diuine holds so also But Scotus either for faction or will denies it al making mâ—… in his first state subiect to diseases yet that he should be taken vp to heauen ere he died but if he were left on earth he should die at length for that the tree of life could not eternize hâ—… but onely prolong his life c A due deserued by his guilt Of the Philosophers that held corporall death not to be penall whereas Plato brings in the Creator promising the lesser gods that they should neuer leaue their bodies CHAP. 16. BVt the Philosophers against whose callumnies we defeÌ„d this City of God 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 church thinke they giue vs a witty scoffe for saying that the soules seperation from the body is to be held as part of the punishment when as they affirme 〈◊〉 â—…n a is the soule perfectly blessed when it leaueth the body and goeth vp pâ—… and naked vnto God If I should finde no battery against this opinion out of their owne bookes I should haue a great adoe to prooue not the body but the corruptibility of the body to be the soules burden wherevpon is that which we 〈◊〉 in our last booke A corruptible body is heauy vnto the soule In adding corâ—…le he sheweth that this being
aduised them to remember the law of Moyses because he fore saw that would here-after miss-interprete much thereof hee addeth Behold I will send you a Heliah the Prophet before the comming of the great and fearefull day of the Lord and hee shall turne the heart of the fathers to the children and of the children to the fathers least I come and smite the earth with cursing That this great and mighty Prophet Elias shall conuert b the Iewes vnto Christ before the iudgment by expounding them the lawe is most commonly beleeued and taught of vs Christians and is held as a point of infallible truth For we may well hope for the comming of him before the iudgment of Christ whome we do truly beleeue to liue in the body at this present houre with-out hauing euer tasted of death Hee was taken vp by a fiery chariot body and soule from this mortall world as the scriptures plainly auouch Therefore when he commeth to giue the law a spirituall exposition which the Iewes doe now vnderstand wholy in a carnall sence Then shall hee turne the hearts of the fathers vnto the children or the heart of the father vnto the child for the LXX doe often vse the singular number for the plurall that is the Iewes shall then vnderstand the law as their holy forefathers had done before them Moyses the Prophets and the rest For the vnderstanding of the fathers being brought to the vnderstanding of the children is the turning of the fathers heart vnto the children and the childrens consent vnto the vnderstanding of the fathers is the turning of their heart vnto the fathers And whereas the LXX say c And the heart of a man vnto his kinsman fathers and children are the nearest of kindred and consequently are meant of in this place There may be a farther and more choice interpretation of this place namely that Helias should turne the heart of the father vnto the childe not by making the father to loue the child but by teaching that the father loueth him that the Iewes who had hated him before may hence-forth loue him also For they hold that God hateth him now because they hold him to be neither God nor the Sonne of God but then shall his heart in their iudgements be turned vnto him when they are so farre turned them-selues as to vnderstand how he loueth him The sequell And the heart of man vnto his kinsman meaneth the heart of man vnto the man Christ for hee being one God in the forme of God taking the forme of a seruant and becomming man vouchsafed to become our kinsman This then shall Heliah performe Least I come and smite the earth with cursing The earth that is those carnall thoughted Iewes that now are and that now murmure at the Deity saying that he delighted in the wicked and that it is in vaine to serue him L. VIVES HEliah a the Of him read the King 1. 2. The Iewes out of this place of Malachi beleeue that hee shall come againe before the Messiah as the Apostles doe shew in their question concerning his comming Matt. 17. to which our Sauiour in answering that he is come already doth not reproue the Scribes opinion but sheweth another cōming of Heliah before himelfe which the Scribes did not vnderstand Origen for first he had said that Helias must first come and restore all things But it being generally held that Helias should come before Christ and it being vnknowne before which comming of Christ our Sauiour to cleare the doubt that might arise of his deity in that the people did not see that Helias was come said Helias is come already meaning Iohn of whome hee him-selfe had sayd If yee will receiue it this is Helias As if he had said bee not moued in that you thinke you saw not Helias before me whome you doubt whether I be the Messias or no. No man can be deceiued in the beleeuing that Iohn who came before me was that Helias who was to come not that his soule was in Iohn or that Helias himselfe in person were come but in that Iohn came in the spirit and power of Helias to turne the hearts of the fathers vnto the children to make the vnbeleeuers righteous and to prepare me a perfect people as the Angel promised of him Luc. 1. 17 This great mistery the Lord being willing to poynt at and yet not laying it fully open hee eleuates the hearts of the audience with his vsuall phrase vpon such occasions Hee that hath eares to heare let him heare And truely Iohns life came very neare Helias his Both liued in the wildernesse both wore girdles of skins both reproued vicious Princes and were persecuted by them both preached the comming of Christ fittly therefore might Iohn bee called another Helias to forerunne Christs first comming as Helias him-selfe shall do the second c. b Conuert the Iewes Therefore said Christ Helias must first come c. to correct saith Chrisostome their infidelity and to turne the hearts of the fathers vnto the children that is vnto the Apostles And then hee maketh a question If Helias his comming shall do so much good why did not our Sauiour send him before his first comming Answ. because as then they held our Sauiour himselfe to be Helias and yet would not beleeue him wheras when at the worlds end Helias shall come after all their tedious expectation and shew them who was the true Messias then will they all beleeue him c And the heart of man Hierome and our English vulgar read it other-wise That it is not euident in the Old-Testament in such places as say God shall iudge that it shal be in the person of Christ but onely by some of the testimonies where the Lord God speakes CHAP. 30. TO gather the whole number of such places of Scripture as prophecy this iudgement were too tedious Sufficeth we haue proued it out of both the Testaments But the places of the Old-Testament are not so euident for the comming of Christ a in person as them of the New be for whereas we read in the Old that the Lord God shall come it is no consequent that it is meant of Christ for the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost are all both Lord and God which we may not omit to obserue Wee must therefore first of all make a demonstration of those places in the prophets as do expressely name the Lord God and yet herein are euidently meant of Iesus Christ as also of those wherein this euidence is not so plaine and yet may bee conueniently vnderstood of him neuerthelesse There is one place in Isaias that hath it as plaine as may be Here me O Iacob and Israel saith the said Prophet my called I am I am the first and I am the last surely my hand hath laid the foundation of the earth and my right hand hath spanned the Heauens when I call them they stand together All you assemble your selues and heare which amongst
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
The inuention of Plaies Tragedy Comedy Eupolis Alcibiades Three kindes of Comedies Old Meane Nevv 〈◊〉 Satyres The Satyres The first nevv â—…omedy at Rome Palliaâ—… Togata Praetextata Trabcata Tabernaria The Mimikes Floralia Cato Tullyes bookes de republica The Sciâ—… Old comedies Aristophanes â—…is Nebuâ—…ae Cleon. Aristophanâ—…s his â—…quites Cleophon Hiperbolus The Censor Pericles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plautus Scipios the brethren Caecilius Cato the elder The Portian law Capite dimiaui what Occentare what it is Aschines Aristodemus Al vnclean spirits are vvicked diuills The Labâ—…s Sad sacrifices curia vvhat Terence The infamy of Stage players Decimus Laberius The Attellan comedies The Censors vievv of the city The orders of the Romaines The parts of a Syllogisme Paris copy defectiue Plato held a Demigod Actor Author Plaier What Poets Plato expells Humanity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suadere Persuadere Medioxumi Heroes Nesciâ—… Towardlynesse Priapus Phallus seu Ihyphallus Cynocephaelus Anubis Febris a goddesse The Flamines The Iouiall Pomona Goddesse The Flamines Apex or crest Romulus is a God Quirinus The Athens law followed by Rome The lawes of the 12. 〈◊〉 Lycurgus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tarquine Collatine depriued of office and put out of Rome Camillus exiled by his countries monstrous ingratitude Seditions betwixt the great men and the people Lawe Good Right and reason aquum bonum Budaeus his praises 〈…〉 Thalassus The confederation against Romulus Mount Caelius Consus a god The first Consulls Camillus Asse Aes graue all one The common corruption before Christs comming Christ the founder of a new citie The death of Tarquin the proud The diuisions of the people froÌ„ the Patriots The 〈◊〉 of Africa Plinius corrected Porsenna his 〈◊〉 Hovv offenders were punished at Rome The Portian Sempronian lavves Act. 22. The Agrarian lavves The first departure of the people The Tribunes The second departure Saluste phrase Syâ—…scere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the City of God his will is all the lavv Exactors or taxe-takers The verses of the leter Y. No word of this in the edition of Paris A description of the publike corruption The salutations at Rome Sardanapalus Sardanapalus his epitaph The harmony of the common wealth A common wealth An estate gouerned without â—…tice is no common weale Psal. 87. 3. Tiberius Gracchus The death of Aâ—…ilian Scipio The three learned Athenian Ambassadors L. Furius Pylus A commoÌ„-wealth not gouerned without iniustice The vse of a definition Rod. Agricola The three formes of Rule Optimates Tyrannus what and whence Friendship faction Ennius Diffamarê how vsed Not a word of this in our Paris print Euill manners chase â—…vay the gods The Gracchi Marius Cinna Carbo The originall of the ciuill warre betweene Sylla and Marius Sylla The calling out of the gods The Galles take Rome The Capitolls Geese Egipts beast gods The gods honors at Rome The happy successe of wicked Marius Marius his cruelty Metellus his felicity Paris copy â—…eanes 〈◊〉 this Cateline Marius his fligt Marica The forme of a crownâ—… of gold in the liuer of a Calfe Sylla his crueltie Pâ—…sthumius Mithridaces The deuils together by the cares amongst themselues The Gods examples furthered the vvarres Prodigious sounds of battles heard Brethren killing one another 2. Cor. 11. The deuils incite men to mischief by wicked instigations The Goddesse Flora. The office of the Aedile * He meaneth they haue bin a great enlargement of the true Church of God vpon earth by suffring so constantly The happines that the deuills can bestow on men Fabucius Vertues seedes Day how vsed Per Ioue unlapidem Apollo and Neptune worke the building of Troy Iliad 2. Aeneid 5. Neptunes Prophecy Apollo fauoreth the Troians The law Sempronian of iudgements The Plautian The Cornelian The Aurelian Romulus his â—…atner Aeneas his mother Caesars family Gen. 6. The benefit of being held diuine Numitor his children The punishment of the offending vestall No lawe against adultery before Augustus The lawe Iuliana Parricide Numa's â—…aw Remus his death Sylla's side stronger then Marius his The deuills carâ—… to deceiue C. Fimbria The Palladium Peace bestovved on the vnvvorthy Numa's peace of 43. or 39. yeares Ianus The first Kings practises The first Kings Fiue ages of men Paris copy leaues out this intirely Aristonicus Craâ—…us death The gods in a sweate Antiochuâ—… Cumae Aesculapius But best of all by Liuie hâ—… leaue to say with the text Pessinus for Pessinus was a towne in in Phrygia where Cybel had a temple before she had any at Rome Metamorph. Sellers of smoake Aemathia Andromache Tarpeia Stator Rome had no iust cause of war against Alba. Psal. 10. 3. As they did in Rome to fight for â—…heir lines Alba. The two Cyri. Magnus Rex The Theater Amphitheater The sunnes naturall Eclipse at Romulus his death Luc. 13. Romulu his deaâ—… Eclipses Tullus Hostilius Tarquinius Priscus The Capitol Getulia For it is said Brutus was â—…arquins kiâ—…man Bed-spreading 〈◊〉 vsed at Rome A Brood-man Capitae censi Pyrrhus Heâ—…aclear victory Archiatri Tibers inundation Fire in the Citty The secular plaies An Age. The Tauâ—…ian games Mettellus The masâ—…cre of Câ—… The Ring The volons Iâ—…s Saguntus Scipio African The Gallogrecians The lawe Uoconian Tripudium Solistimum Diuerse Mithridates Prodigies in the catle The confederats â—…rre Septimuleius Anagninus Discord a goddesse Concords Temple The cause of Troyes destruction The slaues warre The pirate war Nobles slaine by Cynna Marius C. Fimbria Licinius Bebius Catulus Marius his Sonne Scaeuola Tables of proscription The Bebii Marius Graâ—…idianus his death Sulmo Sertorius Cateline Lepidus Catulus Cn. Pompey Iul. Caesar. C. Octauius The Triumviri Christ borne Luc. 2. Ciceroes death Caesars death M. Antony Brutus Locusts in Africa Pestilence Sabaea Prodigies Pâ—…ying serâ—… lbis whv worshiped in Egipt Paris copie doth leaue out this betweene these markes Aetna Catina Christian Religion False gods varro Varro's antiquities Lady Pecunia Ill manners Mat. 5. Apuleius 〈◊〉 Platonist Phaeton Aetnas burning This note is left ouâ—… in Paris copy The comparison of poore quiet and rich trouble 〈◊〉 Pâ—… 2. 19 Stoicisme like to Christianitie Bellum warre of whence A pirates words to Alexander The leaders of the fugitiues Iust forme of kingdom Florus The first Kings Ninus The fâ—…rst warre The Greeke lyâ—…s The Assyrian Monarchie When Augustine wrote this worke Astiages The Persian Monarchy Cloacina Venus Cloacina Volupia Angeronia Libentina Vaticanus Cunina Tutanus Tutilina Proserpina Hostire Flora. Chloris Lacturcia Matuca Runcina Carna Iupiter why so called Iuno and Terra the eaâ—…th al one Vaâ—… de ling laâ—… Saâ—…es Soâ—…ne 〈◊〉 Saturne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Terra Tellus Ceres Vesta Two 〈◊〉 The Ciprian virgines custom Mars Vulcan Iupiter Apollo The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tripos The Pythia Mercury Ianus Ianiculus Diespiter Lucina Opigena Ilythia Carmentes Port Sceleraâ—…a Rumina Educa and Potina Venilia Cumaena The Muses Consuâ—… Sâ—…a The pretexta Laâ—…s 〈◊〉 â—…hat 〈◊〉 Aeneid 6. Victoria a Goddesse Math. 11. 29. Stimula Hora. â—…urcia Faelicity