all nature should lust after the women of earth and marrying them beget Gyants of them CHAP. 23. â—…is question wee touched at in our third booke but left it vndiscussed wheâ—…er the Angels being spirits could haue carnall knowledge of women for 〈◊〉 â—…itten He maketh his Angels spirits that a is those that are spirits hee 〈◊〉 his Angels by sending them on messages as hee please for the Greeke 〈◊〉 â—…rd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Latines call c Angelus is interpreted a messenger 〈◊〉 â—…ether he meant of their bodyes when he addeth And his ministers a flaâ—… or that he intimate that Gods ministers should burne with fiery zeale â—…ritie it is doubtfull yet doe the scriptures plainly auerre that the Anâ—… appeared both in visible and palpable figures b And seeing it is so 〈◊〉 a report and so many auerre it eyther from their owne triall or from 〈◊〉 that are of indubitable honestie and credite that the Syluanes and 〈◊〉 commonly called e Incubâ—… haue often iniured women desiring and acâ—…â—…rnally with them and that certaine deuills whome the Frenchmen call 〈◊〉 doe continually practise this vncleannesse and tempt others to it which â—…ed by such persons and with such confidence that it were impudence 〈◊〉 it I dare not venter to determine any thing heere whether the 〈◊〉 beeing imbodyed in ayre for this ayre beeing violently mooued is 〈◊〉 â—…lt can suffer this lust or mooue it so as the women with whome 〈◊〉 â—…ixe many feele it f yet do I firmely beleeue that Gods Angels could 〈◊〉 â—…ll so at that time nor that the Apostle Peter did meane of them when he sayd If God spared not the Angels that had sinned but cast them downe into hell and deliuered them into chaines of darkenesse to be kept vnto damnation but rather of those that turned apostata's with the diuell their prince at first in him I meane that deceiued man-kinde in the serpent That men were also called the Angels of God the scripture testifieth also saying of Iohn Behold I send mine Angel before â—…hy face which shall prepare the way before thee And Malachie the prophet by a peculiar grace giuen him was called an Angell But some sticke at this that in this commixtion of them that were called Gods Angels with the women of earth there were Gyants begotten and borne as though that we haue no such extraordinary huge statured creatures euen in these our times Was there not a woman of late at Rome with her father and mother a little before it was sacked by the Gothes that was of a giantlike height in respect of all other It was wonderfull to see the concourse of those that came to see her and shee was the more admired in that her parents exceeded not our tallest ordinary stature Therefore there might bee giants borne before that the sonnes of God called also his Angells had any carnall confederacy with the daughters of men such I meane as liued in the fleshly course that is ere the sonnes of Seth medled with the daughters of Caine for the Scripture in Genesis saith thus So when men were multiplied vpon earth and there were daughters borne vnto them the sonnes of God saw the daughters of men that they were faire and they tooke them wiues of all that they liked Therefore the Lord said my spirit shall not alway striue with man because he is but flesh and his daies shal be 120. yeares There were Gyants in the earth in those daies yea and after that the sonnes of God came vnto the daughters of men and they had borne them children these were Gyants and in old time were men of renowne These words of holy writ shew plainely that there were Gyants vpon earth when the sonnes of God tooke the fayre daughters of men to bee their wiues g for the scripture vseth to call that which is faire good But there were Gyants borne after this for it saith There were Gyants vpon earth in those daies and after that the sonnes of God came vnto the daughters of men so that there were Gyants both then and before and whereas it saith They begot vnto themselues this sheweth that they had begotten children vnto God before and not vnto themselues that is not for lust but for their duty of propagation nor to make themselues vp any flaunting family but to increase the Cittizens of God whome they like Gods angels instructed to ground their hope on him as the sonne of the resurrection Seths sonne did who hoped to call vpon the name of the Lord in which hope he and all his sons might be sons and heires of life euerlasting But we may not take them to bee such Angels as were no men men they were without doubt and so saith the Scripture which hauing first sayd the Angels of God sâ—… the daughters of men that they were good and they tooke them wiues of all whome they liked addeth presently And the Lord said my spirit shall not alway striue with mâ—… because hee is but flesh For his spirit made them his Angels and sonnes but they declined downewards and therefore hee calleth them men by nature not by grace and flesh being the forsaken forsakers of the spirit The 70. call them the Angels and sonnes of God some bookes call them onely the sonnes of God leauing out Angels But h Aquila whome the Iewes prefer before all calls them neither but the sonnes of Gods both is true for they were both the sonnes of God and by his patronage the bretheren of their fathers and they were the sonnes of the Gods as borne of the Gods and their equalls according to that of the Psalme I haue said yee are Gods and yee are al sonnes of the most high for weâ—… do worthily beleeue that the 70. had the spirit of prophecy and that what soeuer they altered is set downe according to the truth of diuinity not after the pleasure of translators yet the Hebrew they say is doubtfull and may be interpreted 〈◊〉 the sonnes of God or of Gods Therefore let vs omit the scriptures that are 〈◊〉 i Apocripha because the old fathers of whome wee had the scriptures 〈◊〉 not the authors of those workes wherein though there bee some truths yâ—… their multitude of falshhoods maketh them of no canonicall authority Sâ—… Scriptures questionlesse were written by Enoch the seauenth from 〈◊〉 As the canonicall k Epistle of Iude recordeth but it is not for â—…ng that they were left out of the Hebrew Canon which the Priests kept in 〈◊〉 â—…mple The reason was their antiquity procured a suspicion that they 〈◊〉 not truly diuine and an vncertainety whether Henoch were the author or 〈◊〉 â—…ing that such as should haue giuen them their credit vnto posterity neuer 〈◊〉 them And therefore those bookes that go in his name and containe those 〈◊〉 of the giants that ther fathers were no men are by good iudgements held 〈◊〉 â—…ne of his but counterfeite as the heretiques haue done many
an horne thus much Hierome In Spaine this Prouerbe remaineth still but not as Augustine taketh it The Lord wil be altogither seene but in a manner that is his helpe shall bee seene d Obeyed Ob-audisti and so the old writersvsed to say in steed of obedisti Of Rebecca Nachors neece whome Isaac maried CHAP 33. THen Isaac being forty yeares old maried Rebecca neece to his vncle Nachor three yeares after his mothers death his father being a hundred and forty yeares old And when Abraham sent his seruant into Mesopotamia to fetch her and said vnto him Put thine hand vnder my thigh and I will sweare thee by the Lord God of heauen and the Lord of earth that thou shalt not take my sonne Isaac a wife of the daughters of Canaan what is meant by this but the Lord God of Heauen and the Lord of Earth that was to proceed of those loynes are these meane prophesies and presages of that which wee see now fulfilled in Christ. Of Abraham marrying Kethurah after Sarahs death and the meaning therefore CHAP. 34. BVt what is ment by Abrahams marrying Kethurah after Sarahs death God defend vs from suspect of incontinency in him being so old and so holy and faithfull desired he more sonnes God hauing promised to make the seed of Isaac 〈◊〉 the stars of Heauen and the sandes of the Earth But if Agar and Hismaell did signifie the mortalls to the Old-testament as the Apostle teacheth why may not Kethurah and her sonnes signifie the mortalls belonging to the New-testament They both were called Abrahams wiues his concubines But Sarah was neuer called his concubine but his wife only for it is thus written of Sarahs giuing Agar vnto Abrahā Then Sarah Abrahams wife tooke Agar the Egiptian her maid after Abraham had dwelled tenne yeares in the land of Canaan and gaue her to her husband Abraham for his wife And of Kethurah wee read thus of his taking her after Sarahs death Now Abraham had taken him another wife called Kethurah Here now you heare them both called his wiues but the Scripture calleth them both his concubines also saying afterwards Abraham gaeue all his goods vnto Isaac but vnto the sonnes of his concubines he gaue guiftes and sent them away from Isaac his sonne while he yet liued Eastward into the East country Thus the concubines sonnes haue some guifts but none of them attayne the promised kingdome neither the carnall Iewes nor the heretiques for none are heyres but Isaac nor are the sonnes of the flesh the Sonnes of God but those of the promise of whome it is said In Isaac shal be called thy seede for I cannot see how Kethurah whome hee married after Sarahs death should bee called his concubine but in this respect But hee that will not vnderstand these things thus let him not slander Abraham for what if this were appointed by God to shew a those future heretiques that deny second mariage in this great father of so many nations that it is no sinne to many after the first wife be dead now Abraham died being a hundred seauenty fiue yeares old and Isaac whome hee begat when hee was a hundred was seauenty fiue yeares of age at his death L. VIVES THose a future The Cataphrygians that held second mariage to bee fornication Aug ad quod vult Hierome against Iouinian doth not onely abhorre second mariage but euen disliketh of the first for he was a single man and bare marriage no good will The appointment of God concerning the two twins in Rebeccas womb CHAP. 33. NOw let vs see the proceedings of the Citty of God after Abrahams death So then from Isaacs birth to the sixtith yere of his age wherin he had children there is this one thing to be noted that when as he had prayed for her frutefulnes who was barren and that God had heard him and opened her wombe and shee conceiued the two twins a played in her wombe where-with she being trou bled asked the Lords pleasure and was answered thus Two nations are in thy wombe and two manner of people shal be diuided out of thy bowells and the one shall bee mightier then the other and the elder shall serue the younger Wherin Peter the Apostle vnderstandeth the great mistery of grace in that ere they were borne and either done euill or good the one was elected and the other reiected and doubtlesse as concerning originall sin both were alike and guilty and as concerning actuall both a like and cleare But myne intent in this worke curbeth mee from further discourse of this point wee haue handled it in other volumes But that saying The elder shall serue the yonger all men interpret of the Iewes seruing the Christians and though it seeme fulfilled in b Idumaea which came of the elder Esau or Edom for hee had two names because it was afterward subdued by the Israelites that came of the yonger yet not-with-standing that prophecy must needs haue a greater intent then so and what is that but to be fulfilled in the Iewes and the Christians L. VIVES THe two twinnes a played So say the seauentie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or kicked Hierome saith mooued mouebantur Aquila saith were crushed confringebantur And Symmachus compareth their motion to an emptie ship at sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Idumaea Stephanus deriueth their nation from Idumaas Semiramis her sonne as Iudaea from Iudas another of her sonnes but he is deceiued Of a promise and blessing receiued by Isaac in the manner that Abraham had receiued his CHAP. 36. NOw Isaac receiued such an instruction from God as his father had done diuerse times before It is recorded thus There was a famine in the land besides the first famine that was in Abrahams time and Isaac went to Abymelech king of the Philistines in Gerara And the Lord appeared vnto him and said Goe not downe into Aegypt but abide in the land which I shall shew thee dwell in this land and I will bee with thee and blesse thee for to thee and to thy seed will I giue this land and I will establish mine oath which I sware to Abraham thy father and will multiply thy seede as the starres of heauen and giue all this land vnto thy seede and in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth bee blessed because thy father Abraham obeyed my voyce and kept my ordinances my commandements my statutes and my lawes Now this Patriarch had no wife nor concubine more then his first but rested content with the two sonnes that God sent him at one birth And hee also feared his wiues beautie amongst those strangers and did as his father had done before him with-her calling her sister onely and not wife She was indeed his kinswoman both by father and mother but when the strangers knew that she was his wife they let her quietly alone with him Wee not preferre him before his father tho in that hee had but one
St. AVGVSTINE OF THE CITIE OF GOD WITH THE LEARNED COMMENTS OF IO. LOD. VIVES Englished by I. H. DISSIPABIT AVGVSTINVS Printed by GEORGE ELD 1610. TO THE HONORABLEST PATRON OF MVSES AND GOOD MINDES LORD WILLIAM Earle of Penbroke Knight of the Honourable Order c. RIght gracious and gracefull Lord your late imaginary but now actuall Trauailer then to most-conceited Uiraginia now to almost-concealed Uirginia then a light but not lewde now a sage and allowed translator then of a scarce knowne nouice now a famous Father then of a deuised Country scarse on earth now of a desired Citie sure in heauen then of Utopia now of Eutopia not as by testament but as a testimonie of gratitude obseruance and hearts-honour to your Honor bequeathed at hence-parting thereby scarse perfecting this his translation at the imprinting to your Lordships protecting He that against detraction beyond expectation then found your sweete patronage in a matter of small moment without distrust or disturbance in this worke of more worth more weight as he approoued his more abilitie so would not but expect your Honours more acceptance Though these be Church-men and this a Church-matter he vnapt or vnworthy to holde trafique with either yet heere Saint Augustine and his Commenter Uiues most fauour of the secular and the one accordingly to Marcellinus the other to our King Henry directed their dedications and as translators are onely tyed to haue and giue true vnderstanding so are they freer then the authors to sute them-selues a Patrone Which as to Scipio the staffe and stay the type and top of that Cornelian stemme in quam vt plura genera in vnam arborem videtur insita multorum illuminata sapientia your poore Pacuuius Terence or Ennius or what you list so he be yours thought most conuenient to consecrate VVherefore his legacie laide at your Honours feete is rather here deliuered to your Honours humbly thrise-kissed hands by his poore delegate Your Lordships true-deuoted Th. Th. HENRY King of England to IOANNES LODOVICVS VIVES greeting WORTHY Sir and our very welbeloued friend as soone as Saint AVGVSTINE de ciuitate Dei enlightned with your comments came to our hands being right welcome to vs it caused vs to doubt whom wee should most congratulate either you by whose so learned labour so ehoise a worke is finished or Saint AVGVSTINE who long time imperfect and obscure is now at last brought from darknesse to light and restored to his ancient integrity or all posterity whom these your Commentaries shall infinitely profit But whereas it pleased you to dedicate these Commentaries to our name wee cannot but retaine a gratefull minde and returne you great thankes in that especially your minde therein seemeth to manifest no vulgar loue and obseruance towards vs. Wherefore we would haue you perswaded that our fauor and good will shall neuer faile in your affaires whatsoeuer occasion shall bee offered that may tend to your auaile So fare you happily well From our Court at Greenwich the XXIIII day of Ianuary M. D. XXIII IOANNES LODOVICVS VIVES to the renowned Prince HENRY the Eight King of England Lord of Ireland c. Salutations IT is so ordered by nature of mens dispositions most famous King as we admire them truely and heartely whom wee perceiue excell in that knowledge which pleaseth vs most and is approued amongst all diuers are giuen to diuers studies and exercises nature doth so ordaine as by this variety the world should consist both beautifull and wonderfull and yet as hee speakes Euery mans owne is fairest to himselfe Your Maiestie long since hath beene esteemed yea and admired for your opulency and large extended Empire not conquered by armes homicide but lineally conuaied from your parents as also for your strengh of minde and body and for your warlike prowes But now since you haue also giuen good proofe and essaies how able are you in strength of wit and studies of wisdome you are growne much greater and more admirable among all learned men not but that they highly esteemed you before especially for that you ioyne mildnes with maiesty goodnes with gouernment therby to appeare a louelier and liuelier image of the Prince of Nature who as hee is greatest so is he best yea best before he proued greatest But men giuen to learning do not so much bewonder your wealth or your power as with exceeding loue they imbrace adore that you are good gracious not deeming it to be admired that you are King since euen wicked men haue oft beene Kings yea and remarkeable for fayre endowments of the body But when your defence of the Sacraments came forth thē which nothing can be more elegāt more pure more religious and in one word more christian the reputation of your minds goodnes was much more confirmed if more it might be for it was now infixed in the minds of al most firme assured by many examples as if fastned with nailes and admiration thereof arose in all men yea euen in those who thinke nothing more honorable more maiesticall then the power of a King those that place riches aboue al things that ascribe exceeding much to the gifts of the body to beauty brawny strength and agility and that are students in the arts of war as if war were the omnipotent cōmander of al things wher-hence it comes to passe that all Princes by all meanes mediations they may do ambitiously striue to hold frindship with you al affecting to be ioined to you or by confederacy or which is more wished by alliance Nor want you the studies of priuate men which by the splender of your vertues you haue raised alluring some with your beneficence or eather magnificeuce others with your humanity and sweetnesse of demeanor al with wisdom iustice two vertues indeed for a King You being such I do insooth confesse my impudency that oft times I did affect to be known vnto you for this is my opinion that it is no meane praise to be but knowne of you And whereas at all other times fit occasion was wanting it now voluntary presented it self my Commentaries vpon S. AVGVSTINES bookes de ciuitate dei being in a readines which whē I bethought me to whō I might dedicate in such sort as both I might win some fauor worth the esteeming for my labor and he to whō they shold be presēted might not think so much learning as leasing so much study as stubble not a book but a burthē or bundel were profered vnto him as also I might send them to a Censor as graue as gratious who only allowing thē they might seeme approued and commended by the applause of all men you onely came to mind for many reasons and respects First for that such is your vertue and learning as euen to you I should haue presented them if you had bin a priuate man next did I see this was the next way to attaine my desire which erst I had conceaued
begot diuers vpon Keturah and this cleareth the doubt that his body was not simply dead I meane vnto generation But I like the other answere better because a man in those daies was not in his weakest age at an hundred yeares although the men of our times bee so and cannot beget a child of any woman they might for they liued far longer and had abler bodies then we haue L. VIVES HIs former a name Some Hebrewes say that God put a letter of his name 〈◊〉 into Abrahams name to wit the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierome b For the change Hierome out of moâ—… of the Hebrewes interpreteth Sarai my Princesse or Ladie and Sarah a Princesse oâ—… 〈◊〉 for she was first Abrahams Lady and then the Lady of the nations and Uirtus or strengtâ—… often taken by diuines for dominion or principality Hiero. in Genes Augustine vseth the word in another sence c She was barren The phisitians hold womens barrennesse to proceede of the defects of the matrix as if it be too hard or brawny or too loose and spungeous or too fat or fleshly Plutarch De phisoph decret lib. 5. I ommit the simples that beeing taken inwardly procure barrennesse as the berries of blacke Iuy Cetarach or hearts tongue as Plâ—…y saith c. The Stoickes say that it is often effected by the contrariety of qualities in the agent patient at copulation which being coupled with others of more concordance do easily become fruitfull which we may not vnfitly imagine in Abraham and Sarah because afterwards hee begot children vpon Keturah vnlesse you winde vp all these matters with a more diuine interpretation For Paul calleth Abraham 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a dead body exhaust and fruitlesse d Wherein the menstruall Of the menstrues Pliny saith thus Some women neuer haue them and those are barren For they are the substance wherein the spermes congeale and ripen and thereof if they flow frow women that are with child the child borne wil be either weake and sickly or els it will not liue long as Nigidius saith Thus much out of Pliny lib. 7. Aristotle saith that all that want these menstruall fluxes are not barren for they may retaine as much in their places of conception as they doe that haue these purgatiue courses so often Histor 〈◊〉 lib. 7. Of the three men or angells wherein GOD appeared to Abraham in the plaine of Mambra CHAP. 29. GOD appeared vnto Abraham in the plaine of Mambra in three men who doubtlesse were angells though some thinke that one of them was Christ and that he was visible before his incarnation It is indeed in the power of the vnchangeable vncorporall and inuisible deity to appeare vnto man visible whensoeuer it pleaseth without any alteration of it selfe not in the owne but in some creature subiect vnto it as what is it that it ruleth not ouer But if they ground that one of these three was Christ vpon this that Abraham when hee saw three men saluted the Lord peculiarly bowing to the ground at the dore of his Tabernacle and saying LORD if I haue found fauour in thy sight c. Why doe they not obserue that when two came to destroy Sodome Abraham spake yet but vnto one of them that remained calling him Lord and intreating him not to destroy the righteous with the wicked and those two were intertained by Lot who notwithstanding called either of them by the name of Lord For speaking to them both My Lords saith hee I pray you turne in vnto your seruants house c. and yet afterwards we reade and the angells tooke him and his wife and his two daughters by the hands the Lord beeing mercifull vnto him and they brought him forth and set him without the citty and when they had so done the angells said Escape for thy selfe looke not behind thee neither tarry in all the plaines but escape to the mountaines least thou bee destroied and he sayd not so I pray thee my Lord c. and afterward the Lord being in these two angells answered him as in one saying Behold I haue a receiued thy request c. and therefore it is far more likely that Abraham knew the Lord to bee in them all three and Lot in the two vnto whom they continually spoke in the singular number euen then when they thought them to bee men then otherwise For they intertained them at first only to giue them meate and lodging in charity as vnto poore men but yet there was some excellent marke in them whereby their hoasts might bee assured that the Lord was in them as he vsed to be in the Prophets and therefore they sometimes called them Lords in the plurall number as speaking to themselues and sometimes Lord in the singular as speaking to God in them But the scriptures themselues testifie that they were angells not onely in this place of Genesis but in the Epistle to the Hebrewes where the Apostle commending hospitality b therby Ioâ—…e saith he haue receiued angels into their houses vnwares these three men therefore confirmed the promise of Isaac the second time and said vnto Abraham He shal be a great and mighty nation and in him shall the nations of the world be blessed Here is a plaine prophecy both of the bodily nation of the Israelites and the spirituall nations of the righteous L VIVES I Haue a receiued So readeth the vulgar but not the seauenty b Thereby some I woâ—… how Placuerunt came into the latine vulgar edition I think the translators made it Latueâ—… rather from the greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Augustine hath translated it the best of all putting vnawares for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greekes doe often vse to speake so Lots deliuerance Sodomes destruction Abimelechs lust Sarahs chastity CHAP. 30. AFter this promise was Lot deliuered out of Sodome and the whole territory of that wicked citty consumed by a shower a of fire from heauen and all those parts where masculine bestiality was as allowable by custome as any other act is by other lawes Besides this punishment of theirs was a type of the day of iudgement and what doth the angells forbidding them to looke backe signifie but that the regenerate must neuer returne to his old courses if hee meane to escape the terror of the last iudgment Lots wife where she looked back there was she fixed and beeing turned into b a piller of salt serueth to season the hearts of the faithful to take heed by such example After this Abraham did with his wife Sarah at Geraris in King Abimelechs court as hee had done before in Egipt and her chastity was in like maner preserued she returned to her husband Where Abraham when the King chideth him for concealing that shee was his wife opened his feare and withal told him saying she is my sister indeed for she is my fathers daughter but not my mothers and she is my wife and
like a parcells of some poâ—…â—…hose â—…hose intent concerneth a theame far different Now to shew this testimoâ—… one in euery Psalme of the booke wee must expound the Psalme 〈◊〉 to do how great a worke it is both others and our volumes wherein wee 〈◊〉 done it do expressly declare let him that can and list read those and there â—…ll see how abundant the prophecies of Dauid concerning Christ and of his Church were namely concerning that celestiall King and the Citty which hee builded L. VIVES LIke e parcells Centones are peeces of cloath of diuerse colours vsed any way on the back or on the bedde Cic. Cato Maior Sisenna C. Caesar. Metaphorically it is a poeme patched out of other poems by ends of verses as Homero-centon and Uirgilio-centon diuerse made by Proba and by Ausonius b Retrograde poeme Sotadicall verses that is verses backward and forwards as Musa mihi causas memora quo numine laesa Laeso numine quo memora causas mihi Musa Sotadicall verses may bee turned backwards into others also as this Iambick Pio precare thure caelestum numina turne it Numina caelestum thure precare piâ—… it is a Pâ—…ntameter They are a kinde of wanton verse as Quintilian saith inuented saith Strabo or rather vsed saith Diomedes by Sotades whome Martiall calleth Gnidus some of Augustines copies read it a great poeme and it is the fitter as if one should pick verses out of some greater workes concerning another purpose and apply them vnto his owne as some Centonists did turning Uirgils and Homers words of the Greekes and Troyan warres vnto Christ and diuine matters And Ausonius turneth them vnto an Epithalamion Of the fortie fiue Psalme the tropes and truths therein concerning Christ and the Church CHAP. 16. FOr although there be some manifest prophecies yet are they mixed with figures putting the learned vnto a great deale of labour in making the ignorant vnderstand them yet some shew Christ and his Church at first sight though we must at leisure expound the difficulties that we finde therein as for example Psal. 45. Mine heart hath giuen out a good word I dedicate my workes to the King My tongue is the pen of a ready writer Thou fairer then the children of men grâ—… is powred in thy lippes for GOD hath blessed thee for euer Girde thy sworde vpon thy â—…high thou most mighty Proceede in thy beauty and glory and reigne prosperouly because of thy truth thy iustice and thy gentlenesse thy right hand shall guide thee wondrously Thine arrowes are sharpe most mighty against the hearts of the Kings enemies the people shall fall vnder thee Thy throne O GOD is euer-lasting and the scepter of thy kingdome a scepter of direction Thou louest iustice and hatest iniquitie therefore GOD euen thy GOD hath annoynted thee with oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes All thy garments smell of Myrrhe Alloes and Cassia from the Iâ—…ry palaces wherein the Kings daughters had made thee glâ—…d in their honour Who is so dull that he discerneth not Christ our God in whome we beleeue by this place hearing him called GOD whose throne is for euer and annoynâ—…d by GOD not with visible but with spirituall Chrisme who is so barbarously ignorant in this immortall and vniuersall religion that hee heareth not that Christs name commeth of Chrisma vnction Heere wee know CHRIST let vs see then vnto the types How is hee father then vnto the sonnes of men in a beauty farre more amiable then that of the body What is his sword his shaftes c. all these are tropicall characters of his power and how they are all so let him that is the subiect to this true iust and gentle King looke to at his leasure And then behold his Church that spirituall spouse of his and that diuine wed-locke of theirs here it is The Queene stood on thy right hand her â—…lothing was of gold embrodered with diuers collours Heaâ—…e Oh daughter and 〈◊〉 attend and forget thy people and thy fathers house For the King taketh pleasure in thy beauty and hee is the Lord thy God The sonnes of Tyre shall adore him 〈◊〉 guifts the ritch men of the people shall â—…ooe him with presents The Kings daughter 〈◊〉 all glorious within her cloathing is of wrought gold The Virgins shal be brought after her vnto the King and her kinsfolkes and companions shal follow her with ioy and gladnesse shal they be brought and shall enter into the Kings chamber Instead of fathers 〈◊〉 shalt haue children to make them Princes through out the earth They shal remember thy name O Lord from a generation to generation therefore shall their people giue â—…ks vnto thee world without end I doe not think any one so besotted as to thinke this to be meant of any personal woman no no she is his spouse to whoÌ„ it is said Thy throne O God is euerlasting and the scepter of thy Kingdome a scepter of direction 〈◊〉 hast loued iustice and hated iniquity therefore the Lord thy God hath annointed 〈◊〉 â—…ith the oyle of gladnesse before thy fellowes Namely Christ before the christiâ—… For they are his fellowes of whose concord out of all nations commeth this Queene as an other psalme saith the Citty of the great King meaning the spirituall Syon Syon is speculation for so it speculateth the future good that it is to receiue and thither directeth it all the intentions This is the spirituall Ierusalem whereof wee haue all this while spoken this is the foe of that deuillish Babilon hight confusion and that the foe of this Yet is this City by regeneration freed from the Babilonian bondage and passeth ouer the worst King for the best that euer was turning from the deuill and comming home to Christ for which it is sayd forget thy people and thy fathers house c. The Israelites were a part of thiâ—… â—…tty in the flesh but not in that faith but became foes both to this great 〈◊〉 Queene Christ was killed by them and came from them to b those 〈◊〉 â—…euer saw in the flesh And therefore our King saith by the mouth of the 〈◊〉 in another place thou hast deliuered me from the contentions of the people 〈◊〉 me the head of the heathen a people whom I haue not knowne hath serued 〈◊〉 assoone as they heard me obeyed me This was the Gentiles who neuer 〈◊〉 â—…rist in the flesh nor hee them yet hearing him preached they beleeued 〈◊〉 â—…astly that he might well say as soone as they heard me they obeyed mee for 〈◊〉 â—…es by hearing This people conioyned with the true Israell both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and spirit is that Citty of God which when it was onely in Israell brought 〈◊〉 â—…hrist in the flesh for thence was the Virgin Mary from whom Christ 〈◊〉 our man-hood vpon him Of this cittie thus saith another psalme c 〈◊〉 â—…ll call it our Mother Sion he became man therein the most high hath founded 〈◊〉 was this most high but
him thether replied saying the GOD that deliuered him from the Diuell hath power to restore him his eye which sayd hee put it into the place as well as hee could and bound it vp with his napkin wishing him not to loose it vntill seauen daies were past which doing hee found it as sound as euer it was At this place were many others helped whome it were to long to rehearse particularly I knew a Virgin in Hippon who was freed from the Diuell onely by anoynting with oyle mixed with the teares of the Priest that prayed for her I know a Bishoppe who by prayer dispossessed the Diuell being in a youth that he neuer saw There was one Florentius here of Hippo a poore and Godly Oldman who getting his liuing by mending of shooes lost his vpper garment and being not able to buy another hee came to the shrine of the twenty Martīres and praied aloud vnto them to helpe him to rayments A sort of scoffing youthes ouer-heard him and at his departure followed him with mockes asking him if hee had begged fifty g halfpence of the martirs to buy him a coate withall But he going quietly on spied a great fish a new cast vp by the sea and yet panting which fish by their permission that were by hee tooke and caried it to one Carchosus a cooke a good Christian and fold it to him for 300. halfe pence intending to bestowe this mony vpon woll for his wife to spinne and make into a garment for him The Cooke cutting vp the fish found a ring of gold in his belly which amazing him his conscience made him send for the poore man and giue him the ring saying to him behold how the twenty Martyrs haue apparelled you When Bishop Proiectus brought Saint Steuens reliques to the Towne called Aquae Tibilitanae there were a many people flocked together to honour them Amongst whome there was a blinde woman who prayed them to lead her to the Bishoppe that bare the holy reliques So the bishoppe gaue her certaine flowers which hee hadde in his hand shee tooke them putte them to her eyes and presently hadde her sight restored in so much that shee passed speedily on before all the rest as now not needing any more to bee guided So Bishoppe Lucillus bearing the reliques of the sayd Martyr inshrined in the castle of b Synice neare to Hippo was thereby absolutely cured of a fistula where-with hee hadde bene long vexed and was come to that passe that he euery day expected when the Chyurgion should lance it but hee was neuer troubled with it after that daie Eucherius a Spanish Priest that dwelt at Calame was cured of the stone by the same reliques which Bishoppe Posidius brought thether and beeing afterwardes layd out for dead of another disease by the helpe of the said Martyr vnto whose shrine they brought him was restored vnto his former life and soundnesse There was one Martialis a great man of good years but a great foe to CHRISTE who dwelt in this place This mans daughter was a Christian and marryed vnto a Christian. The father beeing very sicke was intreated by them both with praiers and teares to become a Christian but hee vtterly and angerly refused So the husband thought it good to go to Saint Steuens shrine and there to pray the LORD to send his father in law into a better minde and to imbrace CHRISTE IESVS without further delay For this hee prayed with great zeale and affect with showers of teares and stormes of religious sighes and then departing hee tooke some of the flowers from off the Altar and in the night laid them at his fathers head who slept well that night and in the morning called in all haste for the Bishoppe who was then at Hippo with me They tolde him therefore so hee forth-with sendes for the Priestes and when they came tolde them presently that hee beleeued and so was immediatly baptized to the amazement of them all This man all the time hee liued after hadde this saying continually in his mouth LORD IESVS receiue my spirite These were his last wordes though hee knew them not to bee Saint Steuens for hee liued not long after At this place also were two healed of the Gowte a cittizen and a stranger The cittizen knewe by example what to doe to bee ridde of his payne but the stranger hadde it reuealed vnto him There is a place called Andurus where S. Steuen hath a part of his body remaining also A child being in the Street certaine Oxen that drew a cart growing vnruly left the way and ouer-run the child with the wheel so that it lay all crushed and past al hope of life The mother snatched it vppe and ran to the shrine with it where laying it downe it recouered both life and full strength againe in an instant beeing absolutely cured of all hurt what-soeuer Neare this place at Caspalia dwelt a Votaresse who beeing sicke and past recouery sent her garment to the shrine but ere it came backe shee was dead yet her parents couered hir with it which done she presently reuiued and was as sound as euer The like happened to one Bassus a Syrian that dwelt at Hippo. Praying for his sicke daughter at Saint Steuens and hauing her garment with him worde came by a boy that shee was dead But as hee was at prayer his friendes mette the boy before hee hadde beene with him and bad him not to tell him there least hee went mourning through the streetes So hee comming home and finding all in teares hee layd her garment vppon her and shee presently reuiued So like-wise Ireneus his sonne a Collector being dead and readie to go out for buriall one aduised to anoynt him with some of Saint Stephens oyle They did so and hee reuiued Elusinus likewise a Captayne seeing his sonne dead tooke him and laid him vppon the shrine that is in his farme in our Suburbes where after hee had prayed a while hee found him reuiued What shall I doe my promises bindes mee to bee breefe whereas doubtlesse many that shall read these thinges will greeue that I haue omitted so many that are knowne both to them and mee But I intreat their pardon that they would consider how tedious a taske it is so that my promised respect of breuity will not allow it For if I should but beleeue all the miracles done by the memorials of Saint Steuen onely at Cala◅a and Hippo It should bee a worke of many volumes and yet not bee perfect neither I could not relate all but onely such as are recorded for the knowledge of the people for that we desire when wee see our times produce wonders like to those of yore that they should not be vtterly in vaine by being lost in forgetfulnesse and obliuion It is not yet two yeares since the shrine was built at Hippo and although wee our s◅lues doe know many miracles done there since that are recorded yet are there almost seauenty volumes