apud parentes nostros fuerunt dies laetiores fuerunt dies meliores O si interrogares ipsos parentes tuos similiter tibi de diebus suis murmurarent Fuerunt beati Patres nostri nos miseri sumus malos dies habemus Doe you not daily murmurre and thus say how long shall wee suffer these things All things grow worse worse Our Fathers saw better merrier dayes But I wish thou would'st aske the question of thy Fathers thou shalt finde them murmurre likewise in regard of their daies saying Oh our Fathers were happy wee miserable wee see nothing but badde dayes But had this complaint beene as true as ancient as just as vsuall in all ages wee had not beene left at this day to renue it wee should by this time haue had no weather to ripen our corne or fruites in any tollerable manner For my selfe then mine opinion is that men for the most part being most affected with the present more sensible of punishments then of blessings growing in worldly cares consequently in discontent as they grow in yeares and experience they are thereby more apt to apprehend crosses then comforts to repine murmurre for the one then to returne thankes for the other Whence it comes to passe that vnseasonable weather the like crosse accidents are printed in our memories as it were with red letters in an Almanacke but for seasonable faire there stands nothing but a blanke the one graven in is brasse the other written in water SECT 3. Of contagious diseases and specially the plague both heere at home and abroad in former ages NOW for contagious diseases specially the plague it selfe it is well known that this land hath now by Gods favour been in a mannerall together free from it since the first yeare of his Majesties raigne whereas heretofore it hath commonly every seaven or eight yeares at farthest spread it selfe through the greatest part of the land and swept away many thousands in the yeare one thousand three hundred forty eight it was so hot in Wallingford a Towne of Barkeshire that in a manner it dispeopled the Towne reducing their twelue Churches to one or two which they now only retaine In London it had so sharpe and quick an edge and mowed downe such multitudes that within the space of twelue moneths there were buried in one Churchyard commonly called the Cistersians or Charterhouse aboue fifty thousand They writ further that through the kingdome it made such a ravage as it tooke away more then halfe of men Church-yards could not suffice to burie the dead new grounds are purchased for that purpose And it is noted that there died onely in London betweene the first of Ianuary and the first of Iuly 57374. Other Citties and townes suffering the like according to their portions The earth being every where filled with graues and the aire with cries In the tenth yeare likewise of Edward the second there was so great a pestilence and generall sickenesse of the common sort caused by the ill nutriment they receiued as the liuing scaree sufficed to bury the dead Now if wee cast our eyes abroad vnder the Emperours Vibius Gallus Volutianus his son about two hundred fiftie yeares after Christ there arose a plague in Ethiopia which by degrees spread it selfe into all the provinces of the Romane Empire and lasted by the space of fitteene yeares together without any intermission and so great was the mortallity that in Alexandria as Dyonisius himselfe at that very time Bishop of that sea reports it there was not one house of the whole citty free the whole remainder of the inhabitants did not equall the number of old men in former times By meanes whereof S. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage who liued in the same age tooke occasion to write that his excellent Treatise de Mortalitate And Lypsius his censure of this pestilence is Non alia vnquam maior lues mihi lecta spatio temporum siue terrarum I neuer read of a more greivous contagion whether wee regard the long lasting or the large spreading thereof Yet was that certainely for the time more impetuous and outragious vnder Iustinian the fiercenes whereof was such that onely in Constantinople and the places neere adjoyning therevnto it cut off at least fiue thousand sometimes tenne thousand persons in one day Which my selfe should hardly bee drawne either to report or to beleeue but that I finde it recorded by faithfull Historiographers of those times Neither lesse wonderfull was that pestilence in Africa which snatcht away onely in Numidia Octingenta hominum millia saith Orosius eight hundred thousand men Or that vnder Michael Duca in Greece which was so sharpe and violent Vt viui prorsus pares non essent mortais sepeliendis they bee the words of Zonaras the liuing were no way sufficient to burie the dead But that which scourged Italy in Petrarches time in the yeare one thousand three hundred fiftie nine as himselfe relates it in my minde exceedes all hitherto spoken of there being scarely left aliue tenne ofa thousand thorow the whole countrey Whereby the way I cannot let passe that vnder David though by most Diuines held to bee supernaturall and miraculous in which there died of the people seuenty thousand men within the space of three dayes Now for other infectious â—…idemicall diseases in former ages Pasquier assignes a whole chapter to them which hee thus intitles Des maladies qui ont seulement vnifois Cours par La disposition de L' air Of those diseases which haue but once had their course through the distemper of the aire Heere with vs wee haue not heard of late dayes of any such diseases as the shaking of the sheetes or the sweating sickenesse touching which it is very memorable that Mr Camdem hath deliuered in his description of Shrewesbury as for the cause thereof saith hee let others search it out for my own part I haue obserued that this malady hath run through England thrise in the ages afore-going yet I doubt not but long before also it did the like although it were not recorded in writing First in the yeare of our Lord 1485 in which King Henry the seventh first began his raigne a little after the great Coniunction of the superiour Planets in Scorpio A second time yet more mildly although the Plague accompanied it in the 33d yeare after Anno 1518 vpon a great opposition of the same Planets in Scorpio Taurus at which time it plagued the Netherlands and high Almany also Last of all 33 yeares after that againe in the yeare 1551 when another Coniunction of those Planets in Scorpio tooke their effects so that by Gods goodnes for the space now of these last seuenty three yeares wee haue not felt that disease Twise thirty three yeares more and the same Coniunction and opposition of the Planets haue passed ouer yet it hath
his annotations vpon that place confessed inde colligitur quà m largiter Deus Israelitas aluerit tam longo tempore We may from thence collect how bountifully God dealt with the Israelites making them so large an allowance for so long a time And this marueilous great plenty in likelihood was it that gaue them occasion to distast it to grow weary of it cast out those murmuring speeches against God Moses his servant their leader Animam nostram taedâ—…t huius paâ—…is vilisâ—…imi our soule loatheth this light bread to fall a longing after the cucumbers and leekes the onyons and garlicke of Egypt Though the Manna aswell in regard of the delicacie thereof as the raining of it downe from heaven bee by the Psalmist tearmed Angels foode in the booke of Wisedome be commended for hauing in it a certaine contentfull delight agreeable to euery mans â—…ast It is likewise true that the Romane allowance to a horse-man by the testimony of Polybius seemed to be larger then that of the foote-man there being alotted him monethly seaven Medimni of oates or barley for his horse and two of wheate for himselfe But it may very well be as Lypsius conjectureth that he had a spare horse and an attendant or two allowed him and then his two Medimni for himselfe his two servants agrees justly with the two thirds of a Medimnus to a foote-man SECT 4. Diverse other reasons drawne from experience added as from the armour the bed-steeds the seats the doores the pulpits the Altars of the Ancients other doubts cleered TO proceed that which seemes to make the matter more euident because it strikes more vpon the sense is the view of the roofes the doores the tables the seates the robes the bed-steeds the weapons the armour the pulpits the Altars the tombes of the Ancients yet remayning to be seene all which argue that they were of the same stature or very little differing from vs. Aristotle in his Mechanicks giues vs to vnderstand that the bed-steeds in his time did not commonly exceede six foote Nay Magius himselfe who hath written a large discourse in defence of the contrary common opinion yet at last confesseth that taking an exact measure of the Tombes at Pisa and other citties in Italy though some of them were made a thousand yeares since some more yet found he them in dimensions parum aut nihil little or nothing differing from those of our times and withall ingenuously acknowledgeth that being at Pisaurum in the Duke of Vrbines armory hee there saw certaine brasse helmets digged vp in the fields neere Metaurum where Asdruball was overthrowne by the Romane forces and were verily thought to haue layne there since that time Quae tamen ab ijs quas modo milites nostri gestare solent ad magnitudinem quod attinet non discrepabant which notwithstanding saith he in regard of bignesse differed not from those which our souldiers now a dayes vsually weare I know that the sword of Edward the third the armour of Iohn of Gaunt the tilting staffe of Charles Brandon the walking staues and riding staues of Henry the eight shewed in the Tower and other places farre exceed the ordinary of our times but perchaunce some of them like Sinesius Grandio in Seneca delighted in great things or I should thinke that sometimes they were rather for shew then for vse and for the rest it only argues the strength stature of those that vsed them not for others who liued in the same age with them Nay if we compare the common armour of the age wherein Iohn of Gaunt liued or the most ancient in the Tower or otherwhere with that which is now in vse we shall finde no such sensible difference as should argue a decay in stature Indeed their arrowes generally exceeded ours both in bignesse and length but this I should rather impute to their continuall practise in shooting from their very infancie then to their strength and stature The truth whereof appeares by this that so long as that practise was continued which was till the invention and ordinary vse of Gunnes so long the like dimentions of their shafts were likewise continued without any diminution as may be seene by comparing the arrowes commonly vsed in Henry the seaventh Henry the eights time with those in vse many yeares before few of which are full a yard by measure yet my Lord of S. Albans witnesseth that the rebellious Cornish in the reigne of King Henry the seaventh not much aboue one hundred yeare agoe shotte an arrow of a full Cloth-yard long The doubt which may be made touching the Altar of the Tabernacle seemes to be of greater consequence which by Gods appointment was to be three cubits high that is foure foote and an halfe whereas those of latter times are not aboue three foote or three an halfe at most which seemes to inferre the difference in succeeding ages of the stature of those that were to serue at the Altar But I would demaund whether the Cubit Moses there speakes of were according to the ordinary stature of men then liuing if so then a man rightly proportioned being at most but foure of his owne Cubits there was left but one cubit for the Priest aboue the Altar which was much too little for him to minister with ease And what then shall wee say to Salomons Altar which was ten cubits high surely it must in reason so be vnderstood that the height bee accounted from the lowest floore of the temple or tabernacle where the people stood but the Priest went vp by certaine slope degrees certaine easy ascents to the Altar so that the height of those ascents from the floore together with the Altar it selfe made vp the full measure there spoken of It will be replied that it was expressely forbidden to goe vp by steps to the Altar True indeed but the reason is there added that thy nakednes be not discovered thereon so as such degrees of ascent as occasioned not any danger or doubt of discouering his nakednesse who ministred at the Altar seeeme there not to be forbidden which is the interpretation both of Iunius Abulensis allowing then an Altar of three foote halfe high arising to it from the lower floore of a foot high the height of the altar froÌ„ the lower floore will be four foot an halfe or three cubits which is the measure required in the Leuiticall Law differs little in height from the Altars in forraine parts or those which are yet standing with vs if we likewise take their height from the lower floore which by reason of the continued and easie degrees of ascent to them may not vnfitly be counted their basis or foote And most certaine it is that the Altars which amongst Christians were built for fiue or six hundred yeares since yet remaine whereof there are in France Spaine Italy not a few
teach Wherein that of Vadianus in his Epistle of Paradice is and euer will be verified Magnos errores magnorum virorum authoritate persuasi transmittimus We deliuer ouer as it were by tradition from hand to hand great errours being thereunto induced by the authority of great men Whiles we are young our judgment is raw and greene and when we are old it is forestalled by which meanes it comes often to passe that inter iuvenile iudicium senile preiudicium veritas corrumpitur betweene the precipitancie rashnes of youth to take whatsoeuer is offered and the obstinate stiffenes of age in refusing what it hath not formerly beene acquainted with truth is lost The evidencing of which assertion is the proper subject of this Chapter wherein I hope I shall make it appeare that many opinions are commonly receiued both in ordinary speech in the writings of learned men which notwithstanding are by others either manifestly convinced or at leastwise justly suspected of falshood and errour and this aswell in Divinity as in Philosophy and History First then in Divinity not to meddle with doctrinall points in controversie at this day it is commonly receiued and beleeued that Iuâ—…as among the other Apostles receiued the blessed Sacrament at our Lords hands of which notwithstanding saith the learned Zanchius Etsi multi magni viri hoc docuerint scripserint ego tamen nullo modo concedo aut concedere possum quia apertè pugnat cum historia Iohannis Evangelistae Though many great Clarks haue taught and written it yet my selfe neither doe nor can by any meanes grant it in asmuch as it plainely contradicts the History of Iohn the Evangelist That Melchizedek spoken of in the Epistle to the Hebrewes was Sem the sonne of Noah Yet Pererius in his Commentarie on the 14 of Genesis endeauours to ouerthrow it by many weighty reasons drawne from the Text. That our first Parents stood but one day in Paradice of which opinion the same Author affirmes Pervulgata est eademque ut mâ—…ltorum sic imprimis nobilium illustrium Authorum firmata consensu it is commonly receiued and strengthned by the consent of many worthy and famous Authors yet labours he to disproue it in as much as so many and so different acts are by Moses recorded to haue passed betweene their Creation and Ejection as could not well be dispatched within the compasse of one day And Tostatus though he were first of the common opinion yet afterward vpon better advice he changed it That the Prophecie of old Iacob The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah vntill Shiloh come was fulfilled in Herods raigne at the birth of CHRIST by the continuance of the gouernment in the Tribe of Iudah till the raigne of Herod reputed the first stranger that tooke vpon him the Kingly office among the Iewes but Causabon in his Exercitations prooues that neither the kingly government was continued in that Tribe in as much as it was often interrupted and at length ended in Zedechiah nor that Herod was a stranger in as much as himselfe his father and his Grandfather were all circumcised and yet he confesses of the coÌ„moÌ„ opinion haec sententia ab insignibus pietate doctrina viris profecta vbi semel est admissa sine vlla controversia aut examine apud omnium aetatum eruditos praeter admodum paucos semper deinceps obtinuit this opinion first set on foot by men of singular pietie and learning and being once generally embraced without any question or examination of it afterward prevailed with the learned of all ages some few onely excepted That Iephtah flew his daughter and sacrificed her to the Lord but Iunius in his annotations on that place thinkes he only consecrated her by vowing her virginity which may well stand with the nature of the originall word and the contrarie cannot well stand either with Iephtahs faith or Gods acceptance That the Ark rested vpon the hils of Armenia wheras Sir Walter Rawleigh is coÌ„fideÌ„t that therin most writers were vtterly mistaken Neither was he led so to thinke as he professeth out of humour or singularitie but therein groundeth himselfe vpon the originall and first truth which is the word of God and after vpon reason and the most probable circuÌ„stances thervpon depending And in truth he that shall consider that the sonnes of Noah coÌ„ming out of the Arke trauelled from the East into the land of Shinar where they built the tower of Babell and that Armenia lies to the Northwest of that plaine will easily conceiue that it could not well bee that the Arke should rest vpon those hils but the chiefe occasion of the mistake seemes to be in the vulgar translation which hath rendred Armenia instead of Ararat That of the three sonnes of Noah Sem Cham and Iaphet Sem was the eldest C ham the second and Iaphet the yongest whereas Iunius is of opinion that Iaphet was the eldest grounding himselfe vpon the text Genesis 10. 21. C ham the youngest which he proues from Genesis 9. 24. and that Iaphet was the eldest is not his opinion alone but of Lyranus Tostatus Genebrard and the Hebrew doctors That the fruit of the tree of knowledg of good and evill was an apple wheras the text specifies no such matter and it should seeme by the circumstances thereof that it was rather som other kind of fruit more pleasant both to the tast and sight That the waters of the red sea were of colour red whereas travellers into those parts by sight find the contrary it rather borrowing that name from the red bankes and clifts about it as both Castro and Barros are of opinion or from the Coasts of Idumaea by which it passeth as Scaliger first observed and after him Fuller To these may be added that it is commonly belieued that Moses had hornes when he came downe from the mountaine because they read in the vulgar Latine Ignorabat quòd cornuta esset facies sua He knew not that his face was horned wheras the sense is he knew not that his face shined the same word in the Hebrew signifying both an horne and a shining beame That our Saviour wore his haire long because we read he was a Nazarite whereas the truth is that he was a Nazarite or rather a Nazarene as with Beza our last translatours read it by education not by profession and institution in regard of the place in which he was nursed and conuersed not any vow wherevnto he was bound And lastly that Absolon was hung by the haire of the head whereas the text sayes in plaine tearmes his head caught hould of the oke in like manner it seemes as Henry Grand-child to the Conquerour is sayd to haue ended his dayes in the new forrest SECTIO 2. In Philosophy SEcondly in Philosophy it is commonly receiued that the heart is the seate and shopp of the principall faculties of the
the body of him that should bee slaine None of the people might crye skrecke make any noice or giue any signe whatsoeuer And heerevnto at Hall in Suevia a place appointed for Campfight was so great regard taken that the Executioner stood beside the Iudges with an axe ready to cut off the right hand and left foot of the party so offending He that being wounded did yeeld himselfe was at the mercy of the other to be killed or let to liue if hee were slaine then was he carried away and honourably buried and hee that slew him reputed more honorable then before But if beeing ouercome he were left aliue then was hee by sentence of the Iudges declared vtterly voide of all honest reputation and neuer to ride on horsbacke nor to carry armes The tryall by red hot iron called Fire-Ordeall was vsed vpon accusations without manifest proofe though not without suspition that the accused might be faulty the party accused and denying the offence was adjudged to take red hot iron to hold it in his bare hand which after many prayers and invocations that the truth might be manifest hee must either adventure to doe or yeeld himselfe guilty and so receiue the punishment that the Law according to the offence committed should award him Some were adjudged to goe blinde-folded with their bare feete ouer certaine plow-shares which were made red hot laid a little distance one from another and if the party in passing thorow them did chaunce not to tread vpon them or treading vpon them receiued no harme then by the Iudge he was declared innocent And this kind of tryall was also practised here in England as was likewise the Camp-fight for a while vpon Emma the mother of K. Edward the Confessour who was accused of dishonesty of her body with Allwin B. of Winchester and being led blind-folded to the place where nine hot Culters were laid went forward with her bare feet and so passed ouer them and being past them all not knowing it good Lord said shee when shall I come to the place of my purgation then hauing her eyes vncovered and seeing her selfe to baue passed them she kneeling down gaue God thankes for manifesting her innocencie in her preservation in memoriall thereof gaue nine Lordships to the Church of Winchester and King Edward her sonne repenting he had so wrongfully brought his Mothers name into question bestowed likewise vpon the same Church the I le of Portland with other revenewes A much like tryall vnto this is recorded of Kunigund wife to the Emperour Henry the second who being falsely accused of adultery to shew her innocency did in a great honourable assembly take seaven glowen irons one after another in her bare hands had thereby no harme The tryall called Hot water Ordeall was in cases of accusation as is afore sayd the party accused being appointed by the Iudge to thrust his armes vp to the elbowes in seething hot water which after sundry prayers and invocations he did and was by the effect that followed judged faulty or faultles Lastly cold water Ordeall was the tryall which was ordinarily vsed for the common sort of people who hauing a cord tied about them vnder their armes were cast into some riuer and if they sunke down to the botttome thereof vntill they were drawne vp which was within a very short limited space then were they held guiltlesse but such as did remaine vpon the water were held culpable being as they sayd of the water rejected cast vp These kindes of impious vniust lawes the Saxons for a while after their Christianity continued but were at last by a decree of Pope Stephen the second vtterly abolished as being a presumptuous tempting of God without any grounded reason or sufficient warrant and an exposing many times of the innocent to manifest hazard CAP. 3. Touching the insufficiencie of the precepts of the Ancient Philosophers for the planting of vertue or the rooting out of vice as also of the common errour touching the golden age SECT 1. Touching the insufficiencie of the precepts of the ancient Philosophers for the planting of vertue and the rooting out of vice as also of the manners of the Ancients observed by Caelius secundus Curio out of Iuvenall and Tacitus TO these lawes of the Graecians and Germans may be added the opinions precepts of the Ancient Philosophers touching vertue and vice finall happinesse and the state of the soule after this life which were as diverse one to another as they were all erronious and opposite to the truth the growth of vertue or suppressing of vice What could possiblely ◅ore hinder the course of vertue then the doctrine of the Epicureans that soueraigne happinesse consisted in pleasure or more strengthen the current of vice then that of the Stoicks that all sins were equall The Epicureans though they graunted a God yet they denyed his prouidence which should serue as a spurre to vertue and a bridle to vice The Stoickes though they graunted a diuine providence yet withall they stiffely maintained such a fatall Necessity not only in the events of humane actions but in the actions themselues as thereby they blunted the edge of all vertuous endeauours and made an excuse for vicious courses Againe the Epicurean gaue too much way to irregular affections and on the other side the Stoicke was too professed an enimy to them though regulated by reason but both of them doubted if not denyed the immortality of the soule whereby they opened a wide gappe to all licentiousnesse not censureable by the lawes of man or which the executioners whereof either thorow ignorance could not or thorow feare or fauour would not take notice of Which hath often made mee wonder that the common-wealth of the Iewes would suffer such a pestilent sect in the bowels of it as the Sadduces who flatly denyed not only the resurrection of the body but the immortality of the soule Since then the Christian religion and that alone teacheth both as fundamentall articles of our beleife and withall a particular providence of God extending to the very thoughts and a particular judgement after this life rewarding every man according to that he hath done in the flesh whether it be good or euill and besides requires a reformation of the heart inward man the fountaine source of all outward actions speeches it is most euident that howsoeuer our liues bee yet our rules tend more to vertue and honesty then did those either of the Gentiles or of the Iewes who although they were not all infected with the foule leprosie of the Sadduces yet it is certaine that these doctrines and rules were not in the law of Moses the Prophets so cleerely deliuered as now they are by Christ his Apostles in the Gospell nay the law it selfe permitted vnto thē such a diuorce though for the hardnes of their hearts as is not now allowed And though the Law allowed not
Provinces Wherevpon temples were erected vnto him and a Colledge of Priests both men and women and coynes were stamped with rayes or beames about his head whence the Poet Praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores To thee while thou dost liue Honours divine we giue Now the Ceremonies of the Apotheosis or deifying their Emperours as appeares in Herodian and others was briefely thus After the Princes death the body being sumptuously and honorablely interred they framed an image of waxe resembling in all respects the party deceased but palish and wanne as a sicke man and so being laid at the entry of the palace in an yvory bed covered with cloath of gold the Senate Ladies assisting in mourning attire the Physitians daily resorted to him to touch his pulse and consider in college of his disease doctorally at their departure resolving that hee grew in worse and worse tearmes and hardly would escape it At the end of seaven dayes during which time saith Xiphilinus there stood a page with a fanne of peacockes feathers to keepe off the flies from the face as if he had beene but asleepe they opened and found by their learning the crisis belike being badde that the patient was departed Wherevpon some of the Senate appointed for that purpose and principall gentle-men taking vp the bed vpon their shoulders carried it thorow Via sacra into the Forum where a company of young Gentle-men of greatest birth standing on the one side and maydes of the other sung hymnes sonnets the one to the other in commendation of the dead Prince entuned in a solemne and mournfull note with all kind of other musicke and melodie as indeed the whole ceremonie was a mixt action of mourning and mirth as appeareth by Seneca at the consecration of Claudius who thus floutes at it Et erat omnium formosissimum funus Claudij impensa curaplenum vt scires Deum efferri tibicinum Cornicinum omnisque generis aeneatorum tanta turba tantus Conventus vt etiam Claudius audire possit It was the goodliest shew and the fullest of sollicitous curiositie that you might know a God was to be buried so great was the rabble of trumpetters cornetters and other Musitians that even Claudius himselfe might haue heard them After this they carried the herse out of the citie into Campus Martius where a square tower was built of timber large at the bottome and of competent height to receiue wood faggots sufficiently outwardly bedeckt hung with cloath of gold imagerie worke and curious pictures Vpon that tower stood a second turret in figure and furniture like to the first but somewhat lesse with windowes and doores standing open wherein the herse was placed all kinde of spiceries and odours which the whole world could yeeld heaped therein And so a third and fourth turret and so forth growing lesse and lesse toward the toppe The whole building representing the forme of a lanthorne or watch-tower which giveth light in the night Thus all being placed in order the Gentle-men first rode about it marching in a certaine measure then followed others in open coaches with robes of honour and vpon their faces vizards of the good Princes and honourable personages of ancient times All these Ceremonies thus being performed the Prince which succeeded taketh a torch and first putteth to the fire himselfe and after him all the rest of the company and by and by as the fire was kindled out of the toppe toppe of the highest turret an Eagle was let fly to carry vp his soule into heaven and so he was afterward reputed and by the Romanes adored among the rest of the Gods Marry before the consecration it was vsuall that some Gentlemen at least should bestow an oath to proue their Deitie Nec defuit vir Praetorius quise efligiem cremati euntem in coelum vid◅sse iurasset sayth Suetonius of Augustus neither was there wanting one who had beene Praetor Dion names him Numerius Atticus to sweare that he saw his Effigies mounting into heaven The like was testified of Drusilla sister and wife to Caius by one Livius Geminius a Senatour of which Dio thus writes One Livius Geminius a Senatour swore that he saw Drusilla ascending vp into heaven and conversing with the Gods wishing to himselfe and his children vtter destruction if he spake an vntruth calling to witnesse both sundry other Gods and specially the Goddesse her selfe of whom he spake For which oath he received a million of Sesterces which makes 7812l l 10s s Sterling What a deale of fopperie and impiety was here mixed together Yet this lesson as Sir Henry Savill frō whom I haue borrowed the greatest part of this last narration conjectures they may seem to haue learned of Proculus Iulius who took an oath not much otherwise for Romulus deitie whō the Senate murdered and made a God from whence this race of the Roman Gods may seeme to haue taken beginning And I doubt not but many of the wiser sort of the Romanes themselues secretly laughed at this folly sure I am that Lucan durst openly scoffe at it Cladis tamen huius habemus Vindictam quantum terris dare numina fas est Bella pares Superis facient civilia divos Fulminibus manes radijsque ornabit astris Inque Deum templis jurabit Roma per vmbras Yet of this slaughter such revenge we haue As heavenly powers may give or earth can craue Gods like to those aboue these civill warres Shall make and Rome with lightning beames starres Shall them adorne and in the temples where The Gods doe dwell shall by their shadowes sweare It is true that in our time after the death of the late Charles in France his image was laid in a rich bed in triumphant attire with the Crowne vpon his head and the coller of the order about his necke forty dayes at ordinary houres dinner and supper was served in with all accustomed ceremonies as sewing water grace carving say taking c. all the Cardinalls Prelats Lords Gentlemen Officers attending in far greater solemnity then if he had been aliue Now this I confesse was a pe◅ce of flattery more then needed but not comparable to that of the Romans in making their Emperours Gods which they might well haue conceived was neither in the power of the one to giue nor of the other to receiue Yet was not this honour conferred vpon their Emperours alone Tully as wise as he would be held would needes haue his daughters deified and the same did Adrian by Antinous his minion which no doubt might as wel be justified as Caligula's making his horse a Priest or the same Adrians erecting monuments to his dead dogges SECT 3. Of their impudent nay impious vaine-glory and boasting of their owne nation and city YEt their inordinate preposterous Zeale in extolling every where their Empire and cittie beyond measure and modesty and truth seemes to haue exceeded this toward their Emperours
contrarywise by admitting this nest of murtherers and theeues into their protection they justly deserued to bee warred vpon themselues Yet after this warre ended and a peace solemnely concluded when the Carthaginians made a doubtfull warre vpon their rebellious Mercenaries of Sardinia the Romans perceiuing that Carthage beyond their hope had recovered her feete againe began to strike at her head On the suddain they denounced warre against this infeebled and impoverished Citie vnder a shameles pretence that the preparations made for Sardinia were made indeed against Rome it selfe The Carthaginians knew themselues at that time vnable to resist and therefore yeelded to the Roman demaund renouncing vnto them all their right in Sardinia But this was not enough they would haue 1200 talents in recompence belike for I see not what reason they could alleage of the great feare which they had indured of an invasion from Carthage It is indeed plaine that they impudently sought occasion of warre but necessity taught the Carthaginians patience and the money was payde how hardly soeuer it was raised Let not Rome then complaine of the punicke faith in the breach of Covenants she her selfe hath broken the peace already which Amilcar purposed to make her dearely repent but what Amilcar liued not to performe was accomplished by Hannibal his renowned sonne SECT 7. Thirdly that the Christians in suffering for Religion surpassed the Romane fortitude THirdly if true fortitude consist as well in suffering as in doing nay rather in suffering chearefully and constantly then in doing valiantly as the Prince of Philosophers great Master of morality hath taught vs Ex eo fortes appellantur quòd res molestas atque asperas fortiter ferant from thence are they tearmed manfull that they manfully indure bitter and shatpe brunts and from him the Poet Fortiter ille facit qui miser esse potest He it is doth valiantly That can miserable be Then I will be bold to say that the Christian Religion hath yeelded more vndaunted invincible spirits then euer Pagan Rome did nay then all the Pagan Religion euer did so as I cannot sufficiently wonder what should induce Machiavell to conceiue or affirme that the Christian Religion serued to make men cowards and that Paganisme was in that respect to bee preferred before it Surely hee that shall advisedly reade the Ecclesiasticall-Story what incredible multitudes with what alacritie and what exquisite torments they endured will soone I thinke be of another mind they were so farre from shunning death that they ranne to meete it halfe way kissed it imbraced it in what vgly terrible shape soever it appeared in so much that our writers of the Primitiue Church dare match them as well they might with the most hardy resolute of the Romans yea and to preferre them before these Nostri autem sayth Lactantius vt de viris taceam pueri 〈◊〉 tortores suos taciti vincunt expromere illis gemitum nec ignis potest Eant Romani Mutio glorientur aut Regulo quorum alter necandum se hostibus tradidit quod Captivum puduit vivere alter ab hostibus depraehensus cum videret mortem se vitare non posse manum foco inâ—…ecit vt pro facinore suo satisfaceret â—…osti quem voluit occidere eaque poena veniam quam meruerat accepit Those of our profession not to speake of the men even boyes tender young women doe with silence conquer their Executioners from whom not the fire it selfe can wring so much as a groane Let the Romanes goe then and boast of their Mutius Regulus of which the one offered himselfe to death by the hand of the enimy for that he was ashamed to liue in captivity the other being attatched by the enimy when he saw he could not avoyd death burnt his hand in the fire that so for his wicked attempt he might make satisfaction to the enimy whom he sought to dispatch and by that penance purchased he an vndeserved pardon But with vs behold those who are for their sexe infirme and weake for their age suffer themselues wholy to bee torne in peeces and burnt not through any necessity for they might avoyd ' it if they would but willingly and readily because they trust in God Eusebius takes a larger scope and makes a boldner challenge including not the Romanes alone but the Graecians and any other not Christians Ex omnibus qui vnquam vel apud Graecos vel apud Barbaros propter animi magnitudinem illustres hominum sermone celebrati sunt nullus cum divinis eximijs nostri temporis Martyribus Dorotheo suis sodalibus imperatorum ministris comparari potest Among all those who either among tho Graecians or Barbarians haue beene renowned for their magnanimitie none of them all could be matched with those divine heroycall Martyrs of our time Dorotheus and his Companions the Emperours servants After these in time but in learning and zeale nothing inferiour vnto them S. Augustine confidently maintaines the same truth Hoc sequuti sunt Martyres qui Scaevolas Curtios Decios non sibi inferendo poenas sed illatas ferendo virtute vera quia vera pietate innumera multitudine superarunt This rule our Martyrs followed who not by laying violent hands on themselues but by patiently enduring others exceeded the Scevolâ—… the Curtij the Decij both in true fortitude because joyned with true piety and besides in multitudes innumerable And lastly before aâ—… these Tertullian both saw and publiquely taught the same truth Multi apud vos ad tolerantiam doloris mortis hortantur vt Cicero in Tusculanis vt Seneca in Fortuitis vt Diogenes vt Pyrrhon vt Callimachus nec tamen tantos inveniunt verba discipulos quantos Christiani factis docendo Many among you exhort men to a constant and patient enduring of griefe death as Cicero in his Tusculanes Seneca in his remedies against fortune Diogenes Pyrrhon and Callimachus yet their writings and words finde not so many Schollers as doe the Christians teaching by their deedes deaths But because the Romans stand so much vpon their valour in suffering for their countrey it were not hard to instance in many Christians who might justly be paralled with the chiefest of them in that kinde I will content my selfe only with one example and that of the Burgesses of Calais as I finde it reported by Pasquier The towne of Calais during the raigne of Philip de Valois being brought to those straights that now there was no more hope left either for succour or victuals Iohn Lord of Vienna who there commaunded for the King began to treate about the rendring of it desiring only that they might giue it vp with safety of their liues and goods which conditions being offered to Edward King of England who by the space of eleven moneths had straightly besieged it he being exceedingly inraged that so small a town should alone stand
with Lawes If then a wise choice were made out of the whole bodie of the Lawes of the most vsefull and proper for the present times and they severely executed the rest being repealed and abrogated it would proue both easier for the subject and happier for the weale publique Now for the number of Law-suites it hath alwayes beene observed that in times of peace and plenty as riches increase by manufactures and tillage and trading so doth the number of controversies Our Forefathers for many agés together lived for the most part in Civill Warres and continuall alarmes so as the sword then determined the controversie and not the Law since then the sword hath bin sheathed no marveile that the Law Courts of Iustice haue bin more in request Moreover the fall of the Monasteries and the alienating of their Lands into so many hands hath no doubt bin a great meanes to set Lawyers a worke since that fall more then in former ages And what is it but the setting of men a worke which sets vp a trade and multiplies the professours thereof And as the number of professours multiplie so doe the diversitie of their conceites and inventions many eyes seing more then one can which is the cause that both more flawes are found in Convayances and consequently more clauses and cautions thrust into them for the preventing of the like SECT 2. Another objection answered taken from the Scriptures which in diverse places seeme to say that the last times shall be the worst BUt the great doubt which troubles most men is that the Scriptures seeme in diverse places to say that the last times shall be the worst and to this end are commonly alleadged these passages Because iniquity shall abound the loue of many shall waxe cold When the Sonne of Man commeth shall he finde faith on the earth Now the Spirit speaketh expressely that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devills This know also that in the last dayes perillous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their owne selues covetous boasters and evill men and seducers shall waxe worse and worse deceiving and being deceived There shall come in the last dayes scoffers walking after their owne lusts Beloved remember yee the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ how that they told you there should be mockers in the last dayes who should walke after their owne vngodly lusts These are all or at least-wise the principall passages which I haue either found alleaged or can remember to that purpose Whereâ—…to I first reply in generall that put the case they all inferred a decay in matter of Manners toward the end of the world yet doth not that necessarily inforce a perpetuall vniversall declination since the fall of man but men may be as doubtlesse they haue been sometimes better sometimes worse by interchange and at the last worst of all But I would demaund how it can hang together that we should expect the subversion of Antichrist his kingdome the conversion of the whole Nation of the Iewes to the saving knowledge of the truth before the end of the world and yet withall affirme or beleeue that the whole world still hath doth shall to the end thereof grow worse and worse For mine owne part I must professe that I know not how to reconcile so different and contradictorie opinions But for the better clearing and vnderstanding of the passages alleaged it will be needfull to consider in what sense The last dayes in holy Scripture are to be taken Some there are who referre them to the dayes of Antichrist but others vpon better warrant to the dayes of Christ from his first comming in the flesh to his second comming to judgement Thus the Prophet Isayah It shall come to passe in the last dayes that the Mountaine of the Lords house shall be established in the toppe of the mountaines And Micah to the same purpose and so neere in the same words as if he borrowed them from Esay Now the dayes of Christs kingdome are therefore called the last dayes not onely because it set an end to the kingdome of the Iewes but because none other Priest-hood or Sacrifice or Sacraments or Law are to succeede in place thereof As man is a little world so the age of the world like that of man is distributed into diverse stops or periods It hath its infancie child-hood youth perfect estate old age And as in man old age may and sometime doth last as long as all the rest so may it fall out in these times of the kingdome of Christ and yet they be still the last times Thus the time of Iob from his restitution to his death is said to be his last dayes or latter end though it comprehend one hundred and forty yeares which in the life of man is a long space And if by the last dayes we should vnderstand the times neere approaching to the worlds end no small advantage might thereby vnawares be given to the Iewes who would beare vs in hand that the Messias is not yet come because the last times are not yet come Whereas we on the other side say for our selues and truly that the last times are come not therefore because they approach neere to the worlds end but because the Messias is come Vpon which ground the Apostles themselues in imitation belike of the Prophets likewise tearme it the last times In the last times he hath spoken to vs by his Sonne saith S. Paul And S. Iohn Little children it is the last time and as you haue heard that Antichrist shall come euen now are many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time Since which time we know sixteene Centenaries of yeares haue passed So as the Apostles could not well tearme their times the last in regard of any neare approach to the worlds end but because they liued vnder the Kingdome of Christ. And if I should thus expound those alleadged passages I should conceiue the interpretatioÌ„ were not vnsound Augustin I am sure in his Epist. to Hesichius allowes it Calvin in divers places beats vpon it Per dies extremos satis tritum est regnum Christi designari and in another place more fully to our present purpose Sub extremis diebus comprehendit vniversum Christianae Ecclesiae statum vnder the tearmes of the last dayes hee comprehends the vniversall estate of the Church of Christ. Herevnto may be added that which some latter learned Diuines touching this point haue obserued that the Hebrew word signifies either extremitie or posterioritie as I may so speake Whence it is somtimes rendred Last and sometimes Latter both in Greeke Latine and other Languages and those two promiscuously taken the one for the other Thus the Apostle in 2 Timothy and the 3. calls that the last times which
all To Chaos backe returne then all the starres shall be Blended together then those burning lights on high In sea shall drench earth then her shores will not extend But to the waues giue way the moone her course shall bend Crosse to her brothers and disdaining still to driue Her chariot wheels athward the heavenly orbe shall striue To rule the day this frame to discord wholy bent The worlds peace shall disturbe and all in sunder rent SECT 3. That the world shall haue an end by fire proved likewise by the testimony of the Gentiles ANd as they held that the world should haue an end so likewise that this end should come to passe by fire Exustionis hujus odor quidam etiam ad Gentes manauit sayth Ludovicus Vives speaking of the generall combustion of the world some sent of this burning hath spread it selfe even to the Gentiles And Saint Hierome in his comment on the 51 of I say Quae quidem Philosophorum mundi opinio est omnia quae cernimus igni peretura which is also the opinion of the Philosophers of this world that all which we behold shall perish by fire Eusebius is more particular affirming it to be the doctrine of the Stoicks and namely of Zeno Cleanthes Chrysippus the most ancient among them Certaine it is that Seneca a principall Scholler or rather Master of that sect both thought it taught it Et Sydera Syderibus incurrent omni flagrante materia vnâ—… igne quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet ardebit The starres shall make inrodes one vpon another and all the whole world being in a flame whatsoever now shines in comely and decent order shall burne together in one fire Panaetius likewise the Stoick feared as witnesseth Cicero ne ad extremum mundus ignesceret least the world at last should be burnt vp with fire And with the Stoicks heerein Pliny agrees Consumente vbertatem seminum exustione in cujus vices nunc vergat aevum the heate burning vp the plentifull moisture of all seedes to which the world is now hastening Numeâ—…us also saith good soules continue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vntill the dissolution of all things by fire And with the Philosophers their Poets accord Lucan as hee held that the world should haue an end so in speciall by fire where speaking of those whom Caesar left vnburned at the battle of Pharsalia hee thus goes on Hos Caesar populos si nunc non vsserit ignis Vret cum terris vret cum gurgite ponti Communis mundo superest rogus ossibus astra Misturus If fire may not these corpes to ashes turne O Caesar now when earth and seas shall burne It shall a common fire the world shall end And with these bones those heau'nly bodies blend As for Ovia he deduces it from their propheticall records Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur affore tempus Quo mare quo tellus convexaque regia coeli Ardeat mundi moles operosa laborat Besides he calls to minde how by decree Of fates a time shall come when earth and sea And Heavens high Throne shall faint and the whole frame Of this great world shall be consum'd in flame Which he borrowed saith Ludovicus Vives ex fatis indubiè Sybillinis vndoubtedly from the Oracles of Sybilla And indeed verses there are which goe vnder the name of Sybilla to the very same purpose Tunc ardens fluvius coelo manabit ab alto Igneus atque locos consumâ—…t funditus omnes Terramque Oceanumque ingentem caerula ponti Stagnaque tum fluvios fontes ditemque Severum Coelestemque polum coeli quoque lumina in unum Fluxa ruent formâ deletâ prorsus eorum Astra cadent etenim de coelo cuncta revulsa Then shall a burning floud flow from the Heavens on high And with its fiery streames all places vtterly Destroy earth ocean lakes rivers fountaines hell And heavenly poles the Lights in firmament that dwell Loosing their beauteous forme shall be obscur'd and all Raught from their places down from heaven to earth shall fall He that yet desires farther satisfaction in this point may reade Eugubinus his tenth booke de Perenni Philosophia Magius de exustione Mundi And so I passe to my third and last point proposed in the beginning of this Chapter which is that the whole world by fire shall totally and intirely be consumed SECT 4. That the world shall be by fire totally and finally dissolved and annihilated prooved by Scripture I Am not ignorant that the opinions of Divines touching the manner of the Consummation of the world haue beene as different as the greatest part of them are strange and improbable some imagining that all the Creatures which by Almighty God were made at the first beginning shall againe be restored to that perfection which they injoyed before the fall of man Others that the Heauens and Elements shall onely be so restored others that the Heauens and onely two of the Elements the Aire and the Earth others againe that the old world shall be wholly abolished and a new created in steed thereof and lastly others which I must confesse to me seemes the most likely opinion and most agreeable to scripture and reason that the whole world with all the parts and workes thereof onely men and Angels and Divels and the third Heauens the mansion-house of the Saints and blessed Angels and the place and instruments appointed for the tormenting of the damned excepted shall be totally and finally dissolued and annihilated As they were made out of nothing so into nothing shall they returne againe In the prooving whereof I will first produce mine owne arguments and then shew the weakenes of the adverse Man lieth downe and riseth not saith Iob till the heauens be no more Of old hast thou laide the foundation of the earth and the heauens are the worke of thy hands They shall perish but thou shalt endure saith the Psalmist which the Apostle in the first to the Hebrewes and the 10. and the 11. repeates almost in the same words Lift vp your eyes to the heauens and looke vpon the earth beneath for the heauens shall vanish away like smoake and the earth shall waxe old as doth a garment saith the Prophet Esay and in another place all the host of heauen shal be dissolved the heauen shal be rolled together as a scroll all their host shall fall downe as the leafe falleth off from the vine and as a falling fig from the figge tree To the former of which wordes S. Iohn seemes to allude And the heauen departed as a scroll which is rolled together Heauen earth shall passe away but my word shall not passe away saith our Saviour The day of the Lord will come as a theefe in the night in the which the Heauens shall passe away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heate The earth
be vnto him a terrible and feareful spectacle aswel in regard of their infinite number as their inresistable strength We read of diverse holy men who vpon the sight of an Angell haue beene cast into such pittifull fits that their spirits haue fayled them their breath hath forsaken them their joynts haue bin loosed and for the time they haue bin as dead bodies without all appearance of sense or life Now if holy men haue been so much moved with the sight of one Angell bringing them good tidings and conversing familiarly with them into what inconceiueable gulfes of horrour shall the reprobate be plunged vpon the sight of so many millions all armed with indignation against them and desire of the full and finall execution of their Creators will If an army of men marching with banners displayed bee terrible to behold how dreadfull shall those innumerable hoaste of heavenly souldiers appeare to the face of their enimies and if one of them slew foure score and fiue thousand in one night what mortall weight shall conceiue any hope of standing before such multitudes who as they are now sent forch to minister for their sakes that are heires of salvation so then shall they separate the just from the vnjust and shall execute vengeance vpon them that shall be heires of damnation casting them into a fornace of fire where shall be wayling and gnashing of teeth So as they shall not be bare Spectatours but principall Act◅urs in that lamentable tragedie We finde that when but one of them descended to role away the stone frō our Saviours Sepulchre there was a great Earth-quake and for feare of him the keepers of the Sepulchre were astonied and became as dead men Into what extremity then of confusion and perplexity shall the wicked be driven when they shall perceiue such troupes of these mighty and glorious Creatures assembled not only to be witnesses of their shame and just condemnation but agents in their execution Besides all this it shall be acted in the presence of those blessed Saints whom they alwayes held their greatest enemies and what greater bitternesse can be imagined then to be layd open and reproached in the sight of a mans enimies and to see them in the meane time advanced to honour triumphing and insulting vpon his miseries as the Saints then shall doe vpon impenitent sinners admiring and applauding the justice of their Creat◅r and as assistants approving the equity of that sentence which he shall pronounce and which the Condemned themselues likewise cannot but justifie In asmuch as then in an instant shall be represented vnto themselues and discovered in the open view of the whole world all the horrible foule bloody crying roaring sinnes that ever they committed together with all the circumstances of time and place and persons and manner and measure Then shall they giue a particular strict account of all the blessings of all the gifts and graces which God hath bestowed vpon them of all the faculties of their soules of all the senses and members of their bodies as it were of so many talents committed to their charge how they haue vsed or rather abused them Then shall they giue an account how they haue profited by all those wholsome lessons they haue heard and fatherly chastisements they haue beene corrected with how they haue entertained those good motions that God hath put into their hearts how they haue withstood the Suggestions of Sathan the temptations of the world and the flesh Then shall they giue an account not only of their greivous haynous sinnes of presumption and malice committed against the light of their Conscience wittingly willingly wilfully with an high hand and striffe necke but of filthy rotten speeches prophane writings vnsavory jests nay of every idle word nay of every loose and lewd thought not only of outward publique notorious transgressions but of secret practises mischievous plots projects knowne only to God and their owne soules Lastly not only of sins of Commission but of the omission of good duties and of their pretious time mis-spent passing the greatest part thereof in eating and drinking sleeping and dancing and gaming in haunting taverns and play-houses and dicing-houses and brothell-houses which should haue been spent in the workes of Charity of Piety or those of their private calling Good God what shall the poore sinner now say what shall he doe for the levelling and cleering of these accounts shall he call for mercy he hath already shut that doore against himselfe Shall he fly to his Saviour hee is now become his Iudge Shall he implore the intercession of the Saints and Angells neither will they intercede if they might be heard nor shall they be heard though they would intercede O hard distresse sayth devoute Anselme on the one side will be his sinnes accusing him on the other side justice terrifying him vnder him the gulfe of hell gaping aboue him the Iudge frowning within him a Conscience stinging without him the world burning Finding no way then to releiue or excuse himselfe hee shall seeke to hide himselfe in dens and among the clefts of the rockes and shall say vnto the hills and mountaines fall vpon me and cover me from the presence of him that sitteth vpon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lambe for the great day of his wrath is come and who can stand and if the righteous be hardly saved where shall the impenitent sinner appeare Yet no remedie stand forth and appeare they must at the open barre or Gods justice and there receiue their last doome Depart from me yee Cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angells SECT 4. Or lastly the dreadfulnes of the sentence which shall then be pronounced vpon them O Mercifull Lord what a dolefull what as dreadfull sentence is this Depart from thee O Christ why thou art all things and therefore the losse of thee is an vniversall losse of all things Thou art the greatest good and therefore to be deprived of thee is the greatest evill Thou art the very Center and perfect rest of the soule and therefore to bee pulled from thee is the most cruell separation that can be It was the richest promise that thou couldst make to the penitent theefe and the sweetest voyce that he could heare This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Lord whither shall we goe from thee saith one of thine Apostles and the other only wisheth to be dissolved that he may be with thee The Wisards of the East when they recovered the sight of the starre that but led vnto thee being yet in the state of infirmitie and humilitie rejoyced with an exceeding great joy and thy forerunner the Baptist at the voyce of thy blessed mother sprang for joy being yet in the wombe how then would they haue beene replenished and ravished with joy to haue seen thee in thy Kingdome of glory and tormented with griefe to haue bin commaunded out of thy presence specially
thorow his death when they were enemies they shall much more be saued by his life now that they are friends For how incredible is it nay how impossible that he who pardoneth an enemy should condemne a friend He loued them whiles they yet bore the image of the Diuell and will he not much more loue them now since he hath in part repaired his owne Image in them They were deare vnto him when there was in them no goodnesse can hee now abandon them being made partakers of that goodnes which himselfe hath wrought in them Being then pluckt out of the power of darknesse let them neuer feare to be rejected by the Father of lights having the blessed Angels sent forth to minister for their sakes let them neuer feare to be deliuered ouer vnto or in the finall sentence to be joined with the Divell and his Angels What shall we then say to these things if God be on our side who can be against vs who spared not his owne Sonne but gaue him for vs all to death how shall he not with him giue vs all things also Who shal lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen it is God that iustifieth who shall condemne it is Christ which is dead or rather which is risen againe Who shall separate vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword nay in all these things wee are more then conquerours thorow him that loued vs. And wee are perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. And as the loue and favour of God in Christ doth thus arme his children against the terrour of the day of iudgment so doe likewise the gracious promises made vnto them which imbolden them to say again with the blessed Apostle I haue fought a good fight I haue finished my course I haue kept the faith from henceforth is laid vp for me the Crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall giue me at that day and not to me only but vnto all them also that loue that his appearing If I shall then receiue a Crowne of righteousnesse I need not feare hell fire if the righteous Iudge himselfe will giue it me I need not stand in awe of his severity if he shall giue it to all those who loue that his appearing I need not tremble at the thought thereof nay I haue rather great reason to be glad and rejoyce thereat and when I see those things come to passe to looke vp lift vp mine head as being well assured that my redemption draweth neere And not only my redemption but mine advancement to honour euen in that very act of Iudgment the bench rather then the barre being my place there my selfe being ordained not to stand forth as a prisoner but to sit as a Iudge Verily I say vnto you that when the Sonne of man shall sit in the Throne of his Maiesty yee which followed me in the regeneration shall sit also vpon twelue thrones and iudge the twelue tribes of Israell sayth Truth it selfe Which priviledge lest we should thinke to be restrained only to his Apostles one of them by good warrant extends it to all the faithfull Doe ye not know saith he that the Saints shall iudge the world that is wicked men who haue oppressed vs And againe Know ye not that we shall iudge the Angels that is wicked spirits who haue tempted or assaulted vs. Now what folly is it to be afrayde of that judgment where we our selues shall be Iudges and that of our greatest enemies nay what incouragement should it bee to receiue if need were the sentence of death for Christs sake since it is certaine that as Christ himselfe shall judge Pilate before whom hee was arraigned and by whom he was wrongfully condemned so also shall we in some sort at leastwise as Assessors with him approouers of his sentence judge our Iudges For although Christ our Head principally and properly shall be the Iudge yet wee that are his members shall haue a branch of his authority and shall be as it were joyned in commission with him SECT 6. Or the quality and condition of the Iudge in respect of them by whom they are to be tryed or lastly the sweetnesse of the sentence which shâ—…ll then be pronounced on their behalfe BVt setting this Commission aside what a comfort will it bee to the Godly to be summoned to be assembled to be separated from the goates by the ministery of those very Angels who were appointed to be their guardians to pitch their tents round about them and to beare them vp with their hands that they might not dash their foote against a stone nay what joy vnvtterable with their eyes to behold and looke vpon that Sauiour of theirs appearing in Maiesty as a Iudge who redeemed them with his heart blood and gaue his life as a ransome for them in whom they haue trusted on whom they haue beleeued to whom they haue prayed for whom they haue suffered with whom they shall be glorified Their Father their Husband their Master their Head their Physitian their Advocate and Intercessour and can the father condemne the sonne the husband the wife the Master his faithfull servant the head his members the Physitian his patient the Advocate his Client How happy is our case then that hee must be our Iudge that was himselfe judged for vs and our assurance is that hee will not condemne vs that hath already beâ—…ne condemned for vs No he will be so farre from condemning vs that then and there hee will fully acquit vs in the sight of the whole world and pronounce that favourable sentence on our behalfe Come yee blessed of my Father inherite a kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world A judiciall sentence shall I call it or rather a brotherly gratious invitation Come ye blessed of my Father Come that where the husband is there may the wife be that where the father is there may the sonnes be that where the Master is there may the servants be that where the Captain is there may the souldiers be that where the king is there may the subjects be that where the head is there may the members be Come it was thy voice sweet Savior whiles thou wert yet in the state of humility Come vnto me all ye that are weary heavy laden I will refresh you dost thou still retaine the same sweetnes and familiality being now in glory and that whiles thou art sitting vpon the throne of justice Good Lord how dost thou at the same instant shew thy selfe terrible as a Lyon to thine enimies yet gentle as a Lamb to thy friends frowning vpon the one and yet smiling on
the other commaunding the one out of thy presence with an Ite Goe and inviting the other to approach neere with a Venite Come Come come my deare hearts now is the time that you must rest from your labours that your teares must be wip'd off that your long expectatiō longing hope must be turned into fruitiō your race is at an end you must now receiue the prize your wrestling at an end you must now receiue the garland your combating at an end you must now receiue the Crowne Come yee Blessed of my Father Blessed in your liues and blessed in your deaths blessed in your election blessed in your vocation blessed in your adoption blessed in your justification blessed in your sanctification and now for accomplishment of all most blessed in your glorification And the fountaine of all this your blessednes is none other then the very Father of blessings my Father and your Father mine by nature yours by grace mine by eternall generation and yours by spirituall regeneration And whom the Father blesses the Son cannot but most lovingly and tenderly imbrace Come yee blessed of my Father what to doe to inherit a Kingdome Least my words should seeme to be but winde least my promises should seeme to be vaine and your patience and beleeving vaine Come receiue that which I haue promised and you haue beleeved Come and take actuall possession of it yet not as a purchase of your owne but as an inheritance not as wages but as a reward not as bought by the value of your merits but conferred vpon you by the vertue of my sufferings and the benediction of my Father as the cause and your sonne-shippe and obedience as the condition Your title is good your evidence faire so as no exception can be taken to your right nothing so much as pretended or pleaded to disinherit you Come on then chearefully make hast and enter vpon it my selfe will leade you the way follow me But what may it bee gracious Lord that wee shall possesse surely no lesse then a Kingdome This reward is sometimes set forth vnto vs vnder the name of a pleasant garden or Paradise of delight sometime of a stately magnificent palace sometime of a large and beautifull Cittie but here of a Kingdome a glorious a spacious a secure a durable Kingdome whose King is the Trinity whose Law is Divinitie whose measure aternity as farre beyond all the kingdomes of this world and all the guilded pompe the glittering power and riches of them as the greatest earthly Monarch is beyond the King in a play Earthly Monarches haue their secret pressures and pinches they haue their feares and cares and griefes and envy and anger and sickenes mixed with their joyes and contents or at least by turnes succeeding them Somewhat is ever wanting to their desires and full of doubtes and jealousies they are that their dominions may be either impaired or invaded And if they were free from the possibility of all those yet may they in a moment and that by a thousand wayes be arrested by death and then all their honour lies in the dust all their thoughts perish But now with them that inherit this heavenly Kingdome it is not so they haue joy and content at full without the least intermission or diminutiō without the least mixture of any feare or care or griefe or envy or anger or any other troublesome passion whatsoever They are out of all doubt jealousie of loosing that which they possesse either in whole or in part they are confident and secure that neither this Kingdome can be taken from them by rebellion or invasion nor they from it by death or deposition And herein againe doth this Kingdome excell all other kingdomes that it is of Gods speciall preparing And such happinesse he hath prepared in it for them that shall possesse it as eye hath not seene eare hath not heard tongue cannot vtter neither hath at any time entred into the heart of man Such as his imagination cannot apprehend nor his vnderstanding possiblely conceiue O my Lord if thou for this vile body of ours hast given vs so great and innumerable benefits from the firmament from the aire from the earth from the sea by light by darkenesse by heate by shadow by dewes by showers by windes by raines by fishes by beasts by birds by multitude of hearbes and variety of plants and by the ministery of all thy Creatures O sweete Lord what manner of things how great how good and how innumerable are those which thou hast prepared for vs in our heavenly Kingdome where we shall see thee face to face and raigne with thee eternally If thou doe so great things for vs in our prison what wilt thou giue vs in our palace If thou givest so many things in this world to good and evill men together what hast thou layd vp for only good men in the world to come If thine enemies and friends together are so well provided for in this life what shall thy only friends receiue in the life to come If there be so great solaces in these dayes of teares what joy shall there be in that day of marriage If our jayle and prison containe so great matters what shall our Kingdome doe O my Lord and God thou art a great God great is the multitude of thy magnificence sweetnes and as there is none end of thy greatnes nor number of thy mercies nor bottome of thy wisedome nor measure of thy beauty So is there no end number or measure of thy rewards to them that loue serue thee SECT 7. Thirdly the consideration of this day may serue for admonition to all SEing then that all these things must be dossolved what manner persons ought we to be in holy conversation and godlines looking for and hasting vnto the comming of that day in which we all shall appeare before the judgement seate of Christ that every man may receiue according to that hee hath done in his body whether it be good or evill Truly I know not sayth S. Chrysostome what others doe thinke of it for my selfe it makes mee often tremble when I consider it And holy Hierome whatsoever I am doing saith he whether I be eating or drinking or sleeping or waking or alone or in company or reading or writing me thinkes I ever heare the shrill sound of the Archangels trumpet summoning all flesh to appeare and crying aloud Surgite mortui venite ad judicium arise yee dead and come away to judgement The remembrance hereof is like a bitter pill to purge out the malignitie of many wanton and vaine humours or like a strainer all our thoughts and speeches and actions which passe thorow it are thereby cleansed and purified As the bird guideth her bodie with her traine and the shippe is steered with the rudder so the course of a mans life is best directed with a continuall recourse vnto his last end It is hard for a man to thinke of
the times are more Civill and men more given to luxury and ease which passe and returne by turnes Succession it selfe effects nothing therein alone in case it did the first man in reason should haue lived longest and the son should still come short of his fathers age so that whereas Moses tells vs that the dayes of mans age in his time were threescore yeares and tenne by this reckoning they might well enough by this time be brought to tenne or twenty or thirty at most It cannot be denied but that in the first ages of the world both before and after the floud men vsually lived longer then wee finde they haue done in latter ages But that I should rather choose to ascribe to some extraordinary priviledge then to the ordinary course of nature The world was then to be replenished with inhabitants which could not so speedily be done but by an extraordinary multiplication of mankinde neither could that be done but by the long liues of men And againe Arts and sciences were then to be planted for the better effecting whereof it was requisite that the same men should haue the experience and observation of many ages For as many Sensations breed an experiment so doe many experiments a Science Per varios vsus artem experimentia fecit Exemplo monstrante viam Through much experience Arts invented were Example shewing way Specially it was requisite men should liue long for the perfecting of Astronomy and the finding out of the severall motions of the heavenly bodies whereof some are so slow that they aske a long time precisely to obserue their periods and reuolutions It was the complaint of Hippocrates Ars longa vita brevis And therefore Almighty God in his wisedome then proportioned mens liues to the length of Arts and as God gaue them this speciall priviledge to liue long so in likelihood hee gaue them withall a temper constitution of body answereable therevnto As also the foode wherewith they were nourished specially before the floud may well bee thought to haue beene more wholesome and nutritiue and the plants more medicinall And happily the influence of the heavens was at that time in that clymate where the Patriarches liued more favourable and gratious Now such a revolution as there is in the manners wits and ages of men the like may well bee presumed in their strength and stature Videtur similis esse ratio in magnitudine corporum siue statura quae nec ipsa per successionem propaginis defluit There seemeth to be the like reason in the groweth bignesse of mens bodies which decreaseth not by succession of ofspring but men are sometimes in the same nation taller sometimes of a shorter stature sometimes stronger and sometimes weaker as the times wherein they liue are more temperate or luxurious more given to labour or exercise or to ease and idlenesse And for those narrations which are made of the Gyantlike statures of men in former ages many of them were doubtles merely poeticall and fabulous I deny not but such men haue beene who for their strength and stature haue beene the miracles of nature the worlds wonders whom God would therefore haue to bee saith S. Austine that hee might shew that as well the bignesse as the beautie of the body are not to be ranged in the number of things good in themselues as being common both to good and badde Yet may wee justly suspect that which Suetonius hath not spared to write that the bones of huge beasts or sea-monsters both haue and still doe passe currant for the bones of Gyants A very notable story to this purpose haue wee recorded by Camerarius who reports that Francis the first king of France who reigned about an hundred yeares since being desirous to know the truth of those things which were commonly spread touching the strength and stature of Rou'land nephew to Charlelamaine caused his sepulchre to be opened wherein his bones and bow were found rotten but his armour sound though couered with rust which the king commaunding to bee scoured off and putting it vpon his owne body found it so fit for him as thereby it appeared that Rouland exceeded him little in bignesse and stature of bodie though himselfe were not excessiue tall or bigge SECT 6. The precedents of this chapt summarily recollected and the methode observed in the ensuing treatise proposed NOw briefely and summarily to recollect and as it were to winde vp into one clue or bottome what hath more largely beene discoursed thorow this chapter I hold first that the heavenly bodies are not at all either in regard of their substance motion light warmth or influence in the course of nature at all impaired or subject to any impairing or decay Secondly that all individuals vnder the Cope of heaven mixed of the elements are subject to a naturall declination and dissolution Thirdly that the quantity of the Elements themselues is subject to impairing in regard of their parts though not of their intire bodies Fourthly that the ayre and earth and water and diverse seasons diversely affected sometime for the better sometime for the worse and that either by some speciall favour or judgement of God or by some cause in nature secret or apparent Fiftly that the severall kindes of beasts of plantes of fishes of birds of stones of mettalls are as many in number as at the Creation every way in Nature as vigorous as at any time since the floud Sixtly and lastly that the manners the wits the health the age the strength and stature of men daily vary but so as by a vicissitude and reuolution they returne againe to their former points from which they declined againe decline and againe returne by alternatiue and interchangeable courses Erit hic rerum in se remeantium orbis quamdiù erit ipse orbis This circle and ring of things returning alwayes to their principles will neuer cease as long as the world lasts Repetunt proprios cuncta recursus Redituque suo singula gaudent Nec manet vlli traditus ordo Nisi quod fini iunxerit ortum Stabilemque sui fecerit orbem To their first spring all things are backeward bound And every thing in its returne delighteth Th' order once setled can in nought be found But what the end vnto the birth vniteth And of its selfe doth make a constant round And consequently there is no such vniversall and perpetuall decay in the frame of the Creatures as is commonly imagined and by some strongly maintained The methode which I propose is first to treate heereof in generall that so a cleerer way and easier passage may be opened to the particulars then of the Heavens as being the highest in situation and the noblest in outward glory and duration as also in their efficacie and vniversality of operation and therefore doth the Prophet rightly place them next God himselfe in the order of Causes it shall come to passe in that day saith
the Lord that I will heare the heavens and they shall heare the earth and the earth shall heare the corne and the wine and the oile and they shall heare Israell From that we may descend to the foure Elements which as a musicall instrument of foure strings is both tuned and touched by the hand of heaven And in the next place those bodies which are mixed and tempered of these Elements offer themselues to our consideration whether they bee without life as stones and mettalls or haue the life of vegetation only as Plants or both of vegetation and sense as beasts and birds and fishes and in the last place man presents himselfe vpon this Theater as being created last though first intended the master of the whole family chiefe Commaunder in this great house nay the master-peece the abridgment the mappe and modell of the Vniuerse And in him wee will examine this pretended decay first in regard of age and length of yeares secondly in regard of strength and stature thirdly in regard of wits and Arts and fourthly and lastly in regard of manners and conditions to which all that is in man is or should bee finally referred as all that is in the world is vnder God finally referred to man And because it is not sufficient to possesse our owne fort without the dismantling and demolishing of our enimies a principall care shall bee had throughout the whole worke to answere if not all at least the principall of those obiections which I haue found to weigh most with the adverse part And in the last place least I should any way bee suspected to shake or vndermine the ground of our Christian religion or to weaken the article of our beliefe touching the consummation of the world by teaching that it decayes not to wipe off that aspertion I will endeavour to prooue the certainety thereof not so much by Scripture which no Christian can be ignorant of as by force of Reason and the testimony of Heathen writers and finally I will conclude with an exhortation grounded therevpon for the stirring of men vp to a preparation of themselues against that day which shall not only end the world but iudge their actions and dispose of the everlasting estate of their persons CAP. 4. Touching the worlds decay in generall SECT 1. The three first generall reasons that it decayes not THe same Almighty hand which created the worlds massie frame and gaue it a being out of nothing doth still support and maintaine it in that being which at first it gaue and should it with draw himselfe but for a moment the whole frame would instantly returne into that nothing which before the Creation it was as Gregorie hath righly observed Deus suo presentiali esse dat omnibus rebus esse ita quod si se rebus subtraheret sicut de nihilo facta sunt omnia sic in nihilum diffluerent vniversa God by his presentiall Essence giues vnto all things an Essence so that if hee should withdraw himselfe from them as out of nothing they were first made so into nothing they would be againe resolved In the preservation then of the Creature wee are not so much to consider the impotencie and weakenesse thereof as the goodnesse wisedome and power of the Creator in whom and by whom and for whom they liue and moue and haue their being The spirit of the Lord filleth the world saith the Authour of the wisedome of Solomon and the secret working of the spirit which thus pierceth through all things hath the Poet excellently exprest Principio caelum ac terr as camposque liquentes Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem magno se corpore miscet The heauen the earth and all the liquide maine The Moones bright globe and starres Titanian A spirit within maintaines and their whole masse A minde which through each part infus'd doth passe Fashions and workes and wholly doth transpierce All this great Body of the Vniverse This Spirit the Platonists call the Soule of the World by it it is in some sort quickned and formaliz'd as the body of man is by its reasonable Soule There is no question then but this Soule of the World if wee may so speake being in truth none other then the immortall Spirit of the Creator is able to make the body of the World immortall and to preserue it from disolution as he doth the Angels and the spirits of men and were it not that he had determined to dissolue it by the same supernaturall and extraordinary power which at first gaue it existence I see not but by the ordinary concurrence of this spirit it might euerlastingly endure and that consequently to driue it home to our present purpose there is no such vniversall and perpetuall decay in the course of Nature as is imagined and this I take to be the meaning of Philo in that booke which he hath composed De Mundi incorruptibilitate of the Worlds incorruptibility there being some who haue made the World eternall without any beginning or ending as Aristotle and the Peripateticks others giue it a beginning but without ending as Plato and the Academicks whom Philo seemes to follow and lastly others both beginning ending as Christians and other Sects of Philosophers whom Aristotle therefore flouts at saying that he formerly feared his house might fall downe about his eares but that now he had a greater matter to feare which was the dissolution of the world But had this pretended vniversall perpetuall decay of the World beene so apparant as some would make it his flout had easily beene returned vpon himselfe his opinion by dayly sensible experience as easily confuted which wee may well wonder none of those Philosophers who disputed against him if they acknowledged and beleeued the trueth thereof should any where presse in defence of their owne opinions it being indeed the most vnanswerable and binding argument that possibly could be enforced against him were there that evident certaintie in it as is commonly imagined whereas he in the sharpnesse of his wit seeing the weakenesse thereof would not so much as vouchsafe it a serious answere but puts it off with a jeast For mine owne part I constantly beleeue that it had a beginning and shall haue an ending and hold him not worthy the name of a Christian who holds not as much yet so as I beleeue both to bee matter of faith through faith we vnderstand that the Worlds were framed by the word of God and through the same faith we likewise vnderstand that they shall be againe vnframed by the same word Reason may grope at this truth in the darke howbeit it can neuer cleerely apprehend it but inlightned by the beame of faith I deny not but probable though not demonstratiue and convincing arguments may be drawn from discourse of reason to proue either the one or the other