septuaginta annos excidetur Christus hic quidem praecise proprie loquutus esset Angelus quoniam precise ab eo tempore intercesserunt anni 560. This is farre worse Constat per synecdochen certum numerumpro incerto poni ita in hoc ipso Danielis loc restatiam nobis confirmandum non posse praecise intelligi annos 490 sed alium aliquem numerum incertum per certum First take this much against his vncertainty for propriety Afterwardes against his account of 560. yeres 1 The proprietie of Scripture whereupon actions of men must be altered through all the worlde is surer than heauen and earth which shall passe but it shall not 2 He that granteth an Antichristian that the fulnes of time for redemption differeth 70. yeres from the Angels speech turneth the proprietie of Scripture against our faith and shaketh Gods word whereby prophanenesse onely will beare sway and the Gospell shall be nothing worth 3 He maketh the Angell a greater deceauer than euer Apollo was speaking so that of two thousande yeres none euer Iew nor Gentile vnderstoode him vntill 1590. in a matter touching a principle of faith 4 He maketh Daniel not to vnderstande his owne prophecie who yet saith he vnderstoode and that the Angel came to teache him knowledge and professedly confuteth Daniels meaning He should haue found vpon his victorie farre more glorie if he had plainely tolde his hearers that he would teach Daniel better to vnderstand the Angel though he told them not obscurely in disputing that Daniel vnderstood it not and granteth or must grant that Daniel thought it properly spoken and so is the prophet of mine opinion and with me confuted 5 The charge to vnderstand Daniel Math. 24. were in vaine for a time indefinite for still the mind would be vnquiet if 70. yeares before the worde required that all things should be performed 6 Seauen in a trope signifieth many so seauenty seauen must signifie an exceeding great number So extreamitie of Iudaisme shoulde be established For the Iewes looke yet for Christ to come and hold him bad that prescribeth a time 7 The ceremonies haue no warrant from expressed wordes when they shoulde ende but cleane contrary are long to continue for any word of prophet if Gabriels speech be indefinite 8 It were in vaine to lay downe so exact a Chronicle from Adam to Cyrus that Iewes or Gentiles of olde haue rightly helde those yeares plainely the learned of them if from Cyrus to Christ where most neede was a certaine speech shoulde be vttered but an vncertaine meaning left and no Scripture handle the cause 9 Iewes and Gentiles hitherto vnderstood Gabriel in proprietie and a small Librarie wil affoord a hundred seuerall writers witnesses hereof 10 The deadly enemie Aben Ezra granteth that the time is from the word to Daniel vntil the Messiah is sealed and also that it is 490. yeares 11 The Pharisees might haue obiected Scripture against Christ Matth. 16. touching the time if it had not properly fallen out when our Lord doth blame them for not knowing the time 12 Herod had not feared nor the sage Magy come to Ierusalem nor after Andrew the Samaritans and they Luk. 19. Act. 2. or they that were in Barcozbas daies looked for a Messias but by Scripture If proprietie had bin cast off 70. yeares further some simple 70. yeres sooner would haue looked for Christ But none did 13 Auctor Chazon Moed and Barbinel should iustly accuse all Christians of extreame ignorance in this text if all haue bin deceaued who thought that Gabriel limited the time for Christ 14 To part an indefinite time reason can not suffer and no author euer went about therefore it passeth reason to make not onely the seauentie seauens vncertaine but the 7. also the 62. also the one also in his two partes 15 Daniel knew before Gabriel came to him euerie point of that which the angel spake of sauing the time when our Lord should dye Wherefore either that is it which he taught him or he spake vntruly in promising to teach him knowledge Conclusion Seauentie seauens of errours may be obiected against the inuentor of that opinion wherefore it must be abolished Obiections of aduersaries 1 The 400. yeres Gen. 15. are not exact so Gabriels yeares may be taken for a number vncertaine 2 Likewise the 300. yeares Iud. 11. 3 Also the time of the three dayes and three nights tolde by our Lord for being in the graue are not iust so fully 4 Likewise many expoūd the Angel as in his commentary or second spech cutting of his last seauen in the middle and some of the aboue named so do therfore it is not precisely 490. yeares 5 As autor Concentus maketh the three yeres and halfe which are in Apoc. 13. to be spoken by a synecdoche so may Gabriels seauens be Answers The first is exact and alwayes hath so ben taken from since Ismael persecuted Isaak vntil the departure from Egipt yeares precisely 400. Moreover if by a prophet from the old testamēt any could proue it contrould he should helpe himselfe nothing for God by propriety shoulde tel what he meant and give warrant for a trope So the spech of Iephte for the. 300 yeresis controld by Scripture and was such as the cause required For wheras the king of Ammon complained of iniury done at the comming from Egipte not knowing or not regardinge the. 40. yeares continuance in the wildernes it had ben a curiositie for Iephte to be quarreling for that which nothing altered the pley and so he speaketh of the time from their owne supposition 305. it was But who in that case woulde be trifling for the od fiue For the three dayes and three nightes the Euangelists make the meaning plaine shewing that the sixt day our Lord was buried and arose the first day The fourth obiection is twise faulty For it woundeth the obiecter more sharpely For if the angel said 490. yeres sauing three yeares and an halfe he calleth to a most straight reckoning Moreouer how can he make vp 560. precisely if the angel cut of three yeres an halfe But that the angel in his commentarie crossed not his owne text many lerned old and new shew and to striue for such quirkes it is no grauitie The vse of the text is to shew the time of redemtion expressing a redeemer If men further will contend the Church of God hath no such custome Lastly if the 3. yeres half Gabriels seauens be equal concerning trope propriety by a consequent the Pope shuld be freed frō being Antechrist by the general testimony of writers that hold Daniels spech to be proper so a learned mā that so thinketh by his owne voice shuld disgrace his learned works writtē against the Pope THAT THERE WAS NO cause why 560. yeares should be imagined betwixt the deliuerance by Cyrus and the death of our Sauiour For the whole time IF twentie from Nathan to Salathiel much the like in Salomons
of our Parliament who thought that all myght and must aduenture their soules vpon the proprietie of Gods worde and thereby setled vs lawes for Religion VVe may not dispute agaynst our owne groundes our owne frame our owne pyllers our owne whole buyldyng for triall or brauery of skill from colored old Astrologers This matter shalbe made so playne that euen the simplest may see the weakenesse of that iudgement which leaneth vpon such rotten reedes Ptolomy was a man cunnyng in the course of the yeere which men are taught to measure by the course of the Sunne His dexteritie was late For his dayes were about 130. yeeres after our Lord his redemption yet to make his art honorable he bryngeth to vs recordes not heard of before his tyme of Chaldeans commyng neare the antiquitie of a thousande yeeres For he nameth not Robbin-hood but Nabonassar yet one of Vtopia or no place matching in ancienty Ezekias king of Iudah His first yeere of gouernement he placeth 424. yeeres before the death of Alexander Macedon The same Ptolomy hath an accompt from Nabonassar to one Darius the first whose yeere of reigne 31. he maketh to be 256. from Nabonassar and by a consequent 168. before the death of Alexander Thus standeth Ptolomyes testimony How an aduersary doth cite this agaynst the proprietie of Scripture Thus the aduersary doth reason IF from Darius that folowed Cyrus sonne Cambyses who reigned 7. yeeres after Cyrus tooke Babylon vnto Alexanders death yeeres be 168. it must needes be granted that the Persians reigned aboue 130. yeeres ouer the Iewes and seeing 360. thence are agreed vpon to our Lordes death and the limites of Daniels seuens agreed vpon also betwixt both parties it must needes be that the Angell meant vncertenly Answere Many thinges for this testimony must be explaned Simply this wyll stande That neuer any Darius was beginnyng to reigne 7. yeeres after Cyrus tooke Babylon whose reigne was 168. yeeres before Alexanders death But for shewyng how the testimony is nothyng worth these poyntes may be layde downe 1 A testimony vnknowen or despised neare 1000. yeeres and afterward despised more then 1000. yeeres is more vayne then vanitie Such is this of supposed Chaldeans 2 Christians may admit no testimony where proprietie must beare sway agaynst Scripture For playne ought that to be which playneth the rough But by Daniel Darius the first came none after Darius the Mede who tooke Babylon 〈…〉 who then was 62. yeeres olde But his age 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 this accompt of 32. yeeres reigne 〈…〉 3 The Queene of Englande sworne to the Gospell is to satisfie her subiectes and they in obedience to satisfie her by proprietie of Scripture To regarde the most lying nation of Chaldeans neuer before cited to crosse proprietie of Scripture it is no part of the learned and godly This might haue warrented mee 4 A Shypmans hose wyll not elegantly distinguyshe and set foorth the legges But this Chaldean testimony is such For of Nabonassar and Nabopollasar Scal. 1584. condemneth al former opinions Christmannus holdeth them forged names Genebrarde thinketh them forged or corrupt H. Wolphius learnedly damneth all such helpe from Heathen for Scripture A sounde iudgement shoulde not trouble his Countrey with such stuffe Obiection But Clemens 1. Strom. hath a Darius the first after Cambyses Therefore Chaldeans onely are not to be blamed Answere 1 The Grecians could not so well take notise of Chaldean kinges as Chaldeans myght For whom Daniel had penned his sixt Chapter in the Chaldy tongue but they meant the first Darius that they heard of 2 That Darius Hystaspis cannot be meant by Darius the first Herodotus conferred with Ctesias wil proue For Ctesias a Physician in the Persian court and hauing as Diodorus writeth of hym the court rolles for warrant recordeth that Darius Hyâ—taspis liued but fourty three yeeres and reigned from his princehood at twelue yeeres of age but 31. yeeres Now Herodotus in Clio maketh him about 20. yeeres olde when Cyrus presently vppon Babels conquest prepareth Tomyris warres And this vtterly ouerthroweth my Aduersaries cause 3 Maximinus Monachus somwhat folowyng Grekes yet more reuerencing the open phrase of most holy Scripture and lothing rediculous distinctions where playnenesse ought to be he maketh Darius that foloweth Cambyses to be Darius the Mede But to differ from the Chaldeans either forged autours or forgers geueth hym in all but twenty eyght yeeres 4 Aben Ezra vppon Daniel the 9. testifieth that he saw recordes for the Persian kinges by whiche he founde from the surprysing of Babel vnto the twentieth of Artaxerxes fourtie nyne yeeres These be his wordes And beholde Ninteene yeeres were of the reigne of Cyrus and Achashuerosh and two of Darius and he reigned twelue And so it is written in a Booke of the Kinges of Paras and 〈◊〉 yeeres of Artaxasta the king So beholde the whole is 〈◊〉 seuens vntill Neheâ—ias came as it is written in the booke of Ezra Thus testifieth Aben Ezra who liued aboue 400. yeeres ago a great Astronomer in Sebastian Munsters iudgement whereby he coulde not be ignoraunt of Ptolomyes Chaldeans A deadly enemy he was to Christ and therefore deserueth better credite speakyng for vs agaynst his owne purpose then Chaldeans more wicked and perpetuall haters of Daniel 5 All they who make 49. yeeres for the buylding of Ierusalem who are full manv wyl be founde as well damners of these Chaldeans whereof amongst Romistes in Spayne Hector Pintus gaue the same reuerence to Daniels playnnes as dyd Iohn Calum in Geneuah and careth not for humane credite where Greekes thought them selues strongest And the Diuines in the last Frenche edition haue despised this Chaldy dreame Genebrard for the French Romistes is no small man honored now as I heard at Rome whom Adricomius folowed in the Chronicle ioyned to his Mappes Henry VVolphius is a learned godly and zelous reuerencer of the Scriptures playnnes who friendly controlleth M. Scaliger and confirmeth Beroaldus departyng euen from his owne Fathers iudgement for the holy trueth Agaynst all this must it be my particuler lot in so many of myne opinion to be onely counted new 6 Learned men by them haue gon too farre For I. Sc. condemneth all the thousandes of Diuines who do thinke that Darius the Mede Dan. 5. gate Babylon by conquest A strange thing Such wryters shoulde be hated who deceyue so learned men as M. Scaliger is knowen to be of all Learned men Two more deceites from these Chaldeans deceyuing him and an other Scholer wel deseruing of learnyng should make vs thinke no better of these staâ—e Chaldy forgery then â—â—iamus shoulde haue done of Epeus wordy Horse and hurtfull Sinons tale Cateles Vcalegon his house with others was not more ouertaken thereby of Vulâ—anes flames then our wrytinges shoulde be yf those Babylonians might beare sway Take fyrst an example of Ezekiel where he writeth in this manner Ch â— 1. In the thirteth yeere I was in the Captiuitie From whence
AN APOLOGIE IN BRIEFE ASSERTIONS DEFENDING THAT our Lord died in the time properly foretold to Daniel For satisfaction of some studentes in both Vniuersities H. BROVGHTON LONDON Imprinted by WILLIAM KEARNEY dwelling within Creeple-gate 1592. To the right noble Lord Sir Peregrine Bertye Knight Lord of VVilloughby and Eresby ARistotle the wittie philosopher right Honorable noteth that as the eyes of Battes are affected towardes the light in the day so is the minde of our soule to those things which of Nature are verie manifest That appeareth in all our studies wherein after manie yeeres paines we get but that which in the ende we see to haue been cleere in the first if our eyes had been opened to behold them and finde that we may soone shewe vnto others manifolde obscure points quicklie which our selues were long in searching Your Lordship by experience in my studies may bee a fit example herein For whereas I spent manie yeeres labour in searching the Concent of holy Writers which haue penned for vs the Booke of Truth cleering the Prophecies vnto their euents through the right Famylies and course of times and to compell other Hebrewes and Greekes to serue them your Lordship learned after little direction that which I could not finde in paines of long continuance and that no lesse for Scripture than for old Heathen stories And euen as I was long in contriuing of them into an order which soone might haue been seene so others in studie my Ancients of great fame and desert for matters triable by ey-sight and thereupon euident vnto all who will rest vpon Gods authoritie either will not or can not see that which now I beholde as cleere as the Sunne in his greatest brightnes and I knowe that your Lordship doth no lesse Yea who would not be our suretie when the striuer is confuted with the verie title of the Defence THAT CHRIST our Lord died in the time properly foretold to Daniel Also who would not acknowledge the weaknes of mans minde when this Apologie is found extreamely needfull for satisfaction of some Students in both Vniuersities One learned man of the one Vniuersitie told mee that an aduersarie had turned all against mee all of all degrees in so cleere a case that hee presently was driuen to yeeld vnto mee as soone as he heard the proprietie for which wee stroue For when I told him of Gabriels prophecie I asked him whence the time must be counted and whether He said from the speaking and vnto our Lord his death I bad him tell their D. that he must doo so too So he doth so he yeeldeth vnto mee so our cause had been determined by the striuer if the blindnes of some had not ben meruailous who hauing lost their hold not three daies before they perceiue it as the Babylonians but three yeeres yet triumph of a victorie so that some of the other Vniuersitie began a little to triumph with them Hereupon this Apologie I write in defence of my selfe of Daniell the wise of Gabriel the angell and of mine Aduersarie against himselfe that the middle space cannot by religion learning arte or wit be holden vncertaine neither hath he Heathen concent anie thing worth but in the parts despised by all Writers vpon the Prophetes and Apostles and also by prophane Greekes the most ancient and the latest These two poynts end the controuersie I commend to your Lordshippes protection my cause which I thinke shall more neede authoritie than skill to defend it Art careth not for the manie of Aduersaries yet to bridle manie striuers vnseasonable and vnreasonable authoritie of high personages who priuately maye deale is now for mee specially requisite Your Honours to commaund Hugh Broughton The Autor to the Reader TOuching the iudgement of those Diuines which I cyte for their exposition of Daniels prophecie it were long to bring their whole style the summe is this That from the end of the Babylonian captiuitie the first seauen must be reckoned and the last hath in it our Lords death With that mure aduersarie once agreeeth yet goeth against himself saying that the Angel meant no certaine time and that 107. yeeres are betwixt the returne and the building of the Temple 75. more than I hold and 5 lesse thence to Tiberius than I make The whole I make 70. seauens and stand to that he once 70. and againe 80. and againe a number vncertaine which he thinketh that Olympiades can bring to certaintie of not 490. yeeres but 560. precisely And he thinketh for this to disanul the common iudgments of Iewes and Greekes vppon the Scripture and that accompts from Olympiades with Romanes and Chaldeans can make his cause good This I am to ouerthrow by that wit learning and religion vtterly forbid to hold vncertainty where the limits be certain in Daniel for our Lords redemption And that particulers from the Prophets holden of Church and Synagogue as I doo are holden aright and that prophane testimonies faile him In handling prophane testimonies The fall of Troy Olympiades Cyrus Monarchie Xerxes warre Lysanders Alexanders the distaunces of these I am driuen to handle proue that in all these euen faithles Greeks disproue them whom mine aduersarie followeth and also they whom he most alloweth do him vtterly confute He reading among men yong in yeres yonger in these studies and not putting in print his Lectures I entered abruptly into the cause to meete with striuers hastie to broach streames of errors A DEFENCE OF I. CALVIN our notes vpon the Geneua Bible Emmamanuel Tremelius Matthew Beroaldus Henrie Wolphius and Romists yeelding vnto them Gilbert Genebrard and others for the beginning ending and certeintie of Daniels seauens conteined in Gabriels speech the key of the old Testament by H. B. of the same opinion in Conc. Ser. THeir beginning is so cleare by the Text that the sharpest aduersarie is driuen to grant this for their beginning as followeth Quod ad rationes attinet è scriptura sacra etsi mihi quidem maximè videatur rationi esse consentaneum ut verbum existimetur id significare quod versibus superiorib Gabriel commemorat verbum Iehouae eiusque decretum uti explicauimus quoniam tamen referri potest ad illud tempus quores ipsa implenda fuit non tamen quo primum enuntiata est idcirco relinquatur nobis liberum ut potuisse iudicemus id tempus designari quo Cyrus Iudaeis libertatem concessurus erat è Babilonica captiuitate redeundi instaurandi Hierosolyma Pag 150. Taken out of a Lecture booke written And also this much for the ending of them Septuaginta septimanis completis excisus est Christus A man would haue thought that he who was driuen to graunt such a carefull limitation for beginning ending should not seeke an impossibilitie for a greater space in the middle partes than the whole is Notwithstanding his strife is against Art himselfe Daniel all men and against an Angell in these wordes Si Angelus dixisset post octies
a new age as their thinking that it was not time to build and the famine while they intermitted and all scarcity and such without any one syllable betokening a new age 12 It were strange that Aggai shoulde in fiue prophecies four times record the day of the moneth and one day twise if 2. of Darius should be stragling haue not any for to ioyne it to story But by the 20. making vp 50. from Cyrus it hath a certaine summe euen 32. Many learned rightlie marke and Ebrewes generallie cited by Aben ezra vpon Ezra 6. 14. that Darius and Artaxast are the names of that king vnder whome Aggei prophecieth and Ezra returneth and who so thinke otherwise will make a straunge penning of Ezras storie That being so holden the troupes of them that ioyne Artaxast his 20. to the 50. from Cyrus first set his second at 32. of which point more shall be spoken hereafter And so Aggei conteineth as fit a space both for the returned from Babylon to be yet of actiuitie about his temple with their children also of iudgement and strength as the men of middle age at the starres appearing when our Lord was borne with thē their children of his age might together see the temple of his bodie after two thirtie yeres raised vp God chooseth times reasonable likely and like for his dealings and easie in storie to be considered and remembred 13 When they built an altar a prophet was to teache them from God howe without fire from heauen they might sacrifice by ordinaire fire I see no better opening of that action but in any record none haue we amongst them but Aggai and Zacharie Zacharie is called Naar a lustie man or young man which for one much aboue fiftie would be a strange speech so he shoulde be about twentie at his comming home 14 Zacharie telleth of their fathers consumed which to the returned may be spoken but not of the returned 15 Also the fasting for Ierusalems destruction and the naming of the famous anger for the seauentie yeres that will admit none other sense but the seauenty of captiuitie famous to be knowne by that generall name which if seauentie more had beene past it had beene an vnfit speech that was mistaken by antiquitie to be seauentie from Sedekias and all circumstances might agree well with the eighteene yeeres since Cyrus as Ebrewes Greekes and Latines guessed but that a flat Scripture calleth for thirtie two yeres eighteene more making vp fiftie 16 The people were generally so tractable vnder Aggai and zacharie as neuer any such number and such as captiuitie might well be thought to tame 17 As Laertius noteth that Epimenides was fiftie seauen yeeres a sleepe So here all Iuda shall be longer a sleepe without any one sillable in record what any one doth all the while by the hundreth and seauen yeres 18 Nehemias demaunded in what case they were at Ierusalem which were the remnant of the captiuitye in the 20. yeare of Artaxerxes wherfore the space thence to Cyrus was such as mans age from the captiuity might yet fuffer some good sort aliue 19 If Ierusalem had bin vnwalled aboue 120. yeares Nehemias would not as he did take a sodaine griefe for so stale a matter But for seauen seauens now ending and touched by Gabriel for the building of Ierusalem he might by iust lykelihoode take a griefe It was neuer found in anie auctour that an whole being laid downe partes shoulde be ioyned to in quantitie iustly making vp the whole and yet shoulde not belong to that matter but to an other Wherefore the Angels partition of seuen seuens sixtie two one from the going foorth of the word vnto building of Ierusalem and thence vnto our Lordes healtie passion must not onelie make vp the whole but must haue some cleere reason for the first and last part otherwise the partition had bin without iudgement But for the last part a defender in common consent is needlesse wherefore the troubler of the first part should seeme troublesome against art 20 That Nehemias had relation to Gabriel for building of Ierusalem for which worke seauen seauens are set a parte Dan. 9. the whole imitation of Daniels prayer which Nehemias followeth more then euer Virgil followed Homer or Tully Demosthenes that imitation maketh plaine that to Daniels Chronicle he had relation 21 No other reason can be rendred why 49. yeares should be spoken of alone Dan. 9. but for the time of the chiefe worke for building Ierusalem and so much is grāted by many as by Maister Scaliger himselfe who yet can not see howe from that partition to make vp the whole summe of Daniels foure hundred and ninetie yeeres 22 The 46. yeares Ioh. 2. for building the temple which was begon in the first and hindered in the third of Cyrus fitly agreeth with this accompte For Nehemias finished great workes about the temple and it is doubtles that the rancorous Iewes which for a four yeres continued worke bring 46. to cause our Lord his speech hatefull woulde omitte no whit that touched the Temple 23 Aben Fzra vpon Dan. 9. he the deadliest enemy for Christe so casteth the time and saith that he had record of Persians for that time 24 Iosephus likewise in Eusebius Demon. 8. hath the like time whom Clemens following against his account for the seconde of Darius giueth 49. yeeres to the last building of the temple Cedrenus also must so be construed or to speake nothing Clemens can not otherwise make these words reasonable That in seauen seauens the Temple was built it is manifest for that is written in Ezra Nowe what Oedipus coulde euer gather that from Ezra but by referring Nehemias sadnes to Daniels seauen seauens and thereby gathering the chronicle of Ezra And it appeareth by him that this was a common opinion in his age otherwise no man can see by anie particulars in him howe to bring that about 25 Moreouer Cedrenus citing Iosephus for 480. yeres thence to the ruine of the temple sheweth how in losesephus daies this account was receaued Obiections Why admit I not Iosephus for further times agreeing with heathen Answer Because when hee writeth in Greeke he will often speake as common prophane Greeks record yet closely in certeine places will shew what he meant but if Iosephus testimonie may serue the cause is ended For he maketh Nehemiah to be of the captiued Obiection against Cedrenus He is of as great authoritie as Legenda aurea Answer The simpler the man is and in a matter of difficultie agreeth with Scripture against him selfe for other places the more it appeareth that others better learned left vnto his handes a tried account or sheweth how the angels wordes brought that about which otherwise mans vncertainty woulde hardly haue found out and I dare beleeue Cedrenus and Iosephus if Daniel and Gabriel be their surety before 185000. Chaldeans or Olympiques of whose vanitie we will speake anone That none shuld thinke it
good to warne them and wish them due care oftime place and person in all narrations least they soone pull downe all theyr owne buylding But now let vs returne to our care ouer Rome that it worke no harme in this behalfe to the Gospel Causes why Romane testimonies shoulde be rather loathed then honoured to controll all antiquitie for holy prophetes Speciall causes shoulde moue to refuse Romane late wryters in this case 1 They being neare our Lordes dayes in the fleshe when Iewes noysed ouer al the worlde their expectation of the heauenly Monarch they were to be geuen vp vnto further errour that would not loue the light kindled and enquire as touching that king of glory 2 When Tully proflac prouin cons mentionyng Ierusalem calleth the Iewes religion a barbarous superstitioÌ„ and them a nation borne to bondage he can not deny but he had herd of their religion of their long bondage And he myght haue founde his paradoxe true that the wyse man euen in tormentes is happy yf he would haue read the 70. and Esay 53. as he did Demosthenes His tongue was worthy to be prickt with needles that so dispitefully would speake of the nation of our Lorde who gaue him all his eloquence and worthily suffered he all that punyshment which in Plutarch befel him 3 Vergil the Poet that heard of a chylde commyng from heauen to bring a golden worlde sinned against his conscience in drawyng that to Rome which all rumors drew to Ierusalem 4 Augustus iesting that Herodes hog was happier then his son knowing Herodes murthering which was to preuent the king looked for of the Iewes coulde hardly be gyltles And Carneades might haue taught him yf not the Magi to haue left the Iewes a King of their owne nation and right family 5 After open mention to Tiberius of our Lord his resurrection a plaine prophecy by which al the east at that time looked for a king and after of the name of Christe kilde vnder Pontius Pilate all dealinges of Romane writers were much to be suspected either as more forlorn of God to crosse vnawares that prophecy famous euery where or of malice fortifiying with a conspiring rancor such Grekes as might wholly disturbe y t prophecy of the time of the general monarch 6 Yf they dealt not maliciously how could they being late men agree in the same syllables for the times betwixt Xerxes and Alexander precisely though Isocrates Lycurgus men of that age differ 25. yeeres where they make the whole but 48. and others after the Peloponnesian wars differ about halfe in halfe How the common table of Archontes though forged yet was exquisitely honored of the Antichristian Philosophers not without suspition of malice The late Greekes vnder the Romane Emperours Pausanias Plutarch Phlegon Laertius for the yeerely Archontes or Maiors of Athens and vnder which of them famous men were borne or dyed do so agree as though they had lyued in their olde tymes and had ben recorders of purpose yet olde writers haue as I thinke not twenty of those 140. Archontes but full many others in theyr roomes as Demosthenes in one oration hath 8. Maiores of his owne towne whereof the table which the Emperours scholers would fortify hath not one Lysias hath some of his tyme likewyse there not found And Grekes Christians as Suidas and other commenters vtterly disgrace them I finde in Thucidides two Pythodorus beginnyng the warres and Alcaeus Xenophon hath a Pythodorus ending it and Lysias the same Also Euctemon is in Xenophon Euclides in Lysias in Demosthenes about 9. two I finde in Aeschines other may haue some or they some more Therefore in late men this agreement can hardly be voyde of suspicion of malice 1 Those open enimies are more openly gylty in admitting thinges by them selues vnpossible For Plutarch casting Lysias borne vnder Philocles and to lyue 72. yeeres and admittyng his oration for Iphicrates when Elpinicus was Maior 103. off that shal deserue true credite when 72. can be 103. This might then tell that about 30. Maiors and yeeres are forged and malice not dulnes hath authorised these recordes 2 VVhen Ptolomy mentioneth Eclipses vnder Phanostratus the next yere vnder Euander here their conspiracy fayleth For in Diodorus MenaÌ„der is not Euander at all Euander is a Maior in Demosthenes but as neare the time of Timocrates affayres a late Maior Besides al Greekes know that Euander and Menander be too far off in force to take the one for the other 3 Touching Apseudes in Ptolemyes Eclipses I trow sauing from Diodorus table neuer no man was so called As neuer no Englysh man was called Vn-lying and the name myght tell that the autour iested 4 VVho woulde not suspect forgery seeing those three Maiors together Lysi-stratus Lys-anias Lysi-theus and nere Lysi-crates Lysimachides and Lys-anias againe Or these vpoÌ„ A halfe a dosen together Amynias Alcâ—us Ariston Aristophylus Archias Antipho and next saue one Aristomnestus Any may thinke that an open forger turning to some Alphabete table bred these 5 Like are these in the termination rare in ides Theagenides Archidemides Phasiclides Timarchides Lysimachides Myrichides Glaucides and all these neare togeather Where both Isocrates Lycurgus differ so much and I shew the time shorter by the one halfe or there about then the forged tables accompt VVherefore Gellius Plutarch and such who by Gods curse cannot speake the trueth as Aeschines taunteth Demosthenes no not vnwilling that is vnwitting or do of malice represse it let them packe But their malicious forgery wyll most notably appeare for kinges which are feigned to lyue with the kinges of Iudah from autours neuer heard of tyll the Romane Emperours kilde the holy Martyrs They are the thirde thred I wyll put the simple reader in minde agaynst them what holy prophecy is wounded for them Of the Chaldeans CFrtayne reportes of supposed Chaldeans in our age first haue been of estimation to teach men how to expounde Daniel touching that text wherevpon we are tearmed Christians For in Daniel first and onely of the olde Testament the tearme Christ is meere proper in other places 32. the skilfull in Adams tongue know the tearme to be appellatiue For to vnderstande Daniel the better some late woulde seeke helpe from men whom they thinke to be Chaldeans And by an accompt from them my aduersary woulde make me beleeue that Gabriel appoynting 70. seuens of yeres for al the world to loke for Christ his death meant not 70. but 80. seuens His dealyng is strange strangenesse yet herein made some men boysterous But the aged and learned knew before how in the ende the matter would fall out In London Prentises maruel at Vniuersitie Scholers for thinking that Chaldeans might force them to an other meaning of bibles sold in Paules then euer was knowen eyther to Iewes who wrote the Prophetes or to the Queene of Englande and Burgesles