delivered Brocardus in his description of the Holie Land pointeth you to the verie place where these Infants were slain Item saith hee ostenditur locus occisionis Innocentium puerorum Adrichomius and others tell you of a Chappel there about Bethlehem dedicated to their memorie and under that a Vault in the which these little Bodies lie buried The description of this Vault you have in the Viaggio da Venetia Al Santo Sepolcro Verso l'oriente glie un altra grotta ouero caverna giu hassa stretto ordinata in modo d'una Croce é qui furono sepolti gli santi Innocenti c. Ancora ne sepeliron una parte di ditti Innocenti fra Bethlehem Bethama otto miglia lequali sepolture se vedeno ancora hoggi di that is Eastward there is another Grott or Cavern lying low underneath and the passage verie narrow it is contrived into the fashion of a Cross and here som of the Holie Innocents lie buried Another part of them lie buried in the waie betwixt Bethlehem and Bethanie for a matter of eight Miles distance And their Sepulcres are to bee seen to this verie daie This is all the Local memorie of these Infants I met with And 't is more too then the good Arabick Nubian Geographer had heard off The Daie § For their Anniversarie Remembrances concern'd in time I do not finde their Daie among the Antient Holie Ones There is a Greek Apostolical 't is cal'd so Institution of the Church Holiedaies 'T is true They are but few there Indeed they could not bee manie as then This bloodie seed of the Church was not yet so much cast upon the ground The Greek Enumeration acknowledgeth and appointeth S. Stephen's Daie to bee kept Holie but of the Innocents no mention there at all The Arabick Translation of this Constitution hath more Holiedaies then the Original and the Hypapante for one And you are to rest saie they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Festival called Aibubanti and that is the entrance of the Lord Christ into the Temple Constitut Arab. Ms. fol. 67. a. Codex Concilior Arab. Joseph Aegypt Ms in Archiv Roan Bibl. Bod. This Holiedaie is called in the Romane Church Purificatio B. Mariae Wee call it so too and from the Saxons Candlemas-Daie Here the Arabick Greek word Aibubanti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seemeth to betraie the trust of the Translator and therefore though it fall not so directly within my business yet it is not to bee let go It passeth unaccepted against that this Holiedaie was first made at Constantinople Meursii glos in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and no sooner then the times of Justinian the Emperor if it should bee so The Arabick Constitution doth not so providently begin with Ego Petrus Paulus c. as the Greek and then afterwards insert a Holiedaie of Justinian's making which was no less then 500 Years after But to make this up as well as I may It is certain that the Arabick Translator followed som other Greek Copie then that which is now most usually received It is certain also that this verie Holiedaie was verie antiently and immemorially observ'd in the Aethiopick the Coptick and the Syriack Churches c. and by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ingressus Domini the entrance of the Lord into the Temple So that for the Thing and Celebration it is absolutely old enough if not Apostolically so yet however and which is the matter much deeplier engaged in Antiquitie then the times of Justinian But for the Greek word here in the Arabick disguis it is not so readie to give a just account And yet if I should saie that the Greek word were as antient as the thing though not in use and solemnitie at Constantinople till those verie times of Justinian I know not what anie man could happily saie to the contrarie And so I have discharged the Translator as I could But as to my own matters It is to bee confessed here that though the Arabick Constitution maketh more Holiedaies then the Greek yet it maketh no reckoning of Innocents daie at all neither indeed do I finde this Festival in anie of the Eastern Almanacks For however there bee Lessons appointed for this daie Novum Testamentum Syriacum Ms. in Arch. Biblioth Bod. set down at the end of som Syriack Translations as well Manuscript as Printed of the New Testament yet the Holiedaie is not to bee found in the Antiochian Calendar And though the Aethiopick Church in the Celebration of their Corban or Communion useth to make a verie solemn and devout Memorial of these Innocents yet there is no Daie assigned to them in the Calendar of that Church Neither was it to bee look't for For the Coptick Almanack it self which is known to prescribe to this other hath it not neither Athanasius Kircher Grammat Copt Sect. 6. C. 3. pag. 332 Indeed None of all these Calendars acknowledg more then seven or eight Holie-daies throughout the whole Year that is the Annunciation the Nativitie the Epiphanie c. Praeter haec Festa celebranda alia non invenio More then these I finde not saith One and of the Romane interest too It is his note to the Coptick Calendar And the reason importeth alike for all the rest Alkas Cyriac. Tab. Astron Arabs Ms. in Archiv Laudin Biblioth Bodleian 'T is true I can tell you of an Arabick Calendar of Alkas at the end of his Astronomical Tables where I finde this Daie put down under the name and title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Occisio puerorum or The Murther of the Infants But I can perceiv too that this Calendar is not verie antient as well by the Memorie of Saint Chrysostom there in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The death of John of the Golden mouth as the Eastern Men use to call this Father and hee is often so quoted in the Arabick Catena as also by an evident plainness of the Romane ingagements there not onely from the verie great number of Holiedaies but of such too as expresly belong to the Relation and the late too institution of that Church Here I do not mean to sit as Judg upon the Holiedaies as concerning their Number or Manner of Celebration I mean onely to speak to you a few words of peremptorie and indifferent Truth 1. That in the most Primitive and Apostolical times the Calendars yielded up but a very short and onely principal account of Saints and Martyrs yet which is to bee noted by som bodie The Nativitie of Christ is alwaies one and one of the chiefest and moreover then that the Saturdaie and Sundaie would you have mee call them both Sabbath daies or which is wors that which was the eighth the seventh daie were held in equal reverence of Keeping and Observation 2. That the Reason why so few Saints-daies were observed in and about the first Times how substantial soever as for that
c. The Raiment of a Man saith a Learned Rabbin is his Bodie And had our Father Adam stood wee had needed no other Thou hast Clothed mee saith holie Job with Skin and with Flesh when therefore wee die wee are said in S. Peter's language to put off this Tabernacle as in S. Paul when wee rise again to bee Clothed upon with our hous from Heaven O're night wee put off this weed of Mortalitie but the Morning cometh and wee shall bee covered again with our skin and put on Incorruption our Better Cloths as to go and see God in this Flesh The same flesh wee put off the night before but with this difference that this Fowl Garment which could not bee kept Unspotted of the world shall in the mean time bee washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb. Our Clothes put off wee laie our selvs down and take our rest And to Die In the Prophet Isaiah's Phrase Isa 43.17 57.1 is but to lie down in our Beds And when thy daies shall bee fulfilled saith Nathan to David and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers so indeed wee read it as wee may but the Original is And thou shalt lie down with thy Fathers 2 Sam. 7.12 So Asa the King's Coffin is called a Bed 2 Chron 16.14 and our forefathers in their Saxon tongue style a Burying place legerstoƿ or place to lie down in as in the Laws of King Canute Numb 3. In the Case of Natural Rest 't is not the whole man onely the Earthlie part falleth asleep the Soul is then most awake The Bodie 's Night is the Soul's Daie our Better part saith Cardan is never it 's own man till now when exalted unto a State of Separation as it were in the bodie it spendeth the time in Contemplations free and congeniall to its own Extraction So in the sleep of Death 't is not the totus Homo the Bodie indeed is dead becaus of sin the Soul is then most Alive Here as a Servant it is still required to the Exigencies of the Bodie having no time of it's own to spend but what it can get by stealth when the Master is gon to bed But there like it's Redeemer free among the Dead and delivered from the Incumbrances of the Bodie it begineth to bee a Soul to it self minding that which is above and looking with a more piercing eie upon the Invisible things of God It is noted by the Naturalists and wee finde it true in observation that no nois awaketh Natural Sleep more suddenly then an Humane voice Nay though it bee that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that dead and dangerous sleep as the Aphorism noteth it in Hippocrates But especially the Experiment holdeth if the voice calleth upon him in his own name But that wee shall all bee awaked out of this other Sleep by the sound of our Proper Names is more then I can pretend to though S. Peter's call was Tabitha surge and our Saviour's to his Friend Lazare veni foras Lazarus com forth To saie nothing to Epiphanius his Tradition that when our Lord went down into Hell and there found our Father Adam fast hee took him by the hand and called him by his own Name in the words of S. Paul Surge Adam qui dormis so indeed som Antient Copies read it Arise Adam thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead Christ taketh thee by the hand But this I am sure of that wee shall all bee awaked by a voice the voice of an Archangel and the word shall bee as som think Surgite mortui c Nor shall it bee the voice of a God and not of a Man it shall bee an Humane voice for by the Archangel wee are to mean the Son of Man For the hour cometh in which all they that are in the Graves shall hear his voice and shall com forth Job 5.28 Which why it should bee strange of us I know not since it is true of the Swallows by a certain and confest Experience that when the Winter cometh they lie down in the hollow of a Tree and there falling asleep quietly resolv into their first Principles But at the Spring 's approach they are n t so though throughly dead but that they hear the stil nois of Returning Nature and awaking out of their Mass rise up everie one to their life again Ego novi hominem c. I know a man saith the Learned Prince of Concordia who in his soundest Sleep could walk talk write and dispatch anie business of the most required Vigilance They seem to have had som such conceit of Death who hold it no absurditie to write Letters to their dead Friends as the Emperor Theodosius to S. Chrysostom more then thirtie Years after his deceas as if Death were a kinde of live Sleep Such an one as that which Jupiter sent of an Errand to awake Atamemnon And may wee not as properly saie that to bee Dead is to bee Alive as to saie to Die is to bee Born And yet the Antients as if Corruption had been their Father and the Worms their Mother were wont to call the daies of their Death Natalia not Dying but birth-Birth-daies Mos inolevit in sancta Ecclesia it hath been the custom in the holie Church saith Haymo when a Saint of God departed this life to call it not the daie of his Death but the daie of his Nativitie That which wee call Death's they call Life's door Seneca himself said as much Dies iste quem Tutanquam Supremum reformidas Aeterni Natalis est As if all this were so indeed the Jews to this daie stick not to call their Golgotha's Batte Caiim the Houses or places of the Living At the least they have an Effectual life in them for the Mummies are known to bee most soveraign and Magistral in Medicine and the Principal Ingredient of the weapon-Salv is the Moss of a dead Man's-skul as the Recipe delivered by Paracelsus to Maximilian the Emperor Once more and I leav the Parallel Sleep wee know is most natural to Animal-Creatures and for Men so Necessarie that Aristotle saith that the end of it in us is Bene Ratiocinari And yet hee himself is cited by Olympiodorus to have known a Man who never slept in all his Life And the strangeness hath been quitted by an Experience of later daies The Comparison hold th in the Sleep of Death 't is Omnibus communis common to all men as wee use to saie And yet som Jews believ that the last age of Men shall bee so long liv'd as to prevent the Resurrection But S. Paul himself hath promised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that wee shall not all die som shall bee changed And therefore 't is no vain Article which wee so daily profess that our Saviour shall com to judg both the Quick and the Dead Wee are to saie then of all those that are departed this life as the Jews of their Father Jacob Non est Mortuus or as our
present and exigencie yet draweth on no necessarie Example upon us were it not that the Eastern Churches in a full Bodie had left the matter to this Daie at the verie same rate as they found it then without making anie considerable addition to that small number anie where and in the most set and leading Places as the Coptick Antiochian Churches c. none at all 3. That it is most likelie that in the Times immediately succeeding to those which are granted for Primitive the remembrance of Saints and Martyrs was practised but in gross at the Solemn confessionarie Commemorations of all together in the memorial part of their Communion and this onely by a naked rehearsal of their good Names as at the first without anie appointment of particular daies to this or that Saint The flying tracks of these Commemorations you may discover in our own latest reformed Liturgies or if you would see it nearer to the Top of Time then let your recours bee to the Aethiopick Missal you may see that in the Bibliotheca Patrum or if you bee curious and would see it somwhat more Original you may Read that is this part of it in the Prodromus Coptus C. 2. De Coptit Moribus p. 37. 38. 4. Lastly That the first assignment of these Remembrances in gross to set and single daies and increased too to so notorious a Bulk was verie probably the design of the Greek but much more especially of the Latine Church and for the most part not so antiently neither as to bee reflected upon with anie commanding or convincing Reverence nay nor don when it was to that just and clear purpose as would bee wished for in this Case 'T is true So Meurfius his Glossare in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The blood of these Innocents was dear and pretious in the sight of God and like that of all his Saints The Daie of one's death is better then that of one's Birth as by an excellent abuse of expression the Church hath very well rendred the Place But do you think that a Report of this kind will make these bones fat Pro. 15.30 your selvs it may 'T is true too that a good Name is better then pretious Ointment Eccl. 7.1 but do not you know that these dead Flies with Reverence to your Saints bee it spoken do make this Ointment which in the right sens indeed would bee verie pretious to have a stinking Savor Let mee tell you the Truth though I do it with an un-forward will This is one of the Little Follies that will stick upon you who otherwise might bee accounted to have been Men in Reputation for Wisdom and Honor. Ecclesiastes 10.1 And now I think almost as much as could bee hath been said against the daie of these innocents And yet for all that it is certain that the Holiedaie is of verie old standing in both the Churches And thus and thus it was celebrated As nearer home I shall begin with the Use of the Abbie of Oseney here at Oxford it was so but the Maps will cheat you now indeed they are cheated themselvs 't is ubi Troja fuit By the use of this Church they were wont to bring out upon this daie the Foot of a childe prepared after their fashion and put upon with red and black Colours as to signifie the dismal part of that daie They put this up in a Chest in the Vestrie readie to bee produced at the time and to bee solemnly carried about the Church to bee adored by the People My autoritie for this you have here set down out of an old Ritual of that Place and observed to mee by my verie good and learned friend Gerard Langbain Doctor of Divinitie and Provost of Queen's College The Rubrick in the Ritual is Item notandum quòd in die Innocentium post Primam preparetur Pes innocentis viz. cum rubro auriculari nigróque panno super auricularem posito qui jacet in quadam cista in Revestuario postea in Karola deferatur ut adoretur à populo The Rumick wooden Calendar useth to distinguish these Holidaies not as wee and other folk do but by a prettie kinde of Hieroglyphical Memorie As instead of S. Gregorie's daie they set you down in a Picture a Schoolmaster holding a Rod and Ferula in his hands It is becaus at that time as beeing about the begining of the Spring they use to send their children first to School Adeò superstitiosi sunt quidam c. and som are so superstitiously given as upon this night to have their children asked the question in their sleep whether they have anie minde to book or no and if they saie yes they count it for a very good presage Sin tacuerint aut negent stivae eos adjudicant but if the children answer nothing or nothing to that purpose they put them over to the Plough So for S. George's daie they picture a Hors for S. John Baptist's A Lamb ad agnum Dei de quo vaticinatus est respicientes For Simon and Jude's daie a Ship becaus they were Fis hers and so to com to the matter for Innocents daie the drawn sword of Herod Olaüs Wormius Fast Danicor Lib. 2. Cap. 19. It hath been a custom and yet is elswhere to whip up the children upon Innocent's daie morning that the memorie of this Murther might stick the closer and in a moderate proportion to act over the crueltie again in kinde Lewis the eleventh was so sad and serious a remembrancer of this Martyrdom that hee would not bee interrupted by anie affairs of State how important soever in the Strictest Sanctification of their Daie Philip de Commines But the most commensurate Recollection of this daies business did not the Superstitious part spoil the Decorum is that which wee are now about A celebration of the daie and the divinest parts of that by a Service and Solemnitie of children The Episcopus Choristarum was a Chorister Bishop chosen by his fellow Children upon S. Nicholas daie Upon this daie rather then anie other becaus it is singularly noted of this Bishop as S. Paul said of his Timothie That hee had known the Scriptures of a Childe and led a life sanctissimè ab ipsis incunabilis inchoatam The Reason is yet more properly and expresly set down in the English Festival It is sayed that his Fader hyght Epiphanius and his Moder Ioanna c. And whan hee was born c. they made him Christen and caled him Nycolas that is a mannes name but he kepeth the name of the child for he chose to kepe vertues meknes and simplenes and without malice also we rede while he lay in his cradel he fasted wednesday and friday these dayes he would souke but ones of the day and ther wyth held him plesed thus he lyued all his lyf in vertues with this childes name And therefore chilldren don him worship before all other Saints c. Lib. Festivals in die S. Nicholas fol. 55. From
though the Scripture maketh mention but of Darkness till the Ninth hour yet most certain it is that That Daie had another Darkness about the Twelfth hour of Nature's own Provision For by the Astronomical Tables the Moon was at that time almost totally Eclipsed So truly were these First Fruits cut down in the Night The Typical Sheaf thus reaped down was carried into the Court yard of the Sanctuarie threshed parched ground then lifted up and waved before the Lord So was the True The manner of the Jews Threshing was by the Treading of Oxen and Wheels indented with iron teeth And did not manie Buls compass Him about And was not Hee bruised for our Transgressions His Hands and his Feet were pierced and all his Bones were out of joint they had been broken too but for the Prophecie Hee was Parched for was not his strength dried up as a Pot-sheard Did not his Tongue cleav to the roof of his Mouth And was hee not brought down to the dust of Death You may hear him saie all this himself Psalm 22. Hee was lifted up too for as Moses I fted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so was the Son c. And hee was waved too as som compare it by an Earthquake at the Resurrection But instead of Waving the Text translateth it The Sheaf was Separated So were these first Fruits and the Desertion was so great that hee cried out His God His God had forsaken him Lastly there was an Extraordinarie Lamb to bee offered up as due to the Sheaf And if one should ask us as once the Son did the Father Behold the fire and the wood but where is the Lamb for a burnt Offering Hee would bee answered that God would provide himself a Lamb. Ecce Agnus Dei Behold the Lamb of God But that which most of all concern's is the Condition of the First Fruits That was till These were offered up no Man of the Land of Israel might eat of his New Corn 't was yet Profane and Cursed as the Ground that bare it But the Sheaf once offered up the whole Crop is intituled to the Consecration For if the First Fruits bee holie saith S. Paul then so is also the whole lump This also is the case of the Resurrection for if Christ the first Fruits bee risen then They also that are His the whole Lump at his Coming The Harvest is the end of the World and the end of our Life is in the seed time Church-yards are the Plots which therefore the high Dutch most properly term God's Aeres or Glebe Land wherein the Dead are sown a Natural bodie but the Crop shall not bee such as wherewith the Mower filleth not his hand or hee that bindeth up the Sheafs his bosom It shall bee with the Fat of the Kidnies of Wheat as Moses in the Song Deut. 32.14 'T is sown in Dishonor it riseth again in Glorie And the Reapers are the Angels who shall gather and binde us up again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Betsror hachaiim into the Bundle of Life as in the 1 Sam. 25.29 which words therefore the Jews use to repete in their Diriges and inscribe upon their Tombs The First Fruits beeing risen take anie one of us anie grain of Corn in the whole Lump and cast it into the ground if it die not it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth much Fruit. For the Life of the Lump like Corn in the Earth is laied in the First Fruits in God The instance of the Corn is so pregnant that the Greek Churches in their Commemorations of the Dead use to boil Wheat in water and set it before them as a convincing Symbol of the Resurrection And my Autor is bold to saie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that This is the Greater wonder of the two that the Resurrection of the Corn is more Prodigious then that of the Bodie Strange indeed it is that a grain of Corn should not quicken except it die But much more strange that out of one grain and one as good as Dead should spring forth such a Numerous Increas As for our Bodies which are sown in Corruption the Earth when shee shall give up her Dead will render but as the Talent hid in the Napkin the same again or one for another But the Husbandman receiveth his own with Interest shall I saie that this Grain hath gained him Ten Grains Nay in som parts under the Line they reap the profit of a Thousand for One. In Relation to the First Fruits wee are called by Saint Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Complantati such as are planted together with him in Likeness of his Resurrection Correspondently the Prophet Isaiah saith Our bones shall flourish like an Herb. Now the Herbs and Plants wee know however cut down yet reinforcing from the Root spring up and rise again Wee use Vulgarly but Improperly to call the uppermost of the Branches the Top of a Tree but wee are corrected by Aristotle in the Books De Anima where wee are taught to call the Root the Head and the Top the Feet In the Revers of this Comparison the first Fruits are the Root and the Head wee the Branches or Members And in the 36. of Isaiah the Head acknowledgeth the whole departed Race of Mankinde to bee his Trunk or Dead Bodie Wee read it Thy Dead Men shall arise With my dead Bodie shall they arise But the rest is put in by the Translators The Original is Thy dead Men shall arise they shall arise my dead Bodie Seeing therefore that the Ax is not laid to the Root of the Tree what though the Branches bee lopt off by Death there is still Hope in the Tree saith Holie Job For though the Stock thereof die in the ground yet through the sent of water 't will bud and bring forth boughs like a Plant which withereth over night but beeing watered with the dew of Heaven springeth up afresh in the Morning And therefore in the same Prophecie of Isaiah the Dew of dead men is likened to the Dew of Herbs Ros tuus Ros Olerum To this saie the Jews in the Book Zohar That at the last Daie a kinde of Plastical Dew shall fall down upon the Dead and ingender with Luz the little Bone spoken of before and so out of this all the rest of our Bones and the whole Man shall spring forth But wee are not to give heed unto Jewish Fables and therefore it shall not bee here enquired who shall bee the Father of this Rain or Who should beget these drops of Dew Sure wee are that though touch'd by Death wee shrink up like that sensitive Plant yet wee shall soon quicken by his Influence whose Head in the Canticles is fill'd with Dew and his Loks as with the drops of the night In Exprobration therefore unto Death and Mortalitie wee know whose use it was to burie their dead in their Gardens sowing their Bodies with as much faith as their Fruits and equally exspecting
therefore 't is to bee said that hee referreth to the Dionysian Account in the 38 whereof hee might com into Egypt in the time of Evergetes And therefore Petavius upon his Epiphanius first and again in his Doctrina Temporum had little reason to fall so foully upon the much more learned Autor of this and manie other admired Revelations CHAP. XIV AEra Hispanica JVlius Caesar in the fourth of his Dictatorship appointed his Mathematicians to the Correction of the Roman Year Dion lib. 11. which is the begining of the Julian Account The The 283 whereof Censorinus saith was the 1014 of Iphilus and that the 986 of Nabonassar Therefore the Julian Account began the 703 of Nabonassar which was the 4669 of the Julian Period and 3905 from the Worlds Creätion The Cycle of the Sun was 21 and the Moon 14. Seven Years after and 38 before the Nativitie of Christ the Spaniards beeing brought under the subjection of the Empire received also this form of year their Aera from that time forth bearing Date from hence which though it was the fifth of Augustus yet the Style went in the Dictators Name and so the King Alphonso would bee understood in his Tables when hee calleth this Term Aera Caesaris meaning the Dictator CHAP. XV. Aera Actiacae Victoriae c. CAEsar Augustus having triumphed over Antonie and Cleopatra in the battel of Actium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Dion became himself to bee Monarch of the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. insomuch that hee gave command that the Empire should begin to compute their Acts from this daie's Achievment which was the second of September by Dion It was the year of the World 3919 and 4683 of the Julian Period as otherwise and also by an Eclips noted in the Fasti Seculi 't is manifest yet by the decree of the Senate this Aera was fixed in the destruction of Alexandria which was taken August the 29 of the year following 't was the 16 Julian year and the 294 from the Death of Alexander Till this time the Egyptian account measured by Nabonassar's year consisting of 365 daies without anie intercalation of the odd hours in the place hereof the Julian form succeeded And becaus the Egyptians called everie daie in the year by the Name of som God which were therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and everie year of their Lustrum's or Quadriennals in like manner which were therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anni Deorum these years were henceforth called in honor of Augustus Anni Augustorum Deorum or Anni Augustorum as 't is recorded by Censorinus who onely mentioneth them by this Name This Aera Actiaca continued in use till the time of Dioclesian who having gained himself an Opinion of Wisedom and Fortune among his People thought himself worthie from whom the Computation should now begin which was don It was therefore called by those of the Empire Aera Dioclesianea but by the Christians Aera Martyrum Sanctorum from the great Passion of Saints in the 19 of this Emperor's Raign wherein more then one hundred fortie and four thousand Christians suffered persecution in Egypt Thus Ignatius the Patriarch of Antioch answered Scaliger by his Letters Vir saith Scaliger quo doctiorem Oriens nostro seculo non tulit But the Aera Martyrum and that of Dioclesian begin at the same time as Christman upon his Alfraganus proveth out of Abull Hassumi an Arabick Historiographer And to assure the beginning of Dioclesians Aera Theon upon the Almagest noteth an Eclips of the Moon at Alexandria Theon Hypom 6. in Ptolem. Almag p. 248. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the 81 year of Dioclesian and 1112 of Nabonassar Ashyr the 29 and 6 of Phamenoth and this Eclips exacted to the Julian form hapned November 25 a little after midnight in the year of the World 4313 and 364 from the Incarnation the Sun was in the 5 of Sagittarie Therefore Dioclesian's Aera was fixed in the 1032 of Nabonassar which was the 284 from the Incarnation Therefore as it is called Aera Martyrum it referreth not to the persecution in the 19 of Dioclesian but to that of his first year wherein Diodorus the Bishop celebrating the Holie Communion with manie other Christians in a Cave was immured into the earth and so buried all alive Eusebius in Dioclesian This Aera is used by S. Ambrose Epiphanius Evagrius Hermannus Contractus Bede and others It stood in common Christian use until the times of Dionysius the Abbot who in stead hereof brought in the Aera of Christ's Incarnation so that as Peter Aliac our Bede and others the Christians did not use to reckon by the years of Christ until the 532 of the Incarnation yet Scaliger may bee seen De Emend lib. 5. p. 495. p. 496. p. the 18 of his Prolegomena Nor is it to bee thought saith Christman that this Aera Martyrum was utterly abolished except we mean it of Rome for saith hee 'tis yet in use among the Egyptians Arabians Persians Ethiopians and generally the Eastern men Scaliger saith it once and again how truly I doubt that it never was but as it still is used in the Egyptian and Ethiopian Churches No doubt but that it was most proper to Egypt where it first began for which caus it is called by the Arabians Teric Elgupti the Aera Aegyptica From the Egyptians the most part of the world received it though the Abassines or Ethiopians in a directer line as whose Patriarch and Religion is subject to that of Alexandria The Ethiopians call it the Anni Gratiae CHAP. XVI Aera Christi Nati DIonysius the Abbot who as wee said was Autor to the world of accounting by this new Aera infinitely more concerning then that of Dioclesian fixed the same in the 4713 of the Julian Period which answereth to the 3950 year from the World's Creätion so that the Anni Christi were not in use of Computation till the 532 year after the Nativitie as it was fixed by Dionysius This Dionysian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the more accurate in Chronologie finde to bee at fault but not themselvs agreeing upon the difference To saie nothing of the Bishop of Middleburgh who affirmeth that this Aera was behinde-hand with the true Nativitie 22 years and that S Paul himself had revealed this to him though afterward hee changed this opinion S. Paul it seem's not beeing in the right and believed that this Aera was so far from beeing 22 years behinde that it was two years before-hand with the truth Capellus laboreth to prove that it is a Metachronism of six years Kepler of five Decker of four others of three Scaliger of two who demonstrateth as hee himself thinketh that the first year Dionysian of Christ ought to bee reckoned the third Learned Bunting one of the first who took this exception demonstrateth that the difference is but of one year Hee proveth it thus Taking for granted out of S.
this daie till Innocents daie at night it lasted longer at the First The Episcopus Puerorum was to bear the name and hold up the State of a Bishop answerably habited with a Crosier or Pastoral-staff in his hand and a Miter upon his head and such an one too som had as was multis Episcoporum mitris sumtuosior saith one verie much richer then those of Bishops indeed The rest of his fellows from the same time beeing were to take upon them the Style and countefaict of Prebends yielding to their Bishop or els as if it were no less then Canonical obedience And look what service the verie Bishop himself with his Dean and Prebends had they been to officiate was to have performed the Mass excepted the verie same was don by the Chorister Bishop and his Canons upon the Eve and the Holiedaie By the Use of Sarum for 't is almost the onely place where I can hear anie thing of this that of York in their Processional seemeth to take no notice of it upon the Eve to Innocents Daie The Chorister Bishop was to go in solemn Procession with his fellows ad altare Sanctae Trinitatis omnium Sanctorum as the Processional or ad altare Innocentium sive Sanctae Trinitatis as the Pie in capis cereïs ardentibus in manibus in their Copes and burning Tapers in their Hands The Bishop begining and the other Boies following Centum quadraginta quatuor c. Then the Vers Hi emti sunt ex omnibus c. And this is sung by three of the Boies Then all the Boies sing the Prosa Sedentem in supernae majestatis arce c. The Chorister Bishop in the mean time fumeth the Altar first and then the Image of the Holie Trinitie Then the Bishop saith modestâ voce the Vers Laetamini and the Respond is Et Gloriamini c. Then the Praier which wee yet retein Deus cujus hodiernâ die praeconium Innocentes Martyres non loquendo sed moriendo confessi sunt omnia in nobis vitiorum mala mortifica ut fidem tuam quam Lingua nostra loquitur etiam moribus vita fateatur Qui cum Patre Spiritu Sancto c. But the Rubrick to the Pie saith Sacerdos dicat Both the Praier and the Laetamini that is som Rubricks do otherwise I take the Benediction to bee of more Priestlie consequence then the Oremus c. which yet was solemnly performed by the Chorister Bishop as will follow In their return from the Altar Praecentor puerorum incipiat c. The Chanter Chorister is to begin De Sancta Maria c. The Respond is Felix namque c. sic processio c. The Procession was made into the Quire by the West door and in such order as it should seem by Molanus ut Decanus cum Canonicis insimum locum Sacellani medium Scholares verò cum suo Episcopo ultimum dignissimum locum occupent c. That the Dean and Canons went formost the Chaplains next The Bishop with his little Prebends in the last and highest place the Bishop taketh his seat and the rest of the children dispose of themselvs upon each side of the Quire upon the uppermost Asscent the Canons resident bearing the Incens and the Book and the Petit Canons the Tapers according to the Rubrick Ad istam Processionem pro dispositione puerorum scribuntur Canonici ad ministrandum iisdem Majores ad thuribulandum ad Librum deferendum Minores ad Candelabra portanda c. And from this hour to the full end of the next daies Procession Nullus Clericorum solet gradum superiorem asscendere cujuscunque conditionis fuerit Then Episcopus in sede sua dicat versum Speciosus formâ c. Diffusa est gratia in labiis tuis c. Then the Praier Deus qui salutis aetenae c. Pax vobis c. Then after the Benedicamus Domino Episcopus puerorum in sede sua benedicat populum in hunc modum that is The Bishop of the Children sitting in his Seat is to give the Benediction or bless the people in this manner Princeps Ecclesiae pastor ovilis cunctam plebem tuam benedicere digneris c. Then turning towards the People hee singeth or saieth for all this was in plano cantu that age was so far from skilling discant or the Fuges that they were not com up to Counterpoint Cum mansuetudine charitate humiliate vos ad benedictionem the Chorus answering Deo gratias Then the Cross-bearer delivereth up the Crosier to the Bishop again tunc Episcopus puerorum primò signando se in fronte sic dicat Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini the Chorus answering Qui fecit Coelum et Terram Then after som other like Cerimonies performed the Episcopus Puerorum or Chorister Bishop begineth the Completorium or Complyn and that don hee turneth towards the Quire and saith Adjutorium c. then last of all hee saith Benedicat vos omnipotent Deus Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus In die Sanctorum Innocentium ad secundas vesperas accipiat Cruciferarius baculum Episcopi puerorum et cantent Antiphon Princeps Ecclesiae c. sicut ad primas vesperas Similiter Episcopus puerorum benedicat populum supradicto modo et sic compleatur Servitium hujus diei Rubric Processional And all this was don with that Solemnitie of Celebration and appetite of seeing that the Statute of Sarum was forced to provide sub poena majoris Excommunicationis nè quis pueros illos in praefata Processione vel aliàs in suo ministerio premat aut impediat quoquo modo quò minùs pacificè valeant facere et exsequi quod illis imminet faciendum c. that no man whatsoever under the pain of Anathema should interrupt or press upon these Children at the Procession spoken of before or in anie other part of their Service in anie waies but to suffer them quietly to perform and exsecute what it concern'd them to do And the part was acted yet more earnestly for Molanus saith that this Bishop in som places did reditus census et Capones annuò accipere receiv Rents Capons c. during his Year c. And it seemeth by the Statute of Sarum that hee held a kinde of Visitation and had a ful correspondencie of all other State and Prerogative for the Statute saith Electus autem puer Chorista in Episcopum modo solito puerili officium in Ecclesia prout fieri cousuevit licenter exsequatur Convivium aliquod de caetero vel visitationem exteriùs vel interiùs nullatenus sed in domo communi cum Seciis conversetur c. Ecclesiam et Scholas cum caeteris Choristis statim post Festum Innocentium frequentando c. More then all this Molanus telleth of a Chorister Bishop in the Church of Cambraie who disposeth of a Prebend which fell void in his moneth or Year for I know not which it was to his Master