matters and stirs them up by wicked and mischievous advice who hunts out for Causes and who is the greatest Scolder and Brauler to make the things which are just and true seem doubtful and unjust and by such Weapons as those to chase and overthrow Justice with whom Justice is nothing else but publike Gain and the Judge that sits upon the Bench is forc'd to confirm what Money makes appear just Nay they expose those things which are not even privations of things and Silence it self seeing that as none will speak but for Gain there 's none will hold his tongue but for Reward after the example of Demosthenes who when he askt Aristodemus a Compipiler of Fables what Fees he had got for Pleading answered A Talent But I replyed Demosthenes have got more to hold my tongue So that the tongue of a Lawyer unless fast bound in Silver chains is very mischievous and pernicious CHAP. XCIV Of the Calling of Publike Notaries AMong these Publike Notaries are to be reckon'd whose Injuries Falsities and Mischiefs continually by them wrought all are bound to endure while they pretend to have their credit license and authority from the Apostolike and Imperial power Among whom they are to be accounted the chiefest who know best how to trouble the Court perplex Causes counterfeit Wills and Deeds to abuse and deceive their Clyents and if need be to forswear themselves venturing at any Roguery rather than be outdone in plotting and contriving Cheats Scandals Quirks Tricks Quillets Treacheries Scylla's and Charybdis's by any other person whatsoever There is no Notary can frame an Instrument from whence there may not be some cause of Quarrel pickt out if any person have a minde to contest for there will be some way or other found out either to finde out a defect in the Writing or to invalidate the faith of the publike Notary These they call the Helps of the Law which they teach the Contentious how to flie to and lay hold of These are the effects of their Watching and Labour wherewith with they soften the rigour of the Law when they finde their Clyents willing to contend for he shall have so much Law as he can by his power maintain the Law averring that we cannot be equal to those that are more potent than we are CHAP. XCV Of the Study of the Law TO this those vast Gyants have relation who contrary to the Edict of Justinian have begot so many innumerable Volumes of Comments Glosses and Expositions every one differing in their Interpretation Besides this they have gathered together such Storms of Opinions so many Woods of dark and subtil Counsels and Cautions wherewith the Iniquity of Advocates is furnished as if Truth did not consist more in Reason than in confused Testimonies rak'd together out of such a monstrous heap of Opiniasters among whom there is so much Dissention so much Discord that he that knows not how to differ from another to contradict the Sayings and Opinions of others call in question the justice of Adjudged Cases and to wrest good Laws to their own Humours and Interests is not to be thought Learned among um Thus is the Study of the Law made a deceitful Net and Gin of Iniquity these are the Crafts and these the Arts by which the whole Christian world is governed the Foundations of Empires and Kingdoms and out of these Knaves are chosen Presidents of Parliaments Senators and several great Officers of Popes and Princes as if wicked Advocates would prove just Judges when they came to be the Heads of the Nation These like the Titans to Jove become formidable to their Princes themselves Out of these come the swag-belly'd Secretaries and Purple Chancellors of Emperours and Kings who govern all affairs of State dispose of all Favours Gifts Benefits Offices Dignities and Patents of the prince who sell all Right and Justice all Law Equity and Honesty and compel others to purchase of them According to whose will such and such are to be Allies such Enemies to the Prince with whom sometimes they joyn in Leagues sometimes make War according to their pleasures And being rais'd from the lowest degree of Poverty and meanness of condition to so high a pitch of Dignity meerly by prostituting their Tongues at length they grow so bold and audacious that without calling to answer without order of Council they will convict and condemn men and many times alter forms of Government they themselves growing fat with Thievery and Robbery CHAP. XCVI Of the Inquisition HEre we must not omit the order of Predicants Inquisitors after Hereticks whose power when it ought to be founded upon the holy Scriptures yet they derive it all from the Canon-Law and Pontifical Decrees as if it were impossible the Pope should erre leaving the Scripture as a dead letter and onely the shadow of Truth and reject it as the Buckler and defence of Hereticks Neither do they receive the Traditions of the ancient Fathers and Doctors because they may both deceive and be deceived but pretending that the Roman Church cannot erre of which the Pope is the Head and therefore the Authority of his Court is the Rule of their Faith enquiring no further in their examinations than whether men believe in the Church of Rome which if any person refractory do grant then quoth they the Church condemns such or such a Proposition as heretical scandalous and offensive to pious ears and then compel the person to revoke and recant his Errour If the offender continue to justifie himself by Reason or Scripture or both straight with great clamour and mouthing they interrupt him telling him he is not before the Chair of Doctors or a Convocation of Scholars but a Tribunal of Judges he is not to dispute there but to answer directly whether he will stand to or abide the Decree of the Church or renounce his Opinion if not they shew him Faggots and Fire saying Hereticks are to be convinced with Faggot and Fire not with Scripture and Arguments and so compel a man not convicted of any perverse obstinacie contrary to his Conscience to abjure those things which if he deny they deliver him over to the Secular power as a deserter of the Church to be burnt saying with the Apostle Remove the evil thing from among you In ancient times such was the lenity and meckness of the Church that they neither punisht those that relaps'd into Judaism nor Blasphemies and Berengarius revolting to a most damnable Heresie was not onely not put to death but continued in his Archdeaconship But now if a man slip into the least Errour 't is much more than his life is worth and he shall be thrown into the Fire by these Inquisitors for a trifle Perhaps it is now convenient for the Church to use such severe chastisement for fear of losing its innate piety Sometimes Hereticks are Inquisitors after Hereticks which was the occasion of the Decree which Clement made But Inquisitors ought not to hold dark
not the Opinions of Men not Custom nor the invented Fictions of the Wise not the Magnificent Decrees of Sects not Syllogisms Enthymems not Inductions not soluble Consequences but Divine Oracles consonant to one another received by the Universal Church with an unanimous and solid consent approved by Miracles Prodigies Wonders Holiness of life and testimony of Martyrdom The Doctors of this Prophetick Theologie were Moses Job David Solomon and many other Canonical Writers and Prophets The Teachers of the New Testament were the Apostles and Evangelists but all these notwithstanding they were fill'd with the Holy Ghost yet all at one time or other stray'd from the Truth and in some measure spake untruly not that they did so wittingly or craftily for to say so would be a greater Errour than that of Arius or Sabellicus subverting the whole Authority of the Scripture in which Errour notwithstanding the great and holy S. Jerome persisted disputing against S. Augustine about the reprehension of Peter for S. Paul said that S. Jerome told a lye craftily Which should it be granted and that such an untruth should be admitted in the Bible immediately as S. Austin saith the whole certainty of the Bible would fall to ruine But S. Jerome being thus admonisht after many Contradictions and defences at length acknowledged his Errour and confess'd the Truth But what I say that the holy Writers did secundum quid speak things not altogether true I would have to be understood so as that they did not willingly erre but onely stray through humane frailty Thus Moses failed in telling the people he would bring them out of Aegypt and carry them into the Land of Canaan for though he brought them out of Aegypt he did not carry them into the Land of promise Jonas failed in foretelling the destruction of Nineveh within forty days intended but delay'd Elijah failed in foretelling many things to come to pass in the days of Ahab which yet were not fulfill'd till after his death Isaiah failed foretelling the death of Hezekiah the next day when his life was prolonged fifteen years afterwards Many other Prophets also fail'd and their predictions are found either not to have come to pass at all or else to have been suspended The Apostles also and Evangelists fail'd Peter also fail'd when he was reprehended by S. Paul Matthew also fail'd when he wrote that Christ was not dead till the Launce had pierced his side But this defect was no defect of the Holy Ghost but either of the Prophet not rightly delivering what was suggested by the Holy Ghost or the Vision did declare or else proceeding from some alteration of the event of the Command the sentence of the Oracle being either alter'd or defer'd Hence it follows that all Prophets and Writers in some things seem to fail and erre according to the Scripture which saith All men are lyers Onely Christ both God and man never was nor shall be found to fail nor shall his words be altered or be defective who void of Errour divulged his Oracles most immutable as he said himself The heaven and the earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away Now because all Truth is through the Holy Ghost therefore onely Christ possesses this Truth firmly nor shall it ever depart from him but remains in him But it is not so with others for the Spirit was with Moses but when he strake the Rock it was departed It was with Aaron but departed when he made the Calf It was with Anna their sister but not when she murmured against Moses It was with Saul David Solomon Isaiah c. but rested not constantly with them Neither are Prophets always Prophets or Seers or foretellers of things to come nor is Prophecie a continual habit but a gift passion or transient spirit And whereas there is no man who doth not sin so there is no man from whom the Spirit doth not sometimes depart and leave him unless it be Christ the onely Son of God of whom it was therefore said to John He upon whom thou sawest the Spirit descending and remaining with him he is the Son of God who Baptizeth with the Holy Ghost being also able to impart the same to others Therefore as saith Simonides onely God hath this honour that he is onely Metaphysical so may we say of Christ that onely Christ hath this honour to be a Divine However let no man think that the Writings of the Old Testament since the Gospel of Christ had its divine birth from them are therefore obsolete and dead for they will ever live in high authority for by them have the Apostles proved their Tenets and without their testimony they have spoken nothing and Christ refers us to the search of them whose Gospel doth not at all abolish those Writings but fulfill'd the Law to the least tittle This is also to be noted that many Volumes of the Holy Scripture are lost which we may easily gather from the Scripture it self For Moses cites Books of The Wars of the Lord and Joshuah The Book of the Just Esther The Book of memorable things and Macchabees cites the holy Books of the Spartiatae and the Books of the Kings cite Books of Lamentations Books of Samuel the Seer Books and Writings of Nathan God Semeiah Haddo Ahia the Shilonite of Jehu the son of Ammon Jude also in his Canonical Epistle cites the Book of Enoch And some Authors of credit have cited a Book of Abraham the Patriarch All which are lost and never to be found Nor are these which we have received of equal Authority for Dionysius makes mention of A Gospel of S. Bartholomew and S. Jerome takes notice of A Gospel according to the Nazarenes and S. Luke in his Preface to his Gospel saith that many did undertake to write Gospels which are all lost And many others there are which are either corrupted with Heresie or set forth without Authority and so neither received by the holy Fathers nor approved by the Church I omit false Prophets who have come in by the by prophesying through vain-glory things which the holy Spirit never suggested but unheard-of lyes neither according to the Scripture nor tending either to unity of Spirit or the peace of the Church but for the introducing of Schism who rashly making themselves of Gods Privie Council dare presume to take the Word of God into their own mouthes and to write Scriptures and Prophecies altogether Heretical or Apocryphal Nor were the Canticles of Solomon inserted among the Canonical Books till they were corrected and approv'd by Isaiah From hence it appears how that Theologie it self that is to say the holy Scripture wants many of its Volumes and may in a manner seem defective and few of many that remain are true and certain really Books of life and Canonical CHAP. C. Of the Word of God YE have now heard how doubtful how uncertain how ambiguous all the Sciences are and how for any thing in them contained we
to Wantonness with the sight of obscene Pictures nay we stick not to introduce 'um into our very Temples Chapples and over our Altars to the great hazard of breeding Idolatry But of this more when we come to Treat of Religion Now that there is a certain Authority not to be contemned in Statues and Pictures I learnt not long ago in Italy where there happening a very great debate before the Pope between the Austin Fryars and the Regular Canons about the Habit of St. Austin that is to say whether he wore a black Stole over a white Vest or a white Stole over a black Vest and finding nothing in Scripture that gave Light toward the determination of the Question the Judges at length thought fit to refer the whole matter to the Painters and Statuaries resolving to give judgment according to what they should declare they had seen in Ancient Pictures and Statues Confirm'd by this example I my self labouring with indefatigable diligence to find out the Original of the Monks Cowl and not finding any that might resolve the doubt in Scripture at length I refer'd my self to the Painters seeking the Truth of the matter in the Porches of Halls of the Monasteries where the Histories of the Old and New Testament are generally Painted Now seeing that I could not perceive in all the Old Testament neither any of the Priests or Prophets no not Elias himself whom the Carmelites make their Patron I went and diligently view'd all the New Testament There I saw Zacharias Simeon John Baptist Joseph Christ the Apostles Disciples Scribes Pharisees High Priests Annas Caiphas Herod Pilat and many others but yet I could not see one Cowl among them All till at length examining the whole story over and over again and by and by in the very Front of the Piece I found the Devil himself with a Cowl on as he stood tempting Christ in the Wilderness I was very glad to find that in a Picture that I could observe in no Writing that the Devil was the first Inventor of Cowls from whom I am apt to believe the Monks and Fryars have borrowed the same though wearing it of divers Colours if they do not absolutely claim it by Inheritance CHAP. XXVI Of Prospective and Looking-Glasses TO return to Opticks to which the use of Looking-Glasses and Prospective-Glasses does mainly conduce the Experiments whereof are daily seen in the various kinds of Glasses Hollow Convex Plane Pillar-fashion'd Pyramidal Globular Gibbose Orbicular full of Angles Inverted Everted Regular Irregular Solid and Perspicuous So we read as Celius in his ancient Readings relates That one Hostius a Person of an Obscene Life made a sort of Glasses that made the Object seem far greater than it was so that one Finger should seem to exceed the whole Arm both in bigness and thickness There is also a sort of Glass wherein a man may see the Image of another man but not his own and another which being set in such a posture and place gives back no representation but the posture being alter'd presently returns the Object presented Some that shew all sorts of Representations some not all but many Other Glasses there are that contrary to the fashion of all others will shew the right hand directly opposite to the Right and the Left directly opposite to the Left Other Glasses there are that do not represent the Image within but as it were hanging in the Air. Burning-Glasses there are too that Collecting the beams of the Sun into one point kindle fire at a distance upon any Combustible Matter Little Perspicuous Glasses also are not without thier Impostures that is to say to make a little thing appear great those that are afar off neer those things or places that are neer afar off those that are above us below us those things that are below us above us or in any other posture or situation whatever There are other of these Glasses that make one Object appear to be many and will represent things with divers Colours like the Rainbow as also in divers Shapes and Figures And I my self have learnt to make Glasses wherein while the Sun shines you may discern for the distance of Three or Four Miles together whatever places are enlightned or over-spread with his Beams And this is to be admired in plain Glasses that by how much the less they are so much less than themselves they will represent the Object but let them be never so big yet shall they not represent the Object ever a whit the larger which when St. Austin consider'd writing to Nibridius he conceives it to be something of an occult Mystery However they are vain and useless things invented only for Ostentation and idle Pleasure Many both Greek and Latine have Treated of Looking-Glasses and Perspectives but above all the rest Vitellius CHAP. XXVI Of Cosmimetry LET us have a few words now concerning Cosmimetry which is divided into Cosmography and Geography both measure the World and distinguish it into Parts the First according to a method drawn from the Heavenly Bodies by distinguishing Places as they are Situated under such Stars or Constellations measuring them by Scales of Degrees or Minutes by Climates by the difference of Day or Night Points of the Winds various risings of the Stars Elevations of the Pole Parallels Meridians shadows of Gnomons and the like all which is performed by Mathematical Rules The Second not regarding any thing of the Celestial Bodies measures the World by Furlongs and Miles divides it into Mountains Woods Lakes Rivers Seas and Shores Nations People Kingdoms Provinces Cities Ports and whatever else is worthy taking Notice of They Native Customes Native Habits shew And what each Region suffers there to grow And in imitation of Painting according to the Rules of Geometry and Perspective describe the whole World in Plain Tables or Maps In little Volumes Painting all the World Of this they reckon Chorography to be a part which undertaking the particular Description of particular Places sets them out more fully and accurately Each part distinguish'd various order yields Of Vines of Woods of Meadows Fountains Fields Behold how swelling Streams the Ocean fill There falls a Valley there a mounting Hill With wooddy top assails the distant Stars All these things and whatever we have before spoken of in this Chapter Cosmimetry teaches in chief But what Authors shall instruct us in this Art so manifold are the Contentions among them about Bounds Longitudes Latitudes Magnitudes Measures Distances Climates and Qualities of Countries All which Eratosthenes has one way explained Strabo another another way Marinus another way Ptolomy another way Dionysius another way the Later Authors Neither do they agree about the Navil or Middle of the Earth which Ptolomy places under the Equinoctial Circle Strabo believes it to be the Mountain Parnassus in Greece with whom Plutarch and Lactantius the Grammarian agree and believe That in the time of the Deluge it was the only Mark of distinction between the
though the Author or first Founder of a most absurd Religion and the Jews yet persisting in their folly believe their Messiah yet to come Among us Christians several Popes several Councils several Bishops have prescrib'd several Varieties and Forms of Worship differing among themselves either touching the manner of the Ceremonies Meats lawful Fasts Vestments Publick Ornaments or else about Clerical Promotions and Tithes But one thing overcomes the admiration of Wonder it self to see how these Ambitious men think to climb Heaven by the same wayes that Lucifer fell from it Neither do all these Laws and Rules of Religion lean upon any other Foundation than the meer Opinions and Pleasure of their Founders Consider from the Beginning of the World how many there were how many there are several Inventions of Religion how many Ceremonies how many Heresies how many Opinions how many Decrees how many Canons yet cannot Religion lead men in so many Ages to the right Path of Faith without the Word of God which being once made Flesh and Triumphing over his Enemies on the Cross Temples and dols were thrown down and the Powers of Numens and Oracles ceas'd The Voice of Pytho's gone that seldom â—rr'd Apollo too so many Ages heard Is now in silence lock't Tby Service done to thine own Country go Return to thine own Altars down below For no sooner the Word of God came to shine in the World by the manifestation of the Gospel but all the Gods of the Heathen being as it were Thunder-struck fell to Destruction according to the saying of Christ in Luke I saw Satan falling from Heaven like Lightning How far this concerns Faith Theology and the Decrees of the Canonists we shall discourse hereafter For now we are only treating of Religion so far as to those Mysteries contained therein which concern the benefits of the Priest or that suffice to render the outward face of the Commonwealth sumptuous with Images Statues Temples Phanes Chappels Dignities Pomp and Riches of the Ministers and Ecclesiastical Officers of which I have Disputed at large in my Dispute upon the Theological Decrees held by me at Collen in the Year 1510 and therefore I shall the more briefly pass them over now yet show you that among those things which were set apart for the decency of Worship and most proper for the safety of Mens Souls not a little of the Tare of Vanity and Destructive Superstition has been mix'd CHAP. LVII Of Images THe worship of Images has not been antiently by all people admitted For the Jews as Josephus relates after they had been so often chastized and indeed at first the most strict observers of the Law did abhor nothing more than the making of Images For the commands of God delivered by Moses did utterly prohibit the use of Images either in Temples or in any other place And Eusebius testifies that among the people call'd Seres the adoration of Images was by Law absolutely forbidden Neither do we read either in Clement or Plutarch that for so Numa had decreed there was any Image to be seen or that was spoken of for above a hundred and seventy years after the building of the City Which also St. Austin alleadges out of Varro whose words most clearly witness that there was no Image or Idol in the City for one hundred and sixty years and that afterwards it came to pass that by reason of the Multitude of Images and Idols the Worship of the Gods was not only neglected but had in contempt The Persians also as Herodotus and Strabo Witness never suffered Images among them On the otherside in the honour of Idols there were none more Superstitious and dotingly stupid than the Aegyptians from whence that Impiety as from a corrupted Fountain over-ran other Nations which Superstitious Customes and false Religion of the Heathens when the same People became to be Converted to the Christian Faith did not a little contaminate the Purity of our Religion introducing Idols and Images into our Church together with many Barren Pomps and Ceremonies of which there was nothing thought of among the Ancient and Primitive Christians Nor can it be imagin'd how strongly and superstitiously Idolatry is riveted into the Minds of the Unlearned Multitude by the means of Images the idle Priests among the Catholicks conniving thereat as reaping not a little benefit thereby 'T is true they endeavour to defend themselves by the help of St. Gregories Words who saith That Images are the Books of the Vulgar whereby the Memory of things is by them the more easily retain'd so that by these they who cannot read may yet be taught and by the sight thereof be drawn to the Contemplation of God However these are but the humane Comments and Suppositions of Palliating St. Gregory and though that good Man might in some sort approve of the Images themselves yet it cannot be thought that he did any way allow the Worship thereof For it is no part of our duty to learn from the Forbidden Book of Images but from the Book of God which is the Scripture He therefore who desires to know God let him not endeavour to obtain that Knowledge from the handy-work of Painters and Statuaries but according to the Direction of St. John Let him search the Scriptures what testimony they give concerning him And they who cannot read let them hear the Word of the same Scripture where St. Paul pronounces That Faith comes by hearing and what Christ in another place â—aith My Sheep know my Voice As also what in another place he avers No man can come to him unless the Father draw him and no man cometh to the Father but by Christ himself Why then do we take the Glory from God giving it to Pictures and Images as if they could draw us to the Knowledge of the most Divine Being To this we may add the vain and immoderate Worship of idle Reliques We confess That the Reliques of the Saints are Holy and that they thall one day shine with the Glories of Eternity Yet to give them Adoration as to the Reilquâ—s of Dâ—ities that hear our Prayers is a most stupid piece of Fascination Lest therefore we fall into Idolatry and Superstition it is the safest way for us not to fix our Faith upon visible things But the Covetous Generation of the Romish Clergy greedy after gain raising matter to â—eed their Avarice not only out of Wood and Stones but also from the Bones of the Dead and Reliques of the Saints make them the Instruments of their Rapine and Extortion They shew the Sepulchres of the Saints they expose the Reliques of Martyrs which no man must so much as touch or kiss but for mony They adorn their Pictures set out their Festivals with great Pomp and State they extol 'um for Saints advance the Fame of their Miracles utterly disagreeing in their Lives and Conversations from the Lives and Examples of those whom they praise These were the Men to whom our Saviour spoke when
he cry'd out Wo be to you that build up the Sepulchres of the Prophets like to those that shew them Like to the Heathen to every Saint they allot his proper charge to one with Neptune they share the Command of the Seas and power of Deliverance from the dangers thereof to another with Jupiter to have the Dominion of Thunder to another with Vulcan to controul the Fire to another they pray with Ceres for seasonable and plentiful Harvests to another with Bacchus they give the Charge of their Vintages and Vines The Women also have their Deities from whom as from Lucina they beg for Children and the cure of Barrenness and another by whose Power they either Appease or Revenge themselves upon their Angry Husbands Others there are to whom they give the priviledge of recovering and finding Lost Goods Neither is there any Disease which has not its peculiar Physitian among the Saints Which is the reason that Physitians do not get so much as Lawyers there being no sort of Action though never so just that ever could boast of a Saint for its Patron 'T is true the Papists aver That as the Soul in every Member Displayes a several Act and every Act as it is variously dispos'd receives a distinct Power as the Eye to see the Ears to hear So Christ in his Mystical Body of which he is the Soul by his several Saints as Members accommodated to the same Body doth Administer and Distribute the several gifts of his Grace to the Inferiour Creatures and that to every Saint is allotted a particular operation for the dispersing of several Graces according to the variety of Graces given to each Man But this Conjecture as being one of Agrippa's Vanities for which there is no ground in Scripture we cannot reckon among the Vanities of Science but as a peculiar Invention of his own CHAP. LVIII Of Temples NOW as concerning Temples there was nothing wherein the Superstition of the Gentiles was more eminent who to every Deity were very curious in Building particular Temples after whose Example the Christians afterwards Dedicated their Temples to particular Saints Yet there were many Nations that never made use of any Temples and Xerxes is reported to have burnt all the Temples throughout Asia at the perswasion of his Magicians believing it to be an Impious thing to enclose the Gods in Walls But of these Temples Zeno Citicus Disputed formerly in these Words To build Churches and Temples saith he it is no way necessary for nothing ought to be accompted Sacred by Right nothing to be esteemed Holy which men themselves Build Among the Persians of old there were no Temples Neither was there among the Hebrews from their first beginning but only one Temple Dedicated to Divine use which was Built by Solomon of which however it is thus written in Isaias Thus saith the Lord The Heaven is my seat the Earth the footstool for my feet what is this house which thou buildest for me And Stephen the Protomartyr adds Salomon built a House but the most High Inhabits not in places made with Hands And Paul the Apostle saith to the Athenians God dwells not in Temples made with hands for being the Lord of Heaven and Earth he is not serv'd by mens hands who wants not their help However he teaches that Humane Nature even Men themselves Holy Pious Religious Devout to God are the most acceptable Temples to God as he Asserts writing to the Corinthians Ye are the Temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you the Temple of God is holy so ought you to be Moreover Origen writing against Celsus confesses That at the first beginning of Christian Religion and long after Christs Suffering there were no Churches Built Confirming by many Arguments that among Christians they avail neither to the right Worship of God nor to the Honour of true Religion Therefore faith Lactantius Temples are not to be made to God of Stones piled up to an immense height but there is a place to be reserv'd in the Heart of every Man where his Thoughts ought to retire when they are taken up in Religious Exercise Not Temples made with hands th' Almighty hold Just men are the true Temples made of Gold And Christ sends his Adorers not into the Temple not into the Synagogues but into their private Closets to Pray And we read that he himself did many times appear with the Multitude in the Cities in the Temple in the Synagogue when he made his Sermons but he went into the Mountain to Pray where he spent the Night in Prayer However the Church that does nothing but by the Inspiration of the Spirit of God when the Christian Religion began to increase and that Sinners entred into the Temple with the Godly the weak with the strong in Faith and as they entred the Ark of Noe the Clean with the Unclean did then Ordain certain Temples Chappels Churches and separated Places free from Prophane business wherein the Word of God might be Publickly Preached to the Multitude and the Sacraments might be more decently and orderly Administred which have since been held by the Christians in most Venerable Esteem and being guarded with the Immunities of several Princes have encreased to such a vast Number augmented with the Addition of Monasteries Abbies and the like that it is very necessary that many of them should be cut off as superfluous and unnecessary Members And here we cannot be unmindful of another Enormity which is the superbity of Building wherein vast sums of Alms and sacred Money is expended which as we have observ'd before would be more fitly and honestly employ'd in the maintenance of the true poor of Christ the true Temples and resemblances of God many times ready to perish for hunger thirst cold labour sickness and want CHAP. LIX Of Holy-days HOly-days both among the Gentiles as among the Jews were always in great estimation who did all at certain times of the year and upon certain days set apart several Holy-days for Divine worship upon several occasions as if it were lawful to be more religious or more ungodly at one time than another or that it were the pleasure of God to be worshipped more at one time than another which St. Paul objects to the Galatians as a shame writing to them afthis manner Ye observe days and months and times and years I fear I have labour'd for you in vain and without a cause Concerning which when he admonishes the Colossians he commands them in these words Let no man judge you for meat or drink upon a Holy-day or of the New-moon or of the Sabbath which are members of future things For to true and perfect Christians there is no difference of days who are always feasling and pleasing themselves in God always keeping a perpetual Sabbath as Isaiah prophesi'd to the Fathers of the Jews The time shall come that their Sabbath shall be taken away and when the Saviour comes there shall be a
according to the Services which they presum'd themselves to have done in War had urg'd 'um to take up Arms against their Country Examples whereof we find in Coriolanus the Gracchi Sylla Marius Sertorius Catiline and Caesar. Therefore is we do but Examine the Foundations and first Beginnings of Nobility we shall find it acquir'd by Perfidiousness and Cruelty if the growth thereof we shall find it increased by Mercenary War and Robbery If we look into the Original of Kingdoms and Empires we shall meet with most Impious Murthers of Parents and Brothers Tragical Matches Fathers expell'd from their Kingdoms by their Sons and therefore let us view a little the Infancy of Nobility and we shall find it to be nothing but a sturdy Power and robustious Dignity a Happiness got by Wickedness and the Inheritance of the worst of Children And that this is apparent is evident out of Scripture and no less manifest out of the Ancient and Modern Histories of the Gentiles For no sooner had Adam at the first Creation of the World begot his First-born Cain the Husbandman and his other son Abel the Shepherd but there began a distinction of Power Abel seem'd to resemble the Commonalty Cain the Nobility who being according to the Flesh proud and cruel and a Persecutor of him that was according to the Spirit meek and gentle slew his Brother But the Commonalty was again restor'd in the Birth of Seth the third Son of Adam so that Cain was the first Author of Parricide and Nobility together who contemning the Laws of God and Nature yet trusting in his own strength and Usurping Dominion to himself he built Cities instituted Empire and by Law began to curb Men Created free by God the sons also of the Holy Generation and to bring them into servitude and subjection till they themselves contemning the Command of God all Flesh soon growing Corrupt by promiscuous Copulation begat Giants which the Scripture seems to Interpret men Powerful in their Time and famous for their Deeds And this is the most apt and real definition of Nobility for these were they that first oppress'd the Weak advancing themselves by Robbery and Spoil and glorying in their great Riches spread the greatness of their Fame by calling Regions Rivers Mountains Cities and Seas by their own names of whom Cain the first Parent by nature Wicked enviously and inwardly malitious of God incorrigible a treacherous dissembler of his Anger slew his own brother adding Blasphemy to Parricide And thus we see the Primitive and most Ancient Ornaments the chief Vertues and Embellishments which continue to this very day whose first Author was the Father of the Gyants whom God destroyed in the Deluge reserving only Noah a Just Man of the Generation of Seth. This Noah had three sons Sem Japhet and Ham who restoring the World after the Flood according to the Custome of the Ancient Gyants began to build Towns and Cities which is the Reason that from Noah till Abraham the Scripture makes no mention of Just Men wherefore we are to believe That all from Noah to Abraham were the Architects of Nobility that is of powerful Impiety Confusion Power Warfare Violence Oppression Hunting Luxury Pomp Vanity and such other marks of Nobility with which the sons of Noah were stamp'd Among others Cham because he was wickeder than the rest and the first that was disobedient to his Father therefore he was thought fittest to be the sole Monarch of the World at that time he begat Nimrod whom the Scripture describes to be a mighty Potentate upon the Earth a mighty Hunter before the Lord some read it against the Lord. He built Babylon the Great and gave the first occasion of the Confusion of Languages set down Rules how to Govern distinguishing the degrees of Honour Dignity Offices and Arms. After that Laws being made to curb the Commonalty then was slavery and subjection introduc'd Taxes laid upon the People Armies were rais'd and cruel Wars were first carried on From the same Cham proceeded Chus from whom the Aethiopians Misraim from whom the Egyptians and Canaan from whom the Canaanites The most noble and populous Nations but the wickedest most reprobate and accursed of God At length after some process of time again God Elected a Just Man even the Patriarch Abraham from whose Loyns he might raise to himself a Holy Seed and People whom he distinguished by the Mark of Circumcision from the Multitude of all other Nations he begat two sons one of his Maid-servant Natural the other of his Wife Legitimate Ishmael became a fierce Hunter a Potentate Prince of the Ishmaelites giving from his own a lasting Name to his Nation and God blessed him and established his Grandeur and Nobility upon the foundations of War Rapine saying And he shall be a wild man his hand shall be against every man and every mans hand against him and he shall dwell in the midst of all his Brethren But Isaac observing the Religion of his Father kept his Flock and had at length by his Wife Rebecca two sons Jacob and Esau Esau a man whom God belov'd not red and hairy a Hunter a Bowman and a Glutton insomuch that for one mess of Pottage he sold his Birthright he became a Potent Man and Prince of the Idumeans receiving for his blessing the fat of the Earth and the dew of Heaven but to live by his Sword and in servitude Jacob being a Just Man an Exile with his Uncle Laban fed his Uncles Sheep whose Daughters when he had both earn'd by an Apprentiship of Fourteeen years for his Wives he begat of their bodies Twelve Children and his Name was called Israel which Name he left to his Posterity the people of Israel By the names of his Twelve Sons Reuben Simeon Levi Judah Issachar Zebulon Joseph Benjamin Dan Naphtali Gad and Ashur were the Twelve Tribes of the whole Nation called But Joseph was sold by his Brethren into Egypt where he was instructed in all the Learning of the Egyptians made a most skilful Interpreter of Dreams which he made use of in Prison So skilful in Oeconomicks that by his Ingenuity he found out new ways of increasing the Publick Revenue and heaping up Riches to himself whereupon he became a great Favorite of Pharaoh's being constituted by him Lord and Governour over all Egypt and of a Slave was created Noble after the solemn Custome of Egypt for the King put his Ring upon his finger and a Chain of Gold about his neck clad him with Purple made him to ride in his Chariot the Crier proclaiming That all men reverence and esteem him as one of the chief Nobility The like manner of ennobling of men we finde the Persians to have used of which Mordecai the Hebrew ennobled by Artaxerxes in Esther was an Example from whence the Custome of creating Noblemen has continued to this day among the following Races of Emperours and Kings of which some of 'um purchase their Nobility with Money
by the wit and help of Man Wine Oyl Bread and Cloth and other works of Nature are compleated by humane Arts so the Divine Oracles delivered to us obscure and hidden are to be explained by Interpretation not by the force of our own Wit or Invention but by the help of the Spirit who distributes his good things as he pleases and where he pleases making some Prophets and some Interpreters Therefore this Interpretative Divinity consists not in Compounding Dividing Defining after the manner of the Peripateticks neither of which belong to God who neither can be defined divided or compounded but leads to Knowledge by another way which is indifferent between this and Prophetical vision which is a kinde of discovery of the Truth to our purifi'd Intellect as a Key to a Lock and this as it is the most covetous of all Truth so it is the most susceptible of what things are to be understood and is therefore called Possible Intellect wherewith though we do not discover by a full light what the Prophets mean and those who beheld the Divine things themselves yet there is a door open to us that from the conformity of the Truth perceived to our Intellect and by the Light which illustrates us out of those open windows we gain more certainty than from the appearing Demonstrations Definitions Divisions and Compositions and we read and understand not with our outward eyes and ears but with our better senses and extract the Truth flowing from the sacred Scriptures which the other delivered in dark sayings and mysterious sentences and thereby see what is hidden from the wise and great Philosophers yet apprehend them not with so much certainty as that all perplexity may be removed And whereas there is a manifold Truth conceal'd in sacred Scripture holy men have gone about to try various and manifold Expositions of the same For some gently walking along the back of the Letter and expounding one place by another and one letter by another and making out the sence by the Order Etymologie and Propriety and Force of the signification of the words hunt out the truth of Scripture which is therefore call'd Literal Exposition Others refer all things written to the business of the Soul and works of Justice whose Expositions are therefore call'd Moral Others remit them by various Tropes and Figures to the Mysteries of the Church whose Exposition is call'd Tropological Others given to Contemplation refer all things to the Myitery of Celestia glory and this Exposition is call'd Anagogick And these are the four most usual sorts of Exposition besides which there are two more of which the one refers all things to vicissitude of Times Mutations of Kingdoms and Ages therefore call'd Typick Wherein among the Ancients Cyril Methodius and Joachim Abbas did most exel of Modern Authors Jeremy Savanarola of Ferrara The other enquires into the nature and qualities of the Universe the Sensible world and of the whole Fabrick of the World and Nature which Exposition is therefore call'd Physical or Natural wherein Rabbi Simeon ben Joachim excell'd who wrote a very large Volume upon Leviticus wherein discoursing of the natures of all things he shews how Moses according to the congruencie of the threefold World and nature of things ordain'd the Ark the Tabernacle the Vessels Garments Rites Sacrifices and other Mysteries for the appeasing and worshipping God Which Exposition the Cabalists follow especially those who treat of Beresith or the Creation For they who discoursing concerning the Judgement-seat of God by Numbers Figures Revolutions Symbolical reasons refers all things to the first Arch-type search for the Anagogical sence And these are the six most famous Senses or Meanings of the holy Scripture all whose Expositors or Interpreters are by a general word call'd Divines among whom we finde Dionysius Origen Polycarpus Eusebius Tertullian Ireneus Nazianzene Chrysostome Athanasius Basil Damascene Lactantins Cyprian Jerome Austin Ambrose Gregory Ruffinus Leo Cassianus Barnardus Anselm and many other holy Fathers which those ancient times brought forth and some of later years as Thomas Albertus Bonaventure Egidius Henricus Gandavensis Gerson and many others But now seeing that all these Interpretative Divines are but men they are subject to humane frailties sometimes they erre sometimes they write things contrary or repugnant sometimes they differ from one another in many things they are deceiv'd all of um not discerning all things for onely the Holy Ghost has the perfect knowledge of Divine things who distributes to all men according to a certain measure reserving many things to himself that we may be always learning of him for as S. Paul saith All of us know and preach by art onely Therefore all this Interpretative Theologie consists onely in liberty of speech and is a Knowledge separate from Scripture whereby every one has the liberty to abound in his own sence according to those various Expositions recited before which S. Paul in one word calls Mysteries or speaking of Mysteries when the Spirit speaks Mysteries whence Dionysius calls this Significative Theologie treated of by those holy Doctors in several Volumes Nor are we to believe all that they say seeing that many hold very Erroneous Opinions of Faith which are exploded by the Church as we may instance in Papias Bishop of Hierapolis Victorinus Pictoviensis Irenoeus Lugdunensis Cyprian Origen and Tertullian and many others who have err'd in the Faith and whose Tenets have been condemned as Heretical though they themselves are among the Canoniz'd Saints But this requires a deeper spirit of consideration to judge and discern which is not of men nor of flesh and bloud but granted from above by the Father of lights For no man can utter any thing rightly of God but by the light which comes from himself which light is the Word by whom all things were made and who illuminates every man coming into this world giving them power to become the sons of God whoever shall receive and believe Neither is there any who can declare the things of God but his own Word for who besides can know the minde of God or whoever was made of his council but the Son of God being the Word of the Father But of this we shall discourse no farther till we have perfected the next Chapter of Prophetick Theologie CHAP. XCIX of Prophetick Theologie AS Prophecie is the speech of the Prophets so is Theologie nothing but the Tradition of the Divines or men discoursing with God However not every one that can remember or repeat a Prophecie or interpret the meaning thereof is presently a Prophet but he that in divine things is endued with the knowledge of Piety Vertue and Sanctity who discourseth with God and meditates upon his Law day and night For so S. John Author of the Apocalypse in the Letters of Dionysius call'd The Divine testifies from holy Writing to whom the Truth it self has said He that hears you hears me and he that despises you despises me Which words are not