is the New Testament but the opening of the Old one Now Abraham is sayd to laugh but this was the extreamity of his ioy not any signe of his deriding this promise vpon distrust and his thoughts beeing these Shall he that is an hundred yeares old c. Are not doubts of the euents but admirations caused by so strange an euent Now if some stop at that where God saith he will giue him all the Land of Canaan for an eternall possession how this may be fulfilled seeing that no mans progeny can inherite the earth euerlastingly he must know that eternall is here taken as the Greekes take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is deriued of c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is seculum an age but the latine translation durst not say seculare here least it should haue beene taken in an other sence for seculare and transitorium are both alike vsed for things that last but for a little space but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that which is either endlesse at all or endeth not vntill the worlds end and in this later sence is eternall vsed here L. VIVES I Wil be a his God Or to be his GOD. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a grecisme hardly expressed in your latine b The very The gentiles had also their eight day wherevpon the distinguished the childs name from the fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is Seculum aetas annâ—…m eternitas in latine Tully and other great authors translate it all those waies from the greeke Of the man-child that if it were not circumcised the eight day iâ—… perished for breaking of Gods couenant CHAP. 27. SOme also may sticke vpon the vnderstanding of these words The man child in whose flesh the fore-skinne is not circumcised that person shal be cut off from his people because he had broaken my couenant Here is no fault of the childes who is hereexposed to destruction he brake no couenant of Gods but his parents that looked not to his circumcision vnlesse you say that the yongest child hath broken Gods command and couenant as well as the rest in the first man in whom all man-kinde sinned For there are a many Testaments or Couenants of God besides the old and new those two so great ones that euery one may read and know The first couenant was this vnto Adam Whensoeuer thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death wherevpon it is written in Ecclesiasticus All flesh waxeth 〈◊〉 as a garment and it is a couenant from the beginning that all sinners shall die the death for whereas the law was afterwards giuen and that brought the more light to mans iudgement in sinne as the Apostle saith Where no law is there is no transgression how is that true that the Psalmist said I accounted all the sinners of the earth transgressors b but that euery man is guilty in his owne conscience of some-what that hee hath done against some law and therefore seeing that little children as the true faith teacheth be guilty of originall sinne though not of actuall wherevpon wee confesse that they must necessarily haue the grace of the remission of their sinnes then verily in this they are breakers of Gods coueâ—… made with Adam in paradise so that both the Psalmists saying and the Apostles is true and consequently seeing that circumcision was a type of regeneration iustly shall the childs originall sinne breaking the first couenant that 〈◊〉 was made betweene God and man cut him off from his people vnlesse that regeneration engraffe him into the body of the true religion This then we must conceiue that GOD spake Hee that is not regenerate shall perish from â—…gst his people because he hath broke my couenant in offending me in Adam For if he had sayd he hath broke this my couenant it could haue beene meant of nothing but the circumcision onely but seeing hee saith not what couenant the child breaketh we must needes vnderstand him to meane of a couenant liable vnto the transgression of the child But if any one will tie it vnto circumcision and say that that is the couenant which the vncircumcised child hath broken let him beware of absurdity in saying that hee breaketh their couenant which is not broken by him but in him onely But howsoeuer we shall finde the childs condemnation to come onely from his originall sinne and not from any negligence of his owne iucurring this breach of the couenant L. VIVES THere a are many Hierome hath noted that wheresoeuer the Greekes read testament 〈◊〉 Hebrewes read couenant Berith is the Hebrew word b But that There is no man so barbarous but nature hath giuen him some formes of goodnesse in his heart whereby to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honest life if he follow them and if he refuse them to turne wicked Of the changing of Abram and Sara's names who being the one too barren and both to old to haue children yet by Gods bounty were both made fruitfull CHAP. 28. THus this great and euident promise beeing made vnto Abraham in these words A father of many nations haue I made thee and I will make thee exceeding fruitfull and nations yea euen Kings shall proceed of thee which promise wee see most euidently fulfilled in Christ from that time the man and wife are called no more Abram and Sarai but as wee called them before and all the world calleth them Abraham and Sarah But why was Abrahams name changed the reason followeth immediately vpon the change for a father of many nations haue I made thee This is signified by Abraham now Abram his former a name is interpreted an high father But b for the change of Sara's name there is no reason giuen but as they say that haue interpreted those Hebrew names Sarai is my Princesse and Sarah strength wherevpon it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrewes By faith Sarah receiued strength to conceiue seed c. Now they were both old as the scripture saith but c shee was barren also and past the age d wherein the menstruall bloud floweth in women which wanting she could neuer haue conceiued although she had not beene barren And if a woman be well in years and yet haue that menstruall humour remayning she may conceiue with a yongman but neuer by an old as the old man may beget children but it must bee vpon a young woman as Abraham after Sarahs death did vpon Keturah because shee was of a youthfull age as yet This therefore is that which the Apostle so highly admireth and herevpon he saith that Abrahams body was dead because hee was not able to beget a child vpon any woman that was not wholy past her age of child-bearing but onely of those that were in the prime and flowre thereof For his bodie was not simply dead but respectiuely otherwise it should haue beene a carcasse fit for a graue not an ancient father vpon earth Besides the guift of begetting children that GOD gaue him lasted after Sarahs death and he
freed a-many from it 2. Of the carnall life apparant in the soules viciousnesse as well as the bodies 3. That sinne came from the soule and not the flesh and that the corruption which sinne hath procured is not sinne but the punishment of sinne 4. What it is to liue according to man and to liue according to God 5. That the Platonists teach the natures of soule and bodie better then the Maniches yet they erre in ascribing sinne vnto the nature of the flesh 6. Of the quality of mans will vnto which all affections Good and Bad are subiect 7. That Amor and Dilectio are of indifferent vse in the Scriptures both for Good and Euill 8. Of the three passions that the Stoykes allow a wiseman excluding sadnes as foe to a vertuous mind 9. Of the perturbations of mind which the iust doe moderate and rule aright 10. Whether Man had those perturbations in Paradise before his fall 11. The fall of the first Man wherein Nature was made good and cannot bee repair'd but by the Maker 12. Of the quality of Mans first offence 13. That in Adams offence his Euill will was before his euill woorke 14. Of the pride of the transgressioÌ„ which was worse then the transgression it selfe 15. Of the iust reward that our first parents receiued for sinne 16. Of the euill of lust how the name is geâ—…rall to many vices but proper vnto venereall concupiscence 17. Of the nakednesse that our first parents discouered in themselues after their sinne 18. Of the shame that accompanieth copulation as well in common as in mariage 19. That the motions of wrath and lust are so violent that they doe necessarily require to bee suppressed by wisdome and that they were not 〈◊〉 our Nature before our fall depraued it 20. Of the vaine obscaenity of the Cynikes 21. Of the blessing of multiplication before sinne which the transgression did not abolish but onely linked to lust 22. That God first instituted and blessed the band of marriage 23. Whether if man had not sinned hee should haue begotten children in paradice and whether there should there haue bin any contention betweene chastity and lust 24. That our first parents had they liued without sinne should haue had their members of generation as subiect vnto their wills as any of the rest 25. Of the true beatitude vnattayne ablâ—… 〈◊〉 this life 26. That our first parents in Paradise migâ—… haue produced manking without any shamâ—… appetite 27. That the sinners Angels and men caâ—…not with their peruersenesse disturbe Gods prouidence 28. The state of the two Citties the Heauenly and the Earthly FINIS THE FOVRTEENTH BOOKE OF THE CITTIE OF GOD Written by Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo vnto Marcellinus That the inobedience of the first man had drawne all mankinde into the perpetuity of the second death but that Gods grace hath freed a many from it CHAP. 1. WE said in our precedent bookes that it was Gods pleasure to propagate all men from one both for the keeping of humaine nature in one sociable similitude and also for to make their vnity of originall be the meanes of their concord in heart Nor should any of this kinde haue dyed but the first two the one whereof was made of the other and the other of nothing had incurred this punishment by their disobedience in committing so great a sinne that their whole nature being hereby depraued was so transfused through all their off-spring in the same degree of corruption and necessity of death whose kingdome here-vpon became so great in man that all should haue beene cast headlong in the second death that hath no end by this due punishment but the vndue a grace of God acquitted some from it whereby it comes to passe that whereas man-kinde is diuided into so many nations distinct in language discipline habite and fashion yet is there but two sorts of men that doe properly make the two citties wee speake of the one is of men that liue according to the flesh and the other of those that liue according to the spirit either in his kinde and when they haue attained their desire either doe liue in their peculiar peace L. VIVES VNdue a grace For God owes no man any thing and therefore it is called grace because it comes gratis freely and because it maketh the receiuer gratum thankfull Who hath giâ—… vnto him first and hee shall be recompensed Rom. 11. 35. If it were due he should not then giue but restore it Not by the workes of righteousnesse which wee haue done but according to his 〈◊〉 hee saued vs. Tit. 3. 5. Of the carnall life apparant in the soules viciousnesse as well as the bodies CHAP. 2. WE must first then see what it is to liue according to the flesh and what according to the spirit The raw and inconsiderate considerer hereof not attending well to the scriptures may thinke that the Epicureans were those that liued according to the flesh because â—…hey made bodily pleasure that summum boâ—… and all such as any way held corporall delight to be mans chiefest good as the vulgar also which not out of Philosophy but out of their owne pronenesse to lust can delight in no pleasures but such as are bodily and sensible but that the Stoickes that placed this summum bonum in the minde liue according to the spirit for what is mans minde but his spirit But the Scriptures prooue them both to follow the courses of the flesh calling the flesh not onely an earthly animate body as it doth saying All flesh is not the same flesh for there is one flesh of men and another flesh of beasts and another of fishes and another of birdes but it vseth the worde in farre other significations amongst which one is that it calleth whole man that is his intire nature flesh vsing the part for the whole as By the workes of the lawe shall no flesh be iustified What meanes hee by no flesh but no man hee explaineth him-selfe immediatly a man is iustified by faith without the workes of the lawe And in another place No man is iustified by the lawe The word was made flesh What is that but man Some misconceiuing this place held that Christ had no humaine soule For as the part is taken for the whole in these words of Mary Magdalene They haue taken away my Lord and I know not where they haue laide him Meaning onely the flesh of Christ which shee thought they had taken out of the Sepulchre so is the part taken for the whole when wee say flesh for Man as in the quotations before Seeing therefore that the Scripture vseth flesh in so many significations too tedious heere to recollect To finde what it is to liue according to the flesh the course being enill when the flesh is not euill let vs looke a little diligently into that place of the Apostle Paul to the Galathians where hee saith The workes of the flesh are
by the words increase and multiply the number of 〈◊〉 â—…nat were fulfilled then should a better haue beene giuen vs namely 〈◊〉 the Angells haue wherein there is an eternall security from sinne 〈◊〉 and so should the Saints haue liued then after no tast of labour sorâ—… death as they shall do now in the resurrection after they haue endured 〈◊〉 L. VIVES 〈◊〉 The desire is a sinne aswell as the act not onely by the Scriptures but by the â—…ct discipline of humanity also Cic. Philippic 2. Though there be no law against it for 〈◊〉 â—…th not if this man desire thus much land let him be fined as Cato the elder pleaded 〈◊〉 â—…odians The fall of the first man wherein nature was made good and cannot be repaired but by the maker CHAP. 11. BVt God foreknowing althings could not but know that man would fall therefore wee must ground our City vpon his prescience and ordinance not vpon that which we know not and God hath vnreuealed For mans sinne could not disturbe Gods decree nor force him to change his resolue God fore-knew and preuented both that is how bad man whome hee had made should become and what good hee meant to deriue from him for all his badnesse For though God bee said to change his resâ—… as the scriptures a tropically say that hee repented c. Yet this is in respect of mans hope or natures order not according to his own prescience So then God made man vpright and consequently well-willed otherwise he could not haue beene vpright So that this good will was Gods worke man being there-with created But the euill will which was in man before his euill worke was rather a fayling from the worke of God to the owne workes then any worke at all And therefore were the workes euill because they were according to them-selues and not to God this euill will being as a tree bearing such bad fruite or man himselfe in respect of his euill will Now this euill will though it do not follow but oppose nature being a falt yet is it of the same nature that vice is which cannot but bee in some nature but it must bee in that nature which God made of nothing not in that which he begot of himselfe as his word is whereby althings were made for although God made man of dust yet hee made dust of nothing and hee made the soule of nothing which he ioyned with the body making full man But euills are so farre vnder that which is good that though they be permitted to bee for to shew what good vse Gods prouident iustice can make of them yet may that which is good consist without them as that true and glorious God him selfe and all the visible resplendent heauens do aboue this darkned misty aire of ours but euills cannot consist but in that which is good for all the natures wherein they abide being considered as meere natures are good And euill is drawne from nature not by abscission of any nature contrary to this or any part of this but by purifiying of that onely which was thus depraued Then b therefore is the will truely free when it serueth neither vice nor sin Such God gaue vs such we lost and cannot recouer but by him that gaue it as the truth saith If the sonne free you you shal be truly freed it is all one as if hee should say If the sonne saue you you shal be truely saued c for hee is the freer that is the Sauiour Wherefore d in Paradise both locall and spirituall man made God his rule to liue by for it was not a Paradise locall for the bodies good and not spirituall for the spirits nor was it a spirituall 〈◊〉 the spirits good and no locall one for the bodies Noe it was both for both But after that e that proud and therefore enuious Angell falling through that pride from God vnto him-selfe and choosing in a tiranicall vain glory raâ—…r to rule then to be ruled fell from the spirituall paradise of whose fall and 〈◊〉 fellowes that therevpon of good Angells became his I disputed in my ninth booke 〈◊〉 God gaue grace and meanes hee desiring to creepe into mans minde by his ill-perswading suttlely and enuying mans constancy in his owne fall chose the serpent one of the creatures that as then liued hurtlesse with the man 〈◊〉 â—…oman in the earthly paradise a beast slippery and moueable wreatchd â—…ots and fit f for his worke this hee chose to speake through abusing it 〈◊〉 subiect vnto the greater excellency of his angelicall nature and making it 〈◊〉 â—…rument of his spirituall wickdnesse through it he began to speake deceitâ—… vnto the woman beginning at the meaner part of man-kind to inuade the 〈◊〉 by degrees thinking the man was not so credulous nor so soone deluded 〈◊〉 would be seing another so serued before him for as Aaron consented not by â—…sion but yeelded by compulsion vnto the Hebrewes idolatry to make 〈◊〉 an Idol nor Salomon as it is credible yeelded worship to idols of his owne â—…ous beleefe but was brought vnto that sacriledge by his wiues perswaâ—… So is it to bee thought that the first man did not yeeld to his wife in this â—…ession of Gods precept as if hee thought shee said two but onely being â—…elled to it by this sociall loue to her being but one with one and both of 〈◊〉 â—…ture and kind for it is not in vaine that the Apostle saith Adam was not 〈◊〉 â—…iued but the woman was deceiued but it sheweth that the woman did 〈◊〉 the serpents words true but Adam onely would not breake company 〈◊〉 â—…is fellow were it in sinne and so sinned wittingly wherefore the Apostle 〈◊〉 not He sinned not but He was not seduced for hee sheweth that hee sinned 〈◊〉 by one man sinne entred into the world and a little after more plainely after â—…er of the transgression of Adam And those he meanes are seduced that 〈◊〉 the first to be no sinn which he knew to bee a sinne otherwise why should 〈◊〉 Adam was not seduced But he that is not acquainted with the diuine seâ—… might therein be deceiued to conceiue that his sinne was but veniall And 〈◊〉 in that the woman was seduced he was not but this was it that i deceiâ—… that hee was to bee iudged for all that he had this excuse The woman 〈◊〉 gauest me to be with me she gaue me of the tree and I did eate what need we 〈◊〉 then though they were not both seduced they were both taken in sin 〈◊〉 the diuells captiues L. VIVES â—…ally a Say Figuratiuely A trope saith Quintilian is the translation of one word 〈◊〉 the fit signification of another from the owne that God repented is a Metaphor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 figure that who so knowes not and yet would learne for the vnderstanding of scripâ—… not go vnto Tully or Quintilian but vnto our great declamers who knowing not y◠〈◊〉 betweene Gramar
disgrace banishment death and bondage which of these can be performed in so little time as the offence is excepting a the fourth which yeelds euery man the same measure that hee meateth vnto others according to that of the law An eye for an eye and a toâ—…th for a tooth Indeed one may loose his eye by this law in as small a time as hee put out another mans by violencâ—… 〈◊〉 is a man kisse another mans wife and bee therefore adiudged to bee whipt is not that which hee did in a moment paid for by a good deale longer sufferance is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pleasure repaide with a longer paine And what for imprisonâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…ry one iudged to lye there no longer then hee was a doing his villaâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seruant that hath but violently touched his maister is by a iust law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many yeares imprisonment And as for damages disgraces and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not many of them darelesse and lasting a mans whole life wherâ—… be 〈◊〉 a proportion with the paines eternall Fully eternall they cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the life which they afflict is but temporall and yet the sinnes they 〈◊〉 are all committed in an instant nor would any man aduise that the contiâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 penalty should be measured by the time of the fact for that be it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or what villany so-euer is quickly dispatched and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be weighed by the length of time but by the foulenesse of the crime 〈◊〉 for him that deserues death by an offence doth the law hold the time that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ing to bee the satisfaction for his guilt or his beeing taken away from the fellowship of men whether That then which the terrestriall Citty can do by the first death the celestiall can effect by the second in clearing her selfe of malefactors For as the lawes of the first cannot call a dead man back againe into their society no more do the lawes of the second call him back to saluation that is once entred into the second death How then is our Sauiours words say they With what measure yee mete with the same shall men mete to you againe if temporall sinnes be rewarded with eternall paines O but you marke not that those words haue a reference to the returning of euill for euill in our nature and not in one proportion of time that is hee that doth euill shall suffer euill without limitation of any time although this place be more properly vnderstood of the iudgments and condemnations whereof the Lord did there speake So that he that iudgeth vniustly if he be iudged vniustly is paid in the same measure that hee meated withall though not what he did for he did wrong in iudgment and such like he suffreth but he did it vniustly mary he is repaid according to iustice L. VIVES EXcepting the a fourth This was one of the Romanes lawes in the twelue tables and hereof doth Phauorinus dispute with Sep. Caecilius in Gellius lib. 20. The greatnesse of Adams sinne inflicting eternall damnation vpon all that are out of the state of Grace CHAP. 12. BVt therefore doth man imagine that this infliction of eternall torment is vniustice because his fraile imperfection cannot discerne the horriblenesse of that offence that was the first procurer thereof For the fuller fruition man had of God the greater impiety was it for him to renounce him and therein was hee worthy of euer-lasting euill in that he destroyed his owne good that otherwise had beene euerlasting Hence came damnation vpon all the stock of man parent and progenie vnder-going one curse from which none can be euer freed but by the free and gracious mercy of God which maketh a seperation of mankinde to shew in one of the remainders the power of grace and in the other the reuenge of iustice Both which could not bee expressed vpon all man-kinde for if all had tasted of the punishments of iustice the grace and mercy of the redeemer had had no place in any and againe if all had beene redeemed from death there had beene no obiect left for the manifestation of Gods iustice But now there is more left then taken to mercy that so it might appeare what was due vnto all without any impeachment of Gods iustice who not-withstanding hauing deliuered so many hath herein bound vs for euer to praise his gracious commiseration Against such as hold that the torments after the iudgement shall bee but the meanes whereby the soules shall bee purified CHAP. 13. SOme Platonists there are who though they assigne a punishment to euery sinne yet hold they that all such inflictions be they humaine or diuine in this life or in the next tend onely to the purgation of the soule from enormities Where-vpon Virgil hauing said of the soules Hinc metunt cupiuntque c. Hence feare desire c And immediatly Quin vt supremo cum lumine vita reliquit Non tamen omne malâ—…m miseris nec funditùs omnes Corporeae excedunt pestes penitùsque necesse est Multa diù concreta modis inolescere miris Ergo exercentur poenis veterumque malorum Supplicia expendunt aliae panduntur inanes Suspensa ad ventos aliis sub gurgite vasto Insectum eluitur scelus aut exuritur igni For when the soules do leaue the bodies dead Their miseries are not yet finished Nor all their times of torment yet compleate Many small crimes must needes make one that 's great Paine therefore purgeth them and makes them faire From their old staines some hang in duskie ayre Some in the deepe do pay the debt of sinne And fire is chosen to cleanse others in They that hold this affirme that no paines at all are to be suffered after death but onely such as purge the soules and those shall be cleared of all their earthly contagion by some of the three vpper elements the fire the ayre or the water The ayre in that he saith Suspensae ad ventos the water by the words Sub gurgite vasto the fire is expresly named aut exuritur igni Now indeed wee doe confesse that there are certaine paines during this life which do not properly afflict such as are not bettred but made worse by them but belong onely to the reforming of such 〈◊〉 take them for corrections All other paines temporall and eternall are laid vpon euery one as God pleaseth by his Angells good or bad either for some sinne past or wherein the party afflicted now liueth or else to excercise and declare the vertue of his seruants For if one man hurt another a willingly or by chance it is an offence in him to doe any man harme by will or through ignorance but God whose secret iudgement assigned it to be so offendeth not at all As for temporall paine some endure it heere and some here-after and some both here and there yet all is past before the last iudgement But all shall not come into these eternall paines which not-with-standing shall bee
shall rise againe incorruptible it is sowne in reproche but it is raised in glory it is sowâ—…n in weakenesse but raised in powre it is sowne an animated body but shall arise a spirituall body And then to prooue this hee proceedes for if there be a naturall or animated bodie there is also a spirituall body And to shew what a naturall body is hee saith The first man Adam was made a liuing soule Thus then shewed he what a naturall body is though the scripture doe noâ—… say of the first man Adam when God brâ—…athed in his face the breath of life that man became a liuing body but man became a liuing soule The first man was made a liuing soule saith the Apostle meaning a naturall body But how the spirituall body is to be taken hee sheâ—…eth also adding but the last man a quickning spirit meaning Christ assuredly who rose from death to dye no more Then hee proceedeth saying That was not first made which is spirituall but that which is naturall and that which is spirituall after-wards Here hee sheweth most plainly that he did meane by the liuing soule the naturall body and the spirituall by the quickning spirit For the naturall body that Adam had was first though it had not dyed but for that he sinned and such haue wee now one nature drawing corruption and necessity of death from him and from his sinne such also did Christ take vpon him for vs not needfully but in his power but the spirituall body is afterwards and such had Christ our head in his resurrection such also shall wee his members haue in ours Then doth the Apostle describe the difference of these two thus The first man is of the earth earthly the second is of heauen heauenly as the earthly one was so are all the earthly and as the heauenly one is such shall all the heauenly ones bee As wee haue borne the Image of the earthly so shall wee beare the image of the heauenly This the Apostle inferres vpon the sacrament of regeneration as hee saith else-where All yee that are baptized into Christ haue put on Christ which shall then be really performed when that which is naturall in our birth shall become spirituall in our resurrection that I may vse his owne wordes for wee are saued by hope Wee put on the image of the earthly man by the propagation of sinne and corruption adherent vnto our first birth but wee put on that of Heauenly man by grace pardon and promise of life eternall which regeneration assureth vs by the mercy onely of the mediator betweene God and man the man Christ Iesus whome the Angell calles the Heauenly man because hee came from Heauen to take vpon him the shape of earthly mortality and to shape it into heauenly immortality Hee calleth the rest heauenly also because they are made members of Christ by grace they and Christ being one as the members and the head is own body This he auerreth plainly in the chapter aforesaid by a man came dâ—…h and by a man came the resurrection from the dead for as in Adam all die euen so in Christ shall all bee made aliue and that into a quickning spirit that is a spirituall body not that all that die in Adam shall become members of Christ for many more of them shall fall into the eternall second death but it is said all and all because as none dy naturall but in Adam so none shall reuiue spirituall but in Christ wee may not then thinke that our bodies at the rusurrection shall be such as Adams was at the creation nor that this place As the earthly one was so are all the earthly is meant of that which was effected by the transgression for we may not thinke that Adam had a spiritual body ere he fell and in his fall was made a naturall one he that conceiueth it so giues but little regard to that great teacher that saith If ther be a natural body then is there also a spiritual as it is also written the first man Adam was made a liuing soule was this done after sinne being the first estate of man from whence the blessed Apostle tooke this testimony of the 〈◊〉 to shew what a naturall body was L. VIVES A Liuing a Or with a liuing soule but the first is more vsual in holy writ b A quickning â—…ssed and ioyned with God bâ—… which coniunction it imparteth integrity and immorâ—…â—…to the body c Forbidden Out of much diuersity of reading I hold this the best for 〈◊〉 â—…oule that liueth and the quickning spirit that giueth life d When soeuer Symmachus 〈◊〉 Hierome expounds this place better thou shalt be mortall But indâ—…ed we die as soone 〈◊〉 borne as Manilius saith Nascentes morimur finisque ab origine pendet Being borne we die our ends hangs at our birth How Gods breathing life into Adam and Christs breathing vpon his Apostles when be said receiue the holy spirit are to be vnderstood CHAP. 24. Sâ—…e therefore do vnaduisedly thinke that God when he breathed in his face the â—…th of life and man became a liuing soule did a not then giue him a soule but by the holy spirit onely quickned a soule that was in him before They ground 〈◊〉 Christs breathing vpon his Apostles after his resurrection and saying 〈◊〉 the Holy spirit thinking that this â—…was such another breathing so that 〈◊〉 â—…angelist might haue sayd they became liuing soules which if hee had 〈◊〉 it would haue caused vs to imagine all reasonable soules dead that are 〈◊〉 â—…kned by Gods spirit though their bodies seeme to bee a liue But it 〈◊〉 so when man was made as the Scripture sheweth plaine in these words 〈◊〉 â—…d GOD formed man being dust of the Earth which some thinking to 〈◊〉 translate c And GOD framed man of the Lome of the Earth because it was said before amist went vp from the earth and watred all the earth that lome should seeme to be produced by this mixture of earth and water for immediatly followeth And God framed man being dust of the earth as the Greeke translations d whence our latine is do read it but whether the Greeâ—…e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be formed or framed it maketh no matter e framed is the more proper word but they that vsed formed thought they avoyded ambiguity because that fingo in the latine is vsed f commonly for to feygne by lying or illuding This man therefore being framed of dust or lome for lome is moystned dust that this dust of the earth to speake with the scripture more expressly when it receiued a soule was made an animate body the Apostle affirmeth saying the man was made a liuing soule that is this dust being formed was made a liuing soule I say they but hee had a soule now already other-wise hee could not haue beene man being neither soule only nor body only but consisting of both T' is true the soule is not whole man
and Rhetorike call it all by the name of grammer b Then thereâ—… 〈◊〉 that it is otherwise not free for suppose it had not sinned but because then it is â—…m the burden of all crimes from all euill customes and is no more molested by the 〈◊〉 invasions of vice c He is the. They are both onely from God d In Paradise Parâ—… â—…asure and delight Man being placed in earthly Paradise had great ioy corporally 〈◊〉 greater spiritually for without this the bodies were painefull rather then pleasing 〈◊〉 is the fountaine of delight which being sad what ioy hath man in any thing e 〈◊〉 Enuy immediately succedeth pride by nature for a proud man so loueth himselfe â—…eues that any one should excell him nay equalize him which when he cannot auoid â—…es them whence it comes that enuy â—…itts chiefely amongst the highest honors 〈◊〉 the peoples fauor doth not alwaies grace the Prince alone Swetonius saith that Caliâ—… 〈◊〉 the meanest some for that the people fauored them others for their forme or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the diuell enuy mans holding of so high a place and this enuy brought death 〈◊〉 â—…d f Fit for Hee saith super genes ad lit that the deuill was not permitted to 〈◊〉 other creature but this that the woman might learne that from a poisonous creaâ—… 〈◊〉 nothing but poyson Pherecides the Syrian saith the diuells were cast from heaâ—… 〈◊〉 and that their chiefe was Ophioneus that is Serpentine g Subiect The diuell tooke the serpents body and therfore was the serpent held the most suttle creature of all as Augustine saith vpon Genesis h Sociall loue Necessitudo is oftneâ—… taken for loue and kinred then for need or necessity i Deceiued him Adam was deceiued in 〈◊〉 that he thought hee had a good excuse to appease Gods wrath withal in saying that he did it to gratifie his fellow and such an one as God God had ordayned to dwell with him Of the quality of mans first offence CHAP. 12. BVt if the difference of motion to sinne that others haue from the first man do trouble any one and that other sinnes doe not alter mans nature as that first transgression did making him lyable to that death torture of affect and corruption which we all feele now and he felt not at all nor should haue felt but that he sinned If this I say moue any one hee must not thinke therefore that it was a light 〈◊〉 that hee committed in eating of that fruite which was not a hurtfull at all but onely as it was forbidden For God would not haue planted any hurtfull thing in that delicate Paradise But vppon this precept was grounded obedience b the mother and guardian of al the other vertues of the soule to which it is good to be subiect pernicious to leaue leauing with it the Creators wil and to follow ones own This command then of for bearing one fruit when there were so many besides it beeing so easy to obserue and so short to remember cheefely when the affect opposed not the wil which followed vppon the transgreâ—…on was the more vniustly broken by how much it was the easier to keepe L. VIVES NOâ—… a hurtfull Of it selfe b The mother GOD layes nothing vppon his creatures men or angels as if hee needed their helpe in any thing but onely desireth to haue them in obedience to him Thence is the rule Obedience is better then sacrifice Hierome vpon the eleuenth Chaper of Ieremy Verse 3. Cursedis the man that heareth notthe wordes of this contract Not for the priuiledge of the nation sayth hee nor the wrong of 〈◊〉 nor the leasure of the Sabâ—…th But for obedience it is that God is Israels God and they his people Likewise in Isai. Chap. 44. Augustine wrote a work called De obedientia huâ—… What â—…e hath said here he repeateth often Contra aduers. leg Proph. l. 1. de bâ—… 〈◊〉 That in Adams offence his euill will was before his euill worke CHAP. 13. BVt euil began within them secretly at first to draw them into open disobediâ—…ce afterwardes For there had beene no euill worke but there was an euill will before iâ—… and what could begin this euill will but pride that is the beginning of all â—…rme And what 's pride but a peruerse desire of height in forsaking him to whome the soule ought soly to adhere as the beginning therof to make the selfe 〈◊〉 the owne beginning This is when it likes it selfe too well or when it 〈◊〉 it selfe so as it will abandon that vnchangeable good which ought to bee more delightfull to it then it selfe This defect now is voluntary For if the will remained firme in the loue of that superior firmest good which gaue it light to see it and zeale to loue it it would not haue turned from that to take delight in 〈◊〉 â—…fe and therevpon haue bee come so a blinde of sight and so b could of 〈◊〉 that either c shee should haue beleeued the serpents words as true or 〈◊〉 d hee should haue dared to prefer his wiues will before Gods command 〈◊〉 to thinke that he offended but e venially if hee bare the fellow of his life â—…pany in her offence The euill therefore that is this transgression was noâ—… 〈◊〉 but by such as were euil before such eate the fordidden fruit there could bâ—…â—…ill fruit but from an euill tree the tree was made euil against nature for it 〈◊〉 become euil but by the vnnatural viciousnesse of the wil no nature can be â—…praued by vice but such as is created of nothing And therefore in that it is 〈◊〉 it hath it from God but it falleth from God in that it was made of nothing 〈◊〉 â—…n was not made nothing vpon his fall but he was lessened in excellence by â—…ing to himselfe being most excelling in his adherence to God whome hee â—…g to adhere to and delight in himselfe hee grew not to bee nothing but 〈◊〉 nothing Therefore the scripture called proud men otherwise f â—…es of them-selues It is good to haue the heart aloft but not vnto ones 〈◊〉 â—…hat is pride but vnto God that is obedience inherent onely in the 〈◊〉 â—…ility therfore there is this to be admired that it eleuates the heart and in â—…is that it deiecteth it This seemes strangly contrary that eleuation shold 〈◊〉 and deiection aloft But Godly humility subiects one to his superior and 〈◊〉 â—…boue all therefore humility exalteth one in making him Gods subiect â—…de the vice refusing this subiection falles from him that is aboue all and â—…es more base by farre then those that stand fulfilling this place of the 〈◊〉 hast cast them downe in their exaltation He saith not when they were 〈◊〉 they were deiected afterwards but in their very exaltation were they 〈◊〉 their eleuation was their ruine And therefore in that humility is so 〈◊〉 in and commended to the Citty of God that is yet pilgrime vpon earth â—…hly extolled
by g Christ the King thereof and pride the iust conâ—…en by holy writ to be so predominant in his aduersaies the deuill and 〈◊〉 in this very thing the great difference of the two citties the Godly and â—…ly with both their Angells accordingly lieth most apparant Gods â—…ing in the one and selfe-loue in the other So that the deuill had not 〈◊〉 â—…nkinde to such a palpable transgression of Gods expresse charge but 〈◊〉 will and selfe-loue had gotten place in them before for hee delighâ—… which was sayd h you shall be as Gods which they might sooner haue 〈◊〉 obedience and coherence with their creator then by proud opinion 〈◊〉 â—…ere their owne beginners for the created Gods are not Gods of them 〈◊〉 by participation of the God that made them but man desiring more 〈◊〉 and chose to bee sufficient in him selfe fell from that all-sufficiâ—… â—…en is the mischiefe man liking him-selfe as if hee were his owne â—…d away from the true light which if hee had pleased him-selfe with â—…ght haue beene like this mischiefe say I was first in his soule and 〈◊〉 drawne on to the following mischieuous act for the scripture is 〈◊〉 Pride goeth before distruction and an high minde before the fall the 〈◊〉 â—…s in secret fore runneth the fall which was in publike the first being 〈◊〉 fall at all for who taketh exaltation to bee ruine though the defect 〈◊〉 â—…e place of height But who seeth not that ruine lyeth in the expresse breach of Gods precepts For therefore did GOD forbid it that beeing done i all excuse and auoydance of iustice might bee excluded And therefore I dare say it is good that the proud should fall into some broad and disgracefull sinne thereby to take a dislike of them-selues who fell by to much liking them-selues for Peters sorrowfull dislike of him-selfe when he wept was more healthfull to his soule then his vnsound pleasure that he tooke in him-selfe when hee presumed Therefore saith the Psalme fill their faces with shame that they may seeke thy name O Lord that is that they may delight in thee and seeke thy name who before delighted in them-selues and sought their owne L. VIVES SO a blinde Losing their light b Cold Losing their heate c She should Here shee lackt her light was blinde and saw not d He should Here he wanted his heate and was cold in neglecting Gods command for his wiues pleasure But indeed they both want both the woman had no zeale preferring an apple before God the man had no light in casting himselfe and vs headlong he knew not whether e Uenially I doe not meane to dispute heere whether Adams sinne were veniall or no As Bonauenture and Scotus doe I know his sinne was cappitall and I am thereby wretched f Pleasures of Pet. 2. 2. 10. The Greekes call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it is not so in Peter I onely name it from the latine Wis. 6. This vice therefore is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or selfe-loue Socrates calls it the roote of all enormity It is the head of all pride and the base of all ignorance g Christ Who was made obedient to his father euen vnto death to which he was led like a sheepe to the slaughter and like a lamb when it is clipped he was silent neither threatning those that smote him nor reproching those that reproched him All hayle thou example of obedience gentlenesse mansuetude and modesty imposed by thy father vnto our barbarous brutish ingratefull impious mankinde h You shall bee Fulfill thy minde proud woman aduance thy selfe to the height What is the vttermost scope of all ambitious desire To bee a God why eate and thou shalt be one O thou fondeâ—… of thy sexe hopest thou to be deified by an apple i All excuse No pretence no shew no imaginary reason of iustice would serue the turne For the eye of Gods iustice cannot bee blinded but the more coullor that one layes vppon guilt before him the fouler hee makes his owne soule and the more inexcusable Of the pride of the transgression which was worse then the transgression it selfe CHAP. 14. BVt pride that makes man seeke to coullor his guilt is farre more damnable then the guilt it selfe is as it was in the first of mankind She could say the serpâ—… beguilde me and I did eate He could say The woman thou gauest me she gâ—… 〈◊〉 of the tree and I did eat Here is no sound of asking mercy no breath of deâ—…ng helpe for though they doe not deny their guilt as Caine did yet their pâ—…e seekes to lay their owne euill vpon another the mans vpon the woman and hers vppon the Serpent But this indeed doth rather accuse them of worse then acquit them of this so plaine and palpable a transgression of Gods commaund For the womans perswading of the man and the serpents seducing of the 〈◊〉 to this doth no way acquit them of the guilt as if there a were 〈◊〉 thing to be beleeued or obeyed before God or rather then the highest L. VIVES AS if there a were There is nothing to be beleeued rather then God or to be esteâ—… 〈◊〉 God but the woman beleeued the Serpent rather then God and the man preferred his 〈◊〉 God Of the iust reward that our first parents receiued for their sinne CHAP. 15. â—…refore because God that had made man according to his image placed 〈◊〉 in Paradise aboue all creatures giuen him plenty of althings and layd 〈◊〉 nor long lawes vpon him but onely that one breefe command of obeâ—… to shew that himselfe was Lord of that creature whome free a seruice 〈◊〉 â—…itted was thus contemned therevpon followed that iust condemnation 〈◊〉 â—…h that man who might haue kept the command and beene spirituall 〈◊〉 became now carnall in mind and because hee had before delighted 〈◊〉 â—…ne pride now hee tasted of Gods iustice b becomming not as he deâ—…â—…lly in his owne power but falling euen from him-selfe became his slaue 〈◊〉 â—…ght him sinne changing his sweete liberty into wretched bondage beâ—…â—…gly dead in spirit and vnwilling to die in the flesh forsaking eternall 〈◊〉 condemned to eternall death but that Gods good grace deliuered him 〈◊〉 holds this sentence too seuere cannot proportionate the guilt incurring 〈◊〉 c the easinesse of auoyding it for as Abrahams obedience is highly extolâ—…â—…cause the killing of his sonne an hard matter was commaunded him so 〈◊〉 â—…ir disobedience in Paradise so much the more extreame as the precept 〈◊〉 to performe And as the obedience of the second was the more rarely 〈◊〉 in that he kept it vnto the death so was that disobedience of the first 〈◊〉 more truely detestable because he brake his obedience to incurre death 〈◊〉 the punishment of the breatch of obedience is so great and the preâ—…â—…ly kept who can at full relate the guilt of that sinne that breaketh it 〈◊〉 â—…ither in aw of the commanders maiesty nor in
feare of the terrible 〈◊〉 following the breatch 〈◊〉 to speake in a word what reward what punishment is layd vpon disoâ—… but disobedience What is mans misery other then his owne disoâ—… to himselfe that seeing e he would not what he might now he cannot 〈◊〉 would for although that in Paradice all was not in his power during 〈◊〉 â—…dience yet then he desired nothing but what was in his power and so did 〈◊〉 would 〈◊〉 â—…w as the Scripture saith and wee see by experience man is like to vanity 〈◊〉 can recount his innumerable desires of impossibilites the flesh and the 〈◊〉 that is himselfe disobeying the will that is himselfe also for his minde 〈◊〉 â—…led his flesh payned age and death approcheth and a thousand other 〈◊〉 seaze on vs against our wills which they could not do if our nature were 〈◊〉 obedient vnto our will And the flesh suffereth g some-thing that hinâ—…â—…e seruice of the soule what skilleth it whence as long as it is Gods alâ—… iustice to whome we would not bee subiect that our flesh should not be 〈◊〉 to the soule but trouble it whereas it was subiect wholy vnto it before 〈◊〉 we in not seruing God do trouble our selues and not him for hee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ice as wee neede our bodies and therefore it is our 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 body not any hurt to him in that wee haue made it such a body Be 〈◊〉 those that wee call fleshly paines are the soules paines in and from the flesh for what can the flesh either feele or desire without the soule But when wee say the flesh doth eyther wee meane either the man as I sayd before or some part of the soule that the fleshly passion affecteth either by sharpnesse procuring paine and griefe or by sweetnes producing pleasure But fleshly paine is onely an offence giuen to the soule by the flesh and a h dislike of that passion that the flesh produceth as that which we call sadnesse is a distast of things befalling vs against our wills But feare commonly forerunneth sadnesse that is wholly in the soule and not in the flesh But whereas the paine of the flesh is not fore-run by any fleshly feare felt in the flesh before yâ— paine i pleasure indeed is vsher'd in by certaine appetites felt in the flesh as the desires therof such is hunger thirst and the venereall affect vsually called lust whereas k lust is a general name to all affects that are desirous for l wrath is nothing but a lust of reuenge as yâ— ancient writers defined it although a maÌ„ somtimes without sence of reuenge will be angry at sencelesse things as to gag his pen in anger when it writes badly or so But euen this is a certaine desire of reuenge though it be reasonlesse it is a certaine shadow of returning euill to them that doe euill So then wrath is a lust of reuenge auarice a lust of hauing money obstinacy a lust of getting victory boasting a lust of vaine glory and many such lusts there are some peculiarly named and some namelesse for who can giue a fit name to the lust of soueraignty which notwithstanding the tyrants shew by their intestine warres that they stand well affected vnto L. VIVES 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a seruice For to be Gods seruant is to be free nay to be a King b Becomming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…he best reading c the easinesse my friend Nicholas Valdaura told me that he had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…hor I know not whome that the fruit that Adam eate was hurtfull to the body 〈◊〉 was rather an aggrauation of Adams sinne then any likelyhood of truth d Second man Christ called by Paule the second man of heauen heauenly as Adam the first was of earth earthly e He would not Torences saying in Andria since you cannot haue that you desire desire that which you may haue f Mind There is in the soule Mens belonging to the reasonable part and animus belonging to the sensuall wherein all this tempest of affects doth rage g Something Wearinesse and slownesse of motion whereby it cannot go cheerâ—… to worke nor continue long in action h A dislike Or a dislike of the euill procured by the passion i Pleasure Herevpon saith Epiourus Desire censureth pleasure pleasures are best being but seldome vsed saith Iunenall voluptates commendat rarior vsus k Lust 〈◊〉 a generall We shewed this out of Tully it comes of libet that extended it selfe vnto all deâ—… that are not bounded by reason l Wrath is Tusc. quest 4. Wrath is a desire to punish 〈◊〉 by whome one thinketh he is wronged It is a greeuing appetite of seeming reueng 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rhet. lib 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euill of lust how the name is generall to many vices but proper vnto venereall concupiscence CHAP. 16. ALthough 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there be many lusts yet when we read the word 〈◊〉 alone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the obiect we comonly take it for the vncleane 〈◊〉 of the generatiue parts For this doth sway in the whole body mouing 〈◊〉 â—…ole man without and within with such a commixtion of mentall afâ—…â—…d carnall appetite that hence is the highest bodily pleasure of all prodâ—…d So that in the very a moment of the consummation it ouer-whelâ—… almost all the light and power of cogitation And what wise and godly 〈◊〉 there who beeing marryed and knowing as the Apostle sayth how 〈◊〉 his vessell in holynesse and honour and not in the lust of concupiscence as 〈◊〉 â—…es doe which know not God had not rather if hee could begette his dâ—…n without this lust that his members might obey his minde in this acte 〈◊〉 â—…pagation as well as in the lust and be ruled by his will not compelled 〈◊〉 â—…upiscence But the louers of these carnall delightes them-selues canâ—…â—…e this affect at their wills eyther in nuptiall coniunctions or wicâ—…â—…purities The motion wil be sometimes importunate agaynst the will 〈◊〉 â—…e-times immoueable when it is desired And beeing feruent in the 〈◊〉 yet wil be frozen in the bodye Thus wondrously doth this lust sayle 〈◊〉 both in honest desire of generation and in lasciuious concupiscence â—…imes resisting the restraynt of the whole minde and some-time â—…ng it selfe which beeing wholly in the minde and no way in the boâ—…â—…e same time L. VIVES 〈◊〉 a moment Therfore Hippocrates sayd that carnal copulation was a little Epilepsy â—…ng sicknes Architas the Tarentine to shew the plague of pleasure bad one to imaâ—… man in the greatest height of pleasure that might be and auerred that none would 〈◊〉 to bee voyd of all the functions of soule and reason as long as delight lasted Of the nakednesse that our first parents discouered in them-selues after their sinne CHAP. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 man ashamed of this lust and iustly are those members which lust 〈◊〉 or suppresses against our wils as it lusteth called shamefull before â—…ed they were not so For it is written they were both naked and were not 〈◊〉 not that they saw
in the same stead that a Kings are to him his 〈◊〉 his mantle and his staffe his scepter The Donatists and the Circumcelliones beeing 〈◊〉 both of one stampe in Augustines time went so cloaked and bare clubbes to destroy 〈◊〉 Christians withall Of the blessing of multiplication before sinne which the transgression did not abolish but onely lincked to lust CHAP. 21. â—…D forbid then that we should beleeue that our parents in Paradise should â—…e full-filled that blessing Increase and multiply and fill the earth in that 〈◊〉 made them blush and hide their priuities this lust was not in them vntill 〈◊〉 â—…ne and then their shame fast nature hauing the power and rule of the 〈◊〉 perceiued it blushed at it and couered it But that blessing of marriage â—…rease multiplication and peopling of the earth though it remained in 〈◊〉 after sin yet was it giuen them before sin to know that procreation of 〈◊〉 â—…onged to the glory of mariage not to the punishment of sin But the 〈◊〉 are now on earth knowing not that happinesse of Paradise doe thinke â—…dren cannot be gotten but by this lust which they haue tried this is that 〈◊〉 honest mariage ashamed to act it 〈◊〉 a reiecting impiously deriding the holy scriptures that say they were â—…d of their nakednesse after they had sinned couered their priuities and b others though they receiue the scriptures yet hold that this blessing Increase and multiply is meant of a spirituall and not a corporall faecundity because the Psalme saith thou shalt multiply vertue in my soule and interprete the following words of Genesis And fill the earth and rule ouer it thus earth that is the flesh which the soule filleth with the presence and ruleth ouer it when it is multiplied in vertue but that the carnall propagation cannot bee performed without that lust which arose in man was discouered by him shamed him and made him couer it after sinne and that his progeny were not to liue in Paradise but without it as they did for they begot no children vntill they were put forth of Paradise and then they did first conioyne and beget them L. VIVES OThers a reiecting The Manichees that reiected all the olde Testament as I sayd elsewhere b Others though The Adamites that held that if Adam had not sinned there should haue beene no marying c Thou shalt multiply The old bookes reade Thou shalt multiply me in soule by thy vertue And this later is the truer reading I thinke for Aug. followed the 70. and they translate it so That God first instituted and blessed the band of Mariage CHAP. 22. BVt wee doubt not at all that this increase multiplying and filling of the earth was by Gods goodnesse bestowed vpon the marriage which hee ordeined in the beginning ere man sinned when hee made them male and female sexes euident in the flesh This worke was no sooner done but it was blessed for the scripture hauing said He created them male and female addeth presently And God blessed them saying Increase and multiply c. a All which though they may not vnfitly be applied spiritually yet male and female can in no wise be appropriate to any spirituall thing in man not vnto that which ruleth and that which is ruled but as it is euident in the reall distinction of sexe they were made male and female to bring forth fruite by generation to multiply and to fill the earth This plaine truth none but fooles will oppose It cannot bee ment of the spirit ruling and the flesh obeying of the reason gouerning and the affect working of the contemplatiue part excelling and the actiue seruing nor of the mindes vnderstanding and the bodies sence but directly of the band of marriage combining both the sexes in one Christ being asked whether one might put away his wife for any cause because Moses by reason of the hardnesse of their hearts suffred them to giue her a bill of diuorce answered saying Haue you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and sayd for this cause shall â—…man leaue father and mother and sleaue vnto his wife and they tvvaine shal be one flesh So that now they are no more two but one Let no man therefore sunder what God hath coupled together Sure it t s therefore that male and female were ordained at the beginning in the same forme and difference that mankinde is now in And they are called one either because of their coniunction or the womans originall who came of the side of man for the Apostle warnes all maried men by this example to loue their wiues L. VIVES ALL a which There is nothing in the scripture but may bee spiritually applied yet must we keepe the true and real sence otherwise we should make a great confusion in religion for the Heretiques as they please wrest all vnto their positions But if God in saying Increase c. had no corporall meaning but onely spirituall what remaines but that we allow this spirituall increase vnto beasts vpon whom also this blessing was laide Whether if man had not sinned he should haue begotten children in Paradice and vvhether there should there haue beene any contention betvveene chastity and lust CHAP. 23. BVt he that saith that there should haue beene neither copulation nor propagation but for sinne what doth he els but make sinne the originall of the holy number of Saints for if they two should haue liued alone not sinning seeing sinne as these say was their onely meane of generation then veryly was sinne necessary to make the number of Saints more then two But if it bee absurd to hold this it is fit to hold that that the number of Gods cittizenâ—… should haue beene as great then if no man had sinned as now shal be gathered by Gods grace out of the multitude of sinners as long a as this worldly multiplication of the sonnes of the world men shal endure And therefore that marriage that was held fit to bee in Paradice should haue had increase but no lust had not sinne beene How this might be here is no fit place to discusse but it neede not seeme incredible that one member might serue the will without lust then so many seruing it now b Do wee now mooue our hands and feete so lasily when wee will vnto their offices without resistance as wee see in our selues and others chiefely handicraftesmen where industry hath made dull nature nimble and may wee not beleeue that those members might haue serued our first father vnto procreation if they had not beene seazed with lust the reward of his disobedience as well as all his other serued him to other acts doth not Tully disputing of the difference of gouerments in his bookes of the Common-weale and drawing a simyly from mans nature say that they c command our bodily members as sonnes they are so obedient and that wee must keepe an harder forme
eight times thirtie for there are eight generations from Adam to Lameches children inclusiuely is two hundred and forty did they beget no children then all the residue of the time before the deluge what â—…as the cause then that this author reciteth not the rest for our bookes account from Adam to the deluge b two thousand two hundred sixty two yeares and the Hebrewes one thousaÌ„d six hundred fifty six To allow the lesser nuÌ„ber for the truer take two hundred and forty from one thousand six hundred fifty six and there remaines one thousaÌ„d foure hundreth and sixteen years Is it likely that Caines progeny had no children al this time But let him whom this troubleth obserue what I sayd before when the question was put how it were credible that the first men could for beare generation so long It was answered two waies either because of their late maturity proportioned to their length of life or because that they which were reckned in the descents were not necessarily the first borne but such onely as conueied the generation of Seth through themselues downe vnto Noah And therefore in Caines posterity if such an one wants as should bee the scope wherevnto the generation omitting the first borne and including onely such as were needefull might descend wee must impute it to the latelinesse of maturity whereby they were not enabled to geneâ—…ation vntill they were aboue one â—…ndred yeares olde that so the generation might still passe through the first borne and so descending through these multitudes of yeares meete with the â—…oud I cannot tell there may bee some more c secret course why the Earthly Citties generation should bee d reiected vntill Lamech and his sonnes and 〈◊〉 the rest vnto the deluge wholy suppressed by the authorâ—… And to â—…de this late maturity the reason why the pedegree descendeth not by tâ—…e first borne may bee for that Caine might reigne long in his Cittie of Heâ—… and begette many Kings who might each beget a sonne to reigne in 〈◊〉 owne stead Of these Caine I saâ—… might bee the first Henoch his sonne the next for whom the Citty was built that he might reigne there 〈◊〉 the sonne of Henoch the third e Manichel the sonne of Gaidaâ—… the fourth 〈◊〉 Mathusael the sonne of Manichel the fit Lamech the sonne of Mathusael the sixt and this man is the seauenth from Adam by Caine. Now it followeth not that each of these should bee their fathers first begotten their merits vertue policy chance or indeed their fathers loue might easily enthrone them And the deluge might befall in Lamechs reigne and drowne both him and all on earth but for those in the Arke for the diuersity of their ages might make it no â—…der that there should bee but seauen generations from Adam by Caine to the deluge and ten by Seth Lamech as I said beeing the seauenth from Adam and Noah the tenth and therefore Lamech is not said to haue one sonne but many because it is vncertaine who should haue succeeded him had hee died before the deluge But howsoeuer Caines progeny bee recorded by Kings or by eldest sonnes this I may not ' omit that Lamech the seauenth from Adam had as many children as made vppe eleauen the number of preuarication For hee had three sonnes and one daughter His wiues haue a reference to another thing not here to bee stood vpon For heere wee speake of descents but theirs is vnknowne Wherefore seeing that the lawe lieth in the number of ten as the tenne commandements testifie eleauen ouer-going ten in one signifieth the transgression of the law or sinne Hence it is that there were eleauen haire-cloath vailes made for the Tabernacle or mooueable Temple of GOD during the Israelites trauells For g in haire-cloath is the remembrance of sinne included because of the h goates that shal be set on the left hand for in repentance wee prostrate our selues in hayre-cloath saying as it is in the Psalme My sinne is euer in thy sight So then the progeny of Adam by wicked Caine endeth in the eleauenth the number of sinne and the last that consumaâ—…eth the number is a woman in whome that sinne beganne for which wee are all deaths slaues and which was committed that disobedience vnto the spirit and carnall affects might take place in vs. For i Naamah Lamechs daughter is interpreted beautifull pleasure But from Adam to Noah by Seth tenne the number of the lawe is consumate vnto which Noahs three sonnes are added two their father blessed and the third fell off that the reprobate beeing 〈◊〉 and the elect added to the whole k twelue the number of the Patriarches and Apostles might herein bee intimate which is glorious because of the multiplication of the partes of l seauen producing it for foure times three or three times foure is twelue This beeing so it remaineth to discusse how these two progenies distinctly intimating the two two Citties of the reprobate and the regenerate came to be so commixt and confused that all mankinde but for eight persons deserued to perish in the deluge L. VIVES THe a Gymnosophists Strab. lib. 15. b 2262. Eusebius and Bede haue it from the Sâ—…gints but 2242. it may bee Augustine saw the last number LXII in these charaâ—… and they had it thus XLII with the X. before The transcriber might easilie commit 〈◊〉 an error c Secret cause I thinke it was because they onely of Caines generation should bee named that were to bee plagued for his brothers murder for Iosephus writeth hereof 〈◊〉 these words Caine offring vnto God and praying him to bee appeased got his great guâ—… of homicide some-what lightned and remained cursed and his off-spring vnto the sâ—…uenth generation lyable vnto punishment for his desert Besides Caine liued so long himselfe and the author would not continue his generation farther then his death d Recided Not commended as some bookes read e Manichel Some read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath Maâ—…iel the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f Mathusael Eusebius Mathusalem the seauentie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g In hayre cloth The Prophets wore haire-cloth to â—…re the people to repentance Hier. sâ—…p Zachar. The Penitents also wore it h Goates Christ saith Hee wilâ—… gather the â—…Word that is the iust and simple men together in the worlds end and set them on his right hand and the Goates the luxurious persons and the wicked on his left This hayre-cloth was made of Goates hayre and called Cilicium because as Uarro saith the making of it was first inuented in Cilicia i Naamah It is both pleasure and delicate comlinesse 〈◊〉 k 〈◊〉 Of this read Hierome vpon Ezechiel lib. 10. l Seauen A number full of mysterious religion as I said before Why the generation of Caine is continued downe along from the naming of his sonne Enoch whereas the Scripture hauing named Enos Seths sonne goeth back againe to begin Seths generation at Adam CHAP. 21. BVt first we must see the reason why Cains
and thirtith of his reigne began Azarias or Ozias to reigne in Iuda Euseb. Eutropius differs not much from this so that by both accounts Ezechias his time fell to the beginning of Numa his reigne h But for the For these prophets prophecyed of the calling of the Heathens as he will shew afterwards Prophecies concerning the Ghospell in Osee and Amos. CHAP. 28. OSee is a Prophet as diuine as deepe Let vs performe our promise and see what hee â—…ayth In the place where it was sayd vnto them you are not my people it shâ—…ll bee sayd ye are sonnes of the liuing God This testimony the a Apostles â—…m-selues interpreted of the calling of the Gentiles who because they are thâ—… spirituall sonnes of Abraham and therfore b rightly called Israell it followeth of them thus Then the children of Iudah and the children of Israell shall bee gathered together and appoint them-selues one head and they shall come vp out of the land If wee seeke for farther exposition of this wee shall â—…loy the sweete taste of the Prophets eloquence Remember but the corner stone and the two wals the Iewes and the Gentiles eyther of them vnder those seuerall names beeing founded vppon that one head and acknowledged to mount vppe from the land And that those carnall Israelites that beleeue not now shall once beleeue being as sonnes to the other succeeding them in their places the same Prophet auoucheâ—…h saying The children of Israell shall sit many dayes without a King without a Prince without an offering without an Altar without a Priesthood and without c manifestations who sees not that these are the Iewes Now marke the sequele Afterwards shall the children of Israell conuert and seeke the Lord their God and Dauid their King and shall feare the Lord and his goodnesse in these later dayes Nothing can be playner spoken here is Christ meant by Dauid as he was the son of Dauid in the flesh sayth the Apostle Nay this Prophet fore-told the third day of his resurrection also Heare him else After two dayes will he reuiue vs and in the third day he will rayse vs vp Iust in this key spake Saint Paul saying If ye bee risen with Christ seeke the thinges which are aboue Such a prophecy hath Amos also Prepare to meete thy God O Israell for lo I forme the thunder and the windes and declare mine annoynted in men and in another place d In that day will I raise vp the tabernacle of Dauid that is falne downe and close vp the breaches thereof and will raise vppe his ruines and build it as in the daies of old that the residue of mankind and aâ—… the heatâ—… â—…ay seek me because my name is called vpon them saith the Lord that doth this L. VIVES THâ—… a Apostles Pet. 1. 2. 10. b Rightly called Israell For all that follow truth and righteousnesse are of Abrahams spirituall seed Wherfore such as descend from him in the flesh the scriptures call Iudah because that tribe stucke to the old Priesthood temple and sacrifices and such as are not Abrahams children by birth but by faith are called Israell For the tenne tribes that fell from Iuâ—…ahs King the Iewes named Israell and they differed not much from 〈◊〉 for they left their fathers religion and became Idolaters Wherfore the Iewes hated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much as they did the 〈◊〉 who had no clayme at all of descent from Abrahâ—… c Manifestations So doe the seauenty read it The hebrew hath it Ephod The seauenty 〈◊〉 at that intimation of the losse of their prophecy doctrine and wisdome the greatest losse 〈◊〉 could befall a citty The hebrew at the abolition of their priest-hood dignity and ornaâ—… d In the day This place Saint Iames in the Acts testifieth to be meant of the calling of 〈◊〉 Nations Act. 15. 15. 16. The Apostles there avowing it who dares gaine-say it Esay his prophecies concerning Christ. CHAP. 29. ESaias a is none of the twelue prophets They are called the small prophets because their prophecies are briefe in comparison of others that wrote large â—…mes of whom Esay was one whom I adde here because he liued in the times 〈◊〉 two afore-named In his precepts against sin and for goodnesse his proâ—…cies of tribulation for offending hee forgetteth not also to proclame Christ 〈◊〉 his Church more amply then any other in so much that b some call him an â—…gelist rather then a Prophet One of his prophecies heare in briefe because I 〈◊〉 stand vpon many In the person of God the Father thus hee saith c Beâ—… my son shal vnderstand he shal be exalted and be very high as many were astonied 〈◊〉 thy forme was so despised by men and thy beauty by the sons of men so shall maâ—…ions admire him the kings shal be put to silence at his sight for that which they 〈◊〉 not heard of him shall they see and that which hath not beene told them they shall â—…stand Lord who will beleeue our report to whom is the Lords arme reuealed wee 〈◊〉 â—…clare him as an infant and as a roote out of a dry ground he hath neither forme â—…ty when wee shall see him hee shall haue neither goodlinesse nor glory but his 〈◊〉 â—…albe despised and reiected before all men He is a man full of sorrowes and hath â—…ce of infirmities For his face is turned away he was despised and we esteemâ—… not Hee hath borne our sinnes and sorroweth for vs yet did we iudge him as 〈◊〉 of God and smitten and humbled But hee was wounded for our transgressions 〈◊〉 broken for our iniquities our peace we learned by him and with his stripes wee are 〈◊〉 We haue all straied like sheepe man haâ—… lost his way and vpon him hath GOD 〈◊〉 our guilt He was afflicted vet neuer opened he his mouth he was led as a sheepe 〈◊〉 slaughter as 〈◊〉 Lambe before the shearer is dumbe so was he opened not his 〈◊〉 hee was out from prison vnto iudgement O who shall declare his generation 〈◊〉 shal be taken out of life For the transgression of my people was he plagued and â—…l giue the wicked for his graue and the ritch for his death because hee hath 〈◊〉 wickednesse nor was there any d deceite found in his mouth The LORD 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him from his affliction e If you giue your soule for sinne you shall see the 〈◊〉 â—…tinue long and the LORD shall take his soule from sorrow to shew him light â—…firme his vnderstanding to iustifie the righteous seruing many for he bare their â—…ties Therefore I will giue him a portion with the great hee shall diuide the 〈◊〉 of the strong because hee hath powred out his soule vnto death Hee was reckoâ—…â—…ith the transgressors and hath borne the sinnes of many and was betraied â—…ir trespasses Thus much of CHRIST nâ—… what saith he of his church 〈◊〉 O barren that bearest not breake forth and crie out for ioy thoâ—… that bringest â—…th for
their hurt and their soules in following their appetites when neede requireth so in flying of death they make it as apparant how much they set by their peace of soule and body But man hauing a reasonable soule subiecteth all his communities with beasts vnto the peace of that to worke so both in his contemplation and action that there may bee a true consonance betweene them both and this wee call the peace of the reasonable soule To this end hee is to avoide molestation by griefe disturbance by desire and dissolution by death and to ayme at profiâ—…e knowledge where vnto his actions may bee conformable But least 〈◊〉 owne infirmity through the much desire to know should draw him into any pestilent inconuenience of error hee must haue a diuine instruction to whose directions and assistance hee is to assent with firme and free obedience And because that during this life Hee is absent from the LORD hee walketh by faith and not by sight and therefore hee referreth all his peace of bodie of soule and of both vnto that peace which mortall man hath with immortall GOD to liue in an orderlie obedience vnder his eternall lawe by faith Now GOD our good Maister teaching vs in the two chiefest precepts the loue of him and the loue of our neighbour to loue three things GOD our neighbour and our selues and seeing he that loueth GOD offendeth not in louing himselfe it followeth that hee ought to counsell his neighbour to loue GOD and to prouide for him in the loue of GOD sure hee is commanded to loue him as his owne selfe So must hee doe for his wife children family and all men besides and wish likewise that his neighbour would doe as much for him in his need thus shall hee bee settled in peace and orderly concord with all the world The order whereof is first a to doe no man hurt and secondly to helpe all that hee can So that his owne haue the first place in his care and those his place and order in humane society affordeth him more conueniency to benefit Wherevpon Saint Paul saith Hee that prouideth not for his owne and namely for them that bee of his houshold denieth the faith and is worse then an Infidell For this is the foundation of domesticall peace which is an orderly rule and subiection in the partes of the familie wherein the prouisors are the Commaunders as the husband ouer his wife parents ouer their children and maisters ouer their seruants and they that are prouided for obey as the wiues doe their husbands children their parents and seruants their maisters But in the family of the faithfull man the heauenly pilgrim there the Commaunders are indeed the seruants of those they seeme to commaund ruling not in ambition but beeing bound by carefull duety not in proud soueraignty but in nourishing pitty L. VIVES FIrst a to doe no Man can more easily doe hurt or forbeare hurt then doe good All men may iniure others or abstaine from it But to doe good is all and some Wherefore holy writ bids vs first abstaine from iniury all we can and then to benefit our christian bretheren when wee can Natures freedome and bondage caused by sinne in which man is a slaue to his owne affects though he be not bondman to any one besides CHAP. 15. THus hath natures order prescribed and man by GOD was thus created Let them rule saith hee ouer the fishes of the sea and the fowles of the ayre end ouer euery thing that creepeth vpon the earth Hee made him reasonable and LORD onely ouer the vnreasonable not ouer man but ouer beastes Wherevpon the first holy men were rather shep-heards then Kings GOD shewing herein what both the order of the creation desired and what the merit of sinne exacted For iustly was the burden of seruitude layd vpon the backe of transgression And therefore in all the scriptures wee neuer reade the word Seruant vntill such time as that iust man Noah a layd it as a curse vpon his offending sonne So that it was guilt and not nature that gaue originall vnto that name b The latine word Seruus had the first deriuation from hence those that were taken in the warres beeing in the hands of the conquerours to massacre or to preserue if they saued them then were they called Serui of Seruo to saue Nor was this effected beyond the desert of sinne For in the iustest warre the sinne vpon one side causeth it and if the victory fall to the wicked as some times it may c it is GODS decree to humble the conquered either reforming their sinnes heerein or punishing them Witnesse that holy man of GOD Daniel who beeing in captiuity confessed vnto his Creator that his sinnes and the sinnes of the people were the reall causes of that captiuity Sinne therefore is the mother of seruitude and first cause of mans subiection to man which notwithstanding commeth not to passe but by the direction of the highest in whome is no iniustice and who alone knoweth best how to proportionate his punnishment vnto mans offences and hee himselfe saith Whosoeuer committeth sinne is the seruant of sinne and therefore many religious Christians are seruants vnto wicked maisters d yet not vnto free-men for that which a man is addicted vnto the same is hee slaue vnto And it is a happier seruitude to serue man then lust for lust to ommit all the other affects practiseth extreame tirany vpon the hearts of those that serue it bee it lust after soueraignty or fleshly lust But in the peacefull orders of states wherein one man is vnder an other as humility doth benefit the seruant so doth pride endamage the superior But take a man as GOD created him at first and so hee is neither slaue to man nor to sinne But penall seruitude had the institution from that law which commaundeth the conseruation and forbiddeth the disturbance of natures order for if that law had not first beene transgressed penall seruitude had neuer beene enioyned Therefore the Apostle warneth seruants to obey their Maisters and to serue them with cheerefulnesse and good will to the end that if they cannot bee made free by their Maisters they make their seruitude a free-dome to themselues by seruing them not in deceiptfull feare but in faithfull loue vntill iniquity be ouerpassed and all mans power and principality disanulled and GOD onely be all in all L. VIVES NOah a layd it Gen. 9. b The latine So saith Florentinus the Ciuilian Institut lib. 4. And they are called Mancipia quoth hee of manu capti to take with the hand or by force This you may reade in Iustinians Pandects lib. 1. The Lacaedemonians obserued it first Plin. lib. 7. c It is Gods decree Whose prouidence often produceth warres against the wills of either party d Yet not vnto free Their Maisters being slaues to their owne passions which are worse maisters then men can be Of the iust law of soueraignty CHAP. 16.
seruant namely that same forme of a seruant wherein the highest was humbled added the name of the man From whose stock hee was to deriue that seruile forme The spirit of God came vpon him in forme of a Doue as the Ghospell testifieth Hee brought forth iudgement to the Gentiles in fore telling them of future things which they neuer knew of before Hee dyd not crie out yet ceased hee not to preach Nor was his voyce heard with out or in the streete for such as are cut off from his fold neuer heare his voyce Hee neither broake downe nor extinguished those Iewes his persecutors whose lost integrity and abandoned light made them like brused Reedes and c smoaking flaxe hee spared them for as yet hee was not come to iudge them but to bee iudged by them Hee brought forth iudgment in truth by shewing them their future plagues if they persisted in their malice His face sâ—…one on the mount his fame in the whole world hee neither failed nor fainted in that both hee and his Church stood firme against all persecutions Therefore his foes neuer had nor euer shall haue cause to thinke that fulfilled which they wished in the Psalme saying When shall hee dye and his name perish vntill hee haue setled iudgement in the earth Loe here is that wee seeke The last iudgement is that which hee shall settle vpon earth comming to effect it out of heauen As for the last wordes the Iles shall hope in his name wee see it fulfilled already Thus then by this which is so vn-deniable is that prooued credible which impudence dares yet deny For who would euer haue hoped for that which the vnbeleeuers them-selues doe now behold as well as wee to their vtter heart-breaking and confusion d Who did euer looke that the Gentiles should embrace Christianity that had seene the Author thereof bound beaten mocked and crucified That which one theefe durst but hope for vpon the crosse in that now doe the nations farre and wide repose their vtmost confidence and least they should incurre eternall death are signed with that figure where-vpon hee suffered his temporall death Let none therefore make any doubt that Christ shall bring forth such a iudgment as the Scriptures doe promise except hee beleeue not the Scriptures and stand in his owne malicious blindnesse against that which hath enlightned all the world And this iudgment shall consist of these circumstances partly precedent and partly adiacent Helias shall come the Iewes shall beleeue Antichrist shall persecute Christ shall iudge the dead shall arise the good and bad shall seuer the world shall burne and bee renewed All this wee must beleeue shall bee but in what order our full experience then shall exceed our imperfect intelligence as yet Yet verily I doe thinke they shall fall out in order as I haue rehearsed them Now remaineth there two bookes more of this theame to the perfect performance of our promise the first of which shall treate of the paines due vnto the wicked and the second of the glories bestowed vpon the righteous wherein if it please GOD wee will subuert the arguments which foolish mortalls and miserable wretches make for them-selues against GODS holy and diuine pre mises and against the sacred nutriment giuen to the soule by an vnspotted faith thinking them-selues the onely wise-men in these their vngratious cauills and deriding all religious instructions as contemptible and ridâ—…culous As for those that are wise in GOD in all that seemeth most incredible vnto man if it bee auouched by the holy Scriptures whose truth wee haue already sufficiently prooued they laye hold vpon the true and omnipotent deity as the strongest argument against all opposition for hee they know cannot possiblye speake false in those Scriptures and with-all can by his diuine power effect that which may seeme more then most impossible to the vn beleeuers L. VIVES GHrist a in person According to this iudgement of Christ did the Poets faigne thâ—… Iudges of hell for holding Ioue to be the King of Heauen they auoutched his sonne to be iudge of hell yet none of his sonnes that were wholy immortall at first as Bacchus Apollo or Mercurie was but a God that had beene also a mortall man and a iust man withall such as Minos Aeacus or Rhadamanthus was This out of Lactantius lib. 7. b No mention Hierom. in 42. Esai c Smoking flaxe It was a custome of old saith Plutarch in Quaestionib neuer to put out the snuffe of the lampe but to let it die of it selfe and that for diuers reasons first because this fire was some-what like in nature to that inextinguible immortall fire of heauen secondly they held this fire to be a liuing creature and therefore not to bee killed but when it did mischiefe That the fire was aliuing creature the want that it hath of nutriment and the proper motion besides the grone it seemeth to giue when it is quenshed induced them to affirme Thirdly because it is vnfit to destroy any thing that belongeth to mans continuall vse as fire or water c. But wee ought to leaue them to others when our owne turnes are serued Thus far Plutarch The first reason tendeth to religion the second to mansuetude the third to humanity d Who did euer looke Christ was not ignoraâ—… of the time to come nor of the eternity of his doctrine as his leauing it to the publishing of onely twelue weake men against the malicious opposition of all Iudea and his commanding them to preach it throughout the whole world doth sufficiently prooue besides his prophecying to the Apostles that they should all abandon him and hee bee led to death that night and yet againe hee promiseth them to be with them to the end of the world Finis lib. 20. THE CONTENTS OF THE ONE and twentith booke of the City of God 1. Why the punishment of the damned is here disputed of before the happinesse of the Saints 2. Whether an earthly body may possibly bee incorruptible by fire 3. Whether a fleshly body may possibly endure eternall paine 4. Natures testimonies that bodies may remaine vndiminished in the fire 5. Of such things as cannot bee assuredlie knowne to be such and yet are not to be doubted of 6. All strange effects are not natures some are mans deuises some the deuills 7. Gods omnipotency the ground of all beliefe in things admired 8. That the alteration of the knowne nature of any creature vnto a nature vnknowne is not opposite vnto the lawes of nature 9. Of Hell and the quality of the eternall paines therein 10. Whether the fire of hell if it be corporall can take effect vpon the incorporeal deuills 11. Whether it be not iustice that the time of the paines should bee proportioned to the time of the sinnes and criâ—…es 12. The greatnesse of Adams sin inflicting eternall damnation vpon all that are out of the state of grace 13. Against such as hold that the torments after the
eternall after the last iudgment vnto them that endure them temporally after death For some shal be pardoned in the world to come that are not pardoned in this and acquitted there and not here from entring into paines eternall as I said before L. VIVES Willingly a or by Willingly that is of set purpose or through a wrong perswasion that 〈◊〉 doth him good when he hurteth him as the torturers and murtherers of the martyrs beleeued These were all guilty nor waâ—… their ignorance excuseable which in what cases it may be held pardonable Augustine disputeth in Quaest. vet Nou. Testam The 〈◊〉 all paines of this life afflicting all man-kinde CHAP. 14. BVT fewe theâ—… 〈◊〉 that endure none of these paines vntill after death Some indeed I haue known heard of that neuer had houres sickenes vntil their dying day and liued very long though notwithstanding mans whole life bee a paine in that it is a temptation and a warre-fare vpon earth as Holy Iob saith for ignorance is a great punishment and therefore you see that little children are forced to a auoyde it by stripes and sorrowes that also which they learne being such a paine to them that some-times they had rather endure the punishments that enforce them learne it then to learne that which would avoyde them a Who would not tremble and rather choose to die then to be an infant againe if he were put to such a choyce We begin it with teares and therein presage our future miseries Onely b Zoroastres smiled they say when hee was borne but his prodigyous mirth boded him no good for hee was by report the first inuentor of Magike which notwithstanding stood him not in a pins stead in his misfortunes for Ninus King of Assiriaouer came him in battel and tooke his Kingdome of Bactria from him So that it is such an impossibility that those words of the Scripture Great trauell is created for all men and an heauy yoke vpon the sonnes of Adam from the day that they go out of their mothers wombe vntill the day that they returne vnto the mother of all things should not be fulfilled that the very infants being Baptised and therein quitte from all their guilt which then is onely originall are notwithstanding much and often afflicted yea euen sometimes by the incursion of Deuills which notwithstanding cannot hurt them if they die at that tendernesse of age L. VIVES WHo a would Some would thinke them-selues much beholding to God if they might begin their daies againe but wise Cato in Tully was of another minde b Zoroastres smiled He was king of Bactria the founder of Magique Hee liued before the Troian warre 5000. yeares saith Hermodotus Platonicus Agnaces taught him Hee wrot 100000. verses Idem Eudoxus maketh him liue 5000. yeares before Plato his death and so doth Aristotle Zanthus Lydius is as short as these are ouer in their account giuing but 600 betweene Zoroastres and Xerxes passage into Greece Pliny doubts whether there were many of this name But this liued in Ninus his time hee smiled at his birth and his braine beate so that it would lift vp the hand a presage of his future knowledge Plin. He liued twenty yeares in a desert vpon cheese which hee had so mixed that it neuer grew mouldy nor decayed That the scope of Gods redeeming vs is wholly pertinent to the world to come CHAP. 15. BVt yet notwithstanding in this heauy yoke that lieth vpon Adams children from ther birth to their buriall we haue this one meanes left vs to liue sober and to weigh that our first parents sin hath made this life but a paine to vs and that all the promises of the New-Testament belonge onely to the Heritage layd vp for vs in the world to come pledges wee haue here but the performance due thereto we shall not haue till then Let vs now therefore walke in hope and profiting day by day let vs mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the spirit for God knoweth all that are his and as many as are led by the spirit of God are the sons of God but by grace not by nature for Gods onely sonne by nature was made the sonne of man for vs that we being the sons of men by nature might become the sonnes of God in him by grace for hee remayning changelesse tooke our nature vpon him and keeping still his owne diuinity that wee being changed might leaue our frailety and apnesse to sinne through the participation of his righteousnesse and immortallity and keepe that which hee had made good in vs by the perfection of that good which is in him for as wee all fell into this misery by one mans sinne so shall wee ascend vnto that glory by one deified mans righteousnesse Nor may any imagine that hee hath had this passe vntill 〈◊〉 bee there where there is no temptation but all full of that peace which wee seeke by these conflicts of the spirit against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit This warre had neuer beene had man kept his will in that right way wherein it was first placed But refusing that now hee fighteth in himselfe and yet this inconuenience is not so bad as the former for happier farre is hee that striueth against sinne then hee that alloweth it soueraygnty ouer him Better is warre with hope of eternall peace then thraldome without any thought of freedome We wish the want of this warre though and God inspireth vs to ayme at that orderly peace wherein the inferiour obeyeth the superior in althings but if there were hope of it in this life as God forbid wee should imagine by yeelding to sinne a yet ought we rather to stand out against it in all our miseries then to giue ouer our freedomes to sinne by yeelding to it L. VIVES YEt a ought we So said the Philosophers euen those that held the soules to be mortall that vertue was more worth then all the glories of a vicious estate and a greater reward to it selfe nay that the vertuous are more happy euen in this life then the vicious and thereâ—… Christ animates his seruants with promises of rewards both in the world to come and in this that is present The lawes of grace that all the regenerate are blessed in CHAP. 16. BVt Gods mercy is so great in the vessells whome hee hath prepared for glory that euen the first age of man which is his infancy where the flesh ruleth without controll and the second his child-hood where his reason is so weake that it giueth way to all â—…nticements and the mind is altogether incapable of religious precepts if notwithstanding they bee washed in the fountaine of regeneration and he dye at this or that age he is translated from the powers of darknes to the glories of Christ and freed from all paynes eternall and purificatory His regeneration onely is sufficient cleare that after death which his carnall generation had contracted with death But when he cometh to