away of Aarons priest-hood CHAP. 5. BVt this was more plainely spoken vnto Heli the priest by a man of God a whose name we read not but his ministery proued him a Prophet Thus it is written There came a man of GOD vnto Heli and said vnto him Thus saith the Lord did not I plainely appeare vnto the house of thy father when they were in Egiptin Pharaos house and I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to bee my priest to offer at mine Altar to burne incense and to weare b an Ephod and I gaue thy fathers house al the burnt offrings of the house of Israel for to eate Why then haue you looked in scorne vpon my sacrifices and offrings and c honored thy children aboue me to d blesse the first of all the offrings of Israell in my sight wherefore thus saith the LORD GOD of Israell I said thy house and thy fathers house shall walke before mee for euer nay not so now for them that honour me saith the Lord will I honour and them that despise me will I despise Behold the daies come that I will cast out thy seed and thy fathers seed that there shall not bee an e old man in thine house I will destroy euery one of thine from mine Altar that thine eyes may faile and thine heart faint and all the remainder of thy house shall fall by the sword and this shal be a signe vnto thee that shall befall thy two sonnes Ophi and Phinees in one day shall they both die And I wil take my selfe vppe a faithfull Priest that shall doe according to mine heart I will build him a sure house and hee shall walke before mine Annointed for euer And the f remaines of thy house shall come and bow downe to him for an halfe-penny of siluer saying Put mee I pray the in some office about the priest-hood that I may eate a morsell of bread We cannot say that this prophecy plainely denouncing the change of their old priest-hood was fulfilled in Samuel g for though Samuel were of that tribe that serued the Altar yee was he not of the sons of Aaron to whose progeny God tied the priest-hood and therefore in this was that change shadowed that Christ was to perfome and belonged to the Old Testament properly but figuratiuely vnto the New beeing now fulfilled both in the euent of the prophecy and the historie that recordeth these words of the Prophet vnto Heli. For afterwardes there were Priests of Aarons race as Abiathar and Zador in 〈◊〉 reigne and many more for the time came wherein the change was to bee effected by Christ. But who seeth not now if hee obserue it with the eye of faith that all is fulfilled the Iewes haue no Tabernacle no Temple no Altar nor any Priest of Aarons pedegree as GOD commanded them to haue Lust as this Propâ—… said Thou and thy fathers house shall walke before mee for euer Nay not so now for them that honour mee will I honour c. By his fathers house hee meaneth not Eli his last fathers but Aarons from whom they all descended as these words Did I not appeare to thy fathers house in Egipt c. Doe plainely prooue Who was his Father in the Egiptian bondage and was chosen priest after their freedome but Aaron of his stocke then it was here said there should bee no more priests as wee see now come to passe Let faith bee but vigilant and it shall discerne and apprehend truth euen whether it will or no. Behold saith he the daies doe come that I will cast out thy seed c. T' is true the daies are come Aarons seede hath now no Priest and his whole off-spring behold the sacrifice of the christians goriously offered all the world through with fayling eyes and fainting hearts but that which followeth All the remainder of thine house 〈◊〉 fell by the sword c. belongs properly to the house of Heli. And the death of his sonnes was a signe of the change of the Priest-hood of Aarons house and signified the death of the Priest-hood rather then the men But the next place to the priest that Samuel Heli his successor prefigured I meane Christ the Priest of the New Testament I will take mee vp a faith-full Priest that shall do all according to mine heart I will build him a sure house c. This house is the heauenly Ierusalem and he shall walke before mine annoynted for euer that is hee shall conuerse with them as hee said before of the house of Aaron I sayd thou and thine house shall walke before mee for euer Behold mine annointed that is 〈◊〉 annointed flesh not mine annointed Priest for that is Christ himselfe the Sauiour So that his house and flocke it is that shall walke before him it may bee meant also of the passage of the faithfull from death vnto life at the end of their mortality and the last iudgement But whereas it is said He shall doe all according to mine heart wee may not thinke that GOD hath any heart beeâ—… 〈◊〉 hearts maker but it is figuratiuely spoaken of him as the scripture doth 〈◊〉 â—…er members the hand of the LORD the finger of GOD c. And least 〈◊〉 should thinke that in this respect man beareth the Image of GOD the â—…re giueth him wings which man doth want Hide mee vnder the shadow of 〈◊〉 â—…gs to teach men indeed thaâ—…â—…hose things are spoken with no true but a â—…ll reference vnto that ineffable essence On now and the remaines of 〈◊〉 â—…use shall come and bow downe vnto him c. This is not meant of the 〈◊〉 of Heli but of Aarons of which some were remayning vntill the comming 〈◊〉 â—…RIST yea and are vnto this day For that aboue the remaynder of thy 〈◊〉 shall fall by the sword was meant by Heli his linage How then can both 〈◊〉 places bee true that some should come to bow downe and yet the sword 〈◊〉 deuoure all vnlesse they bee meant of two the first of Aarons linage and 〈◊〉 â—…cond of Helies If then they bee of those predestinate remainders whereof 〈◊〉 â—…ophet saith The remnant shal be saued and the Apostle at this present time is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remnant through the election of grace which may well bee vnder-stood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remnant that the man of GOD speakes off heere then doubtlesse they 〈◊〉 in Christ as many of their nations Iewes did in the Apostles time and 〈◊〉 though very few do now fulfilling that of the Prophet which followeth 〈◊〉 downe to him for an halfe penny of siluer to whom but vnto the great 〈◊〉 who is God eternall For in the time of Aarons Priest-hood the people 〈◊〉 â—…ot to the temple to adore or bow downe to the priest But what is that 〈◊〉 halfe pennie of siluer Onely the breuity of the Word of â—…aith as the Aâ—… saith The Lord will make a short accompt in the earth that siluer is put for â—…ord the Psalmist proueth saying
all nor some For as hee saith c If it were all the goddes nature that he wrote of hee would haue handled it before the mens But truth hold hee his peace cryeth out it should neuerthelesse haue the place of the Romaines particular though it bee but particular it selfe But it is rightly placed as it is the last of all therefore it is none at all His desire therefore was not to preferre Humanity before Diuinity but truth before falshood For in his processe of humanity hee followeth history but in his diuinity nothing but vaine relations and idle opinions This is the aime of his subtile intimation in preferring the first and giuing the reason why hee doth so Which hadde hee not giuen some other meanes perhaps might haue beene inuented for the defence of his methode But giuing it him-selfe hee neyther leaueth others place for other suspitions nor fayles to shew that hee doth but preferre men before mens institutions not mans nature before the Deities Heerin confessing that his bookes of Diuinity are not of the truth pertaining to their nature but of their falshood effecting others error which as we said in our 4. booke hee professed that hee would forme nearer to the rule of nature if hee were to build a Citty but finding one established already he could not choose but follow the grounded customes L. VIVES THat a some part There is no part of the goddes nature were it neuer so small but is to bee preferred before mans whole b Not all It is a wonder that our Commentators missed to make a large discourse of aequipalences in this place and of the Logicians axiomes and dignities out of their fellow Petrus Hispanus nor nothing of mobilities and immobilities Augustine in this place speaketh of the Logitians precepts of not all men dispute and some men doe not dispute which runne contrary But not all affirmeth nothing so that whether some men do not dispute or none dispute not all is truly said of either For if it bee true that no man do this then true it is that not all men do it because some doe it not if it be false to say al men do it These arise out of the repugnances of contraries contradictories for if it be true that no man is and false that some man is not such then shal it be true that al men are such all is beeing contradictory to some is not and so should all and none light true in one sence which cannot bee these precepts of inquiring truth and falshood Aristotle taught and the Greeke Logitians after him as likewise Apuleius Perihermenias Martian Capella and Seuerinus Boethius whome wee may call Latines c If it were Augustine taking away the adiunct taketh that also away to which it is an adiunct Our Logitians say that reiecting the conditionall conclusion the precedent is reiected so if he wrote of any nature of the gods it were to come before humaine affaires but that which he doth write is not to come before them Therefore hee writeth not of Gods nature Otherwise the consequence were were false if the antecedent were true and the consequent false For the repugnance of the consequent should concurre with the antecedent Now this discourse of mine were logicall if the termes were such that is schoole-termes filled with barbarisme and absurdity but because they are grammer that is some-thing nearer the latine though not fully latine yet they are Grâ—…rian not Logicall Of Varro his three kindes of diuinity fabulous naturall and politique CHAP. 5. AGaine what meaneth his three-fold distinction of the doctrine concerning the gods into mythicall Physicall ciuill and to giue him a latine tongue That is the first a fabulare but we will call it fabulous for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in greeke it is a fable or tale The second Naturall as the vse of the word teacheth plaine The third hee nameth in latine Ciuill And then proceedeth Mythicall the Poets vse principally Physicall the Phylosophers Ciuill the vulgar For the firsâ—… 〈◊〉 hee it is fraught with fictions most disgracefull to the Deities As thiâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…his godde is borne of ones head that of ones thigh that of droppes oâ—… 〈◊〉 And this that the goddes were theeues adulterers and seruants to man And finally they attribute such thinges to the goddes as cannot bee residenâ—… 〈◊〉 in the most contemptible wretch of all mortality nor happen but vnto 〈◊〉 slauish natures Here now as farre as feare permitted hee makes a faire discouery of the iniury offered to the goddes by such vngodly fables And hâ—…e hee might seeing he speaketh not of the naturall nor ciuill phylosophy but of 〈◊〉 â—…bulous which hee thought hee might reprehend freely But now to the nexâ—… 〈◊〉 b second saith hee is that where-with the Phylosophers haue filled their voâ—…mes Wherein they dispute what whence and when the goddes weâ—…â—…her from eternity of fire as c Heraclitus held or of d numbers as 〈◊〉 â—…aught Or of e Atomes as Epicurus beleeued and such like as are far 〈◊〉 â—…able within the schooles then without in the place of orations Here 〈◊〉 â—…th nothing in this kinde but onely relates the controuersies which diâ—…em into sexes and factions Yet this kinde he excludeth from the peoples eâ—… but not the other which was so filthy and so friuolous O the religious 〈◊〉 of the people and euen with them of Rome The Phylosophers discourses oâ—…â—…ddes they cannot any way indure but the Poets fictions and the Players 〈◊〉 being so much dishonourable to the diuine essences and fitte to bee spokâ—… of none but the most abiect persons those they abide and behold with 〈◊〉 Nay with pleasure Nay these the gods them-selues do like and therefore â—…e them decreed as expiations I but say some wee make a difference of these two kindes the mythicall and the physicall from the Ciuill whereof you now 〈◊〉 to speake and so doth he distinguish them also Well lette vs see what â—…e saith to that I see good cause why the fabulous should bee seperate from 〈◊〉 because it is false foule and vnworthy But in diuiding the naturall and 〈◊〉 ciuill what doth hee but approoue that the ciuill is faulty also For iâ—… iâ—… be naturall why is it excluded And if it bee not naturall why is it adâ—…ted This is that that makes him handle the humaine things before the diâ—… because in the later hee followed that which men hadde ordained not 〈◊〉 â—…hich the truth exacted But let vs see his ciuill diuinity The third kinde sâ—…h hee is that which men of the Citty cheefely the priests ought to bee câ—…g in as which gods to worship in publike and with what peculiar sort of sâ—…s each one must bee serued But let vs go on with him The first of those kiâ—… saith hee was adapted to the Stage The 2. to the World The 3. to the Cittie VVho seeth not which he preferreth Euen his second Philosophicall kinde This belongeth hee saith to the VVorld f then which they
the other and indeed are the very same The Cohaerence and similitude between the fabulous diuinity and the ciuil CHAP. 7. THerefore this fabulous scaenicall filthy and ridiculous diuinity hath al reference vnto the ciuill And all that which all condemne is but part of this which al must be bound to reuerence Nor is it a part incongruent as I mean to shew or slightly depending vpon the body of the other but as conformed consonant as a member is vnto the fabrike of the whole body For what are al these Images formes ages sexes and habits of the gods The Poets haue Ioue with a beard and Mercury with none haue not the Priestes so Haue the Mimikes made Pryapus with such huge priuities and not the Priestes Doth the Temples expose him to bee honoured in one forme and the Stage to bee laught at in an other Doe a not the statues in the Temples as well as the Players on the Stage present Saturne old and Apollo youthfull Why are Forculus and Limentinus goddes of dores and thresholds of the masculine sexe and Cardea goddesse of hinges of the feminine Because those are found so in the booke of Priestes which the graue Poets held too base to haue places in their Poems Why is the Stage Diana b armed and the citties a weaponlesse Virgin VVhy is the Stage Apollo a harper and Apollo of Delphos none But these are honest in respect of worse what held they of Ioue when they placed his Nurse in the Capitoll Did they not confirme c Euemerus that wrote truly not idely that all these gods were mortall men And those that placed asort of d glutton parasite goddes at Ioues table what intended they but to make the sacrifices e ridiculous If the Mimike had said that Ioue badde his Parasites to a feast the people would haue laught at it But Varro spoke it not in the goddes derision but their commendation as his diuinity not his humaine workes doe keepe the record He spoke it not in explayning the Stage-lawes but the Capitols These and such like conuinceth him to this confession that as they made the goddes of humaine shapes so they beleeued them prone to humaine pleasures For the wicked spirits lost no time in instilling those illusions into their phantasies And thence it came that Hercules his Sexten beeing idle fell to dice with him-selfe making one of his handes stand for Hercules and another for him-selfe and plaid for this that if hee got the victory of Hercules hee would prouide him-selfe a rich supper and a f wench of the Temple stocke and if Hercules ouer-came hee would prouide such another supper for him of his owne purse hauing there-vpon won of him-selfe by the hand of Hercules hee prouided a ritch supper and a delicate curtizan called g Larentina Now she lying all night in the Temple in a vision had the carnall company of Hercules who told her that the first man shee mette in the morning after her departure should pay her for the sport that Hercules ought her for She departing accordingly met with one Tarutius a ritch yong man who falling acquainted with her and vsing her company long at last dyed and left her his heire Shee hauing gotte this great estate not to bee vngratefull to the Deities whose reward shee held this to bee made the people of Rome her heire and then being gone none knew how a writing was found that affirmed that for these deedes she was deified If Poets or Players had giuen first life to this sable it would quickly haue beene packt vppe among fabulous diuinity and quite secluded from the politike society But since the people not the Poets the Ministers not the Mimikes the Temples not the Theaters are by this author taxed of such turpitude The Players doe not vainely present the goddes beastiality it beeing so vile but the Priestes doe in vayne to stand so earnestly for their honesty which is none at all There are the sacrifices of Iuno kept in her beloued Iland h Samos where Ioue marryed her There are sacrifices to Ceres where shee sought her daughter Proserpina when Pluto hadde rauished her To Venus i where hâ—… sweete delicate Adònis was killed by a bore To Cibele where her sweete heart Atis a â—…aire and delicate youth being gelded by chast fury was bewayled by the rest of the wretched gelded Galli These sacrifices beeing more beastly then all Stage-absurdities yet by them professed and practised why doe they seeke to exclude the Poets figments from their politike Diuinity as vnworthy to be ranked with such an honest kind They are rather beholding to the Players that do not present all their secret sacriledges vnto the peoples view What may wee thinke of their sacrifices done in couert when the publike ones are so detestably prophane How they vse the Eunuchs and their Gâ—…ynimedes in holes and corners looke they to that yet can they not conceale the bestiall hurt done vnto such by forcing them Let them perswade any man that they can vse such Ministers to any good end Yet are such men part of their sacred persons VVhat their acts are we know not their instruments wee know But what the Stage presents wee know and what the whores present Yet there is no vse of Eunuch nor Pathike Yet of obscaene and filthy persons there is For honest men ought not to act them But what sacrifices are these thinke you that require such ministers for the more sanctity as are not admitted no not euen in k Thymelian bawdery L. VIVES DO a not Interrogatiuely not to inquire but to fixe the intention of the speech more firmely in the auditors eare Quintill lib. 9. The matter is Saturne is figured with a beard in Temples and Apollo without one And there is Dionisius of Syracusa's iest of taking away Aesculapius his beard of gold saying it is not fit the son haue a beard and the father none Apollo's statue at Delos held in the right hand a bow on the left the three graces one with a harp another with a pipe the third with a flute b Armed With bow and quiuer c Euemerus Of Messâ—…a in Sicilie he wrote the true story of Ioue the other gods out of old records misteries and Hieroglyphikes called by the Greeks the holy story Ennius interpreted it Cicero He is mentioned by the Greek authors by Cicero Varro Lactantius Macrobius Seruius and many more Sextus Empericus calleth him Atheist for writing the truth of the gods So doth Theodoricus of Cyrene numbers him with the Diagorae and the Theodori tymon in Syllis calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an insolent old fellow an vniust writer d Glutton To the Priests Colledge three were added to look to the gods banquets and called the Triumviri Epulones Afterward they were made two more fiue Lastly ambition added two more to these this number stood of the Septenvirs Epulons that looked to yâ— prouiding of Ioues banquet before whose Image they
and Phoronis the first they picture with Erected priuities for hauing beheld Proserpina the later the Laebadians worshippe in a caue and cal him Trophonius n Trismegistus As the French say trespuissant and we thrice mighty But the latter wrot not Trismegistus but his grand-father did yet both were called Hermes Trismegistus The first Theut was a great king a great Priest a Philosopher Thus it pleaseth some to describe his greatnesse o Isis. Isis Osiris do much good saith Hermes his booke p In both their natures Hermes had it without nature extra naturam q Adored The Egyptians had innumerable things to their gods Garlike and Onions by which they swore as Pliny saith and many creatures after whome they named their citties Crocodilopolâ—…s Lycopolis Leontopolls and Lâ—…polis vpon the crocodyle the wolfe the lion and the place-fish So Apis first instituting the adoration of the Oxe was adored himselfe in an oxes shape Mercury in a dogs Isis in a cowes Diodorus writeâ—…h that their leaders wore such crests on their helmets Anubis a dog Alexander the great a wolfe c. whence the reuerence of those creatures first arose and therevpon those Princes being dead they ordained them diuine worships in those shapes This is that which Mercury saith their soules were adored that in their liues had ordayned honor to those creatures as indeed the Princes wearing them on their helmes and sheelds made them venerable and respected and the simple people thought that much of their victories came from them and so set them vp as deities Of the Honor that Christians giue to the Martires CHAP. 27. YEt we erect no temples alters nor sacrifices to the martirs because not they but their god is our God wee honor their memories as Gods Saints standing till death for the truth that the true religion might be propagated and all Idolatry demolished whereas if any others had beleeued right before them yet feare forbad them confesse it And who hath euer heard the Priest at the altar that was built vp in gods honor and the martires memories say ouer the body I offer vnto thee Peter or vnto thee Paul or a Cyprian hee offers to God in the places of their memorialls whome God had made men and martirs and aduanced them into the society of his Angells in heauen that wee at that sollemnity may both giue thanks to God for their victories and bee incouraged to endeuor the attainement of such crownes and glories as they haue already attained still inuocating him at their memorialls wherefore all the religious performances done there at the martires sollemnities are ornaments of their memories but no sacrifices to the dead as vnto gods and b those that bring banquets thether which notwithstanding the better Christians do not not is this custome obserued in most places yet such as do so setting them downe praying ouer them and so taking them away to eate or bestow on those that neede all this they do onely with a desire that these meates might be sanctified by the martirs in the god of martirs name But hee that knoweth the onely sacrifices that the Christians offer to God c knoweth also that these are no sacrifices to the Martires wherefore we neither worshippe our Martires with Gods honors nor mens crimes neither offer them sacrifices nor turne their d disgraces into any religion of theirs As for Isis Osiris his wife and the Aegyptian goddesse and her parents that haue beene recorded to haue beene all mortall to whome she sacrificing e found three graines of barley and shewed it vnto her husband and Hermes her counsellour and so they will haue her to be Ceres also what grosse absurdities are hereof recorded not by Potes but their own Priests as Leon shewed to Alexander and he to his mother Olimpia let them read that list and remember that haue read and then but consider vnto what dead persones and dead persons workes their diuinest honors were exhibited God forbid they should in the least respect compare them with our Martirs whome neuerthelesse wee account no gods wee make no priests to sacrifice vnto them it is vnlawfull vndecent and Gods proper due neither do wee please them with their owne crimes or obscaene spectacles whereas they celebrate both the guilt that there gods incurred who were men and the fayned pleasures of such of them as were flat deuills If Socrates had had a god he should not haue bin of this sort But such perhaps as loued to excell in this damnable art of making gods thrust such an one vpon him being an inocent honest man and vnskilfull in this their pernicious practise What need wee more none that hath his wits about him will now hold that these spirits are to be adored for the attainement of eternall blisse in the life to come Perhaps they will say that all the gods are good but of these spirits some are good and some badde and that by those that are good wee may come to eternity and therefore ought to adore them well to rip vp this question the next booke shall serue the turne L. VIVES OR a Cyprian Bishoppe of Carthage most learned as wittnesse his holy works Heâ—… receiued the crowne of Martirdome vnder Ualerian so Pontius his Deacon writeth b Thâ—…se A great custome in Afrike Aug. confess lib. 6. where he saith that his mother at Millaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…otage and bread and wine to the Martirs shrines and gaue them to the porter Bâ—… Ambrose forbad her both for that it might bee an occasion of gluttony and for the resemblance it had with paganisme c Knoweth also Many Christians offend in not distinguishing betweene their worship of God and the Saints nor doth their opinion of the Saints want much of that the Pagans beleeued of their gods yet impious was Uigilantius to bar the Martirs all honor and fond was Eunomius to forbeare the Churches least hee should bee compelled to adore the dead The Martyres are to be reuerenced but not adored as god is Hieron câ—…tra vigilant d Disgraces But now euen at the celebration of Christs passion and our redemption it is a custome to present plaies almost as vile as the old stage-games should I be â—…lent the very absurdity of such shewes in so reuerend a matter would condemne it sufficiently There Iudas plaieth the most ridiculous Mimike euen then when he betraies Christ. There the Apostles run away and the soldiors follow and all resounds with laughter Then comes Peter and cuttes off Malchus care and then all rings with applause as if Christs betraying were now reuenged And by and by this great fighter comes and for feare of a girle denies his Maister all the people laughing at her question and hissing at his deniall and in all these reuells and ridiculous stirres Christ onely is serious and seuere but seeking to mooue passion and 〈◊〉 in the audience hee is so farre from that that hee is cold euen in the diuinest matters to the
seuerall kindes of Daemones CHAP. 11. TRuly Porphyry shewed more witte in his Epistle to a Anebuns of Egipt where betweene learning and instructing hee both opens and subuertes all these sacriledges Therein hee reprooueth all the Daemones that because of their foolishnesse doe draw as hee sayth the b humid vapours vppe vnto them and therefore are not in the skie but in the ayre vnder the Moone and in the Moones bodie Yet dares hee not ascribe all the vanities to all the deuills that stucke in his minde For some of them hee as others doe calls good whereas before hee had called them all fooles And much is his wonder why the gods should loue sacrifices and bee compelled to grant mens sutes And if the gods and Daemones bee distinguished by corporall and vncorporall why should the Sunne Moone and other Starres visible in Heauen whom hee auoutcheth to bee bodies bee called gods and if they bee gods how can some bee good and some euill Or beeing bodies how can they bee ioyned with the gods that haue no bodies Furthermore hee maketh doubts whether the soule of a diuiâ—…r or a worker of strange things or an externall spirit cause the effect But hee coniectureth on the spirites side the rather of the two because that they may bee bound or loosed by c hearbes and stones in this or that strange operation And some therefore hee saith doe d hold a kinde of spirits that properly heare vs of a suttle nature and a changeable forme counterfeyting both gods Daemones and dead soules and those are agents in all good or badde effects But they neuer further man in good action as not knowing them but they doe entangle and hinder the progresse of vertue by all meanes they are rash and proud louers of fumigations taken easily by flattery and so forth of those spirits that come externally into the soule and delude mans sences sleeping and waking yet all this hee doth not affirme but coniectures or doubts or saith that others affirme for it was hard for so great a Philosopher to know all the deuills vilenesse fully and to accuse it freely which knowledge no Christian Idiot euer seeketh but fully detesteth Perhaps hee was afraide to offend Anebuns to whome hee wrote as a greâ—… Priest of such Sacrifices and the other e admirers of those things as appurtenances of the diuine honors Yet maketh hee as it were an inquisitiue proceeding in those things which beeing well pondered will prooue attributes to none but malignant spirits Hee asketh f why the best gods beeing inuoâ—…ed are commanded as the worst to fullfill mens pleasures and why they will not heare ones praiers that is stayned with venery when as they haue such 〈◊〉 contracts amongst themselues as examples to others Why they forbidde their priests the vse of liuing creatures least they should bee polluted by their smells when as they are inuoked and inuited with continuall fuffumigations and smells of sacrifices And the sooth-saver g is forbidden to touch the carcasse when as their religion lies wholy vpon carcasses Why the charmer threatneth not the gods or Daemorâ—…s or dead mens soules but h the Sunne or the Moone or such celestiall bodies fetching the truth out by this so false a terour They will threaten to knocke downe the skie and such impossibilities that the gods beeing like foolish babes afraide of this ridiculous terrour may doe as they are charged Hee sayth farther that one Chaeremon one of the sacred or rather sacrilegious priests hath written that that same Egiptian report of i Isis or her husband Osyris is most powerfull in compelling of the gods to doe mens pleasures when the inuoker threatens to reueale them or to cast abroad the members of Osyris if hee doe not dispatch it quickly That these idle fond threates of man yea vnto the gods and heauenly bodies the Sunne the Moone c. should haue that violent effect to force them to performe what men desire Porphyry doth iustly wonder at nay rather vnder colour of one admiring and inquiring hee sheweth these to bee the actions of those â—…its whome hee described vnder shadowe of relating others opinions to bee such deceitfull counterfeiters of the other gods mary they are deuills themselues without dissembling As for the Herbes Stones Creatures Sounds Wordes Characters and k constellations vsed in drawing the powers of those effects all these hee ascribes to the deuills delight in deluding and abusing the soules that serue and obserue them So that Porphyry either in a true doubt describeth such of those actes as can haue no reference to those powers by which wee must ayme at eternity but conuince them selues the false deuills peculiars or els hee desireth by his humility in inquiring not by his contentious opposing to drawe this Anebuns that was a great Priest in those ceremonies and thought hee knewe much vnto a due speculation of these things and to detect their detestable absurdity vnto him Finally in the end of his Epistle hee desireth to bee informed what doctrine of beatitude the Egiptians held But yet hee affirmes that such as conuerse with the gods and trouble the deity about fetching againe of theeues buying of landes marriages bargaines or such like seeme all in a wrong way to wisdome And the gods they vse herein though they tell them true yet teaching them nothing concerning beatitude are neither gods nor good Daemones but either the false ones or all is but a figment of man But because these artes effect many things beyond all humaine capacity what remaineth but firmely to beleeue and credibly to affirme that such wonders in worde or deedes as haue no reference to the confirmation of their worship of that one God to whom to adhere as the Platonists affirme is the onely beatitude are onely seducements of the deceiptfull fiendes to hinder mans progresse to vertue and soly to bee auoided and discouered by true zeale and piety L. VIVES TO a Anebuns Or Anebon b Humid vapors Hee saith they loue fumes and smells of flesh which fatten their spirituall bodies which liue vpon vapors and fumigations and 〈◊〉 diuersly strengthed by their diueâ—…sity Iamblichus the truer Daemonist seeing him put 〈◊〉 as an expression of the deuills nature denies it all For Porphyry directly affirmed that all such spirits as delighted in slaughtered offrings were euill Daemones and liers and consequently 〈◊〉 were all his gods to whom he diuideth sacrifices in his Responsa mentioned in our Coâ—… vpon the ninth chapter of this booke Thus was he tost betweene truth and inueterate 〈◊〉 daring neiâ—…her affirme them al good nor al euill for feare of his schollers his disciplines authority and the deuill himselfe c Herbes Porphyry maruells that men haue the gods so obsqous as to giue presages in a little meale This admiration and question Iamblichus as hee vseth answers with a goodly front of words which any one may reade but neither the Egiptians nor he himselfe can probably declare what they meane The gods
saith he exceeding in power and goodnesse and the causes contayning all are wretched if they be drawne down by meale fond were their goodnesse if they had no other meanes to shew it and abiect their nature if it were bound from contemning of meale which if they can doe why come they not into a good minde sooner then into good meale d Doe hold Porphyry saith those euill Demones deceiue both the vulgar and the wise Philosophers and they by their eloquence haue giuen propagation to the error For the deuils are violent false counterfeits dissemblers seek to imbezell gods worship There is no harme but they loue it and put on their shapes of gods to lead vs into deuillish errors Such also are the soules of those that die wicked For their perturbations of Ire concupiscence and mallce leaue them not but are vsed by these soules being now become deuills to the hurt of mankind They change their shapes also now appearing to vs and by and by vanishing thus illuding both our eyes and thoughts and both these sorts possesse the world with couetice ambition pride and lust whence all warres and conflicts arise and which is worst of all they seeke to make the rude vulgar thinke that these things are acceptable to the gods And poesie with the sweetnesse of phrase hath helped them pâ—…tily forwardes Thus farre Porphyry de Abstin anim lib. 2. not in doubtfull or inquiring manner as hee doth in his writing to the priest but positiuely in a worke wherein he sheweth his owne doctrine e admirers The Philosophers whom hee saith erred themselues concerning the gods natures some in fauour of the gods and some in following of the multitude f Why the best Thus hee beginnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Of those that are called gods but are 〈◊〉 wicked Dâ—…mones g The soothsaier Epoptes the proper word for him that lookes on thâ—…r sacrifice h The Sunne So saith Lucan his Thessalian witch that shee can force the gods 〈◊〉 what she list Lucans i Isis or These are the Sunne and Moone Their secret ceremonies being most beastly and obscene the deuills feare to haue them reuealed as Ceres did 〈◊〉 else delude their worshippe by counterfeite feare and so make vse of their fonde errour This of Isis and Osyris belongs to the infernalls also for Porphyry saith the greatest deuill is called Serapis and that is Osyris in Egipt and Pluto in Greece his character is a three headed dog signifying the deuills of the earth ayre and water His Isis is Hecate or Proserpina so it is plaine that this is meant of the secrettes of hell which haue mighty power in magicall practises These doth Erictho in Lucan threaten to the Moone the infernalls and Ceres sacrifices The Poet expresseth it thus Miratur Erichtho Has satis licuisse moras iratà que morti Uerberat immotum viuo serpente cadauer Perque cauas terrae quas egit carmine râ—…mas Manibus illatrat regnique silentia rumpit Tyâ—…iphone vocisque meae secura Megaera Non agitis sâ—…uis Erebi per inane flagellis Infelicen animam I am vos ego nomine verâ—… Eliciam stigiasque canes in luce superna Destituam per busta sequar per funera custos Expellam tumulis abigam vos omnibus vrnis Teque deis ad quos alio procedere vultu Ficta soles Hecate pallenti tabida formae Ostendam faciemque Erebi mutare vetabo Eloquar immenso terrae sub pondere quae te Contineant Ennaea dapes quo foedere moestum Regem noctis ames quae te contagia passam Noluerit reuocare Ceres tibi pessimé mundi Arbiter immittam ruptis I itana cauernis Et subito feriere die Erichtho wonders much At fates deâ—…ay and with a liuing snake She lasht the slaughtred corps making death quake Een-through the rifts of earth rent by her charmes She barkes in hells broad eare these blacke alarmes Stone-deaf Megaera and Tysiphone Why scourge yea not that wretched soule to me From hells huge depths or will you haue me call yee By your true names and leaue yee foule befall yee You stigian dogs I le leaue you in the light And see the graues and you disseuerd quite And Hecate thou that art neuer knowne But in false shapes I le shew thee in thine owne Whole heauen perforce shall see thy putred hew And from earths gutts will I rip forth to vew The feasts and meanes that make thee Pluto's whore And why thy mother fet thee thence no more And thou the worlds worst King al-be thou dead In darkenesse I will breake through all and send Strange light amid thy caues And Porphiry in Respons brings in Hecate compelled to answer the magician 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Why doâ—… thou blind vs so Theodamas what wouldst thou haue vs do Apollo also confesseth that he is compelled to tell truth against his will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I answer now perfore as bound by Fate Anâ—… by and by calleth to bee loosed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c loose the left ring Porphiry also saide as Iamblicus writeth in Mister that the Priests were wont to vse violent threats against the Goâ—…s as thus if you doe not this or if you doe that I will breake downe Heauen I will reueale Isis her secrets and diuulge the mistery hid in the depth I will stay the Baris a sacred shipin Egipt and cast Osiris members to Typhon Now Iamblichus saith those threates tend not to the gods but there is a kind of spirits in the world confused vndiscreet and inconsiderat that heareth from others but no way of it selfe and can neither discerne truthes nor possibilities from the contraries On these do those threatnings worke and force them to all duties Perhaps this is them that Porphiry giueth a foolish wil vnto Iamblichus proceedeth to the threats read them in him k Constellations Prophiry writeth out of Chaeremon that that astrology is of man incomprehensible but all these constellated workes and prophecies are tought him by the deuills But Iamblichus opposeth him in this and in the whole doctrine of deuills The man is all for this prodigious superstition and laboureth to answere Prophyry for Anebuns Of the miracles that God worketh by his Angels ministery CHAP. 12. BVt all miracles done by angells or what euer diuine power confirming the true adoration of one God vnto vs in whome only we are blessed we beleeue truely are done by Gods power working in them immortalls that loueâ—…s in true piety Heare not those that deny that the inuisible God worketh visible miracles is not the world a miracle Yet visible and of his making Nay all the miâ—…les done in this world are lesse then the world it selfe the heauen and earth and all therein yet God made them all and after a manner that man cannot conceiue nor comprehend For though these visible miracles of nature bee now no more admired yet ponder them wisely and they are more admirable then
all nature should lust after the women of earth and marrying them beget Gyants of them CHAP. 23. â—…is question wee touched at in our third booke but left it vndiscussed wheâ—…er the Angels being spirits could haue carnall knowledge of women for 〈◊〉 â—…itten He maketh his Angels spirits that a is those that are spirits hee 〈◊〉 his Angels by sending them on messages as hee please for the Greeke 〈◊〉 â—…rd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Latines call c Angelus is interpreted a messenger 〈◊〉 â—…ether he meant of their bodyes when he addeth And his ministers a flaâ—… or that he intimate that Gods ministers should burne with fiery zeale â—…ritie it is doubtfull yet doe the scriptures plainly auerre that the Anâ—… appeared both in visible and palpable figures b And seeing it is so 〈◊〉 a report and so many auerre it eyther from their owne triall or from 〈◊〉 that are of indubitable honestie and credite that the Syluanes and 〈◊〉 commonly called e Incubâ—… haue often iniured women desiring and acâ—…â—…rnally with them and that certaine deuills whome the Frenchmen call 〈◊〉 doe continually practise this vncleannesse and tempt others to it which â—…ed by such persons and with such confidence that it were impudence 〈◊〉 it I dare not venter to determine any thing heere whether the 〈◊〉 beeing imbodyed in ayre for this ayre beeing violently mooued is 〈◊〉 â—…lt can suffer this lust or mooue it so as the women with whome 〈◊〉 â—…ixe many feele it f yet do I firmely beleeue that Gods Angels could 〈◊〉 â—…ll so at that time nor that the Apostle Peter did meane of them when he sayd If God spared not the Angels that had sinned but cast them downe into hell and deliuered them into chaines of darkenesse to be kept vnto damnation but rather of those that turned apostata's with the diuell their prince at first in him I meane that deceiued man-kinde in the serpent That men were also called the Angels of God the scripture testifieth also saying of Iohn Behold I send mine Angel before â—…hy face which shall prepare the way before thee And Malachie the prophet by a peculiar grace giuen him was called an Angell But some sticke at this that in this commixtion of them that were called Gods Angels with the women of earth there were Gyants begotten and borne as though that we haue no such extraordinary huge statured creatures euen in these our times Was there not a woman of late at Rome with her father and mother a little before it was sacked by the Gothes that was of a giantlike height in respect of all other It was wonderfull to see the concourse of those that came to see her and shee was the more admired in that her parents exceeded not our tallest ordinary stature Therefore there might bee giants borne before that the sonnes of God called also his Angells had any carnall confederacy with the daughters of men such I meane as liued in the fleshly course that is ere the sonnes of Seth medled with the daughters of Caine for the Scripture in Genesis saith thus So when men were multiplied vpon earth and there were daughters borne vnto them the sonnes of God saw the daughters of men that they were faire and they tooke them wiues of all that they liked Therefore the Lord said my spirit shall not alway striue with man because he is but flesh and his daies shal be 120. yeares There were Gyants in the earth in those daies yea and after that the sonnes of God came vnto the daughters of men and they had borne them children these were Gyants and in old time were men of renowne These words of holy writ shew plainely that there were Gyants vpon earth when the sonnes of God tooke the fayre daughters of men to bee their wiues g for the scripture vseth to call that which is faire good But there were Gyants borne after this for it saith There were Gyants vpon earth in those daies and after that the sonnes of God came vnto the daughters of men so that there were Gyants both then and before and whereas it saith They begot vnto themselues this sheweth that they had begotten children vnto God before and not vnto themselues that is not for lust but for their duty of propagation nor to make themselues vp any flaunting family but to increase the Cittizens of God whome they like Gods angels instructed to ground their hope on him as the sonne of the resurrection Seths sonne did who hoped to call vpon the name of the Lord in which hope he and all his sons might be sons and heires of life euerlasting But we may not take them to bee such Angels as were no men men they were without doubt and so saith the Scripture which hauing first sayd the Angels of God sâ—… the daughters of men that they were good and they tooke them wiues of all whome they liked addeth presently And the Lord said my spirit shall not alway striue with mâ—… because hee is but flesh For his spirit made them his Angels and sonnes but they declined downewards and therefore hee calleth them men by nature not by grace and flesh being the forsaken forsakers of the spirit The 70. call them the Angels and sonnes of God some bookes call them onely the sonnes of God leauing out Angels But h Aquila whome the Iewes prefer before all calls them neither but the sonnes of Gods both is true for they were both the sonnes of God and by his patronage the bretheren of their fathers and they were the sonnes of the Gods as borne of the Gods and their equalls according to that of the Psalme I haue said yee are Gods and yee are al sonnes of the most high for weâ—… do worthily beleeue that the 70. had the spirit of prophecy and that what soeuer they altered is set downe according to the truth of diuinity not after the pleasure of translators yet the Hebrew they say is doubtfull and may be interpreted 〈◊〉 the sonnes of God or of Gods Therefore let vs omit the scriptures that are 〈◊〉 i Apocripha because the old fathers of whome wee had the scriptures 〈◊〉 not the authors of those workes wherein though there bee some truths yâ—… their multitude of falshhoods maketh them of no canonicall authority Sâ—… Scriptures questionlesse were written by Enoch the seauenth from 〈◊〉 As the canonicall k Epistle of Iude recordeth but it is not for â—…ng that they were left out of the Hebrew Canon which the Priests kept in 〈◊〉 â—…mple The reason was their antiquity procured a suspicion that they 〈◊〉 not truly diuine and an vncertainety whether Henoch were the author or 〈◊〉 â—…ing that such as should haue giuen them their credit vnto posterity neuer 〈◊〉 them And therefore those bookes that go in his name and containe those 〈◊〉 of the giants that ther fathers were no men are by good iudgements held 〈◊〉 â—…ne of his but counterfeite as the heretiques haue done many
at the consumation of all The Angells and the starres are witnesse of heauens moouing at Christs birth The miracle of a Virgins child-birth mooued the earth the preaching of Christ in the Iles and the continent mooued both sea and drie land The nations we see are mooued to the faith Now the comming of the desire of all nations that we doe expect at this day of iudgement for first hee must be loued of the beleeuers and then be desired of the expecters Now to Zachary Reioyce greatly O daughter of Syon saith hee of Christ and his church shoute for ioy O daughter of Ierusalem behold thy King commeth to thee hee is iust and thy Sauiour poore and riding vpon an asse and vpon d a colt the fole of an asse his dominion is from sea to sea from the riâ—…er to the lands end Of Christs riding in this manner the Gospell speaketh where this prophecy as much as needeth is recited In another place speaking prophetically of the remission of sinnes by Christ he saith thus to him Thou in the bloud of thy testament hast loosed thy prisoners out of the lake wherein is no water This lake may bee diuersly interpreted without iniuring our faith But I thinke hee meaneth that barren bondlesse depth of humaine myseries wherein there is no streame of righteousnesse but all is full of the mudde of iniquitie for of this is that of the psalme meant Hee hath brought mee out of the lake of misery and 〈◊〉 of the myâ—…y clay Now Malachi prophecying of the church which wee see so happily propagate by our Sauiour Christ hath these plaine word to the Iewes in the person of God I haue no pleasure in you neither will I accept an offring at your hand for frâ—… the rising of the Sunne vnto the setting my name is great amongst the Gentiles 〈◊〉 in euery place shal be e incence offered vnto mee and a pure offering vnto my 〈◊〉 for my name is great among the heathen saith the LORD This wee see offered in euery place by Christs priest-hood after the order of Melchisedech but the sacrifice of the Iewes wherein God tooke no pleasure but refused that they cannot deny is ceased Why do they expect an other Christ and yet see that this prophecy is fulfilled already which could not bee but by the true Christ for he 〈◊〉 by by after in the persoÌ„ of God My couenant was with him of life and peace I 〈◊〉 him feare and he feared me and was afraid before my name The law of truth was 〈◊〉 his mouth he walked with me in peace and equity and turned many away from iniâ—… for the priests lips should preserue knowledge and they should seeke the law at his 〈◊〉 for he is the messenger of the Lord of hostes No wonder if Christ be called 〈◊〉 as he is a seruant because of the seruants forme he tooke when he came to men so is hee a messenger because of the glad tydings which hee brought vnto men For Euangelium in greeke is in our tongue glad tydings and he saith againe of him Behold I will send my messenger and hee shall prepare the way before mee the Lord whom you seeke shall come suddenly into his Temple and the messenger of the couenant whom you desire behold he shall come saith the Lord of hostes but who maâ—… abide the daie of his comming who shall endure when he appeareth This place is a direct prophecy of both the commings of Christ of the first He shall come suddenly into his temple his flesh as hee sayd himselfe Destroy this temple and in three daies I will raise it againe Of the second Behold hee shall come saith the LORD of hostes but who may abide the day of his comming c. But those words the Lord whom you seeke and the messenger of the couenant whom you desire imply that the Iewes in that manner that they conceiue the scriptures desire and seeke the comming of CHRIST But many of them acknowledged him not being come for whose comming they so longed their euill desertes hauing blinded their hearts The couenant named both heere and there where hee sayd My couenant was with him is to bee vnderstood of the New Testament whose promises are eternall not of the Old full of temporall promises such as weake men esteeming too highly doe serue GOD wholy for and stumble when they see the sinne-full to enioy them Wherefore the Prophet to put a cleare difference betweene the blisse of the New Testament peculiar to the good and the abundance of the Old Testament shared with the badde also adioyneth this Your words haue beene stout against me saith the Lord and yet you said wherein haue we spoken against thee you haue sayd it is in vaine to serue GOD and what profit haue we in keeping his commandements and in walking humbly before the LORD GOD of hostes and now wee haue blessed others they that worke wickednesse are set vppe and they that oppose God they are deliuered Thus spake they that scared the Lord each to his neighbour the Lord hearkned and heard it and wrote a booke of remembrance in his sight for such as feare the Lord and reuerence his name That booke insinuateth the New Testament Heare the sequele They shal be to mee saith the Lord of hostes in that day wherein I doe this for a slocke and I will spare them as a man spareth his owne sonne that serueth him Then shall you returne and discerne betweene the righteous and the wicked and betweene him that serueth GOD and him that serueth him not For behold the day commeth that shall burne as an oven and all the proud and the wicked shal be as stubble and the day that commeth shall burne them vppe saith the LORD of Hostes and shall leaue them neither roote nor branch But vnto you that feare my name shall the sonne of righteousnesse arise and health shal be vnder his wings and you shall goe forth and growe vppe as fatte Calues You shall tread downe the wicked they shal be as dust vnder the soles of your feete in the day that I shall doe this saith the LORD of Hostes. This is that day that is called the day of iudgement whereof if it please God wee meane to say some-what in place conuenient L. VIVES AGgee a Zachary Esdras nameth them chap. 6. 1. where he calleth Zachary the sonne 〈◊〉 Addo whom Zachary himselfe saith was his grand-father and Barachiah his father Thâ—… saith Hierome was doubtlesse that Addo that was sent to Hieroboam the sonne of Nabaâ—… in whose time the Altar cleft and his hand withered and was restored by this Addes prayers Kings 1. 1â—… Chro. 2. 12. But hee is not called Addo in either of these 〈◊〉 the Kings omit his name the Chronicles call him Semeius But a prophet of that time must bee great great grand-father at least to a sonne of the captiuity This Zachary was not the sonne of 〈◊〉 whome Ioash the King
of Iuda kiiled Cbr. 2. 34. 21. he whome Christ said was killed betweene the Temple and the Altar Mat. 23. 35. b Malachi His name interpreted is His Angell and so the seauenty called him where-vpon Origen vpon this prophet saith that hee thinketh it was an Angell that prophecyed this prophecy if we may beleeue Hieromes testimony herein Others call him Malachi for indeed names are not to be altered in any translation No man calleth Plato Broade Or Aristotle good perfection or Iosuah the Sauiour or Athens Minerua Names are to be set downe in the proper Idiome other-wise the names of famous men being translated into seuerall tongues should obscure their persons fame by being the more dispersed which makes me wonder at those that will wring the Greeke names c. vnto their seuerall Idiomes wherein their owne conceit doth them grosse wrong Caesar was wise to deale plainely in giuing the french Germaine each his contries names only making them declinable by the Latine But to Malachi Some by concordance of their stides say that he was Esdras and prophecied vnder Darius the sonne of Histaspis Of Esdras in the next chapter c Reioyce greatly This whole quotation and the rest differ much from our vulgar translation d Upon a colt The Euangelist S. Mathew readeth it vpon a colt and the fole of an asse â—…sed to the yoke cha 21. ver 5. The Iewes that were yoaked vnder so many ceremonies were prefigured herein But the free and yong colt as the seauenty do translate it was the type of the Gentiles take which you will God sitteth vpon both to cure both from corruption and to bring both saluation e Shalbe incense offred The seauenty read it is offred because the Prophets often speake of things to come as if they were present yea and some-times as if they were past The translation of the seauenty is some-what altred in the following quotation Of the bookes of Esdras and the Machabees CHAP. 36. AFter Agee Zachary Malachy the three last Prophets in the time of the said captiuity a Esdras wrote but he is rather held an Historiographer then a Prophet As the booke of b Hester is also contayning accidents about those times all tending to the glory of God It may bee said that Esdras prophecied in this that when the question arose amongst the young men what thing was most powerfull one answering Kings the next wine and the third women for they often command Kings c yet did the third adde more and said that truth conquered althings Now Christ in the Gospell is found to bee the truth From this time after the temple was re-edified the Iewes had no more kings but princes vnto d Aristobulus his time The account of which times wee haue not in 〈◊〉 canonicall scriptures but in the others e amongst which the bookes of the Machabees are also which the church indeed holdeth for canonicall f because of the vehement and wonderfull suffrings of some Martires for the law of God before the comming of Christ. Such there were that endured intollerable â—…ments yet these bookes are but Apocryphall to the Iewes L. VIVES 〈◊〉 a A most skilfull scribe of the law he was Hierom saith he was that Iosedech whose 〈◊〉 Iesus was priest He they say restored the law which yâ— Chaldaees had burnt not without 〈◊〉 assistance changed the hebrew letters to distinguish theÌ„ froÌ„ the Samaritanes Gentiles which then filled Iudea Euseb. The Iewes afterwards vsed his letters only their accents differed from the Samaritans which were the old ones that Moyses gaue them b Hester 〈◊〉 â—…tory fell out saith Iosephus in the time of Artaxerxes other-wise called Cyrus for Xerxes was the sonne of Darius Histaspis and Artaxerxes surnamed Long-hand was sonne to him in whose time the Iewes were in such danger by meanes of Haman because of Mardochee Hesters vncle as there booke sheweth This Nicephorus holdeth also But Eusebius saith this could not bee that the Iewes should bee in so memorable a perill and yet Esdras who wrot their fortunes vnder Artaxerxes neuer once mention it So that hee maketh this accident to fall out long after in the time of Artaxerxes Mnemon bastard sonne to Darius and him the Hebrewes called Assuerus saith hee Indeed Bede is of this minde also But I feare Eusebius his accompt is not so sure as Iosephus but in this wee recite opinions onely leauing the iudgement c Yet did the third This was Zarobabel that said truth was about all Esd. 33. los. Ant. lib. 11. but the third and fourth booke of Esdras are Apocryphall Hierome reiecteth them as dreames d Aristobulus Sonne to Ionathas both King and Priest he wore the first diademe in Iudaea foure hundred eighty and foure yeares after the captiuity vnder Nabucadonosor e Machabees Hierome saw the first of those bookes in Hebrew the latter hee knew to bee penned first in Greeke by the stile Iosephus wrot the history of the Machabees as Hierome saith Contra Pellagian I cannot tell whether hee meane the bookes that we haue for scripture or another Greeke booke that is set forth seuerall and called Iosephâ—…ad Machabeos There is a third booke of the Machabees as yet vntranslated into Latine that I know of that I thinke the Church hath not receiued for canonicall f Because of â—…or there were seuen brethren who rather then they woold breake the law endured together with their mother to be flayed quicke rather then to obey that foule command of Antiochus against God The Prophets more ancient then any of the Gentile Philosophers CHAP. 37. IN our a Prophets time whose workes are now so farre diuulged there were no Philosophers stirring as yet for the first of them arose from b Pithagoras of Samos who began to bee famous at the end of the captiuity So that all other Philosophers must needes bee much later c for Socrates of Athens the chiefe Moralist of his time liued after Esdras as the Chronicles record And â—…o one after was Plato borne the most excellent of all his scholers To whom if we ad also the former seauen who were called sages not Philosophers and the Naturalists that followed Thales his study to wit Anaximander Anaximenes Anaxagoras and others before Pythagoras professed Philosophy not one of these was before the Prophets for Thales the most ancient of them all liued in Romulus his time when this Propheticall doctrine flowed from the fountaine of Israell to be deriued vnto all the world Onely therefore the Theologicall Poets Orpheus Linus Musaeus and the others if there were anymore were before our canonicall prophets But they were not more ancient then our true diuine Moyses who taught them one true God and whose bookes are in the front of our Canon and therfore though the learning of Greece warmeth the world at this day yet neede they not boast of their wisdome being neither so ancient nor so excellent as our diuine religion and the true wisdome we confesse not that
translation of the Seuenty is most authenticall next vnto the Hebrew CHAP. 43. THere were other translators out of the Hebrew into the Greeke as Aquila Symmachus Theodâ—…tion and that namelesse interpetor whose translation is called the fift Edition But the Church hath receiued that of the seauenty as if there were no other as many of the Greeke Christians vsing this wholy know not whether there be or no. Our Latine translation is from this also Although one Hierome a learned Priest and a great linguist hath translated the same scriptures from the Hebrew into Latine But a although the Iewes affirme his learned labour to be al truth and auouch the seauenty to haue oftentimes erred yet the Churches of Christ hold no one man to be preferred before so many especially being selected by the high Priest for this work for although their concord had not proceeded from their vnity of spirit but froÌ„ their collations yet were no one man to be held more sufficient then they all But seeing there was so diuine a demonstration of it truely whosoeuer translateth from the Hebrew or any other tongue either must agree with the seauenty or if hee dissent wee must hold by their propheticall depth For the same spirit that spake in the prophets translated in them And that spirit might say other-wise in the translation then in the Prophet and yet speake alike in both the sence being one vnâ—…o the true vnderstander though the words bee different vnto the reader The same spirit might adde also or diminish to shew that it was not mans labour that performed this worke but the working spirit that guyded the labours Some held it good to correct the seauenty by the Hebrew yet durst they not put out what was in them and not in the Hebrew but onely added what was in that and not in them b marking the places with c Asteriskes at the heads of the verses and noting what was in the seauenty and not in the Hebrew with 〈◊〉 as we marke d ounces of weight withall And many Greeke and Latine â—…pies are dispersed with these markes But as for the alterations whether the difference be great or small they are not to be discerned but by conferring of the bookes If therefore we go all to the spirit of God and nothing else as is fittest whatsoeuer is in the seauenty and not in the Hebrew it pleased God to speake it by those latter prophets and not by these first And so contrary-wise of that which is in the Hebrew and not in the seauenty herein shewing them both to be â—…phets for so did he speak this by Esay that by Hieremy and other things by othes as his pleasure was But what wee finde in both that the spirit spake by both by the first as Prophets by the later as propheticall translations for as there was one spirit of peace in the first who spake so many seuerall things with discordance so was there in these who translated so agreeably without conference L VIVES ALthough a the Iewes No man now a daies sheweth an error and leaueth it Mankind is not so wise Againe time gayneth credit vnto many and nothing but time vnto some But it is admirable to see how gently hee speaketh here of Hierome whose opinion he followed not in this high controuersie O that wee could immitate him b Marking of this Hierome speaketh Prolog in Paralip Origen was the first that tooke the paines to conâ—… the translation and he conferred the seauenty with Theodotion Hier. ep id August where he inueigheth at what hee had erst commended saying that the booke is not corrected but rather corrupted by those asteriskes and spits But this he said because Augustine would not meddle with his translation but held that of the seauenty so sacred this power oftentimes 〈◊〉 affection in the holiest men c Asteriskes Little stars d Ounces It seemes the oâ—…ce in old times was marked with a spits character Isidoâ—…e saith it was marked with the Greeke Gamma and our o thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the halfe scruple with a line thus they noted those places with a spit thus 〈◊〉 to signifie that the words so noâ—…ed were thrust through as adâ—… falsefiing the text It was Aristarchus his inuention vsed by the Grammarians in their 〈◊〉 of bookes and verses Quinti lib. 1. Which the old Grammarians vsed with such seuerity 〈◊〉 they did not onely taxe false places or bookes hereby but also thrust their authors either 〈◊〉 of their ranke or wholy from the name of Grammarians Thus Quintilian Seneca did eleâ—… call the rasing out of bastard verses Aristarchus his notes Of the destruction of Niniuy which the Hebrew perfixeth fourty daies vnto and the Septuagints but three CHAP. 44. 〈◊〉 will some say how shall I know whether Ionas said yet forty daies and Niâ—… shal be destroyed or yet three daies who seeth not that the Prophet presaging 〈◊〉 destruction could not say both if at three daies end they were to bee desâ—… then not at fourty if at fourty then not at three If I bee asked the question I answer for the Hebrew For the LXX being 〈◊〉 after might say otherwise and yet not against the sence but as pertinent to the matter as the other though in another signification aduising the reader not to leaue the signification of the historie for the circumstance of a word noâ—… to contemne either of the authorities for those things were truly done 〈◊〉 at Niâ—…ie and yet had a reference farther then Niniuie as it was true that the Prophet was three dayes in the Whales belly and yet intimated the being of the Lord of all the Prophets three dayes in the wombe of the graue Wherefore if the Church of the Gentiles were prophetically figured by Niniuie as being destâ—…oyed in repentance to become quite different from what it was Christ doiâ—…g this in the said Church it is hee that is signified both by the forty dayes and by the three by forty because hee was so long with his disciples after hiâ—… resurrection and then ascended into heauen by three for on the third day hee aroâ—…e againe as if the Septuagâ—…nts intended to stir the reader to looke further into the matter then the meere history and that the prophet had intended to intimate the depth of the mysterie as if hee had said Seeke him in forty dayes â—…hom thou shalt finde in three this in his resurrection and the other in his asceâ—…sion Wherefore both numbers haue their fitte signification both are spokâ—…n by one spirit the first in Ionas the latter in the translators Were it noâ—… for â—…diousnesse I could reconcile the LXX and the Hebrew in many places wherein they are held to differ But I study breuity and according to my talent haue followed the Apostles who assumed what made for their purposes out of both the copies knowing the holy spirit to be one in both But forward with our purpose L. VIVES YEt a forty