in workes of heate but the sunne burneth the mountaines three tymes more breathing out fiery vapours Neither were there wanting some among the ancient Philosophers who maintained the same opinion as Plato and Plyny and generally the whole sect of Stoicks who held that the Sunne and Starres were fed with watery vapours which they drew vp for their nourishment and that when these vapours should cease and faile the whole world should be in daunger of combustion and many things are alleaged by Balbus in Ciceroes second booke of the nature of the Gods in favour of this opinion of the Stoicks But that the Sunne and Starres are not in truth and in their owne nature fieric and hot appeares by the ground already layd touching the matter of the heavens that it is of a nature incorruptible which cannot bee if it were fiery inasmuch as thereby it should become lyable to alteration and corruption by an opposite and professed enimie Besides all fiery bodies by a naturall inclination mount vpwards so that if the starres were the cause of heat as being hot in themselues it would consequently follow that their circular motion should not bee Naturall but violent Wherevnto I may adde that the noted starres being so many in number namely one thousand twenty and two besides the Planets and in magnitude so greate that every one of those which appeare fixed in the firmament are sayd to bee much bigger then the whole Globe of the water and earth and the Sunne againe so much to exceede both that globe and the biggest of them as it may iustly bee stiled by the sonne of Syrach instrumentum admirabile a wonderfull instrument which being so were they of fyre they would doubtlesse long ere this haue turned the world into ashes there being so infinite a disproportion betweene their flame and the little quantity of matter supposed to bee prepared for their Fewell That therefore they should bee fed with vapours Aristotle deservedly laughs at it as a childish and ridiculous device in as much as the vapours ascend no higher then the middle region of the ayre and from thence distill againe vpon the water and earth from whence they were drawne vp and those vapours being vncertaine the flames likewise feeding vpon them must needes be vncertaine and dayly vary from themselues both in quantity and figure according to the proportion of their fewell SECT 2. That the heate they breed springes from their light and consequently their light being not decayed neither is the warmth arising there from THe absurdity then of this opinion beeing so foule and grosse it remaines that the Sunne and Starres infuse a warmth into these Subcaelestiall bodies not as being hot in themlselues but only as beeing ordeined by God to breed heate in matter capable thereof as they impart life to some creatures and yet themselues remaine voyd of life like the braine which imparts Sense to every member of the body and yet is it selfe vtterly voyd of all Sense But here againe some there are which attribute this effect to the motion others to the light of these glorious bodies And true indeed it is that motion causes heat by the attenuation rarefaction of the ayre But by this reason should the Moone which is neerer the Earth warme more then the Sunne which is many thousand miles farther distant the higher Regions of the Aire should be alway hotter then the lower which notwithstanding if wee compare the second with with the lowest is vndoubtedly false Moreouer the motion of the coelestiall bodies being vniforme so should the heat deriued from them in reason likewise be the motion ceasing the heat should likewise cease yet I shall neuer beleeue that when the Sun stood still at the prayer of Iosua it then ceased to warme these inferiour Bodies And we find by experience that the Sun works more powerfully vpon a body which stands still then when it moues the reason seemes to be the same in the rest or motion of a body warming or warmed that receiueth or imparteth heat The motion being thus excluded from being the cause of this effect the light must of necessitie step in and challenge it to it selfe the light then it is which is vndoubtedly the cause of coelestiall heate in part by a direct beame but more vehemently by a reflexed for which very reason it is that the middle Region of the aire is alwaies colder then the lowest and the lowest hotter in Summer then in Winter and at noone then in the morning and evening the beames being then more perpendicular and consequently in their reflexion more narrowly vnited by which reflexion and vnion they grow sometimes to that fervencie of heate that fire springs out from them as wee see in burning glasses and by this artificiall device it was that Archimedes as Galen reports it in his third booke de Temperamentis set on fire the Enemies Gallyes and Proclus a famous Mathematician practised the like at Constantinople as witnesseth Zonaras in the life of Anastasius the Emperour And very reasonable me thinkes it is that light the most Divine affection of the Coelelestiall Bodies should be the cause of warmth the most noble actiue and excellent quality of the Subcoelestiall These two like Hippocrates twinnes simul oriuntur moriuntur they are borne and dye together they increase and decrease both together the greater the light is the greater the heate and therefore the Sun as much exceedes the other starres in heate as it doth in light To driue the argument home then to our present purpose since the light of the Sun is no way diminished and the heate depends vpon the light the consequence to me seemes marvailous faire and strong which is that neither the heate arising from the light should haue suffered any decay or diminution at all SECT 3. Two obiections answered the one drawne from the present habitablenes of the Torrid Zone the other from a supposed approach of the Sun neerer the earth then in former ages NOtwithstanding the evidence of which trueth some haue not doubted to attribute the present habitablenesse of the Torride Zone to the weaknesse and old age of the Heauens in regard of former ages But they might haue remembred that the Cold Zones should thereby haue become more inhabitable by cold as also that holding as they doe an vniversall decay in all the parts of Nature men according to their opinion decaying in strength as well as the Heauens they should now in reason be as ill able to indure the present heate as the men of former ages were to indure that of the same times wherein they liued the proportion being alike betweene the weaknes as between the strength of the one and the other But this I onely touch in passing hauing a fitter occasion to consider more fully of it hereafter when we come to compare the wits and inventions of the Ancients with those of the present times That which touches
rejected though commonly received Sect. 1 In Divinitie pag. 1. Sect 2 In Philosophie p. 4. Sect. 3 In Historie Ecclesiasticall p. 5. Sect. 4 In Historie Civill or Nationall p. 7. Sect. 5 In Naturall Historie p. 8. Sect. 6 With an application thereof to the present purpose p. 11. CAP. 2. Of the Reasons inducing the Authour to the writing and publishing of this discourse Sect. 1 Whereof the first is the redeeming of a captivated truth pag. 12. Sect. 2 The second is the vindicating of the Creators honour p. 14. Sect. 3 The third is for that the contrary opinion quailes the hopes and blunts the edge of vertuous endeavours p. 15. Sect. 4 The fourth is for that it makes men more carelesse both in regard of their present fortunes and in providing for posterity p. 19. Sect. 5 The fifth and last is the weake grounds which the contrary opinion is founded vpon as the fictions of Poets the morosity of old men the over-valuing of Antiquity and disesteeming of the present times p. 22. CAP. 3. The Controversie touching the worlds decay stated and the Methode held thorow this ensuing treatise proposed Sect. 1 Touching the pretended decay of the mixt bodies pag. 27. Sect. 2 Of the Elements in regard of their quantity and dimensions p. 28. Sect. 3 In regard of their qualities p. 31. Sect. 4 Of mankind in regard of Manners and the Arts. p. 32. Sect. 5 In regard of the duration of their liues their strength and stature p. 35. Sect. 6. The precedents of the Chapter summarily recollected and the Methode observed in the ensuing Treatise proposed p. 37. CAP. 4. Touching the worlds decay in generall Sect. 1 The first generall Reason that it decayes not is drawne from the power of that Spirit that quickens and supports it the second and third from the consideration of the severall parts whereof it consists pag. 38. Sect. 2 The fourth for that such a decay as is suppposed would in time point out the very date of the worlds expiration and consequently of the second comming of Christ. p. 42. Sect. 3 The fifth for that vpon the supposition of such a decay as is pretended the vigor and strength of the parts thereof must of necessity long since haue bin vtterly exhausted and worne out p. 44. Sect. 4 The sixth argument is drawne from the Authority of Salomon and his reason taken from the Circulation and running about of all things as it were in a ring p. 45. CAP. 5. Generall arguments made for the worlds decay refuted Sect. 1 The first generall objection drawne from reason answered which is that the Creature the neerer it approaches to the first mould the more perfect it is and according to the degrees of its remoueall and distance from thence it incurres the more imperfection and weakenesse p. 47. Sect. 2 The second answered which is that the severall parts of the world decay which should argue a lingering consumption in the whole p. 50 Sect. 3 The third answered which is taken from the authority of Saint Cyprian p. 50. Sec. 4 The same authority of Saint Cyprian farther answered by opposing against it the authority of Arnobius supported with ponderous pressing reasons p. 55. Sec. 5. The fourth answered which is borrowed from the authority of Esdras p. 60. Sec. 6 The rest answered pretended to be taken froÌ„ authority of holy Scriptures p. 62. LIB 2. Of the pretended decay in the Heavens and Elements together with that of the Elementary bodies man only excepted CAP. 1. Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies in regard of their substance Sect. 1 Of their working vpon this inferiour world and the dependance of it vpon them pag. 64. Sec. 2 Their pretended decay in their substance refuted by reason p. 67. Sec. 3 An objection drawne from Iob answered p. 69. Sec. 4 Another taken from Psal. 102. answered p. 71. Sec. 5 A third taken from the apparition of New starres answered p. 74. Sec. 6 The last drawen from the Eclypses of the Sunne and Moone answered p. 75. CAP. 2 Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies in regard of their motions Sec. 1 The first reason drawne from the causes of that Motion p. 78. Sec. 2 The second from the certainety of demonstrations vpon the Celestiall Globe The third from a particular view of the proper motions of the Planets which are observed to be the same at this day as in former ages without any variation The fourth from the infallible and exact prediction of their Oppositions Conjunctions and Eclypses for many ages to come The fifth from the testimony of sundry graue Authors averring the perpetuall constancy immutability of their motions p. 80. Sec. 3 The same truth farther proved from the testimony of Lactantius Plutarch p. 84. Sec. 4 An objection of du Moulins touching the motion of the polar star answered p. 85. CAP. 3. Touching the pretended decay in the light of the heavenly bodies Sect. 1 The first reason taken from the nature of the heavenly light those things wherevnto it is resembled p. 86. Sec. 2 The second for that it haâ—…h nothing contrary vnto it and heere Pareus and Mollerus are censured for holding that the light of heaven 〈◊〉 impaired p. 87. Sec. 3 Herevnto other Reasons are added and the testimony of Eugubinus vouched p. 88. CAP. 4. Touching the pretended decay in the warmth of the heavenlie bodies Sect. 1 That the starres are not of a fierie nature or hot in themselues p. 90. Sec. 2 That the heate they breed springs from their light and consequently their light being not decayed neither is the warmth arising therefroÌ„ p. 91. Sec. 3 Two objections answered the one drawne from the present habitablenes of the torride Zone the other from a supposed approach of the Sun neerer the earth â—…hen in former ages p. 93. Sec. 4 A third objection answered taken from a supposed remoueall of the Sunne more Southerly from vs then in former ages p. 94. CAP. 5. Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies in regard of their influences Sect. 1. Of the first kind of influence from the highest immoueable heaven called by Divines Coelum Empyreum p. 97. Sec. 2 Of th' second kind derived from the Planets and fixed starres p. 98. Sec. 3 That the efficacy of these influences cannot be fully comprehended by vs. p. 99. Sec. 4 That neither of them is decayed in their benigne and favourable effects but that curious inquisition into them is to be forborne p. 100. CAP. 6. Touching the pretended decay of the Elements in generall Sect. 1 That the Elements are still in number foure p. 102. Sec. 2 That the Elements still retaine the same properties that anciently they did and by mutuall interchange and compensation the same bounds dimentions p. 106. Sec. 3 An objection drawne from the continuall mixture of the Elements each with other answered p. 109. CAP. 7. Touching the pretended decay of tâ—… Aire in regard of
the temper thereof Sect. 1 Of excessiue drouth and cold in former ages and that in forraine Countryes pag. 110. Sect. 2 Of excessiue cold raine in former ages heere aâ—…tome and of the common complaint of vnseasonable weather in all ages together with the reason thereof p. 112. Sect. 3 Of contagious diseases and specially the plague both here at home 〈◊〉 abroad in former ages p. 113. Sect. 4 Of Earth-quakes in former ages and their terrible effects elegantly described by Seneca p. 116. Sect. 5 Of dreadfull burnings in the bowels of Aetna Vesuvius and the rising of a new Iland out of the Sea with hideous roring neere Putzol in Italy p. 117. Sect. 6. Of the nature of Comets and the vncertainety of predictions from them as also that the number of those which haue appeared of late yeares is lesse then hath vsually beene observed in former ages and of other fiery and watery meteors p. 119. Sect. 7 Of strange and impetuous windes and lightnings in former ages aboue those of the present p. 121. CAP. 8. Touching the pretended decay of the waters the fish the inhabiters thereof Sect. 1 That the Sea Rivers and Bathes are the same at this present as they were for many ages past or what they lose in one place and time they recover in another by the testimony of Strabo Ovid and Pontanus p. 123. Sect. 2 That fishes are not decayed in regard of their store dimensions or duration p. 125. CAP. 9. Touching the pretended decay of the earth together with the plants beasts minerals Sect. 1 The divine meditation of Seneca and Pliny vpon the globe of the earth An objection out of Aelian touching the decrease of mountaines answered That all â—…hings which spring from the earth returne thither againe and consequently it cannot decay in regard of the fruitfulnes in the whole Other objections of lesse consequence answered p. 128. Sect. 2 Another obiection touching the decay of the fruitfulnes of the holy Land fully answered p. 131 Sect 3 The testimonies of Columella Pliny produced that the earth in it selfe is as fruitfull as in former ages if it be well made and manured together with the reason why so good and so great store of wine is not now made in this kingdome as formerly hath bin p. 133. Sect. 4 An argument drawne from the present state of husband-men and another from the many and miserable dearths in former ages together with an objection taken from the inhauncing of the prizes of victuals in latter times answered p. 136. Sect. 5 That there is no decrease in the fruitfulnesse the quantities or vertues of plants and simpâ—… nor in the store and goodnesse of mettals mineralls as neither in the bignesse or life of beasts together with an objection touching the Elephant mentioned in the first of Macchabes answered p. 139. Sect. 6 Aâ—…ection taken from the Eclypses of the planets answered p. 142. LIB 3. Of the pretended decay of mankind in regard of age duration of strength and stature of arts and wits CAP. 1. Touching the pretended decay of Men in regard of their age and first by way of comparison betweene the ages of the Ancients and those of latter times Sect. 1 Of the short life of man in regard of the duration of many other Creatures and that he was created mortall but had he not fallen should haue beene preserved to immortalitie pag. 144. Sect. 2 Of the long liues of the Patriarches and of the manner of computing their yeares and that Almighty God drew out the lines of their liues to that length for reasons proper to those first times p. 145. Sect. 3 That since Moses his time the length of mans age is nothing abated as appeares by the testimony of Moses himselfe and other graue Authours compared with the experience of these times p. 147. Sect. 4 The same confirmed by the testimony of other ancient and learned writers p. 149. Sect. 5 That in all times and nations some haue beene found who haue exceeded that number of yeares which the wisest of the ancients accounted the vtmost period of mans life and that often those of latter ages haue exceeded the former in number of yeares as is made to appeare aswell from sacred as prophane story p. 150. Sect. 6 The same assertion farther proved inlarged by many instances both at home abroad specially in the Indyes p. 153. Sect. 7 That if our liues be shortned in regard of our Ancestours we should rather lay the burden of the fault vpon our selues our owne intemperance then vpon a decay in nature p. 156. CAP. 2. Farther Reasons alleadged that the age of man for these last thousand or two thousand of yeares is little or nothing abated Sect. 1 The first reason taken from the severall stops pawses of nature in the course of mans life as the time of birth after our conception our infancie childhood youth mans estate old age being assigned to the same compasse of yeares as they were by the Ancients which could not possiblely be were there an vniversall decay in mankinde in regard of age and the like reason there is in making the same Clymactericall yeares the same danger in them p. 159. Sect. 2 The second is drawne from the age of Matrim ony and generation which among the Ancients was as forward as ours now is if not more timely p. 163. Sect. 3 The third is borrowed from the age which the Ancients assigned for charge and imployment in publique affaires Ecclesiasticall Civill Militarie they were therevnto both sooner admitted therefrom sooner discharged then men now a dayes vsually are which should in reason argue that they likewise vsually finished the course of their life sooner p. 167. CAP. 3. Contayning a comparison betwixt the Gyants mentioned in Scripture both among themselues and with those of latter ages Sect. 1 Of the admirable composition of mans bodie that it cannot bee sufficiently proved that Adam as he was the first so he was likewise the tallest of men which in reason should be were there in truth any such perpetuall decrease in mans stature as is pretended p. 171. Sect. 2 What those Gyants were which are mentioned in the sixth of Genesis and that succeeding ages vntill Davids time afforded the like p. 173. Sect. 3 That latter times haue also afforded the like both at home abroad specially in the Indies where they liue more according to nature p. 175. CAP. 4. More pressing Reasons to proue that for these last two or three thousand yeares the stature of the AncieÌ„ts was little or nothing different from that of the present times Sect. 1 The first reason taken from the measures of the Ancients which were proportioned to the parts of mans body in the view of them wee are first to know that they were standards that is for publique contracts certaine constant consequently if the graines of our barley corne the first
teach Wherein that of Vadianus in his Epistle of Paradice is and euer will be verified Magnos errores magnorum virorum authoritate persuasi transmittimus We deliuer ouer as it were by tradition from hand to hand great errours being thereunto induced by the authority of great men Whiles we are young our judgment is raw and greene and when we are old it is forestalled by which meanes it comes often to passe that inter iuvenile iudicium senile preiudicium veritas corrumpitur betweene the precipitancie rashnes of youth to take whatsoeuer is offered and the obstinate stiffenes of age in refusing what it hath not formerly beene acquainted with truth is lost The evidencing of which assertion is the proper subject of this Chapter wherein I hope I shall make it appeare that many opinions are commonly receiued both in ordinary speech in the writings of learned men which notwithstanding are by others either manifestly convinced or at leastwise justly suspected of falshood and errour and this aswell in Divinity as in Philosophy and History First then in Divinity not to meddle with doctrinall points in controversie at this day it is commonly receiued and beleeued that Iuâ—…as among the other Apostles receiued the blessed Sacrament at our Lords hands of which notwithstanding saith the learned Zanchius Etsi multi magni viri hoc docuerint scripserint ego tamen nullo modo concedo aut concedere possum quia apertè pugnat cum historia Iohannis Evangelistae Though many great Clarks haue taught and written it yet my selfe neither doe nor can by any meanes grant it in asmuch as it plainely contradicts the History of Iohn the Evangelist That Melchizedek spoken of in the Epistle to the Hebrewes was Sem the sonne of Noah Yet Pererius in his Commentarie on the 14 of Genesis endeauours to ouerthrow it by many weighty reasons drawne from the Text. That our first Parents stood but one day in Paradice of which opinion the same Author affirmes Pervulgata est eademque ut mâ—…ltorum sic imprimis nobilium illustrium Authorum firmata consensu it is commonly receiued and strengthned by the consent of many worthy and famous Authors yet labours he to disproue it in as much as so many and so different acts are by Moses recorded to haue passed betweene their Creation and Ejection as could not well be dispatched within the compasse of one day And Tostatus though he were first of the common opinion yet afterward vpon better advice he changed it That the Prophecie of old Iacob The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah vntill Shiloh come was fulfilled in Herods raigne at the birth of CHRIST by the continuance of the gouernment in the Tribe of Iudah till the raigne of Herod reputed the first stranger that tooke vpon him the Kingly office among the Iewes but Causabon in his Exercitations prooues that neither the kingly government was continued in that Tribe in as much as it was often interrupted and at length ended in Zedechiah nor that Herod was a stranger in as much as himselfe his father and his Grandfather were all circumcised and yet he confesses of the coÌ„moÌ„ opinion haec sententia ab insignibus pietate doctrina viris profecta vbi semel est admissa sine vlla controversia aut examine apud omnium aetatum eruditos praeter admodum paucos semper deinceps obtinuit this opinion first set on foot by men of singular pietie and learning and being once generally embraced without any question or examination of it afterward prevailed with the learned of all ages some few onely excepted That Iephtah flew his daughter and sacrificed her to the Lord but Iunius in his annotations on that place thinkes he only consecrated her by vowing her virginity which may well stand with the nature of the originall word and the contrarie cannot well stand either with Iephtahs faith or Gods acceptance That the Ark rested vpon the hils of Armenia wheras Sir Walter Rawleigh is coÌ„fideÌ„t that therin most writers were vtterly mistaken Neither was he led so to thinke as he professeth out of humour or singularitie but therein groundeth himselfe vpon the originall and first truth which is the word of God and after vpon reason and the most probable circuÌ„stances thervpon depending And in truth he that shall consider that the sonnes of Noah coÌ„ming out of the Arke trauelled from the East into the land of Shinar where they built the tower of Babell and that Armenia lies to the Northwest of that plaine will easily conceiue that it could not well bee that the Arke should rest vpon those hils but the chiefe occasion of the mistake seemes to be in the vulgar translation which hath rendred Armenia instead of Ararat That of the three sonnes of Noah Sem Cham and Iaphet Sem was the eldest C ham the second and Iaphet the yongest whereas Iunius is of opinion that Iaphet was the eldest grounding himselfe vpon the text Genesis 10. 21. C ham the youngest which he proues from Genesis 9. 24. and that Iaphet was the eldest is not his opinion alone but of Lyranus Tostatus Genebrard and the Hebrew doctors That the fruit of the tree of knowledg of good and evill was an apple wheras the text specifies no such matter and it should seeme by the circumstances thereof that it was rather som other kind of fruit more pleasant both to the tast and sight That the waters of the red sea were of colour red whereas travellers into those parts by sight find the contrary it rather borrowing that name from the red bankes and clifts about it as both Castro and Barros are of opinion or from the Coasts of Idumaea by which it passeth as Scaliger first observed and after him Fuller To these may be added that it is commonly belieued that Moses had hornes when he came downe from the mountaine because they read in the vulgar Latine Ignorabat quòd cornuta esset facies sua He knew not that his face was horned wheras the sense is he knew not that his face shined the same word in the Hebrew signifying both an horne and a shining beame That our Saviour wore his haire long because we read he was a Nazarite whereas the truth is that he was a Nazarite or rather a Nazarene as with Beza our last translatours read it by education not by profession and institution in regard of the place in which he was nursed and conuersed not any vow wherevnto he was bound And lastly that Absolon was hung by the haire of the head whereas the text sayes in plaine tearmes his head caught hould of the oke in like manner it seemes as Henry Grand-child to the Conquerour is sayd to haue ended his dayes in the new forrest SECTIO 2. In Philosophy SEcondly in Philosophy it is commonly receiued that the heart is the seate and shopp of the principall faculties of the
he tooke it vp vpon trust without bringing it to the touchstone to prooue men to be but reedes now a dayes as he termeth them in comparison of the Cedars of former ages giues vs an instance drawne from the times and practise of Galen in comparison of ours telling vs that Galen did ordinarily let bloud six pound weight whereas wee saith hee for the most part stop at six ounces The truth of his allegation touching Galens practise I shall heereafter haue â—…itter occasion to examine in the chapter purposely dedicated to the consideration of mens decay in strength at this time I will only touch the matter of proportion There is some doubt among Chronologers of the precise time wherein Galen liued as appeares by Gesner in his life but in this they all agree that he practised at least two huâ—…dred yeares since Christ so that taking our leuell from thence we may safely affirme that hee flourished about fourteene hundred yeares since in the compasse of which time men haue lost by that account about a pound of bloud for euery Centenary which proportion of losse if wee should obserue in the like distances of time before Galen from the Creation it were not possible that so much as a drop of bloud should be left in any mans body at this day From these particulars wee may guesse at the rest as retaylers doe of the whole peece by taking a view of the ends thereof or as Pythagoras drew out the measure of Hercules whole body from the Sâ—…antling of his foote SECT 4. Sixth argument taken from the authority of Solomon and his reason drawne from the Circulation of all things as it were in a ring TO these reasons may be added the weighty authority of the wisest man that euer liued of a meere man how often doth he beat vpon the circulation and running round of all things as it were in a ring how earnestly and eloquently doth hee presse it and expresse it as it were in liuely colours in that most divine booke of the Preacher The Sunne saith hee ariseth and the Sunne goeth downe and hasteth to the place where he arose Which Boetius discoursing vpon the same Theme hath elegantly set forth Cadit Hesperias Phoebus in vndas Sed secreto tramite rursus Cursum solitos vertit ad ortus The sunne doth set in Westerne maine But yet returnes by secret wayes Vnto his wonted rise againe But the Preacher stayes not there The winde goeth toward the South and turneth about toward the North it whirleth about continually and returneth againe according to his circuites All the rivers runne into the Sea yet the sea is not full Vnto the place from whence the rivers come thither they returne againe Wherevpon hee inferres the thing that hath beene it is that that shall bee and that which is done is that which shall bee done and there is no new thing vnder the sunne Is there any thing whereof it may bee sayd behold this is new it hath beene already of old time before vs againe that which hath beene is now and that which is to bee hath already beene and God requireth that which is past Now this wheeling about of all things in their seasons and courses and their supposed perpetuall decrease are in my vnderstanding incompatible they cannot possiblely stand together nor be truly affirmed of the same subject For if they returne againe to their times and turnes to the state from which they declined as Boetius speakes of a bowed twigge Validis quondam viribus acta Pronum flectit virga cacumen Hanc si curuans dextra remisit Recto spectat vertice coelum The tender plant by force and might Constran'd its top doth downeward bend Romoue the hand which bowed it And straight to heaven-wards will it tend If I say they thus returne to their former condition as hath bin more at large proved by Lodovicus Regius a French man in a booke which hee purposely intitles De La Vicissitude des choses and dedicates it to Henry the third King of France then can it not bee they should alway grow worse and worse as on the other side if they alway degenerate and grow worse and worse it cannot be they should haue such returnes as Solomon speakes of wise and learned men in all ages haue observed and experience daily confirmes The Poets faine that Saturne was wont to devouâ—…e his sonnes and then to vomite them vp againe which fiction of theirs saith Rodogin the wiser sort vnderstand to be referred to time shadowed vnder the name of Saturne à quo vicibus cuncta gignantur absumantur quae renascantur denuò because as all things spring from time and by it are consumed so in it they are renewed and restored againe And by this meanes the world for the intire is still preserved safe and sound Exutae variant faciem per secula gentes At manet incolumis mundus suaque omnia servat Quae nec long a dies auget minuitve senectus Nec motus puncto currit cursuve fatigat Idem semper erit quoniam semper fuit idem Non alium videre patres aliumve nepotes Aspicient The people chang'd at times the face doth vary The world stands sound and alwaies holds its owne Nor by long daies encreas'd nor age lesse growne Runnes round yet moues not nor by running's weary Was still the same and still the same shall bee That which our gransirs saw our sonnes shall see CAP. 5. Generall arguments making for the worlds decay refuted SECT 1. The first generall objection drawne from reason answered HOwbeit as the great Patriarch of Philosophers hath taught vs that Verum est index sui obliqui Truth may serue as a square or rule both for it selfe and falshood as a right line discovers the obliquity of a crooked yet because Qui statuit aliquid parte inaudita altera Aequum licet statuerit haud aequus fuit Who but one party heares yet doth decree Iust is he not though iust his sentence bee Let vs see what the Adverse part can say for themselues Their generall arguments then for the worlds decay are drawne partly from reason and partly from authority The maine argument drawne from reason vpon which all the rest in a manner depend so as I may call it the Pole-deede of their evidence is this That the Creature the neerer it approaches to the first mould the more perfect it is and according to the degrees of its remouall and distance from thence it incurres the more imperfection and weakenes as streames of a fountaine the farther they runne thorow vncleane passages the more they contract corruption For the loosing of which knot I shall craue pardon if I inlarge myselfe and make a full answere therevnto considering that in the striking off of this head the body of the opposite reasons fall to the ground and at the shaking of this foundation the whole building totters First
old age and the well-spring which formerly flowed abundantly with full streames being dryed vp through age hardly distils a drop of moisture This sentence is passed vpon the World this is the Law which God hath set it that all things that are borne should die all that increase should decrease that strong things should be weakned and great lessened and being thus weakned and lessened they should at last be vtterly dissolued This discourse of Cyprian and the excellent flowres of Rhetorique in it shew him to haue beene both a sweet and powerfull Oratour of a great wit a flowing eloquence but whether in this he shew himselfe so deepe a Philosopher or sound Divine I leaue that to the Reader to judge and referre his judgment to the future examination of the particulars only by the way it shall not be amisse to remember that the Christians of those times happily by reason aswell of the bloody persecutions which pressed them sore as the frequent passages both in the Gospell and Epistles which speake of the second comming of Christ as if it had beene then hard at hand stood in continuall allarums and expectation of the day of Iudgment and the end of the World as evidently appeares by the very words of Cyprian himselfe in this discourse their thoughts still running therevpon all things seemed sutable thereunto and to draw towards that end It cannot be denied but those times wherein Cyprian liued were indeed very bitter and miserable in regard of f◅mine and warre mortality yet about forty yeares after it pleased Almighty God to pacifie those stormes and dispell those cloudes by the conversion of the renowned Constantine to the Christian Religion as it had beene by the breaking forth of the Sun beames so as they who sowed in teares reaped in joy at which time had Cyprian liued no doubt he would haue changed his note his pen would haue as much triumphed in the tranquillity and flourishing estate of the Church vnder that noble Emperour as it deplored the torne state of the World in the time wherein himselfe liued The former famine and warre and mortality being then by Gods gratious blessing happily turned into health and peace and plenty He would then haue told you that whereas before showres of their blood were powred out for Christs sake now it pleased God to open the windowes of Heauen for the moistning and nourishing of their seedes that as Christ the Sonne of Righteousnesse was acknowledged as the Saviour of the World and the shining beames of the Gospell displayed themselues so the Sunne in the firmament had recovered its warmth and strength for the ripening of their corne that as the outward face of the Church was become beautifull and glorious so the very fieldes seemed to smile and to receiue contēt therin by their fresh and pleasant hue that as men brought forth the fruites of Christianity in greater abundance so their trees were more plentifully loaden with fruites that as the rich mines of Gods word were farther searched into so new veines of marble and gold and silver were discovered that Christian religion hauing now gotten the vpper hand had made the Husbandman and Artificer more carefull industrious in their callings had opened the Schooles for Professours in all kind of learning had restored wholsome discipline in manners faithfullnesse in friendship Finally he would haue told you that the world with the Eagle had now cast her worne bill and sick feathers and vpon the entertainement of Christ and his Gospell was growne young againe Which I am the rather induced to beleeue for that Cyprian himselfe in the same discourse against Demetrianus in another place referres the disasters of those times to the obstinacie of the world in not receiuing the truth of Christianity and submitting itselfe to the yoake of Christ Iesus A more likely and certaine cause doubtlesse then that other of the worlds imaginary old age and decay His words are these Indignatur ecce Dominus irascitur quod ad eum non convertamini comminatur tu miraris et quereris in hac obstinatione contemptu vestro si rara desuper pluvia descendat si terra situ pulueris Squalleat si vix jejunas pallidas herbas sterilis gleba producat c. Behold the Lord is angry and threatens because you turne not vnto him and dost thou wonder or complaine if in this your obstinacie contempt the raine seldome fall the earth be deformed with dust the land bring forth hungry starved grasse if the haile falling do spill the vine if the ouerturning whirlewind do marre the Oliue if drought dry vp the springes if pestilent dampes do corrupt the ayre if diseases consume men when all these things come by sinnes provoking God is the more offended since such and so great things do no good at all And the same reason is vpon the like occasiō yeelded by Lactantius Discite igitur si quid vobis reliquae mentis est homines ideo malos iniustos esse quia dij coluntur ideo mala omnia rebus humanis quotidie ingravescere quia Deus mundi hujus effector gubernator der◅lictus est quia susceptae sunt contra quam fas est impiae religiones postremo quia ne vel a pau◅is quidem coli deum sinitis Learne thus much then if you haue any vnderstanding left that men are therefore wicked vnjust because such Gods are worshipped and that such mischeefes dayly befall thē because god the Creator and Governour of the world is forsaken by them because impious religions against all right are entertained of them finally because you will not permit the worship of the true God so much as to a few Heere then was the true cause of their bloudy warres that they shed the innocēt bloud of Christians trāpled vnder foote the pretious bloud of Christ as their warres together with the vnkindly season were the cause of dearth and famine and both famine and warre of pestilence and mortalitie how frequently and fervently doth the Scripture beate vpon this cause God every where promising to reward the obedience of his people with plenty and peace and kindly seasons their rebellion with scarcitie sicknes the sword But that these scourges of the world were at any time caused by or imputed to the old age or decay therof to my remembrance we no where read As then the referring of these plagues with Demetrianus and the Gentiles to the curse of God vpon Christian religion was a blasphemous wrong to Gods truth So with Cyprian to referre them to the old age and naturall decay of the world be it spoken with all due reverence to so great a light in the church of God is in my judgment an aspersion vpon the Power and providence and justice of God And Pammelius in his annotations to excuse Cyprian herein conceiuing beelike that he was not in the right tells vs that
tempus eam debilitavit Dost not thou see the heavens how faire how spacious they are how bee-spangled with diverse constellations how long now haue they lasted fiue thousand yeares or more are past and yet this long duration of time hath brought no old age vpon them But as a body new and fresh flourisheth in youth So the heavens still retaine their beauty which at first they had neither hath time any thing abated it Some errour or mistake doubtlesse there is in Chrisostomes computation in as much as he lived aboue 1200 yeares since yet tels vs that the world had then lasted aboue 5000 yeares but for the trueth of the matter he is therein seconded by all the schoole divines and among those of the reformed churches none hath written in this point more clearely and fully then Alstedius in his preface to his naturall divinity Tanta est hujus palatij diuturnitas atque firmitas vt ad hodiernum vsque diem supra annos quinquies mille sexcentos ita perstet vt in eo nihil immutatum diminâ—…tum aut vetustate diuturnitate temporis vitiatum conspiciamus Such saith hee and so lasting is the duration and immoveable stability of this palace that being created aboue 5600 yeares agoe yet it so continues to this day that wee can espie nothing in it changed or wasted or disordered by age and tract of time SECT 4. Another obiection taken from Psalme the 102 answered ANother text is commmonly and hotly vrged by the Adverse part to like purpose as the former and is in truth the onely argument of weight drawne from Scripture in this present question touching the heavens decay in regard of their Substance In which consideration wee shall bee inforced to examine it somewhat the more fully Taken it is from the hundred and second Psalme and the wordes of the Prophet are these Of old thou hast laid the foundation of the earth the heavens are the worke of thine handes They shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall waxe old as doth a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy yeares shall haue no end To which very place vndoubtedly the Apostle alludes in the first to the Hebrewes where he thus renders it Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the workes of thine hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they shall wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them vp and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy yeares shall not faile In which passages the words which are most stood vpon and pressed are those of the growing old of the heavens like a garment which by degrees growes bare till it bee torne in peeces and brought to ragges S. Augustine in his Enarration vpon this Psame according to his wont betakes him to an Allegoricall Exposition interpreting the heavens to bee the Saints and their bodies to bee their garments wherewith the soule is cloathed And these garments of theirs saith hee waxe old and perish but shall be changed in the resurrection and made comformable to the glorious body of Iesus Christ. Which exposition of his is pious I confesse but surely not proper since the Prophet speakes of the heavens which had their beginning together with the earth and were both principall peeces in the great worke of the Creation Neither can the regions of the aire be here well vnderstood though in some other places they bee stiled by the name of the heavens since they are subiect to continuall variation and change and our Prophets meaning was as it should seeme to compare the Almighties vnchangeable eternity with that which of all the visible Creatures was most stable and stedfast And besides though the aire bee indeed the worke of Gods hands as are all the other Creatures yet that phrase is in a speciall manner applied to the starry heavens as being indeed the most exquisite and excellent peece of workemanship that ever his hands fram'd It remaines then that by heavens heere wee vnderstand the lights of heaven thought by Philosophers to bee the thicker parts of the spheres together with the spheres themselues in which those lights are fixed and wheeled about For that such spheres and orbes there are I take it as granted neither will I dispute it though I am not ignorant that some latter writers thinke otherwise and those neither few in number nor for their knowledge vnlearned But for the true sense of the place alleadged wee are to know that the word there vsed to wax old both in Hebrew Greeke Latin doth not necessarily imply a decay or impairing in the subject so waxing old but somtimes doth only signifie a farther step accesse to a finall period in regard of duration Wee haue read of some who being well striken in yeares haue renewed their teeth and changed the white colour of their haire and so growne yong againe Of such it might truly be sayd that they grew elder in regard of their neerer approch to the determinate end of their race though they were yonger in regard of their constitution and state of their bodies And thus do I take the Apostle to be vnderstood that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away where hee speakes of the Ceremoniall law which did not grow old by degrees at least before the incarnation of Christ but stood in its full force and vigour vntill it was by him abrogated and disanulled To which purpose Aquinas hath not vnfitly observed vpon the place Quod dicitur vetus significat quod sit prope cessationem the tearming of a thing old implies that it hastens to an end This then as I take it may truly be affirmed of the signification of the word in generall and at large and may justly seeme to haue been the Prophets meaning in as much as he addeth But thou art the same and thine yeares shall haue no end From whence may be collected that as God cannot grow old because his yeares shall haue no end so the heavens because they shall haue an end may be therefore sayd to grow old But whereas it is added not only by the Psalmist but by the Apostle in precise tearmes They shall wax old as doth a garment and againe as a Vesture shalt thou change them the doubt still remaines whether by that addition the sense of the word bee not restrained to a graduall and sensible decay I know it may be sayd that a garment waxing old not only looses his freshnesse but part of his quantitie and weight it is not only soyled but wasted either in lying or wearing so in continuance of time becomes vtterly vnserviceable which no man I think will ascribe to the heavens I meane that their quantity is any way diminished All agree then that the Similitude may be strained too
Plannets The proper motion of Saturne was by the Ancients obserued and is now likewise found by our moderne Astronomers to be accomplished within the space of thirtie yeares that of Iupiter in twelue that of Mars in two that of the Sunne in three hundred sixty fiue dayes and allmost six howers that of Venus and Mercury in very neere the same space of time that of the Moone in twentie seven dayes and all most eight howres Neither do we find that they haue either quickned or any way slackned these their courses but that in the same space of time they allwayes run the same races which being ended they begin them againe as freshly as the first instant they set forth Cum per certa annorum spacia orbes suos explicuerint iterum ibunt per quae venerant sayth Seneca when in certaine tearmes of years they shall haue accomplished their courses they shall againe runne the same races they haue passed These then be the boundes and limits to which these glorious bodies are perpetually tyed in regard of their motion these be the vnchangeable lawes like those of the Medes and Persians whereof the Psalmist speakes Hee hath giuen them a law which shall not be broken which Seneca in his booke of the Diuine Providence well expresses in other wordes Aeternae legis imperio procedunt they mooue by the appointment of an eternall law that is a law both invariable inviolable That which Tully hath delivered of one of them is vndoubtedly true of all Saturni stella in suo cursu multa mirabiliter efficiens tum anteâ—…edendo tum retardando tum vespertinis temporibus delitescendo tum matutinis rursum se aperiendo nihil tamen immutat sempeternis soeculorum aetatibus quin eadem ijsdem temporibus efficiat The plannet Saturne doth make many strange and wonderfull passages in his motion sometimes going before and sometimes comming after sometimes withdrawing himselfe in the evening and sometimes againe shewing himselfe in the morning and yet changeth nothing in the continuall duration of all ages but still at the same season worketh the same effects And in truth were it not so both in that Plannet and in all the other starres it is altogether impossible they should supply that vse which Almighty God in their Creation ordained them vnto that is to serue for signes and seasons for dayes and for yeares to the worlds end And much more impossible it were that the yeare the moneth the day the hower the minute of the Oppositions Conjuctions and Eclypses of the Plannets should be as exactly calculated and foretold one hundreth yeares before they fall out as at what howre the Snnne will rise to morrow morning Which perpetuall aequability coÌ„stant vniformity in the Celestiall motions is both truly observed eloqueÌ„tly descibedby Boetius Si vis celsi jura Tonantis Pura solers cernere mente Aspice summi culmina Coeli Illic justo foedere rerum Veterem servant syder a pacem Non sol rutilo concitus igne Gelidum Phebes impedit axem Nec quae summo vertice mundi Flectit rapidos vrsa meatus Vnquam occiduo lota profundo Caetera cernens syder a mergi Cupit Oceano tingere flammas Semper vicibus temporis aequis Vesper ser as nunciat vmbras Revehitque diem Lucifer almum Sic alternos reficit cursus Alternus amor sic astrigeris Bellum discors exulat or is If thou with pure and prudent minde The lawes of God wouldst see Looke vp to heaven and thou shalt finde How all things there agree In peace the starres their courses runne Nor is the Moones cold sphere Impeached by the scorching Sunne Nor doth the Northerne beare Which swift about the Pole doth moue Though other starres he see Drencht in the Westerne Ocean loue His flames there quenched bee Nights late approch by courses due The evening starre doth show And morning starre with motion true Before the day doth goe Thus still their turnes renewed are By enterchanging loue And warre and discord banisht farre From starry skies aboue And no lesse wittily by Manilius Nec quicquam in tanta magis est mirabile mole Quam ratio certis quod legibus omnia parent Nusquam turba nocet nihil vllis partibus errat There is not ought that 's to be seene in such a wondrous masse More wonderful and strange then this that Reason brings to passe That all obey their certaine lawes which they doe still preferre No tumult hurteth them nor ought in any parr doth erre Wherewith the Divine Plato accords Nec errant nec praeter antiquum ordinem revolvuntur neither doe they runne randome nor are they rolled beside their ancient order And Aristotle breaketh out into this passionate admiration thereof Quid unquam poterit aequari coelesti ordini volubilitati cùm syder a convertantur exactissima norma de alio in aliud seculum What can ever be compared to the order of the Heauens and to the motion of the Starres in their seuerall revolutions which moue most exactly as it were by a rule and square by line and leuell from one generation to another There were among the Ancients not a few nor they vnlearned who by a strong fancie conceiued to themselues an excellent melody made vp by the motion of the Coelestiall Spheares It was broached by Pythagoras entertained by Plato stiffely maintained by Macrobius and some Christians as Beda Boetius and Anselmus Archbishop of Canterbury but Aristotle puts it off with a jest as being Lepidè musicè dictum factu autem impossibile a pleasant and musicall conceit but in effect impossible inasmuch as those Bodies in their motions make no kinde of noise at all Howsoeuer it may well bee that this conceit of theirs was grounded vpon a certaine truth which is the Harmonicall and proportionable motion of those Bodies in their just order and set courses as if they were euer dauncing the rounds or the measures In which regard the Psalmist tels vs that the Sun knoweth his going downe he appointed the Moone for seasons and the Sunne knoweth his going downe Which wordes of his may not be taken in a proper but in a figuratiue sense The Prophet thereby implying that the Sunne obserueth his prescribed motion so precisely to a point that in the least jot he neuer erreth from it And therefore is he said to doe the same vpon knowledge and vnderstanding Non quòd animatus sit aut ratione vtatur saith Basill vpon the place sed quòd juxta terminum divinitùs praescriptum ingrediens semper eundem cursum servat ac mensur as suas custodit Not that the Sun hath any soule or vse of vnderstanding but because it keepeth his courses and measures exactly according to Gods prescription SECT 3. The same truth farther prooued from the testimony of Lactantius and Plutarch LActantius from hence gathereth two notable Conclusions the one that the
by the Law to bee mustered vnder that age and which is more strange the very guards of Iehosaphars person amounted to almost an eleuen hundred thousand And for the number of Cattell there were slaine in one sacrifice at the dedication of Salomons temple two and twenty thousand bullocks and an hundred twenty thousand sheepe When I say I compare these multitudes of men cattell with the narrow bounds of that countrey I am forced to beleeue that it was indeed a most fruitfull soile flowing with milke and hony richly abounding in all kinde of commodities Yet the reports of some who haue taken a survey of it in these latter ages beare vs in hand that the fruitfullnes thereof is now much decayed in regard of those times From whence they would inferre a generall decay in all soyles consequently in the whole course of nature But it may truely be said that this wonderfull fruitfullnes proceeded from a speciall favour of Almighty God toward this people as appeares in the 11 of Deuteronomy this land doth the Lord thy God care for the eyes of the Lord thy God are alwayes vpon it from the beginning of the yeare euen to the end of the yeare And more cleerely in the 26 of Leviticus If you walke in mine ordinances and keepe my commaundements I will send you raine in due season and the land shall yeeld her increase and the trees of the field shall giue their fruite and your threshing shall reach vnto the vintage and the vintage shall reach vnto the sowing time and you shall eate your bread in plenteousnes and dwell in your land safely But the miraculous prouidence of God shewed it selfe most euidently ouer this land in answering their doubt what they should eate the seuenth yeare if they suffered the land to rest as God had injoyned them the reply is I will send my blessing vpon you in the sixth yeare and it shall bring forth fruite for three yeares Now then as this extraordinary fruitfulnes proceeded from an extraordinary favour so this favour ceasing the fruitfulnes might likewise cease without any naturall decay of the soyle The countrey about Sodome Gomorrha was for fruitfulnes as the Paradice or garden of the Lord till the curse of God fell vpon it then it became a wast land and so remaines to this day Yet can it not be gainesaid but that beside this speciall blessing of God this soyle of Palestina was naturally very rich in it selfe in asmuch as it fed one thirty Idolatrous Kings with their people before the entrance of Gods chosen nation into it one of which alone possessed as it should seeme threescore citties and the pomegranats the figs the grapes which the spies sent by Moses to discouer the land brought backe with them were marveilous goodly faire And as this soyle was thus rich before the entrance of this people so since the displanting of them from thence the Saracens possessing it it hath not altogether lost its ancient fruitfulnes whatsoeuer is pretended to the contrary if wee may credit Brocardus who about three hundred yeares since was himselfe an eyewitnesse thereof His words are these Non est credendum contrarium nunciantibus neque enim eam diligenter considerarunt his oculis vidi quanta fertilitate Terra benedicta fructificat frumentum enim vix terra exculta sine stercore simo mirabiliter crescit multiplicatur Agrisunt velut horti in quibus feniculum salvia ruta rosa passim crescunt There is no heed to be given to them who affirme the contrary For they haue not throughly coÌ„sidered of the matter with these eyes did I behold the exceeding fertilitie of that blessed land The Corne with a very little makeing of the earth prospers and multiplies beyond beliefe the fields are as it were gardens of delight in which fennell sage rue and roses every where grow And so having largly described the admirable fruitfulnesse thereof in all kinds at length he concludes Denique illic exstant omnia mundi bona verè terra fluit rivis lactis mellis Finally there are to be had all the good things the world can afford so that it may still be truly tearmed a land flowing with rivers of milke and honey And if it be degenerated from it's ancient fertility which vpon the report of Bredenbachius Adrichomius and others I rather beleeue I should rather impute it to the Curse of God vpon that accursed nation which possesseth it or to their ill manuring of the earth from which the proverbe seemes to haue growne that where the Grand Signiors horse once treads the grasse never growes afterward then to any Naturall decay in the goodnes of the soyle SECT 3. The testimonies of Columella and Pliny produced that the earth in it selfe is as fruitfull as in former ages if it be made and manured NOw that which by Brocardus hath beene delivered touching the holy land in particular is by Columella in his bookes of Husbandry with no lesse assurednesse averred touching the nature of the Earth in generall nay to shew his confidence herein he makes that assertion the entrance to his whole worke thus beginning the very first chapter of his first booke Saepenumero Civitatis nostrae principes audio culpantes mâ—…do agrorum infoecunditatem modo Coeli per multa jam tempora noxiam frugibus intemperiem quosdam etiam praedictas querimonias velut ratione certa mitigantes quod existiment vbertate nimiâ—… prioris aevi defatigatum effoetum solum â—…equire pristina benignitate prebere mortalibus alimenta quas ego causas Publi Sylvini procul à veritate abesse certum habeo quod neque fas est existimare rerum naturam quam primus ille mundi genitor perpetua foecunditate donavit quasi quodam morbo sterilitate affectam neque prudentis credere tellurem quae divinam aeternam juventam sortita communis omnium parens dicta sit quia cuncta peperit deinceps paritura sit velut hominem consenuisse ne posthaec reor violentia Coeli nobis ista sed nostro potius accidere vitio qui rem rusticam pessimo cuique servorum velut carnifici noxae dedimus quam majorum nostrorum optimus quisque optimè tractauerit I haue often heard the chiefe of our Citty complaining of the vnfruitfulnesse of the earth and sometimes againe of the vnkindlinesse of the weather now for a good space hurtfull to the fruites and some haue I heard with shew of reason qualifying these complaints in that they beleeue the earth being worne out and become barren by the excessiue fruitfulnesse of former ages not to be able to yeeld nourishment to mankind according to the proportion of her accustomed bounty but for mine owne part Publius Sylvinus I am well assured that these pretended causes are farre from truth it being a peece of impiety so much as once to imagine that nature
Chapter of Benjamin who at the same time is made the father of ten sonnes and yet was he then but twenty three or twenty foure yeares of age being borne in the hundred and sixth yeare of his father which was the yeare before the selling of Ioseph Dina by the testimony of Polyhistor when shee was rauished and sued vnto for marriage by Sichem was but tenne yeares of age and by the computation of Caietan but foureteene of Pererius but fifteene or sixteene at vtmost The blessed Virgine when shee brought forth our Saviour but fifteene Somewhat more euident is that of Iosiah who was but thirty nine yeares old when he died eight he was when he began to reigne and hee reigned thirty one yet was Eliakim his sonne twenty fiue yeares old when he began to reigne being by Pharaoh Neco substituted in the place of his brother Iehoahaz after he had reigned three moneths so that Iosiah by just computation could not well exceede foureteene yeares of age when he was first married But that of Ahaz is yet more remarkeable who liued but thirty six yeares in the whole twenty yeares old was hee when he began to reigne and he reigned sixteene yeares yet was his sonne Hezekiah who immediatly succeeded him twenty fiue yeares old when he began to reigne By which account Ahaz was married and begat Hezekiah at eleuen or before And though Functius in his Chrononologie moued with the strangenes heereof would make Hezekiah the Legall not the naturall sonne of Ahaz by adoption not by generation and Iunius in his annotations referre those wordes twenty yeares old was he when he began to reigne to Iothan the father of Ahaz yet heerein they both stand alone aswell against reason as the ordinary phrase of Scripture and streame of interpreters S. Hierome in his epistle to Vitalis to make it good hath recourse to Gods Omnipotencie Neque enim valet natura saith he contra naturoe Dominum And againe Quòd pro miraculo fit legem Naturae facere non potest That which it pleaseth God to worke supernaturally as a miracle may not be held for the ordinary law of Nature Yet himselfe in the same Epistle alleages the example of Salomon to the same purpose And another more strange then that to the relation whereof he prefixes this solemne preface Audiui Domino teste non mentior I haue heard God knowes I faine it not that a certaine nurse hauing the education of an exposed child committed to her charge who lay with her being now of the age of tenne yeares and prouoked to incontinencie by the nurse overcharged with wine shee was found with child by him I will conclude this reason with the example of Solomon who is commonly thought to come to the Crowne at twelue yeares of age and the Scripture assures vs that he reigned but forty by which account he died at the age of fifty two which is the most receiued opinion aswell of the Iewish Rabbines as the Christian Doctours yet was Rehoboam his sonne and successour forty one yeares old when he began to raigne so that but an eleâ—…en yeares at most are left for Solomon when he begat him Such matches as these in this age I thinke can hardly be matched neither in truth doe I hold it fit they should SECT 3. The third is borrowed from the age which the Ancients assigned for charge and imployment in publique affaires Ecclesiasticall Civill and Military they were therevnto both sooner admitted and therefrom sooner discharged then men now adayes vsually are which should in reason argue that they likewise vsually finished the course of their life sooner ANother reason tending to the same purpose may not vnfitly bee drawne from the age which the Ancients assigned for charge and imployment in publique affaires They were therevnto assoone admitted and sooner discharged then men now adayes vsually are which should in reason argue that they likewise ran their race finished their course sooner in asmuch as quod citius crescit citius finitur that which sooner comes to ripenes and perfection hastens sooner to rottennes dissolution Now publique charges may well be distributed into Ecclesiasticall Civill and Military of the Church of the State and of the warres I will begin with the Ministeriall offices of the Church and therein with the Principall which is that of the Bishop Thomas Becket was chosen Archbishop of Canterbury at the age of forty foure yeares as witnesseth Mathew Parker who succeeded him in that See in his booke of the liues of the Archbishops intituled Antiquitates Britannicae Is qui ad Episcopalem dignitatem promovendus est annos natus esse debet non minus triginta nam ea aetate Dominum baptizatum concionatum fuisse legimus saith Lancelot in his Institutions of the Canon Law He who is to bee advanced to the dignity of a Bishop ought not to be lesse then thirty yeares old inasmuch as we read that our Lord was baptized and preached at that age Whereas now adayes with vs seldome is any preferred to that place till he be past forty or fifty Venerable Bede our famous Countreyman who liued about eight hundred yeares agoe was by hisowne testimony made Deacon at nineteene And Origen by the testimony of Eusebius Catechist in Alexandria at eighteene yeares of age But that which to this point is most memorable in the exercise of sacred functions is that by the commandement of God himselfe the Levites after the age of fifty yeares were exempted from the execution of their office which notwithstanding was nothing so painefull as that of the Ministery of the Gospell if faithfully discharged Where by Levites it may well be that not only those who serued in inferiour offices vnder the Priests but the Priests themselues as being of the tribe of Levi are to be vnderstood to which purpose M. Nettles in his answere to the Iewish part of M. Seldens History of Tithes hath vouched the Rabbines as named Aben Ezra on Leviticus 16. every Priest is a Levite but euery Levite is not a Priest And Ioshuah Ben Levi mentioning that text Numb 18 26. Speake vnto the Levites doth vnder the name of Levites vnderstand also Priests farther adding that in foure and twenty places the Priests are called Levites which being so I see no reason but that from thence we may safely inferre that in likelyhood the same space of yeares was assigned to the Priest aswell for his entrance vpon his office as his discharge from it specially considering that his place was of an higher nature Now for the warres The Gaules put their sonnes in armes and prepared them to warre at foureteene Cneius Pompeius at eighteene yeares of age and Caesar Octavianus at nineteene sustained civill warres The Iewes indeed ordinarily levied their souldiers from twenty yeares vpward as plainly appeares in the first of Numbers and diverse other places But the Romanes from
infirmos praecipitasse senes That yonger men might voices giue alone The elder were downe from the bridges throwne This motion the Barbiccians at seventy in effect put in execution ◅nes septaagesimum annum egressos interficiunt viros mactando mulieres vero stangulando they make away all that are past seaventy sacrificing the men and strangling the women Now then since the age assigned by the Ancients not onely for marriage but likewife for their entrance vpon discharge from publique imployment aswell in the Church and State as in the warres was little or nothing different from that which is both allowed and practised at this day saue that they seemed to haue beene more indulgent and favourable to themselues then now we are what reason haue wee to imagine that the length and duration of time which they vsually liued was different from ours I will close vp this chapter with an observatiō or two taken frō the Municipall lawes of our own Land which account prescription or custome by the practising of a thing time out of minde as they call it and that time they confine to the same number of 60 yeares as formerly they haue done which could not stand with reason or justice were there such a notable and sensible abatement in the age of man as is pretended And againe Our Ancestors for many revolutions of ages in their Leases or other instruments of conveyance commonly valued three liues but at one and twenty yeares in account in Law Whereas now adayes they are valued by the ablest Lawyers at twenty sixe twenty eight yea thirty yeares Whether it were that the warres and pestilentiall diseases then consumed more I cannot determine but me thinkes it should in reason argue thus much that our liues at leastwise are not shortned in regard of theirs which is asmuch as I desire to be graunted and more then is commonly yeelded though as I conceiue vpon no sufficient ground denyed and so I passe from the age of men to the consideration of their strength and stature CAP. 3. Containing a comparison betwixt the Gyants mentioned in Scripture both among themselues and with those of latter ages SECT 1. Of the admirable composition of mans Body and that it can not be sufficiently prooved that Adam as he was the first so he was likewise the tallest of men which in reason sholud be were there in truth any such perpetuall decrease in mans stature as is pretended AS the great power of Almighty God doth shine foorth and shew it selfe in the numberlesse variety of the parts of mans body so doth his wonderfull goodnesse in their excellent vse and his singular wisedome in their orderly disposition sweet harmony and just symmetrie aswell in regard of themselues as in reference each to other but chiefly in the resultance of the beautifull and admirable frame of the whole body The consideration whereof made the Royall Prophet to cry out I will praise thee for I am fearefully and wonderfully made in thy booke were all my members written and curiously wrought marvailous are thy works and that my soule knoweth right well This proportion is in all respects so euen and correspondent that the measures of Temples of dwelling houses of Engins of ships were by Architects taken from thence and those of the Arke it selfe too as it is probably thought For as the Arke was three hundred Cubits in length fifty in bredth and thirty in heigth so the body of man rightly shaped answers therevnto The length from the crowne of the head to the sole of the foot and breadth from side to side and thicknes from back to breast carrying the proportion of three hundred and fifty and thirty each to other so that looke what proportion fifty hath to three hundred which is sixe to one the same hath the breadth of mans body to his heigth or length And what proportion thirty hath to three hundred which is ten to one the same hath the thicknes to his length and bredth Nay some haue obserued 300 minuta which I take to be barley cornes the fourth part of an inch or thereabout to make vp the length of a mans body of just stature and consequently fifty in the bredth and thirty the thicknes answereable to the severall numbers of the Cubits in the severall measures of the Arke Now to our present purpose as God and Nature or rather God by Nature his instrument and handmaid hath fashioned the body of Man in those proportions so hath he limited the dimensions thereof as likewise those of all other both vegetable sensitiue and vnsensible Creatures within certaine bounds Quos vltra citraque nequit consistere So that though the dimensions of mens bodies be very different in regard of severall Climats Races yet was there neuer any race of men found to the bignesse of mountaines or whales or the littlenesse of flies or aunts because in that quantity the members cannot vsefully and commodiously either dispose of themselues or exercise those functions to which they were by their maker assigned True indeede it is that both history of former ages and experience of latter times teach vs that a great inequality there is and hath beene but that since the fi◅ ◅reation of man there should be any such perpetuall vniversall an◅ constant decrease and diminution as is pretended that shall I never beleeue For then in reason should the first Man haue beene a Gyant of Gyants the hughest and most monstrous Gyant that euer the world beheld and vpon this ground it seemes though faisely supposed Iohannes Lucidus labours to proue him so indeede from that passage in the fourteenth of Iosua according to the Vulgar Translation Nomen Hebron ante vocabatur Cariah-Arbe Adam maximus ibi inter Enakim situs est which may thus be rendred Adam the greatest of Gyants lies there buried And this fancie of Lucidus is countenanced by that fable of the Iewish Rabbies reported by Moses bar Cephas who supposing Paradise to be di◅oyned from this world by the interposition of the Ocean tell vs that Adam being cast out of it waded thorow the Ocean to come into this by which account his stature should rather be measured by miles then by cubits But as Lucidus by this opinion crosseth the streame of Antiquity S. Ierome only some few others his followers excepted holding that the first Adam was buried not in Hebron but in that place where the second Adam triumphed ouer death so doth he likewise by following the Vulgar Translation corrupt the Hebrew originall which is thus to be rendred Nomen autem Hebronis nomen fuerat Kiriath-arbah is fuerat homo inter Anakeos maximus So that the word Adam or homo is to bee referred not to the first man but to Arbah the first founder as is thought of that Cittie and therevpon our last Translation reades it thus The name of Hebron before was Kiriath-arbah which Arbah
essence and naturall functions the same which was from the beginning the bounds of his quantity cannot vary in any great or notorious difference but through some exorbitancie and aberration in nature which as they haue beene in all ages so haue monsters too not only in figure and shape but also both in excesse and defect CAP. 5. Wherein the principall objections drawne aswell from Reason as from authority and experience are fully answered SECT 1. Of sundry fabulous narrations of the bones of Gianlike bodies digged vp or found in Caues THe Truth being thus settled it remaines that wee now dispell those mists and cloudes with which the brightnes of it is sometimes ouercast whereof the chiefe is the huge bodies and bones that at sundry times haue beene digged vp and yet are kept in many places as monuments of Antiquity to be seene Such are they which are shewen at Puteoli or Putzole in the Kingdome of Naples vpon which Pomponius Laetus hath bestowod verses which he thus concludes Hinc bona posteritas immania corpora servat Et tales mundo testificatur avos Their huge corpes good posterity keepes here To witnesse to the World that once such were The like haue I seene at Wormes in Germany and other Citties standing vpon the Rheine hung vp in Chaines or laid vp in Megazines and other publique places but saith Philippus Camerarius I haue heard many dispute and make doubt whether they were the bones of men or of fishes Infinite are the stories which to this purpose are recorded it would require a iust volume to collect them into one body and in truth it shall not need inasmuch as I finde it already done by the same Camerarius by Gassanion in his booke of Gyants and Fazelus in his first booke and first Decade of the affaires of Sicily as also by our Hollenshed in the fourth chap. of his first volume but with this Caution For my part saith he I will touch rare things and such as to my selfe doe seeme almost incredible wherefore I will onely point at a few of the most memorable lest on the one side I should seeme purposely to baulke that rubbe which is commonly thought most of all to thwart my way or on the other side should cloy the Reader with too many vnsavory tales It is reported by Plutarch out of Gabinius which I confesse I somewhat marvell at in so graue an Authour that Sertorius being in Lybia neere the streights of Morocco found the body of Antaeus there buried sixty cubits to which Fazelus adds ten more and makes it vp scaventy But Strabo in the seaventeenth of his Geography mentioning the same thing layes this censure vpon Gabinius the Authour of it Sed nec Gabinius Romanarum rerum Scriptor in describenda Mauritania fabulis prodigiosis abstinet neither doth Gabinius in his description of Mauritania abstaine from the relation of monstrous fables In the fourteenth yeare of Henry the second Emperour was the body of Pallas as 't was thought companion to Aeneas taken vp at Rome and found in height to equall the walles of that cittie But as Galeotus Martius hath well obserued his body was said to haue beene burned Arsurasque comas obnubit amictu The locks that shortly should consume in fire He couered with his Robe Which I suppose to be likewise true of many of those bodies which notwithstanding are reported to haue beene found intire for their proportions long after their deaths though turned into ashes many yeares before It being the custome of those countries to burne as it is ours to burie our dead Our Malmesburiensis likewise in his second booke thirteenth chapter de gestis Rerum Anglorum mentioneth the same story shall I call it or fable telling vs that in the yeare of grace 1042 in the reigne of S. Edward the body of Pallas the sonne of Euander of whom Virgill speakes Romae repertum est illibatum ingenti stupore omnium quod tot saecula incorruptionem sui superavit was found at Rome intire and sound to the great astonishment of all men that by the space of so many ages it had triumphed ouer corruption and farther to confirme the trueth thereof he assures vs that the gaping widenesse of the wound which Turnus made in the midst of his breast was found by measure to be foure foote an halfe a large wound and the weapon which made it we cannot but conceiue as large and by the appearance of it at full not onely the bones and skinne and sinewes but the flesh to remaine incorrupt a matter altogether incredible Besides he sets vs downe his Epitath found at the same time Filius Evandri Pallans quem lancea Turni Militis occidit more suo iacet hic Which himselfe knowes not well how to giue credit too quod non tunc crediderim factum sayth he which I cannot beleeue was then made but by Ennius or some other of latter ages But I proceede Herodotus in his first booke tels vs that the body of Orestes being taken vp was found to be seaven cubits but Gellius is bold to bestow vpon him for his labour the title of Homo Fabulator a forger of fables rather inclining to the opinion of Varro who held the vtmost period of a mans growth to be seaven foote What would he then haue said to the body of Oryon which Pliny makes forty six cubits or of Macrosyris which Trallianus makes an hundred cubits or of that body discouered in a vast caue neere Drepanum in Sicilie three of whose teeth if wee may beleeue Boccace weighed an hundred ounces and the leadde of his staffe a thousand and fiue hundred pounds And the body it selfe by proportion of some of the bones was estimated to no lesse then two hundred cubits which makes three hundred feete somewhat I thinke beyond Pauls steeple The more I wonder at S. Augustine who confidently assures vs that himselfe with others being on the sea shore at Vtica he there saw a mans iaw-tooth so bigge that being cut into small peeces it would haue made an hundred such as the men liuing in his age commonly had by which computation the body it selfe must likewise in reason haue exceeded the bodies of his age an hundred times so that being compared with a body of six foote exceeding it one hundred times it will be found six hundred foote high which is the just double to Boccace his Gyant Yet Ralph the Munke of Cogshall who wrote 350 yeares agoe as witnesseth Camden it may be in imitation of S. Augustine auerres that himselfe saw the like which in a Munke is I confesse more tollerable then that which Lodovicus Viues deservedly reputed a graue and learned Authour vpon that passage of S. Augustines affirmes that going to the Church on S. Christophers day the place he names not but it seemes to be Louaine because from thence he dates his Epistle dedicatorie to King Henrie the 8
percussit pondere coxam Aeneae sed quam valeant emittere dextrae Illis dissimiles nostro tempore natae Nam genus hoc vivo iam decrescebat Homero Terra malos homines nunc educat atque pusillos Ergo Deus quicunque aspexit ridet odit Stooping for stones them in brawles alway The readiest weapon they commence their fray Not that of Turne or Aiax or whereby The sonne of Tydeus brake Aeneas thigh But such as hands vnlike to theirs and now Bred in our dayes well able are to throw For euen while Homer liv'd this race decreased And mother earth hath euer since beene pleased Cowardly dwarfes to breed those deities That them behold deride them and despise Now for asmuch as it is euident that Invenall heerein followed Virgill and Homer as will cleerely appeare when we come to the examining of their testimonies I will likewise referre the answere heerevnto to that place For Virgill then he speaking of Turnus and his great strengh thus poetizes Saxum antiquum ingens campo qui forte iacebat Limes agro positus litem vt discerneret aruis Vix illum lecti bis sex ceâ—…vice subirent Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus Ille manu raptum valida toquebat in hostem A huge old stone which then by chaunce lay in the field To bound out severall grounds and quarrells to prevent Scarce twelue choyce men such as now mother earth doth yeeld Could beare it on their necks yet he incontinent Caught it with puissant arme and to his foe it sent With which accords that in the first of his Georgickes touching the plowing vp of the Emathean and Emonean fields where many bloody battels had beene fought Scilicet tempus veniet cum finibus illis Agricola incurvo terram molitus aratro Exesa inveniet scabra rubigine pila Aut gravibus rastris galeas pulsabit inanes Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris The time will one day come when in those feilds The painefull husband plowing vp his ground Shall finde all fret with rust both pikes and sheilds And emptie helmes vnder his harrow sound Wondring at those great bones those graues doe yeeld But what credit shall wee giue to Virgill in these things who tels vs of Enceladus Fessum quoties motat latus intremere omnem Trinacriam As oft as wearied he from side to side doth turne Trinacria trembles And of Titius Per tota novem cui iâ—…gera corpus Porrigitur Whose bodie stretches to nine akers length And besides he was doubtles heerein as in many other passages thorow the Aeneads Homers ape who thus brings in Hector Hector autem rapiens lapidem portabat qui portas Stetit ante deorsum crassus sed superne Acutus erat hunc neque duo viri è populo optimi Facile ad plaustrum è terra perducerent Quales nunc sunt homines Hector caught vp a stone before the gate that lay The vpper pointed was blunt was the nether part Two of the better sort such as liue now a day Could scarce with all their force mount it into a cart To like purpose and very neere in the same words is that which hee hath in another place of Diomedes throwing a stone at Aeneas Saxum accepit manu Tytides magni ponderis quod non duo viri ferrent Quales nunc homines sunt Into his hand Tydides tooke A stone of wondrous weight Two men such as the world now yeelds To bear 't haue not the might From whence it is manifest that all the alleadged Authours herein followed Homer he being named by Gellius Pliny Iuvenall so plainely imitated by Virgill that wee neede not doubt from whom hee borrowed it rendring Homers Quales nunc sunt homines into Qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus But heerein he exceedes Homer that he turnes two into twelue more tollerablely I confesse because more Poetically that a man may know it at the first blush to be but a fiction And as for Homer himselfe the founder and spring-head of this opinion as he was the Authour of many excellent inventions so as it was truely written of him Hic ille est cuius de gurgite sacro Combibit arcanos vatum omnis turba furores This is the man whose sacred streame hath served all the Crew Of Poets thence they dranke their fill thence they their furies drew And therefore was hee painted vomiting and the Poets round about licking vp his vomit yet as a ranke and battell soyle that abounds both in corne and weedes so was he likewise the fruitfull parent of many errours and fables which were afterwards taken vp and imbraced with like greedines as were his best and choisest inventions Such is naturally our affection that whom in great things wee mightily admire in them we are not perswaded willingly that any thing should be amisse The reason whereof is for that as dead flies putrifie the oyntment of the Apothecarie so a little folly him that is in estimation for wissdome And this in euery profession hath too much authorised the judgement of a few I will not stand to make a Catalogue of Homers mistakes and fictions which his admirers in succeeding ages haue entertained as certaine truths That fable of the Pigmies because it hath some affinitie with our present matter and their manner of fighting with Cranes shall suffice for all which many not onely Poets but great Philosophers and among them Aristotle himselfe relying vpon his authority haue taken vp vpon trust whereas all the parts of the world being now in a manner discouered there is no such countrey or people to be found in it And for this particular opinion it is not onely objected by Goropius but by Magius freely acknowledged that Homer by Plutarches computation who composed a treatise purposely of his life liuing but one hundred yeares or a little more after the Troian warres made such a difference in mens strength and stature as was altogether incredible within the compasse of so short a space nay himselfe makes Hectors speare to bee but tenne Cubits long the ordinary length they are at euen at this day brings Telemachus Vlysses his sonne thus speaking to his nurce Euriclea Haud equidem quenquam longinquus sit licet hospes Absque labore feram contingere Chanica nostram No guest though come from farre I thee assure To touch my Choenix will I Choenix endure From which Budaeus inferres that euen then a Choenix was the daily allowance for a man as it likewise was many hundred yeares after Homers times among the Graecians For conclusion though tenne persons be brought to giue testimony in any cause yet if the knowledge they haue of the thing wherevnto they come as witnesses appeare to haue growne from some one among them and to haue spread it selfe from hand to hand they are all in force but as one testimony and if it appeare that the fountaine from
Athens forsaken by Philosophie She forthwith â—…avell'd into Italie 〈◊〉 beganne to shine afresh Italy neere about the time of the birth of Christ there being a generall peace thorow the world the Roman Empire being fully settled established Poets Oratours Philosophers Historiâ—…s neuer more excellent From thence this light spread it selfe ouer Christendome continued bright till the invndation of the Gothes and Hâ—…nnes Vâ—…ndals who ransacked Libraries and defaced almost all the monuments of Antiqâ—…y insomuch as that lampe seemed againe to be put out hy the space of almost a thousand yeares had longer so continued had not first Mensor King of Africa Spaine raised vp spurred forward the Arabian wits to the restâ—…raton of good letters by proposing great rewards encouragements vnto them And afterwards Petrarch a man of a singular wit rare naturall endowments opened such Libraries as were left vndemolished beat off the dust from the moth-eaten bookes drew into the light the best Authors He was seconded by Boccace Iohn of Ravenâ—… soone after by Areline Philâ—…lphus Valla Poggius Omnibonus Vergerius Blondus others And those againe were followed by Aeneas Sylvius Angelus Politianus Hermolaus Barbarus Marsilius Ficinus that Phaenix of Learning Iohannes Picus Earle of Mirandula who as appeares in the entrance of his Apologie proposed openly at Rome nine hundred questions in all kinde of faculties to be disputed inviting all strangers thither from any part of the knowne world and offering himselfe to beare the charge of their travell both comming and going and during their abode there so as he deservedly receiued that Epitaph which after his death was bestowed on him Iohannes iacet hic Mirandula caetera norunt Et Tagus Ganges forsan Antipodes Heere lies Mirandula Tagus the rest doth know And Ganges and perhaps th' Antipodes also And rightly might that be verified of him which Lucretius sometimes wrote of Epicurus his Master Hic genus humanum ingenio superavit omnes Praestrinxit stellas exortus vt aethereus sol In wit all men he farre hath overgone Eclipsing them like to the rising Sunne This path being thus beaten out by these Heroicall spirits they were backed by Rodulphus Agricola Reucline Melancthon Ioachimus Camerarius Wolphangus Lazius Beatus Rhenanus Almaines the great Erasmus a Netherlander Ludovicus Vives a Spanyard Bembus Sadoletus Eugubinus Italians Turnebus Muretus Ramus Pithaeus Budaeus Amiot Scaliger Frenchmen Sir Thomas More and Liâ—…aker Englishmen And it is worth the observing that about this time the slumbering drowzie spirit of the Graecians began againe to be revived and awakened in Bessarion Gemmistius Trapezontius Gaza Argyropilus Calcondilas and others nay those very Northerne Nations which before had giuen the greatest wound to learning began now as by way of recompence to advance the honour of it by the same of their studies as Olaus Magnus Holsterus Tycho Braye Hemingius Danes Hâ—…sius Frixius Crummerus Polonians But the number of those worthies who like somany sparkling starres haue siâ—…ce thorow Christendome succeeded and some of them exceeded these in learning knowledge is so infinite that the very recitall of their names were enough to fill whole volumes And if we descend to a particular examination of the severall professions Arts Sciences and Manufactures we shall surely finde that praediction of the Divine Seneca accomplished Muâ—…venientis aevâ—…populus ignâ—… nobis sciet the people of future ages shall come to the knowledge of many things vnknowne to vs And that of Tacâ—…us most true Nec omnia apud priores meliora sed nostra quoque aetas multa laudis arâ—…um imitanda posteris 〈◊〉 Neither were all things in ancient times better then ours but our age hath left vnto posterity many things worthy praise and imitation Ramus goes further and perchance warrantably enough Maiorem doctorum hominum operâ—… proventum saeculo vno vidimâ—… quam totis antea 14. maiores nostri viderant We haue seene within the space of one age a more plentifull crop of learned men works then our Predecessors saw in fourteen next going before CAP. 7. Touching the three principall professions Divinity Law and Physicke SEC 1. Of the Divinity of the Gentiles and Iewes before Christ and the next ages after Christ. WE will begin with the high and noble profession of Divinity this among the Gentiles was partly prophane and fabulous in their vaine discourses touching the Genealogie the number nature of their Gods partly mixed with much errour and weaknesse in their Metaphysicks professing themselues to be wise they became vaine in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned Ante Christum quam molestae disputationes saith Lodovicus Vives in his 5 booke 9 chapter de veritate fidei Christianae how irkesome where the disputes how tedious their deliberations in comparing honesty with profit because they knew not what was honesty nor in very truth what was truly proâ—…table How diverse and vncertaine were their ends of goodnesse which held mens mindes in suspense but Christ hath now fully cleered opened all points we are now well acquainted with the true end and the meanes that conduce to that end what is honest what profitable what hurtfull the resolutions are now easie and perspicuous and in the fourth chapter of the same booke nunc râ—…onditissima mysteria scitu digna necessaria melius nostrae mulierâ—…le intelligunt quà m maximi olim philosophi Our silliest women now better vnderstand the deepest Mysteries worthie or needefull to be knowne then the profoundest Philosophers then did They were as the Apostle speakes in another case euer learning but neuer came nor indeed could euer come to the knowledge of truth in asmuch as the meere naturall man perceiueth not nor can perceiue the hidde things of God the mysteries of the kingdome of heauen which made them to bee as Minutius Foelix in his Octauius hath truely obserued Semper adversus sua vitia facundi alwaies eloquent in declayming against their owne vices but wee saith he qui non habitu sapientiam sed mente praeferimus who doe not place or weare wisedome in the robe but in the mind non eloquimur magna sed viuimus we speake not bigge but liue well glory in this that wee haue found that which they with all eagernesse sought but could not finde His conclusion is Quid ingrati sumus quid nobis invidemus si veritas divinitatis nostri temporis aetate maturuit fruamur bono nostro Why are wee ingrate why doe we envy our selues if the true knowledge of the deitie haue beene brought to ripenesse and full perfection in our age In Gods name let vs enioy our owne blessing Among the Iewes the onely visible Church the sacred Oracles of God containing the revelation of supernaturall truths were indeede preserued But heerevnto their Talmudists Cabalists their Scribes Pharises their Sadduces atd Essens added such traditions such fictions such
that should seeme probable to any man by reason of the countenance of so graue Authours which is no way to be approved and partly that from hence it may appeare how much the Church of Christ from that time to this hath profited in the knowledge of holy Scriptures divine mysteries Nam multa quondam vel doctissimis viris aut obscura dubia aut etiam incognita nunc vel mediocriter eruditis perspicua indubitata exploratèque percepta sunt for many things anciently either obscure or doubtfull or altogether vnknowne to the most learned among them are now become euen to meane Clarkes cleere certaine And with him fully accords Andradius in his defence of the Tridentine Councill God hath revealed many things to vs that they never saw And Dominicus Bannes a famous schoole-man It is not necessary that by how much the more the Church is remote from the Apostles times by somuch there should be the lesse perfect knowledge of the mysteries of faith therein because after the Apostles times there were not the most learned men in the Church which had dexterity in vnderstanding and expounding matters of faith Roffensis likewise our Countrey-man strikes vpon the same string It cannot be vnknowne to any but that many things are more narrowly sifted cleerely vnderstood by the helpes of latter wits aswell in the Gospells as other parts of the Scriptures then formerly they haue beene and lastly to make vp the musicke full Cardinall Caietan beares a part Let no man thinke it strange if sometimes wee bring a new sence of holy writ different from the auncient Doctours but let him diligently examine the Text context and if he find it to agree therewith let him praise God who hath not tyed the exposition of the sacred Scriptures to the sences giuen by the auncient Doctours These testimonies I the rather vouch for that the Authours of them being professed Champions of the Romane Church withall professe themselues to bee the greatest friends to the ancient Fathers SECT 2. Of ensuing ages YEt not to conceale a truth these were lightsome times in regard of those succeeding ages that followed after when Divinity was wouen into distinctions which like Cobwebbs were fine and curious in working but not much vsefull And in the meane time for the most part in the Scriptures and holy Languages there was so great ignorance vt Graecè nosse suspectum fuerit Hebraicè propè Haereticum that as witnesseth Espencaeus himselfe a Doctour of the Sorbon to bee skilled in Greeke was suspitious in the Hebrew almost haereticall which suspition Rhemigius an Interpreter of S. Pauls Epistles surely was not guilty of for commenting vpon these words à vobis diffamatus est sermo hee tells vs that diffamatus was somewhat improperly put for divulgatus S. Paul being not very sollicitous of the propriety of words wherevpon Ludovicus Vives demaunds Quid facias principibus istis Scholarum qui nondum sciunt Paulum non Latinè sed Graecè scripsisse What shall we say to these Masters in Israel who know not that S. Paul wrote not in Latine but in Greeke It appeares by the rescript of Pope Zacharie to Boniface a German Bishop that a Priest in those parts baptized in this forme Baptizo te in nomine Patria Filia Spiritua sancta And by Erasmus that some Divines in his time would take vpon them to prooue that Heretiques were to be put to death because the Apostle saith Haereticum hominem devita which it seemes they vnderstood as if he had said de vita tolle I haue somewhere read that two Fryars disputing whether God made any more worlds then one the one wisely alleadging that passage of the Gospell touching the ten Lepers which were cleansed Annon decem facti sunt mundi as if God had made tenne worlds the other looking into the text replies as wisely with the words immediatly following Sed vbi sunt novem but what is become of the nine so as from thence hee would prooue but one to be left He that is disposed to make himselfe merry in this kinde may finde in Henry Stevens his Apologie of Herodotus a number of like stuffe I will only touch one or two of the choisest Du Prat a Bishop and Chauncellour of France hauing receiued a letter from Henry the eight King of England to Francis the first of France wherein among other things he wrote mitto tibi duodecem Molossos I send you twelue mastife dogs the Chauncellour taking Molossos to signifie Mules made a journey of purpose to the Court to begge them of the King who wondring at such a present to be sent him from England demaunded the sight of the letter and smiling thereat the Chauncellour finding himselfe to be deceiued told him that hee mistooke Molossos for Muletos and so hoping to mend the matter made it worse Another tale he tels of a Parish Priest in Artois who had his Parishioners in sute for not paving the Church and that the charge thereof lay vpon them and not vpon him he would proue out of the 17 of the Prophet Ieremie Paveant illi non paveam ego I remember Arch-Bishop Parker somewhere in his Antiquitates Britannicae makes relation of a French Bishop who being to take his oath to the Archbishop of Canterburie finding the word Metropoliticae therein being not able to pronounce it he passed it ouer with Soit pour dict let it be as spoken when they had most grossely broken Priscians head being taken in the fact their common defence was those words of S. Gregorie non debent verba coelestis Oraculi subesse regulis Donati the wordes of the heavenly Oracles ought not to be subiect to the rules of Donatus But about 200 yeares since together with the Arts the languages likewise began to reuiue in somuch as Hebrew Greeke are now as commō as true Latine then was for the true sence of holy Scripture neuer had the Church more judicious faithfull Interpreters then by the Diuine prouidence it hath injoyed these last 100 yeares besides the Sermons of this latter age specially in this land haue doubtles bin more exquisite effectuall then ordinarily they haue bin in any precedent age insomuch as it is obserued that if there were a choice collection made of the most accurate since the entrance of Queen Elizabeth to these present times leauing out the largenesse of applications therevpon it would proue one of the rarest peeces that hath beene published since the Apostles times Heerevnto might be added for practicall divinitie the decisions of cases of conscience which the Ancients did not handle professedly but onely vpon the Bye and the many singular treatises tending to deuotion which I wish they were aswell practised as they are written And no doubt but the great agitation of controuersies which these latter times haue produced hath not only sharpned the spirits of Diuines but made the
holding that before Sylla the Romans burnt not their dead bodies and partly to shew that many of those monstrous giantlike bodies which aswell among the Romans as Graecians are said to haue beene digged vp were vndoubtedly burnt but chiefly that hereby it may appeare that the noble and vsefull practise of anatomizing mens bodies was not in vse among them neither indeed could it be considering they held it vnlawfull aspicere humana exta as Pliny speakes in his proeme to his 28 booke to looke vpon the entrals of mens bodies and Dion in his 55 tels vs that it was graunted to Tiberius to touch the body of Augustus quod nefas alias erat which was otherwise vnlawfull and from hence it was that their Vespillones Coriarij Pollinctores Libitinarij and other officers of that kinde imployed about the washing the annointing the carrying foorth the burning and providing things necessary about the dead were not suffered to liue in the Citty and the bodies themselues were burnt without the Citty few there were that went foorth of the citty gates to wait on the funerals of their nearest and dearest friends Now the Antiquity of this cvstome being cleared a second doubt there is when it ceased manifest then it is that it continued in vse till the Antonins and tben began it by degrees to be disvsed Macrobius witnessing in the seuenth booke and seuenth chapter of his Saturnals that in his time it was in a manner growne out of vse yet certaine it is that the bodies of Pertinax and Severus fifty yeares after were both burned as reporteth Dion of the one and Herodian in his fourth book of the other and neere about this time it was that Galen liued so as I verily beleeue he neuer or very seldome opened the bodies of men I know that Riolan and Laurentius haue both of them zealously defended him against the Neotericks who charge him with much weaknesse and ignorance in this Art but I cannot obserue that either of them hath produced so much as one cleere passage out of any part of his workes to proue that he euer so much as once opened the body of a man dogges indeed swine apes it appeares he opened once an Elephant but for his vsuall opening of mens bodies in my minde they bring no sufficient proofes which Laurentius himselfe well perceiuing modestly concludes his answere to the first instance brought against Galen with a verisimile est it is likely that he cut vp the bodies of men But let vs passe on from the Iewes and Gentiles to the Primitiue Christians who were as their workes shew professed adversaries to this practise Tertullian in the fourth chapt of his booke de anima speaking of Herophilus doubts whether he may call him medicum or lanium a Physitian or a butcher qui hominem odijt vt nosset saith he who hated mankinde that he might know it S Augustine de Civit. dei 22. 24. harpes much vpon the same string Etsi medicorum diligentia nonnulla Crudelis quos anatomicos appellant laniâ—…uit corpora mortuorum howbeit the ouer-diligent crueltie of some Physitians whom they call Anatomists hath butchered the bodies of the dead And to like purpose is that of Boniface the eigth extrauag commun lib. 3. tit 6. cap. 1. where he seuerely threatens such with the thunderbold of excommunication irreuocable but onely by the sea Apostolique who exenterate dead bodies and cut the flesh from the bones mangling it into gobbets quod non solum saith hee diuinae maiestatis conspectui abominabile plurimum redditur sed etiam humanae considerationis obtutibus occurrit vehementius abhorrendum which is a practise abominable in the eyes both of God men Out of all which it appeares that this practise of anatomizing the dead bodies of men so profitable to bring vs to the knowledge of our selues and consequently of our maker so necessarie to Physitians Surgeans was neuer brought into the bodie of a perfect art till this latter age Nos multa quotidie prioribus seculis incognita obseruamus wee obserue many things vtterly vnknowne to former ages And this last age in truth hath yeelded men singular in this art Vesalius Vassaeus Varolius Sylvius Fallopius Piceolhominaeus Columbus Riolanus Laurentius who followed Henry the fourth of France in his civill wars and gained much experience by cutting vp the bodies of such as were slaine in the field vt videatur haec Ars nunc summum perfectionis fastigium attigisse they be his owne words so as this Art now neuer before seemes to haue reached the very toppe of perfection Neuer was it in any age so illustrated with liuely exquisite pictures so encouraged with stipends so furnished with schooles fitting instruments all manner of helpes and generally so honoured as it is at this day And truely I haue often not a little wondred with my selfe that an Vniversitie so famous in forraine parts as this of Oxford was neuer to my knowledge provided of a publique Lecture in this kind till now as neither was it for a garden of simples now in good forwardnes by the noble munificence of the Heroicall Earle of Danbie nor of a History Lecture nor of an Arabique though it were long since solemnly decreed in the Councill of Vienna that this Vniversity as likewise Paris Bononia Salamanca Rome which were vndoubtedly then accounted the principall Vniversities in Christendome should each of them haue maintained two professours in that language as also in Chalde Hebrew Clementinarum lib. 5. Tit. 1. cap. 1. Now for the knowledge of Simples the other legge as it were vpon which Physicke stands as Theophraestus was in many things amended by Plynie Plynie by Dioscorides so hath Dioscorides himselfe by the happy travells of Ruellius Rouillius Leonardus Fuchsius who in his Epistle to Ioachimus Marquis of Brandenburg tels vs that this part of Physicke was a while since so vtterly neglected defaced that had not God raysed vp industrious and learned men to restore it actum plane de Medicina Herbaria fuisset it had beene vtterly lost But Hermolaus Barbarus was hee who by translating Dioscorides out of Greeke into Latine by adding his Corrolarium therevnto touching the same subject first recouered the ancient lustre thereof And since by reason of the discouerie of many parts of the world vnknowne to the Ancients many plants gummes drugges mineralls are by Monaedus others knowne to vs which they neuer heard of SECT 5. Of the profitable vse of extractions and the Paracelsian Physicke either wholy vnknowne to the Ancients or little practised by them TO the perfiting of the Anatomicall and reuiuing of the Botanicall art in this latter age may be added a new kinde of physicke professed by a new sect of Physitians neuer heard of in the world before and altogether differing from the Ancients as in name in tearmes of art so likewise in rules in matter in
and that deservedly censures Eratostenes Hipparchus Polybius Possidonius the gravest Authors among the Ancients and Ptolomie sharply takes vp Marinus Tyrius though otherwise a diligent Writer yet both Strabo Ptolomy themselues if they be compared with our latter Geographers Hondius Mercator Thevet Merula Ortelius Maginus how defectiue how imperfect will they be found The ignorance of former ages in this point was so grosse that what time Pope Clement the sixth as we read in Robert of Auesbury had elected Lewis of Spaine to be Prince of the Fortunate Ilands for to aide assist him mustered Souldiers in France Italy our Countrey-men were verily perswaded that he was chosen Prince of Brittaine as one sayth he of the Fortunate Ilands yea and our very Ligier Embassadors there with the Pope were so deepely settled in this opinion that forthwith they with-drew themselues from Rome hasted with all speed into England there to certifie their Countreymen and friends of the matter Yet that which to me seemeth more strange is that those two learned Clearkes Lactantius and Augustine should with that earnestnesse deny the being of any Antipodes Their words are worth the noting thereby to see their confidence and eagernesse in the maintenance of so evident a mistake Quid illi saith Lactantius qui esse contrarios vestigijs nostris Antipodes putant num aliquid loquuntur aut est quisquam tam ineptus qui credat esse homines quorum vestigia sunt superiora quam capita aut ibi quae apud nos jacent inversa pendere fruges arbores deorsum versus crescere pluvias nives grandinem sursum versus cadere in terram miratur aliquis hortos pensiles inter septem mira narrari quam Philosophi agros maria vrbes montes pensiles faciunt What shall we thinke of them who giue out there are Antipodes that walke opposite to vs doe they speake any thing to the purpose or is there any so blockish as to beleeue there are men whose feet are higher then their heads or that those things there hang which with vs lye on the ground that the plants and trees spring downeward that the snow and raine and haile fall vpward vpon the earth need any man marvell that hanging gardens are counted in the number of the seuen wonders of the world since the Philosophers haue made both fields and seas cities and mountaines all hanging Lactantius is herein seconded by Augustine Quod verò Antipodes esse fabulantur id est homines à contraria parte terrae vbi sol oritur quandò occidit nobis adversa pedibus nostris calcare vestigia nullâ ratione credendum est Their fable of the Antipodes that is men dwelling in the opposite part of the earth where the Sunne rises when it sets to vs hauing their feete opposite to ours is a matter altogether incredible by no meanes to be beleeued But Zachary Bishop of Rome and Boniface Bishop of Mentz led as it seemes by the authority of these Fathers went farther herein condemning one Virgilius a Bishop of Saltzburg as an Heretique onely for holding that there were Antipodes But time and travell haue now discovered the contrary so evidently that we may aswell doubt the being of a Sun in the firmament as the experimentall cleerenes of this truth And as evident it is now likewise found to bee by certaine experience that vnder the middle or burning Zone which the Ancients by means of excessiue heate held altogether inhabitable there is as healthfull temperate and pleasant dwelling as any-where in the world as appeares by the relations of Benzo Acosta and others Besides the Ancients as it seemes were altogether ignorant of the new World discovered in the yeare 1492 by Columbus now knowne by the name of America or the West-Indies whatsoeuer from Platoes Atlantis or Salomons Ophir be slightly pretended to the contrary yet I confesse I haue often wondred not a little at Senecaes bold prepheticall spirit touching that Discovery Venient annis Secula seris Quibus Oceanus Vincula rerum Laxet ingens Pateat tellus Typhisque novos Detegat orbes Nec sit terris Vltima Thule In latter times an age shall rise Wherein the Ocean shall the bands Of things enlarge there shall likewise New Worlds appeare and mighty Lands Typhis discouer then Thule The Worlds end shall no longer be This prophesie wee haue found fulfilled not onely in the discovery of those vast Regions before vnknowne but in opening by meanes of Navigation and the helpe of the Compasse euery creeke and corner of the habitable World worth the knowing so that now it hath neuer before had it thorow lights made in it Nay particular countreyes haue bin of late yeares most exactly described by several Writers The Netherlands by Lewis Guicciardine Great Brittaine by the renowned Camden the like by others Neither haue there wanted some who haue descended to Provinces and Shires Master Carew to the survay of Cornewall Master Lambert to the perambulation of Kent and Master Burton to the description of Lecestershire yea particular Cities Rome Venice Paris London the Houses of great Princes haue found their particular Maps delineations so fully perfectly expressed that a man who neuer saw them but in representation may now speake as particularly of them as if he had beene borne and bred in them SECT 2. That the defect of the Ancients in Naturall Ecclesiasticall history is iustly corrected by the moderns in Civill history the moderns are matched with the Ancients And of the knowledge of weights and measures and the true valuation of coinès recovered and restored by latter Writers which thorow the neglect of former ages had well nigh perished THe bodie of History branches it selfe into History Naturall Ecclesistasticall Civill For the first it is most certaine that euen Aristotle himselfe and Pliay were ignorant of many things and wrote many not onely vncertaine but now convinced of manifest errour and absurdity Conradus Gesnerus hath laboured this part of History most industriously but others who haue vndertaken severall peeces of this burden more exactly Some of birds de animalibus insectis crustaceis testaceis Zoophytis as Aldrouandinus Some of fishes as Rondoletius some of Bathes as Baccius and Blanthellus some of Mettals as Georgius Agricola and some of plants and vegetables as Mathiolus Ruellius Fuchius to whom may be added the commendable paines of Gerrard in our owne language And some others againe purposely of some one particular kinde of beasts or birdes or fishes or plants or bathes or mettals History Ecclesiasticall hath likewise beene shamefully abused by thrusting into it many fabulous narrations of the liues of Saints and deaths of Martyrs Baronius and before him the Magdeburgians haue both very diligently though with different purposes travelled heerein in somuch that now betweene them both we haue made vp a compleate history of the Church
which former ages neuer saw Civill history indeed the Graecians Romans excelled in but with much partiality on both sides many speches they haue put into the mouths of Commanders others meerely fained besides they lay in darkenes obscurity for the space of many huÌ„dred yeares together till this latter age in which they were not only drawn into the light but aemulated equalled Cornelius Tacitus somuch magnified Sr Henry Savill sharply censures for his stile taking occasion froÌ„ those words in the life of Agri cola bonum virum facile crederes magnum libenter at te saith hee Corneli Tacite bonum historicum facile credimus bonum oratorem crederemus libeÌ„ter were it not for this some other sayings of the like making Fuit illi viro sayth Tacitus iudging of Seneca as we may of him ingenium amaenum temporis illius auribus accommodatum How that age was eared long or round I cannot define but sure I am it yeelded a kinde of sophisticate eloquence riming harmonie of words where-vnder was small matter in sense when there seemed to be most in appearance and diverse instances he brings out of Tacitus and as Sr Henry Savill taxes him for his phrase so doth Strada for his history in that not content with bare relations he adds of his owne coniectures animadversions interpretations of actions sometimes savouring of detraction sometimes of flatterie and for the most part as it best serued his turne to make way for the displaying of his wit in his politicall obseruations and precepts as he shewes by diverse passages taken out of him accusing him likewise of irreligion and with Strada heerein accords Lipsius who calls Tacitus immemorem secumque pugnantem vnmindfull of what he had said and crossing himselfe Bonamicus sectantem veri speciem relicta veritate a follower of the shadow of trueth leauing the truth it selfe Caesar Baronius who convinces him of envie lying Tom. 1. Annal. lib. 21. cap. 24 as likewise dâ—…th Marsilius Ficinus de Christiana religione cap. 35. and Dion nepos in vita probi Imperatoris And to passe by others Tertullian who liued in the next age after him stiles him mendaciorum loquacissimum a lowd lyar and in trueth his vaine and fabulous narration touching the Iewes in the last booke of his historie together with his virulency against the Christians annal 15. 10. shew him to haue bin none other whatsoeuer he pretend to the contrary But I leaue him and descend to moderne Historiographers Sr Walter Rawleigh for so farre as he hath gone in the history of the world is matchable with the best of the Ancients Francis Guicciardine Comines Thuanus not inferiour to any and the particular histories of most countreys haue receiued as it were new light fresh colours in this latter age The Spanish from Mariana Turquet the French from Peter Mathew Du Serres the high Dutch from Paulus Iouius Sleidan the low Dutch from Meteranus the Scottish from Buchanan the Irish from Stannihurst the Sicilian from Fazelus the Turkish from Knoles and for our owne storie it lay dispersed in the narrations of seuerall writers those for the most part Monkes till Polidor Virgill collected it into one bodie but in my iudgement Sr Henry Savill and Mr Camden haue better deserued by presenting vs the Authours themselues in two seuerall volumes Some peeces heereof wee haue very well done in our owne language as the three Norman Kings Henry the fourth by Dr Hayward Edward the fifth or rather Richard the 3 by Sr Thomas More Henry the seventh by my Lord of S. Albanes the life of Q. Elizabeth by M. Camden since translated Neither haue there beene wanting such as haue written and that very commendablely the liues of particular men eminent for vertue or learning or place Onuphrius Cicarella come nothing short of Anastasius and Platina in the liues of the Popes The liues of the Emperours Petrus Mexias hath well performed Serrarius of the Archbishops of Mentz and Mathew Parker Archbishop of Canterbury of his predecessours Barlet hath with good approbation published the life of Scanderbegge and Catena of Pius Quintus Doctour Humphreys of Bishop Iewell and Sir George Paule of Archbishop Whitegift and it were to be wished that this kinde of history were more in vse aswell for the honour of the deceased as the incitement of the liuing in which kinde Theuet and Paulus Iouius and the right Reverend father in God Doctour Godwin now Bishop of Hereford deserue both praise and imitation An appendix of historie is the right valuation of weights and measures and coynes which though they were doubtles knowen to the Ancients who vsed them yet since for many ages past the knowledge of them hath much growne out of vse and was in a manner lost which bred a marveilous great mistake and confusion in historie vntill by the worthy paines of Budaeus Gesnerus Alciatus Glarianus Agricola Villalpandus Mariana and our learned Countrey-man Edward Brierwood late professour of Astronomie in Gresham Colledge it was againe regained and restored And if any desire to see all that haue written of this subiect I referre him to Gaspar Wolphius his treatise intituled Virorum illustrium alphabetica enumeratio qui de ponderibus ac mensurarum doctrina scripserunt SECT 3. A Comparison betweene the Greeke Latine as also betweene the ancienter latter Latine Poets and those that haue written in other languages and that poetry as other arts hath fallen and risen againe in this latter age TOuching Poetrie for the inventiue part thereof Sir Phillip Sydneyes Arcadia is in my judgement nothing inferiour to the choisest peece among the Ancients for the Poets themselues it is true of the most ancient both among the Greekes Latines which Bartas hath of Marrot Thee Marrot I esteeme euen as an old Colosse All soyled broken ouergrowen with mosse Worne picture Tombe defac'd not for fine worke I see But in deuoute regard of their antiquity Volcatius Sedigitus hauing named nine of the Romane Comedians adds in the close of all Decimum addo antiquitatis causà Ennium Ennius as tenth I add Because he ancient'st is This controuersie being it seemes on foote in Horace his time as in all ages it hath bin he wittily demaunds this question Si meliora dies vt vina poemata reddat Scire velim pretium chartis quotus arroget annus If as time betters wine it betters Poems too Tell me how many yeares doth giue them price enough And in the end concludes Qui veteres ita miratur laudatque Poetas Vt nihil anteferat nihil illis comparet errat Who prayses admires old Poets much doth erre If nought he dare compare or nought to them preferre Hercules Ciophanus witnesseth that Planudes well knowing that Grecce had not a Poeme so abounding with delight beauty as Ovids Metamorphosis translated it into that language And generally
nostri quos celebramus laudibus quibus dissimiles querimur nos esse spe ducti montes ceciderunt supra lucrum sub ruina steterunt This I read with marveilous great content for thereby I vnderstood that our age was not burdened with new vices but such as were anciently practised nor that Auarice now first searched into the veines of the earth stones seeking out those things which Nature hath buried in darkenes Euen those our Ancestours whom we so highly extoll to whom we complaine that our selues are vnlike in hope of lucre cut thorow mountains and vnder danger of ruine stood vpon their gaine It cannot be denyed but that a wicked Gouernour hath many times a good successour and a gracelesse father a godly and vertuous sonne Egregia est soboles scelerato nata parente A worthles sire begets a worthy sonne Thus Constantine succeeded to Dioclesian Iouinian to Iulian Alexander Seuerus to Heliogabalus Hezekias to Ahaz Iosias to Ammon And doubtles were the son alwayes worse then the faher the successour then the predecessour and succeeding ages then the proceeding villny had long ere this stretched it selfe to the vtmost period that complaint which the satyrist vttered by way of Poeticall aggrauation had long before this time beene verified in truth and in deede Non habet vlterius quod nostris moribus addat Posteritas Nought hath posterity Which to our manners may yet further added be SECT 2. The extreame follie of the ancients in adoring invocating images IN this comparison of manners I will first begin with the Religion of the Ancients which ouer-spread almost the whole world because from their foule errours in matters of the first Table we shall easily guesse at their grosse irregularities in those of the second the duties of the latter depending vpon the obseruation of the former And besides in the very choice exercise of their Religion will appeare much inhumanitie brutish stupiditie Their Idols of gold siluer stone and wood were to the inspired pen-men of holy writ so ridiculous that euery where they inveigh against them as most sottish vaniâ—…es and the worshippers of them as men voide of common Reason shewing themselues more blockish then the very blockes they adored in that being themselues made according to Gods image they worshipped images made with their owne hands and bestowed vpon their owne workes the Deitie of him from whom they receiued breath and being Their Idols are silver and gold saith the Prophet Dauid euen the workes of mens hands they haue a mouth and speake not eyes haue they and see not they haue eares and heare not noses haue they and smell not they haue hands and touch not feete haue they and walke not they that make them are like vnto 〈◊〉 and so are all they that put their trust in them And the Prophet Esay hauing shewed how a man plants a tree when it is grown vp cuts it downe with part thereof he baketh his bread with part he rosteth his meate warmeth himselfe and with the residue thereof he maketh his god euen his Idoll The Carpenter stretcheth out a line he fashioneth it with a red thread he planeth and he pourtraieth it with the compasse and maketh it after the figure of a man and according to the beauty of a man that it may remaine in an house then boweth he and worshippeth and prayeth vnto it and saith Deliuer me for thou art my God And therevpon inferres they haue not knowen nor vnderstood for God hath shut their eyes that they cannot see and their hearts that they cannot vnderstand And the Prophet Ierimy much to like purpose one cutteth a tree out of the Forrest with an axe and another decketh it with siluer and with gold they fasten it with nayles and hammers that it fall not the Idoles stand vp as a palme tree but they speake not They are borne because they cannot goe and then concludes They dote and are foolish for the stock is a doctrine of vanity But most liuely elegantly yet with scorne and derision haue we this blockish vanity described in the booke of Wisedome Miserable are they and among the dead is their hope that call them Gods which are the workes of mens hands gold siluer and the thing that is invented by Art the similitude of beasts or any vaine stone that hath beene made by the hand of antiquity Or as when a Carpenter cutteth downe a tree meete for the worke and pareth off all the barke thereof cunningly by Art maketh a vessell profitable for the vse of life and the things that are cut off from his worke he bestoweth to dresse his meat to fill himselfe that which is left of these things which is profitable for nothing for it is a crooked peece of wood full of knobs he carueth it diligently at his leisure according as hee is expert in cunning he giueth it a proportion fashioneth it after the similitude of a man or maketh it like some vile beast and straketh it ouer with vermilion painteth and couereth euery spot that is in it And when he hath made a convenient Tabernacle for it he setteth it in a wall maketh it fast with iron providing so for it lest it fall for hee knoweth that it cannot helpe it selfe because it is an image that hath need of helpe Then he prayeth for his goods for his marriage and for his children hee is not ashamed to speake vnto it that hath no life hee calleth on him that is weake for health he prayeth vnto him that is dead for life he requireth helpe of him that hath no experience at all for his journey him that is not able to goe and for gaine and successe in his affaires asketh ability to doe of him that is most vnable to doe any thing This childish foppery the Primitiue Christians also scoffed laughed at Quae amentia est aut ea fingere quae ipsi postmodum timeant aut timere quae finxerunt saith Lactantius What a madnesse is it either to make things which themselues feare or to feare those things which themselues haue made Nec intelligunt homines ineptissimi quod si sentire simulacra movere possent vltrò adoratura homines fuissent à quibus sunt expolita Neither doe these foolish men vnderstand that the images they adore had they but sense motion would adore them who framed formed them Sed haeo nemo considerat ac mentes eorum penitus succum stultitiae perbiberunt adorant ergo insensibilia qui sentiunt irrationalia qui sapiunt exanima qui vivunt terrena qui oriuntur è coelo Iuvat ergo velut in aliqua sublimi specula constitutum vnde vniversi exaudire possint Persianum illud proclamare O cur as hominum ô quantum est in rebus inane O curvae in terris animae coelestium inanes But these things none considereth
Polygamie yet in regard of their frequent practice we haue great reason to conceiue that they scarce held it to be a sinne And the Pharises though of all other sects they pretended and seemed to be the most zealous strict obseruers of the Lanâ—… yet teaching others themselues practising the observation thereof as they did only in regard of outward conformity thereby perhaps made their disciples formall Iusticiaries but withall damnable hypocrites boyling in malice lust couetousnes while they set a faire face on it and made a goodly semblance of holynes piety and devotion And if it so fared with the Iewes no marvell that the Gentiles their naturall inclination carrying them headlong to wickednes and withall their religion their lawes the doctrine and examples of their Teachers being as so many provocations to draw them onward proued such indeede as the Apostle describes them to be in the 1 of the Romanes full of all vnrighteousnes fornication wickednesse couetousnes maliciousnes full of envy of murther of debate of deceite taking all things in euill part whisperers backebiters haters of God doers of wrong proud boasters inventers of euill things disobedient to Parents without vnderstanding couenant breakers without naturall affection such as neuer can be appeased mercilesse which men though they know the Law of God how that they which commit such things are worthy of death yet not only doe the same but favour them that doe them And so I passe from the roote to the fruite from the causes to the effects from their lawes precepts touching manners to their practice customes manners themselues And heere I must freely professe my selfe to accord with Sidonius Apollinaris veneror antiquos non ita tamen vt aequaeuorum meorum virtutes merita postponam I haue the Ancients in such due respect and veneration as they deserue yet so as I would not willingly disesteeme or vndervalue the vertues and merits of those who haue liued since or now liue in the same age with mee The Ancients I know well had many great vertues and wee no lesse vices yet let no man be so vnwise or vnjust to surmise that either the former ages were free from notorious vices or the latter voide of singular vertues And surely he that shall reade Bohemus of the manners of the Gentiles or the bookes of Iudges the Kings the Chronicles the Prophets and Iosephus of the manners of the Iewes will easily acknowledge the former Wherevnto wee may adde the testimony of Coelius Secundus Curio a witty and learned man of this age in his Epistle prefixed to his commentary vpon Iuvenall where he tels vs that meeting with those verses of Horace Damnosa quid non imminuit dies Aetas parentum peior avis tulit Nos nequiores mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem What doth not wastfull time impaire Our Fathers worse then Gransires are We worse then they our progenie More vitious then ourselues will be Hee began to doubt of the trueth of them and therevpon fell to a serious inquirie thereinto for his better proceeding in that search made speciall choice of two Authours Tacitus and Iuvenall the one held as vnpartiall in history as the other in Satyres to make report what they found in matter of manners in their times and hauing thorowly consulted with them both but chiefely with the latter from them he makes this relation Quibus auditis saith he nostri seculi cum illa facta contentione deprehendt longe ab illa nostram aetatem vitijs illam à nostra multis magnis virtutibus superari Vpon the hearing of them and the comparing of this present age with that I found that ours was much surpassed by that in vice and that againe by ours in many and great vertues Yet long before Horace did Aratus in Phoenomenis take vp the same complaint Aurea degenerem pepererunt saecula prolem Vos peiorem illis sobolem generabitis Those golden sires a baser race begat Your race shall be yet more degenerate But Hesiod in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more advised and moderate hoping it seemes for better times then himselfe saw O vtinam quinto hoc minime mihi vivere saeclo Sed fas vel post nasci aut ante perire fuisset Would God this fift age I had neuer seene But or had died before or after beene For with Ovid I can scarce hope that any should accord professe Prisca iuvent alios ego nunc me denique natum Gratulor Let others like old times but I am glad That in this latter age my birth I had SECT 2. Touching that idle tale of the golden age first forged by Poets and since taken vp by Historians THat which hath deceiued many in this point is that idle tale and vaine fancie forged by the Poets taken vp by some Historians beleeued by the vulgar of the foure ages of the world The first of gold the second of siluer the third of brasse the fourth of yron Thus elegantly described by the wittiest of Poets Aurea prima sata est aetas quae vindice nullo Sponte sua sine lege sidem rectumque colebat Poena metusque aberant nec vincla minacia collo Aere ligabantur nec supplex turba timebat Iudicis ora sui sed erant sine judice tuti c. Postea Saturno tenebrosa in Tartara misso Sub Iove mundus erat subijtque argented proles Auro diterior fulvo pretiosior aere c. Tertia post illam successit ahenea proles Saevior ingenijs ad horrida promptior arma Non scelerata tamen De duro est vltima ferro Protinus erupit venae pejoris in aevum Omne nefas fugêre pudor verumque fidesque In quorum subiere locum fraudesque dolique Insidiaeque vis amor sceleratus habendi The golden age was first which vncompell'd And without rule in faith and truth excell'd As then there was not punishment nor feare Nor threatning Lawes in brasse prescribed were Nor suppliant crouching prisoners shooke to see Their angry Iudge but all was safe and free c. But after Saturne was throwne downe to Hell Ioue rul'd and then the silver age befell More base then gold and yet then brasse more pure c Next vnto this succeedes the brazen age Worse natur'd prompt to horride warre and rage But yet not wicked stubborne yr'n the last Then blushlesse crimes which all degrees surpast The world surround Shame faith and truth depart Fraud enters ignorant in no bad Art Force treason and the wicked loue of gaine c. And from hence it seemes was that of Boetius borrowed Faelix nimium prior aetas Contenta fidelibus arvis Nec inerti perdita luxu Facili quae sera solebat Iejunia solvere glande Nec Bacchica munera nor at Liquido confundere melle Nec lucida vellera serum Tyrio miscere veneno Tunc classica saeva tacebant
Odijs neque fusus acerbis Cruor horrida tinxerat arma Vtinam modo nostra redirent In mores tempora priscos Thrice happy former age well pleas'd With faithfull fields from riot free Whose hunger readily was eas'd With akornes gathered from the tree They skill'd not with Lyaeus juice The liquid honey to compound Nor knew that twice the Serian fleece In Tyrian die was to be drown'd Alarmes of warre were silent then And horrid arms all smear'd with blood Through malice shed of cruell men Were yet vnseene O would to God These times so much degenerate Might turne againe to th' ancient state But that all this adoe about the golden age is but an empty rattle frivolous conceipt like Apuleius his tale of a golden asse Bodin is so confident that he breakes forth into this assertion Aetas illa quam auream vocant si ad hanc nostram conferatur ferrea videri possit That which they call the Golden age being compared with ours may well seeme but iron And in truth he may boldly affirme it if that be true which Cicero writes of it Fuit quoddam tempus cùm in agris homines passim bestiarum more vagabantur sibi victu ferino vitam propagabant nec ratione animi quicquam sed pleraque viribus corporis administrabant Nondum divinae religionis non humani officij ratio colebatur nemo legitimas viderat nuptias non certos quisquam inspexerat liberos non jus aequabile quid vtilitatis haberet acceperant Time was when men like beasts wandered in the fields and maintained their life by the food of beasts neither did they administer their affaires by justice but by bodily strength There was no heed given either to Religion or Reason no man enjoyed lawfull marriage nor with assurance beheld his owne issue neither were they acquainted with the commodity which vpright Lawes bring with them During this golden age flourished Camesis Saturne there is no doubt but by Camesis is vnderstood Cham the son of Noah by Saturne Nimrod whose son Iupiter Belus famous for the deposition of his father incest with his sister many other villanies saw the last of this age Now how vertuous these men times were appeares by the story of Moses C ham like a most vngratious childe discovers and derides the nakednesse of his aged worthy Father was therefore deservedly accursed to be a seruant of servants Nimrod grandchilde to Cham as his name signifies was a notorious Rebell Robustus venator coram Domino a great Oppressour a Robber as Aristotle numbers robberiâ—… among the severall kindes of hunting And besides he is thought to haue beene the ring-leader in that out-ragious attempt of building the towre of Babel And such kinde of men are those Gyants supposed to haue beene who before this are called Mighty men men of renowne In as much as Moses presently adds And God saw that the wickednesse of man was great in the earth and that euery imagination of the thoughts of his heart was onely euill continually And it repented tbe Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieued him at his heart Quibus verbis intelligit saith Cassanion tantas ea-tempestate fuisse morum corruptelas vt omne vitiositatis nequitiaeque genus vbique regnaret Cùm autem ex robore potentia qua isti pollebant nominis celebritatem adepti sint in eo animadvertere licet qualis fuerit prima mundi nobilitas aestimata non quae pietatis justitiae aliusve cujusdam virtutis specie pulchritudine illustris appareret sed quae solius potentiae fortitudinisue titulo sese venditabat Nam qui tum caeteris valentiores robustioresque erant ij vim aliis audacter inferentes nobiliores praestantioresque censebantur Vnde fortassis illud invaluit ut gentilitia quorundam insignia non nisi crudelium belluarum rapaciumque ferarum volucrium habeant imaginem By which words he vnderstands that such and so great was the vniversall corruption of manners in those times as all kinde of vice and wickednesse euery-where raigned And in that the men of that age are said to haue gotten renown by meanes of their exceeding great might from thence we may gather how the first Nobility of the world was valued not such as was coÌ„spicuous by the beauty Iustre of piety justice or any other vertue but such only as gloried contented it self with the title of streÌ„gth power For those who then were more mighty and powerfull then others and were thereby imboldened to oppresse others were commonly held the most noble and worthy And happily from hence it was that some families carry in their Scutchions the representation of wilde beasts or birds of prey Howsoeuer we are sure that vpon this vniversall invndation of sinne followed the vniversall deluge of water washing and cleansing the earth from that abominable filthinesse which had generally infected and polluted it And as about this time sinne was ripened so in the very infancy of the world it grew vp so fast that the second man in the world wilfully murthered the third being then his only brother And another of the same race soone after was the founder of Polygamie and a while after it is added Then men began to call vpon the name of the Lord as if till then they had not done it at least-wise in publique assemblies And in that Enoch not long after this is said to haue walked with God Iunius giues this note vpon it id est non est sequutus malitiam sui seculi that is he followed not the wicked courses of the age wherein he liued and therefore was he translated least wickednes should alter his vnder standing or deceipt beguile his mind Haec est illa aurea aetas quae talia moÌ„stra nobis educavit this is forsooth that goodly goldeÌ„ age which hath brought into the world bred such foul moÌ„sters After this the world was pestered with a nuÌ„ber of intollerable Tyrants whom Hercules subdued and yet was himselfe accounted by many a Captaine of Pyrats And certaine it is he was most foule and yet I know not whether more foule or strong in matter of lust and both Theseus and Periâ—…hous whom he admitted into his society were of a straine much alike But because these things happily may seeme fabulous let vs listen to Thucidides one of the ancientest truest fathers of history He then hath left vpon record that a little before his time in Greece it selfe so great was the wildnes and barbarousnes thereof that both by sea and land robberies were commonly practised and that without any touch of disgrace it was vsually demaunded of passengers whether they were Theeues or Pyrats And Caesar in a manner reports the same of the Germans Latrocinia nullam habent apud Germanos infamiam quae extra fines cuiusque civitatis fiunt atque ea iuventutis
that and to thinke evill or not to thinke of it and thinke well Therefore when Salomon had spoken of all the vanities of men at last he opposes this memorandum as a counterpoise against them all Remember for all these things thou shalt come to judgement as if he should say men would never speake as they speake nor doe as they doe if they did but thinke that these speeches deedes of theirs should one day come to judgement Whatsoever thou takest in hand then remember the end and that finall account which thou art to make and thou shalt never doe amisse S. Augustine I remember in the entrance of one of his sermons touching the day of Iudgement makes a kind of Apologie for himselfe that he treated in their hearing so often of that subject telling them that he did it for the discharge of his owne dutie and for their good it being better sayth he hereto indure a little bitternes and hereafter to injoy eternall sweetnes then here to be fedde with false joyes and there to indure reall and eternall punishments But hee might haue justly excused himselfe had any excuse needed in such a case by the example of our blessed Saviour who in his Gospells and his Apostles who in their Epistles beate vpon this point no one more frequently The knowledge and publishing whereof to the world hath in all ages beene held so necessarie that not the Prophets alone whose writings are read in our assemblies at this day plainely foretold it but Enoch the seaventh from Adam prophesied thereof nay Adam himselfe if we may beleeue Iosephus And that no man might plead ignorance herein the light of this trueth as hath already beene touched shined among the very Gentiles before the incarnation of Christ. A great shame were it then for vs Christians not to beleeue it but a greater shame to our selues and to our profession a disgrace a scandall to infidels to professe that we beleeue it and yet to liue worse then Infidels Mahometans Iewes Pagans shall rise in judgemens against a number of Christians and shall condemne them for that standing vp in the Congregation and with their mouths openly professing this article that they beleeue that Christ shall come againe to judge both the quicke dead yet their thoughts their desires their passions their actions their words are such so foule as it evidētly shewes they beleeue not or they vnderstand not or they remember not what they professe Shall I thinke that the common drunkard glutton doth beleeue and remember that at this day he must giue an account of the abuse of Gods Creatures of making his belly his God his kitchin his Chappell and his Cooke his Priest Shall I thinke that the prophane swearer and blasphemer doth beleeue remember that at this day he must giue an account of every idle word much more then of his hellish oathes and damnable blasphemies wherewith he teares in peeces the name of God infects the very aire he breaths in shall I thinke that the Hypocrite who seekes to bleare the eyes of the world doth beleeue remember that at this day he must giue an account of his glozing shifting and that then his hypocrisie shall be vncased laid open to the view of the world shall I thinke that the Parasite doth beleeue and remember that at this day he must giue an account of preferring the favour of men before the loue and service of God Shall I thinke the Slanderer doth beleeue and remember that at this day he must giue an account of wounding and killing his brother in his good name by his tongue or pen or both Shall I thinke the Adulterer doth beleeue and remember that at this day he must giue an account of giuing the reines to his vnbridled appetite without any checke or controll Lastly doth the malicious man beleeue and remember that at this day hee must giue an account of his bloody practises or plots the ambitious man of making his honour his Idoll the covetous of his oppression and extortion Let themselues a little consider of the matter and they will easily grant it to be vnreasonable that any man should beleeue it to be a part of their beleife SECT 8. As likewise for instruction LEt vs then either strike it out of the articles of our Creede or let vs so endeavour to liue as it may appeare that we doe not only professe it with our mouthes but assuredly beleeue it with our hearts Let the civill Magistrate shew that he beleeues it by forbearing to make his will a law by a conscionable care in the governing of those who are committed to his charge and providing that they may liue vnder him a quiet and peaceable life in all godlines and honesty Let the Divine the Messenger of the Lord who preacheth it to others shew that he beleeues it himselfe by forbearing base and indirect meanes to rise to honour which he is most vncertaine how long or with what content he shall hold and by feeding the flocke of God which depends vpon him caring for it not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready minde not as Lording it over Gods heritage but as being a patterne to the flocke and when that chiefe sheepheard shall appeare he shall receiue an incorruptible Crowne of glory Let that severe call euer ring in his eares Come giue an account of thy stewardship There shall Andrew come in with Achaia by him converted to the saving knowledge of the truth Iohn with Asia Thomas with India Peter with the Iewes and Paul with the Gentiles and what shall we then say for our selues if wee cannot bring forth somuch as one soule converted by vs in the whole course of our ministerie Let the Counsellours shew that he beleeues it by giuing counsell rather wholesome then pleasing not for faction but for conscience and by forbearing to make the good of the state the stalking horse of his private ends For though he digge never so deepe yet he who now searches and shall then judge his heart digs deeper Let the Courtier shew hee beleeues it by vsing his favour to the countenancing and advancing of vertue and suppressing of vice and by forbearing to varnish guild over foule projects or smother honest motions with faire semblances looking rather to the worths and necessities of petitioners then to their purse and power Let the militarie man shew that hee beleeues it by forbearing to thinke that a prophane oath is an ornament of speech or that violence rapine and outrage are the best Characters of a souldier or that vnjust effusion of blood Duells shall then passe for manhood or that his stoute lookes and braue resolution shall then any thing availe him Let the Nobility and Gentry shew that they beleeue it by forbearing to make marchandise of Church livings committed to their care only in trust to strippe the backes of the poore that