are generally ignorant where the Truth rests even in Divinity it self unless we could finde out any person who had the Key of Knowledge and Wisdom for the Armory of Truth is lockt and concealed under divers Mysteries and the way shut up from wise and holy men by which we might enter into so great and incomprehensible a Treasury Now this Key is nothing else but the Word of God This onely discerneth the force and vertue of all sors of words and what Disputes proceed meerly from the Cunning of Sophistry which discovers not the Truth but onely a meer shadow thereof and then distinctly shews you what communication sets forth the Truth not in outward appearance and counterfeit Colour but in effect and reason By this every Art of deceit and untruth is easily surmounted Neither Arguments nor Syllogisms nor any subtilties of Sophistry can stand against it He that is not satisfied therewith or is of an opinion contrary thereto as S. Paul saith is proud and knows nothing And there we are to try by the words of God all Doctrines and Opinions as Gold is try'd by the Touch-stone and in all difficulties to flee thither as to a Rock of most safety and out of that onely to search for the truth of all things and from thence to judge of the Doctrines Opinions and Expositions of men For as Gregory saith Whatsoever derives not its authority from thence is with the same ease rejected as approved Now as to the knowledge of this Word there is no School of Philosophers nor the subtilest Wits of the most subtil Sophisters that have been able to teach it us but onely God and Jesus Christ through the Holy Ghost by means of those Scriptures which are Canonical to which according to the command of God nothing may be added and from which nothing may be diminish'd for whoever shall do it though he were an Angel of heaven he is abandoned to the devil and curs'd by the Law of God So great the Majesty so great is the Power of this Scripture that it admits no strange Expositions no Glosses of Men nor Angels nor suffers it self to be wrested according to the inventions of mens Wits nor does it permit it self to be chang'd and transform'd into variety of Sences after the manner of humane Fables as it were some Poetical Proteus but is sufficient to expound and interpret it self and judging of all men is judg'd by none For the Authority thereof is greater as Austin saith than all the florid Subtilties of humane Wit for it hath one plain constant and holy meaning in the strength whereof it both combats and overcomes All other Moral meanings besides this as Mystical Typical Anagogical Tropological and Allegorical by the help whereof many men do besmear and Fucus over the Truth with sundry strange Colours may rightly and truely perswade us something for the edification of the people but they can never prove or disprove any thing to confirm the Authority of the Word of God For let any person bring into controversie the opinion of any one of these let him quote any substantial Author thereupon or let him alleadge the Exposition of any of the holy Fathers none of those things are so binding to us but that we may contradict um but out of the letter of the holy Scriptures from the draught and order thereof such indissoluble Bands are made which no man can break nor no man escape through but breaking and shattering all Engines of Argumentation enforces him to say and confess That it is the finger of God That Man never spake in that manner That he speaketh not as the Scribes and Pharisees but like one that has power But the Authors thereof inspir'd from Heaven have by their authority ordain'd us a Canon the magnificence whereof is such that we ought to believe all things therein contained and whatever that Word hath pronounced and taught that without any retraction is to be accounted holy and inviolable Of which thus S. Austin hath spoken That he gave this honour to those Books which be call'd Canonical that he most constantly believ'd that none of the Writers of them did or could erre but to the others be would give no credit how much learning and holiness soever they had in them except it be proved with evident reason out of Gods Word that there is a probability for the truth thereof Unto these Christ sends us teaching us that we should search the Scriptures From hence the Apostle commands us to try all things and to stick to the things which are good as also to prove the spirits whether they be of God and by the help of them to be able to give an account of all things and to reprove them that shall vainly go about to contradict that so becoming spiritual we may judge all things and be judged of none Now the truth and understanding of the Canonical Scripture depends upon the onely authority of God revealing the same which cannot be comprehended by any judgement of the Senses by most over-reaching Reason by any Syllogism of demonstration by any Science by any Speculation by any Contemplation or by any humane force but onely by Faith in Jesus Christ poured out into the soul from God the Father by the Holy Ghost which is so much the more predominant and stable than the Credulity of humane knowledge by how much God himself is superiour to and truer than Men. But why do I say truer Nay rather God alone is true and every man a lyer So that whatever proceeds not from this Truth is Errour as that which is not of faith is sin For God himself hath in himself the fountains of Truth out of which it is necessary for him to draw it whoever desires perfect knowledge seeing there is no knowledge can be had either of the secrets of Nature of separated substances nor of God the Author of all unless it be reveal'd from above For things divine are not to be reacht by humane force and natural things oft-times keep at too great a distance from the inward thought whence it comes to pass that what we believe to be the knowledge of these things appears to be Falshood and Errour Which presumption in the Caldeans and other Heathen Philosophers Isaiah reproves where he says Thy wisdom and thy knowledg have deceived thee thou hast fail'd in the multitude of thy inventious The Grammarian is very wary that he offend not in talk and that he utter not a rude and barbarous word but in the mean while he has no regard to the dishonest courses and sinfulness of his life So likewise the Poet chuses rather to halt in his Life than in his Verse The Historian leaves to Memory and commits to Writing the deeds of Kings and Princes and the transactions of successive times yet mindes not his own behaviour or if he do is yet ashamed to confess his failings The Orator more abhors the rudeness of his Language than the deformity
by the wit and help of Man Wine Oyl Bread and Cloth and other works of Nature are compleated by humane Arts so the Divine Oracles delivered to us obscure and hidden are to be explained by Interpretation not by the force of our own Wit or Invention but by the help of the Spirit who distributes his good things as he pleases and where he pleases making some Prophets and some Interpreters Therefore this Interpretative Divinity consists not in Compounding Dividing Defining after the manner of the Peripateticks neither of which belong to God who neither can be defined divided or compounded but leads to Knowledge by another way which is indifferent between this and Prophetical vision which is a kinde of discovery of the Truth to our purifi'd Intellect as a Key to a Lock and this as it is the most covetous of all Truth so it is the most susceptible of what things are to be understood and is therefore called Possible Intellect wherewith though we do not discover by a full light what the Prophets mean and those who beheld the Divine things themselves yet there is a door open to us that from the conformity of the Truth perceived to our Intellect and by the Light which illustrates us out of those open windows we gain more certainty than from the appearing Demonstrations Definitions Divisions and Compositions and we read and understand not with our outward eyes and ears but with our better senses and extract the Truth flowing from the sacred Scriptures which the other delivered in dark sayings and mysterious sentences and thereby see what is hidden from the wise and great Philosophers yet apprehend them not with so much certainty as that all perplexity may be removed And whereas there is a manifold Truth conceal'd in sacred Scripture holy men have gone about to try various and manifold Expositions of the same For some gently walking along the back of the Letter and expounding one place by another and one letter by another and making out the sence by the Order Etymologie and Propriety and Force of the signification of the words hunt out the truth of Scripture which is therefore call'd Literal Exposition Others refer all things written to the business of the Soul and works of Justice whose Expositions are therefore call'd Moral Others remit them by various Tropes and Figures to the Mysteries of the Church whose Exposition is call'd Tropological Others given to Contemplation refer all things to the Myitery of Celestia glory and this Exposition is call'd Anagogick And these are the four most usual sorts of Exposition besides which there are two more of which the one refers all things to vicissitude of Times Mutations of Kingdoms and Ages therefore call'd Typick Wherein among the Ancients Cyril Methodius and Joachim Abbas did most exel of Modern Authors Jeremy Savanarola of Ferrara The other enquires into the nature and qualities of the Universe the Sensible world and of the whole Fabrick of the World and Nature which Exposition is therefore call'd Physical or Natural wherein Rabbi Simeon ben Joachim excell'd who wrote a very large Volume upon Leviticus wherein discoursing of the natures of all things he shews how Moses according to the congruencie of the threefold World and nature of things ordain'd the Ark the Tabernacle the Vessels Garments Rites Sacrifices and other Mysteries for the appeasing and worshipping God Which Exposition the Cabalists follow especially those who treat of Beresith or the Creation For they who discoursing concerning the Judgement-seat of God by Numbers Figures Revolutions Symbolical reasons refers all things to the first Arch-type search for the Anagogical sence And these are the six most famous Senses or Meanings of the holy Scripture all whose Expositors or Interpreters are by a general word call'd Divines among whom we finde Dionysius Origen Polycarpus Eusebius Tertullian Ireneus Nazianzene Chrysostome Athanasius Basil Damascene Lactantins Cyprian Jerome Austin Ambrose Gregory Ruffinus Leo Cassianus Barnardus Anselm and many other holy Fathers which those ancient times brought forth and some of later years as Thomas Albertus Bonaventure Egidius Henricus Gandavensis Gerson and many others But now seeing that all these Interpretative Divines are but men they are subject to humane frailties sometimes they erre sometimes they write things contrary or repugnant sometimes they differ from one another in many things they are deceiv'd all of um not discerning all things for onely the Holy Ghost has the perfect knowledge of Divine things who distributes to all men according to a certain measure reserving many things to himself that we may be always learning of him for as S. Paul saith All of us know and preach by art onely Therefore all this Interpretative Theologie consists onely in liberty of speech and is a Knowledge separate from Scripture whereby every one has the liberty to abound in his own sence according to those various Expositions recited before which S. Paul in one word calls Mysteries or speaking of Mysteries when the Spirit speaks Mysteries whence Dionysius calls this Significative Theologie treated of by those holy Doctors in several Volumes Nor are we to believe all that they say seeing that many hold very Erroneous Opinions of Faith which are exploded by the Church as we may instance in Papias Bishop of Hierapolis Victorinus Pictoviensis Irenoeus Lugdunensis Cyprian Origen and Tertullian and many others who have err'd in the Faith and whose Tenets have been condemned as Heretical though they themselves are among the Canoniz'd Saints But this requires a deeper spirit of consideration to judge and discern which is not of men nor of flesh and bloud but granted from above by the Father of lights For no man can utter any thing rightly of God but by the light which comes from himself which light is the Word by whom all things were made and who illuminates every man coming into this world giving them power to become the sons of God whoever shall receive and believe Neither is there any who can declare the things of God but his own Word for who besides can know the minde of God or whoever was made of his council but the Son of God being the Word of the Father But of this we shall discourse no farther till we have perfected the next Chapter of Prophetick Theologie CHAP. XCIX of Prophetick Theologie AS Prophecie is the speech of the Prophets so is Theologie nothing but the Tradition of the Divines or men discoursing with God However not every one that can remember or repeat a Prophecie or interpret the meaning thereof is presently a Prophet but he that in divine things is endued with the knowledge of Piety Vertue and Sanctity who discourseth with God and meditates upon his Law day and night For so S. John Author of the Apocalypse in the Letters of Dionysius call'd The Divine testifies from holy Writing to whom the Truth it self has said He that hears you hears me and he that despises you despises me Which words are not
Behold the figure of that man of Parts who dive'd into the Secrets of all Arts A Second Solomon the mighty Hee That try'de them all and found them Vanity THE VANITY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES BY Henry Cornelius Agrippa Knight Doctor of both Laws Judge of the Prerogative-Court AND Counsellour to Charles the Fifth Emperour of Germany ECCLES Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity LONDON Printed by J. C. for Samuel Speed and sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster 1676. TO THE READER Studious Reader WIlt thou not look upon this Labour of mine to be a most bold and almost Herculean attempt to wage War against the Giant-like Opposition of all the Arts and Sciences And thus to challenge the stoutest Hunters of Nature Doctors will knit their enraged brows upon me the Authority of Masters the endeavours of the Batchelors of Art the heat of the Schoolmen the sedition of the Mechanicks will be all up in arms against me All which if I stab at one blow will it not be a greater work than Hercules in the accomplishment of all his Labours was ever guilty of Shall I not have performed a nobler Task if with no less danger and labour I overcome these Monsters of Schools Universities and Pulpits For I am not ignorant how bloody a Battle I must fight or how hazardous and difficult the War will be being to meet with such an Army of potent Enemies Wo is me with what Engins will they seek to destroy me With what weight will they not endeavour to crush me What reproaches will they not endeavour to throw upon me The Grammarians will rail at me the Etymologists will derive my name from the Gout the mad Poets will call me Goat and Momus the frivolous Historians will profane me beyond Pausanias or Herostratus the obstreperous Rhetoricians will plague me with their big Words and mimical Gestures the quarrelsome Logicians will confound me with their Syllogismes The nimble Sophisters will sawe my jawes with the snaffles of their subtle Questions The barbarous Lullist will make me mad with his absurd Soloecisms The Atome-numbring Arithmeticians will set an host of Vsurers upon me The Gamesters will curse me The Musicians will sing Ballads of me The proud Matrons will expel me their Meetings The Wenches will deny to kiss me The giggling Girls will laugh and cry I dance like a Camel The lewd Players will kill me in a Tragedy The intricate Geometrician will imprison me in his Triangles and Tetragonals The vain Painter will make me more ugly than an Ape or Thersites himself The Cosmographer will banish me amongst the Bears into Greenland The Astrologer will erect some wicked Scheme or other for me The Physiognomist will defame me for being impotent The Epicures will bespew me to death The Tyrant will crucifie me in Phalaris's Bull. Hypocrites will declaim against me in their Pulpits The Whores will pox me The Priests will excommunicate me The blasphemous Marriner will throw me over-board The yawling Hunter will set his Dogs upon me The Souldier will plunder me The Ordure-tasting Physicians will throw their Vrinal at my Head The Chyrurgeons will anatomize me The Lawyers will accuse me of Treason The Judges will condemn me Thus though I omit for brevities sake many others dost thou not see Reader what dangers I am like to run through But I am in hopes to avoid their fury provided that thou patient to hear the Truth and laying all Prepossession and Obstinacy aside wilt but give thy mind candidly and without passion to read what I have writ I have moreover the Word of God to defend me which with an undaunted Courage I intend to make use of for my Buckler I would have thee moreover to know that I have not writ these things either out of Hatred Envy Ambition or vain Errour nor did Arrogance prompt me to it but of all Causes the most just and truest because I see that so many men pufft up with Humane Knowledge and Learning not only contemn and despise the Oracles of the Sacred Scripture but also prosecute and deride it with the same contempt Others we see though to themselves they seem to be more holy who endeavour to confirm and approve the Lawes of Christ yet attribute more Authority to the Maximes of Philosophers than to the holy Prophets of God the Evangelists or Apostles though there be so vast a difference between them Moreover we finde that a most detestable Custome has invaded all or most Schools of Learning to swear their Disciples never to contradict Aristotle Boethius Thomas Albertus or some such like School-Deity From whom if there be any that differ so much as a nails breadth him they proclaim a scandalous Heretick a Criminal against the Holy Sciences fit only to be consumed in Fire and Flames Therefore these and â—cious Giants these Enemies of Scripture are to be set upon their Bulwarks and Castles are to be stormed And it behoves us to shew how intolerable the blindness of Men is to wander from the truth misguided by so many Sciences and Arts and by so many Authors and Doctors thereof For how great a boldness is it what an arrogant presumption to prefer the Schools of Philosophers before the Church of Christ and to extol or equal the Opinions of Men to the Word of God Lastly how impious a piece of Tyranny it is to captivate the Wits of Students to prefixed Authors and to deprive their Disciples of the liberty of searching after and following the Truth All which things being so manifest that they cannot be denied I may be the more easily pardoned if I seem to have more freely and bitterly inveighed against some sorts of Sciences and their Professors Farewel The LIFE of Henry Cornelius Agrippa Knight AND Judge of the Prerogative Court HEnry Cornelius Agrippa descended from a Noble Family of Nettesheim in Belgia was by his Parents so educated that he became Doctor of the Laws and Physick Master of the Rolls and Judge of the Spiritual Court He was naturally inclined to study making it his Recreation from his Youth to learn Nor was his Labour spent in vain for by his Ingenuity he obtained wonderful Skill and Knowledge in the several various Arts and Sciences Notwithstanding which his Fancy guided him to attend or accompany the Army of the Princes with whom he so prudently behaved himself that he gained the affections of all that knew him and for his singular Valour was created Knight in the Field It was about the year 1530 that his Merits grew great and he became the Subject of every 〈◊〉 Wonder and Discourse some admiring his Learning others his Valour and all with a reverend adoration applauding him In his Studies he grew expert in Occult Philosophy and composed four Books thereof whose incomparable Worth is beyond the reach of an Encomium Not long after that he published this his Satyrical Invective or Cynical Declamation against the Vanity of Arts and Sciences informing and affirming with
Palaemo Profess'd with great Ostentation so that he gave a new Name thereto calling Grammar the Polaemonian Art A man so Arrogant that he boasted That Letters had their beginning and should dye with him so prov'd that he despis'd all the most Learned men of this Age not forbearing to call Marcus Vaâ—ro Hog However the Latin Grammar is so barren and so much beholden to Greek Literature that whoever understands not so much is to be ejected out of the Number of Grammarians Therefore all the Foundation and Reason of Grammar consists only in the use and Authority of our Ancestors who have been pleas'd that a thing shall be so call'd and so written that words shall be so compounded and construed which being so done they esteem well done From whence though Grammar boast it self to be the Art of well-speaking yet doth it falsly claim that Pre-eminence seeing that with more advantage we learn that very thing from our Mothers and Nurses rather than from the Grammarians The Language and Speech of the Gracchi who were most Eloquent Men their Mother Cornelia polish'd and adorn'd Istria taught her Son Siles Son of Aripethis King of Scythia the Greek Tongue And it is well known that in many Provinces where Forreign Colonies have been introduc'd the Children have still retain'd the Dialect of their Mothers Hence it is that Plato and Quintilian are so careful in appointing Rules for the choice of a fit Nurse Far be it from us therefore to acknowledge the reason of well-speaking to these Grammarians who professing Grammar only and making that their only business yet are skill'd in nothing less Priscian could not learn this Art in the whole time of his Life And Didymus is said to have four some say six thousand Books upon this Subject They report that Claudius Caesar was so given to the Greek Tongue that he added three new Letters thereto which he afterwards made use of when he was a Prince Charles the Great is said to have Compil'd a Grammar for the German Tongue giving new Names to the Months and Winds Even to this hour how men toyl and labour Day and Night scribling continually of all sorts Commentaries Forms of Elegancy or Phrases Questions Annotations Animadversions Observations Castigations Centuries Miscellanies Antiquities Paradoxes Collections Additions Lucubrations Editions upon Editions And yet not one of them all whether Grecian or Latine hath given any accompt how the Parts of Speech are to be distinguish'd or what order is to be observ'd in their Construction or whether there be only fifteen Pronouns as Priscian believes or whether more as Diâ—medes and Focas will have it whether a Participle put by its self be sometimes a Participle or whether Gerunds are Nouns or Verbs why among the Greeks Nouns plural of the Neuter Gender are joyn'd with a Verb of the singular Number upon what accompt it may be lawful to pronounce in um Latine words terminating a and us as for Margarita Margaritum for Punctus Punctum how it comes that the Word Jupiter makes Jovis in the Genitive Case Why many write most Latin words with a Greek Diphthong others not as Foelix Quaestio whether the Latin Diphthongs are only written and not pronounced or whether there be a double pronunciation in one Syllable Likewise why in some Latine words some use the Greek y and some the Latin i only as in considero Why in some words some double the Letters some not as causa caussa religio relligio Why the word Caccabus by position long by reason of the double cc is notwithstanding most commonly by the Poets made a Dactyle Whether Aristotles word for the Soul ought to be writ endelechia with a Delta or entelechia with a Tau I omit their infinitie and never-to-be-reconcil'd contentions about Accents Orthography Pronounciation of Letters Figures Etymologies Analogies Declinings manner of Signification change of Cases variety of Tenses Moods Persons Numbers as also about the various impediments and order of Construction Lastly concerning the Number and Pedigree of the Latin Letters whether H be a Letter or not and many other trifles of the same Nature so that not only as to Words and Syllables but also in the very Elements and Foundations of Grammar it self no reason can be given of such their continual warfare Such a kind of Battel as this Lucian of Samos has very elegantly describ'd about the Consonants S and T whether should have the Victory in the word Tbalassa or Thalatta Answerable to which one Andreas Salernitanus hath with very much wit compil'd his Grammatical War But these are poor and low things but more and of greater Consequencâ— could we urge concerning their deprav'd significations of Words with which they impose upon the greatest part of the Universe not a little to the damage of the Publick Weal while they interpret subjection to the Law Servitude Liberty of the People they call that when every one has Liberty to do what he pleases Acrisonomie or Equality of right they call that when there is the same punishment the same reward to all alike In like manner they call that a quiet and peaceable Government when all things submit to the inordinate will of the Prince That a happy Government when the People wallow in ease and luxury By such-like expositions as these and many other Physick and Law are corrupted nay the very Scriptures and Christ himself are compell'd to be at a kind of variance one with another and himself with himself wresting those holy words not according to the meaning of the holy Ghost nor to the Advantage of humane Salvation but to the sense and meaning of their insignificant Compendiums and discants thereupon whence arise most eminent mischiefs Error in Words being many times the parent of Error in Matter This mistake was grievous to Saul first King of the Jews in the word Zobar which signifies both a Male and the Memory So that when God said I will root out the memory of Amalech Saul thought he had sufficiently executed the Command in destroying all the Males The like Error befell the Greeks and Latines in the word Phos which signifies both Light and Man by which ambiguity of the word the ancient adorers of Saturn being deceiv'd were wont to Sacrifice a Man in their usual Ceremonies whereas otherwise they might have as well appeas'd their Deity by the only kindling of proper Lights and Fires which Error was afterwards reform'd by the prudence of Hercules Last of all Divines and holy Friers mixing themselves among the Tribe of Grammarians are forc'd to make use of Heresie to make good their Contests about the signification of Words overturning the Scriptures for Grammars sake evil Interpreters of words well spoken men truly vain and truly unhappy blinding themselves with their own Art and flying the Light of Truth who while they over-diligently scrutinize into the sorce of Words lose the sence of the Scripture not willing to understand the word of Truth which puts us in
great occasion of the utter subversion of the Roman Liberty In like manner did Cicero provoke Antony to the great mischief of the Empire and Demosthenes incensed Philip to the ruine of the Athenians so that there is no State of Government but has been highly injur'd by this wicked Art no society of men that ever lent their Ears to the Charms of Eloquence that has not been extreamly mischiefed thereby Moreover a confident Eloquence prevails much in Judicature Eloquence being the Patroness bad Causes are defended the guilty are sav'd from the punishment of the Law and the innocent are Condemned Marcus Cato the most prudent among the Romans forbad those three Athenian Orators Carneades Critholaus and Diogenes to be admitted to publick Audience in the City being men endu'd with such acuteness of Wit and Eloquence of speech that they could with great ease make evil good and good evil And Demosthenes was wont to boast among his friends That he could sway the Opinions of the Judges by vertue of his Eloquence which way soever he pleased and that according to his will and pleasure Philip and the Athenians either made War or Peace Such is the force of Eloquence either to allay or incite the Affections of men having as it were Supream Dominion over Nations to make them follow her Perswasions For this reason Câ—cero was at Rome call'd King because he Rul'd and guided the Senate by his Orations which way he pleas'd Hence it appears that Rhetorick is nothing else but the Art of moving and stirring the Affections by subtile Language exquisite varnishings of neat Phrase and cunning insinuation ravishing the minds of heedless People leading them into the Captivity of Error and subverting the sense and meaning of Truth So that if by the benefit of Nature there is nothing but may be express'd in proper Language what can be more pestilent than the fucus and varnishes of fallacious words The Language of Truth is simple but quick and penetrating a discerner of the intentions of the Heart and like a Sword easily cuts in sunder the difficult Enthymems and Gordion-knots of Rhetorick This made Demosthenes though he contemn'd all other the fine and Eloquent speakers of his time nevertheless to stand in awe of one Phocion who also spoke pithily short plainly and to the purpose and was therefore wont to call him the Hatchet of his Orations Perchance the Ancient Romans were not ignorant of these things who as Suetonius witnesses Twice Expell'd Rhetoricians by Publick Edict out of the City once when Faunius Strabo and Valerius Messala were Consuls and the second time in the Consulships of Domitius Aenobarbus and Licinius Crassus and a third time in the Raigne of Domitian the Emperor by an unanimous Decree of the Senate they were not only expell'd out of Rome but also out of all Italy The Athenians forbad them to come near the Seat of Judicature as being perverters of Justice they also put to Death Timagoras for flattering Darius according to the custom of the Persians in too high and obsequious a manner The Lacedaemonians exil'd Tesiphone only because he bragg'd That he could talk a whole day upon any Subject For there was nothing which they hated more than this curious Artifice of the Tongue appertaining to men that nothing regarded the speaking of Truth but whatever work they propose to themselves that to polish with high-flown and bigg words and only intending to deceive the minds of their Auditors and to boast of their leading them by the Noses And now it is evident That never any men were made better by this Art but many worse who though they sometimes speak handsomely of Vertue and Honest things yet are far more Polite Elegant and Ingenious in the defence of Error to sow Sedition to stir up Factions to heap Slanders and Reproaches and Calumnies than in the reconciling of differences making peace maintaining amity or in the commendation of Love Faith or Religion Moreover many men presuming too far upon this Art have revolted from the Orthodox Faith From this Art flow those numberless Sects Heresies and Superstitions that contaminate Religion while some so contemn the Scripture because it abounds not in Ciceronian Phrases that many times they take part with the quaint and fallacious Arguments of the Heathen against the Catholick Truth which is manifest from the Tatian Hereticks and from those whom Libanius the Sophist and Symmachus the Orator great Champions of Idolatry together with Celsus Africanus and Julian the Apostate seduced from the true Religion insulting over Christianity with their flashes of Rhetorick From whose pernicious and Blasphemous Oratory Hereticks have drawn many perswasive Arguments to seduce simple People from the true Faith And do we not now adays see the most Eminent and Learned most Elegant and Subtile Doctors and Disputants in the World to be the greatest heads of Heresies and Factions So are men affected with the Charms of Eloquence that rather than not be Ciceronians they will turn Pagans These becoming Impious while those that are more zealously devoted to Aristotle and Plato become altogether superstitious But all these vain Bablers that so fill the ears of their Auditors with their empty and idle Orations shall one day stand before the great Tribunal to give an account of those Errors which they have so vainly feigned and invented against the Truth of God CHAP. VII Of Logick LOgick succeeds in aid of the foregoing Arts being it self also the Mystery of contention and darkness by which the other Sciences are rendered more obscure and difficult to be understood and this Logick forsooth they call the Art of Reasoning A most miserable and brutish sort of people surely that are not able to reason or discourse without the Assistance of this Art However Servius Sulpitius extols this for the greatest of all Sciences and as it were a Light to those things which are taught by others as being that which as Cicero saith distributes the whole matter into parts and by definition explains the hidden sence of things explains obscurity distinguishes between things doubtful and points out the certain Rule to distinguish Truth from Falshood Furthermore the Logicians promise to find-out the Essential definition of every thing yet are not able to render themselves Masters of their own word in making things so clear but that they may be asked why they could not as well call Man a Man as Animal Rationale or a Mortal Rational Creature More of this you shall find in Boetius whose Works are not esteemed but are beyond all the Predicaments Topicks Analyticks and other trifles of Aristotle whom the Peripateticks following believe that nothing can stand or be known unless what is prov'd by Syllogism that very Syllogism which is set forth by Aristotle who never observed in all his Maximes how all his Arguments are deduced from suppositions or things granted before whose rule those other great boasters following have hitherto as yet made out no true or real
to Wantonness with the sight of obscene Pictures nay we stick not to introduce 'um into our very Temples Chapples and over our Altars to the great hazard of breeding Idolatry But of this more when we come to Treat of Religion Now that there is a certain Authority not to be contemned in Statues and Pictures I learnt not long ago in Italy where there happening a very great debate before the Pope between the Austin Fryars and the Regular Canons about the Habit of St. Austin that is to say whether he wore a black Stole over a white Vest or a white Stole over a black Vest and finding nothing in Scripture that gave Light toward the determination of the Question the Judges at length thought fit to refer the whole matter to the Painters and Statuaries resolving to give judgment according to what they should declare they had seen in Ancient Pictures and Statues Confirm'd by this example I my self labouring with indefatigable diligence to find out the Original of the Monks Cowl and not finding any that might resolve the doubt in Scripture at length I refer'd my self to the Painters seeking the Truth of the matter in the Porches of Halls of the Monasteries where the Histories of the Old and New Testament are generally Painted Now seeing that I could not perceive in all the Old Testament neither any of the Priests or Prophets no not Elias himself whom the Carmelites make their Patron I went and diligently view'd all the New Testament There I saw Zacharias Simeon John Baptist Joseph Christ the Apostles Disciples Scribes Pharisees High Priests Annas Caiphas Herod Pilat and many others but yet I could not see one Cowl among them All till at length examining the whole story over and over again and by and by in the very Front of the Piece I found the Devil himself with a Cowl on as he stood tempting Christ in the Wilderness I was very glad to find that in a Picture that I could observe in no Writing that the Devil was the first Inventor of Cowls from whom I am apt to believe the Monks and Fryars have borrowed the same though wearing it of divers Colours if they do not absolutely claim it by Inheritance CHAP. XXVI Of Prospective and Looking-Glasses TO return to Opticks to which the use of Looking-Glasses and Prospective-Glasses does mainly conduce the Experiments whereof are daily seen in the various kinds of Glasses Hollow Convex Plane Pillar-fashion'd Pyramidal Globular Gibbose Orbicular full of Angles Inverted Everted Regular Irregular Solid and Perspicuous So we read as Celius in his ancient Readings relates That one Hostius a Person of an Obscene Life made a sort of Glasses that made the Object seem far greater than it was so that one Finger should seem to exceed the whole Arm both in bigness and thickness There is also a sort of Glass wherein a man may see the Image of another man but not his own and another which being set in such a posture and place gives back no representation but the posture being alter'd presently returns the Object presented Some that shew all sorts of Representations some not all but many Other Glasses there are that contrary to the fashion of all others will shew the right hand directly opposite to the Right and the Left directly opposite to the Left Other Glasses there are that do not represent the Image within but as it were hanging in the Air. Burning-Glasses there are too that Collecting the beams of the Sun into one point kindle fire at a distance upon any Combustible Matter Little Perspicuous Glasses also are not without thier Impostures that is to say to make a little thing appear great those that are afar off neer those things or places that are neer afar off those that are above us below us those things that are below us above us or in any other posture or situation whatever There are other of these Glasses that make one Object appear to be many and will represent things with divers Colours like the Rainbow as also in divers Shapes and Figures And I my self have learnt to make Glasses wherein while the Sun shines you may discern for the distance of Three or Four Miles together whatever places are enlightned or over-spread with his Beams And this is to be admired in plain Glasses that by how much the less they are so much less than themselves they will represent the Object but let them be never so big yet shall they not represent the Object ever a whit the larger which when St. Austin consider'd writing to Nibridius he conceives it to be something of an occult Mystery However they are vain and useless things invented only for Ostentation and idle Pleasure Many both Greek and Latine have Treated of Looking-Glasses and Perspectives but above all the rest Vitellius CHAP. XXVI Of Cosmimetry LET us have a few words now concerning Cosmimetry which is divided into Cosmography and Geography both measure the World and distinguish it into Parts the First according to a method drawn from the Heavenly Bodies by distinguishing Places as they are Situated under such Stars or Constellations measuring them by Scales of Degrees or Minutes by Climates by the difference of Day or Night Points of the Winds various risings of the Stars Elevations of the Pole Parallels Meridians shadows of Gnomons and the like all which is performed by Mathematical Rules The Second not regarding any thing of the Celestial Bodies measures the World by Furlongs and Miles divides it into Mountains Woods Lakes Rivers Seas and Shores Nations People Kingdoms Provinces Cities Ports and whatever else is worthy taking Notice of They Native Customes Native Habits shew And what each Region suffers there to grow And in imitation of Painting according to the Rules of Geometry and Perspective describe the whole World in Plain Tables or Maps In little Volumes Painting all the World Of this they reckon Chorography to be a part which undertaking the particular Description of particular Places sets them out more fully and accurately Each part distinguish'd various order yields Of Vines of Woods of Meadows Fountains Fields Behold how swelling Streams the Ocean fill There falls a Valley there a mounting Hill With wooddy top assails the distant Stars All these things and whatever we have before spoken of in this Chapter Cosmimetry teaches in chief But what Authors shall instruct us in this Art so manifold are the Contentions among them about Bounds Longitudes Latitudes Magnitudes Measures Distances Climates and Qualities of Countries All which Eratosthenes has one way explained Strabo another another way Marinus another way Ptolomy another way Dionysius another way the Later Authors Neither do they agree about the Navil or Middle of the Earth which Ptolomy places under the Equinoctial Circle Strabo believes it to be the Mountain Parnassus in Greece with whom Plutarch and Lactantius the Grammarian agree and believe That in the time of the Deluge it was the only Mark of distinction between the
containing several Charms against Devils and their Possessings as also against Diseases as Josephus writes As for my part as I do not doubt but that God Revealed many things to Moses and the Prophets which were contained under the Covert of the words of the Law which were not to be communicated to the prophane Vulgar so for this Art which the Jews so much boast of which I have with great Labour and diligence sâ—arch'd into I must acknowledge it to be a meer Rhapsodie of superstition and nothing but a kind of Theurgick Magick before spoken of For if as the Jews contend coming from God it did any way conduce to perfection of Life Salvation of Men Truth of Understanding certainly that Spirit of Truth which having forsaken the Synagogue is now come to teach us all Truth had never concealed it all this while from the Church which certainly knows all those things that are of God whose Grace Baptism and other Sacraments of Salvation are perfectly Reveal'd to all Languages For every Language is alike so that there be the same Piety neither is there any other Name in Heaven or on Earth by which we can be Sav'd but only the Name of Jesus Wherefore the Jews most skilful in Divine Names after the coming of Christ were able to do nothing in comparison of their Forefathers But by that which we have common Experience of we see that oft-times wonderful Sentences of very great Mysteries are wrested from the Sacred Text that is nothing but a certain playing with Allegories which some slothful Persons imploy'd only in the consideration of particular Points Letters or Figures which this Language and manner of Writing easily admit of take occasion to fancy which many times make a noise as if they were very great Mysteries but are able to prove or evince nothing but that according to the words of St. Gregory they may be contemned with the same easiness as they are Asserted Rabanus the Monk has invented several of these but in Latine Characters and Verses inserting sundry Pictures which being to be read which way soever you turn the Letters declare some Sacred Mysterie representing the Painted History which no man denies but that they may be extorted out of prophane Authors no person is ignorant especially he that hath read the Centones upon Christ compos'd out of Virgil by Valeria Proba all which things and all of this Nature are but the speculations of Idle People But as to what pertains to the working of Miracles surely there is no man can be so stupid as to believe there is any force in this Art to accomplish any such thing The Cabala of the Jews therefore is nothing else but a most pernicious Superstition the which by Collecting Dividing and Changing several Words Names and Letters dispersed up and down in the Bible at their own good will and pleasure and making one thing out of another they dissolve the Members of Truth raysing up sentences Inductions and Parables of their own apply thereto the Oracles of Divine Scripture to them defaming the Scriptures and affirming their Figments to consist of them Blaspheme the Word of God by their wrested suppositions of Words Syllables Letters and Numbers endeavouring to prop up their Villanous Inventions by Arguments drawn from their own Delusions And being blown and puft up with these Trifles boast themselves to have found out and to know those ineffable Mysteries of God which are not Reveal'd in Scripture by means whereof they are able to Prophesie Work Miracles all which they blush not with confidence to aver But it happens to them as it did to Aesops Dog who leaving the substance and catching after the shadow lost his Food who being alwayes busied in the shadows of the Scripture and laborious in the study of their own Fictions their Superstitious Cabala snatching at they know not what they loose the Bread of Eternal Life and feeding upon empty Notions loose the Word of Truth From this Judaical ferment of Cabalistical Superstition I verily believe the Ophites Gnosticks and Valentinians came Hereticks that with the help of their Disciples invented a Cabala corrupting the Mysteries of the Christian Faith and by a Heretical Artifice drawing and patching together the Greek Letters and Numbers and framing out of them a thing which they call The Body of Truth they teach that without the help of those Letters and Numbers the Truth of the Gospel cannot be found out being so various and repugnant one to another and full of Parables written so that those that have Eyes should not see and those that have Ears should not hear but propounded to the Blind and wandring according to their weak capacities so that the hidden Truth is not to be understood by Writing but by successive Tradition delivered Viva Voce which they say was that Alphabetary and Arithmantick Theology secretly delivered to his Apostles by Christ himself and which St. Paul saith He only speaks among those that are perfect For these being most high Mysteries therefore they are not written nor to be written but to be kept in silence among the Wise Men who are to reserve them in the most secret parts of their Hearts CHAP. XLVIII Of Witchcraft BUt to return to Magick a part of which is the delusion of Witchcraft that is to say of delusions that are onely made in outward appearance such as are the Phantasms and Miracles dayly wrought by common Juglers which is not so much perform'd by Geotick Inchantments and Imprecations and Fallacies of Spirits but by Fumigations Lights Philters Collyries binding and hanging of Phylacteries and Charms to the parts of the body Rings Images Glasses and like devices of Magick Arts. Many things are perform'd by Agility and slight of hand as we see done by Players and Juglers which are therefore by some call'd Hand-philosophers or Chirosophi Of this Jugling Art there are many Treatises extant written by Hermes and others We read of one Pasâ—tes a Jugler that was wont to shew a great Banquet to an abundance of Guests sitting thereat which when he pleas'd he caus'd to vanish again out of sight leaving all the Guests a-dry and hungry Numa Pompilius also made use of these kinde of Prestiges or Witchcrafts And we read how that the most learned Pythagoras did once ridiculously act an odd business which was this That which came into his minde he wrote in a Glass with his Blood which being held against the Full Moon whatever was written appear'd to him that stood behinde as if it had been in the body of the Moon To this whatsoever is written of the changing of Mens shapes either believ'd by Poets related by Historians or credited by some of our Divines Thus some men seem to have the shape of Asses or Horses or other Animals the Medium Air being disturb'd or else the Eyes by some Incantation fascinated such things as these sometimes seem to be done by good and evil Spirits or else upon the Prayers of good
matters and stirs them up by wicked and mischievous advice who hunts out for Causes and who is the greatest Scolder and Brauler to make the things which are just and true seem doubtful and unjust and by such Weapons as those to chase and overthrow Justice with whom Justice is nothing else but publike Gain and the Judge that sits upon the Bench is forc'd to confirm what Money makes appear just Nay they expose those things which are not even privations of things and Silence it self seeing that as none will speak but for Gain there 's none will hold his tongue but for Reward after the example of Demosthenes who when he askt Aristodemus a Compipiler of Fables what Fees he had got for Pleading answered A Talent But I replyed Demosthenes have got more to hold my tongue So that the tongue of a Lawyer unless fast bound in Silver chains is very mischievous and pernicious CHAP. XCIV Of the Calling of Publike Notaries AMong these Publike Notaries are to be reckon'd whose Injuries Falsities and Mischiefs continually by them wrought all are bound to endure while they pretend to have their credit license and authority from the Apostolike and Imperial power Among whom they are to be accounted the chiefest who know best how to trouble the Court perplex Causes counterfeit Wills and Deeds to abuse and deceive their Clyents and if need be to forswear themselves venturing at any Roguery rather than be outdone in plotting and contriving Cheats Scandals Quirks Tricks Quillets Treacheries Scylla's and Charybdis's by any other person whatsoever There is no Notary can frame an Instrument from whence there may not be some cause of Quarrel pickt out if any person have a minde to contest for there will be some way or other found out either to finde out a defect in the Writing or to invalidate the faith of the publike Notary These they call the Helps of the Law which they teach the Contentious how to flie to and lay hold of These are the effects of their Watching and Labour wherewith with they soften the rigour of the Law when they finde their Clyents willing to contend for he shall have so much Law as he can by his power maintain the Law averring that we cannot be equal to those that are more potent than we are CHAP. XCV Of the Study of the Law TO this those vast Gyants have relation who contrary to the Edict of Justinian have begot so many innumerable Volumes of Comments Glosses and Expositions every one differing in their Interpretation Besides this they have gathered together such Storms of Opinions so many Woods of dark and subtil Counsels and Cautions wherewith the Iniquity of Advocates is furnished as if Truth did not consist more in Reason than in confused Testimonies rak'd together out of such a monstrous heap of Opiniasters among whom there is so much Dissention so much Discord that he that knows not how to differ from another to contradict the Sayings and Opinions of others call in question the justice of Adjudged Cases and to wrest good Laws to their own Humours and Interests is not to be thought Learned among um Thus is the Study of the Law made a deceitful Net and Gin of Iniquity these are the Crafts and these the Arts by which the whole Christian world is governed the Foundations of Empires and Kingdoms and out of these Knaves are chosen Presidents of Parliaments Senators and several great Officers of Popes and Princes as if wicked Advocates would prove just Judges when they came to be the Heads of the Nation These like the Titans to Jove become formidable to their Princes themselves Out of these come the swag-belly'd Secretaries and Purple Chancellors of Emperours and Kings who govern all affairs of State dispose of all Favours Gifts Benefits Offices Dignities and Patents of the prince who sell all Right and Justice all Law Equity and Honesty and compel others to purchase of them According to whose will such and such are to be Allies such Enemies to the Prince with whom sometimes they joyn in Leagues sometimes make War according to their pleasures And being rais'd from the lowest degree of Poverty and meanness of condition to so high a pitch of Dignity meerly by prostituting their Tongues at length they grow so bold and audacious that without calling to answer without order of Council they will convict and condemn men and many times alter forms of Government they themselves growing fat with Thievery and Robbery CHAP. XCVI Of the Inquisition HEre we must not omit the order of Predicants Inquisitors after Hereticks whose power when it ought to be founded upon the holy Scriptures yet they derive it all from the Canon-Law and Pontifical Decrees as if it were impossible the Pope should erre leaving the Scripture as a dead letter and onely the shadow of Truth and reject it as the Buckler and defence of Hereticks Neither do they receive the Traditions of the ancient Fathers and Doctors because they may both deceive and be deceived but pretending that the Roman Church cannot erre of which the Pope is the Head and therefore the Authority of his Court is the Rule of their Faith enquiring no further in their examinations than whether men believe in the Church of Rome which if any person refractory do grant then quoth they the Church condemns such or such a Proposition as heretical scandalous and offensive to pious ears and then compel the person to revoke and recant his Errour If the offender continue to justifie himself by Reason or Scripture or both straight with great clamour and mouthing they interrupt him telling him he is not before the Chair of Doctors or a Convocation of Scholars but a Tribunal of Judges he is not to dispute there but to answer directly whether he will stand to or abide the Decree of the Church or renounce his Opinion if not they shew him Faggots and Fire saying Hereticks are to be convinced with Faggot and Fire not with Scripture and Arguments and so compel a man not convicted of any perverse obstinacie contrary to his Conscience to abjure those things which if he deny they deliver him over to the Secular power as a deserter of the Church to be burnt saying with the Apostle Remove the evil thing from among you In ancient times such was the lenity and meckness of the Church that they neither punisht those that relaps'd into Judaism nor Blasphemies and Berengarius revolting to a most damnable Heresie was not onely not put to death but continued in his Archdeaconship But now if a man slip into the least Errour 't is much more than his life is worth and he shall be thrown into the Fire by these Inquisitors for a trifle Perhaps it is now convenient for the Church to use such severe chastisement for fear of losing its innate piety Sometimes Hereticks are Inquisitors after Hereticks which was the occasion of the Decree which Clement made But Inquisitors ought not to hold dark
Mysteries It was a name common to the Christians among the Romans to be call'd Asinarii and they were wont to paint the Image of Christ with the ears of an Ass as Tertullian witnesses Wherefore let neither Popes repute it to their shame if among those Giant like Elephants of Sciences there may be some Asses Neither let Christians wonder if among those Prelates and expert Doctors the better learned one is the less he be esteemed for the songs of Nightingales are not proper for the ears of Asses and it is a Proverb That the untuneable braying of Asses is not agreeable to the Harp And yet the best Pipes are made of the bones of Asses the marrow being taken out which as they far exceed the harmony of the Harp so these Religious Asses far surpass the Brangling and Braying of idle Sophisters Thus several Philosophers coming to visit Antony and to discourse with him being by him answer'd in a few words return'd with shame We read also of a certain Idiot that convinc'd a most learned and subtil Heretick and forc'd him to turn to the Faith whom the best and most learned Bishops at the Council of Nice with a long and difficult Disputation could not convince Who being afterwards demanded by his friends how it came to pass that he yielded to the Fool who had resisted and withstood so many and so great Learned Bishops replied That he had easily given the Bishops words for words but that he could not resist this Idiot who spake not according to humane wisdom but according to the Spirit The Conclusion of the Work YOu therefore O ye Asses who are now with your children under the command of Christ by means of his Apostles and Messengers and Readers of true wisdom in his holy Gospel being freed from the foggs and mists of flesh and bloud if ye desire to attain to this divine and true wisdom not of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but of the tree of life set aside the Traditions of Men and every enquiry and discourse of flesh and bloud whether it concern Reason consideration of Causes or Effects conversing now not with the Schools of Philosophers and Sophisters but with your own selves For the Notions of all things are trusted within your own brests which as the Academicks confess the Scriptures themselves do testifie seeing that God created all things very good that is to say in the best degree they could consist He therefore as he created the trees full of fruit so he created our souls which are like rational trees full of Forms and Idea's though through the sin of our first parents all things were conceal'd and Oblivion took place the mother of Ignorance But you that can remove the Veil from your Understandings who are wrapt up in the darkness of Ignorance vomit up that Lethean Drench which has made ye drunk with Forgetfulness awake in the true light you that are drown'd in the sleep of Irrationality and then forthwith with an open countenance ye shall pass from light to light for ye are anointed as S. John saith by the holy Ghost and know all things And again There is no necessity that ye should be taught by any because his Anointing instructs ye in all things For he alone it is that giveth language and wisdome David Isaiah Ezekiel Jeremiah Daniel John Baptist and many other Prophets and Apostles were never bred up in Learning but of Shepherds Husbandmen and Fools became throughly learned in all things Solomon in a dream of one night was replenished with the knowledge of all things both sublunary and celestial and with so much prudence in the administration of Government that there was never any Prince equal to him Yet all these were mortal men as you are and sinners You will say perhaps that this has happen'd to a very few and those A few whom equal Jove Would signalize by his transcending love Or such whose ardent zeal divinely fir'd With constant motion to the Stars aspir'd However do not despair the hand of God is not shortned to them that call upon him that give a true obedience to his will Anthony and the Barbarian Christian servant gain'd the full knowledge of Divine things by the help of thrre days prayer as S. Austin testifies But you that cannot like the Prophets like the Apostles like those other holy men behold those things with a clear and unclouded Intellect may procure Understanding from them who have beheld these things with a clear sight There is also another way remaining as S. Jerome saith to Russinus that what the Spirit hath suggested to the Prophets and Apostles should be sought by you with diligent studie I mean the study of that Learning which is deliver'd in the Bible being the most sacred Oracles of the true God and received by the Church with an unanimous consent not of such things as have been invented by the Wit of men for they do not enlighten but darken the Understanding And therefore we must have recourse to Moses to Solomon to the Prophets to the Evangelists to the Apostles who shining with all sorts of Learning Wisdom Manners Languages Oracles Prophecies Miracles and Holiness of heavenly things have spoken from God himself of inferiour things above men delivering all the things of God and secrets of Nature distinctly and clearly to us For all the secrets of God and Nature all manner of Customs and Laws all understanding of things past present and to come are fairly taught in the Books of the holy Scripture Whither do ye therefore run headlong why seek ye knowledge of them who having spent all their days in searching have lost all their time labour being unable to attain to any thing of certain truth Fools and wicked men who not regarding the gifts of the holy Ghost strive to learn from lying Philosophers and Doctors of Errour those things which ye ought to receive from Christ and the holy Ghost Think ye to draw knowledge from the ignorance of Socrates or light out of the darkness of Anâ—xagoras or vertue out of the Wells of Democritus and wisdom out of the madness of Empedocles Think ye to lave piety out of Diogenes's Tub or sence out of the stupidity of Carneades or wisdom from impious Aristotle or perfidious Averroes or faith out of the superstition of the Platonicks Ye are in an Errour being deceived by them who were themselves deceiv'd But recal your selves you who are desirous of the Truth descend from the clouds of mens Traditions and adhere to the true light Behold a voice from heaven a voice speaking from above and shewing more apparent than the Sun that ye are enemies to your selves and delay the receiving of wisdom Hear the Oracle of Baruch God is saith he and no other shall be compared to him He hath found out all manner of learning and hath taught it to Jacob his son and to Israel his beloved giving laws and precepts and ordaining sacrifices After this he was seen upon the earth conversed with men was made flesh teaching us plainly with his own mouth what was mysteriously deliver'd in the Law and by the Prophets And that ye may nor think the Scriptures relate onely to Divine and not to natural things hear what the Wise-man witnesseth of himself He hath given the true knowledge of those things which are that I might know the situation of the earths compass the vertues of the Elements the beginning ending middle and revolutions of the Times the course of the Year the influences of the Stars the nature of Animals Sympathy and Antipathy of Creatures the force of the Winds Thoughts of Men difference of Plants and the vertues of Roots In brief I have learnt whatever things are hidden and conceal'd for the Artificer of all things hath taught me wisdom The Divine wisdom faileth in nothing nothing escapes it there is no addition to it for it comprehends all things Know therefore that there needs not long Studie but Humility of spirit and Pureness of heart not the sumptuous furniture of many Books but a pure Understanding made fit for the Truth as the Lock is for the Key For number of Books hinders the learner and he that follows many Authors erres with many All things are contain'd and taught in the onely Volume of the Bible but with this Proviso That they are not to be understood but by those who are enlightned for to others they are onely Parables and Riddles seal'd up with many Seals Pray then to the Lord God in saith doubtful of nothing that the Lamb of the Tribe of Judah may come and open his Sealed Book which Lamb is onely holy and true who onely has the key of wisdom and knowledge whâ— opens and no man shuts and shuts what no man opensâ— This is JESUS CHRIST the Word the Soâ— of God the Father the true Teacher made Man likâ— unto us that he might make us the children of Godâ— like Himself blessed to all Eternity But lest 〈◊〉 should declaim beyond my Hour-glass let this be thâ— End of our Discourse FINIS