their soules and goods whether they kill or be killed Azo 18. 19. And in 57. Kill the vnbeleeuers whom you conquer till you haue made great slaughter God could take vengeance on them but hee chuseth rather to doe it by you he shall lay deafenesse and blindnesse on the faint-hearted Yet in 52. and 98. as contrary to himselfe hee affirmeth that hee is sent onely to teach not to compell and force men to beleeue and Az. 4. Offer no man violence for the law then the right way and the euill are opened except wee expound it rather that Iewes Christians and all vnbeleeuers are compelled to bee tributaries and their slaues not forced to their Religion but instructed onely which agreeth with their practise From this Doctrine and that of Destinie in the 50. Az. hath risen their forwardnesse to the warre and the greatnesse of their Conquests Agreeable to this doctrine is their manner of teaching it the Reader or Preacher as saith Frier Richard Student amongst them in the Vniuersitie of Baldach holdeth a bare sword in his hand or setteth it vp in an eminent place to the terrour of the gaine-sayers But Disputation and reasoning about his Law hee vtterly disliketh Az. 32. To such as will dispute with thee answer that God knoweth all thy doings which in the last day shall determine all controuersies And 50. Nothing but euill cleaueth to the heart of such as vnwisely dispute of diuine Precepts but commend thou thy selfe vnto God that knoweth all things And Chap. 4. 15. Hee is commanded to goe away from such This Booke is giuen to take way discord from men miracles he disclaimeth as insufficient proofe for though it should make plaine the mountaines and make the dead to speake yet they would be incredulous But it is thy dutie onely to shew them my Precepts Azo 23. And Az. 10. Yee which are good beleeue in GOD in his Messenger and in the Booke sent from Heauen They which first beleeue and after deny and become incredulous shall haue no pardon nor mercy of GOD but shall goe into the fire And 11. We will bring infinite euill vpon him that will not obey GOD and his Messenger and will be Disputing To them which demand that the Booke may raine vpon them from Heauen thou shalt say That some asked a greater thing of Moses that he would shew GOD vnto their eyes and were therefore smitten with lightning from Heauen 12. To Iewes and Christians GOD hath giuen disagreements till GOD shall determine the same at the day of Iudgement Make not your selues Companions of them which deride our Law No man receiueth the perfection of the Law but he which beleeueth the Testament the Gospell and this Booke sent of GOD. 14. They which erre will say Let GOD shew vs miracles These hurt none but their owne soules for if they should see all miracles done they would dispute with thee saying That they could not be done but by inchantments Thou shalt not come to them with manifest miracles for they would refuse them as odious things 15. Dispute not with them which will not heare and if they demand miracles say GOD only doth them I know not the secrets of GOD and follow nothing but that which GOD and the Angell hath commanded and if Angels should speake to such they would not beleeue 16. GOD himselfe and his blessed Spirit haue compounded this most true Booke 26. 44. They which say his Law is new or fained go to the Deuil 47. He induceth some gaine-sayers saying We will not leaue worshipping our Images for this Iester and Rimer Yet is he alone come with the truth confirming all the other Messengers 55. He saith I GOD writ this Booke with my owne hand 56. The vnbeleeuers say I am a Magician and haue fained it but then I pray GOD I may haue no part in him when he shall be our Iudge Say not there are three GODS but one GOD alone without a Sonne to him all things are subiect Christ cannot deny but that he is subiect to GOD as well as the Angels 12. We sent Christ to whom we gaue the Gospell which is the light and confirmation of the Testament and the right way to him which feareth GOD The complement of the Iewish law Therefore let euery seruant of the Gospel follow his precepts otherwise he shall be a bad man No religion or law attaines to perfection but such as obey the precepts of the Testament and the Gospel and this Booke the Alcoran sent from GOD. To beleeuing Iewes and Christians he promiseth pardon but Az. 13. preferres the Christians to the Iewes All that say that Christ is GOD are vnbeleeuers and lyers Christ himselfe hauing said Yee children of Israel beleeue in your GOD and my Lord of whom he which will be partaker shall be cast into the fire eternall Christ is but the Messenger of GOD before whom were many Messengers and his Mother was true and they did eat Good people exalt not your selues in your Law further then the truth 3. The soule of Christ was cleane and blessed he cured the leprous raised the dead taught wisedome the Testament and the Gospell The vnbeleeuing Israelites beleeued that he was a Magician And 34. We haue giuen a good place and abounding with water to the Sonne of Marie and to her for hauing done such miracles in the world Of the Creation he affirmeth Az. 2. that when GOD had made the world he disposed the seuen Heauens he told the Angels he would make one like vnto himselfe in the earth they answer We in all things are subiect to your Maiestie and giue praise vnto you but he will be wicked and a shedder of blood Then GOD testifying that he knew a thing not knowne to the Angels taught Adam the names of things by himselfe not knowne to the Angels and therefore commanded the Angels to doe reuerence before Adam which wicked Belzebub refused they obeyed And Az. 25. We made man of clay and I breathed into him a portion of mine owne soule after that I had created the Deuill of pestiferous fire and because Belzebub refused to humble himselfe to this man made of blacke mire he was damned and when he desired respite till the resurrection it was denied and therefore he said he would teach all euill things that they shall not giue thee thankes c. Of the Angels he affirmeth 45. that some of them haue two wings some three some foure and 52. the Heauen would fall vpon men were it not for the Angels that call vpon GOD. OF PARADISE he dreameth in this sort Az. 5. and 65. He which feareth GOD shall receiue the two Paradises full of all good pleasant with streaming fountaines There they shall possesse rings of Gold Chaines Iewels clothed with Cloth of Gold their beds shall be of Gold and this for euer There they shall lie on silken and purple Carpets and shall be accompanied with many Maidens
diuersly expressed Yea euen the most lasciuious cruell beastly and Deuillish obseruations were grounded vpon this one principle That GOD must bee serued which seruice they measured by their owne crooked Rules euery where disagreeing and yet meeting in one Center The necessitie of Religion As for Policie although it is before answered yet this may be added That whereas men with all threatnings promises punishments rewards can scarce establish their politicall Ordinances Religion insinuateth and establisheth it selfe yea taketh naturally such rooting that all politicall Lawes and tortures cannot plucke it vp How many Martyrs hath Religion yea superstition yeelded but who will lay downe his life to seale some Politicians authority And so farre is it that Religion should be grounded on Policie that Policie borroweth helpe of Religion Thus did Numa father his Romane Lawes on Aegeria and other Law-giuers on other supposed Deities which had been a foolish argument and vnreasonable manner of reasoning to perswade one obscurity by a greater had not Nature before taught them religious awe to God of which they made vse to this ciuill obedience of their lawes supposed to spring from a Diuine Fountaine Yea the falshoods and varietie of religions are euidences of this Truth seeing men will rather worship a Beast Stocke or the basest Creature then professe no Religion at all The Philosophers also that are accused of Atheisme for the most part did not deny Religion simply but that irreligious Religion of the Greekes in idolatrous superstition Socrates rather swearing by a Dog or an Oke then acknowledging such gods It is manifest then that the Image of GOD was by the Fall depraued but not vtterly extinct among other sparkes this also being raked vp in the ruines of our decayed Nature some science of the God-head some conscience of Religion although the true Religion can bee but one and that which GOD himselfe teacheth as the onely true way to himselfe all other Religions being but strayings from him whereby men wander in the darke and in labyrinths of error like men drowning that get hold on euery twig or the foolish fish that leapeth out of the frying-pan into the fire Thus GOD left a sparke of that light couered vnder the ashes of it selfe which himselfe vouchsafed to kindle into a flame neuer since neuer after to be extinguished And although that rule of Diuine Iustice had denounced morte morieris to die and againe to die a first and second death yet vnasked yea by cauilling excuses further prouoked hee by the promised seed erected him to the hope of a first and second resurrection a life of Grace first and after of Glory The Sonne of God is promised to be made the seede of the Woman the substantiall Image of the inuisible GOD to be made after the Image and similitude of a Man to reforme and transforme him againe into the former Image and similitude of GOD and whereas GOD had made man before after his owne Image and lost him he now promiseth to make himselfe after Mans Image to recouer him euen that he which in the forme of GOD thought it not robbery for it was Nature to bee equall with GOD should bee made nothing to make vs something should not spare himselfe that hee might spare vs should become partaker of our Nature flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone that hee might make vs partakers of the Diuine Nature flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone This was that Seede of the Woman that hath broken the Serpents head which by death hath ouercome death and him that had the power of Death the Deuill who submitted himselfe to a death in it selfe bitter before men shamefull and of GOD accursed that hee might bring vs to a life peaceable glorious and blessed beyond what eye hath seene or heart can conceiue This promise of this Seed slaine from the beginning of the World was the seed of all true Religion the soule of Faith the life of Hope the well-spring of Charitie True it is that all receiued not this promise alike for a seed of the Serpent was fore-signified also which should bruise the heele of the Womans seede And this in the first seed and generation of Man soon appeared Caine and Abel were hereof liuely examples It appeareth that GOD had taught Adam how hee would bee worshipped as it were ordering and ordaining him the first Priest of the World which function he fulfilled both in instructing his Wife and Children in prayer with and for them and in the rites of Sacrificing His children accordingly in processe of time brought and offered their Sacrifices As concerning Sacrifices some hold opinion according to their owne practice that Nature might teach Adam this way of seruing GOD as if Nature were as well able to finde the way as to know that she is out of the way and were as well seene in the particular maner as in the generall necessitie of Religion We cannot see the Sunne without the Sunne nor come to GOD but by GOD to whom Obedience is better then Sacrifice and to hearken better then the fat of Rams ABEL saith the Scripture offered by faith without which faith it is impossible to please GOD but faith hath necessary relation to the Word of GOD who otherwise will be weary of our solemnities and asketh Who hath required them at our hands These sacrifices also besides that they were acknowledgements of their thankefulnesse and reall confessions of their sinne and death due to them therefore did lead them by the hand to Christ that Lambe of GOD that should take away the sinnes of the World figured by these slaine beasts confirming their faith in the promise and their hope of the accomplishment of which Nature could not once haue dreamed which hath rather the impression of some confused notions that wee haue lost the way and ought to seeke it then either light to discerne it or wisedome to guide vs in it Of sacrificing there were from the Beginning two kinds one called Gifts or Oblations of things without life the other Victims so our Rhemists haue taught vs to English the word Victimae slaine Sacrifices of Birds and Beasts Againe they were propitiatory consecratorie Eucharisticall and so forth whose kinds and rites Moses hath in his Bookes especially in Leuiticus so plainely declared that I should but powre water into the Sea or light a candle to the Sunne to dilate much of them these beeing the same in signification with the Leuiticall and little if little differing in the manner of doing Caine brought his offering being an Husbandman of the fruit of the ground Abel a Shepheard of the fattest of his Sheepe God respected ABEL and his offering the tree first and then the fruit the worker and then the worke which he signified either by voice or by fire from Heauen according to Theodotians translation as in
the very middle of the world That in the Messiahs dayes Wheate shall grow without renewing by Seed as the Vine But of these and the like more then enough in this booke following L. Carretus a Conuert from the Iewes setteth downe these size as the maine differences betwixt them and vs The Trinitie the Incarnation the manner of his comming whether in humilitie or royaltie the Law ceremoniall which the Iew holdeth eternall saluation by and for our owne workes which the Christian ascribeth to Faith in Christ crucified and lastly of the time of his comming whether past or present To these he thinketh all other may be referred But let vs examine the particulars CHAP. XIIII Of the Iewish opinions of the Creation their Ceremonies about the birth of a Child Of their Circumcision Purification and Redemption of the first-borne and Education of their Children §. I. Of their Exposition of Scripture a taste in Gen. 1.1 THeir Exposition of Scripture is so absurd that wee haue hence a manifest argument that as they denyed the Sonne that Eternall Word and Truth whose written word this is so that Spirit which indited the same the Spirit of Truth hath put a vayle on their heart and iustly suffered the spirit of errour to blind their eyes that seeing they should see and not vnderstand This will appeare generally in our ensuing Discourse but for a taste let vs begin with the beginning of Moses whereon R. Iacob Baal Hatturim hath left to the world these smoakie speculations The Bible beginneth with Beth the second letter in the Alphabet and not with Aleph the first because that it is the first letter of Beracha which signifieth blessing this of Arour that is a curse Secondly Beth signifieth two insinuating the two-fold Law written and vnwritten for Bereshith hath the letters of Barashetei first hee made secondly Lawes thirdly Bereshith the first word of Genesis hath as many letters as Aleph be Tishrei that is the first of Tishrei or Tisri on which the Iewes say the world began fourthly Bereshith hath the letters of Baijth roshe that is the first Temple which he knew the Iewes would build and therefore created the world fiftly it hath the letters of Iare shabbath that is to keepe the Sabbath for God created the world for the Israelites which keepe the Sabbath sixtly also of Berith esh which signifieth the Couenant of fire to wit Circumcision and the Law another cause of the creation seuenthly likewise it hath the letters of Bara iesh that is hee created as many worlds as are in the number Iesh that is three hundred and ten that the Saints might reioyce therein Now if I should follow them from these letters and spelling to their mysticall sententious exposition of greater parts of the sentence you should heare Moses tell you out of his first words that the world was created for the Talmudists for the sixe hundred and thirteene precepts because hee loued the Israelites more then the other people Againe that hee foresaw the Israelites would receiue the Law but hee is now an Asse saith he which beareth Wine and drinketh water There are in the first verse seuen words which signifie the seuen dayes of the weeke seuenth yeere of rest seuen times seuenth the Iubilee seuentimes seuen Iubilees seuen Heauens seuen lands of Promise and seuen Orbes or Planets which caused Dauid to say I will praise thee seuen times a day There are 28. letters in it which shew the 28. times of the World of which Salomon speaketh Eccles 3.1 There are in it sixe Alephs and therefore the world shall last sixe thousand yeeres So in the second verse The earth was without forme and voyde are two Alephs which shew the world should bee two thousand yeeres voyde now in the third verse are foure Alephs which shew other foure thousand yeeres two of which should bee vnder the Law and two vnder Messias §. II. Their Dreames of Adam NOw for the first man his body saith R. Osia in the Talmud was made of the earth of Babylon his head of the land of Israel his other members of other parts of the world So R. Meir thought hee was compact of the earth gathered out of the whole earth as it is written Thine eyes did see my substance now it is elsewhere written The eyes of the Lord are ouer all the earth There are twelue houres of the day saith R. Aha in the first whereof the earth of Adam or earthly matter was gathered in the second the trunke of his body fashioned in the third his members stretched forth in the fourth his soule infused in the fift hee stood vpon his feet in the sixt hee gaue names to the Creatures in the seuenth Eue was giuen him in marriage in the eighth they ascended the bed two and descended foure in the ninth hee receiued the Precept which in the tenth he brake and therefore was iudged in the eleuenth and in the twelfth was cast out of Paradise as it is written Man continued not one night in honour The stature of Adam was from one end of the world to the other and for his transgression the Creator by laying on his hand lessened him for before faith R. Eleazar with his head he reached a reacher indeed the verie firmament His language was Syriacke or Aramitish saith R. Iuda and as Reschlakis addeth the Creator shewed him all generations and the wise-men in them His sinne after R. Iehuda was heresie R. Isaac thinketh the nourishing his fore-skin He knew or vsed carnall filthinesse with all the beasts which GOD brought vnto him before Eue was made as some interpret R. Eleazar and R. Salomon but Reuchline laboureth to purge them of that sense who affirmeth that hee had an Angell for his Master or Instructor and when he was exceedingly deiected with remorse of his sinne GOD sent the Angell Raziel to tell him that there should be one of his progenie which should haue the foure letters of Iehouah in his name and should expiate originall sinne And heere was the beginning of their Cabala and also presently hereupon did hee and Eue build an Altar and offer sacrifice The like offices of other Angels they mention to other Patriarchs and tell that euery three moneths are set new watches of these watchmen yea euery three houres yea and euery houre is some change of them And therefore wee may haue more fauour of them in one houre then another for they follow the disposition of the starres so said the Angell Samael which wrestled with him vnto Iacob Let mee goe for the day breaketh for his power was in the night But let me returne to Adam of whom they further tell that he was an Hermaphrodite a man-woman hauing both Sexes and a double bodie the Female part ioyned at the shoulders and backe parts to the Male their countenances turned from each other This is proued by Moses his words So GOD created man
him a liue They saw there certaine white thornes and in the same two Turtles which seemed to them as a miracle for in fifteene daies and nights they had neither seeene Birds nor Beasts They giue their Camells by the way not aboue fiue Barly loaues at a meale as bigge as a Pomegranate and drinke once in three dayes At the end of eight dayes they stayed a day or two to rest them Their Pilot directed their iourney by the Compasse in Diodorus times they obserued the North-starre no lesse then if it had beene at Sea They trauelled fiue dayes and nights through the sandie Sea which is a great plaine Champaine full of a small white sand-like meale where if by some disaster the winde blow from the South they are all dead men And although they had the winde at North yet could they not see one another aboue ten paces off And such as ride on Camels are inclosed with wood with holes to receiue the aire the Pilots going before with their Compasse for direction Many dyed there for thirst and many with fulnesse drinking too much when once they came at water When the North windes blow those sands are driuen to a heape He supposed that Mummia was made of such as the sands had surprised and buried quicke but the truer Mummia is made of embalmed bodies of men as they vse to doe in Egypt and other places For I haue read not onely of Women but Infants also which were not likely to take such dangerous iourneys whose bodies haue beene thus vsed to Mummia As for the other parts of Arabia they which list may by this our Author by Plinie Niger and others be informed further The like iourney to this of Barthemas is related by diuers latter Trauellers Monsieur de Monface Anno 1608. went with a Carauan of 10000. from Alleppo to Bagdat Their trauell he sayth was all by night aswell to auoide the vehement heate of the day as to be guided by the starre Their guides call themselues Pilots They trauelled thirty dayes till they came to Nane where they take water vpon Euphrates They saw no beasts but Asses Roes and Gazels a kinde of wilde Goates and Stagges innumerable so wilde that they often ranne through the Carauan No fowles but Pigeons which nestle in the ruines of olde Townes sometimes inhabited where also they made vse of olde welles otherwise hauing no water but what they carryed in Borachoes made of whole Goates skinnes There can bee no path by reason of the continuall motion of the sand by the wind Their King hath 100000. horsemen subiect to him gallant horse men almost naked himselfe subiect to the Turke To come to the disposition of the people they are small naked beggerly What they haue done in Asia Afrike and Europe by force of Armes vnder the name of Saracens and pretence of Religion shall follow in the next Chapter What they still doe if they meete with purchase Trauellers know to their cost Vsually Arabians are reckoned eyther Marchants or Theeues the one hauing certaine habitations or else trading abroad Strabo Plinie and Solinus admire their wealth as selling much to others and buying nothing thus treasuring vp the wealth of the East and West the Parthians and Romanes Their Marchandize was golde siluer frankincense with other spices Their golde by Diodorus testimony was often found in whole pieces pure and shining so that it gaue splendor and lustre to the gemmes inclosed therein whence happily that of the Psalme To him shall bee giuen of the gold of Arabia The ancient practice of Marchandise among some of the Arabian people and namely the Ismaelites the Scripture recordeth For their ancient Religion it is not like it could be good when as they had so bad an Author of their stocke accursed Cham the sonnes of Abraham were better instructed but as they were borne after the Flesh and not according to promise so if they and some of their posteritie did a while hold the Truth as the History of Iob and his friends euinceth yet this lasted not long but soone after in Iewrie was God knowne and hee dealt not so with any other Nation Herodotus Father of the Greeke History affirmeth in his Thalia that the Arabians worshipped Dyonisius whom they named Vrotalt and Vrania whom they called Alilat these alone they esteemed gods They shaue their Maidens like to Dionysius in a round forme about the temples Suidas telleth that they were excellent Archers their Arrowes were as long as themselues their Bowes they bent not with hands but with feet Curio in his Saracenicall History testifieth of them that as they descended in great part of Abrahams race by Ishmael the sonnes of Keturah and by Esau so they of old had and still retaine many rites obserued by the Hebrewes as numbring by Tribes and marrying onely within their owne Tribe euery Tribe also had their owne King which it seemeth the Tent-wandring or Scenite-Arabians obserue still That sonne succeedeth not which is eldest but hee which is borne first after hee is proclaimed King or Ruler being of Noble race on both sides They vsed also Circumcision For their Religion in old times some were Christians of which about the times of Mahomet there were many Sects some were Iewes others worshipped the Sunne and Moone others certaine Serpents others some kindes of Trees and some a Tower called Alcaba which they supposed Ismael had built and some others some other Deities Clemens Alexandrinus obiecteth to the ancient Scythians the worship of a Sword to the Persians the like deuotion to a Riuer adding that the Arabians worshipped a Stone Arnobius hath also the same Testimony explaining that stone to be rude and vnformed a fit Deitie for rude stony senselesse worshippers Eusebius tells that they vsed humane sacrifices which not onely Sardus confirmeth saying that they sacrificed euery yeere a child whom they buried vnder the Altar but Nicephorus also reported of one Naaman a Schenite-Arabian a Chiefetaine amongst them who in zeale of that superstition killed men with his owne hands and sacrificed them on the Altars to his gods In the time of Mauricius warned by a vision became a Christian and with him an innumerable company of his whom hee offered a liuing vnbloudie sacrifice in Baptisme vnto Christ When they entred league with any their manner was that one standing in the midst betweene both parties did wound the hand with a sharpe stone in the palme neere to the thumbes of them both and taking flockes of the garments of them both anointed with that bloud seuen stones set in the midst of them Meane while inuoking Dionysius and Vrania and then this Mediator be commeth suretie for the partie who thereby esteemeth himselfe bound to obserue it And this did they make league with Cambyses To these two Arabian gods Great Alexander would haue added himselfe a third saith Arrianus in his life He made great prouision to inuade
tell his Disciples the Historie of the Arke Who told them that by the weight of the Ordure the Arke leaned on the one side whereupon Noe consulting with GOD was bidden bring the Elephant thither out of whose dung mixed with mans came forth a Hog which wrooted in that mire with his snout and by the stinke thereof was produced out of his nose a Mouse which gnawed the boords of the Arke Noe fearing this danger was bidden to strike the Lion on the forehead and by the Lions breath was a Cat engendred mortall enemie to the Mouse But to returne from this stinking tale to refresh our selues with the like sweets of this Paradise He addeth that there they haue the wiues that here they had and other Concubines whom how when wheresoeuer they will Abd. But why is Wine lawfull there and here vnlawfull Mah. The Angels Arot and Marot were sometime sent to instruct and gouerne the world forbidding men Wine iniustice and murther But a woman hauing whereof to accuse her husband inuited them to dinner and made them drunke They inflamed with a double heat of Wine and Lust could not obtaine that their desire of their faire Hostesse except one would teach her the word of ascending to heauen and the other of descending Thus she mounted vp to heauen And vpon enquirie of the matter shee was made the Morning-Sarre and they put to their choice whether they would bee punished in this world or in the world to come they accepting their punishment in this are hanged by chaines with their heads in a pit of Babel till the day of Iudgement Hell saith Mahomet there hath the floore of Brimstone smoakie pitchy with stinking flames with deepe pits of scalding Pitch and sulphurous flames wherein the damned are punished daily the trees beare most loasome fruits which they eate The day of Iudgement shall be in this sort In that day GOD will command the Angel of Death to kill euery Creature which being done hee shall aske him if nothing bee aliue Adreiel the Angell of Death shall answere Nothing but my selfe Then goe thy waies betwixt Paradise and Hell and last of all kill thy selfe Thus he folded in his wings prostrate on the earth shall strangle himselfe with such a bellowing noise as would terrifie the verie Angels if they were aliue Thus the world shall bee emptie fortie yeeres Then shall GOD hold the Heauen and Earth in his fist and say Where are now the mightie men the Kings and Princes of the World Tell mee if yee be true whose is the Kingdome and Empire and Power Repeating these words three times he shall rise vp Seraphiel and say Take this Trumpet and goe to Ierusalem and sound This Trumpet is of fiue hundred yeeres iourney At that sound all Soules shall come forth and disperse themselues vnto their owne bodies and their bones shall be gathered together Fortie yeeres after hee shall sound againe and then the bones shall resume flesh and sinewes After fortie yeeres the third sound shall warne the Soules to re-possesse their bodies and a fire from the West shall driue euery creature to Ierusalem When they haue here swum fortie yeeres in their owne sweat they shall with much vexation come to Adam and say Father Adam Father Adam Why hast thou begotten vs to these miseries and torments Why sufferest thou vs to hang betweene hope and feare Pray to GOD that hee will finish his determination of vs between Paradise and Hell Adam shall excuse his vnworthinesse for his disobedience and send them to Noe Noe will post them to Abraham Abraham to Moses He shall send them to Iesus Christ To him they shall come and say The Spirit Word and Power of GOD let thy pitie moue thee to make intercession for vs He shall answer them That which you aske you haue lost I was indeed sent vnto you in the power of GOD and Word of Truth but yee haue erred and haue made me GOD more then euer I preached to you and haue therefore lost my benefit But goe to the last of the Prophets meaning him with whom thou now talkest Abdia Then shall they turne to him and say O faithfull Messenger and friend of GOD we haue sinned heare vs holy Prophet our only hope c. Then shall Gabriel present himselfe to helpe his friend and they shall goe to the Throne of GOD. And GOD shall say I know why you are come Farre be it that I should not heare the prayer of my faithfull one Then shall a bridge be made ouer Hell and on the top of the bridge shall bee set a ballance wherein euery mans workes shall bee weighed and those which are saued shall passe ouer the bridge the other shall fall into Hell Abd. How many bands of men shall there be in that day Mahom. An hundred and twentie of which three only shall be found faithfull and euery Band or troupe of men shall be in length the iourney of a thousand yeeres in breadth fiue hundred Abd. What shall become of Death Mah. He shall be transformed into a Ram and they shall bring him betweene Paradise and Hell Then shall arise much dissentions betweene these two peoples through feare of the one and hope of the other But the people of Paradise shall preuaile and shall slay Death betweene Paradise and Hell Abd. Thou O Mahomet hast ouercome and I beleeue that there is but one GOD Almightie and thou art his Messenger and Prophet In this long and tedious Summarie of that longer and more tedious Dialogue compared with the former Iewish opinions touching their Behemoth Leuiathan Ziz Ierusalem Swines flesh the Angell of Death and other their superstitious opinions it may appeare that the Iewes were forward Mint-masters in this new-coyned Religion of Mahomet In the beginning of this Dialogue are mentioned their fiue Prayers and their Ramadam or Ramazan Of which that Arabian Noble-man in confutation of the Alcoran writeth thus He which hath fulfilled these fiue Prayers shall bee praised in this world and in the next They are as follow Two kneelings in the morning after-noone foure at Vespers or a little before Sun-set foure after Sun-set foure at their beginning of supper two and after supper when it is darke two in all eighteene kneelings in a day Their Lent or Fast of the Moneth Ramazan is thus In the day time they must fast from Meate Drinke and Venerie till the Sunne bee downe then is Riot permitted them till a white threed may be discerned from a blacke But if any be sicke or in iourneying he may pay at another time the same number of dayes Sampsates Isphacanes a Persian in a letter written to one Meletius which had conuerted to Christianitie and fled to Constantinople to reduce him to his former vomit alleageth this saying of GOD to Mahomet I haue made all things for thee and thee for mee obiecteth to Christians the worship of three Persons the Father Mother and Sonne the worship of many gods And
writ seuen bookes reconciling these Sect ries and the Lawyers together which reconciliation continued till the comming of the Tartars and Asia and Afrike was full of these Reformers of their Law In old time none but learned men might be admitted Professors hereof but within these last hundred yeeres euery ignorant Idiot professeth it saying That learning is not necessary but the holy Spirit doth reueale to them which haue cleane hearts the knowledge of the truth These contrary to the Alcoran sing loue-songs and dances with some phantasticall extasies affirming themselues to be rauished of diuine loue These are great gluttons they may not marry but are reputed Sodomites The same our Author writeth of some which teach that by good workes fasting and abstinence a man may attaine a Nature Angelicall hauing his minde so purified that he cannot sinne although he would But he must first passe through fifty degrees of Discipline And although he sinne before hee be past these fifty degrees yet GOD doth not impute it to him These obserue strange and inestimable Fasts at the first after they liue in all pleasures of the world Their rule was written in foure volumes by a learned and eloquent man Esschrauar and by Ibnul-farid another Author in exact and most learned Verse That the Spheres Elements Planets and Starres are one God and that no Faith nor Law can be erroneous because that all men in their mindes intend to worship that which is to bee worshipped And they beleeue that the knowledge of GOD is contained in one man who is called Elcorb elected and partaker of GOD and in knowledge as GOD. There are other forty men amongst them called Elauted that is Dunces because of their lesse knowledge When the Elcorb or Elcoth dyeth his Successour is chosen out of these and into that vacant place of the fortie they chuse one out of another number of seuentie They haue a third inferiour number of a hundred threescore and fiue their Title I remember not out of which they chuse when any of the threescore and tenne die Their Law or Rule enioyneth them to wander through the World in manner of Fooles or of great Sinners or of the vilest amongst men And vnder this cloke many are most wicked men going naked without hiding their shame and haue to deale with women in the open and common streets like beasts Of this base sort are many in Tunis and farre more in Egypt and most of all in Cairo I my selfe saith our Author in Cairo in the street called Bain Elcasraim saw one of them with mine eyes take a beautifull Dame comming out of the Bath and laid her downe in the middest of the street and carnally knew her and presently when hee had left the woman all the people ranne to touch her clothes because a holy man had touched them And they said that this Saint seemed to doe a sinne but that hee did it not Her husband knowing of it reckoned it a rare fauour and blessing of GOD and made solemne feasting and gaue almes for that cause But the Iudges which would haue punished him for the same were like to bee slaine of the rude multitude who haue them in great reputation of sanctitie and euery day giue them gifts and presents There are another sort that may be termed Caballists which fast strangely not doe they eate the flesh of any creature but haue certaine meates ordained and appointed for euery houre of the day and night and certain particular praiers according to the dayes and months numbring their said Prayers and vse to carry vpon them some square things painted with Characters and Numbers They affirme that the good Spirits appeare and acquaint them with the affayres of the world An excellent Doctor named Boni framed their rule and prayers and how to make their squares and it seemeth to me who haue seene the worke to be more Magicall then Cabalasticall One booke sheweth their prayers and fastings the second their square the third the vertue of the fourescore and ninteene names of GOD which I saw in the hand of a Venetian Iew at Rome There is another rule in these Sects called Suuach of certaine Hermites which liue in Woods and solitary places feeding on nothing but hearbs and wilde fruites and none can particularly know their life because of this solitarinesse Thus farre Leo. Beniamin Tudelensis telleth of a Nation neere to Mount Libanus which hee calleth Hhassissin which varied from the ordinary sort of Ismalites and followed a peculiar Prophet of their owne whose word they obeyed whether for life or for death They called him Hheich al Hhassissin his abode was at Karmos They were a terror to all about them sawing asunder euen the Kings if they tooke any They warred with the Frankes the Christians which then held Ierusalem and the King of Tripolis Their dominion extended eight dayes iourney Zachuth mentioneth one Baba which about the 630. yeere of the Hegira fained himselfe a Prophet sent of God vnder which colour hee gathered together a great Armie wherewith he filled all Asia with slaughter and spoile slaying Christians and Ismaelits without difference till Giatheddin King of Gunia ouerthrew and destroyed him and his Host Besides the former they haue other Heremites of another sort one is mentioned by Leo who had fiue hundred Horse a hundred thousand Sheepe two hundred Beeues and of offerings and almes betwixt foure and fiue thousand Duckets his fame great in Asia and Afrike his Disciples many and fiue hundred people dwelling with him at his charges to whom he enioyneth not penance nor any thing but giueth them certaine names of God and biddeth them with the same to pray vnto him so many times a day When they haue learned this they returne home he hath a hundred Tents for strangers his Cattell and Family hee hath foure wiues besides slaues and by them many children sumptuously apparrelled His fame is such that the King of Telensin is afraide of him and he payeth nothing to any such veneration haue they towards him reputing him a Saint Leo saith hee spake with him and that this Heremite shewed him Magick-bookes and he thought that this his great estimation did come by false working of the true science so the Heremite termed Magicke But these Heremites we cannot so well reckon a Sect as a Religious Order of which sort there are diuers in these Mahumetane Nations as in our ensuing discourse shall appeare To returne therefore to the consideration of the meanes vsed to preuent the varietie of Sects among them The Caliphs sought to remedie these inconueniences by their best policie Moaui about the yeere of our Lord 770. assembled a generall Councell of their learned men to consult about an Vniformity but they disagreeing among themselues hee chose six men of the most learned and shut them vp in a house together with their Scriptures commanding them that out of those Copies disagreeing as you haue heard they should
long as they could hold their breath without harme but not without signes of working passions whether of diuine inspiration or reluctation of the naturall forces No lesse maruellous then the dampe of the ayre is the hardning qualitie of the waters which being hot doe harden themselues into a kinde of stone Warner mentioneth the like in Hungarie and Acosta in Peru Those Galli heere mentioned with Priests of Cybele so called of Gallus a Riuer in Phrygia the waters whereof temperately drunken did exceedingly temper the braine and take away madnesse but being sucked in largely caused madnesse These Priests drinking heereof vnto madnesse in that fury gelded themselues and as their beginning so was their proceeding also in madnesse in the execution of their rites shaking and wheeling their heads like mad-men Volateran out of Polyhistur reporteth that one Gallus the companion of Attys both gelded imposed this name on the Riuer before called Teria Of Cybele and Attys we haue spoken before I adde that after some this Attys was a Phrygian youth which when hee would not listen to Rhea in her amorous suites gelded himselfe so consecrating his Priesthood vnto Rhea or Cybele others affirme that shee preferred him to that Office first hauing vowed perpetuall chastitie and breaking his Vow was punished with madnesse in which hee dismembred himselfe and would also haue killed himselfe but that by the compassionate Goddesse hee was turned into a Pine-tree That the Fable this the History that these gelded Priests wore also long womannish attire played on Tymbrels and Cornets sacrificed to their Goddesse the ninth day of the Moone at which time they set the Image of the Goddesse on an Asse and went about the Villages and Streets begging with the sound of their sacred Tymbrell corne bread drinke and all necessaries in honour of their Goddesse as they did also in the Temples begging money in her name with some musicall Instruments and were therefore called Matragyrtae Thus did the Priests of Corona also begge for the maintenance of their Goddesse with promises of good fortune to their liberall contributors Lucian in his Asinus relateth the like knaueries of the Priests of Dea Syria Concerning his Image Albricus thus purtrayeth it A Virgin sitting in a Chariot adorned with varietie of gemmes and metals Shee is called Mother of the Gods and Giants these Giants had Serpentine feet one of which number was Titan who is also the Sunne who retayned his Deitie for not ioyning in conspiracie against the Gods with his brethren This Chariot was drawne with Lions Shee wore on her head a Crowne fashioned like a Tower Neere her is painted Attys a naked boy whom in iealousie shee gelded Macrobius applies this to the Sunne Boccace to the Earth Mother indeed of the Ethnike Deities which were earthly sensuall deuilish who addeth to that former description of Albricus a Scepter in her hand her garment embroydered with branches and herbs and the Galli her gelded attendants with Trumpets The interpretation whereof they which will may reade in him as also in Phornutus Fulgentius and others with many other particulars of her Legend Claudian calls her both Cybele and Cybelle which name Stephanus thinketh she receiued of a Hil of that name in Phrygia as doth Hesychius likewise so was shee called Dyndimena of the Hill Dindymus I could weary the Reader with long narrations out of Pausanias Arnobius Lilius Gyraldus and others touching these things but in part wee haue before shewed them in our narrations of Adonis in Phoenicia of the Syrian goddesse to which Phornutus referreth this and when we come to a larger handling of the Grecian Idolatries we shall finde more fit occasion It is now high time to leaue this properly called Asia and to visit LYCIA washed by the Sea two hundred miles wherein the mount Taurus ariseth hence stretching it selfe Eastward vnder diuers appellations vnto the Indian Sea They were gouerned by common Councell of three and twentie Cities till the Romans subdued them Here was Cragus a Hill with eight Promontories and a Citie of the same name from whence arose the Fables of Chymaera At the foot of the Hill stood Pinara wherein was worshipped Pandarus and a little thence the Temple of Latona and not farre off Patara the worke of Patarus beautified with a Hauen and many Temples and the Oracles of Apollo no lesse famous if Mela bee beleeued for wealth and credit then that at Delphos The Hill Telmessus was here famous for Southsayings and the Inhabitants are accounted the first Interpreters of Dreames Here was Chymaera a Hill said to burne in the night PAMPHYLIA beareth Eastwards from Lycia and now together with CILICIA of the Turkes is called CARAMANIA Herein was Perga neere whereunto on a high place stood the Temple of Diana Pergaea where were obserued yeerely Festiuals Sida had also in it the Temple of Pallas There remaine of this Chersonessus ARMENIA minor and Cilicia Armenia minor called also Prima is diuided from the Greater or Turcomania by Euphrates on the East it hath on the West Cappadocia on the South Cilicia and part of Syria on the North the Pontike Nations It was sometimes reckoned a part of Cappadocia till the Armenians by their inuasions and Colonies altered the name As for their rites I finde little difference but they either resemble the Cappadocians or their Armenian Ancestors CILICIA abutteth on the Eastern borders of Pamphylia and was diuided into Trachea and Campestris now hath in it few people many great Mesquitaes and well furnished the chiefe Citie is Hamsa sometime called Tarsus famous for the studies of learning herein saith Strabo surmounting both Athens and Alexandria but most most famous for yeelding him to the world then whom the whole world hath not happily yeelded any more excellent that was meerely a man that great Doctor of Nations who filled these Countries and all Regions from Ierusalem euen to Illyricum now full of barbarisme by preaching and still filleth the world by his writings with that truth which hee learned not of man nor at Tarsus the greatest Schoole of humanitie nor at Ierusalem the most frequented for Diuinitie but of the Spirit of Truth himselfe who both was at first from Heauen conuerted and after in the third Heauen confirmed in the same Strabo mentioneth the Temple and Oracle of Diana Sarpedonia in Cilicia where being inspired they gaue answeres The Temple of Iupiter also at Olbus the worke of Aiax From Anchiale a Cilician Citie Alexander passed to Solos where hee sacrificed with prayses to Aesculapius for recouery from a strong Feuer gotten before in the waters of Cidnus and celebrated Gymnicall and Musicall Games The Corycian and Triphonian Dennes or Caues were held in much veneration among the Cilicians where they sacrificed with certaine Rites They had their Diuination by Birds and Oracles Of the Corycian Denne or Caue so called of the Towne Corycos almost compassed with the
at this time is Idolatrous and Pagan wherin the common people are somewhat superstitious but the King himselfe the Mandarines or Magistrates as seeing the vanitie thereof and not able to see the truth are in manner irreligious and profane the first worship that which is Nothing in the World and these find nothing in the World but the World and these momentany things to worship Ricius reports that the ancient Chinois worshipped one only great GOD which they called the King of Heauen or otherwise Heauen and Earth wherby he gathers that they thought Heauen and Earth to be endued with life and the Soule thereof to be the greatest GOD. Beneath which they worshipped also diuers Spirits Tutelares preseruers of the Mountaines of Riuers and of the foure parts of the World They held that Reason was to be followed in all actions which light they confessed to receiue from Heauen They neuer conceiued yet such monstrous absurdities of this god and these spirits as the Egyptians Grecians and Romanes haue done whence the Iesuite would haue you thinke euen in this Idolatry many of them to be saued by I know not what congruitie which merits not the mention In succeeding ages this Idolatry became more manifold in some whiles other became Atheists of which their King and Magistrates are blamed And yet this King when some few yeeres since his Palace was fired with lightning being guiltie of his owne vnworthinesse he commanded his sonne to pray to Heauen for reconciliation Fryer Gasper de la Crux being in Canton entred a certaine Religious house where he saw a Chappell hauing therein besides many other things of great curiositie the Image of a woman with a child hanging about her necke and a Lampe burning before her The mysterie hereof so like the Popish mysterie of iniquitie none of the Chinois could declare The Sunne the Moone Starres and especially Heauen it selfe are gods of the first forme in their Idol-schoole They acknowledge Laocon Tzantey the Gouernour of the great god so it signifieth to be eternall and a spirit Of like nature they esteeme Causay vnto whom they ascribe the lower Heauen and power of Life and Death They subiect vnto him three other spirits Tauquam Teyquam Tzuiquam The first supposed to bee Author of Raine the second of humane Natiuitie Husbandrie and Warres the third is their Sea Neptune To these they offer Victualls Odors and Alter-clothes presenting them also with Playes and Comoedies They haue Images of the Deuil with Serpentine lockes and as deformed lookes as here he is painted whom they worship not to obtaine any good at his hand but to detaine and hold his hand from doing them euill They haue many Hee and Shee-Saints in great veneration with long Legends of their liues Amongst the chiefe of them are Sichia the first inuenter of their religious Votaries of both Sects Quannia an Anchoresse and Neoma a great Sorceresse Frier Martin in one Temple in Vcheo told a hundred and twelue Idols They tell of one Huiunsin in the Prouince of Cechian which did much good to the people both by Alchimy making true Siluer of Quick-siluer and by freeing the Metropolitan Citie from a huge Dragon which hee fastened to an yron pillar still shewed and then flew into Heauen with all his House Mice and all lye and all and there they haue built him a Temple the ministers whereof are of the Sect Thausu Trigautius writes of certaine Gods called Foe which they say goe a visiting Cities and Prouinces and the Iesuites in one Citie were taken for these Idols Foe At Sciauchin they in time of drought proclaimed a Fast euery Idoll was sollicited with Tapers and Odours for Raine A peculiar Officer with the Elders of the people obserued peculitr Rites to these purpose the Priests went on Procession all in vaine When the Citie-Gods could doe nothing they fetched a Country-Idoll called Locu which they carrie about worship offer to But LOCV is now growne old thus they said of his deafenesse At last they goe to a Witch who told them Quonin a Goddesse was angry that her backe was burned meaning the Conuerts which burnt their Idols which insensed them against the Christians Hoaquam is the name of an Idoll which hath rule ouer the eyes which they carry about in Procession and beg in his name In time of trouble they haue familiaritie with the Deuill Pedro de Alfaro obserued being in a Ship with the Chinois in this sort They cause a man to lye on the ground groueling and then one readeth on a Booke the rest answering and some make a sound with Bells and Tabors The man in short space beginneth to make visages and gestures whereby they know the Deuill is entred and then doe they propound their requests to which he answereth by word or Letters And when they cannot extort an answere by word they spread a red Mantle on the ground equally dispersing all ouer the same a certaine quantitie of Rice Then do they cause a man that cannot write to stand there themselues renuing their former inuocation and the Deuill entring into this man causeth him to write vpon the Rice But his answeres are often full of lyes In the entries of their houses they haue an Idoll-roome where they incense their Deities morning and euening They offer to them the sweetest odours Hennes Geese Duckes Rice Wine a Hogs-head boyled is a chiefe offering But little hereof falleth to Gods share which is set in a dish apart as the tippes of the Hogs-eares the bylls and feet of the Hennes a few cornes of Rice three or foure drops of Wine Their Bookes tell much of Hell their deuotions little Their Temples are homely and filthy no Oracle is in any of them They haue fables of men turned into Dogs or Snakes and againe metamorphosed into men And they which beleeue the paines of Hell yet beleeue after a certaine space that those damned soules shall passe thence into the bodies of some beasts But their Idolatries and religious Rites will better appeare if we take view of their different Religions and Sects §. III. Of their three Sects and first of that of CONFVTIVS THey reckon in the World and obserue amongst themselues three Sects the first of the Learned the second Sciequia the third Laucu One of these three euery Chinois professeth as doe their Neighbours also which vse their Characters the Iapanders Corians Lequians and Cochin-Chinois The Sect of the Learned is peculiar to the Chinois very ancient and famous which they drinke in together with the Studies of Learning all their Students and Magistrates professing the same obseruing Confutius the Author thereof These worship not Idols nor haue any One God they worship as preseruer of all things certaine Spirits also in an inferiour honour The chiefe of them neither acknowledge Author Time or Manner of the worlds creation Somewhat they discourse of Rewards of Good and Euill but such as are bestowed in this life vpon the
best house which needed lest furniture of houshold Hee added that they searched the secrets of Nature and that returning into the Citie if they met with any carrying figs or grapes they receiued of him gratis if oyle they powred it on them and all mens houses and goods were open to them euen to the Parlors of their wiues When they were entred they imparted the wisdome of their sentences as the other communicated his meats If they feared any disease they preuented the same with fire as was now said of Calanus Megasthenes reproueth this Calanus as Alexanders Trencher-Chaplaine and commendeth Mandanis saying That when Alexanders messengers told him that he must come to the sonne of Iupiter with promise of rewards if he came otherwise menacing torture hee answered That neither was he Iupiters sonne nor did possesse any great part of the earth as for himselfe he neither respected his gifts nor feared his threatnings for while he liued India yeelded him sufficient if he dyed he should be freed from age and exchange for a better and purer life Whereupon he saith Alexander both pardoned and praised him Clitarchus reporteth also that to the Brachmanes are opposed another sect called Pramnae men full of subtiltie and contention which derided the studies of others in Physiologie and Astronomie He diuideth the Brachmanes into those of the Mountaines clothed in Deere skins which carried scrips full of roots and medicines which they applied with certaine charmes to cure diseases and the second sort he calleth Gymnetae those naked ones before mentioned whereof it seemeth they were called Gymnosophistae which had women amongst them but not in carnall knowledge the third he calleth Ciuill which liued in Cities and Villages wearing fine linnen and apparrelled in skins Clemens Alexandrinus speakes of their fastings and other austere courses out of Alex. Polyhistor de rebus Indicis The Brachmanes saith he neither eate any quick thing nor drinke wine But some of them eat euery day as we doe some onely euery third day They contemne death nor much esteeme of life beleeuing to be borne againe Some worship Pan and Hercules But those Indians which are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for their grauitie and austeritie liue altogether naked These practise Truth and foretell things to come and worship a certaine Pyramis vnder which they thinke are laid the bones of some god Neither the Gymnosophists nor these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vse women but thinke it vnlawfull and against Nature and therefore obserue chastitie Likewise there are Virgins which are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the female sexe They seeme to obserue the heauenly bodies and by their signification to foretell future euents Thus farre Clemens Nicolaus Damascenus saith That at Antiochia hee saw the Indian Embassadors sent to Augustus from Porus the King as his letter contained of sixe hundred Kings with presents among which was a female-Viper of sixteene Cubits one of the like bignesse Strabo saith he saw sent out of Egypt and a Cray-fish of three Cubits and a Partrich bigger then a Vulture Zarmanochagas one of these Indian Philosophers was one of the Embassadours who at Athens burned himselfe not moued thereto by aduersitie but by prosperitie which had in all things followed his desires lest in his succeeding age it might alter and therefore entered the fire anointed naked laughing His Epitaph was Here lyeth Zarmanochagas the Indian of Bargosa which according to his Countrey-custome made himselfe immortall But it is not such maruell that their Philosophers thus contemned death whereas their Women the weaker and more fearefull sexe wherein out-went their sexe and weakenesse For their custome admitting many wiues the dearest of which was burned with the deceased husband Hae igitur contendunt inter se de amore viri they are Hieromes words ambitio summa certantium est ac testimonium castitatis dignam morte decerni They ambitiously contend amongst themselues to obtaine this fatall testimonie of their husbands loue and their owne chastitie and the conqueresse in her former habit lyeth downe by the carkasse embracing and kissing the same contemning the fire which thus marryeth them againe in despight of deaths diuorce A thing to this day obserued in many parts of India as we shall see anon Arrianus reporteth of a place called Comar it seemeth the Cape Comori ouer-against Zeilan wherein is a Hauen to which vsed to resort certaine Votaries which had deuoted themselues to a single life to wash themselues in those holy-waters The like was done by their Nun-like women They had a tradition of a certaine goddesse which vsed to wash her selfe there euery moneth Suidas telleth of a Nation called Brachmanes inhabiting an Iland in the Sea where Alexander erected a pillar with inscription that he had passed so farre They liue an hundred and fiftie yeeres and haue neither bread wine flesh nor metals nor houses but liue of the fruits and cleere water and are very religious Their wiues liue apart on the other side Ganges to whom they passe in Iuly and August and after fortie dayes returne home againe When the wife hath had two children shee neither knoweth her husband after nor any other man which is obserued also when in fiue yeeres he can raise no issue of her hee after abstaineth These slay no beasts in sacrifice but affirme That GOD better accepteth vnbloudie sacrifices of Prayer and more delighteth in Man his owne Image In the Hills called Hemodi Bacchus is said to haue erected pillars to witnesse his Conquest as farre in that Easterne Ocean as Hercules did in the West He built the Citie Nysa where he left his sicke and aged Souldiers which Alexander spared and suffered to their owne libertie for Dionysius or Bacchus his sake And as Bacchus erected Pillars so did Alexander Altars to the Twelue chiefe gods as high as Towers Monuments of his farre trauels where he obserued solemne games and sacrifices Hee sacrificed also not to his Countrey gods alone but to Hydaspis Acesine and Indus Indian Riuers and to other gods with other Rites and Sacrifices then he had before vsed drowning a golden bowle in Indus and another in the Ocean in his Ethnicke superstition To him did the Indian Magi so doth Arrianus call their Brachmanes say That hee was but as other men sauing that hee had lesse rest and was more troublesome and being dead should enioy no more land then would serue to couer his bodie And euery man said they stamping with their feet on the ground hath so much as he treadeth on Eusebius reciteth out of Bardesanes Cyrus that amongst the Indians and Bactrians were many thousand Brachmanes which as well by Tradition as Law worshipped no Image nor ate any quick Creature dranke no Wine nor Beere only attending on Diuine things whereas the other Indians are very vicious yea some hunt Men sacrifice and deuoure them and were as Idolaters Plinie besides his Relations of Monsters in
a Ship after the fashion of ours which as he could he did which wan him fauour and a larger annuitie Hee after built him another an hundred and twentie tunnes and by this meanes and acquainting him with some principles of Geometry and the Mathematikes grew in such fauour that the Iesuits and Portugals his quondam enemies were now glad to vse him as a mediatour in their suits to the Emperour Hee hath now giuen him a Lordship with eightie or ninetie Husbandmen or Slaues to serue him a fauour neuer before done to any Stranger He could neuer obtaine leaue to returne home to his wife but the Emperour was contented he should write for a Dutch and English trade to be there established yeerly They haue there saith he an Indies of money a good attractiue to bring them thither And thither since both Hollanders and English haue resorted The first English ship that there arriued was the Cloue anno 1613. Generall Saris aduenturing from Bantam thither by the Moluccas and after an intricate passage amongst Rockes and Ilands which he feared would haue inclosed him without possibilitie of Egresse through an open Sea he arriued at last at Firando He was well entertayned there by King Foyen and his Nephew the young King who comming aboord began their Complements of Salutation at the feet putting off their shooes and joyning their hands the right within the left moued them to and fro before their knees They were entertained with a banquet and musicke to their good content No sooner were they gone but multitudes of their Gentrie came aboord with their Presents but to preuent danger they obtayned a Gardiano from the King Daily they were oppressed with multitudes to gaze on the Ship and her beautifull Sterne and some women seeing the Pictures of Venus and Cupid hanging in the Generals Cabin fell on their knees thereto whispering for they durst not openly professe it that they were Christianos and this Picture they tooke to bee that of Our Lady and Her Sonne such a ridiculous Image scarsly an Image of truth is there in Images called Lay-mens bookes indeed Doctrines of vanity and Teachers of lies whence it is an easie discent to Yee worship yee know not what After that the King came aboord againe with his Women which there sang and played on Instruments obseruing time and that by booke as it was pricked but with harsh musicke to English eares Hee gaue him the choyse of diuers houses to hire for his abode but little sale might be made the people not daring to trade till the Emperours License was obtayned Sixe weekes he stayed here expecting the comming of Master Adams before named with whom he after passed to the Court eight hundred miles further First from this Iland by water to Ozaca thence to Surunga or Sorungo where the old Emperour resides He was well prouided of necessaries for his Water-passage by the King of Firando and for his Land-iourney also with Men and a Palankine for Himselfe and a spare Horse and one and twenty other horses for his men raken vp as with vs Post-horses by the way The third day after they were come to Sorungo they were admitted to the Emperours presence in his Castle where they ascended on certaine stayres and came to a matted roome in which they sate a while on the matts after the Easterne fashion wayting the comming of the Emperour to whom they were anon admitted and deliuered His Maiesties Letter vnto Him which He tooke and layd vpon his head and with promise of speedy dispatch willed them to repaire to their lodging after their tedious journey Thence they went to Edoo where the Prince keepes his Court and found honourable entertainment Surungo is as bigge as London with the Suburbes but Edoo is both a greater and fairer Citie all or most of the Nobilitie hauing there their faire Houses gilded and making a gallant shew The old Emperour wisely makes way to his Sonnes succession almost putting him into present possession of the State by the greater Court and Pompe heere then at Surunga The Princes Secretary is Father and therefore of greater experience to the Secretary of the Emperour The Prince is aboue fortie yeeres old He returned to Surunga and had Articles of Trade granted which the Secretary aduised they should propound as briefely as might be the Iaponians affecting breuitie These * I haue seene in the Iaponian Character seeming to differ from that of the Chinois in forme but like for paper and manner of writing with pensils taking the Inke from a stone whereon it is mixed with water the lines downewards multiplyed from the right hand to the left sealed with a redde print of Inke and not with Waxe Some say the Iaponians haue letters Captaine Saris brought diuers of their bookes which seeme rather to be Characters then Letters as farre as I can guesse vnlike to the Chinois yet with like art of Printing the Pictures in their bookes not comparable to the Art in ours He heard that they had but twenty Characters which must be vnderstood of Letters for Characters standing for entire words cannot easily be numbred as in China we haue obserued Being returned after the view of Meaco to Firando He there setled a Factorie of English Merchandise leauing Master Cockes with some others of our Nation there in Trade Himselfe returning from Bantam Since this some Intelligence hath beene receiued from Master Cockes as wee shall obserue in due place and others haue beene employed in this Iaponian Trade whither the Chinois resort with many Iunkes notwithstanding their mutuall hatred the Iaponian ready to kill that Man which shall call him a Chinese and the Chinois so hating all Trade with Strangers that themselues heere reported that fiue thousand had lately beene slaine by the King therefore and the Officers put out of their places the new Officers neuerthelesse for bribes permitting These this Egresse And this may serue by the way to answer such as will by no meanes beleeue that the Iesuites haue set foot in China because the Chinois dare not for any summe carry a Stranger thither and protest that none are admitted no nor any Iesuites there seene For all this I easily beleeue the Iesuites also acknowledge and therefore in many yeeres euen after the Mart was permitted in Canton to the Portugals could not bee admitted till great importunitie after many many repulses on the one side and on the other side bribes preuayled especially for These as not seeming dangerous so few in number so sacred in profession so farre in habitation so Admirable for Arts so liberall in the Giuing Art which goes beyond all the Seuen Liberall and at last after many yeeres pressing with Presents vnto the King Himselfe and those so acceptable as in that Story is mentioned The Chinois at Bantam knew it not and no maruell for these were Merchants neere the Coast from which the Iesuites had their Residences very remote Their China fashion
of his hands to the West the other to the East from which proceeded an hundred heads to Dragons his legges were entwined with rolles of Vipers which reached to his head filling the world with terrible hissings his body couered with feathers his eyes flaming with fire a flame streaming also out of his mouth Thus was hee armed and fought against Heauen and made the Gods runne away into Egypt and turne themselues into many formes with many tales more which I surcease to rehearse Of the Isiacall rites that brazen Table supposed to haue beene some Altar-couer after possessed by Card. Bembus full of mysticall Characters explained by Laurentius Pignorius in a Treatise of this Argument may further acquaint the desirous Reader Diodorus thinketh this the cause why they consecrated Goats and erected Images of Satyres in their Temples ; affirming that their Priests are first initiated in these bawdie Rites §. II. The causes of Consecrating their Beasts and the mysticall sences of their Superstitions THeir canonized Beasts of which the Aegyptians and Syrians saith Tully conceiued stronger opinions of Deuotion then the Romans of their most sacred Temples were Dogges Cats Wolues Crocodiles Ichnumods Rammes Goates Bulls and Lions in honour of Isis their sacred Birds were the Hawke Ibis Phoenicopterus besides Dragons Aspes Beetles amongst things creeping and of Fishes whatsoeuer had scales and the Eele Yea their reason did not onely to sensible things ascribe Diuinitie but Garlike and Onions were free of their Temples devided therefore by Iaâ—end Porrum coepe nofas violare frangere morsu O sanctas gentes quibus haec nascuntur in hortis Numina For this cause some thinke the Hebrewes were in such abhomination to the Aegyptians that they would not eate with them as eating and sacrificing those things which the other worshipped Example whereof Deodorus an eye-witnesse telleth That when Ptolemey gaue entertainment to the Romans whose friend hee was declared ; a Roman at vnawares hauing killed a Cat could not by the Kings authoritie sending Officers for his rescue nor for feare of the Romans bee detayined from their butcherly furie For such was their custome for the murther of those sacred Creatures to put to death by exquisite torments him that had done it wittingly and for the Bird Ibis and a Cat although vnwittingly slaine And therefore if any espie any of them lying dead hee standeth aloofe lamenting and protesting his owne innocencie The cause of this blinde zeale was the metamorphosis of their distressed Gods into these shapes Secondly their ancient Ensignes Thirdly the profit of them in common life Origen addeth a fourth because they were vsed to diuination and therefore saith hee forbidden to the Israelites as vncleane Eusebius out of the Poet citeth a fifth cause namely the Diuine Nature diffused into all Creatures after that of the Poet Deum namque ire per omnes Terrasque tractusque maris coelumque profundum God goes thorow Sea and Land and loftie Skies I might adde a sixth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or transanimation which Pythagoras it seemeth borrowed hence and from India Yea Aeneas Gazeus a Platonike in his Theophrastus or Dialogue of the Soules immortalitie affirmeth That Plato learned this opinion of the Egyptians and dispersed it through all his Bookes as did Plotinus and other his followers after him numbring amongst the rest Prophyrius and Iamblichus If I might with the Readers patience I would adde somewhat of their Mysterie of iniquitie and this mysticall sense of this iniquitie For as many haue sweat in vnfolding the mysteries of that Church which spiritually is called Sodome and Aegypt as Ambrosius de Amariolo Amalarius Durandus Durantus and others so heere haue not wanted mysticall Interpreters Porphirius Iambliochus Plutarch and the rest Such is the deepenesse of Sathan in the shallownesse of humane both reason and truth Water and Fire they vsed in all their Sacrifices and doe them deuoutest worship saith Porphiry because those Elements are so profitable to mans vse and for this vse sake they adored so many Creatures at Anubis they worshipped a Man But especially they held in veneration those creatures which seemed to hold some affinitie with the Sunne Euen that stinking Beetele or Scarabee did these more blinde then Beetles in their stinking superstitions obserue as a liuing Image of the Sunne because forsooth all Scarabees are of Male sexe and therefore also saith Aelian Souldiers wore the figure of the Scarabee in their Rings as thereby insinuating their masculine spirits and hauing shed their seed in the dung doe make a ball thereof which they rowle too and fro with their feete imitating the Sunne in his circular journey Iulius Firmicus inueigheth against them for their worship and supplications and superstitious vowes made to the Water and for that their fabulous Legend of Osiris Isis and Typhon vnfolding the Historie and Mysterie Eusebius followeth this Argument in the seuerall Beasts which they worship but to auoyd tediousnesse I leaue him to looke on Plutarchs paines in this Argument Hee maketh Isis to bee deriued of the Verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to know as being the Goddesse of Wisedome and Knowledge to whom Typhon for his ignorance is an enemie For without Knowledge Immortalitie it selfe could not deserue the name of Life but of Time Their Priests shaued their owne haire and wore not woollen but linnen garments because of their professed puritie to which the haire of Man or Beast being but an excrement disagreed and for this cause they reiected Beeues Mutton and Porke as meates which cause much excrements Yea their Apis might not drinke of Nilus for this Riuers fatning qualitie but of a Fountaine peculiar to his holinesse At Heliopolis they might not bring wine into the Temple holding it vnseemely to drinke in the presence of their Lord They had many purifications wherein Wine was forbidden Their Kings which were also Priests had their sacred stints of wine and did not drinke it at all before Psammoticus time esteeming Wine to be the Bloud of them which sometime warred against the gods out of whose slaine carkasses Vines proceeded and hence proceedeth drunkennesse and madnesse by wine Their Priests abstaine from all fish they eate not Onions because they grow most in the wane of the Moone they procure also teares and thirst Their Kings were chosen either of the Priests or of the Souldiers and these also after their election were presently chosen into the Colledge of Priests Osiris signifieth many eyes in the Egyptian language Os is much and Eri an eye The Image of Minerua at Sai had this inscription I am all which is which hath beene which shall be whose shining light no mortall man hath opened Ammon they call Am the same as is before said with Ham or Cham the sonne of Noah in the vocatiue case as inuocating him whom they hold the chiefe God of the World to manifest himselfe They esteemed children
by some is ascribed to them but falsely Adam Caine Noah and others were in this before them Astronomie also is not their inuention but taught them by Abraham Geometrie is more like to bee theirs driuen to seeke out this Art by Nilus ouer-flowing Idolatrie to the Starres was first heere practised saith Lactantius for lying on the roofes of their houses as yet they doe without any other Canopie then the Azure skie first they beheld then studied lastly adored them Gaudentius Brixiensis applyeth the destroying of the Aegyptian first-borne to the perishing of Idolatrie through the light of the Gospell the Egyptians saith hee being the first which worshipped the Images of dead men Magicke is also ascribed to them of whose timely professours Iannes and Iambres are an instance Physicke is fetched also from hence and Writing both after the vulgar sort as also that of the Priests Hieroglyphicall whereof Horopollo an Egyptian Pierius Goropius Michael Mayerus Curio Schualenberg besides Mercerus and Hoeschelius with others haue written Aelianus accounteth Mercurie the first inuenter of their Lawes The Women in Egypt did performe the offices which belonged to the Men buying selling and other businesse abroad the men Spinning and performing houshold-taske Claud Duret hath expressed besides a Discourse of their Region and Learning two Egyptian Alphabets if any desire to see the forme of their Letters which some thinke that the Phenicians borrowed from Egypt and lent by Cadmus to the Graecians But I am not of their minde This Elogie or commendation is giuen them by Martial Niliacis primum puer hic nascatur in oris Nequitias tellus scit dare nulla magis From Aegypt sure the boyes birth may proceed For no Land else such knauerie can breed And Propertius Noxia Alexandria dolis aptissima tellus The place where Alexandria doth stand Is noysome and a Conie-catching land Wee may heere adde out of Flauius Vopiscus a testimonie of the qualities of the Aegyptians They are saith hee inconstant furious braggarts injurious also vaine licentious desirous of nouelties euen vnto common Songs and Ballads Verfifiers Epigrammatists Mathematicians Wizards Physicians both for Christians and Samaritanes and alway things present with an vnbridled libertie are distastefull to them Hee bringeth also for witnesse of this assertion Aelius Adrianus who in an Epistle to Seruianus affirmeth thus I haue learned all Aegypt to bee light wauering and turning with euery blast of fame They which worship Serapis are Christians and euen they which call themselues Bishops of Christ are deuoted to Serapis No Ruler is there of the Iewish Synagogue no Samaritan no Christian Priest which is not a Mathematician a Wizard a Chirurgion or anointer of Champions This kinde of men is most seditious most vaine most injurious the Citie Alexandria rich wealthie fruitfull in which none liues idle Goutie men haue somewhat to doe Blinde men haue somewhat to doe or haue somewhat which they may make nor are the goutie-fingred idle They haue One GOD him doe the Christians him doe the Iewes him doe they all worship I wish them nothing else but that they may bee fedde with their owne Pullen which how they make fruitfull I am ashamed to tell Thus much Adrianus The Pullen hee speaketh of it seemeth are such as euen to this day they vse to hatch not vnder the Henne but in Furnaces of dung and ashes wherein thousands of Egges are layd for that purpose That which hee speaketh of the Christians is either of some Heretickes or luke-warme Time-seruers to bee vnderstood or else remember that it was Adrian an Ethnike whose intelligence was from such as himselfe in those times hating the Christians of whom through blinde zeale of their Idolatry what did they What did they not faine and deuise Euen more odious then here is expressed as Ecclesiasticall Histories shew The Iewes had giuen Adrian cause by their Treasons to hate them and flatterers opportunitie to belie them Let him that loues mee tell my tale But a man would maruell to heare Adrian blame the Aegyptians so much for that for which himselfe in Authors is so much blamed namely Superstition and Sorcerie For hee made Images of Antinous which he erected almost in all the world saith Dion This Antinous was in high estimation with him some thinke his Minion Hee dyed in Aegypt either drowned in Nilus as Adrian writeth or which is the truth was sacrificed For whereas Adrian was exceeding curious and addicted to Diuinations and Magicall Arts of all kindes in the hellish rites whereof was required the soule of such a one as would die voluntarily Antinous refused it not and therefore was thus honoured and had a Citie in Aegypt newly repaired from the ruines and dedicated in his Name Yea hee reported he saw a new Starre which forsooth was the soule of this Antinous The Greekes made a God of him and a giuer of Oracles whereof Prudentius singeth Quid loquar Antinoum coelesti sede locatum c. Adrianique dei Ganimedem Cumque suo in Templis vota exaudire Marito And Iustin Martyr Antinoum qui modo extitit omnes metu coacti pro deo colere cum quis vnde esset scirent Hee caused money to bee coyned with the picture of the Temple of Antinous which Adrian had erected and a Crocodile vnder it Choul expresseth diuers formes of these Antinoan Coines and one with inscription of Marcellus the Priest of Antinous Ammianus Marcellinus ascribeth to the Egyptians a contentious humour addicted to lawing and quarrels Assuetudine perplexius litigandi semper laetissimum Their vanitie and superstition may further appeare by that which Diophantes recordeth of one Syrophanes a rich Egyptian who doting on his Sonne yet liuing dedicated an Image in his house vnto him to which the seruants at any time when they had displeased their Master betooke themselues adorning the same with Flowers and Garlands so recouering their Masters fauour Some make the Egyptians first inuenters of Wine which they say was first made in the Egyptian Citie Plinthis and of Beere to which end they first made Mault of Barley for such places as wanted Grapes When a man proued more in shew then in substance as hypocrites whom the Truth it selfe calleth Whited Tombes the Prouerbe termed him an Egyptian Temple because those buildings were sumptuous and magnificent for matter and forme to the view but the Deitie therein worshipped was a Cat Dogge or such other contemptible creature The naturall furie and crueltie vsed amongst the Egyptians hath made them infamous among Authors both Prophane and Diuine And Stephanus Bizantinus saith that they which practised close subtile craftie couzenages were said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to play the Aegyptians Aeschylus also the Greeke Poet makes them Mint-masters therein and perhaps those Rogues which wander ouer so many Countries and liue by their wits and thefts were therefore called Egyptians rather then for the