in dreames They fed their bleating flockes and liuing many Ages Might well the wonders marke of all the shining stages And building on the plot of their fore-fathers ground-work They raised-vp in time a rich a faire a sound worke But vnderstanding well that Gods reuenging Ire Should once the world destroy by wat'r and then by fire As th' old Tradition was thus high aboue the land They rais'd a paire of Pyles with cunning Masons hand That there from throat of Time for their posterities They might the treasures hoard of Algrim Mysteries 4. Thus hauing said he went vnto the standing Rocke And did I know not how a secret doore vnlocke So went with Phaleg in and to a candle came Which with eternall thirst maintain'd immortall flame 5. As when a priuate man is through a hundred wayes Brought by some husher sterne vnto the shining rayes At length of royall seat he wonders at the sight And glaunces vp and downe his eyes vnstayed light So Phaleg was amaz'd and said ô father deere What cunning worke is this whose are these statues heere I thinke foure water-drops may scarse be more then they Th'each vnto th' other like How strange is their aray What secret mystery of heau'nly-learned skilles Is hidden vnder vaile of these faire vtensilles 6. My sonne quoth Heber see foure daughter-twins of heau'n Foure sister-ladies braue the fairest doubled eau'n That ere th' Eternall Spirit proceeding one of twaine Begotten hath or e're conceiued manly braine 7. She there which euer shifts or euer seemes to shift Her fingers and her tongue to gather lay and lift Her counters many-wise is th' Art of Odde and eau'n Whose industrie can search and count all th'oast of heau'n The winter I sickles and flowers diapreade Wherewith sweet sauoury Prime enguyrlands eu'ry meade She sets her bewtie forth with rich acoutrements And round about her lye great heapes of siluer pence Heau'n o're her sacred head a shining treasure powers Like Ioue in Danaes lap of many golden showers Her gowne trailes on the ground instead of glassie plate To view her bewties in hangs at her girdl ' a slate Which maugr ' all force of time for vs here keepeth still The more part of the rules of her most certaine skill See with what manner marke is painted 8. Vnitie The root of eu'ry numb'r and of Infinitie True Friendships deare delight renowne of Harmony Seed-plot of all that is and ayme of Polymnie No numb'r and more then numb'r on all-sides so exact It hath in 't all by powre and is in all by act See here the Caracter that signifieth 9. Twaine The first-borne sonne of One first numb'r and fath'r againe Of heau'ns effeminate See here of numbers Odde That eldest brother 10. Three which proper is vnto God Wherein no-numb'r and numb'r is sweetly-kissing met Whose two extremities and cent'r are eau'nstly set Asunder each from oth'r a numb'r heau'ns fauour winning And first of all that hath both end middle and beginning Heer 's 11 Foure base of the Cube and that with one two three His own contents amountsiust to the tenth degree The numb'r of th' Elements and of the name of feare Of Vertues Honours Winds and seasons in the yeare Heer 's 12. Fiue th'Ermaphrodite which ne're is multiplide With any numb'r vneu'n but shewes it selfe in pride Iust at the first Encount'r as fiue times fiue we see Full Fiue and twenty makes and Fifteene fiue times three 13 Lo th'Analogicke Six which with his owne content Nor mounts aboue it selfe nor needeth complement For three is halfe thereof a third two one a sixt And all the six is made of one two three commixt Behold 14 The criticke seu'n male female eu'n odde Containing three and foure and call'd the Rest of God The numb'r of clearest brands that fixt are neare the Pole And those that guyrding heau'n with course vncertaine roule Heer 's 15 Eight the double square 16 And sacred nine lo heere The sister-Muses holds in triple-triple queere 17 See Ten that doth the force of numbers all combine As one sets downe pricke ten drawes in length the line An hundred broads the plaine a thousand thickes the bulke So by redoubling ten the ballast of an hulke Or all the sand is summ'd vpon th'Atlantike coast Or all the swelling waues that angry winds haue tost 18 See here how diuers summes each right o're other set Are altogeth'r in one by rules of Adding met How by abating here the lesser numb'r is tride From out the more and here how small ones multiplide Waxe almost infinite and then how counter-guided Into as many small the greater summ's diuided This Nymph that sadly frownes with back shoulders bent And holds her stedfast eye still on the ground intent And drawes or seemes to draw with point of skilfull wand So many portratures vpon the mouing sand In mantle of golden ground with riuers chamleted With many embroydred flow'rs all-ouer diuersed Embost with little trees and greeny-leaued slips And edg'd with azur-frenge of some sea bearing-ships It is Geometrie her buskins dusty and rent Shew well she trauell'd farre and o're the Climats went 1. Thine heau'nly furie That is Inspiration a word well taken among the Poets who say Est deus in nobis agitante calescimus illo The Prophets also swayed by the Spirit of God had their extraordinarie motions extasies and rauishments which were holy possessions and inspirations yet such suffred not the inspired seruants to wander from the way of truth howsoeuer they had their spirits then raised farre aboue condition of all worldly things The Poet then craues that the holy Spirit might be present with him after a speciall manner to raise him vnto the heauens where he may learne to sing worthy so great a subiect as he now takes in hand The Muses are all sisters of Vrania whose proper office is to treat of heauen and heauenly things By heauenly Syrens charmes he meanes the Harmonie of the Spheres whereof hereafter He saith also that our Elders that is Adam and his sonnes were taught by the hand of God himselfe rules of the course of Heauen that is the knowledge of Astronomie which is very likely because the wit of man was not able to atraine to things of so high a nature without some extraordinarie helpe and fauour 2. Old Heber Iosephus in his first booke of Antiquities toward the end of the second chapter speaking of the children of Seth is of opinion that they first inuented Astrologie and applied their mindes to know the course and motion of those heauenly bodies And to the end their inuention should not be forgotten or perish before it was knowne Adam hauing foretold that all things should be destroyed once by water and againe by fire they erected two pillars one bricke another stone the better to withstand the waters and graued and set therein the records and rules of their inventions for posteritie to learne The pillar of stone some say is yet to
such as hurt him P. Marlyr of Millaine in the 8. booke of his 3. Decade tels great wonders of one that was tamed and made so familiar with a certaine Cassike or Lord of India that he would play and make sport like an Ape and sometimo would carry ten Indians at once on his backe and passe or ferry them in that wise from one side of a great Lake there to the other And for as much as hauing foure feet like a Sea-dog he liued on the land as well as in the water he would now and then wrestle with Indians and take meat at their hand but would in no wise be reconciled vnto the Christians there because one of them whom he knew it seems very strangely by his face and clothes had once strooke him with a lance though hurt him not by reason of his hard and thicke hyde Ouiede in the 13. booke and 10. chap. f his History describes one but not as a creature liuing both at Sea and Land nor yet foure-footed Howbeit he saith the name of Manat is giuen to this fish by the Spaniards because he hath as t' were manus duas two hands neere his head which doe serue him for fynnes to swim withall he tels further many things of singular note and that this Manat or Seabullocke is found about the Isle of Hispaniola As for other fishes here mentioned they shall be handled in another place hereafter but who so desires to know more of the history and nature of them let him reade Gesner Rondeletius Bellon So much out of the second day of the first weeke Now let vs goe on with this booke of the Arke 7 Good Noe. In the history of Moses Gen. 7. there are certaine points worthy noting to proue that the faithfull and holy Patriarck Noes heart failed him not though he saw then the Arke tossed vp and downe the boundlesse waters of this generall Flood though all the fountaines of the great deepe broke forth and the flood-gates of Heauen were opened so as the raine fell amaine and without ceasing vpon the face of the earth forty daies and forty nights together and the water swelled fiftie cubits aboue the highest of all hills The first is that he entred the Arke himselfe with his wife and children and their wiues also at the commandement of God The second is that after all the beasts paire by paire were also come in God himselfe shut the doore vpon them For this shewes that the holy Patriarke with a liuely faith obeyed the voice of God and vpon his only wise prouidence wholly rested And therefore good reason had the Poet to set downe such holy exercises as were likely to be vsed by Noe being now close prisoner as it were for the space of a whole yeare and ten daies as may be gathered by the 11. and 13. verses of the seauenth chapter of Genesis and by the 13. and 14. verses of the chapter following The summe of his discourse is grounded vpon consideration of the great mercy of God who neuer forgetteth his children and such as feare him and rest vpon his goodnesse This goodnesse and mercy well shewed it selfe vnto Noe and his among so many fearefull shapes of death while in the Arke they were so preserued aliue from the Deluge together with the whole seminarie of the world next to ensue The Almighty now held all creatures obedient vnto the Patriarke as he had before disposed them to come and range themselues by couples into the Arke where they were during this imprisonment to be fed and kept cleane Let the Reader duely consider how many wayes the faith patience and constancie of Noe was exercised in so waighty a charge and how needfull it was that God who had shut vp his seruant in this prison of wood should be there also with him from time to time to strengthen and make him rich in faith as hee was whereby he onercame all these dangers God therefore doubtlesse was the Patron of his ship the sterne Load starre Ancor and Hauen of this Arke sloating amid the waters now hurried after a strange manner To this purpose saith a learned Father Noah iactatur procellis nec meigitur serpentibus beslijs sociatur nec terretur ei serae colla submittunt alites famulantur It was the great mercy of God toward Noe that hee gaue him the skill and knowledge how to fit the seuerall places in the Arke for the creatures and their food as also that vnder one man and so few more as were saued with him he held in obedience so many beasts and for the most part one contrary to another that the men were not choâ—ked vp with this close ayre and ill sauour of excrements that amid so many fearefull apprehensions they were able to keepe life and soule together But the blessing of God is the stay and sure hold of all his children 8 But Cham. I will not speake here now of the questions arising about the time when began or how long continued the Flood nor curiously examine the Hebrew words lest these Annotations grow too long And the Poet hath chosen matter of more importance to be considered I haue said else-where that it graceth much a Poem where the certame truth appeares not there to stand vpon likelyhoods C ham shewed himselfe a profane wretch and a scosser straight after the Flood whereupon both he and his posteritie were accursed The Poet therefore with great probabilitie supposeth he could not long conceale and hold-in the poyson whereof his heart was full but began to vent and vomit it euen in the Arke Noe then a man endued with the feare of God was surely not silent the space of a whole yeare and ten dayes and his care was not employed altogether vpon the beast it must needs be therefore that he spent some time in teaching and comforting his familie C ham was certainly gracelesse and had no feeling of the Spirit and fitly then doth the Poet personate in him all that are profane striuers against the iudgements of God For whatsoeuer is here imputed vnto Cham may be gathered for likely by that which he and his posteritie did after the Deluge Noe who liued yet three hundâ—ed and fiftie yeares longer returned it seemes from the Armenian hills where the Arke staid into his own former habitation about Damascus where his fore-fathers were buried It is held for certaine that Sem also came againe thither and that his issue peopled the lands thence reaching toward the East the South Cham drew to the South West Iaphet to the North and West whereof reade yee the 10. chap. of Genesis C ham had one sonne called Cus whose posteritie inhabited a part of Arabia and that of Ethiopia which is vnder Egypt another called Mitsraim of whom came the Egyptians and another called Canaan father of the Cananites He had also Put a fourth sonne but of his posteritie Moses hath not a word Iosephus in the sixt chapter
his booke De ant quitate linguae Hebraicae there are many such Treatises set forth by diuers learned men whereout and of the bookes aforenamed may be gathered infinite proofes of that which the Poet hath touched in this second reason The third is that there liues no Nation vnder the cope of heauen but keepeth still some words of Hebrew in their speech First the Caldean Syrian Arabian Egyptian Persian Ethiopian and many other as the Gotthicke Troglodyticke Punicke are so deriued thence that they come as neere it as Italian to Latine some more some lesse Secondly the Greeke Latine and those others that are farthest off haue yet here and there some words that we must needes grant are sprong from the same fountaine a man may set downe a many of them but it were too long here to coate the examples Thirdly the roots of many words that are taken to be Greeke or some other tongue are found to be Hebrew as Franciscus Iunius hath plainly shewed in his learned oration Deliuguae Hebraea antiquitate praeslantia The fourth reason is that the doctrine of the old Testament which is the doctrine of the first and most ancient people of the world was not written but in Hebrew No man denieth that the people that came of Sem the sonne of Noe is the most ancient among these remained the Church of God and the Hebrew tongue God spake not but in the Hebrew tongue by the high Priest that wore the sacred Ephod and the breast-plate of iudgement whereon was set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vrim Thummim words signifying lights and perfections which some thinke was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or foure-letered name Iehoua contained within the brest-plate others say it was the rankes of those twelue precious stones there enchased that on them had ingrauen the names of the twelue tribes of Israel as if it were a repetition of that which Moses saith in the 17 18 19 and 20. verses of the 28. chapter of Exodus where he speaketh of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vrim Thummim in the 30. verse others hold they were certaine names others are of diuers other opinions Some late writers thinke those words were ingrauen in the breast-plate This is a secret the search whereof whether one dispute of the words or what they meant or what 's become of them c. is very painfull and needlesse for that now sithence the comming of Christ we ought to follow the truth it selfe and not stay vpon shadowes These words doubtlesse gaue to vnderstand that all light and perfection commeth of our Sauiour in whom all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily dwelleth in whom are hid all the treasures of vnderstanding knowledge who is the light of his Church that is made vnto vs of God his father wisedome iustice redemption and holinesse In all iudgements demands oracles and reuelations that were made by Vrim and Thummim as may be gathered out of the 27. chapter of Numbers the first booke of Samuel the 13. and 30. chapters and other places where aduise and counsell was asked of God and answere was made by the mouth of the high Priest there appeared a cleere light a sure truth and perfection all which in Christ is accomplished Now these demands and answers were propounded and rendred in the Hebrew tongue long time before any other language was vsed in the world For so soone after their scattering at Babel they could not well be incorporated into a common wealth and as for religion that was not kept but in the race of Sem as Moses plainly declareth all through the historie of Abraham Concerning the Prophets their dreames and visions God spake not they vnderstood not neither answered or taught they the Church but in the Hebrew that significant vnmingled holy chaste and heauenly tongue whereas others lispe and stammer-out vncertaine sounds and are infinite wayes defiled through the dishonest foolish erronious and vngodly discourses of their inuentours I except the bookes of the new Testament and all writings drawne from the cleere fountaines of holy Scripture besides the which there is nothing but vanitie filth wickednesse and vngodlinesse in the world Moreouer the Lord himselfe setteth downe his law to his people and writing it twise with his owne finger and speaking with his owne mouth to Moses and his other seruants in the Mount vsed the Hebrew tongue So did the Angels and Prophets and Iesus Christ spake the Syriacke a tongue so deriued of the Hebrew that they are very like as their Grammars declare The Apostles spake diuers tongues and wrote also according to the people and persons with whom they had to doe yet for all that in their bookes may be noted an infinite many of phrases borrowed of the Hebrew as the learned interpreters of the new Testament haue exactly shewed The fift and last reason set downe by the Poet is that the Hebrew words especially the proper names some are alledged for example and many other may be added are of great waight and importance for sometimes they lay open vnto vs the chiefe things that doe befall the person so named Nay further if a man would take the paines to change the order of letters hee may sinde in them many goodly mysteries The Greekes haue found the way and followed it in the interpretation of their proper names but they come farre short of the liuelihood and maiestie of the Hebrewes who begun the thing before them many hundred yeeres As for other tongues the most part of their proper names haue no meaning they are deuised at-all-auentures so are they right tokens of barbarisme Some tongues there are more happy and plentious than others in this behalfe but their interpretations are for the most part vncertaine especially if the Root thereof come not from or neere the Hebrew Herehence againe the curious reader may take occasion of a large commentarie I leaue it vnto him 13. Then doe I theesalute It is not without cause that the Poet straight vpon the former discourse vseth these words considering the excellency of the Hebrew tongue and that he setteth out in so few verses her wonderfull perfections each one of them requiring a large treatise and himselfe being vnable to shut vp so great matters in so few words For example sake let vs consider but very briefly those three points that the Poet here toucheth to wit that the two and twenty Hebrew letters are full of hidden sense that the proper names of persons Countries and Cities in this tongue are as much as abridgements of their life and deedes that the names of birds beasts and fishes containe the history of their natures howbeit since the fall of Adam the knowledge thereof is greatly darkened To make the Reader somewhat more desirous to enter mediation hereon I will set him downe some examples Concerning the mysteries of the Hebrew Letter-row Eusebius and S. Ierom in his Epistle ad Paul vrbic which is the 155. expoundeth them as I
it is refuted rather by expresse testimonie of Christ who saith the latter day is vnknowne both to men and Angels Now that which the Poet propoundeth here concerning the worlds six ages not defining the number of yeres it is founded in the word of God The first age then begins from Adam and continues till Noe 1656 yeares The second from Noe who built the Arke and planted the Vine till Abraham 292 yeares The third lasteth from Abraham the great sheepheard drawne out of Chalden who obaying the voice of God was readie to sacrifice his onely sonne Isaac from Abraham I say vnto Daâ—id 942 yeares The fourth from Dauid the valiant and nimble sheepheard who with one cast of his sling ouerthrew the Gyant Goliah and of sheepheard was made King renowned aboue others who was also a great Prophet and excellent in Poetrie and Musicke vnto the taking of Ierusalem vnder Zedechias who after hee had seene his children slaine and the people of ludea led capture into Babilon had his eyes put out containes 475 yeares Now from the destruction of the first Temple built by Solomon vnto the destruction of the second Temple destroyed by the Romans about fortie yeares after the death of Christ some reckon 656 yeares and that 's the fift age The siâ—t holds on from Christ to the worlds end If this latter age last yet but 51 yeares longer the Lord shall haue attended it with as long patience as he did the former world destroyed by the blood but the destruction of this world shall be by fire Hereof see what Saint Peter saith in the third Chapter of his second Epistle 3 What shall I hope alas In all the rest of this discourse vpon the first day of the second weeke the Poet makes a â—â—iefe of the Historie in holy Scripture contained from about the end of the fourth Chapter of Genesis to the end of the seuenth Adams first consideration here is of his descendants by Cain who giuen wholly to the world forgot to exercise themselues in godlinesse and true justice Whereupon there ensued such vngedlinesse vnrighteousnesse and debauched life as brought the delâ—ge and vniuersall flood vpon them Adam foreseeth that such as shall be liuing in the latter age wherinto we are fallen are like to be wondrous peruerse sithence his so neere successors euen in his life time durst prouoke the iust Iudge of All. The Poets haue fained foure ages of the world the first of Gold the second of Siluer the third of Brasse the fourth of Iron And we may put thereto a fift mingled with Iron and Clay They said the first was of Gold for the abundance of all good things for then was there more knowledge and wisedome in the soule of man Iustice and all other vertues were more honored mens bodies were much more big strong and vigorous and so much the longer liuing by how much the lesse they need care to maintaine health After this life so commodious and ensie there followed another more troublesome and after that a third and a fourth declining still by little and little from worse to worse Compare ye the peaceable time of Adam with the broyles and mâ—ssakers of these our dayes and you shall see plainely in the one Gold and in the other Iron Nay euen in the daies of Hesiod and Ouid many hundred yeares agoe the Iron age is discouered by their complaints But in that Golden age before the flood when Adam Seth Enos Henech and other excellent Patriarches liued in the schoole of God raigned euer good order or if there were any disorder as in Cain and his line which corrupted the posteritie of Seth that same Enos and other good men found remedie for it Whereas now a daies vice it selfe is held a vertue and right is tried onely by the swords point so are both the bodies and soules of men decayed and abased But least these my notes turne to a Satire let vs stay them here with the 12 verse of the 12 chapter of the Apocalips well agreeing with this latter age Wo to you inhabitants of the Earth and Sea for the Diuell is come downe vnto you which hath great wroth knowing his time is short 4 Ha traitor and rebell Soule For example of vice and wickednesse he noteth Lamech mentioned in the fourth and fift Chapters of Gen. accusing him to haue tripled the Paire-of-man that is to haue brought in Poligamie by marrying and hauing two wiues at once so as contrarie to the Lords appointment who of one body made two and of two but one he went about to ioyne three bodies in one and whereas hee ought to haue but one wife tooke two viz. Ada and Tsilla Beside this desiling the marriage bed which the Apostle saith Hebr. 13. is honourable among all men and calles it the bed vndesiled Lamech is here also accused to haue embrued his sword with the bloud of his Grand-fathers Grand-father that is to haue killed Cain of this descent see Gen. 4. where you shall sinde Lamech in the seuenth degree counting Adam the first and Cain the second c. Philo Judaus Lib. de Praemâ—js Poeâ—â—s holds that Cain was not killed but as his offence was a thing neuer knowne before so was it punished after a new fashion and bearing a certain mark of Gods anger languished in coutinuall misery without hope of grace or comfort Certaine ancient Doctors giue Lamech the title of a Murderer bloudy minded Man and his menaces in the Text shew no lesse hence it is that the Poet after diuers others hath gathered that Cain was killed by Lamech some say purposely some vnawares But these Traditions hauing no ground in holy Scripture and little concerning the stay of our faith let the Poet say and the Reader thinke what they will Howbeit Muses sheweth plainly that this Lamech of Cains Posteritie was a cruell man and giuen to his pleasure 5 But Enos O thou Saint It is recorded by Moses Genes 4. Ch. the last verse that vnto Seth the third sonne of Adam was borne a sonne called Enos and it followeth that then men began to call on the name of the Lord as much to say as then began a distinction apparent betweene the Church of God and the Race of Cain For as much as Adam Seth Enos and their Families only of all the World called themselues the children of God and reioyced in that name The Poet so followes this exposition that he ioynes in opinion with such as say when Enos came into the world Adam was 239. yeares old and that then the Race of Cain was so multiplied as the seruice of God began to be of small account the due calling vpon his name neglected and the doctrine of Sacrifices mis-vnderstood Whereupon these good Patriarkes perceiuing the disorder opposed themselues against it by all the best meanes they could Some learned men there are who consider the words of Moses otherwise and as though in the time of Enos some others
euen the descendents of Seth also with whom the truth of God remained began to be debauched in following the course of Cainites Howsoeuer most likely it is that Enos and other good seruants of God by all meanes endeauoured to maintaine true righteousnesse and holinesse and so much the rather because they saw that issue of Cain giuen ouer wholly to the world And hence it is that we reade in the sixt Chapter of Genesis that the posteritie of Seth were called the Children of God and there also by the Daughters of Men are meant women descended of Cain 6 See Euoch Moses is briefe but as graue and pithie as may be speaking of the holy Patriarke Enoch Gen. 5.22 Enoch after he begat Methusala walked with God three hundred yeares and begat sonnes and daughters So Enoch walked with God and appeared no more for God tooke him To walke with God is to please God as the Apostle expounds it Hebr. 11. Hereto the Poet affords his learned Paraphrase As that Enoch dying to himselfe and liuing vnto the Lord was exercised daily in meditation of the ioyes of heauen and raised himself as it were aboue the world with the wings of faith fasting prayer As also the Apostle saith By saith Enoch was taken away that he might not see death neither was he found for God had taken him away Saint Iuâ—e in his generall Epistle saith that Enoch the seuenth from Adam prophecied against the wicked saying Behold the Lord commeth with thousands of his Saints to giue Iudgement against all men and to rebuke all the vngodly among them of all the wicked deeds which they haue vngodly committed and of all their cruell speeches which wicked sinners haue spoken against him The Poet holds according to the opinion of many Diuines both old and new that Enoch was taken both soule and body vp into heauen for a manifest witnesse to the former world of euerlasting life For this was no such inuisible departure or disappearance as is of the soule from the body And whereas the Apostle saith hee was not found it shewes that such as then liued in the world laid to heart this miracle and after diligent search made the godly were much comforted thereby as the wicked could not but be much dismayed Moreouer the Chronicles doe reckon but fiftie six yeares betwixt the death of Adam and the taking vp of Enoch and as the death of the one taught all After-commers to thinke on their weaknesse so the life of the other made the godly more assured of life euerlasting and glory of body and soule for euer I desire each Christian Reader to consider well the fift Chapter of Genesis that he may well compare the times of these Patriarkes and marke how long some of them liued with their fore and after-beers whereby they might the better learne of the one and teach the other what was the true seruice of God 7 Men of vnbounded lust Although the first world endured 669. yeares after the Assumption of Enoch yet true is the Poets saying that after this Patriarke was gone all godlinesse holinesse and righteousnesse began to decay howsoeuer Noe and his Father Lamech and his Grand-father Methusala who deceased not many moneths before the Floud but in the same yeare did set themselues mainly against those disorders and shewed themselues euen by way of preaching to be as it were the Heraulds of Iustice Moses shewes plainly the particulars throughout the whole fift Chapter and in the beginning of the sixt what horrible sinnes the descendants of Seth committed by ioyning themselues to those of Cain as first the neglect of Gods word then Tyranny violence oppression iniustice wantonnesse polygamie or hauing more wiues at once than one and all wickednesse growne to a height altogether vncorrigible so as the estate both of Church Kingdome and Family were all turned vpside downe and to be short a deluge of impiety and filth had couered the face of the whole earth 8 Of Gyants God knowes what Moses saith Gen. 6.4 that in those daies were Giants vpon the earth and chiefly after that the sons of God which were the posterity of Seth grew familiar with the young women descended of the line of Cain and had issue by them He saith also that these Giants were mightie men which in old time were of great renowne Some apply the word Giant to the exceeding stature of those men whereby they made all afraid that beheld them Others whom the Poet followes to the Tyranny and violence of such as Irued immediatly before the Deluge among whom some there were who bore all afore them and became a terrour to all others Goropius in his Antiquities handleth at large this point concerning Gyants especially in his second booke entituled Gygantomachia 1. Chassagnon hath answered him in a Latine Treatise where he disputeth of the exceeding height these Gyants c. 9 Then God who saw The causes of the Deluge the fore-tellinâ— and execution thereof are set downe by Moses briefly but sufficiently and hereto may be applied that which our Lord and Saâ—iour saith as touching these latter times which he compareth to the time of Noe Matth. 24. As also that of St. Peter in his first generall Epistle 3.20 and in his second 2.5 Lay also to this prediction of Adam the description of the generall Floud set downe by the Poet at the end of the second Day of his first Weeke All this requires a full Commentary but this may suffice in briefe The end of the second Weekâ—s first Day called Adam The second day is called Noe because the most remarkeable things in all the time of that holy Father and his successors vntill Abraham is there represented in foure Bookes following and thus entitled Th' Arche Babylon Colonies and Columnes or Pillars whereof the first is as it were a briefe Commentary vpon diuers passages of the six seuen eight and ninth Chapters of Genesis But heare the Poet. L'ARCHE The first Booke of Noe called the Arke Auant propos auquel par vne modeste plainte le poëte rend les lecteurs attentifs se fait voye à linuocacion du nom de Dieu SI vous ne coulez plus ainsi que de coustume Et sans peine sans art ô saincts vers de maplume Si le Laurier sacré qui m'ombrageoit le front Esueillé se sletrit si du double Mont Où loin de cest Enfer vostre Vranie habite Ma muse à corps perdu si bas se prceipite Accusez de ce temps l'ingrate cruautè Le soin de mes enfans masoible santè Accusez la douleur de mes pertes nouuelles Accusez mes preces accusez mes tuteles Voila le contrepois qui tire violant En bas les plus beaux soins de mon esprit volant La gresle de mon champ les poignantes espines Qui estoufent en sleur les semences diuines Qui germoient en mon ame O
of his first booke of Antiquities saith he peopled Lybia And it was indeed in the sandie deserts thereof that the children of Cham held the Temple and Oracle of Iupiter Hammon or Chammon For the doctrine of truth by little and little being corrupted and at last quite abolished amongst them as among the Cananites the Scripture shewes Idolaters Magitians and persons euery way debauched and profane these now blind and ignorant of the true God make to themselues a God and giue him a double name one drawne from the name of the true God Ichoua turned into Jupiter and the other from their great Auncestor Cham. After this the Deuill plaid terrible pranks in this Temple and it became the most renowmed among the Gentiles as you may reade in the second booke of Herodotus And it is not vnlikely that Cham euen at the time of the Floud was plotting in his heart for such honours to be done him by his posteritie preiudiciall to the glory of Almighty God As for his obiections here they tend all as all Chamites or Atheists reasons doe first to controll the wise and vnblameable prouidence of the All good and Almighty God Secondly to shake the foundation of deuout humilitie in his Church Thirdly to censure both the mercy and iustice of the Lord. Fourthly to make the order of Nature his buckler to keepe off all apprehension of the vengeance of God whose wayes though the wicked thinke to follow them with naturall reason are all past finding out as witnesseth the Prophet Isay and S. Paul 9. Fie Father I come now to set downe in briefe the reproches and foule speeches vttered here by Cham whereof I need say but little because the Reader may very easily distinguish them sithence there is nothing in the Poets words but easie to be vnderstood The chiefe point is to consider well of Noes answers which I haue one by one obserued as they stand in the Text. 10. By this the father gauld After he hath witnessed his griefe in preface hee bestowes vpon this scoffer such titles as he deserued and then layes open the well-head of Atheisme which is for man to trust ouermuch in himselfe and little regard what is taught by the Spirit of God then foretelling the miserable end of all Atheists he answers the obiections of Cham very punctually enriching and beautifying his discourse with descriptions comparisons inductions and proofes necessarie which well considered afford much instruction and comfort vnto men of an vpright heart The two last answers are very remarkable whereunto the Patriarke most fitly adioynes the calling on the name of God of purpose to shew vnto whom the faithfull ought to flie in all their troubles and tentations I will not adde hereunto what Iosephus hath in the first of his Antiquities because there are many things little to the purpose and such as sort not with the state and maiestie of that sacred historie set downe by Moses Something it is that Philo Iudaeus hath written of Moses and the Deluge in his second booke of the life of Moses toward the end Vpon this historie of the Flood haue the Heathen people forged that fable of Deucalion described by Ouid in the first of his Metamorphosis But in these answers by our Author put vpon Noc the Reader may finde wherewithall to stop the mouth of all Atheists Epicures which are so bold to censure all that the holy Scripture saith as well of the Essence and Nature of God as of his workes whether they concerne the creation and preseruation of the world with the redemption of Mankinde or his iust iudgements vpon the profane and reprobate vnbeleeuers C'est ainsi que Noë sa prison adoucit Enchante sa tristesse Dieu fait cesser le deluge le temps acourcit Nayant espoir qu'en Dieu quiresserrant les veines D'où surgeonnoyent sans fin tant de viues fontaines Arrestant l'eau du ciel faisant que les airs Raffermissent tancez les digues de leurs mers Met les vents en besongne Pour cest effect il cōmande auxvents de faire retirer les caux dessecher la terre O balais de la terre Frais esuentaus du ciel ô des forests la guerre O mes herauts dit-il postes messagers O mes nerfs ô mèsbras vous oiscaux qui legers Parl'air trainé mon char quand ma bouche allumee Ne souffle que brassiers que souffre que sumce Que le foudre est monsceptre que l'effroy le bruit L'horreur roule à trauers l'espesseur d'vne nuict Esueillez-vous courez humez de vos haleines L'eau qui desrobe au ciel les monts les plaines Labrigade des vents à sa voix obeit Fin du deluge arrest de l'arche sur les montagnes d'Ararat L'orgueil plus escumeux de l'eau s'esuanouit La mer fait saretraite la Carraque saincte Prend terre sur vn mont dont les astres ont crainte Qui se perd dans le ciel qui void sourcilleux Presque dessous ses pieds mille monts orgueilleux Noe Le corbeau mis hors l'arche pour descouurir la terre La colombe à la seconde fois apporte au bec vn rameau d'oliuier signe de paix qui ce-pendant a'vn doux espoir s'allete Donne la clef des champs au Corbeau qui volete Antour des monts voisins voyant tout noyé Varetrouuer celuy qui l'auoit enuoyé La Colombe sortant par la fenestre ouuerte Fait quelques iours apres vne autre descouuerte Et coguoissant qu'encore la marine est sans bort Lasse de tant ramer se sauue dans le Fort. Mais sept-fois par le ciel Phebus n'a fait la ronde Qu'elle reprend le vol pour espier le Monde Et rapporte à la fin en son bec vnrameau D'Oliuier palle-gris encore mi-couuert d'eau O bien-heureux presage O plaisante nouuelle O mystere agreable Io la Colombelle Paisible port au bec le paisible rainseau Dieu fait paix auec nous d'au si sacre seau Authorize benin son auguste promesse Qu'au combat on verrasans rage la Tigresse Le Lyon sans audace le Lieure sans peur Plus-tost qu'à nos despens il se monstre trompeur O primice des fruicts ôsacré-saincte Oliue Branche annonce-salut soit que turestes viue Apre's le long degast d'vn Deluge enragé Ie m'esgaye que l'eau n'apoint tout rauagé Soit que baisé le slot ta verdeur rebourgeonne I'admire la bonté du grand Dieu qui redonne L'ame à tant darbres morts dans moins d'vn moment Decore l'Vniuers d'vn nouueau parement Noé parle en la sorte Noé ne vent sortir sans conmandemēt expres de Dieu qui l'auoit enclos en l'arche Or combien que le Monde Monstrast ja la plus part de ses Iles sur l'onde Luy presentant logis qu'enuieilli