delights that hee loued yet shall hee bee 〈◊〉 in that hee held his foundation maugre all tribulation but as it were by 〈◊〉 for that which hee possessed in alluring loue hee shall forge with 〈◊〉 sorrowe This thinke I is the fire that shall enritch the one and â—…ge the other trying both yet condemning neither If wee say thâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of heere is that whereof CHRIST spake to those on his left 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from mee yee cursed into euerlasting fire and that all such 〈◊〉 builded 〈◊〉 strawe and stubble vpon their foundation are part of the sayd cursed who notwithstanding after a time of torment are to bee dedeliuered by the merit of their foundation then can wee not thinke that those on the right hand to whome hee shall say Come you blessed c. Are any other sauing those that built gold siluer and precious stones vppon the said foundation But this fire of which the Apostle speaketh shall bee as a tryall both to the good and the bad both shall passe through it for the word sayth Euery mans worke shal bee made manifest for the day of the Lord shall declare it because it shal bee reuealed by the fyre and the fire shall try euery mans worke of what sort it is If the fire trye both and he that hath an abiding worke be rewarded and hee whose worke shal burne shall bee indamaged then cannot this be that euerlasting fire For into that shall none enter but the cursed on the left hand in the last iudgement whereas the blessed shall passe through this wherein some of them shal be so tryed that their building shall abide vnconsumed and other-some shall haue their worke burned and yet shal bee saued them-selues in that their loue vnto Christ exceeded al their carnall imperfections And if they bee saued then shall they stand on Christes right hand and shall bee part of those to whome it shall bee said Come you blessed of my father inherite the kingdome c. and not on the left hand amongst the cursed to whome it shall bee sayd Depart from me c. For none of these shall be saued by fire but all of them shall be bound for euer in that place where the worme neuer dyeth there shall they burne world without end But as for the time betweene the bodily death and the last iudgement if any one say that the spirits of the dead are all that while tryed in such fire as neuer moueth those that haue not built wood straw or stubble afflicting onely such as haue wrought such workes eyther here or there or both or that mans worldly affects beeing veniall shall â—…e the purging fire of tribulation onely in this world and not in the other if any hold thus I contradict him not perhaps he may hold the truth To this tribuâ—… also may belong the death of body drawne from our first parents sinne and inflicted vppon each man sooner or later according to his building So may also the Churches persecutions wherein the Martyrs were crowned and all the rest afflicted For these calamities like fire tryed both sorts of the buildings consuming both workes and worke men where they found not Christe for the foundation and consuming the workes onely and sauing the worke-men by this losse where they did finde him and stubble c. built vppon him but where they found workes remayning to eternall life there they consumed nothing at all Now in the last dayes in the time of Antichriste shall be such a persecution as neuer was before And many buildings both of gold and stubble being all founded vppon Christe shall then bee tryed by this fire which will returne ioy to some and losse to others and yet destroy none of them by reason of their firme foundation But whosoeuer hee bee that loueth I do not say his wife with carnall affection but euen such shewes of pyety as are vtter alliens from this sensuality with such a blinde desire that hee preferreth them before Christ this man hath not Christ for his foundation and therefore shall neither bee saued by 〈◊〉 noâ—… otherwise because hee cannot bee conioyned with Christ who faith playnely of such men Hee that loueth father or mother more then me is vnworthy of me And he that loueth sonne or daughter more then me is not worthy of mee But hee that loueth them carnaliy yet preferreth Christ for his foundation and had rather loose them all then Christ if hee were driuen to the losse of one such a man shall bee saued but as it were by fire that is his griefe in the loosing of them must needes bee as great as his delight was in enioying them But hee that loues father mother c. according to Christ to bring them vnto his Kingdome or bee delighted in thâ—… because they are the members of Christ this loue shall neuer burne away liâ—…â—…ood straw stubble but shall stand as a building of gold siluer and preâ—… 〈◊〉 for how can a man loue that more then Christ which he loueth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sake onely L. VIVES 〈◊〉 day of a the Lord Where-vnto all secrets are referred to be reuealed and therefore they are worthy of reprehension that dare presume to censure acts that are doubtfull 〈◊〉 â—…rable onely by coniectures seeme they neuer so bad 〈◊〉 thâ—…se that thinke those sinnes shall not be laid to their 〈◊〉 where-with they mixed some workes of mercy CHAP. 27. NOw a word with those that hold none damned but such as neglect to doe workes of mercy worthy of their sinnes because S. Iames saith There shall be 〈◊〉 mercylesse to him that sheweth no mercy he therfore that doth shew merâ—… say they be his life neuer so burdened with sin and corruption shal not withstanding haue a mercyful iudgement which wil either acquit him from al paines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deliâ—… 〈◊〉 after a time of sufferance And this made Christ distinguish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…om 〈◊〉 â—…obate only by their performance and not performance of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one wherof is rewarded with euerlasting ioy and the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as for their daily sins that they may bâ—… pardoned through 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 the Lords praier say they doth sufficiently proue for as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 christian â—…aith not this praier so likewise is ther no daily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when we say And forgiue vs our trespasses as we forgiue them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we perform this later clause accordingly for Christ saie they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forgiue men their trespasses your heauenly father will forgiue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he said generally hee will forgiue you yours Bee they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 neuer so ordinary neuer so continual yet works of mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them al away wel they do wel in giuing their aduice to perform works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worthy of their â—…ns for if they should haue said that any works of mercâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the greatest and most customary sins they should bee 〈◊〉
vnlesse it be shored vppe by the worship of many gods whom the blinded Pagans haue beene accustomed to worship and adore auerring but their truth is meere false-hood that neglect and contempt of their vnworthy adoration hath beene the fountaine from whence these bitter waters of aduerse occurrences haue streamed abundantly and ouerflowed them But the other fiue following are not meale-mouthed but speake boldly against them which confesse that the spring of worldly euills is not exhausted nor shal euer be dried vp but the current flowing some-time more some-times lesse some-times swiftly some times slowly changing their state according to the circumstance of places times and persons yet fondly are they opinionated for verity hath not made them a warrant that the deuout adoration of many gods in which sacrifices are offered vnto their imaginary Deity is profitable for the life which wee hope for after death Therefore in these ten bookes the absurdity of these two vaine opinions both deadly foes vnto Christian religion is discouered and confuted But least some man may vpbraid mee that I am too forward to disproue the assertions of others and slow enough to proue mine owne the other part of this worke which is confined within the bounds of twelue bookes is directed to that purpose Although in the first ten where it is needfull wee are not behinde hand to confirme the truth of our owne opinions and also to infringe the authority of contrary oppositions in the twelue bookes ensewing Therefore the first foure of the twelue following containe the originall of two Citties of which one belongeth to GOD the other to this World The second foure containe their progresse The third foure which are the last conteine their due bounds Now though all the two and twenty bookes are compiled together of both Citties yet they haue taken their title from the better part and haue the name of the Citty of God printed on their fore-head In the tenth booke it ought not to bee set downe for a miracle that the fire falling from heauen ranne betweene the deuided sacrifices when ABRAHAM sacrificed because this was shewed vnto him in a vision In the seauenteenth booke where it is sayd of SAMVEL He was not of the sonnes of ARON it should rather haue beene sayd He was not the sonne of the Priest For it was a more lawfull custome that the sonnes of the Priests should succeed in the roome of the deceassed Priests For the Father of SAMVEL is found in the sonnes of ARON but hee was not a Priest yet not so in his sonnes as if ARON had begot him but in such sort as all of that people are said to bee the sonnes of ISRAEL This worke beginneth thus That most glorious society and celestiall Cittie of GOD c. THE CONTENTS OF THE first booke of the City of God 1. Of the aduersaries of the name of Christ spared by the Barbarians in the sacking of Rome onely for Christs sake 2. There neuer was warre wherein the Conquerors would spare them whome they conquered for the gods they worshipped 3. Of the Romaines fondnesse in thinking that those gods could helpe them which could not helpe Troy in her distresse 4. Of the Sanctuary of Iuno in Troy which freed not any that fled into it from the Greeks at the Citties sack whereas the Churches of the Apostles saued all commers from the Barbarians at the sack of Rome Caesars opinion touching the enemies custome in the sack of Citties 5. That the Romaines themselues neuer spared the Temples of those Citties which they conquered 6. That the cruell effects following the losses of warre did but follow the custome of war wherein they were moderated it was through the power of the name of Iesus Christ. 7. Of the commodities and discommodities commonly communicated both to good and ill 8. Of the causes of such corrections as fall both vpon the good and bad together 9. That the Saints in their losse of things temporall loose not any thing at all 10. Of the end of this transitory life whether it be long or short 11. Of buriall of the dead that it is not preiudiciall to the state of a Christian soule to be forbidden it 12. The reasons why wee should bury the bodies of the Saints 13. Of the captiuity of the Saints and that 〈◊〉 they neuer wanted spirituall comfort 14. Of Marcus Regulus who was a famous example to animate all men to the enduring of voluntary â—…tiuity for their religion which notwithstanding was vnprofitable vnto him by reason of his Paganisme 15. Whether the taxes that the holy Uirgins suffered against their wills in their captiuities could pollute the vertues of their minde 16. Of such as chose a voluntary death to avoide the feare of paine and dishonor 17. Of the violent lust of the souldiers executed vpon the bodies of the captiues against their consents 18. Of Lucrecia that stab'd her selfe because Tarquins sonne had rauished her 19. That their is no authority which allowes christians to bee their owne deaths in what cause so euer 20. Of some sort of killing men which notwithstanding are no murthers 21. That voluntary death can neuer bee any signe of magnanimity or greatnesse of spirit 22. Of Cato who killed himselfe being not able to endure Caesars victory 23. That the Christians excell Regulus in that vertue wherein he excelled most 24. That sinne is not to bee avoided by sinne 25. Of some vnlawfull acts done by the Saints and by what occasion they were done 26. Whether wee ought to flie sinne with voluntary death 27. How it was a Iudgement of GOD that the enemy was permitted to excercise his lust vpon the Christians bodies 28. What the seruants of Christ may answer the Infidells when they vpbraide them with Christs not deliuering them in their afliction from the fury of the enemies fury 29. That such as complaine of the Christian times desire nothing but to liue in filthy pleasures 30. By what degrees of corruption the Romans ambition grew to such a height 31. Of the first inducing of stage-plaies 32. Of some vices in the Romaines which their Citties ruine did neuer reforme 33. Of the clemency of GOD in moderating this calamity of Rome 34. Of such of GODS elect as liue secretly as yet amongst the Infidells and of such as are false Christians 35. What subiects are to be handled in the following discourse FINIS THE FIRST BOOKE OF SAINT AVGVSTINE Bishop of Hippo his Cittie of God vnto MARCELLINVS Of the aduersaries of the name of Christ spared by the Barbarians in the sacking of Rome onely for Christs sake CHAP. 1. THAT most glorious society and celestiall Citty of Gods faithfull which is partly seated in the course of these declining times wherein he that liueth a by faith is a Pilgrim amongst the wicked and partly in that solid estate of eternitie which as yet the other part doth paciently expect vntill b righteousnesse be turned into iudgment being then by the
which is not God for the worship of it selfe is wicked That Varro his doctrine of Theologie hangeth no way together CHAP. 28. THerefore what is it to the purpose that so learned a man as Varro hath endeuoured to reduce all these gods to heauen and earth and cannot they slip from his fingers and fall away do what he can for being to speake of the goddesses seeing that as I said quoth he in my first booke of the places there are obserued two beginninâ—…s of the gods producing deities celestiall and terrestriall as befoâ—…e being to speake of the masculine gods we began with heauen concerning Ianus called heauen or the world so now of the feminine beginning with the earth Tellus I see how sore so good a witte is already plunged Hee is drawne by a likelyhood to make heauen the agent and earth the pacient therefore giueth the first the masculine forme and the latter the feminine and yet vnderstandeth not that hee that giueth those vnto both these two made them both And here-vpon he interpreteth a the Samothratians noble mysteries so saying that hee will lay open such things thereof to his nation as it neuer knew this he promiseth most religiously For he saith be hath obserued in Images that one thing signifieth earth another heauen another the abstracts of formes b Plato's Ideae hee will haue Ioue to bee heauen Iuno earth Minerua the Ideas Heauen the efficient earth the substance Idea the forme of each effect Now here I omit to say that Plato ascribed so much to these formes that he saith heauen doth nothing without them but it selfe was made by them This I say that Varro in his booke of the Select gods hath vtterly ouerthrowne this distinction of those three Heauen hee placeth for the masculine for tâ—…e feminine earth amongst which he putteth Minerua that but now was aboue heauen And Neptune a masculine God is in the sea therefore rather in earth then heauen Father Dis or c Pluto a male-god and their brother he is also in earth vpmost and Proserpina his wife vnder him How can those heauen-gods now be earth-gods or these earth-gods haue roomes aboue or reference to heauen what sobriety soliditie or certaintie is in this discourse And earth is all their mother that is serued with nothing but sodomy cutting and gelding Why then doth he say Ianus the gods chiefe and Tellus the goddesses where error neither alloweth one head nor furie a like time why goe they vainely about to referre these to the world e as if it could be adored for the true God the worke for the maker That these can haue no reference thether the truth hath conuinced referre them but vnto dead men deuills and the controuersie is at an end L. VIVES THe a Samothracians Of these gods I haue already spoken They are Heauen and earth Iâ—…e and Iuno that are the great Samothracian gods Uarro de ling. lat l. 4 And Minerua also To these three the stately temple of the Capitoll was dedicated In Greeke it is not well knowne who these Samothracian gods were Apollonius his interpretor hath these words they call the Samothracian gods Cahiri Nnaseas saith that their names are Axierus that is Ceres 〈◊〉 Proserpina Aziocersus father Dis and Mercury their attendant as Dionysodorus saith Aâ—…n saith that Ioue begotte Iasion and Dardanus vpon Electra The name Cabeiri serues to deriue from the mountaines Caberi in Phrygia whence these gods were brought Sâ—…e sâ—…y these gods were but two Ioue the elder and Dionysius the yonger Thus farre hee Hee that will read the Greeke it beginneth at these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Now Iasion they say was Ceres sonne and called Caberus the brother of Dardanus others say laâ—… loued and lay with Ceres and was therefore slaine by thunder Hee that will read more of the Cabeiri let him go to Strabo lib. 10. b Plato's Idaea So called of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a forme or shape for hee that will make a thing first contemplateth of the forme and fitteth his worke therein A Painter drawes one picture by another this is his Idaea and therefore it is defined a forme of a future acte The Ideae of all things are in God which in framing of the world and cach part thereof hee did worke after and therefore Plato maketh three beginnings of all the minde that is God the worker the matter or substance of the world and the forme that it is framed after And God saith he in his Tymeus had an Idea or forme which hee followed in his whole fabricke of nature So that not onely the particuler spaces of the world but the 〈◊〉 heauen and the whole vniuerse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had the beginning from an Idea They are eâ—…all vncorporall and simple formes of things saith Apuleius Dogmat. Platon and from hence had God the figures of all things present and future nor can more the one Idea bee â—…nd in one whole kinde of creature according to which all of that kinde are wrought as 〈◊〉 of wâ—…e Where these Idea's are is a deeper question and diuersly held of the Platonists of that here-after c Pluto Of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gaine Dis in Latine quasi diues ritche for out of the 〈◊〉 bowels his treasurie do men fetch vp stones of worth and mettalls And therefore was â—…e said to dwell vnder the land of Spaine as Strabo saith because there was such store of mettalâ—…es corne cattle and meanes of commodity d One head for Ianus had two heads Cybels Prieâ—…s were mad e As if it or which if they could no godly person would worship the world That all that the Naturalists referre to the worlds parts should be referred to God CHAP. 29. FOr this their naturall theologie referreth all these things to the world which would they auoide scruple of sacriledge they should of right referre to the true God the worlds maker and creator of all soules and bodies Obserue but this we worship God not heauen nor earth of which a two parts of the world conâ—…h nor a soule or soules diffused through all the parts thereof but a God that made heauen and earth and all therein he made all creatures that liue brutish sencelesse sensitiue and reasonable b And now to runne through the operations of this true and high GOD briefly which they reducing to absurd and obscene mysteries induced many deuills by We worship that God that hath giuen motion existence and limits to each created nature that knowes conteines and disposeth of all causes that gaue power to the seedes and reason to such as hee vouchsafed that hath bestowed the vse of speech vpon vs that hath giuen knowledge of future things to such spirits as he pleaseth and prophecieth by whom he please that for mans due correction ordereth and endeth all warres worldly tribulations that created the violent and vehement fire of this world for the temperature of
oppressed and such like as these Oh who can stand to collect or recount them These now albeit they kept this seemingly absurd order continually that in 〈◊〉 whole life wherein as the Prophet saith in the Psalme Man is like to 〈◊〉 and his daies like a shadow that vanisheth the wicked alone should posâ—… those temporall goods and the good onelie suffer euills yet might this 〈◊〉 referred to GODS iust iudgements yea euen to his mercies that such 〈◊〉 â—…ught not for eternall felicitie might either for their malice bee iustly 〈◊〉 by this transitory happinesse or by GODS mercie bee a comfort vnto the good and that they beeing not to loose the blisse eternall might for 〈◊〉 while bee excercised by crosses temporall either for the correction of 〈◊〉 or a augmentation of their vertues 〈◊〉 now seeing that not onely the good are afflicted and the badde exâ—… which seemes iniustice but the good also often enioy good and the 〈◊〉 euill this prooues GODS iudgements more inscrutable and his 〈◊〉 more vnsearcheable Although then wee see no cause why GOD â—…ld doe thus or thus hee in whome is all wisdome and iustice and no â—…nesse nor rashnesse nor iniustice yet heere wee learne that wee may 〈◊〉 esteeme much of those goods or misfortunes which wee see the badde share with the righteous But to seeke the good peculiar to the one and to aâ—… the euill reserued for the other And when we come to that great iudgement properly called the day of doome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consummation of time there we shall not onely see all things apparant but â—…ledge all the iudgements of GOD from the first to the last to bee firmeâ—…â—…ded vpon iustice And there wee shall learne and know this also why 〈◊〉 iudgements are generally incomprehensible vnto vs and how iust his â—…nts are in that point also although already indeede it is manifest vnto â—…full that wee are iustly as yet ignorant in them all or at least in the 〈◊〉 them L. VIVES 〈◊〉 augmentation That vertue might haue meanes to exercise her powers for shee 〈◊〉 â—…ction and leauing that shee languisheth nay euen perisheth as fire doth which 〈◊〉 â—…ell to worke vpon dieth But practise her vpon obiects of aduerse fortune and she 〈◊〉 out her owne perfection Salomons disputation in Ecclesiastes concerning those goods which both the iust and the vniust doe share in CHAP. 3. 〈◊〉 the wisest King that euer reigned ouer Israel beginneth his booke calâ—… a Ecclesiastes which the Iewes themselues hold for Canonicall in this 〈◊〉 b Vanity of Vanities all is vanity What remaineth vnto man of all â—…uells which hee suffereth vnder the Sunne Vnto which hee annexâ—… tormentes and tribulations of this declining worlde and the short â—…ift courses of time wherein nothing is firme nothing constant 〈◊〉 vanitie of althings vnder the Sunne hee bewayleth this also 〈◊〉 that seeing c There is more profitte in wisdome then in follie 〈◊〉 light is more excellent then darkenesse and seeing the wise-mans eyes are in his head when the foole wallketh in darkenesse yet that one condition one estate should befall them both as touching this vaine and transitory life meaning hereby that they were both a like exposed to those euills that good men and bad do some-times both a like endure Hee saith further that the good shall suffer as the bad do and the bad shall enioy goods as the good do in these words There is a vanity which is done vpon the earth that there bee righteous men to whome it commeth according to the worke of the wicked and there bee wicked men to whome it commeth according to the worke of the iust I thought also that this is vanity In discouery of this vanity the wise man wrote al this whole worke for no other cause but that wee might discerne that life which is not vanity vnder the sunne but truth vnder him that made the sunne But as d touching this worldly vanity is it not Gods iust iudgement that man being made like it should vanish also like it yet in these his daies of vanity there is much betweene the obeying and the opposing of truth and betweene partaking and neglecting of Godlinesse and goodnesse but this is not in respect of attayning or auoyding any terrestriall goods or euills but of the great future iudgment which shall distribute goods to the good and euils to the euil to remaine with them for euer Finally the said wise King concludeth his booke thus feare God and keepe his commandements for this is the whole duty of man for GOD will bring euery worke vnto iudgment e of euery dispisedman be it good or be it euill how can wee haue an instruction more briefe more true or more wholesome feare God saith he and keepe his commandements for this is the whole duty of man for he that doth this is full man and he that doth it not is in accompt nothing because he is not reformed according to the Image of truth but sticketh still in the shape of vanity for God will bring euery worke that is euery act of man in this life vnto iudgement be it good or euill yea the workes of euery dispised man of euery contemptible person that seemeth not tâ—… be noted at all God seeth him and despiseth him not neither ouer-passeth him in his iudgement L. VIVES ECclesiastes a Or the Preacher Many of the Hebrewes say that Salomon wrot this in the time of his repentance for the wicked course that he had runne Others say that he fore-saw the diuision of his kingdome vnder his sonne Rehoboam and therefore wrote it in contempt of the worlds vnstable vanity b Uanity of So the seauenty read it but other read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 smoke of fumes Hierome c There is more Wisdome and folly are as much opposed as light and darkenesse d Touching this But that GOD instructeth our vnderstanding in this vanity it would vanish away and come to nought conceyuing falshood for truth and lying all consumed with putrifiing sinne at length like a fume it would exhale a way vnto che second death e Of euery despised man Our translations read it with euery secret thing Hierome hath it Pro omni errato The authors resolution in this discourse of the iudgement to produce the testimonies of the New-Testament first and then of the old CHAP. 4. THe testimonies of holy Scriptures by which I meane to proue this last iudgement of God must bee first of all taken out of the New-Testament and then out of the Old For though the later bee the more ancient yet the former are more worthie as beeing the true contents of the later The former then shall proceed first and they shal be backt by the later These that is the old ones the law and the prophets afford vs the former the new ones the Gospells and the writings of the Apostles Now the Apostle saith By the law commeth the knowledge of sinne But now
that sorrow in the Scriptures though it be not expressed so yet it is vnderstood to bee a fruitlesse repentance conâ—…oyned with a corporall torment for the scripture saith the vengeance of the flesh of the wicked is fire and the worme hee might haue said more briefely the vengance of the wicked why did hee then ad of the flesh but to shew that both those plagues the fire and the worme shal be corporall If hee added it because that man shal be thus plagued for liuing according to the flesh for it is therefore that hee incurreth the second death which the Apostle meaneth of when hee saith If yee liue after the flesh yee die but euery man beleeue as hee like either giuing the fire truely to the body and the worme figuratiuely to the soule or both properly to the body for we haue fully proued already that a creature may burne and yet not consume may liue in paine and yet not dye which he that denyeth knoweth not him that is the author of all natures wonders that God who hath made all the miracles that I erst recounted and thousand thousands more and more admirable shutting them all in the world the most admirable worke of all Let euery man therefore choose what to thinke of this whether both the fire and the worme plague the body or whether the worme haue a metaphoricall reference to the soule The truth of this question shall then appeare plaine when the knowledge of the Saints shall bee such as shall require no triall of it but onely shal be fully satisfied and resolued by the perfection and plenitude of the diuine sapience We know but now in part vntill that which is perfect be come but yet may wee not beleeue those bodies to be such that the fire can worke them no anguish nor torment L. VIVES THeir a worme Is. 66. 24. this is the worme of conscience Hierome vpon this place Nor is there any villany saith Seneca how euer fortunate that escapeth vnpunished but is plague to it selfe by wringing the conscience with feare and distrust And this is Epicurus his reason to proue that man was created to avoyd sinne because hauing committed it it scourgeth the conscience and maketh it feare euen without all cause of feare This out of Seneca â—…pist lib. â—…6 And so singeth Iuuenall in these words Exemplo quodâ—…unque malo committitur ipsi Dâ—…splicet auctori prima est haec vltio quòd se Iudice nemo nocens absoluitur c. Each deed of mischiefe first of all dislikes The authout with this whip Reuenge first strikes That no stain'd thought can cleare it selfe c. And by and by after Cur tamen hos tuâ—… Euasisse putes quos diriconscia facti Mens habet â—…ttionitos surdo verbere caedit Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum Poena autem vehemens multo saeuior illis Quas Ceditius grauis inuenit Rhadamanthus Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem But why should you suppose Them free whose soule blackt ore with ougly deeds Affrights and teares the conscience still and feeds Reuenge by nousling terrour feare and warre Euen in it selfe O plagues farre lighter farre To beare guilts blisters in a brest vnsound Then Rhadamant or sterne Ceditius found Nay the conscience confoundeth more then a thousand witnesses Tully holdes there are no other hell furies then those stings of conscience and that the Poets had that inuention from hence In l. Pis. Pro Rosâ—… Amerin Hereof you may read more in Quintilians Orations Whether the fyre of hell if it be corporall can take effect vpon the incorporeall deuills CHAP. 10. BVt here now is another question whether this fire if it plague not spiritually but onely by a bodily touch can inflict any torment vpon the deuill and his Angels they are to remaine in one fire with the damned according to our Sauiours owne words Depart from mee you cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the deuill and his Angels But the deuills according as some learned men suppose haue bodies of condensate ayre such as wee feele in a winde and this ayre is passible and may suffer burning the heating of bathes prooueth where the ayre is set on fire to heate the water and doth that which first it suffereth If any will oppose and say the deuills haue no bodies at all the matter is not great nor much to be stood vpon For why may not vnbodyed spirits feele the force of bodily fire as well as mans incorporeall soule is now included in a carnall shape and shall at that day be bound into a body for euer These spirituall deuils therefore or those deuillish spirits though strangely yet shall they bee truly bound in this corporall fire which shall torment them for all that they are incorporeall Nor shall they bee so bound in it that they shall giue it a soule as it were and so become both one liuing creature but as I sayd by a wonderfull power shall they be so bound that in steed of giuing it life they shal frÌ„o it receiue intollerable torment although the coherence of spirits and bodies whereby both become one creature bee as admirable and exceede all humaine capacitie And surely I should thinke the deuills shall burne them as the riche glutton did when hee cryed saying I am tormented in this flame but that I should be answered that that fire was such as his tongue was to coole which hee seeing Lazarus a farre of intreated him to helpe him with a little water on the tippe of his finger Hee was not then in the body but in soule onely such likewise that is incorporeall was the fire hee burned in and the water hee wished for as the dreames of those that sleepe and the vision of men in extasies are which present the formes of bodies and yet are not bodies indeed And though man see these things onely in spirit yet thinketh he him-selfe so like to his body that hee cannot discerne whether hee haue it on or no. But that hell that â—…ake of fire and brimstone shall bee reall and the fire corporall burning both men and deuills the one in flesh and the other in ayre the one iâ—… the body adhaerent to the spirit and the other in spirit onely adhaerent to the fire and yet not infusing life but feeling torment for one fire shall torment both men and Deuills Christ hath spoken it Whether it bee not iustice that the time of the paines should be proportioned to the time of the sinnes and crimes CHAP. 11. BVt some of the aduersaries of Gods citty hold it iniustice for him that hath offended but temporally to be bound to suffer paine eternally this they say is â—…ly vnâ—… As though they knew any law chat adapted the time of the punishment to the time in which the crime was committed Eight kinde of punishments dâ—…th Tully affirme the lawes to inflict Damages imprisonment whipping like for like publicke
before the time that is the iudgement wherein they and all men their sectaries are to bee cast into eternall torments as that l truth saith that neither deceiueth nor is deceiued not as hee saith that following the puffes of Philosophy flies here and there mixing truth and falshood greeuing at the ouerthrow of that religion which afterwards hee affirmes is all error L. VIVES HErmes a Of him by and by b His words We haue seene of his bookes greeke and latine This is out of his Asclepius translated by Apuleius c So doth humanity So humanity adapting it selfe to the nature and originall saith Hermes his booke d Trust So hath Hermes it Bruges copy hath Mistrust not your selfe e Beyond Apuleius and the Coleâ—…ne copy haue it both in this maner onely Mirth the Coleynists haue more then he f For Hermes I would haue cited some of his places but his bookes are common and so it is needelesse 〈◊〉 It being easier A diuersity of reading but of no moment nor alteration of sence h Of that which Reioycing that Christ is come whom the law and Prophets had promised So Iohn bad his disciples aske art thou he that should come or shall wee looke for an other i Peter This confession is the Churches corner stone neuer decaying to beleeue and affirme THAT IESVS IS CHRIST THE SONNE OF THE LIVING GOD. This is no Philosophicall reuelation no inuention no quirke no worldly wisdome but reuealed by GOD the father of all to such as hee doth loue and vouchsafe it k Because Hee sheweth why the deuills thought that Christ vndid them before the time l Truth Mat. 25. 41. Depart from meâ—… yee cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the deuill and his angells How Hermes openly confessed his progenitors error and yet bewayled the destruction of it CHAP. 24. FOr after much discourse hee comes againe to speake of the gods men made but of these sufficient saith hee let vs returne againe to man to reason by which diuine guift man hath the name of reasonable For we haue yet spoken no wonderfull thing of man the a wonder of all wonders is that man could fiâ—…e out the diuine nature and giue it effect Wherefore our fathers erring exceedinly in incredulity b concerning the deities and neuer penetrating into the depth of diuine religioÌ„ they inueÌ„ted an art to make gods whervnto they ioyned a vertue out of some part of the worlds nature like to the other and conioyning these two because they could make no soules they framed certaine Images whereinto they called either Angells or deuills and so by these mysteries gaue these Idols power to hurt or helpe them I know not whether the deuills being admited would say asmuch as this man saith Our fathers exceedingly erring saith he in incredulity concerning the deities not penetrating into the depth of diuine religion inuented an arte to make gods Was hee content to say they but erred in this inuention no he addeth Exceedingly thus this exceeding error and incredulity of those that looked not into matters diuine gaue life to this inuention of making gods And yet though it were so though this was but an inuention of error incredulity and irreligiousnes yet this wise man lamenteth that future times should abolish it Marke now whether Gods power compell him to confesse his progenitors error the diuills to bee made the future wrack of the said error If it were their exceeding error incredulity negligence in matters diuine that giue first life to this god-making inuention what wonder if this arte bee detestable and all that it did against the truth cast out from the truth this truth correcting that errour this faith that incredulity this conuersion that neglect If he conceale the cause and yet confesse that rite to be their inuention we if we haue any wit cannot but gather that had they bin in the right way they would neuer haue fallen to that folly had they either thought worthily or meditated seriously of religion yet should wee a ffirme that their great incredulous contemptuous error in the cause of diuinity was the cause of this inuention wee should neuerthelesse stand in need to prepare our selues to endure the impudence of the truths obstinate opponeÌ„ts But since he that admires yâ— power of this art aboue all other things in man and greeues that the time should come wherein al those illusions should claspe with ruine through the power of legall authority since he confesseth the causes that gaue this art first original namely the exceeding error incredulity negligeÌ„ce of his ancestor in matters diuine what should wee doe but thinke GOD hath ouerthrowne these institutions by their iust contrary causes that which errors multitude ordained hath truths tract abolished faith hath subuerted the worke of incredulity and conuersion vnto Gods truth hath suppressed the effects of true Gods neglect not in Egipt only where onely the diabolicall spirit bewaileth but in all the world which heareth a new song sung vnto the Lord as the holy scripture saith Sing vnto the Lord a new song Sing vnto the Lord all the earth for the c title of this Psalme is when the house was built after the captiuity the City of God the Lords house is built that is the holy Church all the earth ouer after captiuity wherein the deuills held those men slaues who after by their faith in God became principall stones in the building for mans making of these gods did not acquit him from beeing slaue to these works of his but by his willing worship he was drawn into their society a society of suttle diuills not of stupid Idols for what are Idols but as the Scripture saith haue eyes and see not all the other properties that may be said of a dead sencelesse Image how well soeuer carued But the vncleane spirits therein by that truly black art bouÌ„d their soules that adored theÌ„ in their society most horrid captiuity therefore saith the Apostle We know that an Idol is nothing in the world But the Gentiles offer to deuilis not vnto God I wil not haue them to haue society with the deuils So then after this captiuity that bound men slaue to the deuils Gods house began to be built through the earth thence had the Psalme the beginning Sing vnto the Lord a new song sing vnto the Lord all the earth Sing vnto the Lord and praise his name d declare his saluation e from day to day Declare his glorie amongst all nations and his wonders amongst all people For the Lord is great and much to be praised hee is to be feared aboue all gods For all the gods of the people are Idols but the Lord made the heauens Hee then that bewailed the abolishment of these Idols in the time to come and of the slauery wherein the deuills held men captiue did it out of an euill spirits inspiration and from that did desire the continuance of that captiuity
deuill 〈◊〉 from hence-forth The truth of the Gospell tells the faithfull that 〈◊〉 bee like the Angels and that they shall goe to life eternall But if 〈◊〉 â—…re neuer to fall from blisse and they bee not sure wee are aboue 〈◊〉 like them but the truth affirming and neuer erring that wee 〈◊〉 their like and equalls then are they sure of their blessed eternitie whereof those other being vncertaine for it had beene eternall had they beene certaine of it it remaines that they were not the others equalls or if they were these that â—…ood firme had not this certaintie of knowledge vntill afterwards Vnlesse we will say that which Christ saith of the Deuill Hee hath beene a murtherer 〈◊〉 â—…he beginning and abode not in the truth is not onely to be vnderstood from the beginning of mankinde that is since man was made whom hee might kill by deceiuing but euen from the beginning of his owne creation and therefore because of his auersion from his creator and b proud opposition herein both erring and seducing was dâ—…bard â—…uen from his creation from happinesse because he could not delude the power of the Almighty And he that would not in piety hold with the truth in his pride counterfeits the truth that the Apostle Iohns saying The deuill sinneth from the beginning may be so vnderstood also that is euer since his creation he reiected righteousnesse which none can haue but a will subiect vnto God Whosoeuer holds thus is not of the heretikes opinion called the c Manichees nor any such damnations as they that hold that the Deuill had a wicked nature giuen him in the beginning they do so doate that they conceiue not what Christ said He aboade not in the truth but thinke he said He was made enemie to thâ—… truth But Christ did intimate his fall from the truth wherein if he had remained hee had perticipated it with the holy Angels and beene eternally blessed with them L. VIVES WErâ—… a created The time betweene their creation and rebellion was so little that it seemed none b Proud opposition So the approoued copyes do read c Manichees Hearing that the Deuill sinned from the beginning they thought him created sinfull and vicious by nature rather then will for that is naturall and inuoluntary in one which the creator inâ—…eth him with in his creation How this is meant of the Deuill He abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him CHAP. 14. BVT Christ set downe the reason as if wee had asked why hee staid not in the truth because there is no truth in him Had he stood in it truth had beene in him The phrase is improper it saith He aboade not in the truth because there is 〈◊〉 truth in him whereas it should renuerse it say there is no truth in him because â—…e aboade not therein But the Psalmist vseth it so also I haue cryed because thou hâ—… â—…ard 〈◊〉 ô God whereas properly it is Thou hast heard me ô God because I haue cried But he hauing said I haue cryed as if he had beene asked the reason adioyned the cause of his crie in the effect of gods hearing as if he said I shew that I cryed becâ—…use thou hast heard â—…e ô God The meaning of this place The Deuill sinneth from the beginning CHA. 15. ANd that that Iohn saith of the Deuill The a deuill sinneth from the beginning 〈◊〉 â—…hey b make it naturall to him it can be no sinne But how then will they 〈◊〉 the Prophets as Esayes prefiguring the Prince of Babilon saith How art tâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…rom heauen O Lucifer sonne of the morning and Ezechiel Thou hast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods garden euery precious stone was in thy raiment This prooues him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so doth that which followes more plainly Thou wast perfect iâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…y tâ—… wast created c. Which places if they haue none other fitâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do prooue that he was in the truth but abode not therein that 〈◊〉 place Hâ—… 〈◊〉 not in the truth prooues him once in the truth but not perâ—…uering â—…nd that also He sinneth from the beginning meaneth the beginning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his pride but not from his creation Now must the place of Iob conâ—…â—…he deuill He c is the beginning of Gods works to be deluded by the Angels 〈◊〉 â—…f the Psalme this dragon whom thou hast made to scorne him are to bee taâ—… God had made the deuil at first fit for the Angells to deride but yâ— that 〈◊〉 â—…ned for his punishment after his sin Hee is the beginning of Gods workes 〈◊〉 is no nature in the smallest beast which God made not from him is all 〈◊〉 â—…sistence and order wherefore much more must the creature that is anâ—… by the natural dignity haue their preheminence of al Gods other works L. VIVES 〈◊〉 a deuill Wee may not drawe nay wrest the gospell to those grammâ—…ticismes A moâ—… or two breakes no square in this phrase from the beginning So we say Enuy in broâ—… from the beginning a little time doth not prooue this false b They The Maniâ—…â—…as and those that say the Angells could not sin in the moment of their creatiâ—… it because otherwise the author of their worke should beare the blame rather then 〈◊〉 worke And so Origen seemes to hold saying The serpent opposed not the truth nor was 〈◊〉 go vpon his belly euer from the point of his creation But as Adam and Eue were a while 〈◊〉 â—…o was the serpent no serpent one while of his beeing in the Paradice of delight for 〈◊〉 not malice In Ezechiel So Augustine thought that the first parents offended not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were created c He is Iob. 44. the words to bee deluded by the Angells are 〈◊〉 Septuagints Of the different degrees of creatures wherein profitable vse and reasons order doe differ CHAP. 16. 〈◊〉 â—…ll things that God made and are not of his essence the liuing is before â—…ad the productiue before these that want generation in their liuing â—…ue before the sencelesse as beasts c. before trees in things sensitiue â—…able before the vnreasonable as Man before beasts in things reaâ—…â—…mortalls before mortalls as Angels before men but this is by natures 〈◊〉 they esteeme of these is peculiar and different as the diuers vses are 〈◊〉 some sencelesse things are preferred before some sensitiue so farre that 〈◊〉 power we would roote the later out of nature or whether we know or 〈◊〉 what place therein they haue put them all after our profit For who â—…ther haue his pantry ful of meate theÌ„ mice or possesse pence then fleas 〈◊〉 for mans esteeme whose nature is so worthy will giue more oftenâ—… a horse then for a seruant for a ring then a maide So that in choice 〈◊〉 of him that respects the worth often controlls him that respects his â—…de or pleasure nature pondering euery thing simply in it selfe
the priuation thereof The office of this sence neither the 〈◊〉 eare the smell the taste nor the touche can performe By this I know 〈◊〉 â—…ng and I know this knowledge and I loue them both and know that I 〈◊〉 both L. VIVES SO a naturally A Stoicall and Academicall disputation handled by Tully Offic. 1. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stoically and De fin 5. Academically b For their Foolishnesse is the greatest 〈◊〉 â—…nd wisdome the good So held the Stoikes c Deeper A diuerse reading the text 〈◊〉 both d Antisthenes the first Cynickes choise His reason was because to reioyce in â—…d minde was base and cast downe the minde from the true state Socrates in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alcibiades that possessions with-out wisdome are not onely fruitlesse but hurtfull e â—…re It is not then our witte or toyle but GODS bountie that instructs vs in the 〈◊〉 â—…ourse of nature and sharpens the iudgement which bounty the good man attaining 〈◊〉 bad must needs bee wiser though lesse learned or popularly acute Therefore saith 〈◊〉 Into an euill soule wisdome will not come The same that Socrates said Onely good men 〈◊〉 f Iust by By a forme left in my minde by seeing iustice done and the due conâ—…â—…ing thereto which be it absent I conceiue what iniustice is by seeing the faire 〈◊〉 â—…ent harmony subuerted I build not vpon hurts violence iniuries or reproches 〈◊〉 no priuations but may be iustly done vpon due command of the magistrate or with â—…ent but vpon this I see the vertues decorum broken Forme is neither to bee taken â—…pes or abstracts of things reserued in the soule and called motions say some Well 〈◊〉 they either want witte or knowledge And because they cannot make them-selues 〈◊〉 by things really extant they must fetch their audiences eares vp to them by pursuing 〈◊〉 non entia this is our schoole-mens best trade now a dayes â—…ther we draw nearer to the image of the holy trinity in louing of that loue by which we loue to be and to know our being CHAP. 28. 〈◊〉 wee haue spoken as much as needeth here of the essence and knowledge 〈◊〉 much we ought to respect them in our selues and in other creatures vnâ—…â—…ough we finde a different similitude in them But whether the loue that 〈◊〉 â—…e them in be loued that is to declare It is loued wee prooue it because it iâ—…â—…d in all things that are iustly loued For hee is not worthily called a good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowes good but hee that loues it Why then may wee not loue that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selues whereby wee loue that which is to bee loued They may both 〈◊〉 â—…e man and it is good for a man that his goodnesse increasing his â—…d decrease euen to the perfection of his cure and full change into 〈◊〉 for if wee were beasts wee should loue a carnall sensitiue life 〈◊〉 good would suffice our nature b without any further trouble if 〈◊〉 â—…ees wee should not indeede loue any thing by motion of sence yet should we seeme to affect fruitfulnesse and growth if wee were stones water winde fire or so we should want sence and life yet should we haue a naturall appetiâ—…e vnto our due c places for the d motions of weights are like the bodies loues go they vpward or downwards for weight is to the body as loue is to the â—…ule But because we are men made after our creators image whose eternity is true truth eternall charity true and eternall neither confounded nor seuered we runne through all things vnder vs which could not be created formed not ordered without the hand of the most essentiall wise and good God so through all the workes of the creation gathering from this e more playne and from that lesse apparant markes of his essence and beholding his image in our selues f like the prodigall childe wee recall our thoughts home and returne to him from whom we fell There our being shall haue no end our knowledge no error our loue no offence But as now though wee see these three sure trusting not to others but obseruing it our selues with our certaine interior sight yet because of our selues we cannot know how long they shall last when they shall end whither they shall goe doing well or euill therefore here we take other witnesses of the infallibity of whose credit wee will not dispute here but hereafter In this booke of the Citty of God that was neuer pilgrim but alwayes immortall in heauen being compounded of the Angels eternally coherent with God and neuer ceasing this coherence betweene whom and their darknesse namely those that forsooke him a seperation was made as we said at first by God now will wee by his grace proceede in our discourse already begun L. VIVES FOr that a is loue There is a will in vs arising from the corruption of the body which reason ruleth not as it doth the better will but it haleth it and traileth it to good it flyes all good properly and seeketh euills bodily delights and pleasures These two Paul calleth the law of the flesh the law of the spirit some-times flesh and spirit The first brutish foule hated of good men who when they can cannot expell it they compell and force it vnto Gods obedience otherwise it produceth a loue of things vnmeete b Without Either in this life or vnto our bodies c Places Or orders and formes of one nature the preseruation of which each thing desires for it selfe helping it selfe against externall violence if it bee not hindered d 〈◊〉 of this before the Latine word is momenta e More plaine Our reason plâ—…ceth an Image rather then a marke of God in vs. Man hath the sight of heauen and the knowledge of God bestowed vpon him whereas all other creatures are chained to the earth Wherfore the spirit ouer-looking the creation left his image in our erected nature in the rest whome hee did as it were put vnder foote hee left onely his markes Take this now as a figuratiue speech f Prâ—…digall Luc. 15. Of the Angels knowledge of the Trinity in the Deity and consequently of the causes of things in the Archetype ere they come to be effected in workes CHAP. 29. THese holy Angels learne not of God by sounds but by being present wiâ—… thâ—… â—…geable truth his onely begotten word himselfe and his holy spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of substantiall persons yet hold they not three Gods but one 〈◊〉 this thâ—…y a â—…ow plainer then we know our selues b The creatures also 〈◊〉 they know 〈◊〉 in the wisdome of God the worke-mans draught then in the thingâ—… produced and consequently them-selues in that better then in thâ—…-selues though â—…ing their knowledge in both for they were made are not of 〈◊〉 â—…nce that made them Therefore in him their knowledge is day in 〈◊〉 as we sayd twy-light But the knowledges of a thing by the means 〈◊〉 and the thing it selfe made are farre different c The vnderstanding 〈◊〉 a figure doth produce a perfecter
by feare of misery My mother Blanche a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had wâ—…t to tell me whâ—…n I was a childe that the Syrens sung 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 in faire wether hhoping the later in the first and fearing the first in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our hope Not of vnhappinesse but vnhappy of the happinesse to come 〈◊〉 Gâ—… from Hee toucheth the Platomists controuersie some holding the soules giuen of GOD 〈◊〉 others that they were cast downe for their guilt and for their punnishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k sportes of soules A diuersity of reading but let vs make good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the state of the first man and man-kinde in him CHAP. 21. â—…rd question of Gods power to create new things without change of 〈◊〉 because of his eternitie being I hope sufficiently handled wee may 〈◊〉 that he did farre better in producing man-kinde from one man onely 〈◊〉 had made many for whereas he created some creatures that loue to be 〈◊〉 in deserts as Eagles Kites Lyons Wolues and such like and others 〈◊〉 rather liue in flockes and companies as Doues Stares Stagges a 〈◊〉 and such like yet neither of those sorts did hee produce of one alone 〈◊〉 many together But man whose nature he made as meane betweene Anâ—…asts that if hee obeyed the Lord his true creator and kept his hests 〈◊〉 be transported to the Angels society but if hee became peruerse in 〈◊〉 offended his Lord God by pride of heart then that hee might bee cast â—…h like a beast and liuing the slaue of his lusts after death bee destinate â—…all paines him did hee create one alone but meant not to leaue him â—…th-out another humaine fellow thereby the more zealously commendâ—… concord vnto vs men being not onely of one kinde in nature but also â—…dred in affect creating not the woman hee meant to ioyne with man â—…did man of earth but of man and man whom hee ioyned with her not of 〈◊〉 of himselfe that all man-kinde might haue their propagation from one L. VIVES 〈◊〉 Daâ—… in the diminutiue because it is a timorous creature neither wilde noâ—… 〈◊〉 God fore-knew that the first Man should sinne and how many people hee was to translate out of his kinde into the Angels society CHAP. â—…22 〈◊〉 was not ignorant that Man would sinne and so incurre mortallitye 〈◊〉 for him-selfe and his progenie nor that mortalls should runne on in 〈◊〉 of iniquitie that brute a beasts should liue at more attonement 〈◊〉 betweene them-selues whose originall was out of water and earth 〈◊〉 whose kinde came all out of one in honor of concord for Lyons neâ—… among them-selues nor Dragons as men haue done But God fore-saw 〈◊〉 that his grace should adopt the godly iustifie them by the holy spirit â—…ir sinnes and ranke them in eternall peace with the Angels the last 〈◊〉 dangerous death being destroyed and those should make vse of Godsâ—…g â—…g all man-kinde from one in learning how well God respected vnity in 〈◊〉 L. VIVES 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Any place will holde bruite-beasts without contention sooner then 〈◊〉 mâ—…n is Woolâ—…e to man as the Greeke Prouerbe saith Pliâ—… lib. 7. and all other â—…gree among them-selues and oppose strangers The sterne Lion fights not with 〈◊〉 nor doth the Serpent sting the Serpent the beasts and fishes of the sea aâ—… with their owne kinde But man doth man the most mischiefe Dicâ—… saith Tully wrote a booke of the death of men He is a free and copious Peripatetique and herein hauing reckned vp inondations plagues burning exceeding aboundance of beaâ—… and other externall causes he compares then with the warres and seditions wherewith man hath destroyed man and finds the later farre exceeding the former This warre amongst men did Christ desire to haue abolished and for the fury of wrath to haue grafted the heate of zeale and charity This should bee preached and taught that Christians ought not to bee as wars but at loue one with another and to beare one with another mens minds are already to forward to shed bloud and do wickedly they neede not be set on Of the nature of mans soule being created according to the image of God CHAP. 23. THerefore God made man according to his a image and likenesse giuing him a soule whereby in reason and vnderstanding hee excelled all the other creatures that had no such soule And when hee had made man thus of earth and either b breathed the soule which he had made into him or rather made that breath one which he breathed into him for to breath is but to make a breth then c out of his side did hee take a bone whereof he made him a wife and an helpe as he was God for we are not to conceiue this carnally as wee see an artificer worke vp any thing into the shape of a man by art Gods hand is his power working visible things inuisibly Such as measure Gods vertue and power that can make seedes of seeds by those daily and vsuall workes hold this rather for a fable then a truth But they know not this creation and therefore thinke vnfaithfully thereof as though the workes of ordinary conception and production are not strange to those that know them not though they assigne them rather to naturall causes then account them the deities workes L. VIVES HIs a Image Origen thinkes that man is Christs image and therfore the scripture calls man Gods image for the Sonne is the fathers image some thinke the Holy Ghost is ment in the simyly But truely the simyly consists in nothing but man and the likenesse of God A man saith Paul is Gods image It may be referred to his nature and in that he is Gods likenesse may be referred to his guifts immortallity and such wherein he is like God b Breathed It is a doubt whether the soule were made before infused after or created with the body Aug de gens ad lit li. 7. saith that the soule was made with the other spiritual substances infused afterwards and so interpreteth this place Hee breathed into his face the breath of life Others take it as though the soule were but then made and so doth Augustine here c Out of his Why the woman was made after the man why of his ribbe when he was a sleepe and how of his rib read Magister sentent lib. 2. Dist. 18. Whether the Angels may be called creators of any the least creature CHAP. 24. BVt here wee haue nothing to doe with a them that hold the diuine essence not to medle with those things at all But b those that follow Plato in affirming that all mortall creatures of which man is the chiefe were made by the lesser created Gods through the permission or command of the creator and not by him-selfe that framed the world let them but absure the superstition wherein thy seeke to giue those inferiors iust honors and sacrifices and they shall quickly avoid the error of this
victories For any part of it that warreth against another desires to bee the worlds conqueror whereas indeed it is vices slaue And if it conquer it extolls it selfe and so becomes the owne destruction but if wee consider the condition of worldly affaires and greeue at mans opennesse to aduersity rather then delight in the euents of prosperitie thus is the victory deadly for it cannot keepe a soueraigntie for euer where it got a victory for once Nor can wee call the obiects of this citties desires good it being in the owne humaine nature farre surmounting them It desires an earthly peace for most base respects and seeketh it by warre where if it subdue all resistance it attaineth peace which notwithstanding the aduerse part that fought so vnfortunately for those respects do want This peace they seeke by laborious warre and obteine they thinke by a glorious victory And when they conquer that had the right cause who will not gratulate their victory and be glad of their peace Doubtlesse those are good and Gods good guifts But if the things appertaining to that celestiall and supernall cittie where the victory shall be euerlasting be neglected for those goods and those goods desired as the onely goods or loued as if they were better then the other misery must needs follow and increase that which is inherent before Of that murderer of his brother that was the first founder of the earthly citie whose act the builder of Rome paralleld in murdering his brother also CHAP. 5. THerefore this earthly Citties foundation was laide by a murderer of his owne brother whom he slew through enuie being a pilgrim vpon earth of the heauenly cittie Wherevpon it is no wonder if the founder of that Cittie which was to become the worlds chiefe and the Queene of the nation followed this his first example or a archetype in the same fashion One of their Poets records the fact in these words b Fraterno primi madâ—…erunt sanguine muri The first walles steamed with a brothers bloud Such was Romes foundation and such was Romulus his murder of his brother 〈◊〉 as their histories relate onely this difference there is these bretheren were both cittizens of the earthly cittie and propagators of the glory of Rome for whose institution they contended But they both could not haue that glory that if they had beene but one they might haue had For he that glories in dominion must needs see his glory diminished when hee hath a fellow to share with him Therefore the one to haue all killed his fellow and by villanie grew vnto bad greatnesse whereas innocencie would haue installed him in honest meannesse But those two brethren Caine and Abel stood not both alike affected to earthly matters nor did this procure enuie in them that if they both should reigne hee that could kill the other should arise to a greater pitch of glory for Abel sought no dominion in that citty which his brother built but that diuell enuy did all the â—…chiefe which the bad beare vnto the good onely because they are good for the possession of goodnesse is not lessned by being shared nay it is increased 〈◊〉 it hath many possessing it in one linke and league of charity Nor shall hee 〈◊〉 haue it that will not haue it common and he that loues a fellow in it shall hâ—… it the more aboundant The strife therfore of Romulus Remus sheweth the â—…on of the earthly city in it selfe and that of Caine Abel shew the opposition 〈◊〉 â—…he city of men the city of God The wicked opose the good But the good 〈◊〉 â—…e perfect cannot contend amongst them-selues but whilst they are vnperâ—…â—…ey may contend one against another in that manner that each contends aâ—… him-selfe for in euery man the flesh is against the spirit the spirit against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So then the spirituall desire in one may fight against the carnall in anoâ—… or contrary wise the carnall against the spirituall as the euill do against the gâ—… or the two carnal desires of two good men that are inperfect may contend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bad do against the bad vntil their diseases be cured themselues brought to â—…lasting health of victory L. VIVES Aâ—…type a It is the first pattent or copy of any worke the booke written by the authors â—…e hand is called the Archetype Iuuenall Et iubet archetypos iterum seruare Cleanthas And bids him keepe Cleanthes archetypes b 〈◊〉 Lucan lib. 8. The historie is knowne c His brother built Did Caine build a citty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meanes hee the earthly citty which vice and seperation from God built the latter I 〈◊〉 d The wicked This is that I say vice neither agrees with vertue nor it selfe for amity 〈◊〉 â—…ongst the good the bad can neither bee friends with the good nor with themselues Of the langours of Gods Cittizens endure in earth as the punishments of sinne during their pilgrimage and of the grace of God curing them CHAP. 6. BVt the langour or disobedience spoken of in the last booke is the first puâ—…ment of disobedience and therefore it is no nature but a corruption for 〈◊〉 it is said vnto those earthly prilgrimes and God proficients Beare a yee 〈◊〉 â—…hers burdens and so yee shall fulfill the Law of Christ and againe admonish the 〈◊〉 â—…fort the feble be patient towards all ouer-come euill with goodnesse see that 〈◊〉 hurt for hurt and againe If a man be fallen by occasion into any sinne you that 〈◊〉 â—…all restore such an one with the spirit of meekenesse considering thy selfe least 〈◊〉 be tempted and besides let not the sunne go downe vpon your wrath and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gospell If thy brother trespasse against thee take him and tell him his falt beâ—… 〈◊〉 and him alone 〈◊〉 â—…cerning the scandalous offenders the Apostle saith Them that sin rebuke 〈◊〉 the rest may feare and in this respect many things are taught concerning â—…g And a great charge is laid vpon vs to keep that peace there where that 〈◊〉 of the c seruants being commanded to pay the ten thousand talents hee ought because hee forcibly exacted his fellowes debt of an hundred pence Vnto which simily the Lord Iesus addeth this cloze So shall mine heauenly father doe vnto you except you forgiue each one his brothers trespasses from your hearts Thus are Gods cittizens vpon earth cured of their diseases whilest they are longing for the celestiall habitation But the Holy spirit worketh within to make the salue worke that is outwardly applied otherwise though God should speake to mankinde out of any creature either sensibly or in dreames and not dispose of our hearts with his inward grace the preaching of the truth would not further mans conuersion a whitte But this doth God in his secret and iust prouidence diuiding the vessells of wrath and mercy And it is his admirable and secret worke that sinne e being in vs rather the punishment of sinne as the Apostle
all nature should lust after the women of earth and marrying them beget Gyants of them CHAP. 23. â—…is question wee touched at in our third booke but left it vndiscussed wheâ—…er the Angels being spirits could haue carnall knowledge of women for 〈◊〉 â—…itten He maketh his Angels spirits that a is those that are spirits hee 〈◊〉 his Angels by sending them on messages as hee please for the Greeke 〈◊〉 â—…rd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Latines call c Angelus is interpreted a messenger 〈◊〉 â—…ether he meant of their bodyes when he addeth And his ministers a flaâ—… or that he intimate that Gods ministers should burne with fiery zeale â—…ritie it is doubtfull yet doe the scriptures plainly auerre that the Anâ—… appeared both in visible and palpable figures b And seeing it is so 〈◊〉 a report and so many auerre it eyther from their owne triall or from 〈◊〉 that are of indubitable honestie and credite that the Syluanes and 〈◊〉 commonly called e Incubâ—… haue often iniured women desiring and acâ—…â—…rnally with them and that certaine deuills whome the Frenchmen call 〈◊〉 doe continually practise this vncleannesse and tempt others to it which â—…ed by such persons and with such confidence that it were impudence 〈◊〉 it I dare not venter to determine any thing heere whether the 〈◊〉 beeing imbodyed in ayre for this ayre beeing violently mooued is 〈◊〉 â—…lt can suffer this lust or mooue it so as the women with whome 〈◊〉 â—…ixe many feele it f yet do I firmely beleeue that Gods Angels could 〈◊〉 â—…ll so at that time nor that the Apostle Peter did meane of them when he sayd If God spared not the Angels that had sinned but cast them downe into hell and deliuered them into chaines of darkenesse to be kept vnto damnation but rather of those that turned apostata's with the diuell their prince at first in him I meane that deceiued man-kinde in the serpent That men were also called the Angels of God the scripture testifieth also saying of Iohn Behold I send mine Angel before â—…hy face which shall prepare the way before thee And Malachie the prophet by a peculiar grace giuen him was called an Angell But some sticke at this that in this commixtion of them that were called Gods Angels with the women of earth there were Gyants begotten and borne as though that we haue no such extraordinary huge statured creatures euen in these our times Was there not a woman of late at Rome with her father and mother a little before it was sacked by the Gothes that was of a giantlike height in respect of all other It was wonderfull to see the concourse of those that came to see her and shee was the more admired in that her parents exceeded not our tallest ordinary stature Therefore there might bee giants borne before that the sonnes of God called also his Angells had any carnall confederacy with the daughters of men such I meane as liued in the fleshly course that is ere the sonnes of Seth medled with the daughters of Caine for the Scripture in Genesis saith thus So when men were multiplied vpon earth and there were daughters borne vnto them the sonnes of God saw the daughters of men that they were faire and they tooke them wiues of all that they liked Therefore the Lord said my spirit shall not alway striue with man because he is but flesh and his daies shal be 120. yeares There were Gyants in the earth in those daies yea and after that the sonnes of God came vnto the daughters of men and they had borne them children these were Gyants and in old time were men of renowne These words of holy writ shew plainely that there were Gyants vpon earth when the sonnes of God tooke the fayre daughters of men to bee their wiues g for the scripture vseth to call that which is faire good But there were Gyants borne after this for it saith There were Gyants vpon earth in those daies and after that the sonnes of God came vnto the daughters of men so that there were Gyants both then and before and whereas it saith They begot vnto themselues this sheweth that they had begotten children vnto God before and not vnto themselues that is not for lust but for their duty of propagation nor to make themselues vp any flaunting family but to increase the Cittizens of God whome they like Gods angels instructed to ground their hope on him as the sonne of the resurrection Seths sonne did who hoped to call vpon the name of the Lord in which hope he and all his sons might be sons and heires of life euerlasting But we may not take them to bee such Angels as were no men men they were without doubt and so saith the Scripture which hauing first sayd the Angels of God sâ—… the daughters of men that they were good and they tooke them wiues of all whome they liked addeth presently And the Lord said my spirit shall not alway striue with mâ—… because hee is but flesh For his spirit made them his Angels and sonnes but they declined downewards and therefore hee calleth them men by nature not by grace and flesh being the forsaken forsakers of the spirit The 70. call them the Angels and sonnes of God some bookes call them onely the sonnes of God leauing out Angels But h Aquila whome the Iewes prefer before all calls them neither but the sonnes of Gods both is true for they were both the sonnes of God and by his patronage the bretheren of their fathers and they were the sonnes of the Gods as borne of the Gods and their equalls according to that of the Psalme I haue said yee are Gods and yee are al sonnes of the most high for weâ—… do worthily beleeue that the 70. had the spirit of prophecy and that what soeuer they altered is set downe according to the truth of diuinity not after the pleasure of translators yet the Hebrew they say is doubtfull and may be interpreted 〈◊〉 the sonnes of God or of Gods Therefore let vs omit the scriptures that are 〈◊〉 i Apocripha because the old fathers of whome wee had the scriptures 〈◊〉 not the authors of those workes wherein though there bee some truths yâ—… their multitude of falshhoods maketh them of no canonicall authority Sâ—… Scriptures questionlesse were written by Enoch the seauenth from 〈◊〉 As the canonicall k Epistle of Iude recordeth but it is not for â—…ng that they were left out of the Hebrew Canon which the Priests kept in 〈◊〉 â—…mple The reason was their antiquity procured a suspicion that they 〈◊〉 not truly diuine and an vncertainety whether Henoch were the author or 〈◊〉 â—…ing that such as should haue giuen them their credit vnto posterity neuer 〈◊〉 them And therefore those bookes that go in his name and containe those 〈◊〉 of the giants that ther fathers were no men are by good iudgements held 〈◊〉 â—…ne of his but counterfeite as the heretiques haue done many
small that hee that discerneth them as they flie must haue a sharpe eye but when they alight vpon the body they will soone make them-selues knowne to his feeling though his sight discerne them not Super Exod. By this creature Origen vnderstands logick which enters the mind with such stings of vndiscerned subtlety that the party deceiued neuer perceiueth till he be fetched ouer But the Latines nor the Greekes euer vsed either Cynipes or Snipes nor is it in the seauentie eyther but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gnat-like creatures saith Suidas and such as eate holes in wood Psal. 104. The Hebrew and Chaldee Paraphrase read lice for this word as Iosephus doth also d Horse-flyes Or Dogge-flies the vulgar readeth flyes onely e Grashoppers The fields plague much endamaging that part of Africa that bordereth vpon Egipt Pliny saith they are held notes of Gods wrath where they exceed thus f Groned vnder Perfracti perfractus is throughly tamed praefractus obstinate g Passe-ouer Phase is a passing ouer because the Angel of death passed ouer the Israelites houses smote them not hence arose the paschall feast Hieron in Mich. lib. 2. not of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to suffer as if it had beene from the passion In Matth. h Whose name In Hebrew Iosuah and Iesus seemes all one both are saluation and Iesus the sonne of Iosedech in Esdras is called Iosuah i Whose sonne Mat. 1. an 〈◊〉 all the course of the Gospell Christ is especially called the sonne of two Abraham or Dauid for to them was hee chiefly promised k à non fando And therefore great fellowes that cannot speake are some-times called infants and such also as stammer 〈◊〉 their language and such like-wise as being expresse dolts and sottes in matter of learning will challenge the names of great Artists Philosophers and Diuines Finis lib. 16. THE CONTENTS OF THE seauenteenth booke of the City of God 1. Of the times of the Prophets 2. At what time Gods promise concerning 〈◊〉 Land of Canaan was fulfilled and Israell â—…ed it to dwell in and possesse 3. The Prophets three meanings of earthly â—…lem of heauenly Ierusalem and of both 4. The change of the kingdome of Israel Anâ—…â—…uels mother a prophetesse and a type 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Church what she prophecied 5. The Prophets words vnto Heli the priest â—…g the taking away of Aarons priestâ—… 6. The promise of the priest-hood of the 〈◊〉 and their kingdome to stand eternally â—…ed in that sort that other promises of 〈◊〉 â—…nded nature are 〈◊〉 kingdome of Israell rent prefiguring â—…all diuision betweene the spirituall â—…ll Israel 〈◊〉 â—…ises made to Dauid concerning his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fulfilled in Salomon but in Christ. 〈◊〉 â—…phecy of Christ in the 88. psalme 〈◊〉 â—…s of Nathan in the booke of Kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 diuers actions done in the earthly Ieâ—… 〈◊〉 the kingdome differing from Gods 〈◊〉 to shew that the truth of his word conâ—…â—…he glory of an other kingdome and anâ—…â—…g 11. The substance of the people of God who 〈◊〉 Christ in the flesh who only had power to 〈◊〉 â—…e soule of man from hell 12. â—…her verse of the former psalme and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom it belongeth 13. Whether the truth of the promised peace may be ascribed vnto Salomons time 14. Of Dauids endeauors in composing of the psalmes 15. Whether all things concerning Christ his church in the psalmes be to bee rehearsed in this worke 16. Of the forty fiue psalme the tropes and truths therein concerning Christ and the church 17. Of the references of the hundreth and tenth psalme vnto Christs priest-hood and the two and twentith vnto his passion 18. Christs death and resurrection prophecied in psalme 3. et 40. 15. et 67. 19. The obstinate infidelity of the Iewes declared in the 69. psalme 20. Dauids kingdome his merrit his sonne Salomon his prophecies of Christ in Salomons bookes and in bookes that are annexed vnto them 21. Of the Kings of Israel and Iudah after Salomon 22. How Hieroboam infected his subiects with Idolatry yet did God neuer failed them in Prophets nor in keeping many from that infection 23. The state of Israel and Iudah vnto both their captiuities which befell at different times diuersly altered Iudah vnited to Israell and lastly both vnto Rome 24. Of the last Prophets of the Iewes about the time that Christ was borne FINIS THE SEVENTEENTH BOOKE OF THE CITTIE OF GOD Written by Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo vnto Marcellinus Of the times of the Prophets CHAP. 1. THus haue we attained the vnderstanding of Gods promises made vnto Abraham and due vnto Israel his seed in the flesh and to all the Nations of earth as his seed in the spirit how they were fulfilled the progresse of the Cittie of God in those times did manifest Now because our last booke ended at the reigne of Dauid let vs in this booke proceed with the same reigne as farre as is requisite All the time therefore betweene Samuels first prophecy and the returning of Israel from seauenty yeares captiuity in Babilon to repaire the Temple as Hieremy had prophecied all this is called the time of the Prophets For although that the Patriarch Noah in whose time the vniuersall deluge befel and diuers others liuing before there were Kings in Israel for some holy and heauenly predictions of theirs may not vndeseruedly be called a Prophets especially seeing wee see Abraham and Moses chiefly called by those names and more expressly then the rest yet the daies wherein Samuel beganne to prophecy were called peculiarly the Prophets times Samuel anoynted Saul first and afterwards he beeing reiected hee anoynted Dauid for King by Gods expresse command and from Dauids loines was all the bloud royall to descend during that Kingdomes continuance But if I should rehearse all that the Prophets each in his time successiuely presaged of Christ during all this time that the Cittie of God continued in those times and members of his I should neuer make an end First because the scriptures though they seeme but a bare relation of the successiue deeds of each King in his time yet being considered with the assistance of Gods spirit will prooue either more or as fully prophecies of things to come as histories of things past And how laborious it were to stand vpon each peculiar hereof and how huge a worke it would amount vnto who knoweth not that hath any insight herein Secondly because the prophecies concerning Christ and his Kingdome the Cittie of God are so many in multitude that the disputations arising hereof would not be contained in a farre bigger volume then is necessary for mine intent So that as I will restraine my penne as neare as I can from all superfluous relations in this worke so will I not ommit any thing that shall be really pertinent vnto our purpose L. VIVES CAlled a Prophets The Hebrewes called them Seers because they saw the Lord in his predictions or prefigurations of any thing with
like a parcells of some poâ—…â—…hose â—…hose intent concerneth a theame far different Now to shew this testimoâ—… one in euery Psalme of the booke wee must expound the Psalme 〈◊〉 to do how great a worke it is both others and our volumes wherein wee 〈◊〉 done it do expressly declare let him that can and list read those and there â—…ll see how abundant the prophecies of Dauid concerning Christ and of his Church were namely concerning that celestiall King and the Citty which hee builded L. VIVES LIke e parcells Centones are peeces of cloath of diuerse colours vsed any way on the back or on the bedde Cic. Cato Maior Sisenna C. Caesar. Metaphorically it is a poeme patched out of other poems by ends of verses as Homero-centon and Uirgilio-centon diuerse made by Proba and by Ausonius b Retrograde poeme Sotadicall verses that is verses backward and forwards as Musa mihi causas memora quo numine laesa Laeso numine quo memora causas mihi Musa Sotadicall verses may bee turned backwards into others also as this Iambick Pio precare thure caelestum numina turne it Numina caelestum thure precare piâ—… it is a Pâ—…ntameter They are a kinde of wanton verse as Quintilian saith inuented saith Strabo or rather vsed saith Diomedes by Sotades whome Martiall calleth Gnidus some of Augustines copies read it a great poeme and it is the fitter as if one should pick verses out of some greater workes concerning another purpose and apply them vnto his owne as some Centonists did turning Uirgils and Homers words of the Greekes and Troyan warres vnto Christ and diuine matters And Ausonius turneth them vnto an Epithalamion Of the fortie fiue Psalme the tropes and truths therein concerning Christ and the Church CHAP. 16. FOr although there be some manifest prophecies yet are they mixed with figures putting the learned vnto a great deale of labour in making the ignorant vnderstand them yet some shew Christ and his Church at first sight though we must at leisure expound the difficulties that we finde therein as for example Psal. 45. Mine heart hath giuen out a good word I dedicate my workes to the King My tongue is the pen of a ready writer Thou fairer then the children of men grâ—… is powred in thy lippes for GOD hath blessed thee for euer Girde thy sworde vpon thy â—…high thou most mighty Proceede in thy beauty and glory and reigne prosperouly because of thy truth thy iustice and thy gentlenesse thy right hand shall guide thee wondrously Thine arrowes are sharpe most mighty against the hearts of the Kings enemies the people shall fall vnder thee Thy throne O GOD is euer-lasting and the scepter of thy kingdome a scepter of direction Thou louest iustice and hatest iniquitie therefore GOD euen thy GOD hath annoynted thee with oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes All thy garments smell of Myrrhe Alloes and Cassia from the Iâ—…ry palaces wherein the Kings daughters had made thee glâ—…d in their honour Who is so dull that he discerneth not Christ our God in whome we beleeue by this place hearing him called GOD whose throne is for euer and annoynâ—…d by GOD not with visible but with spirituall Chrisme who is so barbarously ignorant in this immortall and vniuersall religion that hee heareth not that Christs name commeth of Chrisma vnction Heere wee know CHRIST let vs see then vnto the types How is hee father then vnto the sonnes of men in a beauty farre more amiable then that of the body What is his sword his shaftes c. all these are tropicall characters of his power and how they are all so let him that is the subiect to this true iust and gentle King looke to at his leasure And then behold his Church that spirituall spouse of his and that diuine wed-locke of theirs here it is The Queene stood on thy right hand her â—…lothing was of gold embrodered with diuers collours Heaâ—…e Oh daughter and 〈◊〉 attend and forget thy people and thy fathers house For the King taketh pleasure in thy beauty and hee is the Lord thy God The sonnes of Tyre shall adore him 〈◊〉 guifts the ritch men of the people shall â—…ooe him with presents The Kings daughter 〈◊〉 all glorious within her cloathing is of wrought gold The Virgins shal be brought after her vnto the King and her kinsfolkes and companions shal follow her with ioy and gladnesse shal they be brought and shall enter into the Kings chamber Instead of fathers 〈◊〉 shalt haue children to make them Princes through out the earth They shal remember thy name O Lord from a generation to generation therefore shall their people giue â—…ks vnto thee world without end I doe not think any one so besotted as to thinke this to be meant of any personal woman no no she is his spouse to whoÌ„ it is said Thy throne O God is euerlasting and the scepter of thy Kingdome a scepter of direction 〈◊〉 hast loued iustice and hated iniquity therefore the Lord thy God hath annointed 〈◊〉 â—…ith the oyle of gladnesse before thy fellowes Namely Christ before the christiâ—… For they are his fellowes of whose concord out of all nations commeth this Queene as an other psalme saith the Citty of the great King meaning the spirituall Syon Syon is speculation for so it speculateth the future good that it is to receiue and thither directeth it all the intentions This is the spirituall Ierusalem whereof wee haue all this while spoken this is the foe of that deuillish Babilon hight confusion and that the foe of this Yet is this City by regeneration freed from the Babilonian bondage and passeth ouer the worst King for the best that euer was turning from the deuill and comming home to Christ for which it is sayd forget thy people and thy fathers house c. The Israelites were a part of thiâ—… â—…tty in the flesh but not in that faith but became foes both to this great 〈◊〉 Queene Christ was killed by them and came from them to b those 〈◊〉 â—…euer saw in the flesh And therefore our King saith by the mouth of the 〈◊〉 in another place thou hast deliuered me from the contentions of the people 〈◊〉 me the head of the heathen a people whom I haue not knowne hath serued 〈◊〉 assoone as they heard me obeyed me This was the Gentiles who neuer 〈◊〉 â—…rist in the flesh nor hee them yet hearing him preached they beleeued 〈◊〉 â—…astly that he might well say as soone as they heard me they obeyed mee for 〈◊〉 â—…es by hearing This people conioyned with the true Israell both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and spirit is that Citty of God which when it was onely in Israell brought 〈◊〉 â—…hrist in the flesh for thence was the Virgin Mary from whom Christ 〈◊〉 our man-hood vpon him Of this cittie thus saith another psalme c 〈◊〉 â—…ll call it our Mother Sion he became man therein the most high hath founded 〈◊〉 was this most high but
Greece but that the Barbarians as Egypt for example had their peculier doctrines before Moyses time which they called their wisdome Otherwise our scripture would not haue said that Moyses was learned in al the wisdome of the Egyptians for there was hee borne adopted and brought vp worthily 〈◊〉 by the daughter of Pharao But their wisdome could not bee before our prophets for Abraham him-selfe was a prophet And what wisdome could there be in Egypt before Isis their supposed goddesse taught them letters This Isis was daughter to Inachus King of Argos who raigned in the times of Abrahams Grandchildren L. VIVES IN our a prophets Here Augustine prooues the Old Testament ancienter then all the philosophy of the greekes This question Iosephus handleth worthily against Apâ—…on so doth Euseb. prep euang and Iustin. Martyr Ad Gentes The case is plaine inough by our allegations vpon other chapters of this booke b Pythagoras Tully saith he liued in his progenitor Seruius Tullus his time and so saith Liuy lib. 1. True in his later yeares and in the whole time of Cyrus the Persian for hee flourished Olympiade sixty wherein Tarquin the proud beganne his 〈◊〉 He died according to Eusebius Olymp. 70. after the Iewes were freed from captiuity and liued quietly at Ierusalem c Socrates He liued Olymp. 77. saith Apollodorus almost forty â—…res after Darius sent the Iewes to the reparation of the temple d Sonne after was In the eighty eight Olympiad Apollod e By the daughter Maenis the daughter of Chenephres King 〈◊〉 Egipt hauing no children adopted a Iewish child called in hebrew Moyses in greeke Muâ—… This Eusebius lib. 9. praep citeth out of Artapanus Of some scriptures too ancient for the Church to allow because that might procure suspect that they are rather counterfeit then true CHAP. 38. NOw if I should goe any higher there is the Patriarch Noah before the great deluge we may very well cal him a prophet for his very Arke and his escape in that floud were propheticall references vnto these our times What was Enoch the seauenth from Adam Doth not the Canonicall Epistle of Iude sâ—…y that hee prophecied The reason that wee haue not their writings nor the Iewes neither is their to great antiquity which may procure a suspect that they are rather feigned to bee theirs then theirs indeed For many that beleeue aâ—… they like and speake as they list defend themselues with quotations from bookes But the cannon neither permitteth that such holy mens authority should be reiected nor that it should be abused by counterfeit pamphlets Nor is it any maruell that such antiquity is to be suspected when as we read in the histories of the Kings of Iuda and Israel which we hold canonicall of many things touched at there which are not there explaned but are said a to bee found in other bookes of the prophets who are sometimes named yet those workes wee haue not in our Canon nor the Iewes in theirs I know not the reason of this only I thinke that those prophets whom it pleased the holy spirrit to inspire wrote â—…e-things historically as men and other things prophetically as from the â—…outh of God and that these workes were really distinct some being held their own as they were men and some the Lords as speaking out of their bosomes so that the first might belong to the bettring of knowledge and the later to the conâ—…ming of religion to which the Canon onely hath respect besides which if there be any workes going vnder prophets names they are not of authority to better the knowledge because it is a doubt whether they are the workes of those prophets or no therefore wee may not trust them especially when they make against the canonical truth wheein they proue themselues directly false birthes L. VIVES TO bee found in a other For we read Concerning the deedes of Dauid c. they are written in the booke of Samuel the Seer and in the booke of Nathan the prophet and of Gad c. Chron. 1. 29. 29. so likewise of Salomons Chron. 29. 29. And of Iosaphats Chronic. 2. â—…0 34. That the Hebrew letters haue beene euer continued in that language CHAP. 39. VVEE may not therefore thinke as some doe that the hebrew tongue onely was deriued from Heber to Abraham that a Moyses first gaue the hebrew letters with the law no that tongue was deriued from man to man successiuely by letters aswell as language For Moyses appointed men to teach them before the law was giuen These the scriptures call b Grammaton Isagogos that is introductors of letters because they did as it were bring them into the hearts of men or rather their hearts into them So then no nation can ouer-poise our Prophets and Patriarches in antiquity of wisdome for they had diuine inspirations the Egyptians themselues that vse to giue out such extreame and palpable lies of their learnings are prooued short of time in comparison with our Patriarches For none of them dare say that they had any excellence of vnderstanding before they had letters that is before Isis came and taught them And what was their goodly wisdome thinke you Truely nothing but c Astronomy and such other sciences as rather seemed to exercise the wit then to eleuate the knowledge For as for morality it stirred not in Egypt vntill Trismegistus his time who was indeed long before d the sages and Philosophers of Greece but after Abraham Isaac Iacob Ioseph vea Moyses also for at the time when Moyses was borne was Atlas Prometheus his brother a great Astronomer lyuing and hee was grand-father by the mother-side to the elder Mercury who begot the father of this Trismegistus L. VIVES MOyses a first gaue It is the common opinion both of the Iewes Christians that Moyses did giue the first letters to that language Eupolemus Artapanus many other prophane authors affirme it also and that the Phaenicians had their letters thence Artapanus thinketh that Moyses gaue letters to the Egyptians also and that he was that Mercury whom all affirme did first make the Egyptian language literate If any one aske then in what letter that wisdome of Egipt that Moyses learned was contained hee shal be answered it went partly by tradition and partly was recorded by Hierogâ—…yphicks Philo the Iew saith Abraham inuented the Hebrew letters But that they were long before Abraham it seemes by Iosephus who saith that the sonnes of Seth erected two pillers one of stone and another of brick whereon the artes that they had inuented were ingrauen and that the stone piller was to bee seene in Syria in his time Antiq. lib. 1. These Augustine seemeth here to take for the Hebrew letters b Grammato isagogos Hierome translateth it Doctors and Maysters and Scribes They taught onely the letter of the scriptures and declined not from it an inch but the greater professors were the Pharises of Phares diuision for they seuered
thinke this place obscure let him looke for no plainenesse in the Scriptures L. VIVES THy a victory Some read contention but the originall is Victory and so doe Hierom and Ambrose reade it often Saint Paul hath the place out of Osee. chap. â—…3 ver 14. and vseth it 1. Cor. 16. ver 55. b When shall death The Cittie of GOD shall see death vntill the words that were sayd of Christ after his resurrection Oh hell where is thy victory may bee said of all our bodies that is at the resurrection when they shal be like his glorified bodie Saint Peters doctrine of the resurrection of the dead CHAP. 18. NOw let vs heare what Saint Peter sayth of this Iudgement There shall come saith hee in the last daies mockers which will walke after their lusts and say Where is the promise of his comming For since the fathers died all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation For this they willingly know not that the heauens were of old and the earth that was of the water and by the water by the word of GOD wherefore the world that then was perished ouer-flowed with the water But the heauens and earth that now are are kept by the same word in store and reserued vnto fire against the day of iudgement and of the destruction of vngodly men Dearcly beloued bee not ignorant of this that one daie with the LORD is as a thousand years and a thousand yeares as one daie The LORD is not flack concerning his promise as some men count slackenesse but is pacient toward vs and would haue no man to perish but would haue all men to come to repentance But the daie of the LORD will come as a thiefe in the night in the which the heauens shall passe awaie with a noyse and the elements shall melt with 〈◊〉 and the earth with the workes that are therein shal be burnt vppe Seeing therefore all these must bee dissolued what manner of persons ought you to bee in holy conuersation and Godlinesse longing for and hasting vnto the comming of the daie of GOD by the which the heauens beeing on fire shal be dissolued and the elements shall melt vvith heate But vve-looke for a nevv heauen and a nevv earth according to his promise vvherein dvvelleth righteousnesse Thus sarre Now here is no mention of the resurrection of the dead but enough concerning the destruction of the world where his mention of the worlds destruction already past giueth vs sufficient warning to beleeue the dissolution to come For the world that was then perished saith hee at that time not onely the earth but that part of the ayre also which the watter a possessed or got aboue and so consequently almost all those ayry regions which hee calleth the heauen or rather in the plurall the heauens but not the spheres wherein the Sunne and the Starres haue their places they were not touched the rest was altered by humidity and so the earth perished and lost the first forme by the deluge But the heauens and earth saith hee that now are are kept by the same word in store and reserued vnto fire against the daie of iudgement and of the destruction of vngodly men Therefore the same heauen and earth that remained after the deluge are they that are reserued vnto the fire afore-said vnto the daie of iudgement and perdition of the wicked For because of this great change hee sticketh not to say there shal be a destruction of men also whereas indeed their essences shall neuer bee anniâ—…e although they liue in torment Yea but may some say if this old heauen and earth shall at the worlds end bee burned before the new ones be made where shal the Saints be in the time of this conflagration since they haue bodies and therefore must be in some bodily place We may answere in the vpper parts whither the fire as then shall no more ascend then the water did in the deluge For at this daie the Saints bodies shal be mooueable whither their wills doe please nor need they feare the fire beeing now both immortall and incorruptible b for the three children though their bodies were corruptible were notwithstanding preserued from loosing an haire by the fire and might not the Saints bodies be preserued by the same power L. VIVES THe a water possessed For the two vpper regions of the ayre doe come iust so low that they are bounded with a circle drawne round about the earthlie highest mountaines tops Now the water in the deluge beeing fifteene cubites higher then the highest mountaine it both drowned that part of the ayre wherein wee liue as also that part of the middle region wherein the birds do vsually flie both which in Holy writ and in Poetry also are called Heauens b The three Sidrach Misach and Abdenago at Babilon who were cast into a â—…nace for scorning of Nabuchadnezzars golden statue Dan. 3. Saint Pauls words to the Thessalonians Of the manifestations of Antichrist whose times shall immediately fore-runne the day of the Lord. CHAP. 19. I See I must ouer-passe many worthy sayings of the Saints concerning this day least my worke should grow to too great a volume but yet Saint Pauls I may by no meanes omit Thus sayth he Now I beseech you bretheren by the comming of our LORD IESVS CHRIST and by our assembling vnto him that you bee not suddenly mooued from your minde nor troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as if it were from vs as though the day of CHRIST were at hand Let no man deceiue you by any meanes for that day shall not come except there come a a fugitiue first and that that man of sinne bee disclosed euen the sonne of perdition which is an aduersary and exalteth himselfe against all is called god or that is worshipped so that he sitteth as God in the Temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God Remember yee not that when I was yet with you I told you these things And now yee know what withholdeth that he might be reuealed in his due time For the mistery of iniquity doth already worke onely he which now withholdeth shall let till he be taken out of the way and the wicked man shal be reuealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall abolish with the brightnesse of his comming euen him whose comming is by the working of Sathan with all power and signes and lying wonders and in all deceiuablenesse of vnrighteousnesse amongst them that perish because they receiued not the loue of the truth that they might be saued And therefore God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeue lyes that all they might bee damned which beleeue not in the truth but had pleasure in vnrighteousnesse This is doubtlesse meant of Antichrist and the day of iudgement For this day hee saith shall not come vntill that Antichrist be come before it he that is called here a fugitiue