Plannets The proper motion of Saturne was by the Ancients obserued and is now likewise found by our moderne Astronomers to be accomplished within the space of thirtie yeares that of Iupiter in twelue that of Mars in two that of the Sunne in three hundred sixty fiue dayes and allmost six howers that of Venus and Mercury in very neere the same space of time that of the Moone in twentie seven dayes and all most eight howres Neither do we find that they haue either quickned or any way slackned these their courses but that in the same space of time they allwayes run the same races which being ended they begin them againe as freshly as the first instant they set forth Cum per certa annorum spacia orbes suos explicuerint iterum ibunt per quae venerant sayth Seneca when in certaine tearmes of years they shall haue accomplished their courses they shall againe runne the same races they haue passed These then be the boundes and limits to which these glorious bodies are perpetually tyed in regard of their motion these be the vnchangeable lawes like those of the Medes and Persians whereof the Psalmist speakes Hee hath giuen them a law which shall not be broken which Seneca in his booke of the Diuine Providence well expresses in other wordes Aeternae legis imperio procedunt they mooue by the appointment of an eternall law that is a law both invariable inviolable That which Tully hath delivered of one of them is vndoubtedly true of all Saturni stella in suo cursu multa mirabiliter efficiens tum anteâ—…edendo tum retardando tum vespertinis temporibus delitescendo tum matutinis rursum se aperiendo nihil tamen immutat sempeternis soeculorum aetatibus quin eadem ijsdem temporibus efficiat The plannet Saturne doth make many strange and wonderfull passages in his motion sometimes going before and sometimes comming after sometimes withdrawing himselfe in the evening and sometimes againe shewing himselfe in the morning and yet changeth nothing in the continuall duration of all ages but still at the same season worketh the same effects And in truth were it not so both in that Plannet and in all the other starres it is altogether impossible they should supply that vse which Almighty God in their Creation ordained them vnto that is to serue for signes and seasons for dayes and for yeares to the worlds end And much more impossible it were that the yeare the moneth the day the hower the minute of the Oppositions Conjuctions and Eclypses of the Plannets should be as exactly calculated and foretold one hundreth yeares before they fall out as at what howre the Snnne will rise to morrow morning Which perpetuall aequability coÌ„stant vniformity in the Celestiall motions is both truly observed eloqueÌ„tly descibedby Boetius Si vis celsi jura Tonantis Pura solers cernere mente Aspice summi culmina Coeli Illic justo foedere rerum Veterem servant syder a pacem Non sol rutilo concitus igne Gelidum Phebes impedit axem Nec quae summo vertice mundi Flectit rapidos vrsa meatus Vnquam occiduo lota profundo Caetera cernens syder a mergi Cupit Oceano tingere flammas Semper vicibus temporis aequis Vesper ser as nunciat vmbras Revehitque diem Lucifer almum Sic alternos reficit cursus Alternus amor sic astrigeris Bellum discors exulat or is If thou with pure and prudent minde The lawes of God wouldst see Looke vp to heaven and thou shalt finde How all things there agree In peace the starres their courses runne Nor is the Moones cold sphere Impeached by the scorching Sunne Nor doth the Northerne beare Which swift about the Pole doth moue Though other starres he see Drencht in the Westerne Ocean loue His flames there quenched bee Nights late approch by courses due The evening starre doth show And morning starre with motion true Before the day doth goe Thus still their turnes renewed are By enterchanging loue And warre and discord banisht farre From starry skies aboue And no lesse wittily by Manilius Nec quicquam in tanta magis est mirabile mole Quam ratio certis quod legibus omnia parent Nusquam turba nocet nihil vllis partibus errat There is not ought that 's to be seene in such a wondrous masse More wonderful and strange then this that Reason brings to passe That all obey their certaine lawes which they doe still preferre No tumult hurteth them nor ought in any parr doth erre Wherewith the Divine Plato accords Nec errant nec praeter antiquum ordinem revolvuntur neither doe they runne randome nor are they rolled beside their ancient order And Aristotle breaketh out into this passionate admiration thereof Quid unquam poterit aequari coelesti ordini volubilitati cùm syder a convertantur exactissima norma de alio in aliud seculum What can ever be compared to the order of the Heauens and to the motion of the Starres in their seuerall revolutions which moue most exactly as it were by a rule and square by line and leuell from one generation to another There were among the Ancients not a few nor they vnlearned who by a strong fancie conceiued to themselues an excellent melody made vp by the motion of the Coelestiall Spheares It was broached by Pythagoras entertained by Plato stiffely maintained by Macrobius and some Christians as Beda Boetius and Anselmus Archbishop of Canterbury but Aristotle puts it off with a jest as being Lepidè musicè dictum factu autem impossibile a pleasant and musicall conceit but in effect impossible inasmuch as those Bodies in their motions make no kinde of noise at all Howsoeuer it may well bee that this conceit of theirs was grounded vpon a certaine truth which is the Harmonicall and proportionable motion of those Bodies in their just order and set courses as if they were euer dauncing the rounds or the measures In which regard the Psalmist tels vs that the Sun knoweth his going downe he appointed the Moone for seasons and the Sunne knoweth his going downe Which wordes of his may not be taken in a proper but in a figuratiue sense The Prophet thereby implying that the Sunne obserueth his prescribed motion so precisely to a point that in the least jot he neuer erreth from it And therefore is he said to doe the same vpon knowledge and vnderstanding Non quòd animatus sit aut ratione vtatur saith Basill vpon the place sed quòd juxta terminum divinitùs praescriptum ingrediens semper eundem cursum servat ac mensur as suas custodit Not that the Sun hath any soule or vse of vnderstanding but because it keepeth his courses and measures exactly according to Gods prescription SECT 3. The same truth farther prooued from the testimony of Lactantius and Plutarch LActantius from hence gathereth two notable Conclusions the one that the
forceably consequently hath a greater power of making men not outwardly formally but really inwardly vertuous And if we should look back into Histories compare time with time we shall easily finde that where this Profession spred it selfe men haue generally beene more accomplished in all kind of morall civill vertues then before it took place It is true indeed that in processe of time thorow the ambition covetousnes luxury idlenesse ignorance of them who should haue bin lights in the Church it too much degenerated from its Originall purity therevpon manners being formed by it were generally tainted this corruption like a leprosie diffusing it selfe from the head into all the body But together with the reviving of the Arts Languages which for sundry ages lay buried in barbarisme the rust of superstition was likewise in many places scowred off from Religion which by degrees had crept vpon it fretted deepe into the face of it and the Arts being thus refined Religion restored to its primitiue brightnes manners were likewise reformed euen among them at least in part in shew who as yet admit not a full reformation in matter of Religion A foule shame then it were for vs who professe a thorow reformation in matter of doctrine to be thought to grow worse in matter of manners GOD forbid it should be so I hope it is not so I am sure it should not be so That grace of God which hath appeared more clearely to vs then to our fore-fathers teaching vs to adorne our profession with a gracious and vertuous conversation to deny vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and to liue soberly and righteously and godly in this present world soberly in regard of our selues righteously in regard of others and godly in regard of religious exercises If then we come short of our Auncestors in knowledge let vs not cast it vpon the deficiencie of our wits in regard of the Worlds decay but vpon our own sloth if we come short of them in vertue let vs not impute it to the declination of the World but to the malice and faintnesse of our owne wills if we feele the scourges of God vpon our Land by mortality famine vnseasonable weather or the like let vs not teach the people that they are occasioned by the Worlds old age and thereby call into question the prouidence or power or wisedome or iustice or goodnes of the Maker thereof but by their and our sins which is doubtles both the truer more profitable doctrine withall more consonant to the Sermons of Christ his Apostles the Prophets of God in like cases And withall let vs freely acknowledge that Almighty God hath bestowed many blessings vpon these latter ages which to the former he denyed as in sending vs vertuous and gracious Princes and by them the maintenance of piety peace plenty the like Lest thorow our ingratitude he vvithdraw them from vs and make vs know their worth by wanting them which by injoying them wee vnderstood not But I will not presume to advise where I should learne only I will vnfainedly wish and heartily pray that at leastwise your practise may still make good mine opinion maintained in this Booke refute the contrary common errour opposed therein that you may still grow in knowledge and grace and that your vertues may alwaies rise increase together with your buildings These latter without the former being but as a body without a soule Yours to doe you service to the vtmost of his poore abilitie G. H. THE PREFACE TRuth it is that this ensuing Treatise was long since in my younger yeares begunne by me for mine owne private exercise and satisfaction but afterward considering not onely the rarity of the subject and variety of the matter but withall that it made for the redeeming of a captivated truth the vindicating of Gods glory the advancement of learning the honour of the Christian reformed Religion by the advise and with the approbation and incouragement of such speciall friends whose piety learning and wisedome I well know and much reverence I resolved permissu superiorum and none otherwise to make it publique for the publique good and the encountring of a publique errour which may in some sort be equalled if not preferred before the quelling of some great monster Neither doe I take it to lye out of my profession the principall marke which I ayme at throughout the whole body of the Discourse being an Apologeticall defence of the power providence of God his wisedome his truth his justice his goodnes mercy and besides a great part of the booke it selfe is spent in pressing Theologicall reasons in clearing doubts arising from thence in producing frequent testimonies from Scriptures Fathers Schoolemen and moderne Divines in proving that Antichrist is already come from the writings of the Romanists themselues in confirming the article of our faith touching the Worlds future and totall consummation by fire and a day of finall judgement from discourse of reason and the writings of the Gentiles and lastly by concluding the whole worke with a pious meditation touching the vses which we may and should make of the consideration thereof seruing for a terrour to some for comfort to others for admonition to all And how other men may stand affected in reading I know not sure I am that in writing it often lifted vp my soule in admiring and praysing the infinite wisedome and bounty of the Crator in maintaining and managing his owne worke in the gouernment and preservation of the Vniverse which in truth is nothing else but as the Schooles speake continuata productio a continuated production often did it call to my mind those holy raptures of the Psalmist O Lord our governour how excellent is thy Name in all the world Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy workes I will reioyce in giuing praise for the operations of thy hands O Lord how glorious are thy workes thy thoughts are very deepe An vnwise man doth not well consider this a foole doth not well vnderstand it And againe The workes of the Lord are great sought out of all them that haue pleasure therein His worke is worthy to be praised had in honour his righteousnes endureth for euer And though whiles I haue laboured to free the world from old age I feele it creeping vpon my selfe yet if it shall so please the same great and gratious Lord I intend by his assistance spating mee life health hereafter to write Another Apologie of his power providence in the government of his Church which perchaunce by some may be thought both more proper for mee and for these times more necessary though he that shall narrowly obserue the prints of the Almighties footsteppes traced throughout this ensuing discourse may not vnjustly from thence collect both comfort and assurance that as the Heauens remaine vnchangeable so doth the Church triumphant
timely FOR the better clearing of which poynt it shall not be amisse somewhat farther to insist vpon the age of Generation and Marriage which among the Ancients was both in opinion held and in practise proued to be the same or little different from that which amongst vs is in vse at this day The third councell of Carthage ordained that publicke readers in the Church cum ad annos pubertatis venerint aut cogantur vxores ducere aut continentiam profiteri when they came to yeares of puberty should be forced either to marry or vow chastity and Quintilian of his owne wife professeth that hauing borne him two sonnes she died Nondum expleto aetatis vndevicesimo anno being not yet full one and twenty years of age Mulieres statim ab anno decimo quarto à à viris Dominae vocantur saith Epictetus women no sooner passe foureteene but presently they haue giuen them from men or from their husbands the title of Mistresses The Civill Lawes allowed a woman marriage at twelue so did the. Iewish Talmud and the Canons of the Church Hesiod at fifteene Xenophon and the Comaedian at sixteene anni sedecem fios ipse Aristotle at eighteene Plato at twenty The reason of the difference I take to be this The Lawes would not permit them to marrie sooner Plato held it not fitte they should stay longer And as wee commonly are both ripe for marriage and marrie about the same yeares the Ancients did so men for the most part leaue begetting and women bearing of children about the same time as they did Tiberius made a Law knowne by the name of Lex Papia by which he forbad de such men as were past sixty or women past fiftie to marrie as being insufficient for generation To which Lactantius out of Seneca seemes to allude thus jesting at the Ethnickes touching their great God Iupiter Quare apud Poetas salacissimus Iupiter desijt liberos tollere vtrum sexagenarius factus ei Lex Papia fibulam imposuit How comes it to passe that in your Poets the lecherous Iupiter begets no more children is hee past sixtie restrained by the Papian Law Yet this Law by the Emperour Claudius in part but by Iustinian almost fiue hundred yeares after was fully repealed as insufficient in asmuch as men after that age were and still are found to be sufficient for that act Seldome indeede it is that men beget after seaventy or women beare after fiftie and the same was long since both observed recorded by the principall both Secretarie great Register of Nature in his time adding farther that men commonly left begetting at sixtie fiue women bearing at fortie fiue When Abrahams body was now dead in regard of generation he was short of 100. Indeede Plutarch reports of Cato Maior that hee begat a sonne at eightie Pliny of Masinissa after eightie six but they both report it as a wonder neither want there presidents in this age to parallell either of them I well know that the accusation is common perchaunce in part not vnjust that men now a dayes generally marrie sooner then their Ancestours did which is made to be one of the chiefe causes of our supposed shorter liues but that many of them abstained not so long from marriage as wee now commonly doe it may be euidenced by these following examples drawn from the Oracles of sacred writ There descended from Abraham in the space of foure hundred yeares and little more from Iaacob and his sonnes within 200 or thereabout aboue six hundred thousand men beside children and those who died in the interim and were slaine by the Egyptians which wonderfull multiplication within the compasse of that time should in reason argue that they married timely In the forty sixth of Genesis Moses describing old Iaacobs journey downe into Egypt tells vs that the number of persons springing from his loynes which accompanied him in that journey were sixty six soules and not content with the grosse summe hee specifies the particulars among which the sonnes of Iudah are named to bee Er Onan Shelah and Pharez and Zerah but Er and Onan saith the text died in the land of Canaan and the sonnes of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul so that he begat Pharez vpon Thamar his daughter in law after the death of his eldest sonnes Er and Onan who according to the Law had married her successiuely and Pharez begat Hezron and Hamul and yet at this time was Iudah himselfe but forty foure yeares of age at most as appeares by this that Ioseph was then but thirty nine sixteene he was when he was sold by his brethren twenty three yeares after was his fathers journey into Egypt Now it is evident that Iudah was but foure yeares elder then Ioseph the one being borne in the eleuenth yeare of their Fathers abode in Mesopotamia and the other after the expiration of the fourteenth In the compasse then of forty foure yeares or thereabout had Iudah sonnes which were married namely Er Onan after that himselfe by mistake begets another sonne vpon their wife viz Pharez who had likewise two sonnes at this time when Iaacob went downe into Egypt S. Augustine is I confesse much perplexed in the loosing of this knot and so is Pererius treading in his steps They both flying for the saluing of the Text to an Anticipation in the storie as if some of those who are named by Moses to haue descended with Iaacob into Egypt had beene both begotten borne long after his setling there But this glosse seeming to Pareus somewhat hard as in truth it is he resolues the doubt by making both Iudah Er Onan and Pharez to marrie all of them at the entrance of their fourteenth yeare which in the ordinary course of nature both then was and still is the yeare of pubertie and then thus concludes hee In his omnibus nihil coactum aut contortum nihil quod non consueto naturae ordine fieri potuerit vt nec miracula fingere sit opus nec filios Pharez qui in descensu numerantur in Aegypto demum natos asserere sit necesse In all this there is nothing strained or wrested nothing but may well be done in the ordinary course of nature so as we need not either fly to miracles or affirme that the sonnes of Pharez who are ranked in the number of those who descended with Iaacob were afterward borne in Egypt And with Pareus heerein accords the learned Arnisaeus some small difference betweene them in the calculation of yeares set apart wondering that two such great Clarkes as Augustine Pererius should trouble themselues so much about so slender a difficultie not considering as it seemes the Examples of the like or more timely marriages recorded in holy Scripture Whereof we haue a notable one in the same
which either immediatly or mediatly they all draw be corrupted if the testimony of the first man vpon whom they depend proue invalide then is this one vpon the matter no testimony which is in truth the case of the counter-witnesses produced in this businesse SECT 4. Of the wonderfull strength of diuerse in latter ages not inferiour to those of former times BVt to graunt that Hector and Ajax and Diomedes and Hercules and the like excelled in strength yet can it not be denied but some such haue likewise beene recorded in succeeding ages as C Marius by Trebellius Pollio Maximinus by Capitolinus Aurelian by Vopiscus Scanderbeg by Barlet Galiot Bardesin a Gentleman of Catana by Fazell Tamerlane Ziska Hunniades by others George Le Feure a learned Germane writes that in his time in the yeare 1529 liued at Misâ—…a in Thuring one called Nicholas Klunher Prouost of the Great Church that was so strong as without Cable or Pulley or any other helpe he setch vp out of a Cellar a pipe of wine carried it out of dores and laid it vpon a cart I haue seene a man saith Mayolus an Italian Bishop in the towne of Aste who in the presence of the Marquesse of Pescara handed a pillar of marble three foote long and one foote in diameter the which he cast high in the aire then receiued it againe in his armes then lasht it vp againe sometime after one fashion sometime after another as easily as if he had beene playing with a ball or some such little thing There was sayth the same Authour at Mantua one named Rodamas a man of a little stature but so strong that he brake a Cable as bigge as a mans arme as easily as it had beene a small twine thread mounted vpon an horse and leading another by the bridle he would runne a full Cariere and stop in the midst of his course or when it liked him best Froissard a man much esteemed for the truth and fidelity of his history reports that about two hundred yeares since one Ernaudo Burg a Spaniard and companion to the Earle of Foix when as attending the Earle he accompanied him to an higher roome to which they ascended by twenty foure steps the weather cold and the fire not answerable and withall espying out at the window certaine asses in the lower court loaden with wood he goes downe thither lifts vp the greatest of them with his burden on his shoulder and carrying it to the roome from whence he came cast both as he found them into the fire together Lebelski a Polander in his description of the things done at Constantinople in the yeare 1582 at the circumcision of Mahumet the sonne of Amurath Emperour of the Turkes writes that amongst many actiue men which there shewed their strength one was most memorable who for proofe thereof lifted vp a peece of wood that twelue men had much adoe to raise from the earth and afterwards lying downe flat vpon his backe he bore vpon his breast a weighty stone which tenne men had with much a doe rolled thither making but a iest of it Many are yet aliue saith Camerarius that know how strong and mighty George of Fronsberg Baron of Mindlehaim of late memory was There is a booke printed published in the Germane tongue contayning his memorable acts howbeit Paulus Iouius handleth him but roughly as being an enemy to the Pope yet extolleth hee highly his wonderfull great force being able by the acknowledgment of Iouius with the middle finger of his right hand to remoue a very strong man out of his place sate he neuer so fast He stopp'd a horse suddainely that ranne with a maine Carriere by onely touching the bridle and with his shoulder would hee easily shoue a Canon whither hee listed Cardan writes that himselfe saw one dauncing with two in his armes two vpon his shoulders and one hanging about his necke Potocoua a Polonian and Captaine of the Cosakes during the reigne of Stephen Batore was so strong as witnesseth Leonclauius that he would teare in peeces new horse shoes as it had beene paper The history of the Netherlands reports that the woman Gyantesse before mentioned was so strong that shee would lift vp in either hand a barrell full of Hamborough beere and would easilie carrie more then eight men could Before these but long since those ancient Heroes was the Gyant Aenother borne in Turgaw a village in Sweuia who bore armes vnder Charlemaigne he felled men as one would mow hay sometimes broached a great number of them vpon his pike and so carried them all vpon his shoulder as one would carrie little birds spitted vpon a sticke Hinc apparet saith Camerarius quòd nostra aetas natio tales viros produxerit quos fortitudine robore cum veteribus conferre licet From hence it appeares that our age and nation hath brought forth such men as euery way are matchable with the Ancients in actiuity strength Oflatter dayes and here at home Mr Richard Carew a worthy Gentleman in his survey of Cornewall assures vs that one Iohn Bray well known to himselfe as being his tenaunt carried vpon his backe at one time by the space well neare of a But-length six bushels of wheaten meale reckoning 15 gallons to the bushell and the miller a lubber of 24 yeares age vpon the whole wherevnto he addeth that Iohn Roman of the same sheire a short clownish grub would beare the whole carkasse of an oxe though he neuer tugged with it when he was a calfe as Milo did To these might be added diuerse other domesticall examples of latter times saue that such kinde of relations seeme as vnsauory and incredible to the most part of Readers as they are certaine admirable and delightfull to the beholders It is most true that the great workes our noble Predecessours haue left vs our Cathedrall Churches our ruines of Castles and Monasteries our bridges our high-wayes and Cauce-wayes and in forraine parts their Arches Obelisks Pyramids Vawtes Aqueducts Theaters and Amphitheaters seeme to proclaime as the greatnesse of their mindes so likewise of their bodies But I should rather ascribe this to their industry their deuotion their charity vniting their forces and purses in publique workes and for the publique good then to the bodily strength of particular men SECT 5. Two doubtes cleered the first touching the strong physicke which the Ancients vsed the second touching the great quantity of blood which they are sayed vsually to haue drawne at the opening of a veine A greater doubt arises touching the litle but strong physicke which the Ancients vsed and the great quantity of blood which they vsually drew at the opening of a veine For the first of these I should thinke that it rather argued the strength of our bodies who notwithstanding our disuse of exercise and more frequent vse of Physicke and that many times from the hands of vnskilfull Empericks we ordinarily hold out as long
as they did And for the strength of their Physicke let vs heere Goropius a famous Physitian and doubtles a very learned man as his workes testifie and his greatest adversaries cannot but confesse Dicunt olim medicamenta multò vehementiora data fuissâ—… quà m nunc hominum natura ferre possit They say that the Physicke which the Ancients administred was much stronger then the nature of man is now capable of to which he replies eos qui sic arbitrantur insigniter falli contendo ferunt enim corpora aequè nunc helleborum atque olim eodem vel majori pondere vt ipse in alijs meipso sum expertus Verùm inscitia eorum qui nihil Medici habent praeter titulum vestem longam impudentem arrogantiam in causa est vt sic opinentur I am confident that those who thus thinke are notablely deceiued in asmuch as our bodies can now aswell endure the like or greater quantity of Elleborum as I haue made triall in my selfe others But the ignorance of such as haue indeed nothing in them of the Physitian but the bare title a long gowne and impudent arrogancie is the cause that men so thinke And with him heerein plainely accords Leonardus Giachinus of the same profession who hauing composed a Treatise purposely to shew what damage arises to learning by preferring Authority before reason makes this the title of his first Chapter Corpora nostra eadem ferre posse auxilia quibus Veteres vsi sunt idque cum ratione tum experientia comprobari That our bodies now a dayes may well enough suffer the same helpes of Physicke which the Ancients vsed that this may be made euident aswell by reason as experience And I suppose skilfull Physitians will not deny but that the Physicke of former times agrees with ours as in the receites so for the dosis and quantity and for them who hold a generall decay in the course of Nature they are likewise forced to hold this For if plants and drugges and minerals decay in their vertue proportionablely to the body of man as is the common opinion then must it consequently follow that the same quantity hauing a lesse vertue may without daunger and with good successe be administred to our bodies though inferiour in strength Roger Bacon in his booke de erroribus medicorum tells vs that the disposition of the heavens is changed euery Centenary or thereabout and consequently that all things growing from the earth change their complexions as also doth the body of man and therevpon infers that eaedem proportiones medicinarum non sunt semper continuandae sed exigitur observantia certa secundum temporis discensum The same proportions of medicines are not still to be continued but there is required a certain quantity according to the variation of time Where by the change of the disposition of the heavens I cannot conceiue that he intends it alwayes for the worst for so should he crosse himselfe in the same booke neither for any thing I know haue we any certainty of any such change as he speakes of but this am I sure of that if together with the heauens the plants change their tempers and with the plants the body of man then needs there no alteration in the proportion of medicines in asmuch as what art should therein supply nature her selfe preuents performes But for mine own part holding a naturall decay in neither vpon that ground as I conceiue may more safely be warranted the continuance of the ancient proportions Now touching the drawing of blood I know it is said that Galen vsually drew six pounds at the opening of a veine whereas we for the most part stoppe at six ounces which is in truth a great difference if true specially in so short a time he liuing three hundred yeares or thereabout since Christ. For decision then of this point we must haue recourse to Galen himselfe who in that booke which he purposely composed of cures by letting of blood thus writes Memini quibusdam ad sex vsque libras sanguinem detractum fuisse ita vt febris extingueretur I remember that from some I haue drawne six pounds of blood which hath ridde them of their feuer yet from others he tooke but a pound and a halfe or one pound and sometimes lesse as he saw occasion neither in old time nor in these present times was the quantity euer definite or certaine but both then and now variable more or lesse according to strength the disease age or other indications and in pestilent fevers his advise is vbi valida virtus subest aetas permittit vsque ad animae defectum sanguinem mittere expedit where the strength and age of the patient will beare it it will doe well to take blood euen to a fainting or sounding and such was the case as by his owne words it appeares in which he drew so great a quantity Neither is this without example in our age Ambrose Par a French Surgeon a man expert in his profession as his bookes shew reports that he drew from a patient of his in foure dayes twenty seven pallets euery pallet of Paris containing three ounces more so that he drew from him about seven pounds allowing twelue ounces to the pound which was the account that Galen followed as appeares in his owne Treatise of weights and measures and so continues it in vse among Physitians and Apothecaries vnto this day The whole quantity of blood in a mans body of a sound constitution and middle stature was anciently estimated and so is it still at about three gallons and I haue beene informed by a Doctour of Physicke of good credit and eminent place in this Vniversity that a patient of his hath bled a gallon at nose in one day and hath done well after it which as I conceiue could not be so little as seuen or eight pounds allowing somewhat lesse then a pound to a pint in asmuch as I haue found a pint of water to weigh sixteene ounces Now what Nature hath done with tollerance of life Art may come neere vnto vpon just cause without danger And if any desire to be farther informed in this point he need goe no further then the Medicinall observations of Iohannes Shenkius de capite Humano where to his 333 observation hee prefixes this title Prodigiosae narium haemorragiae quae interdum 18 interdum 20 nonnunquam etiam 40 sanguinis librae profluxere Prodigious bleedings at the nose in which sometimes 18 sometimes 20 sometimes 40 pouÌ„ds of blood haue issued The Authors from whom he borroweth his observations are Matheus de Gradi in his commentaries vpon the 35 chapter of Rasis ad Almans Brasauolus comment ad Aphor. 23. lib. 5. Donatus lib. de variolis morbillis cap. 23. Lusitanus Curat 100. Cent. 2. And againe Curat 60 Cent. 7 his instances are of a Nunne who voided by diverse passages 18 pounds of bloud of Diana a
corrupt glosses and malicious interpretations as the fruite of their doctrine lay hidde vnder the leaues and as the learned in their language well knowe very little vse can be made of their best Commentaries vpon Scripture howbeit they presumed that their chiefes kill lay that way So that wee neede not doubt but the most excellent Diuines haue all beene since the comming of Christ. It is to mee very strange that not onely the Pharisees should be infected with ths opinion of the Pythagoreans touching the dwelling of the same soule in diverse bodies successiuely in diverse ages but that Herod and the whole nation of the Iewes should bee tainted with that grosse errour as appeares in that they held our Saviour to be Iohn the Baptst or Elias or one of the Prophets all which they knew to be dead and some of them long before Their meaning being that the soule of the Baptist or of Elias or of one of the Prophets was by traduction passed into our Saviours bodie as Pythagoras writes of himselfe that he was first Euphorbus and then Callidas then Hermotimus then Pyrrhus and lastly Pythagoras But yet farre more strange it is that the Apostles of our Saviour themselues should be thus misled and yet it should seeme by that their demaund touching him that was borne blinde Master who did sinne this man or his parents that he was borne blind that they were indeede possessed with that opinion for how could they conceiue that he should sinne before he was borne but in some other bodie which his soule actuated before and in truth Saint Cyrill vpon that occasion is induced to thinke that they were swayed with the common errour of that nation and those times and Calvin confidently cries our Prodigij sane instar hoc fuit quod in electo Dei populo in quo coelestis sapientiae per Legem Prophetas lux accensa fuerat tam crasso figmento fuerit datus locus Truely this is a prodigious kind of wonder that among the elect people of God who were inlightned by the heavenly wisedome of the Law and the Prophets way should bee giuen to so palpable a fiction Yet I know not whether their stupiditie were greater in this or in that other demaund of theirs at our Saviours ascension Lord wilt thou at this time restore the kingdome to Israell where Calvin againe stands amazed that they should all with one consent for somuch doth the text imply ioyne together in such a foolish question as hee tearmes it mira profecto illorum fuit ruditas quod tam absolute tantaque cura per triennium edocti non minorem inscitiam produnt quam si nullum vnquam verbum audissent totidem in hac interrogatione sunt errores quot verba wonderfull in truth was their rawnesse rudenesse that hauing beene so exquisitely and diligently taught by three yeares space they notwithstanding bewray asmuch ignorance as if they had neuer heard somuch as one word of instruction as many errours are in their question as words But this likewise of restoring them a temporall kingdome then was and at this day continues to be the common errour of that whole nation neither by any meanes will they be beaten from it That which to mee seemeth more admirable is that S. Peter himselfe euen after the descending of the holy Ghost was ignorant of the calling of the Gentiles of whom together with the Iewes the Catholique Church was to bee made vp whereby it should seeme that then likewise he was ignorant that himselfe was the head of the Catholique Church as by those who hold themselues the only Catholiques hee is now made yet may it not be denyed or somuch as doubted that the holy and blessed Apostles were all indowed with singular gifts and graces aswell for knowledge and wisedome as all kind of morall vertues fitting for so high a calling and that in their writings they were the pen-men of God inspired by the holy Ghost but leauing them let vs descend a little lower in the Church of Christ. As then the three first Centuries are commended for Pietie Deuotion Martyrdome so is the fourth for learned and famous Diuines Habuit haec aetas si quae vnquam alia plurimos praestantes illustres Doctores say the Magdeburgians This age if euer any abounded in excellent and famous Doctours as namely Arnobius Lactantius Eusebius Athanasius Hilarius Victorinus Basilius Nazianzenus Ambrosius Prudentius Epiphanius Theophilus Hieronymus Faustinus Didymus Ephraim Optatus to which number they might well haue added for that hee began to shew his worth in the same Centurie that renowned pillar of trueth hammer of heresies S. Augustine These and the like great Diuines of those ages I much honour eorum nominibus semper assurgo I confesse I reuerence their very names yet most certaine it is they had all their slips and blemishes in matter of doctrine But before this age Tertullian and Origen and Cyprian are specially branded for notorious errours and Vincentius Liâ—…inensis giues this rare commendation of the Fathers assembled in the Councill of Nice that they were tantae eruditionis tantaeque doctrinae of so profound learning and singular knowledge vt propè omnes possent de dogmatibus disputare that almost all of them could reason of matters of faith Yet in those very times was the Church so rent and torne in sunder with Capitall heresies trenching vpon the very vitall parts and fundamentall principles of Christian Religion touching the sacred Trinitie and incarnation of our blessed Saviour vt illis temporibus ingeniosares fuit esse Christianum so as in those times it was a matter of wit to be a Christian Such were the nicities wherein their Teachers differed and such their subtilties they bound their schollers to maintaine But that which to mee seemeth most strange is that so many of them were infected with the errour of the Millenaries that so many specially of the Greeke Fathers held that the Angells were created long before the creation of the visible world that a number both of the Greeke and Latine maintained that the soules of men departed this life goe neither to heaven nor hell till the resurrection of the bodie but remained in certaine hidden receptacles they knew not whree that Antichrist was to come of the tribe of Dan that the sonnes of God who in the sixth of Genesis are said to haue fallen in loue with the daughters of men were the blessed Angells vpon which occasion Pererius a learned Iesuite hath these memorable words Pudet dicere quae de optimis Scriptoribus hoc loco dicturus sum I euen blush to vtter those things which heere I am to speake of most excellent writers they being not only false but absurd and shamefull vnworthy the wit learning of so famous men as also of the puritie and holynesse of the blessed Angells yet truth inforceth me to speake partly least