〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polyb. apud Suidam and in Sacred Writ among the most Capital Heathenish Abominations Briefly God permitted the infernal Powers to run the whole length of their Chain in this Contest But yet they cannot reach to the lowest Form of a real Miracle in these real Transmutations For 1. They only prepared the Matter but did not introduce the substantial Form that being the natural result from the last preparation of the Matter so that Nature did the same office here that the God of Nature performeth in introducing the rational Soul after the Body is organized and ultimately prepar'd for its reception whereupon St. Austin de Trinitate lib. 3. cap. 8. piously and wittily saith as we neither call Parents the Formers of Men nor Husbandmen the formers of Fruit though the Divine Power makes use of the one to prepare the matter for the reception of the Reasonable Soul and of the other for the accelerating the disposition of Plants not only to bear Fruit but Fruit of such a colour taste smell c. so we must not think that Angels whether good or bad are introducers of the substantial Form but that they by reason of their subtilty knowing where the Seeds of things lay which we cannot discern and secretly sowing them through congruously mixed Elements do only administer occasions of the Birth of things and of hastening their growth 2. What the Gods did whom the Magicians invocated they took time to do It is like that they singled out a time most convenient for such like operations in respect of the Planetary hour and Positions of the Heavenly Bodies Macrobius Sat. lib. 1. cap. 17. observes that the victory which the Romans obtain'd over the Carthaginians when they implored the aid of Apollo that is the Sun upon the motion of the Prophet Martius who promised them victory if they would observe the Oracle which he delivered to them was in such a Juncture as the Sun was then in the vertical point directly over Rome and therefore strongliest abilitated to heat their blood and put courage into them who were born under that Planet Aaron's God in an instant both alter'd the Matter and chang'd the Form of his Rod into a Serpent but the Egyptians used Inchantments in order to the Transmutation of their Rods and that 's enough to evince it not to have been instantaneous Had nature indeed been left to her own Genius she would have taken far more leasurely steps than those Daemons did that Handmaid of God keeps that state in her ordinary pace as a club-footed Vulcan may out goe her she perhaps may spend a thousand years in making such Transmutations in Mettals as a Chymist will perform in a week and yet not come near the celerity of these winged spirits in their Operations there being a far greater disparity betwixt them and the most dexterous Operator in the whole Colledge of the Virtuosi than there is betwixt these and the most dulpated-club-fisted Mechanick Briefly the change of the Egyptians Rods was indeed subitaneous Nature was there put out of her pace but not out of her way The workers of that Wonder gain'd time enough to perform that feat in while the Magicians were at their Inchantments and doubtless one Reason of the institution of such Diabolical Ceremonies is the advantage of gaining time time enough for such agil Creatures to procure all those alterations in which in a natural way of causation were pre-requisite towards the ultimate Change But the instantaneous change of Aaron's Rod put Nature beside her course for seeing no Body can move but in time as well as place Natura non agit per saltum it implies a Contradiction that the Rod should pass into a Serpent by any other kind of Corruption than that of Annihilation or the Serpent be produc'd out of it by any other kind of act than that of Creation 3. VVhereas some scruple whether that saying Aaron ' s Rod devoured the Rods of the Sorcerers imply not the returning of their Serpents into Rods St. Austin by removing that Scruple clears our way to the observing another material difference betwixt these wonders This saith he is spoken initialiter finaliter in respect to what they had been and to what one of them that is Aaron's Serpent would return to be but whether the Egyptian Serpents became Rods again I will nor dispute However 't is most probable they did not it being the common Opinion that Aarons Rod when turn'd into a Serpent did devour their Serpents and prevented their becoming Rods again Alensis sum 2. quest 43. which Opinion seems to be well grounded upon that word in Moses Text swallowed up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absorpsit which though applied to men it sometimes hath a metaphorical sence yet in the History of Animals doth so naturally signifie the swallowing in at the mouth down the throat into the stomach so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred by Scapula deglutiatio Cibi potionis ab ore in ventriculum descensus as the Greeks derive from hence not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in Dioscorides but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in common use signifies the Gula or Throat or as we say in the North the Swallow herein purely Grecizing and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both the under Jaws at which the Swallow begins and the Orifice of the Stomach where it terminates In a word ransack this Term from the beginning through the middle to the end and you will find it speak such a swallowing as an inorganized Body is uncapable of and to imply in this Text that it was not Aarons Rod simply but turn'd into a Serpent that did devour the Magicians sometimes Rods but now Serpents as if they had been but so many Pills 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prepared for this Dragons swallow by which it not only appears that as all Gods things have and therefore whatever hath a transcendent excellency is stiled Gods as Gods Hill Gods Host c. this Serpent had the priority of theirs and kept the Pit after them but that their Rods were devour'd as well as Serpents and never became Rods again The old Serpent may croud Serpents into the World but he can't lay them he could pester Egypt with bloody VVaters but leaves the cure of them to him that 's higher than himself He could make Nilus be delivered of Frogs before the time came of her ordinary travel and in all likelihood plague Goshen with that crawling Vermine for I cannot find any room for them elsewhere in all the Land of Aegypt since Aaron's Frogs had already fill'd all the VVaters and Houses of the Egyptians But his Ministers cannot with all their Inchantments free so much as Pharaohs house of those unwelcome guests who is forc'd to be beholding to Moses Prayers for their riddance out of his Bedchamber A clear evidence that the Devil cannot rectifie those Irregularities which he is sometimes permitted to introduce into
Argument of the extremity wherewith Mithridates was opprest that he spared not so much as the Plowing Oxen but slew them to make Thongs of their Hides and strings for his warlike Engines of their entrails Appian Alex. de bellis Mithridat p. 229. But more plainly in Justin's Compendium of Trogus Pomp. l. 36. cap. in risum Minimus inter fratres Joseph fuit cujus excellens ingenium veriti fratres clam interceptum mercatoribus peregrinis vendiderunt à quibus deportatus in Aegyptum cùm Magicas artes ibi solerti ingenio percepisset brevi ipsi Regi percharus fuit Nam prodigiorum sagacissimus erat somniorum primus intelligentiam condidit nihilque divini juris humanique ei incognitum videbatur Adeò ut etiam sterilitatem agrorum ante multos annos providerit periissetque omnis Aegyptus fame nisi monitus ejus edicto Rex servari multos per annos fruges jussisset Tantaque experimenta ejus fuerunt ut non ab homine sed a Deo responsa dari viderentur Joseph was the youngest Brother whose excellent wit his brethren being jealous of intercepted him privily and sold him to forreign Merchants who carried him into Aegypt where having through his industrious wit learn'd the Magick Art in a short time he grew greatly in favour with the King for he was quick in finding out the meaning of Prodigies and the first that taught the interpretation of Dreams and seem'd to understand whatsoever appertain'd to the Divine or Humane Law So as he foresaw a Famine many years before it fell out and all Egypt had perish'd through Famine if the King admonish'd by Joseph had not commanded provision to be laid up for many years Yea such experiments did he give of his Wisdom as his Responds seemed to proceed not from man but God For this it was that he obtain'd while he lived the honour of being proclaimed by the Kings Command Abrech that is tender Father or as St. Jerom in his Hebraick Questions and the Vulgar Latine Translate it The Saviour of the World Gen. 41. 43. preferring that before that of Aquila which Aben Ezra favours and our English follows bow the knee And after his Death was worship'd by the Israelites in the Wilderness under the form of the Golden Calf they putting more confidence in him for relieving their wants in that barren Land than in their Fathers God who so often had spread a Table for them in the Wilderness Him also did Jeroboam worship at Dan and Bethel as the God of Plenty and for the honour of his Tribe Jeroboam being of the Tribe of Ephraim the Son of Joseph Of which beside the suffrage of some Rabbies mention'd by Vossius de origin idololat these Observations may be a Confirmation 1. The Image of the Aegyptian Ox sacred to Osiris had a bushel set upon its head saith Ruffinus Eccles. Hist. l. 2. cap. 23. to denote Josephs measuring out of Corn this reason is alledged by Suidas in Serapis why some conceiv'd that Idol to represent Joseph 2. Moses in his blessing that Tribe Deut. 33. 17. saith The firstling of a Bullock is the Beauty of his countenance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 manifestly expressing the Embleme which the Egyptians erected in his memory not that he approved their abusing of it by Religious Worship but only commends Joseph whom God had blest with that Wisdom as procured him that Testimony of civil respect for it was no more at first than a piece of Heraldry This Coat of Arms Moses calls the Firstling of a Bullock because of the greenness of Joseph's years when he was set over the Land of Aegypt being then but 30 years old exceeding young for the Gravity of his Counsel and deportment and therefore his Emblem was a Calf or Firstling 3. Though the bewilder'd Israelites erected but one Image yet their acclamation before it was These are thy Gods oh Israel which have brought thee out of the Land of Egypt Exod. 32. 8. VVhy Gods but to denote that Idol to have been of the Epicene Gender and to have represented both Apis and Osiris the Ox of Memphis and Heliopolis which saith Plutarch de Iside Osyride the Aegyptian Priests affirmed to be all one and that Isis was the Soul of Osyris And why Thy Gods which brought thee up out of the land of Aegypt but to exclude the Inderites Egyptian Gods whose Interest it was to keep them in Aegyptian Bondage and to imply it was some deified Israelite towit Joseph who at his Death had prophesied their Return and whose Reliques they brought with them out of Egypt to whom they imputed their deliverance and conduct § 6. The History of Moses is more plainly comprehended in the Fables of a third Osiris or Liber whom the Poets describe in the Indian or Arabick expedition of Bacchus for that this Osiris and Liber and Dionysius are all one Nonnus testifieth in his Dionysiacωn lib. 4. and that the ancient Greeks accounted all the Tract beyond the Mediterranean India is manifest from that of Ovid De arte amandi lib. 1. Andromedam Perseus nigris portarat ab Indis Perseus brought away Andromeda from the black Indians now Andromeda was brought away from Joppa a City of Phoenicia saith Pliny l. 5. cap. 13 31. and chap. 9. cap. 5. Belluae cui dicebatur exposita fuisse Andromeda ossa Romae apportata ex oppido Judaeae Joppe ostendit inter reliqua miracula in Aedilitate sua M. Scaurus M. Scaurus when he was Edile did amongst other rarities make show of the bones of that Sea-monster to which Andromeda was reported to have been expos'd having caused them to be brought from Joppa a City of Judaea Having premis'd these Tropological Notes let us compare the Stories The sacred History saith that Moses was exposed in an Ark upon the Water watched by his Sister and found by Pharaoh's Daughter The Prophane tells us of Liber's Mother and Nurses being with him at the Bank of Nile Orpheus in hymmis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With thy Goddess-mother the venerable Isis wearing black with thy Maidennurses at the Egyptian River At Brasiae in Laconia they had an old Tradition that Bacchus as soon as he was born was put into an Ark and committed to the Water which after-ages to give repute to that City corrupted with the addition that the Ark was driven by Tides to their coast and Bacchus educated with them whence their City called formerly Oreatae took the name of Brasiae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from a Verb signifying to be cast up with the tide Pausanias Laconici In certain Verses of Orpheus the Caldean Liber is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Water-born and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which misseth Moses his Name but one Vowel It is true indeed he is elsewhere stiled unutterable Queen but that proceeded from the Grecians mistake expess'd by Alexander Polyhistor that the Jews receiv'd their Laws from a Woman named Mosω they
I should need many words to express it that the Worship of Images hath proceeded too far and the Faction or rather the Superstition of the Vulgar hath been indulged more than enough insomuch as to that height of Adoration which even the Pagans gave to their Images and to the extreamest vanity which the Heathens shewd in fashioning or adorning their Idols there seems nothing wanting among us And therefore perswades the Emperour that the ancient Doctrine might be restored and the new restrained Though the like hath befaln the Roman Church which befell the Jewish in the Wilderness When Moses as their Legends tell us to try who was guilty of forcing Aaron to cast the Golden Calf order'd them to drink of that water into which he had cast the powder of that Idol which the Idolaters greedily gulping spilt some of it upon their Chins whence their Beards became of a Golden colour and betrayed them to the avenging Sword of their Innocent Brethren A Romance hansomly exprest by Peter Rhenensis as he is quoted by Mr. Selden in his Syntagme de aureo vitulo whose Poem hath this close Hebraei tradunt Mosen fecisse quod audis Vt sciret solos hac ratione reos Nam rutilans auro monstrabat barba nocentes Dum patulo latices fluminis ore bibunt Aurum quod fudit Aaron descendit eorum In barbas tantùm qui coluere bovem Let who please dispute the truth of this Story I shall only give the English and Moral of it To try the guilty Moses as 't is said Made Israel drink the powder he had braid The Calf into Those Reliques of their sin Greedily hausted drilling on their Chin Gold-die th' Idolaters beards and mark them out For Levie's Sword from 'mongst the guiltless rout Thus the Church of Rome hath contracted the colour of the Calf upon the Golden locks of her Shrines and Images by drinking too deep and too gredily of the Cup of Pagan Abominations and thereby hath bewrayed herself to have the Calf in her heart a very strong inclination to the grossest Idolatries of Rome Heathen and to stand in extream need of that Admonition which Cassander gave her that she would remove the scandall she hath given to the Mahometans to the Reformed Churches and the soundest part of her own Communion by countenancing such Doctrines and Practices as in the Judgment of her own Doctors consequentially abett as perfect Paganism as ever reign'd in the Pagan World Yet notwithstanding all this if we lay aside this jangling with words and take Idolatry in its native proper and old prophetick sence a sence which any thats come to the stature of a man may stride over at once And not suffer ourselves to be abused by those over-acute unhappy Wits who cut this Term into as many Thongs as will compass the whole body of Romish Superstition and by sub-dividing those thongs would bring the innocent and pious Ceremonies of the Church of England within the compass of that word Idolatry by which art 〈…〉 thing which we disgust and will not comport with our most carnal humours may be brought under a suspicion of being Idolatrous For Quantitas continua est in infinitum divisibilias A dexterous hand may cut as many Thongs out of one Thong with a pair of French Scissers as a Bungler with a pair of Garden-Shears can cut Thongs out of one hide Let us then leave this Logomachie this contending about shadows and not presume either to teach the Holy Ghost to speak or to wrest his words from their genuine sence to our humours and nothing will be more apparent to us than that neither the Church of Rome nor any other Society of men whatsoever that once embrac'd Christianity have Apostatized to the embracing of any of those Pagan Gods whom the Gospel ejected or to the Worship of any God but of that only wise and Eternal God that made Heaven and Earth Him alone the Mahometans him alone the Papists worship with that degree of divine honour which is proper to the Deity And as to the Church of Rome she so far abhorrs Idols in the sence of those Texts which foretell their downfall under the Gospel as she is famously known to have converted in these last days some Heathen Nations from Idols to the living God And that not only by force of hand as the Spaniards attempted upon the Americans at their first arrival there but by force of Argument and evidence of Miracles not such feigned and Legerdemain Sleights of hand as she pretends to do in order to the conviction of those who have either upon just cause forsaken her Communion in those things wherein she has forsaken the Communion of the Catholick Church or have been shut out of her Communion though they could have been content for peace sake to have walked with her in point of External practice meerly because they could not find in their heart professedly to abjure the Communion of the blessed Apostles the Primitive and Universal Church Such as cordially believe in Jesus Christ for whom Miracles were never intended by God but for them that believe not And therefore though her Priests in offering to shew Miracles in Christendom declare themselves so far to be Ministers of Satan or of him whose coming is after the power of Satan with lying wonders yet among the Infidel Americans they may and certainly do work Miracles not as Papists but as Christians not in the virtue of Papal Innovations and singularities but of the remains of the old and Catholick Christian Religion mixt therewith As I believe any of our Ministers might do did their zeal to propagate Christs Kingdom carry them out to Preach the Gospel where it only can be preach't in propriety of speech to that yet Heathenish part of the World This Point our Hot-spurrs might do well to consider who stretch their Stentorian throats with outcries against the Churches Apostracy to Pagan Idolatry whereby in effect they decry the blessed Jesus and pronounce him an Impostor and not the very Christ. For the Prophet Christ is by the power of his Law and Spirit utterly to abolish Heathen Idols out of the several Nations of the World upon their submitting to his Sceptre So as they should never regain their old Territories but be and remain totally and finally exterminated from off the face of the whole Earth and from under the whole Heaven CHAP. VI. Touching the Millenium Revel 20. § 1. Pagan Idols Fall and Satans binding Synchronize Christianity grew upon the Empire by degrees § 2. Charity 's Cloak cast over the first Christian Emperours § 3. Theodosius made the first Penal Laws against Paganisme § 4. Honorius made Paganism Capitall then was Satan bound § 1. IN complyance with which Old Testament Prophecies the Spirit of Jesus reveils Rev. 20. 1. c. to St. John That upon the Roman Empire's embracing of Christianity Satan should be cast into the bottomless Pit and there chain'd and sealed up untill