Produced by Jonathan Ingram, KD Weeks and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries.)
Transcriber's Note
Footnotes and section headers were both printed in the margins as
sidenotes.
For this text version, numbered marginal footnotes have been moved to
the end of their paragraphs. The headers have been moved to appear on a
separate line at the beginning of each section. Redundant sidenotes
merely indicating Part and Section numbers have been removed. Those
marginal notes which serve as paragraph descriptions, at or near the
head of a paragraph, precede that paragraph. Those which serve to
annotate specific points are inserted parenthetically as [SN: notes].
The Annotator's note which precedes Religio Medici uses marginal notes
as references to the relevant sections and pages in the printed text.
On occasion, the Latin passages employ a scribal abbreviation 'q;' for
'qus', which has been retained.
Descriptive notes have been inserted at the beginning of the sentence to
which they refer, like this: [Sidenote: Use of Italics] Italics are used
freely, and have been rendered using _underscore_ characters.
Please consult the more detailed notes at the end of this text.
THE ENGLISH LIBRARY
THE WORKS OF
SIR THOMAS BROWNE
VOLUME I
[Illustration]
THE WORKS OF
SIR THOMAS BROWNE
Edited by
CHARLES SAYLE
VOLUME I
LONDON
GRANT RICHARDS
1904
PREFATORY NOTE
This edition is an endeavour to arrive at a more satisfactory text of
the work of Sir Thomas Browne, and to reproduce the principal part of
it, as faithfully as seems advisable, in the form in which it was
presented to the public at the time of his death. For this purpose, in
the first volume, the text of the _Religio Medici_ follows more
particularly the issue of 1682. The _Pseudodoxia Epidemica_ here given
is based upon the sixth edition of ten years earlier, with careful
revision. In every case in which a spelling or punctuation was dubious,
a comparison was made of nearly all the issues printed during the
lifetime of the writer, and their merits weighed. By this means it is
hoped that the true flavour of the period has been preserved.
The Annotations upon the _Religio Medici_, which were always reprinted
with the text during the seventeenth century, are here restored. They
will appeal to a certain class of readers which has a right to be
considered. It is to be regretted that every quotation given in these
pages has not been verified. Several have been corrected; but to have
worked through them all, in these busy days, would have been a labour
of some years, which it is not possible to devote to the purpose. It has
been thought best to leave these passages therefore, in the main, as
they stand.[1]
The portrait of Sir Thomas Browne here prefixed is reproduced from the
engraving published in 1672 with the edition of the _Religio Medici_ and
_Pseudodoxia Epidemica_.
C.S.
_August, 1903._
[1] The quotation, now corrected, from Montaigne, on p. xxii, is a
typical example of the pitfall into which one is liable to stumble.
The passage there cited is in chapter xl. of the French author's
later arrangement: a clear indication of the edition of the _Essais_
used by the author of the Annotations. What is one to make of the
readings in Lucretius on p. xxv? No light is thrown upon these
difficulties by the edition of Browne's works published in 1686.
Wilkin did not reprint the Annotations, except in selection.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFATORY NOTE BY THE EDITOR, v
ANNOTATIONS UPON 'RELIGIO MEDICI,' ix
A LETTER SENT UPON THE INFORMATION OF ANIMADVERSIONS, 1
TO THE READER. 3
RELIGIO MEDICI, 7
PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA, 113
TO THE READER, 115
THE FIRST BOOK:
1. Of the Causes of Common Errors, 121
2. A further Illustration of the same, 127
3. Of the second cause of Popular Errors; the
erroneous disposition of the People, 132
4. Of the nearer and more Immediate Causes
of Popular Errors, 140
5. Of Credulity and Supinity, 147
6. Of Adherence unto Antiquity, 152
7. Of Authority, 161
8. A brief enumeration of Authors, 168
9. Of the Same, 178
10. Of the last and common Promoter of false
Opinions, the endeavours of Satan, 182
11. A further Illustration, 193
THE SECOND BOOK:
1. Of Crystal, 202
2. Concerning the Loadstone, 216
3. Concerning the Loadstone, 233
4. Of Bodies Electrical, 254
5. Compendiously of sundry other common
Tenents, concerning Mineral and Terreous
Bodies, 262
6. Of sundry Tenets concerning Vegetables or
Plants, 285
7. Of some Insects, and the Properties of
several Plants, 299
THE THIRD BOOK, CHAPTERS I.-X.:
1. Of the Elephant, 308
2. Of the Horse, 314
3. Of the Dove, 317
4. Of the Bever, 321
5. Of the Badger, 326
6. Of the Bear, 328
7. Of the Basilisk, 331
8. Of the Wolf, 338
9. Of the Deer, 340
10. Of the King-fisher, 348
ANNOTATIONS UPON
RELIGIO MEDICI
_Nec satis est vulgasse fidem._--
Pet. Arbit. fragment.
THE ANNOTATOR TO THE READER
A. Gellius (noct. Attic. l. 20. cap. _ult._) _notes some Books that had
strange Titles_; Pliny (Prefat. Nat. Hist.) _speaking of some such,
could not pass them over without a jeer: So strange (saith he) are the
Titles of some Books_, Ut multos ad vadimonium deferendum compellant.
_And_ Seneca _saith, some such there are_, Qui patri obstetricem
parturienti filiæ accersenti moram injicere possint. _Of the same fate
this present Tract_ Religio Medici _hath partaken: Exception by some
hath been taken to it in respect of its Inscription, which say they,
seems to imply that_ Physicians _have a Religion by themselves, which is
more than Theologie doth warrant: but it is their Inference, and not the
Title that is to blame; for no more is meant by that, or endeavoured to
be prov'd in the_ Book _then that (contrary to the opinion of the
unlearned_) Physitians _have Religion as well as other men_.
_For the Work it self, the present Age hath produced none that has had
better Reception amongst the learned; it has been received and fostered
by almost all, there having been but one that I knew of_ (_to verifie_
that Books have their Fate from the Capacity of the Reader) _that has
had the face to appear against it; that is_ Mr. Alexander[2] Rosse; _but
he is dead, and it is uncomely to skirmish with his shadow. It shall be
sufficient to remember to the_ Reader, _that the noble and most learned_
Knight, _Sir_ Kenelm Digby, _has delivered his opinion of it in another
sort, who though in some things he differ from the_ Authors _sense, yet
hath he most candidly and ingeniously allow'd it to be a_ very learned
and excellent Piece; _and I think no Scholar will say there can be an
approbation more authentique. Since the time he Published his
Observations upon it, one_ Mr. Jo. Merryweather, _a_ Master _of_ Arts
_of the_ University _of_ Cambridge, _hath deem'd it worthy to be put
into the universal Language, which about the year_ 1644 _he performed;
and that hath carried the Authors name not only into the_ Low-Countries
_and_ France (_in both which places the Book in_ Latin _hath since been
printed_) _but into_ Italy _and_ Germany; _and in_ Germany _it hath
since fallen into the hands of a Gentleman of that Nation[3] (of his
name he hath given us no more than_ L.N.M.E.N.) _who hath written
learned_ Annotations _upon it in_ Latin, which were _Printed together
with the Book at_ Strasbourg 1652. _And for the general good opinion
the World had entertained both of the_ Work and Author, _this Stranger
tells you_[4]: Inter alios Auctores incidi in libruni cui Titulus
_Religio Medici_, jam ante mihi innotuerat lectionem istius libri multos
præclaros viros delectasse, imo occupasse. Non ignorabam librum in
_Anglia_, _Gallia_, _Italia_, _Belgio_, _Germania_, cupidissime legi;
coustabat mihi eum non solum in _Anglia ac Batavia_, sed et _Purisiis_
cum præfatione, in qua Auctor magnis laudibus fertur, esse typis
mandatum. Compertum mihi erat multos magnos atq; eruditos viros sensere
Auctorem (quantum ex hoc scripto perspici potest) sanctitate vitæ ac
pietare elucere, etc. _But for the worth of the_ Book _it is so well
known to every_ English-man _that is fit to read it, that this
attestation of a_ Forrainer _may seem superfluous_.
[2] In his _Medicus Medicatus_.
[3] That he was a _German_ appears by his notes _page_ 35, where he
useth these words, _Dulcissima nostra Germania_, etc.
[4] In Præfat. Annotat.
_The_ German, _to do him right, hath in his_ Annotations _given a fair
specimen of his learning, shewing his skill in the Languages, as well
antient as modern; as also his acquaintance with all manner of Authors,
both sacred and profane, out of which he has ammas'd a world of
Quotations: but yet, not to mention that he hath not observed some
Errors of the Press, and one or two main ones of the Latin Translation,
whereby the Author is much injured; it cannot be denyed but he hath
pass'd over many hard places untoucht, that might deserve a Note; that
he hath made_ Annotations _on some, where no need was; in the
explication of others hath gone besides the true sense._
_And were he free from all these, yet one great Fault there is he may be
justly charg'd with, that is, that he cannot_ manum de Tabula _even in
matters the most obvious: which is an affectation ill-becoming a_
Scholar; _witness the most learned Annotator_, Claud. Minos. Divion. in
præfat. commentar. Alciat. Emblemat. præfix. Præstat (_saith he_)
brevius omnia persequi, et leviter attingere quæ nemini esse ignota
suspicari possint, quam quasi {~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, perq; locos communes identidem
expatiari.
_I go not about by finding fault with his, obliquely to commend my own;
I am as far from that, as 'tis possible others will be: All I seek, by
this Preface, next to acquainting the_ Reader _with the various
entertainment of the Book, is, that he would be advertized that these
Notes were collected ten[5] years since, long before the_ German's _were
written; so that I am no Plagiary (as who peruseth his Notes and mine,
will easily perceive): And in the second place, that I made this Recueil
meerly for mine own entertainment, and not with any intention to evulge
it; Truth is my witness, the publication proceeds meerly from the
importunity of the Book-seller (my special friend) who being acquainted
with what I had done, and about to set out another Edition of the Book,
would not be denied these notes to attex to it; 'tis he (not I) that
divulgeth it, and whatever the success be, he alone is concern'd in it;
I only say for my self what my Annotations bear in the Frontispiece_--
_Nec satis est vulgasse fidem----_
_That is, that it was not enough to all persons (though pretenders to
Learning) that our_ Physitian _had publish'd his Creed, because it
wanted an exposition. I say further, that the_ German's _is not full_;
_and that_ (----Quicquid sum Ego quamvis infra Lucilli censum
ingeniumq;----) _my explications do in many things illustrate the Text
of my Author_.
_24 Martii,
1654._
[5] Excepting two or three particulars in which reference is made to
some Books that came over since that time.
ANNOTATIONS UPON RELIGIO MEDICI
The Epistle to the _READER_
_Certainly that man were greedy of life, who should desire to live when
all the World were at an end_;] This Mr. _Merryweather_ hath rendred
thus; _Cupidum esse vitæ oportet, qui universo jam expirante mundo
vivere cuperet_; and well enough: but it is not amiss to remember, that
we have this saying in _Seneca_ the _Tragoedian_, who gives it us
thus, _Vitæ est avidus quisquis non vult mundo secum pereunte mori_.
_There are many things delivered Rhetorically_.] The Author herein
imitates the ingenuity of St. _Austin_, who in his _Retract._ corrects
himself for having delivered some things more like a young Rhetorician
than a sound Divine; but though St. _Aug._ doth deservedly acknowledge
it a fault in himself, in that he voluntarily published such things, yet
cannot it be so in this Author, in that he intended no publication of
it, as he professeth in this Epistle, and in that other to Sir _Kenelm
Digby_.
THE FIRST PART
_Sect. 1. Pag. 1._
_The general scandal of my Profession_.] Physitians (of the number
whereof it appears by several passages in this Book the Author is one)
do commonly hear ill in this behalf. It is a common speech (but only
amongst the unlearn'd sort) _Ubi tres Medici, duo Athei_. The reasons
why those of that Profession (I declare my self that I am none, but
_Causarum Actor Mediocris_, to use _Horace_ his Phrase) may be thought
to deserve that censure, the Author rendreth _Sect_. 19.
_The natural course of my studies._] The vulgar lay not the imputation
of Atheism only upon Physitians, but upon Philosophers in general, who
for that they give themselves to understand the operations of _Nature_,
they calumniate them, as though they rested in the second causes without
any respect to the first. Hereupon it was, that in the tenth Age Pope
_Silvester_ the second pass'd for a Magician, because he understood
Geometry and natural Philosophy. _Baron. Annal._ 990. And _Apuleius_
long before him laboured of the same suspicion, upon no better ground;
he was accus'd, and made a learned Apology for himself, and in that hath
laid down what the ground is of such accusations, in these words: _Hæc
fermè communi quodam errore imperitorum Philosophis objectantur, ut
partem eorum qui corporum causas meras et simplices rimantur,
irreligiosos putant, eosque aiunt Deos abnuere, ut Anaxagoram, et
Lucippum, et Democritum, et Epicurum, coeterosq; rerum naturæ
Patronos._ Apul. in Apolog. And it is possible that those that look upon
the second Causes scattered, may rest in them and go no further, as my
Lord _Bacon_ in one of his _Essayes_ observeth; but our Author tells us
there is a true Philosophy, from which no man becomes an Atheist,
_Sect._ 46.
_The indifferency of my behaviour and Discourse in matters of
Religion._] Bigots are so oversway'd by a preposterous Zeal, that they
hate all moderation in discourse of Religion; they are the men
forsooth--_qui solos credant habendos esse Deos quos ipsi colunt_.
_Erasmus_ upon this accompt makes a great complaint to Sir _Tho. More_
in an Epistle of his, touching one _Dorpius_ a Divine of _Lovain_, who
because, upon occasion of discourse betwixt them, _Erasmus_ would not
promise him to write against _Luther_, told _Erasmus_ that he was a
_Lutheran_, and afterwards published him for such; and yet as _Erasmus_
was reputed no very good Catholick, so for certain he was no Protestant.
_Not that I meerly owe this Title to the Font_] as most do, taking up
their Religion according to the way of their Ancestors; this is to be
blamed among all persons: It was practised as well amongst Heathens as
Christians.
_Per caput hoc juro per quod Pater antè solebat_, saith _Ascanius_ in
_Virgil_: and _Apuleius_ notes it for an absurdity. _Utrum Philosopho,
putas turpe scire ista, an neseire? negligere, an curare? nosse quanta
sit etiam in istis providentiæ ratio, an de diis immortalibus Matri et
Patri cedere_? saith he in _Apolog._ and so doth _Minutius_. _Unusquisq;
vestrum non cogitat prius se debere deum nosse quam colere, dum
inconsulte gestiuntur parentibus obedire, dum fieri malunt alieni
erroris accessio, quam sibi credere_. Minut. _in_ Octav.
_But having in my ripers examined_, etc.] according to the Apostolical
Precept, _Omnia probate, quod bonum est tenete_.
_Sect. 2. Pag. 8._
_There being a Geography of Religion_] _i.e._ of Christian Religion,
which you may see described in Mr. _Brerewood's_ Enquiries: he means not
of the Protestant Religion; for though there be a difference in
Discipline, yet the _Anglican_, _Scotic_, _Belgic_, _Gallican_, and
_Helvetic_ Churches differ not in any essential matter of the Doctrine,
as by the _Harmony of Confessions_ appears. 5. Epist. _Theod. Bezæ
Edmundo Grindallo Ep. Londinens_.
_Wherein I dislike nothing but the Name_] that is _Lutheran_,
_Calvinist_, _Zuinglian_, etc.
_Now the accidental occasion wherein_, etc.] This is graphically
described by _Thuanus_ in his History: but because his words are too
large for this purpose, I shall give it you somewhat more briefly,
according to the relation of the Author of the History of the Council of
_Trent_. The occasion was the necessity of Pope _Leo_ the Tenth, who by
his profusion had so exhausted the Treasure of the _Church_, that he was
constrained to have recourse to the publishing of Indulgencies to raise
monies: some of which he had destined to his own Treasury, and other
part to his Allyes, and particularly to his Sister he gave all the money
that should be raised in _Saxony_; and she, that she might make the best
profit of the donation, commits it to one _Aremboldus_, a Bishop to
appoint Treasurers for these Indulgences. Now the custome was, that
whensoever these Indulgences were sent into _Saxony_, they were to be
divulged by the Fryars _Eremites_ (of which Order _Luther_ then was),
but _Aremboldus_ his Agents thinking with themselves, that the Fryars
_Eremites_ were so well acquainted with the trade, that if the business
should be left to them, they should neither be able to give so good an
account of their Negotiation, nor yet get so much themselves by it as
they might do in case the business were committed to another Order; they
thereupon recommend it to (and the business is undertaken by) the
_Dominican_ Fryars, who performed it so ill, that the scandal arising
both from thence, and from the ill lives of those that set them on work,
stirred up _Luther_ to write against the abuses of these Indulgences;
which was all he did at first; but then, not long after, being provoked
by some Sermons and small Discourses that had been published against
what he had written, he rips up the _business_ from the beginning, and
publishes xcv _Theses_ against it at _Wittenberg_. Against these _Tekel_
a _Dominican_ writes; then _Luther_ adds an explication to his. _Eckius_
and _Prierius_ Dominicans, thereupon take the controversie against him:
and now _Luther_ begins to be hot; and because his adversaries could not
found the matter of Indulgences upon other Foundations then the _Popes_
power and infallibility, that begets a disputation betwixt them
concerning the Popes power, which _Luther_ insists upon as inferiour to
that of a _general Council_; and so by degrees he came on to oppose the
Popish Doctrine of _Remission of sins_, _Penances_, and _Purgatory_; and
by reason of Cardinal _Cajetans_ imprudent management of the conference
he had with him, it came to pass that he rejected the whole body of
Popish doctrine. So that by this we may see what was the accidental
occasion wherein, the slender means whereby, and the abject condition of
the person by whom, the work of Reformation of Religion was set on
foot.
_Sect. 3. Pag. 8._
_Yet I have not so shaken hands with those, desperate Resolutions,
(Resolvers it should be, without doubt) who had rather venture at large
their decayed Bottom, than bring her in to be new trimm'd in the Dock;
who had rather promiscuously retain all, than abridge any; and
obstinately be what they are, than what they have been; as to stand in a
diameter and at swords point with them: we have reformed from them, not
against them_, etc.] These words by Mr. _Merryweather_ are thus rendred,
_sc_. _Nec tamen in vecordem illum pertinacium hominum gregem memet
adjungo, qui lubefactatum navigium malunt fortunæ committere quam in
navale de integro resarciendum deducere, qui malunt omnia promiscuè
retinere quam quicquam inde diminuere, et pertinaciter esse qui sunt
quam qui olim fuerunt, ita ut iisdem ex diametro repugnent: ab illis,
non contra illos, reformationem instituimus_, etc. And the Latine
Annotator sits down very well satisfied with it, and hath bestowed some
notes upon it; but under the favour both of him and the Translator, this
Translation is so far different from the sense of the Author, that it
hath no sense in it; or if there be any construction of sense in it, it
is quite besides the Author's meaning; which will appear if we consider
the context: by that we shall find that the Author in giving an account
of his Religion, tells us first, that he is a Christian, and farther,
that he is of the reform'd Religion; but yet he saith, in this place, he
is not so rigid a Protestant, nor at defiance with Papists so far, but
that in many things he can comply with them, (the particulars he
afterwards mentions in this Section) for, saith he, we have reform'd
from them, not against them, that is, as the _Archbishop_ of
_Canterbury_ against the _Jesuit_ discourseth well. We have made no new
Religion nor Schism from the old; but in calling for the old, and
desiring that which was novel and crept in might be rejected, and the
Church of _Rome_ refusing it, we have reform'd from those upstart novel
Doctrines, but against none of the old: and other sense the place cannot
bear; therefore how the _Latine Annotator_ can apply it as though in
this place the Author intended to note the _Anabaptists_, I see not,
unless it were in respect of the expression _Vecordem pertinacium
hominum gregem_, which truly is a description well befitting them,
though not intended to them in this place: howsoever, I see not any
ground from hence to conclude the Author to be any whit inclining to the
_Bulk_ of Popery (but have great reason from many passages in this Book
to believe the contrary,) as he that prefix'd a Preface to the Parisian
Edition of this Book hath unwarrantably done.
But for the mistake of the Translator, it is very obvious from whence
that arose. I doubt not but it was from mistake of the sense of the
English Phrase _Shaken hands_, which he hath rendered by these words,
_Memet adjungo_, wherein he hath too much play'd the Scholar, and show'd
himself to be more skilful in forraign and antient customs, then in the
vernacular practise and usage of the language of his own Country; for
although amongst the Latines protension of the Hand were a Symbole and
sign of Peace and Concord (as _Alex. ab Alexandro_; _Manum verò
protendere, pacem peti significabunt_ (saith he) _Gen. Dier. lib. 4.
cap. ult._ which also is confirmed by _Cicero pro Dejotaro_; and _Cæsar.
l. 2. de Bellico Gallico_) and was used in their first meetings, as
appears by the Phrase, _Jungere hospitio Dextras_; and by that of
_Virgil_,
_Oremus pacem, et Dextras tendamus inermes_,
And many like passages that occur in the Poets, to which I believe the
Translator had respect; yet in modern practise, especially with us in
_England_, that ceremony is used as much in our _Adieu's_ as in the
_first Congress_; and so the Author meant in this place, by saying he
had not _shaken hands_; that is, that he had not so deserted, or bid
farewel to the _Romanists_, as to stand at swords point with them: and
then he gives his reasons at those words, _For omitting those
improperations_, etc. So that instead of _memet adjungo_, the Translator
should have used some word or Phrase of a clean contrary signification;
and instead of _ex diametro repugnent_, it should be _repugnem_.
_Sect. 5. Pag. 11._
_Henry_ the Eighth, who, though he rejected the Pope, refused not the
faith of _Rome_.] So much _Buchanan_ in his own life written by himself
testifieth, who speaking of his coming into _England_ about the latter
end of that King's time, saith, _Sed ibi tum omnia adeo erant incerta,
ut eodem die, ac eodem igne_ (very strange!) _utriusque factionis
homines cremarentur, Henrico 8, jam seniore suæ magnis securitati quam
Religionis puritati intento_. And for the confirmation of this assertion
of the Author, _vide Stat. 31. H. 8, cap. 14_.
_And was conceived the state of_ Venice _would have attempted in our
dayes._] This expectation was in the time of Pope _Paul_ the Fifth, who
by excommunicating that Republique, gave occasion to the Senate to
banish all such of the Clergy as would not by reason of the Popes
command administer the Sacraments; and upon that account the _Jesuits_
were cast out, and never since receiv'd into that State.
_Sect. 6. Pag. 12._
_Or be angry with his judgement for not agreeing with me in that, from
which perhaps within a few days I should dissent my self._] I cannot
think but in this expression the Author had respect to that of that
excellent French Writer _Monsieur Mountaign_ (in whom I often trace
him). _Combien diversement jugeons nous de choses? Combien de fois
changeons nous nos fantasies? Ce que je tien aujourdhuy, ce que je croy,
je le tien et le croy de toute ma Creance, mais ne m'est il pas advenu
non une fois mais cent, mais mille et tous les jours d'avoir embrasse
quelque autre chose?_ Mountaign lib. 2. _Des Essais._ Chap. 12.
_Every man is not a proper Champion for truth_, etc.] A good cause is
never betray'd more than when it is prosecuted with much eagerness, and
but little sufficiency; and therefore _Zuinglius_, though he were of
_Carolostadius_ his opinion in the point of the Sacrament of the
_Eucharist_ against _Luther_, yet he blamed him for undertaking the
defence of that cause against _Luther_, not judging him able enough for
the encounter: _Non satis habet humerorum_, saith he of _Carolostad_,
alluding to that of _Horace_, _Sumite materiam vestris qui scribitis
æquam Viribus, et versate diu quid ferre recusent Quid valeant
humeri_.----So _Minutius Fælix; Plerumq; pro disserentium viribus, et
eloquentiæ potestate, etiam perspicuæ veritatis conditio mutetur_.
Minut. in Octav. And _Lactantius_ saith, this truth is verified in
_Minutius_ himself: for _Him_, _Tertullian_ and _Cyprian_, he spares not
to blame (all of them) as if they had not with dexterity enough defended
the Christian cause against the _Ethniques_. _Lactant. de justitia_,
cap. 1. I could wish that those that succeeded him had not as much cause
of complaint against him: surely he is noted to have many errors _contra
fidem_.
_Pag. 13._
_In Philosophy----there is no man more Paradoxical then my self, but in
Divinity I love to keep the Road_, etc.] Appositely to the mind of the
Author, saith the Publisher of Mr. _Pembel's_ Book _de origine
formarum_, _Certe_ (saith he) _in locis Theologicis ne quid detrimenti
capiat vel Pax. vel Veritas Christi----à novarum opinionum pruritu
prorsus abstinendum puto, usq; adeo ut ad certam regulam etiam loqui
debeamus, quod pie et prudenter monet Augustinus_ (_de Civ. Dei._ 1. 10,
cap. 23.) [_ne verborum licentia impia vi gignat opinionem_,] _at in
pulvere Scholastico ubi in nullius verba, juramus, et in utramvis partem
sine dispendio vel pacis, vel salutis ire liceat, major conceditur cum
sentiendi tum loquendi libertas_, etc. Capel. _in Ep. Dedicat._
_Pembel_, _de origin form. præfix_.
_Heresies perish not with their Authors, but like the River_ Arethusa,
_though they lose their Currents in one place, they rise again in
another._] Who would not think that this expression were taken from Mr.
_Mountaigne_, _l. 2, des Ess. cap. 12_. Where he hath these words,
_Nature enserre dans les termes de son progress ordinaire comme toutes
autres choses aussi les creances les judgements et opinions des hommes
elles ont leur revolutions_; and that _Mountaigne_ took his from
_Tully_. _Non enim hominum interitu sententiæ quoque occidunt_, _Tull._
_de nat. deorum l. 1_, etc. Of the River _Arethusa_ thus _Seneca_.
_Videbis celebratissimum carminibus fontem Arethusam limpidissimi ac
perludicissimi ad imum stagni gelidissimas aquas profundentem, sive
illas primum nascentes invenit, sive flumen integrum subter tot maria,
et à confusione pejoris undæ servatum reddidit_. Senec. _de consolat. ad
Martiam_.
_Sect. 7. Pag. 14._
_Now the first of mine was that of the_ Arabians.] For this Heresie, the
Author here sheweth what it was; they are called _Arabians_ from the
place where it was fostered; and because the _Heresiarch_ was not known,
_Euseb._ St. _Aug._ and _Nicephorus_ do all write of it: the reason of
this Heresie was so specious, that it drew Pope _John 22_. to be of the
same perswasion. Where then was his infallibility? Why, _Bellarmine_
tells you he was nevertheless infallible for that: for, saith he, he
maintained this opinion when he might do it without peril of Heresie,
for that no definition of the Church whereby 'twas made Heresie, had
preceded when he held that opinion. _Bellar. l. 4_, de _Pontif. Roman.
cap. 4._ Now this definition was first made ('tis true) by Pope
_Benedict_ in the 14 Age: but then I would ask another question, that
is, If 'till that time there were nothing defined in the Church touching
the beatitude of Saints, what certainty was there touching the sanctity
of any man? and upon what ground were those canonizations of Saints had,
that were before the 14 Age?
_The second was that of_ Origen.] Besides St. _Augustine_, _Epiphanius_,
and also S. _Hierom_, do relate that _Origen_ held, that not only the
souls of men, but the _Devils_ themselves should be discharged from
torture after a certain time: but _Genebrard_ endeavours to clear him of
this. _Vid. Coquæum, in 21. lib. Aug. de. Civ. Dei. cap. 17._
_These opinions though condemned by lawful Councils, were not Heresie in
me_, etc.] For to make an Heretique, there must be not only _Error in
intellectu_ but _pertinacia in voluntate_. So St. _Aug. Qui sententiam
suam quamvis falsam atque perversam nulla pertinaci animositate
defendunt, quærunt autem cauta solicitudine veritatem, corrigi parati
cum invenerint, nequaquam sunt inter Hæreticos deputundi_. Aug. _cont.
Manich. 24, qu. 3._
_Sect. 9. Pag. 16._
_The deepest mysteries ours contains have not only been illustrated, but
maintained by Syllogism and the Rule of Reason_,] and since this Book
was written, by Mr. _White_ in his _Institutiones Sacræ_.
_And when they have seen the Red Sea, doubt not of the Miracle._] Those
that have seen it, have been better informed then Sir _Henry Blount_
was, for he tells us that he desired to view the passage of _Moses_ into
the Red Sea (not being above three days journey off) but the _Jews_ told
him the precise place was not known within less than the space of a days
journey along the shore; wherefore (saith he) I left that as too
uncertain for any Observation. _In his Voyage into the Levant._
_Sect. 10. Pag. 18._
I had as lieve you tell me that _Anima est Angelus hominis, est corpus
Dei_, as _Entelechia; Lux est umbra Dei_, as _actus perspicui._] Great
variety of opinion there hath been amongst the Ancient Philosophers
touching the definition of the Soul. _Thales_, his was, that it is a
_Nature without Repose_. _Asclepiades_, that it is _an Exercitation of
Sense_. _Hesiod_, that it is _a thing composed of Earth and Water_;
_Parmenides_ holds, _of Earth and Fire_; _Galen_ that it is _Heat_;
_Hippocrates_, that it is _a spirit diffused through the body_. Some
others have held it to be _Light_; _Plato_ saith, 'tis _a Substance
moving itself_; after cometh _Aristotle_ (whom the Author here
reproveth) and goeth a degree farther, and saith it is _Entelechia_,
that is, that which naturally makes the body to move. But this
definition is as rigid as any of the other; for this tells us not what
the _essence_, _origine_ or _nature_ of the _soul_ is, but only marks an
_effect_ of it, and therefore signifieth no more than if he had said (as
the Author's Phrase is) that it is _Angelus hominis_, or an
_Intelligence_ that moveth man, as he supposed those other to do the
Heavens.
Now to come to the definition of Light, in which the Author is also
unsatisfied with the School of _Aristotle_, he saith, It satisfieth him
no more to tell him that _Lux est actus perspicui_, than if you should
tell him that it is _umbra Dei_. The ground of this definition given by
the _Peripateticks_, is taken from a passage in _Aristot. de anima l. 2,
cap. 7_, where _Aristotle_ saith, That the colour of the thing seen,
doth move that which is _perspicuum actu_ (i.e. _illustratam naturam quæ
sit in aere aliove corpore trunsparente_) and that that, in regard of
its continuation to the eye, moveth the eye, and by its help the
internal _sensorium_; and that so vision is perform'd. Now as it is true
that the Sectators of _Aristotle_ are to blame, by fastening upon him by
occasion of this passage, that he meant that those things that made this
impress upon the Organs are meer accidents, and have nothing of
substance; which is more than ever he meant, and cannot be maintained
without violence to Reason, and his own Principles; so for _Aristotle_
himself, no man is beholding to him for any Science acquir'd by this
definition: for what is any man the near for his telling him that Colour
(admitting it to be a body, as indeed it is, and in that place he doth
not deny) doth move _actu perspicuum_, when as the perspicuity is in
relation to the _eye_; and he doth not say how it comes to be
perspicuous, which is the thing enquired after, but gives it that
donation before the eye hath perform'd its office; so that if he had
said it had been _umbra Dei_, it would have been as intelligible, as
what he hath said. He that would be satisfied how Vision is perform'd,
let him see Mr. _Hobbs_ in _Tract. de nat. human_, cap. 2.
_For God hath not caused it to rain upon the Earth._] St. _Aug. de
Genes. ad literam_, cap. 5, 6, salves that expression from any
inconvenience; but the Author in _Pseudodox. Epidemic._ l. 7, cap. 1,
shews that we have no reason to be confident that this Fruit was an
_Apple_.
_I believe that the_ Serpent (_if we shall literally understand it_)
_from his proper form and figure made his motion on his belly before the
curse_.] Yet the Author himself sheweth in _Pseudodox. Epidemic._ lib.
7, cap. 1, that the form or kind of the _Serpent_ is not agreed on: yet
_Comestor_ affirm'd it was a _Dragon_, _Eugubinus_ a _Basilisk_,
_Delrio_ a _Viper_, and others a common _Snake_: but of what kind soever
it was, he sheweth in the same Volume, _lib. 5, c. 4_, that there was no
inconvenience, that the temptation should be perform'd in this proper
shape.
_I find the tryal of Pucelage and the Virginity of Women which God
ordained the_ Jews, _is very fallible._] _Locus extat, Deut. c. 22_, the
same is affirm'd by _Laurentius_ in his _Anatom._
_Whole Nations have escaped the curse of Child-birth, which God seems to
pronounce upon the whole sex._] This is attested by M. _Mountaigne_.
_Les doleurs de l'enfantiment par les medicins, et par Dieu mesme
estimees grandes, et que nous passons avec tant de Ceremonies, il y a
des nations entieres qui ne'n fuit nul conte. l. 1, des Ess. c. 14_.
_Sect 11. Pag. 19._
_Who can speak of_ Eternity _without a Soloecism, or think thereof
without an Extasie?_ Time _we may comprehend_, etc.] Touching the
difference betwixt _Eternity_ and _Time_, there have been great disputes
amongst Philosophers; some affirming it to be no more than _duration
perpetual consisting of parts_; and others (to which opinion, it appears
by what follows in this Section, the Author adheres) affirmed (to use
the Authors Phrase) that it hath no distinction of Tenses, but is
according to _Boetius_ (_lib. 5, consol. pros. 6_), his definition,
_interminabilis vitæ tota simul et perfecta possessio_. For me, _non
nostrum est tantas componere lites_. I shall only observe what each of
them hath to say against the other. Say those of the first opinion
against those that follow _Boetius_ his definition, That definition was
taken by _Boetius_ out of _Plato's Timæus_, and is otherwise applyed,
though not by _Boetius_, yet by those that follow him, than ever _Plato_
intended it; for he did not take it in the Abstract, but in the
Concrete, for an _eternal thing_, _a Divine substance_, by which he
meant _God_, or his _Anima mundi_: and this he did, to the intent to
establish this truth, That no mutation can befal the Divine Majesty, as
it doth to things subject to generation and corruption; and that _Plato_
there intended not to define or describe any _species_ of duration: and
they say that it is impossible to understand any such _species_ of
duration that is (according to the Authors expression) but one
_permanent point_.
Now that which those that follow _Boetius_ urge against the other
definition is, they say, it doth not at all difference _Eternity_ from
the nature of _Time_; for they say if it be composed of many _Nunc's_,
or many instants, by the addition of one more it is still encreased; and
by that means _Infinity_ or _Eternity_ is not included, nor ought more
than _Time_. For this, see Mr. _White_, _de dial. mundo, Dial. 3. Nod.
4_.
_Indeed he only is_, etc.] This the Author infers from the words of God
to _Moses_, _I am that I am_; and this to distinguish him from all
others, who (he saith) have and shall be: but those that are learned in
the _Hebrew_, do affirm that the words in that place (_Exod. 3_) do not
signifie, _Ego sum qui sum, et qui est_, etc. but _Ero qui ero, et qui
erit_, etc. _vid Gassend. in animad. Epicur. Physiolog._
_Sect. 12. Pag. 20._
_I wonder how_ Aristotle _could conceive the World Eternal, or how he
could make two Eternities_:] (that is, that God, and the World both were
eternal.) I wonder more at either the ignorance or incogitancy of the
_Conimbricenses_, who in their Comment upon the eighth book of
_Aristotle's Physicks_, treating of the matter of Creation, when they
had first said that it was possible to know it, and that actually it was
known (for _Aristotle_ knew it) yet for all this they afterwards affirm,
That considering onely the light of Nature, there is nothing can be
brought to demonstrate Creation: and yet farther, when they had defined
Creation to be the production of a thing _ex nihilo_, and had proved
that the World was so created in time, and refused the arguments of the
Philosophers to the contrary, they added this, That the World might be
created _ab æterno_: for having propos'd this question [_Num aliquid à
Deo ex Æternitate procreari potuit?_] they defend the affirmative, and
assert that not onely incorporeal substances, as Angels; or permanent,
as the celestial Bodies; or corruptible as Men, etc. might be produced
and made _ab æterno_, and be conserved by an infinite time, _ex utraq_;
_parte_; and that this is neither repugnant to God the Creator, the
things created, nor to the nature of Creation: for proof whereof, they
bring instances of the _Sun_ which if it had been eternal, had
illuminated eternally, (and the virtue of God is not less than the
virtue of the Sun.) Another instance they bring of the _divine Word_,
which was produced _ab æterno_: in which discourse, and in the instances
brought to maintain it, it is hard to say whether the madness or impiety
be greater; and certainly if Christians thus argue, we have the more
reason to pardon the poor heathen _Aristotle_.
_There is in us not three, but a Trinity of Souls._] The
_Peripatetiques_ held that men had three distinct Souls; whom the
Heretiques, the _Anomæi_, and the _Jacobites_, followed. There arose a
great dispute about this matter in _Oxford_, in the year 1276, and it
was then determined against _Aristotle_, _Daneus Christ. Eth._ l. 1. c.
4. and _Suarez_ in his Treatise _de causa formali, Quest. An dentur
plures formæ in uno composito_, affirmeth there was a Synod that did
_anathematize_ all that held with _Aristotle_ in this point.
_Sect. 14. Pag. 23._
_There is but one first, and four second causes in all things._] In that
he saith there is but one first cause, he speaketh in opposition to the
_Manichees_, who held there were _Duo principia_; one from whom came all
good, and the other from whom came all evil: the reason of _Protagoras_
did it seems impose upon their understandings; he was wont to say, _Si
Deus non est, unde igitur bona? Si autem est, unde mala?_ In that he
saith there are but four second Causes, he opposeth _Plato_, who to the
four causes, _material_, _efficient_, _formal_, and _final_, adds for a
fifth _exemplar_ or _Idæa_, sc. _Id ad quod respiciens artifex, id quod
destinabat efficit_; according to whose mind _Boetius_ speaks, _lib. 3.
met. 9. de cons. Philosoph_.
_O qui perpetua mundum ratione gubernas,
Terrarum Coeliq; sator qui tempus ab ævo
Ire jubes, stabilisq; manens das cuncta moveri:
Quem non externæ pepulerunt fingere causæ
Materiæ fluitantis opus, verum insita summi
Forma boni livore carens: tu cuncta superno
Ducis ab exemplo, pulchrum pulcherrimus ipse
Mundum mente gerens, similique in imagine formans,
Perfectasq; jubens perfectum absolvere partes._
And St. _Augustine l. 83. quest. 46_. where (amongst other) he hath
these words, _Restat ergo ut omnia Ratione sint condita, nec eadem
ratione homo qua equus; hoc enim absurdum est existimare: singula autem
propriis sunt creata rationibus_. But these _ideæ Plato's_ Scholar
_Aristotle_ would not allow to make or constitute a different sort of
cause from the _formal_ or _efficient_, to which purpose he disputes,
_l. 7. Metaphysic._ but he and his Sectators, and the _Ramists_ also,
agree (as the Author) that there are but the four remembred Causes: so
that the Author, in affirming there are but four, hath no Adversary but
the _Platonists_; but yet in asserting there are four (as his words
imply) there are that oppose him, and the _Schools_ of _Aristot._ and
_Ramus_. I shall bring for instance Mr. _Nat Carpenter_, who in his
_Philosophia Libera_ affirmeth, there is no such cause as that which
they call the _Final cause_: he argueth thus; Every cause hath an
influence upon its effect: but so has not the End, therefore it is not a
Cause. The _major_ proposition (he saith) is evident, because the
influence of a cause upon its effect, is either the causality it self,
or something that is necessarily conjoyned to it: and the _minor_ as
plain, for either the End hath an influence upon the effect immediately,
or mediately, by stirring up the Efficient to operate; not immediately,
because so it should enter either the _constitution_ or _production_, or
_conservation_ of the things; but the constitution it cannot enter,
because the constitution is only of _matter_ and _form_; nor the
Production, for so it should concur to the production, either as it is
_simply the end_, or as _an exciter of the Efficient_; but not simply as
the end, because the end _as end_ doth not go before, but followeth the
thing produced, and therefore doth not concur to its production: if they
say it doth so far concur, as it is desired of the agent or efficient
cause, it should not so have an immediate influence upon the effect, but
should onely first move the efficient. Lastly, saith he, it doth not
enter the conservation of a thing, because a thing is often conserved,
when it is frustrate of its due end, as when it's converted to a new use
and end. Divers other Arguments he hath to prove there is no such cause
as the final cause. _Nat. Carpenter Philosoph. liber Decad. 3.
Exercitat. 5_. But for all this, the Author and he differ not in
substance: for 'tis not the Author's intention to assert that the end is
in nature præexistent to the effect, but only that whatsoever God has
made, he hath made to some end or other; which he doth to oppose the
Sectators of _Epicurus_, who maintain the contrary, as is to be seen by
this of _Lucretius_ which follows.
_Illud in his rebus vitium vehementer et istum,
Effugere errorem vitareque premeditabor
Lumina ne facias oculorum clara creata
Prospicere ut possimus; et, ut proferre viai
Proceros passus, ideo fastigia posse
Surarum ac feminum pedibus fundata plicari:
Brachia tum porro validis ex apta lacertis
Esse, manusq; datas utraq; ex parte ministras,
Vt facere ad vitam possimus, quæ foret usus:
Cætera de genere hoc, inter quæcunq; precantur
Omnia perversa præpostera sunt ratione:
Nil ideo quoniam natum'st in corpore, ut uti
Possemus; sed quod natum'st, id procreat usum,
Nec fuit ante videre oculorum lumina nata,
Nec dictis orare prius, quam lingua creata'st,
Sed potius longe linguæ præcessit origo
Sermonem; multoq: creatæ sunt prius aures
Quam sonus est auditus, et omnia deniq; membra
Ante fuere, ut opinor, eorum quam foret usus:
Haud igitur potuere utendi crescere causa._
Lucret. lib. 4. [822-841.]
_Sect. 15. Pag. 24._
_There are no Grotesques in nature_, etc.] So _Monsr. Montaign_, _Il
n'ya rien d'inutil en nature, non pas l'inutilité mesmes, Rien ne s'est
ingeré en cet Univers qui n'y tienne place opportun._ Ess. l. 3. c. 1.
_Who admires not_ Regio-montanus _his Fly beyond his Eagle?_] Of these
_Du Bartas_.
_Que diray je de l'aigle,
D'ont un doct Aleman honore nostre siecle
Aigle qui deslogeant de la maistresse main,
Aila loin au devant d'un Empereur Germain;
Et l'ayant recontré suddain d'une aisle accorte,
Se tournant le suit au seuil de la porte
Du fort Norembergois, que lis piliers dorez,
Les tapissez chemins, les arcs elabourez,
Les fourdroyans Canons, in la jeusnesse isnelle,
In le chena Senat, n'honnoroit tant come elle.
Vn jour, que cetominer plus des esbats, que de mets,
En privé fasteyoit ses seignieurs plus amees,
Vne mousche de fer, dans sa main recelee,
Prit sans ayde d'autroy, sa gallard evolee:
Fit une entiere Ronde, et puis d'un cerveau las
Come ayant jugement, se purcha sur son bras_.
Thus Englished by _Silvester_.
_Why should not I that wooden Eagle mention?
(A learned_ German's _late admir'd invention)
Which mounting from his Fist that framed her,
Flew far to meet an_ Almain _Emperour:
And having met him, with her nimble Train,
And weary Wings turning about again,
Followed him close unto the Castle Gate
Of _Noremberg_; whom all the shews of state,
Streets hang'd with Arras, arches curious built,
Loud thundring Canons, Columns richly guilt,
Grey-headed Senate, and youth's gallantise,
Grac'd not so much as onely this device.
Once as this Artist more with mirth than meat,
Feasted some friends that he esteemed great;
From under's hand an Iron Fly flew out,
Which having flown a perfect round about,
With weary wings, return'd unto her Master,
And (as judicious) on his arm she plac'd her._
_Or wonder not more at the operation of two souls in those little
bodies, than but one in the Trunk of a Cedar?_] That is, the
_vegetative_, which according to the common opinion, is supposed to be
in _Trees_, though the _Epicures_ and _Stoiques_ would not allow any
Soul in Plants; but _Empedocles_ and _Plato_ allowed them not only a
_vegetative_ Soul, but affirm'd them to be _Animals_. The _Manichees_
went farther, and attributed so much of the rational Soul to them, that
they accounted it _Homicide_ to gather either the flowers or fruit, as
St. _Aug._ reports.
_We carry with us the wonders we seek without us._] So St. _Aug._ l. 10.
de civ. c. 3. _Omni miraculo quod fit per hominem majus miraculum est
homo._
_Sect. 16. Pag. 25._
_Another of his servant Nature, that publique and universal Manuscript
that lies expansed_, etc.] So is the description of _Du Bartas 7. jour
de la sepm._
_Oyes ce Docteur muet estudie en ce livre
Qui nuict et jour ouvert t'apprendra de bien vivre._
_All things are artificial, for Nature is the Art of God._] So Mr.
_Hobbes_ in his _Leviathan_ (_in initio_) Nature is the Art whereby God
governs the world.
_Sect. 17. Pag. 27._
_Directing the operations of single and individual Essences_, etc.]
Things singular or individuals, are in the opinion of Philosophers not
to be known, but by the way of sense, or by that which knows by its
Essence, and that is onely God. The Devils have no such knowledge,
because whatsoever knows so, is either the cause or effect of the thing
known; whereupon _Averroes_ concluded that God was the cause of all
things, because he understands all things by his Essence; and _Albertus
Magnus_ concluded, That the inferiour intelligence understands the
superiour, because it is an effect of the superiour: but neither of
these can be said of the _Devil_; for it appears he is not the effect of
any of these inferiour things, much less is he the cause, for the power
of Creation onely belongs to God.
_All cannot be happy at once, because the Glory of one State depends
upon the ruine of another._] This Theme is ingeniously handled by Mr.
_Montaigne livr. 1. des Ess._ cap. 22. the title whereof is, _Le
profit de l'un est dommage de l'autre_.
_Sect. 18. Pag. 29._
_'Tis the common fate of men of singular gifts of mind, to be destitute
of those of Fortune._] So _Petron. Arbiter. Amor ingenii neminem
unquum divitem fecit_, in _Satyric_. And _Apuleius_ in Apolog. _Idem
mihi etiam_ (saith he) _paupertatem opprobravit acceptum Philosopho
crimen et ultro profitendum_; and then a little afterwards, he sheweth
that it was the common fate of those that had singular gifts of mind:
_Eadem enim est paupertas apud Græcos in Aristide justa, in Phocyone
benigna, in Epaminonde strenua, in Socrate sapiens, in Homero diserta._
_We need not labour with so many arguments to confute judicial_
Astrology.] There is nothing in judicial _Astrology_ that may render it
impious; but the exception against it is, that it is vain and fallible;
of which any man will be convinced, that has read _Tully de Divinat._
and St. _Aug._ book 5. _de Civ. dei_.
_Sect. 19. Pag. 31._
_There is in our soul a kind of Triumvirate----that distracts the peace
of our Commonwealth, not less than did that other the State of_ Rome.]
There were two _Triumvirates_, by which the peace of _Rome_ was
distracted; that of _Crassus_, _Cæsar_ and _Pompey_, of which _Lucan_,
_l._ 1.
_----Tu causam aliorum----
Facta tribus Dominis communis Roma, nec unquam
In turbam missi feralia foedera Regni._
And that other of _Augustus_, _Antonius_ and _Lepidus_, by whom, saith
_Florus_, _Respublica convulsa est lacerataque_, which comes somewhat
near the Author's words, and therefore I take it that he means this last
Triumvirate.
_Sect. 19. Pag. 32._
_Would disswade my belief from the miracle of the brazen Serpent._] Vid.
_Coqueum in_, _l. 10._ _Aug._ _de Civ. Dei_, c. 8.
_And bid me mistrust a miracle in_ Elias, etc.] The History is 18. 1
_Reg._ It should be _Elijah_. The Author in _15. cap. lib. 7.
Pseudodox._ sheweth it was not perform'd naturally; he was (as he saith)
a perfect miracle.
_To think the combustion of_ Sodom _might be natural_.] Of that opinion
was _Strabo_, whereupon he is reprehended by _Genebrard_ in these words:
_Strabo falsus est----dum eversionem addicit sulphuri et bitumini e
terra erumpentibus, quæ erat assignanda Coelo_, i.e. _Deo irato_.
_Tacitus_ reports it according to the Bible, _fulminis ictu arsisse_.
_Sect. 20. Pag. 33._
_Those that held Religion was the difference of man from Beasts_, etc.]
_Lactantius_ was one of those: _Religioni ergo serviendum est, quam qui
non suspicit, ipse se prosternit in terram, et vitam pecudum secutus
humanitate se abdicat._ Lactant _de fals. Sapientia_, cap. 10.
_The Doctrine of_ Epicurus _that denied the providence of God, was no
Atheism, but_, etc.] I doubt not but he means that delivered in his
Epistle to _Menæceus_, and recorded by _Diogenes Laertius_, lib. 10.
_Quod beatum æternumque est, id nec habet ipsum negotii quicquam, nec
exhibit alteri, itaque neque ira, neque gratia tenetur, quod quæ talia
sunt imbecillia sunt omnia_; which the _Epicurean_ Poet hath delivered
almost in the same words.
_Omnis enim per se divum natura necesse 'st
Immortali ævo summa cum pace fruatur,
Semota à nostris rebus sejunctaq; longè:
Nam privata dolore omni, privata periclis
Ipsa suis pollens opibus nihil indiga nostri
Nec bene pro meritis capitur, nec tangitur ira._
Lucret. _lib. 2._
_That Villaine and Secretary of Hell, that composed that miscreant piece
of the three Impostors._] It was _Ochinus_ that composed this piece; but
there was no less a man than the Emperour _Frederick_ the Second, that
was as lavish of his tongue as the other of his pen; _Cui sæpe in ore,
Tres fuisse insignes Impostores, qui genus humanum seduxerunt: Moysem,
Christum, Mahumetem. Lips. monit. et exempl. Politic._ cap. 4. And a
greater than he, Pope _Leo_ the Tenth, was as little favourable to our
Saviour, when he us'd that speech which is reported of him, _Quantas
nobis divitias comparavit ista de Christo fabula_.
_Sect. 21. Pag. 34._
_There are in Scripture, stories that do exceed the fables of Poets._]
So the Author of _Relig. Laici. Certè mira admodum in_ S. S. _plus quam
in reliquis omnibus Historiis traduntur_; (and then he concludes with
the Author) _sed quæ non retundunt intellectum, sed exercent_.
_Yet raise no question who shall rise with that_ Rib _at the
Resurrection_.] The Author _cap. 2 l. 7_. _Pseudodox_. sheweth that it
appeares in Anatomy, that the Ribs of Man and Woman are equal.
_Whether the world were created in Autumn, Summer, or the Spring_, etc.]
In this matter there is a consent between two learned Poets, _Lucretius_
and _Virgil_, that it begins in _Spring_.
_At novitas mundi nec frigora dura ciebat,
Nec nimios æstus, nec magnis viribus auras._
Lucretius.
Which he would have to be understood of _Autumn_, because that resembles
old age rather than Infancy. He speaks expresly of the Fowls.
_Principio genus alituum variæq; volucres
Ova relinquebant exclusæ tempore verno._
Lucret.
Then for _Virgil_.
_Non alios prima nascentis origine mundi
Illuxisse dies aliumve habuisse tenorem
Crediderim, ver illud erat, ver magnus agebat
Orbis, et hibernis parcebant flatibus Euri._
Virgil 2. Georgic.
But there is a great difference about it betwixt Church-Doctors; some
agreeing with these Poets and others affirming the time to be in Autumn:
but truly, in strict speaking, it was not created in any one, but all of
the seasons, as the Author saith here, and hath shewed at large.
_Pseudodox. Epidemic._ lib. 6. cap. 2.
_Sect. 22. Pag. 35._
_'Tis ridiculous to put off or down the general floud of_ Noah _in that
particular inundation of_ Deucalion,] as the Heathens some of them
sometimes did: _Confuderunt igitur sæpe Ethnici particularia illa
diluvia, quæ longe post secuta sunt, cum illo universali quod præcessit,
ut ex fabulis in Diluvio Deucalionæo sparsis colligere licet; non tamen
semper nec ubique. Author. Observat. in Mytholog. Nat. Com._ Then
amongst those that confound them, he reckons _Ovid_ and _Plutarch_.
_How all the kinds of Creatures, not onely in their own bulks, but with
a competency of food and sustenance, might be preserved in one Ark, and
within the extent of 300 Cubits, to a reason that rightly examines it
will appear very feasible._] Yet _Apelles_ the Disciple of _Mercion_,
took upon him to deride the History of _Moses_ in this particular,
alledging that it must needs be a fable, for that it was impossible so
many creatures should be contain'd in so small a space. _Origen_ and St.
_Aug._ to answer this pretended difficulty, alleadge that _Moses_ in
this place speakes of Geometrical (and not vulgar) cubits, of which
every one was as much as six vulgar ones; and so no difficulty. But
_Perer. l. 10. com. in Genes, quest. 5. de arca_, rejects this opinion
of _Origen_, as being both against reason and Scripture.
1. Because that sort of Cubit was never in use amongst any people, and
therefore absurd to think _Moses_ should intend it in this place.
2. If _Moses_ should not speak of the same Cubits here, that he mentions
in others places, there would be great æquivocation in Scripture: now in
another place, _i.e._ _Exod. 27._ he saith, God commanded him to make an
Altar three Cubits high; which if it shall be meant of Geometrical
Cubits it will contain 18 vulgar Cubits; which would not only render it
useless, but would be contrary to the command which he saith God gave
him, _Exod. 20. Thou shall not go up by steps to my Altar._ For
without steps what man could reach it. It must therefore be meant of
ordinary Cubits; but that being so it was very feasible. I can more
easily believe than understand it.
_And put the honest Father to the Refuge of a Miracle._] This honest
father was St. _Aug._ who delivers his opinion, that it might be
miraculously done, _lib. 16. de Civ. Dei, cap. 7._ where having propos'd
the question how it might be done, he answers, _Quod si homines eas
captas secum adduxerunt, et eo modo ubi habitabant earum genera
instituerunt, venandi studio fieri potuisse incredibile non est, quamvis
jussu Dei sire permissu etiam opera Angelorum negandum non sit potuisse
transferri_; but St. _Aug._ saith not that it could not be done without
a miracle.
_And 1500 years to people the World, as full a time_, etc.]
_Pag. 36._
_That_ Methusalem _was the longest liv'd of all the children of_ Adam,
etc.] See both these Points cleared by the Author, in _Pseudodox.
Epidemic._ the first _lib. 6. cap. 6._ the other _lib. 7. cap. 3._
_That_ Judas _perished by hanging himself, there is no certainty in
Scripture, though in one place it seems to affirm it, and by a doubtful
word hath given occasion to translate it; yet in another place, in a
more punctual description it makes it improbable, and seems to overthrow
it_.] These two places that seem to contradict one another are _Math.
27. 5._ and _Acts 1. 8._ The doubtful word he speaks of is in the place
of _Matthew_; it is {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}, which signifieth suffocation as well as
hanging, ({~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}, which may signifie literally, after he went
out he was choak'd) but _Erasmus_ translates it, _abiens laqueo se
suspendit_: the words in the _Acts_ are, _When he had thrown down
himself headlong, he burst in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out_;
which seems to differ much from the expression of _Matthew_; yet the
Ancient Writers and Fathers of the Church do unanimously agree that he
was hanged. Some I shall cite. _Anastas. Sinaita, l. 7. Anagog.
Contempl. Unus latro ingratus cum esset typus Diaboli, et Serpentis,
et Judæ, qui se in ligno suffocavit. Gaudentius Brixiens. tract. 13.
de natal. Dom. Mortem debitam laqueo sibimet intulit præparato_, etc.
_Droggotoshen. de sacram. dominic. pass. Jamdiu erat quidem quod
Christo recesserat, et avaritiæ laqueo se suspenderat, sed quod fecerat
in occulto, palam omnibus innotuit. S. Martialis in Ep. ad Tholosanos.
Non sustinuit poenitentiam, donec laqueo mortis seipsum consumpsit.
Ignat. ad Philippens. Diabolus laqueum ei ostendit, et suspendium
docuit. Leo Serm. 3. de passion.----Ut quia facinus omnem mensuram
ultionis excesserat, te haberet impietas tua judicem te pateretur sua
pæna Carnificem. Theodoret. lib. 1. hæretic. fabul. Ille protinus
strangulatus est, quæ fuit merces ejus proditionis. Chrysostom. Hom. 3.
de proditore. Pependit Coelum Terramque intermedius vago funere
suffocatus, et cum flagitio suo tumefacta, viscera crepuerunt, etc.
Bernard. Serm. 8. in Psal. 9. Judas in Aere crepuit medius._
1. There are those that are so particular, that they acquaint us with
the manner, as _that it was done with a Cord. Antiochus Laurensis, Spem
omnem a se cum abjecisset, insiliente in eum inimico (sc. Diabolo)
funiculo sibi præfocavit gulam. Oecumen. in Act. Fracto funiculo quo
erat suffocatus decidit in terram præcipitio._ 2. _That it was done on
a_ Fig-Tree, _Beda. Portam David egredientibus fons occurrit in Austrum
per vallem directus, ad cujus medietatem ab occasu Judas se suspendisse
narratur: Nam et ficus magna ibi et vetustissima stat._
Juvenc. _lib. 4. Hist. Evangelic_.
_Exorsusq; suas laqueo sibi sumere pænas,
Informem rapuit ficus de vertice mortem._
3. Some acquaint us with the time when it was done, _viz. the next day
after he had given the kiss_. So _Chrysostom. Homil. 1. de proditor. et
Mysterio Coen. Dominic. Guttur prophanum quod hodie Christo extendis
ad osculum, crastino es illud extensurus ad laqueum_. But there are two,
that is _Euthymius_ and _Oecumenius_, that tell us, _that the hanging
did not kill him_, but that either the Rope broke, or that he was cut
down, and afterwards cast himself down headlong, as it is related in the
before mentioned place of the _Acts_: _Agnitus à quibusdam depositus est
ne præfocaretur, denique postquam in secreto quodam loco modico vixisset
tempore præceps factus sive præcipitatus, inflatus diruptus, ac diffisus
est medius, et effusa sunt omnia viscera ejus; ut in_ Actis. _Euthym._
cap. 67. _in Math. Judas suspendio è vita non decessit, sed supervixit,
dejectus est enim prius quam præfocaretur, idque Apotolorum Acta
indicant, quod pronus crepuit medius_. Oecumen. in Act. And this may
serve to reconcile these two seemingly disagreeing Scriptures.
_Pag. 37._
_That our Fathers after the Flood erected the Tower of_ Babel.] For this
see what the Author saith in his _Pseudodox. Epidemic_. l. 7, cap. 6.
_And cannot but commend the judgment of_ Ptolemy.] He means of
_Ptolemæus Philadelphus_, who founded the Library of _Alexandria_, which
he speaks of in the next Section. He was King of _Egypt_; and having
built and furnish'd that Library with all the choicest Books he could
get from any part of the world, and having good correspondence with
_Eleazer_ the high Priest of the _Jews_, by reason that he had released
the _Jews_ from Captivity, who were taken by his Predecessor _Ptolemæus
Lagi_; he did by the advice of _Demetrius Phalereus_ the _Athenian_,
whom he had made his Library-Keeper, write to _Eleazer_, desiring him
that he would cause the Books of the _Jews_, which contained their Laws,
to be translated for him into Greek, that he might have them to put into
his Library: to which the Priest consents; and for the King's better
satisfaction, sends to him Copies of the Books, and with the same 72
Interpreters skilled both in the Greek and Hebrew Language, to translate
them for him into Greek; which afterwards they performed. This is for
certain; but whether they translated only the _Pentateuch_, as St.
_Jerome_ would have it, or together with the Books of the Prophets also,
as _Leo de Castro_ and _Baronius_ contend, I undertake not to determine:
but as to that part of the story, that these Interpreters were put into
so many several Cells, whilst they were about the work of translation;
and notwithstanding they were thus severed, that they all translated it
_totidem verbis_; it is but reason to think with St. _Jerome_
(notwithstanding the great current of Authority against him) that it is
no better than a fable.
_The Alcoran of the Turks_ (_I speak without prejudice_) _is an
ill-composed piece, containing in it vain and ridiculous errors in
Philosophy_, etc.] It is now in every mans hand, having been lately
translated into English; I shall therefore observe but these few
particulars in it, in regard the book it self is so common; and indeed
they are not mine own, but _Lipsius_ his observations. He begins, _O
nugas, O deliria! primum_ (saith he) _commentus est, Deum unum solidumq;
({~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} Græci exprimunt) eundemq; incorporeum esse. Christum non
Deum, sed magnum vatem et prophetam; se tamen majorem, et proxime à Deo
missum, præmia qui ipsum audient Paradisum, qui post aliquot annorum
millia reserabitur, ibi quatuor flumina lacte, vino, melle, aqua fluere,
ibi palatia et ædificia gemmata atque aurata esse, carnes avium
suavissimarum, fructus omne genus quos sparsi jacentesque sub umbra
arborum edent: sed caput fælicitatis, viros foeminasque, majores
solito magnis Genitalibus assidua libidine, et ejus usu sine tædio aut
fatigatione._ These and some others that are in the Alcoran he reckons
up. _Sed et Physica quoq; miranda_ (saith he) _nam facit Solem et Lunam
in equis vehi, illum autem in aquam calidam vespere mergi, et bene lotum
ascendere atque oriri, Stellas in aere è catenis aureis pendere: terram
in bovini cornus cuspide stabilitum, et agitante se bove ac succutiente
fieri terræ motum; hominem autem ex hirundine aut sanguisuga nasci_,
etc. Just. Lips. _Monit. et exempl. Politic._ cap. 3.
_Sect. 23. Pag. 38._
_I believe besides_ Zoroaster _there were divers others that wrote
before Moses_.] _Zoroaster_ was long before _Moses_, and of great name; he
was the father of _Ninus, Justin. lib. 1_. _Si quamlibet modicum
emolumentum probaveritis; ego ille sim Carinondas vel Damigeron, vel is
Moses, vel Joannes, vel Apollonius, vel ipse Dardanus, vel quicunq;
alius_ post Zoroastrem _et Hostanem, inter Magos celebratus est_.
Apuleius _in_ Apol.
_Sect. 24. Pag. 38._
_Others with as many groans deplore the combustion of the Library at_
Alexandria.] This was that Library before spoken of, set up by
_Ptolemæus Philadelphus_; in which 'tis reported by _Ammianus
Marcellinus_ there were 700,000 volumes; it was burnt by _Jul. Cæsar's_
means, whose Navy being environed before _Alexandria_, he had no means
to keep off the Enemy, but by flinging of fire, which at length caught
the Library and consumed it, as _Plutarch_ hath it in _Vita Cæsaris_:
but notwithstanding we have no reason to believe it was quite consumed,
because _Sueton_. in _Claudius_, tells us, that that Emperour added
another to it; and there must be somewhat before, if it were an
addition; but true it is, too many of the Books perished; to repair
which loss, care was taken by _Domitian_ the Emperour, as the same
_Sueton._ and _Aurel. Victor._ do relate.
_I would not omit a Copy of_ Enoch's _Pillars, had they many nearer
Authors than_ Josephus, _etc._] For this the Story is, that _Enoch_, or
his father, _Seth_, having been inform'd by _Adam_, that the world was
to perish once by water, and a second time by fire, did cause two
Pillars to be erected, the one of Stone against the water, and another
of Brick against the fire; and that upon those Pillars was engraven all
such Learning as had been delivered to, or invented by mankind; and that
thence it came that all knowledge and learning was not lost by means of
the Floud, by reason that one of the Pillars (though the other perished)
did remain after the Floud, and _Josephus_ witnesseth, till his time,
_lib. 1. Antiq. Judaic_. cap. 3.
_Of those three great inventions of_ Germany, _there are two which are
not without their incommodities._] Those two he means are _Printing_ and
_Gunpowder_, which are commonly taken to be _German_ Inventions; but
Artillery was in _China_ above 1500 years since, and Printing long
before it was in _Germany_, if we may believe _Juan Concales Mendosa_ in
his _Hist._ of _China, lib. 3. cap. 15, 16_. The incommodities of these
two inventions, are, well described by _Sam. Daniel_, lib. 6. of the
Civil Wars.
_Fierce_ Nemesis, _mother of fate and change,
Sword-bearer of th' eternal providence,
Turns her stern look at last into the West,
As griev'd to see on Earth such happy rest;_
_And for_ Pandora _calleth presently_,
Pandora Jove's _fair gift that first deceived
Poor_ Epimetheus _in his imbecility.
That though he had a wondrous boon received,
By means whereof curious mortality
Was of all former quiet quite bereaved.
To whom being come deckt with all qualities,
The wrathful goddess breaks out in this wise:_
_Dost thou not see in what secure estate,
Those flourishing fair Western parts remain?
As if they had made covenant with fate,
To be exempted free from others pain,
At one with their desires, friends with debate,
In peace with Pride, content with their own gain.
Their bounds contain their mindes, their mindes applyed
To have their bonds with plenty beautified._
_Devotion (Mother of Obedience)
Bears such a hand on their credulity,
That it abates the spirit of eminence,
And busies them with humble piety:
For see what works, what infinite expence,
What Monuments of zeal they edifie,
As if they would, so that no stop were found,
Fill all with Temples, make all holy ground._
_But we must cool this all-believing zeal,
That hath enjoy'd so fair a turn so long_, etc.
_Dislike of this first by degrees shall steal,
As upon souls of men perswaded wrong;
And that the sacred power which thus hath wrought,
Shall give her self the sword to cut her throat._
_Go therefore thou with all thy stirring train
Of swelling Sciences (the gifts of grief)
Go loose the links of that soul-binding chain,
Enlarge this uninquisitive Belief:
Call up mens spirits, that simpleness retain,
Enter their hearts, and knowledge make the Thief
To open all the Doors to let in Light,
That all may all things see but what is right._
_Opinion arm against opinion (grown)
Make new-born contradictions still arise,
As if Thebes Founder_ (Cadmus) _tongues had sown
Indent of teeth, for greater mutinies:
Bring new defended faith against faith known,
Weary the soul with contrarieties,
Till all Religion become Retrograde,
And that fair lye the mask of sin be made:_
_And better to effect a speedy end,
Let there be found two fatal Instruments,
The one to publish, th' other to defend [SN: Printing]
Impious contention, and proud discontents:
Make that instamped characters may send
Abroad to thousands, thousand mens intents;
And in a moment may dispatch much more,
Than could a world of pens perform before;_
_Whereby all quarrels, titles, secrecies,
May unto all be presently made known,
Factions prepar'd, parties allur'd to rise,
Seditions under fair pretences sown;
Whereby the vulgar may become so wise
That with a self-presumption overgrown,
They may of deepest mysteries debate,
Controul their betters, censure acts of State._
_And then when this dispersed mischief shall
Have brought confusion in each mystery,
Call'd up contempts of State in general,
And ripen'd the humour of impiety,
Then take the other engine wherewithal [SN: Guns]
They may torment their self-wrought misery;
And scourge each other in so strange a wise,
As time or tyrants never could devise_, etc.
See _Bellermontan._ in his _Dissertat. politic.
dissert._ 29. and 30.
For the other Invention, the Latine Annotator doubts whether the Author
means Church-Organs, or Clocks? I suppose he means Clocks, because I
find that Invention reckon'd by a _German_, with the other two, as a
remarkable one. It is by _Busbequius_, speaking of the Turks, who hath
these words: _Testes majores minoresque bombardæ, multaque alia quæ ex
nostris excogitata ipsi ad se avertunt; at libros tamen typis
excuderent, horologia in publico haberent, nondum adduci potuerunt._
_Epist. Legat. Turcic._ I suppose if he had known any Invention which
next to the other two had been greater than this, he would not have
named this, and this being the next considerable, we have no cause to
doubt but the Author meant it.
_To maintain the Trade and Mystery of Typographers._] Of this _Cunæus_
in his _Satyre Sardi voenates_. _Qui bis in anno nomen suum ad
Germanorum nundinas non transmittit, eruditionem suam in ordinem coactam
credit, itaq; nunquam tot fungi una pluvia nascuntur, quot nunc libri
uno die_.
_Sect. 25. Pag. 40._
_The Turk in the bulk that he now stands, is beyond all hope of
conversion._] That is, in respect of his great strength, against which
it is not probable the Christians will prevail, as it is observed by
_Monsieur de Silhon_. _La Race des Ottomans_ (saith he) _quæ oste a Dieu
la Religion qu'il a revelee, et aux hommes la liberte que le droit des
Gens leur laisse a fait tant de progres depuis trois Cens et quelques
annees qu'il semble qu'elle n'ait plus rien a craindre de dehorse, et
que son empire ne puisse perir que par la corruption de dedans, et par
la dissolution des parties qui composent un corps si vaste. Mr. de
Silhon en son Minist. D'Estat. l. 1. c._
_None can more justly boast of persecutions, and glory in the number and
valour of martyrs._] Of the fortitude of the Christians in this
particular, _Minutius Felix_, in the person of the Ethnique, hath these
words, _Per mira stultitia et incredibili audacia spernunt tormenta
præsentia, dum incerta metuunt et futura; et dum mori post mortem
timent, interim mori non timent._ And afterwards, when he speaks in the
person of the Christian, he saith, that Christian women and children
have in this surpassed _Scævola_ and _Regulus_: _Viros_ (saith he) _cum
Mutio vel cum Atilio Regulo comparo: pueri et mulierculæ nostræ cruces
et Tormenta, feros et omnes suppliciorum terriculas inspirata patientia
doloris illudunt_. Minut. _in_ Octav. _vide Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. 1.
c. 23, 24_.
_If we shall strictly examine the circumstances and requisites which_
Aristotle _requires to true and perfect valour, we shall find the name
onely in his Master_ Alexander, (_that is, no more than the name) and as
little in that Roman worthy_ Julius Cæsar.] _Aristot. 3. Ethic. cap. 6._
amongst other requisites, requires to valour, that it keep a mediocrity
betwixt audacity and fear; that we thrust not our selves into danger
when we need not; that we spare not to shew our valour when occasion
requires: he requires for its proper object, Death; and to any death, he
prefers death in War, because thereby a man profits his Country and
Friends; and that he calls _mors honesta_, an honest or honourable
death: and thereupon he defines a valiant man to be, _Is qui morte
honesta proposita, iisq; omnibus quæ cum sint repentina mortem adfuerunt
metu vacat_. So that by the Author's saying, there was onely the Name in
_Alexander_, he means only that which is rendred in the two last words,
_metu vacans_, and not the rest that goes to make up the definition of a
valiant man, which is very truly affirmed of _Alexander_, who exposed
himself to hazzard many times when there was no cause for it: As you may
read in _Curtius_, he did, in the siege of _Tyrus_, and many other ways.
_Cettuy-cy semble rechercher et courir à force les dangiers comme un
impetueux torrent, qui choque et attaque sans discretion, et sans chois
tout ce qu'il rencontre_, saith _Montaign_, speaking of _Alexander, l.
2. des Ess. cap. 34_. And for _Cæsar_, it cannot be denied, but in his
Wars he was many times (though not so generally as _Alexander_) more
adventrous than reason military could warrant to him; and therefore
_Lucan_ gives him no better Character than
_Acer et indomitus quo spes quoq; ira vocasset
Ferre manum, etc._
Lucan. lib. 1.
To instance in some Particulars: with what an inconsiderable strength
did he enterprize the conquest of _Egypt_, and afterwards went to
attaque the forces of _Scipio_ and _Juba_, which were ten times more
than his own? after the Battle of _Pharsalia_, having sent his Army
before into _Asia_, and crossing the _Hellespont_ with one single
Vessel, he there meets _Lucius Cassius_ with ten men of War, he makes up
to him, summons him to render, and he does it. In the famous and furious
siege of _Alexia_, where he had 80,000 men to make defence against him,
and an Army of one hundred and nine thousand Horse, and two hundred and
forty thousand foot, all marching towards him, to raise his siege; yet
for all that he would not quit the siege, but first fought with those
without, and obtain'd a great Victory over them, and soon afterwards
brought the besieged to his mercy.
_Sect. 26. Pag. 41._
_The Council of_ Constance _condemns_ John Husse _for an Heretick, the
Stories of his own Party style him a Martyr_.] _John Husse_ did agree
with the Papists against us in the Point of Invocation of Saints,
Prayers and Sacrifice for the Dead, free Will, Good Works, confession of
Sins, seven Sacraments, etc. _Gordon. Hunt. l. contr. 3. de Sacr. Euch.
cap. 17_. Yet was he condemned for maintaining certain Articles said by
that Council to be heretical and seditious, and was burnt for Heresie.
Now as I will not say he was an Heretick, so can I not maintain that he
was a Martyr, if it be but for this one Article, which in the 15. Sess.
of that Council was objected against him, which he did acknowledge, but
would not recal, _i.e._ _Nullus est Dominus civilis, dum est in peccato
mortali_. If that Doctrine should be believed, we shall have little
obedience to Civil Magistrates; and without that, how miserable is
humane condition? That which begat compassion towards _Husse_ in those
of his own Party was, that he had a safe conduct from the Emperour
_Sigismund_; and therefore it was, say they, a violation of publick
faith in the _Council_ and _Emperour_ in putting him to death.
_That wise heathen_ Socrates _that suffered on a fundamental point of
Religion, the Unity of God_.] That _Socrates_ suffered on this Point,
divers Christian Writers do object to the Ethniques, as _Justin Martyr_,
Apol. 2. _Euseb. l. 5. de præparat. Evangelic. c. 14. Tertul._ in
_Apolog._ cap. 14. and _Lactant. de justitia_, cap. 15. whose words
are these: _Plato quidem multa de uno Deo locutus est, à quo ait
constitutum esse mundum, sed nihil de Religione; somniaverat enim Deum,
non cognoverat. Quod si justitiæ defensionem vel ipse vel quilibet alius
implere voluisset, imprimis Deorum Religiones evertere debuit, quia
contrariæ pietati. Quod quidem Socrates quia facere tentavit in carcerem
conjectus est, ut jam tunc appareret quid esset futurum iis hominibus
qui justitiam veram defendere Deoque singulari servire coepissent_.
_I have often pitied the miserable Bishop that suffered in the cause
of_ Antipodes.] The suffering was, that he lost his Bishoprick for
denying the _Antipodes_. Vid. _Aventin. in Hist. Boio_. Besides him,
there were other Church-men of great note, that denyed _Antipodes_, as
_Lactantias_, _Augustin_, and _Bede_.
_Sect. 27. Pag. 43._
_I hold that God can do all things: How he should work contradictions, I
do not understand, yet dare not therefore deny._] Who would not think
the Author had taken this from Mr. _Montaign_, whose words are, _Il m'a
tousjours semble qu'a un homme Christien, cette sorte de parler est
plein d'indiscretion et d'irreverence [Dieu ne se peut disdire,] [Dieu
ne peut faire cecy ou cela]. Je ne trouve pas bon d'enfermer ainsi la
puissance divine sous les loix de nostre parole. Et l'apparence qui s'
offre à nous en ses propositions, il la faudroit representer plus
reverement, et plus Religieusement._ Liv. 2. des Ess. c. 12.
_I cannot see why the Angel of God should question_ Esdras _to recal the
time past, if it were beyond his own power, or that God should pose
mortality in that which he was not able to perform himself._] Sir _K.
Digby_ in his Notes upon this place saith, There is no contradiction in
this, because he saith it was but putting all things that had motion
into the same state they were in at that moment, unto which time was to
be reduced back, and from thence letting it travel on again by the same
motions, _etc._ which God could do. But under favour, the contradiction
remains, if this were done that he mentions; for Time depends not at all
upon motion, but has a being altogether independent of it, and therefore
the same revolution would not bring back the same time, for that was
efflux'd before; as in the time of _Joshua_, when the Sun stood still,
we cannot but conceive, though there were no motion of the Sun, but that
there was an efflux of Time, otherwise, how could the Text have it,
_That there was not any day, before or after, that was so long as that?_
for the length of it must be understood in respect of the flux of time.
The reasoning of Sir _Kenelme_ is founded upon the opinion of _Aristot_.
who will needs have it, that Time cannot be without mutation; he gives
this for a reason, because when we have slept, and cannot perceive any
mutation to have been, we do therefore use to connect the time of our
sleeping and of our awaking together, and make but one of it: to which
it may be answered, although some mutation be necessary, that we may
mark the mix of time, it doth not therefore follow that the mutation is
necessary to the flux it self.
_Sect. 28. Pag. 43._
_I excuse not_ Constantine _from a fall off his Horse, or a mischief
from his enemies, upon the wearing those nails_, etc.] _Hac de re
videatur P. Diac. hist. miscell._
_Sect. 29. Pag. 44._
_I wonder how the curiosity of wiser heads could pass that great and
indisputable miracle, the cessation of Oracles._] There are three
opinions touching the manner how the predictions of these Oracles were
perform'd: Some say by vapour, some by the intelligences, or
influences, of the Heavens, and others say by the assistance of the
Devils. Now the indisputable miracle the Author speaks of, is, that they
ceas'd upon the coming of Christ; and it is generally so believed; and
the Oracle of _Delphos_ delivered to _Augustus_, mentioned by the Author
in this Section, is brought to prove it, which is this:
_Me puer Hebroeus divos Deus ipse gubernans
Cedere sede jubet, tristemq; redire sub orcum.
Aris ergo dehinc tacitus discedito nostris._
But yet it is so far from being true that their cessation was
miraculous, that the truth is, there never were any predictions given by
those Oracles at all.
That their cessation was not upon the coming of Christ, we have luculent
testimony out of _Tully_, in his _2. lib. de Divinat._ which he writ
many years before Christ was born; who tells us that they were silent
(and indeed he never thought they were otherwise) long before that time,
insomuch that they were come into contempt: _Cur isto modo jam oracula
Delphis non eduntur, non modo nostra oetate, sed jamdiu jam ut nihil
possit esse contemptius_. So that for that of _Delphos_, which was the
most famous of them all, we see we have no reason to impute the
cessation of it to Christ; Why therefore should we do so for any of the
rest?
For their predictions, let us consider the three several ways before
mentioned, whereby they are supposed to operate; and from thence see
whether it be probable that any such Oracles ever were.
The first Opinion is, that it was by exhalation or vapour drawn up from
the earth; and gives this for a reason of their being, that they were
for a time nourished by those exhalations; and when those ceased, and
were exhausted, the Oracles famish'd and died for want of their
accustom'd sustenance: this is the far-fetcht reason given by _Plutarch_
for their defect; but 'twas not devised by him, but long before, as
appears, in that _Tully_ scoffs at it, _lib. de divinat_. _De vino aut
salsamento putes loqui_ (saith he) _quæ evanescunt vetustate_. This
seem'd absurd to others, who do therefore say this was not to be
attributed to any power of the Earth, but to the power of the Heavens,
or _Intelligences Coelestial_; to certain aspects whereof, they say,
the Statua's of those Oracles were so adapted, that they might divine
and foretel future events. But yet to others, this way seemeth as absurd
as the others; for, say they, admitting that there were an efficacy in
the Heavens, more than in the Earth; yet how can it be that men should
come by the skill to fit the Statua's to the Aspects or influences of
the Heavens? or if at any time they had such skill, why should not the
same continue the rather, because men are more skilled in the motions
of the Heavens, of later than in the former time? Again, they do not see
how it should be that the cause should be of less excellency than the
effect; for if a man (say they) can by his industry make such Oracles,
why can he not produce the same effect in another man? for if you affirm
that the Heavens influence is requisite, they will tell you that
Influence may happen as well to a man, as to a Statue of wood or stone.
Therefore the third sort being unsatisfied, which either of the former
ways conclude, that this was perform'd by the Devil; but for that it
will appear as contrary to Reason and Philosophy, as either of the
former; for Philosophy teacheth that things singular, or individual, are
to be known only by sense, or by such an Intellect, as doth know by its
Essence; and Theology teacheth that God only knoweth the heart, and that
the Devil doth not know by sense, nor by essence; and since 'tis
admitted by all, that most of the answers that were pretended to be
given by those Oracles, were _de rebus singularibus_, or _individuis_;
it is evident that these predictions were not perform'd by Devils. How
then? why those predictions which the ignorant Heathen took to come from
Heaven, and some Christians (not less ignorant) from the Devil, was
nothing but the jugling and impostures of the Priests, who from within
the Statua's gave the answers; which Princes connived at, that they
might upon occasion serve their turns upon the ignorance of the people;
and the learned men, for fear of their Princes, durst not speak against
it. _Lucian_ hath noted it, and so a more Authentick Author, _Minut.
Felix._, in _Octav. Authoritatem quasi præsentis numinis consequuntur
dum inspirantur interim vatibus_. But in process of time, the people
grew less credulous of their Priests, and so the Oracles became to be
silent: _Cum jam_ (saith he) _Apollo versus facere desisset, cujus tunc
cautum illud et ambiguum deficit oraculum: Cum et politiores homines et
minus creduli esse cæperunt_. Sir _H. Blount_ in his _Levantine_ voyage,
saith he saw the Statua of _Memnon_ so famous of old; he saith it was
hollow at top, and that he was told by the _Egyptians_ and Jews there
with him, that they had seen some enter there, and come out at the
Pyramid, two Bows shoot off; then (saith he) I soon believ'd the Oracle,
and believe all the rest to have been such; which indeed, is much easier
to imagine than that it was perform'd by any of the three wayes before
mentioned. St. _Aug._ hath composed a Book, where he handleth this point
at large, and concludeth that the Devils can no more foretel things
come, than they are able to discern the thoughts that are within us.
_Aug. lib. de Scientia Dæmon._
_Till I laughed my self out of it with a piece of_ Justin, _where he
delivers that the Children of_ Israel _for being scabbed were banished
out of_ Egypt.] These words of _Justin_ are, _Sed cum scabiem Ægyptii
et pruriginem paterentur, responso moniti, eum (se. Moysen) cum ægris,
ne pestis ad plures serperet, terminis Ægypti pellunt. l. 36._ But he is
not singular in this, for _Tacitus_ tells us, _Hist. lib. 5. Plurimi
authores consentiunt orta per Ægyptum tabe quoe corpora foeduret,
Regem (Ochirum)_ (he means _Pharaoh_) _adito Hammonis oraculo remedium
petentem purgare. Regnum et id genus hominum----alias in terras avertere
jussum._ Et paulo inferius, _Quod ipsos scabies quondam turpaverat_.
_Sect. 30. Pag. 45._
_I have ever believed, and do now know that there are Witches._] What
sort of Witches they were that the Author knew to be such. I cannot
tell; for those which he mentions in the next Section, which proceed
upon the principles of Nature, none have denyed that such there are;
against such it was, that the _Lex Julia de veneficiis_ was made, that
is, those, _Qui noxio poculo aut impuris medicuminibus aliquem fuerint
insectati. At. ab Alex. Gen. Dier._ l. 5. c. 1. But for the opinion that
there are Witches which co-operate with the Devil, there are Divines of
great note, and far from any suspition of being irreligious, that do
oppose it. Certainly there is no ground to maintain their being from the
story of Oracles, as may be seen from what hath been said on the
precedent Section.
_Nor have the power to be so much as Witches._] _Pliny_ saith, so it
fared with _Nero_, who was so hot in pursuit of the Magick Arts, that he
did dedicate himself wholly to it, and yet could never satisfie himself
in that kind, though he got all the cunning men he could from the East,
for that purpose. _Plin._ l. 3. _Nat. Hist._ c. 1.
_Pag. 46._
_By conjunction with the Devil._] Though, as the Author saith, it be
without a possibility of Generation, yet there are great men that hold,
that such carnality is performed; as _August, in Levit. Aquin. l. 2. de
qu. 73. art. ad 2._ and _Justin Martyr, Apol. 1._
_Sect. 33. Pag. 48._
_It is no new opinion of the Church of_ Rome, _but an old one of_
Pythagoras _and_ Plato.] This appears by _Apuleius_ a Platonist, in his
Book _de Deo Socratis_, and elsewhere. See _Mede's Apostasie of the
latter times_, where out of this and other Authors, you shall see
collected all the learning _de Geniis_.
_Pag. 50._
_I cannot with those in that great Father securely interpret the work of
the first day_, Fiat lux, _to the creation of Angels_.] This great
Father is S. _Chrysost. Homil. in Genes_. But yet 'tis his opinion, as
also of _Athanasius_ and _Theodoret_, that there is express mention of
the creation of Angels, so that they need not rest upon this place,
which they admit to be somewhat obscure. The place which they take to be
express, is that of the 130 _Psalm_, where _David_ begins to speak of
the Majesty of God, in this manner: _Confessionem sive majestatem et
decorem induisti, amictus lumine sicut vestimento_: Next he speaks of
the Heavens, saying, _Thou hast stretched them out over us like a
Tent._ Then he speaks of the Angels, _Qui facis Angelos tuos spiritus_.
Now if it shall be objected, that this expression is onely of the time
present, and without relation to the Creation: Answer is given by
Divines, that the _Hebrews_ have but three Tenses in their Verbs, the
Preterperfect, Present, and Future Tense; and have not the use of the
Preterimperfect, and Preterpluperfect, as the _Greeks_ and _Latines_
have; whence it ariseth, that the Present Tense with the _Hebrews_, may,
as the sentence will bear it, be translated by the Preterimperfect, as
also by the Preterperfect and Preterpluperfect Tense; and this (they
say) is practised in this very passage, where the Phrase, as it is in
Hebrew, may be rendered as well _qui faciebas_, as _qui facis Angelos_,
etc. Vid. _Hieronym. in Ep. ad Titum, et Thom. Aqu. 1. p. qu. 61. art.
3_. The Latine Annotator saith, the Father meant by the Author, is St.
_Aug._ and quotes him, _l. II. de Civ. Dei_ cap. 9. which place I have
perused, and find the expression there used by St. _Aug._ is but
hypothetical; for these are his words: _Cum enim dixit Fiat lux, et
facta est lux, si rectè in fine luce creatio intelligitur Angelorum_,
etc. Where you see 'tis but with a _Si_, and therefore I conceive the
Author intends not him, but _Chrysostom_.
_Where it subsists alone, 'tis a Spiritual Substance, and may be an
Angel._] _Epicurus_ was of this opinion, and St. _Aug. in Euchirid. ad
Laurentium_.
_Sect. 35. Pag. 52._
Moses _decided that Question, and all is salved with the new term of
Creation._] That is it which _Aristotle_ could not understand; he had
learned that _ex nihilo nihil fit_, and therefore when he found those
that disputed that the World had a beginning, did maintain that it was
generated, and he could not understand any generation, but out of matter
præ-existent _in infinitum_, therefore he took their opinion to be
absurd, and upon that ground principally, concluded the World to be
eternal: whereas, if he had understood that there may be such a thing as
Creation, he had not done it, for that solves his _processus in
infinitum_. Take from _Plato_, that the World had a beginning, and from
_Aristot._ that it was not generated, and you have the (true) Christian
opinion.
_Sect. 36. Pag. 54._
_In our study of Anatomy, there is a mass of mysterious Philosophy, and
such as reduced the very Heathens to Divinity._] So it did _Galen_, who
considering the order, use, and disposition of the parts of the body,
brake forth into these words: _Compono hic profecto Canticam in
creatoris nostri laudem, quod ultra res suas ornare voluit melius quam
ulla arte possent_. Galen, 3. _de usu partium_.
_Sect. 37. Pag. 55._
_I cannot believe the wisdom of_ Pythagoras _did ever positively, and in
a literal sense, affirm his_ Metempsychosis.] In this the opinion of
_Grotius_ is contrary to the Author, who saith this opinion was begotten
by occasion of the opinion of other Philosophers, who in their
discourses of the life that is to be after this, brought such
arguments, _Quæ non magis de homine quam de bestiis procedunt_. And
therefore, saith he, _mirandum non est, si transitum animarum de
hominibus in bestias, de bestiis in homines alii commenti sunt_. _Lib.
2. de ver. Relig. Christ. (vide etiam Annotat. ejusd.)._ But yet there
is a shrewd objection against the opinion of _Pythagoras_, if he did
mean it literally, which is cast in by the Sectators of _Democritus_ and
_Epicurus_, which _Lucretius_ remembers in these Verses:
_Præterea si immortalis natura animaï
Constat, et in corpus nascentibus insinuatur,
Cur super anteactam ætatem meminisse nequimus?
Nec vestigia gestarum rerum ulla tenemus?
Namsi tantopere 'st animi mutata potestas,
Omnis ut actarum excideret retinentia rerum,
Non ut opinor ea ab læto jam longiter errat._
[Lib. 3.]
This Argument, 'tis true, is _pro falso contra falsum_, but yet holds
_ad hominem_ so far, that it is not likely (as the Author saith) but
_Pythagoras_ would observe an absurdity in the consequence of his
Metempsychosis; and therefore did not mean it literally, but desired
only to express the Soul to be immortal, which he, and the other
Philosophers that were of that opinion, who had not heard of Creation,
could not conceive, unless it must be taken for truth, that the soul
were before the body; so saith _Lactantius_ of them. _Non putaverunt
aliter fieri posse ut supersint animæ post corpora, nisi videntur fuisse
ante corpora. De fals. Sap._ c. 18.
_Sect. 41. Pag. 59._
_I do not envy the temper of Crows or Daws._] As _Theophrastus_ did, who
dying, accused Nature for giving them, to whom it could not be of any
concernment, so large a life; and to man, whom it much concern'd, so
short a one. _Cic. Tusc. quæst. l. 3._ How long Daws live, see in _Not.
ad Sect. 41_.
_Sect. 42. Pag. 61._
_Not upon _Cicero's_ ground, because I have liv'd them well._] I suppose
he alludes to an expression in an Epistle of _Cicero_, written in his
Exile, to his wife and children, where he hath these words to his wife:
_Quod reliquum est, te sustenta mea Terentia ut potes, honestissime
viximus, floruimus. Non vitium nostrum sed virtus nos afflixit, peccatum
est nullum nisi quod non unà animum cum ornamentis amisimus_, l. 24, Ep.
4.
_And stand in need of _Eson's_ bath before threescore._] _Eson_ was the
Father of _Jason_, and, at his request, was by _Medea_, by the means of
this Bath, restored to his youth. Ingredients that went into it, and the
description of _Medea's_ performance, _Ovid_ gives you, _l. 7. Metam._
_Interea calido positum medicamen aheno_
_Fervet et exultat, spumisq; tumentibus albet._
_Illic Æmonia radices valle resectas,
Seminaq; et flores, et succos incoquit atros
Adjicet extremo lapides Oriente petitos,
Et quas Oceani refluum mare lavit arenas:
Addidit exceptas lunæ de nocte pruinas,
Et Strigis infames ipsis cum carnibus alas,
Inq; virum soliti vultus mutare ferinos
Ambigui prosecta lupi, nec defuit illi
Squamea Cinyphei tenuis membrana Chelidri,
Vivacisq; jecur cervi; quibus insuper addit
Ora caputq; novem cornicis secula passæ.
His et mille aliis, postquam sine nomine rebus
Propositum instruxit mortali barbara munus
Arenti ramo jampridem mitis olivæ
Omnia confudit, summisq; immiscuit ima.
Ecce vetus calido versatus stipes aheno
Fit viridis primo, nec longo tempore frondes
Induit, et subito gravidis oneratur olivis.
At quacunq; cavo spumas ejecit aheno
Ignis, et in terram guttæ cecidere calentes,
Vernat humus, floresq; et mollia pabula surgunt.
Quæ simulac vidit, stricto Medea recludit
Ense senis jugulum, veteremq; extare cruorem
Passa replet succis, quos postquam combibit Æson,
Aut ore acceptas, aut vulnere, barba comoeq;
Cunitie posita, nigrum rapuere colorem.
Pulsa fugit macies: abeunt pallorq; situsque:
Adjectoq; cavæ supplentur corpore rugæ;
Membraq; luxuriant. Æson miratur, et olim
Ante quater denos hunc se reminiscitur annos,
Dissimilemq; animum subiit, ætate relicta._
[262-293.]
_Sect. 44. Pag. 62._
_Extol the Suicide of_ Cato.] As doth _Seneca_ in several places; but
_Lactantius_ saith, he cast away his life, to get the reputation of a
_Platonick_ Philosopher, and not for fear of _Cæsar_; and 'tis very
probable, he was in no great fear of death, when he slept so securely
the night before his death, as the story reports of him.
_Pag. 63._
_Emori nolo, sed me esse mortuum, nihil curo._ _Were I of_ Cæsar's
_Religion_.] I doubt not, but here is a fault of the Press, and that
instead of _Cæsar_ it should be _Cicero_. I meet not with any such
saying imputed to _Cæsar_, nor any thing like it, but that he preferr'd
a sudden death (in which he had his option) to any other; but I meet
with such a saying in _Cicero_ quoted out of _Epicharmus_ [_Emori nolo,
sed me esse mortuum nihili æstimo._] Where _Cicero_ sustaineth the part
of the _Epicure_ that there is no hurt in being dead, since there
remaineth nothing after it. _Cic. 1. Thusc. qu. non procul ab initio_.
_Sect. 45. Pag. 64._
Or whence _Lucan_ learn'd to say, _Communis mundo superest rogus_, etc.]
Why, _Lucan_ was a Stoique, and 'twas an opinion among them almost
generally, that the world should perish by fire; therefore without doubt
from them he learned it. _Cælum quoque cum omnibus quæ in cælo
continentur, ita ut coepisset desinere, fontium dulci aqua marisve
nutriri, in vim ignis abiturum. Stoicis constans opinio est, quod
consumpto humore mundus hic omnis ignescat._ _Minutius in Octav._ But
_Minutius_ should have excepted _Boetius_, _Possidonius_, _Diogenes
Babylonius_, and _Zeno Sidonius_, who were _Stoiques_, and yet did not
think the world should be destroyed by fire, nor yet by any other means.
_Sect. 46. Pag. 65._
_How shall we interpret _Elias 6000_ years_, etc.?] _Lactant._ is very
positive that the world should last but 6000 years; but his reason for
it is somewhat strange; thus it is, _Quoniam sex diebus cuncta Dei opera
perfecta sunt, per secula sex_, i.e. _annorum sex millia manere in hoc
statu mundum necesse est_. _De Divino præmio_, cap. 14.
_Sect. 47. Pag. 67._
_Ipsa sui pretium virtus sibi, is but a cold principle._] It is a
Stoical principle. _Quæris enim aliquid supra summum, interrogas quid
petam extra virtutem ipsam. Nihil enim habet melius. Pretium sui est._
Senec. _de vit. beat._ c. 19.
_That honest artifice of_ Seneca.] What that article was, is to be seen
in _Senec. l. 1. ep. 11_. _Aliquis vir bonus nobis eligendus est, et
semper ante oculos babendus, ut sic tanquam illo spectante vivamus, et
omnia tanquam illo vidente faciamus._ Et paulo post; _Elige itaq;
Catonem; si hic videtur tibi nimis rigidus, elige remissioris animi
virum Lælium_, etc. which though, as the Author saith, it be an honest
Artifice, yet cannot I but commend the party, and prefer the direction
of him (whoever he were) who in the Margin of my _Seneca_, over against
those words, wrote these: _Quin Deo potius qui semper omnibus omnia
agentibus non tanquam sed reipsa adest, et videt; ac etiam ut Testis,
vindex et punitor est male agentis_.
_I have tried, if I could reach that great Resolution of his (that is of
_Seneca_) to be honest without a thought of Heaven or Hell._]
_Seneca_[6] brags he could do this, in these words: _Si scirem deos
peccata ignoscituros, et homines ignoraturos, adhuc propter vilitatem
peccati peccare erubescerem. Credat Judæus Appela: non ego_.----
[6] _Tho. Aquin. in com. in Boet. de Consolat. prope finem._
_And Atheists have been the onely Philosopher._] That is, if nothing
remain after this life. St. _Aug._ was of this opinion. _Disputabam----
Epicurum accepturum fuisse palmam in animo meo, nisi ego credidissem
post mortem restare animæ vitam_, etc. Aug. _l. 6. conf. cap. 16_.
_Sect. 48. Pag. 68._
_God by a powerful voice shall command them back into their proper
shapes._] So _Minutius_. _Cæterum quis tam stultus est aut brutus, ut
audeat repugnare hominem à Deo ut primum potuit fingi, ita posse denuo
reformari, nihil esse post obitum, et ante ortum nihil fuisse; sicut de
nihilo nasci licuit, ita de nihilo licere reparari. Porro difficilius
est id quod sit incipere, quod quam id quod fuerit iterare. Tu perire
Deo credis, si quid nostris oculis hebetibus subtrahitur. Corpus omne
sive arescit in pulverem sive in humorem solvitur, vel in cinerem
comprimitur vel in nidorem tenuatur, subducitur nobis, sed Deo
elementorum custodi inseruntur. In Octav._ _Vide_ Grot. _de veritate
Relig. Christian. ubi (lib. 2.) solvit objectionem, quod dissoluta
corpora resititui nequeunt._
_Sect. 50. Pag. 71._
_Or conceive a flame that can either prey upon, or purifie the substance
of a soul._] Upon this ground _Psellus lib 1. de Energia Dæmonum_, c. 7
holds, That Angels have bodies, (though he grants them to be as pure, or
more pure than Air is) otherwise he could not apprehend how they should
be tormented in Hell; and it may be upon this ground it was, that the
Author fell into the error of the _Arabians_, mentioned by him, _Sect.
7_.
_Sect. 51. Pag. 73._
_There are as many Hells as _Anaxagoras_ conceited worlds._] I assure my
self that this is false printed, and that instead of _Anaxagoras_ it
should be _Anaxarchus_; for _Anaxagoras_ is reckon'd amongst those
Philosophers that maintain'd a Unity of the world, but _Anaxarchus_
(according to the opinion of _Epicurus_) held there were infinite
Worlds. That is he that caus'd _Alexander_ to weep by telling him that
there were infinite worlds, whereby _Alexander_ it seems was brought out
of opinion of his Geography, who before that time thought there remained
nothing, or not much beyond his Conquests.
_Sect. 54. Pag. 75._
_It is hard to place those souls in Hell._] _Lactantius_ is alike
charitably disposed towards those. _Non sum equidem tam iniquus ut eos
putem divinare debuisse, ut veritatem per seipsos invenirent (quod fieri
ego non posse confiteor) sed hoc ab eis exigo, quod ratione ipse
præstare potuerunt._ Lactant. _de orig. error._ c. 3. which is the very
same with Sir _K. Digbie's_ expression in his Observations on this
place. I make no doubt at all (saith he) but if any follow'd in the
whole tenour of their lives, the dictamens of right reason, but that
their journey was secure to Heaven.
_Sect. 55. Pag. 77._
Aristotle _transgress'd the rule of his own Ethicks._] And so they did
all, as _Lactantius_ hath observed at large. _Aristot._ is said to have
been guilty of great vanity in his Clothes, of Incontinency, of
Unfaithfulness to his Master _Alexander_, etc. But 'tis no wonder in
him, if our great _Seneca_ be also guilty, whom truely notwithstanding
St. _Jerome_ would have him inserted in the Catalogue of Saints, yet I
think he as little deserv'd it, as many of the Heathens who did not say
so well as he did, for I do not think any of them liv'd worse: to trace
him a little. In the time of the Emperour _Claudius_ we find he was
banish'd for suspition of incontinency with _Julia_ the daughter of
_Germanicus_. If it be said that this proceeded meerly from the spight
of _Messalina_, (and that _Lipsius_ did not complement with him in that
kind _Apostrophe, Non expetit in te hæc culpa, O Romani nominis et
Sapientiæ magne. Sol. Not. in Tacit._) why then did she not cause him
to be put to death, as well as she did the other, who was her Husbands
Niece? This for certain, whatever his life were, he had _paginam
lascivam_, as may appear by what he hath written, _de Speculorum usu, l.
1. Nat. Qu. cap. 16_. Which (admitting it may in a Poet, yet) how it
should be excus'd in a Philosopher I know not. To look upon him in his
exile, we find that then he wrote his Epistle _De Consolat._ to
_Polybius_, _Claudius_ his creature (as honest a man as _Pallas_ or
_Narcissus_) and therein he extols him and the Emperour to the Skies; in
which he did grosly prevaricate, and lost much of his reputation, by
seeking a discharge of his exile by so sordid a means. Upon _Claudius_
his marriage with _Agrippina_, he was recall'd from Banishment by her
means, and made _Prætor_, then he forgets the Emperour, having no need
of him, labours all he can to depress him and the hopeful _Brittanicus_,
and procured his Pupil _Nero_ to be adopted and design'd Successor, and
the Emperours own Son to be disinherited; and against the Emperour whom
he so much praised when he had need of him, after his death he writes a
scurrilous Libel. In _Nero's_ Court, how ungratefully doth he behave
himself towards _Agrippina_! who although she were a wicked woman, yet
she deserv'd well of him, and of her Son too, who yet never was at rest
till he had taken away her life, and upon suspition cast in against her
by this man. Afterwards not to mention that he made great haste to grow
rich, which should not be the business of a Philosopher, towards _Nero_
himself, how well did it become his Philosophy to play the Traitor
against him, and to become a complice in the conspiracy of _Piso_? And
then as good a Tragedian as he was, me thinks he doth in _extremo actu
deficere_, when he must needs perswade _Paulina_, that excellent Lady
his wife, to die with him: what should move him to desire it? it could
in his opinion be no advantage to her, for he believ'd nothing of the
immortality of the soul; I am not satisfied with the reason of
_Tacitus_, _Ne sibi unice dilectam ad injurius relinqueret_, because he
discredits it himself, in almost the next words, where he saith, _Nero_
bore her no ill will at all, (and would not suffer her to die) it must
surely be then, because he thought he had not liv'd long enough (being
not above 114 years old, so much he was) and had not the fortitude to
die, unless he might receive some confirmation in it by her example. Now
let any man judge what a precious Legacy it is that he bequeaths by his
nuncupative will to his friends in _Tacitus_. _Conversus ad amicos_
(saith he) _quando meritis eorum referre gratiam prohiberetur, quod unum
jam tamen et pulcherrimum habebat, imaginem vitæ suæ relinquere
testatur_. It cannot be denyed of him, that he hath said very well; but
yet it must as well be affirmed, that his Practice hath run counter to
his Theory, to use the Author's phrase.
_The_ Scepticks _that affirmed they knew nothing_.] The ancient
Philosophers are divided into three sorts, _Dogmatici_, _Academici_,
_Sceptici_; the first were those that delivered their opinions
positively; the second left a liberty of disputing _pro et contra_; the
third declared that there was no knowledge of any thing, no not of this
very proposition, that there is no knowledge, according to that,
_----Nihil sciri siquis putat, id quoq; nescit
An sciri possit, quod se nil scire fatetur._
_The Duke of_ Venice _that weds himself to the Sea by a Ring of Gold_,
etc.] The Duke and Senate yearly on _Ascension-day_ use to go in their
best attire to the Haven of _Lido_, and there by throwing a Ring into
the water, do take the Sea as their spouse. _Vid. Hist. Ital._ by _Will
Thomas Cambrobrit_. _Busbequius_ reports that there is a custom amongst
the Turks, which they took from the Greek Priests, not much unlike unto
this. _Cum Græcorum sacerdotibus mos sit certo veris tempore aquas
consecrando mare clausum veluti reserare, ante quod tempus non facile se
committunt fluctibus; ab ea Ceremonia nec Turcæ absunt._ Busb. _Ep. 3.
legat. Tursic._
_But the Philosopher that threw his money into the Sea, to avoid
avarice_, etc.] This was _Apollonius Thyaneus_, who threw a great
quantity of Gold into the Sea with these words, _Pessundo divitias, ne
pessundarem ab illis_. _Polycrates_ the Tyrant of _Samos_ cast the best
Jewel he had into the Sea, that thereby he might learn to compose
himself against the vicissitude of Fortune.
_There go so many circumstances to piece up one good action._] To make
an action to be good, all the causes that concur must be good; but one
bad amongst many good ones, is enough to make it vitious, according to
the rule, _Bonum ex causa integra, malum ex partiali_.
_Sect. 56. Pag. 78._
_The vulgarity of those judgements that wrap the Church of God in_
Strabo's _Cloak, and restrain it unto_ Europe.] 'Tis _Strabonis tunica_
in the translation, but _Chalmydi_ would do better, which is the proper
expression of the word that _Strabo_ useth: it is not _Europe_, but the
known part of the world that _Strabo_ resembleth to a Cloak, and that is
it the Author here alludeth to; but we have no reason to think that the
resemblance of _Strabo_ is very proper, _Vid._ Sir _Hen. Savil. in not.
ad Tac. in vita Agricolæ_.
_Sect. 57. Pag. 79._
_Those who upon a rigid Application of the Law, sentence_ Solomon _unto
damnation_, etc.] St. _Aug._ upon _Psal._ 126. and in many other places,
holds that _Solomon_ is damned. Of the same opinion is _Lyra_, in 2
_Reg._ c. 7. and _Bellarm. 1 Tom. lib. 1. Controv._ c. 5.
THE SECOND PART
_Sect. 1. Pag. 83._
_I wonder not at the_ French _for their Frogs, Snails and Toad-stools_.]
Toad-stools are not peculiar to the _French_; they were a great delicacy
among the _Romans_, as appears every where in _Martial_. It was
conceived the Emperor _Claudius_ received his death by Poyson, which he
took in Mushroom. _Suet._ and _Tac._
_Sect. 2. Pag. 87._
_How among so many millions of faces, there should be none alike._] It
is reported there have been some so much alike, that they could not be
distinguished; as King _Antiochus_, and one _Antemon_, a Plebeian of
_Syria_, were so much alike, that _Laodice_, the Kings widow, by
pretending this man was the King, dissembled the death of the King so
long, till according to her own mind, a Successor was chosen. _Cn.
Pompeius_, and one _Vibius_ the Orator; _C. Plancus_, and _Rubrius_ the
Stage-player; _Cassius Severus_ the Orator, and one _Mirmello_; _M.
Messala Censorius_, and one _Menogenes_, were so much alike, that unless
it were by their habit, they could not be distinguished: but this you
must take upon the Faith of _Pliny_ (_lib. 7. c. 12._) and _Solinus_,
(_cap. 6._) who as this Author tells elsewhere, are Authors not very
infallible.
_Sect. 3. Pag. 89._
_What a_ {~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} _and hot skirmish is betwixt_ S. _and_ T. _in
Lucian_.] In his _Dialog. judicium vocalium_, where there is a large
Oration made to the Vowels, being Judges, by _Sigma_ against _Tau_,
complaining that _Tau_ has bereaved him of many words, which should
begin with _Sigma_.
_Their Tongues are sharper than_ Actius _his razor_.] _Actius Navius_
was chief Augur, who (as the story saith) admonishing _Tarqu. Priscus_
that he should not undertake any action of moment, without first
consulting the Augur, the King (shewing that he had little faith in his
skill) demanded of him, whether by the rules of his skill, what he had
conceived in his mind might be done: to whom when _Actius_ had answered
it might be done, he bid him take a Whetstone which he had in his hand,
and cut it in two with a Razor; which accordingly the Augur did. _Livy._
And therefore we must conceive it was very sharp. Here the Adage was
cross'd, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, i.e. _novacula in cotem. Vid. Erasm.
Chiliad_.
_Pag. 90._
_It is not meer Zeal to Learning, or devotion to the Muses, that wiser
Princes Patronize the Arts_, etc. _but a desire to have their names
eterniz'd by the memory of their Writings_.] There is a great Scholar,
who took the boldness to tell a Prince so much. _Est enim bonorum
principum cum viris eruditis tacita quædam naturalisque Societas, ut
alteri ab alteris illustrentur, ac dum sibi mutuo suffragantur, et
gloria principibus, et doctis authoritas concilietur_. Politian. _Ep.
Ludovic. Sfort. quæ extat, lib. 11. Ep. ep. 1_. And to this Opinion
astipulates a Country man of our own, whose words are these: _Ignotus
esset Lucilius, nisi eum Epistolæ Senecæ illustrarent. Laudibus Cæsareis
plus Virgilius et Varus Lucanusq; adjecerunt, quam immensum illud
ærarium quo urbem et orbem spoliavit. Nemo prudentiam Ithaci aut Pelidæ
vires agnosceret, nisi eas Homerus divino publicasset ingenio: unde
nihil mihi videtur consultius viro ad gloriam properanti fidelium favore
scriptorum._ Joan. Sarisb. _Polycrat. l 8. c. 14_. And that Princes are
as much beholding to the Poets Pens as their own Swords, _Horace_ tells
_Censorinus_ with great confidence. _Od. 8. l. 4. Non incisa notis_,
etc.
_Sect. 4. Pag. 90._
_St._ Paul _that calls the_ Cretians _Lyars, doth it but indirectly, and
upon quotation of one of their own Poets_.] That is, _Epimenides_; the
place is _Tit. 1. v. 12._ where _Paul_ useth this verse, taken out of
_Epimenides_.
{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}.
_It is as bloody a thought in one way, as_ Nero's _was in another_. _For
by a word we wound a thousand._] I suppose he alludes to that passage in
_Sueton._ in the life of _Nero_, where he relates that a certain person
upon a time, spoke in his hearing these words,
{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PERISPOMENI~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}.
_i.e._ When I am dead let Earth be mingled with Fire. Whereupon the
Emperour uttered these words, {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PERISPOMENI~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ZETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, _i.e._ _Yea whilst I live_:
there by one word, he express'd a cruel thought, which I think is the
thing he meant; this is more cruel than the wish of _Caligula_, that the
people of _Rome_ had but one Neck, that he might destroy them all at a
blow.
_Sect. 6. Pag. 95._
_I cannot believe the story of the_ Italian, etc.] It is reported that a
certain _Italian_ having met with one that had highly provoked him, put
a Ponyard to his breast, and unless he would blaspheme God, told him he
would kill him, which the other doing to save his life, the _Italian_
presently kill'd him, to the intent he might be damned, having no time
of Repentance.
_Sect. 7. Pag. 97._
_I have no sins that want a Name._] The Author in _cap. ult. lib. ult.
Pseudodox._ speaking of the Act of carnality exercised by the _Egyptian_
Pollinctors with the dead carcasses, saith we want a name for this,
wherein neither _Petronius_ nor _Martial_ can relieve us; therefore I
conceive the Author here means a venereal sin.
_This was the Temper of that Leacher that carnal'd with a Statua._] The
Latine Annotator upon this hath these words: _Romæ refertur de Hispano
quodam_. But certainly the Author means the Statue of _Venus Gnidia_
made by _Praxiteles_, of which a certain young man became so enamoured,
that _Pliny_ relates, _Ferunt amore captum cum delituisset nocta
simulachro cohæsisse, ejusq; cupiditas esse indicem masculum_. _Lucian_
also has the story in his _Dialog_. [_Amores._]
_And the constitution of_ Nero _in his Spintrian recreations._] The
Author doth not mean the last _Nero_, but _Tiberius_ the Emperour, whose
name was _Nero_ too; of whom _Sueton. Secessu vero Capreensi etiam
sellariam excogitavit sedem arcanarum libidinum, in quam undique
conquisti puellarum et exoletorum greges monstrosiq; concubitus
repertores, quos spintrias apellabat, triplici serie connexi invicem
incestarent se coram ipso, ut adspectu deficientes libidines excitaret._
Suet. _in Tib. 43_.
_Sect. 8. Pag. 98._
_I have seen a Grammarian toure and plume himself over a single line in_
Horace, _and shew more pride_, etc.] _Movent mihi stomachum Grammatistæ
quidam, qui cum duas tenuerint vocabularum origenes ita se ostentant,
ita venditant, ita circumferunt jactabundi, ut præ ipsis pro nihilo
habendos Philosophos arbitrentur._ Picus Mirand. _in Ep. ad Hermol.
Barb. quæ extat lib. nono Epist. Politian_.
_Garsio quisq; duas postquam scit jungere partes,
Sic stat, sic loquitur, velut omnes noverit artes._
_Pag. 99._
_I cannot think that_ Homer _pin'd away upon the Riddle of the
Fishermen._] The History out of _Plutarch_ is thus: Sailing from
_Thebes_ to the Island _Ion_, being landed and set down upon the shore,
there happen'd certain Fishermen to pass by him, and he asking them what
they had taken, they made him this Enigmatical answer, That what they
had taken, they had left behind them; and what they had not taken, they
had with them: meaning, that because they could take no Fish, they went
to loose themselves; and that all which they had taken, they had killed,
and left behind them, and all which they had not taken, they had with
them in their clothes: and that _Homer_ being struck with a deep sadness
because he could not interpret this, pin'd away, and at last dyed.
_Pliny_ alludes to this Riddle, in his _Ep._ to his Friend _Fuscus_,
where giving an account of spending his time in the Country, he tells
him, _Venor aliquando, sed non sine pugilluribus, ut quamvis nihil
ceperim, non nihil referam._ Plin. _Ep. lib. 9, Ep. 36_.
_Or that_ Aristot.----_did ever drown himself upon the flux or reflux
of_ Euripus.] _Laertius_ reports that _Aristotle_ dyed of a disease at
63 years of age. For this and the last, see the Author in _Pseudodox_.
Aristotle _doth but instruct us as_ Plato _did him, to confute
himself_.] In the matter of _Idea's_, Eternity of the world, _etc._
_Sec. 9. Pag. 100._
_I could be content that we might procreate like trees without
conjunction, or that there were any way to perpetuate the world without
this trivial and vulgar way of Coition: It is the foolishest act a wise
man commits in all his life._] There was a Physitian long before the
Author, that was of the same opinion, _Hippocrates_; for which _vide A.
Gel. l. 19. Noct. Attic. c. 2_. And so of late time was _Paracelsus_,
who did undertake to prescribe a way for the generation of a man without
coition. _Vide Campanel. de sensu rerum, in Append. ad _cap. 19._ l. 4._
_Monsieur Montaignes_ words on this subject, are worth the reading;
these they are: _Je trouve apres tout, que l'amour n'est autre chose que
la fame de cette jouyssance, et considerant maintes fois la ridicule
titillation de ce plaiser par on il nous tient, les absurdes movements
escervelez et estourdis dequoy il agite Zenon et Cratippus, ceste rage
indiscrete, ce visage inflamme de fureur et de cruaute au plus doux
effect de l'amour, et puis cette morgue grare severe et extatique en une
action si folle, et que la supreme volupte aye du trainsy et du
plaintiff commer la douleur, je croye qu'on se joue de nous, et que c'est
par industrie que nature nous a laisse la plus trouble de nos actions
les plus communes pour nous esgaller par la et apparier les fols et les
sayes, et nous et les bestes. Le plus contemplatif et prudent homme
quand je l'imagin en cette assiette je le tien pour un affronteur, de
faire le prudent et le contemplatif: et sont les pieds du paon qui
abbatent son orgueil. Nous mangeons bien et beuvons comme les bestes,
mais ce ne sont pas actions, qui empeschent les operations de nostre
ame, en celles-la nous gardons nostre advantage sur elles: cettecy met
tout autre pensee sous le joug, abrutist et abesiit par son imperieuse
authorite toute la Theology et Philosophy, qui est en Platon et si il ne
s'en plaint pas. Par tout ailleurs vous pouvez garder quelque decence;
toutes autres operations souffrent des Regles d'honestete: cettecy ne se
peut sculement imaginer que vitieuse ou ridicule; trouvez y pour voir un
proceder sage et discret. Alexander disoit qu'il se cognossoit
principalement mortel par cette action et par le dormir: le sommeil
suffoque et supprime les facultez de nostre ame, la besoigne les absorbe
et dissipe de mesme. Certes c'est une marque non seulement de nostre
corruption originelle, mais aussi de nostre vanite et disformite. D'un
coste nature nous y pousse ayant attaché à ce desire la plan noble,
utile et plaisante de toutes ses operations, et la nous laisse d'autre
part accuser et fuyr comme insolent et dishoneste, en rougir et
recommander l'abstinence_, etc. Montaign _liv. 3. chapit. 5_.
_Sect. 10. Pag. 103._
_And may be inverted on the worst._] That is, that there are none so
abandoned to vice, but they have some sprinklings of vertue. There are
scarce any so vitious, but commend virtue in those that are endued with
it, and do some things laudable themselves, as _Plin._ saith in
_Panegyric_. _Machiavel_ upon _Livy, lib. 1. cap. 27_. sets down the
ensuing relation as a notable confirmation of this truth. _Julius
Pontifex ejus nominis secundus, anno salutis 1505. Bononiam exercitus
duxit, ut Bentivolorum familiam, quæ ejus urbis imperium centum jam
annos tenuerat, loco moveret. Eudemque in expeditione etiam Johannem
Pagolum, Bagloneum tyrannum Perusinum sua sede expellere decreverat, ut
cæteros item, qui urbes Ecclesiæ per vim tenerent. Ejus rei causa cum ad
Perusinam urbem accessisset, et notum jam omnibus esset quid in animo
haberet: tamen impatiens moræ, noluit exercitus expectare, sed inermis
quasi urbem ingressus est, in quant Johannes Pagolus defendendi sui
causa, non exiguas copias contraxerat. Is autem eodem furore, quo res
suas administrare solebat, una cum milite, cui custodiam sui corporis
demandarat, sese in pontificis potestatem dedidit; à quo abductus est
relictusque alius, qui Ecclesiæ nomine urbem gubernaret. Hac ipsu in re
magnopere admirati sunt viri sapientes, qui Pontificem comitabantur, cum
Pontificis ipsius temeritatem, cum abjectum vilemq; Johannis Pagoli
animum: nec causam intelligebant, ob quam permotus idem Pagolus, hostem
suum inermem (quod illi cum perpetua nominis sui memoria facere licebat)
non subitò oppresserit, et tam pretiosa spolia diripuerit; cum Pontifex
urbem ingressus fuisset, Cardinalibus tantum suis stipatus, qui
pretiosissimas quasq; suarum rerum secum habebant. Neque enim credebatur
Pagolus a tanto facinore vel sua bonitate, vel animi conscientia
abstinuisse: quod in hominem sceleratum, qui et propria sorore utebatur,
et consobrinos nepotesque dominandi causa e medio sustulerat hujusmodi
pii affectus cadere non viderentur. Cum igitur hac de re variæ essent
sapientum virorum sententiæ; concluserunt tandem id ei accidisse, quod
ita comparatum sit_, ut homines neque plane pravi esse queant, neque
perfecte boni. _Pravi perfecte esse nequeant, propterea quod, ubi tale
quoddam scelus est, in quo aliquid magnifici ac generosi insit, id
patrare non andeant. Nam cum Pagolus neq; incestam prius horraisset,
neque patricidio abstinnisset: tamen cnm oblata esset occasio, pravi
quidem sed memorabilis, atque æternæ memoriæ facinoris patrandi, id
attentare non ausus fuit, cum id sine infamia prestare licuisset, quod
rei magnitudo omnia priora scelera obtegere potuisset, et a periculo
conservare. Quibus accedit, quod illi gratulati fuissent etiam quam
plurimi, si primus ausus esset Pontificibus monstrare rationem
dominandi; totiusque humanæ vitæ usum ab illis nimis parei pendi._
_Poysons contain within themselves their own Antidote._] The Poyson of a
Scorpion is not Poyson to it self, nor the Poyson of a Toad is not
Poyson to it self; so that the sucking out of Poyson from persons
infected by Psylls, (who are continually nourished with venomous
aliment) without any prejudice to themselves, is the less to be wondred
at.
_The man without a Navil yet lives in me._] The Latine Annotator hath
explicated this by _Homo non perfectus_, by which it seems he did not
comprehend the Author's meaning; for the Author means _Adam_, and by a
Metonymie original sin; for the Navil being onely of use to attract the
aliment _in utero materno_, and _Adam_ having no mother, he had no use
of a Navil, and therefore it is not to be conceived he had any; and upon
that ground the Author calls him the man without a Navil.
_Sect. 11. Pag. 106._
_Our grosser memories have then so little hold of our abstracted
understandings, that they forget the story, and can onely relate to our
awaked senses a confused and broken tale of that that hath pass'd._] For
the most part it is so. In regard of the Author's expression of
forgetting the story, though otherwise it be not very pertinent to this
place, I shall set down a relation given by an English Gentleman, of two
dreams that he had, wherein he did not forget the story, but (what is
more strange) found his dreams verified. This it is.
Whilst I lived at _Prague_, and one night had sit up very late drinking
at a feast, early in the morning the Sun beams glancing on my face, as I
lay in my bed, I dreamed that a shadow passing by told me that my Father
was dead; at which awaking all in a sweat, and affected with this dream,
I rose and wrote the day and hour, and all circumstances thereof in a
Paper-book, which book with many other things I put into a Barrel, and
sent it from _Prague_ to _Stode_, thence to be conveyed into _England_.
And now being at _Nurenburgh_, a Merchant of a noble Family well
acquainted with me and my friends, arrived there, who told me my Father
dyed some two months ago. I list not to write any lyes, but that which I
write, is as true as strange. When I returned into _England_ some four
years after, I would not open the Barrel I sent from _Prague_, nor look
into the Paper-book in which I had written this dream, till I had called
my Sisters and some friends to be witnesses, where my self and they were
astonished to see my written dream answer the very day of my Father's
death.
I may lawfully swear that which my Kinsman hath heard witnessed by my
brother _Henry_ whilst he lived, that in my youth at _Cambridge_, I had
the like dream of my Mother's death, where my brother _Henry_ living
with me, early in the morning I dreamed that my Mother passed by with a
sad countenance, and told me that she could not come to my Commencement:
I being within five months to proceed Master of Arts, and she having
promised at that time to come to _Cambridge_. And when I related this
dream to my brother, both of us awaking together in a sweat, he
protested to me that he had dreamed the very same; and when we had not
the least knowledge of our Mother's sickness, neither in our youthful
affections were any whit affected with the strangeness of this dream,
yet the next Carrier brought us word of our Mother's death. Mr. _Fiennes
Morison_ in his Itinerary. I am not over-credulous of such relations,
but methinks the circumstance of publishing it at such a time, when
there were those living that might have disprov'd it, if it had been
false, is a great argument of the truth of it.
_Sect. 12. Pag. 107._
_I wonder the fancy of _Lucan_ and _Seneca_ did not discover it._] For
they had both power from _Nero_ to chuse their deaths.
_Sect. 13. Pag. 108._
_To conceive our selves Urinals is not so ridiculous._] _Reperti sunt
Galeno et Avicenna testibus qui se vasa fictilia crederent, et ideirco
hominum attactum ne confringerentur solicite fugerent._ Pontan. _in
Attic. bellar._ (_Hist. 22._) Which proceeds from extremity of
Melancholy.
_Pag. 109._
Aristot. _is too severe, that will not allow us to be truely liberal
without wealth._] _Aristot. l. 1. Ethic. c. 8._
_Sect. 15. Pag. 112._
_Thy will be done though in mine own undoing._] This should be the wish
of every man, and is of the most wise and knowing, _Le Christien plus
humble et plus sage et mieux recognoissant que c'est que de luy se
rapporte a son createur de choisir et ordonner ce qu'il luy faut. Il ne
le supplie dautre chose que sa volunte soit faite._ Montaign.
_A Letter sent upon the information of_ Animadversions _to come forth,
upon the imperfect and surreptitious copy of_ Religio Medici,
_whilst this true one was going to Press_.
Honoured Sir, Give your Servant, who hath ever honour'd you, leave to
take notice of a Book at present in the Press, intituled (as I am
informed) _Animadversions_ upon a Treatise lately printed under the name
of _Religio Medici_; hereof, I am advertised, you have descended to be
the Author. Worthy Sir, permit your Servant to affirm there is contain'd
therein nothing that can deserve the Reason of your Contradictions, much
less the Candor of your _Animadversions_: and to certifie the truth
thereof, That Book (whereof I do acknowledge myself the Author) was
penn'd many years past, and (what cannot escape your apprehension) with
no intention for the Press, or the least desire to oblige the Faith of
any man to its assertions. But what hath more especially emboldened my
Pen unto you at present, is, That the same Piece, contrived in my
private study, and as an Exercise unto my self, rather than Exercitation
for any other, having past from my hand under a broken and imperfect
Copy, by frequent transcription it still run forward into corruption,
and after the addition of some things, omission of others, &
transposition of many, without my assent or privacy, the liberty of
these times committed it unto the Press; whence it issued so disguised,
the Author without distinction could not acknowledge it. Having thus
miscarried, within a few weeks I shall, God willing, deliver unto the
Press the true and intended Original (whereof in the mean time your
worthy Self may command a view); otherwise when ever that Copy shall be
extant, it will most clearly appear how far the Text hath been mistaken,
and all Observations, Glosses, or Exercitations thereon, will in a great
part impugn the Printer or Transcriber, rather than the Author. If after
that, you shall esteem it worth your vacant hours to discourse thereon,
you shall but take that liberty which I assume my self, that is, freely
to abound in your sense, as I have done in my own. However you shall
determine, you shall sufficiently honour me in the Vouchsafe of your
Refute, and I oblige the whole World in the occasion of your Pen.
_Your Servant._
T. B.
Norwich, _March 3, 1642_.
TO THE READER
_Certainly that man were greedy of Life, who should desire to live when
all the world were at an end; and he must needs be very impatient, who
would repine at death in the society of all things that suffer under it.
Had not almost every man suffered by the Press or were not the tyranny
thereof become universal, I had not wanted reason for complaint: but in
times wherein I have lived to behold the highest perversion of that
excellent invention, the name of his Majesty defamed, the Honour of
Parliament depraved, the Writings of both depravedly, anticipatively,
counterfeitly imprinted; complaints may seem ridiculous in private
persons; and men of my condition may be as incapable of affronts, as
hopeless of their reparations. And truely had not the duty I owe unto
the importunity of friends, and the allegiance I must ever acknowledge
unto truth, prevailed with me; the inactivity of my disposition might
have made these sufferings continual, and time that brings other things
to light, should have satisfied me in the remedy of its oblivion. But
because things evidently false are not onely printed, but many things of
truth most falsely set forth, in this latter I could not but think my
self engaged. For though we have no power to redress the former, yet in
the other, reparation being within our selves, I have at present
represented unto the world a full and intended Copy of that Piece,
which was most imperfectly and surreptitiously published before._
_This, I confess, about seven years past, with some others of affinity
thereto, for my private exercise and satisfaction, I had at leisurable
hours composed; which being communicated unto one, it became common unto
many, and was by Transcription successively corrupted, untill it arrived
in a most depraved Copy at the Press. He that shall peruse that Work,
and shall take notice of sundry particularities and personal expressions
therein, will easily discern the intention was not publick: and being a
private Exercise directed to my self, what is delivered therein, was
rather a memorial unto me, than an Example or Rule unto any other: and
therefore if there be any singularity therein correspondent unto the
private conceptions of any man, it doth not advantage them: or if
dissentaneous thereunto, it no way overthrows them. It was penned in
such a place, and with such disadvantage, that (I protest) from the
first setting of pen unto paper, I had not the assistance of any good
Book, whereby to promote my invention, or relieve my memory; and
therefore there might be many real lapses therein, which others might
take notice of, and more than I suspected my self. It was set down many
years past, and was the sense of my conception at that time, not an
immutable Law unto my advancing judgement at all times; and therefore
there might be many things therein plausible unto my passed
apprehension, which are not agreeable until my present self. There are
many things delivered Rhetorically, many expressions therein meerly
Tropical, and as they best illustrate my intention; and therefore also
there are many things to be taken in a soft and flexible sense, and not
to be called unto the rigid test of Reason. Lastly, all that is
contained therein is in submission unto maturer discernments; and, as I
have declared, shall no further father them than the best and learned
judgments shall authorize them: under favour of which considerations I
have made its secrecy publick, and committed the truth thereof to every
Ingenuous Reader._
_THO. BROWNE._
RELIGIO MEDICI
SECT. 1
For my Religion, though there be several Circumstances that might
perswade the World I have none at all, as the general scandal of my
Profession, the natural course of my Studies, the indifferency of my
Behaviour and Discourse in matters of Religion, neither violently
Defending one, nor with that common ardour and contention Opposing
another; yet, in despight hereof, I dare, without usurpation, assume the
honourable Stile of a Christian. Not that I meerly owe this Title to the
Font, my Education, or Clime wherein I was born, as being bred up either
to confirm those Principles my parents instilled into my Understanding,
or by a general consent proceed in the Religion of my Country: But
having in my riper years and confirmed Judgment, seen and examined all,
I find my self obliged by the Principles of Grace, and the Law of mine
own Reason, to embrace no other name but this: Neither doth herein my
zeal so far make me forget the general Charity I owe unto Humanity, as
rather to hate than pity _Turks_, _Infidels_, and (what is worse)
_Jews_; rather contenting my self to enjoy that happy Stile, than
maligning those who refuse so glorious a Title.
SECT. 2
But because the Name of a Christian is become too general to express our
Faith, there being a Geography of Religion as well as Lands, and every
Clime distinguished not only by their Laws and Limits, but circumscribed
by their Doctrines and Rules of Faith; to be particular, I am of that
_Reformed_ new-cast Religion, wherein I dislike nothing but the Name; of
the same belief our Saviour taught, the Apostles disseminated, the
Fathers authorized, and the Martyrs confirmed, but by the sinister ends
of Princes, the ambition and avarice of Prelates, and the fatal
corruption of times, so decayed, impaired, and fallen from its native
Beauty, that it required the careful and charitable hands of these times
to restore it to its primitive Integrity. Now the accidental occasion
whereupon, the slender means whereby the low and abject condition of the
Person by whom so good a work was set on foot, which in our Adversaries
beget contempt and scorn, fills me with wonder, and is the very same
Objection the insolent Pagans first cast at Christ and his Disciples.
SECT. 3
Yet have I not so shaken hands with those desperate Resolutions, who had
rather venture at large their decayed bottom, than bring her in to be
new trimm'd in the Dock; who had rather promiscuously retain all, than
abridge any, and obstinately be what they are, than what they have been,
as to stand in Diameter and Swords point with them: We have reformed
from them, not against them; for omitting those Improperations and Terms
of Scurrility betwixt us, which only difference our Affections, and not
our Cause, there is between us one common Name and Appellation, one
Faith and necessary body of Principles common to us both; and therefore
I am not scrupulous to converse and live with them, to enter their
Churches in defect of ours, and either pray with them, or for them. I
could never perceive any rational Consequence from those many Texts
which prohibit the Children of _Israel_ to pollute themselves with the
Temples of the Heathens; we being all Christians, and not divided by
such detested impieties as might prophane our Prayers, or the place
wherein we make them; or that a resolved Conscience may not adore her
Creator any where, especially in places devoted to his Service; where,
if their Devotions offend him, mine may please him; if theirs prophane
it, mine may hallow it. Holy-water and Crucifix (dangerous to the common
people) deceive not my judgment, nor abuse my devotion at all: I am, I
confess, naturally inclined to that which misguided Zeal terms
Superstition: my common conversation I do acknowledge austere, my
behaviour full of rigour, sometimes not without morosity; yet at my
Devotion I love to use the civility of my knee, my hat, and hand, with
all those outward and sensible motions which may express or promote my
invisible Devotion. I should violate my own arm rather than a Church;
nor willingly deface the name of Saint or Martyr. At the sight of a
Cross or Crucifix I can dispense with my hat, but scarce with the
thought or memory of my Saviour: I cannot laugh at, but rather pity, the
fruitless journeys of Pilgrims, or contemn the miserable condition of
Fryars; for though misplaced in Circumstances there is something in it
of Devotion. I could never hear the _Ave-Mary_ Bell[7] without an
elevation, or think it a sufficient warrant, because they erred in one
circumstance, for me to err in all, that is, in silence and dumb
contempt; whilst therefore they directed their Devotions to Her, I
offered mine to God, and rectifie the Errors of their Prayers by rightly
ordering mine own: At a solemn Procession I have wept abundantly, while
my consorts blind with opposition and prejudice, have fallen into an
excess of scorn and laughter: There are questionless both in _Greek_,
_Roman_, and _African_ Churches, Solemnities and Ceremonies, whereof the
wiser Zeals do make a Christian use, and stand condemned by us, not as
evil in themselves, but as allurements and baits of superstition to
those vulgar heads that look asquint on the face of Truth, and those
unstable Judgments that cannot resist in the narrow point and centre of
Virtue without a reel or stagger to the Circumference.
[7] _A Church Bell that tolls every day at six and twelve of the clock;
at the hearing whereof, everyone in what place soever, either of
House or Street, betakes himself to his prayer, which is commonly
directed to the Virgin._
SECT. 4
As there were many Reformers, so likewise many Reformations; every
Country proceeding in a particular way and method, according as their
national Interest, together with their Constitution and Clime, inclined
them; some angrily, and with extremity; others calmly, and with
mediocrity; not rending, but easily dividing the community, and leaving
an honest possibility of a reconciliation; which though peaceable
Spirits do desire, and may conceive that revolution of time and the
mercies of God may effect, yet that judgment that shall continue the
present antipathies between the two extreams, their contrarieties in
condition, affection, and opinion, may with the same hopes expect an
union in the Poles of Heaven.
SECT. 5
But to difference my self nearer, and draw into a lesser Circle, There
is no Church, whose every part so squares unto my Conscience; whose
Articles, Constitutions, and Customs, seem so consonant unto reason, and
as it were framed to my particular Devotion, as this whereof I hold my
Belief, the Church of _England_, to whose Faith I am a sworn Subject;
and therefore in a double Obligation subscribe unto her Articles, and
endeavour to observe her Constitutions; whatsoever is beyond, as points
indifferent, I observe according to the rules of my private reason, or
the humour and fashion of my Devotion; neither believing this, because
_Luther_ affirmed it, or disproving that, because _Calvin_ hath
disavouched it. I condemn not all things in the Council of _Trent_, nor
approve all in the Synod of _Dort_. In brief, where the Scripture is
silent, the Church is my Text; where that speaks, 'tis but my Comment:
where there is a joynt silence of both, I borrow not the rules of my
Religion from _Rome_ or _Geneva_, but the dictates of my own reason. It
is an unjust scandal of our adversaries, and a gross errour in our
selves, to compute the Nativity of our Religion from _Henry_ the Eighth,
who, though he rejected the Pope, refus'd not the faith of _Rome_, and
effected no more than what his own Predecessors desired and assayed in
Ages past, and was conceived the State of _Venice_ would have attempted
in our days. It is as uncharitable a point in us to fall upon those
popular scurrilities and opprobrious scoffs of the Bishop of _Rome_, to
whom as a temporal Prince, we owe the duty of good language: I confess
there is cause of passion between us; by his sentence I stand
excommunicated, Heretick is the best language he affords me; yet can no
ear witness I ever returned him the name of Antichrist, Man of Sin, or
Whore of _Babylon_. It is the method of Charity to suffer without
reaction: Those usual Satyrs and invectives of the Pulpit may perchance
produce a good effect on the vulgar, whose ears are opener to Rhetorick
than Logick; yet do they in no wise confirm the faith of wiser
Believers, who know that a good cause needs not to be pardon'd by
passion, but can sustain it self upon a temperate dispute.
SECT. 6
I could never divide my self from any man upon the difference of an
opinion, or be angry with his judgment for not agreeing with me in that
from which perhaps within a few days I should dissent my self. I have no
Genius to disputes in Religion, and have often thought it wisdom to
decline them, especially upon a disadvantage, or when the cause of truth
might suffer in the weakness of my patronage: Where we desire to be
informed, 'tis good to contest with men above our selves; but to confirm
and establish our opinions, 'tis best to argue with judgments below our
own, that the frequent spoils and Victories over their reasons may
settle in ourselves an esteem and confirmed Opinion of our own. Every
man is not a proper Champion for Truth, nor fit to take up the Gauntlet
in the cause of Verity: Many, from the ignorance of these Maximes, and
an inconsiderate Zeal unto Truth, have too rashly charged the Troops of
Error, and remain as Trophies unto the enemies of Truth: A man may be in
as just possession of Truth as of a City, and yet be forced to
surrender; 'tis therefore far better to enjoy her with peace, than to
hazzard her on a battle: if therefore there rise any doubts in my way, I
do forget them, or at least defer them till my better setled judgement
and more manly reason be able to resolve them; for I perceive every
man's own reason is his best _OEdipus_, and will upon a reasonable
truce, find a way to loose those bonds wherewith the subtleties of error
have enchained our more flexible and tender judgements. In Philosophy,
where Truth seems double-fac'd, there is no man more Paradoxical than my
self: but in Divinity I love to keep the Road; and, though not in an
implicite, yet an humble faith, follow the great wheel of the Church, by
which I move, not reserving any proper Poles or motion from the Epicycle
of my own brain; by this means I leave no gap for Heresie, Schismes, or
Errors, of which at present I hope I shall not injure Truth to say I
have no taint or tincture: I must confess my greener studies have been
polluted with two or three, not any begotten in the latter Centuries,
but old and obsolete, such as could never have been revived, but by such
extravagant and irregular heads as mine: for indeed Heresies perish not
with their Authors, but, like the river _Arethusa_, though they lose
their currents in one place, they rise up again in another: One General
Council is not able to extirpate one single Heresie; it may be cancell'd
for the present; but revolution of time, and the like aspects from
Heaven, will restore it, when it will flourish till it be condemned
again. For as though there were a _Metempsuchosis_, and the soul of one
man passed into another; Opinions do find, after certain Revolutions,
men and minds like those that first begat them. To see ourselves again,
we need not look for Plato's year:[8] every man is not only himself;
there hath been many _Diogenes_, and as many _Timons_, though but few of
that name; men are liv'd over again, the world is now as it was in Ages
past; there was none then, but there hath been some one since that
Parallels him, and is, as it were, his revived self.
[8] _A revolution of certain thousand years, when all things should
return unto their former estate, and he be teaching again in his
School as when he delivered this Opinion._
SECT. 7
Now the first of mine was that of the _Arabians_, That the Souls of men
perished with their Bodies, but should yet be raised again at the last
day: not that I did absolutely conceive a mortality of the Soul; but if
that were, which Faith, not Philosophy hath yet throughly disproved, and
that both entred the grave together, yet I held the same conceit thereof
that we all do of the body, that it should rise again. Surely it is but
the merits of our unworthy Natures, if we sleep in darkness until the
last Alarm. A serious reflex upon my own unworthiness did make me
backward from challenging this prerogative of my Soul; so that I might
enjoy my Saviour at the last, I could with patience be nothing almost
unto Eternity. The second was that of _Origen_, That God would not
persist in his vengeance for ever, but after a definite time of his
wrath, he would release the damned Souls from torture: which error I
fell into upon a serious contemplation of the great Attribute of God,
his Mercy; and did a little cherish it in my self, because I found
therein no malice, and a ready weight to sway me from the other extream
of despair, whereunto Melancholy and Contemplative Natures are too
easily disposed. A third there is which I did never positively maintain
or practise, but have often wished it had been consonant to Truth, and
not offensive to my Religion, and that is the Prayer for the dead;
whereunto I was inclin'd from some charitable inducements, whereby I
could scarce contain my Prayers for a friend at the ringing of a Bell,
or behold his Corps without an Orison for his Soul: 'Twas a good way,
methought, to be remembred by posterity, and far more noble than an
History. These opinions I never maintained with pertinacy, or
endeavoured to inveagle any mans belief unto mine, nor so much as ever
revealed or disputed them with my dearest friends; by which means I
neither propagated them in others, nor confirmed them in my self; but
suffering them to flame upon their own substance, without addition of
new fuel, they went out insensibly of themselves: therefore these
Opinions, though condemned by lawful Councels, were not Heresies in me,
but bare Errors, and single Lapses of my understanding, without a joynt
depravity of my will: Those have not onely depraved understandings, but
diseased affections, which cannot enjoy a singularity without an
Heresie, or be the Author of an Opinion without they be of a Sect also;
this was the villany of the first Schism of _Lucifer_, who was not
content to err alone, but drew into his Faction many Legions; and upon
this experience he tempted only _Eve_, as well understanding the
Communicable nature of Sin, and that to deceive but one, was tacitely
and upon consequence to delude them both.
SECT. 8
That Heresies should arise, we have the Prophesie of Christ; but that
old ones should be abolished, we hold no prediction. That there must be
Heresies, is true, not only in our Church, but also in any other: even
in doctrines heretical, there will be super-heresies; and Arians not
only divided from their Church, but also among themselves: for heads
that are disposed unto Schism and complexionally propense to innovation,
are naturally disposed for a community; nor will be ever confined unto
the order or oeconomy of one body; and therefore when they separate
from others, they knit but loosely among themselves, nor contented with
a general breach or dichotomy with their Church, do subdivide and mince
themselves almost into Atoms. 'Tis true, that men of singular parts and
humours have not been free from singular opinions and conceits in all
Ages; retaining something, not only beside the opinion of his own Church
or any other, but also any particular Author; which notwithstanding a
sober Judgment may do without offence or heresie; for there is yet,
after all the Decrees of Councils and the niceties of Schools, many
things untouch'd, unimagin'd, wherein the liberty of an honest reason
may play and expatiate with security, and far without the circle of an
Heresie.
SECT. 9
As for those wingy Mysteries in Divinity, and airy subtleties in
Religion, which have unhing'd the brains of better heads, they never
stretched the _Pia Mater_ of mine. Methinks there be not impossibilities
enough in Religion for an active faith; the deepest Mysteries ours
contains have not only been illustrated, but maintained, by Syllogism
and the rule of Reason. I love to lose my self in a mystery, to pursue
my Reason to an _O altitudo!_ 'Tis my solitary recreation to pose my
apprehension with those involved Ænigma's and riddles of the Trinity,
with Incarnation, and Resurrection. I can answer all the Objections of
Satan and my rebellious reason with that odd resolution I learned of
_Tertullian, Certum est quia impossibile est_. I desire to exercise my
faith in the difficultest point; for to credit ordinary and visible
objects is not faith, but perswasion. Some believe the better for
seeing Christ's Sepulchre; and when they have seen the Red Sea, doubt
not of the Miracle. Now contrarily, I bless my self and am thankful that
I lived not in the days of Miracles, that I never saw Christ nor His
Disciples; I would not have been one of those _Israelites_ that pass'd
the Red Sea, nor one of Christ's patients on whom he wrought his
wonders; then had my faith been thrust upon me, nor should I enjoy that
greater blessing pronounced to all that believe and saw not. 'Tis an
easie and necessary belief, to credit what our eye and sense hath
examined: I believe he was dead, and buried, and rose again; and desire
to see him in his glory, rather than to contemplate him in his Cenotaphe
or Sepulchre. Nor is this much to believe; as we have reason, we owe
this faith unto History: they only had the advantage of a bold and noble
Faith, who lived before his coming, who upon obscure prophesies and
mystical Types could raise a belief, and expect apparent
impossibilities.
SECT. 10
'Tis true, there is an edge in all firm belief, and with an easie
Metaphor we may say, the Sword of Faith; but in these obscurities I
rather use it in the adjunct the Apostle gives it, a Buckler; under
which I conceive a wary combatant may lye invulnerable. Since I was of
understanding to know we knew nothing, my reason hath been more pliable
to the will of Faith; I am now content to understand a mystery without a
rigid definition, in an easie and Platonick description. That[9]
allegorical description of _Hermes_, pleaseth me beyond all the
Metaphysical definitions of Divines; where I cannot satisfie my reason,
I love to humour my fancy: I had as live you tell me that _anima est
angelus hominis, est Corpus Dei_, as _Entelechia; Lux est umbra Dei_, as
_actus perspicui_; where there is an obscurity too deep for our Reason,
'tis good to sit down with a description, periphrasis, or adumbration;
for by acquainting our Reason how unable it is to display the visible
and obvious effects of nature, it becomes more humble and submissive
unto the subtleties of Faith; and thus I teach my haggard and
unreclaimed reason to stoop unto the lure of Faith. I believe there was
already a tree whose fruit our unhappy Parents tasted, though, in the
same Chapter when God forbids it, 'tis positively said, the plants of
the field were not yet grown, for God had not caus'd it to rain upon the
earth. I believe that the Serpent (if we shall literally understand it)
from his proper form and figure, made his motion on his belly before the
curse. I find the tryal of the Pucellage and virginity of Women, which
God ordained the _Jews_, is very fallible. Experience and History
informs me, that not onely many particular Women, but likewise whole
Nations have escaped the curse of Childbirth, which God seems to
pronounce upon the whole Sex; yet do I believe that all this is true,
which indeed my Reason would perswade me to be false; and this I think
is no vulgar part of Faith, to believe a thing not only above, but
contrary to Reason, and against the Arguments of our proper Senses.
[9] _Sphæra cujus centrum ubique, circumferentia nullibi._
SECT. 11
In my solitary and retired imagination (_Neque enim cum porticus, aut me
lectulus accepit, desum mihi_) I remember I am not alone, and therefore
forget not to contemplate him and his Attributes who is ever with me,
especially those two mighty ones, his Wisdom and Eternity; with the one
I recreate, with the other I confound my understanding: for who can
speak of Eternity without a soloecism, or think thereof without an
Extasie? Time we may comprehend; 'tis but five days elder then our
selves, and hath the same Horoscope with the World; but to retire so far
back as to apprehend a beginning, to give such an infinite start
forwards as to conceive an end in an essence that we affirm hath neither
the one nor the other, it puts my Reason to _St. Paul's_ Sanctuary: my
Philosophy dares not say the Angels can do it; God hath not made a
Creature that can comprehend him; 'tis a privilege of His own nature. _I
am that I am_, was his own definition unto _Moses_; and 'twas a short
one, to confound mortality, that durst question God, or ask him what he
was; indeed he onely is; all others have and shall be; but in Eternity
there is no distinction of Tenses; and therefore that terrible term
_Predestination_, which hath troubled so many weak heads to conceive,
and the wisest to explain, is in respect to God no prescious
determination of our Estates to come, but a definitive blast of his Will
already fulfilled, and at the instant that he first decreed it; for to
his Eternity which is indivisible and all together, the last Trump is
already sounded, the reprobates in the flame, and the blessed in
_Abraham's_ bosome. _St. Peter_ speaks modestly, when he saith, a
thousand years to God are but as one day: for to speak like a
Philosopher, those continued instances of time which flow into a
thousand years, make not to Him one moment; what to us is to come, to
his Eternity is present, his whole duration being but one permanent
point, without Succession, Parts, Flux, or Division.
SECT. 12
There is no Attribute that adds more difficulty to the mystery of the
Trinity, where, though in a relative way of Father and Son, we must deny
a priority. I wonder how _Aristotle_ could conceive the World eternal,
or how he could make good two Eternities: his similitude of a Triangle,
comprehended in a square, doth somewhat illustrate the Trinity of our
Souls, and that the Triple Unity of God; for there is in us not three,
but a Trinity of Souls, because there is in us, if not three distinct
Souls, yet differing faculties, that can and do subsist apart in
different Subjects, and yet in us are thus united as to make but one
Soul and substance: if one Soul were so perfect as to inform three
distinct Bodies, that were a pretty Trinity: conceive, the distinct
number of three, not divided nor separated by the Intellect, but
actually comprehended in its Unity, and that is a perfect Trinity. I
have often admired the mystical way of _Pythagoras_, and the secret
Magick of numbers. Beware of Philosophy, is a precept not to be received
in too large a sense; for in this Mass of Nature there is a set of
things that carry in their Front, though not in Capital Letters, yet in
Stenography and short Characters, something of Divinity, which to wiser
Reasons serve as Luminaries in the Abyss of Knowledge, and to judicious
beliefs as Scales and Roundles to mount the Pinacles and highest pieces
of Divinity. The severe Schools shall never laugh me out of the
Philosophy of _Hermes_, that this visible World is but a Picture of the
invisible, wherein as in a Pourtraict, things are not truely, but in
equivocal shapes, and as they counterfeit some more real substance in
that invisible Fabrick.
SECT. 13
That other Attribute wherewith I recreate my devotion, is his Wisdom, in
which I am happy; and for the contemplation of this only, do not repent
me that I was bred in the way of Study: The advantage I have of the
vulgar, with the content and happiness I conceive therein, is an ample
recompence for all my endeavours, in what part of knowledge soever.
Wisdom is his most beauteous Attribute, no man can attain unto it, yet
_Solomon_ pleased God when he desired it. He is wise, because he knows
all things; and he knoweth all things, because he made them all: but his
greatest knowledge is in comprehending that he made not, that is,
himself. And this is also the greatest knowledge in man. For this do I
honour my own profession, and embrace the Counsel even of the Devil
himself: had he read such a Lecture in Paradise as he did at
_Delphos_,[10] we had better known our selves; nor had we stood in fear
to know him. I know he is wise in all, wonderful in what we conceive,
but far more in what we comprehend not; for we behold him but asquint,
upon reflex or shadow; our understanding is dimmer than _Moses_ Eye; we
are ignorant of the back-parts or lower side of his Divinity; therefore
to prie into the maze of his Counsels is not only folly in man, but
presumption even in Angels; like us, they are his Servants, not his
Senators; he holds no Counsel, but that mystical one of the Trinity,
wherein though there be three Persons, there is but one mind that
decrees without Contradiction: nor needs he any; his actions are not
begot with deliberation, his Wisdom naturally knows what's best; his
intellect stands ready fraught with the superlative and purest _Idea's_
of goodness; consultation and election, which are two motions in us,
make but one in him; his actions springing from his power at the first
touch of his will. These are Contemplations Metaphysical: my humble
speculations have another Method, and are content to trace and discover
those expressions he hath left in his Creatures, and the obvious effects
of Nature; there is no danger to profound these mysteries, no _sanctum
sanctorum_ in Philosophy: the World was made to be inhabited by Beasts,
but studied and contemplated by Man: 'tis the Debt of our Reason we owe
unto God, and the homage we pay for not being Beasts; without this, the
World is still as though it had not been, or as it was before the sixth
day, when as yet there was not a Creature that could conceive, or say
there was a World. The wisdom of God receives small honour from those
vulgar Heads that rudely stare about, and with a gross rusticity admire
his works; those highly magnifie him, whose judicious inquiry into His
Acts, and deliberate research into His Creatures, return the duty of a
devout and learned admiration. Therefore,
Search while thou wilt, and let thy reason go,
To ransome truth, even to th' Abyss below;
Rally the scattered Causes; and that line
Which Nature twists, be able to untwine
It is thy Makers will, for unto none,
But unto reason can he e'er be known.
The Devils do know Thee, but those damn'd Meteors
Build not thy Glory, but confound thy Creatures.
Teach my indeavours so thy works to read,
That learning them in thee, I may proceed.
Give thou my reason that instructive flight,
Whose weary wings may on thy hands still light.
Teach me to soar aloft, yet ever so,
When neer the Sun, to stoop again below.
Thus shall my humble Feathers safely hover,
And, though near Earth, more than the Heavens discover
And then at last, when homeward I shall drive,
Rich with the Spoils of nature to my hive,
There will I sit like that industrious Flie,
Buzzing thy praises, which shall never die,
Till death abrupts them, and succeeding Glory
Bid me go on in a more lasting story.
And this is almost all wherein an humble Creature may endeavour to
requite and some way to retribute unto his Creator: for if not he that
saith, _Lord, Lord_, but _he that doth the will of his Father, shall be
saved_; certainly our wills must be our performances, and our intents
make out our Actions; otherwise our pious labours shall find anxiety in
our Graves, and our best endeavours not hope, but fear a resurrection.
[10] {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, Nosce teipsum.
SECT. 14
There is but one first cause, and four second causes of all things; some
are without efficient, as God; others without matter, as Angels; some
without form, as the first matter: but every Essence created or
uncreated, hath its final cause, and some positive end both of its
Essence and Operation; this is the cause I grope after in the works of
Nature; on this hangs the providence of God: to raise so beauteous a
structure as the World and the Creatures thereof, was but his Art; but
their sundry and divided operations, with their predestinated ends, are
from the Treasure of his wisdom. In the causes, nature, and affections
of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon, there is most excellent
speculation; but to profound farther, and to contemplate a reason why
his providence hath so disposed and ordered their motions in that vast
circle as to conjoyn and obscure each other, is a sweeter piece of
Reason, and a diviner point of Philosophy; therefore sometimes, and in
some things, there appears to me as much Divinity in _Galen_ his books
_De Usu Partium_, as in _Suarez_ Metaphysicks: Had _Aristotle_ been as
curious in the enquiry of this cause as he was of the other, he had not
left behind him an imperfect piece of Philosophy, but an absolute tract
of Divinity.
SECT. 15
_Natura nihil aget frustra_, is the only indisputed Axiome in
Philosophy; there are no _Grotesques_ in nature; not any thing framed to
fill up empty Cantons, and unnecessary spaces: in the most imperfect
Creatures, and such as were not preserved in the Ark, but having their
Seeds and Principles in the womb of Nature, are every where, where the
power of the Sun is; in these is the Wisdom of his hand discovered. Out
of this rank _Solomon_ chose the object of his admiration; indeed what
reason may not go to School to the wisdom of Bees, Ants, and Spiders?
what wise hand teacheth them to do what reason cannot teach us? ruder
heads stand amazed at those prodigious pieces of Nature, Whales,
Elephants, Dromidaries and Camels; these, I confess, are the Colossus
and Majestick pieces of her hand: but in these narrow Engines there is
more curious Mathematicks; and the civility of these little Citizens,
more neatly sets forth the Wisdom of their Maker. Who admires not
_Regio-Montanus_ his Fly beyond his Eagle, or wonders not more at the
operation of two Souls in those little Bodies, than but one in the Trunk
of a Cedar? I could never content my contemplation with those general
pieces of wonder, the Flux and Reflux of the Sea, the increase of
_Nile_, the conversion of the Needle to the North; and have studied to
match and parallel those in the more obvious and neglected pieces of
Nature, which without further trouble I can do in the Cosmography of my
self; we carry with us the wonders we seek without us: There is all
_Africa_ and her prodigies in us; we are that bold and adventurous piece
of nature, which he that studies wisely learns in a _compendium_ what
others labour at in a divided piece and endless volume.
SECT. 16
Thus there are two Books from which I collect my Divinity; besides that
written one of God, another of his servant Nature, that universal and
publick Manuscript, that lies expans'd unto the Eyes of all, those that
never saw him in the one, have discovered him in the other: this was the
Scripture and Theology of the Heathens: the natural motion of the Sun
made them more admire him, than its supernatural station did the
Children of _Israel_; the ordinary effects of nature wrought more
admiration in them than in the other all his Miracles; surely the
Heathens knew better how to joyn and read these mystical Letters than we
Christians, who cast a more careless Eye on these common Hieroglyphicks,
and disdain to suck Divinity from the flowers of Nature. Nor do I so
forget God as to adore the name of Nature; which I define not with the
Schools, to be the principle of motion and rest, but that streight and
regular line, that settled and constant course the Wisdom of God hath
ordained the actions of His creatures, according to their several kinds.
To make a revolution every day, is the Nature of the Sun, because of
that necessary course which God hath ordained it, from which it cannot
swerve but by a faculty from that voice which first did give it motion.
Now this course of Nature God seldome alters or perverts, but like an
excellent Artist hath so contrived his work, that with the self same
instrument, without a new creation, he may effect his obscurest designs.
Thus he sweetneth the Water with a Word, preserveth the Creatures in the
Ark, which the blast of his mouth might have as easily created; for God
is like a skilful Geometrician, who when more easily and with one stroak
of his Compass he might describe or divide a right line, had yet rather
do this in a circle or longer way; according to the constituted and
fore-laid principles of his Art: yet this rule of his he doth sometimes
pervert, to acquaint the World with his Prerogative, lest the arrogancy
of our reason should question his power, and conclude he could not; and
thus I call the effects of Nature the works of God, whose hand and
instrument she only is; and therefore to ascribe his actions unto her,
is to devolve the honour of the principal agent upon the instrument;
which if with reason we may do, then let our hammers rise up and boast
they have built our houses, and our pens receive the honour of our
writings. I hold there is a general beauty in the works of God, and
therefore no deformity in any kind or species of creature whatsoever: I
cannot tell by what Logick we call a _Toad_, a _Bear_, or an _Elephant_
ugly, they being created in those outward shapes and figures which best
express the actions of their inward forms. And having past that general
Visitation of God, who saw that all that he had made was good, that is,
conformable to his Will, which abhors deformity, and is the rule of
order and beauty; there is no deformity but in Monstrosity; wherein,
notwithstanding, there is a kind of Beauty. Nature so ingeniously
contriving the irregular parts, as they become sometimes more remarkable
than the principal Fabrick. To speak yet more narrowly, there was never
any thing ugly or mis-shapen, but the Chaos; wherein, notwithstanding,
to speak strictly, there was no deformity, because no form; nor was it
yet impregnant by the voice of God; now Nature was not at variance with
Art, nor Art with Nature, they being both servants of his providence:
Art is the perfection of Nature: were the World now as it was the sixth
day, there were yet a Chaos: Nature hath made one World, and Art
another. In brief, all things are artificial; for Nature is the Art of
God.
SECT. 17
This is the ordinary and open way of his providence, which Art and
Industry have in a good part discovered, whose effects we may foretel
without an Oracle: to foreshew these, is not Prophesie, but
Prognostication. There is another way, full of Meanders and Labyrinths,
whereof the Devil and Spirits have no exact Ephemerides, and that is a
more particular and obscure method of his providence, directing the
operations of individuals and single Essences: this we call Fortune,
that serpentine and crooked line, whereby he draws those actions his
wisdom intends, in a more unknown and secret way: This cryptick and
involved method of his providence have I ever admired, nor can I relate
the History of my life, the occurrences of my days, the escapes of
dangers, and hits of chance, with a _Bezo las Manos_ to Fortune, or a
bare Gramercy to my good Stars: _Abraham_ might have thought the _Ram_
in the thicket came thither by accident; humane reason would have said,
that meer chance conveyed _Moses_ in the Ark to the sight of _Pharoh's_
daughter: what a Labyrinth is there in the story of _Joseph_, able to
convert a Stoick? Surely there are in every man's Life certain rubs,
doublings, and wrenches, which pass a while under the effects of chance,
but at the last well examined, prove the meer hand of God. 'Twas not
dumb chance, that to discover the Fougade or Powder-plot, contrived a
miscarriage in the Letter. I like the victory of 88. the better for that
one occurrence, which our enemies imputed to our dishonour and the
partiality of Fortune, to wit, the tempests and contrariety of Winds.
King _Philip_ did not detract from the Nation, when he said, he sent his
Armado to fight with men, and not to combate with the Winds. Where there
is a manifest disproportion between the powers and forces of two several
agents, upon a Maxime of reason we may promise the Victory to the
Superiour; but when unexpected accidents slip in, and unthought of
occurences intervene, these must proceed from a power that owes no
obedience to those Axioms; where, as in the writing upon the wall, we
may behold the hand, but see not the spring that moves it. The success
of that petty province of _Holland_ (of which the Grand _Seignour_
proudly said, if they should trouble him as they did the _Spaniard_, he
would send his men with shovels and pick-axes, and throw it into the
Sea,) I cannot altogether ascribe to the ingenuity and industry of the
people, but the mercy of God, that hath disposed them to such a thriving
Genius; and to the will of his Providence, that disposeth her favour to
each Country in their pre-ordinate season. All cannot be happy at once;
for, because the glory of one State depends upon the ruine of another,
there is a revolution and vicissitude of their greatness, and must obey
the swing of that wheel, not moved by Intelligences, but by the hand of
God, whereby all Estates arise to their _Zenith_ and Vertical points
according to their predestinated periods. For the lives, not only of
men, but of Commonwealths, and the whole World, run not upon an Helix
that still enlargeth; but on a Circle, where arriving to their Meridian,
they decline in obscurity, and fall under the Horizon again.
SECT. 18
These must not therefore he named the effects of Fortune, but in a
relative way, and as we term the works of Nature: it was the ignorance
of mans reason that begat this very name, and by a careless term
miscalled the Providence of God: for there is no liberty for causes to
operate in a loose and stragling way; nor any effect whatsoever, but
hath its warrant from some universal or superiour Cause. 'Tis not a
ridiculous devotion to say a prayer before a game at Tables; for even in
_sortilegies_ and matters of greatest uncertainty, there is a setled and
preordered course of effects. It is we that are blind, not Fortune:
because our Eye is too dim to discover the mystery of her effects, we
foolishly paint her blind, and hoodwink the Providence of the Almighty.
I cannot justifie that contemptible Proverb, _That fools only are
Fortunate_; or that insolent Paradox, _That a wise man is out of the
reach of Fortune_; much less those opprobrious epithets of Poets,
_Whore_, _Bawd_, and _Strumpet_. 'Tis, I confess, the common fate of men
of singular gifts of mind to be destitute of those of Fortune, which
doth not any way deject the Spirit of wiser judgements, who throughly
understand the justice of this proceeding; and being inrich'd with
higher donatives, cast a more careless eye on these vulgar parts of
felicity. It is a most unjust ambition to desire to engross the mercies
of the Almighty, not to be content with the goods of mind, without a
possession of those of body or Fortune: and it is an error worse than
heresie, to adore these complemental and circumstantial pieces of
felicity, and undervalue those perfections and essential points of
happiness wherein we resemble our Maker. To wiser desires it is
satisfaction enough to deserve, though not to enjoy the favours of
Fortune; let Providence provide for Fools: 'tis not partiality, but
equity in God, who deals with us but as our natural Parents; those that
are able of Body and Mind, he leaves to their deserts; to those of
weaker merits he imparts a larger portion, and pieces out the defect of
one, by the access of the other. Thus have we no just quarrel with
Nature, for leaving us naked; or to envy the Horns, Hoofs, Skins, and
Furs of other Creatures, being provided with Reason, that can supply
them all. We need not labour with so many Arguments to confute Judicial
Astrology; for if there be a truth therein, it doth not injure Divinity:
if to be born under _Mercury_ disposeth us to be witty, under _Jupiter_
to be wealthy; I do not owe a Knee unto those, but unto that merciful
Hand that hath ordered my indifferent and uncertain nativity unto such
benevolous Aspects. Those that hold that all things are governed by
Fortune, had not erred, had they not persisted there: The _Romans_ that
erected a temple to Fortune, acknowledged therein, though in a blinder
way, somewhat of Divinity; for in a wise supputation all things begin
and end in the Almighty. There is a nearer way to Heaven than _Homer's_
Chain; an easy Logick may conjoin heaven and Earth, in one Argument, and
with less than a _Sorites_ resolve all things into God. For though we
christen effects by their most sensible and nearest Causes, yet is God
the true and infallible Cause of all, whose concourse though it be
general, yet doth it subdivide it self into the particular Actions of
every thing, and is that Spirit, by which each singular Essence not only
subsists, but performs its operation.
SECT. 19
The bad construction, and perverse comment on these pair of second
Causes, or visible hands of God, have perverted the Devotion of many
unto Atheism; who, forgetting the honest Advisoes of Faith, have
listened unto the conspiracy of Passion and Reason. I have therefore
always endeavoured to compose those Feuds and angry Dissensions between
Affection, Faith and Reason: For there is in our Soul a kind of
Triumvirate, or triple Government of three Competitors, which distracts
the Peace of this our Common-wealth, not less than did that other the
State of _Rome_.
As Reason is a Rebel unto Faith, so Passion unto Reason: As the
Propositions of Faith seem absurd unto Reason, so the Theorems of Reason
unto Passion, and both unto Reason; yet a moderate and peaceable
discretion may so state and order the matter, that they may be all
Kings, and yet make but one Monarchy, every one exercising his
Soveraignty and Prerogative in a due time and place, according to the
restraint and limit of circumstance. There is, as in Philosophy, so in
Divinity, sturdy doubts and boisterous Objections, wherewith the
unhappiness of our knowledge too nearly acquainteth us. More of these no
man hath known than my self, which I confess I conquered, not in a
martial posture, but on my Knees. For our endeavours are not only to
combat with doubts, but always to dispute with the Devil: the villany of
that Spirit takes a hint of Infidelity from our Studies, and by
demonstrating a naturality in one way, makes us mistrust a miracle in
another. Thus having perused the _Archidoxes_ and read the secret
Sympathies of things, he would disswade my belief from the miracle of
the Brazen Serpent, make me conceit that Image worked by Sympathy, and
was but an _Ægyptian_ trick to cure their Diseases without a miracle.
Again, having seen some experiments of _Bitumen_, and having read far
more of _Naphtha_, he whispered to my curiosity the fire of the Altar
might be natural; and bid me mistrust a miracle in _Elias_, when he
entrenched the Altar round with Water: for that inflamable substance
yields not easily unto Water, but flames in the Arms of its Antagonist.
And thus would he inveagle my belief to think the combustion of _Sodom_
might be natural, and that there was an Asphaltick and Bituminous nature
in that Lake before the Fire of _Gomorrah_. I know that _Manna_ is now
plentifully gathered in _Calabria_; and _Josephus_ tells me, in his days
it was as plentiful in _Arabia_; the Devil therefore made the _quære_,
Where was then the miracle in the days of _Moses_: the _Israelite_ saw
but that in his time, the Natives of those Countries behold in ours.
Thus the Devil played at Chess with me, and yielding a Pawn, thought to
gain a Queen of me, taking advantage of my honest endeavours; and whilst
I laboured to raise the structure of my Reason, he strived to undermine
the edifice of my Faith.
SECT. 20
Neither had these or any other ever such advantage of me, as to incline
me to any point of Infidelity or desperate positions of Atheism; for I
have been these many years of opinion there was never any. Those that
held was the difference of Man from Beasts, have spoken probably, and
proceed upon a principle as inductive as the other. That doctrine of
_Epicurus_, that denied the Providence of God, was no Atheism, but a
magnificent and high strained conceit of his Majesty, which he deemed
too sublime to mind the trivial Actions of those inferiour Creatures.
That fatal Necessity of the Stoicks, is nothing but the immutable Law of
his will. Those that heretofore denied the Divinity of the Holy Ghost,
have been condemned, but as Hereticks; and those that now deny our
Saviour (though more than Hereticks) are not so much as Atheists: for
though they deny two persons in the Trinity, they hold as we do, there
is but one God.
That Villain and Secretary of Hell, that composed that miscreant piece
of the Three Impostors, though divided from all Religions, and was
neither Jew, Turk, nor Christian, was not a positive Atheist. I confess
every country hath its _Machiavel_, every Age its _Lucian_, whereof
common Heads must not hear, nor more advanced Judgments too rashly
venture on: It is the Rhetorick of Satan, and may pervert a loose or
prejudicate belief.
SECT. 21
I confess I have perused them all, and can discover nothing that may
startle a discreet belief; yet are there heads carried off with the Wind
and breath of such motives. I remember a Doctor in Physick of _Italy_,
who could not perfectly believe the immortality of the Soul, because
_Galen_ seemed to make a doubt thereof. With another I was familiarly
acquainted in _France_, a Divine, and a man of singular parts, that on
the same point was so plunged and gravelled with [11]three lines of
_Seneca_, that all our Antidotes, drawn from both Scripture and
Philosophy, could not expel the poyson of his errour. There are a set of
Heads, that can credit the relations of Mariners, yet question the
Testimonies of St. _Paul_; and peremptorily maintain the traditions of
_Ælian_ or _Pliny_, yet in Histories of Scripture raise Queries and
Objections, believing no more than they can parallel in humane Authors.
I confess there are in Scripture Stories that do exceed the Fables of
Poets, and to a captious Reader sound like _Garagantua_ or _Bevis_:
Search all the Legends of times past, and the fabulous conceits of these
present, and 'twill be hard to find one that deserves to carry the
Buckler unto _Sampson_; yet is all this of an easie possibility, if we
conceive a divine concourse, or an influence but from the little Finger
of the Almighty. It is impossible that either in the discourse of man,
or in the infallible Voice of God, to the weakness of our apprehensions,
there should not appear irregularities, contradictions, and antinomies:
my self could shew a Catalogue of doubts, never yet imagined nor
questioned, as I know, which are not resolved at the first hearing; not
fantastick Queries or Objections of Air; for I cannot hear of Atoms in
Divinity. I can read the History of the Pigeon that was sent out of the
Ark, and returned no more, yet not question how she found out her Mate
that was left behind: That _Lazarus_ was raised from the dead, yet not
demand where in the interim his Soul awaited; or raise a Law-case,
whether his Heir might lawfully detain his inheritance bequeathed unto
him by his death, and he, though restored to life, have no Plea or Title
unto his former possessions. Whether _Eve_ was framed out of the left
side of _Adam_, I dispute not; because I stand not yet assured which is
the right side of a man, or whether there be any such distinction in
Nature: that she was edified out of the Rib of _Adam_, I believe, yet
raise no question who shall arise with that Rib at the Resurrection.
Whether _Adam_ was an Hermaphrodite, as the Rabbins contend upon the
Letter of the Text, because it is contrary to reason, there should be an
Hermaphrodite before there was a Woman; or a composition of two Natures
before there was a second composed. Likewise, whether the World was
created in Autumn, Summer, or the Spring, because it was created in them
all; for whatsoever Sign the Sun possesseth, those four Seasons are
actually existent: It is the Nature of this Luminary to distinguish the
several Seasons of the year, all which it makes at one time in the whole
Earth, and successive in any part thereof. There are a bundle of
curiosities, not only in Philosophy, but in Divinity, proposed and
discussed by men of most supposed abilities, which indeed are not worthy
our vacant hours, much less our serious Studies. Pieces only fit to be
placed in _Pantagruel's_ Library, or bound up with Tartaretus, _De modo
Cacandi_. [SN: _In Rabbelais._]
[11] _Post Mortem nihil est, ipsaque Mors nihil. Mors individua est,
noxia corpori, nec patiens animæ ... Toti morimur, nullaque pars
manet nostri._
SECT. 22
These are niceties that become not those that peruse so serious a
Mystery: There are others more generally questioned and called to the
Bar, yet methinks of an easie and possible truth.
'Tis ridiculous to put off, or down the general Flood of _Noah_ in that
particular inundation of _Deucalion_: that there was a Deluge once,
seems not to me so great a Miracle, as that there is not one always. How
all the kinds of Creatures, not only in their own bulks, but with a
competency of food and sustenance, might be preserved in one Ark, and
within the extent of three hundred Cubits, to a reason that rightly
examines it, will appear very feasible. There is another secret not
contained in the Scripture, which is more hard to comprehend, and put
the honest Father to the refuge of a Miracle: and that is, not only how
the distinct pieces of the World, and divided Islands should be first
planted by men, but inhabited by Tigers, Panthers, and Bears. How
_America_ abounded with Beasts of prey, and noxious Animals, yet
contained not in it that necessary Creature, a Horse, is very strange.
By what passage those, not only Birds, but dangerous and unwelcome
Beasts, came over: How there be Creatures there (which are not found in
this Triple Continent); all which must needs be strange unto us, that
hold but one Ark, and that the Creatures began their progress from the
Mountains of _Ararat_: They who to salve this would make the Deluge
particular, proceed upon a principle that I can no way grant; not only
upon the negative of holy Scriptures, but of mine own Reason, whereby I
can make it probable, that the World was as well peopled in the time of
_Noah_, as in ours; and fifteen hundred years to people the World, as
full a time for them, as four thousand years since have been to us.
There are other assertions and common Tenents drawn from Scripture, and
generally believed as Scripture, whereunto notwithstanding, I would
never betray the liberty of my Reason. 'Tis a Paradox to me, that
_Methusalem_ was the longest liv'd of all the Children of _Adam_: and no
man will be able to prove it; when from the process of the Text, I can
manifest it may be otherwise. That _Judas_ perished by hanging himself,
there is no certainty in Scripture: though in one place it seems to
affirm it, and by a doubtful word hath given occasion to translate it;
yet in another place, in a more punctual description, it makes it
improbable, and seems to overthrow it. That our Fathers, after the
Flood, erected the Tower of _Babel_ to preserve themselves against a
second Deluge, is generally opinioned and believed, yet is there another
intention of theirs expressed in Scripture: Besides, it is improbable
from the circumstance of the place, that is, a plain in the Land of
_Shinar_: These are no points of Faith, and therefore may admit a free
dispute. There are yet others, and those familiarly concluded from the
Text, wherein (under favour) I see no consequence: the Church of _Rome_,
confidently proves the opinion of Tutelary Angels, from that Answer when
_Peter_ knockt at the Door; _'Tis not he, but his Angel_; that is, might
some say, his Messenger, or some body from him; for so the Original
signifies, and is as likely to be the doubtful Families meaning. This
exposition I once suggested to a young Divine, that answered upon this
point; to which I remember the _Franciscan_ Opponent replyed no more,
but That it was a new, and no authentick interpretation.
SECT. 23
These are but the conclusions and fallible discourses of man upon the
Word of God, for such I do believe the holy Scriptures: yet were it of
man, I could not chuse but say, it was the singularest and superlative
piece that hath been extant since the Creation: were I a Pagan, I should
not refrain the Lecture of it; and cannot but commend the judgment of
_Ptolomy_, that thought not his Library compleat without it. The Alcoran
of the _Turks_ (I speak without prejudice) is an ill composed Piece,
containing in it vain and ridiculous Errors in Philosophy,
impossibilities, fictions, and vanities beyond laughter, maintained by
evident and open Sophisms, the Policy of Ignorance, deposition of
Universities, and banishment of Learning, that hath gotten Foot by Arms
and violence: This without a blow, hath disseminated it self through the
whole Earth. It is not unremarkable what _Philo_ first observed, That
the Law of _Moses_ continued two thousand years without the least
alteration; whereas, we see, the Laws of other Common-weals do alter
with occasions; and even those, that pretended their Original from some
Divinity, to have vanished without trace or memory. I believe besides
_Zoroaster_, there were divers that writ before _Moses_, who,
notwithstanding, have suffered the common fate of time. Mens Works have
an age like themselves; and though they out-live their Authors, yet have
they a stint and period to their duration: This only is a work too hard
for the teeth of time, and cannot perish but in the general Flames, when
all things shall confess their Ashes.
SECT. 24
I have heard some with deep sighs lament the lost lines of _Cicero_;
others with as many groans deplore the combustion of the Library of
_Alexandria_: for my own part, I think there be too many in the World,
and could with patience behold the urn and ashes of the _Vatican_, could
I, with a few others, recover the perished leaves of _Solomon_. I would
not omit a Copy of _Enoch's_ Pillars, had they many nearer Authors than
_Josephus_, or did not relish somewhat of the Fable. Some men have
written more than others have spoken; [12]_Pineda_ quotes more Authors in
one work, than are necessary in a whole World. Of those three great
inventions in _Germany_, there are two which are not without their
incommodities, and 'tis disputable whether they exceed not their use
and commodities. 'Tis not a melancholy _Utinam_ of my own, but the
desires of better heads, that there were a general Synod; not to unite
the incompatible difference of Religion, but for the benefit of
learning, to reduce it as it lay at first, in a few, and solid Authors;
and to condemn to the fire those swarms & millions of _Rhapsodies_
begotten only to distract and abuse the weaker judgements of Scholars,
and _to maintain the trade and mystery of Typographers_.
[12] Pineda _in his_ Monarchica Ecclesiastica _quotes one thousand
and forty Authors_.
SECT. 25
I cannot but wonder with what exception the _Samaritans_ could confine
their belief to the _Pentateuch_, or five Books of _Moses_. I am ashamed
at the Rabbinical Interpretation of the Jews, upon the Old Testament, as
much as their defection from the New. And truly it is beyond wonder, how
that contemptible and degenerate issue of _Jacob_, once so devoted to
Ethnick Superstition, and so easily seduced to the Idolatry of their
Neighbours, should now in such an obstinate and peremptory belief adhere
unto their own Doctrine, expect impossibilities, and, in the face and
eye of the Church, persist without the least hope of Conversion. This is
a vice in them, that were a vertue in us; for obstinacy in a bad Cause
is but constancy in a good. And herein I must accuse those of my own
Religion; for there is not any of such a fugitive Faith, such an
unstable belief, as a Christian; none that do so oft transform
themselves, not unto several shapes of Christianity and of the same
Species, but unto more unnatural and contrary Forms, of Jew and
Mahometan; that, from the name of Saviour, can condescend to the bare
term of Prophet; and from an old belief that he is come, fall to a new
expectation of his coming. It is the promise of Christ to make us all
one Flock; but how and when this Union shall be, is as obscure to me as
the last day. Of those four Members of Religion we hold a slender
proportion; there are, I confess, some new additions, yet small to those
which accrew to our Adversaries, and those only drawn from the revolt of
Pagans, men but of negative Impieties, and such as deny Christ, but
because they never heard of him: but the Religion of the Jew is
expressly against the Christian, and the Mahometan against both. For the
Turk, in the bulk he now stands, he is beyond all hope of conversion; if
he fall asunder, there may be conceived hopes, but not without strong
improbabilities. The Jew is obstinate in all fortunes; the persecution
of fifteen hundred years hath but confirmed them in their Errour: they
have already endured whatsoever may be inflicted, and have suffered, in
a bad cause, even to the condemnation of their enemies. Persecution is a
bad and indirect way to plant Religion: It hath been the unhappy method
of angry Devotions, not only to confirm honest Religion, but wicked
Heresies, and extravagant Opinions. It was the first stone and Basis of
our Faith; none can more justly boast of Persecutions, and glory in the
number and valour of Martyrs; for, to speak properly, those are true and
almost only examples of fortitude: Those that are fetch'd from the
field, or drawn from the actions of the Camp, are not oft-times so
truely precedents of valour as audacity, and at the best attain but to
some bastard piece of fortitude: If we shall strictly examine the
circumstances and requisites which _Aristotle_ requires to true and
perfect valour, we shall find the name only in his Master _Alexander_,
and as little in that Roman Worthy, _Julius Cæsar_; and if any, in that
easie and active way have done so nobly as to deserve that name, yet in
the passive and more terrible piece these have surpassed, and in a more
heroical way may claim the honour of that Title. 'Tis not in the power
of every honest Faith to proceed thus far, or pass to Heaven through the
flames; every one hath it not in that full measure, nor in so audacious
and resolute a temper, as to endure those terrible tests and trials; who
notwithstanding, in a peaceable way do truely adore their Saviour, and
have (no doubt) a Faith acceptable in the eyes of God.
SECT. 26
Now as all that dye in the War are not termed Souldiers; so neither can
I properly term all those that suffer in matters of Religion, Martyrs.
The Council of _Constance_ condemns _John Huss_ for an Heretick; the
Stories of his own Party stile him a Martyr: He must needs offend the
Divinity of both, that says he was neither the one nor the other: There
are many (questionless) canonised on earth, that shall never be Saints
in Heaven; and have their names in Histories and Martyrologies, who in
the eyes of God are not so perfect Martyrs, as was that wise Heathen
_Socrates_, that suffered on a fundamental point of Religion, the Unity
of God. I have often pitied the miserable Bishop that suffered in the
cause of _Antipodes_, yet cannot chuse but accuse him of as much
madness, for exposing his living on such a trifle; as those of ignorance
and folly, that condemned him. I think my conscience will not give me
the lye, if I say there are not many extant that in a noble way fear the
face of death less than myself; yet, from the moral duty I owe to the
Commandment of God, and the natural respects that I tender unto the
conservation of my essence and being, I would not perish upon a
Ceremony, Politick points, or indifferency: nor is my belief of that
untractible temper, as not to bow at their obstacles, or connive at
matters wherein there are not manifest impieties: The leaven therefore
and ferment of all, not only Civil, but Religious actions, is Wisdom;
without which, to commit our selves to the flames is Homicide, and (I
fear) but to pass through one fire into another.
SECT. 27
That Miracles are ceased, I can neither prove, nor absolutely deny, much
less define the time and period of their cessation: that they survived
Christ, is manifest upon the Record of Scripture: that they out-lived
the Apostles also, and were revived at the Conversion of Nations, many
years after, we cannot deny, if we shall not question those Writers
whose testimonies we do not controvert in points that make for our own
opinions; therefore that may have some truth in it that is reported by
the Jesuites of their Miracles in the _Indies_; I could wish it were
true, or had any other testimony than their own Pens. They may easily
believe those Miracles abroad, who daily conceive a greater at home, the
transmutation of those visible elements into the Body and Blood of our
Saviour: for the conversion of Water into Wine, which he wrought in
_Cana_, or what the Devil would have had him done in the Wilderness, of
Stones into Bread, compared to this, will scarce deserve the name of a
Miracle. Though indeed to speak properly, there is not one Miracle
greater than another, they being the extraordinary effects of the Hand
of God, to which all things are of an equal facility; and to create the
World as easie as one single Creature. For this is also a Miracle, not
onely to produce effects against, or above Nature, but before Nature;
and to create Nature as great a Miracle as to contradict or transcend
her. We do too narrowly define the Power of God, restraining it to our
capacities. I hold that God can do all things; how he should work
contradictions, I do not understand, yet dare not therefore deny. I
cannot see why the Angel of God should question _Esdras_ to recal the
time past, if it were beyond his own power; or that God should pose
mortality in that, which he was not able to perform himself. I will not
say God cannot, but he will not perform many things, which we plainly
affirm he cannot: this I am sure is the mannerliest proposition,
wherein, notwithstanding, I hold no Paradox. For strictly his power is
the same with his will, and they both with all the rest do make but one
God.
SECT. 28
Therefore that Miracles have been, I do believe; that they may yet be
wrought by the living, I do not deny: but have no confidence in those
which are fathered on the dead; and this hath ever made me suspect the
efficacy of reliques, to examine the bones, question the habits and
appurtenances of Saints, and even of Christ himself. I cannot conceive
why the Cross that _Helena_ found, and whereon Christ himself dyed,
should have power to restore others unto life: I excuse not
_Constantine_ from a fall off his Horse, or a mischief from his enemies,
upon the wearing those nails on his bridle, which our Saviour bore upon
the Cross in his hands. I compute among _Piæ fraudes_, nor many degrees
before consecrated Swords and Roses, that which _Baldwyn_, King of
_Jerusalem_, return'd the _Genovese_ for their cost and pains in his
War, to wit, the ashes of _John_ the Baptist. Those that hold the
sanctity of their Souls doth leave behind a tincture and sacred faculty
on their bodies, speak naturally of Miracles, and do not salve the
doubt. Now one reason I tender so little Devotion unto Reliques, is, I
think, the slender and doubtful respect I have always held unto
Antiquities: for that indeed which I admire, is far before Antiquity,
that is, Eternity; and that is, God himself; who, though he be styled
the ancient of days, cannot receive the adjunct of Antiquity, who was
before the World, and shall be after it, yet is not older than it; for
in his years there is no Climacter; his duration is Eternity, and far
more venerable than Antiquity.
SECT. 29
But above all things I wonder how the curiosity of wiser heads could
pass that great and indisputable Miracle, the cessation of Oracles; and
in what swoun their Reasons lay, to content themselves, and sit down
with such a far-fetch'd and ridiculous reason as _Plutarch_ alleadgeth
for it. The Jews, that can believe the supernatural Solstice of the Sun
in the days of _Joshua_, have yet the impudence to deny the Eclipse,
which every Pagan confessed, at his death: but for this, it is evident
beyond all contradiction,[13] the Devil himself confessed it. Certainly
it is not a warrantable curiosity, to examine the verity of Scripture by
the concordance of humane history, or seek to confirm the Chronicle of
_Hester_ or _Daniel_ by the authority of _Megasthenes_ or _Herodotus_. I
confess, I have had an unhappy curiosity this way, till I laughed my
self out of it with a piece of _Justine_, where he delivers that the
Children of _Israel_ for being scabbed were banished out of _Egypt_. And
truely since I have understood the occurrences of the World, and know in
what counterfeit shapes, and deceitful vizards times present represent
on the stage things past; I do believe them little more then things to
come. Some have been of my opinion, and endeavoured to write the History
of their own lives; wherein _Moses_ hath outgone them all, and left not
onely the story of his life, but as some will have it, of his death
also.
[13] _In his Oracle to_ Augustus.
SECT. 30
It is a riddle to me, how this story of Oracles hath not worm'd out of
the World that doubtful conceit of Spirits and Witches; how so many
learned heads should so far forget their Metaphysicks, and destroy the
ladder and scale of creatures, as to question the existence of Spirits:
for my part, I have ever believed, and do now know, that there are
Witches: they that doubt of these, do not onely deny them, but spirits;
and are obliquely and upon consequence a sort not of Infidels, but
Atheists. Those that to confute their incredulity desire to see
apparitions, shall questionless never behold any, nor have the power to
be so much as Witches; the Devil hath them already in a heresie as
capital as Witchcraft; and to appear to them, were but to convert them.
Of all the delusions wherewith he deceives mortality, there is not any
that puzleth me more than the Legerdemain of _Changelings_; I do not
credit those transformations of reasonable creatures into beasts, or
that the Devil hath a power to transpeciate a man into a Horse, who
tempted Christ (as a trial of his Divinity) to convert but stones into
bread. I could believe that Spirits use with man the act of carnality,
and that in both sexes; I conceive they may assume, steal, or contrive a
body, wherein there may be action enough to content decrepit lust, or
passion to satisfie more active veneries; yet in both, without a
possibility of generation: and therefore that opinion that Antichrist
should be born of the Tribe of _Dan_, by conjunction with the Devil, is
ridiculous, and a conceit fitter for a Rabbin than a Christian. I hold
that the Devil doth really possess some men, the spirit of Melancholly
others, the spirit of Delusion others; that as the Devil is concealed
and denyed by some, so God and good Angels are pretended by others
whereof the late defection of the Maid of _Germany_ hath left a pregnant
example.
Sect. 31
Again, I believe that all that use sorceries, incantations, and spells,
are not Witches, or, as we term them, Magicians; I conceive there is a
traditional Magick, not learned immediately from the Devil, but at
second hand from his Scholars, who having once the secret betrayed, are
able, and do emperically practise without his advice, they both
proceeding upon the principles of Nature; where actives, aptly conjoyned
to disposed passives, will under any Master produce their effects. Thus
I think at first a great part of Philosophy was Witchcraft, which being
afterward derived to one another, proved but Philosophy, and was indeed
no more but the honest effects of Nature: What invented by us is
Philosophy, learned from him is Magick. We do surely owe the discovery
of many secrets to the discovery of good and bad Angels. I could never
pass that sentence of _Paracelsus_, without an asterisk, or annotation;
[14]_Ascendens constellatum multa revelat, quærentibus magnalia naturæ_,
i.e. _opera Dei_. I do think that many mysteries ascribed to our own
inventions, have been the courteous revelations of Spirits; for those
noble essences in Heaven bear a friendly regard unto their fellow
Natures on Earth; and therefore believe that those many prodigies and
ominous prognosticks, which fore-run the ruines of States, Princes, and
private persons, are the charitable premonitions of good Angels, which
more careless enquiries term but the effects of chance and nature.
[14] _Thereby is meant out good Angel appointed us from our Nativity._
SECT. 32
Now, besides these particular and divided Spirits, there may be (for
ought I know) an universal and common Spirit to the whole World. It was
the opinion of _Plato_, and it is yet of the _Hermetical_ Philosophers:
if there be a common nature that unites and tyes the scattered and
divided individuals into one species, why may there not be one that
unites them all? However, I am sure there is a common Spirit that plays
within us, yet makes no part of us; and that is the Spirit of God, the
fire and scintillation of that noble and mighty Essence, which is the
life and radical heat of Spirits, and those essences that know not the
vertue of the Sun, a fire quite contrary to the fire of Hell: This is
that gentle heat that broodeth on the waters, and in six days hatched
the World; this is that irradiation that dispels the mists of Hell, the
clouds of horrour, fear, sorrow, despair; and preserves the region of
the mind in serenity: Whatsoever feels not the warm gale and gentle
ventilation of this Spirit, (though I feel his pulse) I dare not say he
lives; for truely without this, to me there is no heat under the
Tropick; nor any light, though I dwelt in the body of the Sun.
_As when the labouring Sun hath wrought his track
Up to the top of lofty_ Cancers _back,
The ycie Ocean cracks, the frozen pole
Thaws with the heat of the Celestial coale;
So when thy absent beams begin t' impart
Again a Solstice on my frozen heart,
My winter 's ov'r; my drooping spirits sing,
And every part revives into a Spring.
But if thy quickening beams a while decline,
And with their light bless not this Orb of mine,
A chilly frost surpriseth every member,
And in the midst of_ June _I feel_ December.
_O how this earthly temper doth debase
The noble Soul in this her humble place.
Whose wingy nature ever doth aspire
To reach that place whence first it took its fire.
These flames I feel, which in my heart do dwell,
Are not thy beams, but take their fire from Hell.
O quench them all, and let thy light divine
Be as the Sun to this poor Orb of mine;
And to thy sacred Spirit convert those fires,
Whose earthly fumes choak my devout aspires._
SECT. 33
Therefore for Spirits, I am so far from denying their existence, that I
could easily believe, that not onely whole Countries, but particular
persons, have their Tutelary and Guardian Angels: It is not a new
opinion of the Church of _Rome_, but an old one of _Pythagoras_ and
_Plato_; there is no heresie in it; and if not manifestly defin'd in
Scripture, yet is it an opinion of a good and wholesome use in the
course and actions of a mans life, and would serve as an _Hypothesis_ to
salve many doubts, whereof common Philosophy affordeth no solution. Now
if you demand my opinion and Metaphysicks of their natures, I confess
them very shallow, most of them in a negative way, like that of God; or
in a comparative, between our selves and fellow-creatures; for there is
in this Universe a Stair, or manifest Scale of creatures, rising not
disorderly, or in confusion, but with a comely method and proportion.
Between creatures of meer existence and things of life, there is a large
disproportion of nature; between plants and animals or creatures of
sense, a wider difference; between them and man, a far greater: and if
the proportion hold one, between Man and Angels there should be yet a
greater. We do not comprehend their natures, who retain the first
definition of _Porphyry_, and distinguish them from our selves by
immortality; for before his Fall, 'tis thought, Man also was Immortal;
yet must we needs affirm that he had a different essence from the
Angels; having therefore no certain knowledge of their Natures, 'tis no
bad method of the Schools, whatsoever perfection we find obscurely in
our selves, in a more compleat and absolute way to ascribe unto them. I
believe they have an extemporary knowledge, and upon the first motion of
their reason do what we cannot without study or deliberation; that they
know things by their forms, and define by specifical difference what we
describe by accidents and properties; and therefore probabilities to us
may be demonstrations unto them: that they have knowledge not onely of
the specifical, but numerical forms of individuals, and understand by
what reserved difference each single _Hypostasis_ (besides the relation
to its species) becomes its numerical self. That as the Soul hath a
power to move the body it informs, so there's a faculty to move any,
though inform none; ours upon restraint of time, place, and distance;
but that invisible hand that conveyed _Habakkuk_ to the Lyons Den, or
_Philip_ to _Azotus_, infringeth this rule, and hath a secret
conveyance, wherewith mortality is not acquainted: if they have that
intuitive knowledge, whereby as in reflexion they behold the thoughts of
one another, I cannot peremptorily deny but they know a great part of
ours. They that to refute the Invocation of Saints, have denied that
they have any knowledge of our affairs below, have proceeded too far,
and must pardon my opinion, till I can thoroughly answer that piece of
Scripture, _At the conversion of a sinner the Angels in Heaven rejoyce._
I cannot with those in that great Father securely interpret the work of
the first day, _Fiat lux_, to the creation of Angels, though I confess
there is not any creature that hath so neer a glympse of their nature,
as light in the Sun and Elements. We stile it a bare accident, but where
it subsists alone, 'tis a spiritual Substance, and may be an Angel: in
brief, conceive light invisible, and that is a Spirit.
SECT. 34
These are certainly the Magisterial and master-pieces of the Creator,
the Flower, or (as we may say) the best part of nothing, actually
existing, what we are but in hopes and probability; we are onely that
amphibious piece between a corporal and spiritual Essence, that middle
form that links those two together, and makes good the Method of God and
Nature, that jumps not from extreams, but unites the incompatible
distances by some middle and participating natures: that we are the
breath and similitude of God, it is indisputable, and upon record of
holy Scripture; but to call ourselves a Microcosm, or little World, I
thought it only a pleasant trope of Rhetorick, till my neer judgement
and second thoughts told me there was a real truth therein: for first we
are a rude mass, and in the rank of creatures, which onely are, and
have a dull kind of being, not yet privileged with life, or preferred to
sense or reason; next we live the life of Plants, the life of Animals,
the life of Men, and at last the life of Spirits, running on in one
mysterious nature those five kinds of existences, which comprehend the
creatures not onely of the World, but of the Universe; thus is man that
great and true _Amphibium_, whose nature is disposed to live not onely
like other creatures in divers elements, but in divided and
distinguished worlds: for though there be but one to sense, there are
two to reason, the one visible, the other invisible, whereof _Moses_
seems to have left description, and of the other so obscurely, that some
parts thereof are yet in controversie. And truely for the first chapters
of _Genesis_, I must confess a great deal of obscurity; though Divines
have to the power of humane reason endeavoured to make all go in a
literal meaning, yet those allegorical interpretations are also
probable, and perhaps the mystical method of _Moses_ bred up in the
Hieroglyphical Schools of the Egyptians.
SECT. 35
Now for that immaterial world, methinks we need not wander so far as
beyond the first moveable; for even in this material Fabrick the spirits
walk as freely exempt from the affection of time, place, and motion, as
beyond the extreamest circumference: do but extract from the corpulency
of bodies, or resolve things beyond their first matter, and you discover
the habitation of Angels, which if I call the ubiquitary and omnipresent
essence of God, I hope I shall not offend Divinity: for before the
Creation of the World God was really all things. For the Angels he
created no new World, or determinate mansion, and therefore they are
everywhere where is his Essence, and do live at a distance even in
himself. That God made all things for man, is in some sense true, yet
not so far as to subordinate the Creation of those purer Creatures unto
ours, though as ministring Spirits they do, and are willing to fulfil
the will of God in these lower and sublunary affairs of man: God made
all things for himself, and it is impossible he should make them for any
other end than his own Glory; it is all he can receive, and all that is
without himself: for honour being an external adjunct, and in the
honourer rather than in the person honoured, it was necessary to make a
Creature, from whom he might receive this homage; and that is in the
other world Angels, in this, Man; which when we neglect, we forget the
very end of our Creation, and may justly provoke God, not onely to
repent that he hath made the World, but that he hath sworn he would not
destroy it. That there is but one World, is a conclusion of Faith.
_Aristotle_ with all his Philosophy hath not been able to prove it, and
as weakly that the world was eternal; that dispute much troubled the Pen
of the Philosophers, but _Moses_ decided that question, and all is
salved with the new term of a Creation, that is, a production of
something out of nothing; and what is that? Whatsoever is opposite to
something; or more exactly, that which is truely contrary unto God; for
he onely is, all others have an existence with dependency, and are
something but by a distinction; and herein is Divinity conformant unto
Philosophy, and generation not onely founded on contrarieties, but also
creation; God being all things, is contrary unto nothing, out of which
were made all things, and so nothing became something, and _Omneity_
informed _Nullity_ into an Essence.
SECT. 36
The whole Creation is a Mystery, and particularly that of Man; at the
blast of his mouth were the rest of the Creatures made, and at his bare
word they started out of nothing: but in the frame of Man (as the Text
describes it) he played the sensible operator, and seemed not so much to
create, as make him; when he had separated the materials of other
creatures, there consequently resulted a form and soul; but having
raised the walls of man, he has driven to a second and harder creation
of a substance like himself, an incorruptible and immortal Soul. For
these two affections we have the Philosophy and opinion of the Heathens,
the flat affirmative of _Plato_, and not a negative from _Aristotle_:
there is another scruple cast in by Divinity (concerning its production)
much disputed in the _Germane_ auditories, and with that indifferency
and equality of arguments, as leave the controversie undetermined. I am
not of _Paracelsus_ mind, that boldly delivers a receipt to make a man
without conjunction; yet cannot but wonder at the multitude of heads
that do deny traduction, having no other argument to confirm their
belief, then that Rhetorical sentence, and _Antimetathesis_ of
_Augustine_, _Creando infunditur, infundendo creatur_: either opinion
will consist well enough with Religion; yet I should rather incline to
this, did not one objection haunt me, not wrung from speculations and
subtilties, but from common sense and observation; not pickt from the
leaves of any Author, but bred amongst the weeds and tares of mine own
brain: And this is a conclusion from the equivocal and monstrous
productions in the copulation of Man with Beast: for if the Soul of man
be not transmitted, and transfused in the seed of the Parents, why are
not those productions meerly beasts, but have also an impression and
tincture of reason in as high a measure, as it can evidence it self in
those improper Organs? Nor truely can I peremptorily deny, that the Soul
in this her sublunary estate, is wholly, and in all acceptions
inorganical, but that for the performance of her ordinary actions, there
is required not onely a symmetry and proper disposition of Organs, but a
Crasis and temper correspondent to its operations. Yet is not this mass
of flesh and visible structure the instrument and proper corps of the
Soul, but rather of Sense, and that the hand of Reason. In our study of
Anatomy there is a mass of mysterious Philosophy, and such as reduced
the very Heathens to Divinity: yet amongst all those rare discourses,
and curious pieces I find in the Fabrick of man, I do not so much
content my self, as in that I find not, there is no Organ or Instrument
for the rational soul: for in the brain, which we term the seat of
reason, there is not any thing of moment more than I can discover in the
crany of a beast: and this is a sensible and no inconsiderable argument
of the inorganity of the Soul, at least in that sense we usually so
conceive it. Thus we are men, and we know not how; there is something in
us that can be without us, and will be after us, though it is strange
that it hath no history, what it was before us, nor cannot tell how it
entred in us.
SECT. 37
Now for these walls of flesh, wherein the Soul doth seem to be immured,
before the Resurrection, it is nothing but an elemental composition, and
a Fabrick that must fall to ashes. _All flesh is grass_, is not onely
metaphorically, but litterally, true; for all those creatures we
behold, are but the herbs of the field, digested into flesh in them, or
more remotely carnified in our selves. Nay further, we are what we all
abhor, _Anthropophagi_ and Cannibals, devourers not onely of men, but of
our selves; and that not in an allegory, but a positive truth: for all
this mass of flesh which we behold, came in at our mouths; this frame we
look upon, hath been upon our trenchers; in brief, we have devour'd our
selves. I cannot believe the wisdom of _Pythagoras_ did ever positively,
and in a literal sense, affirm his _Metempsychosis_, or impossible
transmigration of the Souls of men into beasts: of all Metamorphoses, or
transmigrations, I believe only one, that is of _Lots_ wife; for that of
_Nebuchodonosor_ proceeded not so far; in all others I conceive there is
no further verity than is contained in their implicite sense and
morality. I believe that the whole frame of a beast doth perish, and is
left in the same state after death as before it was materialled unto
life; that the souls of men know neither contrary nor corruption; that
they subsist beyond the body, and outlive death by the priviledge of
their proper natures, and without a Miracle; that the Souls of the
faithful, as they leave Earth, take possession of Heaven: that those
apparitions and ghosts of departed persons are not the wandring souls of
men, but the unquiet walks of Devils, prompting and suggesting us unto
mischief, blood, and villany; instilling and stealing into our hearts
that the blessed spirits are not at rest in their graves, but wander
sollicitous of the affairs of the World; but that those phantasms appear
often, and do frequent Coemeteries, Charnel-houses, and Churches, it
is because those are the dormitories of the dead, where the Devil like
an insolent Champion beholds with pride the spoils and Trophies of his
Victory over _Adam_.
SECT. 38
This is that dismal conquest we all deplore, that makes us so often cry
_(O) Adam, quid fecisti_? I thank God I have not those strait ligaments,
or narrow obligations to the World, as to dote on life, or be convulst
and tremble at the name of death: Not that I am insensible of the dread
and horrour thereof, or by raking into the bowels of the deceased,
continual sight of Anatomies, Skeletons, or Cadaverous reliques, like
Vespilloes, or Gravemakers, I am become stupid, or have forgot the
apprehension of Mortality; but that marshalling all the horrours, and
contemplating the extremities thereof, I find not any thing therein able
to daunt the courage of a man, much less a well-resolved Christian: And
therefore am not angry at the errour of our first Parents, or unwilling
to bear a part of this common fate, and like the best of them to dye,
that is, to cease to breathe, to take a farewel of the elements, to be a
kind of nothing for a moment, to be within one instant of a spirit. When
I take a full view and circle of my self, without this reasonable
moderator, and equal piece of Justice, Death, I do conceive my self the
miserablest person extant; were there not another life that I hope for,
all the vanities of this World should not intreat a moment's breath from
me: could the Devil work my belief to imagine I could never dye, I would
not outlive that very thought; I have so abject a conceit of this common
way of existence, this retaining to the Sun and Elements, I cannot think
this is to be a man, or to live according to the dignity of humanity: in
exspectation of a better, I can with patience embrace this life, yet in
my best meditations do often defie death: I honour any man that contemns
it, nor can I highly love any that is afraid of it: this makes me
naturally love a Souldier, and honour those tattered and contemptible
Regiments, that will dye at the command of a Sergeant. For a Pagan there
may be some motives to be in love with life; but for a Christian to be
amazed at death, I see not how he can escape this Dilemma, that he is
too sensible of this life, or hopeless of the life to come.
SECT. 39
Some Divines count Adam 30 years old at his creation, because they
suppose him created in the perfect age and stature of man. And surely we
are all out of the computation of our age, and every man is some months
elder than he bethinks him; for we live, move, have a being, and are
subject to the actions of the elements, and the malice of diseases, in
that other world, the truest Microcosm, the Womb of our Mother. For
besides that general and common existence we are conceived to hold in
our Chaos, and whilst we sleep within the bosome of our causes, we enjoy
a being and life in three distinct worlds, wherein we receive most
manifest graduations: In that obscure World and womb of our mother, our
time is short, computed by the Moon; yet longer then the days of many
creatures that behold the Sun, our selves being not yet without life,
sense, and reason; though for the manifestation of its actions, it
awaits the opportunity of objects, and seems to live there but in its
root and soul of vegetation; entring afterwards upon the scene of the
World, we arise up and become another creature, performing the
reasonable actions of man, and obscurely manifesting that part of
Divinity in us, but not in complement and perfection, till we have once
more cast our secondine, that is, this slough of flesh, and are
delivered into the last world, that is, that ineffable place of _Paul_,
that proper _ubi_ of spirits. The smattering I have of the Philosophers
Stone (which is something more then the perfect exaltation of Gold) hath
taught me a great deal of Divinity, and instructed my belief, how that
immortal spirit and incorruptible substance of my Soul may lye obscure,
and sleep a while within this house of flesh. Those strange and mystical
transmigrations that I have observed in Silk-worms, turned my Philosophy
into Divinity. There is in these works of nature, which seem to puzzle
reason, something Divine, and hath more in it then the eye of a common
spectator doth discover.
SECT. 40
I am naturally bashful, nor hath conversation, age or travel, been able
to effront, or enharden me; yet I have one part of modesty which I have
seldom discovered in another, that is, (to speak truely) I am not so
much afraid of death, as ashamed thereof; 'tis the very disgrace and
ignominy of our natures, that in a moment can so disfigure us, that our
nearest friends, Wife, and Children stand afraid and start at us. The
Birds and Beasts of the field, that before in a natural fear obeyed us,
forgetting all allegiance, begin to prey upon us. This very conceit hath
in a tempest disposed and left me willing to be swallowed up in the
abyss of waters; wherein I had perished unseen, unpityed, without
wondering eyes, tears of pity, Lectures of mortality, and none had said,
_Quantum mutatus ab illo!_ Not that I am ashamed of the Anatomy of my
parts, or can accuse Nature for playing the bungler in any part of me,
or my own vitious life for contracting any shameful disease upon me,
whereby I might not call my self as wholesome a morsel for the worms as
any.
SECT. 41
Some upon the courage of a fruitful issue, wherein, as in the truest
Chronicle, they seem to outlive themselves, can with greater patience
away with death. This conceit and counterfeit subsisting in our
progenies, seems to me a meer fallacy, unworthy the desires of a man,
that can but conceive a thought of the next World; who, in a nobler
ambition, should desire to live in his substance in Heaven, rather than
his name and shadow in the earth. And therefore at my death I mean to
take a total adieu of the world, not caring for a Monument, History, or
Epitaph, not so much as the memory of my name to be found any where, but
in the universal Register of God. I am not yet so Cynical, as to approve
the [15]Testament of _Diogenes_, nor do I altogether allow that
_Rodomontodo_ of _Lucan_;
_----Coelo tegitur, qui non habet urnam._
_He that unburied lies wants not his Herse,
For unto him a Tomb's the Universe._
But commend in my calmer judgement, those ingenuous intentions that
desire to sleep by the urns of their Fathers, and strive to go the
neatest way unto corruption. I do not envy the temper of Crows and Daws,
nor the numerous and weary days of our Fathers before the Flood. If
there be any truth in Astrology, I may outlive a Jubilee; as yet I have
not seen one revolution of Saturn, nor hath my pulse beat thirty years;
and yet excepting one, have seen the Ashes, & left under ground all the
Kings of _Europe_; have been contemporary to three Emperours, four Grand
Signiours, and as many Popes: methinks I have outlived my self, and
begin to be weary of the Sun; I have shaken hands with delight: in my
warm blood and Canicular days, I perceive I do anticipate the vices of
age; the World to me is but a dream or mock-show, and we all therein but
Pantalones and Anticks, to my severer contemplations.
[15] _Who willed his friend not to bury him, but hang him up with a
staff in his hand to fright away the crows._
SECT. 42
It is not, I confess, an unlawful prayer to desire to surpass the days
of our Saviour, or wish to outlive that age wherein he thought fittest
to dye; yet if (as Divinity affirms) there shall be no gray hairs in
Heaven, but all shall rise in the perfect state of men, we do but
outlive those perfections in this World, to be recalled unto them by a
greater Miracle in the next, and run on here but to be retrograde
hereafter. Were there any hopes to outlive vice, or a point to be
super-annuated from sin, it were worthy our knees to implore the days of
_Methuselah_. But age doth not rectifie, but incurvate our natures,
turning bad dispositions into worser habits, and (like diseases) brings
on incurable vices; for every day as we grow weaker in age, we grow
stronger in sin; and the number of our days doth make but our sins
innumerable. The same vice committed at sixteen, is not the same, though
it agree in all other circumstances, at forty, but swells and doubles
from the circumstance of our ages, wherein, besides the constant and
inexcusable habit of transgressing, the maturity of our judgement cuts
off pretence unto excuse or pardon: every sin the oftner it is
committed, the more it acquireth in the quality of evil; as it succeeds
in time, so it proceeds in degrees of badness; for as they proceed they
ever multiply, and like figures in Arithmetick, the last stands for more
than all that went before it. And though I think no man can live well
once, but he that could live twice, yet for my own part I would not live
over my hours past, or begin again the thred of my days: not upon
_Cicero's_ ground, because I have lived them well, but for fear I should
live them worse: I find my growing Judgment daily instruct me how to be
better, but my untamed affections and confirmed vitiosity makes me daily
do worse; I find in my confirmed age the same sins I discovered in my
youth; I committed many then because I was a Child, and because I commit
them still, I am yet an infant. Therefore I perceive a man may be twice
a Child before the days of dotage; and stands in need of _Æsons_ Bath
before threescore.
SECT. 43
And truely there goes a great deal of providence to produce a mans life
unto three-score: there is more required than an able temper for those
years; though the radical humour contain in it sufficient oyl for
seventy, yet I perceive in some it gives no light past thirty: men
assign not all the causes of long life, that write whole Books thereof.
They that found themselves on the radical balsome, or vital sulphur of
the parts, determine not why _Abel_ lived not so long as _Adam_. There
is therefore a secret glome or bottome of our days: 'twas his wisdom to
determine them, but his perpetual and waking providence that fulfils and
accomplisheth them; wherein the spirits, our selves, and all the
creatures of God in a secret and disputed way do execute his will. Let
them not therefore complain of immaturity that die about thirty; they
fall but like the whole World, whose solid and well-composed substance
must not expect the duration and period of its constitution: when all
things are compleated in it, its age is accomplished; and the last and
general fever may as naturally destroy it before six thousand, as me
before forty; there is therefore some other hand that twines the thread
of life than that of Nature: we are not onely ignorant in Antipathies
and occult qualities; our ends are as obscure as our beginnings; the
line of our days is drawn by night, and the various effects therein by a
pensil that is invisible; wherein though we confess our ignorance, I am
sure we do not err if we say it is the hand of God.
SECT. 44
I am much taken with two verses of _Lucan_, since I have been able not
onely as we do at School, to construe, but understand.
_Victurosque Dei celant ut vivere durent.
Felix esse mori._
_We're all deluded, vainly searching ways
To make us happy by the length of days;
For cunningly to make's protract this breath,
The Gods conceal the happiness of Death._
There be many excellent strains in that Poet, wherewith his Stoical
Genius hath liberally supplied him; and truely there are singular pieces
in the Philosophy of _Zeno_, and doctrine of the Stoicks, which I
perceive, delivered in a Pulpit, pass for current Divinity: yet herein
are they in extreams, that can allow a man to be his own _Assassine_,
and so highly extol the end and suicide of _Cato_; this is indeed not to
fear death, but yet to be afraid of life. It is a brave act of valour to
contemn death; but where life is more terrible than death, it is then
the truest valour to dare to live; and herein Religion hath taught us a
noble example: For all the valiant acts of _Curtius_, _Scevola_, or
_Codrus_, do not parallel or match that one of _Job_; and sure there is
no torture to the rack of a disease, nor any Ponyards in death it self
like those in the way or prologue to it. _Emori nolo, sed me esse
mortuum nihil curo_; I would not die, but care not to be dead. Were I of
_Cæsar's_ Religion, I should be of his desires, and wish rather to go
off at one blow, then to be sawed in pieces by the grating torture of a
disease. Men that look no farther than their outsides, think health an
appurtenance unto life, and quarrel with their constitutions for being
sick; but I, that have examined the parts of man, and know upon what
tender filaments that Fabrick hangs, do wonder that we are not always
so; and considering the thousand doors that lead to death, do thank my
God that we can die but once. 'Tis not onely the mischief of diseases,
and villany of poysons, that make an end of us; we vainly accuse the
fury of Guns, and the new inventions of death; it is in the power of
every hand to destroy us, and we are beholding unto every one we meet,
he doth not kill us. There is therefore but one comfort left, that,
though it be in the power of the weakest arm to take away life, it is
not in the strongest to deprive us of death: God would not exempt
himself from that, the misery of immortality in the flesh; he undertook
not that was immortal. Certainly there is no happiness within this
circle of flesh, nor is it in the Opticks of these eyes to behold
felicity; the first day of our Jubilee is Death; the Devil hath
therefore failed of his desires; we are happier with death than we
should have been without it: there is no misery but in himself, where
there is no end of misery; and so indeed in his own sense the Stoick is
in the right. He forgets that he can dye who complains of misery; we are
in the power of no calamity while death is in our own.
SECT. 45.
Now besides the literal and positive kind of death, there are others
whereof Divines make mention, and those I think, not meerly
Metaphorical, as mortification, dying unto sin and the World; therefore,
I say, every man hath a double Horoscope, one of his humanity, his
birth; another of his Christianity, his baptism, and from this do I
compute or calculate my Nativity; not reckoning those _Horæ combustæ_
and odd days, or esteeming my self any thing, before I was my Saviours,
and inrolled in the Register of Christ: Whosoever enjoys not this life,
I count him but an apparition, though he wear about him the sensible
affections of flesh. In these moral acceptions, the way to be immortal
is to dye daily; nor can I think I have the true Theory of death, when I
contemplate a skull, or behold a Skeleton with those vulgar imaginations
it casts upon us; I have therefore enlarged that common _Memento mori_,
into a more Christian memorandum, _Memento quatuor Novissima_, those
four inevitable points of us all, Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell.
Neither did the contemplations of the Heathens rest in their graves,
without further thought of Rhadamanth or some judicial proceeding after
death, though in another way, and upon suggestion of their natural
reasons. I cannot but marvail from what _Sibyl_ or Oracle they stole the
Prophesie of the worlds destruction by fire, or whence _Lucan_ learned
to say,
_Communis mundo superest rogus, assibus astra Misturus.
There yet remains to th' World one common Fire,
Wherein our bones with stars shall make one Pyre._
I believe the World grows near its end, yet is neither old nor decayed,
nor shall ever perish upon the ruines of its own Principles. As the work
of Creation was above nature, so its adversary annihilation; without
which the World hath not its end, but its mutation. Now what force
should be able to consume it thus far, without the breath of God, which
is the truest consuming flame, my Philosophy cannot inform me. Some
believe there went not a minute to the Worlds creation, nor shall there
go to its destruction; those six days, so punctually described, make not
to them one moment, but rather seem to manifest the method and Idea of
the great work of the intellect of God, than the manner how he proceeded
in its operation. I cannot dream that there should be at the last day
any such Judicial proceeding, or calling to the Bar, as indeed the
Scripture seems to imply, and the literal Commentators do conceive: for
unspeakable mysteries in the Scriptures are often delivered in a vulgar
and illustrative way; and being written unto man, are delivered, not as
they truely are, but as they may be understood; wherein notwithstanding
the different interpretations according to different capacities may
stand firm with our devotion, nor be any way prejudicial to each single
edification.
SECT. 46
[Sidenote: _In those days there shall come lyars and false prophets._]
Now to determine the day and year of this inevitable time, is not onely
convincible and statute-madness, but also manifest impiety: How shall we
interpret _Elias_ 6000 years, or imagine the secret communicated to a
Rabbi, which God hath denyed unto his Angels? It had been an excellent
Quære to have posed the Devil of _Delphos_, and must needs have forced
him to some strange amphibology; it hath not onely mocked the
predictions of sundry Astrologers in Ages past, but the prophesies of
many melancholy heads in these present, who neither understanding
reasonably things past or present, pretend a knowledge of things to
come; heads ordained onely to manifest the incredible effects of
melancholy, and to fulfil old prophecies rather than be the authors of
new. In those days there shall come Wars and rumours of Wars, to me
seems no prophecy, but a constant truth, in all times verified since it
was pronounced: There shall be signs in the Moon and Stars; how comes he
then like a Thief in the night, when he gives an item of his coming?
That common sign drawn from the revelation of Antichrist, is as obscure
as any: in our common compute he hath been come these many years; but
for my own part to speak freely, I am half of opinion that Antichrist is
the Philosophers stone in Divinity; for the discovery and invention
thereof, though there be prescribed rules and probable inductions, yet
hath hardly any man attained the perfect discovery thereof. That general
opinion that the World grows neer its end, hath possessed all ages past
as neerly as ours; I am afraid that the Souls that now depart, cannot
escape that lingring expostulation of the Saints under the Altar,
_Quousque, Domine? How long, O Lord?_ and groan in the expectation of
that great Jubilee.
SECT. 47
This is the day that must make good that great attribute of God, his
Justice; that must reconcile those unanswerable doubts that torment the
wisest understandings, and reduce those seeming inequalities, and
respective distributions in this world, to an equality and recompensive
Justice in the next. This is that one day, that shall include and
comprehend all that went before it; wherein, as in the last scene, all
the Actors must enter, to compleat and make up the Catastrophe of this
great piece. This is the day whose memory hath onely power to make us
honest in the dark, and to be vertuous without a witness. _Ipsa sui
pretium virtus sibi_, that Vertue is her own reward, is but a cold
principle, and not able to maintain our variable resolutions in a
constant and setled way of goodness. I have practised that honest
artifice of _Seneca_, and in my retired and solitary imaginations, to
detain me from the foulness of vice, have fancied to my self the
presence of my dear and worthiest friends, before whom I should lose my
head, rather than be vitious: yet herein I found that there was nought
but moral honesty, and this was not to be vertuous for his sake who must
reward us at the last. I have tryed if I could reach that great
resolution of his, to be honest without a thought of Heaven or Hell; and
indeed I found, upon a natural inclination, and inbred loyalty unto
virtue, that I could serve her without a livery; yet not in that
resolved and venerable way, but that the frailty of my nature, upon[A]
easie temptation, might be induced to forget her. The life therefore and
spirit of all our actions, is the resurrection, and a stable
apprehension that our ashes shall enjoy the fruit of our pious
endeavours: without this, all Religion is a fallacy, and those impieties
of _Lucian_, _Euripides_, and _Julian_, are no blasphemies, but subtle
verities, and Atheists have been the onely Philosophers.
[A] _Insert_ any, 1672.
SECT. 48
How shall the dead arise, is no question of my Faith; to believe only
possibilities, is not Faith, but meer Philosophy. Many things are true
in Divinity, which are neither inducible by reason, nor confirmable by
sense; and many things in Philosophy confirmable by sense, yet not
inducible by reason. Thus it is impossible by any solid or demonstrative
reasons to perswade a man to believe the conversion of the Needle to the
North; though this be possible and true, and easily credible, upon a
single experiment unto the sense. I believe that our estranged and
divided ashes shall unite again; that our separated dust after so many
Pilgrimages and transformations into the parts of Minerals, Plants,
Animals, Elements, shall at the Voice of God return into their primitive
shapes, and joyn again to make up their primary and predestinate forms.
As at the Creation there was a separation of that confused mass into its
pieces; so at the destruction thereof there shall be a separation into
its distinct individuals. As at the Creation of the World, all the
distinct species that we behold lay involved in one mass, till the
fruitful Voice of God separated this united multitude into its several
species: so at the last day, when those corrupted reliques shall be
scattered in the Wilderness of forms, and seem to have forgot their
proper habits, God by a powerful Voice shall command them back into
their proper shapes, and call them out by their single individuals: Then
shall appear the fertility of _Adam_, and the magick of that sperm that
hath dilated into so many millions. I have often beheld as a miracle,
that artificial resurrection and revivification of _Mercury_, how being
mortified into a thousand shapes, it assumes again its own, and returns
into its numerical self. Let us speak naturally, and like Philosophers,
the forms of alterable bodies in these sensible corruptions perish not;
nor as we imagine, wholly quit their mansions, but retire and contract
themselves into their secret and inaccessible parts, where they may best
protect themselves from the action of their Antagonist. A plant or
vegetable consumed to ashes, by a contemplative and school-Philosopher
seems utterly destroyed, and the form to have taken his leave for ever:
But to a sensible Artist the forms are not perished, but withdrawn into
their incombustible part, where they lie secure from the action of that
devouring element. This is made good by experience, which can from the
Ashes of a Plant revive the plant, and from its cinders recal it into
its stalk and leaves again. What the Art of man can do in these
inferiour pieces, what blasphemy is it to affirm the finger of God
cannot do in these more perfect and sensible structures? This is that
mystical Philosophy, from whence no true Scholar becomes an Atheist, but
from the visible effects of nature grows up a real Divine, and beholds
not in a dream, as _Ezekiel_, but in an ocular and visible object the
types of his resurrection.
SECT. 49
Now, the necessary Mansions of our restored selves, are those two
contrary and incompatible places we call Heaven and Hell; to define
them, or strictly to determine what and where these are, surpasseth my
Divinity. That elegant Apostle which seemed to have a glimpse of Heaven,
hath left but a negative description thereof; _which neither eye hath
seen, nor ear hath heard, nor can enter into the heart of man_: he was
translated out of himself to behold it; but being returned into himself,
could not express it. St. _John's_ description by Emerals, Chrysolites,
and precious Stones, is too weak to express the material Heaven we
behold. Briefly therefore, where the Soul hath the full measure and
complement of happiness; where the boundless appetite of that spirit
remains compleatly satisfied, that it can neither desire addition nor
alteration; that I think is truly Heaven: and this can onely be in the
injoynient of that essence, whose infinite goodness is able to terminate
the desires of it self, and the unsatiable wishes of ours; wherever God
will thus manifest himself, there is Heaven though within the circle of
this sensible world. Thus the Soul of man may be in Heaven any where,
even within the limits of his own proper body; and when it ceaseth to
live in the body, it may remain in its own soul, that is, its Creator:
and thus we may say that St. _Paul_, whether in the body, or out of the
body, was yet in Heaven. To place it in the Empyreal, or beyond the
tenth sphear, is to forget the world's destruction; for when this
sensible world shall be destroyed, all shall then be here as it is now
there, an Empyreal Heaven, a _quasi_ vacuity; when to ask where Heaven
is, is to demand where the Presence of God is, or where we have the
glory of that happy vision. _Moses_ that was bred up in all the learning
of the _Egyptians_, committed a gross absurdity in Philosophy, when with
these eyes of flesh he desired to see God, and petitioned his Maker,
that is, truth it self, to a contradiction. Those that imagine Heaven
and Hell neighbours, and conceive a vicinity between those two extreams,
upon consequence of the Parable, where _Dives_ discoursed with _Lazarus_
in _Abraham's_ bosome, do too grosly conceive of those glorified
creatures, whose eyes shall easily out-see the Sun, and behold without a
perspective the extreamest distances: for if there shall be in our
glorified eyes, the faculty of sight and reception of objects, I could
think the visible species there to be in as unlimitable a way as now the
intellectual. I grant that two bodies placed beyond the tenth sphear,
or in a vacuity, according to _Aristotle_'s Philosophy, could not behold
each other, because there wants a body or Medium to hand and transport
the visible rays of the object unto the sense; but when there shall be a
general defect of either Medium to convey, or light to prepare and
dispose that Medium, and yet a perfect vision, we must suspend the rules
of our Philosophy, and make all good by a more absolute piece of
opticks.
SECT. 50
I cannot tell how to say that fire is the essence of Hell: I know not
what to make of Purgatory, or conceive a flame that can either prey
upon, or purifie the substance of a Soul: those flames of sulphur
mention'd in the Scriptures, I take not to be understood of this present
Hell, but of that to come, where fire shall make up the complement of
our tortures, and have a body or subject wherein to manifest its
tyranny. Some who have had the honour to be textuary in Divinity, are of
opinion it shall be the same specifical fire with ours. This is hard to
conceive, yet can I make good how even that may prey upon our bodies,
and yet not consume us: for in this material World there are bodies that
persist invincible in the powerfullest flames; and though by the action
of fire they fall into ignition and liquation, yet will they never
suffer a destruction. I would gladly know how _Moses_ with an actual
fire calcin'd, or burnt the Golden Calf into powder: for that mystical
metal of Gold, whose solary and celestial nature I admire, exposed unto
the violence of fire, grows onely hot, and liquifies, but consumeth not;
so when the consumable and volatile pieces of our bodies shall be
refined into a more impregnable and fixed temper, like Gold, though they
suffer from the action of flames, they shall never perish, but lye
immortal in the arms of fire. And surely if this frame must suffer onely
by the action of this element, there will many bodies escape, and not
onely Heaven, but Earth will not be at an end, but rather a beginning.
For at present it is not earth, but a composition of fire, water, earth,
and air; but at that time, spoiled of these ingredients, it shall appear
in a substance more like it self, its ashes. Philosophers that opinioned
the worlds destruction by fire, did never dream of annihilation, which
is beyond the power of sublunary causes; for the last[B] action of that
element is but vitrification, or a reduction of a body into glass; and
therefore some of our Chymicks facetiously affirm, that at the last fire
all shall be christallized and reverberated into glass, which is the
utmost action of that element. Nor need we fear this term annihilation,
or wonder that God will destroy the works of his Creation: for man
subsisting, who is, and will then truely appear, a Microcosm, the world
cannot be said to be destroyed. For the eyes of God, and perhaps also of
our glorified selves, shall as really behold and contemplate the World
in its Epitome or contracted essence, as now it doth at large and in its
dilated substance. In the seed of a Plant to the eyes of God, and to the
understanding of man, there exists, though in an invisible way, the
perfect leaves, flowers, and fruit thereof: (for things that are in
_posse_ to the sense, are actually existent to the understanding). Thus
God beholds all things, who contemplates as fully his works in their
Epitome, as in their full volume; and beheld as amply the whole world in
that little compendium of the sixth day, as in the scattered and dilated
pieces of those five before.
[B] Last and proper, 1672.
SECT. 51
Men commonly set forth the torments of Hell by fire, and the extremity
of corporal afflictions, and describe Hell in the same method that
_Mahomet_ doth Heaven. This indeed makes a noise, and drums in popular
ears; but if this be the terrible piece thereof, it is not worthy to
stand in diameter with Heaven, whose happiness consists in that part
that is best able to comprehend it, that immortal essence, that
translated divinity and colony of God, the Soul. Surely though we place
Hell under Earth, the Devil's walk and purlue is about it: men speak too
popularly who place it in those flaming mountains, which to grosser
apprehensions represent Hell. The heart of man is the place the Devils
dwell in; I feel sometimes a Hell within my self; _Lucifer_ keeps his
Court in my breast; _Legion_ is revived in me. There are as many Hells,
as _Anaxagoras_ conceited worlds; there was more than one Hell in
_Magdalene_, when there were seven Devils; for every Devil is an Hell
unto himself; he holds enough of torture in his own _ubi_, and needs not
the misery of circumference to afflict him. And thus a distracted
Conscience here, is a shadow or introduction unto Hell hereafter. Who
can but pity the merciful intention of those hands that do destroy
themselves? the Devil, were it in his power, would do the like; which
being impossible, his miseries are endless, and he suffers most in that
attribute wherein he is impassible, his immortality.
SECT. 52
I thank God that with joy I mention it, I was never afraid of Hell, nor
never grew pale at the description of that place; I have so fixed my
contemplations on Heaven, that I have almost forgot the Idea of Hell,
and am afraid rather to lose the Joys of the one, than endure the
misery of the other: to be deprived of them is a perfect Hell, and needs
methinks no addition to compleat our afflictions; that terrible term
hath never detained me from sin, nor do I owe any good action to the
name thereof; I fear God, yet am not afraid of him; his mercies make me
ashamed of my sins, before his Judgements afraid thereof: these are the
forced and secondary method of his wisdom, which he useth but as the
last remedy, and upon provocation; a course rather to deter the wicked,
than incite the virtuous to his worship. I can hardly think there was
ever any scared into Heaven; they go the fairest way to Heaven that
would serve God without a Hell; other Mercenaries, that crouch into him
in fear of Hell, though they term themselves the servants, are indeed
but the slaves of the Almighty.
SECT. 53
And to be true, and speak my soul, when I survey the occurrences of my
life, and call into account the Finger of God, I can perceive nothing
but an abyss and mass of mercies, either in general to mankind, or in
particular to my self: and whether out of the prejudice of my affection,
or an inverting and partial conceit of his mercies, I know not; but
those which others term crosses, afflictions, judgements, misfortunes,
to me who inquire farther into them then their visible effects, they
both appear, and in event have ever proved, the secret and dissembled
favours of his affection. It is a singular piece of Wisdom to apprehend
truly, and without passion, the Works of God, and so well to distinguish
his Justice from his Mercy, as not miscall those noble Attributes: yet
it is likewise an honest piece of Logick, so to dispute and argue the
proceedings of God, as to distinguish even his judgments into mercies.
For God is merciful unto all, because better to the worst, than the best
deserve; and to say he punisheth none in this world, though it be a
Paradox, is no absurdity. To one that hath committed Murther, if the
Judge should only ordain a Fine, it were a madness to call this a
punishment, and to repine at the sentence, rather than admire the
clemency of the Judge. Thus our offences being mortal, and deserving not
onely Death, but Damnation; if the goodness of God be content to
traverse and pass them over with a loss, misfortune, or disease; what
frensie were it to term this a punishment, rather than an extremity of
mercy; and to groan under the rod of his Judgements, rather than admire
the Scepter of his Mercies? Therefore to adore, honour, and admire him,
is a debt of gratitude due from the obligation of our nature, states,
and conditions; and with these thoughts, he that knows them best, will
not deny that I adore him. That I obtain Heaven, and the bliss thereof,
is accidental, and not the intended work of my devotion; it being a
felicity I can neither think to deserve, nor scarce in modesty to
expect. For these two ends of us all, either as rewards or punishments,
are mercifully ordained and disproportionably disposed unto our actions;
the one being so far beyond our deserts, the other so infinitely below
our demerits.
SECT. 54
There is no Salvation to those that believe not in _Christ_, that is,
say some, since his Nativity, and as Divinity affirmeth, before also;
which makes me much apprehend the ends of those honest Worthies and
Philosophers which dyed before his Incarnation. It is hard to place
those Souls in Hell, whose worthy lives do teach us Virtue on Earth:
methinks amongst those many subdivisions of Hell, there might have been
one Limbo left for these. What a strange vision will it be to see their
Poetical fictions converted into Verities, and their imagined and
fancied Furies into real Devils? how strange to them will sound the
History of _Adam_, when they shall suffer for him they never heard of?
when they who derive their genealogy from the Gods, shall know they are
the unhappy issue of sinful man? It is an insolent part of reason, to
controvert the Works of God, or question the Justice of his proceedings.
Could Humility teach others, as it hath instructed me, to contemplate
the infinite and incomprehensible distance betwixt the Creator and the
Creature; or did we seriously perpend that one simile of St. _Paul_,
_Shall the Vessel say to the Potter, Why hast thou made me thus?_ it
would prevent these arrogant disputes of reason, nor would we argue the
definitive sentence of God, either to Heaven or Hell. Men that live
according to the right rule and law of reason, live but in their own
kind, as beasts do in theirs; who justly obey the prescript of their
natures, and therefore cannot reasonably demand a reward of their
actions, as onely obeying the natural dictates of their reason. It will
therefore, and must at last appear, that all salvation is through
_Christ_; which verity I fear these great examples of virtue must
confirm, and make it good, how the perfectest actions of earth have no
title or claim unto Heaven.
SECT. 55
Nor truely do I think the lives of these or of any other, were ever
correspondent, or in all points conformable unto their doctrines. It is
evident that _Aristotle_ transgressed the rule of his own Ethicks; the
Stoicks that condemn passion, and command a man to laugh in _Phalaris_
his Bull, could not endure without a groan a fit of the Stone or Colick.
The _Scepticks_ that affirmed they knew nothing, even in that opinion
confute themselves, and thought they knew more than all the World
beside. _Diogenes_ I hold to be the most vain-glorious man of his time,
and more ambitious in refusing all Honours, than _Alexander_ in
rejecting none. Vice and the Devil put a Fallacy upon our Reasons, and
provoking us too hastily to run from it, entangle and profound us deeper
in it. The Duke of _Venice_, that weds himself unto the Sea by a Ring of
Gold, I will not argue of prodigality, because it is a solemnity of good
use and consequence in the State: but the Philosopher that threw his
money into the Sea to avoid Avarice, was a notorious prodigal. There is
no road or ready way to virtue; it is not an easie point of art to
disentangle our selves from this riddle, or web of Sin: To perfect
virtue, as to Religion, there is required a _Panoplia_, or compleat
armour; that whilst we lye at close ward against one Vice, we lye not
open to the venny of another. And indeed wiser discretions that have the
thred of reason to conduct them, offend without pardon; whereas,
under-heads may stumble without dishonour. There go so many
circumstances to piece up one good action, that it is a lesson to be
good, and we are forced to be virtuous by the book. Again, the Practice
of men holds not an equal pace, yea, and often runs counter to their
Theory; we naturally know what is good, but naturally pursue what is
evil: the Rhetorick wherewith I perswade another, cannot perswade my
self: there is a depraved appetite in us, that will with patience hear
the learned instructions of Reason, but yet perform no farther than
agrees to its own irregular humour. In brief, we all are monsters, that
is, a composition of Man and Beast; wherein we must endeavour to be as
the Poets fancy that wise man _Chiron_, that is, to have the region of
Man above that of Beast, and Sense to sit but at the feet of Reason.
Lastly, I do desire with God that all, but yet affirm with men, that few
shall know Salvation; that the bridge is narrow, the passage strait unto
life: yet those who do confine the Church of God, either to particular
Nations, Churches or Families, have made it far narrower then our
Saviour ever meant it.
SECT. 56
The vulgarity of those judgements that wrap the Church of God in
_Strabo's_ cloak, and restrain it unto _Europe_, seem to me as bad
Geographers as _Alexander_, who thought he had Conquer'd all the World,
when he had not subdued the half of any part thereof. For we cannot deny
the Church of God both in _Asia_ and _Africa_, if we do not forget the
Peregrinations of the Apostles, the deaths of the Martyrs, the Sessions
of many, and, even in our reformed judgement, lawful Councils, held in
those parts in the minority and nonage of ours. Nor must a few
differences, more remarkable in the eyes of man than perhaps in the
judgement of God, excommunicate from Heaven one another, much less those
Christians who are in a manner all Martyrs, maintaining their Faith, in
the noble way of persecution, and serving God in the Fire, whereas we
honour him in the Sunshine. 'Tis true, we all hold there is a number of
Elect, and many to be saved; yet take our Opinions together, and from
the confusion thereof there will be no such thing as salvation, nor
shall any one be saved. For first, the Church of _Rome_ condemneth us,
we likewise them; the Sub-reformists and Sectaries sentence the Doctrine
of our Church as damnable; the Atomist, or Familist, reprobates all
these; and all these, them again. Thus whilst the Mercies of God do
promise us Heaven, our conceits and opinions exclude us from that place.
There must be, therefore, more than one St. _Peter_: particular Churches
and Sects usurp the gates of Heaven, and turn the key against each
other: and thus we go to Heaven against each others wills, conceits and
opinions; and with as much uncharity as ignorance, do err I fear in
points not only of our own, but one an others salvation.
SECT. 57
I believe many are saved, who to man seem reprobated; and many are
reprobated, who in the opinion and sentence of man, stand elected: there
will appear at the Last day, strange and unexpected examples both of his
Justice and his Mercy; and therefore to define either, is folly in man,
and insolency even in the Devils: those acute and subtil spirits in all
their sagacity, can hardly divine who shall be saved; which if they
could Prognostick, their labour were at an end; nor need they compass
the earth seeking whom they may devour. Those who upon a rigid
application of the Law, sentence _Solomon_ unto damnation, condemn not
onely him, but themselves, and the whole World: for by the Letter and
written Word of God, we are without exception in the state of Death;
but there is a prerogative of God, and an arbitrary pleasure above the
Letter of his own Law, by which alone we can pretend unto Salvation, and
through which _Solomon_ might be as easily saved as those who condemn
him.
SECT. 58
The number of those who pretend unto Salvation, and those infinite
swarms who think to pass through the eye of this Needle, have much
amazed me. That name and compellation of _little Flock_, doth not
comfort, but deject my Devotion; especially when I reflect upon mine own
unworthiness, wherein, according to my humble apprehensions, I am below
them all. I believe there shall never be an Anarchy in Heaven, but as
there are Hierarchies amongst the Angels, so shall there be degrees of
priority amongst the Saints. Yet is it (I protest) beyond my ambition to
aspire unto the first ranks; my desires onely are, and I shall be happy
therein, to be but the last man, and bring up the Rere in Heaven.
SECT. 59
Again, I am confident and fully perswaded, yet dare not take my oath, of
my Salvation: I am as it were sure, and do believe without all doubt,
that there is such a City as _Constantinople_; yet for me to take my
Oath thereon were a kind of Perjury, because I hold no infallible
warrant from my own sense to confirm me in the certainty thereof: And
truly, though many pretend an absolute certainty of their Salvation, yet
when an humble Soul shall contemplate our own unworthiness, she shall
meet with many doubts, and suddenly find how little we stand in need of
the Precept of St. _Paul_, _Work out your salvation with fear and
trembling._ That which is the cause of my Election, I hold to be the
cause of my Salvation, which was the mercy and beneplacit of God, before
I was, or the foundation of the World. _Before Abraham was, I am_, is
the saying of Christ; yet is it true in some sense, if I say it of
myself; for I was not onely before myself, but _Adam_, that is, in the
Idea of God, and the decree of that Synod held from all Eternity. And in
this sense, I say, the World was before the Creation, and at an end
before it had a beginning; and thus was I dead before I was alive:
though my grave be _England_, my dying place was Paradise: and _Eve_
miscarried of me, before she conceived of Cain.
SECT. 60
Insolent zeals that do decry good Works, and rely onely upon Faith, take
not away merit: for depending upon the efficacy of their Faith, they
enforce the condition of God, and in a more sophistical way do seem to
challenge Heaven. It was decreed by God, that only those that lapt in
the water like Dogs, should have the honour to destroy the _Midianites_;
yet could none of those justly challenge, or imagine he deserved that
honour thereupon. I do not deny, but that true Faith, and such as God
requires, is not onely a mark or token, but also a means of our
Salvation; but where to find this, is as obscure to me, as my last end.
And if our Saviour could object unto his own Disciples and Favourites, a
Faith, that, to the quantity of a grain of Mustard-seed, is able to
remove Mountains; surely that which we boast of, is not any thing, or at
the most, but a remove from nothing. This is the Tenor of my belief;
wherein, though there be many things singular, and to the humour of my
irregular self; yet if they square not with maturer Judgements I
disclaim them, and do no further favour them, than the learned and best
judgements shall authorize them.
THE SECOND PART
SECT. 1
Now for that other Virtue of Charity, without which Faith is a meer
notion, and of no existence, I have ever endeavoured to nourish the
merciful disposition and humane inclination I borrowed from my Parents,
and regulate it to the written and prescribed Laws of Charity; and if I
hold the true Anatomy of my self, I am delineated and naturally framed
to such a piece of virtue. For I am of a constitution so general, that
it comforts and sympathizeth with all things; I have no antipathy, or
rather Idio-syncrasie, in dyet, humour, air, any thing: I wonder not at
the _French_ for their dishes of Frogs, Snails, and Toadstools, nor at
the Jews for Locusts and Grasshoppers; but being amongst them, make them
my common Viands, and I find they agree with my Stomach as well as
theirs. I could digest a Sallad gathered in a Churchyard, as well as in
a Garden. I cannot start at the presence of a Serpent, Scorpion, Lizard,
or Salamander: at the sight of a Toad or Viper, I find in me no desire
to take up a stone to destroy them. I feel not in my self those common
Antipathies that I can discover in others: Those National repugnances do
not touch me, nor do I behold with prejudice the _French_, _Italian_,
_Spaniard_, or _Dutch_; but where I find their actions in balance with
my Country-men's, I honour, love, and embrace them in the same degree.
I was born in the eighth Climate, but seem for to be framed and
constellated unto all: I am no Plant that will not prosper out of a
Garden: All places, all airs make unto me one Countrey; I am in
_England_, every where, and under any Meridian. I have been shipwrackt,
yet am not enemy with the Sea or Winds; I can study, play, or sleep in a
Tempest. In brief, I am averse from nothing; my Conscience would give me
the lye if I should absolutely detest or hate any essence but the Devil;
or so at least abhor any thing, but that we might come to composition.
If there be any among those common objects of hatred I do contemn and
laugh at, it is that great enemy of Reason, Virtue and Religion, the
Multitude; that numerous piece of monstrosity, which taken asunder seem
men, and the reasonable creatures of God; but confused together, make
but one great beast, and a monstrosity more prodigious than Hydra: it is
no breach of Charity to call these Fools; it is the style all holy
Writers have afforded them, set down by _Solomon_ in Canonical
Scripture, and a point of our Faith to believe so. Neither in the name
of Multitude do I onely include the base and minor sort of people; there
is a rabble even amongst the Gentry, a sort of Plebeian heads, whose
fancy moves with the same wheel as these; men in the same Level with
Mechanicks, though their fortunes do somewhat guild their infirmities,
and their purses compound for their follies. But as in casting account,
three or four men together come short in account of one man placed by
himself below them: So neither are a troop of these ignorant Doradoes,
of that true esteem and value, as many a forlorn person, whose condition
doth place him below their feet. Let us speak like Politicians, there
is a Nobility without Heraldry, a natural dignity, whereby one man is
ranked with another; another filed before him, according to the quality
of his Desert, and preheminence of his good parts: Though the corruption
of these times, and the byas of present practice wheel another way. Thus
it was in the first and primitive Commonwealths, and is yet in the
integrity and Cradle of well-order'd Polities, till corruption getteth
ground, ruder desires labouring after that which wiser considerations
contemn; every one having a liberty to amass and heap up riches, and
they a licence or faculty to do or purchase any thing.
SECT. 2
This general and indifferent temper of mine doth more neerly dispose me
to this noble virtue. It is a happiness to be born and framed unto
virtue, and to grow up from the seeds of nature, rather than the
inoculation and forced grafts of education: yet if we are directed only
by our particular Natures, and regulate our inclinations by no higher
rule than that of our reasons, we are but Moralists; Divinity will still
call us Heathens. Therefore this great work of charity must have other
motives, ends, and impulsions: I give no alms only to satisfie the
hunger of my Brother, but to fulfil and accomplish the Will and Command
of my God: I draw not _my_ purse for his sake that demands it, but his
that enjoyned it; I relieve no man upon the Rhetorick of his miseries,
nor to content mine own commiserating disposition: for this is still but
moral charity, and an act that oweth more to passion than reason. He
that relieves another upon the bare suggestion and bowels of pity, doth
not this so much for his sake, as for his own: for by compassion we
make others misery our own, and so by relieving them, we relieve our
selves also. It is as erroneous a conceit to redress other Mens
misfortunes upon the common considerations of merciful natures, that it
may be one day our own case; for this is a sinister and politick kind of
charity, whereby we seem to bespeak the pities of men in the like
occasions: and truly I have observed that those professed
Eleemosynaries, though in a croud or multitude, do yet direct and place
their petitions on a few and selected persons: there is surely a
Physiognomy, which those experienced and Master Mendicants observe;
whereby they instantly discover a merciful aspect, and will single out a
face, wherein they spy the signatures and marks of Mercy: for there are
mystically in our faces certain Characters which carry in them the motto
of our Souls, wherein he that can read _A. B. C._ may read our natures.
I hold moreover that there is a Phytognomy, or Physiognomy, not only of
Men but of Plants and Vegetables; and in every one of them, some outward
figures which hang as signs or bushes of their inward forms. The Finger
of God hath left an Inscription upon all his works, not graphical, or
composed of Letters, but of their several forms, constitutions, parts,
and operations; which aptly joyned together do make one word that doth
express their natures. By these Letters God calls the Stars by their
names; and by this Alphabet _Adam_ assigned to every creature a name
peculiar to its nature. Now there are, besides these Characters in our
Faces, certain mystical figures in our Hands, which I dare not call meer
dashes, strokes _a la volee_, or at random, because delineated by a
Pencil that never works in vain; and hereof I take more particular
notice, because I carry that in mine own hand, which I could never read
of, nor discover in another. _Aristotle_ I confess, in his acute and
singular Book of Physiognomy, hath made no mention of Chiromancy; yet I
believe the _Egyptians_, who were neerer addicted to those abstruse and
mystical sciences, had a knowledge therein; to which those vagabond and
counterfeit _Egyptians_ did after pretend, and perhaps retained a few
corrupted principles, which sometimes might verifie their prognosticks.
It is the common wonder of all men, how among so many millions of faces,
there should be none alike: Now contrary, I wonder as much how there
should be any. He that shall consider how many thousand several words
have been carelesly and without study composed out of 24 Letters;
withal, how many hundred lines there are to be drawn in the Fabrick of
one Man; shall easily find that this variety is necessary: And it will
be very hard that they shall so concur, as to make one portract like
another. Let a Painter carelesly limb out a million of Faces, and you
shall find them all different; yea let him have his Copy before him, yet
after all his art there will remain a sensible distinction; for the
pattern or example of every thing is the perfectest in that kind,
whereof we still come short, though we transcend or go beyond it,
because herein it is wide, and agrees not in all points unto the Copy.
Nor doth the similitude of Creatures disparage the variety of Nature,
nor any way confound the Works of God. For even in things alike there is
diversity; and those that do seem to accord, do manifestly disagree. And
thus is man like God; for in the same things that we resemble him, we
are utterly different from him. There was never any thing so like
another, as in all points to concur; there will ever some reserved
difference slip in, to prevent the identity, without which, two several
things would not be alike, but the same, which is impossible.
SECT. 3
But to return from Philosophy to Charity: I hold not so narrow a conceit
of this virtue, as to conceive that to give Alms is onely to be
Charitable, or think a piece of Liberality can comprehend the Total of
Charity. Divinity hath wisely divided the act thereof into many
branches, and hath taught us in this narrow way, many paths unto
goodness: as many ways as we may do good, so many ways we may be
charitable: there are infirmities, not onely of Body, but of Soul, and
Fortunes, which do require the merciful hand of our abilities. I cannot
contemn a man for ignorance, but behold him with as much pity as I do
_Lazarus_. It is no greater Charity to cloath his body, than apparel the
nakedness of his Soul. It is an honourable object to see the reasons of
other men wear our Liveries, and their borrowed understandings do homage
to the bounty of ours: It is the cheapest way of beneficence, and like
the natural charity of the Sun, illuminates another without obscuring it
self. To be reserved and caitiff in this part of goodness, is the
sordidest piece of covetousness, and more contemptible than pecuniary
Avarice. To this (as calling my self a Scholar) I am obliged by the duty
of my condition: I make not therefore my head a grave, but a treasure of
knowledge; I intend no Monopoly, but a community in learning; I study
not for my own sake only, but for theirs that study not for themselves.
I envy no man that knows more than my self, but pity them that know
less. I instruct no man as an exercise of my knowledge, or with an
intent rather to nourish and keep it alive in mine own head, then beget
and propagate it in his; and in the midst of all my endeavours, there is
but one thought that dejects me, that my acquired parts must perish with
my self, nor can be Legacied among my honoured Friends. I cannot fall
out, or contemn a man for an errour, or conceive why a difference in
Opinion should divide an affection: For Controversies, Disputes, and
Argumentations, both in Philosophy and in Divinity, if they meet with
discreet and peaceable natures, do not infringe the Laws of Charity: in
all disputes, so much as there is of passion, so much there is of
nothing to the purpose; for then Reason, like a bad Hound, spends upon a
false Scent, and forsakes the question first started. And this is one
reason why Controversies are never determined; for though they be amply
proposed, they are scarce at all handled, they do so swell with
unnecessary Digressions; and the Parenthesis on the party, is often as
large as the main discourse upon the subject. The Foundations of
Religion are already established, and the Principles of Salvation
subscribed unto by all: there remains not many controversies worth a
Passion, and yet never any disputed without, not only in Divinity, but
inferiour Arts: What a {~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} and hot skirmish is betwixt S.
and T. in _Lucian_: How do Grammarians hack and slash for the Genitive
case in _Jupiter_? How do they break their own pates to salve that of
_Priscian! Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus_. Yea, even amongst
wiser militants, how many wounds have been given, and credits slain, for
the poor victory of an opinion, or beggerly conquest of a distinction?
Scholars are men of Peace, they bear no Arms, but their tongues are
sharper than Actus his razor; their Pens carry farther, and give a
lowder report than Thunder: I had rather stand the shock of a
Basilisco, than the fury of a merciless Pen. It is not meer Zeal to
Learning, or Devotion to the Muses, that wiser Princes Patron the Arts,
and carry an indulgent aspect unto Scholars; but a desire to have their
names eternized by the memory of their writings, and a fear of the
revengeful Pen of succeeding ages: for these are the men, that when they
have played their parts, and had their _exits_, must step out and give
the moral of their Scenes, and deliver unto Posterity an Inventory of
their Virtues and Vices. And surely there goes a great deal of
Conscience to the compiling of an History: there is no reproach to the
scandal of a Story; it is such an authentick kind of falshood, that with
authority belies our good names to all Nations and Posterity.
SECT. 4
There is another offence unto Charity, which no Author hath ever written
of, and few take notice of; and that's the reproach, not of whole
professions, mysteries and conditions, but of whole Nations; wherein by
opprobrious Epithets we miscal each other, and by an uncharitable
Logick, from a disposition in a few, conclude a habit in all.
_Le mutin Anglois, & le bravache Escossois;
Le bougre Italian, & le fol François;
Le poultron Romain, le larron de Gascongne,
L'Espagnol superbe, & l'Aleman yurongne_.
St. _Paul_, that calls the _Cretians_ lyars, doth it but indirectly, and
upon quotation of their own Poet. It is as bloody a thought in one way,
as _Nero's_ was in another. For by a word we wound a thousand, and at
one blow assassine the honour of a Nation. It is as compleat a piece of
madness to miscal and rave against the times, or think to recal men to
reason, by a fit of passion: _Democritus_, that thought to laugh the
times into goodness, seems to me as deeply Hypochondriack, as
_Heraclitus_ that bewailed them. It moves not my spleen to behold the
multitude in their proper humours, that is, in their fits of folly and
madness, as well understanding that wisdom is not prophan'd unto the
World, and 'tis the priviledge of a few to be Vertuous. They that
endeavour to abolish Vice, destroy also Virtue; for contraries, though
they destroy one another, are yet in life of one another. Thus Virtue
(abolish vice) is an Idea; again, the community of sin doth not
disparage goodness; for when Vice gains upon the major part, Virtue, in
whom it remains, becomes more excellent; and being lost in some,
multiplies its goodness in others, which remain untouched, and persist
intire in the general inundation. I can therefore behold Vice without a
Satyr, content only with an admonition, or instructive reprehension, for
Noble Natures, and such as are capable of goodness, are railed into
vice, that might as easily be admonished into virtue; and we should be
all so far the Orators of goodness, as to protract her from the power of
Vice, and maintain the cause of injured truth. No man can justly censure
or condemn another, because indeed no man truly knows another. This I
perceive in my self; for I am in the dark to all the world, and my
nearest friends behold me but in a cloud: those that know me but
superficially, think less of me than I do of my self; those of my neer
acquaintance think more; God, who truly knows me, knows that I am
nothing; for he only beholds me and all the world; who looks not on us
through a derived ray, or a trajection of a sensible species, but
beholds the substance without the helps of accidents, and the forms of
things, as we their operations. Further, no man can judge another,
because no man knows himself; for we censure others but as they disagree
from that humour which we fancy laudible in our selves, and commend
others but for that wherein they seem to quadrate and consent with us.
So that in conclusion, all is but that we all condemn, Self-love. 'Tis
the general complaint of these times, and perhaps of those past, that
charity grows cold; which I perceive most verified in those which most
do manifest the fires and flames of zeal; for it is a virtue that best
agrees with coldest natures, and such as are complexioned for humility.
But how shall we expect Charity towards others, when we are uncharitable
to our selves? Charity begins at home, is the voice of the World; yet is
every man his greatest enemy, and as it were, his own Executioner. _Non
occides_, is the Commandment of God, yet scarce observed by any man; for
I perceive every man is his own _Atropos_, and lends a hand to cut the
thred of his own days. _Cain_ was not therefore the first Murtherer, but
_Adam_, who brought in death; whereof he beheld the practice and example
in his own son _Abel_, and saw that verified in the experience of
another, which faith could not perswade him in the Theory of himself.
SECT. 5
There is, I think, no man that apprehends his own miseries less than my
self, and no man that so neerly apprehends anothers. I could lose an arm
without a tear, and with few groans, methinks, be quartered into pieces;
yet can I weep most seriously at a Play, and receive with true passion,
the counterfeit grief of those known and professed Impostures. It is a
barbarous part of inhumanity to add unto any afflicted parties misery,
or indeavour to multiply in any man, a passion, whose single nature is
already above his patience: this was the greatest affliction of _Job_;
and those oblique expostulations of his Friends, a deeper injury than
the down-right blows of the Devil. It is not the tears of our own eyes
only, but of our friends also, that do exhaust the current of our
sorrows; which falling into many streams, runs more peaceably, and is
contented with a narrower channel. It is an act within the power of
charity, to translate a passion out of one brest into another, and to
divide a sorrow almost out of it self; for an affliction, like a
dimension, may be so divided, as if not indivisible, at least to become
insensible. Now with my friend I desire not to share or participate, but
to engross, his sorrows; that by making them mine own, I may more easily
discuss them; for in mine own reason, and within my self, I can command
that, which I cannot intreat without my self, and within the circle of
another. I have often thought those noble pairs and examples of
friendship not so truly Histories of what had been, as fictions of what
should be; but I now perceive nothing in them but possibilities, nor any
thing in the Heroick examples of _Damon_ and _Pythias_, _Achilles_ and
_Patroclus_, which methinks upon some grounds I could not perform within
the narrow compass of my self. That a man should lay down his life for
his Friend, seems strange to vulgar affections, and such as confine
themselves within that Worldly principle, Charity begins at home. For
mine own part I could never remember the relations that I held unto my
self, nor the respect that I owe unto my own nature, in the cause of
God, my Country, and my Friends. Next to these three I do embrace my
self: I confess I do not observe that order that the Schools ordain our
affections, to love our Parents, Wives, Children, and then our Friends;
for excepting the injunctions of Religion, I do not find in my self such
a necessary and indissoluble Sympathy to all those of my blood. I hope I
do not break the fifth Commandment, if I conceive I may love my friend
before the nearest of my blood, even those to whom I owe the principles
of life: I never yet cast a true affection on a woman, but I have loved
my friend as I do virtue, my soul, my God. From hence me thinks I do
conceive how God loves man, what happiness there is in the love of God.
Omitting all other, there are three most mystical unions, two natures in
one person; three persons in one nature; one soul in two bodies. For
though indeed they be really divided, yet are they so united, as they
seem but one, and make rather a duality than two distinct souls.
SECT. 6
There are wonders in true affection; it is a body of _Enigma's_,
mysteries, and riddles; wherein two so become one, as they both become
two: I love my friend before my self, and yet methinks I do not love him
enough: some few months hence, my multiplied affection will make me
believe I have not loved him at all: when I am from him, I am dead till
I be with him; when I am with him, I am not satisfied, but would still
be nearer him. United souls are not satisfied with imbraces, but desire
to be truly each other; which being impossible, their desires are
infinite, and must proceed without a possibility of satisfaction.
Another misery there is in affection, that whom we truly love like our
own, we forget their looks, nor can our memory retain the Idea of their
faces; and it is no wonder, for they are ourselves, and our affection
makes their looks our own. This noble affection falls not on vulgar and
common constitutions, but on such as are mark'd for virtue: he that can
love his friend with this noble ardour, will in a competent degree
affect all. Now if we can bring our affections to look beyond the body,
and cast an eye upon the soul, we have found out the true object, not
only of friendship, but Charity; and the greatest happiness that we can
bequeath the soul, is that wherein we all do place our last felicity,
Salvation; which though it be not in our power to bestow, it is in our
charity and pious invocations to desire, if not procure and further. I
cannot contentedly frame a prayer for my self in particular, without a
catalogue for my friends; nor request a happiness wherein my sociable
disposition doth not desire the fellowship of my neighbour. I never hear
the Toll of a passing Bell, though in my mirth, without my prayers and
best wishes for the departing spirit: I cannot go to cure the body of my
patient, but I forget my profession, and call unto God for his soul: I
cannot see one say his prayers, but in stead of imitating him, I fall
into a supplication for him, who perhaps is no more to me than a common
nature: and if God hath vouchsafed an ear to my supplications, there are
surely many happy that never saw me, and enjoy the blessing of mine
unknown devotions. To pray for Enemies, that is, for their salvation, is
no harsh precept, but the practice of our daily and ordinary devotions.
I cannot believe the story of the Italian: our bad wishes and
uncharitable desires proceed no further than this life; it is the Devil,
and the uncharitable votes of Hell, that desire our misery in the World
to come.
SECT. 7
To do no injury, nor take none, was a principle, which to my former
years, and impatient affections, seemed to contain enough of Morality;
but my more setled years, and Christian constitution, have fallen upon
severer resolutions. I can hold there is no such thing as injury; that
if there be, there is no such injury as revenge, and no such revenge as
the contempt of an injury: that to hate another, is to malign himself;
that the truest way to love another, is to despise our selves. I were
unjust unto mine own Conscience, if I should say I am at variance with
any thing like my self. I find there are many pieces in this one fabrick
of man; this frame is raised upon a mass of Antipathies: I am one
methinks, but as the World; wherein notwithstanding there are a swarm of
distinct essences, and in them another World of contrarieties; we carry
private and domestick enemies within, publick and more hostile
adversaries without. The Devil, that did but buffet St. _Paul_, plays
methinks at sharp with me. Let me be nothing, if within the compass of
my self I do not find the battail of _Lepanto_, Passion against Reason,
Reason against Faith, Faith against the Devil, and my Conscience against
all. There is another man within me, that's angry with me, rebukes,
commands, and dastards me. I have no Conscience of Marble, to resist the
hammer of more heavy offences; nor yet too soft and waxen, as to take
the impression of each single peccadillo or scape of infirmity: I am of
a strange belief, that it is as easie to be forgiven some sins, as to
commit some others. For my Original sin, I hold it to be washed away in
my Baptism, for my actual transgressions, I compute and reckon with God,
but from my last repentance, Sacrament, or general absolution; and
therefore am not terrified with the sins or madness of my youth. I thank
the goodness of God, I have no sins that want a name; I am not singular
in offences; my transgressions are Epidemical, and from the common
breath of our corruption. For there are certain tempers of body, which
matcht with an humorous depravity of mind, do hatch and produce
vitiosities, whose newness and monstrosity of nature admits no name;
this was the temper of that Lecher that fell in love with a Statua, and
constitution of _Nero_ in his Spintrian recreations. For the Heavens are
not only fruitful in new and unheard-of stars, the Earth in plants and
animals; but mens minds also in villany and vices: now the dulness of my
reason, and the vulgarity of my disposition, never prompted my
invention, nor sollicited my affection unto any of those; yet even those
common and quotidian infirmities that so necessarily attend me, and do
seem to be my very nature, have so dejected me, so broken the estimation
that I should have otherwise of my self, that I repute my self the most
abjectest piece of mortality. Divines prescribe a fit of sorrow to
repentance; there goes indignation, anger, sorrow, hatred, into mine;
passions of a contrary nature, which neither seem to sute with this
action, nor my proper constitution. It is no breach of charity to our
selves, to be at variance with our Vices; nor to abhor that part of us,
which is an enemy to the ground of charity, our God; wherein we do but
imitate our great selves the world, whose divided Antipathies and
contrary faces do yet carry a charitable regard unto the whole by their
particular discords, preserving the common harmony, and keeping in
fetters those powers, whose rebellions once Masters, might be the ruine
of all.
SECT. 8
I thank God, amongst those millions of Vices I do inherit and hold from
_Adam_, I have escaped one, and that a mortal enemy to Charity, the
first and father-sin[C], not onely of man, but of the devil, Pride; a
vice whose name is comprehended in a Monosyllable, but in its nature not
circumscribed with a World. I have escaped it in a condition that can
hardly avoid it. Those petty acquisitions and reputed perfections that
advance and elevate the conceits of other men, add no feathers unto
mine. I have seen a Grammarian towr and plume himself over a single line
in _Horace_, and shew more pride in the construction of one Ode, than
the Author in the composure of the whole book. For my own part, besides
the _Jargon_ and _Patois_ of several Provinces, I understand no less
than six Languages; yet I protest I have no higher conceit of my self,
than had our Fathers before the confusion of _Babel_, when there was but
one Language in the World, and none to boast himself either Linguist or
Critick. I have not onely seen several Countries, beheld the nature of
their Climes, the Chorography of their Provinces, Topography of their
Cities, but understood their several Laws, Customs, and Policies; yet
cannot all this perswade the dulness of my spirit unto such an opinion
of my self, as I behold in nimbler and conceited heads, that never
looked a degree beyond their Nests. I know the names, and somewhat more,
of all the constellations in my Horizon; yet I have seen a prating
Mariner, that could onely name the pointers and the North Star, out-talk
me, and conceit himself a whole Sphere above me. I know most of the
Plants of my Countrey, and of those about me; yet methinks I do not know
so many as when I did but know a hundred, and had scarcely ever Simpled
further than _Cheap-side_. For indeed, heads of capacity, and such as
are not full with a handful, or easie measure of knowledge, think they
know nothing, till they know all; which being impossible, they fall upon
the opinion of _Socrates_, and only know they know not any thing. I
cannot think that _Homer_ pin'd away upon the riddle of the fishermen;
or that _Aristotle_, who understood the uncertainty of knowledge, and
confessed so often the reason of man too weak for the works of nature,
did ever drown himself upon the flux and reflux of _Euripus_. We do but
learn to-day, what our better advanced judgements will unteach
to-morrow; and _Aristotle_ doth but instruct us, as _Plato_ did him;
that is, to confute himself. I have run through all sorts, yet find no
rest in any: though our first studies and _junior_ endeavours may style
us Peripateticks, Stoicks, or Academicks, yet I perceive the wisest
heads prove, at last, almost all Scepticks, and stand like _Janus_ in
the field of knowledge. I have therefore one common and authentick
Philosophy I learned in the Schools, whereby I discourse and satisfie
the reason of other men; another more reserved, and drawn from
experience, whereby I content mine own. _Solomon_, that complained of
ignorance in the height of knowledge, hath not only humbled my conceits,
but discouraged my endeavours. There is yet another conceit that hath
sometimes made me shut my books, which tells me it is a vanity to waste
our days in the blind pursuit of knowledge; it is but attending a little
longer, and we shall enjoy that by instinct and infusion, which we
endeavour at here by labour and inquisition. It is better to sit down in
a modest ignorance, and rest contented with the natural blessing of our
own reasons, than buy the uncertain knowledge of this life, with sweat
and vexation, which Death gives every fool _gratis_, and is an accessary
of our glorification.
[C] Farther-sin, 1682.
SECT. 9
I was never yet once, and commend their resolutions who never marry
twice: not that I disallow of second marriage; as neither in all cases,
of Polygamy, which considering some times, and the unequal number of
both sexes, may be also necessary. The whole World was made for man, but
the twelfth part of man for woman: Man is the whole World, and the
Breath of God; Woman the Rib and crooked piece of man. I could be
content that we might procreate like trees, without conjunction, or that
there were any way to perpetuate the World without this trivial and
vulgar way of coition; it is the foolishest act a wise man commits in
all his life; nor is there any thing that will more deject his cool'd
imagination, when he shall consider what an odd and unworthy piece of
folly he hath committed. I speak not in prejudice, nor am averse from
that sweet Sex, but naturally amorous of all that is beautiful; I can
look a whole day with delight upon a handsome Picture, though it be but
of an Horse. It is my temper, and I like it the better, to affect all
harmony; and sure there is musick even in the beauty, and the silent
note which _Cupid_ strikes, far sweeter than the sound of an instrument.
For there is a musick where ever there is a harmony, order or
proportion; and thus far we may maintain the musick of the Sphears: for
those well-ordered motions, and regular paces, though they give no sound
unto the ear, yet to the understanding they strike a note most full of
harmony. Whosoever is harmonically composed, delights in harmony; which
makes me much distrust the symmetry of those heads which declaim against
all Church-Musick. For my self, not only from my obedience, but my
particular Genius, I do embrace it: for even that vulgar and
Tavern-Musick, which makes one man merry, another mad, strikes in me a
deep fit of devotion, and a profound contemplation of the first
Composer. There is something in it of Divinity more than the ear
discovers: it is an Hieroglyphical and shadowed lesson of the whole
World, and creatures of God; such a melody to the ear, as the whole
World well understood, would afford the understanding. In brief, it is a
sensible fit of that harmony, which intellectually sounds in the ears of
God. I will not say with _Plato_, the soul is an harmony, but
harmonical, and hath its nearest sympathy unto Musick: thus some whose
temper of body agrees, and humours the constitution of their souls, are
born Poets, though indeed all are naturally inclined unto Rhythme.
[16]This made _Tacitus_ in the very first line of his Story, fall upon a
verse, and _Cicero_ the worst of Poets, but [17]declaiming for a Poet,
falls in the very first sentence upon a perfect [18]Hexameter. I feel not
in me those sordid and unchristian desires of my profession; I do not
secretly implore and wish for Plagues, rejoyce at Famines, revolve
Ephemerides and Almanacks, in expectation of malignant Aspects, fatal
Conjunctions, and Eclipses: I rejoyce not at unwholesome Springs, nor
unseasonable Winters; my Prayer goes with the Husbandman's; I desire
every thing in its proper season, that neither men nor the times be put
out of temper. Let me be sick my self, if sometimes the malady of my
patient be not a disease unto me; I desire rather to cure his
infirmities than my own necessities: where I do him no good, methinks it
is scarce honest gain; though I confess 'tis but the worthy salary of
our well-intended endeavours. I am not only ashamed, but heartily sorry,
that besides death, there are diseases incurable; yet not for my own
sake, or that they be beyond my Art, but for the general cause and sake
of humanity, whose common cause I apprehend as mine own. And to speak
more generally, those three Noble Professions which all civil
Commonwealths do honour, are raised upon the fall of _Adam_, and are not
exempt from their infirmities; there are not only diseases incurable in
Physick, but cases indissolvable in Laws, Vices incorrigible in
Divinity: if general Councils may err, I do not see why particular
Courts should be infallible; their perfectest rules are raised upon the
erroneous reasons of Man; and the Laws of one, do but condemn the rules
of another; as _Aristotle_ oft-times the opinions of his Predecessours,
because, though agreeable to reason, yet were not consonant to his own
rules, and Logick of his proper Principles. Again, to speak nothing of
the Sin against the Holy Ghost, whose cure not onely, but whose nature
is unknown; I can cure the Gout or Stone in some, sooner than Divinity
Pride or Avarice in others. I can cure Vices by Physick, when they
remain incurable by Divinity; and shall obey my Pills, when they contemn
their precepts. I boast nothing, but plainly say, we all labour against
our own cure; for death is the cure of all diseases. There is no
Catholicon or universal remedy I know but this, which, though nauseous
to queasie stomachs, yet to prepared appetites is Nectar, and a pleasant
potion of immortality.
[16] _Urbem Roman in principio Reges habuere._
[17] _Pro Archiâ Poëtâ._
[18] _In qua me non inficior mediocriter esse._
SECT. 10
For my Conversation, it is like the Sun's with all men, and with a
friendly aspect to good and bad. Methinks there is no man bad, and the
worst, best; that is, while they are kept within the circle of those
qualities, wherein they are good; there is no man's mind of such
discordant and jarring a temper, to which a tunable disposition may not
strike a harmony. _Magnæ virtutes, nee minora vitia_; it is the posie of
the best natures, and may be inverted on the worst; there are in the
most depraved and venemous dispositions, certain pieces that remain
untoucht, which by an _Antiperistasis_ become more excellent, or by the
excellency of their antipathies are able to preserve themselves from the
contagion of their enemy vices, and persist intire beyond the general
corruption. For it is also thus in nature. The greatest Balsomes do lie
enveloped in the bodies of most powerful Corrosives; I say moreover, and
I ground upon experience, that poisons contain within themselves their
own Antidote, and that which preserves them from the venome of
themselves, without which they were not deleterious to others onely, but
to themselves also. But it is the corruption that I fear within me, not
the contagion of commerce without me. 'Tis that unruly regiment within
me, that will destroy me; 'tis I that do infect my self; the man without
a Navel yet lives in me; I feel that original canker corrode and devour
me; and therefore _Defenda me_ Dios _de me_, Lord deliver me from my
self, is a part of my Letany, and the first voice of my retired
imaginations. There is no man alone, because every man is a _Microcosm_,
and carries the whole World about him; _Nunquam minus solus quàm cum
solus_, though it be the Apothegme of a wise man, is yet true in the
mouth of a fool; indeed, though in a Wilderness, a man is never alone,
not only because he is with himself and his own thoughts, but because he
is with the Devil, who ever consorts with our solitude, and is that
unruly rebel that musters up those disordered motions which accompany
our sequestred imaginations. And to speak more narrowly, there is no
such thing as solitude, nor any thing that can be said to be alone and
by itself, but God, who is his own circle, and can subsist by himself;
all others, besides their dissimilary and Heterogeneous parts, which in
a manner multiply their natures, cannot subsist without the concourse of
God, and the society of that hand which doth uphold their natures. In
brief, there can be nothing truly alone and by it self, which is not
truly one; and such is only God: All others do transcend an unity, and
so by consequence are many.
SECT. 11
Now for my life, it is a miracle of thirty years, which to relate, were
not a History, but a piece of Poetry, and would sound to common ears
like a Fable; for the World, I count it not an Inn, but an Hospital; and
a place not to live, but to dye in. The world that I regard is my self;
it is the Microcosm of my own frame that I cast mine eye on; for the
other, I use it but like my Globe, and turn it round sometimes for my
recreation. Men that look upon my outside, perusing only my condition
and Fortunes, do err in my Altitude, for I am above _Atlas_ his
shoulders. The earth is a point not only in respect of the Heavens above
us, but of that heavenly and celestial part within us: that mass of
Flesh that circumscribes me, limits not my mind: that surface that tells
the Heavens it hath an end, cannot persuade me I have any: I take my
circle to be above three hundred and sixty; though the number of the
Ark do measure my body, it comprehendeth not my mind: whilst I study to
find how I am a Microcosm, or little World, I find my self something
more than the great. There is surely a piece of Divinity in us,
something that was before the Elements, and owes no homage unto the Sun.
Nature tells me I am the Image of God, as well as Scripture: he that
understands not thus much, hath not his introduction or first lesson,
and is yet to begin the Alphabet of man. Let me not injure the felicity
of others, if I say I am as happy as any: _Ruat coelum, Fiat voluntas
tua_, salveth all; so that whatsoever happens, it is but what our daily
prayers desire. In brief, I am content, and what should providence add
more? Surely this is it we call Happiness, and this do I enjoy; with
this I am happy in a dream, and as content to enjoy a happiness in a
fancy, as others in a more apparent truth and realty. There is surely a
neerer apprehension of any thing that delights us in our dreams, than in
our waked senses; without this I were unhappy: for my awaked judgment
discontents me, ever whispering unto me, that I am from my friend; but
my friendly dreams in night requite me, and make me think I am within
his arms. I thank God for my happy dreams, as I do for my good rest, for
there is a satisfaction in them unto reasonable desires, and such as can
be content with a fit of happiness. And surely it is not a melancholy
conceit to think we are all asleep in this World, and that the conceits
of this life are as meer dreams to those of the next, as the Phantasms
of the night, to the conceits of the day. There is an equal delusion in
both, and the one doth but seem to be the embleme or picture of the
other; we are somewhat more than our selves in our sleeps, and the
slumber of the body seems to be but the waking of the soul. It is the
ligation of sense, but the liberty of reason, and our waking conceptions
do not match the Fancies of our sleeps. At my Nativity, my Ascendant was
the watery sign of _Scorpius_; I was born in the Planetary hour of
_Saturn_, and I think I have a piece of that Leaden Planet in me. I am
no way facetious, nor disposed for the mirth and galliardize of company;
yet in one dream I can compose a whole Comedy, behold the action,
apprehend the jests, and laugh my self awake at the conceits thereof:
were my memory as faithful as my reason is then fruitful, I would never
study but in my dreams; and this time also would I chuse for my
devotions: but our grosser memories have then so little hold of our
abstracted understandings, that they forget the story, and can only
relate to our awaked souls, a confused and broken tale of that that hath
passed. _Aristotle_, who hath written a singular Tract of Sleep, hath
not methinks throughly defined it; nor yet _Galen_, though he seem to
have corrected it; for those _Noctambuloes_ and night-walkers, though in
their sleep, do yet injoy the action of their senses: we must therefore
say that there is something in us that is not in the jurisdiction of
_Morpheus_; and that those abstracted and ecstatick souls do walk about
in their own corps, as spirits with the bodies they assume; wherein they
seem to hear, and feel, though indeed the Organs are destitute of sense,
and their natures of those faculties that should inform them. Thus it is
observed, that men sometimes upon the hour of their departure, do speak
and reason above themselves; for then the soul beginning to be freed
from the ligaments of the body, begins to reason like her self, and to
discourse in a strain above mortality.
SECT. 12
We term sleep a death, and yet it is waking that kills us, and destroys
those spirits that are the house of life. 'Tis indeed a part of life
that best expresseth death; for every man truely lives, so long as he
acts his nature, or some way makes good the faculties of himself:
_Themistocles_ therefore that slew his Soldier in his sleep, was a
merciful Executioner: 'tis a kind of punishment the mildness of no laws
hath invented; I wonder the fancy of _Lucan_ and _Seneca_ did not
discover it. It is that death by which we may be literally said to dye
daily; a death which _Adam_ dyed before his mortality; a death whereby
we live a middle and moderating point between life and death; in fine,
so like death, I dare not trust it without my prayers, and an half adieu
unto the World, and take my farewell in a Colloquy with God.
_The night is come, like to the day;
Depart not thou great God away.
Let not my sins, black as the night,
Eclipse the lustre of thy light.
Keep still in my Horizon; for to me
The Sun makes not the day, but thee.
Thou whose nature cannot sleep,
On my temples centry keep;
Guard me 'gainst those watchful foes,
Whose eyes are open while mine close.
Let no dreams my head infest,
But such as_ Jacob's _temples blest.
While I do rest, my Soul advance;
Make my sleep a holy trance.
That I may, my rest being wrought,
Awake into some holy thought;
And with as active vigour run
My course, as doth the nimble Sun.
Sleep is a death; O make me try,
By sleeping, what it is to die;
And as gently lay my head
On my grave, as now my bed.
Howere I rest, great God, let me
Awake again at last with thee.
And this assur'd, behold I lie
Securely, or to awake or die.
These are my drowsie days; in vain
I do now wake to sleep again:
O come that hour, when I shall never
Sleep again, but wake for ever._
This is the Dormative I take to bedward; I need no other _Laudanum_ than
this to make me sleep; after which, I close mine eyes in security,
content to take my leave of the Sun, and sleep unto the resurrection.
SECT. 13
The method I should use in distributive Justice, I often observe in
commutative; and keep a Geometrical proportion in both; whereby becoming
equable to others, I become unjust to my self, and supererogate in that
common principle, _Do unto others as thou wouldst be done unto thy
self_. I was not born unto riches, neither is it I think my Star to be
wealthy; or if it were, the freedom of my mind, and frankness of my
disposition, were able to contradict and cross my fates. For to me
avarice seems not so much a vice, as a deplorable piece of madness; to
conceive ourselves Urinals, or be perswaded that we are dead, is not so
ridiculous, nor so many degrees beyond the power of Hellebore, as this.
The opinion of Theory, and positions of men, are not so void of reason
as their practised conclusions: some have held that Snow is black, that
the earth moves, that the Soul is air, fire, water; but all this is
Philosophy, and there is no _delirium_, if we do but speculate the folly
and indisputable dotage of avarice, to that subterraneous Idol, and God
of the Earth. I do confess I am an Atheist; I cannot perswade myself to
honour that the World adores; whatsoever virtue its prepared substance
may have within my body, it hath no influence nor operation without: I
would not entertain a base design, or an action that should call me
villain, for the Indies; and for this only do I love and honour my own
soul, and have methinks two arms too few to embrace myself. _Aristotle_
is too severe, that will not allow us to be truely liberal without
wealth, and the bountiful hand of Fortune; if this be true, I must
confess I am charitable only in my liberal intentions, and bountiful
well-wishes. But if the example of the Mite be not only an act of
wonder, but an example of the noblest Charity, surely poor men may also
build Hospitals, and the rich alone have not erected Cathedrals. I have
a private method which others observe not; I take the opportunity of my
self to do good; I borrow occasion of Charity from mine own necessities,
and supply the wants of others, when I am in most need my self; for it
is an honest stratagem to make advantage of our selves, and so to
husband the acts of vertue, that where they were defective in one
circumstance, they may repay their want, and multiply their goodness in
another. I have not _Peru_ in my desires, but a competence, and ability
to perform those good works to which he hath inclined my nature. He is
rich, who hath enough to be charitable; and it is hard to be so poor,
that a noble mind may not find a way to this piece of goodness. _He that
giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord_; there is more Rhetorick in
that one sentence, than in a Library of Sermons; and indeed if those
Sentences were understood by the Reader, with the same Emphasis as they
are delivered by the Author, we needed not those Volumes of
instructions, but might be honest by an Epitome. Upon this motive only
I cannot behold a Beggar without relieving his Necessities with my
Purse, or his Soul with my Prayers; these scenical and accidental
differences between us, cannot make me forget that common and untoucht
part of us both; there is under these _Cantoes_ and miserable outsides,
these mutilate and semi-bodies, a soul of the same alloy with our own,
whose Genealogy is God as well as ours, and in as fair a way to
Salvation as our selves. Statists that labour to contrive a
Common-wealth without our poverty, take away the object of charity, not
understanding only the Common-wealth of a Christian, but forgetting the
prophecie of Christ.
SECT. 14
Now there is another part of charity, which is the Basis and Pillar of
this, and that is the love of God, for whom we love our neighbour; for
this I think charity, to love God for himself, and our neighbour for
God. All that is truly amiable is God, or as it were a divided piece of
him, that retains a reflex or shadow of himself. Nor is it strange that
we should place affection on that which is invisible; all that we truly
love is thus; what we adore under affection of our senses, deserves not
the honour of so pure a title. Thus we adore virtue, though to the eyes
of sense she be invisible: thus that part of our noble friends that we
love, is not that part that we imbrace, but that insensible part that
our arms cannot embrace. God being all goodness, can love nothing but
himself, and the traduction of his holy Spirit. Let us call to assize
the loves of our parents, the affection of our wives and children, and
they are all dumb shows and dreams, without reality, truth or constancy:
for first, there is a strong bond of affection between us and our
Parents; yet how easily dissolved? We betake our selves to a woman,
forget our mother in a wife, and the womb that bare us, in that that
shall bear our Image: this woman blessing us with children, our
affection leaves the level it held before, and sinks from our bed unto
our issue and picture of Posterity, where affection holds no steady
mansion. They, growing up in years, desire our ends; or applying
themselves to a woman, take a lawful way to love another better than our
selves. Thus I perceive a man may be buried alive, and behold his grave
in his own issue.
SECT. 15
I conclude therefore and say, there is no happiness under (or as
_Copernicus_ will have it, above) the Sun, nor any Crambe in that
repeated verity and burthen of all the wisdom of _Solomon, All is vanity
and vexation of Spirit_. There is no felicity in that the World adores:
_Aristotle_ whilst he labours to refute the Idea's of _Plato_, falls
upon one himself: for his _summum bonum_ is a _Chimæra_, and there is no
such thing as his Felicity. That wherein God himself is happy, the holy
Angels are happy, in whose defect the Devils are unhappy; that dare I
call happiness: whatsoever conduceth unto this, may with an easy
Metaphor deserve that name: whatsoever else the World terms Happiness,
is to me a story out of _Pliny_, a tale of _Boccace_ or _Malizspini_; an
apparition or neat delusion, wherein there is no more of Happiness, than
the name. Bless me in this life with but peace of my Conscience, command
of my affections, the love of thy self and my dearest friends, and I
shall be happy enough to pity _Cæsar_. These are, O Lord, the humble
desires of my most reasonable ambition, and all I dare call happiness
on earth; wherein I set no rule or limit to thy Hand or Providence;
dispose of me according to the wisdom of thy pleasure. Thy will be done,
though in my own undoing.
FINIS
PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA
OR ENQUIRIES
INTO VERY MANY RECEIVED
TENENTS AND COMMONLY
PRESUMED TRUTHS
TO THE READER
_Would Truth dispense, we could be content, with_ Plato, _that knowledge
were but remembrance; that intellectual acquisition were but
reminiscential evocation, and new Impressions but the colouring of old
stamps which stood pale in the soul before. For what is worse, knowledge
is made by oblivion, and to purchase a clear and warrantable body of
Truth, we must forget and part with much we know. Our tender Enquiries
taking up Learning at large, and together with true and assured notions,
receiving many, wherein our reviewing judgments do find no satisfaction.
And therefore in this_ Encyclopædie _and round of Knowledge, like the
great and exemplary Wheels of Heaven, we must observe two Circles: that
while we are daily carried about, and whirled on by the swing and rapt
of the one, we may maintain a natural and proper course, in the slow and
sober wheel of the other. And this we shall more readily perform, if we
timely survey our knowledge; impartially singling out those
encroachments, which junior compliance and popular credulity hath
admitted. Whereof at present we have endeavoured a long and serious_
Adviso; _proposing not only a large and copious List, but from
experience and reason attempting their decisions._
_And first we crave exceeding pardon in the audacity of the Attempt,
humbly acknowledging a work of such concernment unto truth, and
difficulty in it self, did well deserve the conjunction of many heads.
And surely more advantageous had it been unto Truth, to have fallen into
the endeavors of some co-operating advancers, that might have performed
it to the life, and added authority thereto; which the privacy of our
condition, and unequal abilities cannot expect. Whereby notwithstanding
we have not been diverted; nor have our solitary attempts been so
discouraged, as to dispair the favourable look of Learning upon our
single and unsupported endeavours_.
_Nor have we let fall our Pen, upon discouragement of Contradiction,
Unbelief and Difficulty of disswasion from radicated beliefs, and points
of high prescription, although we are very sensible, how hardly teaching
years do learn, what roots old age contracteth unto errors, and how such
as are but acorns in our younger brows, grow Oaks in our elder heads,
and become inflexible unto the powerfullest arm of reason. Although we
have also beheld, what cold requitals others have found in their several
redemptions of Truth; and how their ingenuous Enquiries have been
dismissed with censure, and obloquie of singularities_.
[Sidenote: _Inspection of Urines._]
_Some consideration we hope from the course of our Profession, which
though it leadeth us into many truths that pass undiscerned by others,
yet doth it disturb their Communications, and much interrupt the office
of our Pens in their well intended Transmissions. And therefore surely
in this work attempts will exceed performances; it being composed by
snatches of time, as medical vacations, and the fruitless importunity
of_ Uroscopy _would permit us. And therefore also, perhaps it hath not
found that regular and constant stile, those infallible experiments and
those assured determinations, which the subject sometime requireth, and
might be expected from others, whose quiet doors and unmolested hours
afford no such distractions. Although whoever shall indifferently
perpend the exceeding difficulty, which either the obscurity of the
subject, or unavoidable paradoxology must often put upon the Attemptor,
he will easily discern, a work of this nature is not to be performed
upon one legg; and should smel of oyl, if duly and deservedly handled_.
_Our first intentions considering the common interest of Truth, resolved
to propose it unto the Latine republique and equal Judges of_ Europe,
_but owing in the first place this service unto our Country, and therein
especially unto its ingenuous Gentry, we have declared our self in a
language best conceived. Although I confess the quality of the Subject
will sometimes carry us into expressions beyond meer English
apprehensions. And indeed, if elegancy still proceedeth, and English
Pens maintain that stream, we have of late observed to flow from many;
we shall within few years be fain to learn Latine to understand English,
and a work will prove of equal facility in either. Nor have we addressed
our Pen or Stile unto the people (whom Books do not redress, and are
this way incapable of reduction), but unto the knowing and leading part
of Learning. As well understanding (at least probably hoping) except
they be watered from higher regions, and fructifying meteors of
Knowledge, these weeds must lose their alimental sap, and wither of
themselves. Whose conserving influence, could our endeavours prevent; we
should trust the rest unto the sythe of_ Time, _and hopefull dominion of
Truth_.
[Sidenote: {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, _Athenæi_, lib. 7.]
_We hope it will not be unconsidered, that we find no open tract, or
constant manuduction in this Labyrinth; but are oft-times fain to
wander in the_ America _and untravelled parts of Truth. For though not
many years past, Dr._ Primrose _hath made a learned Discourse of vulgar
Errors in Physick, yet have we discussed but two or three thereof._
Scipio Mercurii _hath also left an excellent tract in_ Italian,
_concerning popular Errors; but confining himself only unto those in
Physick, he hath little conduced unto the generality of our doctrine._
Laurentius Ioubertus, _by the same Title led our expectation into
thoughts of great relief; whereby notwithstanding we reaped no
advantage; it answering scarce at all the promise of the inscription.
Nor perhaps (if it were yet extant) should we find any farther
Assistance from that ancient piece of_ Andreas, _pretending the same
Title. And therefore we are often constrained to stand alone against the
strength of opinion, and to meet the_ Goliah _and Giant of Authority,
with contemptible pibbles, and feeble arguments, drawn from the scrip
and slender stock of our selves. Nor have we indeed scarce named any
Author whose name we do not honour; and if detraction could invite us,
discretion surely would contain us from any derogatory intention, where
highest Pens and friendliest eloquence must fail in commendation_.
_And therefore also we cannot but hope the equitable considerations, and
candour of reasonable minds. We cannot expect the frown of_ Theology
_herein; nor can they which behold the present state of things, and
controversie of points so long received in Divinity, condemn our sober
Enquiries in the doubtfull appertinancies of Arts, and Receptaries of
Philosophy. Surely Philologers and Critical Discoursers, who look beyond
the shell and obvious exteriours of things, will not be angry with our
narrower explorations. And we cannot doubt, our Brothers in Physick
(whose knowledge in Naturals will lead them into a nearer apprehension
of many things delivered) will friendly accept, if not countenance our
endeavours. Nor can we conceive it may be unwelcome unto those honoured
Worthies, who endeavour the advancement of Learning: as being likely to
find a clearer progression, when so many rubs are levelled, and many
untruths taken off, which passing as principles with common beliefs,
disturb the tranquility of Axioms, which otherwise might be raised. And
wise men cannot but know, that arts and learning want this expurgation:
and if the course of truth be permitted unto its self, like that of time
and uncorrected computations, it cannot escape many errors, which
duration still enlargeth_.
_Lastly, we are not Magisterial in opinions, nor have we Dictator-like
obtruded our conceptions; but in the humility of Enquiries or
disquisitions, have only proposed them unto more ocular discerners. And
therefore opinions are free, and open it is for any to think or declare
the contrary. And we shall so far encourage contradiction, as to promise
no disturbance, or re-oppose any Pen, that shall fallaciously or
captiously refute us_; _that shall only lay hold of our lapses, single
out Digressions, Corollaries, or Ornamental conceptions, to evidence his
own in as indifferent truths. And shall only take notice of such, whose
experimental and judicious knowledge shall solemnly look upon it; not
only to destroy of ours, but to establish of his own; not to traduce or
extenuate, but to explain and dilucidate, to add and ampliate, according
to the laudable custom of the Ancients in their sober promotions of
Learning. Unto whom notwithstanding, we shall not contentiously rejoin,
or only to justifie our own, but to applaud or confirm his maturer
assertions; and shall confer what is in us unto his name and honour;
Ready to be swallowed in any worthy enlarger: as having acquired our
end, if any way, or under any name we may obtain a work, so much
desired, and yet desiderated of Truth._
_THOMAS BROWN._
THE POSTSCRIPT
Readers,
_To enform you of the Advantages of the present Impression, and disabuse
your expectations of any future Enlargements; these are to advertise
thee, that this Edition comes forth with very many Explanations,
Additions, and Alterations throughout, besides that of one entire
Chapter: But that now this Work is compleat and perfect, expect no
further Additions._
THE FIRST BOOK
OR GENERAL PART
CHAPTER I
Of the Causes of Common Errors.
[Sidenote: _The Introduction._]
The First and Father-cause of common Error, is, The common infirmity of
Human Nature; of whose deceptible condition, although perhaps there
should not need any other eviction, than the frequent Errors we shall
our selves commit, even in the express declarement hereof: yet shall we
illustrate the same from more infallible constitutions, and persons
presumed as far from us in condition, as time, that is, our first and
ingenerated forefathers. From whom as we derive our Being, and the
several wounds of constitution; so, may we in some manner excuse our
infirmities in the depravity of those parts, whose Traductions were pure
in them, and their Originals but once removed from God. Who
notwithstanding (if posterity may take leave to judge of the fact, as
they are assured to suffer in the punishment) were grossly deceived, in
their perfection; and so weakly deluded in the clarity of their
understanding, that it hath left no small obscurity in ours, How error
should gain upon them.
[Sidenote: _Matter of great dispute, how our first parents could be so
deceived._]
For first, They were deceived by Satan; and that not in an invisible
insinuation; but an open and discoverable apparition, that is, in the
form of a Serpent; whereby although there were many occasions of
suspition, and such as could not easily escape a weaker circumspection,
yet did the unwary apprehension of _Eve_ take no advantage thereof. It
hath therefore seemed strange unto some, she should be deluded by a
Serpent, or subject her reason to a beast, which God had subjected unto
hers. It hath empuzzled the enquiries of others to apprehend, and
enforced them unto strange conceptions, to make out, how without fear or
doubt she could discourse with such a creature, or hear a Serpent speak,
without suspition of Imposture. The wits of others have been so bold, as
to accuse her simplicity, in receiving his Temptation so coldly; and
when such specious effects of the Fruit were Promised, as to make them
like God; not to desire, at least not to wonder he pursued not that
benefit himself. And had it been their own case, would perhaps have
replied, If the tast of this Fruit maketh the eaters like _Gods_, why
remainest thou a Beast? If it maketh us but _like Gods_, we are so
already. If thereby our eyes shall be opened hereafter, they are at
present quick enough, to discover thy deceit; and we desire them no
opener, to behold our own shame. If to know good and evil be our
advantage, although we have Free-will unto both, we desire to perform
but one; We know 'tis good to obey the commandement of God, but evil if
we transgress it.
[Sidenote: Adam _supposed by some to have been the wisest man that ever
was._]
They were deceived by one another, and in the greatest disadvantage of
Delusion, that is, the stronger by the weaker: For _Eve_ presented the
Fruit, and _Adam_ received it from her. Thus the _Serpent_ was cunning
enough, to begin the deceit in the weaker, and the weaker of strength,
sufficient to consummate the fraud in the stronger. Art and fallacy was
used unto her; a naked offer proved sufficient unto him: So his
superstruction was his Ruine, and the fertility of his Sleep an issue of
Death unto him. And although the condition of Sex, and posteriority of
Creation, might somewhat extenuate the Error of the Woman: Yet was it
very strange and inexcusable in the Man; especially, if as some affirm,
he was the wisest of all men since; or if, as others have conceived, he
was not ignorant of the Fall of the Angels, and had thereby Example and
punishment to deterr him.
[Sidenote: Adam _and_ Eve _how they fell._]
They were deceived from themselves, and their own apprehensions; for
_Eve_ either mistook, or traduced the commandment of God. _Of every Tree
of the Garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the Tree of knowledge of
good and evil thou shalt not eat: for in the day thou eatest thereof,
thou shall surely die._ Now _Eve_ upon the question of the _Serpent_,
returned the Precept in different terms: _You shall not eat of it,
neither shall you touch it, less perhaps you die._ In which delivery,
there were no less than two mistakes, or rather additional mendacities;
for the Commandment forbad not the touch of the Fruit; and positively
said, _Ye shall surely die_: but she extenuating, replied, _ne fortè
moriamini, lest perhaps ye die_. For so in the vulgar translation it
runneth, and so it is expressed in the _Thargum_ or Paraphrase of
_Jonathan_. And therefore although it be said, and that very truely,
_that the Devil was a lyer from the beginning_, yet was the Woman herein
the first express beginner: and falsified twice, before the reply of
_Satan_. And therefore also, to speak strictly, the sin of the Fruit was
not the first Offence: They first transgressed the Rule of their own
Reason; and after the Commandment of God.
They were deceived through the Conduct of their Senses, and by
Temptations from the Object it self; whereby although their
intellectuals had not failed in the Theory of truth, yet did the
inservient and brutal Faculties controll the suggestion of Reason:
Pleasure and Profit already overswaying the instructions of Honesty, and
Sensuality perturbing the reasonable commands of Vertue. For so it is
delivered in the Text: That when the Woman saw, _that the Tree was good
for food_, and _that it was pleasant unto the eye_, and _a Tree to be
desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat_.
Now hereby it appeareth, that _Eve_, before the Fall, was by the same
and beaten away of allurements inveigled, whereby her posterity hath
been deluded ever since; that is, those three delivered by St. _John,
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life_:
Where indeed they seemed as weakly to fail, as their debilitated
posterity, ever after. Whereof notwithstanding, some in their
imperfection, have resisted more powerful temptations; and in many
moralities condemned the facility of their seductions.
[Sidenote: Adam _whence (probably) induced to eat._]
[Sidenote: _Whether_ Cain _intended to kill_ Abel.]
Again, they might, for ought we know, be still deceived in the unbelief
of their Mortality, even after they had eat of the Fruit: For, _Eve_
observing no immediate execution of the Curse, she delivered the Fruit
unto _Adam_: who, after the tast thereof, perceiving himself still to
live, might yet remain in doubt, whether he had incurred Death; which
perhaps he did not indubitably believe, until he was after convicted in
the visible example of _Abel_. For he that would not believe the Menace
of God at first, it may be doubted whether, before an ocular example, he
believed the Curse at last. And therefore they are not without all
reason, who have disputed the Fact of _Cain_: that is, although he
purposed to do mischief, whether he intended to kill his Brother; or
designed that, whereof he had not beheld an example in his own kind.
There might be somewhat in it, that he would not have done, or desired
undone, when he brake forth as desperately, as before he had done
uncivilly, _My iniquity is greater than can be forgiven me_.
[Sidenote: _The_ Thalmudist's _Allegories upon the History of_ Adam
_and_ Eve's _Fall._]
Some nicities I confess there are which extenuate, but many more that
aggravate this Delusion; which exceeding the bounds of this Discourse,
and perhaps our Satisfaction, we shall at present pass over. And
therefore whether the Sin of our First Parents were the greatest of any
since; whether the transgression of _Eve_ seducing, did not exceed that
of _Adam_ seduced; or whether the resistibility of his Reason, did not
equivalence the facility of her Seduction; we shall refer it to the
_Schoolman_; Whether there was not in _Eve_ as great injustice in
deceiving her husband, as imprudence in being deceived her self;
especially, if foretasting the Fruit, her eyes were opened before his,
and she knew the effect of it, before he tasted of it; we leave it unto
the _Moralist_. Whether the whole relation be not Allegorical, that is,
whether the temptation of the Man by the Woman, be not the seduction of
the rational and higher parts by the inferiour and feminine faculties;
or whether the Tree in the midst of the Garden, were not that part in
the Center of the body, in which was afterward the appointment of
Circumcision in Males, we leave it unto the _Thalmudist_. Whether there
were any Policy in the Devil to tempt them before the Conjunction, or
whether the Issue before tentation, might in justice have suffered with
those after, we leave it unto the _Lawyer_. Whether _Adam_ foreknew the
advent of Christ, or the reparation of his Error by his Saviour; how the
execution of the Curse should have been ordered, if, after _Eve_ had
eaten, _Adam_ had yet refused. Whether if they had tasted the Tree of
life, before that of Good and Evil, they had yet suffered the curse of
Mortality: or whether the efficacy of the one had not over-powred the
penalty of the other, we leave it unto GOD. For he alone can truly
determine these, and all things else; Who as he hath proposed the World
unto our disputation, so hath he reserved many things unto his own
resolution; whose determination we cannot hope from flesh, but must with
reverence suspend unto that great Day, whose justice shall either
condemn our curiosities, or resolve our disquisitions.
Lastly, Man was not only deceivable in his Integrity, but the Angels of
light in all their Clarity. He that said, He would be like the highest
did erre, if in some way he conceived himself so already: but in
attempting so high an effect from himself, he mis-understood the nature
of God, and held a false apprehension of his own; whereby vainly
attempting not only insolencies, but impossibilities, he deceived
himself as low as Hell. In brief, there is nothing infallible but GOD,
who cannot possibly erre. For things are really true as they correspond
unto his conception; and have so much verity as they hold of conformity
unto that Intellect, in whose _Idea_ they had their first
determinations. And therefore being the Rule, he cannot be Irregular;
nor, being Truth it self, conceaveably admit the impossible society of
Error.