Behold the figure of that man of Parts  
who diveed into the Secrets of all Arts,  
A Second Solomon, the mighty He  
That tried them all, and found them Vanity.    

THE VANITY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES.  
BY Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Knight, Doctor of both Laws, Judge of the Prerogative-Court, AND Counsellor to Charles the Fifth, Emperor of Germany.  
ECCLES. Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity.  
LONDON: Printed by J. C. for Samuel Speed, and sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster. 1676.   

TO THE READER.  
Studious Reader,  
WIlt thou not look upon this Labour of mine, to be a most bold and almost Herculean attempt, to wage War against the Giantlike Opposition of all the Arts and Sciences? And thus to challenge the stoutest Hunters of Nature? Doctor's will knit their enraged brows upon me: the Authority of Masters, the endeavours of the Bachelors of Art, the heat of the Schoolmen, the sedition of the Mechanics, will be all up in arms against me. All which if I stab at one blow, will it not be a greater work than Hercules in the accomplishment of all his Labours was ever guilty of? Shall I not have performed a nobler Task, if with no less danger and labour, I overcome these Monsters of Schools, Universities and Pulpits? For I am not ignorant how bloody a Battle I must fight, or how hazardous and difficult the War will be, being to meet with such an Army of potent Enemies. Woe is me, with what Engines will they seek to destroy me? With what weight will they not endeavour to crush me? What reproaches will they not endeavour to throw upon me? The Grammarians will rail at me: the Etymologists will derive my name from the Gout: the mad Poets will call me Goat and Momus: the frivolous Historians will profane me beyond Pausanias or Herostratus: the obstreperous Rhetoricians will plague me with their big Words and mimical Gestures: the quarrelsome Logicians will confound me with their Syllogisms. The nimble Sophisters will saw my jaws with the snaffles of their subtle Questions. The barbarous Lullist will make me mad with his absurd Soloecisms. The Atome-numbring Arithmeticians will set an host of Usurers upon me. The Gamesters will curse me. The Musicians will sing Ballads of me. The proud Matrons will expel me their Meetings. The Wenches will deny to kiss me. The giggling Girls will laugh, and cry, I dance like a Camel. The lewd Players will kill me in a Tragedy. The intricate Geometrician will imprison me in his Triangles and Tetragonals. The vain Painter will make me more ugly than an Ape, or Thersites himself. The Cosmographer will banish me amongst the Bears into Greenland. The ginger will erect some wicked Scheme or other for me. The Physiognomist will defame me for being impotent. The Epicures will bespew me to death. The Tyrant will crucify me in Phalaris' Bull. Hypocrites will declaim against me in their Pulpits. The Whores will pox me. The Priests will excommunicate me. The blasphemous Mariner will throw me overboard. The yawling Hunter will set his Dogs upon me. The Soldier will plunder me. The Ordure-tasting Physicians will throw their Urinal at my Head. The Surgeons will anatomize me. The Lawyers will accuse me of Treason. The Judges will condemn me. Thus, though I omit for brevity's sake many others, dost thou not see, Reader, what dangers I am like to run through? But I am in hopes to avoid their fury, provided that thou, patient to hear the Truth, and laying all Prepossession and Obstinacy aside, wilt but give thy mind candidly and without passion to read what I have writ. I have moreover the Word of God to defend me, which with an undaunted Courage I intent to make use of for my Buckler. I would have thee moreover to know, that I have not writ these things either out of Hatred, Envy, Ambition, or vain Error, nor did Arrogance prompt me to it; but of all Causes the most just and truest: because I see that so many men, puffed up with Humane Knowledge and Learning, not only contemn and despise the Oracles of the Sacred Scripture, but also prosecute and deride it with the same contempt. Others we see, though to themselves they seem to be more holy, who endeavour to confirm and approve the Laws of Christ, yet attribute more Authority to the Maxims of Philosophers, than to the holy Prophets of God, the Evangelists or Apostles, though there be so vast a difference between them. Moreover, we find that a most detestable Custom has invaded all or most Schools of Learning, to swear their Disciples never to contradict Aristotle, Boethius, Thomas Albertus, or some such like School-Deity: From whom if there be any that differ so much as a nails breadth, him they proclaim a scandalous Heretic, a Criminal against the Holy Sciences, fit only to be consumed in Fire and Flames. Therefore these and scious Giants, these Enemies of Scripture are to be set upon, their Bulwarks and Castles are to be stormed: And it behoves us to show how intolerable the blindness of Men is, to wander from the truth, misguided by so many Sciences and Arts, and by so many Authors and Doctors thereof. For how great a boldness is it, what an arrogant presumption, to prefer the Schools of Philosophers before the Church of Christ? and to extol or equal the Opinions of Men, to the Word of God? Lastly, how impious a piece of Tyranny it is, to captivate the Wits of Students to prefixed Authors, and to deprive their Disciples of the liberty of searching after and following the Truth? All which things being so manifest, that they cannot be denied, I may be the more easily pardoned, if I seem to have more freely and bitterly inveighed against some sorts of Sciences and their Professors,  
Farewell.   

The LIFE of Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Knight, AND Judge of the Prerogative Court.  
HEnry Cornelius Agrippa, descended from a Noble Family of Nettesheim in Belgia, was by his Parents so educated, that he became Doctor of the Laws and Physic, Master of the Rolls, and Judge of the Spiritual Court. He was naturally inclined to study, making it his Recreation from his Youth to learn: Nor was his Labour spent in vain; for by his Ingenuity he obtained wonderful Skill and Knowledge in the several various Arts and Sciences. Notwithstanding which, his Fancy guided him to attend or accompany the Army of the Princes, with whom he so prudently behaved himself, that he gained the affections of all that knew him; and for his singular Valour, was created Knight in the Field. It was about the year 1530, that his Merits grew great, and he became the Subject of every 〈◊〉 Wonder and Discourse, some admiring his Learning, others his Valour; and all with a reverend adoration applauding him. In his Studies he grew expert in Occult Philosophy, and composed four Books thereof; whose incomparable Worth is beyond the reach of an Encomium. Not long after that, he published this his Satirical Invective, or Cynical Declamation against the Vanity of Arts and Sciences; informing and affirming with much Reason, Learning, and Piety, that all things are incertain, except only the pure and solid Word of God. He likewise composed a● History of the double Coronation of Charles the Emperor, to whom his Parts advanced him to be his Counsellor. Then he composed a Treatise of the Excellency of the Feminine Sex; and another of the Apparition of Spirits. Divers were of opinion that he held a Correspondency with Devils, since he published Commentaries on the Ars Brevis of Raymund Lul, and was extremely inclined to delight in the study of Occult Philosophy and Astrology. To vindicate himself from those various Aspersions that arose concerning him, he published an Apology, wherein he showed that what he did, was purely done by Art; nor did he exceed the bounds thereof.  
In the year 1538, he wrote many learned Orations, by which his Wit appeared to be excellent: Amongst the large number, these Ten were the chief: The first, on Plato's Banquet, uttered in the Academy of Tricina, containing the praise of Love. The second, on Hermes Trismegistus, treating on the power and wisdom of Almighty God. The third, in behalf of one who was about to take his degree of Doctor. The fourth, for the Lords of Metz; he being then chosen their Advocate and their Orator. The fifth, to the Senate of Luxemburgh, in behalf of the Lords of Metz. The sixth, for the said Lords, by way of Salutation to the Prince and Bishop thereof. The seventh, likewise for the aforesaid Lords, by way of Salutation to a Nobleman. The eighth, in behalf of a certain Kinsman of his, a Carmelite, made Bachelor of Divinity when he received his Regency at Paris. The ninth, for the Son of Christiern King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, delivered at the coming of the Emperor. The tenth, at the Funeral of the Lady Margeret, Princess of Austria and Burgundy. He also writ a Dialogue concerning Man; and a Declamation of a disputable Opinion concerning Original Sin, to the Bishop of Cyrene; an Epistle to Michael de Arando, Bishop of St. Paul; a Complaint upon a Calumny, printed at Strasburgh, 1539. These are the chief of those Pyramids that disperse the Glories of Agrippa, who grew eminently famous, not only among the Germans, but all other Nations too. He was much beloved, more admired, and somewhat envied: Momus will carp, although among the Gods: Hercules amongst the Heroes, hunts after Monsters: Pluto amongst the Devils, as King of Hell, is angry with the Ghosts: Democritus amongst Philosophers, derides and laughs at all things; and on the other side, Heraclitus, as if his Eyes were a Fountain of Tears, is always weeping: Pirrhias is ignorant of all things; and Aristotle believeth that he himself knows all things: Diogen●s scorneth all things; and Cornelius Agrippa spareth none: he contemneth, knows, is ignorant, weeps, laughs, is angry, pursueth, carp at all things, being himself a most Satirical Philosopher.  

His Epitaph.  
WHy weep'st thou, Marble? is thy Trust  
Too great for such a Sacred Dust?  
Or dost thou make thy Pious moan,  
That we might turn our Hearts from Stone?  
As Converts then we'll weep with you;  
Our Hearts shall melt to Marble too:  
For there's penned up within thy Pit,  
A world composed of Worth and Wit..    

On the LEARNED AUTHOR Of the Vanity of ARTS and SCIENCES.  
ILlustrious Penman, whose immortal Name  
Speaks thee above the loudest blast of Fame,  
Since thou for learning waste the choicest He,  
Whose Head was Europe's University.  
Oxford and Cambridge both, do still admire  
How thou attained'st thy Celestical Fire.  
Well might great Charles, though Germane Emperor,  
Confer with thee, Dame Nature's Counsellor.  
'Twas pity thou wast born, great Soul, for why?  
Thousands have died for grief, that thou didst die.  
Yet thy rare Works that after thee survive,  
Instruct the Learned that at present live.  
The Destinies sure sent thee in their rage,  
To teach the World, and to correct the Age,  
Like some prodigious Wit, within the Sphere  
Of being Priest, and a Philosopher;  
A Prophet, and a Poet, to exclaim  
Against the Worthies, and to laugh at Fame;  
To unfold Mysteries, and be i'th' List  
Of all the choice, the chief Evangelist.  
I'm full of wonder, when I contemplate  
Thee, and thy Works, ordained to conquer Fate:  
An Ecstasy surprises every part.  
I seem a Man, and yet I want my Heart;  
From me 'tis flown, and yet methinks it meets  
Again, when I peruse thy learned Sheets.  
Then in a Grove I'm lost; and wish I may  
Get out, yet Pleasure forces me to stay:  
For there's delight that doth the Senses fill,  
As Accents written with an Angel's Quill.  
To fix thy Sepulchre we'll show our Arts,  
Cementing that with Tears and broken Hearts.  
Can broken Hearts an Habitation make?  
If not, for grief of that, our Hearts shall break.  
Thou needest no Supporter, for thy Staff  
Shall be thy Works, thy Fame thy Epitaph.  
For when weak Poets have their Praises spent,  
Thy Name shall be thine own rich Monument.  
S S.   

Licenced,  
September 18. 1675. Roger L'●strange.   

An ALPHABETICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.  

Of  
Arithmetic Page 50-53  
Architecture 77  
Astronomy 82  
Astrology 88  
Augury 103  
Agriculture 243-250  
Apothecaries 299  
Anatomy 304  
Alchemy 31●  
Advocates 324   

Of  
Balls 60  
Beginning of natural things 1ST  
Beggary 211   

Of  
Cosmimetry 74  
Chiromancy 100LS  
Conjuring 115  
Cabalists 12●  
Ceremonies 173  
Court-Discipline 22●  
Courtiers Noble 22●  
Vulgar 230  
Court-Ladies 234  
Chirurgery 303  
Cattle-curing 304  
Cookery 307  
Chemistry 312  
Canon-Law 320  
Conclusion of the Work 364   

Of  
Dicing 51  
Dancing 60  
Divination 99  
Dreams 105  
Dieting 305   

Of  
Elements of Letters 9   

Of  
Fishing 245  
F●●ling 246   

Of  
Grammar 12  
Geomancy 50.103  
Geometry 66   

Of  
History 26  
holidays 170  
Husbandry 243  
Hunting 246  
Heraldry 276   

Of  
Images 164  
Inquisition 327  
Interpretative Theology 336   

Of  
Logic 40  
Lullius Art 47  
Looking-Glasses 73  
Law in general 316  
Study 326   

Of  
Memory 48  
Mathematics in general 49  
Music 54  
Miners and Metals 80  
Metoposcopy 100  
Madness 107  
Magic in general 109  
Mathematical Magic 112  
Metaphysics 142  
Moral Philosophy 146  
Monks 183  
Merchandizing 237  
Military Art 253  
Masters of Arts 357   

Of  
Natural Magic 110  
Necromancy 115  
Natural Philosophy 128  
Nobility 257   

Of  
Optics 67  
Oeconomy in general 216  
Private 218   

Of  
Poesy 21  
Pythagorean chance 52  
Perspectives 67  
Painting 69  
Plastic 70  
Prospective 73  
Physiognomy 100  
Plurality of the World 131  
Politics 154  
Pandarism 193  
Paymasters 241  
Pasturage 243  
Physic in general 281  
Practical 285  
Public Notaries 325  
Prophetic Theology 340  
Praise of the Ass 360   

Of  
Rhetoric 33  
Rhetorism 65  
Religion in general 161  
Regal Oeconomy 224   

Of  
Sciences in general 1  
Sophistry 43  
Stage-dancing 63  
Statuary 70  
Speculatory Divination 105  
Soul 133  
Superiors of the Church 177  
Study of the Law 326  
Scholastic Theology 331   

Of  
Theurgy 119  
Temples 168  
Theology Scholastic 331  
Interpretative 336  
Prophetic 340   

Of  
Witchcraft 113-126  
Whoring 187  
Word of God 348    

OF THE INCERTAINTY & VANITY OF Worldly ARTS & SCIENCES.  

CHAP. I.  
Of the Sciences in General.  
IT is an old Opinion, and the concurring and unanimous judgement almost of all Philosophers, whereby they uphold, that every Science addeth so much of a sublime Nature to Man himself, according to the Capacity and Worth of every Person, a● many times enables them to Translate themselves beyond the Limits of Humanity, even to the Celestial Seats of the Blessed. From hence have proceeded those various and innumerable Encomiums of the Sciences, whereby every one hath endeavoured, in accurate, as well as long Orations, to prefer, and as it were to extol beyond the Heavens themselves, those Arts and Mysteries, wherein, with continual Labour, he hath exercised the strength and vigour of his Ingenuity or Invention. But I, persuaded by reasons of another nature, do verily believe, that there is nothing more pernicious, nothing more destructive to the well-being of Men, or to the Salvation of our Souls, than the Arts and Sciences themselves. And therefore quite contrary to what has been hitherto practised, my Opinion is, That these Arts and Sciences are so far from being to be extolled with such high applauses and Panegyrics, that they are rather for the most part to be dispraised and vilified: And that indeed there is none which does not merit just cause of Reproof and Censure; nor any one which of itself deserves any praise or commendation, unless what it may borrow from the Ingenuity and Virtue of the first possessor. However, I would have you take this Opinion of mine in that modest Construction, which may imagine, that I neither go about to reprehend those who are of a contrary judgement; or that I intent to arrogate any thing singly singular to my ●elf, above others: Therefore I shall entreat you to suspend your Censure of me, differing in this one thing from all others; so long as you find me laying an auspicious Foundation of proof, not upon Vulgar Arguments drawn from the Superficies and outside of things, but upon the most firm reasons deduced from the most hidden bowels of secret Knowledge; and this not in the sharp stile of Demosthenes or Chrysippus, which may not so well beseem a Professor of Christianity, but would rather show me to be a vain pursuer of flattery and ostentation, while I endeavour to varnish my Speech with the Fucus's of Eloquence. For to speak Properly, not Rhetorically, to intend the truth of the Matter, not the ornament of Language, is the du●● of one Professing Sacred Literature. For the seat of Truth is not in the Tongue, but in the Heart. Neither is it of importance, what Language we use in the Relation of Truth, seeing that falsehood only wants Eloquence, and the trappings of Words, whereby to insinuate into the minds of Men; but the language of Truth, as Euripides writeth, is plain and simple; not seeking the graces of Art, or painted Flourishes. Therefore if this great Work of ours, undertaken without any Flowers of Eloquence (which in the series of our Discourse we have not so much slighted as condemned) do prove offensive to your more delicate ears; we entreat you to bear it with the same patience, as once one of the Roman Emperors made use of, when he stood still with his whole Army to hear the tittle-tattle of an impertinent Woman: and with the same humour that King Archelaus was wont to hear Persons that were Hoarse, and of an unpleasant Utterance; that thereby afterwards he might take the more delight in the pleasing sounds of Eloquent Rhetoricians, and Tuneful Voices. Remember that saying of Theophrastus, That the most Illiterate were able to speak in the presence of the most Elegant Persons, while they spoke nothing but Truth and Reason. And now that I may no longer keep ye in suspense, through what Tracts and Byways I have as it were hinted out this Opinion of mine, it is time that I declare unto ye. But first I must admonish ye, That all Sciences are as well evil as good, and that they bring us no other advantage to excel as Deities, more than what the Serpent promised of old, when he said, Ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. Let him therefore glory in this Serpent, who boasts himself in knowledge; which we read the Heresy of the Ophites not a little unbeseemingly to have done, who Worshipped a Serpent among the rest of their Superstitions, as being the Creature that first introduced the knowledge of Virtue into Paradise. To this agrees that Platonic Fable which feigns, That one Theutus being offended with Mankind, was the first raiser of that Devil, called the Sciences; not less hurtful than profitable: as Thamus' King of Egypt wisely discourses, writing of the Inventors of Arts & Letters. Hence most Grammarians Expound and Interpret the word Damon's, as much as to say Artists. But leaving these Fables to their Poets and Philosophers, suppose there were no other Inventors of Arts than Men themselves, yet were they the Sons of the worst Generation, even the Sons of Cain, of whom it is truly said, The sons of this world are wiser than the sons of light in this generation. If men be therefore the Inventors of Arts, is it not said, Every man is a Liar, neither is there one that doth good? But grant on the other side, that there may be some good men; yet follows it not, that the Sciences themselves have any thing of virtue, any thing of truth in them, but what they reap and borrow from the Inventors and possessors thereof: For if they light upon any evil Person, they are hurtful; as a perverse Grammarian, an Ostentatious Poet, a lying Historian, a flattering Rhetorician, a litigious Logician, a turbulent Sophister, a loquations Lullist, a Lotterist Arithmetician, a lascivious Musician, a shameless Dancing-master, a boasting Geometrician, a wand'ring Cosmographer, a pernicious Architect, a Pirat-Navigator, a fallacious ginger, a wicked Magician, a perfidious Cabalist, a dreaming Naturalist, a Wonder-faigning Metaphysician, a morose Ethic, a treacherous Politician, a tyrannical Prince, an oppressing Magistrate, a seditious People, a Schismatical Priest, a superstitious Monk, a prodigal Husband, a bargain-breaking Merchant, a pilling Customer, a slothful Husbandman, a careless Shepherd, an envious Fisherman, a bawling Hunter, a plundering Soldier, an exacting Landlord, a murderous Physician, a poisoning Apothecary, a glutton-Cook, a deceitful Alchemist, a juggling Lawyer, a perfidious Notary, a Bribe-taking Judge, and a heretical and seducing Divine. So that there is nothing more ominous than Art and Knowledge guarded with impiety, seeing that every man becomes a ready Inventor, and learned Author of evil things. If it light upon a person that is not so evil as foolish, there is nothing more insolent or Dogmatical, having besides its own headstrong obstinacy, the authority of Learning, and the weapons of Argument to defend its own fury; which other fools wanting, are more tame and quietly mad: As Plato saith of the Rhetorician, That the more simple and illiterate he is, the more he will take upon him to declaim; will imitate all things, and think himself not unworthy of any undertaking. So that there is nothing more deadly, than to be as it were rationally mad. But if good and just men be the possessors of Knowledge, than Arts and Sciences may probably become useful to the public Weal, though they render their possessors nothing more happy. For it is not, as Porphyrius and jamblicus report, That Happiness consists in the multitude of Arts, or heaps of Words. For should that be true, they that were most loaden with Sciences, would be most happy; and those that wanted them, would on the other side be altogether unhappy; and hence it would come to pass, That Philosophers would be more happy than Divines. For true Beatitude consists not in the knowledge of good Things, but in good Life; not in Understanding, but in living Understandingly. Neither is it great Learning, but Good Will, that joins Men to God. Nor do outward Arts avail to Happiness, only as Conditional means, not the Causes of completing our Happiness, unless assisted with a Life answerable to the nature of those good things we profess. Therefore saith Cicero in his Oration for Archias, Experience tells us, That Nature without Learning is more diligent in the pursuit of Praise and Virtue, than Learning without natural Inclination. It shall not then be needful (as the followers of Averro contend) so violently to labour to season our minds with the so long, so tedious, so difficult, so unattainable learning of all sorts of Sciences, which Arist●tle confesses to be a common felicity, and easy to be attained to by labour and diligence; but only to give ourselves to what is more easy and common to all, the Contemplation of the most noble Object of all things, God: which common Act of Contemplation so easy to All men, is not obtained by Syllogism and Contemplation, but by Belief and Adoration. Where is then the great felicity of enjoying the Sciences? where is the praise and beatitude of the wise Philosophers, that make so much noise in the School, founding with the Encomiums of those Men whose souls perhaps in the mean time are at that instant suffering the Torments of Hell? This St. Austin saw and feared, while he exclaims with St. Paul, The unlearned rise, and take heaven by force: while we with all our Knowledge, are cast down into Hell. So that▪ if we may be bold to confess the Truth, That the Tradition of all Sciences are so dangerous and inconstant, that it is far safer to be Ignorant, than to know: Adam had never been Ejected out of Paradise, had not the Serpent been his Master to teach him Good and Evil. And St. Paul would have them thrown out of the Church, that would know more than they ought. Socrates, when he had dived into the Secrets of all sorts of Science, was then by the Oracle adjudged to be the wisest among many, when he had publicly professed, That he knew nothing. The knowledge of all Sciences is so difficult, if I may not say impossible, that the age of Man will not suffice to learn the perfection of one Art as it ought to be: Which Ecclesiastes seems to intimate, where he saith, Then I beheld the whole Work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is wrought under the Sun; for the which man laboureth to seek it, and cannot find it: yea, and though the wise man think to know it, he cannot find it. Nothing can happen more Pestilential to Man, than Knowledge: this is that true Plague that invades all Mankind with so much confusion that subverts all Innocence; subjecting us to so many Clouds of Sin and Error, and at length to Death. This is that that hath extinguished the Light of Faith, casting our Souls into profound darkness, which condemning the Truth has mounted Error to a Throne. Therefore in my Opinion, neither is Valentinian the Emperor to be dispraised, who is reported to be such an open Enemy of Learning; nor is Licinius to be accounted blame-worthy, who affirmed Learning to be the Poison and bane of the Commonwealth. But such is the large freeness, and free largeness of Truth, as can be apprehended by no contemplations of Science, by no judgement of Sense how quick soever; by no evident proof, no Syllogistical Demonstration, no humane Discourse of Reason, but only by Faith: which he that is endued with, Aristotle in his Book of First Resolves, accounts to be in a better Condition, than he that▪ is endued with Knowledge: which Words Philoponus Expounding, saith, is to be better disposed, as more knowing by Faith, than by Demonstration, which is done by the cause. Therefore saith Theophrastus in his Book of Supernaturals, As to so far, we may discern by the Cause, taking our beginnings from the Senses; but after we have passed the Extremes, and first Principles, we can go no farther, either because we know not the Cause, or through the defect of our weak understanding. Plato in his Timaeus saith, That our Abilities will not reach to the Explanation of those things, but commands to believe those that delivered them before, though they speak without any necessity of Demonstration. For the Academic Philosophers were in high esteem, for affirming, That nothing could be Affirmed. There were also the Pyronicks, and many others, who were of the same Opinion, That nothing could be affirmed. So that Knowledge hath nothing superexcellent above Belief, especially where the Integrity of the Author directs the freewill of Believing. Hence that Pythagorical Answer of He hath said it; And that vulgar Proverb of the Peripatetics, We are to believe every man expert in his Art. Thus we believe the Grammarian, as to the signification of Words. The Logician believes the Parts of Speech, delivered by the Grammarian. The Rhetorician takes for granted his Forms of Argument, from the Logician. The Poet borrows his Measures from the Musician. The Geometrician takes his Proportions from the Arithmetician: And upon both these, the ginger pin's his sleeve. Supernaturalists use the Conjectures of Naturalists, and every Artist rightly trusts to the Method and Rules of another: For every Science hath certain Principles that must be believed, and can be by no means Demonstrated; which if any one deny, those Philosophers will straight cry out, He is not ●o be Disputed withal, as a denier of Principles; or else they will deliver him over to the rack of his own experience: as if one should deny Fire to be hot, let him be thrown into the Fire, and then resolve the Question. So that of Philosophers, they are forced to become Executioners, compelling men to believe that by force, that they cannot teach by Reason. To a Commonwealth there can be nothing more pernicious than Learning and Science, wherein if some happen to excel the rest, all things are carried by their Determination, as taking upon them to be most Knowing; who thereupon laying hold upon the simplicity and unskilfulness of the Multitude, usurp all Authority to themselves; which is oft the occasion of the changing Popular States into oligarchy, which dividing into Factions, is at length easily oppressed by single Tyranny: which never any man in the World was ever known to attain to without Knowledge, without Learning, without Literature; only Sylla the Dictator, who an Illiterate person, invaded and obtained the Supreme Government: to whose ignorance the Commonwealth was yet so far beholding, that it was the occasion that at length of his own accord he quitted his great Command. Furthermore, all Sciences are but the Opinions and Decrees of private Men; as well those that are of use, as those that are prejudicial; as well those that are wholesome, as those that are pestiferous; as well the bad as the good; being never perfect, but both doubtful, full of Error and Contention: and that this is evident, we shall make appear, by taking a survey, and making a particular inspection into every particular Science.   

CHAP. 2.  
Of the first Elements of Letters.  
FOR who sees not, that the Arts of well speaking, that is to say, Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, which are but the Porches and Wickets of Sciences, but not of Knowledge, are ofttimes the Causes of more mischief than delight? which notwithstanding have no other rule of Truth for their Establishment, than the Decrees and Statutes of their first Institutors; which evidently appears in the Invention of Letters themselves, which are the Elements and Materials of all Arts. The first Letters were Caldaean, invented by Abraham, as Philo affirms, and were in use among the Galdaeans, Assyrians, and Phoenicians; though others say, that Radamanth was the first that framed Letters among the Assyrians. After this, Moses delivered certain Characters to the Jews, though not the same which are used at this day; the Author of which, Ezra is said to be, and not only so, but of all the Books of the Old Testament. Afterwards, one Linus a Calcidian is said to have brought over Letters out of Phoenicia into Greece, being the Phoenician Characters, which were there used till Cadmus the Son of Agenor made public among them other new Letters of another sort, sixteen in Number; to which in the time of the Trojan War Palamedes added four more; and after him, Simonides the Melitian as many more. To the Egyptians it is said that one Memnon first taught the use of Writing by the Portraitures of Beasts, as is seen in their Obelisks; but as for Letters, Mercury is said to be the first that gave them the Knowledge thereof: that Mercury, whom Lactantius affirmeth to be the first of that Name, to whom Vulcan the Son of Nilus succeeded in the Kingdom. But the first that taught the use of Letters among the Latins, was Nicostrata, surnamed Carmenta. Thus we see seven sorts of Letters most famous in Antiquity, the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Caldean, Egyptian, and Getic. Of which in a very Ancient Manuscript Crinitus reports that he hath read these following Verses.  
First Moses Hebrew Letters did invent:  
To A●tica the wise Phoenicians sent:  
The Latin ones Nicostrata found out:  
Syriac and Caldee, Abram without doubt:  
Ipsis the Egyptians taught, not with less Art:  
To Getans, Galsela did theirs impart.  
But other People and Barbarous Nations of latter times have invented new Letters. For Cordanus▪ the Bishop invented Letters for the Goths; and the Ancient Franks, who under the Leading of Marcomirus and Pharamont vanquished the Gauls, used certain Characters very little different from the Greeks: which Letters Wastaldus, writing their History in their own Language, made use of. There are also other Letters extant among the Franks, whose inventor one Doracus is said to be, far differing in Character from those of Wastaldus; together with others, of whom Hichus the Frank was Author, who came out of Scythi● to the Mouth of the Rhine with Marcomir. Beda also produces the Characters of certain Norman Letters, but without any certainty of their first Inventor. Many other Nations have appointed for their own use several new Characters of Letters; either borrowed from the Ancients, or which they did impart, change, and corrupt: Thus the Dalmatians corrupted the Grecian; the Armenians the Caldean; the Lombard's and Goths defaced and altered the Latin Characters. Many Ancient Letters are also quite lost, as of the Ancient Etrurians, which notwithstanding formerly were in high esteem among the Romans, as Livy and Pliny witness. Of which Letters, the Characters are to be seen in many Ancient Coins, although their signification be altogether unknown. For the Romans heretofore Conquering the greatest part of the World, took from many Nations the use of their own Letters, and violently imposed upon them their own Forms. In the like manner the Hebrew Letters were lost in the Captivity of Babylon, and their Language was corrupted by the Chaldeans. Thus the ancient Letters of the Germans, Spaniards, and other Nations, perished upon introducing the Roman Character; and their Languages were also by the same means wholly corrupted. On the other side, the Letters and Language of the Romans were corrupted and changed by the Goths, Lombard's, Franks, and other Barbarous Nations: Neither is the Latin Language now in use the same with that in times of yore. Concerning the Hebrew Language and Character, there is no small dissension among the Talmudists; for Rabbi Jehuda saith, That Adam the first man spoke the Aramaean Language. Marsurra affirms, That the Law was delivered by Moses, in the Character which is said to be the Hebrew; but in the Sacred Idiom of Speech, which being afterwards changed into the Aramaean Idiom, and written in the Assyrian Character by Esdras; a little while after retaining the Assyrian Character, reassumed the Sacred Idiom. Others say, That the Law was not Written in other Characters at first, than those at present known; but that sometimes it was changed upon their fall away, and by and by restored upon their Repentance. Rabbi Simon the Son of Eleazar believes neither the Language nor Character to have at any time been changed: So little of certain concerning the Hebrew Letters is there among the Hebrews themselves. And indeed, such are the alterations happening through the Vicissitude of times, that there are no Languages or Letters that are able to make good the Antiquity or Truth of their first Original.   

CHAP. 3.  
Of Grammar.  
YET out of these so inconstant, and in all Ages mutable Principles of Letters and Languages, Grammar first, than the other Arts of well speaking proceeded: For when it seemed to be of little use to know Letters, unless they were joined together in a certain Method and Form, and Syllables framed thereof, which at length might grow into Words and Sentences for the understanding of Speech; then did certain Ingenious Men undertake to Ordain Rules of speaking; that is to say, the Construction of government of Words and things signified, imposing as it were a bridle upon Speech, that whatever was written or said according to those Rules, should be well written or said, and should be the Art of well speaking, which Art they called Grammar. The first Inventor whereof among the Grecians is said to be Prometheus. Crates Mallotes was the first that brought it into Rome, being sent by Attalus between the second and third Punic War; which afterwards Palaemo Professed with great Ostentation, so that he gave a new Name thereto, calling Grammar the Polaemonian Art: A man so Arrogant, that he boasted That Letters had their beginning, and should die with him; so proved, that he despised all the most Learned men of this Age; not forbearing to call Marcus Va●ro Hog. However, the Latin Grammar is so barren, and so much beholden to Greek Literature, that whoever understands not so much, is to be ejected out of the Number of Grammarians. Therefore all the Foundation and Reason of Grammar consists only in the use and Authority of our Ancestors, who have been pleased, that a thing shall be so called and so written, that words shall be so compounded and construed; which being so done, they esteem well done. From whence though Grammar boast itself to be the Art of well-speaking, yet doth it falsely claim that Pre-eminence, seeing that with more advantage we learn that very thing from our Mothers and Nurses, rather than from the Grammarians. The Language and Speech of the Gracchis, (who were most Eloquent Men) their Mother Cornelia polished and adorned. Istria taught her Son Siles, Son of Aripethis' King of Scythia, the Greek Tongue. And it is well known, that in many Provinces where Foreign Colonies have been introduced, the Children have still retained the Dialect of their Mothers. Hence it is, that Plato and Quintilian are so careful in appointing Rules for the choice of a fit Nurse. Far be it from us therefore to acknowledge the reason of well-speaking to these Grammarians; who professing Grammar only, and making that their only business, yet are skilled in nothing less. Priscian could not learn this Art in the whole time of his Life. And Didymus is said to have four, some say six thousand Books upon this Subject. They report that Claudius Caesar was so given to the Greek Tongue, that he added three new Letters thereto, which he afterwards made use of when he was a Prince. Charles the Great is said to have Compiled a Grammar for the Germane Tongue, giving new Names to the Months and Winds. Even to this hour how men toil and labour Day and Night! scribbling continually of all sorts, Commentaries, Forms of Elegancy, or Phrases, Questions, Annotations, Animadversions, Observations, Castigations, Centuries, Miscellanies, Antiquities, Paradoxes, Collections, Additions, Lucubrations, Editions upon Editions. And yet not one of them all, whether Grecian or Latin hath given any account how the Parts of Speech are to be distinguished, or what order is to be observed in their Construction; or whether there be only fifteen Pronouns, as Priscian believes, or whether more, as Di●medes and Focas will have it: whether a Participle put by its self, be sometimes a Participle, or whether Gerunds are Nouns or Verbs: why among the Greeks, Nouns plural of the Neuter Gender are joined with a Verb of the singular Number: upon what account it may be lawful to pronounce in 'em, Latin words terminating a and us, as for Margarita, Margaritum; for Punctus, Punctum: how it comes that the Word Jupiter makes Jovis in the Genitive Case: Why many write most Latin words with a Greek Diphthong, others not; as Foelix, Quaestio: whether the Latin Diphthongs are only written, and not pronounced; or whether there be a double pronunciation in one Syllable: Likewise, why in some Latin words some use the Greek y, and some the Latin i only; as in considero: Why in some words some double the Letters, some not; as causa, caussa; religio, relligio: Why the word Caccabus, by position long, by reason of the double cc, is notwithstanding most commonly by the Poets made a Dactyle: Whether Aristotle's word for the Soul, aught to be writ endelechia with a Delta, or entelechia with a Tau. I omit their infinity and never-to-be-reconciled contentions about Accents, Orthography, Pronounciation of Letters, Figures, Etymologies, Analogies, Declinings, manner of Signification, change of Cases, variety of Tenses, Moods, Persons, Numbers; as also about the various impediments and order of Construction. Lastly, concerning the Number and Pedigree of the Latin Letters, whether H be a Letter or not; and many other trifles of the same Nature: so that not only as to Words and Syllables, but also in the very Elements and Foundations of Grammar itself, no reason can be given of such their continual warfare. Such a kind of Battle as this, Lucian of Samos has very elegantly described, about the Consonants S and T, whether should have the Victory in the word Tbalassa, or Thalatta: Answerable to which, one Andreas Salernitanus hath with very much wit compiled his Grammatical War. But these are poor and low things; but more, and of greater Consequenc●, could we urge concerning their depraved significations of Words, with which they impose upon the greatest part of the Universe, not a little to the damage of the Public Weal, while they interpret subjection to the Law, Servitude; Liberty of the People, they call that when every one has Liberty to do what he pleases; Acrisonomie or Equality of right they call that, when there is the same punishment, the same reward to all alike. In like manner they call that a quiet and peaceable Government, when all things submit to the inordinate will of the Prince; That a happy Government, when the People wallow in ease and luxury. By suchlike expositions as these, and many other, Physic and Law are corrupted: nay, the very Scriptures, and Christ himself, are compelled to be at a kind of variance one with another, and himself with himself; wresting those holy words not according to the meaning of the holy Ghost, nor to the Advantage of humane Salvation, but to the sense and meaning of their insignificant Compendiums and discants thereupon: whence arise most eminent mischiefs; Error in Words, being many times the parent of Error in Matter. This mistake was grievous to Saul first King of the Jews, in the word Zobar, which signifies both a Male, and the Memory. So that when God said, I will root out the memory of Amalech, Saul thought he had sufficiently executed the Command, in destroying all the Males. The like Error befell the Greeks and Latins in the word Phos, which signifies both Light, and Man; by which ambiguity of the word, the ancient adorers of Saturn being deceived, were wont to Sacrifice a Man in their usual Ceremonies; whereas otherwise they might have as well appeased their Deity by the only kindling of proper Lights and Fires: which Error was afterwards reformed by the prudence of Hercules. Last of all, Divines and holy Friars mixing themselves among the Tribe of Grammarians, are forced to make use of Heresy to make good their Contests about the signification of Words, overturning the Scriptures for Grammars sake; evil Interpreters of words well spoken: men truly vain, and truly unhappy, blinding themselves with their own Art, and flying the Light of Truth; who while they over-diligently scrutinize into the source of Words, lose the sense of the Scripture, not willing to understand the word of Truth: which puts us in mind of the story of the Priest, who having many Hosts at one Elevation, for fear of committing a Grammar-absurdity, cried out, These are my Bodies. Whence arose that execrable Heresy of the Antidicomarianites and the Elvidians, denying the perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin, but from that one word until, where it is said, Because Joseph did not know her until she had brought forth her firstborn? What strife and contention have those two Syllables from and through raised between the Latin and Greek Church! The Latins asserting the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and from the Son; the Greeks denying him to proceed from the Son, but from the Father through the Son. How many Tragedies has the word Nisi been the occasion of in the Council of Basil! the Bohemians asserting the Lords Supper to be necessary in both kinds, because it is written, Unless ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, ye shall not have life in ye. Whence that Opinion of the Waldenses and others their followers concerning the Eucharist, but from the word is, which they will have Symbolically understood, which the Roman Church would have meant Essentially? There are other pernicious Heresies of the Grammarians, but so nice, so subtle, that unless the Oxonians the most acute Divines of England, or the Sorbonists of Paris, had discovered them with their Lynx's eyes, and condemned 'em under their great Seals, it would be difficult to shun them▪ of this nature are those subtleties, which is best said, Christ thou Preachest, Christ Preacheth; I Believest, thou Believeth, Believing am I: also that the Word, the permanent Word, may be deprived of all its accidents: also that there is no name of the Third Person, and the like; which if they be Heretical, then are Isaias and Malachy in the first place to be accounted Heretics, who both introduce God speaking of himself in the Third Person: the first, when God speaks to Ezechiel, saying, Ego addet, not addam super dies tuos. The other is this, Et Domini Ego, ubi est timor meus? In which place he makes God giving himself the appellation of Dominos in the plural Number. Much rather ought they to be accounted Heretics, who are now esteemed the chief Divines in the Roman World, amusing and clouding the whole Doctrine of the Orthodox Church, with novelty of Pronunciation contrary to all the rules and maxims of Grammar, with far-strained words, new-made Vocabularies, and abstruse Sophisms; teaching moreover, That the Doctrine of Theology cannot be truly delivered in neat and genuine Language. And a miserable thing it is to consider, what Debates, what Errors these obstinate Grammarians and proud Sophists are the occasion of, by means of their perverse and imperious Interpretations of Words; while some out of words gather Sentences; others, out of Sentences gather Words. Hence in Physic, in both Laws, in Philosophy, in Theology, infinite Arguments and Errors arise. For Grammarians demonstrate nothing, but solely lean upon Authorities, which are ofttimes so various and discordant among themselves, that of necessity the most of them must be false; insomuch that they who most confide in their Precepts, must be thought to utter least of all to the purpose. For all the Laws of Speech abide not with the Grammarians, but with the People, that by continual custom attain the use and habit of well-speaking. Now the vigour of the Latin Tongue after it ceased among the People, through the Invasion of barbarous Nations, the true substance thereof is not to be sought among the Grammarians, but among the most Authentic and Learned Authors, as Cicero, Cato, Varro, both Pliny's, Quintilian, Seneca, Suetonius, Quintus Curtius, Livy, Sallust, and suchlike; in whose Writings only remain the delights of the Latin Language, and the Custom of well-Speaking; not in the scribblements of Grammatical Letter-mongers, who by their starched Rules concerning declining of Verbs and Cases, Compounds and Deponents, impose more upon the Latin Tongue, and oftentimes frame to themselves stranger words than is fit for the Latin Language to own. Though it be apparent to the World, that there is no faith to be given to these Grammarians touching the truth of the Latin Tongue, yet these impertinent Scribblers arrogate to themselves to be the only Censurers of other men's Writings, their Judges and Interpreters, and all Books and Authors to reduce into Method, and to allow or reject at their pleasures. Never was any Author of so sublime a wit whatever extant, which has scaped their malicious slanders, or whom they have not taxed and calumniated as they thought good. They accuse Plato of Confusion, of whose faults George Trap●zund hath put forth several Books, who as Crinitus declares, is therefore by others called the Parent of Truth and Verity. They seek perspicuity in Aristotle, condemn him of Obscurity, giving him the nickname of Sepi● (or Cuttlefish.) Vergil they condemn for little Wit, and for being a Pla●arie, and an Usurper of other men's Works. Demosthenes displeases Tully. On the ot●●r side, Tully that great Rhetorician of the Latins, is accused of Bribery, reproached for being Fearful, superfluous in Repetitions, cold in his Joking, tedious in his Exordiums, idle in his Digressions, seldom growing Warm, slowly Swelling, yea, reprehended by those even of our Age, and by Capella taxed for his disorderly Style, but more by Apollinaris branded for being Flat and Insipid. Trogus condemns Livies Orations for Fictions. Plautus and Horace cannot agree. Lucilius is damned for the rustickness of his hobbling Verse. Pliny like a Rapid Stream is said to grasp and overflow with too much Matter. Ovid is complained of, for too much Indulging his own Fancy. Sallust is accused of affectation, by Assinius Pollio. Terence could do little without the assistance of Labeo and Scipio. Seneca is adjudged to be Lime without Sand; whom Quintilian taxed in these words: If he had not contemned his Equals, had he not been Covetous, had he not too much loved and admired his own things, if he had not injured weighty Matters with trivial Sentences, he then might have been esteemed more in the judgement of Learned Men, than in the Love of Children. Marcus Varro is called a Hog. Macrobius a most Learned man degraded, as one of an impudent and ungrateful Genius: neither is there any that ever wrote in Latin, whom Laurentius Valla the Learnedest of all the Grammarians hath spared in his Anger; and yet him hath Mancinellus most cruelly butchered. Servius of old was thought to have well deserved of the Latin Tongue, yet hath Bero●ldus most furiously opposed him; and our later Grammarians altogether shun him as a Barbarian. Thus all the Grammarians rage one against another: but lastly, by their means it comes to pass, that the Translation of the Holy Scriptures, under pretence of Correction, hath been so often changed, that now it seems altogether to differ from itself: Through their devices and censures, those doubts now reigning have been raised concerning the Revelation, the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews, the Epistle of Judas; and many other places and Chapters of the New Testament by many called in question, even to an endeavour of subverting the Evangiles themselves. But now to the Poets.   

CHAP. 4.  
Of Poesy.  
Post, in the Judgement of Quintilian, is another part of Grammar: for this reason not a little proud, that heretofore theatres and Amphitheatres, the most stately Fabrics of the time, were with great cost and magnificence erected, not for Philosophers, Lawyers, Physicians; not for Rhetoricians, Mathematicians, or Divines but to represent the Fables of the Poets. An Art invented to no other purpose, but with lascivious Rhythmes, measure of Syllables, and the gingling noise of fine words, to allure and charm the Ears of men addicted to folly; and furthermore, with the pleasing enticements of Fables, and mistakes of feigned Stories, to ensnare and deceive the mind. Therefore hath she deserved no other title, than to be the female Architect of falsehood, and the preserver of idle and fond opinions. And though we may pardon so much of her as countenances Madness, Drunkenness, Impudence, and Boldness; yet who can bear with Patience her undaunted Confidence in maintaining Lies? For what corner of the Earth hath she not filled with her hairbrained Trifles, and idle Fables! Taking the first rise of her fabulous Stories from the very Chaos, she relates the divisions of Heaven, the birth of Venus, the fight of the Titans, the infancy of Jove, the deceits of Rhea, and cheat of the Stone, Saturnus Bonds, the Rebellion of the Giants, the Thievery and Punishment of Promethe●, the wander of Delos, the travail of Latona, the slaughter of Pytho, the Treachery of Tyrus, Deau●ale●●s Flood, Stones turned into Men, the Butcheries of jacchus, the Fraud of Juno, Semel●s Conflagration the double Progeny of Bacchus, and whatever is reported of Minerva, Vulcan, Erichthonius, Boreas, 〈◊〉, Theseus, Aegeus, Castor, Pollux, the Rape of Helen, the death of Hippolytus; To these may be added the absconding of Ceres, the Rape of Proserpina, together with the stor●s of Minos, Cadmus, Niobe, Pe●theus, Attaeus, Oedipus, the Labours of Hercules, the Fight of the Sun and Neptune, Athamas madness, ●o turned into a H●●fer, and Argos her keeper killed by Mercury, with those other Dreams of the Golden Fleece, Peleus, Jason, Medea; the death of Agamemnon, and punishment of Clytaemnestra, Danaë, Perseus, Gorgon, Cassiopea, Andromeda, Orpheus, Orestes, the Travels of Aeneas and Ulysses, Circe, Thelagon, Aeolus, Palamedes, Nauplius, Ajax, Daphne, Ariadne, Europa, Phaedra, Pasiphaë, Daedalus, Icarus, Glaucus, Atlas, Geryon, Tantalus; Pan, Centaurs, Satyrs, Sirens, and whatever else has been delivered to memory concerning these notorious untruths. Neither hath she been contented only with Mankind, but also she hath made the Gods themselves Parties to her delusive Stories, relating in pleasing measures, and in the mischievous charms of Verse, their Birth, their Deceases, Strifes, Quarrels, Animosities, Battles, Wounds, Lamentations, Bonds, Loves, Lusts, Fornications, Adulteries; not only deceiving and infecting the present Age, but having neatly preserved and pickled up these be●●ialities of the Gods in neat Verse and Meter, communicates the same to posterity, like the Venom of Mad Dogs, compelling all that are Bit, to be in the same condition. And with so much Art are her Lies woven, that they are often prejudicial to true History, as appears by the feigned Adultery of Dido with Aeneas, and the taking of ●rey by the Greeks. Some there are arrived at such a height of madness, that they ascribe some share of Divinity to her, because the Devils formerly returned their Answers in Poetical Anagrams. Hence Poets are in some sense said to be Prophets, and inspired from above; their trifling Verses being used as Oracles and Answers of Divination; which is the reason that Spartianus, in the Life of Trajan, makes mention of Sorts Homericae, so called from the Verse of Homer, and of the Vergilianae sorts, so named from the Poems of Vergil, which superstition is now transferred and applied to sacred Text, and the Poetry of the Psalms, not without the connivance of some of the greatest Masters of our Religion. But to return to Poesy St. Austin; hath commanded it to be exiled from the City of God: Heathen Plato expels it out of his Commonwealth, and Cicero forbids it to be admitted: Socrates admonishes the person that desires to keep the Virgin-purity of his good name undefiled, to beware of the acquaintance of Poets, for that their power to praise is not so great, as the force that lies in their slander and dispraise. Thus we see Minos, celebrated by Homer and Hesiod for the justest of Kings, because he made War upon the Athenians, raised all the Tragic Poets about his Ears, who immediately sent him packing to Hell. Penelope, so famous in Homer for her Chastity, yet Licophron reproaches as one that lay with many Adulterers. Dido, a most virtuous and continent Widow, Foundress of Carthage, Ennius the Poet, in his Poem upon Scipio's Life, feigns to have unchastly loved Aeneas, whom by computation of time it was impossible for her to have seen▪ And Vergil confirms the same so plausibly, that the Story hath almost gained belief. At length this Liberty of lying and slandering was advanced to that height, that the Censors thought fit to enact a Law, whereby the falsehoods and reproaches of Poets might be suppressed. Among the Ancient Romans, Poesy was held in great disrepute, so that whoever gave his mind to the Study thereof, was, as Gellius and Cato witness, accounted as a public Enemy. And Q. Fulvius was accused by M. Cato, for that he going Proconsul into Asia, had taken Ennius the Poet along with him to bear him company. Neither doth that great Justiciary, the Emperor Justinian, give any freedom or immunity to the Professors thereof. Homer was called the Philosopher of all Poets, and the Poet of all Philosophers; yet the Athenians laid a Fine upon him as a Madman, of fifty Drachmas; and they laughed at and derided Ti●hteus the Poet, as one beside his Wits. The Lacedæmonians also commanded the Books of Archilochus the Poet to be carried out of their City. And thus the best and wisest of Men have always despised Poesy as the Parent of Lies, finding Poets to be such monstrous Liars, as being such who never made it their Study to speak or deliver in Writing any thing of sound knowledge, only to tickle the Ears and Fancies of vain Persons with idle Stories, always building Castles in the Air, as Campanus hath truly said of them.  
Mad Poets only on their Verses feed;  
Reject their Fables, they will starve for need:  
Their Lies their Riches are, and all their Gold  
They feign, and think that they enjoy; so bold  
To think the Palm grows only the reward  
To Crown the Brows of every lying Bard.  
Furthermore, there are most desperate contentions not only about the Forms and Figures of Verses, and also concerning the Feet, Accents and quantity of Syllables long and short (for these are the Trifles of Grammarians) but also about their own Toys, Figments, and Lies: for example, the Club of Hercules, the chaste Tree, the Letters of the Hyacinth, the daughters of Niobe, the Tree under which Latona brought forth; as also concerning the Country of Homer, and his Sepulchre: Which was eldest in time, Homer or Hesiod: Whether Patroclus were before Achilles: In what Attire Anacharsis the Scythian slept: Why Homer did not honour Palamedes: whether Lucan be to be placed among the Poets, or Heretics: Also concerning the thefts of Vergil, and what time of the year he died. Who was the Author of the little Epigrams, is a great Contest among the Grammarians, and hitherto undecided. To say truth, all the Verses of the Poets are full of Impostures and Fables, invented for the delight of Fools, under pretence of Flattery, or detraction of the worst of Men. Whatever Poets do, whether they relate, praise or invoke, 'tis all but in flattery of their own Fables; again, whether they inveigh, satyrize, or accuse, they do it in applause of their own Fables, acting always the parts of Madmen. Rightly therefore did Democritus call Poesy not an Art, but Madness. Therefore Plato said, that he never knocked at a Poet's Doors, being in his Wits. Then are Poets said to express most admirable lines, when they are either Mad or Drunk. For this cause St. Austin calls Poesy the Wine of Error, quaffed only by drunken Doctors. St. Jerome also calls Poesy the Meat of the Devils. An Art of itself thin and naked, which is in reality a mere insipid thing, unless it be clad and seasoned with some other learning. An Art always hungry, always starving, and like Mice, feeding on stolen Cates, yet I know not with what boldness in the midst of their trifles and fables, like Tithonus Grasshoppers, the Lycian Frogs, the Myrmidons Emmets, promising to themselves immortal Fame and Glory.  
Live happy then, such Charms my numbers boast,  
No day shall see ye in Oblivion lost.  
Which indeed is no Fame or Reward at all, or at most very little profitable. Neither is it the Office of a Poet, but of a Historian, to prolong the life of Reputation.   

CHAP. VI  
Of History.  
NOw History is a Narration of Actions, either with praise or dispraise, which declares and sets forth the conduct and event of great things, the Actions of Kings and Illustrious Men, according to the order of Time and Place. Therefore most Men think this to be the Mistress of well-living, and most useful for the instruction thereof; for that by the examples of great things, it both incites the best of Men, out of a desire of Immortal Glory, to undertake great and noble Actions, and also for fear of perpetual Infamy, it deters wicked Men from Vice. But it often falls out contrary; and many, as Livy relat● of Manlius Capitolinus, had rather purchase great than good Fame: and when they cannot obtain their desired greatness by virtuous means, will endeavour to achieve it by Acts of Impiety; as Justin out of Trogus relates of Pausanias' the young Macedonian, famous for the Murder of King Philip; and is also justified of Herostratus, who burned the Temple of Diana, the most famous Structure in the World, which had been two hundred years in building, at the expense of all Asia; as Gellius, Valerius, and Solinus report. And although it was enacted under most severe Penalties, that no Man should so much as make mention of his name, either by Word or Writing; yet he attained the end which spurred him on to commit so great a Villainy, his name being still remembered, and yet living to this our present Age. But let us return to History; Which being a thing that above all things promises Order, Fidelity, Coherence, and Truth, is yet defective in every one; For Historians are at such variance among themselves, delivering several Tales of one and the same Story, that it is impossible but that most of them must be the greatest Liars in the World. For to omit the beginning of the World, the Universal Deluge, the Building of Rome, or of any other great City from whence they generally commence the first beginnings of all their huge Narratives, of which they are all altogether ignorant, of the other generally very incredulous, and of the third very uncertain what to determine: For these things being the most remote in time, more easily gain Pardon for vulgar Error. But as to what concerns later times and Ages, within the memory of our Ancestors, there is no excuse that can be admitted for their Lying. Now the causes why they so much differ among themselves, are many. For the most of Historians, because they were not living at the same time, or were not present at the Actions, or conversant with the persons, taking their Relations upon trust at the second hand, missed the chief scope of Truth and Certainty. Of which Vice Eratost●enes, Metrodorus, Speptius, Possidonius, and Patrocles the Geographer, are accused by Strabo. Others there are, who having seen by halves, as in a March, or as Mendicant Travellers to perform Vows, viewing many Provinces, undertake to compile Histories; such as formerly Onosicritus and Aristobulus set forth concerning India. Some others to please their own Fancies will feign upon true History, and sometimes for the Fables sake omit the whole Truth, as Diodorus Siculus notes of Herodotus Liberianus; and Vopiscus of Trebellius, Tertullian and Orosius of Tacitus; among which you may likewise reckon Danudes and Philostratus. Others convert the whole Story into Fables, as Guidius, C●esias, Haecateus, and many other of the Ancient Historiographers. Others there are, who impudently arrogating to themselves the Name and Title of Historians, lest they should seem to be ignorant of any thing, or to have borrowed from others, presume to write strange and wonderful Relations of unknown Places, and inaccessible Provinces. Of which nature, are those Figments of the Arimaspi, Griffins, Pigmies, Cranes, People with Dogs Heads, the Astromori, People with Horses Feet, the Phanissii and the Trogladytes; akin to which are those Relations that ave● the Northern Seas to be frozen all over: However, they find Fools, and Men without Wit or Judgement, who believe these things, and take 'em for Oracles. In the number of these idle Writers is Ephorus to be reckoned, who related that there was but one City in Ireland; as also Stephen the Grecian, who said the Franks were a People of Italy, and that Vienna was a City of Galilee; together with Arianus, that affirmed the Germans to be Borderers upon jonia; and Dionysius, so notorious for his tales of the Pyrenaean Hills. For further confirmation, we find that what Tacitus, Marcellus, Orosius, and Blondus discourse concerning many places of Germany, is for the most part very unagreeable to Truth. Falsely doth Strabo affirm, that Ister, which is the Donaw, rises not far from the Adriatic Sea: Falsely doth Herodotus affirm the same River to flow from the West, that it rises among the Celtaes, the farthest people of all Europe, and disgorges itself among the Scythians. Again, falsely doth Strabo relate, that the Rivers Lapus, and Visurgus, flow as far a Hanasus; when as Lapus falls into the Rhine, and Visurgus into the Sea. So Pliny relates, that the River Mosa hastens into the Ocean, whereas it runs not into the Ocean, but into the Rhine. Errors like these, we find among Historians and Geographers of a later date. Sabellicus makes the Alani to be descended from the Alemanni, and the Hungarians from the Huns. Moreover, he asserts the Goths and Getars to be the Scythians, and confounds the Danes with the Dacians, and fixes the Mountain of D. Ottilias in Bavaria, which was not far from Argentoratum. Volaterranus also will have Austerania and Austria, the Avari and Savari, Lucerna and Naulium, to be the same; and saith that Pliny makes mention of the Swissers of the Canton of Bearn, when it is known they were placed there long after by Bartholdus, Duke of the Zaringii. In like manner, Conradus Celtes believes the Dacians and Cimbrians to be the same; and places the Riphean Mountains in Samaria, saying besides that, that the Gum Amber distils out of a Tree. There are yet other Historians guilty of greater Lies than this, and deserving double blame, who though they were present at the transactions themselves, or otherwise knowing the carriage and management of things, yet overcome by favour and affection, in flattery of their own Party, against the Faith of History, will confirm Falsity for Truth, and deliver to Posterity a wrong account of things. Of these there are some who undertaking to write Histories in excuse, or justification of some particular men's Actions, and relating only such things as conduce to make good their Argument, while they 〈◊〉 her dissemble, pass by, or extenuate the rest, make imperfect and corrupt Histories. Of which fault Blondus taxes Orosius, for that he omits that famous overthrow in Italy, which made the Goths Masters of Ravenna, Aquilegia, Ferrara, and almost all Italy; lest he should injure the Argument which he had propounded to himself. Others there are, who out of Fear, Envy, or Hatred, detract from the Truth. Others, while they greedily desire to extol their own Acts, vilify the deeds of others, so to bring them into contempt; writing not what the thing is, but what they desire it should have been: not doubting they shall ever want those that will not only confirm, but Patronise their untruths. This Vice was very familiar among the Ancient Greek Authors, and at this time many of your Annalists and Chronographers are guilty of the same; as Sabellicus and Blondus, in their Venetian Stories; Paulus Emylius, and Gaguinus, in their Relations of the Franks. Men whom, as Plutarch saith, Princes cherish for no other reason, than that they by their smart wits suffocating and concealing the Merits of others, may be only free to advance their Actions, magnified by the addition of Fables, countenanced by the Majesty of History. Thus the Greek Historians writing of the Inventors of things, assume and arrogate all things to their own Countrymen. There is another Crew the most abominable of all, which are Flatterers, who endeavouring to deduce the pedigree of their Princes from the most▪ ancient Kings, when they cannot compass their ends in the right line, extravagate into foreign Pedigrees and Fables, feigning the names both of Kings and places, not omitting any Fraud, that may help out their purpose. Of this sort is that Barbarian Hu●ibaldus, who writing the History of the Franks, has feigned the names of Scythia, Sicambria, and Priamus the younger, which never any Historian did before, or ever followed him in doing after, unless those that were like himself, as Gregorius Turonensis, Rhegino, and Sigisbert, and some few others. Of the same Chaff is Vitiscindus, who will have the Saxons, the most ancient people of Germany, to be descended from the Macedonians, especially the Race of Alexander, whom the greatest part of the rest pursue in the same Error. Many write Histories, not so much for Truth's sake, as to delight the Reader, and to set forth some Idea of a King which they have framed to themselves. Whom if any one convince of falsehood, they cry they did not aim at the Truth of Transaction, so much as the profit of Posterity, and propagating the fame of their own Ingenuity; therefore they do not relate how things were done, but how they ought to have been done; it not being their business obstinately to defend the Truth, but to feign and falsify where it seems profitable, calling Fabius to witness, that a lie is not to be dispraised, which persuades to honesty: And furthermore affirming, that when they write to posterity, it matters not under whose name, or in what order of time the example of a good Prince be exposed to public view. Thus Xenophon wrote the Story of Cyrus, not as he was, but what he ought to have been; propounding him as a true Pattern and example of a Just and Heroic Prince. Hence it comes to pass that many apt to feign by Nature, and using industry therewithal, have applied themselves to write those Romances of Morgant, and Morgalona, Amadis, Floran, Tyrant, Conamor, Arthur, Lancelot, Tristram; generally unlearned, and worse than the mad Dreams of Poets, and more fabulous than Comedies and Fables themselves. Among the learned, Lucian and Apulcius obtain the first degree; part also of the History of Herodotus is not to be left out, which Cicero denies not be to very full of lies and ridiculous Fables. For there we read of the Medes drinking up whole Rivers at a Dinner, and how people sailed over the Mountain Athos.  
And whatsoever else the lying Greek  
In Story dares—  
And these are the reasons that there is no exact Truth to be found in History, though it be the thing we most seek for there. Seeing then there are no Writings of public transactions that are able to declare the real Truth, and convince Error, but that every Man is left to his own opinion; hence it happens that there is so much discord among Historians, in so much that they write sometimes quite contrary of the same things. In how many Places, saith Josephus, doth Helianicus differ from Agesilaus in point of Genealogy! in how many places doth Agesilaus correct Herodotus! How doth Ephorus show Hellanicus to be false in most things! how doth Timaens rebuke Ephorus! and others coming afterwards, how do they find fault with Timaeus! but every one blames Herodotus. In many things Thucydides is accused to be fallacious, though he seem to have written very tenderly, and with much care. This Josephus writes of others, whom notwithstanding our Aegesippus very severely corrects. Furthermore, many from the relations of Historiographers relate many things, but not upon proof; and those that go about to prove things that are not to be justified, generally propound the worst examples for imitation. For they who so much extol, and raise such lofty Pyramids to the praises of Hercules, Achilles, Hector, Theseus, Epaminondas, Lysander, Themistocles, Xerxes, Cyrus, Darius, Alexander, Pyrrhus, Hannibal, Scipio, Pompey, and Caesar; what have they done, but described the greatest and most furious Thiefs and Robbers in the World? Say they were great Generals, yet were they the worst and wickedest of men. If any one shall say to me, That there is much wisdom to be gained by the reading of History; I will grant it, so he allow that there is also more impiety to be learned: and indeed, as Martial upon another occasion saith, There are some good things made indifferent, but an infinite of Evil.   

CHAP. VI  
Of Rhetoric.  
NOW Rhetoric, which is the next, whether it be an Art or no, is mainly disputed among the most Learned men, and remains to this day a question undetermined. For Socrates in Plato by most sound Reasons argues it to be neither an Art nor a Science, but a certain kind of subtlety, and that neither noble nor honest, but mere low, illiberal, and servile flattery. Lycias, Menedemus, and Cleanthes were of Opinion, That Eloquence could not be comprehended within the bounds of any Art, but that it proceeds from Nature, which is the common School-mistris of Mankind; and as occasion serves, teaches every one to sooth, to r●●ate pleasant Stories, and to use Arguments: and as for Memory, right Pronunciation, and Invention, they are merely Natural Effects; which is indeed not a little evident in Antonius, the Prince of the Latin Orators. And although before Thisias, Coraces, and Gorgias, there was not any one who had either taught, or wrote of Rhetoric; yet were there many men, who through the strength of their Natural Parts became to be very Eloquent. Furthermore, seeing that Art is defined to be a Collection of Precepts, it is a great Dispute among the Rhetoricians, what that end should be, whether to persuade or to teach good utterance: and not content with the true grounds, they daily seek to invent new and fictitious. To which end, they have found out so many Theses, Hypotheses, figures, colours, characters, suasory phrases, controversies, declamations, proems, insinuations, courtships, and artificial stories, that it is impossible to recount them all; and yet they deny, that among all these, the end of Rhetoric is to be found. This made the Lacedæmonians altogether refuse it; believing that the speech of good men ought to proceed from the sincerity of the heart, not from the Hypocrisy of Studied Artifice. The ancient Romans would not admit Rhetoricians into their City in a long while. And when Cicero had after much labour endeavoured to show that the faculty of making Orations did not proceed from Art, but from Wisdom, as he aspires to prove in his Book De Oratore; yet is not the Rhetorician whom he there proposes for the only true pattern of an Orator so well approved of; nay to Brutus, a man of singular Integrity, no way pleasing. And always this Opinion hath born sway, That the Precepts of Oratory are more hurtful than useful to the Life of Man. And to say truth, it is evident that the whole Discipline of Rhetoric is nothing else but an Artificial help, or the mystery of Flattery; or as some more boldly affirm, Lying, whereby they endeavour, what they cannot gain by truth, to effect by the flourishing varnishes of fine Language: As Archidamas the Sophist said of Pericles, by the report of Eunapius; which Archidamas being demanded which was the more powerful, Pericles or himself made answer, If Pericles were overcome by me in War, yet such is his Eloquence of Speech, that should be but discourse thereof, he would rather appear a Victor, than a Person Vanquished. And of Carneades, Pliny reports, That while he Disputed it was hard to discern, what was true, and what not: of whom it is likewise related, that when he had one day spoken many things wisely and elegantly in the behalf of Justice, the next day with the same Learning and Eloquence declaimed in her dispraise. There was Corax a Rhetorician among the Syracusans, a man of an acute Wit and promptness of Speech, who taught this Art for gain. To him Tisias came, and not having ready money, promised him double pay so soon as he should have taught him his Art: which condition Corax willingly accepted, and taught him. Tisias having afterwards learned his Art, and intending to defraud Corax of his reward, demanded of him, What is Rhetoirck? who answering, That it was effectual persuasion: Then said Tisias, Whatever agreement has been made between us, if I can persuade myself that I owe thee nothing, then shall I be quit of my Debt: If I cannot persuade myself, notwithstanding I shall then owe thee nothing neither, because thou hast pretended to teach me how to persuade. To which Corax replied, Whatever, said he, I agreed to take of thee, 〈◊〉 can persuade myself to take it, I ought so to do, because I have so persuaded myself: If I cannot persuade myself, however I ought to take my reward, for having bred a Scholar that so far excels his Master. When the Syracusans heard 'em thus contending, and wrangling together, they cried out, Bad Crows lay bad Eggs; meaning, That bad Masters make worse Scholars. A story not unlike this, Gellius reports of Protagorus the Sophist, and Evath●us his Disciple. Now as it is many times commendable, delightful, and always profitable, to know how for a man to express himself in neat, exact, discreet, and fluent Language; so sometimes it falls out to be a thing very much to be discommended, many times of ill consequence, and always very much to be suspected: wherefore Socrates thinks Rhetoricians worthy of no respect, and will not allow them any power in a well-ordered Commonwealth. And Plato excludes them out of his Commonwealth with the same contempt as he rejects Players and Poets, not without reason: For there is nothing more dangerous in civil Affairs, than this deluding Mystery, as that from whence all prevaricators, juggling shufflers, backbiters, sycophants, and all other lewd and vile-tongued persons derive their malice and knavery. With this Art many Persons endued, raise Seditions and Commotions in Nations, while by their nimble Tongues some are deceived, some flattered, some over-persuaded; usurping as it were a kind of Tyranny over men, not so subtle as themselves. Therefore saith Euripides, It is Tyrannical to boast of Knowledge: and Aeschylus writes, That composed Orations are the greatest Evils in the World. And Raphael Volaterranus, a most studious lover of Histories and Examples, confesses, That upon due consideration of all that he had read or seen either of ancient or modern Stories and Examples, he finds very few Eloquent men to have been good men. Hath not this thing called Eloquence, not only greatly disturbed most Potent Commonwealths, but also wholly ruined them? Witness the Examples of Brutus, Crassus, Gracchus, Cato, Cicero, Demosthenes, who as they were accounted the most Eloquent, so were they the most seditious and turbulent of their time. For Censorious Cato being himself forty times accused, seventy times accused others; being nothing but a continual disturber of the Peace, with his mad Declamations, all his life long. The other Cato, called Vticensis, by provoking Caesar, was a great occasion of the utter subversion of the Roman Liberty. In like manner did Cicero provoke Antony, to the great mischief of the Empire; and Demosthenes incensed Philip, to the ruin of the Athenians; so that there is no State of Government, but has been highly injured by this wicked Art: no society of men, that ever lent their Ears to the Charms of Eloquence, that has not been extremely mischiefed thereby. Moreover, a confident Eloquence prevails much in Judicature: Eloquence being the Patroness, bad Causes are defended, the guilty are saved from the punishment of the Law, and the innocent are Condemned. Marcus Cato, the most prudent among the Romans, forbade those three Athenian Orators, Carneades, Critholaus, and Diogenes, to be admitted to public Audience in the City; being men endued with such acuteness of Wit, and Eloquence of speech, that they could with great ease make evil good, and good evil. And Demosthenes was wont to boast among his friends, That he could sway the Opinions of the Judges, by virtue of his Eloquence, which way soever he pleased; and that according to his will and pleasure, Philip and the Athenians either made War or Peace. Such is the force of Eloquence, either to allay or incite the Affections of men, having as it were Supreme Dominion over Nations, to make them follow her Persuasions. For this reason C●cero was at Rome called King, because he Ruled and guided the Senate by his Orations which way he pleased. Hence it appears, that Rhetoric is nothing else but the Art of moving and stirring the Affections by subtle Language, exquisite varnishings of neat Phrase and cunning insinuation, ravishing the minds of heedless People, leading them into the Captivity of Error, and subverting the sense and meaning of Truth. So that if by the benefit of Nature there is nothing but may be expressed in proper Language, what can be more pestilent than the fucus and varnishes of fallacious words? The Language of Truth is simple, but quick and penetrating, a discerner of the intentions of the Heart, and like a Sword easily cuts in sunder the difficult Enthymems and Gordion-knots of Rhetoric. This made Demosthenes, though he contemned all other the fine and Eloquent speakers of his time, nevertheless, to stand in awe of one Photion, who also spoke pithily, short, plainly, and to the purpose; and was therefore wont to call him the Hatchet of his Orations. Perchance, the Ancient Romans were not ignorant of these things; who, as Suetonius witnesses, Twice Expelled Rhetoricians, by Public Edict, out of the City; once, when Faunius Strabo, and Valerius Messala were Consuls; and the second time, in the Consulships of Domitius Aenobarbus, and Licinius Crassus: and a third time, in the Reign of Domitian the Emperor, by an unanimous Decree of the Senate, they were not only expelled out of Rome, but also out of all Italy. The Athenians forbade them to come near the Seat of Judicature, as being perverters of Justice; they also put to Death Timagoras, for flattering Darius, according to the custom of the Persians, in too high and obsequious a manner. The Lacedæmonians exiled Tisiphone, only because he bragged, That he could talk a whole day upon any Subject. For there was nothing which they hated more, than this curious Artifice of the Tongue, appertaining to men that nothing regarded the speaking of Truth; but whatever work they propose to themselves, that to polish with high-flown and big words; and only intending to deceive the minds of their Auditors, and to boast of their leading them by the Noses▪ And now it is evident, That never any men were made better by this Art, but many worse; who, though they sometimes speak handsomely of Virtue and Honest things, yet are far more Polite, Elegant, and Ingenious in the defence of Error, to sow Sedition, to stir up Factions, to heap Slanders, and Reproaches, and Calumnies, than in the reconciling of differences, making peace, maintaining amity, or in the commendation of Love, Faith, or Religion. Moreover, many men presuming too far upon this Art, have revolted from the Orthodox Faith. From this Art flow those numberless Sects, Heresies, and Superstitions, that contaminate Religion; while some so contemn the Scripture, because it abounds not in Ciceronian Phrases, that many times they take part with the acquaint and fallacious Arguments of the Heathen against the Catholic Truth: which is manifest from the Tatian Heretics; and from those whom Libanius the Sophist, and Symmachus the Orator, great Champions of Idolatry; together with Celsus Africanus, and Julian the Apostate, seduced from the true Religion, insulting over Christianity with their flashes of Rhetoric: From whose pernicious and Blasphemous Oratory, Heretics have drawn many persuasive Arguments to seduce simple People from the true Faith. And do we not now adays see the most Eminent and Learned, most Elegant and Subtle Doctors and Disputants in the World to be the greatest heads of Heresies and Factions? So are men affected with the Charms of Eloquence, that rather than not be Ciceronians, they will turn Pagans. These becoming Impious, while those that are more zealously devoted to Aristotle and Plato, become altogether superstitious. But all these vain Babblers that so fill the ears of their Auditors with their empty and idle Orations, shall one day stand before the great Tribunal, to give an account of those Errors which they have so vainly feigned, and invented against the Truth of God.   

CHAP. VII.  
Of Logic.  
Logic succeeds in aid of the foregoing Arts, being itself also the Mystery of contention and darkness, by which the other Sciences are rendered more obscure and difficult to be understood: and this Logic, forsooth, they call the Art of Reasoning. A most miserable and brutish sort of people surely, that are not able to reason or discourse without the Assistance of this Art. However, Servius Sulpitius extols this for the greatest of all Sciences, and as it were a Light to those things which are taught by others; as being that which, as Cicero saith, distributes the whole matter into parts, and by definition explains the hidden sense of things, explains obscurity, distinguishes between things doubtful, and points out the certain Rule to distinguish Truth from Falsehood. Furthermore, the Logicians promise to find-out the Essential definition of every thing, yet are not able to render themselves Masters of their own word, in making things so clear, but that they may be asked why they could not as well call Man a Man, as Animal Rationale, or a Mortal Rational Creature. More of this you shall find in Boetius, whose Works are not esteemed, but are beyond all the Predicaments, Topics, Analytics, and other trifles of Aristotle, whom the Peripatetics following, believe that nothing can stand or be known, unless what is proved by Syllogism, that very Syllogism which is set forth by Aristotle; who never observed in all his Maxims, how all his Arguments are deduced from suppositions, or things granted before: whose rule those other great boasters following, have hitherto as yet made out no true or real Demonstrations, not so much as in Naturals, but deduce them all out of the Precepts of Aristotle, or some other that went before him, whose Authority they preserve and make use of for all their Principles of Demonstration. Now Aristotle affirms that for true Demonstration, which Creates a Science; which is made by Quiddities, as the Logicians call them, and by the proper differences of things to us unknown and hidden. He saith farther, that Demonstration is made by the Causes; which Causes proceed, either De, per, or secundum quod ipsum. Which parts of Speech, being convertible, and relating back one to another, yet, saith he, no circular Demonstration can be granted out of the Causes, for all that. If therefore the Principles of Demonstration are unknown, and that Circulation be not admitted, certainly little or no knowledge can be thence concluded: For we believe things demonstrated, through certain very weak Principles, to which we assent either through the preceding authority of the wise, or else approve by experience of our Senses. And indeed all Knowledge hath its original from the Senses. And it is a certain experiment of the Truth of Speech, as Averro saith, when the words agree with the things thought. And that is most truly known, to the Knowledge of which most Senses concur. Out of sensibles, we are by the knowledge thereof led to all those things that fall within the compass of our Knowledge. But now when all the Senses are subject to be deceived, they can surely produce to us no real experience. Wherefore seeing that the Senses cannot attain to an Intellectual Nature, and that the causes of inferior things, out of which the Natures, Properties, Effects, and Passions of those things ought to be discovered and demonstrated, are by the consent of all Men, altogether unknown to our Senses; doth it not hence appear, that the way of Truth is wholly shut up, and obscured from our Senses? So that all those deductions and seeming Sciences deeply rooted in the Senses themselves, must of necessity be altohgther erroneous, uncertain, and fallacious. Where is then the benefit of Logic? where is the fruit of this Scientifical Demonstration from Principles and Experiments? which when we must be forced to consent to, as to known Terms, will not those Principles and Experiments be rather things perfectly known, than demonstrated? But let us consider this Art a little more remotely. Logicians reckon up ten Predicaments, which they call, most general Genus': Those are Substance, Quantity, Quality, Relation, When, Where, Situation, Habit, Action, Passion. By which they hope to comprehend and understand all things whatever are contained within the round circumference of the World. They add moreover five Predicables, so called, because they are predicated of themselves, and of their parts; that is to say, Genus, Species, Difference, Proper, Accident. Then they assign four Causes of every thing; the Material, Formal, Efficient, and Final; by which they believe themselves able to discover the Truth or Falsehood of all things, by a certain infallible Demonstration. Now they compound every Syllogism, o● Demonstration, of three Terms: the first is the Subject of the Question, and is called the Major; the next the Predicate of the Question; the third is the Middle, participating between both: with these terms they form two Propositions, which they call the Pr●mises, out of which at length springs the Conclusion. This is that egregious Engine, and these the Terms and Parts thereof, whereby they undertake to join, divide, and conclude all things, by the help of certain Axioms which they dream impossible to be refuted. These are the deep and profound Mysteries of Artificial Logic, invented with so much care by these fallacious Doctors, which being such great and secret Mysteries, are not to be exposed or learned by any other, than they who are able to give great rewards for the same, and to be at large expenses to purchase Authority among the Schoolmen. These are the Nets, and these are the Hounds with which they hunt the Truth of all things, whether natural, as in Physics; or supernatural, as in Metaphysics: but according to the Proverb of Clodius and Varro, can never overtake, by reason of their bawling and brawling one with another.   

CHAP. VIII.  
Of Sophistry.  
BUt the late Schools of Sophistry have made an addition of far greater and more Monstrous Prodigies; such a Scroll of Infinitu●s, Comparatives, Superlatives, Incipits, and Desinits, Formalities, Haecceities, Instances, Ampliatio●s, Restrictions, Districtions, Intentions, Suppositions, Appellations, Obligations, Consequences, Indissolubles, Exponibils, Replications, Exclusives, Instances, Cases, Particularizations, Supposits, Mediates, Immediates, Completes, Incompletes, Complexes, Incomplexes, with many more vain and intolerable Barbarisms, which are thick sown in their Logical Systemes, whereby they endeavour to make all those things to appear Truths, which are in themselves absolutely false, and impossible; and those things which are really true, like furies breaking out of the Trojan Horse, they seek to ruin and destroy with the Flames of their barbarous words. Others there are, who will admit of no more than three Predicaments, not but two Figures of Syllogisms, and of them but eight Moods; laughing to scorn all Modal Compositions, together with concrete and abstract Terms. Others are not wanting who have found out the eleventh Predicament, and a fourth Figure of Syllogisms; Increasing the number likewise of Predicables and Causes; and have moreover invented so many invincible Stoical subtleties, that the Niceties of Cleanthes and Chrysippus, together with the little conceits of Daphita, Euthydemus, and Dionysiodorus, seem dull, and mere rustical, when compared with the new devices of our Modern Sophisters; in the Study whereof, the whole fray of our Sophisters are so stupidly employed, that their whole business seems to be, to learn to err, and with perpetual Skirmishes to render more obscure, if not quite to obliterate the Truth which they pretend to explain; so that the great Art which they profess, is but a Gallimaufry of depraved and barbarous words, by nice and froward Cavilling, perverting the use of Speech, offering violence to the poor Tongue that is scarce able to manage them, the glory whereof consists only in noise and reproach; the professors themselves coveting Combat rather than Victory, and seeking all occasions rather of Contest, than to find out the Truth. So that he is the best Man among them, who is most impudent, and fullest of Clamour: of whom Petrarch writeth, that whether it be the modesty of their Style, or a confession of their Ignorance, they are implacable in their Language, yet dare not abide a true Challenge; and are unwilling to appear in public, knowing what frivolous Ornaments they are attired withal; and therefore like the Parthians, they exercise a flying Fight, and darting their volatile words up into the Air, may be said to commit their Sails to the Wind. These are they, who, as Quintilian says, are extraordinary subtle in Disputing; but take them from their impertinent Cavilling, and they are no more able to endure the blows of right Reason; like little Bugs, that secure in Chinks and Crevices, are easily trod upon in the plain field. Sophisters are unwilling to Fight under the Banners of sound and approved Authors, but like Stratagematists fly for Refuge to the strength of Memory, and the whifling clamour and noise of a nimble Tongue. Neither do they think it of any consequence to consider what reason to use, so they can but give any high instance or example; nor matters it what they think or say, so that they talk loud and bold enough: For he that among them is fullest of words, seems to be the wisest, and the most learned Person. Armed with these Sorceries, they visit the Schools, haunt the Streets, frequent great and full Tables, provoke Antagonists: if the Fight begin, and they find themselves worsted, than they fly to their old lurking holes, and their accustomed Labyrinths. If they find any person unwilling to grapple, than they endeavour to entrap him at unawares with some unusual Question; to which, if they have not a ready and pertinent Answer, or that the Party seem any thing puzzled, than they raise to themselves mighty Pyramids and Triumphs. But what good fruit this Logic with her Sophists hath brought forth, or is likely to bring forth in the Church, let us consider: Surely we shall quickly find, that they not assenting to Divine Tradition, confound the holy sense with Reasons deduced from their own fallacious suppositions; to which while they give too much credit, they banish the Light of Truth, and embrace darkness; and being thus wrapped and enfolded in those shades of Error, blind leaders of the blind, they draw many with their false Argumentations, and shadows of Reason, into the Ditch, together with themselves; and always blundering in the deep Ocean of Ignorance and Error, seduce the more Ignorant to adore their Fictions; in honour of which, they dare presume to aver, That sacred Theology is not able to subsist without Logic; that is to say, without Brangling and Jangling, without Contention and Sophistry. I deny not, but that Logic may be useful in Scholastic Exercises; but how it may assist or uphold Theological Contemplation, I cannot apprehend; whose chiefest Logic consists in Prayer. For truly that promise of Christ was not made in vain; Pray, and ye shall receive. Through which means, the Faithful of Christ shall obtain from the Master of Truth all necessary Knowledge of the Truth, long before they shall be able to compass the height of their Logical skill. Furthermore, Sophistry with all her quirks and devices could never soar higher than Philosophy; but through the path of Prayer lies the certain and straight way to the highest Knowledge of Divine and Humane things. Therefore they are in the wrong, who affirm this Sophistry to be the only Engine, and most Potent for the subversion of Heresy; when it is indeed the chief Strength and Pillar of Heresy. For Arrius and Nestorius relying upon this Art, the one affirmed divers Substances in the Trinity, the other denied the Virgin Mary to be the Mother of God: giving greater credit to the Sophisms of Aristotle, than to the Word of God. For, as St. Jerom observes, all the Opinions of the Heretics have made their Nests and founded their Sanctuaries among the Briars of Aristotle and Chrysippus. Hence Eunomius argues, That which is born, could not be before it was born. Hence the Manichaean, because he would free God from being the Cause of Evil, makes a bad or evil Deity. Hence Novatus, that he may take away Repentance, denies Pardon. From such Fountains as these, do spring all the larger Rivulets of Heresy: for seeing there is no sentence which may not be contradicted, nor no Argument which may not be assailed by another; hence it is, that it is so impossible to attain to any end of Knowledge, or to come to the Knowledge of Truth, by the means of Sophistical Argumentation: and hence it is, that so many deviate from Truth to Heresy; thinking that they have found some appearance of more powerful Truth, by the help of Logical Disputes; or else condemn one Heresy, to be themselves the Establishers of a new one. And thus far of Logic and Sophistry.   

CHAP. IX.  
Of the Art of Lullius.  
RAymund lully in these latter times hath Invented a Prodigious Art, not unlike Logic; by means whereof (like another Gorgias Leontinus, who was the first that in a Public Assembly durst put the Question what they would have him to Discourse of) to enable any person to discourse extempore upon any Subject. But to insist farther upon this, it will not be needful now, seeing we have Commented sufficiently upon this Art already; and the thing itself is so obvious, that it will not be necessary to use many words about it. This I am to admonish ye of in general, That this Art is of no other use, than only to show the Pomp and Magnificence of Wit and Learning, and is no way prevalent for the attaining of sound Learning; having in it far more of confidence than efficacy.   

CHAP. X.  
Of the Art of Memory.  
AMong these Arts, is to be reckoned the Art of Memory; which, as Cicero saith, is nothing else, but a certain method of Teaching, and Precept; like a thin Membrane, consisting of Characters, Places, and Representations; first invented by Simonides Melito, and perfected by Metrodorus Sceptius. But let it be what it will, more certain it is, that it can never come to good, where there is not a very god Natural Memory before; which sometimes it perplexes with such monstrous Apparitions, that instead of a new Memory, it is the cause of Madness and Frenzies; and overburdening the Natural Memory with the Characters and Images of innumerable things and words, it occasions those that are not contented with the bounds of Nature, to run Mad with Art. This Art, when Simonides or some body else did offer to Themistocles, he refused it, saying, He had more need of Forgetfulness than Memory; said he, I remember what I would not, but I cannot forget what I would. As for Metrodorus, Quintilian thus writes concerning him: It was a great piece of vain Ostentation, saith he, to glory rather in his Memory by Art, than in that by Nature. Of this Art Cicero makes mention, in his Book of Rhetorics; Quintilian in his Institutions; and Seneca. Among Modern Authors, Francis Petrarch hath writ something concerning it; together with Mareol, Veronensis, Petrus Ravennas, Hermannus Buschius, and others, though unworthy of a Catalogue, as being obscure Persons. Many there be, that at this day Profess the same, though they get more Infamy and dis-repute, than gain thereby; being a sort of rascally Fellows, that do many times impose upon silly Youth, only to draw some small piece of money from them for present Subsistance. Lastly, 'tis a childish Triumph to boast of a great Memory; besides that it is a thing of shame and disgrace to make a show of great Reading, exposing a great Fair of words without doors, when the House within is altogether unfurnished.   

CHAP. XI.  
Of the Mathematics in general.  
IT is now time to discourse of the Mathematics, surely the most certain of all the Arts. Yet all of them chiefly consist in the Opinions of their Teacher's who have got the most credit; yet in their several Opinions have committed sundry Errors, which Albumazar among the rest acknowledges, saying, That the Ancients long after Aristotle's time did not rightly understand the Mathematics: And that though all these Arts are chiefly invented for the understanding of Figures, Number, and Motion; yet are their Professors forced to confess, that there was never any Figure yet found, either according to Art or Nature perfectly Spherical. And though these Arts have been the occasion of little or no Heresy in the Church; yet St. Austin saith, That they avail nothing at all to Salvation; and that they do rather lead men into Error, and take men off from the Contemplation of true Divinity: and as St. Jerome observes, are not the Sciences of Piety.   

CHAP. XII.  
Of Arithmetic.  
OF these Sciences, the first is Arithmetic, or the Doctrine of Numbers, which is indeed the Mother of all the rest; not less superstitions than vain, and only valued among Merchants, for the low and mean benefit of keeping their Accounts: it treats of Numbers and their Divisions, which is even, which odd; which is evenly odd, and which oddly even; which superfluous, which a Fraction; which perfect, which compounded: also of proportion, and proportionality, and their kinds. Lastly, of Geometrical and Harmonical Numbers; the Effects and use of Number, and their Fractions, and the ways and rules of casting Accounts.   

CHAP. XIII.  
Of Geomancy.  
A Rithmetick produces to us Geomantic Divination, Cards, Tables, and Dice; and whatsoever else in the Nature of Numeral Chances: This Geomancy most men do rather make a Member of Astrology, by reason that their method of judgement is the same; and because the force and virtue thereof consists not so much in Number, as in Motion, according to the saying of Aristotle: The Motion of Heaven is perpetual, and is the Principle and Cause of all Inferior Motions. Of this Geomancy, among the Ancients, Haly hath written; among our Modern Authors, Gerard of Cremona, Bartholomaeus of Parma, and one Tundinus. I myself have written a Geomancy, far different from those before mentioned, though not less superstitious and fallacious; or if you will, I may say, not less crowded with Lies.   

CHAP. XIV.  
Of the Art of Dicing.  
THE Art of Dicing is one of those Arts that depends wholly upon Chance; wherein, he that is most studious, and most expert, becomes so much the more vile and wicked, while out of covetousness of another man's, he bears no reverence to his own Patrimony. This is the Mother of Lies, Perjury, Thefts, Quarrels, Injustice, and Murder; rightly an Invention of Evil Spirits, which after the overthrow of the Asian Empire, was carried away Captive into Greece among the Spoils of those Cities; where afterwards 〈◊〉 enslaved and bewitched the Conquerors themselves. It is said, that Attalus King of Asia was the first Inventor of that Game, having found it out by his skill in Arithmetic. Among the Romans, it is reported that Claudius the Emperor wrote a Treatise thereof: He, together with Augustus Caesar, being great Admirers of this Game. An Exercise most Infamous, and forbidden by the Laws of Nations, insomuch, that Cobilon the Lacaedemonian being sent to Corinth for the obtaining a mutual League and Friendship between those two Cities, when he saw the Captains and Senators of Corinth playing at Dice, returned without doing any thing, saying, that he would not so much defile the Glory of the Spartan's, as that it should be said, they had made a League with Gamesters. This Art was so much disesteemed among the greatest of men formerly, that the King of Parthia is reported to have sent a Bale of Golden Dice to Demetrius, on purpose to upbraid his Inconstancy. Now adays it is a Game in the greatest Request, even among the greatest Princes, and the chief Nobility. How do I say, a Play? Yea, the only Wisdom, and highest Knowledge of Men most carefully and wickedly bred up to Cheat and Cozen.   

CHAP. XV.  
Of the Pythagorean Chance.  
NEither do I think it fitting to pass by what the Pythagoreans did Assert, what others thought, and what Aristotle himself did believe, That there are certain Numbers in the Elements of Letters, from whence some will undertake to tell Fortunes by the Prope● Names, the Letters whereof being added together▪ and the Names repeated as oft as there be Letters they give the day to him, whose Name comes to be last reckoned; whether the Question be concerning War, Quarrel, Marriage, Life, or any other concernment. And thus, they say, it was foretold that Patroclus should be killed by Hector, tha● he should be slain by Achilles. Of which, Terence makes mention in Verse, and how they made use of the Letters of their Names.  
These greater Numbers, those the less require.  
He that in doubtful War his Chance would know,  
If the great number stop, may safely go.  
But signs of Death, the lesser sums presage;  
And thus Patroclus fell, by Hector's Rage.  
Thus from small sums they did of old foretell  
How Conquering Hector by Achilles fell.  
Some will undertake to Erect Horoscopes by these kind of Computations, as one Alchandrius, an obscure Philosopher said to be the Scholar of Aristotle, hath been ready to assert. And Pliny relates, That by the ●inventions of Pythagoras, there is in the Eye a peculiar property to foretell Lameness and some other mischances.   

CHAP. XVI.  
Yet of Arithmetic.  
BUT to return to Arithmetic: Plato saith, That this was first Invented by some Cacodaemon, together with Cards and Dice: and Lycurgus, that great Lawgiver among the Lacedæmonians, expelled it as a most turbulent and factious Science out of his Commonwealth: For it requires a great deal of idle Labour, and diverts men from other more lawful and honest employments, raising great and mischievous quarrels many times about the smallest matters. Hence arises that irreconcilable dispute among Arithmeticians, Whether an even or odd Number be most to be preferred; which is the most perfect Number between Three, Six, and Ten; and whether any Number may be properly said to be evenly even: in which matter of so great consequence, they say that Euclid the Prince of Geometricians, has very much erred. It is a hard matter to say, what strange Pythagorical Mysteries, what Magic Virtues they Dream there be in number, though naked and abstracted from things; and with a great deal of Presumption aver, That the World could not have been Created by God, had not Numbers been Instrumental; and that all Divine Knowledge is contained in Numbers, as in a certain Rule. From these beginnings, the Heresies of Marcus, Magus, and Valentinus, took their first growth and progression, who presumed that they were able to discover an innumerable company of Divine Secrets of Truth and Religion, by the dull and weak assistance of Numbers. Some account the Pythagorean inventions among the Sacraments, with many other ridiculous fancies and idle stories not worth repeating; Arithmeticians having nothing to boast of, but an insipid, inanimate, and senseless Number, though they think themselves Gods, because they can only cast a Figure, or can tell how to reckon: But such honours the Musicians will scarce allow them, who think them rather due to their Music.   

CHAP. XVII.  
Of Music.  
LET us now discourse a little concerning Music, of which among the Grecians, Aristoxenus hath written very largely, asserting that Music was the Soul of Man; whose Writings Boetius hath Translated into Latin.  
Now, by Music I understand that part of Music which relates to the knowledge of Sounds, and manages either the Voice or Hand; not that part which teaches the Laws and Rules of Meter and Rythm, more properly termed Poesy, which, as Alpharabises saith, is carried on not by any method of Speculation or Reason, but with a certain frenzy and madness, as we have before discoursed. Now that part of Music which consists in Sound, and is the consort of Strings or Voices agreeing in Sounds inoffensive to the Ear, treats more particularly of Sounds, Intervals, Changes of Mood, and variety of Notes. This the Ancients have divided into Enharmonick, Chromatic, and Diatonick. The first, that is to say, the Enharmonick, by reason of its profound abstruseness, & the impossibility of discovery, they altogether laid aside: The second, by reason of its wanton measures, they contemned and utterly refused: The last, as agreeing best with the composition of the world, they only admitted. Others there are who have distinguished the Moods of Music as derived from sundry Countries, for whose particular Genius they seemed at first to have been more properly contrived; of which there are three named, the Phrygian, the Lydian, and the Doric; which, according to the opinion of Polimestres, and Saccadas a native of Argos, are said to be of greatest Antiquity. To these Sapph the Lesbian added a fourth, termed the Mixolydian, of which others take Tersander, others Pythoclides the Piper, to have been the Authors; though Lisias makes Lamprocles the Athenian inventor thereof. These four Moods pass currant under the Seal of Authority. This whole Structure or Fabric, they call encyclopedy, or the Sphere of Sciences, as if Music did comprehend all Sciences, seeing, as Plato observes in his first Book of Laws, that Music cannot be understood, without the knowledge of all the other Sciences. Among these four Moods, they approve not the Phrygian, for that it distracts and ravishes the Mind; therefore Porphyrius gives it the name of Barbarous, as exciting and stirring up men to fury and battle: Others give it the appellation of Bacchic, furious, impetuous, turbulent; which being generally used in Anapesticks, were those Charms which, as we read, formerly incited the Lacedæmonians and Cretans to War. With this sort of Harmony Timotheus incited King Alexander to Arms: and Boetius relates how Taurominitianus, a young man, was moved by sound of this Phrygian Harmony to burn a house where he knew a certain Courtesan lay concealed. The Lydian Mood Plato refuses, as too sharp and shrill, and coming short of the modesty of the Dorian, being most proper for Lamentation; though, as others will have it, most agreeable to merry and Jolly dispositions. This made the Lydians, a Merry and Jocund people, to be very much affected with that sort of Music; which afterwards the Tuscans, the Offspring of the Lydians, were wont to make use of in their dancing. The Doric, as being more grave, honest, and every way modest, consequently most congruous and agreeable to the more serious affections of the Mind, and graver gestures of the Body, they preferred above all the rest; and was therefore held in great esteem among the Cretans, Lacedæmonians, and Arcadians. Agamemnon being to go to the Trojan War, left behind him, at home, a Doric Musician, to the end he might by his grave Spondaick Songs preserve the Chastity of his Wife Clytaemnestra, so that it was impossible for Aegysthus to obtain his desires of her, until he had first murdered the said Musician. As for the Mixolydian, only fit for Tragedies, and to move Pity and Compassion; they were of opinion that it had a great power either to quicken or put a damp upon the Spirits, either to raise or depress the Affection, and that it had an absolute dominion over Grief and Sadness. To these four Moods, some there are who have added others, which they call Collateral, the Hypodorian, the Hypolydian, and the Hypophrygian; to the end there might be seven, correspondent to the number of the Planets: to all which Ptolemy adds an eighth, the Hypermixolydian, the sharpest and shrillest of all. But Lucius Apuleius only names five; the Aeolian, Hyastian, Varian, shrill Lydian, warlike Phrygian, and Religious Doric. Marcian, according to the tradition of Aristoxenus, numbers five principal Moods, and ten Collateral. Now though they confess this Art to contain very much of sweetness and delight, yet the common Opinion is verified by general experience, that Music is an Art professed only by men of depraved and loose inclinations, who neither know when to begin, nor when to make an end; as is reported of Archabius the Fiddler, to whom they were wont to give more money to leave off, than to continue his play: Of which impertinent Musicians, we find this Character in Horace.  
Among their Friends all Singers have this vice,  
That begged to sing, none are more coy or nice;  
Unbid, they'll never cease—  
Music has been always a Vagrant, wand'ring up and down after sordid hire; an Art which no grave, modest, chaste, magnanimous, and truly valiant person ever professed: therefore the Greeks generally term them Father Bacchus' Artificers, Bacchanal or lewd Artists, generally of loose behaviour, incontinent in their lives, and for the most part in great poverty and want; which is not only the Mother, but Nurse of Vice. The Kings of the Medes and Persians reckoned Musicians 〈…〉 of their Jesters, Parasites, and Players, pleasing themselves with their Songs, but contemning their persons. And the wise Antisthenes' hearing that one Ismenias kept an incomparable Musician in his house, quoth he, He is a bad man, for he would not be a Fiddler if he were honest: for that is not an Art becoming a good and virtuous man, but only the lazy Epicure. This made Scipio, Aemylius, and Cato utterly to despise this Science, as being contrary to the Majesty of the Roman Manners. Therefore were Augustus and Nero so much condemned for giving their minds so much to Music. 'Tis true, Augustus being reprehended, gave it over; but Nero more eagerly pursuing it, was for that cause hated and derided. King Philip when he heard that his Son had sung very finely at a certain Entertainment, burst into a passion, reproaching him in these words: Art thou not ashamed to sing handsomely? for it is enough that a Prince will vouchsafe to be present while others sing. Jupiter is never said to sing or play on the Harp, by any one of the Poets: But the learned Pallas is said to hate all manner of Piping. In Homer we read of a Harper to whom Alciones and Ulysses willingly lent their Ears. In Virgil, jopas both sings and plays, while Dido and Aeneas give attention: Yet when Alexander the Great was singing, his Schoolmaster Antigonus broke his Harp and threw it away, telling him, It was his business to reign, and not to sing. The Egyptians also, as Diodorus witnesseth, forbade the use of Music to their Youth, as rendering them luxurious and effeminate. And Ephorus, according to Polybius, condemns it as an Art invented only to delude and deceive men. And indeed, what is more unprofitable, more contemptible, more to be avoided, than the society of these Fiddlers, Singers, and other kind of Musicians; who with so many sorts of Songs, Dialogues, Catches, and Roundelays, more chattering than Rooks or Daws, do but like Sirens bewitch and corrupt the well-disposed minds of men, with their lascivious sound of Ribaldry and Debauchery? Therefore the Mothers of the Cycones persecuted Orpheus even to Hell, for effeminating their Males with his charming Harmony. And if there be any authority in Fables, we find that though Argus had his head guarded with a hundred Eyes, yet they were all charmed asleep with the sound of one single Pipe. It is true, that from hence the Musicians take occasion to extol themselves far above the Rhetoricians, for that their Art has a greater power to move the passions and affection: and to such a height of madness they are carried, as to affirm that the Heavens themselves do sing; not that they were ever heard so to do, but only as their drunken Dreams and Imaginations prompt them to believe. Neither was there ever any Musician that ever descended from Heaven, who could ever pretend to know all the Consonances of Sound, or the true reason of Proportions: Only they say, that it is a most complete Art, and comprehends all other Sciences; nor can be throughly understood by any one not Universally learned. Yea, they attribute to it the virtue of Divination, and that thereby men may make a judgement of the habits of the Body, affections of the Mind, and manners of Men. They say moreover, that there is no end of this Art, and that every day produces new discoveries therein; which in another sense Anaxilas wittily hints, that Music is like Libya, which every year produces some new sort of venomous Creature or other. Athanasius therefore, by reason of its vanity, exiles it from the Church. It is true, St. Ambrose more delighting in Pomp and Ceremony, instituted the use of Singing and Playing in Churches. But St. Austin in the mean betwixt both, makes a great doubt of the lawfulness thereof, in his Confessions.   

CHAP. VIII.  
Of Dancing and Balls.  
TO Music Dancing is a kind of Appendent, most grateful to Children, and youthful Lovers; a thing which they learn with great care, and practise all night long; most punctually observing the time of the Music, and that the measures of their Feet and Capring-steps may exactly answer the time of the Fiddles; labouring to perform the silliest and maddest thing in the world, with the greatest knowledge and activity their Bodies and Souls will admit: A thing, which were it not set off with Music, would appear the greatest Vanity of Vanities, the rudest, most nonsensical, and ridiculous sight in the world. This is that which lets lose the reins of Pride, the friend of Wickedness, the food and nourishment of Lust, the bane and enemy of Chastity, and unworthy so much as the thought of any honest person. At these Balls, saith Petrarch, many a grave Matron hath lost her longpreserved Honour: Many an unhappy Virgin there, hath learned what she had better never have known: from thence many have returned home polluted, many half overcome; but never any one more virtuous than they were before. Yet have some of the Grecian Writers highly praised this idle Art (as the worst and most pernicious things never want their extollers) and have deduced the Pedigree of Dancing and Balls even from the Heavens themselves, comparing the Steps of Dancing to the motion of the Stars, that seem in their Harmonical order to imitate a kind of Dancing motion, which they began so soon as the world was created. Others say, it was an invention of the Satyrs. By the help of this Art, Bacchus is said to have softened and overcome the Tyrrhenes, Indians, and Lydians, most Warlike Nations. Whence Dancing was by them made use of in their Religious Rites, and the Exercise thereof by the Goddess Rhea commanded the Corybants in Phrygia, and the Curetes in Crete. And in Delos there was no sacred Ceremony performed without Dancing; no Festivals, Sacred or Civil, celebrated, where Dancing was left out. The brahmin's also among the Indians, morning and evening, with their faces toward the Sun, dancing, were wont to worship his Beams. Likewise among the Aethiopians, Thracians, and Scythians, Dancing was used in all their Religious Ceremonies, as being first instituted by Orpheus and Museus, the best Dancers of their times. There were also among the Romans the Salian Priests, whose duty it was to dance about in honour of Mars. The Lacedæmonians, the bravest people of Greece, having learned the custom of Dancing from Castor and Pollux, in all their Feasts and public Ceremonies used Dancing. In Thessaly it was held in such Veneration, that the Commanders and chief Leaders were honoured with the Title of Foremost Dancers. Socrates also, by the Oracle judged to be the wisest of men then living, was not ashamed to learn to dance when he was far stricken in years; and not only so, but highly extolled the same Art, and reckoned it among the most serious parts of Education; and was esteemed by him a thing of that Gravity as could hardly be expressed, and entered into the world together with the Love of the Gods. But what wonder it should be so highly honoured among the Grecian Philosophers, who are not ashamed to make the Gods themselves the Patrons of Adultery, Rapes, Parricides, and indeed of all manner of Villainies? Many have written Treatises of Dancing, wherein they set forth all the several sorts and measures thereof; expounding their several names, and who were the particular Authors and Inventors of each; so that I need proceed no farther therein. But the Ancient Romans, men ever famous for their Gravity and Wisdom, condemned all manner of Dancing; neither was any woman among them accounted Virtuous, that was given to Dance. Therefore Sallust reproaches Sempronia, that she sang and danced more tightly than was convenient for an honest woman. Nor are Gabinius and Marcus Celius, men in Consular dignity, less blamed for their overgreat skill in Dancing: And Marcus Cato objected it as a Crime to Lucius Murena, that he had been seen to dance in Asia; whose Cause when Cicero took in hand to defend, he durst not justify the act as well done, but utterly denied the Fact, saying, That no sober man ever danced either alone, or so much as at a moderate Banquet, unless he were mad; Dancing being always the Companion and Attendant upon immoderate Feasts, and inordinate Plays. We must therefore necessarily conclude, that Dancing brings up the rear of all Vices. Neither is it hard to tell what evils come many times to pass through idle Discourse and Toying. At such time as Youth in the heat of Dancing, uses antic Gestures, and makes a hideous stamping noise, skipping to wanton Tunes, and the sound of obscene Airs, then are Virgins and Matrons handled with shameless hands, tempted with immodest Kisses, and lustful Embraces; then, what Nature hides, and Modesty vails, Wantonness discovers, and civil sport becomes the pretence of wickedness. An Exercise not sprung from Heaven, but invented by the Devil in defiance of Divinity; so that when the Children of Israel had erected themselves a Calf in the Wilderness, they sacrificed thereto, eating and drinking, and afterwards rising up to play, they fell to Singing and Dancing.   

CHAP. XIX.  
Of Gladiatory Dancing.  
NEither must I here omit to tell ye, that there are many other sorts of Dancing, the greatest part whereof are now laid aside, others still in use; for example, Dancing in Arms, proper only to Gladiators and Soldiers; a Tragical invention to kill the Innocent in sport, making it a great infamy for a man to receive his death's wound for want of Agility. A hateful Invention; Folly and Impiety mixed together. And indeed, all sorts of Dancing, as they are full of vanity and shamelesness, are not only to be dispraised, but utterly abominated, seeing they teach nothing but a wonderful mystery how to run mad.   

CHAP. XX.  
Of Stage-Dancing.  
STage-dancing was designed for Imitation and Demonstration, whereby to explain things conceived in the mind, by the gestures of the body; so clearly and perspicuously representing manners and affections, that the Spectator shall understand the Player by the motion of his body, though he say not a word. So far the excellency of this Art appears, that without the help of an Interpreter, while the Actors by motion represent an Old Man, a Young Man, a Woman, a Servant, a Drunkard, an angry Person, or of any other condition or affection whatsoever, the Spectator at a distance hearing nothing of the story, shall be able to understand the subject of the Play. This brought Stage-players into great request, as Macrobius witnesseth, so that Cicero was wont to contend with Roscius, who was also very intimate with Sylla the Dictator, who should plainest and soon, and with most variety, express the same Sentence; whether the one by Gesticulation, or the other in set Language: which encouraged Roscius to write a Treatise wherein he compares Stagemotion or Action with Eloquence. But the Massilienses, great preservers of serious Gravity, would not endure a Stage-player among them, for that most of their Arguments consisting in the repetition of Rapes and Adulteries, they thought the often seeing thereof would accustom men to the practice of such things. In fine, it is not only a dishonest and wicked Calling to exercise Stage-playing, but also a matter of great dishonour to behold them: for the pleasure of lascivious minds often degenerates into wickedness. So that of old there was no name so ignominious as that of a Stage-player, who by the Laws was made incapable of all Honour and honourable Society.   

CHAP. XXI.  
Of Rhetorism.  
THere was also a Rhetorical Gesticulation, not much differing from Stage-action, but more careless, which Socrates, Plato, Cicero, Quintilian, and most of the Stoics have deemed most necessary and commendable in a Rhetorician, and an Orator; as teaching a graceful gesture of the Body, and composure of the Countenance: seeing that the vigour of the Eye, the sound of the Voice, accommodated to the signification of Words and Sentences, together with a decent motion of the Body, and managment of the Countenance, add much to the force and efficacy of Oration. But this Histrionical-Rhetorical Gesticulation began at length to be little used, while Tiberius admonishes Augustus, That he should speak with his Mouth, and not with his Fingers; and is now quite laid aside, unless it be among some Mimmick Friars, whom you ●hall see now adays with a strange labour of the Voice making a thousand faces, looking with their Eyes like men distracted, throwing their Arms about, dancing with their Feet, lasciviously shaking their Loins, with a thousand sundry sorts of wreathe, wrest, turnings this way and that way of the whole Body, proclaiming in their Pulpits their frothy Declamations to the People: mindful perhaps of that Answer of De●nosthenes, reported in Valerius Maximus, who being asked what was most efficacious in speaking, replied, Hypocrisy and Counterfeiting: and being asked over and over again, still made the same Answer as before; testifying thereby, that the whole force of Persuasion lay therein. But that we may not digress too far from the Mathematics, let us return to Geometry.   

CHAP. XXII.  
Of Geometry.  
THis is that Geometry which Philo the Jew calls the Principle and Mother of all Arts, and has this Excellency above the rest, that whereas there are manifold Contentions among the Professors of all other Arts, the Masters of this Science generally agree in their Problems; neither is there any great matter of debate among them, but only as to Points, Lines, and Superficies, whether they be divisible or no; but they differ not from one another either in Doctrine or Tradition: only every one strives to excel the other in the Invention of new Subtleties, and in making additions to what is already found out. Yet there is no Geometrician that could ever find out the right Quadrature of a Circle, or the Line truly Equal to the side: though Archimedes of Syracuse, and after him many even to our times, pretended to have found the same out. This we may say, That there are very few, or none, that do acquiesce in the Traditions and Axioms of their Predecessors; and therefore, while they go about to be still adding something which their Masters left Imperfect, they run themselves into such an extremity of Madness, which all the Hellebore in the World is not able to Purge away. To this Geometry, which instructs us in Lineaments, Forms, Intervals, Magnitudes, Bodies, Dimensions, & Weights, belongs the Art of making all Mechanic Engines, and Instruments appertaining to the Mechanic Arts; all Engines of War, and Architecture, as Battering Rams, Tortoises, Catapults, Scaling-Ladders, moving Towers, Ships, Galleys, Bridges, Carts, Carriages, Wheels, Bars; together with all those Engines by which great and massy Weights are moved and lifted up with little help, and much ease. Besides these, all those pieces of Art that move by the assistance of Weight, Wind, Water, Ropes or Lines; as Clocks, Hydraulick Organs. By this Art Mercury is said to have made certain Idols among the Egyptians, that made an Articulate noise with their Tongues, and could walk several Paces. Architas the Tarentine is also said to have made a Dove so exactly by rules of Geometry, that the Figure would move and fly of itself. And Archimedes is said to have made a Brazen Heaven in such sort, that it showed all the Motions of the Planets and Spheres, the like whereof we have seen brought to pass in our time. From this Art also proceed the several varieties of Guns, and Fire-vomiting Engines; of which lately myself have Written a special Treatise, Entitled Pyrographie, which I now Repent me to have done; seeing that it only Teaches a most pernicious and destructive Art. Lastly, Painting, Measuring of Land, Agriculture, Founders, Statuaries, Smiths, Carpenters, ●nd all that make use of Wood, or Metals, all borrow ●heir Experience from Geometry.   

CHAP. XXIII.  
Of Optic and Perspective.  
NEarest of kin to Geometry, is the Art Perspective. Now Perspective is an Art, that teaches a Threefold way of seeing Direct, Reflex'd, and Broken: as also the difference of Light, Shadows and Spaces; how Visibles appear through false Intervals, how the beams of the Sun are received through one or more perspicuous Bodies, and how they play upon several figures of Bodies; the several accidents of Object, Sight, and Medium; and how the Object and the Sight are affected according to the variety of the Medium. Now, as concerning the reason of Seeing, there are sundry and different Opinions. Plato thinks that the sight proceeds from an equal clearness in the Eye, and the Object; the clearness from the Eye, being caused by the flowing of the Light to one extrinsic Air; that which proceeds from the Body, being caused by a reverberation of the Sight to the Eye; the middle clearness about the Air, being easily fluid, and apt to receive shape, according to the force of the Sight that always extends itself in a fiery Form. Galen agrees with Plato. But Hipparchus saith that the Beams extended from the Eyes to the Bodies themselves, touching them as it were with a certain Palpitation, returns back the apprehension thereof to the Sight. Aristotle is of Opinion, that the Images of things pass from the Object to the Sight according to their quality, through the alteration of the middle Air. Porphyrius believes, neither Beams nor Images, nor any thing else to be the Cause of Sight, but that the Soul knowing herself, apprehends and sees her own self in all visible beings. But the Geometricians and Optics coming near to Hipparchus, have invented certain Cones made by the co-incidence or falling together of the Beams, which are emitted through the Eyes, so that the Eye apprehends many visibles at one time; but those most certainly, where the Beams meet together. But Alchindu● teaches another thing, which St. Austin thinks to be most true, That the Power of the Soul doth act something in the Eye, which is above humane Wisdom to find out. This Art therefore much conduces to the understanding the variety of Celestial Bodies, their Distance, Magnitude, Motions, and Reflections; and is also a great help to Architecture, in the measuring, adorning, and perfecting great Buildings. But in the Art of Painting and making of Landscapes, is of so great use, that neither can be done without it. For it shows us how to make Figures seem undeformed, and in Symmetry, at whatsoever height or distance they are to be seen.   

CHAP. XXIV.  
Of Painting.  
PAinting is a wonderful Art, imitating the shapes of Natural things, by an accurate description of the Lineaments, and apt choice of Colours. This was once in such high esteem, that it was accounted the chief of all the Liberal Sciences. Not less Liberal than Poetry, in the Opinion of Horace.  

— Painters and Poets have free leave  
With equal power to dare and to deceive.  For Painting is nothing else but mute Poetry, and Poetry a speaking Picture; so near akin they be to each other: for as Poets, so Painters feign Histories and Fables, and representations of all things; expressing and figuring Light, Splendour, Shades, Heights and Depths. This moreover it borrows from Optics, to deceive the sight; and in one Picture, the situation being varied, to represent various shapes to the sight: and what the Statuary cannot reach, this attains to: it represents in lively colours, fire, beams, light, thunder, lightning, evening, morning, dawn, clouds, passions of Men, the senses of the Mind, and even almost the Voice itself; and by falsifying measures and dimensions makes these things appear to be, which are not; and those things which are not, to appear to be. As is related of Zeuxis and Parrhasius, Painters, who contending both for Excellency, the first showed painted Grapes, so like, that the Birds flew to feed upon them. The other showed a Coverlet only Painted; which was so rarely done, that when the First went to put it aside that he might see the Workmanship that was under, and found his Error, he was forced to yield the Victory to the Latter: whereas, he had only deceived the Birds, but Parrasius an Artist. And Pliny relates, That in the Plays of Claudius there was such excellent Painting, that the Crows have flown to the representation of Tiles, mistaking them for the tops of Houses. And the same Pliny relates, How it had been found by experience, that the singing of Birds has been stinted by the sight of a painted Dragon. This moreover is always attributed to Painting, That in all her Works there is more to be understood and judged of, than is to be seen, as Plutarch has diligently found out in his Icons; so that though the Art be extraordinary, yet the Ingenuity thereof is beyond the Art.   

CHAP. XXV.  
Of Statuary and Plastic.  
PAinting is accompanied with the Arts Statuary, Plastic, Casting, and Engraving: the Inventions of Laborious Wit, which may notwithstanding be all comprehended in Architecture. The Statuary makes the likeness of things, either in Stone, Wood, or Ivory; the Plaster performs the same in Earth; the like Images the Caster performs, by casting melted Brass and other metals in Moulds; The Graver expresses the same things in Stones and Gems. Of all which, Pomponius Gauricus among Modern Writers hath chiefly Treated. But all these Arts, together with Painting, were merely invented by the Devil, for the nourishment of Pride, Lust, and Superstition: the Authors were those, who first, according to the words of St. Paul, Changed the Glory of the Incorruptible God, into the likeness of Corruptible man, of Birds, of Beasts, and of Serpents: the first, who contrary to Divine Command, that forbids the Graven Image, or the likeness of any thing either in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, introduced Idolatry so detested of God. Of whom the wise man saith, The Idol is cursed; and be that made the same, together with the thing made, shall suffer Torments. For the Vanity of Men, as the same Author saith, invented these Arts, to tempt the Soul of Man, and to deceive the Ignorant: And the Invention itself, is the Corruption of Life. However, we Christians above all other People are so mad, and carried so headlong into this corruption of Life and Manners, that in all our Courts, Houses, and Chambers, we are not ashamed to keep and admire these wicked Ornaments; thereby to invite Women and Virgins to Wantonness, with the sight of obscene Pictures: nay, we stick not to introduce 'em into our very Temples, Chapples, and over our Altars, to the great hazard of breeding Idolatry. But of this more when we come to Treat of Religion. Now that there is a certain Authority not to be contemned in Statues and Pictures, I learned not long ago in Italy: where there happening a very great debate before the Pope, between the Austin Friars, and the Regular Canons, about the Habit of St. Austin; that is to say, whether he wore a black Stole over a white Vest, or a white Stole over a black Vest: and finding nothing in Scripture that gave Light toward the determination of the Question, the Judges at length thought fit to refer the whole matter to the Painters and Statuaries, resolving to give judgement according to what they should declare they had seen in Ancient Pictures and Statues: Confirmed by this example, I myself labouring with indefatigable diligence to find out the Original of the Monk's Cowl, and not finding any that might resolve the doubt in Scripture, at length I referred myself to the Painters; seeking the Truth of the matter in the Porches of Halls of the Monasteries where the Histories of the Old and New Testament are generally Painted. Now seeing that I could not perceive in all the Old Testament, neither any of the Priests or Prophets, no not Elias himself, whom the Carmelites make their Patron; I went and diligently viewed all the New Testament: There I saw Zacharias, Simeon, John Baptist, Joseph, Christ, the Apostles, Disciples, Scribes, Pharisees, High Priests, Annas, Caiphas, Herod, Pilate, and many others; but yet I could not see one Cowl among them All: till at length, examining the whole story over and over again, and by and by in the very Front of the Piece I found the Devil himself with a Cowl on, as he stood tempting Christ in the Wilderness. I was very glad to find that in a Picture, that I could observe in no Writing, that the Devil was the first Inventor of Cowls, from whom I am apt to believe the Monks and Friars have borrowed the same, though wearing it of divers Colours, if they do not absolutely claim it by Inheritance.   

CHAP. XXVI.  
Of Prospective, and Looking-Glasses.  
TO return to Optics, to which the use of Looking-Glasses and Prospective-Glasses does mainly conduce; the Experiments whereof are daily seen in the various kinds of Glasses, Hollow, Convex, Plane, Pillar-fashioned, Pyramidal, Globular, Gibbose, Orbicular, full of Angles, Inverted, Everted, Regular, Irregular, Solid and Perspicuous. So we read, as Celius in his ancient Readins relates, That one Hostius, a Person of an Obscene Life, made a sort of Glasses that made the Object seem far greater than it was; so that one Finger should seem to exceed the whole Arm, both in bigness and thickness. There is also a sort of Glass, wherein a man may see the Image of another man, but not his own; and another, which being set in such a posture and place, giveth back no representation; but the posture being altered, presently returns the Object presented. Some that show all sorts of Representations; some not all, but many. Other Glasses there are, that contrary to the fashion of all others, will show the right hand directly opposite to the Right, and the Left directly opposite to the Left. Other Glasses there are that do not represent the Image within, but as it were hanging in the Air. Burning-Glasses there are too, that Collecting the beams of the Sun into one point, kindle fire at a distance upon any Combustible Matter. Little Perspicuous Glasses also are not without their Impostures; that is to say, to make a little thing appear great; those that are afar off, near; those things or places that are near, afar off; those that are above us, below us; those things that are below us, above us, or in any other posture or situation whatever. There are other of these Glasses that make one Object appear to be many, and will represent things with divers Colours like the Rainbow; as also, in divers Shapes and Figures. And I myself have learned to make Glasses, wherein, while the Sun shines, you may discern for the distance of Three or Four Miles together, whatever places are enlightened or overspread with his Beams. And this is to be admired in plain Glasses, that by how much the less they are, so much less than themselves they will represent the Object; but let them be never so big, yet shall they not represent the Object ever a whit the larger: which when St. Austin considered, writing to Nibridius, he conceives it to be something of an occult Mystery. However, they are vain and useless things, invented only for Ostentation and idle Pleasure. Many both Greek and Latin have Treated of Looking-Glasses and Perspectives, but above all the rest, Vitellius.   

CHAP. XXVI.  
Of Cosmimetry.  
LET us have a few words now concerning Cosmimetry, which is divided into Cosmography and Geography: both measure the World, and distinguish it into Parts; the First, according to a method drawn from the Heavenly Bodies, by distinguishing Places as they are Situated under such Stars or Constellations, measuring them by Scales of Degrees, or Minutes, by Climates, by the difference of Day or Night, Points of the Winds, various risings of the Stars, Elevations of the Pole, Parallels, Meridian's, shadows of Gnomon, and the like; all which is performed by Mathematical Rules. The Second not regarding any thing of the Celestial Bodies, measures the World by Furlongs and Miles; divides it into Mountains, Woods, Lakes, Rivers, Seas and Shores, Nations, People, Kingdoms, Provinces, Cities, Ports, and whatever else is worthy taking Notice of.  
They Native Customs, Native Habits show,  
And what each Region suffers there to grow.  
And in imitation of Painting according to the Rules of Geometry and Perspective, describe the whole World in Plain Tables or Maps.  In little Volumes Painting all the World. 
Of this they reckon Chorography to be a part, which undertaking the particular Description of particular Places, sets them out more fully and accurately.  
Each part distinguished, various order yields  
Of Vines, of Woods, of Meadows, Fountains, Fields.  
Behold, how swelling Streams the Ocean fill!  
There falls a Valley, there a mounting Hill  
With woody top assails the distant Stars.  
All these things, and whatever we have before spoken of in this Chapter, Cosmimetry teaches in chief. But what Authors shall instruct us in this Art! so manifold are the Contentions among them about Bounds, Longitudes, Latitudes, Magnitudes, Measures, Distances, Climates, and Qualities of Countries. All which Eratosthenes has one way explained, Strabo another; another way Marinus; another way Ptolemy; another way Dionysius; another way the Later Authors. Neither do they agree about the Navel or Middle of the Earth, which Ptolemy places under the Equinoctial Circle; Strabo believes it to be the Mountain Parnassus in Greece: with whom Plutarch, and Lactantius the Grammarian agree, and believe, That in the time of the Deluge it was the only Mark of distinction between the Skies and the Water.  

When all the World lay all in Water drowned,  
This only appeared, the Waters utmost bound.  But if this reason be the only satisfactory reason of that Opinion, then shall not Parnassus of Greece, but Gordicus a Mountain of Armenia be the Navel of the Earth, which, as Berosus testifies, first appearing above the Waters, was the first resting Place of the Ark. Others Assign other places, and how the middle of the Earth was found out by the flying of Eagles. There are some Divines, who thrusting their Sickle into this Corn, will have Jerusalem to be the Middle of the Earth; because it is written by the Prophet, God hath wrought Salvation in the middle of the Earth. Lucretius, Lactantius, and Austin, fall under the same Censure, who have so constantly denied the Antipodes; as also those who deny any other Habitable Part beyond Europe, Asia, and Africa; which notwithstanding we find to be utterly false, by the Voyages and Discoveries of the Spaniards and Portugals; who also confirm to us all the Torrid Zone to be Inhabited, contrary to the Fables and Trifles of the Poets. Other Errors of the Geographers we have recited in the Chapter of History. Now this Art that undertakes to teach us to Describe and Measure so large a World, such unsearchable Seas, and discover to us the Situation of all Islands and Regions, Bounds, and remarkable Places; together with the Originals, Customs, Manners, and different Dispositions of innumerable Nations, what fruit doth it further yield us? but only that it makes us covetous to pry into the Concernments of other people, while we forget ourselves; and as St. Austin in his Confession saith, Men Travel to admire the high Mountains, the Prodigious Waves of the Sea, the large and dismal Falls of Rivers, the Compass of the Ocean, and the Rounds of the Stars; but in the mean time, forsake themselves. Pliny saith, That it is a madness to Measure the Earth; which while we endeavour to measure, we go ourselves beyond all bounds.   

CHAP. XXVIII.  
Of Architecture.  
NO doubt but Architecture seems to bring great advantages and ornaments both to public and private Building. This makes us Walls and Roofs, Mills and Carts, Rivers, Ships, Temples, Churches, Towers, fenced Walls and Fortifications, and all other Engines, either to defend or adorn both Public and Private Buildings; a very necessary and honest Art, did it not so much bewitch the minds of Men, that there is no man scarce to be found, if his Wealth will permit him, who does not wholly employ himself, either in Re-building, or adding to that which is well and decently already done: through which insatiable desire of Building it happens, that there is no end or bound thereof: but to please Fancy, Rocks have been cut, Valleys filled up, the bowels of the Earth digged into, Promontories made over the Sea, the currents of Rivers turned, Seas joined to Seas, Lakes exhaust, Pools dried up, the Seas curled, the depth of the Ocean searched into, and New Islands have been made. All which things though they seem to have been done in defiance of Nature, yet have brought not a little advantage to the Public. But let us compare with these, all those other things that are of no use at all but for men to gaze and stare at, and out of vain Ostentation to show the vastness of the Bvilder's Wealth; such as are the superstitious Wonders of the Egyptians, Greeks, Etrurians, Babylonians, and other Nations; their Labyrinths, Pyramids, Obelisques, Colossuses, Mausoleum, the Monstrous Statues of Rapsinatis, Sesostris, and Amasis, and that Extravagant Sphynx, in which King Amasis was said to be Entombed. For, saith Pliny, it was hewed out of a Natural Red-stone; the compass of the Head was One hundred and two foot round the Forehead; the length thereof One hundred forty three. But there are greater Wonders than this, the stupendious work of Memnon and Semiramis, in Bagisianum, a Mountain of Media, a vast Effigies, containing Seventeen Furlongs in bigness. Which had been far exceeded by that Architect, whoever he were, whether Stesicrates, as Plutarch reports; or Democrates, as Vitruvius' asserts, who proposed to have made an Effigies of Alexander out of the Mountain Athos, which should have held in the hand thereof a City capable to receive Ten thousand men. We may add to these the Babylonian Den, the Basis whereof was a full Furlong in Compass, as Herodotus witnesseth▪ together with that famous Tower which was made to swim in the wide Sea, upon the backs of Glass Lobsters. With these may be numbered the Gordian Edifices, the Triumphal Arches, the vast Temples of the Gods; that especially in Ephesus Dedicated to Diana, which was two hundred Years in Building, at the Expenses of all Asia: and that Chappel dedicated to Latona, built in Egypt all of one Stone, broad in Front forty Cubits, and covered over also with one entire Stone: as also, the Statue of Nebuchodonosor King of Assyria, all of pure Gold, sixty Cubits in bigness; which it was a Capital Crime not to Worship: and another Statue Forty Cubits high, framed all out of one entire Topaz, in honour of an Egyptian Queen. Not unlike these are the Temples Erected in our days with most lofty Towers and Spires, vast heaps of Stones, rising to an Incomparable and Prodigious Height; together with innumerable Steeples for Bells, erected at the vast expense of money drained under the pretence of Pious uses and Charity, which had been better improved to the relief of thousands of the Poor, who being the true Temples of God, perish in the mean time with hunger, cold, and sickness, more proper to be kept in repair with those Sacred Alms. Now what Destructions, what Devastations this Art Causes among Men, whose Warlike Engines of Batteries, Catapults, Scorpions, Slings, and other manifold instruments of Death, framed by the chief industry and invention of her Professors; so many Nations thereby ruined, so many Cities thereby destroyed, do afford sufficient Testimony: and of this, not only by Land, but by Sea, whole Navies built only for fight and combat do give evident proof: wherein men do not seem so much to Navigate, as to Inhabit the most dangerous Seas, which as they are of themselves full of hazard and terror, by these Ships are rendered far more unsecure and terrible to us; therein, as on the solid Land, Fight and Robbing one another. The first that writ of Architecture was Agatarebus, an Athenian; afterwards Democritus and Anaxagoras; after them Silenus, Archimenides, Aristotle, Theophrastus, Cato, Varro, Pliny; and Lastly, Vitruvius, and Nigrigentus. Of Modern Authors, Leo Baptista, Friar Lucas, and Albertus Duretus.   

CHAP. XXIX.  
Of Miners and Metals.  
TO Architecture is adjoined Mining and Digging of Metals; an Art of no small ingenuity, discovering by the very Superficies of the Earth, either in Plain or Mountain, what Veins are there to be found, how far they extend their bounds and sides, and how to undertop the hollow and empty bowels of the Earth: concerning which, Strato Lampsacus, among the Ancients, hath written a large Treatise, Entitled, De Machinis Metallicis. Though how out of the Metallic Oar, to consolidate and purify the true Metal by fire; or if mixed, how to separate them, few or none have hitherto taken the pains to teach; perhaps because that being an Art too Mechanic and Servile, learned and ingenious Men have thought it beneath their Studies. However, being myself some years since made Overseer of some certain Mines by his Imperial Majesty, searching diligently into the Nature of all those things, I began to write a special Treatise thereof, which I have yet in my hands, continually adding and correcting the same, as my Experience and Knowledge increased; intending to omit nothing that may serve to further the Invention and Knowledge thereof, whether in relation to the searching and discerning of the Vein, melting the Oar, underpropping of Mines, framing all manner o● Engines, and whatever else belongs thereto: Mysteries hitherto altogether hidden before. By means of this Art, we come to be Possessors of all Humane Wealth; the eager desire whereof hath so invaded Mortals, that they make their approaches to Hell, and seek Riches in the very mansions of the Infernal Ghosts; as Ovid elegantly describes it.  

Deep in the Bowels of the Earth they toil;  
There what she strove near Stygian shades to hide,  
They dig up Wealth, the baneful Root of Pride,  
Now fatal Steel, but far more fatal Gold,  
With gain bewitched did Mortals first behold.  
Desire of gain, that Truth and Virtue chased,  
And in their room Deceit and Treason placed.  Or as another Poet doth express himself, 
Now Truth is driven out by Gold,  
By Gold our Laws are bought and sold.   
Certainly therefore he first found out the greatest plague of Humane life, that first found out Ours of Gold, and other Veins of Metal. These men have made the very ground the more hurtful and pestiferous, by how much they are more rash and venturous than they that hazard themselves in the deep to dive for Pearl. Concerning the places where these Metals are found, Authors do very much vary. Led, they say, was first found in the Islands called Cassiterides, not far from Spain: Brass in Cyprus, Iron in Crete, Gold and Silver in Pangaeus a Mountain of Thracia: At length they infected the whole world; only the Scythians, as Soline relates, condemned the use of Gold and Silver, resolving to keep themselves eternally free from public avarice. There was an ancient Law among the Romans against the superfluity of Gold. And indeed, it were to be wished that m●n would aspire with the same eagerness to Heaven, that they descend into the Bowels of the Earth, allured with that vein of Riches, which are so far from making a man happy, that many repent too often of their time and labour so ill bestowed.   

CHAP. XXX.  
Of Astronomy.  
IN the next place, Astrology offers itself, otherwise called Astronomy; an Art altogether fallacious, and more to be derided than the Fables of the Poets; whose Professors are a sort of confident persons, Authors of Prodigies; who with an impious Confidence and Curiosity, at their own peasures, beyond humane ability, undertake to erect Celestial Orbs, and to describe the measures, motions, figures, shapes, number, and reciprocal harmony of the Stars, as if they had long conversed in Heaven, and were but newly descended thence: however, among themselves of most different and dissenting Opinions, even concerning those things by which they say all things are kept up and subsist: that I may well say with Pliny, that the incertainty and inconstancy of this Art, plainly argues it to be no Art at all; of whose very Fundamentals the Indians think one thing, the Egyptians another, the Moors another, the Chaldeans another, the Jews another, the Arabians another, the Latins another, the Ancients another, the Moderns another. For Plato, Proclus, Aristotle, Averro, and almost all the Astrologers before Alphonsus, treating of the number of the Spheres, reckon up but only eight Spheres; though Averro and Rabbi Isaac aver, that one Hermes and some Babylonians did add a ninth: to which Opinion Azarcheles the Moor adheres, with whom Albertus Teutonicus agreed, in his time, for what notorious fact I know not, called the Great; and all those that approve the accesses and recesses of the Spherical Motions. But the later Astrologers have constituted and appointed ten Orbs; which Opinion the same Albertus believes that Ptolemy also held. But Alphonsus following the judgement of Rabbi Isaac, surnamed Bazam, held only nine Spheres; but four years after, in an Edition of his Tables, adhering to the Opinions of Albuhassen the Moor, and Albategnus, he reduced them to the number of eight. Rabbi Abraham Avenezra, Rabbi Levi, and Rabbi Abraham Zacutus, believe no movable Orb above the eighth Sphere. But they differ very much about the motion of the eighth Orb, and of the fixed Stars. For the Chaldeans and Egyptians are of opinion, that it is moved by only one motion; with whom Alpetragus, and among the Modern Writers Alexander Aquilinus agree: but all the other Astronomers from Hipparchus even unto these times, affirm the same to be turned with various motions: The Jewish Talmudists assign thereunto a double motion: Azarcheles, Tebeth, and Johannes Regiomontanus, added the motion of Trepidation, which they call approachings and receding, upon two little Circles, about the heads of Aries and Libra: but in this differing one from another, for that Azarcheles affirms, that the movable head is distant from the fixed not more than ten parts. Tebith asserts them to be distant one from the other not above four parts, with some minutes. Johannes Regiomontanus makes them distant more than eight parts, which is the reason given that the fixed Stars do not always incline to the same part of the Sky, but sometimes they return to the place where they began. But Ptolemy, Albategni, Rabbi Levi, Avenezra, Zacutus, and among the later Authors Paul the Florentine, and Austin Ritius my familiar Acquaintance in Italy, affirm that the Stars do always move according to the successions of the Signs. The later Astrologers make a threefold motion of the eighth Sphere; the one which is most proper, and is the motion of Trepidation, which is finished once in seven thousand years; the second they call the motion of Circumvolution, being the motion of the ninth Sphere, and is finished in forty nine years: The last is made by the tenth Orb, and is called the motion of the Primum mobile, or the rapid and diurnal motion, which turns round in the Compass of one natural day. However, among them that give a double motion to the eighth Sphere, there is great diversity of Opinions; for all the Modern Authors, and they who admit the motion of Trepidation, say that the Sphere is carried about by a superior Sphere. But Albategni, Albuhassen, Alfraganus, Averro, Rabbi Levi, Abraham Zacutus, and Austin Ritius, say, that the Diurnal motion, which they call the Rapid motion, is not proper to any Sphere, but that it is made by the whole Heaven. Averro also confirms it, that Ptolemy in his Book entitled Narrations, doth deny the motion of Gyration: and Rabbi Levi saith, that Averro was in the same opinion with Ptolemy, that the Diurnal motion was the motion of the whole Heaven. Again, there is not less difference among them about the measure of the motion of the eighth Sphere, and of the fixed Stars: For Ptolemy believes that the fixed Stars do move one degree in a hundred years. Albategnus will have them to move so far in sixty six Egyptian years; with whom Zacutus, Rabbi Levi, and Alphonsus in the correction of his Tab●es, give their assent. Azarcheles the Moor says that they move one degree in seventy five years; Hipparchus, in seventy eight. Many of the Hebrews, as Rabbi Josua, Moses, Maymon, Rabbi Avenezra, and after them Hay Benrodam, in seventy years; Johan● Regiomontanus in eighty. Augustin Ritius took the middle way between the opinions of Albategni and the Hebrews, delivering his opinion that the fixed Stars do not move one degree in less than sixty years, nor in more than seventy. But Rabbi Abraham Zacutus, as Ritius declares, by a tradition of the Indians discovers to us, that there are two fixed Stars most diametrically opposite one to another, which do not finish their course, contrary to the order of the Signs, in less time than a hundred and forty years. And Alpetragus is of opinion, that there are many motions of the Heavens which are yet unknown to men; which if it be true, then there may be also Stars and Bodies proper to those motions, which men have either not been able to behold by reason of the height, or else they have not fallen within the discovery of any observation. To which opinion Phavorinus the Philosopher assents, in his Oration mentioned by Geliius against Genethliacks. So that it remains most apparent, that never any Astronomer was ever yet in Heaven, to teach us the certain and true motions thereof. Neither is the certain motion of the Planet Mars known to this day: of which Johannes de Monte regio complains, in an Epistle to one Blanchinus: the error also of the motion of that Planet, a certain famous ginger, named William of St. Clou, above two hundred years ago hath left discovered, but never any one as yet corrected. As truly impossible it is to find out the ingress of the Sun into the Equinoctial points, as Rabbi Levi proves by many reasons. But what shall we say of things since brought to light, and what strange errors were committed about those things in former times? For many, with Tebith, thought the greatest variation of the Sun to be continually varied; which we know now to ke●p always one certain measure. And although Ptolemy thought otherwise thereof, yet Albates, Rabbi Levi, Avenezra, and Alphonsus, found otherwise by experience. Otherwise also have they found out concerning the motion of the Sun, and the measure of the year, quite different to what either Ptolemy or Hipparchus delivered. Also concerning the motion of the Aux of the Sun, Ptolemy is of one opinion, Albategnus and the rest of another. Concerning the Figures of the Signs, and the considerations and observations of the fixed Stars, the Indians have thought one thing, the Egyptians another, the Chaldeans another, the Hebrews another, and Arabians another; Timotheus is of one mind, Hipparchus of another, Ptolemy of another, and the later Authors of another. I omit their mad contentions, which is the right, or which is the left side of Heaven; concerning which when Tho. Aquinas and Albertus the Teutonick endeavour to say something seriously, they are yet altogether unable to deliver any thing of certainty. Again, what the Galaxy or Milky way should be, is yet controverted among Astrologers. I omit also all their vain disputes about Eccentricks, Concentrics, Epicycles, Retrogradations, Trepidations, accesses, recesses, swift motions, and Circles of motion, as being the works neither of God nor Nature, but the Fiddle-faddles and Trifles of Mathematicians, taking their beginnings from corrupt Philosophy and the fables of the Poets: Yet which the Professors of this Art believe as true, created by God, and established by Nature; from these Fictions deducing the causes of inferior accidents, asserting those feigned motions to be the principles of all inferior motions. These Astronomers a Serving-maid of Anaximenes very seasonably taxed with a sharp reply. This Maid was wont to walk with her Master, who one day going out a little later than ordinary to look upon the Sky, while he was gazing among the Stars ne'er minding the situation of the place, fell into a Ditch. Then quoth the Maid, I wonder Sir how you can pretend to foreknow things in Heaven, that cannot tell those things that are just before your Nose? Thales Milesius was reprehended with a like witty saying, by his Maidservant Thressa. Neither does Tully much vary from either: Astrologers, saith he, while they search and pry into every Coast of Heaven, are ignorant of that which is just before their feet. I myself learned this Art from my Parents, and have lost not a little time and pains therein; but at length I found that the whole Art had no other foundation than the mere figments and trifles of imagination: and it very much reputes me of the time which I have wasted, and I wish I could absolutely forget and abolish the memory thereof in my mind; and would wholly abandon the use thereof, unless the violent entreaties of great personages, who oftentimes make use of noble Ingenuities to bad purposes, did not compel me to continue my studies therein; and that domestic profit did not over-perswade me to enjoy the folly thereof, and with toys to please those that seek after and are covetous of trifles; I say, Trifles! for what hath Astrology in it worth notice, unless the Fables of the Poets, their monsters and wonders with which they have filled the whole Region of Heaven? Neither do any sort of people more agree one among another, than the Astrologers and Poets; only in that one thing of Lucifer and Vesperus; the Poets affirming that what day Lucifer appears before the Rising Sun, that day he follows the Setting Sun; which all the Astrologers deny can be done in one and the same day, only those that place Venus above the Sun, because those Stars that seem to be at greatest distance from us, seem to appear soon in their rising, and to set most slowly. But this discord between the Astrologers about the situation of the Stars and Planets I had quite forgot, had I not had this occasion to remember them, the handling whereof has been more particular to Philosophers than Astrologers. For Plato places the Sphere of the Sun next about the Sphere of the Moon; and the Egyptians do the like, placing the Sun between the Moon and Mercury. Archimedes and the Caldaeans make the Sun to be the fourth in Order. Anaximander, Metrodorus, Chius, and Crates, constitute the Sun uppermost, below him the Moon, beneath her the other Planets and fixed Stars. Zenocrate's will have all the Stars to move in one Superficies. No less contention there is among them about the distance and bigness of the Sun, Moon, and the rest of the Stars fixed and wand'ring: Neither is there indeed any constancy of Opinions among them, nor truth of Assertion: and no wonder, when the Heaven itself, which they so much endeavour to search and dive into, is the most inconstant of all, and crowded with Fables and Fictions: for all the Twelve Signs, with the Northern and Southern Constellations, got all into Heaven by the help of Fables, and by these Fables Astrologers live, cheat, and get money, while the Poets their Inventors are ready to starve for hauger.   

CHAP. XXXI.  
Of Judicial Astrology.  
THere is another part of Astrology remaining, which they call the Divining or Foretelling Part, otherwise called Judicial Astrology, which Treats of the Revolutions of the Years of the World; of Nativities, of Horary Questions, and by what sort of means to foretell and know Future Events, and the Secrets of Divine Providence, thereby to avoid ill Success, and secure the undertaker of Prosperity. Astrologers therefore borrow the Effects and Influences of the Stars from the most remote Ages of the World, beyond the memory of things, even before the days of Prometheus, and from Conjunctions that were before the Flood; pretending themselves able to display the hidden Natures, Qualities and Effects of all sorts of Animals, Stones, Metals and Plants, and whatever else being part of the Creation; and to show how the same do depend on the Skies, and flow from the Stars, and partake of their Influences. A most credulous sort of People, and no less impious, not acknowledging this one thing, That God made the Plants, Herbs, and Trees, before the Heavens and the Stars. The gravest Philosophers also, as Pythagoras, Democritus, Bion, Phavorinus, Panetius, Carneades, Possidonius, Timaeus, Aristotle, Plato, Plotinus, Porphyrius, Avicen, Averro, Hypocrates, Galen, Alexander, Aphrodisius, Cicero, Seneca, Plutarch, and many others who have diligently laboured in the search of the Causes of Things through all Arts and Sciences, never do remit us to these Astrological Causes, which although they might be allowed for Causes, yet when they themselves do not rightly understand the Course of the Stars, which is most evident to all wise men, they can never be able to give a certain judgement of their Effects. Neither are there others wanting among them, as Eudoxus, Archelaus, Cassandrus, Hoychilax, Halicarnassaeus, and many others of later date, grave in esteem, who confess, That 'tis impossible that any thing of certainty should be found out by the Art of Judicial Astrology, by reason of the innumerable co-operating Causes that attend the Heavenly Influences; and so Ptolemy is also of Opinion, both for that there are many occasions of Obstruction, as Customs, Manners, Education, Virtue, Empire, Place, Geniture, Blood, Diet, Liberty of Will, and Learning; as also for that, as they say, the Influences do not compel but incline. Furthermore, they who have prescribed the Rules of Judgements, set down their Maxims so various and contradictory, that it is impossible for a Prognosticator, out of so many various and disagreeing Opinions, to be able to pronounce any thing certain, unless he be inwardly Inspired with some secret and hidden instinct and Sense and of future things; or unless by some occult and latent Communication of the Devil, he be enabled with a discerning faculty: which two means he that wants, can never be a true Prophet in Astrological Judgements; Astrological Prediction not depending upon Art, but merely upon obscure Chance: And as young People light upon such or such verses in Fortune-Books, not by Art, but by Chance: so Prophecies flow from the breast of an ginger by the same Chance, and not by Art; which Ptolemy witnesses, saying, The knowledge of the Stars is in thee, and thence proceeds; thereby intimating, that the Prediction of hidden and future things is not attained to so much by Observation of the Stars, as of the qualities and affections of the Mind. There is no certainty therefore in this Art, applicable to all things according to Opinion; which Opinion is gathered and delivered from Conjectures, through an unperceiveable Inspiration of the Devil, or else by mere Chance: therefore is this Art no more than a fallacious Conjecture of Superstitious men, who by the Experience of long time have attained to some insight into uncertain things, wherewith to such out a little money; they many times deceive the ignorant, and are as often deceived: for if their Art were true, and rightly understood by them, whence so many Errors and Deceits continually swimming in their Prognostications? and if not true, do they not vainly, foolishly, and wickedly profess the Knowledge of things which are not, or are not rightly understood? But the more cautious among them will not utter their Prognostications but in obscure and ambiguous terms, and which may be applied to all things, times, Princes, and Nations whatever. If any thing which they have said do come to pass, than they Collect together the Causes thereof, confirming after the thing is apparent, their old Prophecies by new Reasons, that they may seem to have foreseen: like your Interpreters of Dreams, upon the relation of a Dream know nothing of certainty, but apply their Interpretation to that which happens afterwards. Furthermore, seeing it is impossible in so great a number of Stars, but that we must find some in bad, some in good Positions; they take occasion from thence of speaking to whom and what they please: foretelling Life, Death, Health, Honours, Wealth, Power, Victory, Offspring, Friends, Marriage, Magistracy, and many other things: To others, from a bad Position, foretelling Death, Hanging, Shame, Overthrows, Barrenness, Sickness, and Misfortunes; not by the power of their wicked Art, but by a wicked stupefaction of the Mind, and forcing a necessity of Actions concurring to such Events, drawing credulous people to their ruin, causing also among Princes and Nations most severe Wars and Seditions. Now if it happen that fortune jumps with any of their Prognostications, that among so many ambiguous Vaticinations one or other happen to prove true, how they strut and crow, and fall into raptures and high admiration of themselves! If they be found to lie continually, and be still convinced of falsehood, than they excuse it with Blasphemy, fortifying one Lie with another, saying, That a wise man has power over the Stars: whereas in truth, neither the Stars are governed by wise men, nor wise men by the Stars; but both are governed by God: or else they cry, That the unaptness of the subject, or the folly of the party, was an obstruction of the Influences; but if ye require more of them, they are angry. Yet these Fortune-tellers do find entertainment among Princes and Magistrates, from whom they receive considerable Salaries; whereas there is indeed no sort or generation of men more pernicious to a Commonwealth, than those that undertake to prognosticate by the Stars, by Dreams, or any other Artifices of Divination, and scatter their Prophecies about: Men always enemies to Christ, and all that believe in him: Of whom Cornelius Tacitus complains: Your Mathematicians, for so they are vulgarly called, are a sort of men, saith he, treacherous to Princes, deceitful to those that believe in 'em; were always prohibited from our City, but never expelled. Varro also a grave Author testifies, That all the Vanities of superstition flowed out of the bosom of Astrology. There was a certain Tribute assessed in Alexandria, which the Astrologers pay, being called Blacenomium, which signifies Folly, because that out of ingenious Folly they made a certain Gain, and because that none but rash and inconsiderate people were wont to consult them. But if our life and happiness proceed from the Stars, what do we fear? why are we so solicitous? Let us trust all these things to God, and the Stars, who can never err, never do any evil. Let us not dive into things beyond our own capacities, but only learn to know that which is only in our reach; and being that we are Christians, let us leave the Hours to Christ, the Minutes to God the Father. But if the Stars have nothing of force, nothing of power, nothing of influence over our life and happiness, then is every ginger a very vain and idle person. But there are a sort of people so very timorous and credulous, that as Children frighted with the stories of Hobgoblins, they believe and are more afraid of those things which are not, than of those things which are; and by how much a thing seems to be less possible to come to pass, so much the rather are they afraid thereof; and the less probable a thing is, the sooner they believe it; who if they were not Astrologers, might eat their nails, or die with hunger. And this strange credulity of theirs, forgetful of things past, negligent of the present, running headlong after future things, is so favourable to these deceivers, that though but one lie told, shall injure the credit and reputation of other men, so that they shall be scarcely believed again when they speak truth; On the contrary, among the Doctors of Lying and Falsehood, one Chance-truth shall gain belief of a hundred Public lies: In which they who chiefly confide, are the most unhappy of all men, such superstitious trifles always bringing their Adorers into ruin: Which Antiquity witnesseth of Zoroaster, Pharaoh, Nabuchadnezzar, Caesar, Crassus, Pompey, Diotharus, Nero, Julian the Apostate, who as they were most addicted to these Gugaws, so did they perish through their confidence in them: All things falling out most unfortunate to them, to whom their Fortune-tellers promised all things favourable and auspicious. As to Pompey and Caesar, whom they both made believe that they should die aged, in their beds, and in great honour, yet both of them came to bad and untimely ends. A perverse and preposterous generation of men, who profess to foreknow future things, in the mean time altogether ignorant of past and present; and undertaking to tell all people most obscure and hidden secrets abroad, at the same time know not what happens in their own houses, and in their own chambers: Even such an ginger as Moor laughed at in his Epigram.  

The Stars, Ethereal Bard, to thee shine clear,  
And all our future Fates thou mak'st appear.  
But that thy Wife is common all men know,  
Yet what all see, there's not a Star doth show.  
Saturn is blind, or some long journey gone,  
Not able to discern an infant from a stone.  
The Moon is fair, and as she's fair she's chaste,  
And won't behold thy Wife so lewdly embraced.  
Europa Jove, Mars Venus, she Mars courts,  
With Daphne, Sol, with Hirce Hermes sports.  
Thus while the Stars their wanton Love pursue,  
No wonder, Cuckold, they'll not tell thee true.  In the next place, it is notorious how they differ from one another among themselves, Jews, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Persians, Grecians, Arabians, about the Rules of giving judgement; and how Ptolemy quite lays aside all the ancient Philosophy; for which how Avenr●dan defends him; how Albumasar rails at him; and how Abraham Avenezra the Jew falls upon the bones of all these. Lastly, Dorotheus, Paulus, Alexandrinus, Ephestion, Maternus, Aomar, Tebith, Alchindus, Zahel, Messahalla, are all of another opinion; and when they cannot prove what they say to be true, they endeavour to defend themselves by Experiments, and yet they are not all unanimous in that neither. Neither is there less discord about the propriety of the Houses, whence they fetch the Predictions of all Events: wherein Ptolemy is of one opinion, Heliodorus of another, Paulus of another, of another Manlius, Maternus of another, of another Porphyrius, Abenragel of another, the Egyptians of another, of another the Greeks and Latins; the Ancients and Moderns alike dissenting. Neither can they agree where to place the ends, where the beginnings of their Houses; which structures the Ancients have built after one fashion; Ptolemy, Campanus, and Johan Regiomontanus, every one in another distinct manner; whereby they themselves take away all credit from their own observations, several ascribing several properties to the same persons. An impious Race of men, attributing that to the Stars, which belongs only to God; making us that were free born, to be slaves of the Stars; and when we know that God created all things good, they will be appointing some Stars to be Malevolent in their Aspects, and the Originals of bad Influences; not without great contempt of God, and injury to the Heavens, in that Divine Senate make all mischiefs and misfortunes to be decreed; and whatever is done by us out of the depravity of our Wills, which nature cannot avoid, through the corruption of the Subject-matter, all that they Attribute to the fault of the Stars. Neither are they ashamed to teach men to be most pernicious Heretics and Infidels, while they endeavour to make the gift of Prophecy, the power of Religion, the secrets of Conscience, dominion over Hell, the virtue of Miracles, the efficacy of Prayer, the state of future Life, all these mighty things to depend upon the Stars; to be granted by them, and the knowledge thereof to be wholly derived from them: For they say, that Gemini being the Ascendent, Saturn and Mars being in Conjunction in Aquarius, That a Prophet should be born in a new part of the World; and that Christ was therefore famous for so many Virtues, because Saturn and Gemini were together in that place. The several Sects of Religion they make to be governed by other mixtures of the Constellations; Jupiter being nevertheless their Lord and Patron. Jupiter joined with Saturn, governs the Religion of the Jews; joined with Mars, the Caldean; with the Sun, the Egyptian; with Venus, the Saracen; with Mercury, the Christian, with Luna, the Antichristian. They say moreover, that Moses instituted the Sabbath among the Jews upon certain Logical reasons that urged him thereto; and that therefore the Christians Err, that will not observe the Sabbath of the Jews, which is the true Saturday. Next they impugn all Faith both toward Religion, toward Men, and God himself; affirming, That the secrets of Conscience may be discovered from such a part of the Sun, being in the ninth, third, eleventh houses of the Heaven; and many have prescribed Rules, whereby they pretend to disclose the very thoughts and intentions of Men. Exalting the Celestial Constellations, above the Miraculous Works of God, as the superintendent Causes of the Universal Flood, the Law given by Moses, and the Childbearing of a Virgin; and vainly attributing to Mars the occasion and necessary cause of Christ's All-redeeming death. Yea they do affirm, That Christ himself did make choice of his hours wherein to work his Miracles; and when he road in Triumph into Jerusalem, what times he knew the Jews could have no power to hurt him; which was the reason he chid his Disciples in these words, Are there not Twelve hours of the day? They say moreover, That if any one were happily placed under Mars, being in the Ninth House, such a one shall be able to cast out Devils with his presence only. But he that shall Pray to God, Luna and Jupiter being in Conjunction in the Mid-Heaven with the Dragons-head, shall obtain all his desires; and that Saturn and Jupiter do promise future prosperity of Life. Moreover, that he who hath Saturn happily constituted with Leo at his Nativity, shall when he departs this Life immediately return to Heaven again. Now who could think it? as silly and as idle as these Heresies are, yet want they not abettors, Petrus Aponensis, Roger Bacon, Guido Bonatus, Arnoldus de Villa Nova, Philosophers; Alyacensis Cardinal and Divine: and many other famous Christian Doctors, who have not without great Infamy given their Assent to the same; and more than that, have been so bold as to testify and defend the truth thereof. Against these Astrologers of later years, Johannes Picus Mirandula wrote Twelve Books so fully, that he hath scarce omitted one Argument, but with such a force of Eloquence, that neither Lucius Balantius a most strenuous Champion of Astrology, nor any other Hector of this Art could ever defend it from the ruin of those Arguments that Mirandula hath brought against it. For he makes it out by most strong Arguments, That Astrology is an Invention not of Men, but of the Devil (which Firmianus confirms) by which he endeavours to exterminate and abolish all Philosophy, Physic, Law, and Religion, to the general mischief of Mankind: for first, it takes away the use of Faith in Religion, lessens the reverence of Miracles, takes away Divine Providence, while it teaches, That all things happen by force and virtue of the Stars, and from the Influences of the Constellations, by a kind of fatal Necessity. It patronizes Sin, excusing Vice as descending from Heaven; it defiles and subverts all good Arts, in the first place Philosophy, translating the Causes of things from right Reason to Fables; translating the practice of Physic from the application of Natural and Efficacious Remedies, to vain Observations and idle Superstitions deadly both to Body and Soul; Abrogating all Laws, Customs and Rules of humane Prudence, when Astrology must be only consulted at what time, how, and by what means to Act; as if she only held the Sceptre that governs humane Life and Manners, together with all Affairs public and private, deriving an uncontrollable Authority from Heaven, and accounting all things else vain and ridiculous that will not submit to her jurisdiction. A most worthy Art! which the Devils heretofore Professed, in contempt of God, and to the deceit of Men. Neither can we think that the Heresy of the Manicheans, which takes away all liberty of freewill, had any other Original than the false Opinions and Doctrines of Astrology. From the same Fountain sprang that Heresy of Basilides, who believed that there were Three hundred sixty five Heavens, all made successively, and in the same likeness, according to the number of the days of the year; and assigning to every one of them certain Qualities, Principles, and Angels; and also giving them names: he calls the supreme Ruler of them all Abraxas, which name according to the Greek Letters contains the Numerals of Three hundred sixty five, to answer the Number of Heavens which he had invented. These things I have therefore set forth, that ye may understand Astrology to be the Mother of Heresy. Besides this same Fortune-telling Astrology, not only the best of Moral Philosophers explode, but also Moses, Isaias, Job, Jeremiah, and all the other Prophets of the Ancient Law; and among the Catholic Writers, St. Austin condemns it to be utterly expelled and banished out of the Territories of Christianity. St. Jerome argues the same to be a kind of of Idolatry. Basil and Cyprian laughed at it as most contemptible. chrysostom, Eusebius, and Lactantius, utterly condemn it. Gregory, Ambrose, and Severianus, inveigh against it. The Council of Toledo utterly abandon and prohibit it. In the Synod of Martinus, and by Gregory the younger, and Alexander the third, it was Anathematised, and punished by the Civil Laws of the Emperors. Among the Ancient Romans, it was prohibited by Tiberius, Vitellius, Dioclesian, Constantine, Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, Ejected also, and Punished: by Justinian made a Capital Crime, as may appear in his Codex.   

CHAP. XXXII.  
Of Divinination in general.  
IT won't be amiss here to bring in those other sorts of Divination, drawing predictions not so much from the observation of heavenly bodies, but of inferior things that retain a kind of shadow and resemblance of heavenly things; that those things being understood, ye may the better understand this Astrological Tree that yields such trashie Fruit; and from whence, as from a Lernaean Hydra, the Beast of so many Heads is generated. Among the Arts therefore of Fortune-telling Vulgarly professed in hope of gain, are Physiognomy, metoposcopy, Chiromancy, Soothsaying, Speculatory, and Interpretation of Dreams; to which we may add the mad Oracles of former times: All which have not the least of solid Learning in them, nor have any ground of Reason to fix on, but depend upon Chance, familiarity with Spirits, or some apparent Conjectures, which are gathered from ancient Traditions, or long Observations. For all these prodigious Arts of Divination, defend themselves with the Buckler of Experience, and to dis-entangle themselves out of the bonds of hampring Objections, by suggesting to work beyond Faith and Reason; of all which, the Law takes notice, thus Commanding: Let none be found among you that maketh his Son go through the fi●e, or that useth Witchcraft, or a regarder of times, or a marker of the flying of fowls, or a Sorcerer, or a Charmer, or that counseleth with Spirits, or a Soothsayer: for all that do those things are an abomination unto the Lord.   

CHAP. XXXIII.  
Of Physiognomy.  
PHysiognomy taking Nature for her Guide, upon an inspection, and well observing the outward parts of the Body, presumes to conjecture by probable tokens, at the qualities of the Mind, and Fortune of the Person; making one Man to be Saturnal, another a Jovist, this man to be born under Mars, another under Sol, some under Venus, some under Mercury, some under Luna; and from the Habits of the Body, collects their Horoscopes, gliding by little and little from Affections to Astrological Causes, upon which Foundations they Erect what idle Structures they themselves please.   

CHAP. XXXIV.  
Of metoposcopy.  
metoposcopy, to know all things from the sole Observation of the Forehead, prying even into the very beginnings, progress, and end of a Man's Life, with a most Acute Judgement, and Learned Experience; making herself to be likewise a Foster-Child of Astrology.   

CHAP. XXXV.  
Of Chiromancy.  
CHiromancy fancies Seven Mountains in the Palm of a Man's Hand, according to the number of the Seven Planets; and by the Lines which are there to be seen, judges of the Complexion, Condition, and Fortune of the Person; imagining the harmonious disposition of the Lines, to be as it were certain Celestial Characters stamped upon us by God and Nature, and which, as Job saith, God imprinted or put in the hands of men, that so every one might know his works; though it be plain, that the Divine Author doth not there Treat of vain Chiromancy, but of the Liberty of the Will. These Fortune-tellers have this to say for themselves, That though they judge not of the Events or Effects of things by the Causes of things, yet they judge thereof by such Signs as are taken like Impressions from the same or like Causes, which to the same things continue still the same; and to things alike, continue still alike. They farther say, That Pythagoras made use of this Art, who made his Conjectures of the Nature, Conditions, and Ingenuity of Children, by the lineaments and features of the Face and Body, and received none into his School but such as he judged capable of Learning. Which was also the practice of Pharaotes King of India, as Philostratus relates. But there is no need to bring any other reason to make manifest the Errors of this Arts Professors, than only that one, that they have no Reason in 'um. Many grave and ancient Authors have Written concerning the same, as Hermes, Alchindus, Pythagoras, Pharaotes the Indian, Zophirus, Helenus, Ptolomeus, Aristoteles, Alpharabius: besides these, Galen, Avicen, Rasis, Julianus, Maternus, Loxius, Philemon, Palamon, Constantine and Africanus: among the Latins, Lucius Sylla and Caesar were mightily addicted to this Art. Of later years, Peter of Appo, Albert the Teutonick, Michael Scotus, Antiochus Bartholomeus, Coclitis, Michael Savonarola, Antonius Cermisonus, Petrus de arca, Andreas Corvus, Tricassus Mantuanus, Johannes de Indagine, and many other famous Physicians: but none of them have been able to make any farther progress than Conjecture, and observation of Experience. Now that there is no certainty in these Conjectures and Observations, is manifest from thence, because they are Figments grounded upon the Will; and about which, the Masters thereof of equal Learning and Authority do very much differ. Therefore are they most certainly mad, and drowned in Error, that will undertake to foretell by such Signs as these, not only the Complexion of the Body, and Disposition Natural; but also the very Affections of the Mind, and Chances of Fortune, evident in the judgement of Zopyrus concerning Socrates. Nor must we believe what Appion the Grammarian hath left behind him in writing, that one Alexander did so discerningly paint or express the likenesses of resemblance, that from thence he could tell the certain years of past or future death; which that they can be known by those Arts, is not so much incredible as it is impossible. But it is given to these idle sort of people thus to dote and frame Chimeras to themselves by the instinct of the Devil, who by that means leads them from Error into Superstition, and from Superstition into Infidelity.   

CHAP. XXXVI.  
Of Geomancy.  
GEomancy, of which we have spoken before in the Chapter of Arithmetic, is an Art that by certain Points separated either by Chance or by Force; out of which it composes certain Figures by Numbers Even and Odd, likened to those in the Heavens; makes a kind of Divination, and therefore by all Writers called the Daughter of Astrology. There is another sort of Geomancy which Almadal the Arabian introduced; which by conjectures taken from sound, or appearance, as Noise in the Earth, motion, cleaving, swelling of the same, as also by the sounds of Thunder, raiseth a kind of Divination, or Fortune-telling; leaning entirely upon the Prop of Astrology, as very observant of hours, of Lunations, as also of the Rising, Setting, and Figures of the Stars.   

CHAP. XXXVII.  
Of Augury.  
AVgurie, or marking the Entrails of Fowls, of which there are many sorts, is an Art which was held in great Veneration in Ancient times; even so great was the esteem thereof, that nothing of those things that belonged either to public or private Affairs was acted, before the Entrails of Beasts were inspected. This most ancient Art, as Pomponius Laetus testifies, was received by the Greeks from the Caldees; the first among whom Amphiateus, Tiresias, Mopsus, Aphilotes and Calchas, were accounted the chief: from the Grecians it passed to the Etrurians, and from them to the Latins. Romulus himself was a Soothsayer, who first Ordained, that the choice of Magistrates should be confirmed by Augury: and Dionysius tells us, That the Art of Soothsaying was most ancient even in the time of the Aborigines: and Ascanius before he put his Battle in Array against Mezentius, made an Inspection into the Fowl; and seeing the Augury answered his expectation, he Fought and overcame. The Phrygians also, Pisidians, Cilicians, Arabians, Vmbrians, Tuscans, and many others, observed the Ceremonies of Soothsaying. The Lacedæmonians always had an Augur to attend upon their Kings, whom they appointed to be always attending in Public Councils; and among the Romans there was a College of Augurs. They who first brought this Art in request, were those that taught how that there were certain Lights of discovery and Revelation that descended from the Heavenly Bodies upon the Inferior, as it were certain Signs constituted and settled in their Motion, Lying, Resting, Gesture, Walking, Flying, Voice, and Feeding, in their Colour and Working; wherein, by a certain occult Force, and silent Harmony, they do so far sympathise with the Celestial Bodies, with whose qualities they are affected, that thereby they are enabled to foretell whatever those Celestial Bodies intent to act. From whence it is apparent, that this sort of Divination depends only upon Conjecture, grounded partly upon the Influences of the Stars, partly taken from parabolical Similitudes, than which there is nothing more deceitful. Therefore Panaetius and Carneades, Cicero, Chrysippus, Diogenes, Antipater, Josephus, and Philo, held it very ridiculous: besides, the Law and the Church condemn it. Of this sort are those Mysteries of the Caldaeans and Egyptians, which the Etrurians of old, than the Romans, and now the vulgar sort of Superstitious Heathens adore.   

CHAP. XXXVIII.  
Of Speculatory Divination.  
UPon the same Grounds the Art of Speculatory Divination, is founded which makes interpretations of Thunder and Lightning, and other Airy Meteors, as also of Monsters and Prodigies; but no otherwise than by Conjecture and Comparison; which how false and erroneous it is, is notoriously manifest.   

CHAP. XXXIX.  
Of Interpretation of Dreams.  
HEre we may usher in the Interpretation of Dreams called Onirocritica, whose Interpreters are properly called Conjecturers: according to that Verse in Euripides; 
He that Conjectures lest amiss,  
Of all, the best of Prophets is.  To this Delusion, not a few great Philosophers have given not a little credit, especially Democritus, Aristotle, and his follower Themistius, Sinesius also the Platonic, so far building upon Examples of Dreams, which some accident hath made to be true, that thence they endeavour to persuade Men, that there are no Dreams but what are real. For say they, as the Celestial Influences produce divers Forms in Corporeal Matter, so out of certain Influences predominating over the power of the Fancy, the impression of Visions is made, being Consentaneous, through the disposition of the Heavens, to the Effect which is to be produced; more especially in Dreams, because the mind being then at liberty from all corporeal Cares and Exercises, more freely receives the Divine Influences: therefore it happens, that many things are revealed in Dreams to them that are asleep, which are concealed from them that wake. With these reasons they pretend to beget a good Opinion of the Truth of Dreams. But as to the Causes of Dreams both External and Internal they do not all agree in one judgement. For the Platonics reckon them among the specific and concrete Notions of the Soul. Avicen makes the Cause of Dreams to be an ultimate Intelligence moving the Moon in the middle of that Light with which the Fancies of men are Illuminate while they sleep. Aristotle refers the Cause thereof to Common Sense, but placed in the Fancy. Averro places the Cause in the Imagination. Democritus ascribes it to little Images or Representatives, separated from the things themselves. Albertus, to the Superior Influences, which continually flow from the Sky through many Specific Mediums. The Physicians impute the Cause thereof to Vapours and Humours; others to the affections and cares predominant in persons when awake. Others join the powers of the Soul, Celestial Influences and Images together, all making but one Cause. Arthemidorus and Daldianus have written of the Interpretation of Dreams: and certain Books go about under Abraham's Name, whom Philo in his Book of the Giants and of Civil Life, asserts to have been the first Practiser thereof. Other Treatises there are falsified under the Names of David and Solomon, wherein are to be read nothing but mere Dreams concerning Dreams. But Marcus Cicero in his Book of Divination, hath given sufficient Reasons against the vanity and folly of those that give Credit to Dreams, which I purposely here omit.   

CHAP. XL.  
Of Madness.  
BUT though I had almost forgot it, let us with these Dreamers number those that give a kind of sacred Credit to the Prophecies of Mad-folks, who themselves have lost all knowledge of things present, memory of past, and indeed all humane sense, fond imagining them to have the gift of Foreknowledge; as if what the wise and waking know not, Mad-folks and Dreamers should see; as if God were nearer at hand to them, than to the vigilant, watchful, intelligible, and those that are full of premeditation. Unhappy men that believe such Vanity, that give obedience to such Impostures, that cherish such Deluders, submitting their own Faith and Discretion to their Bellies. For what can we imagine Madness to be, but a departure of Reason persecuted by evil Spirits, conveyed through the Stars, or through the Inferior Bodies by the bad Angels? which Lucan seems to intimate, when he brings in Arvus the Tuscan Prophet: 
In Thunder's motion skilled, and Lightnings bright,  
And in the downy Feathers airy flight.  Then after the City-Procession, after the Offering slain, after the Entrails inspected, he brings in a Potter, thus delivering his judgement: 
What rage, ye Gods, what w●es do ye prepare?  
If Saturn's baneful Star in topmost Air  
Should kindle his dull Fires, we then should moan  
To see Aquarius pour whole Rivers down,  
And all the World in total deluge drown.  
If Sol should mount the Nemaean Lions back,  
In Flame would all the World's whole Fabric crack,  
And all the Sky with Sol's burnt Chariot blaze  
These Aspects cease; but thou that burntst the claws,  
And firk'st the Tail of threatening Scorpion.  
What great thing breed'st thou Mars? mild Jove goes down  
Oppressed in his fall, and in the Skies  
The wholesome Star of Venus dulled is,  
Mercury loses his swift motion,  
And fiery Mars rules in the Sky alone.  
Why do the Stars their Course forsaking glide  
Obscurely through the Air? why does the side  
Of Sword-breaking Orion shine too bright?  
Wars rage is threatened, the Sword's power all right  
Confounds by force: Impiety shall bear  
The name of Virtue; and for many a year  
This fury lasts.  Therefore all these delusions of Divination have their root and foundation from Astrology. For whether the Lineaments of the Body, Countenance, or Hand be inspected, whether Dream or Vision be seen, whethe marking of Entrails or mad Inspiration be consulted, there must be a Celestial Figure first erected, by the means of whose indications, together with the conjectures of Signs and Similitudes, they endeavour to find out the truth of what is desired: So requisite is the use of Astrology to the Arts of Divination, as if it were the Key that opens the door of all their Mysteries. Therefore how much all these Arts are distant from Truth, is evident from this, that they make use of principles so absolutely false and feigned; which being such as neither are, ever were, or will be, and yet they will have to be the causes of future Events, what can appear to be more contrary to all Truth?   

CHAP. XLI.  
Of Magic in general.  
IT is requisite that we should here say something of Magic, which is so linked to Astrology, as being her near Kinswoman, that whoever professes Magic without Astrology, does nothing, but is altogether out of the way. Suidas is of opinion, that Magic took its Original and Name from the Magusaei. The common opinion is, that it is a Persian name, with whom Porphyrius and Apuleius consent; and that Magos signifies in that Language, no more than a Wise man or a Philosopher; so that Magic containing both Natural Philosophy, and the Mathematics, takes into the same Society the forces and bands of all Religions; joining to its self Goetia and Theurgy; which is the reason that Magic is generally divided into Natural and Ceremonial.   

CHAP. XLII.  
Of Natural Magic.  
NAtural Magic is taken to be nothing else, but the chief power of all the natural Sciences; which therefore they call the top and perfection of Natural Philosophy, and which is indeed the active part of the same; which by the assistance of natural force and faculties, through their mutual & opportune application, performs those things that are above Humane Reason. The Aethiopians and Indians were the greatest admirers of Magic, where there was a great supply of variety of Stones and Herbs conducing thereto. Of this, some think that St. Jerome to Paulinus makes mention, where he saith, That Apollonius Tyaneus was a Magician or Philosopher. Of the same sort were those Magis who bringing Gifts to Christ, did first adore him; which the Expositors of the Evangels call the Philosophers of the Caldaeans. Such were the Hiarches among the brahmin's, Tespion among the Gymnosophists, Budda among the Babylonians, Numa Pompilius among the Romans, Zamolxides among the Thracians, Abbas among the Hyperborcans, Hermes among the Egyptians, Zorastes the Son of Ormasus among the Persians. for the Indians, Aethiopians, and Persians always had the pre-eminence in Magic: wherein, as Plato in his Alcibiades testifies, the Children of the Persian Emperors were always instructed, that they might learn to govern the Kingdom by the Pattern of the Grand and Universal Order. And Cicero, in his Book of Divinations, asserts, That no Persian could enjoy the Sceptre of that Empire, if he were not skilled in Magic. Natural Magic therefore is that, which considering well the strength and force of Natural and Celestial beings, and with great curiosity labouring to discover their affections, produces into open Act the hidden and concealed powers of Nature; so cupoling inferior with superior faculties, by a mutual application thereof, that from thence many times great and marvellous Miracles have been effected: not so much by Art, as Nature, to whom Art only shows herself a Handmaid and Assistant in her operations. For Magicians, as the most accurate inquirers into Nature, taking along those things which are prepared by Nature, and applying Actives to Passives, oftentimes produce effects before the time ordained by Nature; which therefore the Vulgar take for Miracles, when they are notwithstanding only natural Operations: as if any person should in March produce Roses, ripe Figs, or Garden-beans; or should cause Parsley to spring from the Seed into a perfect Plant in few hours; and greater things than these, as to cause Thunder, Clouds, Rain, Animals of divers sorts; and several transmutations and transigurations of living beings, such as Roger Bacon is said to have done by pure natural Magic. Of these Operations sundry have written: as Zoroaster, Hermes, Evantes King of the Arabians, Zachary of Babylon, Joseph the Jew, Bocus, Aaron, Zenotenus, Kirannides, Almadal, Thedel, Alchindus, Abel, Ptolemy, Geber, Zahel, Nazaharub, Tebith Erith, Salomo, Astropho, Hipparchus, Alcmeon, Apollonius, Tryphon, and many others; of which Writings there are many whole and entire, some imperfect, which have come to my hands. Of Modern Writers, there have been but few who have treated of Natu●●l Magic, nor have they left many Writings behind them; that is to say, Albertus, Arnoldus de Villa nova, Raymund Lul, Bacon and Aponus, and the Author of the Book dedicated to Alphonsus, which mingles abundance of Superstition with Natural Magic, which many others have also done.   

CHAP. XLIII.  
Of Mathematical Magic.  
THere are besides these, many other imitators of Nature, wise inquirers into hidden things, who without the help of natural Virtues and Efficacies, confidently undertake, only by Mathematical learning, and the help of Celestial influences, to produce many miraculous Works, as walking and speaking Bodies; which notwithstanding are not the real Animal: such was the wooden Dove of Archytas, which flew; the Statues of Mercury, that talked; and the Brazen Head made by Albertus Magnus, which is said to have spoken. In these things Boetius excelled, a man of a large Ingenuity, and manifold Learning; to whom Cassiodorus writing upon this Subject, Thou, saith he, hast propounded to thyself to do great things, and to know the most difficult: by thy ingenious skill Metals are heard to roar, Brazen Diomedes sounds a Trumpet, a Brazen Serpent hisses, Birds are counterfeited, and they that are incapable of a voice of their own, yet are heard to make a sweet noise: We relate but small things of thee, that hast so great a power to imitate Heaven. Of these delusory Sciences may be said that which we read in Plato's tenth Book of Laws: Art is given to Mortals, which enables them to produce certain posterior and succeeding Inventio●s, neither partaking of Truth or Divinity, but certain Imitations somewhat akin thereto: Wherein Magicians have adventured to proceed so far, by the help of that ancient and subtle Serpent, the great promiser of knowledge; that Aping him, they become imitators of God and Nature.   

CHAP. XLIV.  
Of Witchcraft.  
THere is a sort of Natural Magic, which they call Witchcraft; the effects whereof are wrought by Potions, Philters, and other compositions of Medicaments: such as Democritus is said to have made for the begetting of good, happy, and fortunate Children; and that other by which we should be able to understand the Language of Birds, which Philostratus and Porphyrius relate Apollonius to have made. Virgil also speaking of certain Pontic herbs: 
Such Herbs as these when Meris used,  
Straight as a Wolf unto the Woods did flee;  
And by their powerful Charms dead bodies reared  
From out their Graves in open Air appeared.  
And Crops of Corn to ripeness were improved,  
Straight have I seen to other Fields removed.  And Pliny declares, that one Demarchus Parrasius at a Sacrifice which the Arcadians made to Jupiter Lycaeus, wherein they offered Humane Bodies, tasted the Entrails of a Boy, and straight changed himself into a Wolf; by reason of which transmutation into Wolves, Austin believes the name of Lycaeus was attributed to Jupiter and Pan. St. Austin declares also, That when he was in Italy, certain Female Witches, like Circe, giving to certain Travellers a kind of Enchanting Medicament in Cheese, turned them into Cattle; and when they had made them to carry what burdens they thought fitting, they restored them again to their former shape: which thing, as he affirms, happened to one Father Prestantius. Now, lest any person should believe these things to be mere Chimaeras and Fictions, let him remember how Sacred Scripture testifies of Nebuchadnezzar's being changed into an Ox, and that he lived upon Fodder seven years together; though at length, by the mercy of God, he was restored to his former shape; whose body his son Evilmerodach, after he was dead, caused to be thrown to the Vultures to feed on, lest he should rise from the dead, that had been changed from a Beast into a Man. And concerning Pharaoh's Magicians, many more things are related in Exodus. But of these Magicians or Witches, the Wise man speaketh but a hard Sentence, when he cries, Thou hast abhorred them O God, because they work abominable works by Medicaments. I would have you also farther to understand, that these Magicians do not only pry into Natural things, but also those things which accompany Nature, and do almost shake off all Relation to her; as Numbers, Figures, Sounds, Voice, Lights, Affections of the mind, and words. So the Psylli and Marsi called Serpents together, which others with other Charms put to flight. So Orpheus assuaged the Tempest of the Argonauts with a Song: and Homer relates, how the course of Ulysses' blood was stopped by the power of words. Moreover, in the Law of the Twelve Tables, there is a Law against those that did inchant the standing Corn; whereby it is apparent, that Witches have a power by the force of words, to produce strange Effects, not only upon themselves, but also upon outward things: All which things, that is to say, to separate the hidden force of things, and either draw them to themselves, and repel them from themselves, they credibly believe themselves to effect no other way than as the Loadstone draws Iron, or Amber or Jet draws Chaff, and as Onions again destroys the Magnetic Power. So that by this Gradual and Concatenated Sympathy, not only Natural and Celestial Gifts, but also Intellectual and Divine may be received into humane Souls, as jamblicus, Proculus, and Sinesius gather from the Opinions of Great Men; and that by this Consent and Harmony of things, Magicians do call up the very Spirits. For some of them are arrived at such a height of Madness, that they believe that upon the right Observation of such and such Constellations at such intervals of time, and by such reason of Proportions, an Image being made would receive Life and Motion; which upon counsel desired, should be able to give Answers, and Reveal the hidden Secrets of Truth. Hence it is manifest, That this Natural Magic inclining toward Conjuring and Necromancy, is often entangled in the Snares and Delusions of Evil Spirits.   

CHAP. XLV.  
Of Conjuring and Necromancy.  
THE Ceremonial Parts of Magic, Conjuring and Necromancy. Geocie or Conjuring, cursed for being familiar with unclean Spirits, ceremonies of wicked curiosity, composed of Prayers and Enchantments, is held Abominable, and wholly Condemned by the Decrees of all Lawgivers.  
Men hateful to the Gods, that slain the Sky,  
And blot the Stars, though Nature's Progeny:  
The settled course of things they can confound;  
Can fix the Poles, send Lightnings on the ground;  
Pull down the Heavens, and Hills eradicate.  
These are those that Invoke the Souls of dead Bodies, who Enchant Children, and cause them to give the Answer of the Oracle; and as we read of Socrates, carry about with them certain Pocket- Daemons; and who, as they say, nourish little Spirits in Glasses, by which they pretend to Foretell and Prophesy. All these proceed in a twofold manner. For some of them make it their business to adjure and compel Evil Spirits to appearance, by the Efficacy and Power of sacred Names; because seeing that every Creature doth fear and reverence the Name of its Creator, no wonder if Conjurors, and other Infidels, Pagans, Jews, Saracens, or profane Persons, do think to force the Devil's Obedience by the Terror of his Creator's Name. Others, more to be detested than they, and worthy the utmost punishment of Fire, submitting themselves to the Devils, sacrifice to them, and Worship them, become guilty of the vilest subjection and Idolatry that may be; to which Crimes though the former are not quite so obnoxious, yet they expose themselves to manifest dangers. For the Devils are always watchful to entrap Men in the Errors they heedlessly run into. From this insipid crowd of Conjurors have flowed all those Books of Darkness, which Ulpian the Civilian calls by the name of forbidden Writings. Of which, one of the first Authors is said to be Zabulus, a man wholly inclined to unlawful Arts. Then Barnabas 〈◊〉 Cyprian; and now frequently other Books are Published up and down, under the feigned Titles and Names of Adam, Abel, Enoch, Abraham, and Solomon; others under the Names of Paulus, Honorius, Cyprian, Albertus, Thomas, Jerome, and one Eboracensis; to whose silly trifles Alphonsus King of Castille, Robert the Englishman, Bacon, Apponus, and many other of depraved Fancies have adhered. But besides this, they have not only made the holy Patriarches and Angels Authors and Upholders of their detestable Studies, but also show several Books which they pretend were written and delivered by Razial and Raphael, tutelar Angels of Adam and Tobias. Which Books notwithstanding, to any one that narrowly considers the Rules of the Masters, the Customs and Ordinances of their Ceremonies, the Nature and Choice of their Words and Characters, their insipid and barbarous Pharases, sufficiently betray themselves to contain nothing but mere Toys and Geugaws, and that they were in far later Ages contrived by such as were utterly ignorant of that Magic Professed by the Ancients, being ●ounded only upon certain profane Observations mixed with the Ceremonies of our Religion, with an addition of many unknown Names and Characters, to terrify ignorant and silly people, and to amuse those that are void of sense and understanding. Neither doth it therefore follow, that these Delusions are Fables; for unless there were something of reality in them, and that many mischievous and wicked things were accomplished thereby, both Divine and Humane Laws had not so strictly provided for the punishment thereof, and Ordained them to be quite extirpated from the Earth. Now why these Conjurers make use only of evil Spirits, the reason is, because the Good Angels seldom appear, being only attendant on the Commands of God, and not vouchsafing to be known, but only to upright and holy Men. But evil Spirits submit themselves more willingly to their Invocations, falsely assuming to themselves, and counterfeiting Divinity, always ready to deceive, and delighting to be adored and worshipped: and because Women are more covetous of the Knowledge of Secrets, and not less cautious and prone to Superstition, and more easily Deluded; therefore to them the Devils show themselves more familiar, and make them the performers of many Miracles, as are related of Circe and Medea; of many others the Stories of the Poets are full: and Cicero, Pliny, Seneca, St. Austin, and many others, both Philosophers, Doctors, and Historians, as also Sacred Writ, bring many Testimonies; For in the Book of Samuel we read of a certain Woman-Witch that lived in Endor, that raised the Soul of Samuel: though most Interpreters agree, that it was not the soul of Samuel, but an Evil spirit that took upon him the shape of the Prophet. Yet some of the Hebrew Doctors aver, neither doth St. Austin to Simplician deny the possibility thereof, that it was the true Soul of Samuel, which before a complete Year after its departure from the Body, might be easily called up, according to the rule of Necromancy. The Necromantic Magicians believe, that the same may be performed by certain Natural ties and Obligations; which was the reason that the Ancient Father's well-read in Spirituals, not without good cause, ordained, that the Bodies of the Dead might be buried in Holy-ground; should be assisted with Lights, and sprinkled with Holywater, be perfumed with Incense, and prayed for by the Living, so long as they were above Ground. For say the Hebrew Doctors, All our Carnal Body remains as Food for the Serpent which they call Arazel, which is Lord of the Flesh and the Blood, and Prince of this World: in Leviticus named the Prince of the Deserts: to whom it was said in Genesis, Thou shalt eat the dust all the days of thy life. And in Isaiah, The Dust is thy bread, that is, our Corporeal Body Created out of the dust of the Earth, so long as it remains unsanctified, and not changed for the better, to be no longer then at the disposal of the Serpent, but of God, according to the word of St. Paul: It is sowed corporal, but shall rise spiritual: And in another place, All shall rise, but all shall not be changed; for that many shall remain perpetual food for the Serpent. This foul and detestable matter of the Flesh, the food of the Serpent, lies in the Grave, in hopes of a better Lot, and spiritual Transmutation; which is already come to pass in those that have already tasted the first-Fruits of Redemption; and some have attained it by virtue of the Deifick Spirit, as Elias and Enoch, and as some are of opinion, Moses; whose bodies being changed into the nature of Spirits, never saw corruption, nor, as other Carcases, were left to the power of the Serpent. And something to this purpose, it was thought, was the great dispute of Michael with the Devil about the body of Moses, which St. Judas mentions in his Epistle. Thus much concerning Conjuring and Necromancy.   

CHAP. XLVI.  
Of Theurgy.  
MAny there are that believe Theurgy not to be unlawful, which pretends to have to do with none but good Angels, and the Divine Numen himself; though under the names of God and Angels, it proves to be only the delusion and mockery of evil Spirits. It pretends no natural Power, but to make use of Celestial Ceremonies, by which they think to attract and reconcile the Divine Natures: Concerning which, the ancient Magis have delivered several Rules in several Volumes. But the chiefest part of their Ceremonies is, in observing Cleanliness, first of the Soul, then of the Body, then of those things about the Body, as in the Skin, the Garments, the Dwelling, Vessels, Utensils, Immolations, and Sacrifices; which cleanliness renders them capable of being the receptacles, and fit for the entertainment of Divine Spirits, and is very much encouraged and commended in Sacred Scripture, according to the words of Esay: Be glad and be clean, and take away the evil of your thoughts. But uncleanness, which often corrupts, and defiles, and infects man, disturbs the most clean and pure Society of Celestial Being's, and chases away the spotless Spirits and Angels of God. It is true, that many times unclean and delusive powers, to the end they may be adored and worshipped for Gods, do counterfeit this Purity; and therefore great diligence and care is to be used for the avoiding thereof; and therefore we have abundantly discoursed thereof in our Books of Occult Philosophy. Now of this Theurgy or Divine Magic, Porphyrius having delivered many things, at length concludes, that by Theurgic Operations the soul may be made fit to receive Spirits and Angels, and to see and converse with them: but that there can be any access to the Deity thereby, he altogether denies. His Rules and Directions are contained in his Art Almabel, his Notorious Art, his Art Pauline, & his Art of Revelations, where are abundance of Superstitions to be found, which are so much the more pernicious, by how much they seem more Losty and Divine to the unskilful.   

CHAP. XLVII.  
Of the Cabalists.  
HEre the words of Pliny come into my mind: There is, saith he, another Sect of Magicians, of which Moses and Latopea, Jews, were the first Authors; which words bring to my remembrance the Cabala of the Jews, which as the constant opinion among the Hebrews goes, was delivered by God to Moses, and thence, through succession of Ages, even to the times of Ezra, preserved by Tradition only, without the help of writing. As of old the Doctrine of Pythagoras was delivered by Archippus and Lysiades, who kept School at Thebes in Greece, where the Scholars learning all their Master's Precepts by heart, made use only of their Memories instead of Books. So certain Jews despising Letters, placed all their Learning in Memory, Observation, and verbal Tradition; whence it was called by the Hebrews, Cabala, that is to say, a receiving from one to another by the Ear: An Art, by report, very ancient, though the name be but of later times known among the Christians. Now this Cabala they divide into three parts: the first contains the knowledge of Bresith, which they call also Cosmology, explaining and teaching the force and efficacy of things created, Natural or Celestial; expounding also the Laws and Mysteries of the Bible according to Philosophical reasons, which for that cause differs little from Natural Magic, wherein they say K. Solomon excelled. Therefore we find in the Sacred Histories of the Jews, that he was wont to discourse from the Cedar of Libanon to the low Hyssop; as also of Cattle, Birds, Reptiles, and Fish, all which contain within themselves a certain kind of Magical virtue. Moses also the Egyptian, in his Expositions upon the Pentateuch, and most of the Talmudists, have followed the Rules of this Art. The other part thereof contains the knowledge of more sublime things, as of Divine and Angelical Powers, the contemplation of Sacred Names and Characters; being a certain kind of Symbolical Theology, wherein the Letters, Figures, Numbers, Names, Points, Lines, Accents, are esteemed to contain the significations of most profound things, and great Mysteries. This part again is twofold: Arithmantick, handling the nature of Angels, the Powers, Names, Characters of Spirits and Souls departed; and Theomantick, which searches into the mysteries of the Divine Majesty, his Emanations, his Names, and Pentacula, which he that attains to, they account endued with most admirable power. By virtue of this Art they say Moses wrought so many Miracles, changing his Rod into a Serpent, the Water into Blood, and plagued Egypt with Frogs, Flies, Lice, Locusts, hemorrhoids, and Pestilence, slaying the firstborn of Man and Beast: By this Art he divided the Red-sea, caused Water to flow out of the Rock, brought the Qualls into the Wilderness, sweetened the bitter Waters, made Lightning by day, and a Pillar of Fire by night to lead the March of his people, called down the Voice of God among the people. By this Art he punished the Arrogant with Fire, the Murmurers with Leprosy, Mutineers with sudden Destruction, causing the Earth to swallow them up; preserved the Clothes of the Israelites from wearing out, and gave them Victory over their Enemies. Lastly, by means of this Art, Josua commanded the Sun to stand still; Elias called down Fire from Heaven, and raised the dead Youth to life; Daniel muzzled the Lion's mouths, and the three Children sang in the middle of the fiery Furnace. Nay, the perfidious and unbelieving Jews stick not to aver, that Christ himself wrought all his Miracles by virtue of this Art. Solomon, as they say, did excel in this Art, and that he discovered several secrets thereof, containing several Charms against Devils and their Possessings; as also against Diseases, as Josephus writes. As for my part, as I do not doubt but that God Revealed many things to Moses and the Prophets, which were contained under the Covert of the words of the Law, which were not to be communicated to the profane Vulgar: so for this Art which the Jews so much boast of, which I have with great Labour and diligence s●arch'd into, I must acknowledge it to be a mere Rhapsody of superstition, and nothing but a kind of Theurgic Magic before spoken of. For if, as the Jews contend, coming from God, it did any way conduce to perfection of Life, Salvation of Men, Truth of Understanding; certainly that Spirit of Truth, which having forsaken the Synagogue, is now come to teach us all Truth, had never concealed it all this while from the Church, which certainly knows all those things that are of God; whose Grace, Baptism, and other Sacraments of Salvation, are perfectly Revealed to all Languages. For every Language is alike, so that there be the same Piety; neither is there any other Name in Heaven or on Earth, by which we can be Saved, but only the Name of Jesus. Wherefore the Jews most skilful in Divine Names, after the coming of Christ were able to do nothing, in comparison of their Forefathers. But by that which we have common Experience of, we see, that ofttimes wonderful Sentences of very great Mysteries are wrested from the Sacred Text; that is, nothing but a certain playing with Allegories, which some slothful Persons employed only in the consideration of particular Points, Letters, or Figures, which this Language and manner of Writing easily admit of, take occasion to fancy; which many times make a noise as if they were very great Mysteries, but are able to prove or evince nothing; but that according to the words of St. Gregory, they may be contemned with the same easiness, as they are Asserted. Rabanus the Monk has invented several of these, but in Latin Characters and Verses, inserting sundry Pictures, which being to be read which way soever you turn the Letters, declare some Sacred Mystery representing the Painted History; which no man denies; but that they may be extorted out of profane Authors, no person is ignorant, especially he that hath read the Centones upon Christ, composed out of Virgil, by Valeria Proba: all which things, and all of this Nature, are but the speculations of Idle People. But as to what pertains to the working of Miracles, surely there is no man can be so stupid, as to believe there is any force in this Art to accomplish any such thing. The Cabala of the Jews therefore is nothing else, but a most pernicious Superstition, the which by Collecting, Dividing, and Changing several Words, Names and Letters dispersed up and down in the Bible, at their own good will and pleasure, and making one thing out of another, they dissolve the Members of Truth, raising up sentences, Inductions, and Parables of their own, apply thereto the Oracles of Divine Scripture to them, defaming the Scriptures, and affirming their Figments to consist of them, Blaspheme the Word of God by their wrested suppositions of Words, Syllables, Letters and Numbers; endeavouring to prop up their Villainous Inventions, by Arguments drawn from their own Delusions. And being blown and puffed up with these Trifles, boast themselves to have found out, and to know those ineffable Mysteries of God which are not Revealed in Scripture; by means whereof, they are able to Prophesy, Work Miracles; all which they blush not with confidence to aver. But it happens to them, as it did to Aesop's Dog, who leaving the substance, and catching after the shadow, lost his Food; who being always busied in the shadows of the Scripture, and laborious in the study of their own Fictions, their Superstitious Cabala, snatching at they know not what, they lose the Bread of Eternal Life; and feeding upon empty Notions, lose the Word of Truth. From this Judaical ferment of Cabalistical Superstition, I verily believe the Ophites, Gnostics, and Valentinians came, Heretics that with the help of their Disciples invented a Cabala, corrupting the Mysteries of the Christian Faith; and by a Heretical Artifice, drawing and patching together the Greek Letters and Numbers, and framing out of them a thing, which they call, The Body of Truth; they teach, that without the help of those Letters and Numbers, the Truth of the Gospel cannot be found out, being so various and repugnant one to another, and full of Parables; written so, that those that have Eyes should not see, and those that have Ears should not hear, but propounded to the Blind, and wand'ring according to their weak capacities; so that the hidden Truth is not to be understood by Writing, but by successive Tradition, delivered Viva Voce, which, they say, was that Alphabetary and Arithmantick Theology secretly delivered to his Apostles by Christ himself, and which St. Paul saith, He only speaks among those that are perfect. For these being most high Mysteries, therefore they are not written, nor to be written; but to be kept in silence among the Wise Men, who are to reserve them in the most secret parts of their Hearts.   

CHAP. XLVIII.  
Of Witchcraft.  
BUt to return to Magic, a part of which is the delusion of Witchcraft, that is to say, of delusions that are only made in outward appearance, such as are the Phantasms and Miracles daily wrought by common Jugglers; which is not so much performed by Geotick Enchantments, and Imprecations, and Fallacies of Spirits, but by Fumigations, Lights, Philters, Collyries, binding and hanging of Phylacteries and Charms to the parts of the body, Rings, Images, Glasses, and like devices of Magic Arts. Many things are performed by Agility and slight of hand, as we see done by Players and Jugglers; which are therefore by some called Hand-philosophers, or Chirosophi. Of this Juggling Art there are many Treatises extant, written by Hermes and others. We read of one Pas●tes a Juggler that was wont to show a great Banquet to an abundance of Guests sitting thereat, which when he pleased he caused to vanish again out of sight, leaving all the Guests a-dry and hungry. Numa Pompilius also made use of these kind of Prestiges or Witchcrafts: And we read how that the most learned Pythagoras did once ridiculously act an odd business, which was this: That which came into his mind he wrote in a Glass with his Blood, which being held against the Full Moon, whatever was written appeared to him that stood behind, as if it had been in the body of the Moon. To this, whatsoever is written of the changing of men's shapes, either believed by Poets, related by Historians, or credited by some of our Divines. Thus some men seem to have the shape of Asses or Horses, or other Animals; the Medium Air being disturbed, or else the Eyes by some Incantation fascinated, such things as these sometimes seem to be done by good and evil Spirits, or else upon the Prayers of good men to God; as we read of Elisha, when Dothan was besieged by the Army of the King of Assyria: but the pure and open sight of God cannot be deceived. Thus the woman, which the people thought to have been a Cow, to Hilarion appeared to be what she was indeed, a woman. Thus those things which are said to be done by deception of the sight, are called Praestigia. But the transmutation of shape, as of Nebuch●donozor, or of place, and when the Crop of Corn was removed into another field, of these we have spoken before. Now of this Art of Witchcraft jamblichus thus writes: As to what those persons who are bewitched imagine, they have no other certainty of the truth of the essence of the action, but what is barely imaginative: for the end of this Craft is not to do things simply, but to extend imagination to appearance, and then on a sudden to remove all sign of any thing. Out of all that hath been said, we must resolve, that Magic is but a mixture of Idolatry, Astrology, and superstitious Physic: And indeed there are a great crowd of Heretics that daily increase in the Church, who with their first arguments and foundations from these Magicians, who as Jannes and Jambres contradicted Moses, so do they resist the truth. The Ringleader of these, was Simon the Samaritan, who at Rome, under Claudius Caesar, was honoured with a Statue, for his excellency in this Art, with this Inscription, To Simon the Holy God: Whose Blasphemies are sufficiently related by Clement, Eusebius, and Irenaeus. From the Positions of this Simon, as from a Seminary of all Heresy, sprung those monstrous Ophites, those shameful Gnostics, Cerdonians, Martionists, Montanians, and many other Heretics, for gain and vainglories sake, lying before God; yet bringing neither profit nor advantage to Men, but leading them into Error and Perdition; whose believers and admirers, the Judgement of God shall overtake. 'Tis true, that being young, I wrote three Books of Magic myself, which I Entitled, Of Occult Philosophy; in which, what Errors soever I then committed in my Youth, now grown more wary, I do publicly Recant, as having formerly spent too much time in those Vanities. This advantage I got, that now I know by what Reasons to Convince others of the Ruin which those Vanities will lead them into. For while they presume to Prophesy, and Divine, not in the Truth of God, but according to the Operations of Evil Spirits, and boast themselves the Workers of Miracles, not ceasing while they live, and Act by the means of Magic, Vanities, Exorcisms, Incantations, Love-potions, and other Demoniacal Operations, they are all with Jannes and Jambres, and Simon Magus, Destined to the Eternal Torments of Hellfire.   

CHAP. XLIX.  
Of Natural Philosophy.  
BUT let us now come to things that far surpass all these, the very Maxims of Philosophy itself, which dive into Nature itself, and inquire into the Principles of things by the means of subtle Syllogisms. Which what Truth they have more than what they borrow from the Credit of their first divulgers and defenders, there is no man that very well understands. The Poets were the first Professors thereof, among which were Prometheus, Linus, Musaeus, and Orpheus●s among which, Homer may be numbered. Now what Truth can that Philosophy afford us, which had its beginning out of the Fables and Gewgaws of the Poets? Which that it is so, Plutarch doth prove, by manifest Arguments, for that all the sects of Philosophers took their Original from Homer: and Aristotle confesses, That the Philosophers are by Nature Philomythi, that is to say, Admirers, or Lovers of Fables. The Sects of Philosophers some have divided into Nine, some into Ten; But Varro into a far greater Number. So that should one man Assemble all the Philosophers together, it were impossible to find out among them which Opinion were first to be chosen, or what Sect to follow. So repugnant and differing they are among themselves about every particular, maintaining a perpetual War one against another: and as Firmianus saith, One Sect labours to subvert another, to establish themselves and their own Opinions; neither will either grant the other to be wise lest he should acknowledge himself to be Mad. He that disputes of particular Philosophers, delivers nothing of certainty concerning any one; which makes me at a stand, whether to reckon Philosophers in the number of Men, or of Brutes: for indeed they seem to excel Beasts, in that they have Reason and Understanding; but how they should come to be Men, whose Reason is so uncertain, so unconstant, and always staggering upon various and slippery Opinions, whose Understanding cannot find out any thing fixed, either to hold by, or follow, is a very great Quere. The Truth whereof, we shall now show you more at large.   

CHAP. L.  
Of the beginning of Natural things.  
FOR first, as concerning the Principles of Natural things, upon which the whole Foundation of this Art lies, there is a most deadly Combat among the greatest and wisest Philosophers; and the Contention is yet undecided which hath determined best. Most persuasive Reasons are urged on both sides. For Thales Milesius, accounted by the Oracle the chief wise Man, was of Opinion, That all things had their beginning from Water: His Scholar, and Successor in his School, Anaximander, said, That the beginnings of things were Infinite: but his Disciple Anaximenes held the Infinite Body of Air to be the beginning of all things. Hipparchus and Heraclitus the Ephesian, held Fire to be the first Principle; to whom Archelaus the Athenian agrees. Anaxagoras the Clazomenian makes Infinite Principles, at first small and confused Particles, but afterwards by the Divine Creator reduced into Order. Xenophanes said, that there was but one beginning of all things, and that Mutable. Parmenides upheld Hot and Cold, Heat being the Fire that moved, and Cold the Earth that formed. Leucippus, Diodorus, and Democritus, were all for Full and Empty. Diogenes Laertius was altogether for the Air, which he made capable of Divine Reason. Pythagoras the Sami●● set up Number for the beginning of all things; to whom Alcmeon the Crotoniate adhered. Empedocles the Agrigentine Discord and Concord, and the four Elements: Epicurus, Atoms and Vacuum or Emptiness. Plato and Socrates, God, Idea and Matter. Aristotle raises up Matter coveting Form by privation, which he makes the Third Principle; contrary to what he has taught in another place, that Equivocals are not to be reckoned for Principles. Wherefore some later Peripatetics have set up a kind of impulsive Motion, in the stead of Privation; which being an accident, how can it be the Principle of Substance? Or what shall be the mover of this Motion? And therefore the Hebrew Philosophers admit of no other Principles than Matter, Form, and Spirit.   

CHAP. LI.  
Of the Plurality of the World, and of its Continuance.  
IN their Disputations concerning the World, they are very various. Thales was of Opinion, There was but one World, and that it was the Structure of God himself. Empedocles was of the same Opinion as to one World; but said withal, that this was a small Particle only of the Universe. But Democritus and Epicurus were of Opinion, That there were Innumerable worlds▪ whom Metrodorus their Disciple follows, saying, That there are Innumerable Worlds, being that the Causes of them are Innumerable: neither was it less absurd to think, that there should be one World in the Universe, than to imagine one Ear of Corn in a whole Field. But as to the Continuance of the World, Aristotle, Averro, Cicero, Xenophon, make it Aeternal, and void of all Corruption. For when that they could not understand, whether the Egg or the Bird were first Generated, since no Bird could be without the Egg; Hence they imagined, that this World, and the Beginning of every begotten thing, together with the End thereof, was by perpetual Revolution sempiternal. Pythagoras and the Stoics said, That the World was of God; yet as far as its Divine Nature could permit, should be corrupted in time: with whom Anaxagoras, Thales, Herocles, Avicen, Algasel, Alcmeus, and Philo the Jew, concur in Opinion. But Plato affirming that it was Created by God, after his own likeness, denies that it shall ever be destroyed. Democritus saith, That the World was once Created, shall once be Destroyed, and never more be renewed. Empedocles and Heraclitus the Ephesian were of Opinion, That the World doth every day renew, and every day perish or decay. Let us discourse of any thing which they say proceeds from a Natural Cause; as for Example, let it be an Earthquake, yet are they at no certainty therein, but wander in Extravagancies; while Anaxagoras makes the Cause thereof to be the Air; Empedocles, Fire; Thales Milesius, Water; Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Albertus, Subterraneal Wind or Vapour; Asclepiades, great Mischances, or Devastations, Possidonius, Calisthenes, and Metrodorus, the Destinies. Seneca and others variously dissenting, seem to have laboured in vain in the search thereof. And therefore the Ancient Romans, when they either felt, or heard of shaking or trembling of the Earth, commanded holidays; but never did Enact to which of the Gods they should be Dedicated, because it was uncertain what force, or which of the Gods was the Cause thereof.   

CHAP. LII.  
Of the Soul.  
IF you desire to know any thing from them concerning the Soul, there is far less of certainty among them. For Crates the Theban affirmed, that there was no Soul, but that the Body was moved by Nature. Those who grant that there is a Soul, supposed it to be the most thin and subtle of all bodies, infused into this thick and earthy body. Others there be that affirm it to be of a fiery nature; of which number were Hipparchus and Leucippus, with whom the Stoics for the most part agree, who define the Soul to be a hot Spirit, together with Democritus, who calls it a movable and fierce Spirit, mixed and infused into Atoms. Others said it was the Air, as Anaximines and Anaxagoras, Diogenes the Cynic, and Critias; with whom Varro concurs, where he says, that The Soul is Air received into the Mouth, heated in the Lungs, tempered in the Heart, and diffused over the whole Body. Others will have it of a watery substance, as Hippias. Others of an earthy substance, as Heliodorus and Pronopides; to whose opinion Anaximander and Thales willingly agree, both fellow-Citizens with Thales. Others will have it to be a Spirit composed partly of Fire and partly of Air, as Bootes' and Epicurus. Others, composed of Earth and water, as Zenophantes. Others, of earth and fire, as Parmenides. Others affirmed the Soul to be the blood, as Empedocles and Circias'. Some would have it be a thin Spirit diffused through the body, as Hypocrates the Physician. Others, flesh exercised by the senses, as Asclepiades. But many others have been of opinion, that the Soul is not that little body, but a certain quality or complexion thereof infused through all the particles of the same; as Zeno the Cithick, and Dicearchus, defining the Soul to be the complexion of the four Elements: Cleanthes also, Antipater, and Possidonius, affirming the same to be a certain heat or complexion of heat, drew Calenus the Pergamenian into the same opinion. Others there are that uphold that the Soul is not that quality or complexion, but something residing in some part of the body, as the heart or brain, as it were in its proper point or centre, and from thence governing the whole body. Amongst the number of these, are Chrysippus, Archelaus, and Heraclitus Ponticus, who thought the Soul to be Light. There are others who have thought more freely, believing the Soul to be a certain unfixed Point, tied to no part of the Body, but separated from any determinated Situation, being totally present in every part of the Body; which whether it were begot by Complexion, or Created by God, yet was first hatched and formed in the bosom of Matter: Of this Opinion were Zenophanes, Colophonius, Aristoxenus, and Asclepiades the Physician, who held the Soul to be the Exercise of the Senses: and Cretolaus the Peripatetic, who called it the Fifth Essence; as also Thales, who held, That the Soul is an unquiet Nature moving itself; and Zenocrates would have it to be a Number moving itself: whom the Egyptians follow, asserting the Soul to be a certain Force or Virtue passing through all Bodies. The Caldaeaus were of Opinion, That it was a Force or Virtue without a determinate Form, but receiving all Forms that are External. So that they altogether agree, That the Soul is a certain Virtue fit to cause Motion; or that it is else a Sublime Harmony of all the Corporeal Parts, depending however upon the Nature of the Body. The Footsteps of these Men are followed by that Daemoniack Aristotle, who by a new-invented Name of his own, calls the Soul Entelechia; that is to say, the Perfection of a Corporal Organ, Potentially having life, from which the same Body receives the Principles of Understanding, Perceiving and Moving. And this is the most received, though most impertinent Definition of a Soul, found out by that great Philosopher; which doth not, however, declare or make manifest the Nature or Original, but only the Affections of the Soul. There are others that soar somewhat higher than these men; who affirm the Soul to be a certain Divine Substance whole and individual, diffused through the whole and every part of the Body, produced in such manner from the Incorporeal Author, as that it depends upon the force of the Agent, not on the Generative Faculty of the Matter. Of this Opinion were Zoroaster, Hermes Trismegistus, Pythagoras, Euminius, Hammonius, Plutarch, Porphyrius, Timaeus, Locrus, and Divine Plata himself, who defined the Soul to be an Essence moving itself, endued with Understanding. Eunomius the Bishop, consenting partly to Plato, partly to Aristotle, affirms the Soul to be an Incorporeal substance made in the Body; upon which definition he laid the Foundation of all his Opinions. Cicero, Seneca and Lactantius affirm, That it is impossible to define what the Soul should be. Thus it is apparent what great Contention there is among them touching the Essence of the Soul. Nor are the Contentions and Variances less, or less Numerous than their Disputes, when they come to make inquiry which is the Seat of the Soul. For Hypocrates and Hierophilus place it in the Fibres or Ventricles of the Brain. Democritus, in the whole Region of the Temples. Eratistratus, in the Epicranidal Membrane. Strabo, within the space between the Eyebrows. Epicurus gives it room in the whole Breast. Diogenes, in the Arterial Ventricle of the Heart: the Stoics with Chrysippus, in the whole Heart, and Spirits that surround the Heart. Empedocles seats it in the Blood; to which Opinion Moses seems to give way, while he forbids his People to eat the Blood of any thing, because the Soul of every Animal is seated therein. Plato and Aristotle, and the more Noble Sects of Philosophers, place the Soul in the whole Body. Galen is of Opinion, That every part of the Body has his particular Soul: For so he makes it appear, in his Book of the Usefulness of the Parts: There are many Particles of Animals, some greater, some lesser; others altogether indivisible into the Species of the Creatures, yet necessarily every of those wants a Soul. For the Body is the Organ thereof; and therefore the Particles of the Body are very much different one from another, because the Souls are different. I cannot here pass by a Sentence of Beda the Divine, who writing upon Mark, The Principal seat of the Soul, saith he, is not, as Plato thinks, in the Brain; but to follow the Doctrine of Christ, in the Heart. Now as concerning the Continuation of the Soul, Democritus and Epicurus were of Opinion, That it died with the Body. Plato and Pythagoras held it to be altogether Immortal; but that being out of the Body, it retires to some Nature or being like itself. The Stoics taking the middle way between both these, assert, that the Soul shall leave the Body; but that if it be not purified and dignified with the excellent Virtues to be possessed in this Life, that then it shall presently die; but that if it be endued with Heroical Virtues, then that it may attain the Heavenly Seats, and be associated with those Sympathi●ing Natures that stay there in expectance of being joined unto it. Aristotle taught, That some parts of the Soul which remain in Corporeal seats are inseparable from the same, and therefore die with them; but that the Understanding, which wants no Corporeal Organ, is separate from the Corruptible Parts. But he is so far from delivering any thing of farther perspicuity, that his Interpreters do wholly abandon the Discourse thereof. Alexander the Aphrodisean saith, That most certainly he held the Soul to be Mortal. And of the same Opinion among us, is Gregory Nazianzen. Against these, Pleton, and Thomas Aquinas in defence of Aristotle, most stiffly stands up, affirming that he was in the right Opinion concerning the Immortality of the Soul. Moreover, Averro, that most exquisite Commentator upon Aristotle, believes that every man has a peculiar Soul, but Mortal; But that the Mind or Understanding is Eternal, having neither Beginning nor End; of which there was but one kind, that all men use in this Life. Themistius saith, That Aristotle held one only Active Understanding; but that the Understanding capable of Subjects was manifold, and that both were Immortal. Thus through the strange Dissensions and Garboils of these Philosophers, it comes to pass, that there are so many absurd Contests among our Christian Divines about the Original of the Soul; among whom, there are some that believe that the Souls of all Men were Created at the Beginning, and remaining there as in a Storehouse till they come to be used; of which Opinion above all the rest is the Learned Origen. St. Austin also believes, That the Soul of our First Parent had its Original from Heaven, being something Elder than the Body; and perceiving the Body to be a fit Habitation, of its own accord did covet the same: however, he does not affirm it for any certain or positive Maxim.  
Others believe the Soul to be propagated extraduce, from Parent to Parent; and that the Soul is begot by the Soul, as the Body is begot by the Body: of which Opinion was Apollinaris Bishop of Laodicea, Tertullian, Cyril, and Luciferianus; against whose Heresy St. Jerom fiercely Combats. Others are of Opinion, That Souls are Created daily by God: which Opinion Thomas Aquinas follows, defending himself with that Peripatetical Argument, that seeing that the Soul is the Form of the Body, the same ought not to be Created apart, but in the Body: to which Opinion the Universal Judgement of our Modern Divines adheres. I omit the Degrees, Ascensions and Descensions of Souls, which the Origenists have brought into play, as being neither strengthened by Scripture, nor consentaneous to the Thesis of Christianity: so little of certainly there is, either among Philosophers, or among Divines, concerning the Original, or indeed the very meaning and definition of the Word Soul. For Epicurus and Aristotle believe it Mortal; Plato's Circle brings it to the same Station again, in so many years. Some there are that, as Plato says, contract it within the Verges of Humane Bodies; others diffuse it into the Bodies of Animals: some restore it to Heaven from whence they had it, others send it on Pilgrimage about the World: Some that Compel it to Infernal Hell, others deny any: some say, That every Soul is Created by itself; others say, They were all Created together. So far Thomas. There was Averro, who undertaking to broach something more remarkable, First held the Unity of the Understanding. The Manichaean Heretics were of Opinion, That there was but one Soul of the Universe, dispersed as well into Inanimate as Animate Bodies; but that those things which are without Life, l●●s participate thereof: that Animate things have a greater share, and Celestial things the greatest of all: and at length they conclude, That singular Souls are but parts of the Universal Soul. Plato also holds but one Universal Soul of the World, but other Souls for particular Creatures; as if the World subsisted only by its own Soul, but particular Creatures were animated by particular Souls. Others there are that will have but one sort of Souls. Others make a twofold Soul; that is to say, Rational and Irrational. Others say, there are many, as many as there be species of living Creatures. Galen the Physician affirms, That there are various and distinct Souls in divers Creatures, according to the variety of the Species; and moreover, he appoints many Souls in one Body. There are other that place two Souls in a Man, one sensitive from Generation, the other intellectual from Creation: among these we find Occam the Divine. Plotinus will have the Soul to be one thing, and the Understanding to be another; with whom Apollinaris consents. Some there are that do not distinguish between the Soul and the Understanding; but they say, that it is the most Principal Part of the substance of the Soul. Aristotle believes the Intellect to be present only Potentially in the Soul, and that Actually it works from without; neither that it conduces to the Essence or Nature of Man, but only to the Perfection of Knowledge and Contemplation. Therefore he affirms, That few Men, and those only Philosophers, are endued with Actual Understanding. And indeed, there is a great Dispute among Divines, whether, according to the Opinion of Plato, the Souls of Men after they are Departed from the Body, do retain any Memory of things done while the Body was alive; or whether they altogether want the Knowledge thereof: which the Tomists, together with their mighty Aristotle, firmly assert. And the Carthusians confirm it, from the Testimony of a certain Parisian Divine returning from Hell, who being asked, what Knowledge he had left him, returned Answer, That he understood nothing but Pain: and then citing the words of Solomon, There is no understanding, no knowledge, no wealth in Hell, he seemed to them to make it out, that after Death there was no Knowledge of any thing: which notwithstanding is not only manifestly against the Opinion of the Platonics, but repugnant to the Authority and Truth of the Scripture itself also, which teaches, That the wicked shall see and know that he is God; and that they shall give an account not only of a●l their Deeds, but of all their idle Words and Thoughts. Moreover, there are some that have adventured to write and report many things concerning the Apparition of separated Souls, and those ofttimes repugnant both to the Doctrine of the Gospel, and the sacred Text. For whereas the Apostle teaches us, That we ought not to believe the Angels from heaven, if they should preach otherwise than what is delivered; yet the Gospel is so much out of date with them, that they will rather believe one come from the Dead, than the Prophets, Moses, Apostles or Evangelists. Of this Opinion was the Rich Man in the Gospel, who believed that his Brothers and Kindred living would give credit to any one that were sent from the Dead. To whom so vainly Conjecturing, Abraham made answer, If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets, neither will they believe any one that should be sent from the dead. However, I do not absolutely deny some Holy Apparitions, Admonitions, and Revelations of the Dead; but yet I admonish ye to be very wary, knowing how easy it is for Satan to Transform himself into an Angel of Light. Therefore they are not absolutely to be believed, but to be entertained as things which are Apocryphal, and without the Rule of the Scripture. There are many Fabulous stories to this purpose, written by one Tundal in his Consolation of Souls; and also by some others, of which your Cunning Priests and Friars make use, to terrify the Vulgar sort, and get Mony. A certain French Notary hath also lately put forth a Relation of a Spirit walking at Lions; a Person of no Credit, and less Learning. But the most approved Authors that write of these things, is Cassianus, and James of Paradise, a Carthusian. But there is nothing in them of solid Truth or secret Wisdom, tending to the increase of Charity, or edifying of the Soul; only they thereby persuade people to Alms, Pilgrimages, Prayers, Fast, and such other Practical Works of Piety; which the Scripture nevertheless with far greater Reason and Authority enjoins. But of these Apparitions we have discoursed at large, in a Dialogue which we have Written of Man, as also in our Occult Philosophy. But now let us return to the Philosophers. All the Heathen, who affirm the Soul to be Immortal, by common consent also uphold the Transmigration of the Soul: and farther, That rational Souls do sometimes Transmigrate into Plants, and Creatures void of Reason. Of this Opinion of Transmigration, Pythagoras is said to be the first Author; of which, thus Ovid: 
Souls never die, but in Immortal state,  
From dead to living bodies transmigrate.  
I now myself can call to mind how I,  
When long since Troy the strength of Greece did try,  
Was then Euphorbus, that my life sold dear,  
To crown the Conquest of Atrides Spear,  
Which then my left hand b●re; I knew the Shield  
Which late in Juno's Temple I beheld.  Much more has been written concerning this Pythagorical Transmigration, by Timon, Xenophanes, Cratinus, Aristophon, Hermippus, Lucianus, and Diogenes Laertius. But jamblicus, who has many other Abettors, asserts, That the Soul does not Transmigrate out of Man into Brutes, nor return from Creatures Irrational into Men; but that there are Transmigrations of Souls, that is, of the Souls of Beasts into Beasts▪ and of the Souls of Men into Men, he does not deny. There are also Philosophers, of which number E●●ripides is one, a greatfollower of Anaxagoras, together with Archelaus the Naturalist, and after them Avicen, who report the first Men to have sprung out of the Earth like Herbs: in that not less ridiculous than the Poets, who feign certain Men to have sprung from the Teeth of a Serpent sown in the Earth. Some there are who deny that the Soul is Generated, and others who deny that it has any Motion.   

CHAP. LIII.  
Of Metaphysics.  
BUT let us go a little farther, and make it appear, that these Philosophers are not only at a loss about those things that seem to have a Being in Nature, but that they are also at great variance among themselves concerning such as have no Principle or Foundation at all; it being altogether uncertain whether they be or no; and which they believe to subsist without Body or Matter, and which they call Separated forms; which because they are not in Nature, but thought to be above Nature, therefore they are called Metaphysics, and said to be beyond Nature: from thence sprang those Infinite, every way contradictory, and not less impious and unlearned Opinions concerning the Gods For Diagoras, Milesius, and Theodorus Cyrenaicus, altogether deny that there was any God. Epicurus held that there was a God, but that he took no care of things below. Protagoras said, that whether they were or no, they had little or no Power. Anaximander thought that there were Gods Native of Countries, some in the East, and some in the West, at great distances one from another. Xenocrates held, that there were Eight Gods. Antisthenes, that there were many popular Gods, but one Supreme, the Creator of the rest. Others have precipitated themselves into such a profundity of Madness, as to make with their own hands the Gods which they intended to Worship▪ such was the Image of Bell among the Assyrians: which made and carved Gods, Hermes Trismegistus does notwithstanding very much applaud, in his Aesculapius. But Thales Milesius discoursing of the Divine Essence, asserted the Understanding to be God, who Formed all things out of Water. Cleanthes and Anaximenes held the Air to be God. Chrysippus Deified the Natural Ability endued with Reason, or Divine Necess●●y. Zeno ascribes Divinity to the Divine Law of Nature. Anaxagoras, to the Infinite Intellect movable of itself. Pythagoras would have a certain Soul diffused, and passing through the Nature of all things, from whom all things receive Life, to be God. Alcmaeon of Crotona Deified the Sun, Moon, and other Stars. Zenophanes would have God to be All whatever had a Being. Parmenides makes a certain Circumscribed Orb of Light, which he calls a Crown, to be God. Aristotle, as if a certain Knowledge of God could be collected from the Motion of the Heavens, hath invented Fictitious Gods of the Nature of them; and sometimes will have the Mind to be Divine; and sometimes he calls the World i● self God: sometimes he makes another God far more Supreme and Superintendent over it; whom Theophrastus imitates with the same inconstancy. I omit what Strato, Perseus, Aristo the Disciple of Zeno, Plato, Xenophon, Speusippus, Democritus, Heraclitus, Diogenes the Babylonian, Hermes Trismegistus, Cicero, Sene●a, Pliny, and many others have delivered, whose Opinions notwithstanding are far different from the former, not yet recited. I might here run through all their Debates, and Monstrosities of words, concerning Ideas, Incorporeals, Atoms, Hyle, Matter, Form, Vacuum, Infinity, Eternity, Fate, introduction of Forms, Matter of the Heavens; whether the Stars▪ consist of the Elements, or of the Fifth Essence, which Aristotle invented; with many other such kind of Trifles, that have afforded Men great cause of Dispute and Contention. But I suppose I have made it sufficiently apparent, how far Philosophers are from agreeing about the Truth itself; to whom, the nearer a man adheres, the more remote he is from any certainty, and the farther he wanders from right Religion. Hence it is, That we find John the Twenty second, Pope, in a very great Error, who was of Opinion, That the Souls of the Blessed should not see the Face of God before the day of Judgement. We know also that Julian the Apostate did Abjure Christ, for no other Cause, than that because being much addicted to Philosophy, he began to scorn and contemn the Humility of the Christian Faith. For the same cause Celius, Porphyrius, Lucian, Pelagius, Arrius, Manichaeus, Averro, have with so much madness barked against Christ and his Church. Hence that common Proverb among the Vulgar, That the greatest Philosophers are the greated Heretics. St. Jerom therefore calls them the Patriarches of Heresy, the Firstborn of Egypt; seeing that all Heresy whatsoever hath had its first rise out of the Fountain of Philosophy. By this Philosophy is all Divinity almost Adulterated, so that instead of Evangelical Doctors and Teachers, false Prophets and Heretical Philosophers have appeared in the World, who have adventured to Equalise the Divine Oracles with Humane Inventions; polluting the same with strange Opinions of Men, have Transformed true and simple Divinity (as Gerson saith) into swelling and Sophistical Loquacity, and Mathematical Figments. Which St. Paul the Apostle foreseeing, with many times●repeated admonitions commands us to beware left any person should prevail over us, and seduce us through vain Philosophy. St. Austin defends and fortifies his City of God against them. All other Divines and Holy Fathers have condemned it to be wholly extirpated out of the Church. Neither are there wanting Examples of the Heathen, by which we find that they have done the same. For the Athenians put Socrates to Death, that was the Father of the Philosophers. The Romans threw Philosophers out of their City. The Messanians and Lacedæmonians never admitted them: and in the Reign of Domitian, they were not only Expelled the City, but forbid through all Italy. There was also a Decree of Antiochus the King against those young Men that durst take upon them to study Philosophy; and more than that, against their very Parents that permitted them. Neither have Philosophers been only condemned and expelled by Kings and Emperors, but also exploded by most Learned Men in their several Writings Extant; of which Number is Phliasius Timon, who wrote a Treatise, Entitled Sylli, in derision of Philosophers; and Aristoph●nes, who wrote a Play in Contempt of them, which he called Nubes, or the Clouds: and Lastly, Dion Prusaeus, who made a most Eloquent Oration against them. Aristides also made a most Learned Oration in the behalf of Four Noble Athenians against Plato; and Hortensius, a most Noble and Eloquent Roman, hath with most strong and powerful Reasons most sharply oppugned the same.   

CHAP. LIV.  
Of Moral Philosophy.  
IT remains now, that if there be any part of Philosophy that contains the Discipline of Manners, to inquire whether the same do not rather consist in variety of use, custom, observation, and preservation of life, than in the little Rules of Philosophy; which are changeable according to the times, places, and opininions of men; and such as threats and fair words teach Children, Laws and Punishments cause men to learn. Of some things which cannot be taught, natural Industry makes an addition in men; for many things wax out of use, through process of time, and consent of the people. Hence it comes to pass, that that was then a Vice, which is now accounted a Virtue; and that which is here a Virtue, in another place is counted a Vice; what one man thinks honest, another man thinks dishonest; what some hold to be just, others condemn as unjust, as the Laws, Opinions, Times, Places, and Interests of Government vary. Among the Athenians, it was lawful for a man to marry his Couzen-german; among the Romans, it was altogether forbidden: Formerly among the Jews, and now among the Turks, it is lawful to have plurality of Wives, besides Courtesans and Concubines; but among us Christians it is not only forbid, but accounted a most horrible sin. Lastly, that the women should go to Playhouses, and be seen publicly by all persons, was among those Nations accounted no dishonour; and yet among the Romans so to do, was held infamous and dishonest. However, the Romans were wont to take their Wives with them to great Entertainments, where they went to appear in great Splendour, and abide in the best parts of the house: but in Greece no married wife was admitted to any Banquet or Feast, unless it were among their nearest Relations; nor was she to converse but in the most retired parts of the house, where no man went but the nearest of Kin. Among the Lacedæmonians and Egyptians, it was accounted an honourable thing to steal; but among us, Thiefs are taken and hanged. Some Nations are so planted by Heaven, that they appear eminent for the unity and singularity of their Customs. The Seythians were always infamous for Savageness and Cruelty. The Italians were always eminent for their Magnanimity. The Gauls were reproached for Stupidity. The Sicilians were always subtle. The asiatics Luxurious, the Spaniards Jealous, and great Boasters. Besides, several Nations have some particular marks of distinction, which are the more immediate marks of Heaven; so that a man may easily discern of what Nation such or such a stranger may be, by his Voice, Speech, Tone, Design, Conversation, Diet, Love or Hatred, Anger and Malice, and the like. For who that sees a man marching in more state than a dunghil-cock, in gate like a Fencer, a confident Look, a deep Tone, grave Speech, severe in his Carriage, and tattered in Habit, that will not strait judge him to be a German? Do we not know the French by their moderate Gate, effeminate Carriage, smiling Countenance, pleasing Voice, courteous Speech, modest Behaviour, and careless Habit? The Italians we behold more slow in Gate, their Carriage grave, their Countenances varying, of few words, captious in Discourse, in their Behaviour magnificent, and decent in their Habit. In Singing also the Italians Bleat, the Spaniards Whine, the Germans Howl, and the French Quaver. In Discourse, the Italians are grave, but subtle; the Spaniards neat, but great boasters; the French quick and ready, but proud; the Germans four, but simple. In Council, the Italian is provident, the Spaniard subtle, the French rash, the Germane for profit. Toward Strangers, the Italians are officious, the Spaniard pleasant, the French are mild, the Germans rude and churlish. In their Anger and Malice, the Italians are close, the Spaniards hard to be appeased, the French full of threats, the Germans full of revenge. In Conversation, the Italians are prudent, the Spaniards cautious, the French gentle, the Germans imperious. As to their Amours, the Italians are jealous, the Spaniards impatient, the French inconstant, the Germans ambitious. In business, the Italians are circumspect, the Germans laborious, the Spaniards watchful, the French careful. In War, the Italians are stout, but cruel; the Spaniard full of Stratagems, the Germans fierce and mercenary, the French magnanimous, but rash. The Italians are famous for Learning, the Spaniard or Portugal for Navigation, for Affability the French, for Religion and Mechanic Arts the Germans. And indeed, every particular Nation, whether civil or barbarous, has some particular Manners and Customs particularly imprinted by Heavenly Influence, different from others, not to be acquired by any Art or Philosophy, but such as are merely natural to the Inhabitants, without any assistance of Education. But let us return to those who have publicly treated concerning these things. Those Authors, like the Serpent, have given us the possession of that fruit, by the eating whereof we shall understand Good and Evil; though they all cry, that it is best for men to follow Virtue, and eschew Vice. But how much more certain, how much more profitable, and indeed how much more happy would it be for us, that we should not only not commit sin, but also not know it? Who is ignorant that by that very thing we all then become miserable, when our first Parents learned to distinguish between Good and Evil? And therefore perhaps the Error of Philosophers might be pardoned, if under the notions of Virtue and Goodness they did not teach us the worst of Evils, and the most shameful Vices. Now there are many Sects of these Philosophers that teach us Ethics; as the Academic the Cyrenaic Eliack. Megarick, Cynic, Eroitick, Stoic, Paripatetick with many other suchlike. Of all which, that Theodorus, who was honoured with the Title of a God, thus gave his Verdict; That wise men would not stick to give their minds to Thieving, Adultery, or Sacrilege, when they found a seasonable opportunity: for there is not any one of these that is evil by nature; and therefore if the vulgar opinion generally conceived concerning these things, were set aside, there is no reason but a Philosopher might publicly go to a Whore without a reproof. This was one of the Maxims of that Heavenly Philosopher, than which nothing could have been revealed more wicked, unless it be that which we read in Aristotle, and was also by the Law permitted in Crete, male-Venery, which Jerome the Peripatetic extols, saying, That the use thereof had been the destruction of many tyrannical Governments. But the words of Aristotle in his Politics, where he makes it profitable for a Commonwealth that the Vulgar should not be too numerous in Offspring, are these. The Lawgiver, saith he, wisely and carefully ordained many things in relation to temperance in Diet, a thing very necessary; as also touching Divorcing of women, providing and establishing the use of Males, left the multitude of Children should increase too fast. This is that Aristotle, whose Ri●es and Customs were condemned by Plato; whence grew that hatred and ingratitude of his toward his Master: This is he who fearing the punishment of his wicked life, fled privately, and in haste, out of Athens; who being the most ingrateful person in the world to his Benefactors, poisoned Alexander, by whom he was most liberally and magnificently rewarded; who also restored him to his Country, and trusted him with his Life, his Body, and Soul. This was he, who having an ill opinion of the Soul, denied any place of Joy after death; who filching the sayings of the Ancients, and likewise putting false Interpretations upon them, sought to increase the fame of his Ingenuity by Theft and Calumny. He who at length grown old in wickedness, and running mad out of an immoderate desire of knowledge, was the Author of his own death, becoming a Sacrifice fitting for the Devil that taught him his learning. This is that worthy Doctor so frequent now adays in our Latin Schools, whom my fellow-Pupils, Cullen Divines, have translated to Heaven, having published a Book entitled Of the salvation of Aristotle; as also another Pamphlet both in Prose and Verse, Of the Life and Death of Aristotle; upon which they have made a Theological Comment, at the end whereof they conclude, that Aristotle was the forerunner of Christ in Naturals, as John the Baptist was his forerunner in Spirituals. But now let us hear what these Philosophers say concerning Happiness and the chiefest Good, which some placed in Pleasure, as Epicurus, Aristippus, Gnidius, Eudoxus, Philoxenes, and the Cyrenaicks. Others joined Honesty with Pleasure, as Dinomachus, and Caliph●. Others in the choice gifts of Nature, as Carneades, and Jerome of Rhodes. Others in Grief, as Diodorus. Others in the Virtues, as Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristotle, Empedocles, Democritus, Zeno Citicus, Cleantes, Hecaton, Possidonius, Dionysius of Babylon, and Antisthenes, and all the Stoics. Many also of our Divines, adhering to them, do to this day raise great Disputes concerning the connexion of the Virtues, and what should be that common foundation of Happiness, to the building of which all the Virtues ought to meet: For unless they all meet in one, 'tis impossible they should make a man happy, though there should be but one wanting. Seeing therefore that the Virtues themselves are in some manner different and repugnant one from another, as Liberality and Thrift, Magnanimity and Humility, Mercy and Justice, Contemplation and Labour; unless they all concur Harmoniously together, they are not to be esteemed Virtues, but Vices. Now that wherein they ought all to concur, is Justice, according to the Opinion of Ambrose and Lactantiu●, who together with Macrobius, have followed the Opinion of Plato in his Commonwealth. Others take it to be Temperance, that imposeth a mean in all things. Others will have it to be Sanctity, as Plato in his Epinomides. Others hold it to be Charity, without which all other Virtue's little avail, as saith St. Paul; and upon this Question Scotus, Henry, Thomas Aquinas, and others, have at this day raised very great Disputes. But let us return where we began. Some men have placed Felicity in Fortune, as Theophrastus. Aristotle places it in Fortune, joined with Virtue, and the Gifts of generating Nature: as also in Pleasure, varnished over with the profession of Virtue; as if Epicurus did not defend and shelter his Pleasure under the same pretence. The other Peripatetics thought that it consisted in Speculation. Herillus the Philosopher, Alcidamus, and many Socratics, held Knowledge to be the chief good. The Platonics, together with their Master Plato, and Plotinus, never without a smack of Divinity, will not permit Happiness to be separated from the Chief Good. Bias of Pryena constituted supreme Happiness in Wisdom; Bion and Borysthenes in Prudence▪ Thales Milesius in a mixture of these: Pittacus of Mitylene in well doing: Cicero in leisure from all business; though when we have sought far and near, it is only to be found in God alone. I pass by the crowd of Vulgar Philosophers, that took away all Felicity; as Pyrrho Eliensis, Euricolus, and Xenophanes; or else placed it in Glory, Fame, Honour, Power, freeness from Trouble, Riches, and the like: as Periander Corinthus, and Lycophron, together with those of whom the Psalmist thus saith: Whose mouth talketh vanity, and whose right hand is the right hand of iniquity; whose sons are as new plantations in their youth, & whose daughters are as the polished corners of the Temple; whose garners are full and plenteous with all store; whose sheep bring forth thousands, and ten thousands in their steets: whose oxen are strong to labour; who have no decay, no leading into captivity, and no complaining in their streets. Those who enjoyed these benefits, they accounted happy. Now concerning Pleasure, they all believe as differently concerning it: for, as I told you before, Epicurus makes it to be the Supreme Good; but on the other side, Architas● Tarentinus, Antisthenes, and Socrates, account it to be the Chief Evil. Speusippus, and some of the ancient Academics, said, that Pleasure and Pain were two Evils opposite one to the other; but that was the Good, which was in the mean between 'um. Zeno esteemed Pleasure neither Good nor Evil, but an indifferent thing. Critolaus the Peripatetic and Plato, affirm Pleasure not only to be evil itself, but also the fountain of all evils. It would be over-tedious to recite the Opinions of all men concerning Felicity, and to heap 'em up all together; with which many Scribblers have filled whole Volumes. For St. Austin puts us in mind of one hundred and eighty Opinions collected by Varro, touching this very Subject; the chiefest whereof we have here taken an occasion to repeat. But now let us see how all these Opinions agree with the Doctrine of Christ, and we shall find, that Blessedness and chief Happiness are not to be attained or acquired by Stoic Virtue, Academical Severity, or Peripatetic Speculation, but by Faith and Grace. You have heard how some Philosopher's place Chief Happiness in Pleasure; but Christ in Hunger and Thirst. Others in Fame and Renown; but Christ in the Curses and Hatred of Men. Others in Beauty, Health, Mirth, and Pleasure; but Christ in Weeping and Mourning. Others in Wisdom and Knowledge, and the Moral Virtues; but Christ in Innocency, Simplicity, and uprightness of Heart. Others in Military Glory, and famous Actions; but Christ in Peace. Others in Fortune; but Christ in Mercy. Others in Pomp and Honour; but Christ in Humility, calling the Meek Blessed. Others in Power and Victory; but Christ in Persecution. Others in Riches; but Christ in Poverty. Christ teaches us, That Virtue is not to be acquired but by Grace granted from above; the Philosophers, by use and Natural Gifts: Christ teaches us to desire the Good Will of all Men, to Love our Enemies, Lend freely, to take Revenge of no body, to give to every one that asks; the Philosophers, only to those that are able to recompense Courtesy for Courtesy; and that there is nothing more Lawful, than to be Angry, bear Malice, make War, and exercise Usury. These Philosophers were they that first Erected the Pelagian Heresy, with their freewill, dictates of Reason, and Light of Nature. Therefore saith Lactantius, all Moral Philosophy is a vain and empty thing, neither sufficient to instruct men in the Rules of Justice, neither in their duty or Government of themselves. Lastly, it is altogether repugnant to the Law of God, and Doctrine of Christ; owing its chief honour to Satan.   

CHAP. LV.  
Of Politics.  
TO this kind of Philosophy Politics in the next place appertain, which is the Art of Administering and Ordering Public Affairs. Now Government is divided into three sorts. Monarchy, which is the Government of one Man, or Kingly Sovereignty. Aristocracy, when a few, and those of the Nobility Govern. Democracy, when the meaner sort, or the Common People bear sway. Near of kin to th●se is, First Tyranny to Kingship; Oligarchia to Aristocracy; and Anarchy to Democracy. But which of all these Forms of Government is in the first place to be preferred, is not yet concluded among Writers. They who assert Monarchy, confirm their Thesis by the Example of Nature, saying, That as there is but one God that governs the Universe, as there is but one Sun among the Stars, one King among the Bees, one Master-Ram in a Flock, one Commanding Bull in a Herd, one chief leader of the Cranes; so in a Nation there ought to be but one King, as Sovereign and Head of the Political Body, from which the Members ought in no wise to disagree. This Form of Government Plato, Aristotle, and Apollonius approved above the rest; to whom among those of our own Religion, Cyprian and Jerome adhere. But those who extol Aristocracy, say that there is nothing more effectual in the management of great Affairs, than the Consultations of many, and those the most noble. For the Counsels of the chiefest men ought to be best; neither can any one man be complete in Wisdom, seeing that is only proper to God himself. To the Judgement of these Men, Solon, Lycurgus, Demosthenes, Tully, and almost all the ancient Lawgivers, together with Moses, unanimously subscribed. Neither did Plato Diffent from them, affirming that Commonwealth or City to be most happily and firmly Constituted, which was Governed by wise Men; to whom we may likewise add, without prejudice, the most Noble, as being an Opinion Confirmed by the common consent of all Writers. But they who prefer a Popular State, have dignified it with the most agreeable and specious Title of Isonomie; That is to say, Impartiality in the Administration of Justice. For therein all things are referred to the Common Vote, all Counsels are carried on by the Multitude; the more certain, by how much the greater Number advice is given. Moreover, the Voice of the People is said to be the Voice of God. Hence whatsoever is Enacted by the Generality, whatsoever is Established by the common consent of the People, that seems to be Ordained by God himself, and may be presumed to be best and most just. Besides, they conclude this Form of Government to be safer than that of Aristocracy, as being less subject to Sedition. For the People seldom or never disagree among themselves; but the Nobles very often, and with great Contention. In a popular Government there is all Freedom and Equality, no oppression of Tyranny: where the degrees of Estates are equal, no man is richer than his Neighbour, but all the People Rule and Command by ●urns. Democracy therefore has been especially commended by Othanes the Persian, Eufrates, and Dion Syracusanus: and we observe at this time the Venetian and Helvetian Commonwealths to be the most flourishing People in the Christian World; renowned for their Prudence, Power, Riches and Justice, and no less famous for their Victorious Achievements. The Athenian Commonwealth also commanding a large Dominion with great Force and Power, was governed only by Democracy, all things being acted by the People, and with the People. The Romans also making use of this Form of Government, became Masters of the greatest part of their Empire under Democracy, and were never in a worse Condition than under the Command of their Kings and Nobility; but chiefly suffered from their Emperors, under whose Command their vast Dominion suffered Shipwreck. So that which of these three Forms is best, is hard to judge, since there is neither of them but has its strong Defenders and Oppugners. Kings, they say, who Command altogether according to their own Will and Pleasure, seldom Govern well, and very rarely without War and great Combustion. Kingly Rule hath also this most unavoidable Mischief in it, that they who before were counted good and just, having obtained as it were a Regal Authority, and Liberty to do evil, grow uncontrollable, and the worst of Men; which is verified in Caligula, Nero, Domitian, Mithridates, and many others. Scripture also witnesss the same in Saul, David, and Solomon, Kings chosen by God: and of all the Kings of Juda, few were approved; of the Kings of Israel, none. Emperor's also, Kings and Princes that now adays Reign, think themselves Born and Crowned not for the sake of the People, not for the Good of their Citizens and Commonalty, not to Maintain Justice, but to Defend their own Grandeur and Prerogative; Governing so, as if the Estates of the People were not committed to their Custody, but to be shared and divided by them, as their own proper spoil and prey. They use their Subjects at their pleasure, and as they list themselves, abusing the Power with which they were Entrusted; Oppress their Cities with borrowing, the Common People, some with Taxes, some with Penal Statutes, others with excessive Subsidies and Imposts, without Measure and without End. Or if some more moderate do release the excess of these Grievances, they do it not in respect of the Common good, but for their own Private ends, permitting their Subjects to be at quiet, that they may live at ease themselves; or else to gain to themselves the name of being Mild and Iust Others most severely punish guilty Offenders, Confiscating their Goods, and setting great Fines upon their Heads, not caring how many they take in the same Praemunire: For as the Offences of Delinquents are the strength of Tyrants, so does the Multitude of Offenders every Princes. Being in Italy, I had the honour to be very familiar with a powerful Prince, whom when I once advised to suppress the Factions of the Guelphs and Gibellines within his Dominions, he confessed to me ingenuously, that by means of those Factions, above Twelve thousand Ducats came every Year into his Exchequer. Now where the Nobility Command in chief, there is nothing but Jealousy, Hatred, and Emulation. Rarely therefore they agree in Amity, every one seeking to be Chief, and to make his own Sentence pass. Hence Factions, Seditions, Slaughters, Civil War, and at length, the Total Ruin of the Commonwealth. Whereof there are infinite Examples in the Histories both of the Greeks and Latins. And at this day in most of the Cities of Italy, the Effects of those miscarriages are to be seen. But Popular Government is Universally accounted the most destructive, and worst of all. Apollonius with many Reasons dissuades Vespasian from it. And Cicero Affirms, That there is neither Reason, Council, Discretion or Diligence among the Vulgar People, as the Poet also sings.  

By opposite desires and humours led,  
Th' uncertain Vulgar move, once taking Head.  Othanes the Persian also asserts, that there is nothing more insolent, nothing more stolid; nothing more proper to the Rabble, than to know; nothing but headlong, like a Current, to carry all business before 'um. Demosthenes calls the people an Evil Beast. Plato, a Monster with many heads; which Horace doth not forget. And Phalaris writing to Egesippus, All multitudes, saith he, are rash, mad, slothful, apt to change their Opinion, perfidious, uncertain, treacherous, heady, fraudulent, good for nothing but to make a noise, easy to love or condemn. Hence it follows, that he who in governing the Commonwealth strives to please the people, must be contented to submit to a hundred undeserved Contumelies. Lycurgus' being asked why he had not erected a Popular Government in his City, Rather do thou, saith he, submit to a Popular Government in thy house. Aristotle also in his Ethics condemns the government of the people to be the worst of all, but the rule of one person to be the best: for the Commonalty is the Ringleader of Error, the Mistress of evil Customs, and a rude heap of Mischief. No Reason, no Authority, no Persuasions can move, where it either wants knowledge, or is in contempt: Therefore are the Vulgar so indocible and obstinate against all persuasion, whose nature is so unconstant, always desirous of Novelty, despising the present Authority, not to be curbed by the learned Admonitions of the Wise, by the Precepts of their Ancestors, Authority of Magistrates, or Majesty of Princes. This we find verified in Socrates, questioned by the Athenians about his opinion of the Gods; In Capys the Trojan, delivering his judgement about the bringing in of the Grecian Horse; In Magius the Campanian, advising that Hannibal should not be received into the City; In Paulus Emilius persuading not to fight at the Battle of Canna; Lastly, in so many of the Predictions of the Prophets of God, no way obeyed or harkened to by the people of the Jews. Moreover, as to the Laws and Statutes of the people, how is it possible that any of them should be good or profitable, seeing that it is impossible for the popular Multitude to understand which are good, and which are evil? the greatest part whereof are ignorant labouring Handicraft people, not led by Reason of Justice or Equity, but consisting only in Number, where there are generally more bad than good: Neither is the determination of Affairs led by Judgement, but guided and turned to and fro according to the favour, number and affection of the Multitude: Which Pliny the younger affirms; for the decrees and choices of the people are numbered, not considered. For in popular Consultation, that always carries the day, which not the wisest, but the greatest number think most convenient: among whom, while they all account themselves equal, there is nothing more unequal than that Equality itself. Nothing therefore can be rightly ordered by the promiscuous heat and headlong fury of the Multitude; nor can any thing be rightly amended, that shall be found amiss and disadvantageous to the Commonwealth: rather, those Statutes and Decrees which are made and confirmed, and found to be most wholesome for the public good, by the rage of the inconsiderate Multitude, are overturned and abrogated. Now among all these so various forms of Rule, and administrations of Government, most Authors have another, compounded of two particular kinds: Such an one did Solon compose, partly of the Nobles, partly of the People; so making his public Honours communicable to all. Others thought fit to frame their Political Rules by making a mixture of all three together. Such was the government of the Lacedæmonians, for they had a King who was perpetual; but he had little or no Command, only in time of War: then had they a Senate chosen out of the richest and wisest part of the Nobility; moreover, out of the Common People they Created Ten perpetual Ephori, who had power of Life and Death, and were Controulers both of the King and Senate, being Elected out of the Vulgar people. Among the Romans, the Authority of the Senate plainly showed that there was an Aristocracy mixed with their Democracy; and we find that many things were commanded by the Senate, many things by the People. And at this day, though in many places Kings and Princes do rule at their own pleasures, yet do they make use of the chief Nobility and Gentry in the several Counties and Provinces of their Kingdoms, to transact many Affairs, and of great consequence: from whence hath arose a question, which it is most sat to live under, a good Prince and bad Counselors, or bad Counselors and a wicked Prince. Marius Maximus, Julius Capitolinus, and others, choose the latter; notwithstanding that many grave Authors are no way willing to consent to them; finding by experience, that evil Counsellors may be corrected sooner by a good Prince, than an evil Prince be amended by good Counsellors. However, for the good government of a Commonwealth or Kingdom, it is not Philosophy nor Kingcraft, nor any other Science that can avail, but the integrity, fidelity, and ability of the Ruler: for a single person may govern best, so may a few, so may the people, provided that in each there be the same intention of Unity and Justice; but if the designs of each be evil, then can neither rule as they should. But that which convinces the strange rashness of Men addicted to Rule, is this, that when Men in their several stations, some plainly confess themselves ignorant how to Plough and Sow, how to keep Sheep, some how to guide a Ship or govern a Family; yet there is no Man who does not think himself sufficiently gifted to bear Office in a City, to act a King or Prince, or to command great Nations and People, which is the most difficult thing.   

CHAP. LVI.  
Of Religion in General.  
TO the perfect Weal of a State or Kingdom, Religion is of main concernment, which is a certain Discipline and Canon of outward Rites and Ceremonies, by means whereof, as by certain signs, we are admonished of our Internal and Spiritual Duties. Cicero defines it to be a Discipline teaching us to exercise the Ceremonies of Divine Worship with a reverend Famulatu: which that it is most useful and necessary for all Cities and Governments, the same Cicero, together with Aristotle, firmly holds. For thus saith he in his Politics, It behoves a Prince above all others to seem Religious. For the People are of Opinion, that such Rulers will do 'em no harm; and they will be the more afraid to Plot against them, by how much the more they think themselves defended by the Gods. Now Religion is so deeply Rooted in Men by Nature, that it makes the difference more plain betwixt them and Beasts, than Reason. Now that Religion is thus Naturally grafted in us, Aristotle confesses; besides that it is apparent from ●his very experiment, That as often as we are oppressed with any sudden Dangers, or put to any sudden Affright, presently before we search into the Cause, or seek for any other help, we fly to Celestial Invocation; Nature itself teaching us, without any other Instructor, to Implore Divine Assistance. From the Beginning of the World we find, that Cain and Abel did Religiously Sacrifice to God; though Enoch were the first that taught the Forms and Ceremonies of Divine Worship: for which reason the Scripture saith, That then the name of the Lord first began to be called upon. After the Flood, how many several Laws and Ordinances of Religion were Instituted by several persons in several Nations! For Mercury and King Menna taught the Egyptians their Forms of Worship. Melissus the Foster-Father of Jove, instructed the Cretans in their Ceremonies. Faunus and Janus Instituted the Rites of the Latins. Numa Pompilius, those of the Romans●Moses, those of the Hebrews. Cadmus' also, the Son of Agenor, is said to have brought out of Phoenicia all those Solemn Mysteries, Consecrations of Images, Hymns, Festivals, and other Sacred Rites and Customs, performed in honour of the Gods▪ which were afterwards in use among the Grecians. Neither did they only give names to the Gods, but also Ordaina what Rites and Ceremonies should be due to each. They held, that there were certain Numen the Protectors of Criminal Offences, and ascribed a Deity to Diseases, and evil Accidents: Therefore did the Romans Worship Jove the Adulterer, and Dedicated a public Temple to the Goddess Fever, and in their Esquiliae placed an Altar to Misfortune. In Hell they also found out Deities to adore, and the Prince of Darkness, Satan, the most miserable, and the lowest of all, they made a shift to Worship, under the Names of Pluto, Dis and Neptune, assigning to him for a Keeper the Three-headed Cerberus, that greedy Monster that Compasses the Earth seeking whom he may Devour; sparing none, hurtful to all, the Accuser of all Men.  

From Captive Souls, the Lord of Stygian Lands,  
For past Offences, Punishment demands:  
Against all the shades, remorseless Rage he breathes;  
With Furies compassed, and a thousand Deaths.  
Here sundry sounds of sundry wailing Pains,  
There Thousand Torments shake their dismal Chains.  Th' Egyptians, together with their Deities, adore Brute Beasts and Monsters; and there are at this day that Worship Idols and Images. At this day likewise a great part of the World, as the Turks, Saracens, Arabians and Moors, give Divine Honours to Mahomet's; though the Author, or first Founder of a most absurd Religion: and the Jews yet persisting in their folly, believe their Messiah yet to come. Among us Christians, several Popes, several Councils, several Bishops have prescribed several Varieties and Forms of Worship; differing among themselves, either touching the manner of the Ceremonies, Meats lawful, Fasts, Vestments, Public Ornaments: or else about Clerical Promotions and Tithes. But one thing overcomes the admiration of Wonder itself, to see how these Ambitious men think to climb Heaven, by the same ways that Lucifer fell from it. Neither do all these Laws and Rules of Religion lean upon any other Foundation than the mere Opinions and Pleasure of their Founders. Consider from the Beginning of the World how many there were, how many there are several Inventions of Religion; how many Ceremonies, how many Heresies, how many Opinions, how many Decrees, how many Canons; yet cannot Religion lead men in so many Ages to the right Path of Faith without the Word of God; which being once made Flesh, and Triumphing over his Enemies on the Cross, Temples and dolls were thrown down, and the Powers of Numen and Oracles ceased.  
The Voice of Pytho's gone, that seldom erred.  
Apollo too, so many Ages▪ heard,  
Is now in silence locked.  
Tby Service done, to thine own Country go;  
Return to thine own Altars down below.  
For no sooner the Word of God came to shine in the World by the manifestation of the Gospel, but all the Gods of the Heathen, being as it were Thunderstruck, fell to Destruction, according to the saying of Christ in Luke, I saw Satan falling from Heaven like Lightning. How far this concerns Faith, Theology, and the Decrees of the Canonists, we shall discourse hereafter: For now we are only treating of Religion, so far as to those Mysteries contained therein, which concern the benefits of the Priest, or that suffice to render the outward face of the Commonwealth sumptuous with Images, Statues, Temples, Phanes, Chapels, Dignities, Pomp and Riches of the Ministers and Ecclesiastical Officers, of which I have Disputed at large, in my Dispute upon the Theological Decrees, held by me at Collen, in the Year 1510: and therefore I shall the more briefly pass them over now, yet show you, that among those things which were set apart for the decency of Worship, and most proper for the safety of men's Souls, not a little of the Tare of Vanity and Destructive Superstition has been mixed.   

CHAP. LVII.  
Of Images.  
THe worship of Images has not been anciently by all people admitted: For the Jews, as Josephus relates, after they had been so often chastised, and indeed at first the most strict observers of the Law, did abhor nothing more than the making of Images. For the commands of God, delivered by Moses, did utterly prohibit the use of Images, either in Temples or in any other place. And Eusebius testifies, that among the people called Seres, the adoration of Images was by Law absolutely forbidden. Neither do we read either in Clement or Plutarch, that (for so Numa had decreed) there was any Image to be seen, or that was spoken of, for above a hundred and seventy years after the building of the City. Which also St. Austin alleadges out of Varro, whose words most clearly witness, that there was no Image or Idol in the City for one hundred and sixty years; and that afterwards it came to pass, that by reason of the Multitude of Images and Idols, the Worship of the Gods was not only neglected, but had in contempt. The Persians also, as Herodotus and Strabo Witness, never suffered Images among them. On the otherside, in the honour of Idols there were none more Superstitious and dotingly stupid than the Egyptians, from whence that Impiety, as from a corrupted Fountain, overran other Nations; which Superstitious Customs, and false Religion of the Heathens, when the same People became to be Converted to the Christian Faith, did not a little contaminate the Purity of our Religion; introducing Idols and Images into our Church, together with many Barren Pomps and Ceremonies, of which there was nothing thought of among the Ancient and Primitive Christians: Nor can it be imagined how strongly and superstitiously Idolatry is riveted into the Minds of the Unlearned Multitude by the means of Images; the idle Priests among the Catholics conniving thereat, as reaping not a little benefit thereby. 'Tis true, they endeavour to defend themselves by the help of St. Gregory's Words; who saith, That Images are the Books of the Vulgar, whereby the Memory of things is by them the more easily retained; so that by these, they who cannot read, may yet be taught, and by the sight thereof be drawn to the Contemplation of God. However, these are but the humane Comments and Suppositions of Palliating St. Gregory; and though that good Man might in some sort approve of the Images themselves; yet it cannot be thought that he did any way allow the Worship thereof. For it is no part of our duty to learn from the Forbidden Book of Images, but from the Book of God, which is the Scripture. He therefore who desires to know God, let him not endeavour to obtain that Knowledge from the handiwork of Painters and Statuaries; but according to the Direction of St. John, Let him search the Scriptures what testimony they give concerning him. And they who cannot read, let them hear the Word of the same Scripture, where St. Paul pronounces, That Faith comes by hearing; and what Christ in another place ●aith. My Sheep know my Voice. As also what in another place he avers, No man can come to him unless the Father draw him, and no man cometh to the Father but by Christ himself. Why then do we take the Glory from God, giving it to Pictures and Images, as if they could draw us to the Knowledge of the most Divine Being? To this we may add the vain and immoderate Worship of idle Relics. We confess, That the Relics of the Saints are Holy, and that they thall one day shine with the Glories of Eternity; Yet to give them Adoration as to the Reilqu●s of Deities that hear our Prayers, is a most stupid piece of Fascination. Lest therefore we fall into Idolatry and Superstition, it is the safest way for us not to fix our Faith upon visible things. But the Covetous Generation of the Romish Clergy, greedy after gain, raising matter to ●eed their Avarice, not only out of Wood and Stones, but also from the Bones of the Dead, and Relics of the Saints, make them the Instruments of their Rapine and Extortion. They show the Sepulchers of the Saints; they expose the Relics of Martyrs; which no man must so much as touch or kiss, but for money. They adorn their Pictures, set out their Festivals with great Pomp and State, they extol 'em for Saints, advance the Fame of their Miracles, utterly disagreeing in their Lives and Conversations, from the Lives and Examples of those whom they praise. These were the Men to whom our Saviour spoke, when he cried out, Woe be to you that build up the Sepulchers of the Prophets like to those that show them. Like to the Heathen, to every Saint they allot his proper charge; to one with Neptune they share the Command of the Seas, and power of Deliverance from the dangers thereof: to another with Jupiter, to have the Dominion of Thunder: to another with Vulcan to control the Fire: to another they pray with Ceres for seasonable and plentiful Harvests: to another with Bacchus they give the Charge of their Vintages and Vines. The Women also have their Deities, from whom, as from Lucina, they beg for Children, and the cure of Barrenness: and another, by whose Power they either Appease, or Revenge themselves upon their Angry Husbands. Others there are, to whom they give the privilege of recovering and finding Lost Goods. Neither is there any Disease which has not its peculiar Physician among the Saints. Which is the reason that Physicians do not get so much as Lawyers; there being no sort of Action, though never so just, that ever could boast of a Saint for its Patron. 'Tis true, the Papists aver, That as the Soul in every Member Displays a several Act; and every Act, as it is variously disposed, receives a distinct Power, as the Eye to see, the Ears to hear: So Christ in his Mystical Body, of which he is the Soul, by his several Saints, as Members accommodated to the same Body, doth Administer and Distribute the several gifts of his Grace to the Inferior Creatures; and that to every Saint is allotted a particular operation for the dispersing of several Graces, according to the variety of Graces given to each Man. But this Conjecture, as being one of Agrippa's Vanities, for which there is no ground in Scripture, we cannot reckon among the Vanities of Science, but as a peculiar Invention of his own.   

CHAP. LVIII.  
Of Temples.  
NOW as concerning Temples, there was nothing wherein the Superstition of the Gentiles was more eminent, who to every Deity were very curious in Building particular Temples; after whose Example, the Christians afterwards Dedicated their Temples to particular Saints. Yet there were many Nations that never made use of any Temples; and Xerxes is reported to have burnt all the Temples throughout Asia, at the persuasion of his Magicians, believing it to be an Impious thing to enclose the Gods in Walls. But of these Temples Zeno Citicus Disputed formerly in these Words; To build Churches and Temples, saith he, it is no way necessary: for nothing ought to be accounted Sacred by Right, nothing to be esteemed Holy which men themselves Build. Among the Persians of old there were no Temples; Neither was there among the Hebrews from their first beginning, but only one Temple Dedicated to Divine use, which was Built by Solomon, of which however it is thus written in Isaias; Thus saith the Lord, The Heaven is my seat, the Earth the footstool for my feet, what is this house which thou buildest for me? And Stephen the Protomartyr adds, Solomon built a House, but the most High Inhabits not in places made with Hands. And Paul the Apostle saith to the Athenians, God dwells not in Temples made with hands: for being the Lord of Heaven and Earth, he is not served by men's hands, who wants not their help. However he teaches, that Humane Nature, even Men themselves Holy, Pious, Religious, Devout to God, are the most acceptable Temples to God: as he Asserts, writing to the Corinthians, Ye are the Temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you; the Temple of God is holy, so ought you to be. Moreover, Origen writing against Celsus, confesses, That at the first beginning of Christian Religion, and long after Christ's Suffering, there were no Churches Built; Confirming by many Arguments, that among Christians they avail neither to the right Worship of God, nor to the Honour of true Religion. Therefore faith Lactantius, Temples are not to be made to God of Stones piled up to an immense height, but there is a place to be reserved in the Heart of every Man, where his Thoughts ought to retire when they are taken up in Religious Exercise.  

Not Temples made with hands th' Almighty hold;  
Just men are the true Temples made of Gold.  And Christ sends his Adorers not into the Temple, not into the Synagogues, but into their private Closets to Pray. And we read, that he himself did many times appear with the Multitude in the Cities, in the Temple, in the Synagogue, when he made his Sermons; but he went into the Mountain to Pray, where he spent the Night in Prayer. However, the Church, that does nothing but by the Inspiration of the Spirit of God, when the Christian Religion began to increase, and that Sinners entered into the Temple with the Godly, the weak with the strong in Faith, and as they entered the Ark of No, the Clean with the Unclean, did then Ordain certain Temples, Chapels, Churches, and separated Places free from Profane business, wherein the Word of God might be Publicly Preached to the Multitude, and the Sacraments might be more decently and orderly Administered; which have since been held by the Christians in most Venerable Esteem; and being guarded with the Immunities of several Princes, have increased to such a vast Number, augmented with the Addition of Monasteries, Abbeys, and the like, that it is very necessary that many of them should be cut off as superfluous and unnecessary Members. And here we cannot be unmindful of another Enormity, which is the superbity of Building, wherein vast sums of Alms and sacred Money is expended; which, as we have observed before, would be more fitly and honestly employed in the maintenance of the true poor of Christ, the true Temples and resemblances of God, many times ready to perish for hunger, thirst, cold, labour, sickness, and want.   

CHAP. LIX.  
Of holidays.  
holidays, both among the Gentiles, as among the Jews, were always in great estimation; who did all at certain times of the year, and upon certain days, set apart several holidays for Divine worship upon several occasions; as if it were lawful to be more religious or more ungodly at one time than another; or that it were the pleasure of God to be worshipped more at one time than another: which St. Paul objects to the Galatians as a shame, writing to them afthis manner: Ye observe days and months, and times and years: I fear I have laboured for you in vain, and without a cause. Concerning which when he admonishes the Colossians, he commands them in these words: Let no man judge you for meat or drink upon a Holiday, or of the New-moon, or of the Sabbath, which are members of future things. For to true and perfect Christians there is no difference of days, who are always feasling and pleasing themselves in God, always keeping a perpetual Sabbath; as Isaiah prophesied to the Fathers of the Jews: The time shall come that their Sabbath shall be taken away; and when the Saviour comes, there shall be a perpetual Sabbath, and perpetual New-moons. However, for the sake of the common people, and the more illiterate part of the Church, the Holy Fathers did institute holidays, that they might have liberty and vacancy to come and hear the Word, and to celebrate Divine Worship, and for receiving the Sacraments; yet so that the Church should not be subservient to the days, but that the days should be subservient to the Church. Therefore did the Fathers ordain certain holidays wherein the common people were exhorted to abstain from worldly business and bodily labour, whereby they might be the more free to serve God, the more at leisure to pray and think upon Divine matters, to be present at Service and Sermons, and to tend such other Duties as might most directly tend to their Salvation. But that same perverter of Equity, that destroyer of all Order and Decency, that author of all Evil, the Devil, endeavouring to pull down whatever the Holy Ghost sets up, hath near demolished this Tower of Beauty also. While we behold the greatest part of Christians not converting this Holy leisure of holidays to the exercises of Prayer, or hearing the Word of God, but spending their precious time in the corruption of all good Manners, Dancing, Stageplays, lewd Songs, idle Sports and Games, Drinking, Feasting, Visiting, and in all worldly and Carnal works quite opposite to Spiritual. As Tertullian speaks of the solemn Feasts of the Caesars: They were wont, saith he, to make a great stir, to bring forth into the public street their Fires and their Chorus', to junket in the Highway, to make a Tavern of the whole City, to pour Wine down one another's throats by violence, then to run headlong to do all manner of mischief, and to please themselves in all manner of filthy Lust. Are we not therefore deservedly to be condemned, who celebrate the Festivals of Christ and his Saints after such a lewd fashion? I confess we do not find many Heretical Disputes concerning holidays, omitting the madness and Blasphemy of the Manichaeans, and the pestiferous opinions of the Cataphrygians; yet had they like to have occasioned a great breach in the Church, when Victor the Pope excommunicated all the Eastern and Southern Churches for not keeping Easter-day according to the direction of the Western Decrees; who notwithstanding was notably resisted, among others, by Polycrates Bishop of Asia. Ireneus also Bishop of Lions, though he observed Easter-day as was commanded by Victor, yet with great freedom undertook to chide the Pope, for that he had, contrary to the Example of his Predecessors, as a disturber of the Peace, lopped off so many Limbs of the Church, not for any Error in point of Faith, but only for disagreeing in point of Ceremony from the Church of Rome. 'Tis true, there have been many decrees of Popes and Councils to confirm and settle the observation of Easter-day, and many Ecclesiastic Computations have been made, for the better finding out of the true day: And yet to this very hour they could never find out a certain day, or that was Universally observed through the whole World at one and the same time. A very worthy business indeed, that for the humour of one obstinate Pope, the whole Church should suffer Shipwreck.   

CHAP. LX.  
Of Ceremonies.  
OF the Members of Religion, the Pomp of Rites and Ceremonies in Habits, in Vessels, in Lights, in Bells, in Organs, in Singing, in Perfumes, in Postures, in Pictures, in the choice of Meats and Fasts, and the like, have been received and approved with great Adoration and Veneration by the Multitude, especially Papistical, who understand no more than what they see with their Eyes. Numa Pompilius first Instituted Ceremonies among the Romans, thereby to invite a rude and fierce People, that had obtained a Kingdom by Violence and Rapine, to Piety, Truth, Justice and Religion: such were the Ancylia and Palladium, the Sacred Pledges of the Empire's Safety; the double-Fronted Janus, Arbiter of Peace and War; The Fire of Vesta, over which a she- Flamen did continually Watch: The Year also divided into Twelve Months, with the variety of Good and Evil Days. The Sacerdotal Dignity divided into Pontifexes and Augurs; their various Ceremonies of Sacrifices, Supplications, Shows, Processions, Temples; of which the greatest part, as Eusebius testifies, has been Translated into our Religion. But God himself, who delights not in Flesh and Humane Signs, contemns and despises these Carnal and Exterior Ceremonies. For he is not to be Worshipped with Corporal Actions, Eye-pleasing Works, or Carnal Adoration, but in Spirit and Truth by Christ Jesus. For he looks upon the Faith, considering the inward Thoughts and Intentions of Men; the searcher of Hearts, that sees the very Secrets of the Soul. Therefore those Carnal and outward Ceremonies no way advance us toward God, with whom there is nothing acceptable but Faith in Jesus Christ; with a perfect imitation of his Charity, and an unshaken hope in his Salvation and Reward. This is the true Worship, spotless from all Contamination of External and Carnal Ceremonies; wherein St. John instructing us, saith, That God is a Spirit, and to be worshipped in Spirit and Truth. This some of the Ethnic Philosophers were not ignorant of; therefore Plato forbid that any Ceremonies should be used in the Worship of the most high God. For there is nothing wanting to him, who is all things himself; only it is requisite that we should adore him, by returning our thanks to him for all things. Neither have we any thing more grateful to return to God, than Praise, Glory, and Thanks. Neither will it serve for an Objection, to insist upon the Sacrifices, Rites, and Ceremonies of the Mosaical Law, as if God had taken delight in them. For God brought them not out of Egypt to offer up Sacrifices and Incense to him; but that forgetting the Idolatry of the Egyptians, they might hear the Voice of God, and obey him in Faith and Truth to the obtaining of their Salvation. Now the reason that Moses Instituted Sacrifices and Ceremonies among them was, that he bore with their Infirmities, and yielded to the hardness of their Hearts, indulging a small Error, to recall them from things more unlawful, directing their Sacrifices to God, and not to Devils. For those things were not principally Instituted, but by consequence; neither could that Law oblige them otherwise, than as it was approved by the people. Therefore Moses when he produced the Laws of Ceremonies, he collected the suffrages of the Elders and the people, whereby to render them more pliable to his commands. Therefore might that Law be changed according to the alteration of times and manners, and was at last totally abrogated; but the Law of God delivered in the Tables of Stone, that is perpetual. For so God spoke by Jeremiah, Why do ye offer to me Frankincense of Saba▪ and Cinnamon fetched from a far Country? Your Holocau●ts and your Sacrifices have not pleased me. And again by the same Prophet, Thus saith the Lord, Put your burnt offerings to your sacrifice, and eat flesh, for I spoke not to your Fathers, nor commanded them when I brought them out of the Land of Egypt, concerning sacrifices and burnt-offerings; but this thing commanded I them▪ saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people; and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded, you that it may be well with you. And Isaiah 43. 23. Thou hast not brought me, faith the Lord, the sheep of thy burnt-offerings, neither haste thou honoured me with thy Sacrifices; I have not caused thee to serve with an Offering, nor wearied thee with Incense; thou boughtest me no sweet savour with money, neither haste thou made me drunk with the fat of thy Sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, and hast wearied me with thy iniquities. And Chap. 66. v. 2. To him will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my words. For it is not thy fat flesh that shall cleanse thee from thy iniquities. For Chap. 58. v. 5. It is such a fast that I have chosen, vers. 6. to loose the bands of wickedness, to take off the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke. vers. 7. To deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that wandreth into thy house: when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and hide not thyself from thine own Flesh. Verse 8. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall grow speedily, thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall compass thee. Verse 9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer, Here am I. I will not deny, but that as by Moses and Aaron formerly in the Synagogue, and after him by the succeeding Priests, Judges and Prophets, even to the Scribes and Pharisees; so also in the Christian Church it was the practice of the Apostles, Evangelists, Fathers, Priests and Doctors, to deck and adorn her with decent Rites, Ceremonies and Institutions, to render her a more amiable Bride to her Celestial Spouse. To which later Ages have added many things too much savouring of Humane Weakness. But as it often happens, that that which is provided as a Remedy, turns oftentimes to nourish the Disease; so happens it now with the Ceremonies of the Church, that through the folly of Popish Superstition, Christians are now adays more clogged with continual innovations than were the Jews of old; and, which is worse, though these Ceremonies are many of them neither good nor bad in themselves, but things indifferent; yet the superstitious people groping in the dark of Popery and Superstition, place a greater belief in them, and observe them more strictly than the Commands of God: the Bishops, Abbots, Monks and Priests conniving all the while thereat, and well providing thereby for their Bellies. Now these Ceremonies, though they have been the occasion of few Heresies against the Faith, yet have they introduced innumerable Sects into the Church, and have been the seed of many Schisms. For from hence it came to pass, that the Greek Church was separated from the Romans, while the one Consecrated Unleavened, the other Leavened Bread; when it matters not which, so the Bread be consecrated. Hence the Bohemian Church separated from the Roman, that they might administer the Sacrament in both kinds; but as St. Paul saith, Gal. 6. 15. Neither circumcision availeth, nor uncircumcision, but the observance of the Commands of God, which the same Author in the same place calls, the new creature. Therefore is it a most abominable piece of Iniquity, for such slight causes, and about things indifferent, to disturb the Unity of the Church, and divide the Body of Christ; and as our Saviour objects to the Pharisees, to Cleanse the outside of the Cup and swallow a Camel. Therefore by the providence of God the Pope did himself little good, when he was so stingy against the Leaven of the Greeks, and the Bohemian Cup.   

CHAP. LXI.  
Of the Magistrates and Superiors of the Church.  
IN the Government of the Church, it is necessary to make use of Ecclesiastical Magistrates and Officers, for the avoiding confusion. Now whatsoever is done in the Church, either for Ornament or for the increase of Religion, whether it be in the Election of Overseers, or in the Institution of Ministers, unless the same be done by the instinct of the Divine Spirit, which is the Soul of the Church, it is altogether impious, and contrary to the Truth: For whosoever is not called to the great Office of the Ministry, and Dignity of Apostleship by the Spirit, as was Aaron; and whoever enters not in at the door which is Christ, but gets another way into the Church through the window, that is to say, by the favour of men, by purchasing Voices in Election, or by superior Power; certainly such a one is no Vicar of Christ or of his Apostles, but a Thief and an Impostor, the Vicar of Judas Iscariot, and Simon the Samaritan. Therefore it was so straight provided by the ancient Fathers in the Election of Prelates, (which they therefore call the Sacrament of Nomination) that the Prelates and Apostles who were to be Overseers of the Ministers of the Church, should be men of most unspotted Integrity in their Lives and Conversations, powerful in sound Doctrine, able to give a reason of all their doings: But the ancient Constitutions falling from their Majesty, and the late Pontifical Jurisdiction by damnable Custom getting a head, such a sort of Popes and Prelates now adays ascend into the Throne of Christ, such as were the Scribes and Pharisees in the Chair of Moses, who talk and do nothing, binding heavy burdens to the shoulders of the people, to which they will not put the stress of a little finger: Mere Hypocrites, performing all their works to be seen of men, making a show of their Religion as it were in Scenes; they covet the chief Seats at Feasts, in Schools, in the Synagogues; the upper hands in the streets, and to be saluted with the ponderous appellations of Rabbi and Doctors. They barricado up the Gate of Heaven, not only not going in themselves, but excluding others. They devour Widows houses, jabber long Prayers, travelling Land and Seas to seduce children and ignorant persons; that having by the addition of one Proselyte increased their forlorn number, they may with a more numerous train enter the Regions of Fire prepared for them. With their idle Legends and Traditions, they corrupt the most Holy Laws of Christ; and neglecting the true Temple of God, the living Images of the Son of the Father, and the Altars of the people's Souls, with a covetous eye seek after only Gold and Gifts; and minding the more profitable and sinister parts of the Law, are very strict in their Decrees touching Tithes, Oblations, Collections, and Alms; Tithing Fruits, cattle, Money; not sparing also things of the smallest price, as Mint, Anise, and Cumin, for which, barking like Dogs, they daily contend with the people in the Pulpit. But as for the more weighty and righthand-works of the Gospel, Law, Christian-Justice, Judgement, Mercy, Faith, these they altogether neglect, slumbling at a little Stone, but leaping over a great Rock; blind Guides, false and treacherous, a Generation of Vipers, whitened Sepulchers; outwardly in their Mitres, Caps, Habits, Garments and Cowls, making a show of Simplicity and Sanctimony, within full of Filth, Hypocrisy, and Iniquity; Whoremongers, Dancers, Players, Pimps, Gamesters, Gluttons, Drunkards, Sorcerers, who being advanced to Bishoprics, Cardinalats, Abbeys, and the like, not by virtue of their deserts, but either by servile Flattery, Gifts, favour of Princes, or affection of Friends and Kindred, under the Mask of Hypocrisy heap to themselves private riches; devouring the goods of the Poor, making Fairs and Monopolies of the Alms of our Predecessors, wasting them again in Brothel-houses, Gaming, Hunting, and in all manner of Riot and Luxury.  

— Who Cure of Souls neglecting quite,  
In Horse and Hounds place all their chief delight.  They perplex the People, set Kings and Princes together by the Ears, solicit Wars, pull down Churches which the Devotion of their Ancestors reared, to Bu●ld stately Palaces in their places, clad in Purple and Gold, to the great loss and impoverishment of the People, infamy of Religion, and insupportable burden of the Commonwealth; whom the Famous Bernardus Clarevallensis in a S●rmon at the opening the general Synod of Rbeimes, before the Pope, openly styled, not instead of shepherds Mercenary, not instead of Mercenaries Wolves, but instead of Wolves Devils. Now as for the Pope himself, as the Bishop, Camotensis complains, he is the most intolerable and burdensome of all, whose Pomp and Pride never any the most haughty Tyrant yet equalled. And yet they boast, that the safety of Religion and the Church is established only in them, who throwing the burdens of Religious Duties, and the Ministry of the Gospel, which is the true Pontifical Function, upon their Inferiors, fit at the Helm making their own Laws, and receiving the benefits and profits of the Church, themselves in the mean while as idle, as they are full of iniquity. And making us believe, that the Pontifical Chair either admits none but Holy Men, or else makes them so; thence they think it lawful for them to perpetrate any manner of wickedness. A perfect Example of all which, Crinitus gives us in Boniface the 8th. This is that great Boniface who did three Great and Miraculous things; who Cozening Clement with a counterfeit Message from Heaven, caused him to resign the Pontifical Chair to him; who compiled the Sixth Book of Decretals, and made the Pope Lord and Supreme in all things. Lastly, who Instituted the Jubilee, Erecting Fairs for Indulgencies, extending his Jurisdiction as far as Purgatory. I omit those other Monsters of Popes, such as was Formosus, and those other Nine that followed him; neither do I insist upon those other of later times, as Paulus, Sixtus, Alexander, Julius, most famous Disturbers of the Christian World. I pass by Eugenius, who violating the League made between him and the Turks, was the occasion of such dreadful Calamities that afterwards befell the Christian Commonwealth. How great mischief Alexander the sixth brought upon all Christendom, by poisoning Selim Brother of Bajazeth the Great Turk, is known to all Men. The Legates also of the Popes, as the said Camotensis witnesseth, and daily Experience makes manifest, rage with such Fury in their several Provinces, as if Satan were sent from the face of God to scourge the Church. They trouble the Earth, and put it in an Uproar, that they may seem to have a Charm to appease it again; they are glad when evil things are committed, rejoicing in the worst and most wicked Actions, and scarce can refrain from Tears when they behold nothing Lamentable. They eat the sins of the people, are clad and nourished with the same; and luxuriously wallow in the same: yet have they fine names and pretences for their Vices; neither can any thing be objected against them, which they cannot excuse by the Example of some Saint or other. For if it be thrown in their Teeth that they are Illiterate and Ungodly, they say, That Christ chose such for his Apostles, who were neither Masters of the Law, nor Scribes, nor ever frequented Synagogues or Schools. Tell them of the barbarousness of their Language, they'll tell ye Moses had an impediment in his Speech; and that Jeremy knew not how to speak; and that Zacharie, though he were dumb, was not excluded from the Priesthood. If you object against them their Ignorance of the Scripture, Infidelity, Error, or Heresy; they repeat to ye, That St. Ambrose not yet a Christian, but only Catechumenos, was Elected to be a Bishop; and that St. Paul, not only from being an Infidel, but a Persecuter, was called to be an Apostle; that St. Austin was a Manichaean; and that Marcelline the Martyr in his Papacy, Sacrificed to Idols. If you upbraid them for their Ambition, they bring ye for an Example the Sons of Zebedee; If for Faint-heartedness, Ionas and Thomas, the one fearing to go to the Ninivites, the other to the Indians. If for Fornication, they say Oseas married a Strumpet, and Samson a Whore. If for Quarrelling, Fight, Murder, or taking up Arms; they tell you how St. Peter cut off Malchus Ear, how St. Martin served under Julian, and how Moses killed the Egyptian and hid him in a Stable. So that among them it is a matter of no Moment what manner of Person he be, that is admitted to the chiefest Ecclesiastical Promotions: and then every one must submit his Neck to the Sword of these Ecclesiastical Tyrants. Not the Sword of the Word, of which they ought to be the chief Keepers and Ministers; but the Sword of Ambition, the Sword of Covetousness, the Sword of Injustice and Extortion, the Sword of bad Example, the Sword of Blood and Murder, with which they arm and defend themselves against all Truth, Justice and Honesty.  

The Sceptre 's forceless, where no Justice reigns;  
That 's true Religion, Honesty maintains.  
Freedom is Force, licentiously used;  
The Sword Protects not, when to Rage abused.  Nor is it lawful to contradict their Decrees, or disobey their Wills, unless any one be prepared to suffer Martyrdom as a Heretic; the very reason that Jeremy Savanarola, a Divine of the Order of Preaching Friars, was burnt at Florence, and suffered a Martyrdom. However, because all Powers are good, as being of God, who is the giver of all things, and of all good things; and though to those that are in authority, and those that are in subjection they may sometimes prove of evil consequence, however to the generality there is something of good in them; God so providing, who turns all our evil actions for the best. Whoever is therefore by God constituted a Bishop or Ruler in the Church, him we ought to obey, and in no wise to contradict; for who disobeys the Bishop or Priest, disobeys not man but God, as he himself spoke to the Contemners of Samuel: They have not contemned thee but me: And as Moses reproving the murmuring people, saith, Ye have not murmured against us, but against the Lord your God; nor will God suffer them to go unpunished that resist their Bishop or Prelate. Thus Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses, and the Earth swallowed them up. Many conspired with Corah against Aaron, and were consumed with Fire. Achab and Jezebel persecuted the Prophets, and were eaten by Dogs. The Children mocked Elisha, and were torn and devoured by Bears. Vzzia the King presuming to meddle with the Priesthood, was strucken with Leprosy. Saul adventuring to sacrifice without the presence of Samuel the High Priest, was deprived of his Kingdom, and not only deprived of his Prophetic Spirit, but possessed with an Evil one. It is a point of Infidelity not to believe the Scriptures, a point of Impiety to despite the Ecclesiastic Government.   

CHAP. LXII.  
Of the several sorts of Monks.  
THere are yet remaining in the Church a sort of People of several Opinions which are called Monks and Friars Anchorites, altogether unknown to the Old Law: At this day they assume to themselves the Title of Religious Persons; prescribing to themselves most severe Rules of Living; and Professing most Holy Duties and Exercises, march under the Name and Banner of some most Religious and noted Person or Martyr, as Bernard, Austin, Benedict, Francis, and the like: but at this time there is an Abominable Rout of sinners crept in among them. For hither, as to a Sanctuary, flock together all those, who out of the guilt of their Consciences, or otherwise fearing the Punishment of the Law, are safe no where else, others who have committed certain Crimes that are to be Expiated by Sufferance and Repentance, whom the dis-repute of their Conversations hath rendered proof against Infamy; who having wasted their Estates with Whoring, Drinking, Gaming, and all manner of Riot, at length Debt and Want compels 'em to Beg: others there are, whom the hope of ease, loss of Mistress, or their being Cheated when Young, fierce Mothers-in-Law, or severe Tutors, compel and drive to these Houses, the Massy Body of which Higglede Pigglede is joined and soldered together with a reigned Sanctimony, a Cowl, and a confidence of sturdy Begging. The Body of their Houses is that great Sea wherein, with the other little Fishes, dwell the great Leviathans and Behemoths, the Great Whales, Monsters, and creeping things, whose number is not to be told. From thence are spewed up so many Stoical-Apes, so many Penny-Beggers, so many Mendicant Gownsmen, so many Monsters in Cowls, so many Beard-weare●s, Rope-carriers, Staff-bearers, black, sad-colour, grey, white, woodden-shooes, barefooted Budget bearers, vary-coloured, many-coated, canvas-wearing cloak-carriers, gownsmen, coat-carriers, some loose, some tucked up, with all the rest of the crowds of Histrio's, who having no Faith in Worldly things themselves, by reason of their monstrous habit, are yet by the poor People of the World accounted Divine, Usurping the Sacred Name of Religion to themselves, and boasting themselves to be the Companions of Christ and his Apostles; whose Life and Conversation is generally most Wicked, contaminated and defiled with all manner of Covetousness, Lust, Ambition, Sauciness, Impudence, and all manner of enormity; yet going safe and unpunishable, under the defence of pretended Religion. For they are fortified with the Privileges of the Romish Church, and exempted from all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, to the end they may the more lawfully go on in Wickedness: and although they are able to cite all other Persons whatsoever before their false and illiterate Tribunal, yet they themselves can be Cited no where but either to Rome or Jerusalem. As for their Vanities and Errors, were I to set them down in Writing, not all the Parchment in Madian would comprehend them; I mean of them who profess not Piety for Religion's sake, but put on the Cowl to maintain their Luxury. Most rapacious Wolves, who under Lambs-skins and Sheeps-clothing hide the Fox in their Breasts, using such Arts of Dissimulation, that their whole Profession seems to be a mere Mimic Hypocrisy, and a mere trade of Piety driven on by personated Persons, which under a Pale Visage hide their pretended Fasting, making their dutiful Tears obey their deep Sighs, counterfeiting Prayers with the Motion of their Lips, and by means of their sober Gate, and demure Postures, 
With Head dejected, fixing on the Ground  
Their Lecherous Eyes.  Assuming Modesty and Devoutness to themselves, with their poor Garments covering their pretended Humility, and by means of their Cowls hanging down their backs, creating to themselves an Opinion of Holiness, though their inward and private Conversations be most detestable; who though they commit very great Enormities, are yet saved; with the pretence of Religion overcoming, and with their Cowls, as with Bucklers, warding off all the Darts of ill-Fortune; and thus living secure from all civil Troubles and Dangers, eating the bread of Idleness, instead of that which they ought to Labour ●or, they afterwards lie down to Rest in ease and quiet: Esteeming it to be Evangelical poverty, to feed upon the Labours of other men in beggary and idleness. These are they who Professing utmost Humility, clad in mean and vile Habit, barefooted, Stage-players, bound with Ropes, like Robbers and Thiefs, with their Heads shaved like Mad-folks, with their Cowls, Beads, and Bells like Morris-Dancers and Carneval-mummers, profess themselves to wear these Emblems of Poverty and Contempt for the sake of Christ and Religion: yet swelling inwardly with Ambition, and giving to the chief of their Orders the most Arrogant●Tides of Paranymphs, Rectors, Guardians, Precedents, Priors, Vicars, Provincials, Archimandritae, and Generals; so that no sort of People seems more covetous of People than they are. There are not wanting many other Enormities which may be truly reported of them; but there are others before me, who have made sufficient discovery thereof already. I will not deny but there are some Pious and Devout men among them, but the Generality of 'em are Infidels, Reprobates, and Apostates, that deform and deface Religion.   

CHAP. LXIII.  
Of Prostitution, or the trade of Whoring.  
HEre it seems no way unseasonable for us to speak something of the Art of Bawdry, seeing that among the Egyptians, the first institutors of Religion, it was not lawful for any person to be made a Priest that was not first initiated in the ceremonies and mysteries of Priapus; and for that in our Church it is also a received Maxim, that there can be no Pope without Testicles, and that Eunuches and gelt persons are forbidden to be admitted into the Priesthood; and for that we also find, that wherever there be the most stately Priories and Abbeys, there are always certain Bawdy-houses adjoining to 'em: and for that the recluse houses of Nuns, and Religious houses, are for the most part but the receptacles of lewd women, whom the Monks themselves do often keep privately in the Habit of Men, for their particular solace. Therefore I say, it seems very proper to bring in a little discourse of the Practice of Bawdry in this place, which many wise Philosophers have thought not only profitable, but necessary, in a well-ordered Commonwealth: For Solon the great Lawgiver of the Athenians, and adjudged for one of the seven Wise Men by the Oracle of Apollo, as Philemon and Menander do both witness, took care for the buying of Wenches for the Young men, the first that dedicated the Temple of Venus Pandemia at the expense of the Rents of Prostitutes: he also instituted Brothel-houses, established them by Law, and likewise gave them several privileges and immunities. In Greece▪ Whores were had in so great esteem, that when the Persian was expected to make his violent invasion, the Corinthian Courtesans were ordered to make a public supplication for the safety of Greece in the Temple of Venus. It was also a Custom among the Corinthians, that when they were to make any supplication to Venus, about any great matter, the care of that Affair was always committed to their Courtesans. Many Temples were built by the Courtesans among the Ephesians; and they of Abydos built a most stately Temple in honour of their Prostitutes, having recovered their lost liberty by the means of a Courtesan. The wise Aristotle also was of opinion, that Courtesans were worthy of Divine honours, when he sacrificed to Hermia the Harlot, in the same manner as is she had been Ceres Eleusinae. Now the invention of this Art is attributed to Venus, who was therefore translated among the number of the Gods. For she being a woman of little shame, and prostituting herself to all manner of Lust, was the occasion that the women in Cyprus made profit of the use of their bodies: Whence it was a Custom among the Cypriotes, that their Virgins so long before Marriage appointed, might Prostitute themselves for money to pay their Portion; and for their Future Chastity should make a small Offering to Venus. It was a Custom likewise among the Babylonians, as Herodotus affirms, That they who had consumed their Private Estates, might compel their Daughters to Prostitution for their Maintenance. Aspasia the Socratic Courtesan filled all Greece with Harlots; for the Love of whom, and for that the Megareans had ravished from her certain of her Young Girls, Aristophanes reports that Pericles undertook the Peloponnesian War. The Emperor Heliogabalus did very much advance the Art of Bawdry; who, as Lampridius witnesses, would always have them prepared in his own House for his Friends and Clients. He also bestowed great Banquets on them, of Twenty two great Dishes apiece, providing that between every Dish they might wash and retire, and they were sworn to perform duty. Many times he would redeem Harlots from Bawds, and give them their Freedom. And he is said among the rest to have redeemed a certain Noted and very fair Courtesan for Thirty pounds of Silver. And in one day he is said to have visited the Circus, theatres, and Amphitheatres, and all the Courtesans through all Parts of the City, and to have distributed to every one a Crown in Gold. Another time he assembled all the Harlots and Courtesans from all Parts of the City into one Public spacious place, where he made them as it were a Military Oration, calling them Fellow Soldiers, and disputed with them about the Variety of Postures and Pleasures; and after he had made an end of his Harangue, he ordered 'em, as to Soldiers, a Donative of Three Crowns in Gold: moreover, to such Roman Women as would play the Harlot, he not only granted Immunity but Impunity, and decreed Salaries to the Harlots out of the Public Treasury. He also Promulgated several wanton and sportive Decrees of the Senate touching Harlotry, which by the Name of his Mother and Wife, he called Semiramids Laws: He also invented several sorts of Postures, whereby he might not only exceed the Cyrenian Courtesan called Duodecamechanick, for having invented Twelve ways of Venereal Exercise; but that he might also Excel all the Ancient Tribad's Hostia's, Apbia's, Spinctria's, Gasalvadas, Casarita's, Prostipula's, and all the other famous Artists of their Times. I omit Juda the Jewish Patriarch a Fornicator, and Samson, one of the Judges of the People of God, who Married two Harlots; and Solomon the wisest King of the Jews, who kept whole Troops of Courtesans: Caesar the Dictator, a most strong man, and therefore called the man of Women: and Lastly, Sardanapalus Monarch of Babylon, with many other Innumerable and most Potent Patrons of Courtesans. But I cannot pass by Proculeius the Emperor, who has not got a little Fame by Indulging to the Venereal Exercise, for that having taken an Hundred Sarmatian Virgins, he lay with Ten the first Night, and Deflowered 'em all in fifteen days. Though that were a far greater Labour which the Poets relate of Hercules, that he made Fifty Virgins Women in one Night. Theophrastus' a grave Author relates, That there is an Herb of such Virtue in India, that he who Eats of it may be able to lie with a Woman Seventy times. Add to all this, that this Art has received no small ornament and credit from the Verses of Sapph the Poetess beloved of Phaon, and from Leontium, with whom Metrodorus kept Company, most Learned in Philosophy; insomuch, that she wrote against Theophrastus, in defence of Fornication against Wedlock. Among which, we may number Sempronia, most Elegant both in the Greek and Latin Tongues. Nor is L●aena to be passed by, kept by Aristogiton; of a most approved Fidelity towards him, who being put upon the Rack, to cause her to betray her friend, suffered the torments with an unspeakable silence and constancy. Neither did ●●hodope the Courtesan less ennoble this Art, the Preservatrix and Bed-fellow of Aesop that compiled the Fables, who attained such a mass of Wealth by prostituting her body, that the built a third Pyramid, reckoned among the Wonders of the world. Next to her Thais is to be remembered, who trusting in the prerogative of her Beauty, disdained the company of any others than Kings and Princes. In the advancement of this Art, Messalina far exceeded all these, who frequenting the public Brothel-houses, overcame a noble Courtesan, suffering herself to be lain withal twenty five times in twenty four hours, returning wearied, but not satisfied: With whom we may join Joan the most Illustrious Queen of Naples of fresher memory, with many other Princely Courtesans and Palatine Harlots, were it safe to name them; yet in this differing from the common sort of Strunipets, that contrary to the Law of Heliogabalus, they acted not in public Brothel-houses like the Empress Messalina, but in private Chambers. We may add to these both the Julia's, the Niece and Daughter of Octavianus Augustus, together with Populea, and Cleopatra Queen of Egypt; nor can we forget Semiramis and Pasiphae, most ancient Examples of Lasciviousness: Of which the Lust of the one was so burning hot, that she not only wooed her own Son to her embraces, but also passionately loved a Horse even to desire of Copulation. The other, Wife to King Minos, suffered herself to be known by a Bull. It is not our business to set forth here a Catalogue of Illustrious Courtesans; yet we must not omit to inform you, that the Beds of Harlots and Adulteresses have brought forth the most Illustrious Heroes in the world; for example, Hercules, Alexander, Ishmael, Abimelech, Solomon, Constantine, Clodoveus King of the Franks, Theodorick the Goth, William the Norman, and Raymund of Arragon. So lightly are the Laws of Matrimony set by among great Personages, who at their pleasure divorce, leave, and change their true and lawful Wives; and so often they wed and rued their Sons and Daughters, that it is hard to say which is the most lawful Marriage. Do we not read how Ladislaus of Poland, having taken Beatrice to Wife, by whose very nod, as it were, he obtained the Kingdom of Hungary, at length repudiated her to marry a French Harlot? Do we not find, how Charles the Eight the French King having divorced Margaret the Daughter of Maximilian Caesar, took away his espoused Wife and married her? whom afterwards Lewis the Twelfth, having put away his own Wife, took afterwards to his Bed; the Bishops and Chief Clergy of the Kingdom assisting him therein, and consenting thereto; who esteemed and valued the ends of obtaining Brittany, more than the observation of the Laws of Marriage. But let us return to the Discourse of Harlots, whose cunning devices he that will understand, that is to say, by what ways they prostitute their Chastity, with what wanton casts of the Eye, with what nods of the Countenance, with what gestures of the Body, with what flatteries of Speech, with what obscene Embraces, with what allurements of Habit and artificial Paintings they provoke their Corrupters, together with the rest of their cunning Harlotry Devices, Snares, and Stratagems, let him seek 'em among the Comic Poets. But he that desires to know what Allurements, what affectionate Language, what Kissing, Handling, Rubbing, Resisting; what postures of Lying, what impulse of Action, what reciprocations of Kindness complete the Venereal Game, let him search into the Volumes of Physicians. Yet there be others that have set forth Treatises of Harlotry, as Antiphanes, Aristophanes, Apollodorus, and Callistratus; in particular, Shafalus the Rhetorician wrote in the praise of Lais the Courtesan, and Alcidamus in honour of Nais. Not have many others both Greeks and Latins been wanting to discover their wanton Amours, as Callimachus, Philetes, Anacreon, Orpheus, Alceon, Pindarus, Sapph, Tibullus, Catullus, Propertius, Virgil, Juvenal, Martial, Cornelius Gallus, and many others, more like Panders than Poets; though all of them were outdone by Ovid in his Heroic Epistles dedicated to Corinna, which were also outdone by himself in his the Art Amandi, which he might have better entitled, The Art of Whoring and Pimping: The learning whereof, because it had corrupted Youth with unchaste Documents, therefore was the Author deservedly banished by the Emperor Octavianus Augustus to the farthest parts of the North, Archilochus also the Lacedaemonian, caused all Love-books and Verses to be burnt. Yet now adays this Art is publicly learned and taught in every School by our unwary Pedagogues, with vain and obscene Commentaries upon the Text. Nay, I myself have seen and read under the Title of The Courtesan, published in the Italian Tongue, and printed at Venice, a Dialogue touching the Art of Bawdry, wickedly explaining the Veneries of both Sexes, which with the Author were more fit to be committed to the fire. I omit to rehearse the most detstable vice of Buggery, which the Great Aristotle so much approves of, and which Nero solemnised with a public Wedding; at which time St. Paul writing to the Romans, denounces the anger of the Omnipotent against them. For on them shall God certainly rain Brimstone, and Coals of fire shall be the portion of their Cup. Against these the Emperor commands the Laws to arm themselves, and with exquisite torments to inflict capital punishment upon them, the Sword being the Executioner; but now adays they are burnt with Fire. Moses in his Laws ordained most severe punishment for this Crime: and Plato extirpates it out of his Republic, utterly condemning it in his Laws. The Ancient Romans, as Valerius and others witness, inflicted most severe penalties on those that used it. Examples whereof were Quintus Flaminius, and the Tribune stain by Caelius. But that we may not farther vex the honest Ear, let us return from this monstrous Lust and beastly uncleanness, to our first Subject. For the Love of women is common to all, & there is no person that at one time or other does not feel the Fire thereof; though the women love one way, the men another; young men one way, great pesonages another way; the poor one way, the rich another way: and, which is more miraculous, according to the difference of Nations and Climates. The Italians are of one humour in their Amours, the Spaniards of another, the French of another, the Germans of another. The same difference of Love appears in the difference of Sex, Age, Dignity, Fortune, and Nation, every one having a different sort of amorous Frenzy. The Love of men is more ardent and impetuous, the love of women more constant; the love of young men is wanton, the love of aged persons ridiculous; the poor Lover strives to please with Obsequiousness, the rich Lady with Gifts; the vulgar sort with Feasts and Treatments, Noblemen with Interludes and Plays. The ingenious Italian courts his Lady with a dissembled heat, a acquaint kind of Wooing, praising her in Verse, and extolling her above all other women. If he be jealous, he perpetually shuts her up, and keeps her as his Captive; if he despair of enjoying his Mistress, than he confounds her with a thousand Curses, and loads her with Maledictions. The Spaniard is rash, impatient of his heat, mad, and restless, and bemoaning the torments of his Flames, with miserable lamentations worships and adores his Mistress. If he be crossed in his Love, he grieves and pines away to death; if he grow jealous, he kills her, or being satiated, leaves her to prostitute herself. The lascivious Frenchman trusts in his Obsequiousness, and strives to win his Lady's favour with Songs and merry Discourse. If he grow jealous, he complains of his hard fortune; but if he lose his Love, he reviles her, threatens revenge, and attempts to compass his ends by force. After enjoyment, he neglects her, and marries another. The cold Germane slowly moves to love; but being once inflamed, he makes use of art and liberality. If he grow jealous, he shuts his Purse. After enjoyment, the heat is quickly over. The Frenchman feigns his Love, the Germane dissembles his Heat: the Spaniard hath a good opinion of himself, and believes himself to be beloved; but the Italians Love is never without Jealousy. The Frenchman loves a witty, though unhandsome woman; the Spaniard prefers a fair woman before a witty: the Italian loves a fearful bashful woman; the Germane one that is bold. The Frenchman, through vehement desire, of a wise man becomes a fool; but the Germane having wasted all his Estate, at length, though late, of a fool becomes a wise man: the Spaniard, for his Mistress sake, will attempt great things; and the Italian, for the enjoyment of his Lady, contemns all thought of danger. Moreover, we see that great men entangled in the Shares of Love and Passion, many times forsake great Actions, and leave most noble Erterprises behind their backs, as formerly Mithridates in Pontus, at Capua Hannibal, Caesar in Alexandria, in Greece Demetrius, Antony in Egypt. Hercules' ceased from his labours for Iole's sake: Achilles hides himself from the Battle for love of Briseis: Circe stays Ulysses: Claudius▪ dies in Prison for love of a Virgin: Caesar is detained by Cleopatra; and the same woman was the ruin of Antonius. We read in Scripture, that for the Fornication of Seth with the Daughters of Cain, that the whole Race of man was drowned in the Flood. The Sichemites and the House of Amor was destroyed in revenge of Fornication and the whole people of Israel, for committing Fornication with strange women, were many times overcome in Battle, and carried into Captivity. And for the single Adultery of one person, David the King, what a destruction and waste of people ensued! For Fornication and ravishing of women, the Thebans, Phoceans, and Circeans were assailed and quite overthrown; and for the same reason was the Peloponnesian War undertaken, as I said before, by Pericles; and Troy for the same reason, ten years besieged, to the vast detriment of Greece and Asia. For the same reasons, and upon the same score, Tarqvinius, Claudius, Dionysius, Hannibal, Ptolemy, Marck Antony, Theodorick the Goth, Rodoaldus the Lombard, Childerick of France, Advinceslaus of Bohemia, and Manphred the Neapolitan, suffered death, and the ruin of their Countries. Merely for the vitiating of Julia Cana Daughter of the Governor of Tingitana, by Rodorick the King, the Moors having driven out the Goths, possessed all Spain. Henry the second, King of England, for abusing the contracted Wife of his Son, Daughter of Philip the French King, had like to have been driven out of his Kingdom by his Son. For being false to their Beds, those enraged Wives, Clytaemnestra, Olympia, Laodicea, Beronica, Fregiogunda and Blanch both Queens of France, Joan of Naples, and many other women, slew their Husbands. And this was the reason that Medea, Progne, Ariadne, Althaea, Heristilla, changing their maternal Love into Hatred, were every one the cause and plotters of their Sons deaths. And now adays we find, that many women revenge the Adulteries of their Husbands upon their Children; and of most mild and patient Mothers, have become most cruel Medea's, furious Althaea's, and impious Heristilla's.   

CHAP. LXIV.  
Of Pandarism, or Procuring.  
NOw because that by the advice, assistance, and persuasion of Pimps and Bawds, both Whores and Whoremongers commit their mutual Follies; Let us discourse a little concerning their Subtleties and Devices; for as it is the Calling of a Whore only to prostitute her own body, so it is the business of a Pimp or Bawd to batter and overcome the Chastity of another. Which is therefore a Trade to be in some respects preferred before the Trade of Self-prostitution, by how much it is the more wicked; and so much the more powerful, as being guarded with the Artillery of many other Arts, and Experience besides: so much the more pernicious, that while it makes use of other Arts and Sciences, whatever there is of poison in any Art or Science, that this worshipful Vocation wholly sucks to itself; out of which the weaves those Snares, that not like Spider's Cobwebs take the Flies, but let go the stronger Birds; nor like the strong toils of Hunters catch the bigger Beasts of Chase, and let go the less; but such strong Nooses and Bands, that no Maid, no Virgin, no Woman, never so silly, never so prudent, never so constant, never so obstinate, never so bashful, never so fearful, never so confident, but will at length lend a willing ear to a Bawd, & be ensnared with her persuasions. So fine a Craft is this, that no woman can vanquish, whose persuasions no Virgin, Widow, Wife, or Matron, though a Vestal, can resist; whose unarmed Militia vanquishes the Chastity of most women, which a whole Army would not be able to conquer. The crafty tricks, cunning shifts, deceit, circumventions, delusions, frauds, and strange inventions of the Art of Bawdry, no Pen can suffice to set down, nor Wit to express: So that it is nothing strange, that though there be so many Professors of this Trade of both Sexes, yet there are few that arrive to a perfection therein. For since the Baits of Pandarism lie couched in every Art or Science, it behoves therefore a Bawd to be perfect in every one. Therefore she that intends to be a perfect Bawd, must not direct her studies to one particular sort of knowledge, as to her Polestar, but to be universally learned, as professing an Art to which all other Arts and Sciences are but the Slaves and Handmaids. For first and foremost, Grammar, the Art of Writing and Speaking, affords ye ability to write Love-letters, and how to compose and frame them of Compliments, Petitions, Lamentations, and Moans, Invocations, Protestations, and alluring persuasions; of all which ye have many late Precedents, in Silvius, Jacobus, Caviceus, and many other Modern Authors. There is also another use of Grammar for the manner of abstruse and secret writing in Characters, an Invention of Archimedes the Syracusan, as Aulus Gellius reports. Concerning this, Trithemius Abbot of Spanheime hath written two Treatises some few years since, one under the Title of Polygraphy, the other under the Title of Stenography; in the latter of which, he hath discovered such mysterious ways and means of expressing the mind at what distance soever, and concealing the meaning of words plainly legible, that the most discerning jealousy of Juno, nor the strict custody of Danae, nor the watchful eyes of Argos can ever prevent. Next to Grammar comes Madam Poesy, who by the assistance of her lascivious Rhimes, wanton Stories, and Love-dialogues, Epigrams, and Epistles, taken out of the Armouries of Venus, playing the part of a Pimp and Bawd together, corrupts all Chastity, destroys all the hope, towardliness, and good manners of Youth. Well therefore do Poets deserve to have the Precedency above other common Panders and Bawds, of which the chiefest among the Ancients were these, whom we have above named in the Chapter of Prostitution: as Callimachus, Philetes, Anacreon, Orpheus, Pindarus, Alceon, Sappha, Tibullus, Catullus, Propertius, Virgil, Ovid, Juvenal, and Martial: and we have now adays too many that write after a most impudent and shameful manner. Next to Poets, Rhetoricians claim Precedency, the contrivers of fraudulent Flatteries and Persuasions; for which cause Suadela or Persuasio was held to be the chief Goddess of Pandarism. Historians also have not a little Interest in the World, especially the Compilers of those Historical Romances of Lancelot, Tristram, Eurialis, Peregrinus. Callisthus, and the like; by means whereof, young Children are in their tender years bred up and accustomed to the Intrigues and Mysteries of Fornication and Adultery. Neither is there any Engine so powerful whatsoever to overthrow and oppress the Chastity of young Virgins, Wives, and Widows, than the reading of a wanton History: no woman so well principled, or of so chaste a disposition, which is not spoiled and tainted thereby. And yet for Maids and Virgins to discourse what they have read in these Books, to taunt and jeer, and prattle with their Servants or Wooers in imitation of what they read there! Now there have been many of these Historical Panders, of which some of obscure same; as Aeneas Silvius, Dantes and Petrarch, Boccace, Poutanus, Baptista de Campo Fragoso, and Baptis de Albertis a Floremine: Also Peter Haedus, Petrus Bembus, Jacobus Carniceus, Jacobus Calandrus, Mantuan, and many others, from all which Boccace bears away the Bell, especially in those Books which he calls his hundred Novels; where the Stories and Examples set down, do but discover the Stratagems and Tricks of Whores and Bawds. Now when a woman Virtuous, Religious, and chaste, is to be assailed, than all the fallacious Arguments of Rhetoric are let loose; and how far they avail, the Fable of Myrrah in Ovid tells ye. Now as concerning the Mathematics, what greater assistance and help to familiarity, than your Mathematical Plays and Games? Neither is Music a contemptible friend of this Art, as being no small incentive and provocative to Lust, by means of her wanton Airs, and the Charms of Voice, and sweet touches of an Instrument, softening the Mind, moulding the Affections, and afterwards introducing variety of Society and Company, who begin at length to be Lovers and Admirers. Neither is there less use of Dancing and Dancing-schools, where the Lovers have freedom of Discourse, liberty of Kissing, Handling, and Embracing; and many times, after that, the conveniency of withdrawing. Neither is the Geometrical Artist wanting to give his assistance, by whose contrivance fine convenient Ladders are made for the scaling of Windows, and by the cunning of Daedalus, Keys are many times counterfeited, and no invention omitted that may farther Pasiphae's obedience to her Adulterer. But as for Pictures, these, women that never had the advantage of reading, may understand more than they who had read never so much; while they behold within their Chambers Copies of Obscenity, easy enough to be imitated, whereby the Eyes, as well as the Ears, become the Conduits to convey evil thoughts to the Heart. Pictures make a deep impression upon the Mind, seeing that the representation of what has been done, easily moves men to do the like: For example, Venus of G●idos drawn in her Temple by the hand of Praxitiles, in the Act of being Vitiated: and a Cupid of the same Artist corrupted by Alchidas a Rhodian young man. Elian also reports, that the Statue of Fortune was so vehemently beloved by an Athenian young man, that when he could not be permitted to buy it, he expired at her feet. Terence also in his Eunuchus, brings in a young man inflamed with Love, seeing a Picture, where was painted the Story how Jupiter lay with Danae in a Golden shower. Therefore not undeservedly propose, that a severe penalty should be inflicted upon those Painters, who exposed such things to the eyes of the multitude, whereby to kindle and inflame Lust; so that it was not without cause that the wise man said, That Statuary and Painting were invented by the Devil, as a chief means to tempt them to evil. In the next place we meet with Astrologers, Palmistry, Gypsies, Fortune-tellers, Dream-expounders, Witches, & Conjurers, an innumerable tribe of Assistants to Pandarism, by a kind of Divine Imposition of their Fallacies upon the disturbed Fancies of Youth, bring unlawful Amours to perfection, contrive and finish most wicked and abominable Marriages, and ere they be well knit together, dissolve them by and by into most heinous Adulteries. From such Panders as these, not only credulous women, but to their unspeakable shame, men also fetch the prosperous Omens of their Loves and Marriages, grounding the hopes of Possession or Enjoyment upon their uncertain guesses; and upon their not so stupid as impious assurances, either Marry, or leave the Pursuit of their Love. Nay, some are so mad as to believe, that by Astrological Images, and observation of Hours, Love may be compelled, as Theocritus, Virgil, Catullus, Ovid, Horace, Lucan, and many other triflng Poets have made the world believe: By which single piece of Cunning, your Astrologers and Fortune-tellers make no small advantage. Next to which, Magic also brings a very considerable aid.  

That by her Charms some Lover's trees from fears,  
Afflicting others with consuming Cares.  Of which Lucan thus sings: 
— Love that before was sl●w,  
Thessalian Charms now cause to overflow  
Th' inflamed heart—  In Horace we find Candidia; in Apuleius, Paemphilae provoking their Lovers; and in the Traguses comedy of Callisthus, Celestina the Bawd inflames the Virgin Melibae● by her Magic Art. To these we may add the use of Philters and Love-potions, though very dangerous, sometimes the cause and procurers of Death instead of Love. One of these Drenches killed Lucullus and Lucretius, who before they did grew mad, and lost their senses. We read also of a certain woman who was acquitted by the Areopagites, because she did it out of Love. But there is no Art or Science so useful and profitable to Pandarism as Physic, that promises fairly, by renewing the Hymenaean Film, to restore lost Virginity, to hinder the Breasts from swelling, to put a Spell upon the Womb, administering procurements of Sterility for the longer continuation and secrecy of Venereal Combats, and teaching how by the swift motion of the Reins, to eject the first matter of Conception, as we read in Lucretius.  

Thus for their own sakes, Whores were wont to move,  
Left they should fill too soon, and gravid prove,  
Not equal Pleasure with their Loves enjoy.  By which one benefit of Physic, many Matrons and Widows, many that go for Maids, many Court-ladies most securely follow the sports of Venus. Neither is Physic less Officious in filling up the clefts of Age, in composing Pomatums and Fucus', for which you may find infinite Receipts in every Volume of Physic, and in all their Pharmacopoeas, under the Title of Decorating and cleansing the skin; and are of great use for Bawds, to put off their old Wormeaten Ware: which Compositions the Scripture calls Ointments of Whoredom. With these you shall also see set down many Incentives and Provocatives to Lust, which are called by another Name, Restoratives; by the help of which, Ovid boasts himself to have lived to the Ninetieth Year. Moreover, there is no design of Bawdry so closely and undiscernably carried, as that which is Acted under the Design of Physic; for there are no Houses so fast shut, no Nunneries so Recluse, no Prisons so well guarded, which will not admit a Physitian-Pander, in whose shape Adulteries have been Committed in the Courts of Princes, as by Eudemus with Livia the Wife of Drusus; and by Valerius Vectius with Messa●●ina the Wife of Claudius. Now lest any one should think the Philosophers unuseful for Pandarism, behold Aristippus the very Master of the Cyrenaicks, who associating himself among other Rivals with Thais a Noble Courtesan, boasted that he enjoyed Thais, others were only enjoyed by Thais; so that while they wasted their Estates upon her, he had his Pleasure with her gratis. Whereby it is shrewdly to be suspected, that ●he Jade did but make the Philosopher her Pimp, by his Example and Authority, minding to draw the young Nobility to her Embraces. Neither was Aristippus satisfied in making himself Pimp to a Whore; ●ut he also began to teach the Arts of Lust in Public, Translating them from the Brothel-house into the Schools. Nor are the Mechanic Arts less favourable to the Art of Bawdry than these we have rehearsed; especially, the Phrygian Arts of Weaving, Knitting, Sewing, and other the like Female Exercises, under pretence whereof your old Bawds while they pretend to carry about Linen, Silk, Head-cloaths, Hoods, Lockets, Gloves of young Whores, now become stale and experienced Bawds, making those Toys the Baits of their Allurements, and thereby also obtaining the opportunity of Discourse; and these are immediately seconded by Laundresses and Chare-women, who have freedom of access into Houses: There are also Beggars that under pretence of Charity are constant at the doors where any Design is laid, on purpose for the Conveyance of Letters and Messages.  

And to the Married Wife those Gifts convey,  
Which the Adulterer sends to make his way.  The Exercises of the Nobility also, as Tilting and Ju●ing, give great opportunities to Compass the Designs of Pandarism, as also your Military trainings, by means whereof, Romulus ravished the Sabin Virgins, And as for Hunting, how often have the Woods been privy to the secret Adulteries of great Personages? In relation to which, Virgil takes a very good occasion to be merry, discribing the opportunity that Dido and Aeneas had when they lost their Company in Hunting. And Jupiter himself did ofttimes make the Shepherds his Pimps. What great opportunities are got by going by Water, Venice can testify. The Art of Cookery gives also the same advantages at great Feasts and Dinners.  

After the Feast was ended, all took down,  
They mighty Goblets place, and Bacchus' Crown.  
Here rich with Gems and Gold, the Queen requires  
A Bowl with Wine; them merry be, desires.  
Then having gently kissed the swelling Cup,  
Gave't Bicias: be the full Gold soon turns up;  
Next other Peers.—  
Tyrians and Trojans praise with one consent,  
But the slow Night unhappy Dido spent  
In various talk, and long imbibed Love.  There are many other Artifices also of Bawds and Pimps: but above all, there is nothing like the temptation of Gold, wherein if the Alchemist could satisfy our Expectation, they would be the most Invincible Panders in the World.  

A Wife well Portioned, high Repute and Friends,  
Kindred and Beauty, all Queen Pecunia sends.  The Jealous Husband is appeased with Gold, the inexorable Rival mollified with Gold, the most strict and watchful Keepers and Guardians are corrupted with Gold: there is no Door, no Gate, but opens to Gold: no Bedchamber, but gives entrance to Gold: Bars, Stonewalls, and the indissoluble Bonds of Wedlock, all yield to the Force of Gold: and what wonder if Virgins, Widows, Matrons, Vestal Virgins, are sold and bought for Gold, when Christ himself was sold for Silver? Moreover, under the Leading and good Conduct of this Captain of Pandarism, many have risen from very low and mean Fortunes, to the highest degree of Nobility. That man prostitutes his Wife, and is presently made a great Officer; another prostitutes his Daughter, and is presently made an Earl; another for procuring such or such a Lady into the embraces of his Prince, is straightway thought to be worthy of some great reward, and is presently made a Bed-chamber-man. Others are come to be great persons, for marrying the King's Concubines; and being preferred to great Employments by the same Arts of Pimping and Pandaring, make sufficient gain of Popes and Cardinals; neither is there any way more compendious to get an Estate. Now how much Religion conduces to Pandarism, the History of Paulina a most chaste and Constant Lady, related by Aegesippus, most abundantly testifies, whom the Priests of Isis prostituted to a young Knight, whom they made her believe to be the God Anubis. What more powerful Charm for the advancement of Pandarism, than Auricular Confession? as is sufficiently manifest in the Tripartite History, and of which, were I so minded, I could give fresh Examples upon my own knowledge. For the Priests, Friars, Monks, and Sisters, have a special Prerogative to be both Pimps and Bawds, having the liberty to wander where they please, and with whom they please, when and as oft as they please, to converse with all privacy and secrecy, without any witnesses near; so well and securely and their Bawderies personated and disguised. Some there are among 'em, who think themselves anathematised, should they touch Money; yet the words of St. Paul nothing move 'em, That it is not good to touch a woman: and yet they not only handle 'em with their unchaste hands, but secretly also haunt the public Brothel-houses, deflowering the Holy Nuns, vitiating Widows, and adulterating the Wives of their Host● sometimes, which I both know and have seen; like the Trojan Ravisher, they carry 'em quite away, and prostitute 'em in common to their Fellows, according to Plato's Law; & whereas they ought to gain their Souls to God, they sacrifice their souls to the Devil. Many other more wicked Crimes than these, their mad Lust commits, which it is a shameful thing to utter; in the mean while, believing that they have sufficiently performed their Vow of Chastity, if they do but in words only bitterly inveigh against Luxury, Fornication, Adultery, and Incest; not being able to talk of Virtue without shaking their Buttocks. Such as these the great Ladies always keep near 'em, the Contrivers of Court-marriages and Adulteries. There was in ancient time a Decree of the Senate engraven in two Tables, and kept in the Temple of Venus, a Law favourable to Whoremongers and Bawds; a Copy whereof we find set down by Crinitus in these words: The Laws of visiting, courting, whispering, toying, intruding, saluting, discoursing, wooing, let them be permitted by me. Let no man hinder them from all conveniences in the House, at the Windows, in the Garden, postico impluvio, let them carry their Messages, let them keep Faith, let them give all aid and Assistance. In the second Table thus: At Night let them mind their Vows, let them with their protestations mingle Complaints, let them put away all shame and fear; let them suppress sorrow, let them take hold of time and place, never give way to opportunity; in their Love-Letters succidunto; in them let them urge their hopes, their affection, their expectation, necessity and compassion, fraud, force or stratagem, let them moderately use; let them act prudently, or foolishly; from a Mistress, let them always take any thing as a Pledge or Pawn; by her permission let them proceed, or seek a new one; let them Court a Noble highminded Lady with pomp and subtlety: His Conjectures let him silently pursue. Lycurgus also made a Law, That if any person stricken in Age, and unfit for Marriage, should happen to Wed a young Virgin, it might be lawful for her to choose any young Man strong and lusty, to handsel her Fruitful Womb with a more generous Seed, provided that the offspring should be her Husbands. There was also another Law made by Solon, which gave liberty to Wives, if their Husbands were grown infirm, and not able for the Venereal sport, to choose some one person, next of Kin, to lie with 'em, provided the Offspring should not be alienated. And I only touch upon it by the way, that there are many Noble women now adays, who are well known to make use of other men to get them with Child, and impose their spurious Issue upon their Husbands: Afterwards being brought to Bed and up again, they return to the Society of their Adulterers: In that worse than Julia the Wife of Agrippa, who would never receive a Passenger till the Ship was laden. In the Sacred Writ also we find the stratagems and devices of Lovers and Love-assistants, as of the Mother-in-Law of Ruth, in Jonadah whom the Scripture calls a Wise man, and in Achitophel a grave and prudent Counsellor. We read also, that Abraham when he sojourned with the Egyptians, knowing his Wife to be fair and young, I know, saith he, that thou art a fair woman to look upon, therefore it will come to pass when the Egyptians see thee, they will say, She is his wife; so will they kill me, but thee will say, keep alive: say, I pray thee, that thou art my sister, that I may far well for thy sake, and that my life may be saved. So the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house, and Abraham was entreated well for her sake. The same subtlety he also used towards Abimeleck King of the Philistines; and so did Isaac the Son of Abraham. Thus you see the Art of Pandarism has been highly honoured and advanced by the Gods, by Heroes, Legislators, Philosophers, Wise men, Divines, Princes and Prelates. Pan and Mercury themselves were Panders, and the little Boy Cupid: The Hero Ulysses, the Lawgivers, Lycurgus and Solon, were Panders, who were the first that built Brothel-houses, and countenanced the Prostitution of young women to men. Of later days Pope Sixtus built up a most noble Brothel-house at Rome; the Emperor also Heliogabalus fed whole droves of Whores in his own house, for the use of his friends and acquaintance. It has been the great care of Queens, Princesses, and great Ladies, to practise this Art, in so much that many Queens have been the procurers of Female-pleasure to their own Sons. Nor have the chief Magistrates and Burgomasters of Cities disdained the Office; for the Corinthians, Ephesians, Abydens, Cyprians, Babylonians, and many other Magistrates of other Towns, were all of them Pimps and Panders to their Subjects, building and maintaining Bawdy-houses in their Cities, not a little enriching their Treasuries with the Tribute which they exacted from Courtesans: which is a thing common in Italy, and in Rome every Courtesan pays a Julio a week to the Pope, which many years' amounts to above Twenty thousand Ducats; the hire and wages of Whores being a great part of the Ecclesiastical Treasury. Nay, I have heard some counting up their Estates in this manner: He hath, saith he, two Benefices, one Curateship of twenty Crowns, another Priory of forty, and the tribute of three Whores in the Bordelli, which amounts to twenty Julio's a week. No less Pimps and Bawds are those Bishops and Officers, that exact a yearly Tribute from the Priests, to permit them the use of Concubines; which exaction is become a Proverb among the common people, who cry, Shall he, or shall be not have a Concubine? Let him pay a Crown, and take one. But in the Kingdom of Covetousness, there is nothing accounted shameful by which Money is to be gotten. I pass over the invention of Toleration, which gives a woman liberty, by means of a little Money paid to the Bishop, to co habit in Adultery with another man. All which things are so manifest, that it is impossible to say which is most apparent, the impudence of the Prelates, or the stupidity of the common People: so that it were very needful for the Princes of Germany to seek redress hereof, as one of the greatest grievances and oppressions of their Empire. Such Patrons has the Craft of Pandarism, who with no less power defend the mysteries of Putanism; for which, to our great grief and shame be it spoken, there are such great Privileges and Immunities throughout the whole Christian Commonwealth, such ample tolerations, contrary to the Divine Laws, and the Word of God itself: Humane Reason and the Power of Pandarism so potently contriving to give to Youth this wicked Liberty, under the pretence of keeping them from acting higher Impieties. Take away Whores, they cry, out of the Commonwealth, and straight the world will be filled with Rapes, Adulteries, and Incests: no Matron shall remain unviolated, the Chastity of no Widow shall be safe, Virgin and Vestal Nuns will not escape their fury: From whence they conclude it to be impossible for a Commonwealth or Nation to be in a quiet posture of Government, without the allowance of Harlots; without whom the Children of Israel however lived so Chastely and Continently for many Ages together: for such was the Command of God, There shall be neither whores nor whoremongers suffered among the children of Israel. Notwithstanding which, that beastly liberty before mentioned has endeavoured to invade the Pale of the Church under the pretence of Religion, and was the ground of the Nicolaitan Heresy, who to avoid the suspicion of Jealousy, prostituted their own Wives, and by a Platonic custom maintained community of Wives. But we are bound to let all Princes, Judges, and Magistrates understand, that whoever they be that permit the use of Brothels, or by any way connive at their sufferance, though they themselves may perhaps not be guilty of the Crime itself, to them shall God speak as is spoken by the Psalmist: If thou didst see a thief, thou didst run with him, and didst set up thy portion with Adulterers. These things hast thou done, and I have held my peace; Thou didst believe I would be like thee, but I will convince thee, and set thy transgressions before thee.   

CHAP. LXV.  
Of Beggary.  
IT is a great part of the duty of Civil and Ecclesiastical Government, to be mindful of the Poor and Diseased, lest People should commit Sin, or Steal through Poverty, or by continual wand'ring should occasion the bringing in of Plagues & Pestilences into Cities, or should Perish for Hunger, to the shame of Mankind. Therefore there are Public Almshouses Erected in sundry places at the Public Charge, whose stipends daily increase through the Alms of well-disposed People. For Publicly to beg and wander from place to place, was from the Beginning a thing prohibited by the Laws of all Nations. For in the Old Law, the Jews were commanded by Moses, Let there be no poor or beggar among ye. And in the Roman-Law, Justinian hath very sharply Ordained against sturdy Beggars, that if any one stout in his Limbs should presume to Beg, he was presently to be Imprisioned, and set to Work. In the Evangelical Law, Christ commanded, that what was superfluous should be given to the poor, that so there might be no Beggar among the People, but that there should be a kind of Equality, as saith St. Paul writing to the Corinthians: Let your abundance supply their want, that their abundance may also supply your want, and equality be among ye; as it is written, He that hath much has not abounded, and he that hath little hath not less. And Writing to the Ephesians, He that stole, saith he, let him steal no more, but rather let him labour and work with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have to give unto him that needeth. The same Apostle commands the Thessalonians to labour with their hands, and to endeavour to abound; confirming a severe Decree among them, That he that would not Labour should not Eat; Commanding Loiterers to be Expelled from the Communion of the Faithful. And in his Epistle to Timothy, he condemns those who imagine Beggary to be Godliness. The Papal Decrees Ordain Alms to be given only to those who are past their Labour, accounting all others that receive Alms in the number of Robers, Thiefs, and Sacrilegious persons. By which Authorities we are taught, not only to compassionate Poverty, but to detest Beggary. But those cunning Impostures daily practised to advance the trade of Beggary, are by all men to be Abominated, while their Contrivers rather choose to lie before the Gates of Churches, to the great shame of mankind, and contrary to the Command of God, enduring all the hardships of the bitterest cold, the burning Sun, and Torments worse than Death, rather than to be contented with the mean Allowance of an honest Alms-house; And which is far more Abominable, in the midst of all their Torments and Pains, Blaspheming, Swearing, Forswearing, Cursing, Banning, Foul-mouthed, Injurious and Drunk, using the Name of Christ, but neither Worshipping Christ, or regarding any thing of Sacred or Religious; filling the Ears of Passengers not with the cries of Martyrs, but with the ban of Infernally-tormented Creatures. There is another most Impious sort of Beggars, who crusting over their Scars and Wounds with Birdlime, Meal, and Clotted-Blood, expose themselves all full of Soars and Botches. And others that by counterfeiting other sorts of Diseases and Sicknesses. Others there are, that under the pretence of Vows and Pilgrimages, wander up and down from Country to Country, designedly avoiding Labour, out of a wicked love of Poverty; begging from Door to Door, yet would not change their Lives for Princes, while they have liberty to Vagabond it where they please at their own pleasure; concerned neither in War nor Peace; every where free from Taxes, public Charges and Duties: And yet they are many times the causes of great and most pernicious Mischiefs, and by their means great Enterprises are brought to pass, while under the rags of Beggars many times Spies are sent to discover the secrets of Fortified Places; many times Beggars themselves are made use of to bring and carry Letters of Intelligence: By some of them Cities have been set on Fire, as we find by the late sad example of the City of Tryers; sometimes Wells have by them been poisoned, and the Plague itself brought into Kingdoms, to the Destruction of Thousands of People. Among these we must reckon that sort of Cattle which they call Cyngani or Gypsies.  
They live on strangers, hate at home to 'bide;  
Abhor to know their own, no Land beside.  
These having their Original from a certain Country between Egypt and Ethiopia, of the Race of Chus, the Son of Cham, the Son of Noah, still suffer under the Curse of their Progenitor: These are they who Erecting Booths in the Highway, or else taking up the next Barn for their Habitation, give themselves to nothing but Thievery and Whoredom, and by Thest and Fortune-telling maintain their idle Lives. Volaterran believes, that the first that set up this Trade, from whence it derived itself into these Parts, were the Vxii, a People of Persis; following Scilates, who wrote the Constantinopolitan History. For he reports, that Michael Traul●● obtained the Empire by the Fortune-telling of the Vxii; which sort of People being dispersed through Europe and Moesia, maintained themselves by telling people their Fortunes. Polydore affirms 'em to be Assyrians and Cilicians. But this Itch of damnable Lying doth not only possess the most profane and lowest sort of People and wand'ring Vagabonds, but has also advanced itself among the Religious, and into the Orders of the Monks and Priests. Hence those Sects of Friars, Monks, and other Religious Traders in Palmistry had their Original, who under a cursed pretence of Religion carrying about the Relics of the Saints, and making show of great Holiness, by the help of many feigned Miracles; threatening some with the Anger of the Saints, promising to others Indulgencies and Dispensations; instead of Alms, they get great Riches. For in this posture wand'ring from Country to Country, from silly Wenches and trimorous Women here they get a Sheep, there a Goat, here a Kid, there a Pig, or a young Calf: sometimes Wine, Oil, Butter, Pulse, Milk, Cheese, Eggs, Hens, Wool, Linen and Money; as it were Plunder and prey upon the whole Country where they go, returning home Laden with the rich spoils of their Villainy, where they are received by their Companions with all expressions of joy and applause for the Triumphs of their most damnable Impositions: while on the other side, they who by their Fallacies and lying Devices have thus robbed the Country, think they do God and the Saints good Service, to fat and cram the Guts of their idle Associates, with the fruits of their Cozening and Quacksalving devices, altogether neglecting and contemning to expend these Gifts upon Objects of Charity, to which intent they were both begged and given. Apuleius in his Ass is not forgetful to make them part of his Story, under the Title of the Priests of the Assyrian Gods. Among these we may number the whole Tribe of Mendicant Friars, who laying aside the Sanctimony of their Profession, follow Gain in lieu of Godliness; as if they made a profession of Religion for no other reason, but that under the pretence of Poverty they may have liberty to profess a wand'ring Beggary, and with an impudent and bold Hypocrisy to rake Money together; ashamed of nothing in all places: from which neither Courts of Justice, Temples, Schools, Courts, Private or Public Societies, Concessions, Sermons, Pulpits are free, where they are wont to sell their Indulgencies, extol the benefits of their Ceremonies, extorting in that manner from Usurers and rich Thiefs no small share of their ill-got Gains, and from the thick-sculled Shopkeepers, and illiterate Rabble, squeezing good store of Money; beginning like the Serpent with the Women first, that by their Assistance they may the more easily Delude the Men. Who making a show of Poverty with their affected Rags, and every where Preaching the Contempt of Money, and the shunning of Ambition; yet themselves in the mean while make nothing more their utmost study and business than to rake money with their Profession; to which purpose they compass Sea and Land, intrude themselves into the houses of all sorts of people, performing nothing of their Holy Function but for Hire, exacting Alms more Tyrannically than Tribute; thrusting themselves into all people's business, making up doubtful Matches, ordering Wills, composing Suits in Law, informing and reforming the Holy Nuns; but nothing of all this, unless they find something coming. These are the Tricks and Deceits of the Friars, by means whereof they have arrived to so high a pitch of Authority, to the Terror even of Popes and Monarches, rich beyond the Estates of great Merchants, or the Treasures of Princes, which has enabled 'em with great Sums, not only to purchase Mitres and Hats, but even the Papacy itself. So Powerful is Religious Beggary; to which, how opulent soever, they will pretend, while they touch not the money with their bare Fingers, but have their Judas to keep the Keys of their Treasury, and to make up their Accounts; daring then, most bold Equivocators, to say with St. Peter and St. John; Gold or Silver have I none. Against these Apes of Christ and S. Francis, be Richard Bishop of Armachanus, Malleolus Governor of Tigurines, and John Bishop of Camot, whose Writings would have been more acceptable, had they not only condemned the Abuse, but also the very allowance of this Religious way of Begging itself.   

CHAP. LXVI.  
Of Oeconomy in general.  
UNder the Title of Government-administration Oeconomy is contained, which is the Government of a Family, Republic, or a private Monarchy; of which there are several sorts. For Oeconomy is partly Regal and Noble, partly Military, partly Public, or in Community, as in Covents and Colleges, partly Private and Monastic. This Private Oeconomy teaches how Wives, Sons, Nephews, Servants, and whole Families are to be governed; how to enlarge and increase an Estate; how to manage Expenses. Under the notion of Public Oeconomy, goes that Craft or Cunning which is used in ordering great Revenues, as Gabels, Customs, Tithes, great sums of Interest, Monopolies, and whatsoever other Arts of advancing the public Revenue, or in the management of Treaties and Leagues. National Contests and Wars, which admitting of no certain Rule or Method, is therefore called Anomalous. Therefore cannot Oeconomy be said to be either an Art or a Science, but a certain Domestic Discipline or Doctrine made up of Opinion, Use, Custom, Prudence, and Craft, whereto all your labouring Handicrafts, and Mechanic Arts relate; such as work in Linen, Wool, Wood, Iron, Brass, and other Metals: as also the more servile Trades of Barbers, Cooks, and Victuallers: together with the several ways of getting Livelihoods, and increasing private Wealth, which neither belong to Rule or Magistracy, nor conduce at all to the Government of the Commonwealth; aiming at nothing Divine, Ingenious or Heroic. Of which there are so many, and those mean and poor, that they are not to be numbered: some of these that get their Livings by mean things, are generally noted for particular Vices; as Carters, Mariners, and Victuallers are commonly said to be very great Liars and Tale-bearers, as likewise are Barbers and Bakers. So Songsters, Fiddlers, and Pipers, men altogether Mercenary, made use of to Sing and Play at great Feasts and Entertainments, are generally of lewd and vicious Conversations. But the Life of a Mariner, as it is the most unhappy for hardship, so is it the most vicious and dishonest, who always live as it were in Prison, feeding hard and slovenly, their Apparel Nasty, unprovided of all sorts of Conveniences, perpetual Exiles and Vagabonds, never at rest, tossed with uncertain Waves and rage of Winds, liable to all the hazards of Summer, Cold, Storms, Thunder, Hunger, Drowth and Diseases; to these we may add the dangers of Rocks, those Infects of the Seas, and Hurricanes; not omitting Tempests, than which there is nothing more dreadful or horrible: which makes it seem more strange, that as Mariners are the most unhappy of men, and always in most dangers, so they are the most wicked and desperate. But among the whole Crowd of Mechanic Arts, there are none that bear so great sway as Merchandise, Tillage, Warfare, Chirurgery, and the meaner part of Law. Of all which we shall discourse in their Order. Though before we begin, let us look into the Fundamentals of Oeconomy.   

CHAP. LXVII.  
Of private Oeconomy.  
THE chief strength of Private Oeconomy consists in Matrimony; therefore Metellus surnamed Numidian being Censor, and exhorting the Romans to Marry, If, said he, we could live without a Wife, than we should all be willing to shift ourselves from the trouble: But since we can neither live commodiously with 'em, and that without 'em there is no possibility of living; we ought to choose the perpetual Multiplication of Mankind, rather than a short Pleasure. Thus Aulus Gellius relates. For indeed, without a Wife there is no Family can either be maintained or long endure; for without a Wife there is no Issue to be had, no Heir, no Inheritance, no Kindred, no Family, no Master of a Family can be. He who has no Wife, has no House, because he keeps not to his House; or if he have a House, he lives like a stranger and a sojourner in it. He who has not a Wife, though he be very rich, has nothing that he can call his own, because he knows not to whom to leave it, nor whom to trust to, and therefore he is afraid of every body; his Servants thieve from him, his Friends deceive him, his neighbours slight him, his Acquaintance neglect him, his Kindred seek to betray him: his Children, if he have any born out of Wedlock, are a disgrace to him, neither can he leave them the Name of his Family, the Arms of his Ancestry, nor his Inheritance, being restrained by the Laws: neither are they by the common Consent of all Legislators to be Advanced to any Place or Dignity in the Commonwealth; for he is not fit to Govern a City, that cannot Rule his Family; nor to Rule the Commonwealth, who never knew how to Govern a private Family, which is the true Pattern and Exemplar of a Republic. This the Grecians well knew, who when Philip of Macedon studied to appease a Dissension among them, and that Leontias the Gorgion rehearsed a Treatise of Concord, which he had written in the City of Olympia, they were both Laughed at, who sought to make Peace abroad, who had none in their own Families. For at home, the Son of Philip and his Mother were at Variance; and Gorgias his Wife could not agree with her Maid: therefore they thought that they who wanted Prudence and Authority to quiet Domestic Brawls, could never be able to compose Public Discords. That Person therefore who Commands a City, or a Commonwealth, unless he know how to Govern his own House and Family, is very inauspiciously preferred. Lastly, this is the only condition of Humane-Life, wherein a Man loving his Wife, giving good Education to his Children, well-ordering his Family, preserving his Estate, and increasing in Children, may be said to live happily. Wherein, if any thing fall out of Burden and Labour, as many times Crosses will happen, and there is no man's Life without Misfortune; yet that very Burden becomes light, and the Yoke easy: especially the Yoke of Marriage, if they prove not such Wives, whom Covetousness, Pride, Deceit, or Lust, but God hath joined, for whose sake, a man is bound to forsake Father and Mother, Son and Brother, and Kindred, and adhere to his Wife, whose love ought to exceed the love of all others. So Hector seeing the Fate of Troy, which was to be Destroyed, seems not so much troubled for his Parents, Brothers and Kindred, as for the loss of his dearest Wife. So we read in Homer, 
I well foresee the Fate of Mighty Troy,  
That Priam and his People shall Destroy;  
But nor my Countries nor my Father's smart,  
Nor Priam's fall so much Afflict my Heart,  
Nor loss of Kindred many and Renowned,  
Whom Hostile rage shall bury under ground,  
As care for thee my honoured Spouse doth vex  
My grieved Mind.—  I confess, that unhappy Matches are attended with many Evils and Miseries; which Socrates remembers us of, that is to say, perpetual Care, consuming Jealousy, continual Quarrelling, upbraid with Dower, the scornful looks and countenances of Kindred, the manifold Expenses and uncertain dispositions of Children; sometimes Barrenness, and Extinction of the Family, a strange Heir, innumerable Sorrows; many times the restraint of Election, Marriage being imposed; so that whether she be of a good Humour, a Fool, Perverse, Proud, Sluttish, Deformed, Unchaste, nothing of all this can be known, till after Consummation, none of which are seldom, or ever after mended. Of unfortunate Marriages there are many Examples. Marcus Cato Censor, in his time the Chief, and Prince of the Roman Commonwealth, who had scarce his equal both in Peace and War, having in his declining years Married a young Maid the Daughter of one Solomon, a man poor, and of mean Extraction, lost all Mastership and Authority at home in his own House. Tiberius' having Married Julia the Daughter of Augustus, Infamous for many detected Adulteries, and not daring to Correct, Accuse, or Repudiate her, was forced to retire to Rhodes, not without manifest detriment to his Fame, and danger of his Life. M. Antony the Philosopher having Married Faustina the Daughter of Antonius Pius, was forced to be contented with her, though an Adulteress, for fear of hazarding the loss both of Dower and Empire together. But all these Inconveniences happen, not so much through the fault of the Women, as the negligence of the Men. For it seldom happens that the Women are bad, unless the Husbands are worse. Of whom, thus Varro discourses in Gellius. The Vices of Women are either to be endured, or to be taken away. He that forces a Woman to mend a fault, renders her more tolerable to himself; but he that endures a fault, makes himself the better Man. Of all which we have spoken more largely in our Declamation upon the Sacrament of Matrimony. Again, many times the Education of Children proves not so happy as it was intended, many growing stubborn and disobedient to their Parents, others become Contentious, others Mad, others Foolish, others dull and thick Sculled, others given to all Debauchery, spending all in Luxury, Lust, and Gaming; Others prove Parricides, as Al●meon and Orestes, and the Malleoli who killed their Mother. Therefore Artaxerxes, surnamed Mnemon, having be got a Hundred and fifteen Children, was forced to put to Death the greatest part of 'em, for Plotting to take away his Life; and for this Cause, Euripides modestly supposes, what our Bernard positively ●vers, That it is an unknown good to want Children. Augustus also, the most Fortunate of Emperors in other things, yet beholding the behaviour of his Daughter and Niece, was wont to cry out in the Words of Homer: 
— O that Unwedded I had lived,  
And never all my days for Issue strived.  Of Servants also, thus saith Euripides: At home there is no greater Enemy; nothing worse or more unprofitable than a Servant. Says Democritus, A Servant is a necessary Possession, but not pleasing. And Petrarch hath written, I knew, saith he, that I lived among Dogs, but never knew myself to be a Hunter, but by Admonition. Servants are called Dogs, as being snappish, devouring, and snarling. Plautus in his Pseudolus well expresses their conditions: A Pestiferous Generation of People, into whose thoughts nothing enters that may at any time persuade 'em to do well; but when there is occasion, snatch, catch, carry away; this is their Practice, that a man had better leave Wolves among Sheep, than to entrust these Servants at home. And Lucian in his Palinute; The Curses of Servants are always ready against their Masters, and there is nothing more at hand among 'em than thievery, deceit, running-away, arrogance, negligence, drunkenness, gluttony, sleepiness, sloth and laziness. From whence arose that Proverb, As many Servants, so many Enemies. But we do not so often find 'em Enemies, as make 'em so; while Masters carry themselves proudly, covetously, cruelly, and contumeliously; becoming Lords and Tyrants at home, exercising a feverity over them, not as we ought, but as we please: concerning whom Plautus brings in Strophilus thus speaking in his Aulularia.  

Masters their Servants use injuriously,  
And as corruptly Servants now obey.  
So what is just on neither side is done.  
Your sparing Old Men with a thousand Keys,  
Their Cupboards, Kitchens, Cellars, Butteries shut:  
Which to their Children they will scarce unlock.  
But Servants, subtle, cunning, crafty Thiefs,  
With Keys Two thousand open 'em again.  
And then by stealth they swallow and consume  
What racked a hundred times they'll ne'er confess:  
Damned slaves, on their enslavers thus revenge  
With Jokes and Laughter take; which makes me say,  
Free Masters only faithful Servants make.  Many Commonwealths have egregiously suffered by reason of their Servants. As well those Historians testify who have written the Rebellions of Servants against their Masters: More especially the City of the Valsinenses, a City flourishing in Riches, famous for the excellency of her Laws and Government, afterwards a most miserable spectacle of the Insolency of her Slaves. For when the strict severity of the Citizens over their Servants decreased, insomuch that they sometimes admitted them to their Councils; afterwards a few of them presuming to take upon them the Order of Senators, they Invaded the Commonwealth itself; they commanded Wills to be made at their own pleasures; they forbid the Public Feasts and Assemblies of the Freemen; Married their Master's Daughters. Lastly, they Ordained by Law, that all Adulteries committed by them with Widows, all Fornications with Unmarried Women, should be unpunished; and that No Virgin should be Married to a Freeman, whose Chastity some one of them had not Defiled before. Thus a most Opulent City, once the Metropolis of Caria, through her too kind Indulgence to her Servants, sunk into the Abyss of Injuries and dishonest Sufferings. For saith Aristotle in his Politic Orations, Omit severe Discipline among Servants, and they straight practise Treachery against their Masters. So did the Helots' against the Lacedæmonians, and those of Praeneste against the Thessalians.   

CHAP. LXVIII.  
Of Regal Oeconomy, or Court-Discipline.  
WE have now a fit opportunity to treat of Regal or Court Oeconomy. And to say Truth, the Court is nothing else but a College of Giants, that is, of noble and splendid Knaves, a Theatre of a Wicked Lifeguard, a School of most corrupt Manners, where Pride, Arrogancy, Haughtiness, Extortion, Lust, Luxury, Envy, Gluttony, Violence, Impiety, Malice, Treachery, Deceit, Cruelty, and whatsoever other corrupt Customs and Vices rule and bear sway; where Adulteries, Rapes, and Fornication are the sports of Princes and great Persons, where oftentimes the Mothers of Kings and Princes are Bawds to their own Sons, where the Storms and Tempests of Vice cause an unspeakable Shipwreck of all Virtue, where every Good Man is oppressed, the worst of Men are advanced; where the Downright are laughed to scorn, the Just are Persecuted, the bold and Arrogant are Promoted. There only Flatterers, Whisperers, Detractors, Talkbearers, Calumniators, Sycophants, Liars, Supplanters, Inventors of Evil, sowers of Discord prosper, and the worst of Crimes are openly Professed. Their Lives ●●d Conversations are the most dishonest of all men's, and whatsoever Heinous is to be observed in the single Natures of the worst of Monsters, all seems as it were to be amassed together in the Rout attending a Court. There is to be seen the fierceness of the Lion, the cruelty of the Tiger, the rudeness of the Bear, the rashness of the Boar, the pride of the Horse, the greediness of the Wolf, the craft of the Fox, the unconstancy of the Chameleon, the various colours of the Leopard, the currishness of the Dog, the timorousness of the Hare, the petulancy of the Goat, the nastiness of Swine, the desperateness of the Elephant, the revenge of the Camel, the stupidness of the Ass, the scurrility of the Ape. There Inhabit the raging Centaurs, the pernicious Chimeras, the mad Satyrs, the filthy Harpies, the wicked Sirens, the horrid Struthiocamels, the devouring Gryphens, the rapacious Dragons, and whatsoever fatal Monsters and destructive Prodigies at which Nature is Affrighted; where every particular Virtue finds a Tyrant and a Hangman. In fine, a man must fit himself for all Wickedness, Malice, and Impiety, or not come near a Court.  
It is not Lawful unless far from Court  
Unpunished to be good.—  
The provoked Power of a Potent Courtier, is like a Comet, the Forerunner of many Mischiefs, and a most Contagious Pestilence where it fixes; leaving behind most uncurable Effects of its Venom, like the biting of mad Dogs. The Court is generally accompanied with scarcity, the price of things being enhansed, where men think to gain by the Confluence of People: it is accompanied by the excess of Luxury in Diet, with new-fangled Dishes, driving out the customary Diet of the Country. It is attended with the height of Pride, which when Men and Women strive to imitate, and seek in change of Fashions to outvie one another, they consume and waste their Patrimony in Apparel. Now when a Court departs out of any City or Town, what a filthy Tail it leaves behind! Here Men find their Wives Adulterated, there their Daughters carried away for Whores, their Servants corrupted and abused: What follows? great Complaints, and the face of the whole City is become as it were the Face and Countenance of a Whore. I know a Famous City of France by these means so corrupted, that there was hardly a chaste Matron or a Virgin left; so that it was counted a great Honour to be a Count's Whore: and the old Women were generally Bawds to the younger; and so shameless they became at length, that Modesty was quite Exiled; so that Men never took notice of their Wives playing the Whores, so that, as Abraham says, It were well with them for their sakes.   

CHAP. LXIX.  
Of Noble Courtiers.  
THE Inhabitants of a Court are twofold. The chief are the Peers and Nobles, those Huffing Thrasoes, who are mad with Pride, Luxury, and Pomp; clad in Purple and Silk, with their Plumes of Feathers, and Garments laced with Gold and Vanity. 
Whom Whoring pleases and affected Gouts,  
Loose Hair, and strange new Names for gaudy Clouts.  For upon Whores they waste all the strength and heat of their Youth; nor is their Gluttony less active and ingenious, or their Palates less ingenious; and it is no small part of Honour which they look for, to be splendidly Invited, nobly Entertained, and gloriously Treated. And among them there are that count it no dishonour to be so prodigal at one Meal, as to be forced to be beholding to other men's Tables for a quarter of a Year after. To these great Entertainment-mongers resort your Fiddlers of all sorts, Mimic Parasites, Players, Whores, Bawds, and Dancing-masters, Huntsmen, Falconers, and such kind of Prodigies of Men. Dogs, Horses, Greyhounds, Hawks, Apes, Parrots must be kept; and for the greater state of the business, Bears, Lions, Leopards and Tigers. Their common discourse is mere trifling Tittle-tattle, Detracting, Accusing, Giggling, Lying, and Bragging. Some are always twattling of their Dogs, of their Hunting, what close Woods they met with, how many faults their Dogs made, how they recovered it, and what other casualties happened in the Chase. Others are always prating of their Horses, and what Races were lately run; of the Wars, and what valiant Acts they themselves performed there. If any one has a mind to cross the other, he begins a Discourse quite contrary, to put the other out, though generally his Narratives prove as idle as the former; which another not brooking, undertakes to contradict him, and jee● him out of the Pit; which many times turns to Wrath and Anger, so that the Feast proves at length a Banquet of the Lapithae, which seldom ended but in the drawing of Blood, as if the end of their Invitations had been according to the Distich: 
Cherish your Bodies with your choice of Fare,  
And then Pot-valiant for the Fight prepare.  Now the chiefest Lesson which they learn, is to observe the Prince's times and seasons, for fear of Acting irregularly; wherein they do not advise either with Stars, Heaven, or Ephemerideses, but consult the several Opportunities of the Princes Drinking, Eating, Banqueting, Hunting, Rising, and going to Bed; laying hold on his freedom of Humour, at which time Mirth yields a more easy Audience to discourse; and then beginning to tickle the Ears with some pleasing story, they proceed by degrees to the sum of their Request. Observing the Counsel of Aristotle to Calisthenes, That to a Prince a man should either discourse very wittily and pleasantly, or else be very silent; by silence either to keep himself secure, or by pleasing-Discourse to render himself more acceptable. Wherefore if the Prince seem to be pleased with any one of 'em, to show any liking of what they have spoken or done, if he trust him with any thing, or be pleaed to Discourse in private with any one, Then shall such a one be Magnified in the Eyes of Men, he shall presume to do any thing, he shall revile all men, laugh at all men, slight all men, talk ill of 'em privately, rebuke 'em publicly; he shall speak great things, and all People shall fear him; he shall spurn at his Inferiors, contemn his Equals, disdain his Superiors, altogether puffed up, and seeking to enlarge his Power. 
Freedom of doing ill is virtue thought,  
And high command—  Whoever is not pleased, and applauds him not when he has done evil, is therefore guilty, for he shall be thought either to envy his Good Fortune, or not give him his due Honour. Nor are they only troublesome to their Equals and Inferiors, but also most pestilent to their Princes themselves, whom under pretence of severity, prudence, and giving wholesome Counsel, they perniciously Flatter, and cause to commit most horrid Crimes; as in Lucan, Curio instigates Caesar.  

What remiss Power withholds thy Potent Arms?  
Is it mistrust of us thy Courage charms?  
While in my breathing Veins warm Blood doth flow,  
And brawny Arms the Massy Pile can throw,  
Caesar shall never brook the Senate's Reign,  
Nor the Degenerate Gown.—  Such instigators had Alexander the Great, who being hotheaded enough of himself, when he was in his maddest humours, stirred him up the more to Wars and Mischief: such advisers were the Councillors of Rehoboam the Son of Solomon, and such and too many do the present Courts of our Princes abound with, who yielding and soothing 'em up in their Pleasures, obey and humour 'em to bring about their wicked Designs; and with such cunning they persuade or dissuade, that thereby with greater force they work 'em to their Ends; and where they would have things done, urging slender and impotent Reasons against the doing of it, that by seeming to be convinced, they may the better confirm the Error of the Prince: So deceiving, that they cannot be found out, but rather receive a Reward for their Perfidy. Such Councillors Francis the King of France at this time makes use of; so prone to take all Evil Council, that while they persuade him to act all sorts of Perfidy and Rigour against Caesar, are notwithstanding accounted Faithful and Loyal Subjects. Thus far of Court-Nobility.   

CHAP. LXX.  
Of the Vulgar sort of Courtiers.  
THere are the Common sort of Court-Attendants, a very wicked Generation, who live in a perpetual Slavery, visiting Nobleman's Houses, and parasitically hanging on upon other men's Tables.  

And as their chiefest Good they daily seek  
The Trenchers of another man to lick.  Therefore they are submissive to every body, flatter every one, studying to become all things to all, counterfeiting more shapes than Proteus, whereby to gain the savour of a Lord: To which purpose they mainly study to remember Discourses at Table, that they may not want matter for Report; with great craft they inquire into the secrecies of such as are at odds, which they discover sometimes to their Friends, sometimes to their Enemies, so to render themselves acceptable to both, to both Treacherous; so much the fitter for Treason, as pretending a great deal of simplicity and harmlesness. For though there be no Crime so wicked as Treachery, yet for the obtaining of Riches and Preferment, there is no way more ready nor more compendious, nothing more pleasing or grateful to Princes.  

They strive the Secrets of a House to know,  
To keep the Master under—  And if at any time any person make 'em privy to any Treason, than they are brave Fellows, and hold up their heads above measure.  

Dear shall he be to Verres in whose power  
The Life of Verres lies.  Thereby familiarity and kindred is Contracted, in confidence whereof they aspire to great things. First therefore some greatly labour to be listed in the number of Nobleman's Servants, though they serve 'em without Salary: For they doubt not to get the favour of the Great Ones, having now fair opportunities of Flattery, and to insinuate themselves with all manner of obsequiousness and small gifts: what duties others out of Laziness, Fear, or Covetousness omit, they greedily undertake; they watch day and night, run, ride, post to and fro with Messages, undertake and suffer any toil.  

Daring to Act, nor fearing to endure  
The Punishments provided for the Poor.  Till by this means they become Secretaries, Treasurers, or other very great Ministers of State. And now having passed the Straits and Difficulties of Labour, double diligence and fawning obsequiousness are quite laid aside, nor regarded by them in others, there being now nothing in esteem but Money. Their new Honours have changed their Manners; they forget what they were, contemn their Beginnings, they covet what is to come, and wholly devoted to Avarice, bend all their endeavours and studies in the pursuit of gain and riches; sparing in the performance of Promises, yet full of Words; Flattering, yet at the same time Treacherous; dark in their Sentences, and like Oracles hard to be understood: whatever they see, whatever they hear, they construe to the worst sense: they trust only themselves, love only themselves, are wise only to themselves; they trust in no man's faith or friendship, they care for no Society, but for the love of Gain; their own Profit they prefer above all things; their Friends, their Guests, their Companions, their Kindred, they Despise 'em all, and look upon 'em as barren Trees, if there be nothing to be got by 'em; and their former Companions and great Chronics, if they meet 'em in their Dish, they will take no more notice of 'em than if they had never seen 'um. If any one requires their Friendship or Assistance, they feed 'em with Words and Promises, promising Ten times more than they will perform; and perchance if there be no feeling in the Case, they will not only not help him, but ruin his Cause: all Kindness and Courtesy is vendible; they despise all Virtue, clouding the Praises of others with Ambiguous Sayings, and Feigned Detractions behind their backs; they themselves speak in the Praise of no man without a Reserve, as the Orator said of Julius, That he was fortunate indeed, that he was a stout man, and had done many valiant Acts; but how he could evade being accounted guilty of Bribes, I should admire, but that I know the force of Elocution. And as another says, 
Happy in Children Proteus, and a Wife,  
And bating Phocas crimes, that stained his Life,  
A man not to be matched.—  After Gifts they are as greedy as Vultures, everywhere hunting after their Prey, which they snatch out of one another's Chaps, as the Harpies were said to tear the Meat out of the mouth of Phinaeus. If any misfortune befall a Rival, they rejoice; they compassionate no man's Calamity; they believe that they ought to keep promise and faith with no body, but for their own pleasure and advantage; never to acknowledge any kindness, judging all men equally unworthy of any favour, or not fit to be taken notice of, or else to be recompensed with hatred and envy: rather when they hate, they sergeant kindness, and dissemble their Anger; unless the Prince or King, they give reverence or respect to no body, nor them neither but out of Fear, or for the hopes of Reward. At length growing grey in Fraud, Treachery, Labour and Toil, and having by such base and sordid acts attained to high Honours and vast Riches, than they omit no breach of Law Divine or Humane, so that they may be able to leave their Sons Heirs of their Wealth, their Honour and Iniquities.  

— With Serpents thus and Lizards sought  
In Fields remote, the Storks their young ones feed,  
Who straight the selfsame Prey their Mothers did,  
Now taking Wing, by hunger pricked pursue.  
The Birds of Jove thus to their offspring true,  
In shady Woods hunt out the Goat and Hare,  
And constant supper for their Young prepare:  
But for themselves now able to provide,  
Their raging Hunger is not satisfied  
Until they find the Prey they tasted first,  
So soon as Life their tender shells had burst.  And these are the Arts and Devices of the Common sort of Courtiers, by means whereof many of mean and low condition rise to the highest Preferments, Dignities, and places of Profit, and the next places of Authority to Kings and Princes themselves; in Riches equal to their Princes, with which they build stately and Magnificent Structures and Palaces, while the more Noble Courtiers indeed, wast their Estates in Whoring, Gaming, Hunting, Horse-races, Entertainments, Masques, and Gorgeous Apparel; selling their Lordships, Castles, Possessions, Inheritances, to those Upstart Courtiers, who by their wicked Practices and Contrivances are now mounted into the rank of Nobility.   

CHAP. LXXI.  
Of Court-Ladies.  
NEither are the Court-Ladies without their Vices. 'Tis very true, that we behold a great number of Women for Elegancy of Body and exactness of Beauty to be admired, splendidly dressed, and apparelled in Purple and Silks, set out with Jewels; but it is not easy for all men to see what wicked Monsters are concealed under those fair shapes: Wherefore Lucian most fitly compares 'em to Egyptian Temples; for there you shall behold a Structure most beautiful without, both for the Materials and curiousness of Work, but if you once look for the God within, you shall find there nothing but either an Ape, a Dog, a Goat, or a Cat. Even so it is with those Court-Ladies and Virgins, who being bred up from their tender years in Dancing, Masking, soft-idleness, and all manner of Luxury and Voluptuousness, and having sucked the worst of Education out of those Books of Court-love, and fine Histories of Lust, Adulteries, Fornications, and Pandarisms, as also Comedies, Novels, and wanton Songs, are thereby seasoned with all sorts of evil Manners, becoming Light, Insolent, Arrogant, Peevish, Impudent, Obscene, Contentious, Contradictory, Obstinate, Revengeful, Crafty, Petulant, Loquacious, Lascivious, and Shamelessly and Obscenely wanton. They have tongues to which silence is a Punishment, their Lips not to be wearied with tittle-tattle, generally the most idle, most impertinent, and troublesome to the hearers. For what can we think they should be able to talk for so many hours together, but Folly? for Example, how to shade the Hair, how to comb it, how to die it, how to wash their Faces, how to pleit their Petticoats; what Gate to observe in walking, rising, or lying; what Apparel becomes such or such best, who and who are to take or give place, how far to bow in saluting, to whom the honour of the Lip is due, to whom not; who are allowed to ride a Horseback, who in a Coach, and who in a Litter: Who ought to wear Jewels, Pendants, Necklaces, Bracelets, and who not; with a Thousand other trifling inquiries into the Laws of Semiramis. Neither are there wanting many of the older sort, who will tell ye how many Sweethearts they had, who sent her Gifts, who were most Courtly in their Addresses. This Woman talks of him that she Loves, that Woman can hardly forbear from speaking evil of him that the hates; and whatsoever they say, they think they are admired by the Company: sometimes they stuff their Discourse with unseasonable Scoffs and Impudent Lies: neither do they want most desperate Malice, and quarrelling one among another; backbiting and flattery there is nothing more frequent: their Eyes, their Looks, their Glances are full of Allurements; their Nods, their Gestures, their Beckning full of Wantonness; they are full of Subtlety, and have studied words to deceive their Servants, and get gifts of value from 'um. Let 'em have any Ring, Jewel or Bracelet about them, these Females will never lin till they have flattered it into their own Possession; for which, they return Kisses, Embraces, and Amorous Discourses, which are their public Ware, and the nutriment of Court-love. It were a shame to discover what Crimes are committed in secret Bedchambers, as if Marriage had been Consecrated only in Derision of Nature; and that the putting on their clothes, were sufficient to cover all their Enormities. Such Virgins how faithful think ye will they prove afterwards to their Husbands! Oh what a grief are they to all good Women! continually hitting them in the Teeth with their Nobility, their Portion, their Beauty, their Foreign Matches; teazing their Husband's Ears with continual Clamours and Contumelies. They despise a frugal Table at home, and yet twit their Husbands with their Court-Expences; and being used to Pomp and Extravagancies, they wast their Husband's Wealth, ruin their Families, compel their Husbands to undertake wicked Designs for gains sake; to which end, they are forced to omit no Fraud, Treachery, Dissimulation, and Hypocrisy whatsoever, to compass their Ends. I will not speak of their Foreign Amours, their private Adulteries, their concealed Lyings-in, and Bastard Issue; which affection turning once into hatred, they then prepare for Poison or some other Mischief. But the most familiar practices of Evil Women, (as St. Jerome Writes against Jovinianus) are Frauds, Treacheries, Witchcrafts, Enchantments, and Magic Tricks. So Livia killed her Husband, whom she hated to Death. Lucilia also killed hers; the first mixing Henbane with her Jealousy, the other drinking to him a Cup of Poison instead of a Love-Potion. So that it is safer, (as Ecclesiasticus saith) to live with the Lion and the Dragon, than with a bad Woman. He that would Marry, let him have a care of taking such a Courtier to Wife. It my Tongue hath been too free in Discourse, yet I have said what it was impossible for me not to have said: But I will put my hand upon my mouth, and speak no more of 'em; and therefore let us depart the Court, and fall to the consideration of those more useful parts of Oeconomy, Merchandizing, Agriculture, and Warfare.   

CHAP. LXXII.  
Of Merchandizing.  
MErchandizing being the most subtle searcher after hidden gain, the most Covetous Devourer of her detected Prey, is never happy in Enjoyment, but always most miserably Tormented with the desire of more. And yet it is not a little profitable to the Commonwealth, and usefully conducing to Contracts of friendship between Foreign Princes, and not a little advantageous to private Life; and as some have thought, absolutely necessary. So that Pliny relates it to have been invented for the support of Living. And therefore many famous and wise men have not disdained to follow it. Of which number, as Plutarch testifies, were Thales, Solon, Hypocrates. But whatsoever Arts and Sciences we follow, some we admit for Pleasure, some we esteem for the Exercise, some we follow for Virtue and Honesties-sake, some for their Truth and Justice we admire: but Arts, how gainful, how pleasant, how necessary, how laborious soever, are not therefore to be presently accounted Laudable and Honest. Thus the Trades of Merchandizing, Usury, Money-changing, Bankers, are both necessary, profitable, and laborious; and yet they are accounted illiberal, srdid, and base ways of getting, because they are not Arts, but laborious Cheats that are bought and sold; which is the Office and Trade not of a clear-spirited, well-meaning, ingenuous, just good man; but of a crafty, close, deceitful knavish dealer. For all Merchants buy in one place, that they may sell dearer in another, and he is accounted the wisest that can gain most; among whom, Lying, Imposing, Cheating and Perjury is most frequent; neither is there any way of attaining Profit which they think disdainful. Nay, they affirm it to be Lawful to Cheat their Chapmen half their just price: neither is it to be doubted, but that seeing the whole course of their Lives is fitted to follow after Gain, and to seek Riches, that they are forced many times for Lucres-sake to do many ugly and dishonest Actions: For no men grow Rich without Deceit, as saith St. Austin.  

— And far beyond the value raises  
The Wares he striveth to put off with Praises.  And as another Poet hath it, 
The Merchant only worthy Stygian Lake,  
Upholdeth Perjury for Lucre's sake.  One buys, another sells; one carries, another brings; this man is Creditor, another Debtor; one pays, another receives, another casts up the Accounts; but all of 'em guilty of Perjury, Cheating, and Deceit; hazarding Soul, Body, and Estate, in hopes of Gain: respecting neither Kindred, Friends, nor Allies, but only for profits sake: and thus all of 'em all their Life-long run after Gain and Riches, as if Rest and the Comforts of Living were no where else to be found. 
The painful Merchant to the Indies runs,  
And proudly through Fire, and Surges Shuns.  What Cheats Merchants put upon the World, in Wool, Linen, Silk, Cloth, Purple, Gems, Spices, Wax, Oil, Wine, Corn, Horses, and many other Creatures, and indeed in all sorts of Commodities, there is no person who is ignorant: who sees not, who feels not, that is not altogether stupid and insensible? But these are small matters, there are far greater behind. These are they who importing hurtful Commodities, which either for wantonness or rarity being coveted by Women, though they are of no use to humane Life, but only for the support of Luxury, Pride, for Sport, Effeminacy and wanton Pleasure, bring from the utmost ends of the Earth all Allurements to Wickedness. Kingdoms and whole Provinces every Year they empty of great sums of Money; they corrupt Native Good Manners, by introducing Foreign Vices; and quite Abolishing wholesome Paternal Customs, always inquisitive after new Inventions, fill the Land with most depraved Fashions. Thief are they who in Guilds and Companies, contrary to Right and Law, set up Monopolies, trying, endeavouring, searching out all ways and devices to rake to themselves the Wealth of the People; by virtue of their large Stocks, out-buying others, preventing others, deter●ing others; by holding up, or enhauncing Prizes, they themselves engrossing all, which they retail again at their own Rates and Pleasures: many times having borrowed great Sums of Money, they break Faith and Promises, fly their Country, and seldom or never returning, undo their Creditors; who ofttimes thereupon despair and Hang themselves. These are they who prying into the Secrets of Princes, the Counsels of City-senates', and laden with the news of their own Country, reveal all to the Enemy many times for considerable Rewards, lie in wait for the Prince's Life; there being nothing which for love of Money they will not enterprise, endeavour, do or suffer. All the whole mystery of their Calling consists in Lying, dark Sentences, Sift, Shift, Treachery, Cheating and Deceit. This was the reason that the Carthaginians provided distinct Residences for Merchants, because they should not live in Common with their Citizens. The way was open for them to the Market; but where their Ships road, and to the more secret parts of their City, they allowed them not so much as to cast an Eye. The Grecians did not receive 'em within their Cities; but that their Inhabitants might be free from the suspicion of danger, they always kept their Markets for Merchandise in the Suburbs. Most other Nations forbid the Access of Merchants, as being the great depravers of all Good Manners. The Epidaurians, as Plutarch Witnesses, when they saw their Citizens corrupted by Commercing with the Illyrians, fearing the Contagion growing from strangers, and a change of Government with the change of Manners, Elected every Year one grave and circumspect Person out of their whole City, whom they sent to Buy for the rest of the Citizens whatever Commodities of the Illyrians they stood in need of. Plato very much blames Merchandizing, as the chiefest corruption of Good Customs, and therefore would have it Ordained in a well-constituted Commonwealth, that the wanton Exuberancies of Foreign Countries should not be imported into such a one, and that no Citizen should be permitted to Travel under the Age of Forty Years; and that all Foreigners should be sent home, knowing that there was nothing which sooner caused the People to forget and hate the frugality of their Ancestors, and their old Country-Customes, than the Contagion of Novelty brought in by Strangers, which generally makes City's most wicked, filling 'em full of all sorts of Fornications, Adulteries, Luxury and Lust. Such be Leiden and Antwerp, at this time Cities of the greatest Trade of any in these Parts: And Aristotle exhorts Magistrates to take all diligent care of keeping their Cities from being corrupted by the mixture of Foreigners. For though Merchants may be necessary, they ought not to be received into the number of Citizens, and therefore to be detested, because they live altogether by Lying; and besides that, disturb the Markets, cause Tumults and private Discord. Therefore among many Commonwealths there was an ancient Law, That no Merchant should be a Magistrate, or be admitted into the Senate or Council. Beyond all this, Merchandizing is palpably condemned by the Opinions of most Divines, and by the Canonical Decrees, (as St. Gregory, chrysostom, Austin, Cassiodorus, and Leon testify) and by all true Christians utterly forbid. For as St. chrysostom saith, A Merchant cannot please God; And therefore, saith he, let no Christian be a Merchant; or if he will be so, let him be thrown out of the Church. St. Austin also saith, That it is impossible for Soldiers and Merchants truly to Repent.   

CHAP. LXXIII.  
Of Paymasters.  
PAymasters are little better than Merchants; a Thieving Generation of Men, and most commonly of servile Dispositions, Mercenary, and letting out themselves for Hire; rude and slothful, but bold and impudent, knowing little but what concerns their own Trade, that is to say, Writing and Casting Account: but their chief study is an ordinary method of Stealing, somewhat more ingenious than the Common road of Thieving. And therefore of all men living, they are the most given to Filching Wealth by their Finger's Ends, with which they tell Thousands and Millions: which Fingers of theirs are so Birdlimed, and stuck with so many infinite Hooks, that there is no Money, a thing so light, fugitive and slippery as an Eel or a Serpent, but if they touch it, it sticks so close to 'em, that it cannot be pulled away. In this they are to be accounted less mischievous, that they only Pray upon the Treasuries of Kings and Princes, and then, that what they Steal from them, they liberally consume in Whoring, Gaming, Banqueting, Building, Horses, Dogs and Plays. Or if they prove Older and Wiser, yet the Sons they leave behind 'em are such, that whatever their Fathers have heaped together by Perjury, Rapine and Theft, they in a short time scatter and lavish away in Gluttony and Riot, Whores, Hounds, Horses, fine clothes, and whatsoever Pleasures else their Luxury prompts 'em to. Nor is this all, for these Paymasters take Use-Money, delaying Payment in hope of Bribes, buying Debentures, holding in with the Captains, counterfeiting Original Bonds, opening Letters and sealing 'em again, washing and counterfeiting Money, and therefore very familiar with Alchemists, many of 'em Alchemists themselves; or if they want Wit, great favourers at least of the Art. Now whereas Cicero is of Opinion, That Merchandizing, if a man drive a great and plentiful Trade, Importing many Commodities, and those not idle and unprofitable, is not much to be discommended; and that Merchants and Paymasters were to be commended, if knowing when they had enough, they would then retire into the Country to Husband and till their Lands; therefore let us now consider what may be thought of Agriculture.   

CHAP. LXXIV.  
Of Agriculture.  
AGriculture, to which feeding of Cattle, Fishing and Hunting is to be annexed, was so highly honoured among the Ancients, that it was no shame for many Roman Emperors, and most Potent Kings and Princes to Till their own Lands, to Sow, Graft, and Plant: this course of Life did Dioclesian follow, having quitted his Empire; and Attalus forsaking his Kingly Throne. Cyrus also, that great Monarch of the Persians, was wont to glory very much, that when his Friends came to see him, he was able to show 'em a Garden of his own Planting. Seneca also Planted Plane-Trees, digged Fishponds with his own hands, and made his own Water-works, and delighted to be no where more willingly than in the Fields. Hence the Surnames of those most noble Families of the Fabii, the Lentuli, the Cicero's and Piso's, from the Multitude of that sort of Grain.   

CHAP. LXXV.  
Of Pasturage.  
BY the same Reason, from the feeding of Cattle came the Families of the Cato's, Annii, and Caprae. Dioclesian was raised from a Shepherd to be an Emperor. Spartacus, that Terror to the Roman Power, was a Shepherd. Paris and Anchises the Father of Aeneas were Shepherds: so was the fair Endymion, so much beloved of the Moon; together with Polyhemus and the Hundred-eyed Argos. Among the Gods, Apollo himself fed the Herds of Admetus' King of Thessaly. And Mercury inventor of the Oaten-Pipe, was the Prince of Shepherds; as also his Son Daphnis. Pan was the God of the Shepherds; and Protheus was both a Shepherd and a God: and that we may not forget some of the Hebrew Patriarches, Judges and Kings, the greatest men among them, and most beloved of God, were Shepherds. So was Abel the Just, Abraham the Father of many Nations, Jacob Father of the chosen People; also Moses their Lawgiver, a Prophet very familiar with God; and David their King, a man after Gods own heart. Among the Ancient Grecians every most Illustrious man was a Shepherd; whence some were called Polyarne, some Polymele, some Polybute, from the numerous Herds and Flocks of Lambs, Sheep, and Oxen which they possessed. Thus that Italy was so named from Vitulus a Calf, which the Ancient Greeks call Italus, as all men of reading well know. So both the Bosphori, the Cimmerian, and the Thracian, the Aegean-Sea, the Ships Argos and Hippion, were so called from the Passage of Bulls, from Goats and Horses. And Numidia a Province of Africa hath its Name from the abundance of Pasturage therein. The first Course of Life that men led after the Fall of Adam, was the Graziers and Shepherds Life. For Pasturage, besides that it affords us all sorts of flesh for Food, it produces Milk, Cheese and Butter, as also Wool, Skins and Hides, most useful and necessary for our humane Subsistance and Being: None of which man had the liberty of using till after, whereas man before was said with the spontaneous Herbs that grew in Paradise.   

CHAP. LXXVI.  
Of Fishing.  
TO these we may join Fishing and Hunting. The Art of Fishing was so highly esteemed and set by among the Romans, that they were wont to stock the Italian-Sea, and as it were to sow it as men do Grain, with strange Fish, and unknown to those Coasts, brought thither in Ships from far distant parts of the Ocean; besides that they were at great Expenses, and vast Costs to make Fishponds, and Store-ponds for all the choice sorts of Fish; from whence many Roman Princes have derived their Sur-names, as the Licinii, Murenae, Serii, Oratae; which made Cicero to call Lucius, Philip, and Hortensius Fish mongers, from the great delight they took in Fishponds. We read, that Octavianus Augustus was wont to Angle with a Rod: and Suetonius writes, That Nero Fished with a Net wrought with Purple and Scarlet Silk. Ways of Fishing there are but few: for what Fish there are, are taken either with a Hook, Nets, Weels, Nooses, Jackspears, and Darts. But Fishing deserves the less praise, for that Fish are of hard and bad Digestion, neither grateful to the Stomach, nor were they ever accepted in Sacrifices.   

CHAP. LXXVII.  
Of Hunting and Fowling.  
AS Fish are taken, so are Birds and Fowl, saving that there is a greater strength and exercise of the Body required in Fowling and Hunting, than in Fishing; and a more industrious search after the Game. Besides several sorts of Nets, there are many sorts of Pitfalls, Traps, and Springs; nor must we omit the great use of Bird-lime, Hawks, Hounds, and Greyhounds. A most detestable Recreation, a vain Exercise, and unprosperous and unhappy sport, with so much labour and watching Night and Day to rage and make War against the poor Beasts: A pastime cruel, and totally Tragical, chiefly delighting in Blood and Death. And therefore from the beginning it was accounted the chief Exercise of the worst of Men, and greatest Sinners. For Cain, Lamech, Nimrod, Ishmael, Esau, are reported in Scripture to be mighty Hunters: Nor do we read of any one in the New Testament that was given to Hunting; Nor of any Nations that were greatly addicted to the Sport, unless the Ishmaelites, Idumeans, and other People that did not know God. Hunting was the first Original of Tyranny, which cannot find a fitter Author, than such a one, as by continually sporting himself in Blood and Murder, has learned to despise God and Nature. The Persian Kings however esteemed it, as an imitation of Warlike Exercises: For Hunting hath in itself something fierce and cruel, while the Poor Beast overcome at length by the Dogs, becomes a Spectacle of Delight, in having its Blood shed and Bowels torn out; at which the Barbarous Hunter laughs, while the Foe-Beast routed with an Army of Dogs, or entangled in a Toil, is carried home by the Triumphant Huntsman, with a great Troop at his heels; where the fatal Prey is cut up in bloody terms of Art, and proper words of Butchery, other than which it is not lawful to use. A strange madness of such kind of Men, a most renowned Warfare, where they themselves casting off their Humanity become Beasts, and by a strange perverting of their Manners, like Actaeon, are changed into Irrational Creatures. Some of these Hunters grow to such a height of Madness, that they become Enemies to Nature, as the Fables relate of Dardames. Now the Inventors of this Fatal Exercise are said to be the Thebans, a Nation infamous for Fraud, Theft, and Perjury, and no less to be detested for Perjury and Incest; from whence the practice thereof was transmitted to the Phrygians, a Nation equally Abominable, Foolish, and Vain, which therefore the Athenians and Lacedæmonians had in great contempt. Afterwards when the Athenians had repealed their Law against Hunting, and that the Exercise was admitted publicly among 'em, than was the City of Athens first Taken; which makes me wonder to find Hunting commended by Plato Prince of the Academics. Unless the Event, honesty of the Invention, or Necessity should be occasions of its Commendations. Thus Meleager slew the Caledonian Boar, not for his own pleasure, but to free his Country from a common Mischief. So Romulus hunted Dear not for pleasures-sake, but to get Food.  
There is another sort of Hunting, which is called Fowling; not so Cruel, but not less Vain. Ulysses is reported to be the first Inventor thereof, who after the taking of Troy was the first that brought into Greece Birds of Prey manured for Game, to comfort with new Recreations those that had lost their Parents and Acquaintance in the Trojan War. And yet he commanded his Son not to make any use thereof. True it is, that these Exercises, so mean and servile in themselves, are come to be so far esteemed, that now the chief Nobility and Gentry, forsaking all other Liberal and Noble Studies, they are become their chief Learning, and no mean helps to Preferment. Now a days the whole Life of Kings and Princes, nay, which is a greater Grief, the very Religion of Bishops, Abbots, and Chief Doctors and Overseers of the Church, is all consumed in Hunting; wherein they chiefly experience their Ingenuities, and show their Virtues. 
Among the slothful Herds he longs to try  
A foaming Boar, or from the Mountains high  
A Lion make his fell descent—  And they who ought to be Examples of Patience, are the only Active Persons in seeking to Hunt and Prey upon what they are able to overcome; and those Beasts which by Nature are free, and by Law belong to those that can possess 'em, the Tyranny of the Great Ones hath by rash Edicts Usurped to themselves. Husbandmen are driven from their Tillage, their Farms are taken from them, their Meadows likewise; Downs and Woods are shut up from the Shepherds, for shelter for Wild Beasts, for the Butcherly delight of the Nobility, for whom it is only Lawful to be Possessed thereof; of which, if a Husbandman or a Countryman do but only taste, he presently becomes guilty of Petty Treason, and together with the Beasts is made a Prey to the Hunter. Let us search the Scripture; certainly, neither in the Sacred Scripture, nor in any other Moral History, shall we read of any Holy, any Wise man, or Philosopher, that was addicted to Hunting; but many Shepherds, and some Fishers. St. Austin affirms it to be an Exercise of all most Wicked; and the Sacred Elibitan and Aurelian Counsels utterly condemned it; and in the Sacred Canon's Hunters are not only forbid Promotion to Holy Orders, but the Degree of Chief Priest is thereby taken from him that has attained it. And therefore no man can deny Hunting to be an ungodly Exercise, which is so Exploded and Condemned in the Opinion of all Wise and Holy Men. Anciently also, when men did live in Innocency, there was no Creature that fled from 'em, there were none on the other side that Offended them, or were hurtful to 'em, but they had an absolute Obedience over all. Examples whereof are in latter Times apparent among those that led Holy and Religious Lives. Thus Daniel lived among the Lions; nor was St. Paul in any danger of the Viper. A Crow fed Eliab the Prophet, Paul and Antony the Hermit's, and a Hart nourished St. Aegidius. Helenus' the Abbot commanded a wild Ass, and the Beast obeyed, and carried his Burden: he Commanded a Crocodile, and the Crocodile carried him over a River. Many Anchorites lived in the Deserts, and frequented the Dens of Wild Beasts, fearing neither Lions, Bears, nor Serpents. But with Sin, entered also the mischief, dread, and fear of the Creatures, and upon that occasion was the exercise of Hunting sound out. For as St. Austin observes upon the 3d. of Genesis, No Animals were in their first Production Venomous, Terrible, or Mischievous to Mankind; but after Sin they became so, for the Punishment of Man's Transgression. Therefore saith God to the Serpent, I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman, and between her seed and thy seed: Out of which Sentence arose the Warfare of Hunting, and the Antipathy of Men with Beasts.   

CHAP. LXXVIII.  
More of Agriculture.  
BUT let us return. Of the Exercises of Husbandry, Pasturage, Hunting, and Fowling, Hiero, Philometer, Attalus, and Archelaus, all Kings, have severally written. Zenophon and Mago great Captains have done the like, together with Oppian the Poet. And besides them, Cato, Varro, Pliny, Columella, Virgil, Crescentius, Palladius, and many others of later times. Cicero believed there was nothing better, nothing more gainful, nothing more delightful, nothing more worthy the employment of a generous Spirit, than the occupations above mentioned. Not a few placed the chief Good and Supreme Happiness in them: Therefore Virgil calls Husbandmen Fortunate, Horace Blessed. The Oracle of Delphos also pronounced one Aglaus a most happy man, who having a little Farm in Arcadia, never stirred out of it; His Content keeping him free from the Experience of Evil. But miserable men that they are; while they so highly honour Agriculture, little do they consider, that it was the Effect of Sin, and the Curse of the most High God. For chase Adam out of Paradise, he sent him to till the Earth, saying, Cursed be the Earth for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou Eat of it all the days of thy Life. Thorns also and Thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the Earth, for out of it thou wast taken. Nor are there any persons that feel the sadness of this saying more than Husbandmen and Countrymen; who after they have Ploughed, Sowed, Harrowed, Weeded, Mowed, Reaped, Grazed, Sheared, Hunted, Fished; here one loses his Father for Grief, to see his Labours all on a sudden come to nothing, and wasted with Hail and Tempests: Another Man's Sheep die, another man's Oxen, or else they are driven away by the Soldiers: Beasts of Prey devour his Lambs, and destroy his Fish: the Wife laments at home, his Children cry, Famine follows; and after all, with uncertain hope of benefit, he is forced to return to his hard Labour. Before the Fall there was no need of Artificial Tillage, no want of Grazing, Hunting, or Fowling, for the Earth was to have produced all things of its own accord, always flourishing with all sorts of Fruits, fragrant Smells, constant Summer, and verdant Meadows. Nor had the Earth brought forth any thing noxious, no Herb endued with poisonous Qualities, no venomous Toads, Vipers, or other Reptiles. And Man himself being then Lord of the whole Creation, having had the least occasion for the wild Beasts, had found none such, but all naturally Tame: had he but beckoned to the Beasts of Carriage, they had willingly submitted to his Burdens. Man then but new Born, had had the use and strength of all his Members and Limbs; not wanting Garments to hide his Nakedness, Houses for Shelter, nor Sauces to provoke his Appetite; and had prolonged his happy days without the help of Physic, all things offering themselves spontaneously to satisfy his desires.  

The Earth had been his Food, his Garments Air,  
And for his Bed, the Fields their Flowrs prepare.  But the mischief of Sin, and the necessity of Death, rendered all things incommodious to us: for now the Earth produces nothing without our Labour and our Sweat but deadly and venomous, and as it were upbraiding us that we live; nor are the other Elements less kind to us: Many the Sea destroys with raging Tempests, and the horrid Monsters devour: the Air making War against us with Thunder, Lightning, and Storms; and with a crowd of Pestilential Diseases, the Heavens conspire our Ruin. Nor are the Creatures only our Enemies: For Man, as the Proverb hath it, is to himself a Wolf. We are encompassed with innumerable Temptations of Unclean Spirits, whereby to draw us into the Dark Receptacles of Pain and Punishment, there to be Tormented in Eternal Fire. By all which it appears, that Agriculture with all its appurtenants of Fishing, Hunting, Fowling and Grazing, is a loss of the greatest happinesses, the invention of Mischief, and a trouble to Humane Life. Those Exercises appurtenant to Agriculture being only incommodious means to restore the Barrenness of the Earth, to supply the want of Food, and defend us from the Rigour of cold, which puts us in mind of Death. And yet this Calamity and necessity of ours might in some measure deserve commendation, could it have retained itself within moderate bounds, and not shown us so many devices to make strange Plants, so many portentous Grafting and Metamorphoses of Trees; How to make Horses Copulate with Asses, Wolves with Dogs, and so to engender many wondrous Monsters contrary to Nature: And those Creatures to whom Nature has given leave to range the Air, the Seas and Earth so freely, to Captivate and Confine in Aviaries, Cages, Warrens, Parks and Fishponds, and to fat 'em in Coops, having first put out their Eyes, and maimed their Limbs; had it not also taught us so many varieties of Weaving, Dying, and dressing of Linen, Woollen, Skins and Silk, which Nature only designed for plain and homely Clothing, but invented for the increase of Pride and Luxury. Pliny complaining of these inconveniences, gives for instance the Seed of Hemp, which being but a little Seed, in a short time produces a large Sail, that by the help of the Wind carries a Ship all over the World, occasioning men, as if they had not Earth to perish in, to perish in the Sea likewise. I omit the many Laws, and Maxims, and Observations of Husbandmen, Shepherds, Fishers, Hunters and Fowlers, so ridiculous, and not only foolish and ridiculous, but Superstitious, and Repugnant to the Law of God; How to prevent Storms, make their Seed Fruitful, kill Weeds, scare Wild Beasts, stop the flight of Beasts and Birds, the swimming of Fishes, to charm away all manner of Diseases; of all which those Wise Men before named have written very seriously, and with great cruelty.   

CHAP. LXXIX.  
Of the Art Military.  
BUT now from Husbandmen, let us pass to Soldiers chosen out of the Countrymen, and therefore more fit for Fight, as saith Vegetius: and whom Cate affirms to make the strongest and hardiest Soldiers: and we find in Scripture, That Cain the first Warrior or slayer of Men, was a Husbandman and a Hunter. Therefore the Art of War ought least to be despised, which, as Valerius remembers, made the Roman Empire Mistress of all Italy, and of many Cities and Kingdoms of great and Warlike Nations beside; opened the straits of the Pontick-Sea, forced through the close passages of the Alps and Taurus. And Scipio Africanus glories in Ennius, that by the slaughter and Blood of his Enemies, he opened a way to Immortality. To whom Cicero assents, saying, that Hercules ascended to Heaven by the same means. The Lacedæmonians are said to be the first that delivered Rules for teaching this Art; and therefore Hannibal having taken a Resolution to Invade Italy, desired a Lacedaemonian General: Under the Power of Lacedaemon many Kingdoms and Nations grew great; neglected by her, or neglecting her, from large Dominion they fell to nothing: for under the Leading of rash Captains fell the Warlike Numantia, Corinth, the curious Proud Thebes, the Learned Athens, the Holy Jerusalem, and at last the most Potent Rome. This Art, writ with much more Blood than the Laws of Draco, teaches ye how advantageously and neatly to order a Battle, to Assail the Enemy, to use Stratagems, to move Vigorously forward, to Retreat, to maintain a Shock, to strike to purpose, to avoid the strokes to handle nimbly all manner of Arms, to pursue, when to leave Pursuing; when to Pursue far, when not too far; when to fall to the Spoil, to rally, make good Breaches, defend Forts and Towns. It teaches ye also how to prepare and Rig out great Navies, build Castles, fortify Towns, place fit Garrisons; to Encamp, cast Trenches, Mine, Countermine, make Engines, Assault Ramplers, provide Provision necessary for the Army, to place and avoid Ambushments, and the like; also to Besiege Cities, plant Batteries, advance the Trenches, dig down the Walls, shake down the Towers, scale Walls, to burn and demolish Towns and Castles, to spoil Temples, plunder Cities, depopulate Countries, abolish Laws, adulterate Matrons, vitiate Widows, ravish Virgins; to Wound, take Prisoners, Captivate and Kill. So that the whole Art studies nothing else but the subversion of Mankind, transforming Men into Beasts and Monsters. So that War is nothing but a general Homicide and Robbery by mutual Consent. Neither are Soldiers other than stipendiary Thiefs armed to the subversion of the Commonwealth. Now the Events of War being always uncertain, and that Fortune, not Skill affords Victory; to what purpose serve all the Stratagems, Ambuscades, and Rules of War? Yet the Divine Plato praises this Art, Teaches it to his Scholars, and commands them to be enroled as soon as fit for service: and the Famous Cyrus affirmed, That War was as necessary as Agriculture: Nay, St. Austin and St. Bernard, Catholic Doctors of the Church, have approved thereof; neither do the Pontifical Decretals at all impugn it, though Christ and his Apostles teach quite another Doctrine. So that contrary to the Doctrine of Christ, it has obtained no small Honour in the Church, by reason of the many Orders of Holy Soldiers, all whose Religion, consists in Blood, Slaughter, Rapine and Piracy, under pretence of defending and enlarging the Christian Faith; as if the Intention of Christ had been to spread his Gospel, not by Preaching, but by force of Arms; not by Confession, and simpleness of Heart, but by Menaces, and high Threats of Ruin and Destruction, strength of Arms, Slaughter and Massacres of Mankind. Nor is it enough for these Soldiers to bear their Arms against the Turks, Saracens, and Pagans, unless they Fight also for Christians against Christians. War and Warfare have begot many Bishops, and it is not seldom that they Fight stiffly for the Popedom; which made the Holy Bishop of Camora Affirm, That seldom any Pope ascends the Chair without the Blood of the Saints; and it is called constancy of Martrydome in those that die Fight desperately for the Papal Seat. Concerning the Art of War, Zenophon, Zenocrates, Onozander, Cato Censorius, Cornelius Celsus, Iginius, Vegetius, Frontinus, Helianus, Modestus, and many of the Ancients; among the Moderns, Volturius, Nicholas the Florentine, James Earl of Porcia, and some few others. These are great Doctors in the Art, but Speculative, and therefore not so dangerous as the Practisers. Now as to the Titles, Dignities, and Degrees of the Scholars, there are neither Bachelors, Masters, nor Doctors; Neither are they, as they are vulgarly, to be called Emperors, Dukes, Earls, Marquesses, Knights, Captains, Centurions, Lieutenants, Ensigns, names begotten by injury and Ambition; but Thiefs, Housebreakers, Robbers, Murderers, Sacrilegious, Fencers, Adulterers, Panders, Whoremongers, Traitors, Gamesters, Blasphemers, Parricides, Incendiaries, Pirates, and Tyrants. All which who ever would express in one Word, let him call 'em Soldiers, that is to say, the most barbarous dregs of Wicked Men, whom their own wicked Natures and Desires carry headlong to all Villainy: among whom the Name of Dignity and Liberty takes the freedom to commit all sorts of Enormity and Cruelty, seeking all occasions of Mischief, looking upon Innocency to be a kind of likeness of Death, all of 'em being one body of their Father the Devil: Like the Leviathan, of whom thus speaketh Job, They are a body Armed with scales like strong shields, and which is sure Sealed. One is set to another, that no wind can come between them. One is set to another; they stick together that they cannot be sundered, Job 41. They assist one another and are assembled together against the Lord, and against his Christ, Psa. 2. Neither are Purple, Chains of Gold, Garlands & Crowns the Ensigns of War, but wounded breasts, and bodies deformed with scars. An Exercise which is never performed but with the ruin and mischief of many, the destruction of Good Manners, Laws and Piety; diametrically at Enmity with Christ, with Happiness, with Peace, with Charity, with Innocency and Patience. The Rewards thereof are Glory got by the Effusion of humane Blood, Enlargement of Dominion, out of a greedy desire of Rule and Possession, obtained with the Damnation of many Souls. For seeing that Victory is the End whereat all War drives, no man can be a Conqueror, but he must be a Murderer; neither can any one be overcome, but he must wickedly Perish: Therefore the Death of Soldiers is the most desperate, sin writing but a bad Epitaph upon their Graves. They that kill are wicked, though the War be just; For Soldiers consider not the justness of the War, but what Plunder and Booty they shall get from those that they kill. If there are any who are justly slain, yet they that claim Honour by doing the Fact, make themselves but a kind of Butchers, or Hangmen, who while the Laws are so strict against Thiefs, Incendiaries, Robbers, Homicides and Murderers, yet presume under the Title and Pretence of being Warriors, to be accounted Noble and Virtuous.   

CHAP. LXXX.  
Of Nobility.  
THus we find the Original of Nobility to spring from War, a Dignity obtained by Butchery, out of the blood and slaughter of the Enemy, and adorned with Ensigns of Public Honour. This was the reason of so many sorts of Crowns among the Romans, Civil, Mural, Obsidional, Naval; so many Military largesses of Bracelets, Spears, Trappings, Chains, Rings, Statues, and Images; from whence the Pedigrees of Nobility took their first rise. Among the Carthaginians they had so many Rings given 'em as they had been present in Fights: the Iberians raised about the Sepulchre of the Dead so many Obelisques as he had slain Enemies. Among the Scythians, at their Public Festivals, it was Lawful for none to receive the Cup that was openly carried about, but they who had slain an Adversary. Among the Macedonians there was a Law, That he that had not slain an Enemy, should be girt with a Headstal or Capistrum, in de●ision of his Cowardice. Among the Germans, no man was to Marry a Wife, till he had brought the Head of a slain Enemy before the King. And many times the Indignity which many Persons have thought has been put upon 'em in not being rewarded according to the Services which they presumed themselves to have done in War, had urged 'em to take up Arms against their Country: Examples whereof we find in Coriolanus, the Gracchis, Sylla, Marius, Sertorius, Catiline and Caesar. Therefore is we do but Examine the Foundations and first Beginnings of Nobility, we shall find it acquired by Perfidiousness and Cruelty; if the growth thereof, we shall find it increased by Mercenary War and Robbery. If we look into the Original of Kingdoms and Empires, we shall meet with most Impious Murders of Parents and Brothers, Tragical Matches, Fathers expelled from their Kingdoms by their Sons: and therefore let us view a little the Infancy of Nobility, and we shall find it to be nothing but a sturdy Power, and robustious Dignity, a Happiness got by Wickedness, and the Inheritance of the worst of Children: And that this is apparent, is evident out of Scripture, and no less manifest out of the Ancient and Modern Histories of the Gentiles. For no sooner had Adam at the first Creation of the World begot his Firstborn Cain the Husbandman, and his other son Abel the Shepherd, but there began a distinction of Power: Abel seemed to resemble the Commonalty, Cain the Nobility, who being according to the Flesh proud and cruel, and a Persecutor of him that was according to the Spirit meek and gentle, slew his Brother. But the Commonalty was again restored in the Birth of Seth, the third Son of Adam; so that Cain was the first Author of Parricide and Nobility together; who contemning the Laws of God and Nature, yet trusting in his own strength, and Usurping Dominion to himself, he built Cities, instituted Empire, and by Law began to curb Men Created free by God, the sons also of the Holy Generation; and to bring them into servitude and subjection, till they themselves contemning the Command of God, all Flesh soon growing Corrupt, by promiscuous Copulation begat Giants, which the Scripture seems to Interpret, men Powerful in their Time, and famous for their Deeds. And this is the most apt and real definition of Nobility; for these were they that first oppressed the Weak, advancing themselves by Robbery and Spoil, and glorying in their great Riches, spread the greatness of their Fame by calling Regions, Rivers, Mountains, Cities, and Seas by their own names; of whom Cain the first Parent, by nature Wicked, enviously and inwardly malicious of God, incorrigible, a treacherous dissembler of his Anger, slew his own brother, adding Blasphemy to Parricide. And thus we see the Primitive and most Ancient Ornaments, the chief Virtues and Embellishments which continue to this very day, whose first Author was the Father of the Giants whom God destroyed in the Deluge, reserving only Noah a Just Man, of the Generation of Seth. This Noah had three sons, Sem, Japhet, and Ham, who restoring the World after the Flood, according to the Custom of the Ancient Giants, began to build Towns and Cities; which is the Reason that from Noah till Abraham the Scripture makes no mention of Just Men: wherefore we are to believe, That all from Noah to Abraham were the Architects of Nobility, that is, of powerful Impiety, Confusion, Power, Warfare, Violence, Oppression, Hunting, Luxury, Pomp, Vanity, and such other marks of Nobility, with which the sons of Noah were stamped. Among others Cham, because he was wickeder than the rest, and the first that was disobedient to his Father, therefore he was thought fittest to be the sole Monarch of the World at that time: he begat Nimrod, whom the Scripture describes to be a mighty Potentate upon the Earth, a mighty Hunter before the Lord, some read it, against the Lord. He built Babylon the Great, and gave the first occasion of the Confusion of Languages; set down Rules how to Govern; distinguishing the degrees of Honour, Dignity, Offices, and Arms. After that, Laws being made to curb the Commonalty, than was slavery and subjection introduced, Taxes laid upon the People, Armies were raised, and cruel Wars were first carried on. From the same Cham proceeded Chus, from whom the Aethiopians; Misraim from whom the Egyptians; and Canaan, from whom the Canaanites. The most noble and populous Nations, but the wickedest, most reprobate, and accursed of God. At length, after some process of time, again God Elected a Just Man, even the Patriarch Abraham, from whose Loins he might raise to himself a Holy Seed and People, whom he distinguished by the Mark of Circumcision, from the Multitude of all other Nations: he begat two sons, one of his Maidservant, Natural, the other of his Wife, Legitimate. Ishmael became a fierce Hunter, a Potentate, Prince of the Ishmaelites, giving from his own a lasting Name to his Nation; and God blessed him, and established his Grandeur and Nobility upon the foundations of War & Rapine, saying, And he shall be a wild man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the midst of all his Brethren. But Isaac observing the Religion of his Father, kept his Flock, and had at length by his Wife Rebecca two sons, Jacob and Esau; Esau a man whom God beloved not, red and hairy, a Hunter, a Bowman, and a Glutton, insomuch that for one mess of Pottage he sold his Birthright; he became a Potent Man, and Prince of the Idumeans, receiving for his blessing the fat of the Earth and the dew of Heaven, but to live by his Sword and in servitude. Jacob being a Just Man, an Exile with his Uncle Laban, fed his Uncle's Sheep, whose Daughters when he had both earned by an Apprenticeship of fourteen years for his Wives, he begat of their bodies Twelve Children; and his Name was called Israel, which Name he left to his Posterity the people of Israel. By the names of his Twelve Sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Ashur, were the Twelve Tribes of the whole Nation called: But Joseph was sold by his Brethren into Egypt, where he was instructed in all the Learning of the Egyptians, made a most skilful Interpreter of Dreams; which he made use of in Prison. So skilful in Economics, that by his Ingenuity he found out new ways of increasing the Public Revenue, and heaping up Riches to himself; whereupon he became a great Favourite of Pharaoh's, being constituted by him Lord and Governor over all Egypt: and of a Slave, was created Noble, after the solemn Custom of Egypt, for the King put his Ring upon his finger, and a Chain of Gold about his neck; clad him with Purple, made him to ride in his Chariot, the Crier proclaiming, That all men reverence and esteem him as one of the chief Nobility. The like manner of ennobling of men we find the Persians to have used; of which Mordecai the Hebrew ennobled by Artaxerxes in Esther was an Example, from whence the Custom of creating Noblemen has continued to this day among the following Races of Emperors and Kings: of which some of 'em purchase their Nobility with Money, others by Pimping and Pandarism, others by Poison, others by Parricide: Many by Treason have been advanced to Grandeur and great Power, as we observe in the Histories of Euthierates, Philocrates, Euphorbus, and Philager. Many more by Flattery, Detraction, Calumny, and Sycophantry; many by prostituting their Wives and Daughters to Kings; many by Hunting, Rapine, Murder, and Witchcraft, have attained the highest degrees of Honour. But let us return to Joseph. He growing great in the house of Pharaob, and having begat his eldest Son Manasseh, puffed up with his unexpected Nobility, not without blame, spoke too severely in contempt of his Father's house and his own Family: God, said he, hath made me forget all my labours and my father's household: For which cause when Jacob blessed the two Sons of Joseph, he set Ephraim before Manasseh. Joseph also, although he were the Son of Jacob, yet by reason of his Nobility contemptible in the sight of God, was not honoured to have any one of the Tribes bear his name, which was given to his two Sons Ephraim and Manasseh. After this the people of Israel lived in Egypt, and kept Sheep in the Land of Goshen; but when they grew numerous and populous, they grew also suspected and envied by the Potentates and Kings of Egypt, who thereupon thought to oppress 'em with continual hard labour and servitude. They also slew their Male-childrens, thinking to have quite extirpated them from the Earth: But one of those Children, because of his Beauty, was preserved by the Daughter of Pharaoh, who adopted him for her Son, and called him Moses, because she had preserved him out of the Water. Moses therefore grew up in the house of the King, and being bred up in all the Learning of the Egyptians, was accounted as the King's Son, was made a great man, and Captain of Pharaoh's Army against the AEthiopians; but having married the King of AEthiopia's Daughter, he got the ill will of the Egyptian Lords; and being banished out of Egypt, fled into Midian, where at a certain Well taking part with certain Damsels against the Shepherds of that Country, for that kindness he had bestowed on him for a Wise one of those Virgins, the Daughter of the Priest of Midian. At length increasing in Age and Wisdom, and remembering himself to be an Hebrew, he returned into Egypt, and renouncing his Egyptian Honours, encouraged by God, he undertook to be Captain of the Children of Israel; and by the assistance of many Miracles carried them out of Egypt: and when the people had sinned against God in making a golden Calf, Moses being angry, calling to his aid the strong men of the Sons of Levi, commanded 'em, saying, Put every man his sword to his side, go to and fro from gate to gate through the host, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his Neighbour. Now after he had made this memorable Slaughter of about three, some say three and twenty thousand persons, he blessed 'em, saying, Consecrate your hands, or ye have consecrated your hands this day unto the Lord, every man upon his son, and upon his brother, that there may be given you a blessing this day; fulfilling what was said by Jacob of his Sons Simeon and Levi, calling them Instruments of Cruelty in their habitations, cursing their wrath, for it was fierce; and their rage, for it was cruel. And thus we find this signal Slaughter to be the first Original of Nobility in Israel: For after that did Moses appoint Princes and Captains among 'em, Captains of hundreds, Captains of fifties and ten; famous Warriors & stout Fighters through their Tribes and Families: Among whom if there were any that excelled in valour and strength, him they made their Chief, giving him the power of Judgement and Command. For they had no King, but were governed by Judges; among whom Joshua a Nobleman, strong, warlike, a vanquisher of Kings, not fearing any man, after Moses was dead, held the most Supreme Command; after whose death they lived under a Democracie, without any Prince or Leader. But growing seditious, fell out one among another, and had almost totally extirpated the Tribe of Benjamin, insomuch that there were not above six hundred men remaining. And when they had forsworn to given 'em their own Daughters, they contrived a way to let 'em have four hundred of the Virgins of Jabesh-Gilead, and for the other two hundred they were permitted to take 'em by force from the men of Silo. And thus was fulfilled the Blessing of Benjamin's Nobility, like unto a Wolf seizing his Prey in the morning, and diving his Prey in the evening. After this they returned to Aristocracy, and the Government of Princes; among whom Abimelech the natural Son of Gideon, of the Tribe of Manasseh, having slain seventy of his legitimate Brethren upon one stone, obtained the Kingdom, and ruled in Sichem. After this the people universally clamouring for a King, God gave them Kings in his wrath; very few good, very many wicked. For the Lord was angry with them, forewarning them of the high Prerogative of Kings, and the subjection they must suffer under 'em; affirming that Kings would take their Sons and their Daughters, and would make Carters and inferior Servants of 'em; that they would at their own pleasure take their Lands, their Farms, their Man-servants, and their Maidservants, and employ 'em in his own service; and that as often as the King was wicked and did evil, the people would suffer for his sake. The first King he gave them, was a young man of the Tribe of Benjamin, named Saul, a man of great strength, tall of Stature, insomuch that he was higher than any of the rest of the people from the shoulders upwards: and God struck such an awe upon the people's Spirits, that they esteemed and reverenced him as a sacred Minister of God. This man, before he began to reign, was as innocent as a Child of one year old; but having obtained the Kingdom, he became a wicked man, and a Son of Belial. Therefore God took the Kingdom from Saul, and gave it to David the Son of Jesse, of the Tribe of Judah: He from a Shepherd was advanced to be King; but then being infected with the contagion of Nobility, he also became a man of sin, Sacrilegious, an Adulterer, a Murderer, though God in his mercy did not quite forsake him. He reigned at first in Hebron, Ishbosheth the Son of Saul reigning beyong Jordan; after which he reigned over all Israel in Jerusalem. Nor could he reign in peace neither; for while he was yet alive, his Son Absalon invaded the Kingdom in Hebron; who being slain, Siba the Son of Bochra rebelled again: After that Adoniah his other Son attempted to gain the Crown, at what time David on his deathbed appointed Solomon his younger Son, born of Bathsheba the Adulteress, to inherit his Throne. He being the first absolute Monarch of the Hebrews, confirmed himself therein by the Murder of his Brother Adoniah; but being once established, he forsook the ways of God, and ●ell to Fornication and Idolatry. His bad Son Rehoboam succeeded him, a great sinner against God; therefore the sole Monarchy of the people was taken from him, ten of the Tribes revolting from his Government, choosing to themselves Jeroboam for their King, a most wicked man of the Tribe of Dan, who poisoned all Israel, seducing the ten Tribes to Idolatry, setting up Golden Calves in Samaria, that the Blessing might be fulfilled, saying, Dan shall be a Serpent by the way, an Adder by the path, biting the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. As for the Tribe of Judah, it remained quite under the Posterity of David, according to the Prophecy of Jacob, That the Sceptre was not to depart from Judah till the Messiah came. Yet was Judah one of the worst of Jacob's Sons, and one that lay with his Mother-in-Law. His Sons also were most lewd and evil; wherefore the blessing of Power and Nobility was granted to him in the enjoyment of the Sceptre, and his blessing to be as strong as a Lion. After that the people of Edom and Jobne revolted from the King of Israel, choosing Rulers of their own at their own will and pleasure, and God promised to Esau that he should shake off the Yoke. Among all the Kings of Juda and Israel, scarce four were known to be good. At last their Kings and all their Nobility being ruined and overcome, the Jews were carried Captive to Babylon. In process of time, God taking compassion of their Calamities, where they erected a king of Popular Government, living happily under the command of their Priest, and the chief Heads of their Tribes, until Aristobulus the Son of Hircanus took the Regal Diadem, and renewed the Kingdom of the Jews, with the murder of his Mother and Brothers: To him many Kings succeeded, till at length, under Archelaus an insolent and obscene Tyrant, the Kingdom was by the Romans reduced into a Province, and last of all wholly ruined and laid waste by Vespasian and Titus; the whole Nation being scattered over the whole world from that time to this day in a continued servitude. All this I thought convenient to repeat out of the Sacred Scripture, to the end I might make it apparent that at the beginning of the world there was no Nobility whose Original was not evil even among the people of God, and that Nobility is nothing else but the reward of public Iniquity; and by how much the life of a man is most polluted, so much the more famous it shall be accounted; the fuller of wickedness, the greater his Glory and Recompense. As Diomedes the Pirate, when he was taken, wittily pleaded before Alexander, I, said he, because I rob but with one Ship, am accused for being a Pirate: Thou, because thou dost the same thing with a great Navy, are called an Emperor: If thou wert single and a Captive, thou wouldst be a Pirate; if I had an Army at my command, I should be esteemed an Emperor: For as to the matter we differ not, unless it may not be disputed whether he be not the worst that takes with greatest violence, who deserts Justice most manifestly, and contemns and breaks the Law. For those whom I fly, thou pursuest: those whom I honour, thou contemnest. The hardiness of my Fortune, and the narrowness of my Estate, makes me; thy intolerable Pride, and insatiable Ava●rice, makes thee a Thief. If my wild Fortune would grow more tame, perhaps I might be better; but if thou wert more fortunate, thou wouldst be worse. Alexander admiring the constancy of the man, caused him to be ●ifted in his Army, that he might lawfully fight and make War, that is, rob and steal. Now to proceed to the Histories of the Ethnics, I shall from thence also ●hew, that Nobility and Greatness is nothing but Improbity, Madness, Robbery, Rapine, Homicide, Luxury; the sport of Hunting and violence arising from principles of disorder, prosecuted more wicked, and always coming to a disastrous end; all which shall be made out from the four famous Monarchies, as also from the success of other more petty Kingdoms. The first Monarchy then after the Flood, was that of the Assyrians, the Founder whereof was Ninus, who first of all not content with the bounds of his own Empire, resolved to extend his Dominions as far as he could, made cruel Wars upon his Neighbours, subduing all the Eastern Nations, and increasing the vastness of his Empire with new Acquests and successful Victories. he brought all Asia & Pontus under his subjection. He also murdered Zoroaster King of the Bactrians. Ninus had a Wife named Semiramis; she begged of her Husband that she might rule only five days; which being granted her, she took the Regal Ornaments, and seating herself in the Royal Throne, commanded the Guard to kill her Husband; who being slain, she succeeded him in the Empire, & not satisfied with the large extent of her Dominions, she conquered Ethiopia, and carried the War into India: she Walled Babylon with a most stately and magnificent Wall, and at length is killed by her Son Ninus the second, whom she had wickedly conceived, impiously exposed, and incestuously known. Under these Murderers the Assyrian Monarchy took its original of Grandeur, till extinguished by the death of Sardanapalus, a man more vicious and effeminate than any woman, whom Arbactus Perfect of Media slew in the midst of all his Concubines, and taking upon him the Kingdom, translated the Empire from the Assyrians to the Medes, which Cyrus afterwards translated to the Persians, among whom Cambyses his Son, founder of New Babylon, joining and adding by conquest many Kingdoms to his own, began the second Monarchy, which he confirmed to himself by the murder of his Brother and Son. This Empire declined under Narsus the Son of Ochus, who being slain by Bagoas the Eunuch, Darius succeeded him; and he being overthrown by Alexander, put a period to the Persian Monarchy, with his life; which the said Alexander, conscious with his adulterous Mother of his Father's death, and indeed the contriver thereof translated again to the Macedonians. The fourth Monarchy was that of the Romans, the most powerful and of largest extent: but should we repeat the successions of Governments from the building of the City, we find it founded upon most wicked beginnings, and maintained by as bad principles: Let us therefore observe who were the Founders of this great City. Rome was built by two Twins, Remus and Romulus, incestuously begot upon a Vestal Nun. Remus at the beginning of his Government was murdered by Romulus, a second Cain; who suffering himself to be called the Son of the Gods, having gathered together a Crew of detestable Villains, ravished the Daughters of the Sabines to get themselves Wives; and from them sprung the Offspring of Roman Giants so formidable to all the world. After this, thirsting after the blood of his Father-in-Law, he slew Titus Tatius, a good Old man, and Captain of the Sabines; having drawn him into a League, and associated him into Partnership of the Kingdom. These were the Originals of the Roman Empire, which for two hundred forty three years was governed by cruel Kings, and ended under Tarqvinius the Proud, exiled for the Rape of Lucrece. And as the Posterity of Cain ended in the seventh Generation destroyed by the Flood, so these Roman Successors in the Seventh King from Romulus, were driven out of the City by Popular Tumult. However, though the Romans threw off the Yoke of Kingship, yet they could not shake off the Yoke of Servitude. For the Kings being now thrown out, and the Government translated into the hands of the Nobility, Brutus a Nobleman was the first Roman Consul chosen. He to establish the Foundations of intended Empire, not only laboured to equal Romulus, the first Founder of the City, in Murder, but also to outdo him; for he slew two of his own Sons, and two of his Wives Brothers in the Marketplace, after he had caused 'em to be publicly whipped. After this the Government continued for many Ages, sometimes in the hands of the Nobility, sometimes of the Commonalty, under the power and command of sundry Magistrates and petty Tyrannies; at length under Julius Caesar, a man I cannot say whether stronger in War, or corrupter in Manners; and afterwards under Antonius, a man enslaved to Lust and Luxury, wholly determined: After which the whole Command of the Roman Empire fell into the sole hands of Octavianus Augustus. In him began the fourth Monarchy of the World, but not without Murder: for though Augustus was accounted one of the mildest Princes in the world, yet he put to death a Son and a Daughter of his Uncle Caesar, begot upon Cleopatra, though his Uncle had Adopted him, and left him his Heir by Will, not regarding Name, Kindness, Affinity, nor Childhood. And now the Roman Emperors held the Monarchy of the world, among whom behold these Monsters of Cruelty and Impiety, Nero, Domitian, Caligula, Heliogabalus, Galienus, and others, under whom the whole world was oppressed, till Constantine the Great having slain Maxentius, for his Lust and Cruelty hated of the Roman people, was proclaimed Emperor. He, because he re-edified Byzantium, making her equal with Rome, or else as it were a new Rome, and commanded it to be called Constantinople, from his own name, seems to have translated the Roman Empire to the Greeks, and at Constantinople, as Romulus at Rome, assured it to himself by the murder of the two Licinii, the Husband and Son of his Sister, as also of his own Child and Wife. Thus the Empire remained among the Greeks till the time of Charles the Great, under whom the name of the Empire only was removed into Germany. And thus far for Monarchies. Let us make inquiry into the beginnings of some other Kingdoms, and we shall find them founded upon no better principles, nor upheld by less impiety, nor the occasions of their dissolutions less remarkable. I shall omit the Murders of Dardanus, and by what devilish contrivances having besotted the Greeks to be his impious accomplices, he laid the Foundation of the Greek Monarchy. I omit the Governments obtained by the murders of their Husbands, as the stories relate concerning the Amazonians. I come to later times, and the verges of our own memories. In Spain, in the time of Theodosius the Emperor, Alarick the Goth was the first that reigned, at which time the Vandals also possessed a great part of the same Country. The first King of the Goths that obtained the Monarchy of Spain, was S●ytilla, which Roderick the King, because he had ravished Julia Daughter of the Perfect of the Province of Tingitana, some while after lost to the Saracens or Moors, who after him possessed Spain, till Pelagius having again recovered some places, they were then called no more Kings of the Goths, but Kings of Spain, the Seat of the Empire being settled at Leon, until the reign of Ferdinando the Holy, who first called himself King of Castille, who having slain his Brother Garsias, by means of that parricide obtained the Kingdom of Navarre. Their Brother Romanus, whom their Father had begot upon a Concubine, being a warlike and fierce man, became the first King of Arragon. The first King of Portugal was Alphonsus the Son of Henry of Lorain and Terese the Bastard-daughter of Alphonsus King of Castille; A stout man at Arms, who slew five Princes or great Governors of the Saracens in one Battle; which was the reason that the Kings of Portugal carry five Shields for their Arms: yet was this Alphonsus cursed and cruel to his Mother, whom because she married a second time, he cast into perpetual imprisonment, nor could be moved to set her free by any persuasions, entreaties, prayers, or menaces of Ecclesiastical Censure. Thus all the Kingdoms of Spain have been obtained by unheard-of Villainies, and held by the same Arts. I omit the Kingdoms of the Burgundians and Lombard's, composed of the greatest and most famous people of Germany, and begun in Lombardy by Alboynus, in Burgundy by Gondaicus, and in both places maintained and propagated by Murder and Bloodshed. Let us view the most Potent Kingdom of the Franks in Gallia, whose first Foundations were laid by Pharamont Son of Meroveus, who coming out of Germany into France, was made King of the Franks; excelling in nothing more than in Cruelty and Fierceness: His Posterity remained till the time of Childerick the Third, who for his sloth and libidinous wantonness was deposed from his Kingdom, and thrust into a Monastery. In his place was Pipin advanced, Steward of Childerick's House, who having got the Kingdom for himself and his Posterity by treason, established his own Power by the Murder of Grifo his Brother. His Posterity continued to Lewis the Second, Son of Lotharius, who for adulterating his Wife Blanch's bed, was poisoned by her: at which time Hugh Capet laid violent hands upon the Sceptre; a stout Warrior, and there highly esteemed by the Parisians; but otherwise ignoble, as being the Son of a Butcher. He rebelling against Charles the Uncle of Lewis, and right Heir of the Crown, scrapes together a loose Band of debauched fellows and Vagabonds, and having got the said Charles into his hands by treachery, thrust him into Prison, and there kept him till he died; and thus having most barbarously murdered his King and Prince, he assumed the Regal Diadem, changing a Kingdom into a Butcher's shop; whose Succession endures to this day. It would be too long and tedious in this place to enumerate the Originals of all Kingdoms, and discourse the Histories of all Antiquity. I have in another Volume writ more at large of what I have here but lightly touched, where I have painted out Nobility itself in its proper Colours and Lineaments; and I have showed that there never was, nor is any Kingdom in the world, or famous Principality, the Foundations whereof were not built upon Particide, Treachery, Perfidiousness, Cruelty, Murder, Slaughter, and other most horrid Crimes, the Arts and Utensils of Nobility, whereof when we see the Head, we may easily conjecture at the monstrosity of the rest of the Members; only prompt and ready for the Execution of all manner of Vice, Violence, Rapine, Murder, Men-hunting, and Lust. Would any person become Noble, let him be a Huntsman, this is the first step to Preferment; or let him be a mercenary Soldier, and let himself out to commit Murder: This is the true Noble virtue, whereby he that shows himself the bravest and stoutest Thief, shall deserve the greatest Honour and Dignity. He that is a Fool or a Coward, let him buy Nobility with money; for Nobility is often exposed at the Market: Or if he cannot do that, let him flatter Great men and Princes, Pimp for Nobleman's Wives, prostitute his own Wife and Daughter to the King's pleasure, marry the King's Cast-Mistrisses, or espouse his natural Daughters; and this is the highest Degree of Nobility, for than he becomes embodied to the Root. These are the Highways, these are the Steps and Ladders by which men most compendiously climb up to the top of Honour. Now they who would appear more magnificent and noble than others, boast themselves to be of the Race of those, which there is no body but would contemn, that is to say, Macedonians, Trojans, Vagabonds, Fugitives, and Exiles, infamous for thousands of Crimes and Misdemeanours: and yet forsooth we must magnify & extol this Nobility, that had such nefarious beginnings. Others deducing their Pedigrees from Whores and Concubines, cover their shame with some Fable, as we read in the Story of Melusina. There are others that have had other most wicked Originals, from Incest, Rapes, Fornications, and Adulteries. Thus Baldwin was made Earl of Flanders by Charles the Bald, who had ravished his Daughter. For the same reason were those Marquesses of Piedmont, viz. Montferrate, Saluces, Sena, and others, advanced by Otho the Emperor. For Kings and Emperors are wont, when they cannot for shame punish an Injury, to honour the Actors with some Title of Dignity. Moreover, there are ●our principal Gifts in Noblemen, wherein consists their chief Virtue and Knowledge, if not their only Happiness: Their first is Rapaciousness, whereby they are taught and instructed to Desire, Gain, and Possess, contrary to all Law and Equity. The second is Pleasure, which carries 'em headlong to all Voluptuousness and Luxury. The third is Liberty, whereby, guarded with the powers of Violence, they presume in contempt of the Law, to act according to their pleasures. The fourth is Ambition, which swells 'em to seek advancement beyond their Merit, and to stop at no wickedness or villainy while they are in the pursuit of vain Honour. Lastly, the compleatness of Nobility is discerned in these things: if he be a good Huntsman, if he be cunning in the wicked Arts of Gaming, if he be able to show his great strength in Drinking, if the force and vigour of Nature become renowned by his mighty Acts of Venery, if he be addicted to Pride, Luxury, and Intemperance, if he be an enemy of Virtue, or grow forgetful that he was born, and that he shall die. More noble yet, if these Impieties be but successive from Father to Son, and be inculcated into their Youth by great Authorities. 
If the Old man be fortunate in Play,  
'Tis fit the H●ir should thrive the selfsame way.  These are the signal Virtues of Noblemen. But there is another sort of Industry among the Nobility, wherein they are most excellent above others, to make themselves to be accounted all this while honest and good, famous for Prudence, Liberality, Piety, and Justice; to which end they feign themselves courteous, fair-spoken, affable, making a conspicuous show of all Virtue: They steep their Speeches in Oil: they banquet splendidly from house to house, talk freely of State-affairs, observe the opinions of other men, from whence they gather what is good, and ascribe to themselves the same of other men's wisdom and prudence: By their covetousness they get an opinion of Liberality, while what they take from one, they give to another; bountiful Thiefs; and what the Ancients write concerning Sylla, by the injuries which they do to some, they every others, being themselves in the midst of all their Rapine. The opinion of Justice and Piety they procure, by undertaking the differences among poor people, and maintain their causes against the rich sort; but they no longer give assistance to the afflicted; but while they can empty the Coffers of the wealthy. For their intention is not to do good to the Poor, but to injure the Rich; which they can more easily do, than do good: And under this pretence of Justice and Piety, sometimes they arrogate to themselves the greatest Licence in the world, on purpose to use violence to Cities and great persons, glorying in their sins like the ancient Giants, and like evil Spirits seeking all occasions of mischief, and then thinking that they do most good, when they do no harm; so behaving themselves, to be a terror to all, to be beloved by none; combining with the wicked and flagitious, oppressing and ruining all persons that put their confidence in 'um. Of whom Aristophanes thus writes, saying, That it is not convenient for a City to breed and nourish Lions within it; but if they be of a mild temper, than we ought to be obedient to 'um. The Swissers, formerly oppressed by the tyranny of these Noblemen, slew them all, and extirpated their Race by that memorable slaughter of their Nobles, obtaining a lasting name with the recovery of their liberty, wherein they have happily flourished for above four hundred years, the hatred of that sort of Nobility yet remaining among 'um.   

CHAP. LXXXI.  
Of Heraldry.  
NObility was the Foundation of that noble Art of Heraldry, and Philosophy has been very much employed in designing and ordering the Arms of Noblemen, for whom it is unlawful to bear in their Coats an Ox, a Calf, a Sheep, a Lamb, a Capon, a Hen, or any of those Creatures which are necessary for the use of Mankind; but they must all carry for the Ensigns of their Nobility, the resemblances of cruel Monsters, and Birds of Prey. Thus the Romans chose to carry an Eagle, the most rapacious of all Birds: the Phrygians a Boar, a most pernicious Animal: the Thracians, Mars: the Goths, a Bear: and the Vandals invading Spain, carried a Cat, a creature most greedy, and treacherous withal: the ancient Franks, a Lion: the Saxons, the same. Afterwards the Franks remaining in Gallia, chose the Owl: the Saxons a Horse, a most warlike creature. The Cymbrians had for their Ensign a Bull, the Emblem of strength and good fortune. Antiochus had for his Impreze an Eagle holding a Dragon in her pounces. Pompey bare in his Shield a Lion; Attila, a crowned Basilisk. The Romans, whose Capitol was preserved from the Gauls by the Geese that were fed therein, yet could not be persuaded to carry a Goose for their Shield. There are that admit Cocks and Goats into their Shields, because those creatures are known to be proud and lustful. For the same reason Peacocks are received, because of their pride; and the Lapwing or Heath-hen, for that she seems to carry the Emblem of Majesty, wearing the resemblance of a Crown on her head: Nor is she refused, because she makes her Nest in Excrements, for we know that Vespasian imposed a tribute upon Piss, acknowledging, That the smell of Gain was always sweet. There be many of smaller Animals also that claim a prerogative in the Shields of great men, provided they be the Documentors of mischief: Such are Coneys, Moles, Frogs, Locusts, Mice, Serpents, Salpeges, Scolopenders; through the multitude of which sort of Animals, as Pliny testifies, people have been forced to forsake their Habitations, and Cities have been forsaken: For the same reason, some have not been ashamed to bear Lice, Fleas, and Flies; and some there are that count it a great honour to be marked with Blains and Botches, while there are those that hold them for the best Gentlemen that have been most peppered with the French Pox. Some there are that bear for their Arms Swords, Daggers, Faulcheons, Towers, Battlements, Engines of War, Fireworks, and whatsoever other Instruments of Murder and Mischief. The Scythians carry Thunder for their Arms, the Persians a Bow and Arrows, the Coralli Wheels. Thus among the Gods Jupiter carried Thunder, Neptune a Trident, Mars a Spear, Bacchus a Thyrse, Hercules a Club, and Saturn a Scithe. And these Ensigns of Armoury, as they are the Emblems of Cruelty, Rapine, Violence, Fortitude, Rashness, and other Heroic Virtues, are by the judgement of the Heralds, some nobler than others. Now those Shields that are blazoned with things that are less noxious, as Trees, Flowers, Stars, as the Harp of Apollo▪ the Caduceus of Mercury, or are otherwise distinguished only by variety of Colours, these are accounted much more modern, and less noble than the other, as not being acquired by any Acts of War, or other Artifices of Ruin and Destruction. However, 'tis a wonder to see how foolishly and idly these applauded Heralds play the Philosophers, Astrologers, and Divines, while they ascribe black and brown to Saturn; and therefore Perseverance, Patience, and Taciturnity to him also: But Saphyr, and Azure, Faith and Zeal, belongs to Jupiter. Over Red, which signifies Anger and Revenge, they give Mars dominion. The Golden Colour they dedicate to the Sun; and by reason of the Price of the one, and the Lustre of the other, think it signifies desire and joy. Over Green and Purple Venus is made chief Ruler; to Purple by reason of its Rosy beauty, ascribing the signification of Love, though the French will have it to denote Treachery: but Green by the consent of all, was the Emblem of Hope, seeing that from the green Fields Fruit is expected at the end of the year. White is ascribed to the Moon, which being simple without mixture, yet is it capable of all mixture, and therefore they will have it to denote Purity, Docility, and Simplicity of heart. All other mixed Colours they assigned 〈◊〉 Mercury, who being himself inconstant and of several humours, so they observe that those humours signify the various Affections of the Mind: As Ash-colour being near to Black, signifies Trouble: Flesh-colour inward Grief of the Soul, or secret and hidden Thoughts: Straw-colour, Desperation and Suspicion, or Jealousy. Too long it would be to repeat their Trifles of the same nature, feigned and digested into Emblems, from the Water, Days, corners of the World, Winds, Wood, Planets, Plants, Stones, and the very Mysteries and Sacraments of Religion: Nay, they have translated all the Apocalypse into Fables and Trifles of their own invention: And this is that Heroic Philosophy of the Heralds. And here I had made an end of this Discourse, had I not met with the Original of these Heralds. Aeneas Sylunius deduces the Original of the Heralds from the Heroes. Now these Heroes were old Soldiers, which they ought also to be; and Harald the Teutonick word, signifies an old man in Arms, or a Veterane Soldier. But now every Servile and Mechanick-fellow, fecial Messengers, and Caduceators, frequently are admitted to the Employment. However, the Privileges and Offices of Heralds remain inviolable to this very day. Their first Institutor was Father Bacchus, who having conquered India, gave them their first beginning, in these words: This day I free you from War and Labour; I will that ye be called Veterane Soldiers and Heroes. Your business shall be now to take care of the Commonwealth, to punish the bad and cherish the good. From other Offices ye shall be free, in whatever part of the world ye shall be found. Your Diet and Clothing shall be at the King's Charge: Ye shall be honourable among all men; Princes shall send ye Gifts: Firm credit and authority shall be given to your words; ye shall abhor Lying, ye shall sit and judge Tratyors; those who ill entreat their Wives, ye shall adjudge infamous: Ye shall be free in all Countries, secure in Travel and Habitation: Whosoever shall molest or injure any of you, shall be put to death. Alexander the Great, after many Ages following, added very much to their Privileges, giving them liberty to wear Garments of Gold, Purple, and Scarlet; as also to bear Royal Coats and Escutcheons in whatsoever part of the world they inhabited. If any person struck them, or injured them in words, they forfeited their Goods as guilty of Treason. All which Thucydides, Herodotus, Didymus, Magasthones, and Xenophon have related, as the same Aeneas reports. Thirdly, Octavianus Augustus, being settled in the Roman Empire, incorporated them, and gave them several Laws: Whoever thou art that has served us in the Wars ten years, provided thou art forty years of age, whether thou wert a Footman or a Horseman, after that thou shalt be free from farther service; let him be a Hero and a Veterane: Let free access be given thee to all Cities, Pleading-places, Temples, public and private Houses: Let no man accuse thee of any Crime, impose any Burden on thee, or exact any Money from thee. If thou hast done amiss, only expect to be punished by Caesar: Whatever foul act men commit, let them expect thee their Judge, and the Proclaimer of their Miscarriages, whether private or public persons: what thou shalt affirm or say▪ let no man contradict, whether Prince or private person. Let all Highways and places be open to thee. In the houses of Great men let there be a Table provided for thee. Sufficient to keep thee and thy Family, receive out of the public Treasury. Let thy lawful Wife take place of other women. Whom thou shalt contemn and name for infamous, let him be contemned, and esteemed infamous. Let a Hero bear the Ensigns, Arms, Names and Ornaments of Kings. What thou hast a mind to do or say, that do or say in any part of the World, in any Country or Nation whatsoever: be that injures thee, let him want a head. At last Charles the Great having obtained the name of the Empire into Germany, and being styled Caesar Augustus, after he had overcome the Saxons and Lombard's, honoured them as follows: My fellow-soldiers, said he, ye shall be called Heroes, Companions of Kings, and Judges of Crimes: Live henceforward free from Labour, consult and advise with Kings for the Public good, reprehend soul Actions; be kind to Women, and be tender over Orphans; encompass Princes with your counsels: From them demand your Food. Apparel▪ and Wages; whoever denies ye, let him be dishonourable and infamous: He that offers ye injury, let him confess himself guilty of High Treason. And for your parts, take you heed, that so great Honours, so great Privileges acquired by the labours of War, that ye slain them not, nor defile them with Drunkenness, or any other Vice: that what we give for your Glory, may not redound to your Punishment; the infliction whereof, if ye exceed your bounds, we reserve to ourselves and our Successors Kings of the Romans. And this is the magnificent Degree of Heraldry, for which by ancient Custom, they esteem themselves so great.   

CHAP. LXXXII.  
Of Physic in general.  
FRom War and Nobility let us hasten to Physic, which is itself a kind of Art of Killing, altogether Mechanic, though she pretend to be shadowed with the Title of Philosophy, and sits above the Law next to Divinity in degree and place; which hath caused great contention between the Civilian and the Physicians. For thus the Physicians argue: Seeing, say they, there are three sorts of Goods, the Goods of the Soul, the Goods of the Body, the Goods of Fortune; of the first the Divine takes care, of the second the Physician, the third only belongs to the Lawyer: Hence it is that the Physicians claim the next pre-eminence to the Divines, forasmuch as the strength and health of the Body is to be preferred far before the Riches of Fortune. But this strife was once determined by a witty Question. For some one of these Contenders desiring to know▪ what order and method was observed in leading Criminals to Execution, which followed, and which should precede, the Thief or the Hangman? and when one answered that the Thief went before, and the Hangman followed, the other presently gave judgement that the Lawyers should go before, the Physicians follow; denoting the remarkable Robbery of the one, the rash Murder of the other. But let us return to Physic, of which there are many sorts of Heresies: For there is one which they call Rational, Sophistical, and Dogmatical, which was practised by Hypocrates, Diocles, Chrysippus, Caristinus, Paraxagoras, and Herosistratus; approved also a long while after by Galen, who above all the rest following Hypocrates, brought all the Art of Physic to be comprehended in the knowledge of the Causes, judgements upon Signs and Symptoms, qualities of things, and the several habits and ages of Bodies. But this Heresy contending more for substance than shadow, I confess to be the meaner part of Philosophy; but toward the cure of the Sick not at all necessary, if not altogether destructive, as that which rather sends us for Health and Cure to screwed and forced Maxims, than to any sincere and real Medicines: and being employed in Scholastic Syllogisms, unacquainted with Woods and Fields, becomes altogether ignorant of Herbs and good Remedies. And therefore Serapion was of opinion that this Rational Method of Physic did nothing at all avail to the Cure of diseases. Therefore there is another Faction of Physicians, altogether Mercenary and Mechanic; which is therefore termed Operative, and is divided into Empirick and Methodical; of which we are now to treat. They call it Empirical, because of the Experiments which it makes: whose chief Professors were Serapion, Heraclides, and both the Apollonii. Among the Latins, Marcus Cato, C. Valgius, Pomponius, Leneus, Cassius, Felix, Aruntius, Cornelius, Celsus, Pliny, and many others. Out of this, Hierophilus the Calcedonian constituted his Methodical Physic; and by the help of long Experience, the Mistress of all things, fixed it to certain Rules, which afterwards Asclepiades, Themistion, and Archigenes confirmed by most strong arguments, and afterwards Thesillus the Italian completed; who, as Varro affirms, set aside all the Opinions of his predecessors, madly raging against all the Physicians of the former Age. After these, many Barbarous Physicians of foreign Nations ventured abroad in Writing; among which, the Arabians became so famous, that they seemed by many to have been the Inventors of this Art; and might have easily made it good, but, for the Original Greek and Latin words which they used, betraying another original of the Science. This made the Volumes of Avicen, Rhasis, and Averro, to have equal Authority with the Books of Galen and Hypocrates; so that if any one presume the Cure of a person without their Rules, he seemed to throw away the life of the Patient. Now these Factions among Physicians be not many, yet is the Contention and Combat of Opinions not less among them, than among the Philosophers. For observe how idly they contend about the substance of the Seed. Pythagoras will have it to be the spume or froth of the most useful part of the Blood, or the most useful part of the excrement of the meat. Plato affirms it to be a deflux of the Back-bone-marrow, seeing that the Back and Reins are pained by the overmuch use of Copulation. Alcmaeon asserts it to be part of the Brain, for that Copulation weakens the Eyes, which are nourished by the Brain. Democritus will have it to be derived from all parts of the body, and Epicurus to be as it were forcibly strained from body and soul together. Aristotle affirms it to be the excrement of the Sanguineous nourishment, which is last digested in the body. Others believe it to be blood ripened and made white by the heat of the Stones, for this reason, That they who copulate too often, do eject drops of blood. Add to all this, that Aristotle and Democritus are of opinion that a Woman's seed doth not at all contribute to Generation, neither that she does emit any seed at all, but only a kind of Sweat. Galen affirms that they eject seed, but more imperfect; and that the seed of both sexes assists in generation. Though Hypocrates is of a contrary judgement, affirming that the bodies of all Animals are coagulated out of the four Humours. Yet Aristotle maintains that the Blood is the next cause of Generation, and that the seed is generated out of the Blood. Many of the Arabians are of opinion that perfect Animals might be generated without the mixture of Male and Female, and be produced without the help of seed; and therefore did aver that there was no necessity of the Matrix, but by accident. Now speaking of the Original Causes of Diseases, Hypocrates places them in the Spirits, Hierophilus in the Humours, Erasistratus in the blood of the Arteries: Asclepiades makes them to be certain Atoms entering in thorough the invisible pores of the body: Alcmaeon believes all diseases to proceed from the exuberance or scarcity of the Corporeal faculties: Diocles, from the inequality of the Corporeal elements, and temper of the air we breathe in: Strato, from the surplusage and crudity of Nourishment, and the consequent corruption thereof. Nor do they less differ about the alteration of the Aliment. For Hypocrates, Galen, and Avicen affirm the meat to be concocted in the Stomach by the heat thereof. Erasistratus believes Concoction to be perfected lower in the Belly. Plistonicus and Paraxagoras affirm not only a Concoction, but Putrefaction. Avieen also, and his Expositors, Gentiles and Jacobus de Ferlino, not without a manifest error, affirm that Ordure is made in the Stomach. But Asclepiades and his followers believe that the meat is not concocted, but distributed raw into all parts of the body; and affirm the Opinions of all the former to be vain and ridiculous. I omit their Judgements of Urine, not yet perfectly known by any of 'em; and the beat of the Pulses as little apprehended by 'em. Hypocrates, whom they look upon as a God, has not only differed from many in opinion, but erroneously mistaken: for, in his Book of the nature of Infants he saith, The Bird is generated of the yellow of the egg, but is nourished by the white of the egg; which Aristotle proves to be manifestly untrue, in his Book of Animals: and in his Book of the Generation of Animals, writing against Alcmaeon, who was of the same opinion with Hypocrates, he concludes the original of the Chicken is in the White; nourishment is sucked in thorough the Navel out of the Yolk: to which Pliny adheres, saying, The creature is generated out of the White, his nourishment is out of the Yolk. And is not that Aphorism of Hypocrates false? No woman hath the Gout, till her Terms forsake her; it being evident that many Menstruous women have the Gout.   

CHAP. LXXXIII.  
Of Practical Physic.  
THe whole Operative art of Healing is built upon no other Foundation than fallacious Experiments, and the slender Credulity of the diseased, doing more harm than good; there being generally more danger in the Physician and Physic, than in the disease: which the chief Doctors of this Art ingenuously confess, that is to say, Hypocrates himself, who does not deny this Art to be both difficult and fallacious; together with Avicen, who saith, that the Patient's confidence in the Physician ofttimes prevaileth more than the Physic itself. Galen also affirms, that it is very difficult to find a Medicament that does very much good, but easy to find many that do no good at all. There is another who tells us that the knowledge of Medicines is delightful, as of all other things that consist of Rule and Art; but that the effects of Medicinal operation are merely fortuitous. Let the fortunate diseased therefore go and put their trust in dangerous Experiments, and habnab-Remedies. But so general is the sweetness of hoping well for a man's self, as Pliny saith, that he believes every Physician that offers himself, though there be no delusion more dangerous. Hence it is that generally men seek for help from Death; he being the best Physician esteemed, whom the Apothecary, that shares with him, recommonds, or deceives the person; whose servants are at the Physicians devotion, who like Panders for reward commend him with praises to the sick. He is also accounted a most excellent Physician, whom a Velvet Coat, or two or three good Rings upon his fingers shall make to be admired; or else his being a Foreigner, or a great Traveller; or else his being of such or such a Religion. Of no less efficacy to give 'em credit, fame and authority, is a solid Confidence, and a constant bragging of his Receipts: add to these a spirit of Contradiction, many Greek and Latin sentences, and the names of Authors, which make him seem learned. Thus armed with a Leaden Gravity, but a Military confidence, he undertakes the Trade of a Physician: and first, he visits the sick, looks upon his Urine, feels his Pulse, considers his Tongue, feels his Sides, examines the Excrement, inquires into his customary Diet; and if there be any thing more privately kept, he desires to find it out, as if he would weigh the Humours of the Patient in a pair of Scales. Then with great boasting he prescribes Medicaments: R ℞ Catap●tia, let blood, give Clysters, use Pessaries, Oynments, Plasters, Lozenges, Masticatories, Gargarisms, Fumes, Quilts; use Preserves, Waters, Treacles. If the disease be light, and the Patient dainty, then will the Physician invent fine pleasing Gugaws, fit for women and effeminate persons. Provoking Sleep sometimes with hanging beds; sometimes extenuating the disease with Baths, Frictions, Cupping-glasses; sometimes refreshing the sick with delicate diet, and change of air. And to obtain greater fame and authority, observing times and seasons, and seldom administering Physic but according to the directions of some Mechanical Ephemeris. He also claims a great authority over the Apothecary, many times ordering him to make his Medicines before him; pretending himself to be at the choice of the best ingredients, when for the most part he know'st not good from bad, nay hardly knows the things themselves when he sees them. But if the Patient be rich, and a great person besides, then for his greater fame and profit he prolongs the distemper as much as may be, although perhaps he might have cured it with one single Medicine: sometimes exasperating the disease, he brings the Patient to death's door before he will cure it, that he may be said to have delivered the Patient from a most dangerous fit of sickness. If he meet with a Patient whose distemper is dangerous, and that he finds the effect of the Cure to be doubtful, than he uses these Stratagems: severely he prescribes Rules of Diet; he commands unusual things, prohibits things common: he extols with great arguments what he offers himself; what others bring he utterly condemns; on the one side threatening ruin, on the other hand promising life. If he doubt of the event, he persuades the Patient to call a Council of Doctors, desires an assistant, to proceed more warily in the Cure, for fear lest any one coming alone, should perform a Cure, and take from him the glory of the business. If any thing fall out amiss with the Patient, or that he has killed him by his most signal want of skill; then he excuses himself, by pretending some sudden deflux of Rheum, or some other chance, neither to be helped nor avoided; or else he accuses the Patient for not observing his directions, or else blaming those that tended for want of care; or else he blames his associates; or else throws all the blame upon the Apothecary: thereby endeavouring to prove that no diseased person ever died but through his own fault, nor that ever any was cured but by the help and art of the Physician. But that Physicians are Knaves for the most part, we shall prove by Witnesses. For their own Reconciler, Peter Apponius, writes, That the Art of Physic is ascribed to Mars, which is the most odious of all the Planets, as being the author of Ingratitude, Quarrelling, and all wickedness. Therefore are Physicians the cause of many mischiefs, both by reason of the influence of Mars and Scorpio, as also because they had their original from a low and barren beginning; growing proud and haughty, as they grow rich. This perhaps he learned from the example of Aesculapius, whom Antiquity fables to have been the Inventor of Physic, the son of Jupiter, and sent to the Earth through the way of the Sun. Celsus confesses him to be a man, but received into the number of the Gods. Others assert that he was the Incestuous offspring of Coronidis, a handsome Harlot, with whom the Priests of Apollo lay in the Temple, who therefore gave out that he was the son of the God. But all agree in this, that this God was so wicked, that Jove was forced to curb and chastise him with his Thunder. Concerning which, Lactantius thus writes to Constantine the Emperor: Aesculapius the son of Apollo, a vicious person, what other thing did he do worthy divine honours, saving that he cured Hippolytus? His death was more remarkable, in that he merited to be struck with thunder. To say the truth, Physicians are the most wicked, quarrelsome, envious, lying persons in the world: for so they quarrel one among another, that there is not a Physician to be found, who shall approve one Remedy prescribed by another, without exception, addition, or alteration: whence it is become a Proverb, The envy and discord of Physicians. For what one approves, the other laughs at. There is nothing certain among them, but all their promises are mere trifles, and airy lies. Hence the common people, when they would set out a noted liar, they cry, Thou liest like a Physician. For it is their chief study, to follow their own new inventions, and neglect the wholesome precepts of Antiquity: and those few things which they do know, they conceal, as if it did not consist with the Authority of their Art to divulge their knowledge; and out of envy to others, deprive our lives of the Remedies which other men's Labours have found out. They are moreover superstitious, arrogant, unconscionable, proud, covetous; having this Sentence always in their mouths: While there is pain, take. And if the pain cease in one part, they take care that it increase in another, for fear the Cure should be too soon perfected. As we read of Peter Apponi●s, who professing Physic in Bolonia, was so covetous and arrogant, that being sent for one time to a Patient out of town, he would not attend under less than fifty Crowns a day: and being sent for by Honorius the Pope, he covenanted for Four hundred Crowns a day. Besides, we find it related by Pindarus, that Aesculapius the parent of Physic was struck by Jupiter with Thunder for his Covetousness, for that he had practised Physic with Extorsion, and to the hurt of the Commonwealth. But if a sick man happen to recover out of their hands, there is such an Applause, that the tongue of man can scarce suffice to express the wonder of the miracle, as if Lazarus had been raised out of the grave; claiming the life of the Patient to be their gift, and that they have brought him back: ascribing to themselves what belongs to God, and believe that no reward can suffice to recompense their desert. Some of 'em are so swelled up with pride, that they suffer themselves to be worshipped as Gods, and be called Joves and Jupiter's; such as Menecrates the Physician of Syracuse, who is said to have written in these words to Agesilous King of Sparta: Jupiter Menecrates, to Agesilous, greeting. But Agesilaus lauging at his folly, thus answered him: Agesilaus to Menecrates, health. But if any one unfortunately happen to die in their hands, than they blame weakness of Nature, the strength and fury of his disease, the unruliness of the Patient: that they are Physicians, not Gods: that they can cure those that are to be cured: that it is not their business to raise the dead: that they have nothing to serve the diseased with, in discharge of their duty, but their Experience: and with such vanities as these they maintain their pride. Others that die they accuse of intemperance: and when they have killed a man, yet they demand satisfaction for their Bills, from those, that might have been alive without 'em; depriving their Patients both of money and life at once; and yet preserving a safe Conscience to themselves, knowing their faults (as Socrates says) to be covered in the earth; as also for that there is no returning from hell or the grave, to accuse them of their unskilfulness, exaction, and homicides. There are some nasty stinking Physicians bedaubed with cast Urine and Ordure, more sordid than Midwives, using themselves to behold obscene and beastly sights, with their noses and ears to hear and smell the Belches, Farts, Stinking breaths, Steams and Stenches of the sick, with their lips and tongues to taste the black and loathsome Potions, with their fingers to search the Dung and Excrements. Lastly, all their studies and discourse is only about the most sad, horrid, and ghastly spectacles of Death and Diseases. Exquisite Judges of the Ordure of men, which Hypocrates is reported usually to have tasted, that he might thereby the better judge of the Disease: which Aesculapius also is said to have done, who is therefore by Aristophanes called Scatophagus, or Excrement-eater, a Name generally given to Physicians. Hence Scatomancy, Ouromancy, and Dryniomancy, are said to be the Divinations or Prognostications of Physicians taken from Ordure and Urine. Wherefore, among many Nations, those Mechanic Doctors were formerly had in contempt, so that, as Seneca witnesses, it was accounted a great piece of Infamy to exercise the Calling of a Physician: and at this day, there are several people that forbid Physicians, Midwives and Executioners from coming to their Tables; or else cause 'em to eat and drink in Dishes and Cups by themselves: much more abhorring that detestable custom of many Princes, who admit those Pestilential persons to their Chambers in a morning, and admit them infected with the Visits and Vapours of Pestilential people to their Meals, and at meat suffer their impertinent talk of Ordure, Urine, Sweat, Vomits, and Menstruous Courses, Leprosies, Ulcers, Scabs, and Plagues; and to be spew a noble Feast, furnished with choice dishes, with their impure and obscene discourse. Than to admit a Physician to civil Consultations, there is nothing more idle, or fuller of folly, seeing that the Art of Physic neither treats of Virtue or Good-manners; and for that a Physician naturally a good man, aught to b● a person of ill Customs. And we know that in many Cities by public Decrees Physicians are neither admitted to their Counsels, nor suffered to bear any Office of Magistracy: perhaps not so much that they are foolish, vain, or ill tutored, as for their Sordidness, and their spreading Contagion, with the continual Visits of all sorts of Diseases; not only infecting Men, but the very Seats and Stones, as Lucillus has very well said of a certain Physician, in a Greek Epigram.  

Alcon but touched Jove's Statue, strait the stone,  
Though Marble, feels the hot Contagion:  
Whence from his ancient Temple they remove  
The Marble-god, so much their healths they love.  Now when they meet together in Consultation, than there is a strict examination what the Patient cacked and pissed that night; and going about like the Ephori of the Lacedæmonians, to pronounce sentence of Life and Death, 'tis a strange, but sad thing to hear, with what Heats and Altercations, not one agreeing in one thing, they brangle about the sick-man's bed; as if they were hired not to Cure, but to Dispute; with no small trouble to the distempered person, according to the Verse of Menander: 
A Prating Doctor is a new Disease  
Unto the sick—  At length producing some Aphorisms, to show their Scholastic Learning, which they have always ready fo● use, and invoking Hypocrates, Galen, Avicen, Ras● Averro, Apponius their Conciliator, and the rest o● their Deities, whose Names only give them the credit of their Learning; when they have sufficiently conten●ded and disputed about the Causes, Signs, Affection's and Critical days, at length they come to the applica●tion of some Remedy, which ought to have been th● head and tail of the whole business; but that they pass over with some impertinent Order: for out of Envy to one another, they will not communicate their Secrets one to another; as if that would be lost to them, which they discover to others: and therefore they have recourse to the Common Method, which if it fail 'em, than they flee to the Empirical part, as to a sacred Anchor, by Rashness to help what Reason resists; affirming it to better to try a Doubtful Remedy, than none. Or else they leave the Patient, if their courtesy be less toward him, to future Prognostics, saying for excuse, that Hypocrates forbids Remedies to be given to those who are in a desperate condition. Or else if they be any thing Religious, they cast the fault of the Disease upon some of the Saints; or else prescribe this their last Antidote: ℞ one Proctor, Witnesses in number seven, one Priest with Holywater and Oil, and dispose of thy estate, for thou art a dead man. Hence Rasis, conscious to himself of the great stupidity of sick people, as also of the contentious stolidity of the Physicians, giving advice both to the Patient and to the Physician, persuades in his Aphorisms to take only one Physician: for the Error of one, brings great shame; and the advantageous Success of one, is equally praised: but he that makes use of more than one Physician, commits the greatest error. Thus Rasis. This is confirmed by that ancient Inscription in the Monument, A Tro●p of Physicians was his bane; and by the Greek Proverb, The admittance of many Physicians lost the Patient: as also by that saying of dying Adrian; Multitude of Physicians has killed a Prince. Therefore there cannot be more profitable or more wholesome, Counsel given for the preservation of Health, than to abstain from Physicians: for we owe our Health to God, not to the Physicians. Therefore was Asa King of Ju●ah reprehended by the Prophet, because he sought not the Lord in his sickness, but trusted to the skill of the Physician; to whose directions they who give themselves over, can never be well. For there is no life so comfortless, as that which is governed by, and leans upon the confidence of their Art. Were it true that Physicians knew, and I would they did know, of the virtues and efficacies of the Elements, Herbs, Roots, Flowers, Fruits, Animals, Minerals, and of all things which Parent Nature produces; yet would they be so far from making a man immortal, that they would not be always able to cure a slight disease. How often has the Remedy failed, that aught to have cured! that which the Remedy ought to have thrown off, it hath not; and at last, after great pains and cost, the Patient dies, even in the presence of the Physicians. What hope then can we repose in the Physicians, whose experience, as their own Hypocrates confesses, is erroneous? What certainty can the Physicians promise us, if it be true that Pliny writes, That there is no Art more inconstant than Physic, nor more subject to change? Many Nations there were of old, and now to this day living without Physicians, strong and lusty beyond the age of Decrepitness, exceeding an hundred years? Contrarily, those more soft and delicate people who make use of Physicians, for the most part grow old are they have lived half their years. And the Physicians themselves we find more crazy and short-lived than other people. Hence one answered Lacon, saying to him, Thou hast no distemper. Because (said the other) I am not a Physicians wife. Another saying to him, You are a true old man. Because (said he) I never used Physicians advice. Showing, that there is no way more certain to Health and Old-age, than to want a Physician. If any one shall say, that many have recovered by the help of the Physicians; we answer, that many more have died, toward whose relief the Physician's skill has nothing at all availed. And let 'em remember this Verse in Ausonius: 
— They scaped from ill  
By help of Fate, not of the Doctor's skill.   
The Arcadians, as Pliny relates, used no other Medicaments than Milk in the Spring, because then the Herbs were most full of juice: and they chose above the rest Cow's milk, as feeding most upon Herbs. The Laconians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Lusitanians, as Strabo and Herodotus affirm, rejected all Physicians: but they brought forth their sick into the streets and Market-places, that they who had scaped the same disease, might advise them to the Remedies they had tried before; believing, as Celsus delivereth, that nothing did more conduce to recovery than Experience, wherein we find the most learned Doctors often overcome, by silly Country old women, one of which has done more good with one single Herb or Plant, than the most famous Doctors, with all their most elaborate Receipts: for they endeavouring the cure of diseases by a compounded mixture of several Drugs, go more by Conjecture, than by any true knowledge of the cause or reason of the distemper; rendering the whole Art of Physic merely a thing of Chance and Guess: whilst the poor woman, knowing the virtue and effect of her simple Remedy, more easily by a natural force of a tried Receipt shall overcome and cure a distemper. On the other side, the Physicians, by the help of Drugs and precious Gums brought from India at great charge and expenses, promise great Cure; the poor Woman, by cheap and easy Remedies that grow in her own garden, doth not only promise, but restore Health. Nay, the Physicians themselves confess that they have several of them learned more excellent Receipts from Women, worthy to be recorded in their Works, and be made public to posterity; such as is the Receipt against the pain in the Head, which Avicen so much extols. Now if Physic, which ought to restore the temperament of Health, consist in proportion and temperament of things both between themselves, and also with the bodies to which they are attributed; and that it was the most diligent care of the Physician to proportion and temper Medicaments, and to leave 'em so tempered by just and harmonical weight and proportion to the bodies and tempers of the sick: what a strange arrogance and impudence is it for others, not only to change, but to add, sometimes to neglect, sometimes to know nothing thereof! Whence it follows, that as the agreeing temperament of a Medicament brings Health; so the disproportionate mixture causes Pain, increases the disease, and brings death. And therefore a Countrywoman shall cure more safely with a Garden-receipt, than a proud Physician with all his prodigious costly and conjectural Medicaments. Many most excellent Physicians were of opinion, that the best way of Curing was by simple Medicaments. To which purpose having searched into the qualities of Simples, and found them out, they have left us famous Volumes upon those Subjects, as Chrysippus of the Colewort, Pythagoras of the Onion, Marchion of the Radish, Diocles of the Turnip, Phanias of the Nettle, Apuleius of Betony; and many others, of other Herbs and Roots. But your Shop-physicians so little regard these things, that they contemn 'em, call them Simpletons, that take notice of Simples. But those Physicians that make use of Simple Medicaments, I aver, are the persons to be both followed and consulted: But for your Shop Doctors, I wish all people to avoid 'em, as mere Hocus-pocus's and Witches, living upon our deaths, by means of their prodigious Compositions, and merely making a Lottery of our lives. For seeing that compounded Medicaments must of necessity consist of such things whose qualities are altogether disagreeing and repugnant; it is very difficult, if not altogether impossible, to promise any thing of Certainty, but only by Thought, Conjecture, and Opinion; and when there are innumerable things which singly might be advantageous, the Physician only jumbles those together which Chance and Fortune offer to his memory. Whence it happens, that that compounded Medicament receives its efficacy not from the qualities of the Simple Ingredients, but from the Fancy and Unlucky choice of the Physician, while he by some secret and hidden motive, whether Natural, Celestial, Demoniacal, or Fortuitous, is prompted to choose this or that thing before another. And indeed, this is the vulgar Saying, and which they themselves confess, that one Physician is more fortunate than another, and that many times the Ignorant proves more successful than the Learned. I myself have known and seen a most Learned Physician, under whose Cure very few have escaped: I have known another half-witted fellow, that has happily cured not only his own Patient, but those who have been left in a desperate condition by others. And I remember I have read of a Physician that cured all Noblemen and rich men that fell into his cure; but all his Patients that were of a mean condition, either died, or run very great hazards. Hence we may easily see, that this Shop-physick, where the good Fortune rather than Learning of the Physician prevails, is to be looked upon only as a piece of Fortune-telling, and to be exploded and condemned only as an art of Murder and Witchcraft. Which made the Romans when Cato was Censor to expel all Physicians, not only cut of Rome, but out of all Italy, as abominating their Cruelty and Lying, for that they killed more than they healed; and for that being very dextrous at poisoning, by Hatred, Ambition, or Gain, they were easily hired to administer Poison with their Physic, and for Reward to entrap the lives of men. Thus the Physician of Pyrrhus, whether Timocharis, according to Gellius, or Nacias', as others report, who promised Fabricius to poison his Lord and King: but Fabricius detesting the fact, admonished Pyrrhus in a Letter to have a care of his Physician: of which Clandian thus writes.  

The Romans for their virtue ever famed,  
The traitor and his treason still condemned.  
Fabricius nobly to his foe declares  
What his own servant against his life prepares.  
He fairly taught to vanquish, that his War  
All acts of secret treason did abhor.  Cato in Pliny writes to his son about the Physicians of the Greeks: They have sworn to kill all the Barbarians with their Physic; but this they do for Money, to gain Credit, that they may make the quicker dispatch. And a little after the adds: Whence then proceeded so many cheats in Wills, the same means they have now to hide Adulteries; as by the example of Eudemus, in Livia wife of Drusus Caesar. Socates also in Plato advises not to let Physicians multiply in a City. It were very convenient for the Commonwealth, that there were none, or very few; and that there were a Law to make their Unskilfulness and Negligence capital. For it is a Capital crime; and it matters not whether a Physician have endangered a man's life by Folly or Negligence, by Ignorance or Malice, unwittingly or designedly: and that there should not be such an Impunity for Physicians to destroy Mankind, who have only this common honour with the Hangman, to be hired to kill men, and only to be rewarded for Murder, for which all other men are condemned without mercy. This is the difference between the one and the other, That the Hangman puts none to death, but what have received sentence of death by the Judges; the Physician destroys the Innocent, without any sentence past. Therefore the Pontifical Constitutions forbid Clergymen to practise Physic, as if they might be as lawfully Hangmen as Clergymen. Not imprudently also Cato prosecuted them, as being such as strive to increase the Fame of their Art by Novelty; and when they have nothing new, try their Experiments with the hazard of our lives, and learn their Art by prolonging and increasing our distempers, to their own profit and advantage also. Therefore to remedy this mischief, the Egyptians had a Law, that the first three days the Physician was to cure the sick, with the hazard of the Patient's life; after three days, at the peril of his own.   

CHAP. LXXXIV.  
Of Apothecaries.  
ANd now for their Cooks, whom they call Apothecaries, the Titles of whose Boxes contain Remedies, the Boxes themselves Poison, or as Homer signs, Compounded Medicines, many hurtful, many good.  
For when they themselves will be a● no loss, they compel us to purchase our deaths at great prices; while they causing us to take one thing for another, or mixing some old rotten Drugs whose virtues are quite lost, they many times give us a deadly Drink, in stead of a Restorative Potion: while they buy old Emplasters, Unguents, Collyries, and Pill-messes, made for gain of the dregs of the Drugs; and not able to discern otherwise, are cheated with the Sophistications of the barbarous Merchants. I could here show their most pernicious Quarrels about the simple Medicines which they use, and their Errors about the Names of their Medicinal Drugs, by them misunderstood, and worse made use of: all which Nicholaus Leonicenus has discovered in a large Volume. I pass over their prodigious Compositions, their Mixtures of many external Simples; which while they jumble together, thinking to make one Medicament agreeing with all Constitutions, they effect nothing but what is said of that Poetical Chaos: 
— A rude and undigested heap,  
A sluggish weight, and without form or shape.  
The disagreeing seeds of things ill joined,  
While to one Lump confined:  
Cold fights with Heat, Drowth Moisture would deprive;  
Soft things with hard, and light with heavy strive.  Grant that there be some Compositions invented by the ancient Physicians which may have proved useful, and which by the Vote of Experience may be received; yet are they far from the true Method, and condemned by the Physicians, by the compulsion of their own Consciences, and every way exploded by Pliny, Theophrastus, Galen, Plutarch, Hypocrates, Dioscorides, Erasistratus, Celsus, Scribonius, and Avicen; whose words to repeat here, would be too tedious. Nor are they so much blamed by those ancient Authors, but also by many of the Moderns; among which, Arnoldus de Villa nova thus asserts, in one of his Maxims: When a man has Simples at hand, I doubt whether it be convenient to use Compounds. But while Simples are either wholly neglected, or else not known, all Medicaments are fetched from those two great Luminaries of the Apothecaries and Druggist's Treasuries, Mesues and Nicholaus, and the gilded Pictures and Inscriptions of their followers. Hence it comes to pass, that while Physicians for their own ease submit the lives of men to their Confidence in the Apothecaries; and while they without Learning, without Knowledge, trusting to the barbarousness of Merchants for their own profit, make a strange and confused Medley in their Shops, that there is more harm got by the Medicament than by the Disease. Now as concerning the Sophistication of costly Drugs, which are sometimes counterfeited with so much Art, that many knowing persons are deceived; it would be better for the general Health of men, and for the Commonwealth, to forbid the use of all Exotic Medicaments, which are brought in by Pyratical Merchants, at such Miraculous prices, to the bane of the Inhabitants; to reduce the Physicians to a Method, and to bind up the Apothecaries by such a Law, as once Nero is said to have made in Rome, when it was better than now it is, by which they were compelled to use only those Medicaments which the Country produces, as being most agreeable to the nature of the Natives, as also fresher, of more choice, and to be gotten with less cost and difficulty, and with less danger than those foreign ones, the greatest part whereof are to be suspected as sophisticated, or damaged in the Ship, or else not gathered in due time and place; from which arises eminent hazard: for Coloquintida not ripe, causes Bleeding and Death; and that which grows alone, is absolute Poison. So the Male Agarick is deadly, and by how much the more old, the more Lethiferous. Scammony and Terra Lemnia are both Sophisticated, and there is no Credit to be given to the Seals. Now I would fain know what need there is to use these Foreign Medicaments, when our own Country produces those which are of equal virtue and efficacy? Is it not an egregious piece of Folly, to fetch those things from India, which we have better at home? As if our own Soil and Sea did not suffice; but preferring foreign things before the growth of our Country, Costly before Cheap, and hard to be got, before easy to be obtained. Is it impossible to cure the Spleen without ammoniac, or the Liver without Sanders? Is it impossible to cure the Ulcers of the inward parts without Bdellium? or to give ease to the head without Musk and Amber, or to the Stomach without Mace and Coral? Were these Medicaments convenient for our bodies, Nature, that provides abundantly for all things, would have provided 'em among us. Did not our forefathers live more healthy without 'em? And therefore it is the Slothfulness of the Age, that search not into the nature of our own Simples, but prefer the Trifles and Inventions of Apothecaries, who consult not the Common safety, but their own Profit; persuading us that there is no Health but in Costly folly: to whom the Prophet Jeremy thus speaks: Is there no Balm in Gilead? is there no Physician there? In all Lands and Regions, Nature produces Herbs, and appropriates them to the Constitution, Age, and Climate wherein the people dwell. Should we grant that some Drugs are of greater force and efficacy in some places, and at some times, yet can we not believe 'em wholesome, but to the people in those Countries where they were produced. But there are some Robbing Empirics that persuade us that none but strange and uncouth Medicaments are most available, without which there can be no Health; trying their Experiments at the expenses of the miserable; mingling the most hurtful Infects and Reptiles in their Medicaments; and as if all other Remedies were defective, using humane fat, and flesh of men embalmed in Spices, which they call Mummy, which they cause men to eat, as it were to atone Nature.   

CHAP. LXXXV.  
Of Chirurgery.  
CHirurgery remains, another part, which cures the external Deformities and Diseases of the body; whose Operation is manifest, and whose Remedies are certain: for all other Physicians work under ground. Surgeons see and feel what they do, and as occasion requires, change, apply, and remove their Remedies. And this among all the Arts of Physic was first in use. For men accustoming themselves to War, and to receive Wounds, it was necessary to seek out for Cure. They found that the evil proceeded from Man, and therefore expected the Remedy from him. Other Diseases and inward pains, as proceeding from the anger of the Gods, they thought incurable by natural means. Therefore the first Inventor of Chirurgery is said to be Apis King of the Egyptians, or, as Clemens Alexandrinus records, Misria the son of Cain, Nephew of the great Noah. Of the cure of Wounds Aesculapius was the first that wrote; after him, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Parmenides, Democritus, Chiron, and Paeon, became excellent therein. Pliny relates that Arehagatus the Peloponnesian was the first that practised Chirurgery in Rome; and that for his Cruelty in Cutting and Burning, he was publicly named the Wound-maker; afterwards the name was changed into Hangman, or Executioner; at length they despised the whole Art, and forbid it. Chirurgery therefore is no less famous for Faction among great Authors, and the Authority of great men, than infamous for its bloody Cruelty, and the Nastiness of its Practitioners.   

CHAP. LXXXVI.  
Of Anatomy.  
HOwever it is excelled by Anatomy in Cruelty, being the Slaughter-house of both Physicians and Surgeons, wherein they were formerly wont to cut up the bodies of condemned persons yet alive and breathing, with most cruel Torments. At this day, out of reverence to Christian Religion, they are grown more mild, first suffering the body to die, then with their own hands, with all sorts of Cruelty, raging, and dismembering the dead Carcase, to observe the situation, order, weight, frame, nature, and all the secrets of the dead, thereby to understand how the better and more effectually to cure the living. A cruel kind of diligence, and a Spectacle no less horrid and abominable than impious!   

CHAP. LXXXVII.  
Of the Art of Curing cattle.  
THere is another sort of Physical practice which consists in the Cure of cattle, more certain and more profitable than the rest, invented, as they say, by Chiron the Centaur, and wrote of by Columella, Cato, Varro, Pelagonius, Vegetius, and other eminent Authors. But this your fine Physicians account so great a shame to practise, that they are utterly ignorant thereof; so delicate, that, like the Lapwing, they are never well, but when they are nestling in the dung and ordure of men: so that if any one require a Remedy for his Beast, in stead of a Cure, he shall receive nothing but ill words: As if it did not belong to them, to cure not only men, but also other creatures, especially those which are profitable to men. For which purpose Alphonsus King of Arragon kept in pay two most expert Physicians, and commanded them diligently to examine what Method of Cure, and what Remedies were most proper for the several Diseases of Beasts. Which they observing, put forth a most excellent Treatise thereof. The same of late years did John Ruellus of Paris, a person skilful in both Languages, and the first Physician that compiled a Volume of the Diseases of Horses, and their Cures, extracted out of the Works of most ancient Authors; Apsirchus, Hierocles, Theomnestus, Pelagonius, Anatolius, Tiberius, Eumelus, Hemerius, Africanus, Emilius the Spaniard, and Litorius the Beneventan: a Work very profitable for all Parriers, and very advantageous to the Commonwealth.   

CHAP. LXXXVIII.  
Of Dieting.  
THere is yet the Dieting part of Physic, the first Author whereof was Asclepiades, who altogether rejecting the use of Medicaments, reduced all Cure to the Order of Diet, observing the quantity, quality, and seasoning of Meats; from whom other Physicians do not much disagree, yet believing that the one has want of the other, that Diet is assisted by Medicaments, and Medicaments by order and course of Diet. Upon these grounds, they command, forbid, curse, and discommend the Meats and Drinks that God has created, framing Rules of Diet difficult to be observed; and those morsels which they forbid others to taste of, they themselves, as Hogs eat Acorns, greedily devour; and those Laws of living which they prescribe to others, they themselves either altogether neglect, or contemn. For should they live according to their own Rules, they would run not a small hazard of their Health; and should they permit their Patients to live after their own Examples, they would altogether lose their profits. But of these Diet-mongers thus S. Ambrose writes: The Precepts of Physic are contrary to divine living; for they call men from Fasting, suffer 'em not to watch, seduce 'em from opportunities of meditation. They who give themselves up to Physicians, deny themselves to themselves. And S. Bernard upon the Canticles, thus asserts: Hypocrates and Socrates teach how to save Souls in health in this world; Christ and his disciples, how to lose 'em: which of the two will ye have to be your Masters? He makes himself noted, that in his disputations teaches how such a thing hurts the Eyes, this the Head, that the Stomach; Pulse are windy, Cheese offends the stomach, Milk hurts the head, drinking Water is hurtful to the lungs: whence it happens, that in all the Rivers, Fields, Gardens and Markets, there is scarce to be found any thing fitting for a man to eat. But grant these words of S. Ambrose and Bernard were only written to the Monks, for whom perhaps it is not so needful to take so much care of their Healths, as of their Professions: and that variety of dishes and feasts may not be unlawful for civil men to use, with consideration of their Health; the first the Art of Dieting performs, the second the Art of Cookery, being the dressing and ordering of Victuals. For which reason Plato calls it the Flatteress of Physic; and many account it a part of Dietary Physic. Though Pliny and Seneca, and the whole throng of other Physicians, confess that manifold Diseases proceed from the variety of Costly food.   

CHAP. LXXXIX.  
Of the Art of Cookery.  
THe Art of Cookery is very useful, and not dishonest, so it exceed not the bounds of Discretion. For which reason, very great and most temperate persons have been induced to write of Cookery, and Dressing of Meat. Of the Greeks, Pantaleon, Mithecus, Epiricus, Zophon, Egesippus, Pazanius, Epenetus, Heraclides, Syracusanus, Tyndaricus, Sicyonius, Symonactides, Chius, and Glaucus Locrensis. Among the Romans, Cato, Varro, Columella, Apicus: and among the Moderns, Platina. The asiatics were so intemperate and luxurious in their Feeding, that they were known by the Surname of Gluttons, which we therefore call Asotae. Therefore we read in Livy, that after the Conquest of Asia, foreign Luxury first ●ntred into Rome, and that then the Roman people began to make sumptuous Banquets. Then was a Cook a most useful Slave among the Ancients, and began to be much esteemed and valued; and all bedabled with Broth, bedaubed with Soot, with his Pots, with his Platters and Dishes, Pestles and Mortars, was welcomed out of the Kitchen into the Schools: and that which before was accounted but a vile Slavery, was honoured as an Art: whose chiefest care is only to search out everywhere for provocatives of Appetite, and to study out in all places for Dainties to satisfy a most profound Gluttony. Abundance of which Gellius citys out of Varro: as, the Peacock from Samos, the Phrygian Turkey, Cranes from Melos, Ambracian Kids, the Tartesian Mullet, Trout from Pessinuntium, Tarentine Oysters, Crabs from Chios, Tatian Nuts, Egyptian Dates, Iberian Chestnuts. All which Institutions of Bills of Fare were found out for the wicked wantonness of Luxury & Gluttony. But the Glory and Fame of this Art Apicius above all others claimed to himself; that as Septimus Florus witnesses, there were a certain Sect of Cooks that were called Apicians, propagated as it were in imitation of the Philosophers. Of whom thus Seneca hath written: Apicius (saith he) lived in our Age, who in that City, out of which Philosophers were banished as corrupters of youth, professing the Art of Cookery, hath infected our Age. Pliny also called him the Gulf and Barathrum of all Youth. At length, so many subjects of Taste, so many provocatives of Luxury, so many varieties of Dainties were invented by these Apicians, that at length it was thought requisite to restrain the Luxury of the Kitchin. Hence those ancient Sumptuary Laws and Edicts against Riot; that is to say, Archian, Fannian, Didian, Licinian, Cornelian, and the Laws of Lepidus, and Antius Restio. Lucius Flaccus also, and his Colleague, Censors, put Duronius out of the Senate, for that as a Tribune of the people he went about to abrogate a Law made against the excessive prodigality of Feasts. In defence whereof, how impudently Duronius ascended the Pulpit for Orations! There are Bridles, said he, put into your mounhes, most noble Senators, in no wise to be endured: ye are bound and fettered with the bitter Chains of Servitude. For there is a Law made, that commands us to be frugal: Let us therefore abrogate that Command, deformed with the rust of ghastly Antiquity: for to what purpose have we liberty, if it be not lawful for them that will, to kill themselves with Luxury? There were also many other Edicts, all now antiquated and abrogated; so that no Age has been more indulgent to Gluttony, than this wherein we now live: and for that cause, saith Musonius, and after him our Jerome, we travel by land and sea, to fetch Wine, and costly Cates to pour down our Gullets. So many Taverns, so many Alehouses, so many Victualling-houses among us, where men are destroyed by Gluttony, Drunkenness, and Luxury, that many times, to the detriment of the Commonwealth, they consume whole patrimonies: so many varieties of Sauces, so many Rules, Observations, and Table-ceremonies, that the splendid Banquets of the Asiots, Milesians, Sybarites, Tarentines, of Sardanapalus, Xerxes, Claudius, Vitellius, Heliogabalus, Galienus, and the rest of those ancient Gluttons, whom History records to have exceeded all other Nations and persons in the pleasures of the Kitchen, are but mere fordid, rude, and rustic Junketting, compared with the sumptuous Feasts of Great persons now adays. A neat and handsome Entertainment will not serve turn, unless there be an abundance, even to create Loathing, and to fuddle Hercules himself, who was wont to drink out of the same Vessel that carried him; meat more than would satisfy Milo the Crotonian, or Aurelianus Phago; the first of which was wont to eat up Thirty loaves of bread, besides meat, at a meal; the other at the Table of Aurelian devoured a whole Boar, a hundred Loaves, a Wether, and a Porkling. He drank in a Bowl that held more than a Tun. These things are now customary at our great public Country-feasts, and Dedications of Temples. You would swear they were celebrating Orgia to Bacchus, they are so contaminated with Madness, Quarrelling, Bloodshed, and all the Impieties attending Gluttony and Drunkenness. You may there behold the Banquets of the Centauris, whence none return without a broken pate. Thus we find Ovid describing the Voracity of Erisichthon.  
Without delay, what Sea, what Earth, what Air  
Affords, at his command they strait prepare:  
Yet at full Tables he complains of Hunger,  
And for a Feast of Feasts he calls in anger.  
What a whole City or a Land supplies,  
For the content of One will not suffice.  
The more his guts devour, the more he craves,  
As Rivers are exhausted by the Waves,  
While the insatiate Sea, and thirsty Sands,  
Drink up the Floods still rolling from the Lands.  
Or as the Fire no nourishment refuses,  
Burns all that comes, but neither picks nor chooses,  
And still the more 'tis fed, it feeds the more:  
Thus Erisichthon's profane Chaps devour  
All sorts of food; in him food is the cause  
Of hunger; and he still employs his Jaws  
To whet his Appetite.—  
Among the Greeks and Romans there were a sort of people called Wrestlers, men of most greedy and voracious Appetites: but their Infamy was at length out-vy'd and exceeded by Consular Magistrates and Emperors. For Albinus, who formerly ruled in Gaul, devoured at one Supper an hundred Peaches, ten Melons, fifty large green Figs, and three hundred Oysters. And Maximinus the Emperor, who succeeded Alexander Memmeas, ate forty pound of flesh in one day, and drank an Amphora of Wine, containing 48 quarts. Geta the Emperor was also a prodigious Epicure, causing his Dishes to be brought in Alphabetically, and would continue feeding for three days together. Now what greater Impiety, when God and Nature has provided Meats and Drinks for us, to preserve Health, and strengthen Nature, for us to abuse them with various artifices for Pleasure, and to devour them beyond the capacity of Humane nature? thereby contracting to ourselves incurable Diseases, whereby we find it apparently true what Musonius says, That Masters are less strong, less healthy, less able to endure labour than Servants; Countrymen more strong than they who are bred in the City; those that feed meanly, than they who feed daintily: and that generally the later sort live longer than the former. Nor are there any other persons more troubled with Gouts, Dropsies, Colicks, and the like, than they who contemning a simple diet, live upon prepared Dainties. Of which opinion is Celsus: The most profitable diet for Man, saith he, is simple; multiplicity of tastes is pestiferous; and all spiced meats are unprofitable, for two causes: Because more is consumed because of Sweetness, and less concocted than aught to be. Therefore many grave and wise men have utterly condemned this indulging to the Appetite, as most pernicious. But as for those that under pretence of Religion, neither hate pleasing their Palates nor Luxury, but only some sorts of meat; abstaining from Flesh, they fill and feast themselves with all sorts of Fish, and swill themselves with Wine; to which they bring their lips, tongues, teeth, and bellies armed, but not their pockets: these are certainly worse than the Epicureans themselves. But of these things enough. Let us now pass from Cookery to Geberica, that is, to the Alchemists Cook-room, where there is no less consumed than in excessive Feasting.   

CHAP. XC.  
Of Alchemy, or Chemistry.  
Alchemy, or Chemistry, is an Art, if it may not be rather called a Fucus, or Persecution of Nature, however of very great Fame, and the same unpunished Imposture; whose vanity easily betrays itself in this, that it promises what Nature neither can suffer nor perform: seeing that all Art is but an Imitation of Nature, coming short thereof by many degrees; and that the force of Nature is far short of the force of Art. But Chymistry's 
An Art which good men hate, and most men blame,  
Which her admirers practise to their shame,  
Whose plain Impostures, easy to perceive,  
Not only others, but themselves deceive.  While they seek to change the natures of things, and presume to find out the blessed Philosopher's Stone, as they call it, which, like Midas, is to change whatever it touches into Gold: then they pretend to fetch down from the inaccessible heaven a Fifth Essence, whereby a man shall not only gain the Riches of Croesus, but perpetual Youth and Immortality.  

But among all the undertaking Crowd,  
Not one appears, whose Miracles allowed  
The matter prove.—  However, they get a small Livelihood by some Physical Experiments, as also by some Paints and effeminate Fucuses, which the Scriptures call the Ointments of harlots; whence the Proverb, Every Alchemist is a Physician or a Soap-boiler. They every the ears of men with vain words, but empty their Pockets of their Money. Whence it appears to be no Art, but a Composition of Trifles, and inventions of mad brains. However, they find out men so covetous of so much happiness, whom they easily persuade that they shall find greater Riches in Hydargyrie, than Nature affords in Gold. Such, whom although they have twice or thrice already been deluded, yet they have still a new Device wherewith to deceive 'em again; there being no greater Madness, than to believe the fixed Volatile, or that the fixed Volatile can be made. So that the smells of Coals, Sulphur, Dung, Poison, and Piss, are to them a greater pleasure than the taste of Honey; till their Farms, Goods, and Patrimonies being wasted, and converted into Ashes and Smoke, when they expect the rewards of their Labours, births of Gold, Youth, and Immortality, after all their Time and Expenses; at length, old, ragged, famished, with the continual use of Quicksilver paralytic, only rich in misery, and so miserable, that they will sell their souls for three farthings; so that the Metamorphosis which they would have made in the Metals, they experiment upon themselves: for in stead of Alchemists, Cacochymists; in stead of being Doctors, Beggars; in stead of Unguentaries, Victuallers, a laughingstock to the people: and they who in their youth hated to live meanly, at length grown old in Chemical Impostures, are compelled to live in the lowest degree of poverty, and in so much calamity, that receiving nothing but Contempt and Laughter, in stead of Commendation and Pity, at length compelled thereto by Penury, they fall to Ill Courses, as Counterfeiting of Money. And therefore this Art was not only expelled out of the Roman Commonwealth, but also also prohibited by the Decreed of the sacred Canons of the Church. And if now there were a Law to forbid any of them to practise this Art without the special favour and licence of the Prince, upon the forfeiture of their goods, and proscription of their persons, we should have less false Money made, wherewith many are now deceived, to the great damage of the Commonwealth. For which reason it is thought that Amasis' King of Egypt made a Law, whereby every Magistrate was compelled to give an account what Art or Science he most favoured; which he that did not, underwent a very severe punishment. Many things could I say of this Art, of which I am no great enemy, were I not sworn to silence, a custom imposed upon persons newly initiated therein, which has been so solemnly and religiously observed by the ancient Writers and Philosophers, that there is no Philosopher of approved authority, or Writer of known fidelity, who hath in any place made mention thereof: which hath caused many to believe that all the Books treating of this Art were made of late days; to which the names of the Authors, Giber, Morienus, Gigildis, and the rest of the whole Crowd, give no small confirmation; the obscure words which they use, and the unaptness of their language, and their ill Method of Philosophising. Some have thought the Golden Fleece to be a certain Chemical Book written after the ancient manner in Parchment, wherein was contained the way of making Gold. Of which sort when Diocletian had got together a great many among the Egyptians, (who were said to be very skilful in this Art) he is said to have burnt them all, left the Egyptians, confiding in their Riches, and easy means of obtaining Treasure, should at one time or other revolt from the Romans. And therefore was this Art by a public Edict of the same Emperor rendered infamous. It would be too long to relate all the foolish Mysteries of this Art, and empty Riddles, of the Green Lion, the Fugitive Hart, the Volant Eagle, the Dancing Fool, the Dragon devouring his Tail, the Swelled Toad, the Crow's Head; of that which is Blacker than Black, of Mercury's Seal, of the Dirt of Foolishess, (of wisdom, I ought to have said) and a thousand other Trifles. Lastly, of that one thing besides which there is nothing else, though as common as may be, the blessed subject of the most holy Philosopher's Story, not to be spoken of without incurring Perjury; yet I will say somewhat of it obscurely, and in such manner, as none but the sons of Art shall understand me. It is a thing which hath a substance, neither too fiery, nor altogether earthy; nor is it a watery, nor sharp nor obtuse quality, but indifferent light and soft, or at least not hard; not rough, but sweet in taste, sweet in smell, grateful to the sight, pleasant to the ear, and delightful to think on. More I must not say, nor greater things can I. For I think this Art, by reason of my familiarity with it, worthy the same Honour as Thucydides gives to a good Woman, when he says, That she is the best woman, of whom there is least discourse. I will only add this, That Chemists are of all men the most perverse: for when God says, In the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread; and the Prophet in another place, Because thou eatest the labours of thy hands, therefore art thou blessed, and it shall be well with thee: they contemning the divine Command, and promise of happiness, endeavour to raise Golden mountains by women's labour, and children's play. I deny not but from this Art many excellent Inventions have derived themselves: hence Cinaber, Minimum, Purple, that which they call Musical gold, and the temperatures of other Colours, had their beginning. To this Art Aurichalcum, the changing of Metals, Soders and Trials, owe their first finding out. Guns are the terrible Invention of this Art. Hence sprung the Art of making all sorts of Glasses; a most noble Invention, of which Theophilus hath writ a most excellent Treatise. But Pliny relates that the temperament of Glass was found out in the time of Tiberius; but the Workhouse was by Tiberius pulled down, and the Artificer, if we may believe Isodorius, was put to death, left the Glass should detract from Gold, and Silver and Brass lose their value.   

CHAP. XCI.  
Of the Law in general.  
WE come now to the knowledge of the Law, that only pretends to judge and discern between True and False, Equity and Iniquity, Right and Wrong. The chief Heads nowadays are the Pope and the Emperor, who boast that they have all Laws written in the Cabinets of their Breasts; whose Will is Reason, and who by their own Arbitrary opinions rule and govern all Sciences, Arts, Writings, Opinions, and whatever other Works of men. For which cause Pope Leo commanded that no person should dare to dispute or justify any thing in the Church, but by the Authority of the holy Councils, the Canons and Decretals, of which the Pope is the Head. Neither is it lawful for us to make use of the Interpretations of any the most holy and learned Divines, but only so far as the Pope permits, and authorises by his Canons. And the Canon further commands, that no Book or Volume whatsoever shall be received by any Divine, but what is first approved of by the Canons of the Pope. The same Authority the Emperor claims over Philosophy, Physic, and all the other Sciences, giving no countenance to any Art, till first all'owed by the skill of his Law, to which all sorts of Arts and Sciences compared, are of no use or value. This makes Ulpian say, The Law is King of all humane and divine things; whose Office it is, as Modestinus saith, to command, forbid, punish, permit; than which there are no greater marks of Superiority. Pomponius defines the Law to be, the invention and gift of God, and the Maxims of Wisemen. Because all the ancient Lawgivers, that their Laws might gain the greater reverence among the Vulgar, feigned that the Laws they wrote were clictated to them by the Gods. Thus Osiris among the Egyptians feigned to have received his from Mercury, Zoroaster among the Persians from Oromazus, Chariundas among the Carthaginians from Saturn, Solon among the Athenians from Minerva, Zamolxis among the Scythians from Vesta, Lycurgus from Apollo, Numa from the Nymph Egeria. Thus you see how this knowledge of the Law arrogates to itself a Power and Sovereignty over all the Sciences and Arts, exercising a Tyranny over them, and advancing itself above all other Sciences, as the Firstborn of Heaven, despises and contemns all the rest, being itself constituted out of the frail and infirm Positions and Opinions of men, of all things the most slender, and subject to alteration upon every change of State, Time, or Prince, and which deduces its original from the sin of our First parents, the cause of all our evils. From whence also the corrupt Law of Nature, which is called Jus Naturale, first descended; of which behold the chief Maxims: Keep off force by force. Break faith with him that breaks faith. To deceive the deceiver is no deceit. A deceiver is not bound to a deceiver in aught. A fault may be recompensed by a fault. Those that deserve ill, aught to enjoy neither justice nor faith. No injury can be done to the willing. He that buys may deceive himself. A thing is worth so much as it may be sold for. A man may provide for his safety with the damage of another. No man is obliged to impossibilities. Thou or I are to be ruined, it is better that thou be ruined than I. With many more of the same nature. Moreover, the Law of Nature is, Not to hunger, not to thirst, to suffer cold, or destroy one's self with Watching and Labour: which overthrowing all works of Piety and Penance, establishes Epicurean Pleasure for Supreme Happiness. The first occasion of War, Bloodshed, Bondage, Separation of Dominions, was also the first occasion of the Law of Nations: after that, came the Civil or Popular Law, which every Nation appro●priates to itself; From whence have arisen so many Contentions among men, that there are not words enough to express the subjects and matter which they contain. For seeing that men were so prone to quarrel, it was necessary that there should be an observation of Justice according to Law, that so the arrogancies of Impiety might be suppressed, and that Innocence might be in safety amongst the Wicked, and that the Good might live quietly among the Bad: these are the grounds of Law, of which there have been Legislators innumerable. The first whereof was Moses, who gave Laws to the Je'ws; at which time Cecrops gave Laws to the Algyptians: after whom, Pheroneus gave Laws to the Greeks: Mercury Trismegist gave Laws to the Egyptians; Draco and Solon to the Athenians; Lycurgus to the Lacedæmonians. Palamedes first made Military Laws for the governing of Armies. Romulus' first of all gave Laws to the Romans, which were called Curiatae. After whom, Numa invented the Ceremonies of their Religion; and all the rest of the succeeding Kings added their particular Laws, which being all written afterwards in the Books of Papyrius, were afterwards called the Papyrian Laws. After that came the Laws of the Twelve Tables, the Flavian Law, the Helian Law, the Hortensian Law, the Honorarian Law, the Praetor's Law; Decrees of the Senate, Edicts of the People, Law of the Magistrates, and Custom, and the power of Law-giving given to every Supreme Prince. I pass over all those Lawyers, good part whereof are repeated in the second Law of the original of Right. Among those who endeavoured to reduce the Civil Law into a Volume, the first was Cneus Pompey, next Caesar; but both were prevented by Civil War and untimely death. At length Constantine renewed those old Laws; and Theodosius the younger reduced them into one Volume, which he called a Codex: and after him Justinian set forth the Codex now in use. But all the authority of the Civil Law rests in the People and Princes; neither is there any other Civil Law but what the people establish by Common consent. Hence Julian avers, That the Laws bind us for no other reason, but only for that they are received by the Common Consent of the people, who by universal consent transferred the power and whole authority upon the Prince; so that whatsoever is ordained by the consent and approbation of the Prince and People, has thereupon, partly by Constitution, partly by Custom, the force of a Law, though it be an Error or a Falsehood: for Universal Error makes a Law, and matter adjudged becomes Truth. Which Ulpian teacheth us in these words: He ought to be taken for a freeman born, who is so adjudged by Sentence, though he were only manumitted; because a matter once adjudged, is to be taken for Truth. The same person tells, that one Barbarius Philippus, who was a fugitive at Rome, demanded the Praetorship, and had it: and when he came to be known who he was, yet was it taken for granted, that all whatsoever he had done by virtue of his Office should stand good, though he were but a servant. The same person confesses, that no reason can be given for all the Decrees and Laws which were set forth by our Ancestors. Whence we find, that all the Wisdom of the Civil Law depends upon only Will, and Opinions of men; no other Reason urging, than the Regulation of Manners, conveniency of Converse, power of the Prince, or force of Arms. So that if the Law preserve the Good, and punish the Bad, 'tis then a just Law; if otherwise, the worst of evils, by reason of the evils ensuing, either through the Toleration, Approbation, or Negligence of the Supreme magistrate. And it was the Opinion of Demonax, That all unprofitable Laws were superfluous, as being intended neither for the Good nor the Bad; since the former want them not, the later are never the better for 'em. Furthermore, seeing that Cato confesses, that there is no Law that can be adapted to all Emergencies, but such where Equity and Rigour are at a continual variance; and that Aristotle also calls Equity the Correction of a just Law, wherein that part is defective, which was generally agreed to; doth it not hence plainly appear, that all the force of Law and Justice depends not so much upon the Law, as upon the Equity and Justice of the Judge?   

CHAP. XCII.  
Of the Canon-Law.  
FRom the Civil flowed the Canon or Pontificial Law; which may to some seem a most holy Constitution, so ingeniously does it hide and mask the precepts of Avarice, and rules of Rapine, under the pretences of Piety; though it contain very few Decrees that regard either Religion, the Worship of God, o● the Ceremonies of the Sacraments. I forbear to make it out, that some are altogether repugnant to the Word of God: all the rest are mere matters of Strife, Contention, Pride, Pomp and Gain; and only Edicts of the Popes, not contented with those already made by Holy men and Fathers, unless they may add new Decrees, Chaffy extravagancies: so that there is no end or limit of their Canons, which only proceed from the Pride and Ambition of the Popes, whose Arrogancy has grown so bold, as to command the Angels, to rob Hell, and lay violent hands upon the souls of the Dead: tyrannising over the Law of God with their Interpretations, Declarations, and Disputations; left any thing should be wanting or diminished from the fullness of their power. Did not Pope Clement in a Bull, which is kept to this day at Vienna and several other places, command the Angel to free the soul of one that was going to Rome for Indulgences, and dying by the way, immediately out of Purgatory, and carry him to Heaven? adding, It is our pleasure that the pains of hell be no farther inflicted on him: granting also power to those that were signed with the Cross, at their own pleasures to take three or four souls out of Purgatory. Which erroneous and intolerable Boldness, if I may not call it Heresy, the Parisian School then utterly condemned and reproved; repenting perhaps that they did not report that hyperbolical Zeal of Clement as a Fable, that the Story might live rather than die; seeing that for all their affirming or denying, there is nothing of injury done to the Authority of the Pope, whose Canons and Decrees have so pinioned Theologie, that the most Contentious Divine dares neither dispute or think contrary to the Pope's Canons without leave and pardon▪ as Martial says of Rusus.  

What Rusus says, Rusus has leave for all,  
Although he laugh, weep, hold his tongue, or brawl:  
He sups, drinks, asks, denies; yet still the brute  
Has your good leave; without your leave he's mute.  Out of these Canons also and Decrees we find the Patrimony of Christ to be Kingdoms, Donations, Foundations, Wealth, and large Possessions; and that the Priesthood of Christ is Sovereign power and Command: that the Sword of Christ is Temporal Jurisdiction: that the Rock on which the Church is founded is the Pope; that the Bishops are not only the Ministers, but Heads of the Church: that the Goods of the Church are not Evangelical Doctrine, Constancy of Faith, and contempt of the World, but Taxes, Tithes, Oblations, Collections, Purple, Mitres, Gold, Silver, Gems, Manors, and Money. The power of the Pope is to wage War, dissolve Leagues, absolve Princes from their Oaths, Subjects from their Obedience, and to make the house of Prayer a den of Thiefs. Well therefore may the Pope depose Bishops, who can give away other men's rights, commit Simony, dispense with his Oath, and no man be able to say to him, Why dost thou so? Well may he, for other weighty reasons, dispense with all the New Testament, and send above a third part of the souls of the faithful to hell. But the Office of Bishops is not nowadays to preach the Word, but to confer Orders, dedicate Temples, baptise Bells, consecreate Altars and Chalices, bless Vestments and Images. But they who are more ambitious than these, if leaving those things to be performed by I know not what mean and titular Bishops, they can procure themselves to be sent Kings Ambassadors, to be their Chief Ministers of State, or to attend upon the Queen; such great causes may excuse 'em from serving God in the Temples, if they can serve the King well at Court. Out of the ●me Fountains arise those Equivocations and Shifts to avoid Simony in selling and buying Benefices, daily in use; or for whatever other Monopolies or Markets are made of Pardons, Indulgences, Dispensations, and the like, whereby they set a price upon remission of sins which God has so freely granted; and have found out a way to gain by the very pains of Hell. From this Law they borrow that feigned Donation of Constantine, which is quite contrary to the Word of God, seeing that neither Caesar can give away his own Right, nor the Clergy usurp that which is Caesar's. To these we may add so many ravenous Decrees, under the known Titles of Indulgencies, of Bulls, of Confessions, of Testaments, of Dispensations, of Privileges, of Elections, of Dignities, of Prebendaries, of Religious houses, of Sacred houses, of The place of Judicature, of Immunities, of Judgements, and the like. Lastly, the whole Canon-law is of all the most inconstant, more various than Proteus, more changeable than a Chameleon, more full of perplexity than the Gordian-knot. So that the Christian-Religion, by the Institution of Christ intended to put an end to Ceremonies, is now more clogged with Ceremonies than the Jewish Religion of old: the weight whereof makes the easy and sweet Yoke of Christ more heavy and burdensome than that of the Law, while Christians are compelled to live more according to the Prescriptions of the Canon-law, than the Rules of the Gospel. To say truth, the Learning of both Laws is wholly busied about frail, empty, and profane matters, Bargains, and Quarrels of the common people; about Murders, Thefts, Robberies, Piracies, Factions, Conspiracies, and Treasons, Perjuries, Knaveries of Scribes, Abuses of Lawyers, Corruptions of Judges; whereby Widows are ruined, Orphans destroyed, the Poor oppressed, the Innocent condemned, and, as it is said in Juvenal, The Crows are pardoned, and the Doves condemned. Thus blind men run themselves into mischiefs, which they thought to avoid by the assistance of the Canons and Pontifical Decretals; because they are no Laws or Canons ordained by God, or for the honour of God, but only invented by the corrupt Wit of men, for Gain, and the supply of covetous desires.   

CHAP. XCIII.  
Of Advocates.  
THere is another Practice of the Law, which they call the Art of Pleading, of which they would pretend a very great Necessity: an ancient, but most deceitful Calling, only set out with the gaudy Trimming of Persuasion, which is nothing else, but to know how by Persuasion to overrule the Judge, and to turn him and wind him at pleasure; to know how by false Interpretations and Comments, to wrest or avoid the Law, or prolong the Suit; so to cite and repeat Decrees, to pervert Equity, and alter the sense of the Law, and the intention of the Legislator: in which Art there is nothing sooner prevails than Bawling and Confidence: and he is accounted the best Advocate, who entices most the people to go to Law, putting 'em in hopes of recovering great matters; and stirs them up by wicked and mischievous advice; who hunts out for Causes, and who is the greatest Scolder and Brauler, to make the things which are just and true, seem doubtful and unjust; and by such Weapons as those, to chase and overthrow Justice: with whom Justice is nothing else but public Gain; and the Judge that sits upon the Bench is forced to confirm, what Money makes appear just. Nay, they expose those things which are not, even privations of things, and Silence itself; seeing that as none will speak but for Gain, there's none will hold his tongue but for Reward: after the example of Demosthenes, who when he asked Aristodemus, a Compipiler of Fables, what Fees he had got for Pleading, answered, A Talon. But I (replied Demosthenes.) have got more to hold my tongue. So that the tongue of a Lawyer, unless fast bound in Silver chains, is very mischievous and pernicious.   

CHAP. XCIV.  
Of the Calling of Public Notaries.  
AMong these, Public Notaries are to be reckoned, whose Injuries, Falsities and Mischiefs continually by them wrought, all are bound to endure, while they pretend to have their credit, licence and authority from the Apostolic and Imperial power. Among whom they are to be accounted the chiefest, who know best how to trouble the Court, perplex Causes, counterfeit Wills and Deeds, to abuse and deceive their Clients, and, if need be, to forswear themselves; venturing at any Roguery, rather than be outdone in plotting and contriving Cheats, Scandals, Quirks, Tricks, Quillets, Treacheries, Scylla's and Charybdis', by any other person whatsoever. There is no Notary can frame an Instrument, from whence there may not be some cause of Quarrel picked out, if any person have a mind to contest: for there will be some way or other found out, either to find out a defect in the Writing, or to invalidate the faith of the public Notary. These they call the Helps of the Law, which they teach the Contentious how to fly to, and lay hold of. These are the effects of their Watching and Labour, wherewith with they soften the rigour of the Law, when they find their Clients willing to contend: for he shall have so much Law, as he can by his power maintain; the Law averring, that we cannot be equal to those that are more potent than we are.   

CHAP. XCV.  
Of the Study of the Law.  
TO this, those vast Giants have relation, who contrary to the Edict of Justinian, have begot so many innumerable. Volumes of Comments, Glosses, and Expositions, every one differing in their Interpretation. Besides this, they have gathered together such Storms of Opinions, so many Woods of dark and subtle Counsels and Cautions, wherewith the Iniquity of Advocates is furnished, as if Truth did not consist more in Reason, than in confused Testimonies raked together out of such a monstrous heap of Opiniasters, among whom there is so much Dissension, so much Discord, that he that knows not how to differ from another, to contradict the Sayings and Opinions of others, call in question the justice of Adjudged Cases, and to wrest good Laws to their own Humours and Interests, is not to be thought Learned among 'em. Thus is the Study of the Law made a deceitful Net and Gin of Iniquity: these are the Crafts, and these the Arts by which the whole Christian world is governed; the Foundations of Empires and Kingdoms, and out of these Knaves are chosen Precedents of Parliaments, Senators, and several great Officers of Popes and Princes: as if wicked Advocates would prove just Judges, when they came to be the Heads of the Nation! These, like the Titans to Jove, become formidable to their Princes themselves. Out of these come the swag-bellyed Secretaries, and Purple Chancellors of Emperors and Kings; who govern all affairs of State, dispose of all Favours, Gifts, Benefits, Offices, Dignities and Patents of the prince; who sell all Right and Justice, all Law, Equity and Honesty, and compel others to purchase of them: According to whose will, such and such are to be Allies, such Enemies to the Prince; with whom sometimes they join in Leagues, sometimes make War according to their pleasures. And being raised from the lowest degree of Poverty, and meanness of condition, to so high a pitch of Dignity, merely by prostituting their Tongues, at length they grow so bold and audacious, that without calling to answer, without order of Council, they will convict and condemn men, and many times alter forms of Government; they themselves growing fat with Thievery and Robbery.   

CHAP. XCVI.  
Of the Inquisition.  
HEre we must not omit the order of Predicants, Inquisitors after Heretics; whose power when it ought to be founded upon the holy Scriptures, yet they derive it all from the Canon-Law, and Pontifical Decrees, as if it were impossible the Pope should err; leaving the Scripture as a dead letter, and only the shadow of Truth, and reject it, as the Buckler and defence of Heretics. Neither do they receive the Traditions of the ancient Fathers and Doctors, because they may both deceive, and be deceived; but pretending that the Roman Church cannot err, of which the Pope is the Head, and therefore the Authority of his Court is the Rule of their Faith; enquiring no further in their examinations, than whether men believe in the Church of Rome: which if any person refractory do grant, then, quoth they, the Church condemns such or such a Proposition, as heretical, scandalous, and offensive to pious ears; and then compel the person to revoke and recant his Error. If the offender continue to justify himself by Reason or Scripture, or both, strait with great clamour and mouthing they interrupt him, telling him he is not before the Chair of Doctors, or a Convocation of Scholars, but a Tribunal of Judges: he is not to dispute there, but to answer directly whether he will stand to or abide the Decree of the Church, or renounce his Opinion: if not, they show him Faggots and Fire, saying, Heretics are to be convinced with Faggot and Fire, not with Scripture and Arguments; and so compel a man not convicted of any perverse obstinacy contrary to his Conscience, to abjure those things; which if he deny, they deliver him over to the Secular power, as a deserter of the Church, to be burnt; saying with the Apostle, Remove the evil thing from among you. In ancient times, such was the lenity and meckness of the Church, that they neither punished those that relapsed into Judaisme nor Blasphemies: and Berengarius revolting to a most damnable Heresy, was not only not put to death, but continued in his Archdeaconship. But now, if a man slip into the least Error, 'tis much more than his life is worth; and he shall be thrown into the Fire by these Inquisitors for a trifle. Perhaps it is now convenient for the Church to use such severe chastisement, for fear of losing its innate piety. Sometimes Heretics are Inquisitors after Heretics; which was the occasion of the Decree which Clement made. But Inquisitors ought not to hold dark Arguments, and talk in wrangling Syllogisms, with Heretics; but to labour to convince them by the Word of God, then to determine the matter according to the Decrees and Canons of the Church, and either to reduce him to the Orthodox Faith, or pronounce him a Heretics: for he is no Heretic, who is not obstinate; nor is he a favourer of Heretics, who seeks to defend an innocent person condemned of Heresy, left he should be delivered up by these cruel and ravenous Inquisitors, to be butchered without a cause. And although it be expressly provided in the Law, that the Inquisitors shall have no power of Examining, nor any Jurisdiction over any suspicion, defence, or favour of Heresy, which is not a Heresy manifestly expressed, and absolutely already condemned; yet these bloody Vultures, going beyond the Privileges and Commission of their Office, against all right, and contrary to the Canons themselves, take upon them to meddle with ordinary things, arrogating and usurping the power of Popes in those things which are not Heretical, but only Scandalous or offensive to the ear; most cruelly raging against the poor Country-women, whom being once accused of Witchcraft, and condemned without the examination of any lawful Judge, they expose to most strange and unheard-of Torments, till having extorted from them what they least thought to confess, they find matter to proceed upon to condemnation: and then they think they do the Office of Inquisitors truly, when they never leave the business off, till the poor woman be burnt, or else have so far gilded the Inquisitors hand, until he take pity of her, as sufficiently purged: for an Inquisitor may alter the punishment from penal into pecuniary, and convert it to the use of the Office; by which there is not a little Money to be got: and some of these poor creatures are forced to pay them an annual Stipend, for fear of being harassed to Torment. And when the Goods of Heretics are confiscated, than the Inquisitor gets no small matter. The very accusation, or highest suspicion of Heresy, nay the very Citation of the Inquisitor, is enough to bring a woman's credit in question, which is not to be salved without money given to the Inquisitor; which is no small gain. Thus while I was in Milan, several Inquisitors did torment many honest Matrons, & some of very good Quality, and privately milk very large sums from the poor affrighted and terrified women; till at length, their Cheating being discovered, they were severely handled by the Gentry, hardly escaping Fire and Sword. When I was Precedent of the Commonwealth in the City of Mediomatricum, I had a very great Contest with an Inquisitor, who being a loose fellow, had haled a poor Countrywoman into his Slaughter-house, being a place of disrepute; and all for a very slight Accusation; not so much to Examine her, as to Crucify her. This woman when I undertook to defend her Cause, and found, and had made it evident, that there was nothing of Proof to make out the Crime, the Inquisitor made answer, that there was one proof not to be questioned, That her mother many years ago was burnt for a Witch. Which Article when I showed how impertinent it was, and that it was not for the Law to condemn one for the fact of another; presently he, lest he should have seemed to have talked out of Reason before, produces this Argument: That therefore it was so, and the Proof good, because Witches were wont to devote their children to the devil; as also because they are wont to Conceive by lying with the devil, and therefore there is an inherent Guiltiness in the Offspring. Wicked Father, said I, is this thy way of Theologie? Are these the Fictions for which thou harriest silly women to Torture? are these the Sophisms with which thou condemnest Heretics? Thou thy self, in my opinion, art far worse than Faustus or Donatus. Grant it were as thou sayst, dost thou not hereby abrogate the grace of Baptism, if for the impiety of a Parent the Offspring should be the devils due? And if it were true that Incubi did generate, yet was never any one of that opinion so infatuated, as to think those Spirits did mingle any thing of their own nature with the suffoced seed. But I tell thee upon the true grounds of Faith, and by the true natures of our Humanity's, we are all one mass of sin, and eternal malediction, sons of perdition, sons of the devil, son's of the wrath of God, and heirs of hell: but by the grace of Baptism Satan is cast out of us, and we are made new creatures in Jesus Christ, from whom no man can be separated but by his own sin: for far is it from truth, that he should suffer for another man's sin. Seest thou not now how invalid thy most sufficient Proof is, how vain in Law, and indeed how absolutely Heretical it is? The cruel Hypocrite grew very wroth against me, and threatened to sue me as a favourer of Heretics. However, I persisted in defence of the poor creature, and at length by the power of the Law I delivered her out of the Lion's mouth; and the bloody Monk stood rebuked and shamed before 'em all, and ever after infamous for his Cruelty; and the Accusers of the poor woman in the Capitol of the Church of Metz, whose Subjects they were, were very considerably Fined.   

CHAP. XCVII.  
Of Scholastic Theology.  
IT remains that we discourse concerning Theology. I shall pass by the Theology of the Gentiles, mentioned in Orpheus, Musaeus, and Hesiod, which all men acknowledge to be Poetical and fictitious, and which Lactantius, and Eusebius, and many other eminent Doctors of the Christians have convinced by most strenuous Arguments. Nor shall we speak of the Religion of Plato or the rest of the Philosophers, whom we have already showed to be the teachers of nothing but Error. But we shall here discourse concerning the Christian Religion. This only depends upon the faith of its Doctors, seeing that it can fall under no Art or Science. And first of Scholastic Divinity, a certain Hodgepodge, or Mixture, of Divine Precepts, and Philosophical Reasons; looking like a Centaur; written after a new manner, far different from the ancient way of delivery; diffused into little Questions, and subtle Syllogisms, without any Elegancy of speech; and which has brought not a little profit to the Church in the convincing of Heretics. The first Authors whereof, and who were most excellent therein, were Thomas Aquinas, Albertus surnamed the Great, and many other famous men; besides Johannes Scotus, a most subtle and acute Writer, though a little more given to Contention. Hence Scholastic Theology sell into Sophisms; while those newer Theosophists, and as it were Sutler's of the Word of God, never worthy of the title of Divines, but for their money, of so sublime a Study and Contemplation made a mere logomachy; wand'ring from School to School, starting little Questions, framing Opinions, forcing the Scriptures, inducing a strange sense with intricate words, and more nimble to ventilate than examine, presumed to erect Seminaries of Strifes, out of which litigious Sophisters gain matter of Contention; distracting the Intellect, abstracting the Forms, and misrepresenting Genus and Species; what they take from one, adding to another; and every one striving to confirm their own Opinion: exposing our holy Faith among the Wise of the Age (of which Thomas Aquinas complains) to Laughter and Misbelief. For they neglect the Canonical Scriptures of the Holy Ghost, and choose only hard Questions about Divine things, fit for Dispute; wherein they exercise their Wit, and consume their time; placing the whole Doctrine of Theology in those things only, wherein while they study to contradict the Scripture, they may hear the Scripture saying, The letter kills, is hurtful, is unprofitable. But they will say, We are to search out that which lies hid in the Scripture. Then binding all their minds to expound, interpret, make Glossaries and Syllogisms, they rather choose any other sense than that which is most genuine. If you require Reason, or be earnest in apposing, you shall receive ill language, and be called Fool. What is hid in the letter you must not understand, but must feed like a Serpent upon the dust. So that none are accounted Divines among them, unless they be such as ate egregrious Branglers, and can give an Instance upon every Proposition, feign readily, find out new Interpretations, make a noise with uncouth words, not so much to be understood for the difficulty of the matter, as the strangeness of the word. And then they are called Doctors, when they are come to that pass that they can hardly be understood. These have a multitude of Followers, who whatsoever they have drawn from those men, believe it fetched out of the hidden treasuries of Theology: they swear to their Master's words, and believe it not to be within the compass of thought, if any thing be unknown to him; and they are so captivated with his Opinions, that they are not to be overcome with any other reasons; will yield to no Scripture, but, like Antaeus, seek to renew their strength, while they repair to the breast of their mother who brought them forth, calling these Doctors to their aid.  

The Vulture carcase leaving then behind,  
Hastes to his own, and takes away the best:  
This is the food the Vulture hath designed,  
To feast his Palate while he builds his nest.  Hence it comes to pass, that the sublime Study of Scholastic Divinity is so subject to Error and Impiety; these evil Hypocrites and audacious Sophisters have introduced so many Sects, and so many Heresies; who as S. Paul saith, preach Christ not for goodwill, but for contention: so that it is far easier for Philosophers than Divines to agree: who have eclipsed the ancient glory of the ancient Theology with humane Opinions, and new Errors; and professing a detestable Doctrine consisting in false Titles, and Labyrinths of Dispute, have usurped the name of Sacred Theology by Theft and Rapine; and abominating the Names and Institutions of the old Fathers, have increased new Factions, as it was formerly said in the Church, I am of Apollo, I of Paul, I of Cephas; pretending altogether to their Studies whose Works they first learned, and admiring only their own Masters, despise all others; not minding what is said, but by whom it is said. And yet are these men very much divided among themselves: for some of them, who are of riper ingenuities, and would be thought more skilful than the Prophets and Apostles, believe that they can find out and demonstrate those things which are only to be believed by faith; Philosophising in Divine things in most miserable Questions, and with a prodigious confidence contend about absurd Opinions; as, when some distinguish the Divine Essence, some by the thing itself, or others by Reason: others constitute infinite Realities, as they call 'em, like Plato's Ideas; which some again deny, and some laugh at. Then they frame to themselves so many monstrous shapes of God, so many forms of the Divine Being, so many Idols and Phantomes of their own Imaginations about divine things; and dismember their very Saviour Christ with the perverseness of their Opinions. Him they dress in so many various Disguises of Sophisms, and like an Image of Wax, form and deform him with their absurd suppositions into what shape or figure they please; so that their Doctrine proves mere Idolatry. But those other, whose duller capacities cannot soar so sublimely, these make Legends of the Saints full of godly lies, feign Relics, make Miracles, invent plausible or terrible Examples; Number Prayers, weigh Merits, invent Ceremonies, sell Indulgencies, distribute Pardons, set to sale their Benedictions, and devour the sins of the people. As for Apparitions, Exorcisms, and Answers of the Dead, they are very exact in 'em; and being taught their lessons out of the Books of Tundal and Brandarius, they act the Tragedies of Purgatory, and Comedies of Indulgences and Pardons; and from the Pulpits, as from a Stage, with a Soldierlike impudence, and boldness of Thraso, with confident eyes, countenance changed, extended arms, and more sorts of gestures than are ascribed to Proteus, thunder out their Vanities among the people. But those who pretend to be more Learned, and to understand a greater Decorum of Elegancy; they, while they bawl, I should say declaim, rehearse Poems, tell Stories, dispute Controversies, cite Homer, Virgil, Livy, Strabo, Varro, Seneca, Cicero, Aristotle and Plato: in stead of preaching the Gospel, and Word of God, making only an empty noise of words; spreading a new Gospel, adulterating the Word of God, which they preach not to set forth Grace, but for Gain and Lucre; living in the mean time not according to the Word of God, but according to the pleasure of the flesh; and after they have in the daytime made an erroneous Harangue or Exhortation in the Pulpits to virtue, at night exercise their Buttocks in their lurking holes with nocturnal labour. And this is the way by which they go to Christ-Lastly, when Vices are to be reprehended, 'tis wonderful with what ill language they rail, with what insolency of gesture they behave themselves, with what scurrilous language their Choler rages, what loud Exclamations they make; as if Christ rather chose to have the Preachers of his Word not Fisher's drawing on the right hand with a soft Net, but persecuting Hunters and Archers, shooting and wounding from the left: or as if they themselves were not men, or not liable to the same faults, if not guilty of greater. Thus those Fishers of men, whose tongues ought to be a Net to draw sinners to salvation, become Hunters and persecutors of men to their ruin: their mouths are Bows of falsehood, their tongues are wounding Arrows. But let us now hasten to the Right Theology, which is twofold; Prophesy, and Interpretation. Of the later first of all.   

CHAP. XCVIII.  
Of Interpretative Theology.  
INterpretative Theologists believe, That as by the liberality of Nature, Grapes, Olives, Wheat, Flax, and many other such things, increase and ripen, of which afterwards, by the wit and help of Man, Wine, Oil, Bread and Cloth, and other works of Nature are completed by humane Arts: so the Divine Oracles, delivered to us obscure and hidden, are to be explained by Interpretation; not by the force of our own Wit or Invention, but by the help of the Spirit, who distributes his good things as he pleases, and where he pleases, making some Prophets, and some Interpreters. Therefore this Interpretative Divinity consists not in Compounding, Dividing, Defining, after the manner of the Peripatetics; neither of which belong to God, who neither can be defined, divided, or compounded, but leads to Knowledge by another way, which is indifferent between this and Prophetical vision, which is a kind of discovery of the Truth to our purified Intellect, as a Key to a Lock: and this, as it is the most covetous of all Truth, so it is the most susceptible of what things are to be understood, and is therefore called Possible Intellect; wherewith though we do not discover by a full light, what the Prophets mean, and those who beheld the Divine things themselves; yet there is a door open to us, that from the conformity of the Truth perceived, to our Intellect, and by the Light which illustrates us, out of those open windows we gain more certainty, than from the appearing Demonstrations, Definitions, Divisions, and Compositions: and we read and understand, not with our outward eyes and ears, but with our better senses; and extract the Truth flowing from the sacred Scriptures, which the other delivered in dark sayings, and mysterious sentences; and thereby see what is hidden from the wise and great Philosophers, yet apprehend them not with so much certainty, as that all perplexity may be removed. And whereas there is a manifold. Truth concealed in sacred Scripture, holy men have gone about to try various and manifold Expositions of the same. For some gently walking along the back of the Letter, and expounding one place by another, and one letter by another, and making out the sense by the Order, Etymology, and Propriety and Force of the signification of the words, hunt out the truth of Scripture: which is therefore called Literal Exposition. Others refer all things written to the business of the Soul, and works of Justice; whose Expositions are therefore called Moral. Others remit them by various Tropes and Figures to the Mysteries of the Church; whose Exposition is called Tropological. Others given to Contemplation, refer all things to the Myitery of Celestia glory; and this Exposition is called Anagogick. And these are the four most usual sorts of Exposition; besides which, there are two more, of which the one refers all things to vicissitude of Times, Mutations of Kingdoms and Ages; therefore called Typick. Wherein, among the Ancients, Cyril, Methodius, and Joachim Abbas did most exel: of Modern Authors, Jeremy Savanarola of Ferrara. The other inquires into the nature and qualities of the Universe, the Sensible world, and of the whole Fabric of the World and Nature: which Exposition is therefore called Physical or Natural; wherein Rabbi Simeon ben Joachim excelled, who wrote a very large Volume upon Leviticus, wherein discoursing of the natures of all things, he shows how Moses, according to the congruency of the threefold World, and nature of things, ordained the Ark, the Tabernacle, the Vessels, Garments, Rites, Sacrifices, and other Mysteries, for the appeasing and worshipping God. Which Exposition the Cabalists follow, especially those who treat of Beresith, or the Creation. For they who discoursing concerning the Judgement-seat of God, by Numbers, Figures, Revolutions, Symbolical reasons, refers all things to the first Arch-type, search for the Anagogical sense. And these are the six most famous Senses or Meanings of the holy Scripture; all whose Expositors or Interpreters are by a general word called Divines: among whom we find Dionysius, Origen, Polycarpus, Eusebius, Tertullian, Ireneus, Nazianzen, chrysostom, Athanasius, Basil, Damascene, Lactantins, Cyprian, Jerome, Austin, Ambrose, Gregory, Ruffinus, Leo, Cassianus, Barnardus, Anselm, and many other holy Fathers which those ancient times brought forth: and some of later years; as Thomas, Albertus, Bonaventure, Egidius, Henricus, Gandavensis, Gerson, and many others. But now seeing that all these Interpretative Divines are but men, they are subject to humane frailties; sometimes they err, sometimes they write things contrary or repugnant sometimes they differ from one another: in many things they are deceived, all of 'em not discerning all things: for only the Holy Ghost has the perfect knowledge of Divine things, who distributes to all men according to a certain measure, reserving many things to himself, that we may be always learning of him: for, as S. Paul saith, All of us know and preach by art only. Therefore all this Interpretative Theology consists only in liberty of speech, and is a Knowledge separate from Scripture, whereby every one has the liberty to abound in his own sense, according to those various Expositions recited before, which S. Paul in one word calls Mysteries, or speaking of Mysteries, when the Spirit speaks Mysteries; whence Dionysius calls this Significative Theology, treated of by those holy Doctors in several Volumes. Nor are we to believe all that they say, seeing that many hold very Erroneous Opinions of Faith, which are exploded by the Church; as we may instance in Papias Bishop of Hierapolis, Victorinus Pictoviensis, Irenoeus Lugdunensis, Cyprian, Origen and Tertullian, and many others, who have erred in the Faith, and whose Tenets have been condemned as Heretical, though they themselves are among the Canonised Saints. But this requires a deeper spirit of consideration, to judge and discern which is not of men, nor of flesh and blood, but granted from above by the Father of lights. For no man can utter any thing rightly of God, but by the light which comes from himself; which light is the Word, by whom all things were made, and who illuminates every man coming into this world, giving them power to become the sons of God whoever shall receive and believe. Neither is there any who can declare the things of God, but his own Word: for who besides can know the mind of God, or whoever was made of his council, but the Son of God, being the Word of the Father? But of this we shall discourse no farther, till we have perfected the next Chapter of Prophetic Theology.   

CHAP. XCIX.  
of Prophetic Theology.  
AS Prophecy is the speech of the Prophets, so is Theologie nothing but the Tradition of the Divines, or men discoursing with God. However, not every one that can remember or repeat a Prophecy, or interpret the meaning thereof, is presently a Prophet, but he that in divine things is endued with the knowledge of Piety, Virtue and Sanctity, who discourseth with God, and meditates upon his Law day and night. For so S. John Author of the Apocalypse, in the Letters of Dionysius called The Divine, testifies from holy Writing; to whom the Truth itself has said, He that hears you, hears me; and he that despises you despises me. Which words are not spoken to contentious Theosophists, but to the true Divines, Apostles, Evangelists, and Messengers of the Word of God, who say, I dare not utter any thing which Christ doth not work by me. Therefore the Traditions of these Divines concerning Faith and Godliness, are truly Theological. To the Writings and sayings of these men we give credit, as being founded, not upon contentious Syllogisms, or Opinions of men, but, as S. Paul saith, being divinely inspired: not in defining, compounding, dividing, contemplating, after the manner of Philosophers; but in an essential contact of Divinity, apprehended through a clear vision in the divine light itself: of which vision we find several sorts in the holy Scripture: as the Prophets had several dispositions to receive. For we read how some saw God, or Angels in the forms of men: others in the shape of Fire: others in the similitude of Air or Wind: others in the shape of Rivers or Water: others in the form of Birds, Precious Stones, or Metals: others in the forms of Letters or Characters: others in the sound of a Voice: others in Dreams: others in a Spirit residing within themselves: others in the work of the Understanding. And therefore the Scripture calls all Prophet's Seers. Thus we read of The Visions of Isaias, The Visions of Jeremy, The Visions of Ezekiel, and the rest. And under the New law S. John faith, I was in the Spirit upon the Lord's day. On the wings whereof he was carried, and beheld the Throne of God. And Paul witnesses, that he saw those things which it is not lawful for men to utter. And this Vision is called a Rapture, or Ecstasy, or spiritual death. Concerning this death it is said, No man shall see God, and live. And in another place, Precious in the sight of God is the death of his Saints. And it is more clearly expressed by the Apostle, where he says, You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ. And it is necessary for him to die this death, that will pierce into the secrets of Prophetic Theology. Now there is a double sight of this Deifick vision: One, when God is seen face to face; and then the Prophets see what S. Paul faith, Things which are not fit for men to utter, and which no tongue of men or Angels can express, nor Pen unfold. There is also a certain contact or union of the Divine Essence, and an illustration or enlightening of the pure and separate Intellect, without appearance of any shape or likeness. This Divines call The Meridional Understanding. Of which S. Augustin upon Genesis, and Origen against Celsus, largely dispute. The other sort of Seeing is that by which we see the hinder parts of God; when the creatures, which are the hinder parts or effects of God, are understood with a more exalted judgement; as by the knowledge whereof the Creator, the chief workman, and the First Cause that moves all things, is the better known: as the Wiseman faith, From the bigness of the kind, and of the creature, may be known the Creator of things. And Paul also about the same subject: The invisible things of God are known, being understood by these things which are made. And it is an usual Saying among the Peripatetics, that they who argue from the Effects to the Causes, are said to argue à posteriori, from the hinder part. Moses enjoyed both these Visions, as the Scriptures witness. Of the first, we read that Moses saw God face to face. As to the other, we read what God spoke to him: Thou shalt see my hinder parts. And by the means of this later Vision, Moses made a Law, instituted Sacrifices and Ceremonies, built a Tabernacle and other Mysteries, according to the most elaborate Exemplar of the whole world, comprehending all the secret works of God and Nature therein. This Vision is again twofold: for we either behold the creature in God himself, which Divines call The Morning-vision; or else we behold God himself in the creatures. There is also another Prophetic Vision in Dreams: thus we read in Matthew, how the angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream. And in another place, that the Magis who adored Christ were admonished in a dream, that they should return another way into their own Country. There are in the Old Testament many Examples thereof. Now what this Vision is, Job expounds, where he says, In the horror of nocturnal visions, when sleep falleth upon men, and they sleep in their beds; then he opens their ears, and teaching them, instructs them with learning. And this being a fourth species of Vision, is called Nocturnal. There are also two other kinds of Prophecy: the one received by word of mouth; and thus was Moses enlightened and taught in Mount Sinai, Abraham, Jacob, Samuel, and many other Prophets under the Old Law. Under the New Law, the Apostles and Disciples of Christ were taught by the mouth of Christ, he being alive among them. There is another sort of Prophecy, which consists in the agitation of the Spirit, while the soul ravished away by some Deity, then joined to that, and abstracted from the body of man, is by the same Spirit filled with Knowledge beyond humane strength or wit. Which ravishment is not performed always by Angels, but sometimes by the Spirit of God; as we read of Saul, that the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied, and was changed into a new man, and numbered among the Prophets. And in the Acts of the Apostles, the Spirit of God came upon them that were baptised, in flames of fire. Which Spirit also many times seizes upon men that are liable to sin; so that there were many Prophets among the Gentiles; as Cassandra, Helenus', Calchas, Ampharans, Tiresias, Mopsus, Amphilochus, Polybius, Corinthus; also Galanus the Indian, Socrates, Diotyma, Anaximander, Epimenides the Cretan. Also the Magis among the Persians, brahmin's among the Indians, Gymnosophists among the Aethiopians, Druids among the Gauls, and Sibyls among the Romans. To which Prophetic seizure of the Spirit, many times, certain previous Ceremonies, authority of Function, and communion of sacred Mysteries, do very much conduce, as the Scripture amply declares concerning Balaam; and in other places by the application of the Ephod. And the Evangelist witnesses concerning Caiaphas, that he prophesied, being high priest that year. Hence the Mecubals among the Hebrews adventured to counterfeit their Artificial Prophecy. I omit what the Hebrews have written concerning the Two and thirty paths of Wisdom; and what S. Austin has touched upon concerning the Degrees; or Albertus in his reception of Forms, of which he reckons up seven Apparitions in Dreams, and as many waking. So we read in Plato and Proculus of Socrates, that he was not inspired by an intelligible influx, but by voice, and familiar speech. But these things come to pass more easily in Dreams. But let us return to our purpose. Now therefore Prophetic Theology is that which by an Intuitive Inspiration teaches the unshaken Word of God. But the Authority and Arguments by which that Truth is confirmed, are not the Opinions of Men, not Custom, nor the invented Fictions of the Wise: not the Magnificent Decrees of Sects, not Syllogisms, Enthymems, not Inductions, not soluble Consequences; but Divine Oracles consonant to one another, received by the Universal Church with an unanimous and solid consent, approved by Miracles, Prodigies, Wonders, Holiness of life, and testimony of Martyrdom. The Doctors of this Prophetic Theology were Moses, Job, David, Solomon, and many other Canonical Writers and Prophets. The Teachers of the New Testament were the Apostles and Evangelists: but all these, notwithstanding they were filled with the Holy Ghost, yet all at one time or other strayed from the Truth, and in some measure spoke untruly; not that they did so wittingly, or craftily; for to say so, would be a greater Error than that of Arius or Sabellicus, subverting the whole Authority of the Scripture, in which Error notwithstanding the great and holy S. Jerome persisted, disputing against S. Augustine about the reprehension of Peter: for S. Paul, said that S. Jerome, told a lie craftily. Which should it be granted, and that such an untruth should be admitted in the Bible, immediately, as S. Austin saith, the whole certainty of the Bible would fall to ruin. But S. Jerome being thus admonished, after many Contradictions and defences, at length acknowledged his Error, and confessed the Truth. But what I say, that the holy Writers did secundum quid speak things not altogether true, I would have to be understood so, as that they did not willingly err, but only stray through humane frailty. Thus Moses failed, in telling the people he would bring them out of Egypt, and carry them into the Land of Canaan: for though he brought them out of Egypt, he did not carry them into the Land of promise. Ionas failed in foretelling the destruction of Nineveh within forty days; intended, but delayed. Elijah failed, in foretelling many things to come to pass in the days of Ahab, which yet were not fulfilled till after his death. Isaiah failed, foretelling the death of Hezekiah the next day, when his life was prolonged fifteen years afterwards. Many other Prophets also failed, and their predictions are found either not to have come to pass at all, or else to have been suspended. The Apostles also and Evangelists failed. Peter also failed when he was reprehended by S. Paul. Matthew also failed, when he wrote that Christ was not dead till the Lance had pierced his side. But this defect was no defect of the Holy Ghost, but either of the Prophet not rightly delivering what was suggested by the Holy Ghost, or the Vision did declare; or else proceeding from some alteration of the event of the Command, the sentence of the Oracle being either altered or deferred. Hence it follows, that all Prophets and Writers in some things seem to fail and err, according to the Scripture, which saith, All men are liars. Only Christ, both God and man, never was, nor shall be found to fail, nor shall his words be altered, or be defective; who, void of Error, divulged his Oracles most immutable, as he said himself: The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Now because all Truth is through the Holy Ghost, therefore only Christ possesses this Truth firmly; nor shall it ever depart from him, but remains in him. But it is not so with others: for the Spirit was with Moses, but when he strake the Rock it was departed. It was with Aaron, but departed when he made the Calf. It was with Anna their sister, but not when she murmured against Moses. It was with Saul, David, Solomon, Isaiah, etc. but rested not constantly with them. Neither are Prophets always Prophets, or Seers, or foretellers of things to come; nor is Prophecy a continual habit, but a gift, passion, or transient spirit. And whereas there is no man who doth not sin; so there is no man from whom the Spirit doth not sometimes depart, and leave him; unless it be Christ, the only Son of God, of whom it was therefore said to John: He upon whom thou sawest the Spirit descending, and remaining with him, he is the Son of God; who Baptizeth with the Holy Ghost, being also able to impart the same to others. Therefore, as saith Simonides, only God hath this honour, that he is only Metaphysical: so may we say of Christ, that only Christ hath this honour, to be a Divine. However, let no man think that the Writings of the Old Testament, since the Gospel of Christ had its divine birth from them, are therefore obsolete and dead; for they will ever live in high authority: for by them have the Apostles proved their Tenets, and without their testimony they have spoken nothing: and Christ refers us to the search of them; whose Gospel doth not at all abolish those Writings, but fulfilled the Law to the least tittle. This is also to be noted, that many Volumes of the Holy Scripture are lost; which we may easily gather from the Scripture itself: For Moses citys Books of The Wars of the Lord; and Joshuah, The Book of the Just; Esther, The Book of memorable things; and Macchabees citys the holy Books of the Spartiatae; and the Books of the Kings cite Books of Lamentations, Books of Samuel the Seer, Books and Writings of Nathan, God, Semeiah, Haddo, Ahia the Shilonite, of Jehu the son of Ammon. Judas also in his Canonical Epistle citys the Book of Enoch. And some Authors of credit have cited a Book of Abraham the Patriarch. All which are lost, and never to be found. Nor are these which we have received, of equal Authority: for Dionysius makes mention of A Gospel of S. Bartholomew; and S. Jerome takes notice of A Gospel according to the Nazarenes: and S. Luke in his Preface to his Gospel, saith, that many did undertake to write Gospels, which are all lost. And many others there are, which are either corrupted with Heresy, or set forth without Authority; and so neither received by the holy Fathers, nor approved by the Church. I omit false Prophets, who have come in by the by, prophesying through vainglory things which the holy Spirit never suggested, but unheard-of lies, neither according to the Scripture, nor tending either to unity of Spirit, or the peace of the Church, but for the introducing of Schism; who rashly making themselves of God's Privy Council, dare presume to take the Word of God into their own mouths, and to write Scriptures and Prophecies altogether Heretical or Apocryphal. Nor were the Canticles of Solomon inserted among the Canonical Books, till they were corrected and approved by Isaiah. From hence it appears, how that Theology itself, that is to say, the holy Scripture, wants many of its Volumes, and may in a manner seem defective; and few, of many that remain, are true and certain, really Books of life, and Canonical.   

CHAP. C.  
Of the Word of God.  
YE have now heard how doubtful, how uncertain, how ambiguous all the Sciences are, and how, for any thing in them contained, we are generally ignorant where the Truth rests, even in Divinity itself, unless we could find out any person who had the Key of Knowledge and Wisdom: for the Armoury of Truth is locked and concealed under divers Mysteries; and the way shut up from wise and holy men, by which we might enter into so great and incomprehensible a Treasury. Now this Key is nothing else but the Word of God: This only discerneth the force and virtue of all sors of words, and what Disputes proceed merely from the Cunning of Sophistry, which discovers not the Truth, but only a mere shadow thereof: and then distinctly shows you what communication sets forth the Truth, not in outward appearance, and counterfeit Colour, but in effect and reason. By this, every Art of deceit and untruth is easily surmounted. Neither Arguments, nor Syllogisms, nor any subtleties of Sophistry, can stand against it. He that is not satisfied therewith, or is of an opinion contrary thereto, as S. Paul saith, is proud, and knows nothing. And there we are to try, by the words of God, all Doctrines and Opinions, as Gold is tried by the Touchstone; and in all difficulties to flee thither, as to a Rock of most safety; and out of that only to search for the truth of all things; and from thence to judge of the Doctrines, Opinions, and Expositions of men. For, as Gregory saith, Whatsoever derives not its authority from thence, is with the same ease rejected as approved. Now as to the knowledge of this Word, there is no School of Philosophers, nor the subtlest Wits of the most subtle Sophisters, that have been able to teach it us; but only God, and Jesus Christ, through the Holy Ghost, by means of those Scriptures which are Canonical; to which, according to the command of God, nothing may be added, and from which nothing may be diminished: for whoever shall do it, though he were an Angel of heaven, he is abandoned to the devil, and cursed by the Law of God. So great the Majesty, so great is the Power of this Scripture, that it admits no strange Expositions, no Glosses of Men nor Angels; nor suffers itself to be wrested according to the inventions of men's Wits: nor does it permit itself to be changed and transformed into variety of Senses, after the manner of humane Fables, as it were some Poetical Proteus; but is sufficient to expound and interpret itself; and judging of all men, is judged by none. For the Authority thereof is greater, as Austin saith, than all the florid Subtleties of humane Wit: for it hath one, plain, constant, and holy meaning, in the strength whereof it both combats and overcomes. All other Moral meanings besides this, as Mystical, Typical, Anagogical, Tropological, and Allegorical, by the help whereof many men do besmear and Fucus over the Truth with sundry strange Colours, may rightly and truly persuade us something for the edification of the people, but they can never prove or disprove any thing to confirm the Authority of the Word of God. For let any person bring into controversy the opinion of any one of these; let him quote any substantial Author thereupon, or let him allege the Exposition of any of the holy Fathers; none of those things are so binding to us, but that we may contradict 'em: but out of the letter of the holy Scriptures, from the draught and order thereof, such indissoluble Bands are made, which no man can break, nor no man escape through; but breaking and shattering all Engines of Argumentation, enforces him to say and confess, That it is the finger of God, That Man never spoke in that manner, That he speaketh not as the Scribes and Pharisees, but like one that has power. But the Authors thereof, inspired from Heaven, have by their authority ordained us a Canon, the magnificence whereof is such, that we ought to believe all things therein contained: and whatever that Word hath pronounced and taught, that without any retraction is to be accounted holy and inviolable. Of which thus S. Austin hath spoken: That he gave this honour to those Books which be called Canonical, that he most constantly believed that none of the Writers of them did or could err: but to the others be would give no credit, how much learning and holiness soever they had in them, except it be proved with evident reason out of God's Word that there is a probability for the truth thereof. Unto these Christ sends us, teaching us that we should search the Scriptures. From hence the Apostle commands us to try all things, and to stick to the things which are good; as also, to prove the spirits whether they be of God; and by the help of them to be able to give an account of all things, and to reprove them that shall vainly go about to contradict; that so becoming spiritual, we may judge all things, and be judged of none. Now the truth and understanding of the Canonical Scripture depends upon the only authority of God revealing the same; which cannot be comprehended by any judgement of the Senses, by most overreaching Reason, by any Syllogism of demonstration, by any Science, by any Speculation, by any Contemplation, or by any humane force; but only by Faith in Jesus Christ poured out into the soul from God the Father, by the Holy Ghost: which is so much the more predominant and stable than the Credulity of humane knowledge, by how much God himself is superior to, and truer than Men. But why do I say truer? Nay rather, God alone is true, and every man a liar. So that whatever proceeds not from this Truth, is Error, as that which is not of faith is sin, For God himself hath in himself the fountains of Truth, out of which it is necessary for him to draw it, whoever desires perfect knowledge; seeing there is no knowledge can be had either of the secrets of Nature, of separated substances, nor of God the Author of all, unless it be revealed from above. For things divine are not to be reached by humane force; and natural things ofttimes keep at too great a distance from the inward thought: whence it comes to pass, that what we believe to be the knowledge of these things, appears to be Falsehood and Error. Which presumption in the Chaldeans and other Heathen Philosophers Isaiah reproves, where he says: Thy wisdom and thy knowledge have deceived thee; thou hast failed in the multitude of thy inventious. The Grammarian is very wary that he offend not in talk, and that he utter not a rude and barbarous word: but in the mean while he has no regard to the dishonest courses, and sinfulness of his life. So likewise the Poet chooses rather to halt in his Life than in his Verse. The Historian leaves to Memory, and commits to Writing the deeds of Kings and Princes, and the transactions of successive times; yet minds not his own behaviour, or if he do, is yet ashamed to confess his failings. The Orator more abhors the rudeness of his Language, than the deformity of his Life. The Rhetorician will rather deny the manifest Truth, than yield to his Opposer in the least Syllogistical Conclusion. Arithmeticians and Geometricians number and measure all things, but neglect the Measures and Numbers of their lives and souls. The Musicians are all for Sounds and Songs, not minding the Discords of corrupt Manners: Therefore Diogenes the Sinopian was wont to reprove them, that they would fitly make the Harmony and Strings agree; but that there was neither measure nor harmony in their customs of living. Astrologers behold the Heavens and the Stars, and foretell others what shall happen in this world; but they never mind the evil which every moment hangs over their own heads. Cosmographers describe the situations of Countries, the forms of Mountains, the course of Rivers, and limits of distinct Regions; but they make a man never the wiser nor better. Philosophers with great vaunting dive into the Causes and Beginnings of things; while they neglect, perhaps not so much as know God the Creator of all things. There is no Peace among Princes and Magistrates, being easily drawn for small advantages to seek the destruction one of another. Physicians cure the bodies of the sick, and neglect the health of their souls. Lawyer's diligent in observing the Laws of Men, however transgress the Commands of God: whence it is grown to be a Proverb, Neither physicians live well, nor Lawyers die well; Physicians being the most disorderly sort of men, and Lawyers the most dishonest. Divines make a great noise while they preach to us the observation of the Commands of God, and holy Doctrine; but their words and conversations differ very much; being such as had rather seem to know than love God. Now then, he which knows all things, to speak and write well; he who understands the nature of Verse, the course of Times, the ways of Reasoning, the ornaments of Speech, the colours of Rhetoric; he that remembers all things, the proportions and sums of Numbers, the harmony of Sounds, the measures of Dancing, the measures of all Quantities, the inflexions, and reflections of the Sunbeams, the situation of the Earth and Sea, the various ways of rearing all sorts of Edifices and Engines, the ordering of Battles, the tilling of Ground, the taking, feeding, fatting of Beasts, Birds and Fish, every kind of Country-trade, every species of Mechanic Industry, Painting, Graving, Founding, Hammering, Hewing, Factoring, Sailing; the course of the Stars, their Influences upon inferior Bodies; the forebodings of Destiny; Divinations of all sorts; the hidden monstrosities of Magic Art; the secrets of the Cabalists; the causes of all Natural things; the reformation of Manners; the Governments of Commonwealths; Family-order; Remedies for Diseases; virtues of Medicines, and skill in mixture; the delicate Dressing of Meats: Let him know both Laws, all the Plead of the most learned Doctors and Council, the wrangling of the Sorbonnists, the hypocrisy of the Monks, with all the Learning of the holy Fathers: he, I say, who knoweth all this, and more, if there be any thing yet remaining, yet he knoweth nothing, unless he know the will of God's Word, and perform the same. He that hath learned all things, and hath not learned this, hath learned in vain, and all his Knowledge is in vain. In the Word of God is the Way, there is the Rule, there is the Goal or Mark whither he ought to bend his Course, that will not go astray, but drives to reach the Truth. All other Sciences are subject to Time, and Forgetfulness; and not only these Sciences and Arts, but also the Letters, Characters, and Languages which we use, shall perish, and others rise in their places: and peradventure they have more than once been already lost, and have as often come to light again. Neither has there been one manner of Orthography in one Age, nor alike with all men. Nor is the true Pronunciation of the Latin Tongue at this day any where to be found. The ancient Characters of the Hebrew are quite lost; they which are now in use being found out by Esdras: for the Hebrew Language was corrupted by the Chaldeans; a Misfortune that has happened well-near to all the Languages of the world; so that there is hardly one at this day which understands its own Antiquity; new words growing into use, and the old ones decaying. So that there is nothing fixed or durable. Finally, the opinion of Terence is, That nothing is now spoken, which has not been spoken before, And many there are, among whom Volaterrane is one, that would have it that the Gun, which is by most accounted a New Invention of the Germans, was used in ancient time: and this they endeavour to prove out of Virgil.  

There Salmon lay in cruel torments bound,  
Cursed Imitator of th' Olympic Sound:  
He born by four fleet Steeds, his Flambean shaking,  
Through Greece, and Elis Towns his journey taking,  
Triumphing went, and called himself a God,  
Mad as he was, still thundering as he road;  
Thunder and Tempests seemed to fill the sky,  
With so much noise his speedy Coursers fly.  Much to this purpose hath Ecclesiastes spoken, when he saith, There is nothing new under the sun; nor can any man say, Behold, this is new: for it hath been in times passed before us. There is no remembrance of things past; neither they which shall be in the later days, shall remember the things which shall be hereafter. And in another place he saith, The learned and the ignorant also shall die. What then shall we here say, but that all Sciences and Arts are subject to death and forgetfulness? neither shall they for ever remain alive, but together with death shall pass to death, forasmuch as Christ himself saith, That every plant which the heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted out, and cast into everlasting fire. So far are we to be from believing that Knowledge availeth to Immortality; but that the Word of God alone endures for ever. The knowledge whereof is so needful to us, that he that despiseth it, that esteems it not, and is not a hearer thereof, (as the Word itself testifies in the holy Scripture) God will send upon him a Curse, Damnation, and everlasting Judgement. Ye are not therefore to think that it belongeth only to Divines, but to every one, man and woman, old and young; so that every one, according to the grace and capacity given to them, is bound to have the knowledge thereof, and not of descent a hairs breadth from the true sense and meaning of it. For this cause, the Old Testament commands us in this manner: These words shall be in thy heart all the days of thy life; and thou shalt declare them to thy children and grandchilds, and command them to keep and observe them. Thou shalt ponder them sitting in thy house, and going thorough the street, sleeping and waking; and shalt bind them as a token to thy hand: they shall always be and move before thy eyes, and thou shalt write them over the doors of thy house. Thus Josiah read all the words, and all these things that were contained in the Volume of the Law before all the multitude of men, women, children and strangers. And Esdras brought the book of the Law before all the multitude of men and women, and read therein openly in the street, before all that could understand. And Christ commanded his Gospel to be preached to all creatures throughout the whole world; and this not in the dark, not whispered in the ear, not in secret, not in private chambers, not to some particular Doctors and Scribes; but openly, upon the house tops, to the people, to the multitude: for thus faith he to the Apostles: That which I speak to you, I speak to all men: that which I speak to you in darkness, declare you in the face of the sun: that which I tell you in your ears, publish you upon the housetops. And S. Peter in the Acts saith, He hath charged us to preach to the people. And Paul commands us to bring up our children in the discipline and doctrine of Christ. And, which is more, Christ himself blamed his disciples for hindering little children to come to him; whose simplicity and humility, whose minds are not passed up with vain Opinions, or swelled with humane knowledge, teacheth us how necessary it is for us to become as little children, seeing that without being such, we are altogether unfit for the kingdom of heaven. For this cause, S. Chrysostom in a certain Homily advises that children above all things should be bred up in the knowledge of the holy Scripture, and that husbands should discourse in their houses at home with their wives concerning the Scripture, and make diligent search and enquiry into the sense and meaning thereof. And the Council of Nice decreed that no Christian should be without the Book of the holy Scripture. Know then, that there is nothing in the holy Scripture so hard, so profound, so difficult, so hidden, which pertains not to all the faithful in Christ; nor that ever was so committed to these our Masters, for them to hide it from the people: but rather, all Divinity ought to be common to all believers, and to every one, according to the capacity and measure of the gift of the holy Ghost. Wherefore it is the duty of a good Preacher, to distribute to every man as much as he is able to receive; to one in milk, to another in strong meat; and to beguile no man of the food of necessary Truth.   

CHAP. CI.  
Of Masters of Arts.  
NOw at length, that I may recollect myself again, ye have heard from those things which have been hitherto said, That Arts and Sciences are nothing else but the Traditions of men, received by us upon the good esteem we have of them; and that they all consist of nothing else but of things doubtful confirmed by apparent Demonstrations; and that most of 'em are not so uncertain and doubtful, as they are deceitful and wicked: and therefore it is also an evil thing to believe that they can bring to us any heavenly advantage. It is true, that in times past it was the superstition of the Gentiles, that gave Divine worship to the Inventors of things, and to them whom they saw surpass others in any Art or Science, and placed them in the number of their Gods, dedicating to them Temples, Altars and Images, adoring them under several likenesses. Thus Vulcan among the Egyptians being the first Philosopher, and referring the beginnings of Nature to the Fire, was by them worshipped as the God of Fire: and Esculapius, as Celsus saith, because he more subtly practised Physic, then rude and imperfect, was for that reason made the God of Physic. And this, and no other deification of Sciences, was that which the ancient Serpent, the type of these Gods, promised to our first Parents, saying to them, Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Let him then boast the authority of this Serpent, that boasts in worldly knowledge. For no man can possess Knowledge without the favour of this Serpent, whose doctrines are nothing but delusions, and the end thereof evil. When it is a Proverb among the Vulgar, That the Learned are all mad. To which Aristotle himself assents, saying, that there is no man of great knowledge, without a mixture of madness. And Austin witnesses, that many for the desire of knowledge have lost their wits. Neither is there any thing more contrary to Christian Faith and Religion, than Knowledge; nor any two things that less agree together. For we find in the Ecclesiastical Histories, and are also taught by Experience, how Sciences went to wrack, when Christian Religion waxed strongest; so that the greatest part of them utterly perished, and those mighty Arts of Magic departed in such wise, that not the least sign of them remains: many Sects of Philosophy vanished; very little of the Peripatetic Philosophy known, and that imperfect. Nor was the state of the Church in more quiet, than when these Sciences were reduced to the lowest extremity; when Grammar was taught by one only Alexander Gallus, Logic only by Petrus Hispanus, Laurentius Aquilegius was the only Rhetorician, a small Collection of annual transactions served for a History, the Ecclesiastical Computation served for Mathematical Instruction; and for the rest, one single Isidorus. But now, after that knowledge of Tongues, Eloquence, and number of Authors began to multiply as formerly, the quiet of the Church began to be troubled, and Heresies arose. Neither is there any sort of men less fit to receive Christian doctrine, than they who have their minds tainted with the knowledge of the Sciences: for they are so stiff and obstinate in their self-opinions, that they leave no place for the Holy Ghost, and do so assure themselves, and trust in their own strength and power, that they will allow of nothing else for truth; and they scorn and despise all those things which they cannot understand by their own Industry. Therefore hath Christ hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to little children; that is to say, to the poor in spirit, not enriched with the treasuries of humane knowledge; to the pure in heart, not defiled with the vanity of Opinions; and to the peacemakers, not followers of other men, not contentious overthrowers of the Truth with wrangling Syllogisms; and suffer persecution for the sake of Truth and Justice. Thus Socrates was poisoned by the Athenians, Anaxagoras condemned to die, Diagoras accused, but escaped death by flight. Among the Jews, Isaiah was cut to pieces, Jeremiah stoned to death, Daniel condemned to the lions, Amos killed with a club, Micah cast headlong from a rock, Zachariah slain at the Altar, Elias persecuted by Jezebel, who slew many of the Prophets. Thus also were the Apostles and other Martyrs, witnesses of the Divinity of Christ, several ways tormented to death: And all this for no other cause, but that they thought more holily of God than the Wisemen of the world. Behold these, who in purity of heart, poverty of spirit, and peace of Conscience, resemble the humility and simplicity of little children, who are prepared to shed their blood for the Truth. These are they to whom only the true Deifying wisdom is given, that is to bring us to the heavenly Quires, and transforms us into Angels: As we read in the Sermon of Christ, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God: Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice sake. It is therefore better, and more profitable, to be Idiots, and without knowledge; to believe by faith and charity, and to become next to God, than being lofty and proud, through the subtleties of the Sciences, to fall into the possession of the Serpent. Thus we find in the Gospel how Christ was received of Idiots, of the vulgar people, and of the simpler sort, while he was rejected, despised, and persecuted even to death, by the High-priests, by the Lawyers, by the Scribes, by the Doctors and Rabbis. For this cause, Christ chose his Apostles not Scribes, not Doctors, not Priests, but unlearned persons of the vulgar people, void of knowledge, unskilful, and Asses.   

CHAP. CII.  
A Digression in praise of the Ass.  
BUt lest any one should falsely accuse me, that I have called the Apostles Asses, it will not be from the purpose to discourse the Mysteries of the Ass. For this creature the Hebrew Doctors expound to be the Hieroglyphic of Fortitude and Strength, Patience and Clemency; and that his influence dependeth on Sephiroth, that is, Hochma, which signifies wisdom. For his conditions are most necessary for a Scholar of wisdom; for he lives by little food, and is contented whatsoever it be. Patiently he endures Penury, Hunger, Labour, Stripes, and all manner of Persecution; yet of so low and poor an Understanding, that he cannot discern between Lettuce and Thistles. Of a clean and innocent heart, void of Choler, being at peace with all living creatures; patiently carrying all burdens laid upon his back: as a reward whereof, he is never troubled with Lice, or any diseases, and liveth longer than any other Beast. An Ass, saith Columella, performs many and very necessary labours beyond his share: for he is many times used in Ploughing, and drawing heavy Carts: He is also used in Mills, for the grinding of Corn. There is no Country but wants so necessary a creature as the Ass is. How much the Ass is regarded and esteemed in Augury, Valerius witnesses of C. Marius, who having conquered both North and South, being at length declared an enemy of his Country, and pursued by Sylla, by the advice and guidance of an Ass escaped all his threatenings; an Ass being the cause of his flight and safety. Also in the Old Law God so far honoured the Ass, that when he commanded every first begotten to be slain for Sacrifice, he only exempted Men and Asses; granting, that Man should be redeemed for a price, and that a Sheep should be exchanged for the Ass. Christ would that this Beast should be a witness of his Nativity, as is generally affirmed: And by him he would be saved from the hands of Herod. The Ass was consecrated by the touch of the body of Christ: for Christ ascending to Jerusalem in triumph for the Redemption of mankind, as it is recorded in the Gospel, rode upon an As; which was mysteriously foretold by the Oracle of Zachary. And we read that Abraham the Father of the Elect road only upon Asses. So that the Proverb commonly repeated among the Vulgar, is not spoken in vain, That the Ass carries Mysteries. Wherefore I would hereby advertise the famous Professors of Sciences, that if the unprofitable burden of Humane Knowledge be not laid aside, and that Lion's borrowed skin put off, (not that of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, but of the Lion that goes about roaring, and seeking whom he may devour) whereby ye shall be turned into mere and bare Asses, that ye will be utterly and altogether unfit to carry the Mysteries of Divine wisdom. Neither had Apuleius of Megara's Ass been admitted to the holy Mysteries of Isis, if he had not been turned out of a Philosopher into an Ass. We read Miraculous actions of divers Beasts; as, that an Elephant writ the Greek letters: and Plutarch relateth a Story of one, that being a Rival with Aristophanes the Grammarian, loved a young Maid named Stephanopolides. And in the same Author we read of a Dragon that loved a Virgin of Etholis. The same also preserved his Nourisher, running to her assistance, as knowing her voice. In Pliny we find that a Serpent called Aspis was accustomed to come daily to a certain man's Table, who perceiving the son of her Host to be stain by one of her young ones, she flew her young one in revenge of the broken law of Hospitality; nor would ever after for shame come to that house again. The same Gratitude is recorded of a Panther to a man, for helping her young ones out of a ditch; for which she conducted him out of the desert, till she brought him safe into the open Road. Histories also report that Cyrus was suckled by a Bitch, and the founder of the Roman City by a She-wolf. I pass over the Wonders related of Dolphins, and the Gratitude of Lions for benefits received. Nor will I speak of the Bear of Daunia, nor of the Bull of Tarentum, both tamed by Pythagoras. But that which surpasseth all admiration is this, That Ammonius of Alexandria, Master of Origen and Porphyry, is said to have had an Ass one of the hearers of his Wisdom, a Fellow-scholar with the rest. We find also in sacred Story, that an Ass was endued with the spirit of Prophecy: for when Balaam a wise man and a Prophet went to curse the people of Israel, he saw not the Angel of the Lord; but the Ass saw him, and with the voice of a man spoke to Balaam that road him. Thus, I say, sometimes the simple and rude Idiot sees those things ofttimes, which a School-Doctor, blinded with the Traditions of men, cannot perceive. Did not Samson with the jawbone of an Ass kill and slay the Philistims? and being thirsty, when he prayed to the Lord, the Lord loosened a tooth in the same jawbone, and clean water sprang out immediately; which when he had drank, his spirits were refreshed, and his strength recovered. Did not Christ by the mouth of his silly Asses and rude Idiots, the Apostles, vanquish and put to silence all the Learned Philosophers of the Gentiles, and great Lawyers among the Jews; trampling underfoot all manner of worldly wisdom; drinking to us out of the Cheekbone of his Asses the water of wisdom and everlasting life? By what has been already said, it is now as clear as the Sun, that there is no Beast so fit and proper to retain Divinity as the Ass; into which creature if ye be not transformed, ye shall not be able to carry the Divine Mysteries. It was a name common to the Christians among the Romans, to be called Asinarii; and they were wont to paint the Image of Christ with the ears of an Ass, as Tertullian witnesses. Wherefore let neither Pope's repute it to their shame, if among those Giant like Elephants of Sciences, there may be some Asses. Neither let christian's wonder, if among those Prelates and expert Doctors, the better learned one is, the less he be esteemed: for the songs of Nightingales are not proper for the ears of Asses; and it is a Proverb, That the untuneable braying of Asses is not agreeable to the Harp. And yet the best Pipes are made of the bones of Asses, the marrow being taken out; which as they far exceed the harmony of the Harp, so these Religious Asses far surpass the Brangling and Braying of idle Sophisters. Thus several Philosophers coming to visit Antony, and to discourse with him, being by him answered in a few words, returned with shame. We read also of a certain Idiot that convinced a most learned and subtle Heretic, and forced him to turn to the Faith, whom the best and most learned Bishops at the Council of Nice with a long and difficult Disputation could not convince. Who being afterwards demanded by his friends, how it came to pass that he yielded to the Fool, who had resisted and withstood so many and so great Learned Bishops, replied, That he had easily given the Bishop's words for words, but that he could not resist this Idiot, who spoke not according to humane wisdom, but according to the Spirit.   

The Conclusion of the Work.  
YOu therefore, O ye Asses, who are now with your children under the command of Christ, by means of his Apostles and Messengers, and Readers of true wisdom in his holy Gospel, being freed from the fogs and mists of flesh and blood; if ye desire to attain to this divine and true wisdom, not of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but of the tree of life, set aside the Traditions of Men, and every enquiry and discourse of flesh and blood, whether it concern Reason, consideration of Causes or Effects; conversing now not with the Schools of Philosophers and Sophisters, but with your own selves. For the Notions of all things are trusted within your own breasts; which, as the Academics confess, the Scriptures themselves do testify, seeing that God created all things very good, that is to say, in the best degree they could consist: He therefore, as he created the trees full of fruit, so he created our souls, which are like rational trees, full of Forms and Ideas; though through the sin of our first parents, all things were concealed, and Oblivion took place, the mother of Ignorance. But you that can remove the Veil from your Understandings, who are wrapped up in the darkness of Ignorance, vomit up that Lethean Drench which has made ye drunk with Forgetfulness: awake in the true light, you that are drowned in the sleep of Irrationality; and then forthwith with an open countenance ye shall pass from light to light: for ye are anointed, as S. John saith, by the holy Ghost, and know all things. And again, There is no necessity that ye should be taught by any, because his Anointing instructs ye in all things. For he alone it is that giveth language and wisdom. David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, John Baptist, and many other Prophets and Apostles, were never bred up in Learning; but of Shepherds, Husbandmen, and Fools, became throughly learned in all things. Solomon in a dream of one night was replenished with the knowledge of all things, both sublunary and celestial; and with so much prudence in the administration of Government, that there was never any Prince equal to him. Yet all these were mortal men, as you are, and sinners. You will say perhaps, that this has happened to a very few; and those 
— A few whom equal Jove  
Would signalise by his transcending love;  
Or such whose ardent zeal divinely fired,  
With constant motion to the Stars aspired.  However, do not despair; the hand of God is not shortened to them that call upon him, that give a true obedience to his will. Anthony and the Barbarian Christian servant gained the full knowledge of Divine things by the help of thrre days prayer, as S. Austin testifies. But you that cannot, like the Prophets, like the Apostles, like those other holy men, behold those things with a clear and unclouded Intellect, may procure Understanding from them who have beheld these things with a clear sight. There is also another way remaining, as S. Jerome saith to Russinus, that what the Spirit hath suggested to the Prophets and Apostles, should be sought by you with diligent study, I mean the study of that Learning which is delivered in the Bible, being the most sacred Oracles of the true God, and received by the Church with an unanimous consent: not of such things as have been invented by the Wit of men; for they do not enlighten, but darken the Understanding. And therefore we must have recourse to Moses, to Solomon, to the Prophets, to the Evangelists, to the Apostles, who shining with all sorts of Learning, Wisdom, Manners, Languages, Oracles, Prophecies, Miracles and Holiness, of heavenly things have spoken from God himself, of inferior things above men; delivering all the things of God, and secrets of Nature, distinctly and clearly to us. For all the secrets of God and Nature, all manner of Customs and Laws, all understanding of things past, present, and to come, are fairly taught in the Books of the holy Scripture. Whither do ye therefore run headlong? why seek ye knowledge of them, who having spent all their days in searching, have lost all their time & labour, being unable to attain to any thing of certain truth? Fools and wicked men, who not regarding the gifts of the holy Ghost, strive to learn from lying Philosophers, and Doctors of Error, those things which ye ought to receive from Christ and the holy Ghost! Think ye to draw knowledge from the ignorance of Socrates; or light out of the darkness of An●xagoras, or virtue out of the Wells of Democritus, and wisdom out of the madness of Empedocles? Think ye to lave piety out of Diogenes' Tub, or sense out of the stupidity of Carneades, or wisdom from impious Aristotle, or perfidious Averro; or faith out of the superstition of the Platonics? Ye are in an Error, being deceived by them, who were themselves deceived. But recall yourselves: you who are desirous of the Truth, descend from the clouds of men's Traditions, and adhere to the true light. Behold, a voice from heaven, a voice speaking from above, and showing more apparent than the Sun, that ye are enemies to yourselves, and delay the receiving of wisdom. Hear the Oracle of Baruch: God is, saith he, and no other shall be compared to him: He hath found out all manner of learning, and hath taught it to Jacob his son, and to Israel his beloved; giving laws and precepts, and ordaining sacrifices. After this he was seen upon the earth, conversed with men, was made flesh, teaching us plainly with his own mouth, what was mysteriously delivered in the Law, and by the Prophets. And that ye may nor think the Scriptures relate only to Divine, and not to natural things; hear what the Wiseman witnesseth of himself: He hath given the true knowledge of those things which are, that I might know the situation of the earth's compass the virtues of the Elements, the beginning, ending, middle, and revolutions of the Times, the course of the Year, the influences of the Stars, the nature of Animals, Sympathy and Antipathy of Creatures, the force of the Winds, Thoughts of Men, difference of Plants, and the virtues of Roots. In brief, I have learned whatever things are hidden and concealed: for the Artificer of all things hath taught me wisdom. The Divine wisdom faileth in nothing: nothing escapes it, there is no addition to it: for it comprehends all things. Know therefore, that there needs not long Study; but Humility of spirit, and Pureness of heart; not the sumptuous furniture of many Books, but a pure Understanding, made fit for the Truth, as the Lock is for the Key. For number of Books hinders the learner; and he that follows many Authors, errs with many. All things are contained and taught in the only Volume of the Bible; but with this Proviso, That they are not to be understood but by those who are enlightened: for, to others, they are only Parables and Riddles, sealed up with many Seals. Pray then to the Lord God in saith, doubtful of nothing, that the Lamb of the Tribe of Judah may come and open his Sealed Book; which Lamb is only holy and true, who only has the key of wisdom and knowledge, wh● opens and no man shuts, and shuts what no man opens● This is JESUS CHRIST, the Word, the So● of God the Father, the true Teacher, made Man like unto us, that he might make us the children of God● like Himself, blessed to all Eternity. But lest 〈◊〉 should declaim beyond my Hourglass, let this be th● End of our Discourse.  
FINIS.