MEn take no rest in the point of re­flexion upon the credit o [...] each other.Sect. 1. The tongue of2 Sam. 6, 20. Michal is an epi­demicall member. As Vitiis, so Conviti­is nemo sine nascitur. All, through the de­generacy of their nature, have putrid Lungs, whereby they mutually pollute their names with virulent spittle. Each man disparageth his fellow-creature, and gratifies his haughty humour in the derision of his Brother. And this is of­ten done upon such triviall grounds, that a due perpension would cause an abashment in the face of the Practi­ser. My present Instance shall be in a common, yet causelesse Calumniation: viz. the vilifying ofPhanare­tae ducet fi­lia, rufam [...]illam vir­ginem. Te­ [...]. He [...] autont. Red-hair'd Men, the putting a disesteem upon Persons, merely because of the native colour of the Excrement of the Head.Scen. ult.

[Page 2] It is scarce conjecturall from whence this opprobrium should take its rise; there being no rationall foundation for such a superstruction. Certainly it began [...] (asEpict. Enchirid. [...]. Epictetus counselled in other cases) it had its originall from some petite and slender consideration. Perhaps this usuall practice oweth its producement to the mutuall semblance betwixt the colour of the Hair, and some entities in na­ture ofAs sand, &c. no considerable value, which, without study, offer them­selves to a mean capacity. Now although it might come into com­parison with the most sparkling and precious created bodies; yet the soul of depraved man goes according to the byasse [...] of innate corru [...]tion, and like Medea in theMedea a­pud Ovid.—video [...]neli [...]ra [...]roboque, De [...]eriora [...]equor— Poet, or the Con­clusion in a Syllogisme, evermore fol­loweth the worse part.

2 §. Although Lucian worthily scoffed at the artificiallStoici e­ [...]an [...] t [...]nsi [...] Adr. Turneb. Advers. lib. 23. cap. 23. Baldnesse of the severe Stoicks, and made them a by-word with [Page 3] hisTurneb. ad. lib. 15. cap. 16. [...], and likewise Juv. Sat. 2. Iuvenal with his ‘—Supercilio brevior coma—’ andSuet. in vita C. J. Caes. non solum ton­deretur di­ligenter ac rad [...]retur, sed etiam velleretur. Caesar deserved an hisse, for do­ing violence to his hair by eradication: yet the deriding of a Red-hair'd man comes within the compasse of theEphes. 5. 4. A­postles [...], foolish talking and jesting, which are not convenient.

Red-hair'd men are not, as such, bran­ded with any signall and notable extra­vagancy above others: Black-hair'd men are as well nigro carbone notandi; and [...] [...] Homeru [...] in Odys. & II. quàm saepissim [...] Gray-ey'd Minerva may, with as much reason, be the mark of calumny. White hair, although it seems to have more of Innocency, yet it hath lesse of Mode­sty. TheIn plag [...] mundi gl [...]ciali, ca [...]didâ [...] sunt gen [...]tes, flav [...] promissae crinibus. Plin. [...] hist. lib▪ cap. 78 Complexion of Red-hair'd men is clear and masculine, and very serviceable to the superiour faculty in laudable atchievements. Those which the mouth of slander calls sandy heads, are seldome barren, but of pregnant intellectuals: and they that endeavour an extraction of poyson out of Red heads, imitate the Spider, which sucks [Page 4] her venome out of the sweetest flowers.

The water of separation,3. §. a purifica­tion for sin, wasNumb. 19. 9. made of the ashes of a Red Hei [...]er. This colour was once Gallia's delight: ‘Mart. lib. [...]4. Epig. [...] 29. Roma magis fuscis vestit [...]r, Gallia ru [...]is.’ In Virgils dayes the Women, who adde all possible lustre to their ex [...]erior ac­coutrements, were decked with saffron. coloured rayment. ‘Virg. 9. En. ita ex [...]ristoph. Vobis picta croco & splendenti murice vestis.’ The Carthaginian Zygantes esteem'd this Colour farre beyond that which they received from the hanc▪ of Na­ture, they coloured their bodies with Red Lead. The four antient and pri­mitive Painters, Apelles, Echion, Me­lanthius, Nicomachus, used butR [...]nis, [...]. four colours, and [...]lbum, si­eum, ru­ [...]m, ni­ [...], Plin. [...] c. [...]. [...]ub. [...] [...]il est g [...]nus pigme [...]ti, luteum colorem, quemad [...]odum ochra, [...] Vide J. C. Buleng. de Pict. & stat. lib. 1. ca [...]. 4. two of them are of this colour. Yellow, the highest step of which is the lowest stair of Red, was in [Page 5] Ovid's time an ingredient in the com­position of a Beauty. ‘Ovid. l. 2. Fast. Forma placet, niveúsque color, flavi (que) capilli.’ Clay-colour of old wasTurneb. l. 28. Adv. c. 21. Lu­teus color nuptiis di­catus erat; & non so­lùm in de­litiis erant rubra san­dalia, ve [...]rùm etiam Lutei cal­cei. Catul. in Epithal. Iul. —Luteum pede socc [...]. Apul. As. Aur. lib. 9. cingulo sub. ligati pe­de [...], Luteis indu [...]i cal. ceis. sacred at Nu­ptials, and they were much enamour­ed hereon; and not onely Red San­dals were in use and esteem, but also Clay-coloured shooes. ThePlin. hist. lib. 15. cap. 22. Cortice earum ruffatur capillus, primùm prodeun­tibus nucleis. Wall­nut gives the Haire this colour, and therefore we may presume that it is not contemptible: forPlin. ibid. H [...]nor hi [...] naturae peculi [...]is, gemino protectis ope [...]imento, pulvinar [...] primùm calycis, mox lig [...]ei [...]: qu [...]e causa eas nuptiis fecit religiosas, [...] modis [...]. Nature is a peculiar honourer of that fruit, pro­tecting it with a double guard: whereupon it became venerable at Ma­trimoniall solemnities; being an ad­umbration of the like protection of the toe [...]us. The Lacedemonians made choice of this colour, for their warlike attire, out of a singular piece of Policy, viz. that in the effusion of their bloud no tincture might be perceived, to the cowardise of themselves, or the cou­rage [Page 6] of their enemies. The stately Sabina Poppaea, wise to Domitius Nero, had Amber▪ coloured haire,Burton, in praef. to his Mel. p. 37. from Pliny. and all the Roman Ladies followed her with an artificiall imitation. This colour was of such repute inTert. lib. de Cultu foem. pag. 514. Video quasdam capillum croco ver­tere; malè ac pessimè [...]ibi auspi­cantur flammeo ca­pite. Tertullian's andHier. ad Laetam de instit. filiae, Nec caput gemmis o­neres, [...] capillum erufes, & ei aliquid de Gehen­nae ignibus auspiceris. Saint Hieromes dayes, that artificiall Red was deem'd an orna­ment to the Hair. TheAt si vir­gineum suf­fuderit ore ruborem. Virg. 1. Georg. Virgin's blush is of this colour; and women are so delighted with it, that if their cheeks want naturall, they adde arti­ficiall Vermilion. The vail of Na­ture is dy'd in Red;Macrob. Saturnal. lib. 7. cap. 11. Natura pudore tacta, sanguinem ante se p [...]o velamento tendit: and, without all peradventure, the Colour which that admits is not ridiculous. How dare any Palate disrelish that Colour, by which that matter was visible which went to the composing of theAdam so called from Red earth. Protoplast? Publi­us Lentulus Vice-Consul, in his Epistle to the Roman Senate written from Hi­erusalem, deciph [...]reth at large the bo­dy [Page 7] of our Saviour; and amongst many other particulars in his description, he inserteth this one, That the Haires of his Head and Beard were Red. And accordingly the profound Spaniard Huart. in Exam. d [...] Ing c. 14▪ pag. 259. in­terpreteth Isaiah 63. 1. Who is he that cometh from the Red Land?

B. Hall Moderat. lib. 2. p. 13 Innocent the Fourth, in the Coun­cill of Lyons, graced the dignity of the Cardinallship with a Red Hat; and Budaeus de Asse & partibus, 5 p. 77 [...] sordere [...] Francia prae mul [...] tudine [...]stantium &c. Budaeus the French man had so high an opinion of it, that he passionately de­claimed against it's generall usage, and judged its extension to a multitude, a diminution of its worth.

The excellencies of the Creation re­semble the Red Head as to its tincture.4. §. The Fire, the most agile and aspiring body, the [...]. Herodot. Thal. cap. 16. false God of the Persians, andVbi aliquid de igneo allegatur, Heraclitus intervenit. Tertul. de praescript. adv. pag. 98. by Heraclitus ascribed to the true Soveraign Majesty, is of a Ruddy [Page 8] Complexion. So is the richCyprius vocatur in Cypro re­pertus, ver­gens in areum co­lorem, in medicina efficacissi­ [...]us. Plin. hist. l. 37. cap. 4. Cyprian Adamant, which is medicinall with­out compare. Gold is of the like Co­lour, and thatBurtons Melancho­ [...]y, part. [...]2. Sect. 4. Memb. 1. Subs. 3. Physically c [...]res Me­lancholy, and is so pretious, that it denotesThe Gol­ [...]en Age. Valer. [...]axim. happy and peace [...]ll enjoy­ments: it makes Crowns and Scepters, and is adored by those that wear and manage them. Ptolemaeus King of Cy­prus was9. cap. 4. [...]sulae Rex [...]ulo, sed [...]im [...] pe [...]niae ini­ [...]rabile [...]ancipi­ [...]n. taken captive by th [...]s Ruddy champion. The Genuine Spikenard, that Paradise of the smell, that by which theTibul. l. El. [...]opere. venerable Haires of the antient Romans were grac'd with a fra­grant redolencie, [...]art. Sincerum nardum levir [...]te deprehenditur & coloreruffo. Plin. Nar. [...]. lib. 12. cap. 12. is of a Red and modest appearance. The re [...]plenden­cy of Amber admits this tinct [...]re; and that is not to be ranked amongst the meanest entities. In Martials judge­ment, the costlyMacrob. Sat. l. 3. c. 1 [...]. Cleopatra, she that in her life-time made, not Gold, but Pearls, potable, and after her death

[Page 9] obtained a proportionable monument, was not entomb'd so richly as theMart. lib. 4. ep. 59. de vipera electro in­clusa. Vi­per, enclosed alive in an Electrick se­pulchre.

The Sun, whose verySol quasi solus. name s [...]aks it the singular artifice of the corporeall Creation, and whose excellency made it deifi'd by the Heathen,Erythr [...] ­us Solis e­quus, Gr [...] ­c [...] rubens significat quòd à ma­tutino Sol lumine ru­bicundus exsurgat. Fulgent. Mythol. l. 1. in Fab. Apoll. displayes the glory of its radiancy in this Co­lour, especially at that time when the Persians do it homage, when it makes it's appearance in the comfortable Varro de Lingua Lat. l. 6. Aurora di­citur ab eo quod igne solis aure [...] a [...]r aure [...] ­s [...]it. blush of the approaching Morne. This Centre of the Planetick Vortex will cease to be such, as soon as it dis­robes it self of its Ruddinesse: for that privation speaks the inactivity of its particles, and the over-prevaling of the Maculae, and consequently the absorption of its Whirlpoole; where­upon the whole Earth would be clad in Sables, and surrounded with Dis­consolation.

[Page 10] This mocking at Red Hair is a De­clamation against Nature,5. §. which is to be worshipped, nor worried; this is a grand affront put upon the supreme Creatour, it reflecteth unworthily upon his Power, and calleth into question his Contrivance: For such men are Eph. 2. 10. [...] Homo fa­ctura Crea­toris est. Tertul. adv. Marc. l. 5. p. 324. his workmanship,Psal. 100 2. It is he tha [...] made them, and not they themselves: their slender performances cannot attain to theMat. 5. 36. making of one Hair white or black. So that whatTert. lib. de carne Christi. Tertullian replyed to the Hereticall Marcion blaming the structure of the whole Body, may be propounded against the defaming of this singleFor 'tis not pro­perly a Part of the Body. Appendix; Turpe hoc Deo, this derogates from the Divine Maje­sty, and is a base imputation: This is to speak the same language with him, (who, for his presumption beyond Lu­cifer's, shall be namelesse) whose voice was the voice of a Devill, not of a Man, Si ego creationi adfuissem, ego res meliùs ordinassem, Had I been at the Creation, things should have been put in a better posture. Now what is vile Dust, and Ashes that it dare thus flie in [Page 11] the face of its Maker through the win­dinesse of pride? What is Man, that he should controll the Artifice of God? when his understanding is so shallow and incomprehensive, that he is forced into admiration whilst he contemplates the workmanship of in­feriour Beings, even the Spiders web, or the Hexagony of the Hony-comb.

If we suppose (which yet is in no wise to be granted) that Red Hair is a bodily defect and imperfection,6. §. yet were it rather to be covered then car­ped at. It was allowable for Apelles, when he drew the Effigies of Alexan­der, to lay his finger upon his Scarre: and Alphonsus was not painted wry­neck'd, but his Picture was contrived so as if he was viewing the curtains of Heaven. Furthermore, as the Casu­isticall Lessiu [...] de just [...] & alii [...] virt. li [...] 2. cap. [...]dub. 3. Lessius determines, ob defectus naturales non censetur quis informis: a disgracefull Conclusion follows not from such Premisses; this is not ground sufficient to make it the mark of the arrows of Contumely. The orna­ment [Page 12] of theNobis non corporis cultus sed vigor animi quaeritur. Hieron. in Epist. ad Furiam de viduit. serv. Mind, not of the Body, is to be look'd upon, according to the practice of S. Hierome, [...]. Xenoph. in orat. de Agesilao Rege pag. 533. and Agesilaus. And the man whose Mind is not deck'd with the Pearle of great price, is,Auro te [...]cet & [...]emmis [...]ondecores, [...]ne Christi [...]core de­ [...]rmis es. [...]ypr. ser. de lapsis, [...]g. 157. not­withstanding all outward Ornament, deformed and ugly, according to the doctrine of S. Cyprian The Body is Macrob. Som [...] and [...]ip. lib. 1. p. 11. [...]. [...], a bond and a sepul­chre, and who blames such things, if they have harshnesse and rottennesse? A crooked Body may be the servicea­ble associate of an upright Soul: the conjunction of corporall blemishes and mentall ornaments is an usuall Sy­stasie. Cicero, if you will believe his A Cicere in nasum. Vide Pl [...]tarchum in [...]a Ciceronis. Name, had a protuberancy on his Nose. TheCicero ad Q. fra [...]rem de Oratore. fluent Demosthenes had once a stammering tongue.Nicias Gram­ [...]ticus Romae, familiaris Pompeio & Ciceroni. Sueton. Nicias the renowned Grammarian, the familiar of Great Pompey and Good Tully, had such ill-shap'd feet, that when one had stole his Shooes, he wished the Thief no worse, then that they might fit him. [Page 13] Galba was eloquent and judicious, but deformed and crooked; whereupon it was said byApud Macrobi­um in Sat: l. 2. c. 6. M. Lollius, Ingenium Gal­bae malè habitat, Galba's wit hath an ill habitation. Horace, whom S. Au­gustine thinks worthy the perusing a­bove all others of his order, because of his ample commendations of Ver­tues, and bitter invectives against Vi­ces, who made aAugustus. Monarch his Heir, was almost of aSuet. in vita Ho­rat, habitu corporis brevis fuit atque ob [...] ­sus. Pygmies stature; which was the cause of that Satyricall speech of Augustus to him, after the presenting of a small Book of his, Ve­reri mihi videris nè majores tui libelli sint quàm Ipse es, Thou seemest to me to fear that thy Books should become bigger then thy Body. He knows not Letters that is ignorant of the worth of Homer; his Works are of much repute, and comprehendIn Ilias he descri­beth strength and vigour of Body, in Odyssea, the per­fect pat­tern of the Mind. both parts of Man; his Name is of such credit, that the place of his Birth is deemed a natio­nall honour, andHomerū Col [...]phonii civem esse dicunt su­um, Chii suum ven­dicant, Sa­laminii re­petunt, Smyrn [...] ver [...] suum esse confirmant. Cicero pro Archia▪ Sic disticho [...] apud Agelli [...]m Noct. At. lib. 3. c. 11. [...]. severall have with [Page 14] earnestnesse pretended a title to his Nativity: yet was he not master of a comely Personage, yea he was defi­cient in the most delightfull and use­full of his exteriour organs, he was blind, according to the importance of this hisDictus priùs Me­lesigenes, natus ad Meletem fluvium, de­in Homerꝰ quod apud Iones signi­ficat ca­pium ocu­lis. second Name, and the com­mon suffrage of Writers. Onely Suidas in Lex. in verbo [...]. Suidas is somewhat singular, and must needs allegorize: he explains his blind­nesse by an indisposition to Avarice, which thief makes its first [...] qu. [...]. Plotinus. entrance at the window of the Eye. TheCi [...]. lib. 1 de Nat. Deorum. beau­ty of Roscius is preferr'd before that of the Gods themselves, and yet his or­gans of Sight were dull and deformed; erat pulchrior Deo, & tamen oculis per­versissimis. If all these testimonies were concealed, there might be had sufficient proof from the Sacred Vo­lume. Let this be established by the mouth of two witnesses.Luc. 19. 3, 5. 6. Zachaeus is somewhat dwarfish; and theZachaeus Publ. ad [...]nius horae conversio­nem hospi­tem habere mer [...]it Sal­vatorem. Hier. Epist. ad Lucinium: Vide dominum festinanter praecipientem, & hominem festinanter obedientem. Spera [...]z [...] de Z [...]chaeo, in script. select. punct. 27. short­nesse of his spirituall reparation doth [Page 15] recompense the shortnesse of his bodi­ly stature. The Man that was born blind, Ioh. 9. was notJob 3. 16. and Psal. 58. 8. the untimely birth of a woman, although throughout his whole minority he never saw the Sun. He was happier then those, who in their own towring imaginations presumed theyJoh. 9. 41. were men of acute eyes: he at length obtained the view of a glorious Constellation, the sight of the heavenly fireballs, andOmnis pulchritudo florum, ho­minum, an­gelorum, rerum pul [...] ­herrimarum, ad Dei pulchritudinem collata nox est [...] te. nebrae. Draxel. Nicet. lib. 2. cap. 11. that to which these Lights are a dark sha­dow, the light of Gods countenance.

Were Red Hair a disease of the Bo­dy,7. §. (which is to give a further advan­tage to the cause, and to suppose a non supponendum) yet were it not to be derided. The Devil mayMarc. 9. 22. fling some into the fire of a Fever, and others in­to the water of a Dropsie, and yet Psal. 66. 12. both in fire and water God may be with them. It is very observable, that of the innumerable company of dis­eased persons who had Christ for their [Page 16] Physician,Except the nine ungrateful Leper [...], Luc. 17. 17, 18. [...]oh. 7. 23. [...]. Qui foris ab infirmi­tate, Ipse etiam in [...]us fervavit à scelere. Beda in Ioh. 5. 14. scarce any had onely an exteriour Cure, but almost as many as were healed in Body were cured in Soul. No man can loo [...] up to Hea­ven, and forget Iob, who was so great a servant of the King of Starres: yet even all men have heard of the disea­ses of Gods servant Iob: he had as many Diseases as Parts. He was visi­ted with the Gout, Job 13. 27. and 33. 11. his feet were put in the stocks. He was tortured with a cruell Dysentery; Job 16. 13. God powred out his Gall upon the ground. He was afflicted with the dolour of the Reins; Id. ibid. Gods archers compassed him about, and clave his Reins in sunder. He underwent the violence of an hectick Fever, Job 19. 20. so that his bones cleaved to his skin and to his flesh, and he was escaped with the skin of his teeth. 'Twas even deat [...] to him to do that by which he lived, 'twas trou­blesome to breathe, for he was won­derfully Asthmatick: he saith, in the Text,Job 17. 1. his breath was corrupt, and in the margin, his spirit was spen [...]. To omit particulars, take the summe totall, Job 2. 7. Iob was smitten by Satan with sore biles, [Page 17] from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

It is then manifest,8 §. that they that laugh at Red Hair are tickled [...]y the Devill: that they commit a grea­ter outrage against the Head then the Scythians did, who [...]. &c. [...]. Herod. Melpom. c. 65. converted into drinking-Cups the Skulls of the [...]r most [...]refull Enemies. I could wish that the minds of men were of a more se­rene and Dovelike constitution: that what the ingeniousCar [...]esiu [...] in Meth [...] ­do, et in in­it. med. [...]t [...]phys. Des Cartes abhors in Philosophy, might not take place in Morality, to wit, that men would not hoodwink themselves with their own prejudice; but take an impartiall view of this their practice, and see whe­ther it speaks not a contradiction to an Evangelicall spirit: that so they might not irreverently accost the Manufa­cture of God, nor disrespectfully ex­cite each other: that so they might not become ridiculous by deriding that which is not a capable subject of a reall Defamation, and thereupon rebounds the Disgrace towards the place of its originall.

IT is as easily experienced as asserted,1 §. that many Professions are the perpe­tuall Subjects of the tong [...]e of Scan­dall. 'Tis almost proverbiall with us, The first Commodity a young Trades-man sets to sale is his own Honesty. There are some Occupations both lawfull and usefull, in which, notwithstanding, if [...] man hath interest, he must all­wayes expect in the blaz [...]ning of his Credit, to have a Sed fo [...] part of his Motto: The Man is hones [...], But he is of such a Calling. In like manner said he of old,Anony [...]mus apud Tertull. in Apolog ad vers. Gent. pag. 810. Bonus vir Caius Seius, sed malus tantum quòd Christianus, Caius Seius is a good man, but he's a Chri­stian. Bols. in vitâ Cal­vini. Bolsecus tells tales ofCalvin, such in a­ctuall power, though not in name. the Bi­shop of Geneva; he chargeth him with [Page 19] a large and black Catalogue of Enor­mities: and one grand Objection a­gainst his Testimonie is this, The man is a Physician, and therefore 'tis pre­sumed that what he speaks is neither slander nor truth. Thus men of some Callings are exposed to the finger of the world; they are pointed at for their supposed Dishonesty, as [...]. De­mosthenes and—monstror digito praetereunti [...]m Romanae Fidicen Lyrae. Hor. Carm. lib. 4. Od. 3. Horace were for their known worth.

The Spring-heads from whence this corrupt practice did at first issue,2 §. and the Channels in which it hath succes­sively been conveyed, may, in proba­bility, be these two.

First, the geniall indisposition and naturall aversnesse of many to these employments.

It was thus with Maximinian, the Lord of an Empire, but the slave of Igno­rance, who was a professed foe to all [Page 20] men of clarified Intellectualls and learned attain [...]ments, because the Mu­ses frown'd upon his ow [...] dull ca­pacity. Thus the Fox in the Fable sets a low estimate upon those Apples which were too high for his reach. 'Tis too common a Truth, ‘Non ama [...] hic Artes qui non intelligit Artes.’ But such Ignorance ought not to be the mother of such Indevotion: for if a naturall non-proclivity to a Profession be a sufficient ground of a quarrell with the Profession it self; then may the Christian Profession be j [...]stly disre­lished by the whole progeny of Adam, because allPer pec­carum ori­ginis natu­ralia bona [...]n ipso ho­ [...]ine sunt corrupta gratuitade [...] ­tracta. Lombard. l. 2. dist. 25 lost their appetite to Good by his eating of the Tree of Good and Evill.Cyprian. in p [...]ol. ad serm. de Nat. Christi, p. 290. Omnino rarum est et difficile fieri bonum, facile et pronum est esse malum, & hâc, sine Magistro, sine Exemplo, doctrinâ statim à pubescenti­bus annis imbuimur & docemur. Then mayAct. 18. 17. [...]. Gallio be excused if he cares not for these things.

[Page 21] Secondly,3. §. the irregular and unde­cent practices of some Professours. ‘Hor. ser. 1. I. sat. 3. Turpia decipiunt caecum vitia—’ is as true here, as in the sense that Ho­race meant it. Thus the exactions of the Publicanes caused the office of Taxe-gathering to be evill spoken of. An honest Publican was accounted at Rome a fallacy of Composition. Quam honestus olim fuerit Publicanorum ordo apud Romanos, & pueri sciunt, illi saltem quibus nova Latinitas M. Tullium non­dum è manibus excussit, Is. Casa [...]. Exer [...]it ad Annal. Ba­ronii, Ex. 13. p. 220. saith a Lear­ned Critick. Every School-boy whose Lesson is in Tully knows the usuall co­zenage of these men. Whereupon Sueton. in Flav. Vesp. c. 1. one Sabinus, for his discreet and pun­ctuall managing of this office, had certain Images erected to the immor­talitie of his name, with this inscripti­on, [...]. Upon this account also the spirits of the Iews suf­fered such an exasperation against the Publicanes, that it became a Rabbini­call Proverb,Casaub. ubi supr [...], p. 221. Chuse [...] a Wife out of that family in which a Publicane hath his [Page 22] residence, for there all the rest are Publi­canes; that is, (according to theCasaub. ibid. omnes sunt Pub­licani, i. e. Latrones, scelerati, Peccato­res, ut di­citur, Mat. 9. 10. ex­position of the aforesaid Author All the rest are persons of rapacious hands, and wicked hearts. Yet notwithstand­ing all these Obloquies, this was a Cal­ling very influentiall upon the publick good, and subservient to the mainte­nance of a Commonwealth. Neither were all those to whom its manage­ment was committed men whose names did swell bigg in the rolls of Satan.Mat. 10. 3. [...]. Matthew the Pub [...]icane made one of the catalogue of the twelve A­postles. AndLuc. 19. 3. Zachaeus, a man of great Faith, though of little stature, whose house had no meaner guests thenLuc. 19. 9. Sal­vation andLuc. 19. 5. its purchaser, wasLuc. 19. 2. [...] a Governour of a society of Publicanes. And that speech of Christ, Mat. 21. 31. Vide Weems in 4. Degen. sonnes, on Mat. 18. 17. p. 36. The Publicanes and Harl [...]ts goe i [...]to the Kingdome of Heaven before you, was not utte [...]d as a reproach of the Calling of the Publicanes; for no guile was found in, or proceeded out of the mouth of the Lamb; the breath of Christ was pure and Crystalline, [Page 23] and admitted not the drosse and mix­ture of Reviling: But it referred one­ly to that ill opinion of the Publicans, which was cherished in the breasts of those to whom he did direct his speech.

Now, if by reason of the bad Con­versation of Professours, the Profession be justly vilified and set at nought, and if—Horat. Carm. lib. 3. Ode 2. Incesto additur integer, if because of the iniquity of some, all the rest be worthily brought into a dis­repute; then even the sacred Office of Apostleship, and the ministeriall Fun­ction, is subject to the lash of lawfull Censure, because Iudas Joh. 6. 70. [...]. was a De­vil, and2 Tim▪ 4. 10. [...] ▪ Demas preferred the present world before him that did exist before the world.

I shall confine my Discourse to the Profession of Physiok, 4. §. the most common centre of reproachfull lines. This is evident from Chaucer's verses,

[Page 24] All Man-curers may speak the same language with theTimon [...]. [...]os, apud Horat. serm. l. 1. sat. 1. Man-ha [...]er, ‘—Populus me sibilat—’ But they have an Antidote against this Poyson: Almost each of them can com­fortably go on with the verse,

Physick is accounted the mother of no lesse monstrous a birth then [...]hat of A­theisme; and yet itsMedicin [...] Diis pri­mùm in­ventores suos assi­gnavit, et coelo dica­vit. Plin. hist. lib. 29. cap. 1. first founder was Aesculapius, a God. 'Tis as usu­all as an Adage, Ubi tres Medici, duo Athei, Where there are three Physiti­ans, there are two Atheists: which, notwithstanding, is but to sport at Artiasme, ‘Hor. ser. [...]. 2. sat. 3. Ludere par impar—’ Scho [...]. Aristoph. [...]d Plutum. [...], to play, like Boyes, at even and odde; Vox, & praeterea nihil, a Saying, and no reality. And I can no more rationally deduce from hence [Page 25] the Physitian's Atheisme, then I can col­lect the subordination of the Medick to the Mendicant, from that inPlau [...]. Rudens Act. 5. Plau­tus Grip. Num Medicus quaeso es? Lab. imò aedepol unâ literâ plus sum quàm Me­dicus. Gr. Tùm tu Mendicus es? Lab. tetigisti acu.

Religio Medici is not the product of the Penne alone, but also of the pra­ctice of Physitians. The rude Rabble of the world proclaims the contrary; but the words of dying men cry lou­der for attention then the others noise: and who ever heard a man in such a condition commit outrages against the credit of those from whom he expects the restauration of his Health? unlesse the man be in a frenzy, ‘Horat. Ser. lib. [...]. sat. 3.—quum sit Pugil & Medicum urget,’ and then how regardlesse are his words?

It is true,5 §. Physitians often fail in their enterprises, and many of their Patients miscarry. OneB. Halls contempl. Pool of Bethesda. Hebrew word signi­fies both Physitians and dead men. The pooreMark 5. 25, 26. Haemorrhoissa was twelve years [Page 26] in the Physitians hands, without profit to her body, and with detriment to her purse.Xiphil. in Adriano. Multitudo medicorum perdidit Caesarem, is in every ones mouth; and hereupon many curse them, because they cannot cure them. But if Nature hath resolved that the tenement of clay shall crumble into its primitive constitution, and return to its dust, who can imagine a Physiti­an can put a stop to its proceedings? Physitians cannot sail beyond the [...]ine of Humanity:

they cannot out-run their abilities: they can promise no more, then what is in thatSeneca in epist. 95. Iste versus et in pecto­re et in ore [...]it, Homo sum, &c. Verse which Seneca would have entertained in two rooms, in heart and mouth, ‘Homo sum, alienum nil hominis à me puto.’ It was butParacel­sus, who died at Salizburg in the 47. year of his age. one of them who boasted of the performance of a contradicti­on, in his sense, To put a man into a state of Immortality.

[Page 27] As for the Profession it self,6. §. it is of as lawfull, yeaEcclus. 38. necessary, as univer­sall use: for man is bound by the Law of self-preservation to keep up his crazy cottage with all possible honest reparations; and the Soul is not to break prison, but it must waite till, in despite of means, death's violent ap­proach gives it a Gaol-delivery.Caussin. Polyhist. Symb. l. 1. sym. 28. In the temple of Aesculapius there was a fountain of oyle with a golden arch; the perfect Symbole of Physick, deno­ting by—liquidi corrumpi­tur usus o­livi. Oyle it's use, byAu [...]um [...] Graeco [...], quo [...] divitem [...] potentem significat. Gold it's Honour. Osiris King of Aegypt thought it not below his crown to have com­merce with Physicall rules;Virg. 2 [...] Georg. it was Helvic. Chron. ad Annu [...] mun. 2200▪ he from whence Physick received its first institution among the Germanes. The2 King. [...]. 7. Prophet was Physitian to Ezechias, and prescribed a lump of Figgs to be applyed to his boyle. Now that such a Cure should be effected by such a Cause, that such a Malady should be removed by such a Medicine, is agree­able to Physicall principles, and not wholly supernaturall.Galen. de arte [...]. l. 6. Galen adviseth the same for the ripening of Tumours [Page 28] and Impostumations in the flesh. The great Physitian of Souls was a great Physitian of Bodies; he that redeemed them, repaired them; he went about all Galilee Mat. 4. 23. [...], healing all manner of sicknesse and all manner of disease among the people. The Blessed Disciples de­rived strength from this Almighty Physitian Lu [...]. 9. 1. [...], to heal Diseases. Why then do the generality of men accost that Profession with Rudenesse, and not with Reverence, which hath had no meaner Practitio­ners then the Head and Pillars of the Universall Church?

This Profession is so farre from prompting Atheism,7 §. that it is signally advantagious to an holy life. The D. Brown [...]n Epist. Ded. ante Hydriot. study of Physitians is Life and Death: They of all men least need artificiall memento's, or Coffins by their Bed­sides, to mind them of their Graves. Their frequent conversing with scele­tons, and the farewell breath of their departing Patients, is as effectuall to [Page 29] the true Philosophy,Philoso­phy so de­fin'd by Plato. the meditation of Death, as Philip's boy's Memento Mori. And what greater spurre to our Chri­stian race, then to be mindfull or Mor­tality?Hieron. ep. [...]. 3. conc. ep. Paulino. Facilè contemnit omnia qui se semper cogitat moriturum, saith Saint Hierome. Hear the suffrage of an Heathen,Epicte [...]. in Euchir. cap. 28. [...] which is in brief thus, Daily fix thy meditation on difficult matters, and especially upon Death, and thou wilt contemn so low a thing as earth, and thy desires after its enjoyments will be curbed in the vehemency of their pur­suit.Speranz. Script. sel. punct. 125. quod totum est de uti­lissimâ con­sideratione mortis. Ex mortis oblivione omnia mala, saith Speranza; The forgetting of Death is the fountain of all the evills of Life. He that makes his bed in a Coffin, will scarce entertain an Harlot; he that drinks in a Death's-head, will scarce adventure to be drunk; he that hath Death in his contemplations, hath Goodnesse in his actions. In the four­teenth [Page 30] of Proverbs v. 32. where we read, The righteous hath hope in his death, the Chaldee hath it, He that hopeth that he is about to die is righteous. He that taketh it into consideration, that the Knife of Atropos is never in it's Sheath, that Death is allwayes in readinesse to put a period to his transitory breath, and that if the associate of his Body hath been faithfull in returns of service to Him from whom it received it's Be­ing, it shall presently after disunion make it's abode in an eternity of Blisse, if otherwise, in an eternity of Woe, either in Paradise with Blessed Souls, or in Hell with cursed Serpents; this man will be any thing, in an Ecstasie of being ever; he will abandon the pleasure of Dalilah's lap, in contem­plation of the happinesse of Abrahams bosome; he will forsake this present evill world, in a rapture of a joyous futurity.

Knowledge in Physick and ignorance of the existence of a God,8 §. seem to me even incompossible: because Physitians [Page 31] have, beyond all other men, a multi­plicity of palpable proofs of a First Being, all-wise and potent, which continually attends them. In their Bo­tanicall employments every smile and flourish of a Flower darts the mind up towards the Fountain of it's Beauty, ‘Praesentemque refert quaelibet Herba Deum.’ Every Herb hath a signature of a Di­vine majesty enstamp'd upon it. Their eyes are so far happifi'd, as to be al­most the onely spectatours of the most lively evidence of a Deity that the ma­teriall Creation can produce; I mean their view of thePsalm 139. 15. contextus sum, ver­bum He­braeum [...] significat acu pinge­re. needlework of hea­ven, of that exact modell and Harmo­nicall composure of the Body of Man, in their Anatomical negotiations. In con­templation of this the Heathen called God [...] the best Artist. The Circulation of the Bloud is a Demon­stration of an Eternall Being. Galen was husht into a wonder by some ana­tomicall observations, and after his amazement for some space, he brake forth in an hymn to the praise of his [Page 32] Creatour, though formerly a professed Atheist. He that contemplates the Tunicles, Humours, and other parts of the Eye; the two orders of Teeth, which prepare the meat for the Sto­mach by mastication; the many Ver­tebrae of the Spina disposed most artifi­cially; the Lungs which are spongious, and carry that air to the Heart which they had attracted through the Aspera Arteria, that so its heat might be at­tempered and allayed by a moderate ventilation; the many conjugations of Nerves arising from the Brain and Spinall Marrow, divided into severall Fibres, and those at length into most slender Filaments, distributed after a most exact order throughout the whole Body, and serving to Motion and Sensation; the various bendings of the Intestina, the Membranes of which they consist, the right and trans­verse Villi, those serving for Extension, these for Contraction; the Rivulets tending towards the Liver, and con­veying the exuccous Chyle; the mul­titude of little Cels ordained for [Page 33] the retention of Ordure; lastly and especially, the stupendious disposition of the Heart; He must of necessity be enforced to cry out, Digitus Dei hic est, This is the Lords doing.

I must acknowledge that some Phy­sitians Danda est Ellebori multo pars maxima a­varis. Ho­rat. serm. l. 2. sat 3. want Hellebore, 9. §. and plant too many of their Simples upon the mountain of Potosi: and that there are those among them, to whom Ap­plication may be made in particular of whatPhilome­nis [...]. he affirmed too generally, viz. That Physitians are ill when none else are ill. Some of them, that they themselves may not want Gold, wish their neighbours may want Health; and we may dispatch another Pollux to them (after the example ofLucian. in Dial. [...]. Dio­genes ab inferis to rich men on the earth) with a [...]; That is in effect, O vain men, why do you watch and ward your [Page 34] treasures, and set your selves upon the rack, whilst you contrive to lay Pelion upon Ossa, to adde one talent to ano­ther ‘—Hor. epist. lib. 2. ep. 2. velut und a supervenit undam,’ as one wave is forced upon the back of its predecessor? when you must come to the grave, where one half-peny is a sufficient treasure, yea a superfluity. But men of all Callings, yea even all men, are peccant as well in this as in all other extravagancies.

I confesse that the Physitian Eudemus Amicus ac Medicus Liviae, spe­ci [...] artis frequens secretis, &c. Tacit. An. l. 4. c. [...] Eudemus was a manager of an adultery, and that in no meaner place thenIn the house of Drusus Caesar. the pa­lace of a Prince, and that under colour of his art. I desire not to palliate the exorbitancies of Cardan and Paracel­sus, although the latter was called Di­vinus vir by Iohannes Montanus.

What I now contend for is, that there are good as well as bad livers of this Profession. [Page 35] ‘—Hor. Ser l. 2. sat. 3. Medicus multùm celer atque fidelis’ is not a Platonicall Idea, a mere imagi­nary Chimaera. The Physitians ofTertul. l. de Anima, pag. 641. Ter­tullians time claimed a propriety in the doctrine of the Soul beyond Phi­losophers. Pliny, an hater of Physiti­ans, relates no unworthy Practice of Herophilus; and had there any been extant, he would not have spared his own Venome, or the other's Credit: The worst he saith of him is good e­nough, Plin. Nat. hist. lib. 29 cap. 1. Deserta est haec secta, quoni­am necesse erat in ea Literas scire; that is, He had few followers, because he put them upon a necessity of Learn­ing. It was heHerophi­lus apud Gaffendū in lib. 10. Diog. La­ert. p. 457. that at once cured Diodorus of his senselesse Philosophy and his dislocated member. Diodorus denyed locall motion, and endeavou­red to perswade others to espouse his opinion with this argument, Si quic▪ quam movetur, aut in loco quo est movetur, aut in loco quo non est. Sed neutrum dici potest: Ergo, &c. It chanced that his Shoulder-bone suffering a dislocation, he came to Herophilus for help; who [Page 36] told him that no such thing could pos­sibly happen to him: for if there were no Motion there could be no Disloca­tion. Whereupon Diodoru [...] perceiving his Sarcasmus, and feeling by experience the falsity of his Opinion, desclaimed it with shame. Hippocrates in the Graec. E­pig. l. 1. tit. 39. [...], &c Greek Epigramme is allowed no lesse emphaticall a title then, The light of men: and hisTransla­ted by Sir Tho. More out of 3. book of Grae [...]. Ep. Epitaph is propor­tionate,

Who dares blow upon the glittering name of the renowned Cyrus with re­proachfull breath? He was the Mo­narchs mirrour, one tha [...] practised nothing unworthy a Diademe: and yet that Physick was his usuall employ­ment, hath as much authority as the word ofXen. de Instit. Cyri, lib. 8. pag▪ 167. Xenophon can afford it; yea [Page 37] hisXeno­phon. ibid. [...]. own hands did, in this kind, ad­minister to the necessities of some de­caying bodies.

To conclude,10 §. If all the Professours of Physick were beasts by degeneration,Conclusi­on. and wallowers in sensuality, and Saint Luke the onely Exception to that ge­nerall Rule, it were abundantly enough to wash off all the Spots which the hand of Malice can cast upon the Phy­sicall employment; he beingColos. 4. 14. [...] the beloved Physitian; he being also (that wherein is the Empha­sis of Emphasis) the Quill of the Ho­ly Dove, even Heaven's Amanuensis.

THe Protoplast, 1. §. by his Fall, broke in pieces the frame of evennesse of spirit, and raised a disturbance in the serenity of the Soul. Ever since this Father eat sowr Grapes, his Chil­drens teeth have been set on edge with reviling language. Since Adam came into compliance with the Serpent, the whole race of Mankind hath plenti­fully vented the Poyson of Reproach. My purpose is not to create a tedious Discourse, by evincing this in it's lati­tude: But my present intention is to bring in evidence and inveig [...] against those arrows of Contumely with which Cedars pierce S [...]rubs, with which men shoot at the reputation of [Page 39] the Feminine sexe. Men erect the tro­phyes of their ambition upon the ru­ines of the repute of Women. They draw their malice to the dregs, and powre it upon them with a floud of e­vill words: As if an universall mala­dy possess'd that Sex; as if all Women were of a bad complexion; as if those weaker vessels could not possibly con­tain any thing that is good. No man can plead ignorance in this particular, if he hath looked but so far as Man­tuan or Aretine. IfCh. Fon. seca cited by Burt. in Mel. par. 3. sect. 2. Memb. 5. Subsect. 3. Fo [...]seca mistakes not, Non possunt invectivae omnes & Sa­tyrae in Faeminas scriptae uno volumine com­prehendi. The repute of Women hath been perplexed with Volumes of In­vectives. According to Petronius, we may put more confidence in the incon­stancy of a Wave then in the Promise of a Woman,

And Ca [...]ullus is not of a different opi­nion, who averreth that Wind and Water are of sufficient stability to re­ceive the speeches of a Woman to him [Page 40] who is amorous, and would captivate her affection, and sues to her for ma­trimoniall entertainment.

One of our own Poets agrees with these, and with his hobling feet thus tramples upon Female Credit:

A woman is made byGraec. Ep▪ lib 1. [...]it▪ 19 ver. per Obso­paeum. some the Mo­rall of Pandora's Box, the emphaticall punishment of the over [...]bold Prome­theus. Est mulier Iovis i [...]a [...]gnis vice [...]radita—

No tongue is so impudent as to af­firm that Adams Rib abstracteth whol­ly from Crookednesse;2 §. that there is no particular Woman whose merits hath not rais'd her above the reach of a just Reproof. I confesse that many of the Daughters of Eve stretch forth their hands towards Forbidden Fruit. These Daughters of Venus have their defor­med, [Page 41] as well as their beauty spots. Some Women are censurable for their practises. Some married ones are worthy rebuke for cutting off their own Heads, for their cruelty towards their Husbands: of this number was Hom. O­dys. l. 4. Clytemnestra, of whom her husband Agamemnon complains in theGraec. Ep. lib. 1. tit. 19. Ep. [...], vers. per Obsop. Epi­gramme, ‘Uxor me occidit quem non ferus [...]bstu­lit Hector.’ Some unmarried ones, although pro­bably no Virgins, deserve a check for their artificiall allurements, their Rhe­toricall Attires, whereby they per­swade and entice their Servitours to Folly. This is intima [...]ed in the Que­stion and Answer of Iovianus,

Which may be thus rendred, without violence to the sense,

But the reproach is not a single but a [Page 42] many-headed monster: it imitates the Tyrant Mezentius, tying the living and the dead together; Goo [...] and Bad are encompassed in generall terms with the chain of Calumny. This dart of Satan strikes not against parti­cular Women, but against the Feminine Sex, for so runs the language of the Mant. Alph [...]s. Woman-hater, ‘Faemineum servile genus, crudele, su­perbum.’ Let him whose tongue is thus general­ly set on fire, quench it at the reproof of the sage Euripides, who bespeaks him in these words,

The Masculine Gender is the most worthy,3 §. but the Feminine is not worth­lesse. TheAristot. l. 9. hist. Animal. Great Naturalist makes [Page 43] this observation upon the Cuttle-fish, That the Female takes vengeance on the Adversary of its Male; but the Male exemplifies friends in Adversity, and departs with speed when the Fe­male meets with Persecution. Mo­desty abounds most in Women, and where the habitation of Modesty is, there is the tabernacle of Vertue. If the Man be the Sunne of the Creation, the Woman is the Ray. If the Man be 1 Cor. 11. 7. [...] the glory of God, the Woman is [...] the glory of the Man: and how sordidly doth he degenerate from the innate dictate of self-preser­vation, that puts an Eclipse upon his own brightnesse? Woman isGen. 3. 20. the mo­ther of all Living; and shall not Men ratherLuk. 11▪ 27. blesse then curse the wombe that bare them? Woman is theFaemina viri por [...]io est, atque ex eo sum­pta & for­mata. Cy­prian. tract. 2. de hab. Virg. p. 106. Rib of Man; and what an intense degree of folly possesseth him, who biteth in sunder his own Rib with the teeth of Slander? TheIntellexit sapientissimus omnium rerum opifex, in vi [...]â solitariâ non posse Adamum perfectâ f [...]ui feli­citate. Bidembach. Prompt. Con. p. 10. All-wise God judged [Page 44] Adam's felicitie unaccomplished, un­till he enjoyed a meet help, or (as the Heb. tale auxilium quod [...]it veluti Al­ter ipse. Jun. & Trem. in not. brev. Hebrew signifies) Another self: and dare presumptuous man account a Pearl of Gods sending a S [...]one layd in his way, and so to be kicked at? dare he exclaim against a companion of Gods chusing? Vile worme! thus to affront the Wisdome of Heaven, and scorn the workmanship of God's Finger.

Tert. de Habitu mal. initio. Tu es Ia­nua Diabo [...]li, &c. Tertullian indeed calls Eve the De­vils gate, 4 §. but it was in reference to her Sin, not her Sex: and he afterward declares so much, when he addresseth his speech to her in this [...]itter sarcas­mus, Tert. paul [...]infrd. Tu es quae eum persuas [...]sti quem Di­abolus aggredi non valuit, Thou art she who didst overcome him who was Temptation-proof against the Serpent. And whereas theTert. adv. Val. In coe [...]o non An­gelus & Angela, &c. same Father makes it a part of Heavens happinesse, to have Angels and not Angelicalls too, to have a God and not a Goddesse also, he speaketh not in relation to the Feminine Sex, but in relation to the diversity of [Page 45] Sex; whichCaus. Holy Court▪ 4. [...]ome. Pass. of A­mity, p. 9. the eloquent Caussin sup­poseth would alter something of Hea­vens Tranquillity. It is the Assertion ofCujus cantu tole. rabilius est audire Ba­filiscum si­bilantem. Cyp. de Sing. Cle­ric. p. 273. Saint Cyprian, that the hissing of a Basilisk is a more tolerable sound then the singing of a Woman. But (as the Cypr. paulo su [...]pr [...], nunc lacertos ac faemora, &c. nudat. foregoing words evidence) he means this of such a Woman as Aretines Lu­cretia, of one of a tempting carriage and wanton behaviour: and such words well become such a subject: such a Womans breath will blow up the sparks of Love into the fire of Lust.Ep. to. 2. ad Ctesiph. adv. Pelag. p. 84. S. Hierome hath a large cata­logue of Women who were instru­mentall in the propagation of the de­signs of Hereticks: he relates how Helen was subservient this way to Si­mon Magus, and Prisca and Maximilla to Montanus: besides which he hath va­riety of Instances. But we may ob­serve, that these Wolves were men, making use not of the Malice, but of the Facility of these Sheep, being Women.

Instances of Good Women are very5 §. [Page 46] numerous. Many of them are inward­ly, asCardan. de Lis. prop. Cardan's Wife was outwardly when he was first enamoured on her) all in white, surrounded with Inno­cency, and Candour of disposition. So­crates Soc. Hist. Ec. l. 4. c. 14. makes mention of a Wom [...] who made a passage through a multitude to the place of Execution of Christians under Valentinian: which fire of zeale in her to suffer for Christianity, turned to water in the breast of that cruell Emperour, and made an abatement of his rage and malice for the future. Evagrii Eccl. hist. l. 1. c. 20. Eudocia the wife of Theodosius did so abound in honorable practices, that a most artificiall brazen Statue was ere­cted to the eternity of her memory: although she had consulted better for her self in that particular,Evag. ib. c. 21, 22. by ere­cting of Churches.Soc. Hist. Ecc. l. 1. c. 13. Helen the mo­ther of Constantine, who, it seems, found the stage on which was acted the most terrible, and yet the most happy, Tragedy since the foundation of the world, to wit, the Crosse of Christ, to­gether with the Nailes, was of an ex­emplary life and laudable conversati­on. [Page 47] Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. 8. c. 17. Eusebius reports of the Virgin Theodosia, not yet eighteen years of age, too tender a morsell for devour­ing fire, that with incredible constan­cy she endured Martyrdome under Diocletian. Ecc. Hist. l. 8. c. 24. The same Author hath registred to after-Ages a pair of Vir­gins expiring by the same [...]ate; and gives them this for an encomium, That the earth which they had trampled on was not worthy to bear them. Hier. Ep. to. 1. Ep. ad Eustoch. virg. Epi­taph. Pau­lae Mat [...]is, ad initium. S. Hierome bestows an Hyperbolicall Hyperbole up­on on the vertuous Paula, and speaks thus in her commendation, Si cuncta cor­poris mei membra verterentur in linguas, & omnes artus humanâ voce resonarent, nihil dignum Sanctae ac Venerabilis Paulae virtutibus dicerem: that is, Were all my Members so many Tongues, and all my Ioynts endued with the gift of Elocution, the expressions which I could then utter would be frigid and diminutive, and come below the worth of the Venerable Pau­la. Have you not heard of theMaffaeus Hist. Ind. lib. 16. Pa­tience of Eleonora? who with con­stancy endured commerce with Wolves and Tigres, and with Men [Page 48] more savage then those untamed Beasts. Have you not read inXenop. Instit. Cy­ri l. 6. p. 121, 122. Xeno­phon of Panthea, whom he styles [...], an excel [...]ent Woman? of whom he relates, that [...], her Husband was at home when he was abroad, that she was a faithfull Wife as well in his ab­sence as in his presence. It was she that, as it were,Xen. Inst. Cyri, p. 135 [...], &c. changed Sexes with her Husband, and infused courage and magnanimity into his faint [...]ng spirits. Women were once the best Soldiers of Xerxes, by his own confession, who after their valiant service uttered him­self thus,Herodot. Vran. cap. 88. [...], The Men have turned their Swords in­to Distaffs and become women, the Women have turned their Distaffs in­to Swords and become men.Euseb. in vita Con­stant. li. 1. cap. 3. The hand of a Woman took away both the Scepter and the Soul of Cyr [...]s the peer­less King of Persia. Amongst the [...]. Herod. in Eut [...]rpe, cap. 35. Aegy­ptians [Page 49] of old the Women did negotiate abroad, and the men kept house, be­taking themselves to diminutive la­bours. The Women were more servi­ceable in their generations;Herodot: ibid. [...]. they carried burdens upon their shoulders, the men upon their heads. Two Wo­men were mothers to Homer's Off­spring, they gave birth to the Issue of his Brain: we have hisVirgil. Brother Po­ets word for it,

Vide Bu [...]t. Mel. part. 3. sec. 2. memb. [...]. subsect. [...]. Admetus King of Thessaly being ready to breath out his last and farewell air, was told by the Oracle of Apollo, that he might still live in his own Person, if he could die by Proxie. All his Friends deny'd to perform so much for him; even those that were aged, and ready to return to their primitive dust, would not anticipate their fates some few hours: onely Alcestes his Wife, youth­full and beautifull, too tender a Bud to be cropp'd by Death, took the bur­den [Page 50] upon her own shoulders with a joyous alacrity.

But why do we wander thus far for Instances, when we are presented with a renowned example at home? that of the Puissant Queen ELIZABETH, one whose actions evidenced the irra­tionality of the Salique Law. To let my words run without the biasse of partiality, I must acknowledge, with herCamden in Elizab. own servant, that she abandoned part of her Integrity in the [...]usinesse of Mary Queen of Scots, and Dowager of France. But notwithstanding this Scar in the face of Beauty, what was affirmed ofBy John Speed in the Chron. of his Life. Edward the third may like­wise be spoken of Her without a de­viation from the Truth, to wit, That few Princes that had so great and Heroick Vertues had sewer Vices.

Had all the forementi [...]ned proofs been lo [...]ked up in silence,6 §. yet were there confirmation sufficient by exam­ples written in the Volume of Gods Book. There are registred with honour Jud. 4. Deborah andRuth. 1. 16. Ruth, Mark 16 [...]. Mary Magdalene [Page 51] and Mary the mother of Iames and Salome, Luc. 1. Elizabeth andLuc. 2. 36, 37. Anna: and a multitude of others too tedious to in­sert. AsJob 2. 9. Iob, being a good man, had an evill Wife, who bad him curse God; soMat. 27. 19. Pilat, being an evill man, had a Good Wife, who forbad him to cru­cifie Christ. Women were more liberall Luk. 23. 28. in shedding of their tears then Men, when the Iews were a shedding their Redeemers blood. What fallen Man could ever come into compari­son with the VIRGIN MO­THER? Although she was not without sin, yet was she without pa­rallell; insomuch that theLabata▪ Loc. com. tit. Mari [...] Excellen. Iesuites expound those places of Scripture of Mary the Spouse of Ioseph, which are spoken of the Church the Spouse of Christ.

And now the successe hoped for from these Lines is,Conclusi­on. the drawing men from this fruitlesse Vanity,7 §. this perni­cious Folly. My hearty Option is, that the Streame of mens words would runne more clearly in this particular [Page 52] Channell: that they would respect and not revile that Sex, the absence of which would cause a well-peopled Universe to become a so [...]itary Wil­dernesse: that they would shew them­selves Men by countenancing Women: that they would prove themselves of the worthier Sex, by defending the weaker Sex: that they wou [...]d, at length, bid adieu to this long-liv'd Cacoethes, and no longer be constant to that viti­ous practice, in which Inconstancy is a Vertue.

THe worm of Curiosity hath de­voured much paper since the in­vention of the Presse.1. §. The greatest number of Writers, throughout all Ages, have spent their Ink in curing Tetters, not Maladies of concernment in the Body of the Church. They have spent their pains in cutting of Cummin-seed, by their nice division▪ [Page 54] Mat. 23. 23. neglecting weightier things, and dealing with necessary Truths as if they laboured with a Noli me tangere. These Divines (like Aristotle's Com­mentators) have taken voluminous pains about matters very triviall and of no moment. Iohannes de Rada hath fill'd two large Volumes with the needlesse Controversies in agitation betwixt the Thomists and Sc [...]tists. And the Dominicans and Iesuites have crowded whole Libraries with their endlesse quarrells about Grace and Free-will.Fr. Ribe­ra in c. 14▪ Apocal. Ribera andLessius l. 13. de Moribus divinis, [...]. 24. Lessius have spent many fruitlesse thoughts about the locality and extent of the fire of Hell. The latter contends, that one Dutch mile in diameter is sufficient for a locall Hell, because that space cubically multiplied will make a sphere compre­hensive of eight hundred thousand mi­lions of damned bodies (allowin [...] each body six foot square,) which (saith he) is abundantly capable, for there will not be an hundred thousand millions of them. How numberlesse are the Questions of School-men con­cerning [Page 55] the First Adam and the Mo­ther of the Second; and the things pos­sible in respect of Gods Absolute Pow­er? How many have rais'd such Quaeries as these? How could Adam hear a Serpent speak, and yet be de­void of suspicion? How could he walk out of the Paradise of Inno­cence into the Wilderness of Sin? out of that spotless state of Life, into the chambers of Death? he having faculties not immers'd in Ignorance, and therefore not to be imposed up­on: and he must either be drawn in­to sin by deceit, or rush into it by wilfullness; and the latter speaks the depravity of his Will, which was good and innocent. How did his own Rib become such a Bow as killed him at the first shoot? he having no inward corruption ready to assent. How could LazarusJoh. 11. 44.come forth, when his feet were bound with Grave-clothes? How can the body of aMat. 19 24.Camell, exceeding by infinite dimensions the compasse of a needles eye, be, in possibility, circumscribed [Page 56] by so narrow a superficies? or was not the originall word [...], which signifieth a cable, and not [...]? and if so, whether so great a body, being untwisted and reduced to its constituting parts, cannot enter in at so narrow a gate? [...]ith many more unnecessary Disquisi [...]ions, quae nec scientem juva [...]t, nec ignoranti nocent, which neither help him that knows them, nor hurt him that knows them not, (as theRemonst. [...] Prfae. ad Conf. Remonstrants speak) and are onely fit for—pleno [...]idet Cal [...]hurnius [...]. Horat. Calphurnius and Democri­tus to make merry with. Tannerus the Iesuite is in hot pursuit a [...]ter Tobies Dogge, and with earnestness averrs his existence to be an article of Faith. Dave­ [...]antius de Iudice & [...]orma [...]i­ [...]ei, c. 5. Tobiam Canem habuisse, esse. Fidei no­strae articulum magnis clamor [...]bus conten­dit. An English Divine onceIn a Ser­mon at S. Maries in [...]amb. on [...] Sam. 17. [...]. enter­tain'd his Auditory with a discourse concerning the dimensions of Goliah's beam: which extorted this expression [...]rom one then present, The man hath not di [...]inity enough to save the soul of a Gnat, About the year 1605. there was a great controversie betwixt ma­ster [Page 57] Broughton and Mas [...]r A [...]sworth, whether the lining o [...] [...] Ephod was Blew, or Sea-water-Gr [...]en.

Thus Pebbles are ushered in by the hand of corrupt fancy,2 §. and possesse the place of Pearls: and Learned men (with the mighty Navy of Caligula) gather Cockle-shels, and neglect mat­ters of greater value. Thus, by hand­ling nicities, they endeavour to shew their wit, for their own applause, and will not bring a drop towards the quenching of the fire of dangerous He­resies, whereby they may shew their zeal for the glory of God. Thus most of our own Writers, of this present Generation, do bonas horas malè colloca­re, spend much paper de lana caprina, and scarce a single leaf toward the redemption of the Golden Fleece. A­midst the thousands of Books, there's scarce one Cover for the Deitie of Christ. If I should make enquiry af­ter its Defenders, I should not be an­swered by one of a thousand. The Arian Devill possesseth many; but [Page 58] how few do endevour to cast him out? Numerous Polemicall pages have dai­ly recourse to the Presse, which might be omitted without detriment to the Christian Cause; of which I mention none, lest I should seem to let slip any: but how few Quills flie the right way? How few hands of these rea­dy writers are lifted up again [...]t the Gi­antlike heresie of Arius, which defieth and debaseth GodsHeb. 1. 9. Anointed, which hath many, and those lea [...]ned and crafty, abettors? This Heresie is the main, if not the one thing necessary in doctrine to be opposed. This is even the whole Militia of the Prince of Darknesse, whereby he fortifies his black Territories; an Engine that strikes at the Ground [...]work of Chri­stianity; as the ensuing Paragraph doth make manifest.

As earthly Kings are said to bePlato a­ [...]ud Cau [...]. [...]n Polyhist. Symb. l. 5. [...]ymb. [...]8. [...], Gods amongst men: 3 § so the Heavenly King Iesus was [...] God-man. Now the [...], the word of reconciliation [Page 59] of God and Man, having this truth for its foundation, the utterMat. [...] 25, 39. [...]. Enemy of Mankind, he who is neither God nor Man, hath endeavoured to pos­sesse the world with this destructive Opinion, That Christ is not God, but Man. It hath been the attempt of fallen Lucifer Isa. 14. 12. the son of the morning, in all Ages, to represent theMalac. 4▪ 2. Sun of Righ­teousnesse not as an Heavenly Light, but as a Sublunary Meteor. This Red Dragon's tail hath been alwayes instru­mentall, not onely inRev. 12. 4. drawing down the third part of the Stars, but even him that made them, andi. e. one­ly making him Man [...]Homo ab humo. laying him levell with the earth in the mind of credulous Mortality. He hath e­vermore made his assaults against the Eph. 2 20. chief Corner-stone of Christianity, hereby laying a surer foundation for his strong holds. And what way more compendious? hâc itur ad Astra, by these means the Dominions of Hell are as highly exalted as those of Hea­ven. For victory over the kingdome of Satan being promised solely1 Cor. 15. 57. through Christ Iesus, if assent be yielded to this [Page 60] perswasion, that thisHeb. 2. [...] this Captain of our Salvation is no more then humane, Hell will still triumph, and march on in it [...] bloom and verdure, and say, O Christ, where is thy victory? whilest no greater strength then what a Man affords doth wield that Sword which pretends its overthrow. And1 Joh. 5. 5. who is he that o­vercometh the world, bu [...] he that believeth that Iesus is the Son of God? This fiery dart of Satan hath been the most pernicious incendiary in the Church of God: and we have no lesse testi­mony then that ofEras. [...]chol. in [...]. Hier. [...] 2. ep. [...]amaso. Erasmus to confirm it, who, although a favourer of this Opinion, hath thus written, Nulla hae­resis gra [...]ius afflixit totius orbis Ecclesias, quàm Arianorum: and, you know, the case is plain, when men are judged out of their own mouthes. ‘Horat. [...] Arte [...]oet. Intererit muli ùm, Davúsne loquatur Erós [...]e.’

The men of this Nation may, [...]4 §. from the sad Topick of Experie [...]ce, de­rive too many Arguments to evince [Page 61] that the Enemy hath sowed these Tares in this Land. It is true, when England was in its glory, a messenger sent out to find an Arian Heretick might have returned with a vix est in­ventus, Socrate [...]. as he did with a non est, after search made for a Wiseman. Such traytorous principles against the King of Heaven wereSalvo E­piscopo Sal­va pax est. Tertul. de Bapt. pag. 710. kept in exile by the grave censure of Episcopall jurisdicti­on. But since the glory departed from our Israel, since Head-pieces were in more request then Mitres, since ruder Drumms and Trumpets outvoyc'd the melody of more sacred Organs, the old Serpent hath cast his skin, and re­newed the vigour of his youth, and hath vented this Venome with too plentifull an effusion, and with too great successe. We may utter the [...]ame now whichHier. ep. Damaso, p. 45. Saint Hierome did of old, Ariana rabies fremit, The rage of the Arian Heresie grows headstrong and tumultuous, it is even become a popular frenzy. Since the Spirituall Courts were thrown down, this Con­cilium vanitatis (forCypr. Exp. symb. p. 264. so the doctrine [Page 62] of Arius is called by Saint Cyprian) is reared up. It is a sign the Gardiners Knife is in its sheath, when such ve­nomous Weeds do riot in their growth.

This Socinian Heresie hath of late,5 §. without much regret, found enter­tainment in the breasts of many, being usher'd in by the plausible insinuation of a blamelesse life. Its Professours pretend to be men of a pious conversa­tion, and to be zealous for the Lord of Hosts: but it is evident that their zeal hath eaten him up; for they deny him who is the same with him whom they affirm they worship. But certainly opinions are not to be taken up meerly upon the seeming, yea, or reall Holi­nesse of those that hold them. The Vide Pe­trum Ber­tium in vita Ar­minii. orphans of Arminius, according to their duty and his deservings, afford­ed large Eulogies of the devout life of their deceased Father. Whereup­on Vind. Gratiae. Resp. ad praef. exam. lib Per­ [...]infiani. one of our Learned Supralapsari­ans takes occasion to write thus, Quid superest agendum, quàm ut cujusvis The­ologi, [Page 63] quantacunque eruditione fulti, quan­tacunque sanctitate celebra [...]i, dogmata Isa. 8. 20. ad Legem & testimonium, tanquam ad Lydium Lapidem, explorentur? i. e. The most learned and most religious men's opinions are to be put upon their try­all before the Scripture, the judge of Controversies. But I suppose that, without a transgression of the limits of Charity, I may affirm that the Socini­ans, for the most part, are good one­ly in shew, and bad in deed; that, like Harpies, they have the Face of an An­gell, but the Talons of an Eagle. For the consistence of the true Catholick Church with one fundamentall Errour in all of its members, is as impossible to conceive, as to frame an Idea of God and Belial in a combination: and it is not ordinary, but barely possible to be a good Christian, and yet erre in one fundamentall Point of the Chri­stian Doctrine. I adde possible; for theMat. 20. 21. Disciples of Christ, after much converse and numerous instructions,Act. 1. 6. thought the gold of the New Ierusalem not re [...]ined from corporeall drosse, [Page 64] they imagined that the Kingdome of Christ was even like the Paradise of Mahomet, sensuall, not spirituall. And Act. 19. 2 the holy Dove was not so much as arrived at the ears of the C [...]ristians of Ephesus, They had not so much as heard whether there were an Holy Ghost. And the good Synes [...]us, whom Evagr. Ec. hist. l. 1. cap. 15. Phot. My­riobib. cod. 26. Ecclesiasticall Story records as rich­ly embellished with Christian graces, and whose life as well as learning ad­vanced him to the dignity of a Bishop of the Catholick Church, [...]id not ful­ly embrace the doctrine of the Resur­rection: although at length Heaven crown'd his Soul with the belief of that necessary Article. And how much soe­ver the modern Socinians have preten­ded to the maintenance of Piety, 'tis certain (asD. Ham­mond in Fundam. p. 46, 47. one of the Worthies of our Israel observes) they have taken out one principall Stone from the Foundation of it, the1 Tim. 3. 16. This could not be said, if he were not first God before he was thus made ma­nifest by the means of his In­ca [...]nation. [...], God made manifest in or by the flesh. This, I am fully perswaded, is a great truth, that their Heresie is a quencher of the spirit of true Piety. [Page 65] For if it were not the Son of God by eternall generation that was incarnate, the Love of God towards Mankind in Christ Iesus would wax cold: men might without an unholy boldness ask, what needs anJoh. 3. 16. [...], so God loved the world that he sent Christ? a sic without a sicut? What needs that expression beyond hyperbole,Ephes. 2. 7. [...], the excee [...]ing riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Christ Iesus? and1 Joh. 4. 9. parallell expressi­ons running through the whole vein of Sacred Writ? Upon this account Men would apprehend God to be (asTheod. Ecc. hist. l. 1. c. 14. Sozom. Eccl▪ hist. l. 2. c. 28. A­rius was by the just judgement of the Lord) without bowels; and so serve him as Slaves, out of fear, not as Sons, out of love. Again, The issue of the belef of Christ to be mere Man, is the Presumption of some, and the De­spair of others. Many will presume, building heaven upon the Quick-sands of their own imaginary Righteousness, and considering that they are men, [Page 66] and Christ no more, will not give au­dience to the offer of an imputed me­rit. Many will despair; for they ma­king a more exact enquiry then the former, will experimentally find that Jam. 3. 2. in many things they offend, and that these affronts against an Infinite Maje­sty cannot be expiated by a finite Man: whereupon they split presently against the Rock of Ages considered as Man, who might support them considered as God. Thus, by this Heresie men make shipwrack of Faith in the very haven of Salvation, and stumble at him who should guide their feet in t [...]e way of peace.

The weapons which Hereticks use in their encounters against the Deity of Christ are,6. §. most of them, taken out of the armory of carnall Reason. They cannot apprehend the consistence of a Trinity of Persons with an identity of Essence. If w [...] [...] insanire (say they) we do insanire cum ratione, for our Reason tells us that it is a strange Paradox, that Christ [...]hould be eternall, and yet [Page 67] begotten; that the Essence of the Fa­ther and the Son should not admit a numericall difference; with a vo­lume of the like corrupt reasonings: whilest in the mean time they attend not to the dictates of sober and well-regulated Reason, whose language is, ThatQuaedam sic subsunt fidei, quòd secundum communem cu [...]sum hu­manae co­gnitionis non suntde­monstr abi­lia, ut, De [...] unum in es­s [...]ntia esse trinum in personis; et, Illud sup­positum esse Deum & Hominem. Durand. in Prol. sent. qu. 1. num. 39. the things of God are above reason; That an Elephant may swim in the waters of the Sanctuary; That Greg. Fides non habet meritum ubi humana ra­tio quaerit experimentum; That an En­titie by participation hath not so com­prehensive a capacity, as to have a distinct, clear, and full notion of a Being by essence. The incomparable Gassend. in lib. 10. Diog. La­ert p. 647. Gassendus, to pluck the plumes and curb the Curiosity of some Philoso­phers, who would not content them­selves with lesse then the indagation of whole nature, thus reasons against their irrationality; Qualis artifex es­set Deus, si posset homuncio metiri com­prehendereque ingeniolo suo opus Creatio­nis? What a mean workman would God be, if so narrow an Intellect as that of Man could comprehend the [Page 68] whole frame of the work of his hands? And if this be so high a disparagement to his workmanship, what is the other to his Being?B. Hall, Contem. Angel and Zach. If Reason will be en­croaching upon the bounds of Faith, she is presently taken captive by Infi­delity. We are not fit to follow Christ if we have not denyed our selves, and the chief piece of our selves is our Reason. Such objections which make Sarah serve Hagar, which make Faith the handmaid o [...] Reason, are unworthy a serious examination. No arguments are suggested to the So­cinians by the Oracles of God: no such Mudde hath commerce with these Waters of Life: no such corrupt Fruit is brought forth by this Tree of Life: this Pot of Manna gives admis­sion to no such Worm: the Word written testifies that Christ is [...]he Word eternall. Yet these men endeavour to extract their Poyson ou [...] of this Physick of the So [...]l; which I shall declare in examin [...] one of [...]heir Ob­jections from Scripture which I find Fulgent. [...]bject. Ar. discuss. in Fulgentius, whereby will be dis­covered, [Page 69] that what the profaneApud E­piscop. El. Resp. ad Bellarm. apolog. pag. 260. Scri­ptura inst [...]r v [...]gin [...] est, quae quem­libet gladium admittit, etiam plumbeum vel ligneum. Coste­rus asserted concerning the Scripture, they strive to verifie; to wit, that it is a Sheath which will admit any kind of Sword, even a leaden or wooden one.

Object. 7 §. What is Man that he should prie into the arcana of his Maker? If he will soar alo [...]t and face the Sun, the just recompence of his labour in vain is to be scorched and sent back headlong. What the Scripture pro­claims as dubious, and not attainable by the most sublimated endeavours of mortality, that Man must not dare to resolve by a peremptory determinati­on: But the Scripture speaks expresly, Isa. 53. 8. Who shall declare his Generation? there­fore it is high presumption thus to de­termine, The Generation of Iesus Christ is an eternall Generation.

Respons. Thus to determine is not with too curious an eye to peep into the Ark, or to encroach upon the my­steries of heaven: But this is to re­sound [Page 70] the common voyce of Scri­pture. As for the place al [...]edged, it is sent of a wrong errand, and comes in here to no purpose. For to assert the eternall Generation of Christ, is not to declare his Generation: for that speaks a particular explication of the manner of his Generation, and denotes the [...], whenas we contend onely for the [...]. Hear how the Ele­gant Fulg. Obj. Ar. disc. Resp. [...]d 1. [...]bj. Fulgentius defeats this weak ene­my. Quia Filii generatio enarrabilis est, ignorabilis non est: neque enim consequens est, ut quod non potest enarrari non potest sciri; cùm nullus Deum val [...]at enarrare, nec impunè tamen liceat ali [...]ui ignorare. Et paul [...] [...]frd V [...] ­ram filii nativita te [...] datum vobis est cognoscere; licet datum non f [...] qua­liter na [...]us fuit enar­ [...]are. Pro­pheta non dixit, Generationem ejus quis cogno [...]it? sed, quis de­cl [...]ravit? 'Tis not consequentiall arguing from a not-declaring to a not-knowing: A declaration of God is not possible with man; and yet an ignorance of God shall not go unpunished. We say then concerning the eternall Genera­tion of Christ, what the GreatTilen▪ syntag. Theolog. de Deo ess. uno perso [...]is [...]ino. Tile­nus hath written concerning the un­searchable [Page 71] Trin-unity, [...] satìs per­spicuè tradit Scriptura, [...] verò ipsis quoque Angelis est [...]. That it is so, we have the evidence of the Scripture; but in what manner it is, we have the Ignorance even of the Angels.

By this single Instance it may ap­pear, how the polluted breath of the Socinians soileth the lustre of the brigh­test steel, how their corrupt Glosses obscure the perspicuity of Scripture. And, in my opinion, in theseJud. 16. 19. locks of their perverting Gods volume, in their evasions of places which pro­claim aloud the falsity of their Te­nents, lyeth their chief strength. As the followers of the P [...]olemaicall Sy­steme have, by their Cycles and Epi­cycles, Eccentricks and Concentricks, put the Planets into an heavenly laby­rinth and a learned perplexity: so these men by their Distinctions and Criticismes, and Shifts and Querks, make the most plain Scriptures inevi­dent, and put a cloud upon the clea­rest Truths; making a Labyrinth of a [Page 72] clue, and a Wildernesse of a well-shap'd Grove. Whereupon it is ne­cessary that they be encountred by able Champions.

Now you Lovers of Christ that are men of Learned strength,8 §. come out to fight the battail of Iesus, to help the Lord against the mighty. Quit your selves like men against this un­circumci [...]ed Goliah. Take1 Sam. 17. 40. stones out of the Scripture, the brook of the wa­ter of Life, which may make this Monster surrender his being: fling them with so powerfull an arm, that these dogs may not so much as snarl. Give these Hereticks no rest till you have led them captive. Men of that rank will construe your Silence, though out of contempt, an Overthrow. Fight 1 King. [...]2. 31. neither with great Erro [...]rs, if they be buried in silence and not revived, (if such a supposition may take place in these dayes, wherein all Heresies of former Ages live again by a Diaboli­call [...]) neither with small Errours, they being not so malignly [Page 73] influentiall upon Christian practice: but principally pursue this King of He­resie. Make no delay.2 Chron. 20. 17. To morrow go out against him, and the Lord will be with you.

Now if any man should call upon me with an Ede tua, 9. §. you who are thus zealous for this cause, make the at­tempt your self; I must reply, by way of Apology, that my slender accom­plishments are unfit for so weighty a work, my strength bears no proporti­on to my will. Yet although I am not of ability to perform the race, I have not been wholly wanting, but have brought this spur, to quicken men suf­ficient for these things. I have here brought this drop, making as ample a contribution towards the extinguish­ing of these unhappy flames as was producible by my weak Endeavours. The tribute of these lines is abundant­ly due unto the God of Caesar: Now Greg. E­pist. be­fore his Observ. Rays of incidency contract no warmth if they be not reflected back towards their originall Sunne. And [Page 74] I should have manifestly declared, that the beamings of the Sun of Righ­teousness had not enkindled in me re­ciprocall flames, if I should have de­nyed to rebound all my received ta­lents towards the redemption of his honour. These poor mites, with the favourable influence of heaven, may tend to the advancement of the glory of my Saviour. ForGazzi pia [...]ilaria. adinit.

NowM. Geo. Herbert in his Letter to the [...]ranslat. of Jo. Val­de [...]. Div. Considera. as the devout Herbert spake concerning Valdesso's Considerations, which mention with reverence and frequency the name of Christ; I will say concerning these few pages which mention the Deity of Christ, with a de­sire to have that doctrine res [...]ued, that, Were there nothing else, I would print them, that with them the honour of my Lord might be p [...]blished.

IT is not the part of a Man to exer­cise care and vigilancy over but one Part of Man.1 §. To be somewhat ceremonious about the Body, is nei­ther Dotage nor Superstition: Dust requires a Grave, Ashes an Urne. Let such asApud Te [...]t. ad [...] Marc. l. [...] p. 324. Marcion declame against their materiall part, and spit the ve­nome [Page 76] of their malice against the handy-work of their Creatour. Let such asApud P. Gassend. in lib. 10. Diog. La­ert. circa pag. 5 [...]0. Epicu [...]us, who terminate their hopes at the approach of Death, and ch [...]rish no after-considerations, expose the breathlesse Body to hard­ship and incivilities.

Indeed,2 §. the rude and Eth [...]ick inha­bitants of the Scythian Province Bactra Canes a­pud illos alunt quos sepulchrales vocant, qui­bus paren­tes morbo aetateve confectos objiciunt dilaceran­dos. One­ [...]crit. have their Sepulchrall Dogs, and in their bellies do savagely en [...]omb the bodies of the Aged: at which cu­stomary Folly amongst these people I cannot cease to wonder, since they had a King, a man of sublimated reason, and theZ [...]roa­ [...]tres Rex Bactriano [...]um primus dicitur ar­ [...]es Magi­ [...]as inve­ [...]isse. Ju­ [...]tin. Hist. [...]ib. 1. Primitive searcher into the Arcana of Nature, which [...]ath pre­gnantAs 1 Cor. 5. 36. in grain, and in the reviving a plant out of i [...]'s ashes, &c. semblances of the Re [...]urrecti­on. Mecaenas also is wholly regard­lesse of his en [...]errment, and must needs declare so much in a Poeticall line, ‘Non tumulum curo, sepelit Natura relictos.’ [Page 77] And I wonder not at his careless mind, since he was practically ignorant of a future state, and by his debauched and dissolute carriage hadTeste Pe­tro de Loier lib. de Spect [...]. & Appar. c. 6. p. 59. made his Bo­dy it self a Sepulchre containing no­thing but corruption: since it was an object offensive to all the Senses, and a morsell ready prepared for the Pa­lates of Worms. Diogenes through­out his whole life treated the compa­nion of his Soul with harsh usage and severity: and at his death was not willing to gratifie it with so much as a Tub for it's protection. He desired no otherCic. Tus. quaes. lib. 1. jussit cadaver su­um inhu­matum re­jici. Canopy besides the curtains of Heaven, and would not condescend so far as to lye below the superficies of the Earth.Quaeren­tibus ami­cis, volu­crib [...]sne & feris corpus su­um dilani­andum vel­let relin▪ qui, Mini­me, inquit, sed bacil­lum apud me, quo illos abi­gam, to [...]i­to [...]e. Cic▪ ibid. When his friends, out of a courteous intent, intimated to him how, by this means, he would expose his Body to the cruelty of Birds and Beasts; he replyed in no fairer lan­guage then this scoff, Provide me a stick which I may have in readinesse to pre­vent their approach. Neither is this worthy to be entertained with an ad­miring thought, for Dogs will bark at [Page 78] the Moon her self, and a Cynick will snarl at the brightest actions.

But true Christians have learned otherwise,3 §. and allow that which Christ hath redeemed a civill deposi­tion, a decent Repose. Adam had a worthy Sepulchre, whichD. Kellet in miscel­lan. of Div. videat [...]r c. 5. p. 13. some af­firm to have been Calvarie, Aquin. 3. pars qu. 46. art. 10. 3. others in Hebron, but few deny to have been. Likewise Abraham and Isa [...]c had rich and stately Sepulchres inErasm schol. in E­pist. Hier. ad Marcel­lam. Arbe in the tribe of Iudah. 2 Paral. 35. 24. se­pul [...]us in Mausoleo patrum. Iosiah was buried in the Mausoleum of his Fathers, accor­ding to the Vulgar Translation. And SaintHier. Ep. [...]o. 1. Epist. ad Ma [...]c. In David. [...]rare mau­soleo. Hierome makes mention of the Mausoleum of David. Even the hea­thenish Babylonians were ceremonious about the dead body, [...], accordingHerod. Clio, cap. 198 to Herodotus, with much solemnity they buried it in honey. So likewise were the Egyptians, who bu­ried it in [...], Herod. Thalia, cap. 24. glasse; a perspicuous em­bleme of its frail constitution. What [Page 79] the crafty Vibulenus Apud Ta­cit. Annal. l. 1. c. 22. ubi cada­ver [...]bj [...]ce­ [...]is? [...] hostes qui­dem sepul. turam in­vident. spake pathetical­ly to Blaesus is true and antient, Even Enemies deny not Buriall to each other. The Jews, that denyed their Messias life, objected not a word, that we read of, against his having a Sepul­chre. He was entomb'd byIoseph of Ar. Mark 15. & Ni­cod. John 19. noble hands, and not without usuall cere­monies: and laud abiliter commemor antur in Evangelio qui corpus ejus de cruce ac­ceptum diligenter atque honorifice tegen­dum atque sepeliendum curarunt, their praise is in the Gospell who were offi­ous in this kind, according toAugust. l. 1. de Civit. Dei, c. 13. S. Augu­stines observation. If we will creditPlin. lib. 11. Nat. hist. c. 18. Pli­ny, we may descend a step lower, and contemplate funerall Exequies in the Commonwealth of Bees: Apes defun­ctas progerunt, & funer antium more co­mitantur exequias. Christ pronounced Mat. 23. 29. a Woe against the Scribes and Pha­risees building the Sepulchres of the Prophets, and adorning the monu­ments of the just: therebyNon re­prehendit quod [...]dificarent sepulchra prophetaru [...], sed quod hepocritic [...] animo [...]oc facerent & ambi [...]ioso. Bredem [...]ach. in locum. not re­prehending [Page 80] the act simply considered, and in it self, which was good and warrantable; but that which attended it, to wit, their vanity and ostentation; they endeavoring to palliate their more secret crimes, and gild them over with exteriour performances, and to seem to the world to be zealous followers of those whose very places of buriall they so studiously preserved: which Christ, the searcher of their hearts, per­ceived, and intimated so much whilst he call'd them Hypocrites. Civill rites performed upon the Body after the dislodging of the Soul, speak aloud our hopes of their re-union. The acute Doctor of the Gentiles draws an Ar­gument as powerfull as a cloud of witnesses, to testifie the Re [...]urrection, out of the1 Cor. 15. 29. water in which the Corin­thians immers'd the body in their fune­rall solemnities. [...];

But the affectation of Epitaphs is4 §. [Page 81] justly censurable, and the practice tri­viall and uselesse. Most of those who have been so passionately transported as to write their own Epitaphs, have thereby eternized their Pride and Haughtyness, which above all things abhorrs a Register; and whereby to be immortall is to condescend to the design of the obscure Herostratus. For instance consider that inAul. Gel. Noct. Att. l, 1. c. 24. A. Gellius of the Poet C. Naevius,

Or that ofGraec. Epig. l. 3. Iulian, into which he thrust a verse out of the third of the Iliads, dedicated by the pen of Homer to the immortality of Agamemnon, who wasAgam. quem Alex­ander ma­gnus pra­ [...]mnibus probavit. Obsopaeus priz'd by Alexander the Great a­bove all other Worthies. Or that upon the fam'dOf Dr. Caius in his Coll. Chappel. laterall Monument of Eng­land, Fui Caius, I was Caius. Or that of him, who in good opinion of himself went beyond those of China, supposing himself to have two Eyes, and adjudg­ing all the learned world besides to blindness, Scaligeri quod reliquum est, [Page 82] Here's all that remains of the great Scaliger. In all which the Authours afford themselves most emphaticall commendations.

As for Epitaphs, 5 §. they were ofTheir Orig. was from the Scholars of the Heathen Poet Li­ [...]us, upon their Ma­ster: whence Aelinus. Pa­gan institution, and can ple [...]d nothing but prescription, and that more Hea­thenish then Christian. Throughout the whole Book of God honourable mention is made of Sepul [...]ure, none of Epitaphs. And Christians, whose monuments have been thus scribled, for the most part have had their Epi­taphs forced upon their Executo [...]rs by some Poeticall Sycophant, some purse­milking Rimer; or else too willingly contributed by some stinging Satyrist, an avowed enemy of the deceased per­son. Indeed Epitaphs abstracted from the interest of persons, and consider­ed without the byasse of prejudice or officiousnesse, may passe [...]olerably in a notion; but the practice will alwayes be accompanied with the fore-menti­oned associates.

[Page 83] The learnedM. Cam­den in his Remains. Clarenceaux enume­rates four uses of Epitaphs; 6 §. which, I suppose, he reckons according to the common opinion of those that affect them, and not according to his parti­cular judgement: for then I should scarce presume so highly as to contra­dict that knowing Worthie; although I am not ignorant, that a man may erre by great Example, and that Nul­lum magnum ingenium est sine mixtura dementiae, is a Truth in reference to Principles as well as Practises.

The first pretended use is,7 §. Love shewed in them to the deceased. But composers of Epitaphs strive to shew their Wit, not their Love. He shew'd neither, who made himself and his subject ridiculous to after-Ages by the composing of this Epitaph;

Or the Author of that upon William Longspee base sonne to Hen. 2. by Ro­samond [Page 84] daughter to Walter Lord Clifford, in a simple allusion to his name,

There be passages enough for thee to vent thy Love, and more perhaps then thou wilt willingly make use of; and those of a more noble strain. As by being pathetically ceremonious in the decentGen. 3. 19. Pulvis es, & in pulverem reverteris. restitution of his Body; as did the Aegyptian Queen towards the departed M. Anthony. By a vin­dication of his Credit, if called in question by malevolent tongues: As Tertul. Apol. c. 38. Diog. La­ert. l. 10. Seneca l. de vita be­ata. many have shewed kindnesse to Epi­curus, in wiping off the aspersions of his sensuality and brutish behaviour, by shewing his obedience to theHieron. Ep. to. 2. lib. 2. adv. Iovin. E­picurus volupta [...]is assertor om [...]es libros suos replevit holeribus & po [...]is, & vilibus cibis dicit esse vivendum; qui [...] carnes & exquisitae epulae majorem poenam habent in inquirendo, quam usum in abutendo. Sto­icks [...], and declaring that his pursuit was after Spirits, not Dregs; after the refined Pleasure of the Mind, not the faeculent delight of the Body. By Liberality of head and hand, in [Page 85] counselling or relieving those of Con­sanguinity or Familiarity with thy de­ceased Friend: contrary to the pra­ctice ofPedro Mexia, Hist. Rom. Imp. in Iust. 2. Iustinian the second, who having lost his Kingdome and Nose by the cruelty of the Usurper Leontius, and being, after a tedious exile, repos­sess'd of the former, caus'd some of the friends of Leontius to be put to death, as often as he would have wiped his Nose if he had had it. If thy friend was a good man, endeavour not to express thy love in Verse; for that will be a vain attempt, for thou wilt go beyond his worth, and turn Para­site: now Love and Flattery Non be­ne conveniunt, scarce admit of a mutu­all Copulation. Follow him, not with the feet of a Poeticall Fancy, but with the feet of a godly Conversation: and therein will be the expression of thy Love towards him and his; for so his Memory survives in thee, whilst thou treadest in his steps, and thou li­vest thy Friend over again. Herein will the fire of thy Love sparkle and shine forth, in that thou art so diffu­sive [Page 86] of thy goodnesse towards his friends, as to continue in thee the good example which was set before them in him; abolished by Death to their Detriment, but revived by thee to their Benefit. If thy Friend whom Death hath taken into possession was, whilst living, a whelp of the roaring Lion, a son of his father the Devill, a drop belonging to the bottomlesse pit, when thou writest his Epitaph, thou blottest out thine own love. Thou she west not thy Affection, but thy In­discretion, in the discovery of his Na­kednesse, and in the exposing to pub­lick view of present and future times the deviations of his life. Now if thou writest, thou art bound to do this by the law of Sincerity, which layes an engagement upon thee to de­cipher him with the pencill of truth; and not, where he is defic [...]ent, to adde colour of thine own: as Xenophon is supposed to have done in his Cyrus, and is therefore accounted by some a Pain­ter rather then an Historian, a setter of a Pattern for a good Prince, not a [Page 87] writer of a Description of a Prince so good. The most sensible evidence of thy Love to such a person, which can come within the compasse of imagi­nation, is, not the writing of his E­pitaph, but the not transcribing of so foul a Copy; the making him one of thine Antipodes, and not making him still live by thine imitation: for here­by, in probability, thou wilt cease from contributing more links to his everlasting chains, from heaping more coals upon his head, who is in the midst of an intolerable Furnace. For so some make conjecture from the im­portunity ofLuc. 16. 27. Dives in the wildernesse of Hell with Abraham in the typifi'd Canaan for a Monitor for his Bre­thren, that, since there is not a spark of true Charity in the flames of Hell, and that they onely harbour a self-re­spect, the Torments of the Damned receive addition according to the ex­tensivenesse of their bad Example in the practice of their followers.

The second pretended use is,8 §. that [Page 88] thereby the Memory is continued to Posterity. But how is this agreeable to Epitaphs in their minority? unto the custome in their first inst [...]tution? when they were onely mournfull Dir­ges sighed out with affectionate lungs at the interrment of the dead, exist­ing onely vivâ voce, and dying with that breath which gave them life. Gor­dianus lives, and his memory is with us untill this day, notwithstanding It is pe­ [...]ished, though it was in 5. languages▪ the five-fold dissolution of his Epi­taph. The memory of Adrian must needs be conveyed to us after a more comely manner then that of his Horse; and yet time hath spared the Beasts E­pitaph, but not his Masters. Noble atchievements and Learned accom­plishments will transmit the Memory to after-ages, without the favour of the tongue of an Epitaph, and in de­spite of the teeth of Time;

To which may be joyned that of the Lofty Virgil,

Caesar will live till the funerall of the world in his Commentaries: and Cardan, in his own opinion,Stella Fomahan [...] immorta­lem da. bit. Card. in his Fomahant. Horace was perswaded that his poeticall feet would carry him to Immortality, and make his Name du­rable beyond brazen Statues and state­ly Pyramids.

And Naso told the world, he should live to the end of it in his Metamor­phosis:

Neither of them trusted to the cour­tesie of an Epitaph to enroll their names in an everlasting Register. If the par­ty that hath felt the arrow of death, was o [...] a bad life and an inglorious Name, wayes had need be invented to obliterate, not to perpetuate, his Me­mory. What well-regulated mind would desire to be [...] remem [...]red like Thersites for his cowardise? or to exist like Herostratus to succeeding years (and as many subsist in this present Age) by the firing of a Temple?

Some Epitaphs take notice onely of an empty title, as that upon the tomb of that famous Rowland Nephew to Charles le magne, slain in the battell of Roncivalles, and enterred at Blauz in Xantogne, which declared that he was Selden. Tit. of Ho­nour, part. 2. cap. 5. Primus Comes Palatinus. And some make mention onely of a bare Name, as thatHolland in vita [...] ­jus. of him who was called by those of his Sect, Angliae Res [...]aura [...]or ‘[Page 91]Depositum Cardinalis Poli.’ And how doth the Memory of worthy mortalls ride in triumph to futurity by such despicable supporters? Few Generous spirits are of Cardans mind, Cuperem notum esse quod sim▪ non opto u [...] scia [...]ur qua­lis sim Cardan. i [...] vita prop. who desired onely that it might be known That he was, not, What he was.

The third pretended use is,9 §. that hereby the Friends of the dead are comforted. Here every Epitaph is supposed to be [...] commen­datory, which is therefore [...] consolatory, according toErasm. [...] Epit. Ne [...] pot. Hie [...] ep. ad He [...] [...]iod. Na [...] aequiore [...] nimo fer [...] mus [...] mo [...] tem nostr [...] rum▪ si cu [...] laude d [...] cesserint [...] &c. Eras­mus; because the mind is the more calm and serene, when the departed hath left behind him a good Report. There is no mind so replenished with contradiction, as to d [...]ny that it is comfort to the surviving,Lipsius [...] Epist. cem [...] 5. Ep. 7 [...] ad H. V. post matris obitum. Magna vobis consolatio (tibi ac s [...] rori dico) quod piè vixerit, &c. when their dead relations go out, not like a Can­dle, but leave a fragrancy and lustre behind them, when they go into the land of rottennesse and the shadow of [Page 92] Death. But consider, that the Flow­ers strew'd upon the Grave of the deceased are even alwayes more beau­tifull then those to whom their Merits gave birth. It would have been ima­gined that the Epitaph of Cyrus could scarce have admitted an Hyperbole; and yetFlattery the worst [...]n man­ners. Sel­den in E­pist. be­fore Tit. [...]f Honour. that which is the worst in manners did take place in so high a degree, thatQuid am­ [...]lius prae [...]tenti & [...]m [...]ortali Deo tribui­ [...]us, fi quod [...] propri­ [...]m est eri­ [...]imus? Bo­ [...]in. de Re. [...]ub. lib. 1. [...] ult. God was debased in his exaltation: that what was attem­pted byIsa. 14. [...]4. Lucifer, and commanded by Domi­ [...]m se ac [...]eum ap­ [...]llari jus­ [...] Domitianus. Xiph. & Suet. in vit [...]. Mart. ep. l. 5. ep. 8. Edictum [...]omini Deique nostri. Domitian, was ascribed to him, to be1 Tim. 6. 15. [...]. like the most High; for on his Tomb wasEustath. ad Dionys. [...]. Strabo Geogr. l. 15. written for an Epitaph in Persian Characters ‘ [...].’ Certainly this could not be a cordiall to his fainting Friends; this wind of Ostentation could not blow over their showers of Tears; this fire of Pride would rather melt their cloudy thoughts into mournfull waters. Could [Page 93] there possibly have been knowledge of this in the Grave, that modest Prince would not have layn dry. Parallell to this is the Epitaph of that Martel of France, mentioned bySelden Tit. Hon. p [...]rt 1. c. 2. out of Hi [...] ­rom Bi­gnon. M. Selden out of a French Author, ‘Non vult regnare, sed regibus impe­rat ipse.’ The Comfort administred to the li­ving at the death of their beloved Friends is, their being registred in the book of God, not their being record­ed with praise in an Epitaph by man. If the deceased was not a guilelesse Is­raelite, no lively branch of the true Vine, no sprig of the tree of Life, but a fruitlesse branch fit for unquenchable fire, his Epitaph will be a memoriall of his evil, and so administer a conduit of tears for Sorrow, not a cruse of oile for Joy.Isidor. Illi deplorandi sunt in morte quos miseros infernus ex hac vita recipit.

But what if thy deceased Friend meets with aFuit M [...]r­ [...]ialis inge­n [...]o acri, et qui in scribendo et plurimum salis haberet et fellis. C. Plin. apud P. Crinitum in vita Mart. Martial to write his E­pitaph? [Page 94] How art thou comforted con­cerning him if he meets with ink which hath salt mixt with it? if the writer of his Epitaph hath in the place of a pen, the point of a Diamond, which cutteth glasse, defaceth the perspicuity of his name? What if he meets with a Poet, who, Pilat-like, crucifies him with a Superscription? How comfortable to the pensive spirit of a Mourner is such an Epitaph as Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury obtained, who was notable onely for a single ex­orbitancy, and that too such an one as, if lay'd in the ballance of these times, would not be found too light, but pass for currant, to wit, his being a little sacrilegious, and a disciple to Simon Magus? His Epitaph was no other then this,

[Page 95]The fourth pretended use is,10 §. that hereby the Reader is put in mind of Humane Frailty. But all Epitaphs have not memento's of Mortality: as for instance, that ofGrae [...]. Ep. l. 3. [...], &c. Q. Metellus is one of the number, rendred in Latine thus by Obsop. Comm. in Graec. Ep. Obsopaeus,

I acknowledge that some of them are spent in the discovery of the brittle e­state of man, declaring that even in his pomp and bloom he may fade and wither. Where by the way I cannot but take notice how grosse a soloecism is committed in most of them which are in Villages: their beginnings, for the most part, are with a Siste, viator, or heus Peripatetice, by which are de­noted travellers about their affairs, who passe by with speed, and taking small notice of things, being in transi­tu. Now how improper is this in Pa­rish Churches? few rodes lying through these temples, and few foot­paths [Page 96] through the King of Heaven's High-way.

I grant this, that Epitaphs have in them some characters representing a Deaths head, that they contain lessons of Mortality; and every man must grant also, that this is wholly need­lesse, for the stones themselves with which the Monument is built will speak so much: the Monument it self is of the self-same use, it beingMonu­mentum [...] monendo nos esse mortales. to admonish us of our Frailty. A Com­mon Grave is of sufficient height to give a prospect of the confines of Mortality, to give a view of the tran­sitory existence of mankind. The Sepulchre of what kind soever is suf­ficiently expressive of that▪ Now Co­lour upon Colour is ill Heraldry; and a super-addition, a superfluity.

Thus having shaked these four bran­ches,11. §. I am not able to gather from thence those fruits which men of pre­gnant fancy have created to them­selves.Conclusi­on. And now, if herein I have transgressed the limits of a sober dis­quisition, [Page 97] and am blame-worthy for not exhibiting a lesse peremptory cen­sure, (which my hope suggests will not be charg'd upon me) I crave the pardon of my judicious Reader, and am already upon my Knees: for it is not my Ambition to walk above o­thers with an exalted crest, or to tread contrary to others with the foot of Singularity.

AN eye lesse sparkling then that of Lynceus is quick enough to discern the wofull desolation of our English Si­on. 1 §. Our magnificent Diana is too ap­parently [Page 98] lay'd in ashes, and it's Lo­vers clad in sackcloth, by the fol­lowers of Herostratus. England had a Church which was the most exact transcript of the originall, the most lively pattern of Primitive constituti­on: but its native lustre is [...]efaced by the envious Galliardize of a titular Reformation. We may take up the assertion ofHier. Ep. ad Helio­dorum. E­pit. Nepot. S. Hierome concerning the calamities of the Church in gene­rall, and apply it in particular to the miseries of our own.Duos hi­storiae Prin­cipes nomi­nat, alte­rum Grae­cae, alte­rum Roma, nae; & Fabius Thucydidi oppenit Salustium, Herodoto Livium. Erasm▪ Schol. in locum. Ad haec meritò explicanda & Thucydides & Salustius mu­ti sint, If a compleat narration were required, both Thucydides and Salust might become tongue-ty'd.

If Ambition and Avarice be exce­pted,2 §. that which hath acted the largest part in these Tragicall Combustions hath been the fiery zeal of some pre­tending Reformers, whereby they en­deavoured not to purge, but burn up the Romish Church; to frame a new [Page 99] Church which was not, and not to re­pair the Church which was: they would be parents to beget a Church, not Physitians to heal one: they, like Novis [...] ma verb [...] Plut. de superst. [...] &c. those in Plutarch's time, embraced Atheisme and Profanation, to avoid Superstition. Happy had been their eyes, if they had not overlooked the decency observable in the Church of England, wherein someInit. Pre Com. Ceremonies were abolished, and some reteined; wherein flourished the happy medio­crity betwixt theProv. 3 [...] 8. riches of ceremo­nious vanity, and the poverty of Athe­isticall rudeness. It would have been worth their animadversion to have considered, That in the Geography of Religion, the Torrid zone is not un­der the Aequator but under the Poles; That the Extremes are dangerous, and the Mean amiable; That as he that is in aAurea [...] quisquis mediocri­tatem Di ligit, tut [...] caret obs [...] leti Sord [...] bus tecti, caret invi dendâ Sobrius aulâ. Hor. Ca [...] l. 2. od. 1▪ middle condition, is neither the object of the finger nor of the envy of the world; so he is with Iesus, that is betwixt two Thieves, neither of which can ever challenge the Epithet of Good. But these men make no Isthmus [Page 100] betwixt Scylla and Charybdis: they walk not as strangers, but as Antipodes to the Pope. Because the Papist calls upon Saints, the Puritan will not call them Saints. Because the Papist sometimes even [...] MS. hist [...]S. Walst. prefers Saints before God, the Puritan abaseth Saints even below men. Thus Chin [...]s hatt defies the Courtship of Tartary's shoe. Thus if the —By [...]ean of [...]alston [...]d Gods [...]ace. Hor. ser. [...]. sat. 2. rayment of Malthinus covers all, and sweeps the superficies of the earth, the rest will so epitomize their garb, that those parts of the body at whose non-concealment nature blu [...]eth will be destitute of a vail.

Thus is one affecteth onely Matrons, the others arms are clos'd to all but the maintainers of a Brothel-hou [...]e.

Thus folly runs against a Rock to e­scape the violence of a Wave. ‘[Page 101]Stulti dum vitant vitia in contraria currunt.’ One party must be Antarctick to the o­ther, and the mean neglected.Hier. ad [...] Vigilant. Episcopos Vigilantiu sui sceler [...] dicitur h [...] [...]ere con­sortes, si [...] men Epi­scopi nomi nandi su [...] qui non or­dinant Di aconos ni [...] pris uxo [...] res duxe rint. Vigi­lantius is of this opinion, that Deacons must of necessity have she-Associates: whilest he thus imposeth a wife upon the Clergy-man, the Romanist denyes him the solace of a meet help, and will sooner allow him anTurpissi­mum est quod Offi­ciales per­mittunt Clericos cum Cen­cubinis▪ me­retricibus & pellici­bus co [...]a­bitare, li­beros pro­creare si­nunt, accepto ab iis certo quotannis censu. Espen [...]aeus in Tits. cap. primo. Harlot then an Espouse: whilest the true doctrine hath its situation in the middle, and gives a liberty to live in a virginall or matrimoniall estate, according to eve­ry mans1 Cor. 7. 7. [...], his proper gift and capacity. True Christian liberty stands ‘—partes ubi se via findit in ambas,’ betwixt wild Licentiousnesse, and ty­rannicall Restraint. Remonst. Conf. Fidei in Praefal. Libertate abuti­tur tam qui ejus fibulam nimis licenter la­xat, quàm qui nimis arctè astringit: Ex­trema omnia vitanda sunt, & mediocri­tati litandum, quae tyrannidem inter & [Page 102] vagam atque effraenem licentia [...] media consistit. The true doctrine of provi­dence is in the middle, and hath on one hand the blind fortune of Epicureans, and on the other the irony fatality of the Stoicks andRem. ib. p. 6. de rovid. p. 3. Praedestinarians. The learnedBellarm. ontrov. to. Praef. [...] 2. Con­ov. Gen. [...]nto [...]ar­ [...]re in [...]tanca­ [...]m invehuntur, ut interim ad scopulum ipsi longè duriorem navicu­ [...]m suam allidant; dum enim utrique naturae Christi M [...]diatoris of­ [...]cia tribuunt, divinam Christi naturam et à Patris n [...]tura distin­ [...]unt, et rem creatam cum Arianis faciunt. Bellarmine chargeth the Tigu­rine and Geneva Ministers with com­plying with Arius, out of a passionate vehemency against Stancarus: But this is judged to be a causeless expro­bration.

If these Reformers proclaim Rome wholly Babel, 3 §. and to have nothing of Bethel; wholly Whore, and to have nothing of the Spouse; a denne of Thieves, and not at all to [...]e called the house of Prayer; If they be hot, and Rome cold; they fire, and Rome water; If they not onely go but runne from Rome, it will be a means, ut si veritas occultata jampridem sit, in aeter­num [Page 103] jaceat consepulta, (asGassend Exerc. Pa [...]radox. Ex [...] 2 [...]. p. 24▪ Gassendus spake of Authority in Philosophy) to keep the Candle eternally under a bu­shell, to hide the light of Truth from the eyes of both. Whereas if these would abate of their Presbyterian A­narchy, those of their Papall Supre­macy; these of their Extemporary Service, those of the superfluities and vanities of their Masse; these of their Solifidiannesse, those of their merito­rious works; these of theirHos. 13 9. perditio tua ex Deo, their absolute Reprobati­on, those of their salus tua ex te, their Condignities, Congruities and Super­erogations; these of their Irreverence, those of their Ceremoniousnesse in Gods house, and so in other Extreme particulars; there might be an hope­full Reconciliation of Parties and O­pinions, and a gladsome resurrection of the buried glory of the Church of England.

TRuth is so radiant in it self,1 §. that it needs not fetch lustre from the disgrace of another. Flinging dirt upon an Errour tends not to the beau­tifying of the face of Truth. He that blots his Adversaries name, may de­fame his Person, but not de [...]ace his Opinion. The fire of Contumely will not burn up a Falshood, but it serves onely to make the spirit of the maintainer so much the more to boyl over. Rancour in dispute is as Oile poured upon the flame, which is so far from an extinguishing, that it is an encreasing of its rage. As an utter­ing of some Truths to an Enemy [Page 105] Veritas o [...]um pa­rit. Gal. 4. 16. brings an odium upon the speaker: so the Obloquy of the speaker brings an odium upon every Truth. The violent striking of the tongues of Luther and the Pope against each other, was a way too irregular to produce the sparks of Truth, and a practice which deserv'd a reprehension. Ill language proceeds not with decency out of a David's mouth, though he be a man of warre: andZach. 14. 20. Holinesse to the Lord is a Motto to be engraven upon the bridle of the Horse, though a warlike beast. The Ministers dutyTit. 1. 9. is [...], to confute a Gain­sayer with Arguments, not with Oblo­quies. 1 Sam. 17. 40. Smooth stones are most like­ly to give an overthrow to the Goliah of Heresie.

The Rasour cuts not the better for its rough edge. In the Act kept be­twixt the Archangell and the evil An­gell, [...], the Champion of Truth dares not adven­ture upon foul terms wherewith to asperse the Patron of Falshood; his proceeding is with modesty, not with [Page 106] malice; heIude 9. implores an increpation from the Almighty, [...], The Father of Lights rebuke thee the father of Lyes. If the Cynegirus amputatâ dextrâ, na­vem fini­strâ com­prehendit: quam et i [...]sam c [...]m amisisset, po [...]tremùm navem norsu detinuit. Justin. lib. 2. hands of Arguments will not doe, 'tis in vain to endeavour to hold the ship of Truth by the teeth of Ran­cour.

If a man errs in Fundamentalls,2. §. and yet deserves not to be called by the worst name imaginable, to wit, an Heretick, that is, if he hath not so passionately espoused hisErrare potero, hae­reticus no [...] ero. Aug. Haeres [...]s ab haerendo dicitur; i­deo siquis ex levitate sentiat in aliquo op­positum Fi­dei, non dicitur hae­reticus, nis [...] vehementer seu ex electione (quae etiam Prohaerefis dicitur) inhaere [...] suae opinioni. Durand. in Sent. l. 4. dist. 13. qu. 5. Opinion, but that he will give it a divorce, if by a clear conviction he find it Adulte­rate; he is to be assaulted with Shot out of Reasons Armory, with palpa­ble Demonstration, at the appearance of which he resolves to surrender; and not with the Flashes out of Passi­ons furnace, at the approach of which he is forced into a suspition of his Ad­versaries [Page 107] weaknesse: for that Cause may justly be deemed to want the pa­tronage of Arguments, and conse­quently of Truth, which is pleaded for onely with a multiplicity of words, and those unsavoury. If the man be somewhat scurrilous, the way to make him a Proselyte is by the Courtship of fair language. And it is the most compendious way, to invite a man of a serene spirit to a closer embrace of what he holds, to urge against him no stronger Arguments then those which are deduced from the Topick of a vi­rulent Tongue: to have no other wea­pons brought against him then what every weakConvitiis & diris He [...]culem vincet mu­liercula. Clam. Reg. sang. ad coel. pag. 20. Woman, every Xantippe, can afford, to wit, the Sword of the Tongue,Psal. 57. 5. and the Arrows of bitter words.

It will be surmized, that these feet of Clay are not the attendants on an head of Gold, yea, that there is no Head, where there is so much Foot; no Reason that can prove, where there is nothing but kicking, which can no­thing but provoke; that these Maculae [Page 108] contrary to theDes Car­tes. Philosopher's, are in­consistent with solid particles: and whatAmb. in Psal. 118. S. Ambrose hath delivered, will be rightly objected, Quem Veritate non potest, lacerat Convitiis.

In his Cathol. Eng. a­gainst the Apol. of K. Iames, parag. 1. Parsons, notwithstanding he want­ed nothing but a glasse at any time to view the Effigies of a Rai [...]er, yet he censureth this practice as unworthy; and makes use of an instance of the lowest degree, taxing King IAMES with an Incivility, for calling the Ro­mish Champion, Master Bellarmine.

If a man errs in Fundamentalls,3 §. and superadds Contumacy to his Mis­take; if he be one quem non persua­debis etiamsi persuaseris; if he be Ad­der-ear'd, and hath attain'd to the extre­mity of deafnesse that he will not hear; if he stops his ears against perswasions advancing soberly under evident Reason; if he will not attend to those of theN [...]que a [...] liunde hae­reses obor­tae sunt aut nata sunt sehismata, quàm indè, quod sacer­doti Dei non obtem. peratur. Cyprian. Epist. l. 1. Ep. 3. Corn. [...]ra­ [...]ri, p. 6. Tribe of Levi when they lift up their voices as trumpets in Exhortations and Rebu [...]es, or to the thunder of a delivery to Satan; if [Page 109] after all these Batteries he stands out without remorse, and layes out the utmost of his ability that others may joyn with his hereticall conceptions, and that Truth may not be struck at onely with his single hand; to this man reproachfull words will be no Bridles to restrain, but Spurrs to hasten him in his mad cariere.

Such ill-composed souls, like well-built Vaults, are by so much the stronger, by how much the more pres­sure they sustain. Here virulent spit­tle is an eye-sore, not anJoh. 9. 6. eye-salve. The fire of the Tongue will make such stony hearts fly out with speed and vi­olence. Such impetuous minds are like boysterous torrents, which meet­ing with a stoppage grow the more loud and clamorous. The onely Lo­gick against such a man is argumentum à fustibus: the onely Law is,Possunt haere [...]ici ab ecclesia damnati temp-poenis, et etiam morte mul­ctari. Bel­larm. Cont. tom. 2. c. 21. de La­icis, l. 3. p. 547. Igne & fuste potiùs a­gendum cum haere­ticis quàm cum dispu­tationibus. Ber [...]. Ep. 190. Breve de haereti [...]o comburendo.

If a man errs not in Fundamentalls, but is onely of a contrary [...]rsuasion to you in some few Superstructions,4 §. which depend upon deduction, what [Page 110] Reproaches you cast upon him, may by the same equity be retorted against you, seeing these are dubi [...]us, and not generally determined: he may em­brace Iuno, and you a Cloud; he may as justly be offended with you, because you comply not with his judgement and apprehension. Be candid, and use ingenuous and rationall Perswasions, not peremptory Threats; and by so doing, if he hath unadvisedly led Truth captive, you may redeem both it and him. Thus Cecilius the Presby­ter turn'd Cyprian from a Pagan Rheto­rician to an eloquent Christian. So Hier. Cat. script. eccl. in Cyp [...]ia­no. S. Hierome witnesseth, [...]. If you attend without prejudice to sober dis­course, and oppose not Reviling to Reasoning, you may in time see that to be erroneous which at present you judge Orthodox: you may (li [...]e Saint Augustine) write the Retractations of your junior years, and (likeIn Apoc. de mille an. nis. Bright­man) you may live to confu [...]e your self.

This corrupt practice of railing a­gainst5 §. [Page 111] a supposed Errour is not of ye­sterday. Saint Hierome, the father of Fathers, though not in time, yet in the tongues, (asVide E­rasmum in vita ejus ante Epist. Erasmus relates, and his a viz.. ers. bibl. Quae [...]t. & trad. Heb. Catal. script▪ [...]. &c. Works demonstrate) was too ready a Practitioner in this Art. Take a single instance, and by that foot you may guesse at the too ample stature of this Christian Hercules. 'Tis in the beginning of his Treatise adversus Vi­gilantium; where he falls soul upon his name, Exortus est subitò Vigilanti­us, seu potiùs Dormitantius: where also he layes down a catalogue of fourteen Monsters, and then brings in Vigilan­tius as the worst at the bottome. Up­on which place Erasmus speaks thus, Mirè à convitiis auspicatur, idque suo more. To labour in the proof of this practice in these dayes, in the men of this Nation, were to shew light to the Sunne, or to suppose my Readers wanted Ears or Eyes to give them in­telligence from the Pulpit and Press. 'Tis too true that England hath of late abounded more with Firebrands then shining Lights: England hath gran­ted toMegera qu. [...]. Fulg. Myth. l. 1. Megera too large domini­ons. [Page 112] In the court of Controversiall Divinity, there are few who stand not in need of a Pulch [...]'è placitando: we may bespeak almost each of them with the language of Croesus to Solon in the Dialogue,Luc. dia­log. [...]. [...], Good words, O Man. I wish that, at length, mens breasts would entertain calmer thoughts; that difference in Judgement may not be a cause of ali­enation in Affection; that Adversa­ries in Opinion would be free from A­nimosity and wrathfull discomposure,Eph. 4. 15. [...] that the hearts of both Parties in a Controversie were tuned up to a melodious Unison; that Controversiall Divines would cease to be stinging Satyrists; that they had more of the Pigeon and lesse of the Gall; that the Meeknesse of Moses were more exemplifi'd then the Railing of Michal; that men would tip their tongues with Reason, not with Rash­nesse. A mild spirit [...]equires a mo­dest refute: and it is better to remai [...] indebted to a Reviler, then to repa [...] him in his own Coin.