This is (more or less) a facsimile version of the1645 edition of Sir Thomas Browne’s ReligioMedici. Page and line breaks follow that editionexactly. Some changes have been made to the text:long esses are now short (I don’t own a propertypeface); a few typos have been corrected; sometext has been changed to accord with the errata ofthe 1643 edition; a missing marginal note has beensupplied; and pages misnumbered have beencorrected. All these corrections and changes arenoted as footnotes. Incorrect section numbers havenot been changed. Some variant readings havebeen noted, where they’re of general interest; thisis not, nor is it intended to be, even a precursor ofa critical edition.

Superscript of the form “K100” refer thereader to Keck’s Annotations on Religio Medici,giving their numbers as they are currentlynumbered on my web site

(http://penelope.uchicago.edu/relmed/annotations.html).In editions following 1645, these notes accom-panied Religio Medici and were referred to in thetext by bracketing the text being annotated; forexample, the annotation I have numbered K2appears thus: *There are many things deliveredRhetorically]. This is obviously not practical whenthe notes do not accompany the printed edition.

James Eason (j-eason@uchicago.edu)2001

To such as have, or shall perusethe Observations upon a for-

mer corrupt Copy of this Book.

Here are some men that Politianspeaks of, Cui quam recta ma-nus, tam fuit & facilis: and itseems the Author to the Obser-

vations upon this book, would arrogate asmuch to himself, for they were by his ownconfeßion, but the conceptions of one night;a hasty birth; and so it proves: for what isreally controllable, he generally omitteth;and what is false upon the error of the Copy,he doth not alwayes take notice of; andwherein he would contradict, he mistaketh,or traduceth the intention, and (besides aparenthesis sometimes upon the Author) on-ly medleth with those points from whencehe takes a hint to deliver his prepared con-ceptions: But the gross of his book is madeout by discourses collaterall, and digreßions

of

of his own, not at all emergent from thisdiscourse; which is easily perceptible untothe intelligent Reader. Thus much Ithought good to let thee understand, with-out the Authors knowledge, who slightingthe refute hath inforcedly published (as asufficient confutation) his own Book: andin this I shall not make so bold with him , asthe Observator hath done with that nobleKnight, whose name he hath wrongfullyprefixed, as I am informed, to slight Ani-madversions; but I leave him to repentance,and thee to thy satisfaction.

Farewell.

Yours, A. B.

TO

✮✯✮✯✮✯✮✯✮✯✮✯✮✯✮✯✮✯✮✯

To the Reader.

Ertainly that man were greedyof life,K1 who should desire to livewhen all the world were at anend; and he must needs be very

impatient, who would repine at death in thesociety of all things that suffer under it.Had not almost every man suffered by thepress; or were not the tyranny thereof be-come universall; I had not wanted reasonfor complaint: but in times wherein I havelived to behold the highest perversion ofthat excellent invention, the name of hisMajesty defamed, the honour of Parliamentdepraved, the writings of both depravedly,anticipatively, counterfeitly imprinted;complaints may seem ridiculous in privatepersons, and men of my condition may beas incapable of affronts as hopeless of theirreparations. And truly had not the duty Iowe unto the importunity of friends, and

the

To the Reader.the allegiance I must ever acknowledge untotruth prevailed with me; the inactivityof my disposition might have made thesesufferings continuall, and time that bringsother things to light, should have satisfied mein the remedy of its oblivion. But be-cause things evidently false are not onlyprinted, but many things of truth most fals-ly set forth; in this latter I could not butthink my self engaged: for though we haveno power to redresse the former, yet in theother the reparation being within our selves,I have at present represented unto the worlda full and intended copy of that Piece whichwas most imperfectly and surreptitiouslypublished before.

This I confesse about seven years past,with some others of affinity thereto, for myprivate exercise and satisfaction, I had atleasurable hours composed; which beingcommunicated unto one, it became commonunto many, and was by transcription succes-sively corrupted untill it arrived in a mostdepraved Copie at the Presse. He that shallpursue1 that work, and shall take notice ofsundry particularities and personall ex-pressions therein, will easily discerne the

intention

1 1643: peruse .

To the Reader.intention was not publik: and being a pri-vate exercise directed to my selfe, what isdelivered therein was rather a memoriallunto mee then an example or rule unto anyother: and therefore if there bee any singu-larity therein correspondent unto the pri-vate conceptions of any man, it doth notadvantage them; or if dissentaneous there-unto, it no way overthrowes them. It waspenned in such a place and with such ad-vantage,1 that (I protest) from the first set-ting of pen unto paper, I had not the aßi-stance of any good book, whereby to promotemy invention or relieve my memory; andtherefore there might be many reall lapsestherein, which others might take notice of,and more than I suspected my selfe. It wasset down many years past, and was the senseof my conceptions at that time, not animmutable law unto my advancing judgementat all times, and therefore there might bemany things therein plausible unto my pas-sed apprehension, which are not agreeableunto my present self. There are many thingsdelivered Rhetorically,K2 many expreßionstherein meerly Tropical, and as they bestillustrate my intention; and therefore also

there

1 1643: disadvantage .

To the Reader.there are many things to be taken in a softand flexible sense, and not to be called untothe rigid test of reason. Lastly, all that iscontained therein is in submission untomaturer discernments, and as I have decla-red shall no further father them then thebest and learned judgements shall authorizethem; under favour of which considerati-ons I have made its secrecy publick, andcommitted the truth thereof to every inge-nuous Reader.

Tho. Browne

RELI-

1

������������������������������������

R E L I G I OM E D I C I

OR my Religion, thoughthere bee severall cir-cumstances that mightperswade the world Ihave none at all, as

the generall scandall of my profession,K3

the naturall course of my studies,K4 theindifferency of my behaviour,K 5 anddiscourse in matters of Religion, nei-ther violently defending one, nor withthat common ardour and contentionopposing another; yet in despight here-of I dare, without usurpation, assume thehonorable stile of a Christian: not thatI meerly owe this title to the Font,K6 myeducation, or Clime wherein I wasborne, as being bred up either to con-firme those principles my Parents instill-

led

Sect. 1

2 Religio Medici.led into my unwary understanding; orby a generall consent proceed in the Re-ligion of my Country: But having, inmy riper yeares,K7 and confirmed judge-ment, seene and examined all, I find myselfe obliged by the principles of Grace,and the law of mine owne reason, toembrace no other name but this; neitherdoth herein my zeale so farre make meeforget the generall charity I owe untohumanity, as rather to hate then pityTurkes, Infidels, and (what is worse)Jewes, rather contenting my selfe to en-joy that happy stile, then maligning thosewho refuse so glorious a title.

But because the name of a Christianis become too generall to expresse ourfaith, there being a Geography of Reli-gionsK8 as well as Lands, and every Climedistinguished not onely by their Lawesand Limits, but circumscribed by theirdoctrines and rules of Faith; To be par-ticular, I am of that reformed new-castReligion, wherein I dislike nothing butthe name,K9 of the same beliefe our Saviourtaught, the Apostles disseminated, theFathers authorised, and the Martyrs con-

firmed

Sect. 2

Religio Medici. 3confirmed; but by the sinister ends of Prin-ces, the ambition and avarice of Prelates,and the fatall corruption of times, so de-caied, impaired, and fallen from its na-tive beauty, that it required the carefulland charitable hands of these times to re-store it to its primitive integrity: Nowthe accidentall occasion whereon,K10 theslender meanes whereby, the low andabject condition of the person by whomso good a worke was set on foot, whichin our adversaries beget contempt andscorn, fills me with wonder, and is thevery same objection the insolent Pagansfirst cast at Christ and his Disciples.

Yet have I not so shaken hands withthose desperate Resolutions, who had ra-ther venture at large their decayed bot-tome then bring her in to be new trim'din the dock; who had rather promiscu-ously retaine all, then abridge any, andobstinately be what they are, then whatthey have been, as to stand in diameterand swords point with them: we havereformed from them, not against them;K11

for omitting those improperations andtermes of scurrility betwixt us, which onely

Sect. 3

4 Religio Medici.onely difference our affections, and notour cause, there is between us one com-mon name and appellation, one faith,and necessary body of principles com-mon to us both; and therefore I am notscrupulous to converse and live withthem, to enter their Churches in defectof ours, and either pray with them, or forthem: I could never perceive any ratio-nall consequence from those many textswhich prohibite the children of Israel topollute themselves with the Temples ofthe Heathens; we being all Christians,and not divided by such detested impie-ties as might prophane our prayers, orthe place wherein we make them; or thata resolved conscience may not adoreher Creator any where, especially inplaces devoted to his service; where iftheir devotions offend him, mine mayplease him, if theirs prophane it, minemay hallow it; Holy water and Crucifix(dangerous to the common people) de-ceive not my judgement, nor abuse mydevotion at all: I am, I confesse, natural-ly inclined to that, which misguidedzeale termes superstition; my common

con-

Religio Medici. 5conversation I doe acknowledge austere,my behaviour full of rigour, sometimesnot without morosity; yet at my devo-tion I love to use the civility of my knee,my hat, and hand, with all those out-ward and sensible motions, which mayexpresse, or promote my invisible devo-tion. I should violate my owne armerather then a Church, nor willingly de-face the memory of Saint or Martyr. Atthe sight of a Crosse or Crucifix I candispence with my hat, but scarce with thethought or memory of my Saviour; Icannot laugh at but rather pity thefruitlesse journeys of Pilgrims, or con-temne the miserable condition of Fryers;for though misplaced in circumstance,there is something in it of devotion. Icould never heard the *Ave Marie Bellwithout an elevation, or thinke it a suffi-cient warrant, because they erred in onecircumstance, for me to erre in all, that is,in silence and dumbe contempt; whilsttherefore they directed their devotionsto her, I offered mine to God, and recti-fied the errors of their prayers by right-ly ordering mine owne; At a solemn

Pro-

*A ChurchBell thattolls everyday at 6.and 12. ofthe Clock,at the hea-ring wher-of everyone inwhat placesoever ei-ther ofhouse orstreet be-takes himto hisprayer,which iscommon-ly directedto theVirgin.

6 Religio Medici.Profession1 I have wept abundantly whilemy consorts, blind with oppositionand prejudice, have fallen into an ac-cesse of scorne and laughter: There arequestionlesse both in Greek, Roman, andAfrican Churches, solemnities and cere-monies, whereof the wiser zeales doemake a Christian use, and stand condem-ned by us; not as evill in themselves, butas allurements and baites of superstitionto those vulgar heads that look asquinton the face of truth, and those unstablejudgements that cannot consist in thenarrow point and centre of vertue with-out a reele or stagger to the circum-ference.

As there were many Reformers, solikewise many reformations; everyCountry proceeding in a particular wayand Method, according as their natio-nall interest together with their consti-tution and clime inclined them, someangrily and with extreamity, otherscalmely, and with mediocrity, not ren-ding, but easily dividing the community,and leaving an honest possibility of areconciliation, which though peaceable

Spirits 1 1643: Procession . This may be intended as Prosession.

Sect. 4.

Religio Medici. 7Spirits doe desire, and may conceivethat revolution of time, and the merciesof God may effect; yet that judgementthat shall consider the present antipa-thies between the two extreames, theircontrarieties in condition, affection andopinion, may with the same hopes expectan union in the poles of Heaven.

But to difference my self neerer, & drawinto a lesser circle: There is no Churchwhose every part so squares unto myconscience, whose articles, constituti-ons, and customes seeme so consonantunto reason, and as it were framed to myparticular devotion, as this whereof Ihold my beliefe, the Church of England,to whose faith I am a sworn subject; andtherefore in a double obligation, sub-scribe unto her Articles, and endeavourto observe her constitutions: whatsoe-ver is beyond, as points indifferent, I ob-serve according to the rules of my pri-vate reason, or the humor and fashion ofmy devotion, neither believing this, be-cause Luther affirmed it, or disprovingthat, because Calvin hath disavouchedit. I condemne not all things in the

Coun-

Sect. 5.

8 Religio Medici.Councell of Trent, nor approve all in theSynod of Dort . In briefe, where theScripture is silent, the Church is myText; where that speaks, tis but myComment; where there is a joynt silenceof both, I borrow not the rules of myReligion from Rome or Geneva, but thedictates of my own reason. It is an un-just scandall of our adversaries, and agross error in our selves, to compute theNativity of our Religion from Henry theeight, who though he rejected the Poperefus'd not the faith of Rome,K12 and effectedno more then what his owne Predeces-sors desired and assayed in ages past,and was conceived the State of Ve-nice would have attempted in our dayes.K13

It is as uncharitable a point in us tofall upon those popular scurrilities andopprobrious scoffs of the Bishop ofRome, whom as a temporall Prince, weowe the duty of good language; I con-fesse there is cause of passion betweenus; by his sentence I stand excommu-nicated, Heretick is the best language heaffords me; yet can no eare witnesse Iever returned to him the name of Anti-

christ,

Religio Medici. 9christ, Man of sinne, or whore of Babylon;It is the method of charity to sufferwithout reaction: those usuall satyrs,and invectives of the Pulpit may per-chance produce a good effect on the vul-gar, whose eares are opener to Rheto-rick then Logick, yet doe they in nowise confirm the faith of wiser belee-vers, who know that a good cause needsnot to be pardon'd1 by a passion, but cansustaine it self upon a temperate dispute.

I could never divide my selfe from a-ny man upon the difference of an opini-on, or be angry with his judgement fornot agreeing with mee in that, fromwhich perhaps within a few dayes Ishould dissent my selfe:K14 I have no Ge-nius to disputes in Religion, and have of-ten thought it wisedome, to declinethem, especially upon a disadvantage, orwhen the cause of truth might suffer inthe weaknesse of my patronage: wherewe desire to be informed, ’tis good tocontest with men above our selves;but to confirme and establish our opini-ons, ’tis best to argue with judgementsbelow our own, that the frequent spoiles

and 1 1643: patron’d

Sect. 6.

10 Religio Medici.and victories over their reasons maysettle in our selves an esteeme, and con-firmed opinion of our owne. Everyman is not a proper Champion forTruth, nor fit to take up the Gantlet inthe cause of Veritie:K15 Many from the ig-norance of these Maximes, and an in-considerate zeale unto Truth, have toorashly charged the troopes of error, andremaine as Trophees unto the enemiesof Truth: A man may be in as just pos-session of Truth as of a City, and yet beforced to surrender; tis therefore farrebetter to enjoy her with peace, then tohazzard her on a battell: If thereforethere rise any doubts in my way, I doeforget them, or at least deferre them, tillmy better setled judgement, and moremanly reason be able to resolve them;for I perceive every mans owne reasonis his best Oedipus, and will upon a reaso-nable truce, find a way to loose thosebonds wherewith the subtilties of errorhave enchained our more flexible andtender judgements. In Philosophy wheretruth seemes double-faced, there is noman more paradoxicall then my self; but

in

Religio Medici. 11in Divinity I love to keepe the road,K16 andthough not in an implicite, yet an hum-ble faith, follow the great wheele ofthe Church, by which I move, not re-serving any proper poles or motionfrom the epicycle of my own braine; bythis means I leave no gap for Heresies,Schismes, or Errors, of which at pre-sent I hope I shall not injure Truth, tosay, I have no taint or tincture; I mustconfesse my greener studies have beenepolluted with two or three, not any be-gotten in the latter Centuries, but oldand obsolete, such as could never havebeen revived, but by such extravagantand irregular heads as mine; for indeedHeresies perish not with their Authors,but like the River Arethusa, though theylose their currents in one place, theyrise up againe in another:K17 one generallCouncell is not able to extirpate onesingle Heresie, it may be canceld for thepresent, but revolution of time and the likeaspects from Heaven, will restore it,when it will flourish till it be condem-ned againe; for as though there were aMetempsuchosis, and the soule of one man

passed

12 Religio Medici.passed into another, opinions doe findeafter certaine revolutions, men andmindes like those that first begat them.To see our selves againe wee neede notlooke for * Platoes yeare; every man isnot onely himselfe; there have beenemany Diogenes, and as many Timons,though but few of that name; men arelived over againe, the world is now as itwas in ages past, there was none then,but there hath been some one since thatparallels him, and is as it were his revi-ved selfe.

Now the first of mine was that of theArabians,K18 that the soules of men perish-ed with their bodies, but should yet beraised againe at the last day; not that Idid absolutely conceive a mortality ofthe soule; but if that were, which faith, notPhilosophy hath yet thoroughly dispro-ved, and that both entred the grave to-gether, yet I held the same conceit there-of that we all doe of the bodie, that itrise1 againe. Surely it is but the merits ofour unworthy natures, if wee sleepe indarkenesse, untill the last alarum: A se-rious reflex upon my owne unworthi

nesse 1 Thus all editions, although corrected errata 1643 to should rise; the (unauthorized) 1642 has shallrise.

* A revo-lution ofcertainethousandyeares whenall thingsshould re-turne un-to theirformerestate andhe beteachingagaine inhis schooleas when hedeliveredthis opin-ion.Sect. 7.

Religio Medici. 13nesse did make me backward from chal-lenging this prerogative of my soule; soI might enjoy my Saviour at the last, Icould with patience be nothing almostunto eternity. The second was that ofOrigen, that God would not persist in hisvengeance for ever, but after a definitetime of his wrath hee would release thedamned soules from torture;K19 Which er-ror I fell into upon a serious contempla-tion of the great attribute of God hisMercy, and did a little cherish it in myselfe, because I found therein no malice,and a ready weight to sway me from theother extream of despair, whereunto me-lancholy and contemplative natures aretoo easily disposed. A third there is whichI did never positively maintaine or pra-ctice, but have often wished it had beenconsonant unto Truth, and not offensive tomy Religion, and that is the prayer forthe dead; whereunto I was inclined fromsome charitable inducements, wherebyI could scarce containe my prayers for afriend at the ringing of a Bell, or beholdhis corpes without an oraison for hissoule: ’Twas a good way me thought to

be

14 Religio Medici.bee remembred by posterity, and farremore noble then an History. These opi-nions I never maintained with pertina-city, or endeavoured to enveagle anymans beliefe unto mine, nor so much asever revealed or disputed them with mydearest friends; by which means I nei-ther propagated them in others, nor con-firmed them in my selfe: but sufferingthem to flame upon their own substance,without addition of new fuell, theywent out insensibly of themselves;therefore these opinions, though con-demned by lawfull Councels, were notHeresies in me,K20 but bare Errors, and singleLapses of my understanding, withouta joynt depravity of my will: Thosehave not only depraved understandings,but diseased affections, which cannot en-joy a singularity without a Heresie, orbe the author of an opinion, withoutthey be of a Sect also; this was the vil-lany of the first schisme of Lucifer, whowas not content to erre alone, but drewinto his faction many Legions of Spirits;and upon this experience hee temptedonely Eve, as well understanding the

communicable

Religio Medici. 15communicable nature of sin, and that todeceive but one, was tacitely and uponconsequence to delude them both.

That Heresies should arise we havethe prophesie of Christ, but that oldones should bee abolished wee hold noprediction. That there must be heresies,is true, not onely in our Church, but alsoin any other: even in Doctrines hereti-call there will be super-heresies, andArians not onely divided from theirChurch, but also among themselves: forheads that are disposed unto Schismeand complexionably1 propense to innova-tion, are naturally indisposed2 for a commu-nity, nor will ever be confined unto theorder or œconomy of one body; andtherefore when they separate fromothers they knit but loosely amongthemselves; nor contented with a gene-rall breach or dichotomie with theirChurch, do subdivide and mince them-selves almost into Atomes. ’Tis true,that men of singular parts and humorshave not been free from singular opini-ons and conceits in all ages; retainingsomething not onely beside the opinion

of 1 1643: complexionally2 All editions disposed corrected errata 1643 indisposed.

Sect. 8.

16 Religio Medici.of his owne Church or any other, butalso any particular Author: which not-withstanding a sober judgement maydo without offence or heresie; forthere is yet after all the decrees of coun-cels and the niceties of the Schooles,many things untouch'd, unimagin'd,wherein the liberty of an honest reasonmay play and expatiate1 with security,and farre without the circle of anheresie.

As for those wingy mysteries in Divi-nity, and aery subtilties in Religion,which have unhing'd the braines ofbetter heads, they never stretched thePia Mater of mine; methinkes there beenot impossibilities enough in Religionfor an active faith; the deepest mysteriesours containes, have not onely beenillustrated, but maintained by syllo-gisme, and the rule of reason:K21 I love tolose my selfe in a mystery, to pursue myreason to an oh altitudo. ’Tis my solita-ry recreation to pose my apprehensionwith those involved ænigma’s and rid-dles of the Trinity, with Incarnationand Resurrection. I can answer all

the 1 1645: expiate, corrected here to follow other editions.

Sect. 9.

Religio Medici. 17the objections of Satan, and my rebelli-ous reason, with that odde resolution Ilearned of Tertullian, Certum est quiaimpossibile est. I desire to exercise myfaith in the difficultest point; for to creditordinary and visible objects is not faith,but perswasion. Some beleeve the bet-ter for seeing Christ his Sepulchre, andwhen they have seene the Red Sea,doubt not of the miracle.K22 Now contra-rily I blesse my selfe, and am thankefullthat I lived not in the dayes of miracles,that I never saw Christ nor his Disci-ples; I would not have beene one ofthose Israelites that passed the Red Sea,nor one of Christs Patients, on whomhee wrought his wonders; then had myfaith been thrust upon me, nor should Ienjoy that greater blessing pronouncedto all that beleeve and saw not. ’Tis aneasie and necessary beliefe to credit whatour eye and sense hath examined: I be-lieve he was dead, and buried, and roseagaine; and desire to see him in his glory,rather then to contemplate him in hisCenotaphe, or Sepulchre. Nor is thismuch to beleeve, as we have reason, we

owe

18 Religio Medici.owe this faith unto History: they onelyhad the advantage of a bold and noblefaith, who lived before his comming,who upon obscure prophesies and mysti-call Types could raise a belief, and expectapparent impossibilities.

’Tis true there is an edge in all firmebelief, and with an easie Metaphor weemay say the Sword of faith; but in theseobscurities I rather use it, in the adjunctthe Apostle gives it, a Buckler; underwhich I conceive1 a wary combatant maylie invulnerable. Since I was of under-standing to know we knew nothing, myreason hath been more pliable to the willof faith; I am now content to under-stand a mystery without a rigid defini-tion in an easie and Platonick description.That allegoricall description of Hermes,*pleaseth mee beyond all the Meta-physicall definitions of Divines; where Icannot satisfie my reason, I love tohumour my fancy; I had as lieve youtell mee that anima est angelus homi-nis, est Corpus Dei, as Entelechia; Lux estumbra Dei, as actus perspicui:K23 wherethere is an obscurity too deepe for our

reason 1 1643: perceive

Sect. 10.

* Sphæra,cujus cen-trum ubiq;circumfe-rentianullibi.

Religio Medici. 19reason ’tis good to set downe with a de-scription, periphrasis, or adumbration;for by acquainting our reason howunable it is to display the visible and obvi-ous effect of nature, it becomes morehumble and submissive unto the subtil-ties of faith: and thus I teach my hag-gard and unreclaimed Reason to stoopeunto the lure of Faith. I beleeve there wasalready a tree whose fruit our unhappyparents tasted, though in the same chap-ter, when God forbids it, ’tis positivelysaid, the plants of the field were not yetgrowne; for God had not caused it toraine upon the Earth.K24 I beleeve that theSerpent (if we shall literally understandit) from his proper forme and figure,made his motion on his belly before thecurse.K25 I find the triall of the Pucellageand Virginity of women, which Godordained the Jewes, is very fallible.K26 Ex-perience and History informes me, thatnot onely many particular women, butlikewise whole Nations have escapedthe curse of childbirth, which Godseemes to pronounce upon the wholeSex;K27 yet do I beleeve that all this is

true,

20 Religio Medici.true, which indeed my reason wouldperswade me to be false; and this I thinkis no vulgar part of faith, to beleeve athing not onely above, but contrary toreason, and against the arguments of ourproper senses.

In my solitary and retired imagination,(Neque enim cum porticus, aut me lectulusaccepit, desum mihi ) I remember Iam not alone, and therefore forget notto contemplate him and his attributeswho is ever with me, especially thosetwo mighty ones, his wisdome andeternity: with the one I recreate, withthe other I confound my understand-ing: for who can speake of eternitywithout a solœcisme, or thinke thereofwithout an extasie?K28 Time we may com-prehend, ’tis but five days elder thenour selves, and hath the same Horoscopewith the world, but to retire so farrebacke as to apprehend a beginning, togive such an infinite start forward as toconceive an end in an essence that weeaffirme hath neither the one nor theother; it puts my reason to Saint PaulsSanctuary; my Philosophy dares not

say

Sect. 11.

Religio Medici. 21

say the Angels can do it; God hathnot made a creature that can compre-hend him, ’tis the priviledge of his ownenature; I am that I am, was his ownedefinition unto Moses; and ’twas a shortone, to confound mortality, that durstquestion God, or aske him what heewas; indeed hee onely is,K29 all others haveand shall be, but in eternity there is nodistinction of Tenses, and thereforethat terrible terme Predestination, whichhath troubled so many weake heads toconceive and the wisest to explaine, isin respect to God no prescious determi-nation of our estates to come, but a de-finitive blast of his will already fulfilled,and at the instant that he first decreedit; for to his eternity which is indivisible,and altogether, the last Trump is alreadysounded, the reprobates in the flame,and the blessed in Abrahams bosome.Saint Peter speaks modestly, when heesaith a thousand years to God are but asone day: for to speake like aPhilosopher, those continued instancesof time which flow into thousand yeares,make not to him one moment; what to us is

to

22 Religio Medici.to come, to his Eternity is present, hiswhole duration being but one permanentpoint without succession, parts, flux, ordivision.

There is no Attribute that adds moredifficulty to the mystery of the Trinity,where though in a relative way of Fa-ther and Son, wee must deny a priority.I wonder how Aristotle could conceivethe World eternall, or how hee couldmake good two Eternities:K30 his simili-tude of a Triangle, comprehended in asquare, doth somewhat illustrate the Tri-nity of our soules, and that the TripleUnity of God; for there is in us notthree, but a Trinity of Soules,K31 becausethere is in us, if not three distinct soules,yet differing faculties, that can, and dosubsist apart in different subjects, and yetin us are so united as to make but onesoule and substance; if one soule were soperfect as to informe three distinctbodies, that were a petty Trinity: conceivethe distinct number of three, not divi-ded nor separated by the intellect, butactually comprehended in its Unity, andthat is a perfect Trinity. I have often

admired

Sect. 12.

Religio Medici. 23admired the mysticall way of Pythago-ras, and the secret Magick of numbers;Beware of Philosophy, is a precept notto bee received in too large a sense; forin this masse of nature there is a set ofthings that carry in their front, thoughnot in capitall Letters, yet in Stenogra-phy, and short Characters, something ofDivinity, which to wiser reasons serve asLuminaries in the abysse of knowledge,and to judicious beliefes, as scales androundles to mount the pinnacles andhighest pieces of Divinity. The severeSchooles shall never laugh mee out ofthe Philosophy of Hermes, that thisvisible world is but a picture of the invi-sible, wherein, as in a pourtract, things arenot truely, but in equivocall shapes; andas they counterfeit some more reall sub-stance in that invisible Fabrick.

That other attribute wherewith Irecreate my devotion, is his Wisedome, inwhich I am happy; and for the contem-plation of this onely, do not repentme that I was bred in the way of study:The advantage I have of the vulgar, withthe content and happinesse I con-

ceive

Sect. 13

24 Religio Medici.ceive therein, is an ample recompencefor all my endeavours, in what part ofknowledge soever. Wisdome is hismost beauteous attribute, no man canattain unto it, yet Solomon pleased Godwhen he desired it. He is wise, because heknowes all things, and hee knoweth allthings, because he made them all, but hisgreatest knowledge is in comprehendingthat hee made not, that is, himselfe. Andthis is also the greatest knowledge inman. For this do I honour my owneprofession, and embrace the counsell evenof the Devill himselfe: had he read sucha Lecture in Paradise, as he did at *Del-phos; we had better knowne our selves,nor had we stood in feare to know him.I know he is wise in all, wonderfull inwhat we conceive, but far more in whatwe comprehend not, for we behold himbut asquint upon reflexe or shadow; ourunderstanding is dimmer then Moseseye, wee are ignorant of the backparts, orlower side of his Divinity; therefore toprie into the maze of his Counsels, is notonely folly in man, but presumptioneven in Angels; like us, they are his

servants,

* gnw'qiseauto;n,Nosceteipsum

Religio Medici. 25servants, not his Senators; he holds noCouncell, but that mysticall one of theTrinity, wherein though there be threepersons, there is but one mind that de-crees, without contradiction: nor needshee any, his actions are not begot withdeliberation, his wisedome naturallyknows what’s best; his intellect standsready fraught with the superlative andpurest Idea’s of goodnesse; consultationand election, which are two motions inus, make but one in him; his actionsspringing from his power, at the firsttouch of his will. These are Contem-plations Metaphysicall, my humble spe-culations have another Method, and arecontent to trace and discover those ex-pressions he hath left in his creatures,and the obvious effects of nature; thereis no danger to profound these myste-ries, no sanctum sanctorum in Philoso-phy: The world was made to be inha-bited by Beasts, but studied and con-templated by man: ’tis the debt of ourreason we owe unto God, and the ho-mage we pay for not being beasts; with-out this the world is still as though it

had

26 Religio Medici.had not been, or as it was before the sixtday when as yet there was not a crea-ture that could conceive, or say therewas a world. The wisedome of God re-ceives small honour from those vulgarheads, that rudely stare about, and witha grosse rusticity admire his workes;those highly magnifie him whose Judi-cious enquiry into his acts, and deliberateresearch into his creatures, returne the du-ty of a devout and learned admiration.

Therefore,Search while thou wilt, and let thy reason goeTo ransome truth even to the abysse below,Rally the scattered causes, and that lineWhich nature twists be able to untwineIt is thy Makers will, for unto noneBut unto reason can he ere be knowne. (oursThe Devills doe know thee, but those damned mete-Build not thy glory, but confound thy creatures.Teach my indeavours so thy workes to read,That learning them, in thee I may proceed.Give thou my reason that instructive flight,Whose weary wings may on thy hands still light.Teach me to soare aloft, yet ever so,When neare the sunne, to stoope againe below.Thus shall my humble feathers safely hover, (cover.And though neere earth, more then the heavens dis-And then at last, when homeward I shall drive

Rich

Religio Medici. 27Rich with the Spoyles of nature to my hive,There will I sit, like that industrious flye,Buzzing thy prayses, which shal never dieTill death abrupts them, and succeeding gloryBid me goe on in a more lasting story.

And this is almost all wherein an hum-ble creature may endeavour to requite,and some way to retribute unto his Crea-tor; for if not he that sayeth Lord, Lord;but he that doth the will of his Father, shallbe saved; certainely our wills must beeour performances, and our intents makeout our actions; otherwise our pious la-bours shall finde anxiety in their graves,and our best endeavours not hope, butfeare a resurrection.

There is but one first cause, and fouresecond causes of all things;K32 some arewithout efficient, as God; others with-out matter, as Angels; some withoutforme, as the first matter; but everyEssence created or uncreated, hath itsfinall cause, and some positive end bothof its Essence and operation; This is thecause I grope after in the workes of na-ture; on this hangs the providence ofGod to raise so beauteous a structure,

as

Sect. 14

28 Religio Medici.as the world and the creatures thereof,was but his Art, but their sundry anddivided operations with their predesti-nated ends, are from the treasury of hiswisedome. In the causes, nature, and af-fections of the Eclipse of Sunne andMoone, there is most excellent specula-tion; but to profound farther, and tocontemplate a reason why his provi-dence hath so disposed and orderedtheir motions in that vast circle, as toconjoyne and obscure each other, is asweeter piece of reason, and a divinerpoint of Philosophy; therefore some-times, and in some things there appearsto me as much divinity in Galen hisBooks De usu partium, as in Suarez Meta-physicks: Had Aristotle beene as curiousin the enquiry of this cause as he was ofthe other, he had not left behinde himan imperfect piece of Philosophy, butan absolute tract of Divinity.

Natura nihil agit frustra, is the onelyindisputable axiome in Philosophy;there are no Grotesques in nature;K33 not a-ny thing framed to fill up empty can-tons, and unnecessary spaces, in the most

im-

Sect. 15

Religio Medici. 29imperfect creatures, and such as werenot preserved in the Arke, but havingtheir seeds and principles in the wombeof nature, are every-where where thepower of the Sunne is; in these is thewisedome of his hand discovered: Outof this ranke Solomon chose the objectof his admiration, indeed what reasonmay not goe to schoole to the wise-dome of Bees, Aunts, and Spiders? whatwise hand teacheth them to doe whatreason cannot teach us? ruder headsstand amazed at those prodigious piecesof nature, Whales, Elephants, Dromida-ries, and Camels; these I confesse, arethe Colossus and Majestick pieces of herhand; but in these narrow Engines thereis more curious Mathematicks, and thecivility of these little Citizens, moreneatly set forth the wisedome of theirMaker; Who admires not Regio-Monta-nus his Fly beyond his Eagle,K34 or won-ders not more at the operation of twosoules in those little bodies, than but onein the trunck of a Cedar?K35 I could ne-ver content my contemplation withthose generall pieces of wonders, the

flux

30 Religio Medici.flux and reflux of the sea, the encrease ofNile, the conversion of the Needle tothe North, and have studied to matchand parallel those in the more obviousand neglected pieces of Nature, whichwithout further travell I can doe in theCosmography of my selfe; we carrywith us the wonders wee seeke withoutus:K36 There is all Africa, and her prodigiesin us; we are that bold and adventurouspiece of nature, which he that studies,wisely learnes in a compendium, what o-thers labour at in a divided piece andendlesse volume.

Thus there are two Bookes fromwhence I collect my Divinity; besidesthat written one of God, another of hisservant Nature, that universall andpublike Manuscript, that lies expans’d un-to the eyes of all;K37 those that neversaw him in the one, have discoveredhim in the other: This was theScripture and Theologie of the Hea-thens; the naturall motion of the Sunmade them more admire him, than itssupernaturall station did the Childrenof Israel; the ordinary effect of nature

wrought

Sect. 16

Religio Medici. 31wrought more admiration in them, thanin the other all his miracles; surely theHeathens knew better how to joine andread these mysticall Letters, than weeChristians, who cast a more carelesse eyeon these common Hieroglyphicks, anddisdain to suck Divinity from the flowersof Nature. Nor do I so forget God, asto adore the name of Nature; which Idefine not with the Schools, the principleof motion and rest, but, that streight andregular line, that setled and constantcourse the wisdome of God hathordained the actions of his Creatures,according to their several kinds. To makea revolution every day, is the nature ofthe Sunne, because that necessary coursewhich God hath ordained it, fromwhich it cannot swerve, but1 by a facultyfrom that voice which first did give itmotion. Now this course of NatureGod seldome alters or perverts, but likean excellent Artist hath so contrived hisworke, that with the selfe same instru-ment without a new creation hee mayeffect his obscurest designes. Thus heesweetneth the Water with a Wood,

preserveth 1 1645 : by a faculty; corrected errata 1643 to but by a faculty.

32 Religio Medici.preserveth the creatures in the Arke,which the blast of his mouth might haveas easily created: for God is like a skil-full Geometrician, who when more easilyand with one stroke of his Compasse, hemight describe, or divide a right line, hadyet rather do this in a circle or longerway; according to the constituted andforelaid principles of his Art: yet thisrule of his he doth sometimes pervert,to acquaint the world with his preroga-tive, lest the arrogancy of our reasonshould question his power, and concludehe could not; and thus I call the effectsof nature the works of God, whose handand instrument she only is; and thereforeto ascribe his actions unto her, is to de-volve the honour of the principall agent,upon the instrument; which if with rea-son we may do, then let our hammers riseup and boast they have built our houses,and our pens receive the honour of ourwriting. I hold there is a generall beautyin the workes of God, and thereforeno deformity in any kinde or species ofcreature whatsoever: I cannot tell bywhat Logicke we call a Toad, a Bear, or

an

Religio Medici. 33an Elephant, ugly, they being created inthose outward shapes and figures whichbest express the actions of their inwardformes. And having past that generallvisitation of God, who saw that all thathe had made was good, that is, confor-mable to his will, which abhors defor-mity, and is the rule of order and beauty;there is no deformity but in monstrosity,wherein notwithstanding there is a kindeof beauty, Nature so ingeniously contri-ving the irregular parts, as they becomesometimes more remarkable than theprincipall Fabrick. To speake yet morenarrowly, there was never any thingugly, or mis-shapen, but the Chaos;wherein notwithstanding, to speak strictly,there was no deformity, because noforme, nor was it yet impregnate by thevoice of God: Now nature is not atvariance with art, nor art with nature;they being both the servants of his pro-vidence: Art is the perfection of Na-ture: Were the world now as it wasthe sixt day, there were yet a Chaos:Nature hath made one world, and Artanother. In briefe, all things are

artificially1

1 Sic.

34 Religio Medici.artificiall, for Nature is the Art ofGod.K38

This is the ordinary and open wayof his providence, which Art and In-dustry have in a good part discovered,whose effects wee may foretell withoutan Oracle: to foreshew these is notProphesie, but Prognostication. There isanother way full of Meanders and La-byrinths, whereof the Devill and Spiritshave no exact Ephemerides, and that isa more particular and obscurer methodof his providence, directing the operati-ons of individualls and single Essences;K39

this we call Fortune, that serpentine andcrooked line, whereby he drawes thoseactions his wisedome intends in a moreunknowne and secret way; This cryp-ticke and involved method of his provi-dence have I ever admired, nor can Irelate the history of my life, the occur-rences of my dayes, the escapes of dan-gers, and hits of chance with a Bezo lasManos to Fortune, or a bare Gramercy tomy good starres: Abraham might havethought the Ram in the thicket camethither by accident; humane reasonwould have said that meere chance con-

veyed

Sect.17.

Religio Medici. 35veyed Moses in the Arke to the sight ofPharaohs daughter: what a Labyrinth isthere in the story of Joseph, able to con-vert a Stoick? Surely there are in everymans life certaine rubs, doublings andwrenches which passe a while under theeffects of chance, but at the last well exa-mined, prove the meere hand of God:’Twas not dumbe chance, that to disco-ver the Fougade or Powder plot, con-trived a miscarriage in the letter. I likethe victory of 88. the better for that oneoccurrence which our enemies imputedto our dishonour, and the partiality ofFortune, to wit, the tempests, and con-trarietie of winds. King Philip did notdetract from the Nation, when hee said,hee sent his Armado to fight with men,and not to combate with the windes.Where there is a manifest disproportionbetweene the powers and forces oftwo severall agents, upon a maxime ofreason wee may promise the victory tothe superiour; but when unexpected ac-cidents slip in, and unthought of occur-rences intervene, these must proceedfrom a power that owes no obedience to

those

36 Religio Medici.those axioms: where, as in the writingupon the wall, we behold the hand, butsee not the spring that moves it. Thesuccesse of that petty Province of Hol-land (of which the grand Seigneurproudly said, That if they should trou-ble him as they did the Spaniard, heewould send his men with shovels andpick-axes and throw it into the Sea) Icannot altogether ascribe to the ingenui-ty and industry of the people, but to themercy of God that hath disposed themto such a thriving Genius; and to thewill of his providence, that disposeth herfavour to each Country in their preordi-nate season. All cannot be happy at once,for because the glory of one State de-pends upon the ruine of another,K40 there isa revolution and vicissitude of theirgreatnesse, and must obey the swing ofthat wheele, not moved by Intelligences,but by the hand of God, whereby allEstates arise to their Zenith and verticallpoints, according to their predestinatedperiods. For the lives not only of men,but of Common-weales, and the wholeworld run not upon an Helix that still

enlargeth,

Religio Medici. 37enlargeth, but on a Circle, where arri-ving to their Meridian, they decline inobscurity, and fall under the Horizonagaine.

These must not therefore bee namedthe effects of Fortune, but in a relativeway, and as wee terme the workes ofnature; it was the ignorance of mansreason that begat this very name, and bya carelesse term miscalled the providenceof God: for there is no liberty for cau-ses to operate in a loose and straglingway, nor any effect whatsoever, buthath its warrant from some universallor superiour cause. ’Tis not a ridiculousdevotion to say a prayer before a gameat Tables; for even in sortilegies andmatters of greatest uncertainty, there is asetled and preordered course of effects;it is wee that are blind, not Fortune:because our eye is too dim to discover themystery of her effects, we foolishly painther blind, and hoodwink the providenceof the Almighty. I cannot justifie thatcontemptible Proverb, That Fooles onlyare fortunate; or that insolent Paradox,That a wiseman is out of the reach of for-

tune,

Sect. 18.

38 Religio Medici.tune, much lesse those opprobrious Epi-thets of Poets, Whore, Baud, and Strumpet:’Tis I confesse the common fate of menof singular gifts of mind, to be destituteof those of fortune;K41 which doth notany way deject the spirit of wiserjudgements, who throughly understandthe justice of this proceeding; and be-ing enriched with higher donatives, casta more carelesse eye on these vulgarparts of felicity. It is a most unjust am-bition to desire to engrosse the merciesof the Almighty, nor to be content withthe goods of minde, without a possessionof those of body or fortune: and it is anerrour worse than heresie, to adore thesecomplementall and circumstantial piecesof felicity, and undervalue those perfe-ctions and essentiall points of happinesse,wherein we resemble our maker. To wiserdesires it is satisfaction enough to de-serve, though not to enjoy the favours offortune; let providence provide for fools:’tis not partiality, but equity in God, whodeales with us but as our naturall pa-rents, those that are able of body andmind, he leaves to their deserts; to those

of

Religio Medici. 39of weaker merits hee imparts a largerportion, and pieces out the defect of oneby the accesse1 of the other. Thus havewee no just quarrell with Nature, forleaving us naked; or to envie the horns,hoofs, skins, and furs of other Creatures,being provided with reason, that cansupply them all. Wee need not labourwith so many arguments to confute ju-diciall astrology;K42 for if there be a truththerein, it doth not injure Divinity; if tobe borne under Mercury disposeth us tobe witty, under Jupiter to be wealthy, Ido not owe a knee unto these, but untothat mercifull hand that hath orderedmy indifferent and uncertaine nativityunto such benevolous aspects. Thosethat hold that all things were governedby fortune, had not erred, had they notpersisted there: The Romanes that ere-cted a Temple to Fortune, acknowledg-ed therein, though in a blinder way,somewhat of Divinity; for in a wisesupputation all things begin and end inthe Almighty. There is a nearer wayto heaven than Homers chaine; an easieLogick may conjoine heaven and earth

in 1 1643: excesse

40 Religio Medici.in one argument, and with lesse than aSorites resolve all things into God. Forthough we christen effects by their mostsensible and nearest causes, yet is Godthe true and infallible cause of all,whose concourse though it bee generall,yet doth it subdivide it selfe into the par-ticular actions of every thing, and is thatspirit, by which each singular essence notonely subsists, but performes itsoperation.

The bad construction and perversecomment on these paire of second cau-ses, or visible hands of God, have per-verted the devotion of many unto A-theisme; who forgetting the honestadvisoes of Faith, have listened unto theconspiracy of Passion and Reason. Ihave therefore alwayes endeavoured tocompose those fewds and angry dissenti-ons between affection, faith, and reason:For there is in our soule a kind of Trium-virate, or Triple government of threecompetitors, which distract the peace ofthis our Common-wealth, not lesse thandid that other the State of Rome.K43

As Reason is a rebell unto Faith, soPassion

Sect. 19.

Religio Medici. 41Passion unto Reason: As the propositionsof Faith seeme absurd unto Reason, sothe Theorems of Reason unto Passion,and both unto Reason; yet a moderateand peaceable discretion may so stateand order the matter, that they may beall Kings, and yet make but one Monar-chy, every one exercising his Soveraign-ty and Prerogative in a due time andplace according to the restraint andlimit of circumstance. There is, as inPhilosophy, so in Divinity, sturdy doubts,and boisterous objections, wherewiththe unhappinesse of our knowledge tooneerly acquainteth us. More of these noman hath knowne than my selfe, which Iconfesse I conquered, not in a martiallposture, but on my knees. For our in-deavours are not onely to combate withdoubts, but alwayes to dispute with theDevill: the villany of that Spirit takesa hint of Infidelity from our Studies, andby demonstrating a naturality in oneway, makes us mistrust a miracle in ano-ther. Thus having perused the Archi-doxis and read the secret Sympathiesof things, hee would disswade my belief

from

42 Religio Medici.from the miracle of the Brazen Serpent,K44

make me conceit that image worked bySympathy, and was but an Ægyptiantricke to cure their diseases without amiracle. Againe, having seene someexperiments of Bitumen, and having readfarre more of Naptha, hee whispered tomy curiosity the fire of the Altar mightbe naturall, and bid mee mistrust a mira-cle in Elias, when he entrenched the Al-tar round with water;K45 for that inflamablesubstance yeelds not easily unto water,but flames in the armes of its Antago-nist: and thus would hee inveagle mybeliefe to thinke the combustion ofSodome might be naturall,K46 and that therewas an Asphaltick and Bituminous na-ture in that lake before the fire of Go-morrha: I know that Manna is nowplentifully gathered in Calabria; andIosephus tels mee, in his dayes it wasas plentifull in Arabia; the Devill there-fore made the quere, Where was then themiracle in the dayes of Moses? the Israe-lite saw but that in his time, the nativesof those Countries behold in ours. Thusthe Devill plaid at Chesse with mee,

and

Religio Medici. 43and yeelding a pawne, thought to gainea Queene of me, taking advantage of myhonest indeavours; and whilst I labouredto raise the structure of my reason, heestrived to undermine the edifice of myfaith.

Neither had these or any other eversuch advantage of mee, as to encline meeto any point of Infidelity or desperatepositions of Atheisme; for I have beenthese many yeares of opinion there wasnever any. Those that held Religionwas the difference of man from Beasts,K47

have spoken probably, and proceed upona principle as inductive as the other:That doctrine of Epicurus, that denyedthe providence of God, was no Atheism,but a magnificent and high-strainedconceit of his Majesty, which he deemedtoo sublime to minde the triviallactions of those inferiour Creatures:K48

That fatall necessity of the Stoicks isnothing but the immutable Law of hiswill. Those that heretofore denyed theDivinity of the holy Ghost, have beencondemned but as Heretickes; andthose that now deny our Saviour

though

Sect. 20.

44 Religio Medici.(though more then Hereticks) are not somuch as Atheists: for though they denytwo persons in the Trinity, they hold aswe do, there is but one God.

That villain and Secretary of Hell,that composed that miscreant piece ofthe three Impostors,K49 though dividedfrom all Religions, and was neitherJew, Turk, nor Christian, was not apositive Atheist. I confesse every Coun-try hath its Machiavell, every age itsLucian, whereof common heads mustnot heare, nor more advanced judge-ments too rashly venture on: it is theRhetorick of Satan and may pervert aloose or prejudicate beleefe.

I confesse I have perused them all, andcan discover nothing that may startle adiscreet beliefe, yet are there heads car-ryed off with the winde and breath ofsuch motives. I remember a Doctor inPhysick of Italy, who could not perfectlybeleeve the immortality of the Soule,because Galen seemed to make a doubtthereof. With another I was familiarlyacquainted in France, a Divine, andman of singular parts, that on the same

point

Sect. 21.

Religio Medici. 45point was so plunged and gravelledwith *three lines of Seneca, that all ourAntidotes, drawne from both Scriptureand Philosophy, could not expell thepoyson of his errour. There are a set ofheads, that can credit the relations ofMariners, yet question the testimo-nies of Saint Paul; and peremptori-ly maintaine the traditions of Ælian orPliny, yet in Histories of Scripture, raiseQuere’s and objections, beleeving nomore than they can parallel in humaneAuthors. I confesse there are in Scrip-ture stories that doe exceed the fable ofPoets,K50 and to a captious Reader soundlike Gargantua or Bevis: Search all theLegends of times past, and the fabulousconceits of these present, and ’twill behard to finde one that deserves to carrythe Buckler unto Samson, yet is all this ofan easie possibility, if we conceive a di-vine concourse or an influence but fromthe little finger of the Almighty. It isimpossible that either in the discourse ofman, or in the infallible voyce of God,to the weakenesse of our apprehensions,there should not appeare irregularities,

con-

* Post mor-tem nihilest, ipsaq;mors nihil.Mos indi-vidua estnoxia cor-pori, Necpatiensanimæ —Toti mori-mur, nullaqpars manetNostri ——

46 Religio Medici.contradictions, and antinomies: myselfe could shew a Catalogue of doubts,never yet imagined nor questioned, as Iknow, which are not resolved at thefirst hearing, not fantastick Quere’s,or objections of aire: For I cannotheare of Atoms in Divinity. I can readthe history of the Pigeon that wassent out of the Ark, and returned nomore, yet not question how she foundout her mate that was left behind: ThatLazarus was raised from the dead, yetnot demand where in the interim hissoule awaited; or raise a Law-case, whe-ther his heire might lawfully detainehis inheritance, bequeathed unto him byhis death; and he, though restored tolife have no Plea or title unto his for-mer possessions. Whether Eve was fra-med out of the left side of Adam, I di-spute not; because I stand not yet assu-red which is the right side of a man, orwhether there be any such distinction inNature; that she was edified out of theribbe of Adam I believe, yet raise noquestion who shall arise with that ribbeat the Resurrection.K51 Whether Adam

was

Religio Medici. 47was an Hermaphrodite, as the Rabbinescontend upon the letter of the Text,because it is contrary to reason, thereshould bee an Hermaphrodite, beforethere was a woman, or a composition oftwo natures, before there was a secondcomposed. Likewise, whether the worldwas created in Autumne, Summer, orthe Spring;K52 because it was created inthem all; for whatsoever Signe the Sunpossesseth, those foure seasons are actu-ally existent: It is the nature of thisLuminary to distinguish the severallseasons of the yeere, all which it makesat one time in the whole earth, and suc-cessive in any part thereof. There are abundle of curiosities, not onely in Phi-losophy but in Divinity, proposed anddiscussed by men of most supposed abi-lities, which indeed are not worthy ourvacant houres, much lesse our seriousstudies; Pieces only fit to be placed inPantagruels Library, or bound up withTartaretus de modo Cacandi.

These are niceties that become notthose that peruse so serious a Mystery:There are others more generally que-

stioned

In Rabelais.

Sect. 22.

48 Religio Medici.stioned and called to the barre, yet methinkes of an easie and possible truth.’Tis ridiculous to put off, or drownethe generall Flood of Noah , in thatparticular inundation of Deucalion:K53 thatthere was Deluge once, seemes not to meso great a miracle, as that there isnot one alwayes. How all the kinds ofCreatures, not only in their own bulks,but with a competency of food and suste-nance, might be preserved in one Ark,and within the extent of three hundredcubits, to a reason that rightly examinesit, will appeare very feasible.K54 There isanother secret, not contained in theScripture, which is more hard to com-prehend, and put the honest Father tothe refuge of a Miracle; and that is, notonely how the distinct pieces of theworld, and divided Ilands should beefirst planted by men, but inhabited byTigers, Panthers and Beares. HowAmerica abounded with beasts of prey,and noxious Animals, yet contained notin it that necessary creature, a Horse, isvery strange. By what passage those, notonely Birds, but dangerous and unwel-

come

Religio Medici. 49come Beasts came over: How therebee Creatures there, (which are notfound in this Triple Continent;) allwhich must needs be strange unto us,that hold but one Arke, and that thecreatures began their progresse fromthe mountaines of Ararat. They who tosalve this would make the Deluge par-ticular, proceed upon a Principle that Ican no way grant; not onely upon thenegative of holy Scriptures, but ofmine owne reason, whereby I can makeit probable, that the world was as wellpeopled in the time of Noah, as in ours,and fifteene hundred yeares to peoplethe world,K55 as full a time for them asfoure thousand yeeres since have beento us. There are other assertions andcommon tenents drawne from Scripture,and generally beleeved as Scripture,whereunto, notwithstanding, I wouldnever betray the liberty of my reason.’Tis a posulate1 to me, that Methusalemwas the longest liv’d of all the childrenof Adam,K55a and no man will bee able toprove it; when from the processe ofthe Text I can manifest it may be other-

wise. 1 1645 Paradoxe, corrected errata 1643 to postulate.

50 Religio Medici.wise. That Judas perished by hanginghimselfe, there is no certainty in Scrip-ture, though in one place it seemes toaffirme it, and by a doubtfull word hathgiven occasion to translate it; yet in ano-ther place, in a more punctuall descripti-on, it makes it improbable, and seemes tooverthrow it.K56 That our Fathers, afterthe Flood, erected the Tower of Babel,K57

to preserve themselves against a secondDeluge, is generally opinioned and be-leeved; yet is there another intention oftheirs expressed in Scripture: Besides, itis improbable from the circumstance ofthe place, that is, a plaine in the land ofShinar. These are no points of Faith,and therefore may admit a free dispute.There are yet others, and those fami-liarly concluded from the Text, where-in (under favour) I see no consequence.The Church of Rome confidentlyproves the opinion of Tutelary Angels,from that answer when Peter knockt atthe doore, ’Tis not he, but his Angel; thatis, might some say, his Messenger, or somebody from him; for so the originall sig-nifies, and is as likely to be the doubtfull

Fami-

Religio Medici. 51Families meaning. This exposition I oncesuggested to a young Divine, thatanswered upon this point, to which I re-member the Franciscan Opponent re-plyed no more, but, That it was a newand no authentick interpretation.

These are but the conclusions, andfallible discourses of man upon theword of God, for such I doe beleeve theholy Scriptures; yet were it of man, Icould not choose but say, it was the sin-gularest, and superlative piece that hathbeen extant since the Creation; wereI a Pagan, I should not refraine the Le-cture of it; and cannot but commend thejudgement of Ptolomy,K58 that thoughtnot his Library compleate without it:the Alcoran of the Turks (I speak with-out prejudice) is an ill composed Piece,containing in it vaine and ridiculous er-rours in Philosophy, impossibilities, ficti-ons, and vanities beyond laughter, main-tained by evident and open Sophismes,the Policy of Ignorance, deposition ofUniversities, and banishment of Lear-ning, that hath gotten foot by Armesand violence;K59 This without a blow hath

dissemi-

Sect. 23.

52 Religio Medici.disseminated it selfe through the wholeearth. It is not unremarkeable whatPhilo first observed, That the Law ofMoses continued two thousand yeareswithout the least alteration; whereas, wesee, the Lawes of other Common-weales do alter with occasions; andeven those that pretended their originallfrom some Divinity to have vanishedwithout trace or memory. I beleeve,besides Zoroaster, there were diversthat writ before Moses,K60 who notwith-standing have suffered the common fateof time. Mens Workes have an agelike themselves; and though they out-live their Authors, yet have they astint and period to their duration: Thisonely is a worke too hard for the teethof time, and cannot perish but in thegenerall flames, when all things shallconfesse their ashes.

I have heard some with deepe sighslament the lost lines of Cicero; otherswith as many groans deplore the com-bustion of the Library of Alexandria;K61

for my owne part, I thinke there be toomany in the world, and could with pa-

tience

Sect. 24.

Religio Medici. 53tience behold the urne and ashes of theVatican, could I with a few others reco-ver the perished leaves of Solomon. Iwould not omit a Copy of Enochs Pil-lars, had they many nearer Authorsthan Iosephus, or did not relish some-what of the Fable.K62 Some men havewritten more than others have spoken;*Pineda quotes more Authors in onework, than are necessary in a wholeworld. Of those three great inventionsin Germany, there are two which arenot without their incommodities,K63 and’tis disputable whether they exceed nottheir use and commodities. ’Tis not amelancholy Utinam of mine owne, butthe desires of better heads, that therewere a generall Synod; not to unite theincompatible difference of Religion, butfor the benefit of learning, to reduce itas it lay at first in a few and solid Au-thours; and to condemne to the firethose swarms and millions of Rhapsodiesbegotten onely to distract and abuse theweaker judgements of Scholars, and tomaintaine the Trade and Mystery ofTypographers.K63a

I

* Pineda inhis Mo-narchiaEcclesiasti-ca quotesone thou-sand andforty Au-thors.

54 Religio Medici.I cannot but wonder with what ex-

ceptions the Samaritans could confinetheir beliefe to the Pentateuch, or fiveBooks of Moses. I am ashamed at theRabbinicall Interpretation of the Jewes,upon the Old Testament, as much astheir defection from the New: and true-ly it is beyond wonder, how that con-temptible and degenerate issue of Iacob,once so devoted to Ethnick Superstiti-on, and so easily seduced to the Idolatryof their Neighbours, should now insuch an obstinate and peremptory be-liefe adhere unto their owne Doctrine,expect impossibilities, and in the faceand eye of the Church persist withoutthe least hope of conversion: this is avice in them, that were a vertue in us;for obstinacy in a bad cause, is but constan-cy in a good. And herein I must accusethose of my own Religion; for there isnot any of such a fugitive faith, such anunstable beliefe, as a Christian; none thatdo so oft transforme themselves, not un-to severall shapes of Christianity and ofthe same Species, but unto more unnatu-rall and contrary formes, of Jew and

Maho-

Sect. 25.

Religio Medici. 55Mahometan, that from the name of Sa-viour can condescend to the bare termeof Prophet; and from an old beliefethat he is come, fall to a new expecta-tion of his comming: It is the promiseof Christ to make us all one flock; buthow and when this union shall be, is asobscure to me as the last day. Of thosefoure members of Religion wee hold aslender proportion; there are I confessesome new additions, yet small to thosewhich accrew to our adversaries, andthose onely drawne from the revolt ofPagans, men but of negative impieties,and such as deny Christ, but becausethey never heard of him: But the Reli-gion of the Jew is expressly against theChristian, and the Mahometan againstboth; for the Turke, in the bulke henow stands, he is beyond all hope ofconversion;K64 if he fall asunder, theremay be conceived hopes, but not with-out strong improbabilities. The Jewis obstinate in all fortunes; the perse-cution of fifteene hundred yeares hathbut confirmed them in their errour: theyhave already endured whatsoever may

be

56 Religio Medici.be inflicted, and have suffered, in a badcause, even to the condemnation oftheir enemies. Persecution is a bad andindirect way to plant Religion; It hathbeene the unhappy method of angrydevotions, not onely to confirme ho-nest Religion, but wicked Heresies, andextravagant opinions. It was the firststone and Basis of our Faith, none canmore justly boast of persecutions, andglory in the number and valour of Mar-tyrs;K65 For, to speake properly, those aretrue and almost onely examples of for-titude: Those that are fetch’d from thefield, or drawne from the actions ofthe Campe, are not oft-times so truelyprecedents of valour as audacity, and atthe best attaine but to some bastardpiece of fortitude: If wee shall strictlyexamine the circumstances and1 requi-sites which Aristotle requires to true andperfect valour, we shall finde the nameonely in his Master Alexander, and aslittle in that Romane Worthy, IuliusCæsar;K66 and if any, in that easie and activeway, have done so nobly as to deservethat name, yet in the passive and more

terri- 1 1645: aed.

Religio Medici. 57terrible piece these have surpassed, andin a more heroicall way may claime thehonour of that Title. ’Tis not in thepower of every honest faith to proceedthus farre, or passe to Heaven throughthe flames; every one hath it not in thatfull measure, nor in so audacious andresolute a temper, as to endure thoseterrible tests and trialls, who notwith-standing in a peaceable way doe truelyadore their Saviour, and have (nodoubt) a faith acceptable in the eyes ofGod.

Now as all that die in the warre arenot termed Souldiers, so neither can Iproperly terme all those that suffer inmatters of Religion Martyrs. TheCouncell of Constance condemnes IohnHusse for an Heretick, the Stories of hisowne party stile him a Martyr;K67 He mustneeds offend the Divinity of both, thatsayes he was neither the one nor theother: There are many (questionlesse)canonized on earth, that shall never beSaints in Heaven; and have their namesin Histories and Martyrologies, who inthe eyes of God, are not so perfect Mar-

tyrs

Sect. 26.

58 Religio Medici.tyrs, as was that wise Heathen Socrates,that suffered on a fundamentall pointof Religion, the Unity of God.K68 I haveoften pityed the miserable Bishop thatsuffered in the cause of Antipodes,K69 yetcannot choose but accuse him of asmuch madnesse, for exposing his livingon such a trifle, as those of ignoranceand folly that condemned him. I thinkemy conscience will not give me the lie,if I say, there are not many extant thatin a noble way feare the face of deathlesse than my selfe, yet from the morallduty I owe to the Commandement ofGod, and the naturall respects that I ten-der unto the conservation of my essenceand being, I would not perish upon a Ce-remony, Politick points, or indifferency:nor is my beleefe of that untractabletemper, as not to bow at their obstacles,or connive at matters wherein there arenot manifest impieties: The leaventherefore and ferment of all, not onlyCivill, but Religious actions, is wise-dome; without which, to commit ourselves to the flames, is Homicide, and(I feare) but to passe through one fireinto another.

That

Religio Medici. 59That Miracles are ceased, I can neither

prove, nor absolutely deny, much lessedefine the time and period of their cessa-tion; that they survived Christ, is ma-nifest upon record of Scripture; thatthey out-lived the Apostles also, & wererevived at the conversion of Nations,many yeares after, we cannot deny, ifwee shall not question those Writerswhose testimonies wee doe not contro-vert, in points that make for our ownopinions; therefore that may have sometruth in it that is reported by the Jesu-ites of their Miracles in the Indies; Icould wish it were true, or had any o-ther testimony then their owne Pennes:they may easily beleeve those Miraclesabroad, who daily conceive a greater athome; the transmutation of those visi-ble elements into the body and bloodof our Saviour: for the conversion ofwater into wine, which he wrought inCana, or what the Devill would havehad him done in the Wildernesse, ofstones into Bread, compared to this, willscarce deserve the name of a Miracle:Though indeed, to speake properly,

there

Sect. 27.

60 Religio Medici.there is not one Miracle greater than a-nother, they being the extraordinaryeffect of the hand of God, to which allthings are of an equall facility; and tocreate the world as easie as one singlecreature. For this is also a miracle, notonly to produce effects against, or aboveNature, but before Nature; and to cre-ate Nature as great a miracle, as to con-tradict or transcend her. Wee doe toonarrowly define the power of God, re-straining it to our capacities. I hold thatGod can doe all things, how hee shouldwork contradictions I do not understand,yet dare not therefore deny.K70 I cannotsee why the Angel of God should que-stion Esdras to recall the time past,K71 if itwere beyond his owne power; or thatGod should pose mortality in that,which he was not able to performehimselfe. I will not say God cannot,but hee will not performe many things,which wee plainely affirme he cannot:this I am sure is the mannerliest propo-sition, wherein notwithstanding I holdno Paradox. For strictly his power is thesame with his will, and they both with

all

Religio Medici. 61all the rest doe make but one God.

Therefore that Miracles have been Idoe beleeve, that they may yet beewrought by the living I doe not deny:but have no confidence in those whichare fathered on the dead; and this hathever made me suspect the efficacy of re-liques, to examine the bones, questionthe habits and appertinencies of Saints,and even of Christ himselfe: I cannotconceive why the Crosse that Helenafound, and whereon Christ himselfe died,should have power to restore othersunto life: I excuse not Constantine froma fall off his Horse, or a mischiefe fromhis enemies, upon the wearing thosenayles on his bridle, which our Saviourbore upon the Crosse in his hands:K72 Icompute among your Piæ fraudes, normany degrees before consecratedswords and roses, that which BaldwynKing of Jerusalem returned the Genovesefor their cost and paines in his War, towit, the ashes of Iohn the Baptist. Thosethat hold the sanctity of their soulesdoth leave behind a tincture and sacredfaculty on their bodies, speake natu-

rally

Sect. 28.

62 Religio Medici.rally of Miracles, and doe not salve thedoubt. Now one reason I tender solittle devotion unto reliques is, I think,the slender and doubtfull respect I havealwayes held unto Antiquities: for thatindeed which I admire is farre beforeantiquity, that is, Eternity, and that isGod himselfe; who though he be sti-led the Antient of dayes, cannot receivethe adjunct of antiquity, who was be-fore the World, and shall be after it, yetis not older than it; for in his yearesthere is no Climacter, his duration iseternity, and farre more venerable thenantiquitie.

But above all things I wonder how thecuriosity of wiser heads could passe thatgreat and indisputable miracle, the cessa-tion of Oracles;K73 and in what swoun theirreasons lay, to content themselves andsit downe with such far-fetch’t and ri-diculous reasons as Plutarch alleadgethfor it. The Jewes that can beleeve thesupernaturall solstice of the Sunne in thedayes of Joshua, have yet the impudenceto deny the Eclipse, which every Paganconfessed at his death: but for this, it is

evident Page misnumbered 60 1645.

Sect. 29.

Religio Medici. 63evident beyond all contradiction, *theDevil himselfe confessed it. Certainly itis not a warrantable curiosity, to ex-amine the verity of Scripture by theconcordance of humane history, or seekto confirme the Chronicle of Hester orDaniel, by the authority of Magasthenesor Herodotus. I confesse I have had an un-happy curiosity this way, till I laughedmy selfe out of it with a piece of Iustine,where he delivers that the children ofIsrael for being scabbed were banishedout of Egypt.K74 And truly since I haveunderstood the occurrences of theworld, and know in what counterfeitshapes & deceitful vizzards times presentrepresent on the stage things past; I doebeleeve them little more then things tocome. Some have been of my opini-on, and endeavoured to write the Histo-ry of their own lives; wherein Moseshath outgone them all, and left not one-ly the story of his life, but as some willhave it of his death also.

It is a riddle to me, how this story of O-racles hath not worm’d out of the worldthat doubtful conceit of Spirits & witch-

es;

*In his O-racle toAugustus.

Sect. 30.

64 Religio Medici.es; how so many learned heads should sofarre forget their Metaphysicks, and de-stroy the ladder and scale of crea-tures, as to question the existence ofSpirits: for my part, I have ever belee-ved, and doe now know, that there areWitches;K75 they that doubt of these, doenot onely deny them, but spirits; andare obliquely and upon consequence asort not of Infidels, but Atheists. Thosethat to confute their incredulity desireto see apparitions, shall questionlesse ne-ver behold any, nor have the power tobe so much as Witches,K76 the Devill haththem already in a heresie as capitall asWitchcraft, and to appeare to them,were but to convert them: Of all thedelusions wherewith he deceives mor-talitie, there is not any that puzleth memore than the Legerdemain of Change-lings; I doe not credit those transfor-mations of reasonable creatures intobeasts, or that the Devill hath a powerto transpeciate a man into a horse, whotempted Christ (as a triall of his Divini-tie) to convert but stones into bread. Icould beleeve that Spirits use with man

the

Religio Medici. 65the act of carnality, and that in bothsexes; I conceive they may assume,steale, or contrive a body, wherein theremay be action enough to content decre-pit lust, or passion to satisfie more activeveneries; yet in both, without a possi-bility of generation: and therefore thatopinion, that Antichrist should be borneof the Tribe of Dan by conjunction withthe Devill,K77 is ridiculous, and a con-ceit fitter for a Rabbin than a Christian.I hold that the Devill doth really pos-sesse some men, the spirit of melancholyothers, the spirit of delusion others; thatas the Devill is concealed and deny-ed by some, so God and good An-gels are pretended by others, where-of the late defection of the Maid ofGermany hath left a pregnant example.

Againe, I beleeve that all that usesorceries, incantations, and spels, are notWitches, or as we terme them, Magici-ans; I conceive there is a traditionallMagicke, not learned immediatelyfrom the Devill, but at second handfrom his Scholars; who having once

the

Sect. 31.

66 Religio Medici.the secret betrayed, are able, and doeempirically practise without his ad-vice, they both proceeding uponthe principles of nature: where a-ctives aptly conjoyned to disposedpassives, will under any Master pro-duce their effects. Thus I thinkeat first a great part of Philosophy wasWitchcraft, which being afterward de-rived to one another, proved but Philo-sophy, and was indeed no more but thehonest effects of Nature: What inven-ted by us is Philosophy, learned fromhim is Magicke. We doe surely owethe discovery of many secrets to thediscovery of good and bad Angels. Icould never passe that sentence of Para-celsus without an asterisk or annotati-on; *Ascendens constellatum multa reve-lat, quærentibus magnalia naturæ, i.e. operaDei. I doe thinke that many mysteriesascribed to our owne inventions, havebeene the courteous revelations of Spi-rits; for those noble essences in heavenbeare a friendly regard unto their fel-low nature on earth; and therefore be-leeve that those many prodigies and

ominous

* Therebyis meantour goodAngel ap-pointed usfrom ournativity.

Religio Medici. 67ominous prognostickes which fore-runthe ruines of States, Princes, and pri-vate persons, are the charitable premo-nitions of good Angels, which morecarelesse enquiries terme but the effectsof chance and nature.

Now besides these particular and di-vided Spirits, there may be (for ought Iknow) an universall and common Spi-rit to the whole world. It was the opi-nion of Plato, and it is yet of the Hermeti-call Philosophers; if there be a com-mon nature that unites and tyes thescattered and divided individuals intoone species, why may there not be onethat unites them all? However, I amsure there is a common Spirit thatplayes within us, yet makes no partof us, and that is the Spirit of God,the fire and scintillation of that no-ble and mighty Essence, which is thelife and radicall heat of spirits, and thoseessences that know not the vertue ofthe Sunne, a fire quite contrary to thefire of Hell: This is that gentle heatethat brooded on the waters, and in sixdayes hatched the world; this is that

irra-

Sect. 32.

68 Religio Medici.irradiation that dispells1 the mists ofHell, the clouds of horrour, feare, sor-row, despaire; and preserves the regionof the mind in serenity: whosoever feelsnot the warme gale and gentle ventila-tion of this Spirit, (though I feele hispulse) I dare not say he lives; for true-ly without this, to mee there is no heatunder the Tropick; nor any light,though I dwelt in the body of theSunne.As when the labouring Sun hath wrought his track,Up to the top of lofty Cancers back,The ycie Ocean cracks, the frozen poleThawes with the heate of the Celestiall coale;So when thy absent beames begin t’impartAgaine a Solstice on my frozen heart,My winters ov’r, my drooping spirits sing,And every part revives into a Spring.But if thy quickning beames a while decline,And with their light blesse not this Orbe of mine,A chilly frost surprizeth every member,And in the midst of June I feele December.O how this earthly temper doth debaseThe noble soule, in this her humble place.Whose wingy nature ever doth aspire,To reach that place whence first it took its fire.These flames I feele, which in my heart doe dwell,Are not thy beames, but take their fire from Hell:

O

1 1645: dispel corrected from text of 1643.

Religio Medici. 69O quench them all, and let thy light divineBe as the Sunne to this poore Orbe of mine.And to thy sacred Spirit convert those fires,Whose earthly fumes choake my devout aspires.

Therefore for Spirits I am so farrefrom denying their existence, that Icould easily beleeve, that not onelywhole Countries, but particular personshave their Tutelary, and Guardian An-gels: It is not a new opinion of theChurch of Rome, but an old one of Py-thagoras and Plato;K78 there is no heresiein it, and if not manifestly defin’d inScripture, yet is it an opinion of a goodand wholsome use in the course andactions of a mans life, and would serveas an Hypothesis to salve many doubts,whereof common Philosophy affordethno solution: now if you demand myopinion and Metaphysicks of their na-tures, I confesse them very shallow, mostof them in a negative way, like that ofGod; or in a comparative, between ourselves and fellow creatures; for thereis in this Universe a Staire, or manifestScale of creatures, rising not disorderly,or in confusion, but with a comely me-

thod

Sect. 33.

70 Religio Medici.thod and proportion: betweene crea-tures of meere existence and things oflife, there is a large disproportion ofnature; betweene plants and animalsor creatures of sense, a wider difference;betweene them and man, a farre greater:and if the proportion hold on, betweeneMan and Angels there should be yet agreater. We doe not comprehendtheir natures, who retaine the first defi-nition of Porphyry, and distinguish themfrom our selves by immortality; for be-fore his fall, man also was immortall;yet must we needs affirme that he hada different essence from the Angels: ha-ving therefore no certaine knowledgeof their natures, ’tis no bad method ofthe Schooles, whatsoever perfection wefinde obscurely in our selves, in a morecompleat and absolute way to ascribeunto them. I beleeve they have anextemporary knowledge, and upon thefirst motion of their reason doe what wecannot without study or deliberation;that they know things by their formes,and define by specificall difference, whatwe describe by accidents and properties;

and

Religio Medici. 71and therefore probabilities to us maybee demonstrations unto them; thatthey have knowledge not onely of thespecificall, but numericall formes of in-dividualls, and understand by what re-served difference each single Hypostasis,(besides the relation to its species) be-comes its numericall selfe. That as theSoule hath a power to move the bodyit informes, so there’s a faculty to moveany, though informe none; ours uponrestraint of time, place, and distance; butthat invisible hand that conveyed Ha-bakkuk to the Lions den, or Philip toAzotus, infringeth this rule, and hath asecret conveyance, wherewith mortali-ty is not acquainted; if they have thatintuitive knowledge, whereby as in re-flexion they behold the thoughts of oneanother, I cannot peremptorily denybut they know a great part of ours. Theythat to refute the Invocation of Saints,have denyed that they have any know-ledge of our affaires below, have pro-ceeded too farre, and must pardon myopinion, till I can throughly answerthat piece of Scripture, At the conversion

of

72 Religio Medici.of a sinner the Angels of Heaven rejoyce.I cannot with those in that great Fathersecurely interpret the work of the firstday, Fiat lux, to the creation of angels,K79

though (I confesse) there is not any crea-ture that hath so neere a glympse of theirnature, as light in the Sunne and Ele-ments; we stile it a bare accident, butwhere it subsists alone, ’tis a spirituallSubstance, and may bee an Angel:K80 inbriefe, conceive light invisible, and thatis a Spirit.

These are certainly the Magisteriall &master pieces of the Creator, the Floweror (as we may say) the best part of no-thing, actually existing, what we are butin hopes, and probabilitie, we are onelythat amphibious piece between a cor-porall and spirituall essence, that mid-dle forme that linkes those two toge-ther, and makes good the method ofGod and Nature, that jumps not fromextreames, but unites the incompati-ble distances by some middle and par-ticipating natures; that we are thebreath and similitude of God, it is in-disputable, and upon record of holy

Scrip-

Sect. 34.

Religio Medici. 73Scripture, but to call our selves a Mi-crocosme, or little world, I thought itonely a pleasant trope of Rhetorick,till my neere judgement and secondthoughts told me there was a reall truththerein: for first we are a rude masse,and in the ranke of creatures, which on-ly are; and have a dull kinde of beingnot yet priviledged with life, or prefer-red to sense or reason; next we live thelife of plants, the life of animals, the lifeof men, and at last the life of spirits, run-ning on in one mysterious nature thosefive kinds of existences, which compre-hend the creatures not onely of theworld, but of the Universe; thus is manthat great and true Amphibium, whosenature is disposed to live not onely likeother creatures in divers elements, but individed and distinguished worlds;for though there be not one to sense,there are two to reason; the one visi-ble, the other invisible, whereof Mosesseemes to have left description, and ofthe other so obscurely, that some partsthereof are yet in controversie; andtruely for the first chapters of Genesis, Imust confesse a great deale of obscurity,

though

74 Religio Medici.though Divines have to the power ofhumane reason endeavoured to makeall goe in a literall meaning; yet thoseallegoricall interpretations are also pro-bable, and perhaps the mysticall methodof Moses bred up in the Hieroglyphi-call Schooles of the Egyptians.

Now for that immateriall world, methinkes wee need not wander so farreas the first moveable, for even in thismateriall fabricke the spirits walke asfreely exempt from the affection of time,place, and motion, as beyond the ex-treamest circumference; doe but extractfrom the corpulency of bodies, or re-solve things beyond their first matter,and you discover the habitation of An-gels, which if I call the ubiquitary,and omnipresent essence of God, Ihope I shall not offend Divinity; forbefore the Creation of the world, Godwas really all things. For the An-gels hee created no new World, ordeterminate mansion, and thereforethey are every where where is his es-sence, and doe live at a distance evenin himselfe: that God made all things

for

Sect. 35.

Religio Medici. 75for man, is in some sense true, yet notso farre as to subordinate the Creationof those purer Creatures unto ours,though as ministring Spirits they doe,and are willing to fulfill the will of Godin these lower and sublunary affaires ofman; God made all things for himselfe,and it is impossible he should makethem for any other end than his owneglory; it is all he can receive, and all thatis without himselfe; for honour being anexternall adjunct, and in the honourerrather than in the person honoured, itwas necessary to make a Creature, fromwhom hee might receive this homage,and that is in the other world Angels, inthis, Man; which when we neglect, weforget the very end of our Creation, andmay justly provoke God, not onelyto repent that hee hath made theWorld, but that hee hath sworne hewould not destroy it. That there is butone world, is a conclusion of faith. Ari-stotle with all his Philosophy hath notbeen able to prove it, and as weaklythat the world was eternall; that di-spute much troubled the penne of the

anci-

76 Religio Medici.antient Philosophers, but Moses deci-ded that question, and all is salved withthe new terme of a creation,K81 that is, aproduction of something out of no-thing; and what is that? Whatsoever isopposite to something or more exactly,that which is truely contrary unto God:for he onely is, all others have an exi-stence, with dependency, and are some-thing but by a distinction; and herein isDivinity conformant unto Philosophy,and generation not onely founded oncontrarieties, but also creation; God be-ing all things is contrary unto nothingout of which were made all things, andso nothing became something, andOmneity informed Nullity into an essence.

The whole Creation2 is a mystery,and particularly that of man; at theblast of his mouth were the rest of thecreatures made, and at his bare wordthey started out of nothing: but in theframe of man (as the text describes it)he played the sensible operator, andseemed not so much to create, as makehim; when he had separated the ma-terials of other creatures, there conse-

quently 1 Both 1645 and 1643 have two sections 35. 2 1645: Ceation

Sect.35.1

Religio Medici. 77quently resulted a forme and soule,but having raised the wals of man, hewas driven to a second and harder cre-ation of a substance like himselfe, an in-corruptible and immortall soule. Forthese two affections we have the Philo-sophy, and opinion of the Heathens, theflat affirmative of Plato, and not a ne-gative from Aristotle: there is anotherscruple cast in by Divinity (concerningits production) much disputed in theGermane auditories, and with that in-differency and equality of arguments, asleave the controversie undetermined.I am not of Paracelsus minde thatboldly delivers a receipt to make a manwithout conjunction, yet cannot butwonder at the multitude of heads thatdoe deny traduction, having no otherargument to confirme their beleefe, thenthat Rhetoricall sentence, and Antimeta-thesis of Augustine, Creando infunditur,infundendo creatur: either opinion willconsist well enough with religion, yetI should rather incline to this, did notone objection haunt me, not wrungfrom speculations and subtilties, but

from

78 Religio Medici.from common sense, and observati-on, not pickt from the leaves of anyauthor, but bred amongst the weedsand tares of mine owne braine. Andthis is a conclusion from the equivo-call and monstrous productions in thecopulation of man with beast; forif the soule of man bee not transmit-ted and transfused in the seed of the Pa-rents, why are not those producti-ons meerely beasts, but have also animpression and tincture of reason in ashigh a measure, as it can evidence itselfe in those improper organs? Nortruely can I peremptorily deny, thatthe soule in this her sublunary estate,is wholly and in all acceptions inor-ganicall, but that for the performanceof her ordinary actions, is requirednot onely a symmetry and proper dis-position of Organs, but a Crasis andtemper correspondent to its operati-ons, yet is not this masse of flesh andvisible structure the instrument andproper corps of the soule, but ratherof sense, and that the hand of rea-son. In our study of Anatomy there

is

Religio Medici. 79is a masse of mysterious Philosophy,and such as reduced the very Hea-thens to Divinity;K82 yet amongst allthose rare discoveries, and curiouspieces I finde in the fabrick of man,I doe not so much content my selfe,as in that I finde not, that is no Or-gan or instrument for the rationallsoule; for in the braine, which wetearme the seat of reason, there isnot any thing of moment more thanI can discover in the crany of a beast:and this is a sensible and no incon-siderable argument of the inorganity ofthe soule, at least in that sense we usu-ally so receive it. Thus we are men, andwe know not how, there is somethingin us, that can be without us, and willbe after us, though it is strange that ithath no history, what it was beforeus, nor cannot tell how it entred in us.

Now for these wals of flesh, where-in the soule doth seeme to be immuredbefore the Resurrection, it is nothingbut an elementall composition, and afabrick that must fall to ashes; Allflesh is grasse, is not only metapho-

rical-

Sect. 36.

80 Religio Medici.rically, but literally true, for all thosecreatures we behold, are but the herbsof the field, digested into flesh inthem, or more remotely carnified inour selves. Nay further, we are whatwe all abhorre, Antropophagi and Can-nibals, devourers not onely of men, butof our selves, and that not in an allego-ry, but a positive truth; for all thismasse of flesh which we behold, camein at our mouths: this frame wee lookeupon, hath been upon our trenchers;In briefe, we have devoured our selves.I cannot beleeve the wisdome of Py-thagoras did ever positively, and in a li-terall sense, affirme his Metempsychosis,K83

or impossible transmigration of thesoules of men into beasts: of all Me-tamorphoses, or transmigrations, Ibeleeve onely one, that is of L o t swife, for that of Nebuchodonosor pro-ceeded not so farre; In all othersI conceive there is no further veritythan is contained in their implicitesense and morality: I beleeve that thewhole frame of a beast doth perish,and is left in the same state after death,

as

Religio Medici. 81as before it was materialled unto life;that the soules of men know neithercontrary nor corruption, that theysubsist beyond the body, and outlivedeath by the priviledge of their pro-per natures, and without a miracle; thatthe soules of the faithfull, as they leaveearth, take possession of Heaven:that those apparitions, and ghostsof departed persons are not the wan-dring soules of men, but the unquietwalkes of Devils, prompting and sugge-sting us unto mischief, bloud, and villa-ny, instilling, and stealing into our hearts;that the blessed spirits are not at rest intheir graves, but wander solicitous of theaffaires of the world; but that1 thosephantasmes appear often, and doefrequent Cemiteries, charnall houses,and Churches, it is because those are thedormitories of the dead, where theDevill like an insolent Championbeholds with pride the spoyles andTrophies of his victory in Adam.

This is that dismall conquest we alldeplore, that makes us so often cry (O)Adam, quid fecisti ? I thanke God I

have 1 1645 but that; 1643 but, corrected errata to that.

Sect. 37.

82 Religio Medici.have not those strait ligaments, ornarrow obligations to the world, as todote on life, or be convulst and trem-ble at the name of death: Not that Iam insensible of the dread and horrourthereof, or by raking into the bowelsof the deceased, continuall sight of A-natomies, Skeletons, or Cadaverousreliques, like Vespilloes, or Grave-ma-kers, I am become stupid, or have for-got the apprehension of Mortality, butthat marshalling all the horrours, andcontemplating the extremities thereof,I find not any thing therein able todaunt the courage of a man, much lessea well resolved Christian. And there-fore am not angry at the errour of ourfirst Parents, or unwilling to beare apart of this common fate, and like thebest of them to die, that is, to cease tobreath, to take a farewell of the ele-ments, to be a kind of nothing for amoment, to be within one instant of aspirit. When I take a full view and cir-cle of my selfe, without this reasonablemoderator, and equall piece of justice,Death, I doe conceive my selfe the mi-

sera-

Religio Medici. 83serablest person extant; were there notanother life that I hope for, all the va-nities of this world should not intreat amoments breath from me; could theDevill worke my beliefe to imagine Icould ever die, I would not outlivethat very thought; I have so abject aconceit of this common way of exi-stence, this retaining to the Sunne andElements, I cannot thinke this is tobe a man, or to live according to thedignity of humanity; in expectation ofa better I can with patience embracethis life, yet in my best meditationsdoe often defie death; I honour anyman that contemnes it, nor can Ihighly love any that is afraid of it;this makes mee naturally love a Soul-dier, and honour those tattered and con-temptible Regiments, that will die atthe command of a Sergeant. For a Paganthere may be some motives to be inlove with life, but for a Christian to beamazed at death, I see not how he canescape this Dilemma, that he is too sen-sible of this life, or hopelesse of the lifeto come.

Some

84 Religio Medici.Some Divines count Adam 30. yeares

old at his creation, because they sup-pose him created in the perfect age andstature of man; and surely wee are allout of the computation of our age, andevery man is some months elder thanhee bethinkes him; for we live, move,have a being, and are subject to the acti-ons of the elements, and the malice ofdiseases in that other world, the truestMicrocosme, the wombe of our mo-ther; for besides that generall and com-mon existence we are conceived tohold in our Chaos, and whilst wesleep within the bosome of our causes,we enjoy a being and life in three di-stinct worlds, wherein we receive mostmanifest graduations: In that obscureworld and womb of our mother, ourtime is short, computed by the Moon:yet longer then the dayes of many crea-tures that behold the Sunne, our selvesbeing not yet without life, sense, and rea-son, though for the manifestation of itsactions, it awaites the opportunity ofobjects; and seems to live there butin its roote and soule of vegetation:

entring

Sect. 38.

Religio Medici. 85entring afterwards upon the scene ofthe world, wee arise up and becomeanother creature, performing the rea-sonable actions of man, and obscurelymanifesting that part of Divinity in us,but not in complement and perfection,till we have once more cast our second-dine, that is, this slough of flesh, and aredelivered into the last world, that is, thatineffable place of Paul, that proper ubiof spirits. The smattering I have of thePhilosophers Stone, (which is some-thing more then the perfect exaltationof Gold) hath taught me a great dealeof Divinity, and instructed my beliefe;how that immortall spirit and incorrup-tible substance of my Soule may lye ob-scure, and sleepe a while within thishouse of flesh. Those strange and mysti-call transmigrations that I have obser-ved in Silkewormes, turned my Philo-sophy into Divinity. There is in theseworkes of nature, which seeme to puzlereason, something Divine, and hathmore in it then the eye of a commonspectator doth discover.

I am naturally bashfull, nor hath con-ver-

Sect. 39.

86 Religio Medici.versation, age, or travell, beene able toeffront, or enharden me, yet I have onepart of modesty, which I have seldomediscovered in another, that is (to speaketruly) I am not so much afraid of death,as ashamed thereof; tis the very disgraceand ignominy of our natures, that in amoment can so disfigure us, that ournearest friends, Wife, and Childrenstand afraid and start at us. The Birdsand beasts of the field that before in anaturall feare obeyed us, forgetting allallegiance begin to prey upon us. Thisvery conceit hath in a tempest disposedand left me willing to be swallowed upin the abysse of waters; wherein I hadperished, unseene, unpityed, withoutwondering eyes, teares of pity, Lecturesof mortality, and none had said, Quan-tum mutatus ab illo! Not that I am asha-med of the Anatomy of my parts, orcan accuse nature for playing the bung-ler in any part of me, or my owne viti-ous life for contracting any shamefulldisease upon me, whereby I might notcall my selfe as wholesome a morsellfor the wormes as any.

Some

Religio Medici. 87Some upon the courage of a fruitfull

issue, wherein, as in the truest Chroni-cle, they seeme to outlive themselves, canwith greater patience away with death.This conceit and counterfeit subsistingin our progenies seemes to me a meerefallacy, unworthy the desires of a man,that can but conceive a thought of thenext world; who, in a nobler ambiti-on, should desire to live in his sub-stance in Heaven rather than his nameand shadow in the earth. And there-fore at my death I meane to take a totalladieu of the world, not caring for aMonument, History, or Epitaph, notso much as the bare memory of myname to be found any where, but in theuniversall Register of God: I am notyet so Cynicall, as to approve the *Te-stament of Diogenes, nor doe I altoge-ther allow that Rodomontado of Lucan;——Cœlo tegitur, qui non habet urnam.He that unburied lies wants not his Herse,For unto him a tombe's the Universe.But commend in my calmer judge-ment, those ingenuous intentions thatdesire to sleepe by the urnes of their Fa-

thers,

Sect. 40.

* Whowilled hisfriend notto buryhim, buthang himup with astaffe inhis handto frightaway theCrowes.

88 Religio Medici.thers, and strive to goe the nearest wayunto corruption. I doe not envie thetemper of Crowes and Dawes,K84 nor thenumerous and weary dayes of our Fa-thers before the Flood. If there beeany truth in Astrology, I may out live aJubilee, as yet I have not seen one re-volution of Saturne, nor hath my pulsebeat thirty yeares, and yet exceptingone, have seene the Ashes, and left un-der ground, all the Kings of Europe, havebeen contemporary to three Empe-rours, foure Grand Signiours, and asmany Popes; mee thinkes I have out-lived my selfe, and begin to bee wearyof the Sunne, I have shaked hands withdelight in my warme blood and Cani-cular dayes, I perceive I doe anticipatethe vices of age, the world to mee is buta dreame, or mockshow, and weeall therein but Pantalones and Antickesto my severer contemplations.

It is not, I confesse, an unlawfull pray-er to desire to surpasse the dayes of ourSaviour, or wish to out-live that agewherein he thought fittest to dye, yetif (as Divinity affirmes) there shall bee

no

Sect. 41.

Religio Medici. 89no gray haires in Heaven, but all shallrise in the perfect state of men, wee doebut out-live those perfections in thisWorld, to be recalled unto them by agreater miracle in the next, and run onhere but to bee retrograde hereafter.Were there any hopes to out-live vice,or a point to be super-annuated fromsin, it were worthy our knees to im-plore the dayes of Methuselah. But agedoth not rectifie, but incurvate our na-tures, turning bad dispositions intoworser habits, and (like diseases) bringson incurable vices; for every day as wegrow weaker in age, wee grow strongerin sinne, and the number of our dayesdoth but make our sinnes innumerable.The same vice committed at sixteene, isnot the same, though it agree in all othercircumstances, as at forty, but swels anddoubles from the circumstance of ourages, wherein, besides the constant andinexcuseable habit of transgressing, thematurity of our judgement cuts off pre-tence unto excuse or pardon: every sinthe oftner it is committed, the more itacquireth in the quality of evill; as it suc-

ceeds

90 Religio Medici.ceeds in time, so it proceeds in degreesof badness, for as they proceed they e-ver multiply, and like figures in Arith-meticke, the last stands for more thanall that went before it: And though Ithinke no man can live well once buthee that could live twice, yet for myowne part, I would not live over myhoures past, or beginne againe the thredof my dayes: not upon Cicero’s ground,because I have lived them well,K85 but forfeare I should live them worse: I findmy growing Judgement daily instructme how to be better, but my untamedaffections and confirmed vitiosity makesmee daily doe worse; I finde in myconfirmed age the same sinnes I disco-vered in my youth, I committed manythen because I was a child, and becauseI commit them still I am yet an Infant.Therefore I perceive a man may beetwice a child before the dayes of do-tage, and stand in need of Æsons bathbefore threescore.K86

And truely there goes a great deale ofprovidence to produce a mans life untothreescore; there is more required than

an

Sect. 42.

Religio Medici. 91an able temper for those yeeres; thoughthe radicall humor containe in it suffi-cient oyle for seventy, yet I perceive insome it gives no light past thirty; menassigne not all the causes of long lifethat write whole bookes thereof. Theythat found themselves on the radicallbalsome, or vitall sulphur of the parts,determine not why Abel lived not solong as Adam. There is therefore a se-cret glome or bottome of our dayes;’twas his wisedome to determine them,but his perpetuall and waking provi-dence that fulfills and accomplisheththem, wherein the spirits, our selves,and all the creatures of God in a secretand disputed way doe execute his will.Let them not therefore complaine ofimmaturity that die about thirty, theyfall but like the whole world, whosesolid and well composed substancemust not expect the duration and periodof its constitution, when all things arecompleated in it, its age is accomplish-ed, and the last and generall feaver mayas naturally destroy it before six thou-sand, as me before forty; there is therefore

some

92 Religio Medici.some other hand that twines the thread oflife than that of Nature; we are notonely ignorant in Antipathies and oc-cult qualities, our ends are as obscure asour beginnings, the line of our dayes isdrawne by night, and the various effectstherein by a pencill that is invisible;wherein though wee confesse our igno-rance, I am sure wee doe not erre, if wesay, it is the hand of God.

I am much taken with two verses ofLucan, since I have been able not onelyas we do at Schoole, to construe, but un-derstand:Victurosque Dei celant ut vivere durent,Felix esse mori.We’re all deluded, vainely searching waies,To make us happy by the length of dayes;For cunningly to1 make’s protract this breath,The Gods conceale the happiness of Death.There be many excellent straines in thatPoet, wherewith his Stoicall Geniushath liberally supplyed him; and truelythere are singular pieces in the Philoso-phy of Zeno, and doctrine of the Sto-ickes: which I perceive, delivered in aPulpit, passe for currant Divinity: yetherein are they in extreames, that can al-

low 1 1645: too, corrected from 1643 and common sense to.

Sect. 43.

Religio Medici. 93low a man to be his own Assaßine, andso highly extoll the end and suicide ofCato;K87 this is indeed not to feare death,but yet to be afraid of life. It is a braveact of valour to contemne death,but where life is more terrible thandeath, it is then the truest valour todare to live; and herein Religion hathtaught us a noble example: For all thevaliant acts of Curtius, Scevola or Co-drus, doe not parallel or match that oneof Job; and sure there is no torture tothe racke of a disease, nor any Poyn-yards in death it selfe, like those in theway or prologue unto it. Emori nolo, sedme esse mortuum nihil curo, I would notdye, but care not to be dead. Were Iof Cesars ReligionK88 I should be of his de-sires, and wish rather to goe off at oneblow, then to be sawed in pieces by thegrating torture of a disease. Men thatlooke no further than their outsidesthinke health an appertinance unto life,and quarrell with their constitutions forbeing sick; but I that have examined theparts of man, and know upon what ten-der filaments that Fabrick hangs, doe

won-

94 Religio Medici.wonder that we are not alwaies so; andconsidering the thousand dores thatlead to death, doe thank my God thatwee can die but once. ’Tis not onely themischiefe of diseases, and the villanyof poysons, that make an end of us; wevainly accuse the fury of Gunnes, andthe new inventions of death; it is in thepower of every hand to destroy us, andwe are beholding unto every one weemeete, hee doth not kill us. There istherefore but one comfort left, thatthough it be in the power of the weakestarme to take away life, it is not in thestrongest to deprive us of death: Godwould not exempt himselfe from that,the misery of immortality in the flesh,he undertooke not that was in it immor-tall. Certainly there is no happinessewithin1 this circle of flesh, nor is it inthe Opticks of these eyes to behold fe-licity; the first day of our Jubilee isdeath; the Devill hath therefore failedof his desires; wee are happier withdeath than we should have been with-out it: there is no misery but in himselfewhere there is no end of misery; and so

indeed 1 1645 without, corrected from text of 1643.

Religio Medici. 95indeed in his own sense, the Stoick is inthe right. Hee forgets that he can diewho complaines of misery, wee are inthe power of no calamity while death isin our owne.

Now besides this literall and posi-tive kind of death, there are otherswhereof Divines make mention, andthose I thinke, not meerely Metapho-ricall, as mortification, dying unto sinand the World; therefore, I say, everyman hath a double Horoscope, one ofhis humanity, his birth; another of hisChristianity, his baptisme, and from thisdoe I compute or calculate my Nativi-ty, not reckoning those Horæ combu-stæ, and odde dayes, or esteeming myselfe any thing, before I was my Savi-ours, and inrolled in the Register ofChrist: Whosoever enjoyes not thislife, I count him but an apparition,though he weare about him the sensibleaffections of flesh. In these morall ac-ceptions, the way to be immortall is todie dayly; nor can I thinke I have thetrue Theory of death, when I contem-

plate

Sect. 44.

96 Religio Medici.plate a skull, or behold a Skeletonwith those vulgar imaginations it castsupon us; I have therefore inlarged thatcommon Memento mori, into a moreChristian memorandum, Memento qua-tuor Novissima, those foure inevitablepoints of us all, Death, Judgement, Hea-ven, and Hell. Neither did the contem-plations of the Heathens rest in theirgraves, without a further thought ofRadamanth or some Judiciall procee-ding after death, though in anotherway, and upon suggestion of their natu-rall reasons. I cannot but marvaile fromwhat Sibyll or Oracle they stole the pro-phesie of the worlds destruction by fire,or whence Lucan learned to say,K89

Communis mundo superest rogus, ossibusastra Misturus. ——There yet remaines toth’ world one common

fire,Wherein our bones with stars shall make

one pyre.I beleeve the World growes neare itsend, yet is neither old nor decayed, norwill ever perish upon the ruines of itsowne principles. As the worke of Cre-

ation

Religio Medici. 97ation was above nature, so is its adver-sary, annihilation; without which theworld hath not its end, but its mutati-on. Now what force should bee ableto consume it thus farre, without thebreath of God, which is the truest con-suming flame, my Philosophy cannotinforme me. Some beleeve there wentnot a minute to the worlds creation, norshall there go to its destruction, those sixdayes so punctually described, make notto them one moment, but rather seem tomanifest the method and Idea of thegreat work of the intellect of God,than the manner how he proceeded inits operation. I cannot dreame thatthere should be at the last day any suchJudiciall proceeding, or calling to theBarre, as indeed the Scripture seemesto imply, and the literall Commenta-tors do conceive: for unspeakable myste-ries in the Scriptures are often delive-red in a vulgar and illustrative way, andbeing written unto man, are delivered,not as they truely are, but as they maybee understood; wherein notwithstan-ding the different interpretations accor-

ding

98 Religio Medici.ding to different capacities may standfirme with our devotion, nor be any wayprejudiciall to each single edification.

Now to determine the day and yeareof this inevitable time, is not onely con-vincible and statute madnesse, but alsomanifest impiety; how shall we inter-pret Elias 6000. yeares,K90 or imagine thesecret communicated to a Rabbi, whichGod hath denyed unto his Angels?It had beene an excellent quære, to haveposed the devill of Delphos, and mustneeds have forced him to some strangeamphibology; it hath not onely mock-ed the predictions of sundry Astrolo-gers in ages past, but the prophesies ofmany melancholy heads in these pre-sent, who neither understanding reaso-nably things past or present, pretend aknowledge of things to come, heads or-dained onely to manifest the incredibleeffects of melancholy, and to fulfill *oldprophesies, rather than be the authorsof new. [In those dayes there shall comewarres and rumours of warres,] to meseemes no prophecy, but a constanttruth, in all times verified since it was

pro-

Sect. 45.

In thosedayesshallcome ly-ers andfalse pro-phets.

Religio Medici. 99pronounced: There shall be signes inthe Moone and Starres, how comes hethen like a theefe in the night, when hegives an item of his comming? Thatcommon signe drawne from the revela-tion of Antichrist is as obscure as any;in our common compute he hath beenecome these many yeares, but for myowne part to speake freely, I am halfe ofopinion that Antichrist is the Philoso-phers stone in Divinity, for the disco-very and invention whereof, thoughthere be prescribed rules, and probableinductions, yet hath hardly any manattained the perfect discovery thereof.That generall opinion that the worldgrowes neere its end, hath possessed allages past as neerely as ours; I am afraidthat the Soules that now depart, cannotescape that lingring expostulation of theSaints under the altar, Quousque Domi-ne? How long, O Lord? and groanein the expectation of that great Jubilee.

This is the day that must make goodthat great attribute of God his Justice,that must reconcile those unanswerabledoubts that torment the wisest under-

stand-

Sect. 46.

100 Religio Medici.standings, and reduce those seeming in-equalities, and respective distributionsin this world, to an equality and re-compensive Justice in the next. Thisis that one day, that shall include andcomprehend all that went before it,wherein as in the last scene, all theActors must enter to compleat andmake up the Catastrophe of this greatpeece. This is the day whose memo-ry hath onely power to make us honestin the darke, and to bee vertuous with-out a witnesse. Ipsa suæ1 pretium virtussibi,K91 that vertue is her owne reward, isbut a cold principle, and not able tomaintaine our variable resolutions in aconstant and setled way of goodnesse.I have practised that honest artifice ofSeneca,K92 and in my retired and solitaryimaginations, to detaine mee from thefoulenesse of vice, have fancied to myselfe the presence of my deare and wor-thiest friends, before whom I should losemy head, rather than be vitious, yet here-in I found that there was nought but mo-rall honesty, and this was not to be ver-tuous for his sake who must reward us

at 1 1645 and 1643 sui corrected errata 1643 suae.

Religio Medici. 101at the last. I have tryed if I could reachthat great resolution of his, to be honestwithout a thought of Heaven or Hell;K93

and indeed I found upon a naturall in-clination, and inbred loyalty unto vertue,that I could serve her without a livery,yet not in that resolved and venerableway, but that the frailtie of my nature,upon an easie temptation, might be in-duced to forget her. The life thereforeand spirit of all our actions, is the resur-rection and stable apprehension, thatour ashes shall enjoy the fruit of ourpious endeavours; without this, all Reli-gion is a Fallacy, and those impieties ofLucian, Euripedes, and Iulian are no blas-phemies, but subtile verities, and A-theists have beene the onely Philoso-phers.K94

How shall the dead arise, is no questi-on of my faith; to beleeve onely possi-bilities, is not faith, but meere Philoso-phy; many things are true in Divinity,which are neither inducible by reason,nor confirmable by sense; and manythings in Philosophy confirmable bysense, yet not inducible by reason. Thus

it 1 Bis; 1643 and 1645 have two sections 46.

Sect. 46.1

102 Religio Medici.it is impossible by any solid or demon-strative reasons to perswade a man tobeleeve the conversion of the Needle tothe North; though this be possible, andtrue, and easily credible, upon a singleexperiment unto the sense. I beleevethat our estranged and divided ashesshall unite againe, that our separateddust after so many pilgrimages andtransformations into the parts of Mine-ralls, Plants, Animals, Elements, shallat the voice of God returne into theirprimitive shapes; and joine againe tomake up their primary and predestinateformes. As at the Creation, there was aseparation of that confused masse into itsspecies, so at the destruction thereofthere shall be a separation into its di-stinct individualls. As at the Creation ofthe world, all the distinct species that webehold, lay involved in one masse,till the fruitfull voice of God separa-ted this united multitude into its seve-rall species: so at the last day, whenthese corrupted reliques shall be scatte-red in the wildernesse of formes, andseem to have forgot their proper ha-

bits

Religio Medici. 103bits, God by a powerfull voyce shallcommand them back into their propershapes,K95 and call them out by their singleindividuals: Then shall appear the fer-tility of Adam, and the magick of thatsperme that hath dilated into so manymillions. I have often beheld as a mi-racle, that artificiall resurrection and re-vivification of Mercury, how being mor-tified into thousand shapes, it assumesagaine its owne, and returns into its nu-mericall selfe. Let us speake naturally,and like Philosophers, the formes of al-terable bodies in these sensible corrup-tions perish not; nor, as wee imagine,wholly quit their mansions, but retireand contract themselves into their secretand unaccessible parts, where they maybest protect themselves from the actionof their Antagonist. A plant or vegeta-ble consumed to ashes, to1 a contempla-tive and schoole Philosopher seemesutterly destroyed, and the forme to havetaken his leave for ever: But to a sensibleArtist the formes are not perished, butwithdrawne into their incombustiblepart, where they lie secure from the acti-

on 1 1645 by but 1643 to makes more sense.

104 Religio Medici.on of that devouring element. This ismade good by experience, which canfrom the ashes of a plant revive theplant, and from its cinders recall it in-to its stalke and leaves againe. Whatthe Art of man can doe in these inferi-our pieces, what blasphemy is it to affirmthe finger of God cannot doe in thesemore perfect and sensible structures?This is that mysticall Philosophy, fromwhence no true Scholler becomes anAtheist, but from the visible effects ofnature, growes up a reall Divine, and be-holds not in a dreame, as Ezekiel, but inan ocular and visible object the types ofhis resurrection.

Now, the necessary Mansionsof our restored selves, are those twocontrary and incompatible placeswee call Heaven and Hell; to de-fine them, or strictly to determine whatand where these are, surpasseth my Di-vinity. That elegant Apostle whichseemed to have a glimpse of Heaven,hath left but a negative descriptionthereof; which neither eye hath seene,nor eare hath heard, nor can enter into

the

Sect. 47.

Religio Medici. 105the heart of man: he was translated outof himselfe to behold it, but being retur-ned into himselfe could not expresse it.Saint Iohns description by Emeralds,Chrysolites, and pretious stones, is tooweake to expresse the materiall Heavenwe behold. Briefely therefore, wherethe soule hath the full measure, andcomplement of happinesse, where theboundlesse appetite of that spirit re-maines compleatly satisfied, that it canneither desire addition nor alteration,that I thinke is truely Heaven: and thiscan onely be in the enjoyment of thatessence, whose infinite goodnesse is ableto terminate the desires of it selfe, andthe unsatiable wishes of ours; where-ever God will thus manifest himselfe,there is Heaven, though within the cir-cle of this sensible world. Thus thesoule of man may bee in Heaven anywhere, even within the limits of hisowne proper body, and when it ceasethto live in the body, it may remaine inits owne soule, that is its Creator. Andthus wee may say that Saint Paul, whe-ther in the body, or out of the body,

was

106 Religio Medici.was yet in Heaven. To place it in theEmpyreal, or beyond the tenth Spheare,is to forget the worlds destruction; forwhen this sensible world shall be de-stroyed, all shall then be here as it is nowthere, an Empyreall Heaven, a quasi va-cuitie, when to ask where Heaven is, isto demand where the presence of Godis, or where wee have the glory of thathappy vision. Moses that was bred up inall the learning of the Egyptians, com-mitted a grosse absurdity in Philosophy,when with these eyes of flesh he desiredto see God, and petitioned his Maker,that is truth it selfe, to a contradiction.Those that imagine Heaven and Hellneighbours, and conceive a vicinity be-tween those two extreames, upon conse-quence of the Parable, where Dives dis-coursed with Lazarus in Abrahams bo-some, doe too grossely conceive of thoseglorified creatures, whose eyes shall easi-ly out-see the Sunne, and behold withouta perspective, the extreamist distances:for if there shall be in our glorified eyes,the faculty of sight and reception of ob-jects, I could think the visible species there

to

Religio Medici. 107to be in as unlimitable a way as nowthe intellectuall. I grant that two bodiesplaced beyond the tenth Spheare, or ina vacuity, according to Aristotles Philo-sophy, could not behold each other, be-cause there wants a body or Medium tohand and transport the visible rayes ofthe object unto the sense; but when thereshall be a generall defect of either Medi-um to convey, or light to prepare and di-spose that Medium, and yet a perfect vi-sion, wee must suspend the rules of ourPhilosophy, and make all good by amore absolute piece of Opticks.

I cannot tell how to say that fire is theessence of hell, I know not what to makeof Purgatory, or conceive a flame thatcan either prey upon, or purifie the sub-stance of a soule;K96 those flames of sulphurementioned in the scriptures, I take not tobe understood of this present Hell, but ofthat to come, where fire shall make upthe complement of our tortures, & havea body or subject wherein to manifestits tyranny: Some who have had thehonour to be textuarie in Divinity, are ofopinion it shall be the same specificall

fire

Sect. 48.

108 Religio Medici.fire with ours. This is hard to conceive,yet can I make good how even thatmay prey upon our bodies, and yet notconsume us: for in this materiall world,there are bodies that persist invinciblein the powerfullest flames, and thoughby the action of fire they fall into igni-tion and liquation, yet will they neversuffer a destruction: I would gladly knowhow Moses with an actuall fire calcin’d,or burnt the Golden Calfe into powder:for that mysticall metall of Gold, whosesolary and celestiall nature I admire, ex-posed unto the violence of fire, growesonely hot and liquifies, but consumethnot: so when the consumable and vola-tile pieces of our bodies shall be refinedinto a more impregnable and fixed tem-per like Gold, though they suffer fromthe action of flames, they shall neverperish, but lie immortall in the armes offire. And surely if this frame must suf-fer onely by the action of this element,there will many bodies escape, and notonely Heaven, but earth will not bee atan end, but rather a beginning;1 For atpresent it is not earth, but a compositi-

on 1 1645 beginning? 1643 beginning;

Religio Medici. 109on of fire, water, earth, and aire; but atthat time spoyled of these ingredients,it shall appeare in a substance more likeit selfe, its ashes. Philosophers that opini-oned the worlds destruction by fire, didnever dreame of annihilation, which isbeyond the power of sublunary causes;for the last and proper action of that ele-ment is but vitrification, or a reductionof a body into glasse; and therefore someof our Chymicks facetiously affirm, thatat the last fire all shall be crystallized andreverberated into glasse, which is the ut-most action of that element. Nor needwe feare this term [annihilation] or won-der that God will destroy the workes ofhis Creation: for man subsisting, whois, and will then truely appeare a Mi-crocosme, the world cannot be saidto be destroyed. For the eyes of Godand perhaps also of our glorified selves,shall as really behold and contemplatethe world in its Epitome or contractedessence, as now it doth at large and in itsdilated substance. In the seed of a Plantto the eyes of God, and to the under-standing of man, there exists, though in

an

110 Religio Medici.an invisible way, the perfect leaves, flow-ers, and fruit thereof: (for things that arein posse to the sense, are actually existentto the understanding.) Thus God be-holds all things, who contemplates asfully his workes in their Epitome, as intheir full volume, and beheld as amplythe whole world in that little compen-dium of the sixth day, as in the scatteredand dilated pieces of those five before.

Men commonly set forth the tormentsof Hell by fire, and the extremity ofcorporall afflictions, and describe Hell inthe same method that Mahomet dothHeaven. This indeed makes a noise, anddrums in popular eares: but if this be theterrible piece thereof, it is not worthy tostand in diameter with Heaven, whosehappinesse consists in that part that isbest able to comprehend it, that immor-tall essence, that translated divinity andcolony of God, the Soule. Surely thoughwee place Hell under earth, the Devilswalke and purlue is about it; men speaketoo popularly who place it in those fla-ming mountaines, which to grosser ap-prehensions represent Hell. The heart of

man

Sect. 49.

Religio Medici. 111man is the place the Devils dwell1 in; Ifeele sometimes a Hell within my selfe,Lucifer keeps his Court in my breast, Le-gion is revived in me. There are as manyhels as Anaxagoras conceited worlds;K97

there was more then one hell in Magda-len, when there were seven devils; for e-very devill is an hell unto himselfe: heeholds enough of torture in his owneubi, and needs not the misery of circum-ference to afflict him, and thus a distra-cted conscience here is a shadow or in-troduction unto hell hereafter; Who canbut pity the mercifull intention of thosehands that doe destroy themselves? thedevill, were it in his power, would doethe like; which being impossible, his mi-series are endlesse, and he suffers most inthat attribute wherein he is impassible,his immortality.

I thank God that with joy2 I mentionit, I was never afraid of Hell, nor nevergrew pale at the description of thatplace; I have so fixed my contempla-tions on Heaven, that I have almost for-got the Idea of Hell, and am afraid ra-ther to lose the joyes of the one than

endure 1 1643: devill dwels 21643: God, and with joy

Sect. 50.

112 Religio Medici.endure the misery of the other; to be de-prived of them is a perfect Hel, and needsmee thinks no addition to compleat ourafflictions; that terrible terme hathnever detained me from sinne, nor do Iowe any good action to the name there-of: I fear God, yet am not afraid ofhim, his mercies make me ashamed ofmy sins, before his judgments afraidthereof: these are the forced and secon-dary method of his wisdome, whichhee useth but as the last remedy, andupon provocation, a course rather todeterre the wicked, than incite thevertuous to his worship. I can hardlythinke there was ever any scared intoHeaven, they goe the fairest way toHeaven, that would serve God withouta Hell; other Mercenaries that crouchunto him in feare of Hell, though theyterme themselves the servants, are indeedbut the slaves of the Almighty.

And to be true, and speak my soule,when I survey the occurrences of mylife, and call into account the finger ofGod, I can perceive nothing but

an

Sect. 51.

Religio Medici. 113an abysse and masse of mercies, eitherin generall to mankinde, or in particularto my selfe; and whether out of the pre-judice of my affection, or an invertingand partiall conceit of his mercies, Iknow not , but those which othersterme crosses, afflictions, judgments,misfortunes, to mee who enquire fartherinto them than their visible effects, theyboth appeare, and in event have everproved the secret and dissembled fa-vours of his affection. It is a singularpiece of Wisdome to apprehend truly,and without passion the workes of God,and so well to distinguish his Justicefrom his Mercy, as not to miscall thosenoble attributes; yet it is likewise anhonest piece of Logick so to dispute andargue the proceedings of God, as todistinguish even his judgements intomercies. For God is mercifull unto all,because better to the worst, than the bestdeserve, and to say hee punisheth nonein this world, though it be a Paradox, isno absurdity. To one that hath com-mitted murther, if the Judge should

one-

114 Religio Medici.onely ordaine a Fine, it were amadnesse to call this a punishment, andto repine at the sentence, rather than ad-mire the clemencie of the Judge. Thusour offences being mortall, and deser-ving not onely death, but damnation,if the goodnesse of God be content totraverse and passe them over with alosse, misfortune, or disease; whatfrensie were it to terme this a punish-ment, rather than an extremity of mer-cy, and to groane under the rod ofhis judgements, rather than admire theScepter of his mercies? Therefore to a-dore, honour, and admire him, is a debtof gratitude due from the obligation ofour nature, states, and conditions; andwith these thoughts, he that knowesthem best, will not deny that I adorehim: That I obtain Heaven, and theblisse thereof, is accidentall, and not theintended worke of my devotion, it beinga felicity I can neither think to deserve,nor scarce in modesty to expect. Forthese two ends of us all, either as rewardsor punishments, are mercifully ordainedand disproportionally disposed unto

our

Religio Medici. 115our actions, the one being so far beyondour deserts, the other so infinitely belowour demerits.

There is no salvation to those thatbeleeve not in Christ, that is, say some,since his Nativity, and as Divinity af-firmeth, before also; which makes memuch apprehend the ends of those ho-nest Worthies and Philosophers whichdied before his incarnation. It is hard toplace those soules in HellK98 whose worthylives doe teach us vertue on earth; me-thinks amongst those many subdivisionsof hell, there might have been one Limboleft for these: What a strange vision willit be to see their poeticall fictions con-verted into verities, and their imagined &fancied Furies, into reall Devils? howstrange to them will sound the Histo-ry of Adam, when they shall suffer forhim they never heard of? when theyderive their genealogy from the Gods,shall know they are the unhappy issue ofsinfull man? It is an insolent part ofreason to controvert the workes of God,or question the justice of his procee-dings; Could humility teach others, as

it

Sect. 52.

116 Religio Medici.it hath instructed me, to contemplatethe infinite and incomprehensible di-stance betwixt the Creator and theCreature, or did wee seriously perpendthat one Simile of Saint Paul, Shall theVessell say to the Potter, Why hast thoumade me thus? it would prevent thesearrogant disputes of reason, nor wouldwe argue the definitive sentence of God,either to Heaven or Hell. Men that liveaccording to the right rule and law ofreason, live but in their owne kinde, asbeasts doe in theirs; who justly obey theprescript of their natures, and thereforecannot reasonably demand a rewardof their actions, as onely obeying thenaturall dictates of their reason. It willtherefore, and must at last appeare, thatall salvation is through Christ; whichverity I feare these great examples ofvertue must confirme, and make it good,how the perfectest actions of earth haveno title or claime unto Heaven.

Nor truely doe I thinke the lives ofthese or of any other were ever corre-spondent, or in all points conformableunto their doctrines; it is evident that

Aristotle

Sect. 53.

Religio Medici. 117Aristotle transgressed the rule of hisowne Ethicks;K99 the Stoicks that con-demne passion, and command a man tolaugh in Phalaris his Bull, could not en-dure without a groane a fit of the Stoneor Colick. The Scepticks that affirmedthey know nothing,K100 even in that opini-on confute themselves, and thoughtthey knew more then all the Worldbeside. Diogenes I hold to be the mostvain-glorious man of his time, andmore ambitious in refusing all honours,than Alexander in rejecting none. Viceand the Devill put a fallacie upon ourreasons, and provoking us too hastily torun from it, entangle and profound usdeeper in it. The Duke of Venice, thatweds himselfe unto the Sea, by a Ringof Gold,K101 I will not argue of prodigali-ty, because it is a solemnity of gooduse and consequence in the State. Butthe Philosopher that threw his monyinto the Sea to avoyd avarice, was a no-torious prodigall. There is no road orready way to vertue, it is not an easiepoint of art to disentangle our selves

from

118 Religio Medici.from this riddle, or web of sinne: To per-fect vertue, as to Religion, there is re-quired a Panoplia or compleat armour;that whilest we lye at close ward againstone vice, we lye open to the vennie ofanother: and indeed wiser discretionsthat have the thred of reason to conductthem, offend without a pardon; where-as under heads may stumble withoutdishonour. There goe so many circum-stances to piece up one good action,K102 thatit is a lesson to be good, and wee areforced to be vertuous by the booke.Againe the practice of men holds notan equall pace, yea, and often runnescounter to their Theory; we naturallyknow what is good, but naturally pur-sue what is evill: the Rhetorick where-with I perswade another cannot per-swade my selfe: there is a depraved ap-petite in us, that will with patienceheare the learned instructions of Rea-son; but yet performe no farther thanagrees to its owne irregular humour. Inbriefe, we all are monsters, that is, a com-position of man and beast, wherein wemust endeavour to be as the Poets fancy

that

Religio Medici. 119that wise man Chiron, that is, to havethe Region of Man above that of Beast,and sense to sit but at the feete of rea-son. Lastly, I doe desire with God, thatall, but yet affirme with men, thatfew shall know salvation, that thebridge is narrow, the passage straightunto life; yet those who doe confinethe Church of God, either to particu-lar Nations, Churches, or Families, havemade it farre narrower then our Saviourever meant it.

The vulgarity of those judgementsthat wrap the Church of God in Stra-bo’s cloake and restraine it unto Europe,K103

seeme to me as bad Geographers asAlexander, who thought hee had con-quer’d all the world when he not sub-dued the halfe of any part thereof: Forwee cannot deny the Church of Godboth in Asia and Africa, if we doe notforget the Peregrinations of the Apo-stles, the deathes of their Martyrs, theSessions of many, and even in our refor-med judgement lawfull councells heldin those parts in the minority and non-age of ours: nor must a few differences

more

Sect. 54.

120 Religio Medici.more remarkeable in the eyes of manthan perhaps in the judgment of God,excommunicate from Heaven one ano-ther, much lesse those Christians whoare in a manner all Martyrs, maintainingtheir faith in the noble way of persecu-tion, and serving God in the fire, where-as we honour him but in the Sunshine.’Tis true we all hold there is a numberof Elect and many to be saved, yet takeour opinions together, and from theconfusion thereof there will be no suchthing as salvation, nor shall any one beesaved; for first the Church of Romecondemneth us, we likewise them, theSub-reformists and Sectaries sentencethe Doctrine of our Church as damna-ble, the Atomist, or Familist reprobatesall these, and all these them againe. Thuswhilest the mercies of God do promiseus Heaven, our conceits and opinionsexclude us from that place. Theremust be therefore more than one SaintPeter, particular Churches and Sectsusurpe the gates of Heaven, and turnethe key against each other, and thus wegoe to heaven against each others wills,

con-

Religio Medici. 121conceits and opinions, and with as muchuncharity as ignorance, do erre I feare inpoints, not only of our owne, but oneanothers salvation..

I beleeve many are saved who toman seeme reprobated, and many arereprobated, who in the opinion and sen-tence of man stand elected; there willappeare at the last day, strange, and un-expected examples, both of his Justiceand his Mercy, and therefore to defineeither is folly in man, and insolency, evenin the Devills; those acute and subtillspirits, in all their sagacity, can hardlydivine who shall bee saved; which ifthey could prognosticke, their labourwere at an end; nor need they compassthe earth seeking whom they may devour.Those who upon a rigid applica-tion of the Law, sentence Solomonunto damnation,K104 condemne not onelyhim, but themselves, and the wholeWorld; for by the Letter, and writtenWord of God, wee are without excep-tion in the state of Death, but there is aprerogative of God, and an arbitrarypleasure above the Letter of his owne

Law,

Sect. 55.

122 Religio Medici.Law, by which alone we can pretendunto salvation, & through which Solomonmight be as easily saved as those whocondemne him.

The number of those who pretend un-to salvation, and those infinite swarmeswho thinke to passe through the eye ofthis Needle, have much amazed me.That name and compellation of littleFlocke, doth not comfort but dejectmy devotion, especially when I reflectupon mine owne unworthinesse, where-in, according to my humble apprehen-sions, I am below them all. I beleevethere shall never be an Anarchy in Hea-ven, but as there are Hierarchies amongstthe Angels, so shall there be degrees ofpriority amongst the Saints. Yet is it( I protest) beyond my ambition toaspire unto the first ranks, my desiresonely are, and I shall be happy therein,to be but the last man, and bring up theRere in Heaven.

Againe, I am confident, and fully per-swaded, yet dare not take my oath ofmy salvation; I am as it were sure, and do

be-

Sect. 56.

Sect. 57.

Religio Medici. 123beleeve without all doubt that there issuch a City as Constantinople, yet for meto take my oath thereon, were a kindeof perjury, because I hold no infalliblewarrant from my owne sense to con-firme mee in the certainty thereof: Andtruely, though many pretend an abso-lute certainty of their salvation, yetwhen an humble soule shall contem-plate her owne unworthinesse, she shallmeet with many doubts, and suddain-ly finde how little wee stand in need ofthe precept of Saint Paul, Worke out yoursalvation with feare and trembling. Thatwhich is the cause of my election, I holdto be the cause of my salvation, whichwas the mercy and beneplacit of God,before I was, or the foundation of theWorld. Before Abraham was, I am, is thesaying of Christ, yet is it true in somesense if I say it of my selfe, for I was notonely before my selfe, but Adam, thatis, in the Idea of God, and the decreeof that Synod held from all Eternitie.And in this sense, I say, the world wasbefore the Creation, and at an end be-fore it had a beginning; and thus was I

dead

124 Religio Medici.dead before I was alive, though mygrave be England, my dying place wasParadise, and Eve miscarried of me beforeshe conceiv’d of Cain.

Insolent zeales that doe decry goodworkes and rely onely upon faith, takenot away merit: for depending upon theefficacy of their faith, they enforce thecondition of God, and in a more so-phisticall way doe seeme to challengeHeaven. It was decreed by God, thatonely those that lapt in the water likedogges, should have the honour todestroy the Midianites, yet could noneof those justly challenge, or imagine heedeserved that honour thereupon. I doenot deny, but that true faith, and suchas God requires, is not onely a marke ortoken, but also a meanes of our salva-tion, but where to finde this, is as obscureto me, as my last end. And if our Savi-our could object unto his owne Disciples,and Favourites, a faith, that to thequantity of a graine of Mustard seed, isable to remove Mountaines; surelythat which wee boast of, is not anything, or at the most, but a remove from

nothing.

Sect. 58.

Religio Medici. 125nothing. This is the Tenor of my belief,wherein, though there bee many thingssingular; and to the humour of my irre-gular selfe, yet if they square not withmaturer judgements, I disclaime them,and do no further favour1 them, than thelearned and best judgments shal authorizethem.

������������������������������������

The second Part.

OW for that other vertue of Cha-rity, without which Faith is a meere

notion, and of no existence, I have everendeavoured to nourish the mercifulldisposition, and humane inclination Iborrowed from my Parents, and regu-late it to the written and prescribedLawes of Charity; and if I hold thetrue anatomy of my selfe, I am deline-ated and naturally framed to such a pieceof vertue: for I am of a constitution sogenerall, that it consorts and sympathi-zeth with all things; I have no anti-pathy, or rather Idio-syncrasie, in diet,humour, aire, any thing; I wonder not

at 1 1643 father

Sect. 1.N

126 Religio Medici.at the French for their dishes of frogges,snailes, and toadstooles,K105 nor at theJewes for Locusts and Grasse-hoppers,but being amongst them, make them mycommon viands; and I finde they agreewith my stomach as well as theirs. Icould digest a Sallad gathered in aChurch-yard, as well as in a Garden.I cannot start at the presence of a Ser-pent, Scorpion, Lizard, or Salamander;at the sight of a Toad or Viper, I findin me no desire to take up a stone todestroy them. I feele not in my self thosecommon Antipathies that I can discoverin others: Those nationall repugnan-ces doe not touch me, nor doe I beholdwith prejudice the French, Italian, Spa-niard, and Dutch; but where I find theiractions in ballance with my Countrey-mens, I honour, love, and embrace themin the same degree;1 I was borne in theeighth Climate, but seeme for to beeframed, and constellated unto all; I amno plant that will not prosper out of aGarden. All places, all ayres makeunto mee one Country; I am in England,every where, and under any meridian;

I 1 1643 and 1645: in some degree corrected errata 1643 in the same degree

Religio Medici. 127I have beene shipwrackt, yet am notenemie with the sea or winds; I can stu-dy, play, or sleepe in a tempest. Inbriefe, I am averse from nothing, myconscience would give me the lie if Ishould say I absolutely detest or hateany essence but the Devill, or so at leastabhorre any thing but that wee mightcome to composition. If there bee anyamong those common objects of hatredI doe contemne and laugh at, it is thatgreat enemy of reason, vertue and re-ligion, the Multitude, that numerouspiece of monstrosity, which taken asun-der seeme men, and the reasonable crea-tures of God; but confused together,make but one great beast, and a monstro-sity more prodigious then Hydra; it isno breach of Charity to call theseFooles, it is the style all holy Wri-ters have afforded them, set downe bySolomon in Canonicall Scripture, and apoint of our faith to beleeve so. Neitherin the name of Multitude doe I onely in-clude the base and minor sort of peo-ple; there is a rabble even amongst theGentry, a sort of Plebeian heads,

whose

128 Religio Medici.whose fancy moves with the samewheele as these; men in the same Le-vell with Mechanicks, though theirfortunes doe somewhat guild their in-firmities, and their purses compound fortheir follies. But as in casting account,three or foure men together come shortin account of one man placed by himselfbelow them: So neither are a troope ofthese ignorant Doradoes, of that trueesteeme and value, as many a forlorneperson, whose condition doth placethem below their feete. Let us speakelike Politicians, there is a Nobilitywithout Heraldry, a naturall dignity,whereby one man is ranked with ano-ther, another filed before him, accor-ding to the quality of his desert, andpreheminence of his good parts.Though the corruption of these times,and the byas of present practise wheeleanother way, thus it was in the first andprimitive Common-wealths, and is yetin the integrity and Cradle of well-or-dered Polities, till corruption gettethground, ruder desires labouring afterthat wch wiser considerations contemne,

every

Religio Medici. 129every one having a liberty to amasse andheap up riches, and they a license or fa-culty to doe or purchase any thing.

This generall and indifferent temperof mine, doth more neerely dispose meeto this noble vertue. It is a happinesse tobee born and framed unto vertue, and togrow up from the seeds of nature, ra-ther than the inoculation and forcedgraffs of education; yet if wee are dire-cted only by our particular Natures, andregulate our inclinations by no higherrule than that of our reasons, we are butMoralists; Divinity will still call us Hea-thens. Therefore this great work of cha-rity, must have other motives, ends, andimpulsions: I give no almes to satisfie thehunger of my Brother, but to fulfill andaccomplish the Will and Command ofmy God; I draw not my purse for hissake that demands it, but his that enjoy-ned it; I relieve no man upon the Rheto-rick of his miseries, nor to content mineown commiserating disposition, for thisis still but morall charity, and an act thatoweth more to passion than reason. Hethat relieves another upon the bare sug-

gestion

Sect. 2.

130 Religio Medici.gestion and bowels of pity, doth not thisso much for his sake as for his own: forby compassion wee make others miseryour own, and so by relieving them, we re-lieve our selves also. It is as erroneous aconceit to redresse other Mens misfor-tunes upon the common considerationsof mercifull natures, that it may be oneday our own case, for this is a sinister &politick kind of charity, whereby we seemto bespeake the pities of men in the likeoccasions: and truely I have observed thatthose professed Eleemosynaries, thoughin a croud or multitude, doe yet directand place their petitions on a few andselected persons; there is surely a Phy-siognomy, which those experiencedand Master Mendicants observe, where-by they instantly discover a mercifullaspect, and will single out a face,wherein they spy the signatures andmarkes of mercy: for there are mysti-cally in our faces certaine characterswhich carry in them the motto of ourSoules, wherein he that cannot1 read A.B.C.may read our natures. I hold moreoverthat there is a Phytognomy, or Phy-

siognomy 1 1643 and 1645 can corrected errata 1643 cannot

Religio Medici. 131siognomy, not onely of men, but ofPlants, and Vegetables; and in everyone of them, some outward figureswhich hang as signes or bushes of theirinward formes. The finger of Godhath left an inscription upon all hisworkes, not graphicall or composed ofLetters, but of their severall formes,constitutions, parts, and operations,which aptly joyned together doe makeone word that doth expresse their na-tures. By these Letters God calls theStarres by their names, and by this Al-phabet Adam assigned to every creaturea name peculiar to its Nature. Now thereare besides these Characters in our faces,certaine mysticall figures in ourhands, which I dare not call meere da-shes, strokes, a la volee, or at randome,because delineated by a pencill, that ne-ver workes in vaine; and hereof I takemore particular notice, because I carrythat in mine owne hand, which I couldnever read of, nor discover in another.Aristotle, I confesse, in his acute, andsingular booke of Physiognomy, hathmade no mention of Chiromancy, yet

I

132 Religio Medici.I beleeve the Egyptians , who were nee-rer addicted to those abstruse and my-sticall sciences, had a knowledge therein,to which those vagabond and counterfeitEgyptians did after pretend, andperhaps retained a few corrupted princi-ples, which sometimes might verifie theirprognostickes.

It is the common wonder of all men,how among so many millions of faces,there should be none alike;K106 Now con-trary, I wonder as much how thereshould be any; he that shall considerhow many thousand severall wordshave beene carelessly and without studycomposed out of 24 Letters; withallhow many hundred lines there are tobee drawne in the fabrick of one man;shall easily finde that this variety is ne-cessary: And it will be very hard thatthey shall so concurre as to makeone portract like another. Let a Paintercarelessly limbe out a Million of faces,and you shall finde them all different,yea let him have his copy before him,yet after all his art there will remainea sensible distinction; for the patterne

or

Religio Medici. 133or example of every thing is the per-fectest in that kinde, whereof wee stillcome short, though we transcend orgoe beyond it, because herein it is wide,and agrees not in all points unto itsCopy. Nor doth the similitude of Crea-tures disparage the variety of nature, norany way confound the workes of God.For even in things alike, there is di-versity, and those that doe seeme toaccord, doe manifestly disagree. Andthus is man like God, for in the samethings that wee resemble him, wee areutterly different from him. There wasnever any thing so like another, as in allpoints to concurre, there will eversome reserved difference slip in, to pre-vent the identity, without which, twoseverall things would not be alike, butthe same, which is impossible.

But to returne from Philosophy toCharity, I hold not so narrow a con-ceit of this vertue, as to conceive thatto give almes, is onely to be Charita-ble, or thinke a piece of Liberality cancomprehend the Totall of Charity; Di-vinity hath wisely divided the act there-

of

Sect. 3.

134 Religio Medici.of into many branches, and hath taughtus in this narrow way, many pathesunto goodnesse; as many wayes as weemay doe good, so many wayes wee maybee Charitable; there are infirmities,not onely of body, but of soule, andfortunes, which doe require the merci-full hand of our abilities. I cannot con-temn a man for ignorance, but beholdhim with as much pity as I doe Lazarus.It is no greater Charity to cloath hisbody, than apparell the nakednesse ofhis Soule. It is an honourable object tosee the reasons of other men weare ourLiveries, and their borrowed understan-dings doe homage to the bounty ofours: It is the cheapest way of benefi-cence, and like the naturall charity ofthe Sunne illuminates another withoutobscuring it selfe. To bee reserved andcaitif in this part of goodnesse, isthe sordidest piece of covetousnesse, andmore contemptible than the pecuniaryavarice. To this (as calling my selfe aScholar) I am obliged by the duty ofmy condition, I make not therefore myhead a grave, but a treasure of know-

ledge;

Religio Medici. 135ledge; I intend no Monopoly, but aCommunity in learning; I study notfor my owne sake onely, but for theirsthat study not for themselves. I envyno man that knowes more than myselfe, but pity them that knowes lesse. Iinstruct no man as an exercise of myknowledge, or with an intent rather tonourish and keepe it alive in mine ownehead, than beget and propagate it in his;and in the midst of all my endeavoursthere is but one thought that dejectsmee, that my acquired parts must perishwith my selfe, nor can bee Legacyedamong my honoured Friends. I can-not fall out or contemne a man for anerrour, or conceive why a difference inopinion should divide an affection: forcontroversies, disputes, and argumen-tations, both in Philosophy, and in Di-vinity, if they meete with discreet andpeaceable natures, doe not infringe theLawes of Charity in all disputes; somuch as there is of passion, so muchthere is of nothing to the purpose, forthen reason like a bad Hound spendsupon a false sent, and forsakes the que-

stion

136 Religio Medici.stion first started. And this is one rea-son why controversies are never deter-mined, for though they be amply pro-posed, they are scarce at all handled,they doe so swell with unnecessaryDigressions, and the Parenthesis on theparty, is often as large as the main dis-course upon the subject. The Founda-tions of Religion are already established,and the principles of Salvation subscri-bed unto by all, there remaines notmany controversies worth a passion,and yet never any disputed without, notonely in Divinity, but in inferiour Arts:What a batrocomumaciva and hot skir-mish is betwixt S. and T. in Lucian?K107

How doth Grammarians hack and slashfor the Genitive case in Jupiter? Howdoe they breake their owne pates tosalve that of Priscian? Si foret in terris,rideret Democritus. Yea, even amongstwiser militants, how many woundshave been given, and credits slaine forthe poore victory of an opinion or beg-gerly conquest of a distinction? Schol-lers are men of Peace, they beare noarmes, but their tongues are sharper

then 1 Marginal note lacking 1645. No textual referent 1643 or 1645.

WhetherJovis orJupiteris.1

Religio Medici. 137than Actius his razor,K108 their penscarry farther, and give a lowder reportthan thunder; I had rather stand in theshock of a Basilisco, than in the fury ofa mercilesse pen. It is not meere zealeto Learning, or devotion to the Muses,that wiser Princes patron the Arts: andcarry an indulgent aspect unto Schol-lers, but a desire to have their nameseternized by the memory of their writ-ings,K109 and a feare of the revengefull penof succeeding ages: for these are themen, that when they have played theirparts, and had their exits, must step outand give the morall of their Scenes, anddeliver unto posterity an Inventory oftheir vertues and vices. And surelythere goes a great deale of conscienceto the compiling of an History, thereis no reproach to the scandall of a Sto-ry; It is such an Authenticke kinde offalsehood that with authority belies ourgood names to all Nations and Po-steritie.

There is another offence unto Cha-rity, which no Author hath ever writ-ten of, and few take notice of, and

that’s,

Sect. 4.

138 Religio Medici.that’s the reproach, not of whole pro-fessions, mysteries and conditions,but of whole nations, wherein by op-probrious Epithets wee miscall each o-ther, and by an uncharitable Logick,from a disposition in a few conclude ahabit in all.Le mutin Anglois, et le bravache Escossois;Le bougre Italien, et le fol Francois;Le poultron Romain, le larron de Gascongne,L’Espagnol superbe, et l’ Aleman yurongne.Saint Paul that cals the Cretians lyers,doth it but indirectly and upon quotati-on of their owne Poet.K110 It is as bloodya thought in one way as Neroes was inanother.K111 For by a word wee wound athousand, and at one blow assassine thehonour of a Nation. It is as com-pleate a piece of madnesse to miscall andrave against the times: or thinke to recallmen to reason, by a fit of passion: Democri-tus that thought to laugh the times intogoodnesse, seemes to me as deeply Hypo-chondriack, as Heraclitus that bewailedthem; it moves not my spleen to behold themultitude in their proper humours, that is,in their fits of folly & madness, as wel un-

derstand-

Religio Medici. 139derstanding that Wisedome is not pro-phan’d unto the World, and ’tis the pri-viledge of a few to be vertuous. Theythat endeavour to abolish vice destroyalso vertue, for contraries, though theydestroy one another, are yet the life ofone another. Thus vertue (abolish vice)is an Idea: againe, the communitie ofsinne doth not disparage goodnesse; forwhen vice gaines upon the major part,vertue, in whom it remaines, becomesmore excellent, and being lost in some,multiplies its goodnesse in others whichremaine untouched, and persists intire inthe generall inundation. I can there-fore behold vice without a Satyre, con-tent onely with an admonition, orinstructive reprehension; for Noble na-tures, and such as are capable of good-nesse, are railed into vice, that mightas easily bee admonished into vertue;and wee should be all so farre the Ora-tors of goodnesse, as to protect her fromthe power of vice, and maintaine thecause of injured truth. No man can just-ly censure or condemne another, be-cause indeed no man truely knowes a-

nother.

140 Religio Medici.nother. This I perceive in my selfe, for Iam in the dark to all the world, andmy nearest friends behold mee but in acloud; those that know mee but super-ficially, thinke lesse of me than I doe ofmy selfe; those of my neere acquain-tance thinke more; God, who truelyknowes me, knowes that I am nothing,for he onely beholds mee, and all theworld, who lookes not on us througha derived ray, or a trajection of a sensi-ble species, but beholds the substancewithout the helpes of accidents, andthe formes of things, as we their ope-rations. Further, no man can judge ano-ther, because no man knowes himselfe,for we censure others but as they disa-gree from that humour which wee fan-cy laudable in our selves, and commendothers but for that wherein they seemeto quadrate and consent with us. Sothat in conclusion, all is but that we allcondemne, selfe-love. ’Tis the gene-rall complaint of these times, and per-haps of those past, that charity growescold; which I perceive most verified inthose which most doe manifest the fires

and Pages 140-141 are misnumbered 142-143 in 1645.

Religio Medici. 141and flames of zeale; for it is a vertuethat best agrees with coldest natures,and such as are complexioned for humi-lity: But how shall wee expect charitytowards others, when we are uncharita-ble to our selves? Charity begins athome, is the voice of the World, yetis every man his greatest enemy, and asit were, his owne executioner. Nonoccides, is the Commandement of God,yet scarce observed by any man; for Iperceive every man is his owne Atro-pos, and lends a hand to cut the thred ofhis own dayes. Cain was not thereforethe first Murtherer, but Adam, whobrought in death; whereof hee beheldthe practise and example in his ownesonne Abel, and saw that verified in theexperience of another, which faith couldnot perswade him in the Theory ofhimselfe.

There is I thinke no man that appre-hends his owne miseries lesse than myselfe, and no man that so neerely ap-prehends anothers. I could lose anarme without a teare, and with fewgroanes, mee thinkes, be quartered into

pieces;

Sect. 5.

142 Religio Medici.pieces; yet can I weepe most seriouslyat a Play, and receive with a true passi-on, the counterfeit griefes of thoseknowne and professed impostures. It isa barbarous part of inhumanity to addeunto any afflicted parties misery, orendeavour to multiply in any man, apassion, whose single nature is alreadyabove his patience; this was the greatestaffliction of Iob , and those obliqueexpostulations of his friends a deeperinjury than the downe-right blowes ofthe Devill. It is not the teares of ourowne eyes onely, but of our friends al-so, that doe exhaust the current of oursorrowes, which falling into manystreames, runne more peaceably, and iscontented with a narrower channel. Itis an act within the power of charity, totranslate a passion out of one breast intoanother, and to divide a sorrow almostout of it selfe; for an affliction like adimension may bee so divided, as if notindivisible, at least to become insensible.Now with my friend I desire not toshare or participate, but to engrosse hissorrows, that by making them mine

owne,

Religio Medici. 143owne, I may more easily discusse them;for in mine owne reason, and withinmy selfe I can command that, which Icannot intreat without my selfe, andwithin the circle of another. I have oftenthought those noble paires and exam-ples of friendship not so truely Histo-ries of what had beene, as fictions ofwhat should be, but I now perceive no-thing in them but possibilities, norany thing in the Heroick examples ofDamon and Pythias, Achilles and Patro-clus, which mee thinkes upon somegrounds I could not performe withinthe narrow compasse of my selfe.That a man should lay down his life forhis friend, seemes strange to vulgar affe-ctions, and such as confine themselveswithin that worldly principle, Charitybeginnes at home. For mine owne part,I could never remember the relationsthat I held unto my selfe, nor the respectthat I owe unto mine owne nature, inthe cause of God, my Countrey, and myFriends. Next to these three, I doe em-brace my selfe; I confesse that I doe not ob-serve that order that the Schooles or-

dain

144 Religio Medici.daine our affections, to love our Parents,Wifes, Children, and then our Friends,for excepting the injunctions of Religi-on, I doe not find in my selfe such a ne-cessary and indissoluble Sympathy toall those of my bloud. I hope I doenot break the fifth Commandement, ifI conceive I may love my friend beforethe nearest of my bloud, even those towhom I owe the principles of life; I ne-ver yet cast a true affection on aWoman, but I have loved my friend as Idoe vertue, my soule, my God. Fromhence me thinkes I doe conceive howGod loves man, what happinesse there isin the love of God. Omitting all other,there are three most mysticall unions;Two natures in one person; threepersons in one nature; one soule in twobodies. For though indeed they be reallydivided, yet are they so united, as theyseeme but one, and make rather a duali-ty then two distinct soules.

There are wonders in true affection,it is a body of Enigmaes, mysteries andriddles; wherein two so become one, asthey both become two; I love my friend

be-

Sect. 6.

Religio Medici. 145before my selfe, and yet me thinkes I donot love him enough; some few monthshence my multiplied affection willmake me beleeve I have not loved himat all; when I am from him, I amdead till I bee with him, when I amwith him, I am not satisfied, but wouldstill be nearer him: united soules are notsatisfied with embraces, but desire tobe truely each other, which being im-possible, their desires are infinite, andmust proceed without a possibility ofsatisfaction. Another misery there isin affection, that whom we truely lovelike our owne, wee forget their looks,nor can our memory retaine the Idea oftheir faces; and it is no wonder, forthey are our selves, and our affectionmakes their lookes our owne. This no-ble affection fals not on vulgar and com-mon constitutions, but on such as aremark’d for vertue; he that can love hisfriend with this noble ardour, will in acompetent degree affect all. Now ifwee can bring our affections to lookebeyond the body, and cast an eye up-on the soule, we have found out the

true

146 Religio Medici.true object, not onely of friendship butcharity; and the greatest happinesse thatwe can bequeath the soule, is thatwherein wee all doe place our last felici-ty, Salvation; which though it be notin our power to bestow, it is in our cha-rity, and pious invocations to desire, ifnot procure and further. I cannot con-tentedly frame a prayer for my selfe inparticular, without a catalogue for myfriends, nor request a happinesse where-in my sociable disposition doth not de-sire the fellowship of my neighbour. Inever heare the Toll of a passing Bell,though in my mirth, without my pray-ers and best wishes for the departingspirit: I cannot goe to cure the bodyof my Patient, but I forget my pro-fession, and call unto God for his soule;I cannot see one say his Prayers, but instead of imitating him, I fall into a sup-plication for him, who perhaps is nomore to me then a common nature:and if God hath vouchsafed an eare tomy supplications, there are surely ma-ny happy that never saw mee, and en-joy the blessing of mine unknowne de-

votions.

Religio Medici. 147votions. To pray for Enemies, that is,for their salvation, is no harsh precept,but the practice of our daily and ordina-ry devotions. I cannot beleeve the sto-ry of the Italian,K112 our bad wishes anduncharitable desires proceed no furtherthan this life; it is the Devill, and theuncharitable votes of Hell, that desireour misery in the world to come.

To doe no injury, nor take none, wasa principle, which to my former yeers,and impatient affections, seemed tocontaine enough of Morality, but mymore setled years, and Christian con-stitution have fallen upon severer reso-lutions. I can hold there is no suchthing as injury, that if there bee, thereis no such injury as revenge, and nosuch revenge as the contempt of an in-jury; that to hate another, is to ma-ligne himselfe, that the truest wayto love another, is to despise ourselves. I were unjust unto mine owneconscience, if I should say I am at va-riance with any thing like my selfe. Ifinde there are many pieces in this onefabricke of man; this frame is raised

upon

Sect. 7.

148 Religio Medici.upon a masse of Antipathies: I amone mee thinkes, but as the World:wherein notwithstanding there are aswarme of distinct essences, and in themanother World of contrarieties;wee carry private and domestick ene-mies within, publick and more hostileadversaries without. The Devill thatdid but buffet Saint Paul, playes meethinkes at sharpe with mee: Let mee benothing if within the compasse of myselfe, I doe not find the battell of Le-panto, passion against reason, reason a-gainst faith, faith against the Devill, andmy conscience against all. There isanother man within me that’s angrywith mee, rebukes, commands, anddastards mee. I have no conscienceof Marble to resist the hammer of moreheavy offences, nor yet so1 soft andwaxen, as to take the impression ofeach single peccadillo or scape of in-firmity: I am of a strange beliefe, thatit is as easie to be forgiven some sinnes,as to commit some others. For my origi-nall sinne, I hold it to be washed awayin my Baptisme; for my actuall trans-

gressi- 1 1643 and 1645 too corrected errata 1643 so.

Religio Medici. 149gressions, I compute and reckon withGod, but from my last repentance, Sacra-ment or general absolution: and therefoream not terrified with the sinnes or mad-nesse of my youth. I thanke the good-nesse of God, I have no sinnes that wanta name,K113 I am not singular in offences,my transgressions are Epidemicall, andfrom the common breath of our cor-ruption. For there are certaine tempersof body, which matcht with an humo-rous depravity of mind, doe hatch andproduce vitiosities, whose newnesse andmonstrosity of nature admits no name;this was the temper of that Lecher thatcarnald with a Statua,K114 and the consti-tution of Nero in his Spintrian recreati-ons.K115 For the Heavens are not onelyfruitfull in new and unheard of starres,the Earth in plants and animals, butmens minds also in villanie and vices;now the dulnesse of my reason, and thevulgarity of my disposition, never prom-pted my invention, nor solicited my af-fection unto any of these; yet eventhose common and quotidian infirmitiesthat so necessarily attend me, and doe

seeme

150 Religio Medici.seeme to bee my very nature, have sodejected me, so broken the estimationthat I should have otherwise of my self,that I repute my selfe the most abjectestpiece of mortality: Divines prescribe a fitof sorrow to repentance, there goes indig-nation, anger, sorrow, hatred, intomine, passions of a contrary nature,which neither seeme to sute with thisaction, nor my proper constitution. It isno breach of charity to our selves tobee at variance with our vices, nor toabhorre that part of us, which is an ene-my to the ground of charity, our God;wherein wee doe but imitate our greatselves the world, whose divided Antipa-thies and contrary faces doe yet carry acharitable regard unto the whole bytheir particular discords, preserving thecommon harmony, and keeping in fet-ters those powers, whose rebellions onceMasters, might bee the ruine of all.

I thanke God, amongst those millionsof vices I doe inherit and hold fromAdam, I have escaped one, and that amortall enemy to charity, the first andfather sin, not onely of man but of the de-

vil,

Sect. 8.

Religio Medici. 151vil, Pride, a vice whose name is compre-hended in a Monosyllable, but in its na-ture not circumscribed with a world; Ihave escaped it in a condition that canhardly avoid it: those pety acquisitions &reputed perfections that advance and e-levate the conceits of other men, addeno feathers unto mine; I have seene aGrammarian toure, and plume himselfeover a single line in Horace, and shewmore pride in the construction of oneOde, than the Author in the composureof the whole booke.K116 For my owne part,besides the Jargon and Patois of seve-rall Provinces, I understand no lessethen six Languages, yet I protest I haveno higher conceit of my selfe than hadour Fathers before the confusion of Ba-bel, when there was but one Languagein the world, and none to boast himselfeeither Linguist or Critick. I have notonely seene severall Countries, beheldthe nature of their climes, the Choro-graphy of their provinces, Topographyof their Cities, but understood their se-verall Lawes, Customes and Policies;yet cannot all this perswade the dulnesse

of

152 Religio Medici.of my spirit unto such an opinion of my1

self, as I behold in nimbler and conceitedheads, that never looked a degree be-yond their nests. I know the names, andsomewhat more, of all the constellati-ons in my Horizon, yet I have seenea prating Mariner that could onelyname the pointers and the NorthStarre, out-talke mee, and conceit him-selfe a whole Spheare above mee. Iknow most of the Plants of my Coun-try and of those about mee; yet meethinks I doe not know so many as whenI did but know a hundred, and hadscarcely ever Simpled further thanCheap-side: for indeed heads of capa-city, and such as are not full with ahandfull, or easie measure of knowledge,think they know nothing, till theyknow all, which being impossible, theyfall upon the opinion of Socrates, andonely know they know not any thing.I cannot thinke that Homer pin’d awayupon the riddle of the fisherman,K117 orthat Aristotle, who understood the un-certainty of knowledge, and confessedso often the reason of man too weake

for 1 1675 may self.

Religio Medici. 153for the workes of nature, did everdrowne himselfe upon the flux and re-flux of Euripus:K118 wee doe but learne today, what our better advanced judge-ments will unteach to morrow: andAristotle doth but instruct us as Plato didhim; that is, to confute himselfe.K119 Ihave runne through all sorts, yet findeno rest in any, though our first studies andjunior endeavours may stile us Peripate-ticks, Stoicks, or Academicks, yet Iperceive the wisest heads prove at last,almost all Scepticks, and stand like Ia-nus in the field of knowledge. I havetherefore one1 common and authentickPhilosophy I learned in the Schooles,whereby I discourse and satisfie thereason of other men, another more re-served and drawne from experience,whereby I content mine owne. Sol-omon that complained of ignorance inthe height of knowledge, hath not one-ly humbled my conceits, but discoura-ged my endeavours. There is yet ano-ther conceit that hath sometimes mademe shut my bookes, which tels mee itis a vanity to wast our dayes in the

blind 1 All editions prior to 1672 read on .

154 Religio Medici.blind pursuit of knowledge, it is but at-tending a little longer, and wee shallenjoy that by instinct and infusion,which wee indeavour at1 here by labourand inquisition: it is better to sit downein a modest ignorance, and rest contentedwith the naturall blessing of our ownereasons, then buy the uncertaine know-ledge of this life, with sweat and vex-ation, which death gives every foolegratis, and is an accessary of our glorifi-cation.

I was never yet once, and commendtheir resolutions who never marrytwice: not that I disallow of secondmarriage; as neither in all cases of Po-lygamy, which considering some timesand the unequall number of both sexes,may bee also necessary. The wholeWorld was made for man, but thetwelfth part of man for woman: Manis the whole world and the breath ofGod, woman the rib and crookedpiece of man. I could be content thatwe might procreate like trees withoutconjunction, or that there were any wayto perpetuate the world without this tri-

viall 1 1643–1672 all corrected errata 1643 at.

Sect. 9.

Religio Medici. 155viall and vulgar way of coition; It is thefoolishest act a wise man1 commits in allhis life,K120 nor is there any thing that willmore deject his cool’d imagination,when hee shall consider what an oddeand unworthy piece of folly hee hathcommitted; I speake not in prejudice,nor am averse from that sweet sex, butnaturally amorous of all that is beau-tifull; I can looke a whole day with de-light upon a handsome picture, thoughit be but of an Horse. It is my temper andI like it the better, to affect all harmo-ny, and sure there is musick even in thebeauty, and the silent note which Cupidstrikes, farre sweeter than the sound ofan instrument. For there is a musickewhere ever there is a harmony, order orproportion; and thus far we may main-tain the musick of the spheares; for thosewell ordered motions, and regular paces,though they give no sound unto theeare, yet to the understanding theystrike a note most full of harmony.Whatsoever is harmonically composed,delights in harmony; which makes memuch distrust the symmetry of those

heads 1 1645 wiseman

156 Religio Medici.heads which declaime against allChurch musick. For my selfe, not on-ly from my obedience, but my particu-lar genius, I doe embrace it; for eventhat vulgar and Taverne Musick,which makes one man merry, anothermad, strikes in me a deepe fit of devotion,and a profound contemplation of the firstComposer, there is something in it ofDivinity more than the eare discovers: itis an Hieroglyphicall and shadowed les-son of the whole world, and creatures ofGod, such a melody to the eare, as thewhole world well understood, would af-ford the understanding. In briefe, it is asensible fit of that harmony, which intel-lectually sounds in the eares of God: Iwill not say with Plato, the soule is anharmony, but harmonicall, and hath itsnearest sympathy unto musicke: thussome whose temper of body agrees,and humours the constitution of theirsoules, are borne Poets, though in-deed all are naturally inclined untoRhythme. *This made Tacitus in thevery first line of his Story, fall upon averse; and Cicero the worst of Poets, but

de-

* VrbemRomam inprincipioReges ha-buere

Religio Medici. 157*declayming for a Poet, falls in the ve-ry first sentence upon a perfect *Hexa-meter. I feele not in me those sordid,and unchristian desires of my profession,I doe not secretly implore and wish forPlagues, rejoyce at Famines, revolveEphemerides, and Almanacks, in ex-pectation of malignant Aspects, fatallconjunctions, and Eclipses: I rejoycenot at unwholsome springs, nor unsea-sonable Winters; my prayer goes withthe Husbandmans; I desire every thingin its proper season, that neither mennor the times bee out of temper.Let mee be sicke my selfe, if sometimesthe malady of my patient bee not a dis-ease unto me, I desire rather to cure hisinfirmities than my own necessities,where I doe him no good me thinkes it isscarce honest gaine, though I confesse ’tisbut the worthy salary of our well-in-tended endeavours: I am not onely a-shamed, but heartily sorry, that besidesdeath, there are diseases incureable, yetnot for my owne sake, or that they be be-yond my art, but for the generall cause &

sake

*Pro Ar-chia Poeta. *In quame non in-ficior me-diocriteresse.

158 Religio Medici.sake of humanity whose common causeI apprehend as mine own: And to speakmore generally, those three Noble pro-fessions which all civil Commonwealthsdoe honour, are raised upon the fall ofAdam, and are not any exempt from theirinfirmities; there are not onely diseasesincureable in Physick, but cases indisso-luble in Lawes, Vices incorrigible inDivinity: if General Councells may erre,I doe not see why particular Courtsshould be infallible, their perfectest rulesare raised upon the erroneous reasons ofMan, and the Lawes of one do but con-demne the rules of another; as Ari-stotle oft-times the opinions of his pre-decessors, because, though agreeableto reason, yet were not consonant tohis owne rules, and Logick of hisproper principles. Againe, to speakenothing of the sinne against the HolyGhost, whose cure not onely, but whosenature is unknowne; I can cure the goutor stone in some, sooner than Divinity,Pride, or Avarice in others. I can curevices by Physicke, when they remaineincurable by Divinity, and shall obey my

pils,

Religio Medici. 159pils, when they contemne their precepts.I boast nothing, but plainly say, wee alllabour against our owne cure, for deathis the cure of all diseases. There is noCatholicon or universall remedy I knowbut this, which though nauseous to quea-sie stomachs, yet to prepared appetites isNectar and a pleasant potion of immor-tality.

For my conversation, it is like theSunne’s with all men, and with afriendly aspect to good and bad. Methinkes there is no man bad, and theworst, best; that is, while they arekept within the circle of those quali-ties, wherein there is1 good: there is nomans minde of such discordant and jar-ring a temper to which a tuneable dis-position may not strike a harmony.Magnæ virtutes, nec minora vitia, it is theposie of the best natures, and may beeinverted on the worst;K121 there are in themost depraved and venemous dispositi-ons, certaine pieces that remaine un-toucht; which by an Antiperistasis be-come more excellent, or by the excel-lency of their antipathies are able to

preserve 1 1643 they are . 21643 and 1645 skip Part 2, Sect. 10 (in numbering; text is continuous)

Sect. 11.2

160 Religio Medici.preserve themselves from the contagionof their enemies1 vices, and persist intirebeyond the generall corruption. For itis also thus in natures. The greatest Bal-sames doe lie enveloped in the bodiesof most powerfull Corrosives; I saymoreover, and I ground upon expe-rience, that poysons containe withinthemselves their own Antidote,K122 andthat which preserves them from the ve-nome of themselves, without whichthey were not deletorious to othersonely, but to themselves also. But itis the corruption that I feare within me,not the contagion of commerce with-out mee. ’Tis that unruly regiment with-in me, that will destroy me, ’tis I that doeinfect my selfe, the man without a Na-vell yet lives in mee;K123 I feele that originallcanker corrode and devour mee, andtherefore Defenda me Dios de me, Lorddeliver mee from my selfe, is a part ofmy Letany, and the first voice of myretired imaginations. There is no manalone, because every man is a Micro-cosme, and carries the whole world a-bout him; Nunquam minus solus quam

cum 1 1643 enemy would seem a better reading than the 1645-1672 enemies .

Religio Medici. 161cum solus, though it bee the Apoph-thegme of a wise man, is yet true in themouth of a foole; for indeed, thoughin a Wildernesse, a man is never, alone,not onely because hee is with himself,and his owne thoughts, but because heeis with the Devill, who ever consortswith our solitude, and is that unruly re-bell that musters up those disorderedmotions, which accompany our seque-stred imaginations: And to speake morenarrowly, there is no such thing as so-litude, nor any thing that can be said tobee alone, and by it selfe, but God whois his owne circle, and can subsist byhimselfe, all others besides their dissi-milary and Heterogeneous parts which ina manner multiply their natures, cannotsubsist without the concourse of God,and the society of that hand which dothuphold their natures. In briefe, there canbe nothing truely alone, and by its selfe,which is not truely one, and such isonely God: All others doe transcendan unity, and so by consequence aremany.

Now for my life, it is a miracle ofthir-

Sect. 12.

162 Religio Medici.thirty yeares, which to relate, werenot a History, but a peece of Poetry, andwould sound to common eares like afable; for the world, I count it not anInne, but an Hospitall, and a place, notto live, but to die in. The world that Iregard is my selfe, it is the Microcosmeof mine owne frame, that I cast mineeye on; for the other, I use it but likemy Globe, and turne it round some-times for my recreation. Men that lookeupon my outside, perusing only mycondition, and fortunes, do erre in myaltitude; for I am above Atlas his shoul-ders. The earth is a point not onely inrespect of the heavens above us, butof that heavenly and celestiall partwithin us: that masse of flesh that circum-scribes me, limits not my minde: thatsurface that tells the heavens it hath anend, cannot perswade me I have any;I take my circle to be above three hun-dred and sixty, though the number ofthe Arke doe measure my body, it com-prehendeth not my minde: whilst I stu-dy to find how I am a Microcosme orlittle world, I finde my selfe something

more

Religio Medici. 163more than the great. There is surely apeece of Divinity in us, somethingthat was before the Elements, and owesno homage unto the Sunne. Nature telsme I am the image of God, as well asScripture; he that understands not thusmuch, hath not his introductions or firstlesson, and is yet to begin the Alpha-bet of man. Let me not injure the feli-city of others, if I say I am as happy asany, Ruat coelum, Fiat voluntas tua, salvethall; so that whatsoever happens, it isbut what our daily prayers desire. Inbriefe, I am content, and what shouldprovidence adde more? Surely this isit wee call Happinesse, and this doe Ienjoy, with this I am happy in adreame, and as content to enjoy a hap-pinesse in a fancy, as others in a moreapparent truth and reality. There issurely a neerer apprehension of anything that delights us in our dreamesthan in our waked senses; without thisI were unhappy, for my awaked judge-ment discontents mee, ever whisperingunto me, that I am from my friend, butmy friendly dreames in the night requite

me

164 Religio Medici.me, and make me thinke I am within hisarmes. I thanke God for my happydreames, as I doe for my good rest, forthere is a satisfaction in them unto rea-sonable desires, and such as can be con-tent with a fit of happinesse; and sure-ly it is not a melancholy conceite tothinke we are all asleepe in this world,and that the conceits of this life are asmeere dreames to those of the next, asthe Phantasmes of the night, to the con-ceite of the day. There is an equall de-lusion in both, and the one doth butseeme to bee the embleme or picture ofthe other; wee are somewhat more thanour selves in our sleepes, and the slum-ber of the body seemes to bee but thewaking of the soule. It is the ligationof sense, but the liberty of reason, andour awaking conceptions doe notmatch the fancies of our sleepes. At myNativity, my ascendant was the watery1

signe of Scorpius, I was borne in thePlanetary houre of Saturne, and I thinkI have a piece of that Leaden planet inmee. I am no way facetious, nor di-sposed for the mirth and galliardize of

com- 1 1643–1672 earthly corrected errata 1643 watery .

Religio Medici. 165company, yet in one dreame I can com-pose a whole Comedy, behold the acti-on, apprehend the jests and laugh myselfe awake at the conceits thereof;were my memory as faithfull as my rea-son is then fruitfull, I would never studybut in my dreames; and this time alsowould I chuse for my devotions; butour grosser memories have then so littlehold of our abstracted understandings,that they forget the story, and can onlyrelate to our awaked soules, a confusedand broken tale of that that hath passed.K124

Aristotle, who hath written a singulartract of sleepe, hath not me thinkesthroughly defined it, nor yet Galen,though he seeme to have corrected it;for those Noctambuloes and night-wal-kers, though in their sleepe, doe yet en-joy the action of their senses: wee musttherefore say that there is something inus that is not in the jurisdiction of Mor-pheus; and that those abstracted andecstatick soules doe walke about intheir owne corps, as spirits with thebodies they assume, wherein they seemeto heare, see, and feele, though indeed

the

166 Religio Medici.the Organs are destitute of sense, andtheir natures of those faculties thatshould informe them. Thus it is ob-served that men sometimes upon thehoure of their departure, doe speakeand reason above themselves. For thenthe soule begins to be freed from theligaments of the body, begins to reasonlike her selfe and to discourse in a straineabove mortality.

We tearme sleep a death, and yetit is waking that kils us, and destroyesthose spirits that are the house of life.Tis indeed a part of life that best expres-seth death, for every man truely livesso long as hee acts his nature, or some-way makes good the faculties of him-selfe: Themistocles therefore that slewhis Souldier in his sleepe was a mer-cifull executioner, ’tis a kinde of punish-ment the mildnesse of no lawes hath in-vented; I wonder the fancy of Lucanand Seneca did not discover it.K125 It is thatdeath by which wee may be literally saidto die daily, a death which Adam diedbefore his mortality; a death wherebywee live a middle and moderating point

be-

Sect. 13.

Religio Medici. 167betweene life and death; in fine, solike death, I dare not trust it without myprayers, and an halfe adiew unto theworld, and take my farewell in a Collo-quy with God.The night is come like to the day,Depart not thou great God away.Let not my sinnes, blacke as the night,Eclipse the lustre of thy light.Keep still in my Horizon, for to meThe Sun makes not the day, but thee.Thou whose nature cannot sleep,On my temples centry keep;Guard me ’gainst those watchfull foes,Whose eyes are open while mine close.Let no dreames my head infest,But such as Jacobs temples blest.While I doe rest, my soule advance,Make my sleepe a holy trance:That I may, my rest being wrought,Awake into some holy thought.And with as active vigour runneMy course, as doth the nimble Sunne.Sleepe is a death, O make me try,By sleeping what it is to die.And as gently lay my headOn my Grave, as now my bed.

How

168 Religio Medici.How ere I rest, great God let meAwake againe at last with thee.And thus assur’d, behold I lieSecurely, or to wake or die.These are my drowsie dayes, in vaineI doe now wake to sleepe againe.O come that houre, when I shall neverSleepe againe, but wake for ever!This is the dormitive I take to bed-ward, I need no other Laudanum thanthis to make mee sleep; after which Iclose mine eyes in security, content totake my leave of the Sunne, and sleepeunto the resurrection.

The method I should use in distribu-tive justice, I often observe in commu-tative, and keepe a Geometricall pro-portion in both, whereby becommingequable to others, I become unjust tomy selfe, and supererogate in that com-mon principle, Doe unto others as thouwouldest be done unto thy self. I was notborne unto riches, neither is it I thinkemy Starre to be wealthy; or if it were,the freedome of my minde, and frank-nesse of my disposition, were able tocontradict and crosse my fates: for to

me

Sect. 14.

Religio Medici. 169mee avarice seemes not so much a vice,as a deplorable piece of madnesse; toconceive our selves Vrinals, or be per-swaded that wee are dead, is not soridiculous,K126 nor so many degrees beyondthe power of Hellebore, as this. Theopinions of theory and positions ofmen are not so void of reason, as theirpractised conclusion: some have heldthat Snow is black, that the earthmoves, that the soule is ayre, fire, wa-ter, but all this is Philosophy, andthere is no delirium, if wee doe butspeculate the folly and indisputable do-tage of avarice to that subterraneousIdoll, and God of the Earth. I doeconfesse I am an Atheist, I cannotperswade my selfe to honour that theworld adores; whatsoever vertue itsprepared substance may have with-in my body, it hath no influencenor operation without; I would notentertaine a base designe, or an acti-on that should call mee villaine, for the In-dies, and for this only do I love and ho-nour my own soul: and have me thinkestwo armes too few to embrace my selfe.

Aristotle

170 Religio Medici.Aristotle is too severe, that will not allowus to bee truely liberall without wealth,K127

and the bountifull hand of fortune; if thisbe true, I must confesse I am charitableonely in my liberall intentions, andbountifull well-wishes. But if the ex-ample of the Mite bee not onely anact of wonder, but an example ofthe noblest charity, surely poore menmay also build Hospitals, and therich alone have not erected Cathe-dralls. I have a private methodwhich others observe not, I take theopportunity of my selfe to do good,I borrow occasion of charity frommine owne necessities, and supplythe wants of others, when I amin most neede my selfe; for it isan honest stratagem to take advan-tage of our selves, and so to hus-band the act of vertue, thatwhere they are defective in one cir-cumstance, they may repay theirwant, and multiply their goodnessein an other. I have not Peru in mydesires, but a competence, and abi-lity to performe those good workes,

to

Religio Medici. 171to which he hath inclined my nature.Hee is rich, who hath enough to be cha-ritable, and it is hard to be so poore, thata noble minde may not finde a way tothis piece of goodnesse. Hee that givethto the poore lendeth to the Lord, thereis more Rhetorick in that one sentencethan in a Library of Sermons; andindeed if those sentences were under-stood by the Reader, with the same Em-phasis as they are delivered by the Au-thor, wee needed not those Volumes ofinstructions, but might bee honest by anEpitome. Upon this motive onely I can-not behold a Begger without relievinghis necessities with my purse, or his soulewith my prayers; these scenicall and acci-dentall differences betweene us, cannotmake me forget that common and un-toucht part of us both; there is underthese Centoes and miserable outsides,these mutilate and semi-bodies, a soule ofthe same alloy with our owne, whoseGenealogy is God as well as ours,and in as faire a way to salvation,as our selves. Statists that labourto contrive a Common-wealth with-

out

172 Religio Medici.out poverty, take away the object of cha-rity, not understanding only the Com-mon-wealth of a Christian, but forget-ting the prophecy of Christ.

Now there is another part of charity,which is the Basis and Pillar of this, andthat is the love of God, for whom welove our neighbour, for this I think cha-rity, to love God for himselfe, and ourneighbour for God. All that is truelyamiable is God, or as it were a dividedpiece of him, that retaines a reflex or sha-dow of himself. Nor is it strange that weshould place affection on that which isinvisible, all that we truely love is thus;what we adore under affection of oursenses, deserves not the honour of so purea title. Thus we adore vertue, though tothe eyes of sense she be invisible. Thusthat part of our noble friends that weelove, is not that part that we embrace, butthat insensible part that our arms cannotembrace. God being all goodnesse, canlove nothing but himselfe, hee lovesus but for that part, which is as itwere himselfe, and the traduction of

his

Sect. 15.

Religio Medici. 173his holy Spirit. Let us call to assize theloves of our parents, the affection of ourwives and children, and they are all dumbshows and dreams, without reality, truth,or constancy; for first there is a strongbond of affection betweene us and ourparents; yet how easily dissolved? Webetake our selves to a woman, forget-ting our Mother in a wife, and thewombe that bare us in that that shallbeare our Image. This woman blessingus with children, our affection leaves thelevell it held before, and sinkes from ourbed unto our issue and picture of posteri-ty, where affection holds no steady man-sion. They, growing up in yeares, desireour ends, or applying themselves to awoman, take a lawfull way to love ano-ther better then our selves. Thus I per-ceive a man may bee buried alive, andbehold his grave in his owne issue.

I conclude therefore and say, thereis no happinesse under (or as Copernicuswill have it, above) the Sunne, nor anyCrambe in that repeated verity and bur-then of all the wisedome of Solomon, All isvanity and vexation of Spirit; there is no

felicity

Sect. 16.

174 Religio Medici.felicity in that the world adores. Ari-stotle whilst he labours to refute I-dea’s1 of Plato, fals upon one himselfe:for his summum bonum, is a Chimæra, andthere is no such thing as his Felicity.That wherein God himselfe is happy,the holy Angels are happy, in whosedefect the Devills are unhappy; thatdare I call happinesse: whatsoever con-duceth unto this, may with an easie Me-taphor deserve that name; whatsoe-ver else the World termes happines,is to me a story out of Pliny; an apparitionor neat delusion, wherein there is no moreof happines, than the name. Blesse mee inthis life with but peace of my conscience,command of my affections, the love ofthy selfe and my dearest friends, & I shallbe happy enough to pity Cæsar. These areO Lord the humble desires of my mostreasonable ambition, and all I dare callhappines on earth, wherein I set no rule orlimit to thy hand or providence, disposeof me according to the wisdome of thypleasure. Thy will be done though in myowne undoing. K128

F I N I S. 1 1643, 1672 the Idea’s .