TO THE READER. CERTAINLY that man were greedy of life, who should desire to live when all the world were at an end; and he must needs be very impatient, who would repine at death in the society of all things that suffer under it. Had not almost every man suffered by the press, or were not the tyranny thereof become universal, I had not wanted reason for complaint: but in times wherein I have lived to behold the highest perversion of that excellent invention, the name of his Majesty defamed, the honour of Parliament depraved, the writings of both depravedly, anticipatively, counterfeitly, imprinted: complaints may seem ridiculous in private persons; and men of my condition may be as incapable of affronts, as hopeless of their reparations. And truly had not the duty I owe unto the importunity of friends, and the allegiance I must ever acknowledge unto truth, prevailed with me; the inactivity of my disposition might have made these sufferings continual, and time, that brings other things to light, should have satisfied me in the remedy of its oblivion. But, because things evidently false are not only printed, but many things of truth most falsely set forth; in this latter I could not but think myself engaged: for, though we have no power to redress the former, yet in the other the reparation being within ourselves, I have at present represented unto the world a full and intended copy of that piece, which was most imperfectly and surreptitiously published before. This I confess, about seven years past, with some others of affinity thereto, for my private exercise and satisfaction, I had at leisurable hours composed; which being communicated unto one, it became common unto many, and was by transcription successively corrupted, until it arrived in a most depraved copy at the press. He that shall peruse that work, and shall take notice of sundry particulars and personal expressions therein, will easily discern the intention was not publick: and, being a private exercise directed to myself, what is delivered therein was rather a memorial unto me, than an example or rule unto any other: and therefore, if there be any singularity therein correspondent unto the private conceptions of any man, it doth not advantage them; or if dissentaneous thereunto, it no way overthrows them. It was penned in such a place, and with such disadvantage, that (I protest), from the first setting of pen unto paper, I had not the assistance of any good book, whereby to promote my invention, or relieve my memory; and therefore there might be many real lapses therein, which others might take notice of, and more than I suspected myself. It was set down many years past, and was the sense of my conceptions at that time, not an immutable law unto my advancing judgement at all times; and therefore there might be many things therein plausible unto my passed apprehension, which are not agreeable unto my present self. There are many things delivered rhetorically, many expressions therein merely tropical, and as they best illustrate my intention; and therefore also there are many things to be taken in a soft and flexible sense, and not to be called unto the rigid test of reason. Lastly, all that is contained therein is in submission unto maturer discernments; and, as I have declared, [I] shall1 no further father them than the best and [most] learned' judgements shall authorize them: under favour of which considerations, I have made its secrecy publick, and committed the truth thereof to every ingenuous reader. THOMAS BROWNE. 1 [1] shall &c. .... [most] learned &c.] Conjecturally inserted, and therefore inclosed within brackets; a distinction which will be carefully observed throughout the present edition, in the (very few) instances which may occur of the slightest deviation from preceding editions.— Ed. Religio Medici. For my religion, though there be several circumstances that might persuade the world I have none at all,—as the general scandal of my profession,1-the natural course of my studies, -the indifferency of my behaviour and discourse in matters of religion (neither violently defending one, nor with that common ardor and contention opposing another),-yet, in despite hereof, I dare without usurpation assume the honorable style of a christian. Not that I merely owe this title to the font, my education, or the clime wherein I was born, as being bred up either to confirm those principles my parents instilled into my unwary understanding, or by a general consent proceed in the religion of my country; but that having, in my 1. . . . scandal of my profession,] Physicians do commonly bear ill in this behalf. It is a common speech, Ubi tres medici, duo athei. The reasons why those of that profession (I declare myself that I am none, but causarum actor mediocris, to use Horace his phrase) may be thought to deserve that censure, the author rendereth, § 19.-K. 2.... the natural course of my studies,] The vulgar lay not the imputation of atheism only upon physicians, but upon philosophers in general; who, for that they give themselves to understand the operations of nature, calumniate them, as though they rested in the second causes, without any respect to the first. HereVOL. II. upon it was, that in the tenth age Pope Silvester the Second passed for a magician, because he understood geometry and natural philosophy. Baron. Annal. 990. And Apuleius, long before him, labored of the same suspicion, upon no better ground, He was accused, and made a learned apology for himself; and in that hath laid down what the ground is of such accusations. Apul. in Apolog. And it is possible that those that look upon the second causes scattered, may rest in them, and go no farther, as my Lord Bacon, in one of his Essays, observeth; but our author tells us there is a true philosophy, from which no man becomes an atheist, §48.-K. B riper years and confirmed judgment, seen and examined all, I find myself obliged, by the principles of grace, and the law of mine own reason, to embrace no other name but this: neither doth herein my zeal so far make me forget the general charity I owe unto humanity, as rather to hate than pity Turks, Infidels, and (what is worse) Jews; rather contenting myself to enjoy that happy style, than maligning those who refuse so glorious a title. Quousque patiere, bone Jesu! Judæi te semel, ego sæpius crucifixi; Illi in Asia, ego in Britania, Gallia, Germania; Bone Jesu, miserere mei, et Judæorum.3 SECT. II. But, because the name of a Christian is become too general to express our faith,—there being a geography of religion as well as lands, and every clime not only distinguished by its laws and limits, but circumscribed by its doctrines and rules of faith,—to be particular, I am of that reformed new-cast religion, wherein I dislike nothing but the name; of the same belief our Saviour taught, the apostles disseminated, the fathers authorized, and the martyrs confirmed; but, by the sinister ends of princes, the ambition and avarice of prelates,5 and the fatal corruption of times, so decayed, impaired, and fallen from its native beauty, that it required the careful and charitable hands of these times to restore it to its primitive integrity. Now, the accidental occasion whereupon, the slender means whereby, the low and abject condition of the person by whom, so good a work was set on foot, which in our adver 5.... prelates,] Both the surreptitious editions, (of 1642) with the MSS. W. & R., read, presbyters.—Ed. 6. so good a work was set on foot,] This is graphically described by Thuanus, in his history: but, because his words are too large for this purpose, I shall give it you somewhat more briefly, according to the relation of the author of the history of the council of Trent. The occasion was the necessity of Pope Leo the Tenth, who by his profusion had so exhausted the treasure of the church, that he was constrained to have recourse to the publishing of indulgences to raise monies; some of which he had destined to his own treasury, and other part to his allies, and saries beget contempt and scorn, fill me with wonder, and are the very same objections the insolent pagans first cast at Christ and his disciples. SECT. III. Yet I have not so shaken hands with those particularly to his sister he gave all the money that should be raised in Saxony; and she, that she might make the best profit of the donation, commits it to one Aremboldus, a bishop, to appoint treasurers for these indulgences. Now the custom was, that, whensoever these indulgences were sent into Saxony, they were to be divulged by the friars Eremites, of which order Luther then was: but Aremboldus his agents thought with themselves that the friars Eremites were not so well acquainted with the trade that, if the business should be left to them, they themselves should either be able to give so good an account of their negotiation, or get so much by it, as they might do in case the business were committed to another order. They thereupon recommended it to (and the business was undertaken by) the Dominican friars, who performed it so ill, that the scandal arising both from thence, and from the ill lives of those that set them at work, stirred up Luther to write against the abuses of these indulgences which was all he did at first; but then, not long after, being provoked by some sermons and small discourses that had been published against what he had written, he rips up the business from the beginning, and publishes xcv theses against it at Wittenburg. Against these, Tekel, a Dominican, writes; then Luther adds an explication to his. Eckius and Prierius, Dominicans, thereupon take up the controversy against him: and now Luther begins to be hot; and because his adversaries could not found the matter of indulgences upon other foundations than the Pope's power and infallibility, that begets a disputation betwixt them concerning the Pope's power, which Luther insists upon as inferior to that of a general council; and so by degrees he came on to oppose the popish doctrines of remission of sins, penances, and purgatory; and by reason of Cardinal Cajetan's imprudent management of the conference he had with him, it came to pass that he rejected the whole body of popish doctrine. So that by this we may see what was the accidental occasion wherein, the slender means whereby, and the abject condition of the person by whom, the work of reformation of religion was set on foot.-K. ...... 7 .... shaken hands with .... as to stand in diameter and sword's point with them.] These words are rendered by Mr. Merryweather, memet adjungo ita ut iisdem ex diametro repugnent: wherein he hath too much played the scholar, and showed himself to be more skilful in foreign and ancient customs than in the vernacular practice and usage of the language of his own country: for although, amongst the Latins, protension of the hand was a symbol and sign of peace and concord;-as Alexander ab Alexandro," Manum vero protendere, pacem peti significabat," Gen. Dier. lib. iv, cap. ult.; which also is confirmed by Cicero, Pro Dejotaro, and Cæsar, De Bello Gallico, lib. ii;-and was used in their first meetings, as appears by the phrase, "jungere hospitio dextras," and by that of Virgil, "Oremus pacem, et dextras tendamus inermes," and many like passages, that occur in the poets, to which I believe the translator had respect; yet, in modern practice, especially with us in England, that ceremony is used as much in our adieus as in the first congress; and so the author meant in this place, by saying he had not shaken hands; that is, that he had not so deserted or bid farewell to the Romanists, as to stand at sword's point with them and then he gives his reasons at those words, "for omitting those improperations, &c." So that, instead of memet adjungo, the translator should have used some word or phrase of a clean contrary signification. And instead of ex diametro repugnent, it should be ex diametro repugnem.-K. Il semble que le translateur en Latin n'a pas bien compris cette façon de parler, se servant au lieu de cela, memet adjungo. Shaken hands sert ordinairement quand on prend son congé de quelqu'un, et qu'on dit adieu.-Fr. Tr. It has been remarked to me, that Keck's quotation from Virgil is inapplicable: he might more properly have adduced the following passages :-Æn. 1. i, 408. 514. vi, 697. viii, 124. 164. 467.-Ed. |