The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, Volume 1. Browne Thomas

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       And put the honest Father to the Refuge of a Miracle. ] This honest father was St. Aug. who delivers his opinion, that it might be miraculously done, lib. 16. de Civ. Dei, cap. 7. where having propos'd the question how it might be done, he answers, Quod si homines eas captas secum adduxerunt, et eo modo ubi habitabant earum genera instituerunt, venandi studio fieri potuisse incredibile non est, quamvis jussu Dei sire permissu etiam opera Angelorum negandum non sit potuisse transferri; but St. Aug. saith not that it could not be done without a miracle.

       And 1500 years to people the World, as full a time, etc. ]

      Pag. 36.

       That Methusalem was the longest liv'd of all the children of Adam, etc. ] See both these Points cleared by the Author, in Pseudodox. Epidemic. the first lib. 6. cap. 6. the other lib. 7. cap. 3.

       That Judas perished by hanging himself, there is no certainty in Scripture, though in one place it seems to affirm it, and by a doubtful word hath given occasion to translate it; yet in another place, in a more punctual description it makes it improbable, and seems to overthrow it. ] These two places that seem to contradict one another are Math. 27. 5. and Acts 1. 8. The doubtful word he speaks of is in the place of Matthew; it is ἀπήγξατο, which signifieth suffocation as well as hanging, (ἀπελθὼν ἀπήγξατο, which may signifie literally, after he went out he was choak'd) but Erasmus translates it, abiens laqueo se suspendit: the words in the Acts are, When he had thrown down himself headlong, he burst in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out; which seems to differ much from the expression of Matthew; yet the Ancient Writers and Fathers of the Church do unanimously agree that he was hanged. Some I shall cite. Anastas. Sinaita, l. 7. Anagog. Contempl. Unus latro ingratus cum esset typus Diaboli, et Serpentis, et Judæ, qui se in ligno suffocavit. Gaudentius Brixiens. tract. 13. de natal. Dom. Mortem debitam laqueo sibimet intulit præparato, etc. Droggotoshen. de sacram. dominic. pass. Jamdiu erat quidem quod Christo recesserat, et avaritiæ laqueo se suspenderat, sed quod fecerat in occulto, palam omnibus innotuit. S. Martialis in Ep. ad Tholosanos. Non sustinuit pœnitentiam, donec laqueo mortis seipsum consumpsit. Ignat. ad Philippens. Diabolus laqueum ei ostendit, et suspendium docuit. Leo Serm. 3. de passion. – Ut quia facinus omnem mensuram ultionis excesserat, te haberet impietas tua judicem te pateretur sua pæna Carnificem. Theodoret. lib. 1. hæretic. fabul. Ille protinus strangulatus est, quæ fuit merces ejus proditionis. Chrysostom. Hom. 3. de proditore. Pependit Cœlum Terramque intermedius vago funere suffocatus, et cum flagitio suo tumefacta, viscera crepuerunt, etc. Bernard. Serm. 8. in Psal. 9. Judas in Aere crepuit medius.

      1. There are those that are so particular, that they acquaint us with the manner, as that it was done with a Cord. Antiochus Laurensis, Spem omnem a se cum abjecisset, insiliente in eum inimico (sc. Diabolo) funiculo sibi præfocavit gulam. Oecumen. in Act. Fracto funiculo quo erat suffocatus decidit in terram præcipitio. 2. That it was done on a Fig-Tree, Beda. Portam David egredientibus fons occurrit in Austrum per vallem directus, ad cujus medietatem ab occasu Judas se suspendisse narratur: Nam et ficus magna ibi et vetustissima stat.

Juvenc. lib. 4. Hist. Evangelic

      Exorsusq; suas laqueo sibi sumere pænas,

      Informem rapuit ficus de vertice mortem.

      3. Some acquaint us with the time when it was done, viz. the next day after he had given the kiss. So Chrysostom. Homil. 1. de proditor. et Mysterio Cœn. Dominic. Guttur prophanum quod hodie Christo extendis ad osculum, crastino es illud extensurus ad laqueum. But there are two, that is Euthymius and Oecumenius, that tell us, that the hanging did not kill him, but that either the Rope broke, or that he was cut down, and afterwards cast himself down headlong, as it is related in the before mentioned place of the Acts: Agnitus à quibusdam depositus est ne præfocaretur, denique postquam in secreto quodam loco modico vixisset tempore præceps factus sive præcipitatus, inflatus diruptus, ac diffisus est medius, et effusa sunt omnia viscera ejus; ut in Actis. Euthym. cap. 67. in Math. Judas suspendio è vita non decessit, sed supervixit, dejectus est enim prius quam præfocaretur, idque Apotolorum Acta indicant, quod pronus crepuit medius. Oecumen. in Act. And this may serve to reconcile these two seemingly disagreeing Scriptures.

       That our Fathers after the Flood erected the Tower of Babel. ] For this see what the Author saith in his Pseudodox. Epidemic. l. 7, cap. 6.

       Sect. 23. Pag. 37.

       And cannot but commend the judgment of Ptolemy. ] He means of Ptolemæus Philadelphus, who founded the Library of Alexandria, which he speaks of in the next Section. He was King of Egypt; and having built and furnish'd that Library with all the choicest Books he could get from any part of the world, and having good correspondence with Eleazer the high Priest of the Jews, by reason that he had released the Jews from Captivity, who were taken by his Predecessor Ptolemæus Lagi; he did by the advice of Demetrius Phalereus the Athenian, whom he had made his Library-Keeper, write to Eleazer, desiring him that he would cause the Books of the Jews, which contained their Laws, to be translated for him into Greek, that he might have them to put into his Library: to which the Priest consents; and for the King's better satisfaction, sends to him Copies of the Books, and with the same 72 Interpreters skilled both in the Greek and Hebrew Language, to translate them for him into Greek; which afterwards they performed. This is for certain; but whether they translated only the Pentateuch, as St. Jerome would have it, or together with the Books of the Prophets also, as Leo de Castro and Baronius contend, I undertake not to determine: but as to that part of the story, that these Interpreters were put into so many several Cells, whilst they were about the work of translation; and notwithstanding they were thus severed, that they all translated it totidem verbis; it is but reason to think with St. Jerome (notwithstanding the great current of Authority against him) that it is no better than a fable.

       The Alcoran of the Turks (I speak without prejudice) is an ill-composed piece, containing in it vain and ridiculous errors in Philosophy, etc. ] It is now in every mans hand, having been lately translated into English; I shall therefore observe but these few particulars in it, in regard the book it self is so common; and indeed they are not mine own, but Lipsius his observations. He begins, O nugas, O deliria! primum (saith he) commentus est, Deum unum solidumq; (ὀλόσφυρον Græci exprimunt) eundemq; incorporeum esse. Christum non Deum, sed magnum vatem et prophetam; se tamen majorem, et proxime à Deo missum, præmia qui ipsum audient Paradisum, qui post aliquot annorum millia reserabitur, ibi quatuor flumina lacte, vino, melle, aqua fluere, ibi palatia et ædificia gemmata atque aurata esse, carnes avium suavissimarum, fructus omne genus quos sparsi jacentesque sub umbra arborum edent: sed caput fælicitatis, viros fœminasque, majores solito magnis Genitalibus assidua libidine, et ejus usu sine tædio aut fatigatione. These and some others that are in the Alcoran he reckons up. Sed et Physica quoq; miranda (saith he) nam facit Solem et Lunam in equis vehi, illum autem in aquam calidam vespere mergi, et bene lotum ascendere atque oriri, Stellas in aere è catenis aureis pendere: terram in bovini cornus cuspide stabilitum, et agitante se bove ac succutiente fieri terræ motum; hominem autem ex hirundine aut sanguisuga nasci, etc. Just. Lips. Monit. et exempl. Politic. cap. 3.

      Pag. 38.

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