| OCR Text |
Show TOTHERIGHT W ORthieand honorable gentleman {ir Walter Raleigh knight , fenefchall of the duchies of Cornewall and Excefter, andlordwardenofthe ftannaries in Deuon and Cornewall : Iohn Hooker wifbeth along, a happie, and aprofperous life, with the increafe of honour. fl Mongallthe infinit goodbleffings,right honorable, i} which the LordGod hath beftowed vponys, I thinke noné more expedient and neceflarie, than the yfe and knowledgeofhiftories and chronicles : which are the moft aflured regifters of the innumerable benefits and commodities, which haue and dailie deo growto the | church ofGod,andto the ciuill gouernment throughout all nations. he fir yfeok Thevfe of them began and was receiued euenfrom the firft begin- OCS hiftories.ee | ning , and immediatlie'vponthe difperfing of the fonnes ofAdam | through out the world : for they were no{fooner diuidedinto feuerall 4| nations, but they did (as Cicero faith ) make choife of fome one man among thermfelues, who furpafiedthe reftin wifedome,know- ledge and vnderftanding, Adquem confugiebant . Thefe kind of men The firftchro- 3 ; = NE for the moft part in thofe daies were preefts and philofophers , and sographers. 1} for their great knowledge, wifedomeandcredit, hadthe charge to al commend to their pofteritic fuch notable and good acts as were woorS887 thic the memorie. Andasall other nations had fuch men, fo the re- ‘The frit chro- mote Ilands in the great Ocean had the like. For Britaine,nowconteining England,Scotland and Wales, had nographers in their Druides and Bardos,andIreland hadtheir Odalies or Rimers,who being verie wife men & ofgreat credit, England and did deliuer all their faiengs in meeter, and were therefore called Poets. And thefe tor the better alluring ofthe Ireland. ople to attention,and to frame them to the know ledge of vertue,did vie to fing with an inftrumentfuch lef poets were lonsandinftructions as they were woont to giue,whether it were concerning manners and commonconuer-the firft chro fation,or matters of policie and gouernment,or of prowefle and martialaffaires, or ofthe getts of their ance- nographers ftors,or of anie other thing thought meetto be learned and wonrthie the knowledge , by which meanesthey in Britaine. made men the moreapt,readie,andwilling to applic themfelues to vertue and to acommendable courfe oflife, th concerning God howhe was to be Ronortdthe magiftrate howhe was to be obeied,& the commonfocietic howit was to be conferued ;andfinallie howthe whole courfe of mans life was to beorderedanddirected, Thedefinition hefe and manie otherlike commodities when Cicero had confidered, did growby thefe means, whichis the ofan hittorie, verie fubftance ofanhiftorie : he defcribed the fame to be the witnefle oftime, the light oftruth, the life of Cicero deorarore, memorie , and the miftrefle oflife : willing andaduifing euerie man at all times and in all matters to hauetheir recourfe to the fame , and tobe weil exercifed in the knowledge thereof, bicaufe the things paft are fet downe erin,and by them a man may learne whatto dooin the life to come.Foras the wife manfaith,Thereis nothing Ecclefiaft.1.3. new ynderthe funne for the thing whichis nowhath beene, and by the things paft weare taught the things tocome.And fo faith Auguftine: Fiiftoria magis vel certe non minus pranunciandis futuris , quam enunciandts Augufhde ciuis, Préteritis inyenitur intenta : Hiltories. doo teach andaduertife vs as well ofthe things to come, as of the things Dei. aft: and the knowledgethereof is fo no neceflarie that Melancthon would haue no mantobe ynlearnedin hi- ChronicaCa= nies, bicaufe Sine qua nulla inrequilpiam lucem habet . And Thuicidides the old ancient hiftoriographer ofrents. cia would that eerie manfhould haue about him a bookeofhiftories ,as.a thing molt neceflariefor himin Thmeédides, matters whatfoeuer : andthis did he draw and learne(as it fhould feeme) from Mofes , who whenhe had faithfullie and diligentlie written andfet downe the whole courfe of the world, the woonderfull works of God, and all the moft neceflarie precepts and rules for mans life,either concerning mattersofreligion or caufes ofciwilbpolicies,or of commonfocietie: then he andJofua affembling all the people togither,diddeliuer ynto them Deutero.f hole PentatychonofMotes tobedailie read & taught,with a commandementthat they fhould neuer haue Jofue.t, th: at booke out oftheir hands,but to haue alwaiestheir continuall recourfe to them, as well fortheirlife, as alfo fortheir directionin all their caufes. Which thing theydid moft diligentlie obferue andkeepe, andnotonelie in Matters of religion , but in all doubrfull matters, as to the moft true oracles,they would maketheir recourfe for their full refolutions, As the enimies of Iehuda, whentheyfawthe profperous fucceffe of the building of the temple in the times of Ezras and Nehemias, and they muich maligning the fame,made fute to king Artaxerxes 1. Efdras,4. the wouldreuoke the decree which king Cyrus had madevntothe Iewes, licencing them tobuild the tem- Nehemias, ple, alledging manie great andfundrie matters againft them.Wherevpontheking commanded the chronicles tobe fearched,whether it were true that had beene informed again{trhem . Likewife when Hamonhad gree- Efther.6, touflie complained ynto king Ahafuerus again{t Mardocheus andthe Iewes, charging them with fundrie haiRous offenfes worthie death,the king commandedthe chronicles to be fearched. Alfo when Paule and Sylas AGS.17. firft preached the gofpell ar Theflalonica andBarea,a doétrine then accomptedftrange andnew,they fearched @Gexamined thebooks Num hac ita fe haberent. For asthey foundthings there recorded, fo gaue they credit, and by the fame theydid proceed in the like.For it was acommon mang einees the Romans, that not pit als they |
