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Show is PiAIG.2. of the Eiiftorte ofthe World. 57 Man (notwithftanding)fhouldhaue enioynedthereby a! onghealthfall,and vingreiued life:after Which( according to.the opinion of moft Diuines)he fhould haue beene tir. flatedias Enoch was.And as before the Floud,the dayes of men hadthe long meafare OF eight hundred or ninehundred ene sand foone aftertl ie floud, of two hundied yéers and vpwards,euento-fiue hundred: fo if (dias had not difobeyed Gods firt and eafie Commaridement,the lives of menonEarth amiigiie haue continued doubles treb] e) of quadruple to any of the longeft times'ofthe firft age, as many learned menhaue conceiued.Chry/oftome, Ruperts, Toftatwsjand others were of beleefe, that (but for Cxdzm3 fall and tranfgreffion ) Adam and his Pofteritiehad beene immortall, But-fuchis the £0 infinite Wifedom of God,as he forefawthat theieatth could: not hatiecontained Manu kind;or elfe,that millions of foulesmuft hauebeene vagenerated, and have‘had no'being, ifthe firft number, wherewith the Earthiwas replenifhed, had abode thereon for ever : atid therefore that of Chry/offome mutt bee vaderftood ofimmiottalitie ofbodies, whichfhould hane beéne'tranflatedand glorified. But ofwhatkiadorSpecies this Tree of Life was,no man hathtaken onhim to teach: in whichrefpect many haueconcciued, that the lame was not materiall, but a mecte Allegorie,taking theirftrength out/of Salomon,where Wifedome is comparedto the Tree of Life,and fromother places, wherealfo Chrift is called the Tree of Life. and out of che Apocalypfis,7 willgineto bim that ouer cémmeth, toeate ofthe Tree of Life which Apecagng: 2° iin the Paradifeof Goa. But tothis place Saint Aaguflines anfwer nay fftic 6 which is) That the one dothnot excludethe other,butthat,as theré wasa terfeftriall Paradife fo there was a celeftiall. For although Avar and Save were Figures ofthe O/4 and New Teflament,yet to thinkethatthey wete notWomen,and the Maide and Wie GFAb; hamwere meerefoolifhneffe.And foin this placethe fenfe ofthe Scripture ifen For God brought ont of the earth enery Treefaire to thefight, and fweete to tafles the Trve alfa ofLifeiz the midfof the Gardens ;whichfheweth, that among the trees, Which thre Earth by. Gods commandement produced,the tree ofLife was one, \and thatthe fruit thereofwas alfo to be eaten. The'report of this Tree was alfo brought to ‘thé ancient Poets : for as from the indigefted matteror Chaos, He(iedus, Homer, Oia, and others; 30 ftealethe inuention of the created World; fo fromthe Gardenof Paradife they tooke the Plat:forme of the Orchardof Alcinons and anotherof the Hefperides:and fromthe Treeof Life, their Nectar and Ambrofia ;for Near, according to Suidas, iehifiech mge* king youuganc Anibrofia, immortalitie 3) and therefore faid to be the meate-and dtinke ~oods. Of BecANys his opinion, that the Tree of knowledge ww Ficus Indica. Owforthe Tree of Knowledge of good:and euill, foe menihane preftimed a L f 3 farther, efpecially Goropivs Becanus, who giucth: himfelfe thehondut'to hae! foundlout thekind of this Tree, which ‘none of the Writers of former times hereat Gorepiws much maruailet gut as hee had anlinuentiie dany man,that beleeued better thereof,and ofhimfelf, Siyec no may be*valt yet: he vfur peth the praife duéto others? at t ; hichthefetteth its: Forao/es Bar-Cephias faftes fixe hundred yeeres\before Becanws was borhevand Bars ntion to emantiquitie more remote,citing' for his Au whofe very: words Goropias vfeth; both coh j would induce, other men to that be- ife of Paradife (the firft Partiand fo/.48.) faith, ‘s Indica; Fie-Tree,of which the sof Ac efines, one of the Ri- is Fleete of Gallies, in or neere f the bignefleot agreat Peazejor(as Plinie reportcth (ome Pindavid c, fefemper ferens.s Alvaies planting itfelfex that it {prea - sthat a troope of horfemen may hide themlelues yndet it, ithjthatit.hath branches bending dowpewards,éclequés no lefle shan a thieldy tibisap.a} Ariftobulas |