A27641:39
A learned treatise of the plague
A learned treatise of the plague wherein the two questions, whether the plague be infectious or no, and , whether and how far it may be shunned of Christians by going aside, are resolved / written in Latin by the famous Theodore Beza Vezelian.A learned treatise of the plague wherein the two questions, whether the plague be infectious or no, and , whether and how farr it may be shunned of Christians by going aside, are resolved / written in Latine by the famous Theodore Beza Vezelian.
London: printed by Thomas Ratcliffe, 1665
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Therefore to conclude these things, there hath been nothing yet alleged whereby the Plague hath been proved either not to be infectious, or that going aside to avoid Infection is without exception to be condemned; for that going aside is one of the Chief among Natural remedies and provisions in Infectious diseases, Reason and Experience it self doth teach; For doubtless the word Contagion in it self doth aloud speak this▪ That those things which are less far off are more in danger of it; and it is daily to be seen, that by removing in due time unto more healthful places, many have been preserved; which if any man will except against, should have been saved if they had tarried still at home, because God had so decreed: What then shall he say, who agreeth not also unto the other shunnings and remedies of all perils? Therefore we ought to laugh at, as needless, not only Physic, but also all prudence and wisdom, which is used in avoiding dangers of all sorts; neither should there be any difference between Rashness and Discretion, between Fortitude and Boldness. But the matter is far otherwise, because like as God by his everlasting and unchangeable Decree hath appointed the course of our Life, so hath he ⟨p. 17⟩also ordained Middle causes, which we should use to preserve our Lives withal.
Therefore to conclude these things, there hath been nothing yet alledged whereby the Plague hath been proved either not to be infectious, or that going aside to avoid Infection is without exception to be condemned; for that going aside is one of the Chief among Natural remedies and provisions in Infectious diseases, Reason and Experience it self doth teach; For doubtlesse the word Contagion in it self doth aloud speak this▪ That those things which are less far off are more in danger of it; and it is daily to be seen, that by removing in due time unto more healthful places, many have been preserved; which if any man will except against, should have been saved if they had tarried still at home, because God had so decreed: What then shall he say, who agreeth not also unto the other shunnings and remedies of all perils? Therefore we ought to laugh at, as needless, not only Physick, but also all prudence and wisedome, which is used in avoiding dangers of all sorts; neither should there be any difference between Rashness and Discretion, between Fortitude and Boldness. But the matter is far otherwise, because like as God by his everlasting and unchangeable Decree hath appointed the course of our Life, so hath he