A27641:43
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.
And although that in so great variety of Circumstances, Rules for every singular thing cannot be set down; yet is it no hard matter to give certain General Precepts agreeable unto the Word of God, by the which, as by a certain Rule, singular Cases may afterwards (as they say) be tried; Let them therefore which think to tarry, know, that it is the Commandment of God, Thou shalt not Kill, and that therefore neither their own, nor the Lives of any belonging or depending on them, are rashly to be put in danger of deadly Infection. Let them on the other side, which think to Go away, know, that no man ought to have so great regard either of himself, or of his Family, that he forget what one oweth unto his Country, and Fellow Citizens. To be brief, what he oweth unto another, whether they be bound by the common bond of Humanity and Society, of by any other kind of Friendship; for Love seeketh not the things which are her own: Wherefore, I confess, that I cannot see by what reason at all any ⟨p. 18⟩man is forbid to depart, which either by reason of Age, or of Sickness, past hope of Recovery, cannot help others; and if they tarry, they may therefore seem only to be stayed, that they may die, to the great loss of the Common-wealth; for as their Cruelty can never enough be blamed, which thrust them out of their Cities, especially if they be of the poor•• sort; so both the pious natures of Parents in time providing for the preservation and life of theirs, without prejudice or hurt to any man, seemeth unto me to be greatly commended; And also the providence of the Magistrates is much to be praised, where their care shall be extended (without damage to the Common-welfare) to see that those weak ones, as seed-plots of Citizens, be well looked unto.
And although that in so great varietie of Circumstances, Rules for every singular thing cannot be set down; yet is it no hard matter to give certain General Precepts agreeable unto the Word of God, by the which, as by a certain Rule, singular Cases may afterwards (as they say) be tried; Let them therefore which think to tarry, know, that it is the Commandment of God, Thou shalt not Kill, and that therefore neither their own, nor the Lives of any belonging or depending on them, are rashly to be put in danger of deadly Infection. Let them on the other side, which think to Go away, know, that no man ought to have so great regard either of himself, or of his Family, that he forget what one oweth unto his Countrie, and Fellow Citizens. To be brief, what he oweth unto another, whether they be bound by the common bond of Humanitie and Societie, of by any other kinde of Friendship; for Love seeketh not the things which are her own: Wherefore, I confess, that I cannot see by what reason at all any