FOOTNOTES:
[A]“And for as moche as this sayd worke was grete & over chargeable to me taccomplisshe, I feryd me in the begynnynge of the translacion to have contynued it / bycause of the longe tyme of the translacion / & also in thenpryntyng of ye same and in maner halfe desperate to have accomplissd it / was in purpose to have lefte it / after that I had begonne to translate it / & to have layed it aparte ne had it be(en) at thynstance & requeste of the puyssant noble & vertuous erle my lord wyllyam erle of arondel / whych desyred me to procede & contynue the said werke / & promysed me to take a resonable quantyte of them when they were acheyeued & accomplisshed / and sente to me a worshypful gentylman a servaunt of his named John Stanney which solycyted me in my Lordes name that I shold in no wyse leve it but accomplisshe it promysyng that my sayd lord shold duringe my lyf geve & graunt to me a yerely fee / that is to wete a bucke in sommer / & a doo in Wynter / with whiche fee I holde me wel contente,” &c.
Length of Adam’s life.
[B]This apparently long life of Adam is admitted on all hands, even in the Revised Version of the Bible. The Talmud says that God promised him one thousand years of life, and it is recorded that he begat Seth when he was a hundred and thirty years old. On this the Talmud (Eruvin, fol. 18, col. 2) has the following comment: “Rav Yirmyah ben Elazer said: All those years, which Adam spent in alienation from God, he begat evil spirits, demons, and fairies; for it is said, ‘And Adam was an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image’; consequently, before that time, he begat after another image.”
This term of one hundred and thirty years seems to have been a period in Adam’s existence, for we again find (Eruvin, fol. 18 b.): “Adam was a Chasid, or great saint, when he observed that the decree of death was occasioned by him; he fasted a hundred and thirty years, and all this time he abstained from intercourse with his wife.”
Talmud legends respecting Adam’s length of life.
There is a Talmudical tradition that God showed the future to Adam (Avoth d’Rab. Nathan, chap. 31): “The Holy One—blessed be He!—shewed unto Adam each generation, and its preachers, its guardians, its leaders, its prophets, its heroes, its sinners, and its saints, saying, ‘In such and such a generation such and such a King shall reign, in such and such a generation such and such a wife man shall teach.’” This is amplified in Midrash Yalkut (fol. 12), where it is said that God showed Adam all future generations of men, with their leaders, learned and literary men, and there he observed that David was credited with only three hours of life, and he said, “Lord and Creator of the world, is this unalterable?” “Such was my first intention,” was the reply. “How many years have I to live?” asked Adam. “One thousand.” Then Adam said, “I will lend him some of my years.” And a document was drawn up whereby Adam transferred seventy years of his life to David.
S. Baring-Gould, in his legends of Old Testament Characters, vol i. p. 77, referring to a Mussulman legend, says: “Finally, when Adam reached his nine hundred and thirtieth year, the Angel of Death appeared under the form of a goat, and ran between his legs.
“Adam recoiled with horror, and exclaimed, ‘God has given me one thousand years; wherefore comest thou now?’
“‘What!’ exclaimed the Angel of Death, ‘hast thou not given seventy years of thy life to the prophet David?’
“Adam stoutly denied that he had done so. Then the Angel of Death drew the document of transfer from out of his beard, and presented it to Adam, who could no longer refuse to go.”
[C] The Festival of the Invention, or finding of the Cross, is kept in the Roman and English Churches on May 3.
[D] Piscina, a fish-pond: Lat. In this instance it is supposed to be the Pool of Bethesda.
[E] Nicodemus, chap. 14:—
v. 1.
But when the first man our father Adam heard these things, that Jesus was baptized in Jordan, he called out to his son Seth, and said,
v. 2.
Declare to your sons, the patriarchs and prophets, all those things which thou didst hear from Michael the Archangel, when I sent thee to the gates of Paradise to entreat God that he would anoint my head when I was sick.
v. 3
Then Seth, coming near to the patriarchs and prophets, said: I, Seth, when I was praying to God at the gates of Paradise, beheld the angel of the Lord, Michael, appear unto me, saying, I am sent unto thee from the Lord; I am appointed to preside over human bodies.
v. 4.
I tell thee, Seth, do not pray to God in tears, and entreat him for the oil of the tree of mercy, wherewith to anoint thy father Adam for his headach;
v. 5.
Because thou canst not by any means obtain it till the last day and times, namely, till five thousand and five hundred years be past.
v. 6.
Then will Christ, the most merciful Son of God, come on earth to raise again the human body of Adam, and at the same time to raise the bodies of the dead, and when he cometh he will be baptized in Jordan;
v. 7.
Then with the oil of his mercy he will anoint all those that believe on him; and the oil of his mercy will continue to future generations, for those who shall be born of the water and the Holy Ghost unto eternal life.
v. 8.
And when at that time the most merciful Son of God, Christ Jesus, shall come down on earth, he will introduce our father Adam into Paradise, to the tree of mercy.
v. 9.
When all the patriarchs and prophets heard all these things from Seth, they rejoiced more.
[F] Alban Butler, in The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and other Principal Saints, denies that St. Helena was an Innholder (Stabularia) in Bithynia, when Constantius married her, and says: “We are assured by the unanimous tradition of our English historians that this holy empress was a native of our island. William of Malmesbury, the principal historian of the ancient state of our country after Bede, and before him, the Saxon author of the life of St. Helen, in 970, quoted by Usher, expressly say that Constantine was a Briton by birth.” Leland, in his Commentarii de Scriptoribus Britannicis, says that St. Helena was the only daughter of King Coilus, the King Cöol who first built walls round Colchester, and the English Church has generally recognised her British origin. Her festival is kept on August 18.
When her husband, Constantine Chlorus, entered into an arrangement with Diocletian, by which he had the countries this side the Alps, namely, Gaul and Britain, he was obliged, as part of the bargain, to divorce St. Helena, and marry Theodora, the daughter-in-law of Maximinianus. According to Eusebius, she was not converted to Christianity at the same time as her son Constantine, who, when he came to the throne, paid her the greatest deference, and gave her the title of Augusta, or empress. After the Council of Nice, in 325, he wrote to Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, concerning the building of a splendid church upon Mount Calvary, and St. Helena, although she was then 79 years of age, undertook to see it carried out.
It was then that the reputed Invention of the Cross, together with the nails, took place, and she soon afterwards died, but the exact year is uncertain, some authorities giving A.D. 326, others 328.
[G] Other accounts say the Crosses were found by Macarius, then Bishop of Jerusalem.
[H] The book of the office of Mithras or Mithra, the Sun, worshipped by the Persians.
[I] Heraclius, Emperor of the East, who from A.D. 622 to 627 fought Chosroes II., defeated him, and concluded peace.
[J] St. Equitius was a hermit, and looked after the welfare of other hermits and monks. He took a special interest in a convent of young virgins; died about A.D. 540.
[K] I quote from the translation by Steven Withers, 1561.
[L] From this book I have taken the head and tail piece here given.—J. A.
[M] Arundel, No. 507, and Add. MSS. 6524.
[N] His life and labours may be read in Mr. Hottrop’s Monuments Typographiques des Pays-bas—.
[O] See The Woodcutters of the Netherlands in the 15th Century, by W. M. Conway, and an article by him in the Bibliographer of May, 1883, p. 32.
Adam sends Seth to Paradise for some of the Oil of Mercy.
The Archangel Michael gives Seth three seeds of the Tree of Life.
Seth buries Adam and puts the three seeds of the Tree of Life under his tongue.
The three seeds spring up.
Moses always has the three rods with him.
With them he makes water flow from the Rock.
An Angel tells Moses how to sweeten the bitter waters.
Moses, by dipping the rods in the waters of Marah, sweetens them.
Moses plants the rods in the land of Moab.
An Angel appears to David and tells him to bring the rods to Jerusalem.
The rods heal the sick.
The rods heal a leper.
The rods turn three black men white.
David leaves the rods for the night.
In the morning he finds the rods have taken root and have become one tree.
David builds a wall round the miraculous tree.
David composes the Psalms and praises God, under the shadow of the tree.
Solomon orders the tree to be cut down and used in the Temple.
Artificers fashion the tree.
The holy wood will fit nowhere.
St. Maximilla sitting on the wood, her clothes catch alight.
St. Maximilla prophesies concerning the wood.
St. Maximilla scourged to death.
The wood used as a foot-bridge over a brook.
The Queen of Sheba prefers wading through the brook, to walking over the holy wood.
The Queen of Sheba tells Solomon of the holy nature of the wood.
The holy wood is taken up.
The holy wood is carried into the Temple.
Abias despoils the holy wood of its precious covering.
The Jews bury the holy wood.
Digging the Pool of Bethesda.
The sick being healed at the Pool of Bethesda.
The High Priest told of the discovery of the holy wood.
The holy wood is made into the Cross.
Christ bearing the Cross.
The Crucifixion.
Disciples adore the Cross, the sick are healed, and devils cast out.
The Jews bury the Crosses.
St. Helena comes to Jerusalem.
St. Helena calls together the Chief Jews.
Judas is put into a dry well.
Judas is liberated from confinement.
Judas prays for Divine direction.
The Crosses are discovered.
St. Helena views the Crosses.
Trial of the true Cross.
A dead maiden raised to life by being touched by the true Cross.
St. Helena deposits a portion of the Cross in Jerusalem.
St. Helena gives a portion of the Cross to Constantine.
Constantine deposits his portion of the Cross in Byzantium.
Chosroes commands his people to adore him.
Meeting of Heraclius and Chosroes’ son.
Heraclius fights the son of Chosroes and kills him.
The Persian army submit to Heraclius.
Heraclius visits Chosroes.
Heraclius kills Chosroes.
Heraclius crowns and baptizes the son of Chosroes.
Burial of Chosroes.
Heraclius takes possession of the relic of the Cross.
Heraclius, attempting to enter Jerusalem, is miraculously prevented, and is reproved by an angel.
Heraclius divests himself of state.
Heraclius places the relic of the Cross in its appointed place.
A portion of the Cross is sent to Rome, the vessel bearing it meeting with a storm.
The relic of the Cross exposed for adoration.
Transcriber's Notes:
All spelling, capitalization, and punctuation inconsistencies retained.
Page ix, number added to sidenote. (2Hadrian is said to)
Page xxii, number added to sidenote. (7Of old.)
Page xxxvii, anchor for sidenote 28 added to text. (torne thys bane28)
Page lii, anchor for sidenote 39 added to text. (had been peasyd39)
Page lxxvii and following, the totals were removed until the final one. Each page ended with a total, such as:
| Chalmarques | " |
| Carried forward | 1,674,145 |
The following page began with something similar to:
| Brought forward | 1,674,145 |
| Châlons | 200 |