Sect. VIII |Chap. 13–14|
Of the Mahuzzim\ ' /s, honoured by
the King who doth according to
his will.

In scripture we are told of some trusting in God & others
trusting in idols, & that God is our refuge, our strength, our defense.
And i |I|n this sense God is the rock of the people, & false Gods are called
the rock of those that trust in them, Deut. 32.4, 15, 18, 30, 31, 37. And
i |I|n the same sense the Gods of the King who doth according to his
will are called Mahuzzims, munitions, fortresses, protectors, defenders.
In his estate, saith Daniel,1 shall he honour Mahuzzims [Guardians;]
even with a God whom his fathers knew not, shall he honour them
with gold & silver, & with pretious stones, & things of value. Thus
shall he do in the most strong holds [or Temples] — & he shall
make them to rule over many, & divide the land [among them] for
a possession. Now this came to pass by steps in the following manner.

Gregory Nyssen tells us,2 that after the persecution of the
Emperor Decius, Gregory bishop of Neocæsarea in Pontus in-
stituted among all people, as an addition or corollary of devotion
towards God, that festival days & assemblies should be celebrated
to them who had contended for the faith, that is, to the Martyrs.
And he adds this reason for the institution: When he observed;
saith Nyssen, that the simple & unskilful multitude, by reason
of corporal delights, remained in the error of idols; that the prin-
cipal thing might be corrected among them, namely, that
instead of their vain worship they might turn their eyes upon
God; he permitted that at the memories of the holy martyrs
they might make merry & delight themselves, & be resolved 3 into
joy. The heathens were delighted with the festivals of their Gods,
& unwilling to part with those delights; & therefore Gregory,
to facili\t/ate their conversion, instituted annual festivals to the
saints & martyrs. And h |H|ence it came to pass, that for exploding
the festivals of the heathens, the principal festivals of the Christians
succeeded in the room of the principal festivals of the heathens; as
the keeping of Christmas with ivy & feasting, & playing & sports, in
the room of the Bacchanalia & Saturnalia; the celebrating of
May-day with flowers in the room of the f |F|loralia;4 & the keeping
of festivals to the Virgin Mary, Iohn the Baptist, & divers of the
Apostles, in the room of the solemnities at the entrance of the
Sun into the signes of the Zodiac in the old Iulian Calendar.
In the same persecution of Decius, Cyprian ord\er/ed the passions
of the Martyrs in Afric to be registred, in order to celebrate their
memories annually with oblations & sacrifices. And Felix Bishop
of Rome, a little after, as Platina relates, Martyrum gloriæ
consulens, constituit ut quotannis sacrificia eorum nomine cele-
brarentur ; consulting the glory of the Martyrs, ordeined that
sacrifices should be celebrated annually in their name. By the
pleasure of these festivals the Christians increased much in
number, & decreased as much in vertue, untill they were purged
& made white by the persecution of Dioclesian. And this was the
first step made in the Christian religion towards the veneration
of the Martyrs. And tho it did not yet amount to an unlawful
worship; yet it disposed the Christians towards such a further
veneration of the dead, as in a short time ended in the invocation of