would have that which is our own to be the sense of Scriptures vvhen as vve should rather desire the Scriptures meaning to be ours He goeth on and a little after teacheth us that no Proposition can be against the Faith unlesse first it be demonstrated false saying T is not all the while contrary to Faith until it be disproved by most certain Truth which if it should so be the Holy Scripture affirm'd it not but Humane Ignorance supposed it Whereby we see that the senses which we impose on Texts of Scripture would be false when ever they should disagree with Truths demonstrated And therefore we ought by help of demonstrated Truth to seek the undoubted sense of Scripture and not according to the sound of the words that may seem true to our weaknesse to go about as it were to force Nature and to deny Experiments and Necessary Demonstrations Let Your Highnesse be pleased to observe farther with how great circumspection this Holy Man proceedeth before he affirmeth any Interpretation of Scripture to be sure and in such wise certain as that it need not fear the encounter of any difficulty that may procure it disturbance for not contenting himself that some sense of Scripture agreeth with some Demonstration he subjoynes But if right Reason shall demonstrate this to be true yet is it questionable whether in these words of Sacred Scripture the Pen-man would have this to be understood or somewhat else no lesse true And in case the Context of his Words shall prove that he intended not this yet will not that which he would have to be understood be therefore false but most true aad that which is more profitable to be knovvn But that which increaseth our wonder concerning the circumspection wherewith this Pious Author proceedeth is that not trusting to his observing that both Demonstrative Reasons and the sense that the words of Scripture and the rest of the Context both precedent and subsequent do conspire to prove the same thing he addeth the following words But if the Context do not hold forth any thing that may disprove this to be the Authors Sense it yet remains to enquire Whether the other may not be intended also And not yet resolving to accept of one Sense or reject another but thinking that he could never use sufficient caution he proceedeth But if so be we finde that the other may be also meant it vvill be doubted which of them he would have to stand or which in probability he may be thought to aim at if the true circumstances on both sides be weighed And lastly intending to render a Reason of this his Rule by shewing us to what perils those men expose the Scriptures and the Church who more respecting the support of their own errours than the Scriptures Dignity would stretch its Authority beyond the Bounds which it prescribeth to it self he subjoyns the ensuing words which of themselves alone might suffice to repress and moderate the excessive liberty which some think that they may assume to themselves For it many times falls out that a Christian may not so fully understand a Point concerning the Earth Heaven and the rest of this Worlds Elements the Motion Conversion Magnitude and Distances of the Stars the certain defects of the Sun and Moon the Revolutions of Years and Times the Nature of Animals Fruits Stones and other things of like nature as to defend the same by right Reason or make it out by Experiments But it s too great an absurdity yea most pernicious and chiefly to be avoided to let an Infidel finde a Christian so stupid that he should argue these matters as if they were according to Christian Doctrine and make him as the Proverb saith scarce able to contain his laughter seeing him so far from the Mark. Nor is the matter so much that one in an errour should be laught at but that our Authors should be thought by them that are without to be of the same Opinion and to the great prejudice of those whose salvation we wait for sensured and rejected as unlearned For when they shal confute any one of the Christians in that matter vvhich they themselvs thorovvly understand and shall thereupon express their light esteem of our Books hovv shall these Volumes be believed touching the Resurrection of the Dead the Hope of eternal Life and the Kingdom of Heaven vvhen as to these Points vvhich admit of present Demonstration or undoubted Reasons they conceive them to be falsly vvritten And how much the truly Wise and Prudent Fathers are displeased with these men who in defence of Propositions which they do not understand do apply and in a certain sense pawn Texts of Scripture and afterwards go on to encrease their first Errour by producing other places less understood than the former The same Saint declareth in the expressions following What trouble and sorrow weak undertakers bring upon their knowing Brethren is not to be expressed since vvhen they begin to be told and convinced of their false and unsound Opinion by those vvho have no respect for the Authority of our Scriptures in defence of vvhat through a fond Temerity and most manifest falsity they have urged they fall to citing the said Sacred Books for proof of it or else repeat many vvords by heart out of them vvhich they conceive to make for their purpose not knovving either what they say or vvhereof they affirm In the number of these we may as I conceive account those who being either unwilling or unable to understand the Demonstrations and Experiments wherewith the Author and followers of this Opinion do confirm it run upon all occasions to the Scriptures not considering that the more they cite them and the more they persist in affirming that they are very clear and do admit no other senses save those which they force upon them the greater injury they do to the Dignity of them if we allowed that their judgments were of any great Authority in case that the Truth coming to be manifestly known to the contrary should occasion any confusion at least to those who are separated from the Holy Church of whom yet she is very solicitous and like a tender Mother desirous to recover them again into her Lap Your Highness therefore may see how praeposterously those Persons proceed who in Natural Disputations do range Texts of Scripture in the Front for their Arguments and such Texts too many times as are but superficially understood by them But if these men do verily think absolutely believe that they have the true sence of Such a particular place of Scripture it must needs follow of consequence that they do likewise hold for certain that they have found the absolute truth of that Natural Conclusion which they intend to dispute And that withal they do know that they have a great advantage of their Adversary whose Lot it is to defend the part that is false in regard that he
of Venerable Antiquity and proved many of their greattest and weightiest Opinions to be vain and false The Doctrine of the Antipodes by many of the Antients of approved Wisdome and Learning was held a Paradox no less absurd than this Our Opinion of the Earths Motion may seem to be as likewise that of the Habitablenesse of the Torrid Zone Of these Opinions the first was accounted unpossible by many but the latter was absolutely denyed by the unanimous consent of all But later Authors to the great felicity and perpetual Glory of their Age have not so much by Authority as by accurate diligence and indefatigable study to finde out the truth proved them both to be undoubtedly true Thus I affirm that the Antients were deceived and that in too lightly challenging Credid and Authority for their Inventions they discovered too much folly Here for brevities sake I pass by many Dreams lately detected both of Aristotle and other of the antient Philosophers who in all likelihood if they had dived into the Observations of Modern Writers and understood their Reasons would by changing their judgements have given them the precedency and would have subscribed to their manifest Truth Hereby we see that we are not to have so high a respect for the Aâ—tiens that whatever they assert should be taken upon trust and that Faith should be given to their sayings as if they were Oracles and Truths sent down from Heaven But yet which indeed is chiefly to be regarded in these matters if any thing be found out that is repugnant to Divine Authority or to the Sacred Leaves that were dictated by the Holy Ghost and by His Inspiration expounded by the Holy Doctors of the Church in this case not onely Humane reason but even Sense it self is to submitt which though by all manner of weighty Conditions and circumstances it should hold forth any thing contrary to Divine Authority which indeed is so plain that there is no way left to evade the right understanding of it yet is it to be rejected and we must conclude our selves deceived by it and believe that that is not true which Sense and Reason represents unto us For however we judge of things we have both in this and all other cases a more certain knowledge which proceeds from Divine Faith as S. Peter hath most excellently exprest it Who though with his Senses he saw and perceived the Glory of our Lord in his Transfiguration and heard his words manifesting his great Power yet nevertheless all these things compared with the Light of Faith he adds We have also a more sure word of Prophecy c. Wherefore since this Opinion of Pythagoras and Copernicus hath entred upon the Stage of the World in so strange a Dress and at the first appearance besides the rest doth seem to oppose sundry Authorities of Sacred Scripture it hath this being granted been justly rejected of all men as a meer absurdity But yet because the common Systeme of the World devised by Ptolomy hath hitherto satisfied none of the Learned hereupon a suspition is risen up amongst all even Ptolemy's followers themselves that there must be some other Systeme which is more true than this of Ptolemy For although the Phaenomena of Celestial Bodys may seem to be generally resolved by this Hypothesis yet they are found to be involved with many difficulties and referred to many devices as namely of Orbes of sundry Forms and Figures Epicicles Equations Differences Excentricks and innumerable such like fancies and Chymaera's which savour of the Ens Rationis of Logicians rather than of any Realem Essentiam Of which kinde is that of the Rapid Motion than which I finde not any thing that can be more weakly grounded and more easily controverted and disproved And such is that conceit of the Heaven void of Stars moving the inferior Heavens or Orbes All which are introduced upon occasion of the variety of the Motions of Celestial Bodyes which seemed impossible by any other way to be reduced to any certain and determinate Rule So that the Assertors of that common Opinion freely confess that in describing the Worlds Systeme they cannot as yet discover or teach the true Hypothesis thereof But that their endeavours are onely to finde out amongst many things what is most agreeable with truth and may upon better and more accomodate Reasons answer the Celestial Phaenomena Since that the Telescope an Optick Invention hath been found out by help of which many remarkable things in the Heavens most worthy to be known and till then unthought of were discovered by manifest sensation as for instance That the Moon is Mountainous Venus and Saturn Tricorporeal and Jupiter Quadricorporeal Likewise that in the Via Lactea in the Pleiades and in the Stars called Nobulosae there are many Stars and those of the greatest Magnitude which are by turns adjacent to one another and in the end it hath discovered to us new fixed Stars new planets and new Worlds And by this same Instrument it appears very probable that Venus and Mercury do not move properly about the Earth but rather about the Sun and that the Moon alone moveth about the Earth What therefore can be inferred from hence but that the Sun doth stand immovable in the Centre and that the Earth with the other Celestial Orbes is circumvolved about it Wherefore by this and many other Reasons it appears That the Opinion of Pythagoras and Copernicus doth not disagree with Astronomical and Cosmographical Principles yea that it carryeth with it a great likelihood and probability of Truth Whereas amongst the so many several Opinions that deviate from the common Systeme and devise others such as were those of Plato Calippus Eudoxus and since them of Averroe Cardanus Fracastorius and others both Antient and Modern there is not one found that is more facile more regularly ahd determinately accommodated to the Phaenomena and Motions of the Heavens without Epicycles Excentrix Homocentricks Deferents and the supputation of the Rapid Motion And this Hypothesis hath been asserted for true not onely by Pythagoras and after him by Copernicus but by many famous men as namely Heraclitus and Ecphantus Pythagoreans all the Disciples of that Sect Miceta of Syracuse Martianus Capella and many more Amongst whom those as we have said that have attempted the finding out of New Systemes for they refused both this of Pythagoras and that of Ptolemy are numberless who yet notwithstanding allowed this Opinion of Pythagoras to carry with it much probability and indirectly confirmed it inasmuch as that they rejected the common one as imperfect defective and attended with many contradictions and difficulties Amongst these may be numbered Father Clavius a most learned Jesuite who although he refutes the Systeme of Pythagoras yet acknowledgeth the Levity of the common Systeme and he ingeniously confesseth that for the removal of difficulties in which the common Systeme will not serve the turn Astronomers are forced to enquire
after another Systeme to the discovery of which he doth very earnestly exhort them Now can there a better or more commodious Hypothesis be devised than this of Copernicus For this Cause many Modern Authors are induced to approve of and follow it but with much haesitancy and fear in regard that it seemeth in their Opinion so to contradict the Holy Scriptures as that it cannot possibly be reconciled to them Which is the Reason that this Opinion hath been long supprest and is now entertained by men in a modest manner ad as it were with a veiled Face according to that advice of the Poet Judicium populi nunquam contempseris unus Ne nullis placeas dum vis contemnere multos Upon consideration of which out of my very great love towards the Sciences and my ardent desire to see the encrease and perfection of them and the Light of Truth freed from all Errours and Obscurities I began to argue with my self touching this Point after this manner This Opinion of the Pythagoreans is either true or false If false it ought not to be mentioned and deserves not to be divulged If true it matters not though it contradict all as well Philosophers as Astronomers And though for its establishment and reducement to use a new Philosophy and Astronomy founded upon new Principles and Hypothese should be constituted For the Authority of Sacred Scripture will not oppose it neither doth one Truth contradict another If therefore the Opinion of Pythagoras be true without doubt God hath disposed and dictated the words of of Holy Writ in such a manner that they may admit an apt sense and reconciliation with that Hypothesis Being moved by these Reasons and the probability of the said Opinion I thought good to try whether Texts of Sacred Scripture might be expounded according to Theological and Physical Principles and might be reconciled to it so that in regard that hitherto it hath been held probable it may in after times coming without scruple to be acknowledged for true advance it self and appear in publick with an uncovered Face without any mans prohibition and may lawfully and freely hold a Sacred intelligence with Holy Truth so earnestly coveâ—ed and commended by good Men. Which designe having hitherto been undertaken by none that I know wil I am perswaded be very acceptable to the Studious of these Learnings especially to the most Learned Galilaeo Galilaei chief Mathematician to the most Serene Grand Duke of Tuscany and John Kepler chief Mathematician to his Sacred and invincible Majesty the Emperour and to all that Illustrious and much to be commended Accademy of the Lynceans whom if I mistake not are all of this Opinion Although I doubt not but they and many other Learned Men might easily have found out these or the like Reconciliations of Scriptural expressions to whom nevertheless I have thought fit in respect of that profession which I have undertaken upon the faith of my soul and the propensity that I have towards Truth to offer that of the Poet Nullius addictus jurare in verba Magistri And in testimony of my esteem to them and all the Learned to communicate these my thoughts confidently assuring my self that they will accept them with a Candor equal to that wherewith I have written them Therefore to come to the business All Authorities of Divine Writ which seem to oppose this Opinion are reducible to six Classes The first is of those that affirm the Earth to stand still and not to move as Psal. 92. He framed the round World so sure that it cannot be moved Also Psal. 104. Who laid the Foundations of the Earth that it should not be removed for ever And Ecclesiastes 1. But the Earth abideth for ever And others of the like sense The second is of those which attest the Sun to move and Revolve about the Earth as Psal. 19. In them hath he set a Tabernacle for the Sun which cometh forth as a Bridegroom out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a Gyant to run his Course It cometh forth from the uttermost part of the Heaven and runneth about unto the end of it again and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof And Ecclesiast 1. The Sun riseth and the Sun goeth down and hasteth to the place where he arose it goeth towards the South and turneth about unto the North. Whereupon the Suns Retrogradation is mentioned as a Miracle Isaiah 38. The Sun returned ten degrees And Ecclesiasticus 48. In his time the Sun went backward and lengthened the life of the King And for this reason it is related for a Miracle in the Book of Joshuah that at the Prayers of that great Captain the Sun stood still its motion being forbidden it by him Josh. 10. Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon Now if the Sun should stand still and the Earth move about it its station at that time was no Miracle and if Joshuah had intended that the light of the day should have been prolonged by the Suns splendour he would not have said Sun stand thou still but rather Earth stand thou still The third Classis is of those Authorities which say that Heaven is above and the Earth beneath of which sort is that place of Joel chap. 2. cited by S. Peter in Acts. 2. I will shew wonders in Heaven above and signes in the Earth beneath with others of the like purport Hereupon Christ at his Incarnation is said to come down from Heaven and after his Resurrection to have ascended up into heaven But if the Earth should move about the Sun it would be as one may say in Heaven and consequently would rather be above Heaven than beneath it And this is confirmed For that the Opinion which placeth the Sun in the Centre doth likewise place Mercury above the Sun and Venus above Mercury and the Earth above Venus together with the Moon which revolves about the Earth and therefore the Earth together with the Moon is placed in the third Heaven If therefore in Spherical Bodies as in the World beneath signifies no more than to be neer to the centre and above than to approach the Circumference it must needs follow that for making good of Theological Positions concerning the Ascension and Descension of Christ the Earth is to be placed in the centre and the Sun with the other Heavens in the Circumference and not according to Copernicus whose Hypothesis inverts this Order with which one cannot see how the true Ascension and Descension can be consistent The fourth Classis is of those Authorities which make Hell to be in the Centre of the World which is the Common Opinion of Divines and confirmed by this Reason That since Hell taken in its strict denomination ought to be in the lowest part of the World and since that in a Sphere there is no part lower then the Centre Hell shall be as it were in the Centre of the World which being of a Spherical Figure it must
follow that Hell is either in the Sun forasmuch as it is supposed by this Hypothesis to be in the Centre of the World or else supposing that Hell is in the Centre of the Earth if the Earth should move about the Sun it would necessarily ensue that Hell together with the Earth is in Heaven and with it revolveth about the third Heaven than which nothing more absurd can be said or imagined The fifth Classis is of those Authorities which alwayes oppose Heaven to the Earth and so again the Earth to Heaven as if there were the same relation betwixt them with that of the Centre to the Circumference and of the Circumference to the Centre But if the Earth were in Heaven it should be on one side thereof and would not stand in the Middle and consequently there would be no such relation betwixt them which nevertheless do not only in Sacred Writ but even in Common Speech ever and every where answer to each other with a mutual Opposition Whence that of Genes 1. In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth and Psal. 115. The Heaven even the Heavens are the Lords but the Earth hath he given to the Children of menâ— and our Saviour in that Prayer which he prescribeth to us Matth. 6. Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven and S. Paul 1 Corinth 15. The first man is of the Earth earthy the second man is of Heaven heavenly and Coloss. 1. By him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth and again Having made peace through the Blood of his Crosse for all things whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven and Chap. 3. Set your affections on things above not on things on the Earth with innumerable other such like places Since therefore these two Bodies are alwayes mutually opposed to each other and Heaven without all doubt referreth to the Circumference it must of necessity follow that the Earth is to be adjudged the place of the Centre The sixth and last Classis is of those Authorities which being rather of Fathers and Divines than of the Sacred Scripture say That the Sun after the day of Judgment shall stand immoveable in the East and the Moon in the West Which Station if the Pythagorick Opinion hold true ought rather to be ascribed to the Earth than to the Sun for if it be true that the Earth doth now move about the Sun it is necessary that after the day of Judgment it should stand immoveable And truth is if it must subsist without motion in one constant place there is no reason why it should rather stand in one site of that Place than in another or why it should rather turn one part of it than another to the Sun if so be that every of its parts without distinction which iâ— destitute of the Suns light cannot choose but be dismal and much worse affected than that part which is illuminated Hence also would arise many other absurdities besides these These are the Classes c. from which great assaults are made against the structure of the Pythagorick Systeme yet by that time I shall have first laid down six Maximes or Principles as impregnable Bulwarks erected against them it will be easie to batter them and to defend the Hypothesis of Pythagoras from being attaqued by them Which before I propound I do proâ—ess with that Humility and Modesty which becometh a Christian and a person in Religious Orders that I do with reverence submit what I am about to speak to the Judgment of Holy Church Nor have I undertaken to write these things out of any inducements of Temerity or Ambition but out of Charity and a Desire to be auxiliary to my neighbour in his inquisition after Truth And there is nothing in all this Controversie maintained by me that expect to be better instructed by those who profess these Studies which I shall not retract if any persons shall by solid Reasons reiterated Experiments prove some other Hypothesis to be more probable but yet until such time as they shall decide the Point I shall labour all I can for its support My first and chiefest Maxime is this When any thing is attributed in Holy Writ to God or to a Creature that 's not beseeming to or incommensurate with them it must of necessity be received and expounded one or more of the four following wayes First it may be said to agree with them Metaphorically and Proportionally or by Similitude Secondly According to our manner of Considering Apprehending Conceiving Vnderstanding Knowing c. Thirdly according to the Opinion of the Vulgar and the Common way of Speaking to which Vulgar Speech the Holy Ghost doth very often with much study accomodate it self Fourthly In respect of our selves and for that he makes himself like unto us Of each of these wayes there are these examples God doth not walk since he is Infinite and Immoveable He hath no Bodily Members since he is a Pure Act and consequently is void of all Passion of Minde and yet in Sacred Scripture Gen. 3. vers 8. it is said He walked in the cool of the day and Job 22. vers 14. it is said He walketh in the Circuit of Heaven and in many other places coming departing making hast is ascribed to God and likewise Bodily parts as Eyes Ears Lips Face Voice Countenance Hands Feet Bowâ—â— Garments Arms as also many Passions such as Anger Sorrow Repentance and the like What shall we say therefore Without doubt such like Attributes agree with God to use the Schoolmens words Metaphorically Proportionally and by Similitude And touching Passions it may be said that God condescendeth to represent himself after that manner as for instance The Lord is angry i. e. He revealeth himself as one that is angry He grieved i. e. He revealeth himself as one that is sorrowful It repented him that he had made man i. e. He seemed as one that repented And indeed all these things are Comparativè ad nos and in respect of us So God is said to be in Heaven to move in time to shew himself to hide himself to observe and mark our steps to seek us to stand at the door to knock at the door not that he can be contained in a bodily place nor that he is really moved nor in time nor that humane manners or customes can agree with him save only according to our manner of Apprehension This Conception of ours orderly distinguisheth these Attributes in him one from another when notwithstanding they are one and the same with him This Apprehension of ours divideth also his actions into several times which neverthelesse for the most part are produced in one and the same instant And this to conclude alwayes apprehendeth those things with some defect which notwithstanding are in God most perfect For this reasâ—n doth the Sacred Scripture express it self according to the Vulgar Opinion whilst it
learnedly upon the Simple vulgarly and so on every one according to his condition and quality Secondly because it is not its Intention to fill our mindes in this life with vain and various curiosities which might occasion our doubt and suspense For the truth is He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow Moreover it did not only permit but even decree that the World should be very much busied in Controversies and Disputations and that it should be imployed about the uncertainty of things according to that saying of Ecclesiastes He hath set the World in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning unto the end And touching those doubts God will not permit that they shall be discovered to us before the end of the World At which time he will bring to light the hidden things of darknesse But Gods onely scope in the sacred Scripture is to teach men those things which conduce to the attainment of Eternal Life which having obtained We shall see him face to face and shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Then shall he clearly à Priori make known unto us all those Curiosities and Dogmatical Questions which in this life in which we see through a Glasse darkly could be known by us but imperfectly and à postetiori and that not without much pains and study For this cause the Wisdome of God revealed to us in the sacred Leaves is not stiled Wisdome absolutely but Saving Wisdome It s onely end being to lead us to salvation And S. Paul preaching to the Corinthians saith I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified whereas notwithstanding he was thorowly instructed and profoundly learned in all humane Sciences but making no account of these things he professeth that it was his desire to teach them no more but the way to Heaven Hence is that which God speaketh to us by Isaiah Ego Dominus Deus docens te utilia I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee profitable things Where the Glossary addeth non subtilia not subtilties for God neither taught us Whether the Materia Prima of Heaven and the Elements be the same nor Whether Continual be composed of Indivisibles or whether it be divisible in infinitum nor whether the Elements are formally mixt nor how many the Coelestial Spheres and their Orbs are Whether there be Epicycles or Eccentricks nor the Vertues of Plants and Stones nor the Nature of Animals nor the Motion and Influence of the Planets nor the Order of the Universe nor the Wonders of Minerals and universal Nature but only utilia things profitable to wit his Holy Law ordained to the end that we being put into possession of Blessedness might at length be made capable of all perfect knowledge and the vision of the whole Order and admirable Harmony as also the Sympathy and Antipathy of the Universe and its parts in his Word wherein all those things shall most clearly and distinctly then appear to us which mean while in this life he hath remitted as far as its ability reacheth to humane search and enquiry But it was not his purpose to determine any thing directly or indirectly touching the truth of them Because as the knowledge thereof would little or nothing profit Us but might in some cases prove prejudicial so the ignorance thereof can doubtless be no detriment but may in some cases be very beneficial to us And therefore by his most admirable Wisdome it comes to pass that though all things in this World are dubious uncertain wavering and perplexed yet his Holy Faith alone is most certain and although the opinions about Philosophical and Doctrinal points be divers there is in the Church but one Truth of Faith and Salvation Which Faith as necessary to Salvation is so ordered by Divine Providence that it might not only be indubitable but also unshaken sure immutable and manifest to all men the infallible Rule of which he hath appointed the Holy Church that is washed with his precious Blood and governed by his Holy Spirit to whom belongs our Sanctification as being his work This therefore is the Reason why God would have Speculative Questions which nothing conduce to our Salvation and Edification and why the Holy Ghost hath very often condescended to Vulgar Opinions and Capacities and hath discovered nothing that is singular or hidden to us besides those things that pertain to Salvation So that consequently it is clear by what hath been said how and why nothing of certainty can be evinced from the foresaid Authorities to the determining of Controversies of this Nature as also with what Reason from this first Axiome the Objections of the first and second Classe are easily answered as also any other Authority of sacred Scripture produced against the Pythagorian and Copernican Systeme so long as by other proofs it is true And the Authorities of the second Classe in particular by this same Maxime Of the ordinary manner of apprehending things as they appear to us and after the common way of speaking may be thus reconciled and expounded namely Oftentimes an Agent is commonly and not improperly said to move though it have no motion not because it doth indeed move but by extrinsick denomination because receiving its influence and action at the motion of the Subject the Form and Quality infused to the Subject by the said Agent doth likewise move As for example a Fire burning in a Chimney is an immoveable Agent before which a man opprest with cold sits to warm himself who being warmed on one side turns the other to the Fire that he may be warmed on that side also and so in like manner he holds every part to the Fire successively till his whole body be warmed 'T is clear that although the Fire do not move yet at the Motion of the Subject to wit the Man who receiveth the heat and action of the Fire the Form and Quality of its Heat doth move singulatim per partes round about the mans body and alwayes seeketh out a new place and so though the Fire do not move yet by reason of its effect it is said to go round all the parts of the Mans body and to warm it not indeed by a true and real motion of the Fire it self since it is supposed and that not untruly not to move but by the motion to which the Body is excited out of a desire of receiving the heat of the Fire in each of its parts The same may be applied to the Illumination impressed successively on the parts of any Globe which moves Orbicularly at the aspect of a shining immoveable Light And in the same manner may the Sun be said to rise and set and to move above the Earth although in reality he doth not move nor suffer any mutation that is to say Inasmuch as his Light which effect is the Form and Quality proceeding
true than the contrary for that I affirmed no such thing nor would I have any of the Propositions in controversie be made to speak to any definitive sense but I onely intended to produce on either part those reasons and answers arguments and solutions which have been hitherto thought upon by others together with certain others which I have stumbled upon in my long searching thereinto alwayes remitting the decision thereof to the judgment of others SAGR. I was unawares transported by my own sense of the thing and believing that others ought to judg as I did I made that conclusion universal which should have been particular and therefore confesse I have erred and the rather in that I know not what Simplicius his judgment is in this particular SIMPL. I must confesse that I have been ruminating all this night of what past yesterday and to say the truth I meet therein with many acute new aud plausible notions yet nevertheless I find my self over-perswaded by the authority of so many great Writers and in particular c. I see you shake your head Sagredus and smile to your self as if I had uttered some great absurdity SAGR. I not onely smile but to tell you true am ready to burst with holding in my self from laughing outright for you have put me in mind of a very pretty passage that I was a witnesse of not many years since together with some others of my worthy friends which I could yet name unto you SALV It would be well that you told us what it was that so Simplicius may not still think that he gave you the occasion of laughter SAGR. I am content I found one day at home in his house at Venice a famous Phisician to whom some flockt for their studies and others out of curiosity sometimes came thither to see certain Anatomies diffected by the hand of a no lesse learned than careful and experienced Anatomist It chanced upon that day when I was there that he was in search of the original and rise of the Nerves about which there is a famous controversie between the Galenists and Peripateticks and the Anatomist shewing how that the great number of Nerves departing from the Brain as their root and passing by the nape of the Neck distend themselves afterwards along by the Back-bone and branch themselves thorow all the Body and that a very small filament as fine as a thred went to the Heart he turned to a Gentleman whom he knew to be a Peripatetick Philosopher and for whose sake he had with extraordinary exactnesse discovered and proved every thing and demanded of him if he was at length satisfied and perswaded that the original of the Nerves proceeded from the Brain and not from the Heart To which the Philosopher after he had stood musing a while answered you have made me to see this businesse so plainly and sensibly that did not the Text of Aristotle assert the contrary which positively affirmeth the Nerves to proceed from the Heart I should be constrained to confesse your opinion to be true SIMPL. I would have you know my Masters that this controversie about the original of the Nerves is not yet so proved and decided as some may perhaps perswade themselves SAGR. Nor questionlesse ever shall it be if it find such like contradictors but that which you say doth not at all lessen the extravagance of the answer of that Peripatetick who against such sensible experience produced not other experiments or reasons of Aristotle but his bare authority and pure ipse dixit SIMPL. Aristotle had not gained so great authority but for the force of his Demonstrations and the profoundnesse of his arguments but it is requisite that we understand him and not onely understand him but have so great familiarity with his Books that we form a perfect Idea thereof in our minds so as that every saying of his may be alwayes as it were present in our memory for he did not write to the vulgar nor is he obliged to spin out his Sillogismes with the trivial method of disputes nay rather using a freedome he hath sometimes placed the proof of one Proposition amongst Texts which seem to treat of quite another point and therefore it is requisite to be master of all that vast Idea and to learn how to connect this passage with that and to combine this Text with another far remote from it for it is not to be questioned but that he who hath thus studied him knows how to gather from his Books the demonstrations of every knowable deduction for that they contein all things SAGR. But good Simplicius like as the things scattered here and there in Aristotle give you no trouble in collecting them but that you perswade your self to be able by comparing and connecting several small sentences to extract thence the juice of some desired conclusion so this which you and other egregious Philosophers do with the Text of Aristotle I could do by the verses of Virgil or of Ovid composing thereof Centones and therewith explaining all the affairs of men and secrets of Nature But what talk I of Virgil or any other Poet I have a little Book much shorter than Aristotle and Ovid in which are conteined all the Sciences and with very little study one may gather out of it a most perfect Idea and this is the Alphabet and there is no doubt but that he who knows how to couple and dispose aright this and that vowel with those or those other consonants may gather thence the infallible answers to all doubts and deduce from them the principles of all Sciences and Arts just in the same manner as the Painter from divers simple colours laid severally upon his Pallate proceedeth by mixing a little of this and a little of that with a little of a third to represent to the life men plants buildings birds fishes and in a word counterfeiting what ever object is visible though there be not on the Pallate all the while either eyes or feathers or fins or leaves or stones Nay farther it is necessary that none of the things to be imitated or any part of them be actually among colours if you would be able therewith to represent all things for should there be amongst them v. gr feathers these would serve to represent nothing save birds and plumed creatures SALV And there are certain Gentlemen yet living and in health who were present when a Doctor that was Professor in a famous Academy hearing the description of the Telescope by him not seen as then said that the invention was taken from Aristotle and causing his works to be fetch 't he turned to a place where the Philosopher gives the reason whence it commeth that from the bottom of a very deep Well one may see the stars in Heaven at noon day and addressing himself to the company see here saith he the Well which representeth the Tube see here the gross vapours
filched from the Ancients and somewhat altered 99 Aristotle his Arguments for the Earths Quiescence and Immobility 107 Aristotle were he alive would either refute his Adversaries Arguments or else would alter his Opinion 113 Aristotles first Argument against the Earths Motion is defective in two things 121 The Paralogisme of Aristotle and Ptolomy in supposing that for known which is in question 121 Aristotle admitteth that the Fire moveth directly upwards by Nature and round about by Participation 122 Aristotle and Ptolomy seem to confute the Earths Mobility against those who think that it having along time stood still began to move in the time of Pythagoras 168 Aristotle his errour in affirming falling Grave Bodies to move according to the proportion of their gravities 199 Aristotle his Demonstrations to prove the Earth is finite are all nullified by denying it to be moveable 294 Aristotle maketh that Point to be the Centre of the Universe about which all the Celestial Spheres do revolve 294 A question is put if Arist. were forced to receive one of two Propositions that make against his Doctrine which he would admit 294 Aristotle his Argument against the Ancients who held that the Earth was a Planet 344 Aristotle taxeth Plato of being over-studious of Geometry 361 Aristotle hâ—ldeth those Effects to be miraculous of which the Causes are unknown 384 ASTRONOMERS Astronomers confuted by Anti-Tycho 38 The principal Scope of Astronomers is to give a reason of Appearances and Phaenomena 308 Astronomers all agree that the greater Magnitudes of the Orbes is the cause of the tardity in their Conversions 331 Astronomers perhaps have not known what Appearances ought to follow upon the Annual Motion of the Earth 338 Astronomers having omitted to instance what alterations those are that may be derived from the Annual Motion of the Earth do thereby testifie that they never rightly understood the same 343 ASTRONOMICAL Astronomical Observations wrested by Anti-Tycho to his own purpose 39 Astronomical Instruments are very subject to errour 262 ASTRONOMY Astronomy restored by Copernicus upon the Suppositions of Ptolomy 308 Many things may remain as yet unobserved in Astronomy 415 AUCUPATORIAN An Aucupatorian Problem for shooting of Birds flying 157 AXIOME or Axiomes In the Axiome Frustra fit per plura c. the addition of aequae bene is super fluous 106 Three Axiomes that are supposed manifest 230 Certain Axiomes commonly admitted by all Philosophers 361 B BODY and Bodies Contraries that corrupt reside not in the same Body that corrupteth 30 GRAVE BODY If the Celestial Globe were perforated a Grave Body descending by that Bore would passe and ascend as far beyond the Centre as it did descend 203 The motion of Grave Bodies Vide Motion The Accelleration of Grave Bodies that descend naturally increaseth from moment to moment 205 We know no more who moveth Grave Bodies downwards than who moveth the Stars round nor know we any thing of these Courses more than the Names imposed on them by our selves 210 The great Masse of Grave Bodies being transferred out of their Place the seperated parts would follow that Masse 221 PENSILE BODY Every Pensile Body carried round in the Circumference of a Circle acquireth of it self a Motion in it self contrary to the same 362 CELESTIAL BODIES neither heavy nor light according to Aristotle 23 Celestial Bodies are Generable and Corruptible because they are Ingenerable and Incorruptible 29 Amongst Celest. Bodies there is no contrariety 29 Celestial Bodies touch but are not touched by the Elements 30 Rarity and Density in Celestial Bodies different from Rarity and Density in the Elements 30 Celestial Bodies designed to serve the Earth need no more but Motion and Light 45 Celestial Bodies want an interchangeable Operation on each other 46 Celestial Bodies alterable in their externe parts 46 Perfect Sphericity why ascribed to Celestial Bodies by Peripateticks 69 All Celestial Bodies have Gravity and Levity 493 ELEMENTARY BODIES Their propension to follow the Earth hath a limited Sphere of Activity 213 LIGHT BODIES easier to be moved than heavy but lesse apt to conserve the Motion 400 LUMINOUS BODIES Bodies naturally Luminous are different from those that are by nature Obscure 34 The reason why Luminous Bodies appear so much the more enlarged by how much they are lesser 304 Manifest Experience shews that the more Luminous Bodies do much more irradiate than the lesse Lucid. 306 SIMPLE BODYES have but one Simple Motion that agreeth with them 494 SPHERICAL BODIES In Spherical Bodies Deorsum is the Centre and Sursum the Cirference 479 BONES The ends of the Bones are rotund and why 232 BUONARRUOTTI Buonarruotti a Statuary of admirable ingenuity 86 C CANON A shameful Errour in the Argument taken from the Canon-Bullets falling from the Moons Concave 197 An exact Computation of the fall of the Canon-Bullet from the Moons Concave to the Centre of the Earth 198 CELESTIAL Celestial Substances that be Vnalterable and Elementary that be Alterable necessary in the opinion of Aristotle 2 CENTRE The Sun more probably in the Centre of the Vniverse than the Earth 22 Natural inclination of all the Globes of the World to go to their Centre 22 Grave Bodies may more rationally be affirmed to tend towards the Centre of the Earth than of the Vniverse 25 CHYMISTS Chymists interpret the Fables of Poets to be Secrets for making of Gold 93 CIRCLE and Circular It is not impossible with the Circumference of a small Circle few times revolved to measure and describe a line bigger than any great Circle whatsoever 222 The Circular Line perfect according to Aristotle and the Right imperfect and why 9 CLARAMONTIUS The Paralogisme of Claramontius 241 The Argument of Claramontius recoileth upon himself 245 The Method observed by Claramontius in consuting Astronomers and by Salviatus in refuting him 253 CLOUDS Clouds no lesse apt than the Moon to be illuminated by the Sun 73 CONCLUSION and Conclusions The certainty of the Conclusion helpeth by a resolutive Method to finde the Demonstration 37 The Book of Conclusioâ—s frequently mentioned was writ by Christopher Scheiner a Jesuit 195 323. CONTRARIES Contraries that corrupt reside not in the same Body that corrupteth 30 COPERNICAN Answers to the three first Objections against the Copernican System 303 The Copernican System difficul to be understood but easie to be effected 354 A plain Scheme representing the Copernican Systeme and its consequences 354 The proscribing of the Copernican Doctrine after so long a Tolleration and now that it is more than ever followed studied and confirmed would be an affront to Truth 444 The Copern System admirably agreeth with the Miracle of Joshuah in the Literal Sense 456 If Divines would admit of the Copernican System they might soon find out Expositions for all Scriptures that seem to make against it 459 The Copernican System rejected by many out of a devout respect to Scripture Authorities 461 The Copernican System more plainly asserted in Scripture than the Ptolomaick 469 COPERNICANS Copernicans are
for the Reasons alledged admit in many places Expositions far from the Sense of the words and moreover we not being able to affirm that all Interpreters speak by Divine Inspiration For if it were so then there would be no difference between them about the Senses of the same places I should think that it would be an act of great prudence to make it unlawful for any one to usurp Texts of Scripture and as it were to force them to maintain this or that Naturall Conclusion for truth of which Sence Demonstrative and necessary Reasons may one time or other assure us the contrary For who will prescribe bounds to the Wits of men Who will assert that all that is sensible and knowable in the World is already discovered and known Will not they that in other points disagree with us confess this and it is a great truth that Eaquae scimus sint minima pars corum quae ignoramus That those Truths which we know are very few in comparison of those which we know not Nay more if we have it from the Mouth of the Holy Ghost that Deus tradidit Mundum disputationi eorum ut non inveniat homo opus quod operatus est Deus ab initio ad finem One ought not as I conceive to stop the way to free Philosophating touching the things of the World and of Nature as if that they were already certainly found and all manifest nor ought it to be counted rashness if one do not sit down satisfied with the opinions now become as it were commune nor ought any persons to be displeased if others do not hold in natural Disputes to that opinion which best pleaseth them and especially touching Problems that have for thousands of years been controverted amongst the greatest Philosophers as is the Stability of the Sun and Mobility of the Earth an opinion held by Pythagoras and by his whole Sect by Heraclides Ponticus who was of the same opininion by Phylolaus the Master of Plato and by Plato himself as Aristotle relateth and of which Plutarch writeth in the life of Numa that the said Plato when he was grown old said It is a most absurd thing to think otherwise The same was believed by Aristarchus Samius as we have it in Archimedes and probably by Archimedes himself by Nicetas the Philosopher upon the testimony of Scicero and by many others And this opinion hath finally been amplified and with many Observations and Demonstrations confirmed by Nicholaus Copernicus And Seneca a most eminent Philosopher in his Book De Cometis advertizeth us that we ought with great diligence seek for an assured knowledge whether it be Heaven or the Earth in which the Diurnal Conversion resides And for this cause it would probably be prudent and profitable counsel if besides the Articles which concern our Salvation and the establishment of our Faith against the stability of which there is no fear that any valid and solid Doctrine can ever rise up men would not aggregate and heap up more without necessity And if it be so it would certainly be a preposterous thing to introduce such Articles at the request of persons who besides that we know not that they speak by inspiration of Divine Grace we plainly see that there might be wished in them the understanding which would be necessary first to enable them to comprehend and then to discuss the Demonstrations wherewith the subtiler Sciences proceed in confirming such like Conclusions Nay more I should say were it lawful to speak my judgment freely on this Argument that it would haply more suit with the Decorum and Majesty of those Sacred Volumes if care were taken that every shallow and vulgar Writer might not authorize his Books which are not seldome grounded upon foolish fancies by inserting into them Places of Holy Scripture interpreted or rather distorted to Senses as remote from the right meaning of the said Scripture as they are neer to derirision who not without ostentation flourish out their Writings therewith Examples of such like abuses there might many be produced but for this time I will confine my self to two not much besides these matters of Astronomy One of which is that of those Pamphlets which were published against the Medicean Planets of which I had the fortune to make the discovery against the existence of which there were brought many places of Sacred Scripture Now that all the World seeth them to be Planets I would gladly hear with what new interpretations those very Antagonists do expound the Scripture and excuse their own simplicity The other example is of him who but very lately hath Printed against Astronomers and Philosophers that the Moon doth not receive its light from the Sun but is of its own nature resplendent which imagination he in the close confirmeth or to say better perswadeth himself that he confirmeth by sundry Texts of Scripture which he thinks cannot be reconciled unlesse his opinion should be true and necessary Neverthelesse the Moon of it self is Tenebrose and yet it is no lesse lucid than the Splendor of the Sun Hence it is manifest that these kinde of Authors in regard they did not dive into the true Sence of the Scriptures would in case their authority were of any great moment have imposed a necessity upon others to believe such Conclusions for true as were repugnant to manifest Reason and to Sense Which abuse Deus avertat that it do not gain Countenance and Authority for if it should it would in a short time be necessary to proscribe and inhibit all the Contemplative Sciences For being that by nature the number of such as are very unapt to understand perfectly both the Sacred Scriptures and the other Sciences is much greater than that of the skilfull and intelligent those of the first sort superficially running over the Scriptures would arrogate to themselves an Authority of decreeing upon all the Questions in Nature by vertue of some Word by them misunderstood and produced by the Sacred Pen-men to another purpose Nor would the small number of the Intelligent be able to repress the furious Torrent of those men who would finde so many the more followers in that the gaining the reputation of Wise men without pains or Study is far more grateful to humane Nature than the consuming our selves with restless contemplations about the most painfull Arts. Therefore we ought to return infinite thanks to Almighty God who of his Goodness freeth us from this fear in that he depriveth such kinde of persons of all Authority and reposeth the Consulting Resolving and Decreeing upon so important Determinations in the extraordinary Wisdom and Candor of most Sacred Fathers and in the Supream Authority of those who being guided by his Holy Spirit cannot but determin Holily So ordering things that of the levity of those other men there is no account made This kinde of men are those as I believe against whom not without Reason Grave and Holy Writers do so much
who maintaineth the Truth may have many sensible experiments and many necessary Demonstrations on his side whereas his Antagonist can make use of no other than deceitful appearances Paralogisms and Sophisms Now if they keeping within natural bounds producing no other Weapons but those of Philosophy pretend however to have so much advantage of their Enemy why do they afterwards in coming to engage presently betake themselves to a Weapon inevitable dreadful to terrifie their Opponent with the sole beholding of it But if I may speak the truth I believe that they are the first that are affrighted and that perceiving themselves unable to bear up against the assaults of theit Adversary go about to find out ways how to keep them far enough off forbidding unto them the use of the Reason which the Divine Bounty had vouchsafed them abusing the most equitable Authority of sacred Scripture which rightly understood and applyed can never according to the common Maxime of Divines oppose the Manifest Experiments or Necessary Demonstrations But these mens running to the Scriptures for a Cloak to their inability to comprehend not to say resolve the Reasons alledged against them ought if I be not mistaken to stand them in no stead the Opinion which they oppose having never as yet been condemned by Holy Church So that if they would proceed with Candor they should either by silence confess themselves unable to handle such like points or first consider that it is not in the power of them or others but onely in that of the Pope and of Sacred Councils to censure a Position to be Erroneous But that it is left to their freedome to dispute concerning its falsity And thereupon knowing that it is impossible that a Proposition should at the same time be True and Heretical they ought I say to imploy themselves in that work which is most proper to them namely in demonstrating the falsity thereof whereby they may see how needlesse the prohibiting of it is its falshood being once discovered for that none would follow it or the Prohibition would be safe and without all danger of Scandal Therefore first let these men apply themselves to examine the Arguments of Copernicus and others and leave the condemning of them for Erroneous and Heretical to whom it belongeth But yet let them not hope ever to finde such rash and precipitous Determinations in the Wary and Holy Fathers or in the absolute Wisdome of him that cannot erre as those into which they suffer themselves to be hurried by some particular Affection or Interest of their own In these and such other Positions which are not directly de Fide certainly no man doubts but His Holiness hath alwayes an absolute power of Admitting or Condemning them but it is not in the power of any Creature to make them to be true or false otherwise than of their own nature and de facto they are Therefore it is in my judgment more discretion to assure us first of the necessary and immutable Truth of the Fact over which none hath power than without that certainty by condemning one part to deprive ones self of that authority of freedome to elect making those Determinations to become necessary which at present are indifferent and arbitrary and rest in the will of Supreme Authority And in a word if it be not possible that a Conclusion should be declared Heretical whilst we are not certain but that it may be true their pains are in vain who pretend to condemn the Mobility of the Earth and Stability of the Sun unlesse they have first demonstrated it to be impossible and false It remaineth now that we consider whether it be true that the Place in Joshuah may be taken without altering the pure signification of the words and how it can be that the Sun obeying the command of Joshuah which was That it should stand still the day might thereupon be much lengthened Which businesse if the Celestial Motions be taken according to the Ptolomaick Systeme can never any wayes happen for that the Sun moving thorow the Ecliptick according to the order of the Signes which is from East to West which is that which maketh Day and Night it is a thing manifest that the Sun ceasing its true and proper Motion the day would become shorter and not longer and that on the contrary the way to lengthen it would be to hasten and velocitate the Suns motion insomuch that to cause the Sun to stay above the Horizon for some time in one and the same place without declining towards the West it would be necessary to accelerate its motion in such a manner as that it might seem equal to that of the Primum Mobile which would be an accelerating it about three hundred and sixty times more than ordinary If therefore Joshuah had had an intention that his words should be taken in their pure and proper signification he would have bid the Sun to have accelerated its Motion so that the Rapture of the Primum Mobile might not carry it to the West but because his words were heard by people which haply knew no other Celestial Motion save this grand and common one from East to West stooping to their Capacity and having no intention to teach them the Constitution of the Spheres but only that they should perceive the greatness of the Miracle wrought in the lengthening of the Day he spoke according to their apprehension Possibly this Consideration moved Dionysius Areopagita to say that in this Miracle the Primum Mobile stood still and this stopping all the Celestial Spheres did of consequence stay of which opinion is S. Augustine himself and Abulensis at large confirmeth it Yea that Joshua's intention was that the whole Systeme of the Celestial Spheres should stand still is collected from the command he gave at the same time to the Moon although that it had nothing to do in the lengthening of the day and under the injunction laid upon the Moon we are to understand the Orbes of all the other Planets passed over in silence here as also in all other places of the Sacred Scriptures the intention of which was not to teach us the Astronomical Sciences I suppose therefore if I be not deceived that it is very plain that if we allow the Ptolemaick Systeme we must of necessity interpret the words to some sense different from their strict signification Which Interpretation being admonished by the most usefull precepts of S. Augustine I will not affirm to be of necessity this above-mentioned since that some other man may haply think of some other more proper and more agreeable Sense But now if this same passage may be understood in the Copernican Systeme to agree better with what we read in Joshuah with the help of another Observation by me newly shewen in the Body of the Sun I will propound it to consideration speaking alwaies with those safe Reserves That I am not so affectionate to my own inventions as to
not a Supreme or Middle Body And so to come down from Heaven especially the Empyrian to it as it is accepted in the Descent of Christ from Heaven to his Holy Incarnation and from it to go up to Heaven as in Christs return to Heaven in his Glorious Ascention is truly and properly to Descend from the Circumference to the Centre and to ascend from the parts which are nearest to the Centre of the World to its utmost Circumference This Maxim therefore may easily and according to truth explain Theologicall Propositions and this is so much the more confirmed in that as I have observed almost all Texts of Sacred Scripture which oppose the Earth to Heaven are most conveniently and aptly understood of the Empyrial Heaven being the Highest of all the Heavens and Spiritual in respect of its end but not of the inferiour or intermediate Heavens which are a Corporeal and were framed for the benefit of Corporeal Creatures and thus when in the Plural Number Heavens are mentioned then all the Heavens promiscuously and without distinction are to be understood as well the Empyrian it self as the Inferiour Heavens And this Exposition indeed any man that doth but take notice of it may find to be most true And so for this Reason the Third Heaveu into which St. Paul was wrapt up by this Maxim may be taken for the Empyrean if for the the First Heaven we understand that immense Space of Erratick and Moveable Bodies illuminated by the Sun in which are comprehended the Planets as also the Earth moveable and the Sun immoveable Who like a King upon his August Tribunal sits with venerable Majesty immoveable and constant in Centre of all the Sphaeres and with his Divine Beames doth bountifully exhilerate all Coelestial Bodies that stand in need of his vital Light for which they cravingly wander about him and doth liberally and on every side comfort and illustrate the Theatre of the whole World and all its parts even the very least like an immortal and perpetual Lamp of high and unspeakable value The Second Heaven shall be the Starry Heaven commonly called the Eighth Sphaere or the Firmament wherein are all the Fixed Starrs which according to this Opinion of Pythagoras is like as the Sun and Centre void of all Motion the Centre and utmost Circumference mutually agreeing with each other in Immobility And the Third shall be the Empyrean Heaven that is the Seat of the Blessed And in this manner we may come to explain and understand that admirable Secret and profound Mystery aenigmatically revealed by Plato to Dionysius of Syracuse All things are about the King of all things Second things about the second and Third things about the Third For that God being the Centre of Spiritual things the Sun of Corporeal Christ of those that are Mixt or made up of both things do doubtlesse depend of that of these three Centres that is most correspondent and proportionable to them and the Centre is ever adjudged to be the nobler and worthier place and therefore in Animals the Heart in Vegitables the Pith or Kernell wherein the Seed lyeth that conserveth their perpetuity and virtually includes the whole Plant are in the Midst and in the Centre and thus much shall suffice to have hinted at since there may another occasion offer it self for a larger Explication of these things By this Maxim the Authorities and Arguments of the Third Fourth and Fifth Classes are resolved It may be added withall that even the Sun Mercury and Venus that is to say in respect of the Earth are to be thought aboue and not beneath the Earth it self although in respect of the Universe yea and also absolutely they are below The reason is because in respect of the Earth they alwayes appear above its Surface and although they do not environe it yet by the Motion of the said Earth they behold one while one part another while another part of its Circumference Since therefore those things which in a Sphaerical Body are nearer to the Circumference and more remote from the Cenrre are said to be above but those that are next adjoyning to the Centre are said to be below it clearly followeth that whilst the Sun Mercury and Venus are not only turned towards the Surface and Circumference of the said Earth but are at a very great distance without it successively turned about it and every way have a view of it and are very far remote from its Centre they may in respect of the said Earth be said to be above it as also on the other side the Eâ—ath in respect of them may be said to be beneath howbeit on the contrary in respect of the Universe the Earth in reality is much higher than they And thus is salved the Authority of Ecclesiastes in many places expressing those things that are or are done on the Earth in these words Which are done or which are under the Sun And in the same manner those words are reduced to their true Sense wherein it is said That we are under the Sun and under the Moon whereupon Terrene things are expressed by the name of Sublunary The Sixth Classis threatneth a difficulty which is common as well to this of Copernicus as to the Vulgar Opinion so that they are both alike concerned in the solution of it But so far as it opposeth that of Copernicus its answer is easy from the First Maxim But that which is added in the Fourth Classe That it followeth from this Opinion that Hell for that it is included by the Earth as is commonly held doth move circularly about the Sun and in Heaven and that so Hell it self will be found to be in Heaven discovers in my judgment nothing but Ignorance and Calumny that insinuate the belief of their Arguments rather by a corrupt sense of the Words than by solid Reasons taken from the bosome of the Nature of things For in this place Heaven is no wise to be taken for Paradice nor according to the Sense of Common Opinion but as hath been said above according to the Copernican Hypothesis for the subtilest and Purest Aire far more tenuous and rare than this of ours whereupon the Solid Bodies of the Stars Moon and Earth in their Circular and Ordinary Motions do passe thorow it the Sphaere of Fire being by this Opinion taken away And as according to the Common Opinion it was no absurdity to say That Hell being demerged in the Centre of the Earth and of the World it self hath Heaven and Paradice above and below it yea and on all sides of it and that it is in the middle of all the Coelestial Bodies as if it were posited in a more unworthy place so neither in this will it be deemed an Error if from the other System which differeth not much from the Vulgar one those or the like things follow as do in that For both in that of Copernicus and the Vulgar
not moved through ignorance of the Arguments on the Adverse part 110 Copernicans were all first against that Opinion but the Peripateticks were never on the other side 110 Copernicans too freely admit certain Propositions for true which are doubtful 159 He that will be a Copernican must deny his Senses 228 A Great Mathematician made a Copernican by looking into that Doctrine with a purpose to confute it 443 COPERNICUS Copernicus esteemeth the Earth a Globe like to a Planet 1 Objections of two Moderne Authours Scheiner and Claramontius against Copernicus 195 Copernicus his Opinion overthrows the Criterium of Phylosophers 223 A grosse Errour in the Opposer of Copernicus and wherein it appears 234 235 236 A subtle and withal simple Argument against Copernicus 234 Copernicus his Opponent had but little studied him as appears by another grosse Errour 235 It s questioned whither he understood the third Motion assigned to the Earth by Copern 236 Copernicus erroneously assignes the same Operations to different Natures 238 A declaration of the improbability of Copernicus his Opinion 301 Reason and Discourse in Copernicus and Aristarchus prevailed over Sense 301 Copernicus speaketh nothing of the small Variation of Bignesse in Venus and Mars 302 Copernicus perswaded by Reasons contrary to Sensible Experiments 306 Copernicus restored Astronomy upon the Suppositions of Ptolomy 308 What moved Copernicus to establish his Systeme 308 It s a great argument in favour of Copernicus that he obviates the Stations and Retrogradations of the Motions of the Planets 309 Instances Ironically propounded by Scheiner against Copernicus 323 Copernicus understood not some things for want of Instruments 338 The grand difficulty in Copernicus his Doctrine is that which concerns the Phaenomena of the Sun and fixed Stars 343 Copernicus the Restorer of the Pythagorean Hypothesis and the Occasion of it 429 Copernicus founded not his Doctrine on Reasons depending on Scripture wherein he might have mistaken their Sense but upon Natural Conclusions and Astronomical and Geometrical Demonstrations 431 CORRUPTIBLE and Corruptibility The perfection of Figure operates in Corruptible Bodies but not in Eternal 69 The Disparagers of Corruptibility ought to be turned into Statua's 37 Corruptibility admits of more and lesse so doth not Incorruptibility 69 COUNCILS The Councils refuse to impose Natural Conclusions as matters of Faith 450 D DIAMONDS Diamonds ground to divers sides and why 63 DIDACUS Didacus à Stunica reconcileth Texts of Scripture with the Copernican Hypothesis 468 DEFINITIONS Definitions contain virtually all the Passions of the things defined 87 E EARTH The Earth Spherical by the Conspiration of its parts to go to its Centre 21 It is easier to prove the Earth to move than that Corruptibility is made by Contraries 27 The Earth very Noble by reason of the Mutations made therein 45 The Earth unprofitable and full of Idlenesse its Alterations being taken away 45 The Earth more Noble than Gold and Jewels 45 The Celestial Bodies designed to serve the Earth need no more but Motion and Light 45 The Generations and Mutations that are in the Earth are all for the Good of Man 47 From the Earth we see more than half the Lunar Globe 51 Seven Resemblances between the Earth and Moon 48 to 53 The Earth unable to reflect the Suns Rays 54 The Earth may reciprocally operate on Celestial Bodies with its Light 80 Affinity between the Earth and Moon by reason of their Vicinity 81 The Motions of the Earth imperceptible to its Inhabitants 97 The Earth can have no other Motions than those which to us appear commune to all the rest of the Vniverse the Earth excepted 97 The Diurnal Motion seemeth commune to all the Vniverse the Earth onely excepted 97 Aristotle and Ptolomy argue against the Earths Diurnal Motion 97 The Diurnal Motion of the Earth Vide Diurnal Motion Seven Arguments to prove the Diurnal Motion On to belong to the Earth 99 to 103 The Earth a pendent Body and equilibrated in a fluid Medium seems unable to resist the Rapture of the Diurnal Motion 103 Two kinds of Arguments against the Earths Motion 108 Arguments of Aristotle Ptolomy Tycho and other persons against the Earths Motion 107 108 The first Argument against the Earths Motion taken from Grave Bodies falling from on high to the Ground 108 Which Argument is confirmed by the Experiment of a Body let fall from the Round-top of a Ships Mast. 108 The second Argument taken from a Project shot very high 108 The third Argument taken from the Shot of a Canon towards the East and towards the West 108 This Argument is confirmed by two Shots towards the North and South and two others towards the 〈…〉 West 109 The fourth Argument taken from the Clouds and from Birds 113 A fifth Argument taken from the Aire which we feel beat upon us when we run an Horse at full speed 114 A sixth Argument taken from the whirling of Circular Bodies which hath a faculty to extrude and dissipate 114 The Answer to Aristotles first Argument 115 The Answer to the second Argument 117 The Answer to the third Argument 120 to 150 An Instance of the Diurnal Motion of the Earth taken from the Shot of a Piece of Ordinance perpendicularly and the Answers to the same shewing the Equivoke 153 154 The Answer to the Argument of the Shots of Canons made towards the North and South 158 The Answer to the Argument taken from the Shots at point blank towards the East and West 159 The Answer to the Argument of the flying of Birds contrary to the Motion of the Earth 165 An Experiment by which alone is shewn the Nullity of all the Arguments produced against the Motion of the Earth 165 The Stupidity of some that think the Earth began to move when Pythagoras began to affirme that it did so 167 A Geometrical Demonstration to prove the Impossibility of Extrusion by means of the Earths Vertigo in Answer to the sixth Argument 176 Granting the Diurnal Vertigo of the Earth and that by some sudden Stop or Obstacle it were Arrested Houses Mountains themselves and perhaps the whole Globe would be shaken in pieces 190 Other Argument of two Modern Authours Scheiner and. Claramontius against the Copernican Hypothesis of the Earths Motion 195 The first Objection of the Modern Authour Scheiner in his Book of Conclusions 195 The Argument of Claramontius against the Earths Motion taken from things falling perpendicularly another way answered 223 The Earths Motion collected from the Stars 229 Argumeuts against the Earths Motion taken ex rerum natura 230 A Simple Body as the Earth cannot move with three several Motions 231 The Earth cannot move with any of the Motions assigned it by Copernicus 231 Answers to the Arguments against the Earths Motion token ex rerum natura 231 Four Axiomes against the Motion of the Earth 230 to 232 One onely Principle might cause a Plurality of Motions in the Earth 233 The same Argument against the Plurality of Motions in the