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
although unjustly be oppressed than those from whence he may receive just incouragement it was no hard matter to find those Complices who for such that is for Damnable and Heretical did from their Pulpits with unwonted confidence preach it with but an unmerciful and less considerate injury not only to this Doctrine and to its followers but to all Mathematicks and Mathematicians together Hereupon assuming greater confidence and vainly hoping that that Seed which first took root in their unsound mindes might spread its branches and ascend towards Heaven they went scattering rumours up and down among the People That it would ere long be condemned by Supreme Authority and knowing that such a Censure would supplant not onely these two Conclusions of the VVorlds Systeme but would make all other Astronomical and Physical Observations that have correspondence and necessary connection therewith to become damnable to facilitate the business they seek all they can to make this opinion at least among the vulgar to seem new and peculiar to my self not owning to know that Nicholas Copernicus was its Authour or rather Restorer and Confirmer a person who was not only a Catholick but a Priest Canonick and so esteemed that there being a Dispute in the Lateran Council under Leo X. touching the correction of the Ecclesiastick Calender he was sent for to Rome from the remotest parts of Germany for to assist in this Reformation which for that time was left imperfect onely because as then the true measure of the Year and Lunar Moneth was not exactly known whereupon it was given him in charge by the Bishop of Sempronia at that time Super-intendent in that Affair to search with reiterated studies and pains for greater light and certainty touching those Coelestial Motions Upon which with a labour truly Atlantick and with his admirable Wit setting himself again to that Study he made such a progress in these Sciences and reduced the knowledge of the Coelestial Motions to such exactnesse that he gained the title of an Excellent Astronomer And according unto his Doctrine not only the Calendar hath been since regulated but the Tables of all the Motions of the Planets have also been calculated and having reduced the said Doctrine into six Books he published them to the World at the instance of the Cardinal of Capua and of the Bishop of Culma And in regard that he had re-assumed this so laborious an enterprize by the order of The Pope he dedicated his Book De Revolutionibus Coelestibus to His Successour namely Paul III. which being then also Printed hath been received by The Holy Church and read and studied by all the World without any the least umbrage of scruple that hath ever been conceived at his Doctrine The which whilst it is now proved by manifest Experiments and necessary Demonstrations to have been well grounded there want not persons that though they never saw that same Book intercept the reward of those many Labours to its Authour by causing him to be censured and pronounced an Heretick and this only to satisfie a particular displeasure conceived without any cause against another man that hath no other interest in Copernicus but only as he is an approver of his Doctrine Now in regard of these false aspersions which they so unjustly seek to throw upon me I have thought it necessary for my justification before the World of whose judgment in matters of Religion and Reputation I ought to make great esteem to discourse concerning those Particulars which these men produce to scandalize and subvert this Opinion and in a word to condemn it not only as false but also as Heretical continually making an Hipocritical Zeal for Religion their shield going about moreover to interest the Sacred Scriptures in the Dispute and to make them in a certain sense Ministers of their deceiptful purposes and farthermore desiring if I mistake not contrary to the intention of them and of the Holy Fathers to extend that I may not say abuse their Authority so as that even in Conclusions meerly Natural and not de Fide they would have us altogether leave Sense and Demonstrative Reasons for some place of Scripture which sometimes under the apparent words may contain a different sense Now I hope to shew with how much greater Piety and Religious Zeal I proceed than they do in that I propose not that the Book of Copernicus is not to be condemned but that it is not to be condemned as they would have it without understanding it hearing it or so much as seeing it and especially he being an Author that never treateth of matters of Religion or Faith nor by Reasons any way depending on the Authority of Sacred Scriptures whereupon he may have erroniously interpreted them but alwaies insists upon Natural Conclusions belonging to the Celestial Motions handled with Astronomical and Geometrical Demonstrations Not that he had not a respect to the places of the Sacred Leaves but because he knew very well that his said Doctrine being demonstrated it could not contradict the Scriptures rightly and according to their true meaning understood And therefore in the end of his Epistle Dedicatory speaking to The Pope he saith thus If there should chance to be any Mataeologists who though ignorant in all the Mathematicks yet pretending a skill in those Learnings should dare upon the authority of some place of Scripture wrested to their purpose to condemn and censure this my Hypothesis I value them not but shall slight their inconsiderate Judgement For it is not unknown that Lactantius otherwise a Famous Author though mean Mathematician writeth very childishly touching the Form of the Earth when he scoffs at those who affirm the Earth to be in Form of a Globe So that it ought not to seem strange to the Ingenious if any such should likewise now deride us The Mathematicks are written for Mathematitians to whom if I deceive not my self these Labours of mine shall seem to add something as also to the Common-weale of the Church whose Government is now in the hands of Your Holiness And of this kinde do these appear to be who indeavour to perswade that Copernicus may be condemned before his Book is read and to make the World believe that it is not onely lawfull but commendable so to do produce certain Authorities of the Scripture of Divines and of Councils which as they are by me had in reverence and held of Supream Authority insomuch that I should esteem it high temerity for any one to contradict them whilst they are used according to the In stitutes of Holy Church so I believe that it is no errour to speak so long as one hath reason to suspect that a person hath a desire for some concern of his own to produce and alledge them to purposes different from those that are in the most Sacred intention of The Holy Church Therefore I not onely protest and my sincerity shall manifest it self that I intend to submit my self freely to renounce
those errors into which through ignorance I may run in this Discourse of matters pertaining to Religion but I farther declare that I desire not in these matters to engage dispute with any one although it should be in points that are disputable for my end tendeth onely to this That if in these considerations besides my own profession amongst the errours that may be in them there be any thing apt to give others an hint of some Notion beneficial to the Holy Church touching the determining about the Copernican Systeme it may be taken and improved as shall seem best to my Superiours If not let my Book be torn and burnt for that I do neither intend nor pretend to gain to my self any fruit from my writings that is not Pious and Catholick And moreover although that many of the things that I observe have been spoken in my own hearing yet I shall freely admit and grant to those that spake them that they never said them if so they please but confess that I might have been mistaken And therefore what I say let it be supposed to be spoken not by them but by those which were of this opinion The motive therefore that they produce to condemn the Opinion of the Mobility of the Earth and Stability of the Sun is that reading in the Sacred Leaves in many places that the Sun moveth that the Earth standeth still and the Scripture not being capable of lying or erring it followeth upon necessary consequence that the Position of those is Erronious and Heretical who maintain that the Sun of it self is immoveable and the Earth moveable Touching this Reason I think it fit in the first place to consider That it is both piously spoken and prudently affirmed That the Sacred Scripture can never lye when ever its true meaning is understood Which I believe none will deny to be many times very abstruce and very different from that which the bare sound of the words signifieth Whence it cometh to pass that if ever any one should constantly confine himself to the naked Grammatical Sence he might erring himself make not only Contradictions and Propositions remote from Truth to appear in the Scriptures but also gross Heresies and Blasphemies For that we should be forced to assign to God feet and hands and eyes yea more corporal and humane affections as of Anger of Repentance of Hatred nay and sometimes the Forgetting of things past and Ignorance of those to come Which Propositions like as so the Holy Ghost affirmeth they were in that manner pronounced by the Sacred Scriptures that they might be accommodated to the Capacity of the Vulgar who are very rude and unlearned so likewise for the sakes of those that deserve to be distinguished from the Vulgar it is necessary that grave and skilful Expositors produce the true senses of them and shew the particular Reasons why they are dictated under such and such words And this is a Doctrine so true and common amongst Divines that it would be superfluous to produce any attestation thereof Hence me thinks I may with much more reason conclude that the same holy Writ when ever it hath had occasion to pronounce any natural Conclusion and especially any of those which are more abstruce and difficult to be understood hath not failed to observe this Rule that so it might not cause confusion in the mindes of those very people and render them the more contumacious against the Doctrines that were more sublimely mysterious For like as we have said and as it plainly appeareth out of the sole respect of condescending to Popular Capacity the Scripture hath not scrupled to shadow over most principal and fundamental Truths attributing even to God himself qualities extreamly remote from and contrary unto his Essence Who would positively affirm that the Scripture laying aside that respect in speaking but occasionally of the Earth of the Water of the Sun or of any other Creature hath chosen to confine it self with all rigour within the bare and narrow literal sense of the words And especially in mentioning of those Creatures things not at all concerning the primary Institution of the same Sacred Volume to wit the Service of God and the salvation of Souls and in things infinitely beyond the apprehension of the Vulgar This therefore being granted methinks that in the Discussion of Natural Problemes we ought not to begin at the authority of places of Scripture but at Sensible Experiments and Necessary Demonstrations For from the Divine Word the Sacred Scripture and Nature did both alike proceed the first as the Holy Ghosts Inspiration the second as the most observant Executrix of Gods Commands And moreover it being convenient in the Scriptures by way of condescension to the understanding of all men to speak many things different in appearance and so far as concernes the naked signification of the words from absolute truth But on the contrary Nature being inexorable and immutable and never passing the bounds of the Laws assigned her as one that nothing careth whether her abstruse reasons and methods of operating be or be not exposed to the Capacity of Men I conceive that that concerning Natural Effects which either Sensible Experience sets before our eyes or Necessary Demonstrations do prove unto us ought not upon any account to be called into question much less condemned upon the testimony of Texts of Scripture which may under their words couch Senses seemingly contrary thereto In regard that every Expression of Scripture is not tied to so strict conditions as every Effect of Nature Nor doth God less admirably discover himself unto us in Nature's Actions than in the Scriptures Sacred Dictions Which peradventure Tertullian intended to express in those words We conclude God is known first by Nature and then again more particularly known by Doctrine by Nature in his Works by Doctrine in his Word preached But I will not hence affirm but that we ought to have an extraordinary esteem for the Places of Sacred Scripture nay being come to a certainty in any Natural Conclusions we ought to make use of them as most apposite helps to the true Exposition of the same Scriptures and to the investigation of those Senses which are necessarily conteined in them as most true and concordant with the Truths demonstrated This maketh me to suppose that the Authority of the Sacred Volumes was intended principally to perswade men to the belief of those Articles and Propositions which by reason they surpass all humane discourse could not by any other Science or by any other means be made credible than by the Mouth of the Holy Spirit it self Besides that even in those Propositions which are not de Fide the Authority of the same Sacred Leaves ought to be preferred to the Authority of all Humane Sciences that are not written in a Demonstrative Method but either with bare Narrations or else with probable Reasons and this I hold to be so far convenient and necessary by how far
inveigh and of whom in particular S. Hierom writeth This Scilicet the Sacred Scripture the talking old woman the doting old man the talkative Sophister all venture upon lacerate teach and that before they have learnt it Others induced by Pride diving into hard words Philosophate amongst Women touching the Holy Scriptures Others Oh shameful Learn of Women what they teach to Men and as if this were nothing in a certain facility of words I may say of confidence expound to others what they understand not themselves I forbear to speak of those of my own Profession who if after Humane Learning they chance to attain to the Holy Scriptures and tickle the ears of the people with affected and Studied expressions they affirm that all they say is to be entertained as the Law of God and not stooping to learn what the Prophets and Apostles held they force incongruous testimonies to their own Sense As if it were the genuine and not corrupt way of teaching to deprave Sentences and Wrest the Scripture according to their own singular and contradictory humour I will not rank among these same secular Writers any Theologists whom I repute to be men of profound Learning and sober Manners and therefore hold them in great esteem and veneration Yet I cannot deny but that I have a certain scruple in my mind and consequently am desirous to have it removed whilst I hear that they pretend to a power of constraining others by Authority of the Scriptures to follow that opinion in Natural Disputations which they think most agreeth with the Texts of that Holding withall that they are not bound to answer the Reasons and Experiments on the contrary In Explication and Confirmation of which their judgement they say That Theologie being the Queen of all the Sciences she ought not upon any account to stoop to accomodate her self to the Positions of the rest less worthy and inferior to her But that they ought to refer themselves to her as to their Supream Emperess and change and alter their Conclusions according to Theological Statutes and Decrees And they further add That if in the inferior Science there should be any Conclusion certain by vertue of Demonstrations or experiments to which there is found in Scripture another Conclusion repugnant the very Professors of that Science ought of themselves to resolve their Demonstrations and discover the falacies of their own Experiments without repairing to Theologers and Textuaries it not suiting as hath been said with the dignity of Theologie to stoop to the investigation of the falacies of the inferior Sciences But it sufficeth her to determine the truth of the Conclusion with her absolute Authority and by her infallibility And then the Natural Conclusions in which they say that we ought to bide by the meer Authority of the Scripture without glossing or expounding it to Senses different from the Words they affirm to be Those of which the Scripture speaketh alwaies in the same manner and the Holy Fathers all receive and expound to the same Sense Now as to these Determinations I have had occasion to consider some particulars which I will purpose for that I was made cautious thereof by those who understand more than I in these businesses and to whose judgements I alwaies submit my self And first I could say that there might possibly a certain kinde of equivocation interpose in that they do not distinguish the preheminences whereby Sacred Theologie meriteth the Title of Queen For it might be called so either because that that which is taught by all the other Sciences is found to be comprized and demonstrated in it but with more excellent means and with more sublime Learning in like manner as for example The Rules of measuring of Land of Accountantship are much more excellently contained in the Arithmatick and Geometry of Euclid than in the Practises of Surveyours and Accomptants Or because the Subject about which Theologie is conversant excelleth in Dignity all the other Subjects that are the Matters of other Sciences As also because its Documents are divulged by nobler waies That the Title and Authority of Queen belongeth to Theologie in the first Sense I think that no Theologers will affirm that have but any in-sight into the other Sciences of which there are none as I believe that will say that Geometry Astronomy Musick and Medicine are much more excellently and exactly contained in the Sacred Volumes than in the Books of Archimedes in Ptolomy in Boetius and in Galen Therefore it is probable that the Regal Preheminence is given her upon the second account namely By reason of the Subject and the admirable communicating of the Divine Revelations in those Conclusions which by other means could not be conceived by men and which chiefly concern the acquist of eternal Beatitude Now if Theologie being conversant about the loftiest Divine Contemplation and residing for Dignity in the Regal Throne of the Sciences whereby she becometh of highest Authority descendeth not to the more mean and humble Speculations of the inferior Sciences Nay as hath been declared above hath no regard to them as not concerning Beatitude the Professors thereof ought not to arrogate to themselves the Authority to determin of Controversies in those Professions which have been neither practised nor studied by them For this would be as if an Absolute Prince knowing that he might freely command and cause himself to be obeyed should being neither Phisitian nor Architect undertake to administer Medicines and erect Buildings after his own fashion to the great endangering af the lives of the poor Patients and to the manifest destruction of the Edifices Again to command the very Professors of Astronomy that they of themselves see to the confuting of their own Observations and Demonstrations as those that can be no other but Falacies and Sophismes is to enjoyn a thing beyond all possibility of doing For it is not onely to command them that they do not see that which they see and that they do not understand that which they understand but that in seeking they finde the contrary of that which they happen to meet with Therefore before that this is to be done it would be necessary that they were shewed the way how to make the Powers of the Soul to command one another and the inferior the Superior so that the imagination and will might and should believe contrary to what the Intellect understands I still mean in Propositions purely Natural and which are not de Fide and not in the Supernatural which are de Fide I would entreat these Wise and Prudent Fathers that they would withal diligence consider the difference that is between Opinable and Demonstrative Doctrines To the end that well weighing in their minds with what force Necessary Illations oblige they might the better ascertain themselves that it is not in the Power of the Professors of Demonstrative Sciences to change their Opinions at pleasure and apply themselves one while to one side and another
by age or consume by wormes nor sway and leane to this or that side that the Seats and Nests of Living Creatures are not molested that the Mountains and Shores stand immoveable against the violence of the Winds and Waves as they were at the beginning But the Psalmist addeth a most Elegant Hypothesis of the Separation of the Waters from the Continent or Main-land and adorns it with the production of Fountains and the benefits that Springs and Rocks exhibit to Birds and Beasts Nor doth he omit the apparelling the Earths Surface mentioned by Moses amongst the works of the third Day but more sublimely describeth it in his Case in expressions infused from Divine Inspiration and flourisheth out the commemoration of the many commodities which redound from that Exornation for the Nourishment and Comfort of Man and Covert of Beasts The fourth part begins at Verse 20. celebrating the fourth dayes work viz. The Sun and Moon but chiefly the commodiousnesse of those things which in their Seasons befall to all Living Creatures and to Man this being the subject matter of his Discourse So that it plainly appeareth he acted not the part of an Astronomer For if he had he would not then have omitted to mention the five Planets than whose moiton nothing is more admirable nothing more excellent nothing that can more evidently set forth the Wisdome of the Creator amongst the Learned The fifth part begins Verse 25. with the fifth Dayes work And it stores the Seas with Fishes and covers them with Ships The sixth part is more obscurely hinted at Verse 28. and alludeth to the Land-Creatures that were created the sixth day And lastly he declareth the goodnesse of God in general who daily createth and preserveth all things So that whatever he said of the World is in relation to Living Creatures He speaks of nothing but what is granted on all hands for that it was his intent to extol things known and not to dive into hidden matters but to invite men to contemplate the Benefits that redound unto them from the works of each of these dayes And I do also beseech my Reader not forgetting the Divine Goodnesse conferred on Mankind the consideration of which the Psalmist doth chiefly urge that when he returneth from the Temple and enters into the School of Astronomy he would with me praise and admire the Wisdome and Greatnesse of the Creator which I discover to him by a more narrow explication of the Worlds Form the Disquisition of Causes and Detection of the Errours of Sight And so he will not onely extoll the Bounty of God in the preservation of Living Creatures of all kindes and establishment of the Earth but even in its Motion also which is so strange so admirable he will acknowledge the Wisdome of the Creator But he who is so stupid as not to comprehend the Science of Astronomy or so weak and scrupulous as to think it an offence of Piety to adhere to Copernicus him I advise that leaving the Study of Astronomy and censuring the opinions of Philosophers at pleasure he betake himself to his own concerns and that desisting from further pursuit of these intricate Studies he keep at home and manure his own Ground and with those Eyes wherewith alone he seeth being elevated towards this to be admired Heaven let him pour forth his whole heart in thanks and praises to God the Creator and assure himself that he shall therein perform as much Worship to God as the Astronomer on whom God hath bestowed this Gift that though he seeth more clearly with the Eye of his Understanding yet whatever he hath attained to he is both able and willing to extoll his God above it And thus much concerning the Authority of Sacred Scripture Now as touching the opinions of the Saints about these Natural Points I answer in one word That in Theology the weight of Authority but in Philosophy the weight of Reason is to be considered Therefore Sacred was Lactantius who denyed the Earths rotundity Sacred was Augustine who granted the Earth to be round but denyed the Antipodes Sacred is the Liturgy of our Moderns who admit the smallnesse of the Earth but deny its Motion But to me more sacred than all these is Truth who with respect to the Doctors of the Church do demonstrate from Philosophy that the Earth is both round circumhabited by Antipodes of a most contemptible smalnesse and in a word that it is ranked amongst the Planets AN ABSTRACT OF Some passages in the Commentaries of Didacus à Stunica OF SALAMANCA Upon JOB The Toledo Edition Printed by JOHN RODERICK Anno 1584 in Quarto Pag. 205. seqq on these Words Chap. 9. Verse 6. Who shaketh the Earth out of her place and the Pillars thereof Tremble THe Sacred Pen-man here sets down another effect whereby God sheweth his Almighty Power joyned with infinite Wisdom Which place though it must be confessed very difficult to understand might be greatly cleared by the Opinion of the Pythagorians who hold the Earth to be moved of its own Nature and that the Motion of the Stars can no other way be ascertained they being so extreamly different in tardity and velocity Of which judgement was Philolaus and Heraclides Ponticus as Plutarch relateth in his Book De Placitis Philosophorum Who were followed by Numa Pompilius and which I more regard The Divine Plato in his old age insomuch that he affirmed that it was most absurd to think otherwise as the same Plutarch tells us in his Numa And Hypocrates in his Book De Flatibus calleth the Air 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. The Earths Chariot But in this our Age Copernicus doth demonstrate the courses of the Blanets to be according to this Opinion Nor is it to be doubted but that the Planets Places may be more exactly and certainly assigned by his Doctrine than by Ptolomies Great Almogest or Systeme or the Opinions of any others For its manifest that Ptolomy could never describe either the Motion of the Equinoxes or assign the certain and positive beginning of the Year the which he ingeniously confesseth in Lib. 3. De Almagest Magnum Ch. 2. and which he leaveth to be discovered in after times by those Astronomers who coming into the World much later than he might be able to invent some way to make more accurate observations And although the Alphonsines Thebith Ben Core have attempted to explain them yet it appeareth that they have done as much as nothing For the Positions of the Alphonsines disagree amongst themselves as Ricius proveth And although the Reason of Thebith be more acute and that thereby he determined the certain beginning of the year being that which Ptolomy sought for yet it is now clear that the Progressions of the Equinoxes are much longer than he conceived they could be Moreover the Sun is found to be much nearer to us than it was held to be in times past by above fourty thousand
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
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
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
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