void not urine And creatures which have thick shells are destitute of so many members that some of them have but few appearances of being living-creatures There bee also some living-creatures which although they have such things as are in our bodies yet seeme to want them As the Stag which seemes to have no choller because hee hath it not in one place but so dispersed abroad in his entrailes that it is no where apparant But MAN hath all the parts of a living-creature every part also perfect and all in so goodly order that it could not possibly have beene better composed Beside their want of some parts there is likewise among other living-creatures much difference in the scituation of the parts For some have their dugs in the breast some on their bellies and some under their thighes Some againe have two dugs some foure and some have more Nature hath so provided for the most part that the number of dugges is answerable to the number of young-ones which every creature brings forth at a time But let him that would bee more exactly informed of these things reade the hystory which Aristotle hath written of living-creatures For it pertaineth not unto the discourse which I now purpose to treate at large of such things but only to point at them or to speak briefly of them CAP. 5. SECT 1. I. Of the foure Elements of their simple and mixt Nature of their foure qualities Heat Cold Moisture and Drinesse of their contrarieties and of the meanes of uniting them into one body II. Of the Circular motion and changeablenesse of the Elements one into another and a reason why God made them of such a nature III. The opinion of Aristotle concerning the nature of the Ayre c. GOe we now on to the Elemēts which are consequently to be next handled in this Treatise An Element of the world is a most small part in the composition of bodies They are these foure Earth water ayre and fire and if you begin at the lowest and so passe to the highest body of them they are placed in such order as I have named them The bodies of these Elements are the first bodies and simple bodies in respect of other bodies And every Element is of the same kinde with those things whose Element it is For principles as matter forme and privation are not of the same kinde with the things which are made of them But an Element is necessarily of the same kinde Now it is manifest that these foure Earth water ayre and fire are the Elements and it is as evident that the foure first qualities that is to say Hot cold moist and dry bee in those Elements in the highest degree both potentially and actually also And yet there is not one of these Elements which we can discerne by our senses to bee altogether void of temperature and mixture with some other Element For indeed all those which wee are sensible of are in a sort somewhat counterfeit and participate each of other more or lesse even when in their mixture their severall natures continue most apparant Moreover every one of these Elements hath two coupled qualities which constitute the species or nature of it For EARTH is dry and cold WATER is cold and moist AIRE is hot and moist and FIRE is hot and dry Yet these qualities by themselves cannot be Elements For qualities are void of bodie and of things incorporeall things corporeall cannot be made Neither is it possible that other bodies should be actually Elements w ch have not actually each of these qualities in the highest degree For if those things which have these qualities more or lesse should bee Elements there would be an infinite number of Elements and we should never bee able to discerne the Elements of each particular thing because every thing hath some quality in it more or lesse It followes therefore necessarily that every Element is a BODIE and a simple-body and such a one as hath actually in it in the highest degree these qualities HEAT COLD MOISTURE and DRINESSE because of all qualities these onely and no other doe make a whole change in the whole substance Whitenesse comming neare unto a Body cannot make it white thorow and thorow as wee say neither can such a change bee wrought by any other thing whereas Heat or cold can warme or coole a body not onely superficially but quite throughout the same Those Elements are accounted contraries which are directly contrary to one another in both their qualities Thus WATER is contrary to FIRE For water is cold and moist and Fire is hot and dry In like maner EARTH is contrary to AIRE For Earth is cold and dry and Aire is hot and moist And forasmuch as things which are so repugnant could not bee fitly joyned one unto another without a middle-band ordained to knit them together The wise Creator hath placed water as a meane between the Earth and the Aire which are contraries induing it with her two qualities cold and moist that being the medium betweene those which extreamely differ they might be united thereby For by reason of the cold it agrees naturally with the earth and by meanes of moisture it is fitly joyned unto the aire Againe in the middle betweene the water and the fire which are also contraries in themselves hee hath placed the aire which by his moist-qualitie doth very well accord with water and with fire by the quality of heat Thus God hath linked every one of them each to other as in a chaine by placing betweene things contrary such other things as may both unite the said contraries to themselves and to such things also as are bound one to another by them Yea which is an excellent kind of band hee hath joyned together every one of the Elements by the one of his qualities to that which went before and by the other to that which followed after For example the water being cold and moist is joyned unto the earth which if you beginne at the lowest and ascend is next beneath it by his coldnesse and by his moisture to the aire which is next above it The aire likewise by the moistnes of it is joyned to the water which is next beneath it and by heat to the fire which is above it The fire also by the heat thereof is joyned to the aire which is beneath it and by drynesse to the earth to which being the lowest it declineth it selfe as it were in a circular motion The earth by coldnesse is united to the water and by drynesse to the fire which declineth towards it For that the Elements should not have onely an inclination to ascend and descend directly upward and downeward but incline also to a circular motion God bowed them as it were and made the two extreame Elements fire and earth to turne one toward the other For the fire if it lose heat is no longer fire but becommeth earth as is manifestly proved by thunder-bolts which being thrown
downe and cooled are converted into stones For every thunder-bolt consists of stone and brimstone The stone is as it were the brimstone over-baked Brimstone is as it were fire cooled and no more actually hot but having a neare possibility of heat and being also actually dry For the Elements only have the qualities actually wheras all other things have them but in possibility except they come near unto some Elements But to the end that neither the Elements should faile nor the Bodies which are to be compounded of those Elements the Creator did providently devise that they should be convertible both one into another and also into compound-bodies and that the compound-bodies should be againe resolved into their Elements By which meanes it commeth to passe that they are continually engendered one of another and perpetually preserved from being wasted For Earth being first dissolved into a mirie moistnesse becommeth water Water being thickned and congealed becommeth earth Water also being heated and resolved into vapours vanisheth into aire Aire being collected and condensed is turned into water The same aire being dryed changeth into fire Fire if it be quenched and water also if it be evaporated become aire For aire is the quenchings of fire and the moisture arising from water being heated even by both of these is the aire generated For experience doth shew us that whensoever fire is quenched or water heated aire is encreased thereby Therefore aire is naturally hot and cooled by being scituated so neare unto the water and the earth which coole the lower parts thereof as the fire heateth also the upper parts of the same And this hapneth unto the aire by reason of the softnesse thereof and the easinesse which it hath to receive impressions makes it quickly depart from its proper nature and very apt to be changed But Aristotle is of opinion that there bee two sorts of aire one like unto vapours and generated by the exhalations of waters The other smoakie and bred out of the fire when it is quenched The aire which commeth of smoke he conceiveth to bee hot and that also which proceedeth from vapours when it is first bred but in continuance of time that aire as he saith cooleth by little and little untill it is converted into water This supposition of Aristotles that the aire is of two sorts was by him devised that he might escape some absurdities which he knew not otherwise how to avoid and that things which are somewhat high and farre distant from the earth might seeme hot and that such as are very low might seeme colder SECT 2. I. Of the uniting of the Elements into a naturall body what maner of composition it is and why those bodies are againe resolved into Elements II. Plato's opinion concerning the Element of earth as also concerning the other three Elements III. Of the division of the Elements according to the Stoicks The opinion of Aristotle touching a fifth body out of which hee thinkes the heavens were made and of the contrary opinion of Plato NOw all Bodies are made by the conjunction of these foure Elements both the Bodies of Plants and of living-creatures also to the composition of which bodies nature drawes together the purest parts of those Elements These are called by Aristotle naturall bodies being compounded not by heaping of the Elements one upon another but by tempering all together throughout the whole so much of every Element as is in the Body in the uniting therof and by making of them one certaine BODIE differing from what they were before that composition For they are so united that impossible it is to sever them or to see Earth by it selfe or Water alone or Ayre or Fire distinctly from the rest because one intire thing and a thing differing from the Elements is made by the tempering of all foure of them together As a medicine consisting of foure Ingredients being once made up is a thing differing from those Ingredients But yet the composition of a naturall body is not in all things like those artificiall composures For the Elements do not make the bodies by the scituation of the thinnest parts one by another as it falleth out in a medicine compounded of foure ingredients but it is effected rather by altering themselves and by uniting of all into One. All Bodies are again resolved also into these Elements by which means it commeth to passe that all the Elements remaine continually unwasted and are kept sufficient for the making of all things in regard they neither are diminished nor abound And from hence arises this generall proposition That the generation of one thing is the corruption of another And the corruption of one the generation of another not referring this perpetuity to the Soul as is aforesaid but to the Bodie onely Plato is of opinion that the three other Elements are changed one into each other and that the Earth remains altogether without mutation as may appeare by his comparing of the firmnesse of figures consisting of streight-lines with every Element To the Earth he compares the figure called a Cube because of all other figures that is least moveable The figure Icosaedron which is hardliest moved of all the rest and consisting of twenty bases he likeneth unto water The Pyramide whose motion is easiest of all the rest he resembleth to fire And Octaedron the figure consisting of eight bases hee compareth unto the Aire whose motion is easier then that of the water and more hard then fire By these figures he endevors to prove demonstratively that the three other Elements are changed one into another but that no change hapneth to the Earth For saith he three of these figures that is to say the Pyramide the Octaedron and the Icosaedron are made of Triangles whose sides are unequall whereas the Cubicall figure is made of Triangles whose sides are equall now things which are made of Triangles whose sides are unequall being dissolved and meeting together again may be changed into another but the Cubicall-figure being dissolved cannot be changed into any other because it is made of equall-sided Triangles whereof none of the other three can be made In like manner none of the other figures can be changed into a Cube And for these reasons it is necessary that the Bodies formed of these species and the species whereof they are formed should in respect of one another be such as they were And yet the Earth remaineth not altogether impassible but is divided by bodies having thinner parts then it selfe being after a manner altered from Element to Element and yet not changed into those things which doe divide it For when it is recollected againe unto it selfe it recovereth the state which it formerly had as appeares by it in the water For if you cast a little earth into the water and stir it often up and down that earth dissolves into water but if you leave stirring of the same the water settles and the earth sinks to a residence The like is to
be thought of the whole earth and this is not a changing but a dissevering of such things as were mingled together Plato affirmes that the earth is also severed by the sharpnesse of the fire and being so dissolved is elevated and carryed away in the fire So likewise in the masse of the Aire when Aire dissolves it and in the water when it is dissolved in the water Moreover Plato mentioneth another division of the Elements affirming every one of them to have three Qualities The fire to have sharpnesse rarenesse and motion The Element which is directly in the extreame thereunto that is to say the earth to have dulnesse thicknesse and rest So in respect of these Qualities the earth and the fire be cleane contrary to each other whereas they were not so by those two qualities whereof we had formerly spoken He holdeth likewise that by qualities taken from the two extreames those Elements were made which are in the middle betweene these two For saith he two qualities to wit rarenesse and motion being taken from the fire and one that is to say dulnesse being assumed from the Earth Aire is thereof composed whose effecting Qualities are rarenesse motion and dulnesse In like manner two Qualities are taken from the earth namely dulnesse and thicknesse and one from the fire to wit motion whereof proceeds water which getteth also his forme by thicknesse dulnesse and motion Therefore the same that sharpnesse is in respect of dulnesse the same is fire in respect of aire such as rarenesse is in respect of thicknesse such is aire in respect of water That which motion is in respect of rest that water is in respect of earth Look what fire is in respect of aire the like is aire in respect of water And as aire is in respect of water so is water in respect of earth For it is the nature of things having a plaine thin ground to bee held together by one medium that is to say by a proportion betweene them whereas firme and sollid Bodies are not kept fast together but by two mediums There are yet other qualities ascribed unto the Elements Namely to the earth and water WEIGHTINESSE whereby they doe naturally incline downeward and to aire and fire LIGHTNESSE whereby they are naturally given to mount upward The Stoicks have moreover another way of dividing the Elements for some they affirme to be active and some passive By active they meane the more stirring Elements such as are the fire and the aire By passive they understand the duller Elements that is to say the earth and water But Aristotle besides these Elements bringeth in a Fifth BODIE which he tearmes Aethereall and this bee fancies to bee a BODIE having in it a circular motion because it pleaseth him not to say that the heavens are composed of the foure Elements And he calls the Fifth a Body moved circularly because it is as he imagines caried circularly round about the earth Plato is of another opinion and affirmes directly that the heavens are made of fire and of earth His words are these Every bodily shape which is made must be visible and subject unto touching but nothing can bee visible without some fire in it not subject unto touching without some firmenesse nor can any thing be firm without earth And therupon in the beginning God caused the body of the whole world to bee composed of earth and fire Now it is not possible that two things alone should bee made to unite and agree well together without a third which must be as it were a band betweene them to bring them both together and of all bands that is the chief which can most perfectly bring into an unity both it selfe and such things as are united by the same And this the nature of proportion doth best performe By the band here mentioned hee intends the two middle-Elements taken according to the proportion whereof we spake before SECT 3. I. The opinion of the Hebrewes and of Apollinarius touching the making of the heavens and of the earth II. Arguments out of Hippocrates against Thales Anaximenes and Heraclitus who say that there is but one onely Element III. The body being an instrument for the soul is made fit for the operations thereof THe Hebrewes in their opinions concerning the making of the heavens and the earth differ so much from all others that but few have conceived thereof as they doe For they affirme that they were created of no fore existing matter according to Moses who said In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth But Apollinarius thinks that God made the heaven and the earth of the depth of waters For Moses in his description of the worlds creation doth not so make mention of the depth of waters as if it had beene created but in Iob these words are to bee found He made the depth of waters Therefore hee affirmed that all other things were made out of that as out of a matter common to all Hee doth not say that this depth of waters was never made but that it was laid downe by the Creator as a foundation before any other bodily-thing was made that other things might bee made thereof For the very name of depth declares the infinitenesse of the matter And indeed whether it bee this or that way taken it is not much materiall For even by this opinion also God is confessed the sole Creator of all things and that hee made every thing of nothing Now there bee some who say that there is but one onely Element either Fire or Aire or Water For Thales affirmes that fire only Anaximenes that aire onely and Heraclitus with Hipparchus Metapontinus that water onely is an Element against whom it shall be sufficient to alleage what Hippocrates hath said in that behalfe If saith he MAN were composed but of one onely thing hee could never feele any griefe For hee being but One thing nothing could procure paine unto him or if hee should feele any griefe there could be but one thing which might heale him For that which feeleth griefe must needs bee in a mutation with some sense And if there bee but one Element there can then bee nothing whereinto the living-creature should be changed And if it were not altered but continued setled in the same state it could not possibly feele paine though it were never so sensible He saith further It is necessary that the thing which any body suffereth should proceed from some other thing but if there bee but one onely Element there can be no quality beside the quality of one Element whereby the living-creature may be afflicted And if neither can bee changed nor suffer any thing how can it bee grieved After hee had thus declared the impossibility thereof he supposeth neverthelesse the same to be granted and thereupon thus inferreth Grant saith hee it could suffer griefe and then it will follow that there is but one thing onely which can cure the same but experience
one of his parts and seeing every inferiour compound bodie is composed of the foure Elements it is necessary that such things should happen unto him as the Elements are subject unto That is to say Cutting mutation and flowing By mutation I mean mutation in Qualitie and I terme it Flowing when he is emptied or purged of such things as are in him For a living creature hath alway his evacuations both by such pores as are manifestly seene and by such also as we see not whereof I shall speake hereafter It is necessary therefore that so much should be taken in again as was evacuated seeing else the living creature would perish through defect of what should re-enter to supply the want And if the things evacuated be either dry or moist or spirits it is as necessary that the living creature should have a continuall supply of dry and moist nourishments and of spirits The meats and drinks which wee receive are made of those Elements whereof we also are composed for every thing is nourished with what is agreeable and like unto it and in diseases we are cured with what is contrary to the disease There he some of the Elements which we sometime receive into our Bodies immediately of thēselves and sometime use means unto the receiving of them as for example we somtime receive water of it self sometime wee use Wine and Oyle and all those that are called moist fruits as means to the receiving of water For wine is nothing else but a certain water comming from the Vine and so or so qualified In like manner we partake of Fire sometime immediately as when we are warmed by it sometime also by the means of such things as we eate and drink for all things containe in them some portion of Fire more or lesse We are in like case partakers of Aire either immediately when we breathe it and have it spread round about us or draw it in by our eating and drinking or else by meanes of such other things as we receive into us But as for the Earth we seldome or never receive it immediately but by certain meanes For we eate the corn which commeth of the earth Larks Doves and Partridges feed oftentimes upon the earth but Man usually feedeth on the earth by the means of feeds fruits berries and by the flesh which proceedeth from things nourished by the Earth And forasmuch as God respecting not onely a decencie but also the furnishing of us with a very quick sense of feeling in which man exceedeth all other living creatures he hath clothed us neither with a tough skin as Oxen and other beasts that have a thicke hide neither with large thicke set haire as goats hares and sheepe neither with scales as fishes and serpents neither with hard shells as Tortoises and Oysters neither with a more fleshie bark as Lobsters neither with feathers as birds and therefore wanting these coverings it is necessary wee should have Raiment to supply that in us which nature hath bestowed on other living creatures These are the causes why wee stand in need of nourishment and clothing And not onely for the same ends are our houses become necessary but also that wee may escape the violence of wilde beasts which is none of their least commodities Moreover by reason of the distemperature of qualities in the humane body Physitians and their art are likewise needfull that thereby as often as occasion requires those things which are rent asunder may be fastned againe together for the preservation of health And whereas the alteration consisteth in the quality it is necessary that wee bring the state of the body to a just temperature by the contrary Quality For it is not the Physitians purpose as some think to coole the Bodie which hath beene in a heat but to change it into a temperate estate seeing if they should coole it the disease turneth not to health but to the contrary sicknesse Now in regard of Arts and Sciences and by the necessarie use which we have of such things as they accomplish it so commeth to passe that we need the mutuall assistance one of another and by that need which wee have each of other many of us assembling together in common doe thereby the more conveniently bargaine and contract for such things as may serve to supply the necessities of life This meeting and dwelling together was anciently termed by the name of a Citie by the neere neighbourhood whereof men received aid and profit by each others arts labours without the discommodities of long and far Travaile For Man was naturally made to be such a living creature as should be sociable delighted in neighbourhood And forasmuch as men could not otherwise be so conveniently provided of useful things it is evident that the study of Arts and the necessity of traffick were the first occasions of erecting Cities SECT 4. I. Of the two Priviledges which MAN hath obtained above all other Creatures viz. to be capable of the Forgivenes of sinnes and Immortalitie the Justice and Mercy of GOD in vouchsafing the pardon of sinne of MAN and denying the same to Angels II Man only is a creature capable of learning Arts and Sciences A Definition of Man and Reasons justifying every branch of that Definition III. The World was not made for the Angels nor for any other but MAN onely To him was committed the government of the Vniverse with a limitation to use not abuse the Creatures THere are also two Priviledges which Man hath specially gotten above all other One is to obtaine pardon by Repentance the other is that his body being mortall should be brought to immortalitie This priviledge of the body he getteth by meanes of the soul and the priviledge of the soul by reason of the bodie Yea among Reasonable creatures Man only hath obtained this Peculiar that God vouchsafeth him the pardon of sin upon repentance For neither the Devils nor the Angels are vouchsafed pardon though they doe repent Hereby the most exact Iustice and admirable mercy of GOD is both fully proved and evidently declared For good cause is there why pardon should not bee granted to Angels though they doe repent because there is nothing in them which naturally allures or draws them to sin and in regard also that they of their own nature are free from all passions wants and pleasures of the body But MAN though hee be indowed with Reason yet hee is also a bodily living creature and therefore his wants in that hee is such a living creature together with his passions do often blinde and captivate his reason And therefore when he returnes againe by repentance and applies himselfe unto vertue he obtaineth mercy and forgivenesse For as it is proper to the Essence of MAN to have the ability of laughing because it agreeth to man only to all men and ever to man so in respect of those things which proceed from the grace of God it is proper unto Man above all Creatures
Senses is cause of that uniting But wee shall never be perswaded to grant unto them that the Senses are certaine powers of the body For wee have already manifestly declared what things belong properly to the Body what things to the SOUL only and what to the SOUL and body both together And we therupon concluded that the Senses which worke by the instruments of the Body are to bee reckoned among those things which are proper to the SOUL and bodie joyned in One These things confidered it is most agreeable to reason wee should affirme according to the nature of incorporeall-things and as is aforesaid that these Essences of the soule and Body are united without confusion and in such maner that the more Divine nature is nothing impaired by the inferiour nature but that onely the inferiour nature is profited by that which is Divine For a nature which is purely incorporeall can passe without stop thorow all things whereas nothing hath passage thorow that By passing through all things it is united and in regard nothing passes through the same it remaines void of mixture and without confusion It is not rightly affirmed therefore though many excellent men be of this opinion that no reason else can be given why the union whereof wee have treated should bee after such a manner but onely because it pleased God it should so be For the very nature of the things is cause thereof We may justly say that it came to passe meerely by GOD's good pleasure and choise that the SON should take a Bodie unto himselfe But it commeth not meerely of the good pleasure of GOD though it be also his good pleasure it should be so but of the proper nature of the Godhead that when it is united it should not bee confounded with the Man-hood Wee will speake nothing of the degrees of soules nor of their ascending and descending mentioned by Origen For we finde in holy Scriptures nothing warranting the same neither are they agreeable to the doctrines commonly received among Christians CAP. 4. SECT 1. I. Of the Body and of the mediate and immediate composition thereof II. Of those parts of a living-creature every portion wherof taketh the name of the whole and of those parts which take not the name of the whole III. MAN only hath every part belonging to the Body of a perfect LIVING-CREATVRE whereas all others are defective in some of the parts and many in the Situation of them RIghtly may we affirme that every corporeall Essence is a composition proceeding from the foure Elements and made up of them The bodies of living-creatures having blood in them are cōpacted immediatly of the four humors Blood flegm Choller Melancholy But the Bodies of such as are without blood are made of the other three humours and of somewhat in them answering proportionably unto blood We call that immediately when any thing is made of the selfe-same things without any other thing comming between them As the foure humours are made of the foure Elements and those things are compounded of the foure humours which consist of like parts and are parts also of the body that is things having such parts every part of which parts may bee called by the same name which is given unto the whole as when every part of the flesh is called flesh Melancholy is likned to Earth Flegme to water Blood to Ayre Choller to Fire and every thing which is compounded of the Elements is either a Masse or Moisture or Spirits Aristotle thought that the bodies of living-creatures were made immediately of Blood onely because the seed is ingendred of blood and all the parts of a living-creature nourished thereby But because it seemed somewhat absurd to imagine that both hardest bones and the tenderest flesh and fatnesse should proceed all of one thing It pleased Hippocrates to affirme that the bodies of living-creatures were immediately compacted of the foure Elements the thicke and sollid parts of the more earthly Elements and the soft parts of such Elements as are softest Oftentimes all the foure humours are found in the blood whereof wee have experience in Phlebotomy For sometime a certaine flegme like whey doth abound in it otherwhile Melancholy and sometime againe Choller Whereupon it commeth to passe that all men seem in some sort to agree with one another Now of the parts of living-creatures some parts there be every portion of which parts hath the same name which is given unto the whole part Othersome there are which cannot bee called by the same name whereby the whole is called As for example Every part of the Braine is called Braine In like maner of the sinewes of the marrow of the bones of the teeth of the grissells of the nayles of the thin muscles that binde the Ioynts together of all the skins throughout the body of the strings which are in the bloody flesh of the haires of the flesh of the veines of the arteries of the pores of the fat and of those foure which are in maner of Elemēts yeelding matter out of which the things aforesaid are immediately made pure Blood Flegme Melancholy and Choller Except from these the Muscle which is compounded of those thinner Muscles which knit our joynts together and of the strings which are of the nature of sinewes The parts of the body consisting of portions whereof every one taketh not the name of the whole are these that follow viz. the head the breast the hands the feet and such other members of Mans body For if you divide the head into severall parts every part of it is not called a Head but if you divide a sinew into severall portions every portion of it shall have the denomination of a sinew and so shall it be likewise if you divide or subdivide a veine or flesh Every whole thing whose severall parts have not the same name with the whole is made of such things as impart the name of the whole to the parts when they are compounded together as the head is made of sinewes and flesh and bone and such like which are called the instrumentall parts The definition therefore of such things as the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is things which consist of like parts is thus made They are things whose parts are like both to the whole and to each other as flesh braine c. and by the word like in this place we meane the same with the whole for a piece of a mans flesh is as truly flesh as the whole masse Now every living-creature hath not all the parts of a body but some of them are defective in one part and some in others for some lack feet as fishes and Serpents Some have no head as Crabs and Lobsters and certaine other water-creatures and because they want a head the seat of their sense is in the breast Some living-creatures have no Lungs namely all such as breath no Ayre some are without a bladder as birds and all such as
the view of every thing which is in the world if his opinion be allowed for according to his tenet there is but one soul for all things even the reasonable-soul SECT 2. I. Of the proper object of sight and of such other meanes and circumstances as are usefull in seeing II. Though colour and shape are onely the proper objects of sight yet by cogitation and memory it commeth to the knowledge of other qualities in the thing seene III. Of such senses as are conversant about things at a distance and in what cases the sight erres or needs the aide of other senses THe sight seeth by straight lines but it feeleth first principally the colours of things and together with theÌ„ discerneth also the body that is coloured the magnitude the shape the place wherein it is the distance the number the motion and the rest thereof as like wise whether it be rough or smooth or unequall or even or sharpe or dull or what element is predominant therin and whether it be waterish or earthy moist or dry Yet that which is the proper object of this sense is colour onely for wee no way attaine the knowledge of colours but by our sight and assoone as wee behold the colour wee therewithall do immediately perceive also the coloured body the place wherein the visible object abideth and the distance which is between the seâ—r and the thing seene Looke in how many senses wee receive the knowledge of bâ—dily things even in so many wee come to the knowledge of a place together with the body as it is in touching and tasting but these two feele them onely when they are joyned neare unto the body except in those things which we shall speake of anon whereas the sight beholds things at a great distance Now in that the sight laies hold of such things as are visible when they be far off it must necessarily follow that it receives a sight only of the distance of things and it is then only capable of the magnitude of things when it is able at one view to comprehend the thing which appeareth but whensoever the visible body is too large to bee apprehended at one aspect then the sight needeth memory and cogitation to assist it For the sight beholding so great an object by peece-meale and not at one whole view must necessarily passe from one part thereof to another and in that passage so much onely is apprehended by the proper faculty of the sight as is present in view the rest which was viewed before is kept by the memory untill our understanding hath brought together both that which was before seen and that which is present likewise in our sight Moreover sight apprehends the magnitude of bodies two maner of wayes Sometime by it selfe alone and sometime again by the aide of memory and cogitation But by it selfe alone it never taketh notice of the number of things visible if they exceed three or foure seeing the number of them cannot not be discerned at one attempt neither can it lay hold on the motions of things neither on Figures which have many corners without it have the helpe of memory and cogitation to assist it For sight is not able to bring together five or sixe or seaven or more without the helpe of memory neither can it bring together figures that have six eight or many corners The motion also that commeth by passing from one great thing to another hath in the same some what preceding and somewhat following after and wheresoever things are found to bee some first some second and some third there memory onely is the preserver of them together But these qualities high and low equall and unequall rough and smooth sharpe and dull bee communicable both to the touching and to the sight for that they onely can discerne of place and yet they stand in some need also of our understanding For that thing onely which moves the sense by one only attempt is wrought by the sense alone without the helpe of memory and cogitation but such things as are felt at divers times are not wrought by the sense onely but by the aide of memory and cogitation as is aforesaid Such is the nature of sight that it can pierce even unto the bottome of transparant things and first and specially of the Aire For it can passe quite through it Secondly it can passe through water when it is cleare insomuch that wee may see fishes swimming in the same And though somwhat more hardly it passes through earth being of a glassie or such like transparant nature Yet this is alwayes to be supposed that these things must be enlightned when they become the proper object of sight without the aide of any other assistant But let no man bee so deceived as to imagine that the sight may of it selfe discerne hot things because when wee see fire we know that it is hot for if you refer that speech to the first function of sight you shall finde that when the sight first beheld the fire it perceived nothing but the shape and colour thereof After that wee comming to touch it and thereby knowing the same to be hot our memory preserves in us the knowledge which wee first gained by the touch and ever since when wee behold fire though wee see nothing in it but the shape and colour our understanding by the helpe of memory conceives the hear of the fire to be in the same as well as the things which are properly seene The like may be said of an apple For seeing the whole forme thereof consisteth not onely in the colour and the shape but in the smell also and in the tast it followes not that it is the sight onely whereby we know the same to bee an apple because we saw the shape and colour of it for our memory had preserved in our understanding the experience which we had formerly collected from the smell and tast and these being added unto that whereof the eye tooke notice perfited our knowledge Therefore when wee thinke an apple made of waxe to be a true apple it is our understanding which erreth and not our sight for the sight failed not to informe rightly so much as pertained unto her sense when it perceived the true colour and shape of an apple Now these three senses sight hearing and smelling are conversant about things at a distance and such as are not joyned close unto them by means of the aire comming between them But the tast cannot possibly feele any thing but that whereunto it is nearely joyned and the touching taketh part of both for sometime wee touch things bodily without any intermedium betweene us and them somtime againe wee touch them with a staffe betwixt us and the things touched Moreover the sight hath now and then want of some other of the senses to witnesse unto it the certainty of that which it perceiveth when things are artificially wrought to deceive the sight as it falleth out in
doe or possesse are therefore offended at this opinion and not without cause But some there be having more acutenesse who bringing this text of Scripture to refute us namely The wayes of man are not in his own hand say thus unto us Good friends how is the will of man free seeing his way is not in his owne hands and seeing the thoughts of men are so vaine that they cannot bring to effect those things which they have devised Many such like things they object not knowing in what sense wee speake of freewill For we affirm not that it is in our power to be rich or poore or alwayes in health or of a strong constitution of nature or to rule or generally to have those good things which wee count as instruments to worke things by or such as are called the gifts of fortune neither doe wee account those to be at our dispose which have their event from Providence But wee affirme those actions onely to be in our power which are according to vice or vertue as also our motions or choice of things or else such things whereof wee may doe the contrary aswell as the things themselves For a certaine will or choice goeth before every action and not onely the deed but the affection also is condemned as may plainly appeare in that place of the Gospell which saith He who lookes upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already w th her in his heart And we read that Iob sacrificed unto God for such offēces as his children might commit in thought For indeed the beginning either of sin or of doing uprightly is in our will whereas the doing of the thing it selfe is otherwhile permitted by Providence and otherwhile hindered For seeing there are some things in our power and a Providence beside it is necessary that such things as are done should bee done by them both Because if they were done by either of them alone the other should be to no purpose Therefore in regard all actions are mixt it will sometime happen that they shall be in our power another while that they shall bee as providence alone directeth and sometimes againe both according to Providence and as wee would also And whereas likewise there is sometimes a generall and sometimes a particular Providence it is necessary that the same should fall out in particular things as it doth in things generall For if the aire about us bee dry our bodies are dryed also though not all alike And if a mother be given to riotous fare or a distempered dyet even thereby shall her children become distempered in body and perverse in such things as they attempt It is plaine therefore by what hath beene said that men may fall into a distempered estate of body either by the generall distēperature of the aire or by the dyet of parents or when they spoil themselves by their owne voluptuousnesse and that they may be distempered sometime by such occasions as take their beginnings from themselves in such maner that Providence shall not altogether bee the cause of such things If then the Soul shall yeeld her selfe to be overswayed by the temperature of the body and give place to wrath or lust or bee pressed downe by outward things as poverty or lifted up by riches or the like if any evill commeth to the same thereby it so hapned thereunto by the selfe-will of that Soul Seeing if shee had not voluntarily yeelded her selfe to those distemperatures she might have overcome them and beene in good case For through well ordering the affections of the minde by a convenient dyet and a good conversation she might have altered that temperature rather then have beene perverted thereby This is manifest by the example of such as are in a good condition and that all such as are not in a good estate doe sin voluntarily and not by constraint And that it is in our power either to consent and yeeld our selves unto our bodily distemperatures or to resist and overcome them Neverthelesse there be many who pretend these distemperatures to bee the cause why we doe such or such things and so impute their wickednesse not unto their owne will but to necessity And therefore they cōclude though very absurdly that the vertues also are not in our power CAP. 41. I. Of the cause why man was made with free will and that if it had been otherwise he had neither beene capable of the contemplative nor practike faculty nor been a reasonable creature II. Of the mutability of men and Angels and of the causes thereof and of some inferences thereupon proving freewill III. It is not through any naturall defect that men are vicious but by their owne will And it is here shewne also that man without freewill could neither have any vice nor vertue SOmewhat remaines to be declared wherby it may bee manifest why man had freewill bestowed upon him We affirme that immediately together with reason this freewill entered into us and that together with nature there is ingraffed into created things a mutability and alteration especially in those things which are a subject made of matter For there is a mutation even in the very beginning of every thing which is made and all making proceedeth from an alteration of the materiall subject This is evident to any man who considerately beholds the plants and living-creatures which have their abiding either in the earth in the water or in the aire For there is in all those a continuall mutability Moreover that our freewill enters into us together with reason hath beene made plain enough by those things which we have said to prove that some thing is in our power as will appeare to them who have heeded what was delivered to that purpose But because the sequell of this treatise doth for some respects require the same perhaps it will not be impertinent to repeat some part of that which was formerly declared Our reason is divided into contemplation and practise Contemplative reason is that which concerneth universally the nature of things as they bee really and active reason is that whereby wee deliberate of things and sets downe the right way of putting them into execution The contemplative part is called the minde or the principall part of the soule and the active part is termed reason The one is likewise called wisdome and the other prudence Now every one that deliberates doth for this cause deliberate even for that the choice of such things as are to be done is in his power and to the intent that hee might by deliberation make choice of that which is most worthy and that after he hath so chosen he might execute the same It is therefore necessary that he which deliberates should have power over his owne deeds for if he have not power over his owne actions his consultation will be fruitlesse also unto him And if these things be so it will follow by a necessary consequence that wheresoever reason is