Earth nor with the Sea and lastly because that our sight holpen by the Prospective-glasses observes in it some Seas and the tops of divers Mountains and such like remarkable things whereof the Maps and figures may be seen in Hevelius Argolius and several others and in our Book de Telescopio These Spots shew that the Moon is partaker of the Elementary and Terrestriall nature and consequently of the rest of the Elements This did move Plato to say That the Stars are composed of fire and earth by reason of their splendour and of their great and lumpish body This plurality of Worlds may again be proved by the variety of the causes that compose it and by the divers combinations that may thence be made which is the argument used by Morodorus in Plutarch in his book of the Philosophers opinion wherein it 's said That where the causes are there the effects ought to be also and the causes of the World being a great many so also ought the Worlds to be many the causes of the world are the four Elements and others that may yet be unknown to us or the infinite number of Democritus Atomes unlesse we had rather say That its God who being infinite so likewise hath created an infinite not onely of Worlds but of all things And indeed as the same Philosopher saith it would be a sad spectacle if there were but an ear of corn in a great field the same would it be of Heaven if it were true that there is no more Earth but one Chap. XXI Wherein is the same proved by certain Reasons drawn from Galileus's Observations and others as of the Stars of Jupiter and of the Spots in the Sun THat great Galileus who seemed onely to be in the World for to resolve the doubts in Astrologie hath discovered with his admirable invention of Prospective-glasses which immortalize his name by the discovery of what is contained in the Stars he is the first who hath directed his Telescopes or Prospective-glasses towards Heaven and by help of them that the milky line were small Stars which by reason of their proximity and great number do confound their light he also hath discovered the Moons superficies not smooth but rugged and full of risings of Hills and hollownesse of Valleys He also hath observed that the Star Venus doth imitate the course of the Moon being now full then half then in the first quarter as a sithe and hath observed the perspicuous change of bignesse in Venus and Mars's diameters things of great concernment and note for the theories of Copernicus and Tycho Brahe He hath ashamed the Sun discovering in him those Spots which for so many Ages he had buried and hid in his bright obscurity and hath discerned that those Spots were not fixed and alwayes lasting as those in the Moon but that they disappear appear again turning round the Sun he hath also discovered four new Planets that had not yet bin observed by some of the ancient Astrologers which he hath called the Planets of Medicis in favour of his Prince these Planets move onely round about Jupiter which hath induced some to believe that Jupiter was another world or another Sun round about which other Planets do run as round about that which in lightens us He hath farther observed that the Planet Saturn hath three bodies having two more at his sides and that the Planet Jupiter is be spotted with girdles or Zones that do girth it the which may plainly and perspicuously be seen by those Telescopes or Prospectives admirably well made by Torricelli the Florentine These are those rare Observations of that illustrious Person who though but little in body yet so great in ingenuity and acuity of spirit that all the World hath suffered by the losse of him He became blind by reason of his too great propensity and labour in these Observations and he who had in these things given light to all this world could not enjoy the light nor his Invention Foscarius adds to all these Observations that Venus hath been seen with three bodies as well as Saturn and that Jupiter hath 4. bodies But Gassendus Fontana Neapolitan hath now the excellentest Telescope in the world with which he hath seen the four Planets which are adjacent to Jupiter as four Moons two about Saturn which make a figure of a pot handle at each side of it In the midst of Mars a little Globe at his brimmes a darkish circle and about Venus two Moons or Stars Chap. XXII Proving the Plurality of Worlds by a Reason taken from the Clouds and the waters above in Heaven WIth the Prospective-glasse we may see some Clouds flying round about the Sun which can arise but from the Moon from other Stars or from the Sun it self because they be beyond the Region of the Meteors Now if the Stars ingender clouds they have water within themselves but if the Element of water is in them the Element of earth and the rest have as great priviledge to be in them as it Now that there is water in them the first Chapter of Genesis proves it clearly when he saith Then God said Let there be a Firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters And God made the Firmament and divided the waters which were under the Firmament from the waters which were above the Firmament he called the Firmament Heaven and the waters under the Firmament Seas Esdras in Chap. 6. of his second Book saith the same in these terms Thou madest the spirit of the Firmament and commandedst it to part asunder and to make a division betwixt the waters that the one part might go up and the other remain beneath Where are these waters above I beseech you if they are not in the Stars For it 's a very weak Reason to say That they are in the Clouds because that besides that they could not contain the Seas It s said in the second Chapter of Genesis that God had not caused it to rain upon the Earth but there went up a mist from the Earth and watered the whole face of the Earth and so consequently there was no vapour raised up to form them and what should have raised them seeing there was yet no Sun created to light the World Let us then lift up our eyes to Heaven and as the new Gymnosophists who daily contemplated the Sun let us observe in them those new Worlds wherewith it is wonderfully enriched which are divers and various in bignesse light and other qualities let us not be as poor simple Countrey fellowes who having seen no farther then the corner of their own chimney cannot apprehend that there can be any Town or City bigger then their Village but let us raise our spirits to the contemplation of the remotest and highest things that are thereby ennobling our selves though it be a very high attempt O how happy is that man who when he pleaseth can spiritually loosen his
Heresie and Atheism I confidently believe that this admirable order of the World which disperses the confusisions and chaos which by reason of mens ignorance do yet reign will even make the greatest Atheists of this world to confesse That they cannot have their originall but from God alone who is the Soveraign Creator of all things Melancthon saith farther That if there were divers Worlds it would be requisite that Jesus Christ should suffer death several times for to save them all but what do we know whether those Men in the Stars are better then those that are in this world whereof Satan is called the Prince and where he abides for which cause St. John saith in Chap. 12. v. 12. of the Revelations Therefore rejoyce ye Heavens and ye that dwell in them wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea for the Devil is come down unto you And though we should certainly know that those men in the Starres have need of salvation God hath so many means and wayes to us unknown for to save them and to satisfie his Justice that we need not inform our selves about these things but believe them in faith captivating our understandings as an ancient Father of the Church hath well spoken But some may object Who is he that will believe it To whom I shall reply with Plato No wicked man shall ever know it but he onely who shall be found worthy of it Let then those who are unworthy of so high and sublime knowledge withdraw hence their gross spirit cannot apprehend the subtilty of it and as Spiders do turn the best food into venome and poyson they call that which is the true way to the knowledge of God the high-way to Atheism Chap. XXXV Proving the Plurality of Worlds by a Reason drawn from the place of Hell SOme scrupulous persons might say That the Reason of this Chapter seems in something to contradict the doctrine of the Church But I shall answer him That if any one should endeavour to prove that there is no Hell his Opinion should certainly be esteemed erroneous and pernicious but to do nothing but to establish and confirm it as I do in this Chapter and to remark the place where it is being that the Divines cannot certainly point out the place I find nothing in it repugnant to Christianity Now whereas our bodies are to rise from the dead for to be rewarded according to their deserts good or evill and that the damned are in greater number then the saved the place of Hell must needs be very spatious and great to contain them all and solid and firm to uphold them but it cannot be anywhere but in one of the Stars and so consequently the Stars may have Inhabitants in them for it 's said That the Center of the Earth because it is the center of the World and the farthest place from Heaven but that I cannot find it needful to place it in the Center of the World considering that God is equally every where and that men cannot alienate themselves from him and also because it 's very easie to prove the contrary not only in that it could not be sufficient to contain in it self all the damned that have been since the Creation and shall be unto the end nor can be penetrated through by their lumpish bodies and also because the Earth it self at the day of Judgment must be consumed and done away as Esdras saith in 4th Chapter and 42 verse of his second book but also in this that not the earth but the Sun is the Center of the worlds the Sun then by reason of its far distance from the highest Heavens saith Foscarinus is the true place of Hell even as its siery nature required for the internall habitations seems to perswade it but I cannot admit this opinion though that I hold that Hell must be in one of the Stars but to seat it in so beautiful a Star as the Sun is I cannot consent to it seeing that the damned Souls cannot merit so good and advantagious an habitation But on the contrary It may seem more plausible and consonant to truth to seat the Paradise of God in the Sun according to that Text in the Psalms In Sâ—le posuit tabernaculum suum God hath placed his Tabernacle in the Sun But to prove more certainly that Hell is not within the Earth let us but observe that it was created before the Earth seeing that the wicked Angels were banished into it before the Creation of the Earth to which agrees the first Chapter and 14 verse of the Wisdome of Solomon saying The Kingdom of death is not upon the Earth Chap. XXXVI Proving the plurality of Worlds by an Argument drawn from the Seat of Paradise both Celestial and Terrestrial IT may likewise be proved That Paradise is no where else but in the Stars Now it 's most clear and certain that it 's not this Earth but a new Earth wherein is the heavenly Jerusalem which must needs be a solid place as well as our Earth that it may hold us up wherein all joy and happinesse shall be and out of which shall all miseries and torments be banished this place is prepared of old for men and what do we know but that we shall be dispersed into severall Stars doth not our Lord Christ Jesus assure us That in his Fathers house are many Mansions and Esdras in the 4. chap. 7. ver. of his second Book tels us How many Springs are above the Firmament and which are the out-goings of Paradise It may be that after we have inhabited this Earth of misery and sorrow wherein death and infirmity are the wages of our sins we shall be introduced into those high Globes wherein we shall live for ever in fulnesse of happinesse and joy Is it not said in Rev. 2. ver. 28. To him that overcomes will I give the morning Star And Job in the 38. and 7. v. doth see through Faith the Morning Stars singing together and all the Sons of Men shouting for joy This his Vision shall be accomplished when we shall trample upon these moving wonders and if by reason of those glorious objects we may remember the things of this Earth we shall from those vast habitations of glory look with great contempt and disdain upon this lump of Earth so highly esteemed of men and by them divided into so many Regions and Countreys and upon that drop of water by them divided into so many Seas May it not also be that the Earthly Paradise or Garden of Eden out of which Adam was driven was the same place whereunto we shall return he was driven out of it for his sins without which he had not tasted death And now that Jesus Christ by his satisfaction to the Father's Justice hath blotted them out we shall be therein introduced Munster faith that many ancient Philosophers did imagine it scituated in a high place encompassed with fire adjoyning the Circle of the Moon
and that there are Elias and Enoch those Antients were not far from my opinion seeing the inconveniencies that would follow if we did seat it in this our World for if to believe that this Paradise was upon this Earth it 's a very hard thing for it 's of no moment to rely upon the names of the Rivers and Countreys that are named in the translation of the Holy Scripture considering that the Hebrew names in it are not conforme and that the Translators do yeild that they have Interpreted them but by conjecture and as nigh as they could guesse Again this Paradise can no more be found on the Earth nor those Rivers that are said to be those whom Moses doth mention do not issue from one and the same Spring as it 's recorded of those of Paradise And lastly it would be a ridiculous thing to believe that God hath driven his people from that place which he suffers the Turks and other Infidels to enjoy it being that whole Country apprehended to have been this Earthly Paradise of delight Before I conclude this Chapter I will here alledge two notable things The first is that as there is no Book though never so bad but there is also some good in it Neither is there any Religion but hath some good Maxims The Chineans and the Turks being perswaded by appearances do not at all doubt but that after death they go to inhabit the World of the Moon The second is that there are already divers bodies in Hell and also in Paradise In Hell are those who have yeilded up their bodies to the unclean spirits and Daemons but in Paradise are Elias and Enoch which both places to hold up those bodies must needs be solid which solidity cannot be but in some Stars or Star where God doth manifest himself more clearly and visibly and where are those Rocks of eternity whereof it 's spoken by Moses whereunto we must desire to go and there to dwell exchanging this Valley of misery to the great advantage and comfort of our glorious bodies Chap. XXXVII Proving the Worlds plurality by an Answer made by the Daemons IF any Creature can know the pure and naked truth of things and that may decide and resolve this question to the full certainly the evil spirits may but how may we enquire of them about it Thus it may be done for it 's very certain that Pans Sylvaines and other gods who in former Ages did appear to men were wicked spirits and Daemons who required worship from men but a certain Silenus who was one of that nature suffering Marsias to take possession of him told him That there were other Worlds where men lived as old again as we and were of higher and greater shape and stature And in the History of Faustus the Magician it 's said that his spirits did walk him amongst the Starres for the space of eight dayes and that he was carried 80000 miles high far from us and that ascending up very high he did perceive from far off this Earth the Cities and other things in it contained but this his relation is but in brief Chap. XXXVIII Proving the same by a Reason drawn from the unprofitablenesse of the light of the Sun and others IF there were no Globes inhabited above the Sun for what use would that light be which the Sun casts above him It would be altogether unprofitable and uselesse if it was lost in the Air It is then cast upon those bodies that have need of it which cannot be any thing else but the Starres which of their nature are dark and obscure and earthly as the earth that we inhabit for otherwise they would have no need of the Sun's light Shall not so many Reasons suffice for to overcome that obstinacy and Preoccupation Great Alexander may break the Ice and shew us the way who having heard Anaxarch the Philosopher discoursing upon this subject matter did believe him and fell a weeping because that there being other Worlds he had yet conquered but one Chap. XXXIX Proving the same by the Suns mutual ravishments betwixt the Earth and the Moon and by their equal qualities and by other notable Reasons WE may say That the time spoken by Seneca in his Medea is come now Quae Typhis novos deteget orbes Wherein we may learn things unheard viz. the discovery of new Worlds Et tabula pictos ediscere mundos We may say it with better ground then he seeing he onely spoke of the Indies and we speak of Worlds distinct and separated and prove it by so many Arguments as if we could not come to an end of them for it may yet be proved in that the Earth and the Moon deprive each other mutually of the Sun which deed doth testifie their conformity and that both may suffer Eclipses also by their mutual communications cold qualities solidity and roughnesse that help us to see it for many think that we should scarcc see it were it not for its irregularities which cause its light better to reverberate the beames of the Sun I shall add to this That if God who could make many Worlds had not made them his power might be said in some respects to have been idle unprofitable and limited for though it ayms not so much to the works as to the end of them yet it being for his greater glory though he doth not whatsoever he can we cannot assert That he was not willing to make many Worlds as we cannot deny but he had the power to make them Thirdly the common and general opinion grants the four Elements to be in Heaven for it believed that there is the Empyred Heaven that is the Heaven of fire the crystal Heaven that is of a waterish nature the Heaven of the Stars which is solid and by consequence of an earthly nature and the Air is apprehended to be amongst those Stars the four Elements then are in Heaven and why may not there be also mixt and composed bodies and why not the effects as well as the causes which compose them are in it and why could they not act as well within themselves as in things far remote Fourthly the Creation of the world or of many worlds is a thing that wholly depends from the free Will of God neither can it be denyed by any natural reason for God acts not outwardly by necessity as to limit himself onely to this our World but on the contrary God willeth whatsoever implyeth not contradiction But many worlds do not imply contradiction neither from God nor from the thing created and it seems requisite that the object be the measure of the power but this World not being infinite as God is there must needs be an infinity of them Chap. XL Discoursing of those Stars discovered of late and of the Spots of the Sun HAving above mentioned the Spots of the Sun and some new Starres and thence having drawn some Arguments it may not be out of our purpose to speak of them