is this that Punctum est principium omnis lineae So that all magnitudes and continuities are deduced from one originall prick And therefore Proclus calleth Punctum magnitudinis parentem authorem hee calleth a Pricke the parent of all magnitude Which position as it hath his Mathematicall truth in Geometry so hath it his Physicall truth in naturall Philosophy From whence it must needes follow that all those so largely extended lines in the greatest bodies of the world doe lineally descend from one onely prick which in it selfe is indiuisible Now what can bee this one indiuisible pricke or point which is the Author of all those huge magnitudes which are euidently seene in those vast and extended bodies of the world the heauens and the elements but onely God himselfe Can all those huge dimensions of those immense bodies such heights such bredths such depths and such thicknesses bee possibly deduced from any other pricke then onely from God who though hee be both higher then heauen deeper then hell broader then the sea and thicker then the earth yet is hee like a pricke in euery line of all of them and as vtterly vncapable of any diuision as is the very pricke of the Mathematician which cannot be diuided by the ege of very thought Vnto which Mathematicall conceit of deducing all magnitudes and all their dimensions from God as from their true Originall point the Apostle Saint Paul doth seeme to allude when hee exciteth vs to comprehend what is the bredth and length and depth and height c. 4 And indeed if wee consider of the nature and power of a point or a pricke in a line and in all other continuities whatsoeuer whether solides or plaines wee may easily perceiue that there is in a pricke a very great similitude and resemblance of God For first as a point or pricke is the very first fountaine of euery line which is indeede nothing else but only fluxus Punctotum so this whole vniuersality of things which wee call the World is indeed nothings else but a production and elongation and dilatation of the naturall goodnesse of Almighty God The goodnesse of God is the onely true point from which all created things doe proceede For as Dionysius Areopagita very truely teacheth Deus bonitate ductus omnes naturas in lucem protulit God being onely led by his owne naturall goodnesse was thereby induced to create and make all things This is the true Center of all good things which are but as the radij that bee drawne from it And this is that which the Pythagoreans aymed at in holding this position that Mathematicorum principia sunt omnium rerum principia That the Principles of the Mathematicks are the beginnings of all things Secondly as in euery line and in euery part of it wheresoeuer you cut it you shall surely finde a pricke which was a communis Terminus vnto both the diuided parts being the beginning of the one and the end of the other and which knitted and vnited them both together so in euery part of the world which soeuer you contemplate you shall find the mighty power of the Spirit of God which like a common bond knitteth all the seuerall parts of euery thing together and vniteth them all in one common nature And this is manifestly acknowledged euen by the Heathen Poet Principio Coelum ac Terras camposque liquentes Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem magnose corpore miscet From first beginning there hath bene a certaine inward Spirit Supporting Heauen and Earth and Seas Moone Stars and all things by it Which Spirit like the Punctum is in Mathematicke body And so transfus'd in all the World through all the parts that may be That as the Soule for such it is by mouing can be proued So all the Worlds vast body is by this Soule euer moued Thirdly as a pricke is the end of euery line Linearum terminus as Aristotle speaketh the extreame point wherewith it is shut vp and determined so is God the end of all his Creatures Hee is both that Terminus à quo from which all things doe proceede and that Terminus ad quem vnto which they all are referred and that medium per quod by which they are all of them vnited And all this is confessed euen by the very Heathen who do all affirme of God with one generall consent that it is he onely which doth Et principium media finem rerum omnium tenere That God holdeth in his hands both the Beginning and Middle and End of all things Yea and this also the Apostle Paul directly affirmeth though in somewhat other termes when hee telleth vs that Of him and through him and to him are all things Of him as of their Beginning Through him as by their Middle tye and Bond and To him as to their End For so Origen expresly interpreteth those threetermes Ostendit Principium omnium ex ipso Conseruationem Per ipsum Et Finem In ipsum So that God is that Punctum in euery part of the world from whom euery Creature in the world doth proceede by whom they are preserued and vnto whom they bee destinated And this is that resemblance which Geometry affoordeth to adumbrate the nature of God vnto vs. CHAP. 10. Vnity in Arithmeticke doth leade men vnto God 2. Which is affirmed by Philosophers to bee the Originall of all things 3. Yea directly affirmed to be Gód himselfe 4. With whom it hath indeed a very great resemblance THE second of those Mathematicall Arts is Arithmeticke wherein wee doe find another paralel position vnto that which formerly wee found in Geometry For as Geometry teacheth vs that Punctum est Principium omnis lineoe so Arithmeticke teacheth vs that Vnitas est principium omnis numeri As all magnitude ariseth from one only pricke so all multitude ariseth from one only vnity For Punctum and Vnitas differ no more but thus that Punctum est Vnitas sine numero and Vnitas est punctum sine loco And therefore Zaratas the Pythagorean called Vnitatem numeri patrem Hee calleth an vnity the father of all numbers Because as Boetius very truely teacheth Omnis pluralitas est ex vnitatibus All numbers are nothing else but a coniunction of vnities Now if vnity be the parent of all multiplicitie it must needs from thence follow that all this multiplicity and variety of so infinite many things as wee see in the world doe draw their originall from onely vnity For one vnity is the beginning of all plurality as well in numero numerato in that which is numbred as in numero numerante that which numbreth as Trismegistus expresly testifieth Omnes res ab vno fuerunt iuredicatione vnius fuerunt nataeres omnes ab hacrevna aptatione All things proceeded from One by
in some smaller matters proueth their consent in the greater to be the voice of truth and that they did not ex compacto agree all together by an excogitated and composed tale to deceiue the world For then they would in all points haue morefully agreed polishing and concinning their History so smoothly that there should not haue bene found the least note of diuersity so may we likewise collect from the dissension of the Heathen in the particular Hypothesiâ— of this or that God that their consent in the Thesis of hauing some God must needs be the voice of truth in that one nation did not borrow their opinion from another for then they would haue accorded better and that God which one had the rest would all haue followed But now there being such a iarre and contention among them as concerning their particular gods euery one of them scorning the gods of another and yet in the generall agreeing all together That some God they will haue this sheweth as the Orator very wisely collecteth that Hoc non collocutio hominum aut consensus efficit non institutis â—st opinio confirmata non legibus but onely Lege Nature That this opinion of hauing a God is not begotten in the mindes of men either by conference or consent of one Nation with another not yet implanted â—n them by the Lawes and discipline of their owne priuate Nation but it is inwardly begotten by that generall Nature which they haue all in common It is a Principle of Nature which is equally imprinted into the mindes of them all none following by imitation anothers example For it cannot be the policie of the Greekes or Romanes or other ciuiller Nations that hath so largely diffused this opinion of God because wee see the most barbarous Nations who neuer had trade or commerce with them yet to bee possessed with this same opinion Againe it cannot be the rudenesse of the barbarous Nations abused in their ignorance that hath dispersed it so wide because we see the ciuill learned Nations to be possessed of it likewise who would scorne to take vp their opinion of the barbarous The learned Nations would not borrow their opinion of the rude whom they held in such contempt and the ruder could not borrow their opinion of the learned from whom they were so distant For how could the opinions of the Greekes or Romanes pierce into the extreamest India's where their names were neuer heard especially into the Westerne India's Where yet they haue their gods Therefore the Orator directly concludeth that cùm non instituto aliquo aut more aut Lege sit opinio constituta maneatque ad vnum omnium firma consensio intelligi necesse est esse Deos quoniam insitas corum vel potiùs innatas cognitiones habemus Seeing this generall opinion of God is not grounded vpon any instruction any custome any law but that all men do consent in it as if they were but one man we may hereby vnderstand that surely There is a God because there is so generall a notion of him not grafted into our minds but naturally bred in our mindes So that this great variety of idolatrous Nations in their particular opinions as concerning their proper and peculiar gods is rather an argument of the verity of that generall conclusion That there is a God then of the falsity of it As Plutarch likewise insinuateth from the very same grounds where he saith that it is vetustissima opinio a sacrarum rerum professoribus legumlatoribus deriuata authore incognito sed fide firma non in sermonibus tantùm rumoribus sed in mysterijs sacrificijs tam Barbaris quà m Graecanicis extans non casu ferri a Fortuna pendere Vniuersum hoc Mente Ratione Gubernatore destitutum That it is a most ancient opinion deriued by Priests and Lawgiuers from an vncertaine Author but yet beleeued with a most certaine faith not founded vpon rumors but vpon the generall practice both of Greekes and Barbarians in their mysteries and sacrifices That the world is not ruled by chance but by Prouidence Yea and Plutarch in the same booke is so farre from concluding from the dissension of Nations about their seuerall gods that therefore There is no God that he rather collecteth from this their dissension that they all intended That there was but One and that all with ioynt consent had a purpose to worship him though in those diuers Countries hee were called by diuers names as the Sunne is and the Moone Which yet in their owne nature are but one and the same and to all alike in common Neque verò alij apud alios sunt Dij aut Graecis quidem sui Barbaris autem sui alij Septentrionalibus alij Austrinis Sed quemadmodum Sol Luna Coelum Terra communia sunt omnibus tantùm aliter ab alijs appellantur ita vnius Mentis hoc Vniuersum temperantis alij apud alios honores alia nomina legum instituto habentur There be not diuers gods among diuers Nations The Greekes haue not theirs and the Barbarians theirs the Northerne men one sort and the Southerne men another But as the Sunne the Moone the Heauen the Earth are the same vnto all though they be in diuers places called by diuers names So likewise it is with that diuine Spirit which gouerneth the World though he be one in himselfe yet hath he in diuers Nations both differing honors and differing names and those appointed by the Lawes And so likewise Maximus Tyrius Aliter atque aliter nuncupatus est Deus Perindè vt alia atque alia Maris pars dicitur Aegeum Ionicum Myrthoum ac Cretense cùm tamen omnes Pelagus sint â—iusdem generis c. God is diuersly called in diuers Countries as the Sea it selfe is which in one place is called the Aegean sea in another place the Ionian in another the Myrthean in another the Cretian and yet all those Seas are but one and the same And so likewise is God though he be called by diuers names But howsoeuer this be whether they all intended to worship but one God vnder diuers names as those Authors insinuate or whether they applied the incommunicable name of God vnto diuers things as the Apostle teacheth that though there be indeed but one God yet were there many that were called gods Yet hereby it appeareth that their dissent in their opinions as concerning their gods did not argue a consent in denying of God but rather in accepting him And thus as Lactantius well obserueth Difficile non est paucorum hominum prauè sentientium red â—rguere mendacia testimonio populorum atque Gentium in hac vna re non dissidentium It is an easie matter to confound and ouerthrow the false opinions of a few wicked Atheists by the Testimonies of so many whole people and Nations especially consenting and agreeing all together more fully in this one thing
of all finite things and the extending of mens appâ—tites beyond all boundes and limits Two out of the Physickes The first Cause and The first Moouer of all naturall things Two out of Phisick Diseases and their Remedies Two out of the Politicks the growing and decaying of Kingdomes and Empires Two out of the Ethicks the way to Felicity and Felicity it selfe Foure out of the Mathematicks Punctum in geometrie Vnitas in Arithmeticke Ordo in Astronomy and Harmonia in Musick Finally there is no Art neither liberall nor illiberall but it commeth from God and leadeth to God And this is the substance and oeconomy of this second booke 2 Let vs first beginne with the Metaphysicks which Aristotle calleth The first Philosophy Primam Philosophiam and so by degrees descend downe vnto the rest It affoordeth vs two considerations from whence wee may collect euen by the light of nature that There needes must be a God The first is The bounding and limiting of all finite things The second The boundlesse and vnlimited appetite of mens soules 3 For the first of which two points look throgh the whole world throgh all the sensible bodies therein contained you shal euidently see that though many of them be great yet that none of them is infinite there is none of them so great as to be without his limit As euen Aristotle himselfe both affirmeth and proueth in his first booke De Coelo Where he plainely and categorically setteth downe this conclusion Corpus infinitum in ratione rerum esse non posse That it is a thing contrary to the nature of things that there should bee any body without his termes and limits No not euen the body of the vniuersall world it selfe as in the conclusion of the same chapter he expressely inferreth Vniuersi corpus infinituÌ„ esse non posse ex ijs quae diximus patet Then much lesse can any part of the world be infinite if the whole be not Vnlesse we should make the whole to be lesse then his owne part which were vtterly absurde And therfore all the parts of the world must needs be limited determined Let me giue you an instance or two to this purpose and that out euen of Aristotle himselfe Terra in Aqua haec in Acre Aer in Aethere Aether in Coelo est collocatus Ipsum verò Coelum nullo in alio corpore est vlteriùs collocatum The Earth that is bounded and limited with the Water the Water with the Aire the Aire with the Fire the fire with the Heauen The heauen is not bounded with any further Body How then is the Heauen bounded if it be not boundlesse Why thus Euery one of the lower heauens is bounded or limited by the concaâ—e or hollow part of his higher vntill we come to that which is the highest of all and containeth all the rest being contained of none And yet euen that is not without his bounds but is limited and determined within his owne conuexe or swelling superficies as a man is by his skinâ—e or a bubble of water by his thinne filme So that there is not in Nature any Body that is infinite nor any that is without all limit To be vnlimited and boundlesse is onely the Prerogatiue of the Maker of all things as Prosper very well and truly obserueth NÃlque adeò magnum est quod non certus modus arcet Et Coelum Terras totum denique mundum Limes habet Meta est altis meta profundis Sed nusquam non esse Dei est qui totus vbÃque Et penetrat Mundi membra omnia liber ambit Ther 's nought so vaste as to be voyd of limit Both Hâ—au'n and Earth and all the world hath bounds All heights and depths haue termes is we esteeme it Height ne're so high be Depth ne're so proâ—ound Vnlimited and no where not to be Agrees to God alone Who wholy is The whole World through and euery least part He Within doth pierce without doth compasse this So that there is not any Body in Nature so infinite but that it is preâ—â—â—ed within some bound and limit Now euery finite Body being thus bounded limited it must needs haue had those bounds prescribed vnto it by some other thing and not by it selfe For euery thing by nature being desirous of scope and seeking to inlarge it selfe as farre as it is able if it had the setting of his owne bounds and limits it would set none at all but would be as infinite as God himselfe is who hath the setting of limits vnto all things And therefore as you see hath set none vnto himselfe but is illimitable and boundlesse Nullis neque finibus neque spacijs â—oarctatus as Saint Hilarie teacheth Being no way straitned by any space or place And so would it be with all other things too if they had the assigning of their owne bounds and limits they would all of them be boundlesse Because all bounds be like bonds and like shackles vnto all things which they would neuer put vpon them if they could be without them For as Scaliger well obserueth Vnicuique enti insita est appetitio infinitatis There is in euery thing an appetite to make it selfe infinite The Sea if it could eate vp the whole Earth and make all the Globe Sea as it once was it would surely do it For the waters do desire to stand aboue the mountaines as the Prophet Dauid testifieth Againe the Earth if it could vtterly close vp the Sea and make all the Globe dry-land it would surely doe it as Esdras notable expresseth in a witty apologue I came saith he into a Forrest in the plaine where the Trees held a Councell and sayd Come let vs fight against the Sea that it may giue place to vs and that wee may make vs more woods Likewise the floods of the Sea tooke counsell and sayd Come and let vs go vp and fight against the Trees of the wood that we may get another Country for vs. But the purpose of the wood was vaine for the fire came downe and consumed it And the purpose of the Sea was also vaine for the sand stood vp and stopped it Whereby it appeareth that there is in all things a desire to dilate and to ingreat themselues And therefore would neuer shut vp themselues within bounds and limits as it were in a prison if they themselues had the setting and appointing of them Therefore as it is true that Nullum ens finitum est a se so it is likewise true that Nullum ens finitum est a se. As nothing that is finite is of it selfe so nothing that is is finite of it selfe But all the finite things in vniuersall nature haue both their being and their bounding of some other And they all doe feele within them the imperiall power of a superior Nature which hath appointed and prescribed those limits vnto them and
sense in the same hight of words Nimirùm Spiritus Sanctus quum natura sua sanctus sit Deus nos homines sanctificat ac Deos reddit The Holy Ghost being by nature both holy God by sanctifying vs men maketh vs become Gods So likewise Dionysius Salus non aliter existere potest nisi ij qui salutem consequuntur Dij fiant A man cannot otherwise attaine vnto saluation then if he first be made a God Which exaggerations of those fathers and Scriptures must not be expounded according to the letter as thogh men could be made to be Gods indeed for that is a thing vnpossible But the true meaning of them is that by our imitation of Gods vertue and goodnesse we are made so like vnto him and so neerely ioyned with him that we may bee sayd in some sense to be made partakers of his diuine nature because all those vertues in him are nature And therefore we may obserue in al the forenamed places that there is a mollification vsed to reduce the fore-named Apotheosis and Deification within the compasse of this sense Dionysius Areopagita where hee saith that All they which shall attaine the saluation of God must first be made Gods addeth for explication Dei porrò effectio est Dei quoad fieri potest imitatio cum eodem coniunctio atque vt ita dicam vnio The being made a God is nothing else but the imitation of God and a coniunction with him and that I may so speake a very vnion Elias Cretensis where hee saith that the Holy Ghost doth make men Gods addeth that it is per adoptionem gratiam that this making of them Gods is but onely Gods adopting them by grace to be his Sonne So Nazianzen expoundeth His being made a God to be nothing but onely His coniunction with God Quo pacto me Deum reddit vel quo pacto me coniungit Deo Which coniunction with God as Trismegistus teacheth is onely effected by religion and godlinesse Propè Deos accedit qui mente qua Dijs iunctas est diuina religione Dijs iunxerit That man commeth neere vnto God indeed that ioyneth his soule vnto him by piety and religion So likewise Boetius where hee saith that Beatus omnis Deus Thâ—t euery one which is blessed is thereby made a God hee addeth for the qualification of that speech Sed nâ—tura quidem vnus participatione verò nihil prohibet esse quamplurimos Yet there is but one God by nature but there may be many Gods by participation Not by the true participation of his naturall deitie but of his vertue and of his felicitie Yea and euen the Apostle Peter himselfe doth vse a further modification euen of this participation For where hee telleth vs that there be great and precious promises giuen vnto vs That we should be partakers of the Godly nature lest wee should misconstrue this participation to be intended of Gods true nature or deitie hee expoundeth himselfe plainely that this participation of the diuine nature must bee gotten by flying of corruption by ioyning vertue with our faith and with vertue knowledge and with knowledge temperance and with temperance patience and with patience goodlines and with godlines brotherly kindenes and with brotherly kindnes loue Which is the bond of perfection and tyeth a man strictly vnto God And this is the first degree of our felicitie with God which is affoorded vnto vs in this present life There be two degrees more which come not vnto men before the life to come The first that vertue brings vs vp to Heauen which is the place of Gods owne dwelling and there maketh vs to liue aeternally with him A thing plainely confessed euen by the very Heathen Pythagoras affirmeth in his verses that Si relicto corpore ad purum aethera perveneris Eris immortalis Deus incorruptibilis nec ampliùs mortalis When as our Soules our Bodies shall forsake And to the Heauens they shall themselues betake Then shall we be as Gods immortall beene All incorrupt no longer mortall men For we shall then enioy God who is our very life as the Prophet Moses testifieth yea the life of our life our vita vitalis as the Orator speaketh whereas this our present life is but vita mortalis a transitory and a mortall life But this saith the Apostle Paul we know that if our earthly Tabernacle be dissolued we haue a building giuen vs of God which is an house not made with hands but aeternall in the heauens And therefore saith Musonius that Vir bonus est civis vrbis Iovis quae constat ex hominibus Dijs That he which is a good man shall bee a Citizen of the Citie of God which is a Citie common vnto Gods with men Which is a probable ayming at the Heauenly Iâ—rusâ—lem which in the Booke of the Apocalypse is described vnto vs. I saw the Holy Citie new Ierusalem come downe from God out of heauen praepared as a Bryde trimmed for her husband And I heard a great voyce out of Heauen saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and hee will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himselfe will be their God with them Vpon which our cohabitation with God Tullie saith that we are Deorum quasi Gentiles the Countrymen of the Gods Nay generis divini the Kinsmen of the Gods as he addeth in that place of their owne generation as Aratus speaketh And therfore Tullie in another place speaking of the state of God and vertuous men after this present life he saith that they shall liue among the Gods Qui in corporibus humanis vitam sunt imitati Deorum his ad eos a quibus sunt profecti facilis reditus patet Such as haue liued the life of a God in the body of a man shall finde an easie passage vnto God because from him they haue descended So that God calleth those men to liue with him in heauen with whom he himselfe hath liued vpon earth Now the way whereby they ascend vp into Heauen there to liue with God is by instructing themselues in the knowledge of God As some euen of the Heathens themselues haue taught vs. Trismegistus saith expresly that Vnica salus homini est cognitio Dei haec ad Olympum ascensio The happines of man is the knowledg of God and this is our way of ascending into heauen Agreeing well with that of our Sauiour Christ This is life aeternal to know thee to be the onely true God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. For as Bernard truly noteth Summum bonum hominis est plena perfecta agnitio Creatoris The happines of the Creature is the knowledg of his Creator Not a naked or an idle knowledg but a knowledg which is ioyned with the practise of vertues As the Apostle Peter teacheth vs. Ioynes with vertue knowledge For if they be
to be nothing els but god and that by the Platonists owne doctrine Animam mande dicunt esse Mentem perfectamque sapientiam quem Deum appellant So Plutarch Mens est Deus That soule is God And againe Democritus ait Deum in igne globoso esse mundi animam Democritus sayth that God in the fiery globe is the soule of the world Yea and Virgil speaking of that Mens or Spirit which giueth motion vnto the heauens he giueth such a description of it as an agree to no Spirit but to the Spirit of God Principio Coelum ae terras Campo'sque liquentes Lucentémque globum Luna Titaniaque astra Spiritus intùs alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem He saith the Heauens the Earth the Waters and the Stars Receiue their Motions and whate're they are From an internall Spirit which th' Eternall is That vnto all of them their Motion giu's Now what Spirit can this be in all those great Creatures but onely the Spirit of God their Creator Of whom the prophet Ieremie affirmeth that hee filleth both Heauen and Earth And the Wiseman in the Booke of Wisedom That he not onely filleth them but also maintayneth them answering to Virgils-alit This Spirit that made those Creatures doth also guide their motions And their mouing in so exact both a number measure and order doth evidently show That God himselfe is their Mouer That God himselfe is their Mouer Whom euen the Heathen imagined to be delighted which their dauncing in such an order before him Yea and that something too much as the Tragick seemes to chalenge him Cur tibi tanta est cura perennâ—s Agitare vias aetheris alti Why art thou so much taken vp oh why In those perpetuall motions of the sky Yea and euen among vs Christians that renowned Poet Bartas though hee goe not so farre yet he affirmes that sacred Harmonie And numbrie law did then accompanie Th' Almighty most When first his ordinance Appointed Earth to rest and Heauen to daunce 4 And therefore diuers of them as they ascribe a rythmicall motion vnto the Starres so doe they an harmonicall vnto the Heauens ymagining that their mouing produceth the melodie of an excellent sweete tune So that they make the Starres to be Dauncers and the Heauens to be Musitians An opinion which of old hath hung in the heads and troubled the braines of many learned men yea and that not onely among the Heathen Philosophers but also euen among our Christian Divines The first Author and inuenter of which conceited imagination was the Philosopher Pythagoras Who broched his opinion with such felicitie happinesse that he wonne vnto his part diuers of the most ancient and best leaned Philosophers as Plutarch reporteth Plato whose learning Tullie so much admireth that hee calleth him The God of all Philosophers Deum Philosophorum he affirmeth of the Heauens that Euery one of them hath sitting vpon it a Sweet-singing Syren carolling-out a most pleasant and melodious song agreeing with the motion of her owne peculier heauen Which Syren though it sing of it selfe but one single part yet all of them together being eight in number for so many Heauens were onely held by the Ancients doe make an excellent Song consisting of eight parts wherein they still modulate their Songs a greeable with the motions of the eight coelestiall Spheres Which opinion of Platoes is not only allowed by Macrobius but he also affirmeth of this Syrens Song that it is a Psalme composed in the praise of God Yea and he proueth his assertion out of the very name of a Syren which signifieth as he saith as much as Deo canens A singer unto God But Maximus Tyrius he affirmeth of the Heauens that without any such helpe of those coelestiall Syrens they make a most sweete harmonie euen by their proper motions wherein they doe Omnes symmetriae numeros implere contrarióque nisu diuinum sonum perficere They by their contrary mouing doe fill vp all the parts of a most Divine and heauenly Song Which hee affirmeth to be most pleasant vnto the eares of God though it cannot be heard by the eares of men Yea and the Sages of the Greekes insinuate also as much by placing of Orpheus his harpe in Heauen implying in the seauen strings of his well turned harpe that sweete tune and harmonie which is made in heauen by the diuers motions of the seauen planets as Lucian interprets it Vnto which his opinion there may seeme to be a kinde of allusion in the Booke of Iob as the Text in the vulgar translation is rendered Concentum Coeli quis dormire facâ—et Who shall make the Harmony of the Heauens to sleepe For so likewise the Diuines of Doway translate it Pliny indeede as concerning this Harmony doth write somewhat doubtfully whether there be in truth any such thing or no suspending his owne opinion with Non facilè dixerim So that as hee doth not defend it for a veritie so doth he not againe deny it as a falsity but leaueth it as vncertaine Whose doubting of it he being of so acute and inquiring a wit is rather a credit then a discredit vnto it But much more is Aristotles deriding of it because in the end hee was forced to retract in For though in his Booke De Coelo he confute it and make in a manner but a scoffe and scorne of it yet in his booke De Mundo he alloweth of it and confesseth it to be the proper worke of God For there hee sayth expresly that God doth In mundo rerum omnium concentum continere That hee keepeth that Harmony which is to be found in all the seuerall parts of the world And so likewise Tully although in one place hee doe scoffe at this Harmony that Mundus should ad harmoniam canere That the World should sing vnto a tune yet in another place hee not onely subscribeth vnto it but also ascribeth vnto the working of it all those benigne gracious influences which from the Heauens descend vpon these inferior bodies Stellarum tantus est concentus ex dissimilimis motibus vt cùm summa Saturni refrigeret media Martis incendat His interiecta Iouis illustret temperet infraque Martem duae Soli obediant Sol ipse mundum omnem sua luce compleat ab eoque Luna illuminata grauidates partus afferat maturitatemque gignendi There is so great an Harmony and concent of the Starres arising from the diuersity of their motions that as Saturne cooleth so Mars heateth and Iupiter which is betweene them hee tempereth them both The other two Planets which are below Mars are both of them obedient vnto the Sunne which filleth the whole world with the cheerefull light of it Wherewith it illumining the body of the Moone by it giueth power of increase and generation Concluding with these words his former obseruation
Quae copulatio rerum quasi consentiens ad mundi incolumitatem coagmentatio naturae quem non moâ—et hunc horum nihil reputasse certò scio This consent and agreement of those naturall things so greatly aduancing the good of the whole world if it doe not mooue any man it is onely from this cause That he neuer well considered them Resoluing that no man could euer obserue them but that thâ—y would make a great impression in him But Macrobius leauing all those Allegoricall allusions asserteth this Harmony vnto a true and reall melody indeede occasioned by the various motions and differing magnitudes of the Heauens Which he saith must needes produce sonum dulcem musicum non ineptum asperum A sweete and delightfull not a harsh and distastfull sound as by inuincible reasons he saith may be collected Which point hee indeede hath laboured exactly with much fiâ—enesse and subtility Vnto whom I referre them that desire a more curious discourse vpon this Theame Neither is this an idle fancy begotten onely in the heads of conceited Pâ—ilosophers but it is also entertained for a certaine truth by diuers learned Christians Bedâ— alledgeth this opinion of the Harmony of Heauen for the credit of Musicke Which hee would neuer haue done if he had not allowed of it Boetius doubteth not directly to affirme it yea and to proue it too Non potest ab hac coelesti vertigine ratus ordo modulationis absistere But aboue all Anselmus though otherwise a seuere and a very austere man yet is so sweetened and mollified with the conceite of this Musicke that hee not onely asseuereth it but also indeauoureth with great paines and labour to set out the true musicall proportion of it as Macrobius before did Now it is no lesse vnprobable that so many learned men of so many differing botâ—â—ages and nations should concurre with such an harmony in defending of this Harmony if it were merely fained then it is that there should bee such an Harmony indeede Neg enìm hunc tam certum syderum cursum atque discursum forturti impetus esse dixerim saith Seneca These so certaine both courses and recourses of the Starres cannot possibly bee the workes of blinde Fortune and Chance but must needes bee Gods owne ordinance because they doe not sine aliquo Custode stare but aeternae legis imperio procedere as hee noteth in the same place They neither keepe their stations without a Keeper nor mooue their motions without a Ruler whose aeternall law they faithfully obey And it was a thing no more hard vnto God to make the Heauens to moue with a sweete melodious harmony then to make them moue without it For if Queene Cleopatra when she came vnto Antonius could instruct the Oare-men and Rowers of her Barge to strike all their strokes in such order and number that they made a most sweete harmony and concent vpon the water as exactly agreeing with her musicall instruments as the sound of a Taber agreeth with his Pipes an Art also in practice sometimes among the Greekes as may be collected out of Maximus Tyrius then much more can God doe so who ordereth all his workes both in Number Weight and Measure It is not hard for him in such sort to moderate yea and to modulate the Heauens as to make them to send foâ—th a sweete harmony in their motions Yea and it is not incredible that hee hath also done it For seeing it is vnpossible that this so huge and vast a fabricke of the Heauens being truely materiall and sensible bodies and whirled about with such incredible swiftnes should moue without some noyse as Pythagoras well collecteth and that noyse as Macrobius truely inferreth must be of necessity either sweete and melodious or harsh and absonous aut musicum aut asperum it is far more probable that that sound which God hath chosen to sound continually in his diuine Eares should rather be tuned like the sound of sweete Musicke then harsh and confused like the creaking of a Cart. For as Macrobius in the same place obserueth Fragor turbidus inconditus offendit auditum An harsh and rude crashing of things offendeth the eare And therefore it is not likely to be found in the Heauen In which as there is Nihil fortuitum so is there Nihil tumultuarium As there is nothing done rashly so there is nothing done disorderly And it cannot in any probabilitie be thought that God who hath appointed vs in our singing vpon Earth To make a pleasant melodie and to sing vnto him with a grace in our hearts would admit into the heauens themselues any such vntuneable and incomposed noyse as hath neither any grace nor melodie in it But this I doe not affirme as a certainty but onely propose as a probabilitie leauing euery man vnto his owne liberty to beleeue it or not to beleeue it as he findeth himselfe most inclined in his mind Apologizing for my selfe as Gregory Nyssen doth in a like case That heerein I doe but Ingenium ad mâ—ntem nostram in propositis exercere non doctrinam expositricem posteris relinquere I doe but onely propound it for the exercise of wit as a probability not commend it for a sealed and infallible truth vnto all posteritie Therefore be this opinion of the Harmony of the Heauens as it may be it but Lepidè quidem musicè dictum factu autem impossibile as Aristotle censureth it that is but a pleasant and musicall conceit Yet this so excellent a concent and agreement in the heauens to keepe so constantly their seuerall rankes and orders notwithstanding the diuersitie of their courses is a work which by themselues cannot possibly be done no more then any musicall Instrument can put it selfe into tune It is God the Musitian as Plutarch before calleth him that keepeth all in tune His power keepeth them all in obedience His wisedome guideth them all in their courses and his goodnesse maketh them to produce those good effects which they worke in the earth and in these inferior Bodies And therefore euen Aristotle himselfe who derideth so much the Harmony of the Heauens in any real sounds yet in respect of this harmonicall concent in the creatures he so much admireth it that he compareth God in his working of it vnto a Praecentor in a Quire who both appointeth and moderateth all the Songs that be sung there All which things declare that God as he is delighted in order so is hee likewise delighted in number Yea and in musicall number too In which opinion Anselmus is carried so farre that he not onely affirmeth that God hath giuen to the heauens an harmonicall number in their motions but also from thence collecteth that God hath in his kind an harmonicall motion euen in himselfe Habes haec in te tuo ineffabili modo qui ea dedisti rebus a te
creatis suo sensibili modo Thou hast this harmony in thy selfe after an vnspeakable manner which thou hast giuen vnto thy creatures after a sensible manner Yea and euen the very Heathen were in the same opinion who beleeued all their Gods to consist of Numbers and musical proportions â— But to leaue this harmonicall motion of Heauens as a probleme and not to determine it as as position yet certaine it is that the Heauens doe moue in such an exquisite order that the contemplation thereof hath led many to beleeue that none other but onely God can be possibly their Mouer Suidas affirmeth that euen Abraham himselfe was first occasioned to seeke after God by considering the motion of the Starres For hee being by nation a Châ—ldean who as Aristole obserueth are naturally giuen to that kinde of contemplation and obseruing in their motion a wonderfull order and varietie and yet no lesse a constancie he presently collected that these strange reuolutions could not possibly be performed if they were not directed and guided by some God So that his first motiue to seeke after God was that orderly motion which he saw the Starres obserued Yea and Orpheus himselfe insinuateth also as much Vnus praeterquam cui derivatur origo Chaldaeûm ex genere is noscebat sydera Coeli Illorúmque vias quî moueatur in orbem Sphaera tellurem circumvertatur in axem Spiritus regat hanc in aere in aequore fuso One onely Man there was of old and he from Chaldee sprang Who knew the Natures of the Stars and courses that they ranne And how the Heauen doth wheele and ring all round about the Earth The Spirit also that rules all these and Ayre and Sea beneath Which description of Orpheus is referred vnto Abraham by Clemens Alexandrinus Yea and Philo Iudaeus collecteth that this his sublime and coelestiall disposition was ominously foretold him in his very name For Abram as he interpreteth that name doth signifie as much as Pater sublimis that is A sublime and high-spirited man because his spirit did not only mount-vp into heauen but also vnto God who is higher then the Heauen and that cheifly by the obseruation of the Starres and their motion By which hee was led as it were by the hand to vnderstand There was a God And so was likewise Nigidius Figulus of whom Lucane writeth thus At Figulus cui cura deos secretaque Coeli Nosse fuit quem non Stellarum Aegyptia Memphis Aequarel visu numerisque mouentibus astra Wise Figulus whose searching care was perfectly to know Heauens secrets the Gods themselues Whom no Aegyptian sage Surpassed in his skill nor could more exquisitely show The motions of the Starres and Orbes in numbred equipage He being a great Astronomer and obseruer of the Starres was led by his curiositie in obseruing of their motion to search after God who was the Mouer of them Yea and Lucian interpreteth the fable of Bellerophon wherin he is sayd to haue mounted vp to Heauen vpon a winged Horse to haue beene nothing else in truth but onely the ascending of his minde in diuine contemplations occasioned by considering the motion of the Stars Which carried him vp in a sorte into Heauen but not Equo but Animo not by Horse but by Heart as hee mythologizeth vpon that fiction And Tullie reporteth out of Aristotle that If there were a subterraneous generation of men who had neuer once beheld the light of the Sunne and had but onely heard that there was a God if these men vpon the sodaine should bee brought out of their denne and but set to behold the wonderfull motions of the Heauens and Stars they would praesently beleeue both that there were a God as before they had heard and that these so regular and orderly motions cannot be any others but onely his works Haec cùm viderent profectò Deos esse haec tanta opera Deorum â—sse arbitrarentur To conclude this point Seneca alledgeth the orderly motion of the Stars as a visible Argument to demonstrate Gods providence And Cleanthes was not only ledde by the very same Argument to beleeue There is a God but he also alledgeth it as a sensible demonstration to induce all other men to beleeue the same Where though hee congest diuers other great reasons vnto the same purpose yet ascribeth hee the greatest force vnto this Quartam Causam esse eamque vel maximam aequabilitatem motus conversionem coeli Solis Lunae Syderumque c. And Plutarch affirmeth generally of all men that the very first motiue which ledde them vnto God was that orderly motion whereby the Stars are carried Homines coeperunt Deum agnoscere cùm viderent stellas tantam concinnitatem efficere ac dies noctesque aestate â—reme suos seruare statos ortus atque obitus Men began first to acknowledge a God when they considered the Stars to maintaine such a comelinesse and both day and night in Summer and Winter to obserue their designed risings and settings By contemplation whereof a man is not onely led to know There is a God but also is sublimed in some sorte aboue the nature of a man as I haue noted formerly out of Tullie Erigimur latiores fieri videmur humana despicimus contemplantésque supera atque coelestia haec nostra vt exigua minima contemnimus Wee are lifâ—d vp and enlarged we despise things below in our contemplation of Heauen and things that are aboue we trample vnder foote these our baser and inferiour fortunes as being of very little of no esteeme So that as Bradwardine obserueth out of Ptolomie Scientia Astrorum assimilat hominem suo Creatori The knowledge and vnderstanding of the Heauenly Creatures doth make a Man like vnto his Creator 6 And no meruaile For indeede this motion of the Heauens if it duly be considered cannot possibly proceed from any other Author but onely from God As it appeareth by this reason That this motion of the Starres must needs be a motion either proceeding from their owne nature or beside their nature It must needs be amotion either secundùm Naturam or praeter Naturam But that their motion is not of their owne proper nature I haue already proued in the first Section of this Chapter because it hath no begining neither from their Matter nor yet from their Forme And other Nature haue they none Now if it be beside their Nature thâ—n must 〈◊〉 be either by Chance or by Prudence By Chance it cannot be for then they would neither moue so orderly nor so constantly because nothing is more contrarâ—◠〈◊〉 Chance and Fortune is to constancie and reason And therefore thâ—â—r motion being so constant and orderly must needs be directed not by Fortune but by Wisdome From whence it must needs follow that the opinion of the Epicure who ascribeth all the motions of the Heauens
Creators praise And for Beasts Plinie giueth instance in the Elephants that they haue not onely a sense of Religion but also vse a kinde of Ceremonie in their practise of the same Yea and Aelian affirmeth of them as Proclus before did of the Cock that they doe Exorientem Solem venerari proboscidem tanquâ—m minum adversùs Solis radios alleuâ—ntes They worship the rising Sunne aud they lift vp their Trunck in honour vnto him Concluding there his Chapter with this notable increpation of Atheists and such like vngodly men Ergonè Deum Elephanti venerantur Homines autem rationis participes Sitne Deus necne sit dubitant tum si sit Humanasnè res curatione administratione dignâ—tur Shall an Elephant a Beast adore and worship God and shall a Man a Creature indued with reason doubt whether there be a God or whether he regardeth the doings of Men The like Religion he affirmeth Elephants to practise towards the Moone Thus euen in the opinion of the very Heathen all the Creatures of God in their seuerall kindes doe praise him And that in their opinion they be not mistaken it may euidently be seene in the 148. Psalme Where euen the Psalmist exciteth all the fore-named sorts of Creatures to offer vnto God their prayers and invocations Praise him all ye Angels his Intellectuall Creatures Praise him all ye People his Reasonable Creatures Praise him Beasts and Cattle Creeping things and flying fowles his Sensible Creatures Praise him Heauens and Starres Mountaynes and Hills Fruitfull Trees and Cedars his Natural and insensible Creatures All these he calleth vpon to praise the name of the Lord. Which he would not haue done but that all these Creatures in their seuerall kindes doe in their seuerall manners sing-out his due prayses Yea euen the very Wormes as Dragons and Creeping things whom he also calleth-vpon in the very same Psalme as he there doth aso vpon both Fire Haile and Snow meere insensible things Neither speaketh hee this only in a Rhetorical Prosopopoia as in the 98. Psalme where he calleth vpon the Earth to make a noyse the Sea to roare the Floods to clap their hands the Mountaines to reioyce and all these together to sing a song in Gods praise He vseth not in the former any such Poetical Figure but simply and plainly in the feruor of his spirit hee calleth vpon all the Creatures fore-named to sing vnto the Lord with those seuerall Harmonies which he hath giuen vnto their seuerall kinds And thus as Tertullian truly obserueth Deo etiam inanimalia incorporalia laudes canunt Not onely Angels who haue no Bodies but also other Creatures which haue no soules yet doe in their kindes sing-out Gods due praises 4 Now for Man hee hath not onely a naturall delight in Musicke as other Creatures haue and a naturall abilitie to expresse all the parts of it more then other Creatures haue by the sweetenesse of his tuneable and melodious voice farre excelling the sweetenesse of all musicall instruments But he hath also inlarged his naturall Musick with all the seuerall kindes of Artificiall Musick both Vocal and Organicall In which worke although he hath laboured and taken great paines from the very beginning yet could he neuer haue brought it vnto any perfection if God himselfe had not been a Scholemaister vnto him And this is acknowledged euen of the very Heathen who haue expresly affirmed that Musick is not the Inuention of Man but the very gift of God Plutarch affirmeth directly Non Hominem aliquem repertorem fuisse Musicae sed omnibus virtutibus ornatum Deum Apollinem That no man was the first inventer of Musick but Apollo their great and honourable God Yea and in the same place hee addeth that Musick ought to be honoured because it is the invention of a God Veneranda prorsus est Musica Deorum inventum cùm sit In which his opinion he was not alone but had diuers others of the chiefest Philosophers concurring with him Aristotle saith of Harmonie that it is Res Coelestis eiusque natura divina pulchra That Musicke is an heauenly thing and of a nature not onely pleasing but also diuine Theophrastus setteth downe three originall Causes whereby Musicke was first begotten in the mind of a Man Dolorem voluptatem instinctum divinum The allaying of his griefe the procuring of his pleasure and the inspiration of a divine and heauenly motion But he acknowledgeth this instinct to be the chiefest of the rest Yea and Plato affirmeth without all circuition Musicam esse Hominibus a Deo datam That musick was first giuen vnto men by God But Macrobius handleth this point a great deale more prolixely then any of the rest doe prouing by many Arguments that Musicke was not first inuented vpon earth but descended downe from Heauen Yea and that in the opinion of the very Heathen deliuered expresly in their mystical Theology His Reasons bee these following First that Hesiodus who writeth the generation of their Gods recording exactly from whence they first sprang calleth one of their Muses Vrania which signifieth Heauenly Insinuating thereby that there is Musicke in Heauen and that from heauen it first was brought by the Muses vnto men In whom also wee may obserue that hee maketh Harmonia to haue bene the Daughter of Mars and Venus two of the Heathen Gods thereby againe implying that Harmony was first begotten in Heauen Another of his Reasons is that Hesiodus calleth another of the Muses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 her name being giuen for the sweetensse of her voice as Vrania's was from the highnesse of the place Thereby againe implying that The sweetenesse of voice hath the highest place in Heauen Another that the Heathen called Apollo who was one of their greatest gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi Ducem Principem Musarum The Prince and Ruler of the Muses Another that euen their very Rusticks called the Muses Camoenas quasi Canenas Acanendo dictas that is Singing Damosels Now the Muses as they all confesse descended first from Heauen Another that in all their funerall pompes and solemne exequies they still carried-out their dead with musicall instruments which was likewise in practice euen among the Iewes And this he saith they did to signifie that their soules were now departed vnto the originall house of Musicke Ad originem dulcedinis Musicae idest ad Coelum in their owne interpretation And this againe hee saith is the true Cause why euery mans soule is so much delighted with Musicke vpon earth Quia in Corpus defert memoriam Musicae ciuius in Coelo fuit conscia Because it bringeth downe with it into the Body a remembrance of that Musicke whereof in Heauen it had a full fruition These and diuers such like Arguments hee congesteth in that place to proue that Musicke descended first from Heauen Of which
performe it For Sorte diuinaid recte efficere quisque potest ad quod Musa quempiam incitauit And so I haue followed the aduice of the Poet Quin hortante Deo magnis insistere rebus Incipe Why then beginne sith ayde from God is sent Proceede goe on driâ—e forth thy great intent A Worke great indeede yea and that of much greater both Difficultie and Variety and Vtility and Necessity then will easily at the first bee conceiued of many of all which foure I will giue you a little taste in order The Difficulty of the worke ariseth from hence that this Argument now intended to be handled by me is the most deserted part of all Theologie and wherein the fewest Diuines haue bestowed their paines For whereas there be but two wayes to bring men vnto the knowledge and vnderstanding of God as S. Augustine hath well obserued namely Creatura and Seriptura the Creature and the Scripture the World and the Word there haue so many men laboured in this latter that for number almost they be without number but in the former part so few that they likewise in comparison be numberlesse too Some few I confesse haue written before me of this matter but none at all in this manner as I leaue it to be iudged by the wise and learned So that I may truely take vp that excuse for all incident errors which Lucretius doth euen in this very case that Auia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante Trita solo I walke a way lesse way with vncouth pace Which yet no former Muse with foot did trace The naturall Difficulty of the Argument hath deterred the most men from writing vpon it and the paucitie of such writers hath begotten a second difficulty vnto me Those whom I haue seene to haue written vpon this Theme for I goe not beyond the compasse of mine owne Library are onely these following Aquinas contra Gentiles Raymundus de Sabunde in Theologia naturali Bradwardinus de Causa Dei and Valesius de sacra Philosophia But these foure dealing onely Scholastically by way of Logicall Arguments which doe not influere they cannot affect nor leaue any great impression in the mind of a man but as the Orator aptly censureth such short and sharpe conclusions Haec spinosiora prius vt confiteamur nos cogunt quam vt assentiamur Such thorny and prickly conclusions of Logique do rather inforce men to confesse them then induce men to beleeue them There is further Augustinus Eugubinus who in his Booke de perenni Philosophia hath laboured in this Theme with singular learning congesting out of Poets Philosophers and Orators an incredible masse of Authorities and Sentences But as the fore-named Authors delt onely by argument without any testimony so dealeth he mostly by testimony without any argument There is yet further Ludouicus Viues de veritate Fidej Christianae and Philippus Mornaeus of the same both argument and inscription Zanchius also de Operibus Dej and the Second Part of the Booke of Resolution all which haue done learnedly in their seuerall kindes But yet for those heads whervpon in this Book I doe principally insist they passe oâ—r them so sleightly and perstringe them so briefely that all of them may be truly affirmed to haue beene by those Authors rather touched then handled It hath beene mine endeauour so to temper my writing that neither Authorities should lacke their arguments nor arguments their Authorities nor the Reader store of both And yet in vsing the writings of those fore-named Authors I haue entertayned this course that whatsoeuer any of them hath prolixely handled that haue I either wholy pretermitted or at the most but lightly touched What they haue pretermitted that haue I sought out so farre as I could and more copiously inlarged Whereby neither their writings shal be preiudiced by mine nor mine thought a Plagium out of theirs and yet the Reader be inriched by the store of both of vs. And this hath also bred a third difficulty vnto me A fourth there groweth likewise from the destinate end and scope of this worke which is to compell the Heathens to preach the truth of Christians and Philosophy to proue the grounds of Diuinity yea and to inforce by strength of Argument both Infidels and Epicures and Atheists who will not beleeue God in his word yet to beleeue him without his word Which euery wise man will easily imagine to be a worke not easie to be done For as it is truely obserued by Tertullian Magna curiositate maiore longe memoria opus est ad studendâ— si quis velit ex literis receptissimis quibusque Philosophorum vel Poetarum vel quorumlibet sapientiae secularis Magistrorum testimonia excerpere Christianae veritatis It is a piece of businesse both of great curiosity and of greater memory and yet of greatest study to gleane out of the writings of Philosophers and Poets and other secular Authors fit authorities and testimonies for the proofe of ChristiaÌ„ truths Now secondly for the Variety of this Worke that is such and so great as none other could come neare it if it were handled as it should For this Worke intreateth both of God and all his Workes which containe all those varieties which God and Nature yeeldeth In God there commeth to be considered all those diuine properties which hee hath adumbrated in any of his creatures his Simplicity his Immortality his Immensity his Eternity his Strength his Wisedome his Goodnesse his Dominion his Omnipotency his Omniscience and his Omnipraesence and such like thinges incomprehensible in themselues but yet such as may in part be sufficiently vnderstood by that shadowy resemblance of them which he hath giuen vnto our soules In his Creatures there commeth to be discussed both the little World with all the faculties of his body and all the powers of his mind and the great World with all his most excellent and glorious parts the Heauens the Earth the Seas and all the seuerall creatures contained in all these yea and the admirable working of Gods diuine prouidence both in making and preseruing and in ruling of al of them Which as euery simple man may easily see be matthers of the greatest Variety that can be In all which points I haue giuen the Reader so much taste as may delight him yet not to glut him For the full handling of them would both be nauseous vnto him tedious vnto me and supersluous vnto both of vs a meere deviation from the scope of this worke and in it selfe an attempt not onely fond but also infinite Now thirdly for the Vtility and profit of this Treatise that may partly be collected from the varieties of it For it is the Orators obseruation That those things which carry with them the greatest delight doe commonly carry likewise the greatest profit Plerisque in rebus incredibiliter hoc Natura est ipsa fabricata vt ea quae maximam vtilitatem in se continent eadem
were onely mine owne and in mine owne possession not affecting to be curious either in this or in any thing else which tendeth not directly vnto the profit of my Readers Againe it may be obiected that the Sentences alleadged are not exactly translated Whereunto againe I answer that to the sense they be alwayes though to the words not alwayes For that needs not in the opinion of an excellent Criticke And the Poet telleth vs that hee may be a faithfull Translator that doth it not Nec verbum verbo curabis reddere fidus Interpres It 's not his part that is the best Translator To render word for word vnto his Author But the Orator telleth vs that hee cannot be a delightfull Translator that doth it Verbume verbo exprimere interpretis est indiserti Againe yet an other That I haue not alwayes cited them to the meaning of the Author To which I likewise answer That whensoeuer I produce them as Testimonies for the confirmation of the point then in question I cite them exactly vnto the Authors meaning But that is not alwayes my end in alledging them but sometimes to 〈◊〉 their words by way of 〈◊〉 rather then of allegation for the more commodious expressing of mine owne sense and meaning A thing very vsuall and familiar with Plutarch whose character and forme of stile I haue in that point propounded to imitate Finally it may be that some men will except against the publishing of this first part alone before the rest be ready in putting vnto me the incurious error of Curio the Orator Qui aliquoties tria cum proposuisset aut quarum adderet aut tertium quaereret Who often times propounding to speake but of three things commonly either added to them a fourth or else forgat to speak of the third But for this course of proceeding I am not without my reason as namely First the example of very many learned men whom wee dayly obserue to practice the same and to propine vnto their Readers an assay of their works to take a tast of them how themselues are tasted by them Secondly because this first part of the worke hath growne exceeding great and beyond mine expectation beeing now come vnto the measure and bignes of a Volume And thirdly it had no little moment with me that diuers of my learnedest and best affected Friends haue often importuned mee vnto the publishing of it hastening in their loue this vnperfect worke vnto the edition peraduenture as an vntimely fruit vnto his abortion but without peraduenture vnto that common condition which is obserued by Isocrates to be fatal to many Booke Vt dum adhuc in mentibus Authorum inclusi teâ—eantur magnam sui expectationem concitent sed perfecti tandem alijs oftensi longe tenuiorem quam pro concepta spe gloriam consequantur They stirre vp a greater expecâ—ation whilst they are in doing then they are able to maintaine when as they be done But yet the principall ende and intent of my writing being onely the good and profit of my Readers I should greatly wrong both their curtesie and equitie to make any doubt of their fauourable acceptance Which if they should not afforde they themselues should wrong them both For what can be more contrarie both to curtesie and equitie then either to speake or but to thinke euill of those that haue spent so much paynes onely to doe them good This were the reward of worse then a Pagan which I hope to be farre from euery good Christian. Quare habe tibi quic quid hoe Libelli est Such as it is I doe willingly permit it vnto thine equall censure desiring nothing more then that the same minde towards thine owne good may possesse thee in reading it that did me in writing it and then I shall not neede to doubt of thy profit by it Which I will accompt mine owne exceeding great Reward And therefore I conclude this preface with that prayer of Irenaeus Da Deus omni legenti hanc scripturam cognoscere te quia solus Deus es confirmari in t te absistere ab omni haeretica quae est sine Deo impia sententia Grant O Lord vnto all that shall be readers of this Booke to know thee to be the onely true God and in thee more and more to be strengthned and confirmed and to eschew all the impious opinions of Heretiks and Atheists Amen Thine in the Lord Martin Sarum The first part of this worke Proueth There is a God And is contained in eight seuerall Bookes inforcing the probation by eight seuerall Arguments The First Booke proueth it from the simple and Categorical affirmation of Nature which cryeth out in all men that There is a God The Second from certaine grounds and consequents in all manner of Arts and Sciences The Third from the structure of Mans Body The Fourth from the Nature of his Soule The Fift from the generall view of the visible world The Sixt from a particular surueigh of the most principall part 's of it viz. The Heauen The Earth The Sea The Seauenth from certaine speciall works of Prouidence obserued by Cleanthes The Eight from the Confutation of the Atheists Obiections A Table of the Chapters contained in this Booke CHAP. 1. TO beleeue there is a God is the ground of all Religion 2. The end and purpose of this booke is to prooue that Position 3. This cannot be beleeued but by the helpe of prayer 4. It cannot be proued A Priorj 5. Yet may it be shewed A Posteriorj pag. 1. CHAP. 2. What manner of Authorities be the weightiest in this case 2. That they may not here be vsed 3. How yet they bee heere vsed 4. What be the most proper in respect of the Aduersaries 5. Why they be more proper then any other pag. 8. CHAP. 3. That there is an inbred perswasion in the hearts of all men That there is a God 2. That this hath beene obserued by many learned men among the Heathens 3. That it hath also bin obserued by diuers learned Christians 4. Two notable testimonies out of Tullie asserting this perswasion both vnto all Nations and vnto al Conditions vnto all persons among men p. 15 CHAP. 4. That there is not any Nation but it hath his Religion 1. Ancient histories insinuate it 2. New histories affirme it 3. Trauellers confirme it 4. A generall surueigh of their gods declareth it 5. A particular surueigh of their tutelar gods proueth it p. 19. 20. CHAâ— 5. That all sorts of men of all degrees and orders doe beleeue There is a God is particularly declared by instance of Poets 2. Of Law-giuers 3. Of philosophers 4. And of all other seuerall Arts and professions pag. 29. CHAP. 6. That there is no particular person in the world but that in some degree he beleeueth There is a God 2. No Swearer 3. No Blasphemer 4. No Idolater p. 39. CHAP. 7. That a great discord may bee
God 3. But that it much confirmes it PLutarch in his first booke Of the Opinions of the Philosophers affirmeth that the first propagation of Religion among men and the first spreading of this opinion as concerning God hath bin brought to passe by some one of these three meanes aut naturali forma aut fabulosa aut legum testimonio Naturalem Philosophi fabulosam Poetae docent Leges autem suas singulae habent Ciuitates that is either by meanes of such naturall reasons as haue bin deliuered by the learning of Philosophers or by such fabulous adumbrations as haue beene deuised by the wit of Poâ—ts or by such politicall constitutions as haue beene inioyned by the authority of Magistrates And it is true indeed that for traditionall diuinity it was among the Heathens especially propagated by some one of these three meanes But there was a naturall Theologie ingrafted in the soule before them all ante omnem rationis vsum as Iamblicus affirmeth euen before all vse of reason and all capacity to receiue instruction whereby they were disposed and in a sort prepared to admit any one of the fore-named instructions though it came but single of it selfe But in the former discourse I haue ioyned them all together shewing by a generall consent of all Philosophers all Poets and all Lawgiuers that There is a God So that there is not so vniuersall an agreement in any one thing in the world as there is in beleeuing that There is a God But yet I finde it againe obserued that there is not in any thing so great a disagreement as there is in defining what that God should be Res nullà est saith Tullie de qua tantoperè non solùm indocti sed etiam docti dissentiant There is nothing wher in there is so great a discord not only amongst the vnlearned but also among the learned And he maketh good his assertion by a particular enumeration of the seuerall opinions of all the Philosophers Which are seuerall indeed yea and so distantly seuered that no two of them doe agree in any one opinion some worshipping the Heauens some the Stars some the Elâ—ments some one thing some another So that as one wittily obserues of them Colebat quisque quod volebat Euery man worshipped whatsoeuer he would Onely this seemed to be the common study and endeauour of them all that none would haue that god whom any other had Nay by and by after he will haue another god then he himselfe had before as we may euidently see in the fore-alledged place of Tullie both in Plato Aristotle Theophrastus and Cleanthes and in diuers others So that if any where the prouerbe here is verified that Quot homines tot sententiae So many heads so many wits so many men so many mindes For as Tertullian obserueth by them Alij incorporalem asseuerant alij corporalem vt â—am Platonici quà m Stoici alij ex atomis alij ex numeris vt Epicurus et Pythagoras alij ex igne qualiter Heraclito visum est Et Platonici quidem curantem rerum contrà Epâ—â—urei ociosum et inexercitum vt ita dixerim neminem humanis rebus Positum verò extra mundum Stoici qui figuli modo extrinsecus torqueat molem hanc intra mundum Platonici qui gubernatoris exemplo intra illud maneat quod regat Some of the Philosophers make God to be spirituall some other of them corporall as the Platonicks Stoicks Some make their god of Atomes and indiuidual moates some of diuidual nuÌ„bers as Epicurus and Pythagoras Some make him all of fire for so it seemed to Heraclitus The Platonicks make God prouident and wonderfull carefull that all things may go well The Epicures make him idle and sloathfull and as good as no body in all humaine affaires The Stoicks they place God without the world turning about the Heauens as Potters vse to doe their wheeles the Platonicks within the world ruling it within it as Pilots vse to rule their ships And many other like differences are set downe betweene them both by Tullie in the fore-alledged place and by Plutarch in his fore-alledged Booke So that there is not a more notable consent of all sorts of men in the generall notion of Gods existence and being then there is a notable dissent amongst them in the particular notion what this God should be Which difference in opinion prophane Lucian snatcheth as a fit occasion to deride both God all his religion A gentium opinione quam de diis obtinent mà ximè licet intelligere quà m nihil firmum stabile in se habeâ—t quae de Dijs fertur oratio Multa enim est conturbata opinionum confusio ac planè alij alia opinantur By the opinion of all Nations as concerning their gods we may easily conceiue how much they are deceiued and how fondly they build vpon a weake ground so great a confusion may be seen in their opinions and so great a difference between their defenders And then he proceedeth to set down the dissention that he finds among theÌ„ Scythae acinaci sacrisicant Thraces Zamolxidi homini fugitiâ—o quem ex Samo ad illos delatum esse constat Phryges autem Lunae Aethiopes Diei Cyllenij Phaleti Columbae Assirij Persae Igni Aegytij Aquae Caeterùm priuatim Memphitis quideâ—â— Bos Deus est Peluâ—iotis verò Cepe Iam alijs Ciconia aut Crocodilus alijs Cynoeephalus aut seles aut Simia Praâ—tereà vicatim his quidem dexter humerus caeteris verò eregione habitantibus sinister item alijs dimidia pars capitis alijs poculum samium aut catinus The Scythians doe sacrifice vnto their sword The Thracians vnto a certaine fugitiue called Zamolxis who fled vnto them out of Samos The Phrygians to the Moone The AEthiopians to the Day The Cyllenians to Phaletes The Assyrians to a Doue The Persians to the fire the AEgyptians to the Water Yea and more priuatly for their Citties The Memphià ns worship an Oxe for their God the Pelusians an Onion others a Storke some a Crocodile others a Beast that had an head like a Dogge a Ca lt or an Ape Yea and yet more particularly for their seuerall Villages some doe worship their right shoulder and some other againe their left some do worship the one halfe of their head some an earthen Pot and some other a Platter Vpon all which he concludeth Nonne haec tibi videntur risu prosequenda Are not these to be derided He seeking from this difference and dissension to make but a mock and a scorne of all Religion as though this generall opinion of God were but onely a matter meerely fayned and deuised 2 But that Conclusion doth not follow from this dissension It infringeth neither the generalitie nor yet the veritie of this notion That there is a God Nay indeed it confirmes them both For first as concerning the generalitie of it that followeth by
tanquam in carcere a Deo contineri That all things are shut vp by the appointment of God within their bounds and limits as it were into their prisons And this worke of thus bounding and limiting of all things doe the Greeks acknowledg to be the worke of God in calling their great God Iupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Limiferum or Rerum terminos afferentem as Homers Translator renders him that is The appointer of limits vnto all things And the Romanes likewise doe seeme to acknowledge the very same in calling the same God Iovem terminalem that is Iupiter the Limiter or the Bounder of all things Thus the bounding and limiting of all naturall bodies doth leade vs by the hand vnto the knowledge of a God 4 And so doth likewise the bounding of their naturall powers and faculties For in these inferior parts of the world wee may obserue a fiue-fold difference among the Creatures euery one of them hauing their proper and peculiar faculties so defined and circumscribed that none of them can exceede the bounds of his owne nature nor exalt it selfe to the state of his superior but abideth in his owne and can goe no further By which Hierarchie of the Creatures we may easily ascend and climbe vp vnto God as it were by an Ascendent consisting of fiue steppes For as the Orator truly affirmeth Si a primis inchoatÃsque naturis ad vltimas perfectâsque volumus procedere ad Deorum naturam perveniamus necesse est If wee will first beginne with the vnperfect works of Nature and by degrees ascend vnto those that are perfecter they will leade vs by the hand to know the nature of God And therefore this Argument is much insisted on both by Tullie the Orator in the forealledged place and by Plotinus the Philosopher as Theodoret recordeth and by the learned Fathers S. Augustine and S. Gregorie and yet most fully by Raymundus de Sabunde Wherein I haue obserued that euery one of them though they handle the same matter yet haue put vpon it a seuerall forme And therefore I wil not tie my selfe vnto any one of them but imitating their example will cast the Argument into a mold of mine owne Now those fiue degrees of Creatures bee these That some things haue bare essence and being allotted vnto them and yet not either life or sense as in siâ—ple bodies the Heauens and the Elements in compound bodies Stones and Metals and such like Some other things haue both Being and Liuing and yet not either sense or motion as Trees and Plants Some other things â—aue both Being and Liuing and Feeling and yet haue no proper or animal-motion as Oysters and Muscles and such other like conchylia which haue no naturall motion of their owne but are onely carried as the water driueth them And therefore Aristotle very wittily calleth them Aquatiles plantas A kind of Waterplants as he calleth earthly plants Ostreaterrena A kind of Land-Oysters because they haue no more selfe-motion then these I meane Lation or local-motion from one place to another Some things againe haue both Being and Liuing and Feeling and Mouing and yet haue no Reason nor Vnderstanding as Birds and Beasts and Fishes and such like And some things againe haue all these powers and faculties vnited in one both Essence and Life and Sense and Motion and Reason too as we see they be in Men. And these distinctions of Creatures are so obuious to all men that he which notes them not is more worthy to be numbred among beasts then among men Now if it should be demanded Why a Stone hath not life as well as a Tree or a Tree not sense as well as a Beast or a Beast not reason as well as a Man whaâ— other reason can be giuen of all this but onely that those powers are not in their owne power to take so many of them as they themselues thinke good but that they be limited and assigned vnto them by a nature farre aboue them euen the same nature that made them And that they therefore haue them not because that Nature gaue them not From whence there follow these two Conclusions First that all those forenamâ—d faculties and powers though they be in those things that haue them yet they be not of those things that haue them They haue them in themselues but they haue them not of themselues For then all would haue all of them and none would content themselues with any part were it neuer so great Would a Tree thinke you be content to sticke fast in the earth as a dead and rotten stake if it could giue it selfe motion Surely no. The blinde man in the Gospell that thought he saw men walking like vnto Trees should surely see Trees walking like vnto men if they could take vnto themselues the facultie of mouing Againe would a Beast be content to be so subiect vnto man if it could giue it selfe Reason Or would a Man be content to liue here vpon the earth if he could flee vp into heauen and make himselfe a God Surely he neuer would That which Tertullian affirmeth of the Romane Emperours is true also in all others that Si ipsi se Deos facere potuissâ—nt certè quidem homines nunquà m fuissent If they could haue made themselues Gods they would neuer haue continued Men. And so in all other things as well as in these they would all haue all those faculties if they could giue them to themselues Therefore seeing that which hath onely Being cannot giue it selfe Life and that which hath onely Life cannot giue it selfe Sense and that which hath onely Sense cannot giue it selfe Reason this euidently sheweth vnto all that haue any Reason that the ampliating or restrayning of those naturall indowments is not in their owne free disposition or election but in his onely power who freely bestoweth them This is the first conclusion The second That seeing those fore-named faculties are not in the power of the things themselues that haue them therefore they must needes proceede from some other power that gaue them and that hath in it selfe the whole power of dispensing them And that can be none other but a diuine and heauenly power For that nature must needes be supernaturall and diuine which is the fountaine and wel-spring both of Being and Liuing and Mouing and Sense and Reason and which hath the power to deriue the streames of those diuine graces vnto all other creatures in such differing degrees limiting and proportioning vnto euery seueral creature that power and faculty which standeth best with his pleasure To some of them dispensing but only one faculty to some two to some three to some foure to some fiue as the housholder in the Gospell distributed his Talents vnto his seruants This inestimable treasure of so many pretious Talents and this admirable wisedome which is vsed in dispensing them cannot in reason be ascribed but onely
no prior nay no last if no first And this holdeth not onely in these relatiue denominations but also in the true existence of the very things themselues So that the motions of these inferior Bodies which we see by sense must leade vs of necessitie either to grant a first Mouer who is the Author of all the motion in the world and therefore must needs be God or else to yeeld in motion an infinite proceeding which is absurd euen to Reason and vtterly destroyeth all order in things or else to hold that There is no motion at all as Melissus did Motum non esse sed videri esse Which is the greatest absurditie of all An absurditie so grosse as is confuted euen by sense As Diogenes very wittily proued against a Philosopher maintayning that error that There was no motion Behind whom he slily comming whipt him sodainely about the Legges And then whilest hee was running he scornefully asked him Whether now hee thought there were any motion Not esteeming him worthy to be confuted by reason but onely to be derided by that sensible demonstration For as Iosephus very well obserueth to this purpose Insen satos decet non verbis sed operibus arguere or rather indeed verberibus as Diogenâ—s did The best kinde of arguing with mad men is with a word and a blow not with reason but with stripes And yet euen this grosse absurditie would follow vnlesse from these secondarie motions wee should arise vnto some first For Si primum nihil est omninò causa nulla est saith Aristotle If there be no first cause there can be no cause at all And so If there be no first motion there can be no motion Which sense sheweth to be false And if there be any second motion there must needs be a first This Reason sheweth to be true And therefore for this first point I conclude it with Aristotle that Si media sunt necesse est finem esse If there be any meane motion there must needs be an end of them And if an end then a beginning Neque enìm infinitus est aâ—â—quis motus sed cuiusque finis saith he in another place There is no motion so infinite but in the end it hath an end and consequently a beginning For as the Poet hath truly obserued Finisque ab Origine pendet This is a Rule That euery End On some Beginning must depend 2 Let vs therefore now ascend from the first step vnto the second that If there be any first motion then must there needs be a first Mouer which moueth onely of himselfe and not by any other For in euery motion there bee three things to be considered The Mouer The Motion and The thing moued And these three things are neuer confounded though they euer be conioyned But as the Motion is one thing and the Moued another so is it likewise betweene the Moued and the Mouer For as Picus Mirandula obserueth very truely In quolibet moto Motor est alius are mobili In euery motion the Mouer is distinguished from the thing that is moued Yea and Aristotle himselfe vnto the same purpose Quod mouet quod mouetur diuisum esse videtur That which moueth and that which is moued are a diuers thing and plainly diuided But yet though these three be ioyned all together yet is the Mouer in order before either of the other euen by the law of Nature The Motion cannot be before the thing moued nor yet the thing moued before the Mouer of it but alwayes the thing moued is before his motion and alwayes the Mouer before either of them For as Philo Iudaeus affirmeth of the Motion that Fieri non potest vt motus rem motam praecesserit It cannot be that any motion be before the thing moued be And so Aristotle affirmeth also of the Mouer that Motor rem mobilem praecurrere debet The Mouer must forego the thing moued Now if the Mouer be distinguished both from the motion it selfe and from the thing that is moued yea and so distinguished that it is before them both then as euery Effect doth argue his Cause so doth euery motion argue his Mouer and consequently the first motion his first Mouer Whom though we doe not see with the Eyes of the body yet may we easily collect by Reason the Eye of the minde To illustrate this point by that familiar comparison which the Orator pointeth at in explication of this Reason We see by experience in a Clocke which is as at were an Artificiall Heauen measuring out vnto vs the diuisions of time that euery Wheele is moued euery one of them by another vntill at last we be brought vnto the waight it selfe which moues them all together Whither when we be come we can proceede no further by sense and therefore must collect the rest by reason Now Reason plainely teacheth vs that though the waight doe moue all the wheeles of it selfe yet that it could not tie it selfe vnto the line but that that must needs be done by some other thing And that therefore there must needs haue beene some Author and contriuer of that cunning peece of worke who first conceiued in himselfe by a mentall Idea the whole reason and conueiance of all these seuerall motions and then accordingly disposed all the wheeles and waights into their seuerall places So that the motion of the wheeles in euery Clock doth manifestly tell vs that there must needs haue beene an Author of that curious worke whose artificiall workemanship and contriuing is that which hath giuen vnto all those wheeles their motion And as it is in a Clocke which I called before an Artificiall Heauen because it measureth vnto vs the diuisions of time so is it also in the Heauens themselues which may as fitly be called a naturall Clock for their measuring by their motions the distinction of time We see by experience in them that all these inferior and elementarie Bodies doe receiue their motions from the Heauens their superiors and so likewise euen in the Heauens themselues that the lower is still moued by his next higher vntill wee come by degrees vnto the highest of all called Primum mobile that is the first moueable body which moueth all the rest Now when wee are come thither sense can leade vs no further But yet Reason can For then we must collect that as the wheeles in a Clock could not set themselues on mouing but that this must needs be the worke of their Maker so likewise the Heauens though they moue without all ceasing yet haue not taken vnto themselues their motion but haue had it giuen them by their Author and Mouer For as Aristotle truely teacheth Si motio cietur necesse est praeesse motorem aliquem Wheresoeuer there is motion there must needes haue beene some Mouer before and some Moderator and guider of that motion from whom at the first it receiued his
made more perfect by the creation And this is the second degree of their comparison Thirdly there is in Vnitie a draught and resemblance of Gods Immutabilitie For as God is alwayes like vnto himselfe and not subiect to so much as to a shadow of Change no more is Vnitie neither It is not variable by parity or imparitie by multiplicity or paucity as all other numbers be but it still continueth in its owne nature immutably An Vnity is alwayes at vnitie with it selfe and neuer varieth from it selfe Est Vnitas saith Mirandula omninò semper à se perfecta non egreditur se sed indiuidua simplicitate solitaria sibi cohaeret Vnity is simple and perfect in it selfe neuer going out of it selfe but sticking vnto it selfe vnchangeably only by its owne sole and naturall simplicity So absolute is the nature of One in it selfe that it cannot be changed and so omnipotent toward others that it changeth all numbers So that Monas as Trismegistus obserueth tanquam principium radix origo omnem numerum continet a nullo contenta omnem gignit a nullo genita Vnity containeth all numbers beeing contayned of none and it begetteth all being begotten of none Fourthly there is in Vnity a true resemblance of Gods Eternitie or Antiquitie who is named in the Scripture The Auncient of Dayes For as God is before all his creatures so likwise is Vnitie before alll numbers Sine vno multitudo non erit sayth Dionysius Vnum autem erit sine multitudine Vt Monas omnem numerum multiplicatum auctum antecedit There can be no multitude without one but one may be without a multitude for vnity is before any multiplied number Which antecedencie of Vnity in the same place he applieth vnto the Deitie Vnum illud quod est causa omnium est omni vno multitudine omni toto parte omni termino determinationis priuatione omni fine infinitate antiquius That one thing which is the beginning of all things is in Nature before both all Ones and all Manyes all wholes all parts all termes and all indeterminations all finites and all infinites It is more ancient then all these Yea so ancient that as Macrobius affirmeth it is without all beginning And therefore he hath reduced it directly vnto God Haec monas initium finisque omnium neque ipsa principij finisque sciens ad summum refertur Deum That one thing which is both the beginning and ende of all things and yet hath neither beginning nor ende in it selfe cannot otherwise be referred but vnto the most High God Who as Mirandula obserueth out of Dionysius ita rerum omnium principium est sicut omnium numerorum principium Vnitas est God is so the first beginning of all things as vnitie is the first beginning of all numbers And thus as Philo Iudaeus obserueth Vnitas est prime Causae primi Authoris imago There is in vnitie a true image of the Deitie who is the first Cause and first Author of all things And who in respect of his owne most inexplicable and incomprehensible Vnitie may truly be called by vs both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both One and The only One CHAP. 11. That the motion of the Heauens and Starres is not naturall 2. Which yet is so orderly as if it were artificiall That the order of their motion hath the resemblance of a Dance 4. That the Heauens themselues doe make Musicke to this Dance That this orderly Motion of the Starres hath led diuers men to seeke for a God aboue the Starres 6. Because their orderly Motions can neither be from Chance nor from their owne Wills But onely from Gods Wisdome who is the Maker of them THe third of the Mathematicall Arts is Astronomie whose Obiect is the Motion of the Heauenly Orbes and Starres wherein there be many Arguments which may leade men by the hand to vnderstand There is a God But because I haue instanced but onely in Order I will therefore keepe order and wil onely stand to it And yet in this place I will but lightly touch it because in the seauenth Booke there falleth out a more apt and more ample consideration of it First therefore as concerning the Motion of the Heauens it hath troubled the Heads of the wisest Philosophers of what Nature this Motion of the Heauens should be Tullie greatly approueth of Aristotles diuision as concerning Motion That Whatsoeuer things are moved they must needs bee moved either by their owne natures or by force from others or by a will in themselues Now for the Heauens he concludeth that their motion cannot be natural because the Motion of all naturall Bodies whether Simple or Compound is either Vpward or Downward For all Bodies are either Light or Heauy If Light they moue directly vpward If Heauy they moue perpendicularly downward And there is not any naturall Bodie in the world which is so aequally compounded of Light and Heauie that it can hang in the midst and propend neither way And therefore the Heauens if they were left vnto the motion of their owne proper natures they would either moue vpward or downward as the Elements doe or else they must stand still For other Motion from their matter they can haue none as they be naturall Bodies No nor yet from their Forme neither as they bee teret and round Bodies For though their Rotundity doth giue them an aptitude and disposition to bee carried about in their circular motion yet giueth it not the motion it selfe vnto them As we may see in a wheele which for all his roundnesse stands as still as a stone if it haue not some other means to helpe it vnto motion It may bee obiected that the weightines of the wheele doth settle it vpon his Axis as in his proper place where all things doe stand still But it may also bee answered that the Heauens are in their proper place and therefore should stand still yea though they had in them the principle of motion much more they hauing none As indeed they haue not if they bee of such a temper as is neither Heauy nor Light For if we could imagine that nature had made any thing so equally tempered and indifferently poised of Heauy and Light that neither were predominant it must needes hang in the midst and not mooue it selfe either vpward or downewards Neither could it moue about in a circular motion vnlesse it were impelled by some other thing For Nature hath made nothing which hath in it selfe the proper principle of circular motion I meane not as it is a Body The rotundity of their forme that giueth onely vnto them an hability to that motion as before I noted but the act it giueth not Neither can the vacuity of both Heauinesse and Lightnesse giue vnto them that motion because that is rather the principle of station then of Motion And
as Iustine Martyr very well collecteth If the absence or priuation of both Heauinesse and Lightnes were a formall cause of circular motion then Materia prima which Aristotle maketh to bee neither light nor heauy should from all eternity haue moued circularly and so there should haue bene a motion before there was any Heauen Which hee derideth there most iustly as a grosse absurdity But if wee should grant as Palingenius would haue vs Coelestia corpora per se Atque suis formis vt terra ignisque moueri That Heauenly bodies of themselues by their owne formes do moue As doth the Earth that is below and Fire that is aboue Yet he teacheth vs in the same place that it is onely God that giueth them their formes Nempe suis res a formis tales generantur Quales praecepit qui formas condidit ipsas Yet such are things by their owne formes begotten As He that made their formes doth please t'allot them And therefore the Orator proceedeth on further vnto the other two members of his forenamed diuision of Motion That this sphericall motion of the heauens not proceeding in them from any naturall principle inhaerent in their bodies it must needes either be a violent motion put vpon them by an externall force from some others or else a voluntary motion occasioned by an internall will in themselues For other principle can be none of this circular motion But that it cannot be a motion inforced vpon them hee assumeth from this ground That there cannot bee any force without them that is strong enough to compell them there being no force that is greater then their owne Quae enim vis potest esse maior What force can bee greater And againe Quid potest esse mundo valentius quod impellat atque moueat What power can be greater then the power of the world that should bee able to mooue it Hee supposeth though falsely that there can no such power bee And therefore hee concludeth That the motion of the Heauens must be of necessity a motion meerly voluntary proceeding from nothing else but onely from their owne wills Whereupon hee there inferreth that Haec qui videt non solùm indoctè sed etiam impiè faciet si Deos esse neget That this being admitted he must not onely be vngodly but also vnlearned too if hee deny them to be Gods meaning The Heauens and Starres This is the summe of his reason from the motions of the Starres Wherein though hee leade vs neuer so farre about yet at last hee bringeth vs home vnto our Conclusion That there needs must be a God and that the Heauens by their motion do plainely proue the same An Argument largely handled by the Prophet Dauid in the 19. Psal. And though Tully in that place doe bring the whole Argument vnto a false issue building vpon a false ground That the motion of the Heauens is voluntary and of themselues and that therefore They be Gods though I say it be false in the particular That the Heauens and Stars be Gods yet it is true in the generall that it proueth most certainly that There needes must be a God and that this motion of the Heauens cannot possibly be stirred by any other cause but onely by God himselfe For if the motion of the Heauens being admitted to be voluntary doe conclude them to bee Gods then must needes the same motion being admitted to be compulsory much more conclude that he by whose force they be so violently compelled must needes be God As euen Plato himselfe hath plainely confessed from whom the former Argument of Tullies is borrowed Cogitemus saith hee quî fieri possit vt tanta magnitudo ab aliqua possit natura tanto tempore circumferri Ego igitur assero Deum causam esse nec aliter posse fieri Let vs consider saith he how it can possibly bee that the Heauens being of so great and so vast a body should by any power of nature â—e driuen so impetuously And therefore saith he I do confidently affirme that onely God himselfe can bee the mouer of them This is his determination as concerning the Heauens motion And where is now that Soule of theirs which but a little before he made the mouer of them 2 But let vs now proceede further and come from the nature of their motion to the Order Which is so great and excellent that euen Aristotle himselfe who subiecteth all other matters with a kinde of Tyranny vnto the power of his reasons yet here leauing reason he sodainely breaketh out into a passionate admiration Quid vnquà m poterit aequari coelesti ordini volubilitati Cùm sydera conuertantur exactissima norma de alio in aliud seculum What can euer be compared vnto the order of the Heauens to the motion of the Stars in their seuerall reuolutions Which mooue most exactly as it were by rule and square from one generation to another Which rule of their motion Dauid affirmeth to be Gods law that he hath set them God hath made them fast for euer he hath giuen them a law which they cannot passe And so likewise doth Plato For he saith that God when he had made the Starres he did Singulis leges fatales edicere He gaue vnto them fatall vnchangeable Lawes And indeed the very name of this Art whereof we now intreat the very name of Astronomie in exact signification importeth that the Starres obserue a law in their motion Which law is giuen vnto them by none other but onely by God himselfe who is their true Law-giuer He is both their Maker and their Law-maker Yea and this law of his they obserue so exactly that as the Orator obserueth there is in all their motion Nihil temerarium nihil varium nihil fortuitum They neither iustle rashly one vpon another nor yet decline casually one from another no nor vary in the least poynt from their prescribed order For as Macrobius likewise noteth In Coelo constat nihil fortuitum nihil tumultuarium prouenire sed vniuersa illìc diuinis legibus stata ratione procedere There is nothing done casually nothing disorderly in the heauens but all things prescribed by most exact reason and determined by order of most diuine lawes So that hee ascribeth all the order of their motion vnto that law which God hath prescribed them And so likewise doth Seneca he saith that the Starres doe aeternae legis imperio procedere They moue by the appoyntment of an eternall Law that is by the law of an eternall God Both of them agreeing with the Prophet Dauid that the onely cause of their orderly motion is that exact law which God hath prescribed them In which poynt Tullie also consenteth fully with them For he rendring a reason why certaine of the Starres be called Planets that is to say Wanderers yet affirmeth that it is not because they wander in their motion but because of that
variety which they haue aboue others As for their owne motions they keepe so strict an order and so great a constancie in obseruing of them that they swerue not from that law which God hath prescribed them Et si stellarum motus cursusque vagantes Nosse velis quae sint signorum in sede locatae Quae verbo falsis Graecorum vocibus errant Reuera certo lapsu spacióque feruntur Omnia iam cernes diuina mente notata Marke Omnia diuina mente notata Wouldst thou the motions of the Starres and various courses know Which fixed are and which are sayd to wander to and fro How e're the Graecians name them such in very truth they runne In certaine tracts and distances not wandring vp and downe But all directed thou mayst see by Gods prescription But Manilius in this point goeth farre beyond them all both expresly acknowledging that the Starres in their motion obserue a law prescribed them and that this Law-giuer is none other but onely God their Creator Nec quicquam in tanta magis est mirabile mole Quà m Ratio certis quòd legibus omnia parent Nusquà m turba nocet nihil vllis partibus errat There is not ought a wonder t' is in such a wondrous masse More wonderfull or strange then this that Reason bring 's to passe That all obey their certaine lawes which he doth still preferre No tumult hurteth them nor ought in any part doth erre From whence by and by inferring Ac mihi tam praesens ratio non vlla videtur Quâ pateat mundum divino numine verti To me no reason stronger seem's to proue The world by power diuine thus still to moue And a little after asking the quaestion At cur dispositis vicibus consurgere signa Et vâ—lut imperio praescriptos reddere cursus Câ—rnimus ac nullis properantibus vlla relinqui Whence is it that wee see the Starres in turnes to rise And at Command to stoope and keepe their ordered guise c. He giueth this for an Answer of their immutabilitie that it is the worke of the immutable God Deus est qui non mutatur in aevo And indeed it is a wonder that these Planets still running sometime in diuers and sometime in aduerse courses yet should all of them obserue so vnchangeably their order that they neuer should impeach or hinder one another But though they doe Transuersos agere cursus as the Tragick noteth in one place yet doe they Inoffensos as hee noteth in another They runne in crosse courses and yet doe not crosse one another in their courses Nec errant saith Plato nec praeter antiqunm ordinem reuoluuntur Neither doe they runne randon nor are they rolled beside their ancient order Which orderly motion of the Starres both proueth There is a God yea and that this is his worke by so necessarie a consequence that whosoeuer seeth it not him Tullie affirmeth to be without all sense Coelestem admirabilem ordinem incredibilemque constantiam qui vacare Mente putat is ipse mentis expers habendus est He which thinketh the admirable order and incredible constancie of the Heauens to be without a Spirit hee may be thought himselfe to be without spirit or vnderstanding 3 And indeed the motions of the Starres are in so great Varietie and yet obserued with such order and constancie that they haue resemblance of a well measured dance some running directly and forth-right in their courses some dauncing round about in their Epicycles Yea and that with great varietie and change of their motions in Directions Stations Retrogradations and such like wherein they doe seeme as it were to treade the Maze and in their kinde to daunce their Measures Of which Tullie giueth instance in the Planet Saturnus Saturni Stella in suo cursu multa mirabiliter efficiens tum antecedendo tum retardando tum vespertinis temporibus delitescendo tum matutinis rursùm se aperiendo nihil tamen immutat sempiternis seculorum aetatibus quìn eadem ijsdem temporibus efficiat The Planet Saturne doth make many strange and great wonders in his motion sometimes going before and sometimes comming after sometimes withdrawing himselfe in the Euening and sometimes againe shewing himselfe in the morning And yet changeth nothing neither in the order of times nor in the nature of things And the like may be seene in the rest of the Planets as he himselfe sheweth in that very place So that Aristophanes his obseruation of the Clowdes is much truer in the Starres that they doe Arte choream instituere They make in their motions an artificiall kind of Daunces Plato affirmeth that God hath purposely prouided the Sunne to giue the Starres light the better to performe their well ordered motions which he calleth there Their Daunces where he also calleth their Courses Deorum choreas The daunces of the Gods For so he indeed esteemed of the Starres But Philo Iudaeus more truely Diuinas choreas Diuine and heauenly daunces For so in a sort they may truely be called Diuinas reuera choreas agittantes nec vnquam ordinem deserentes They daune in Gods presence as Dauid did before the Arke and yet neither breake their orders nor stray from their place So likewise Palingenius Nec se collidunt concutiuntque Occurrendo sibi sed certa lege modóque Vna eadémque vâ—a leni vertigine pergunt Et choreae in morem placidè taciteque feruntur Nor doe they dash together nor make shock By meeting one another But are lock't Vnto a constant law and one set way From which their smooth sweet windings neuer sway But runne as if they daunc't a Roundelay Whence Maximus Tyrius calleth God Coeli compositorem harmonicum and Astrorum circulationis chorea supremum moderatorem ascribing vnto him the melody of the heauens and the dauncing of the starres And therefore Plato againe in another of his Dialogues he sayth of the Starres that they doe Chorea optima vti omniumque chorearum magnificentissima that they daunce a most stately and magnificall daunce harping still vpon their dauncing From whence he there concludeth That therefore they haue within them Mentem a certaine spirit or soule that directeth them And it is true in very deed But it is not their owne spirit as he falsely supposed it is onely Gods Spirit By the word of the Lord were the heauens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth sayth the Prophet Dauid And so likewise holy Iob His spirit hath garnished the Heauens and his hand hath formed the crooked Serpent So that the Spirit which giueth vnto the starres their motion is onely the Spirit which giueth them their being It is onely that diuine Spirit in which all things both liue and moue and haue their being Yea and this is also confessed euen by the very heathen For Tullie affirmeth that Soule of the world
vnto Chance is an opinion not onely impious and odious but also foolish and ridiculous As the Orator maketh it plaine by two notable Examples of two Artificiall Spheres made to the imitation of the heauenly Orbs the one of them by Archimedes the other of them by Possidonius and both of them with such singular Art and cunning that they did as Varro speaketh vias stelligeras aetheris explicare aere cauo They shewed by their hollow brazen wheeles all the seuerall motions of the Starry Heauens Now saith the Orator in that place If either of these Spheres were shewed vnto the barbarous Britaines yea or vnto the very Scythians they would neither of them doubt but these workes were wrought by reason then much more must the Heauens themselues for they are much perfecter Nisi Archimedem arbitramur plus valuisse in imitandis Sphaerae conuersionibus quà m Naturam in efficiendis Vnlesse we should imâ—gine that Archimedes could shew more Art in imitating the motions of the Heauens then nature could do in making of them Which were vtterly absurd as Lactantius collecteth euen from this very instance Deus illa non potuit vera machinari effìcere quae potuit solertia hominis imitatione simulare Shall not God be able to doe that in truth which a Man is able to counterfeite by art Qûi igitur conuenit saith Tully in the last alledged place Signum aut Tabulam pictam cûm aspexeris scire adhibitam esse artem cumque procul cursum nauìgij videris non dubitare quìn id ratione arte moueatur aut cùm solarium vel descriptum vel ex a qua contemplare intelligere declarari horas arte non casu Mundum autem qui has ipses artes earum artifices cuncta amplectitur consilij rationis expertem putare What reason is there that when we looke vpon either a Statue or a Picture we should know that it must needes be ruled by art and when we looke vpon a Clocke or a Diall wee should know that that must needes be made by art and yet to thinke that the World which containeth all those Artes yea and their Artificers too should bee framed without art For as he well inferreth in another place Neminem esse opportet tam stultè arrogâ—ntem vt in se rationem mentem putet inesse in Coelo Mundo non putet There ought no man to bee so foolishly arrogant as to thinke that in himselfe there is a spirit and reason and yet that in the heauens themselues there is none Which are so farre from being made without reason that their making cannot be conceiued without great reason as the Orator well obserueth From whence hee truely concludeth that hee needes must be a mad man that ascribes them vnto Chance Haec omnis descriptio sydenum at hic tantus Coeli ornatus ex corporibus hûc illâ—c casu temere cursantibus potuisse effici cuiquam sano videri potest This whole description of the Starres and this so great beauty of the Heauens can it possibly seeme to any man that is well in his wits to bee an effect of certaine Bodies moouing vp and downe by chance and at all aduentures So that with him it is out of question that the Heauens are mooued â—â—t by Fortune but by Wisdome But yet a greater Question remaines still behind By whose wisdome it is that the Heauens and Starres be mooued For if they be mooued by Wisdome then either by their owne or by some others aboue them As Horace insinuateth in the part of his diuision Stellae sponte sua iussaenè vagentur errent The Starres all in their courses mooue they still Or by their owne or their Commanders will Yeelding that if it be not by the former then it must be by the latter But by the former it is not It is not by motion of their owne will or reason For they haue none in them They are so farre from being either the Authors or Directors of their owne proper motions as that they vnderstand not so much as that they mooue at all as euen Lucretius himselfe directly affirmeth Nam certè neque consilio primordia rerum Ordine se quaeque atque sagaci mente locârunt Nec quos quaeque darent motus pepigêre prosectò Things at the first they did not certainly Themselues dispose by counsell orderly Nor did they by a composition Appoint themselues their propper motion It was a much wiser and intelligent Author that disposed all these things in so exquisite an order which were in his hand but meerely passiue as Clay is in the hand of the Potter that neither vnderstandeth of what forme it is made nor yet for what vse it is prouided And no more doe the Stars in what manner they bee mooued For though they should make such an excellent Harmony as before I haue described yet doe not they themselues vnderstand that they make it no more then an harpe or other musicall instrument vnderstandeth the tune that is playd vpon it And though they doe produce many notable effects and benefits in the earth by that enterchange of seasons which they occasion by their motions yet do not they themselues vnderstand that they doe it no more then the wheeles in a mill doe vnderstand what manner of Corne they grind So that the Heauens doe grind for vs yea and find for vs too and yet they themselues doe not know what they doe because they doe volutatione haec non voluntate facere as Iustin Martyr well obserueth They doe this by their motion they doe it not by their meaning Dionysius exemplifieth by instance of the Sunne that Sol non cogitatione aut voluntate sed eo ipso quod est omnia illustrat The Sunne imparteth his light vnto all things but not by any will or purpose but by being a light-some substance as a Candle likewise doth Vnto which there is no man so simple as to ascribe a will Neither can they to the Sunne It is not by his owne will that it shineth vpon all things but it is onely by the Goodwill of that God which made it who hath commanded and appointed it to shine vpon the bad as well as on the good as our Sauiour Christ testifieth And this was not vnknowne euen to the very Heathen Gratuitos habemus Deos saith Seneca Nam sceleratis Sol oritur piratis patent maria The Gods are most gracious and bestow their blessings freely For the Sunne doth shine vpon the wickedest persons and the Seas are open to the cruellest Pirats Ascribing the shining of the Sun not to his owne will but to the gracious will of God as our Sauiour before did And as it is in his shining so is it likewise in his mouing His motion is by Gods will and not by his owne And though it be sayd by the Prophet
autem impetum Coeli cum admirabili celeritale mouâ—ri vertique videamus constantissimè conficientem vicissitudines anniversarias cum summa salute conseruatione rerum omnium dubitamus quìn ea non solùm ratione fiant sed etiam excellenti divináque ratione Marke Divina ratione When we see anything moued by an artificiall engine as a Sphere or a Clocke or any other such like thing wee neuer make any doubt but that those Workes were wrought by reason And can wee then doubt when we see the heauens to mooue with such incredible celerity and yet to keepe their yearely courses with such admirable constancy procuring vnto all things both their health and safety that this must be the worke not onely of reason but also of Diuine and most excellent Reason Ascribing the regularity of their motion not vnto their owne but vnto Diuine Wisdome In which sentence though it should bee thought that Tully doth but Platonize implying by Diuine Wisdome none other but their owne as reckoning the Starres themselues to be Gods yet euen so it proues the Cause that the motions of the Heauens being so constant and orderly cannot otherwise bee stirred but by the wisedome of God And consequently that it sheweth that there needes must be a God Yea and in another place hee goeth further affirming of this so apt and orderly a motion that it not onely cannot bee performed in the naturall heauen without the power and wisedome of a God but also not to bee imitated by Archimedes in his Artificiall heauen without a diuine illumination from God Quod si in hoc mundo fieri sine Deo non potest ne in Sphaera quidem eosdem motus Archimedes sine divino ingenio potuisset imitari Which sentence of his cannot bee vnderstood of the fore-named Star-Gods but of that God which ruleth both the Heauens and the Starres which is the true God as Arrianus truely noteth He it is Qui Solem fecit circumducit He it is that made the Sun and he it is that mooueth the Sun Yea and the Heauens wherein they mooue too As for the fore-named dotage of opinion that The Stars should haue their soules and by them bee mooued in those orderly courses vpon their owne voluntary wills euen Plato himselfe the strongest defender of that groundlesse fancie yet speaketh of it but weakely and doubtfully For hee not knowing what well to determine affirmeth of those motions of the Heauens Impossibile esse Coelum stellasque omnes adeó exquisita ratione annis mensibus diebúsque circumvolui nobisque omnibus bona omnia facere nisi anima singulis aut adsit aut in sit That it is vnpossible that the Heauens and the Starres should mooue in so excellent an order distinguishing by their motions both yeares and moneths and dayes and so yeâ—lding vnto vs all good and comfortable things vnlâ—sse euery one of them had either a spirit present with it or a soule within it Not determining this latter but leauing it in suspence whether it may not bee the former But Aristotle derideth it as a meere fable that the Heauen should haue a soule and that their motion from that principle should draw his beginning Which hee proueth to bee false by the force of two reasons The first whereof is this That if they had this perpetuall motion from their soule it would bee wearisome and yrkesome to be occupied still in doing one and the same thing Neque talis animae vita sine dolore beataque esse potest And the life of such a soule cannot be but full of griefe and cleane destitute of blisse For Natura varietate delectatur The soule is delighted with variety It is dulled with identity Especially if it haue no intermission no alternation of rest It will then bee Negotium ab omni voluptate mentis semotum si requies non est Yea and Eò magis laboriosum quò magis perpetuum as hee addeth in that place That worke can haue but a little pleasure that neuer giueth leasure but is so much the more painefull by how much the more perpetuall Whereupon hee inferreth That such a perpetuall doing of one and the same worke must needes bee as painfull vnto the soule as Ixions turning vpon his wheele For if the Starres bee gods and moued by their owne eternall soules they can neither haue honour nor profite nor pleasure in running still one course perpetually without any varietie For Qualis honor vel quale lucrum vel quanta voluptas Esse potest Divis versantibus aethera semper Nonne decet potiùs libertas maxima Divos Vt quocunque velint faciles accedere possint Ne tanquam dura devincti compede nusquà m Ire queant semperque loco teneantur eodem Aut tanquà m figuli instantes operà rotaeque Nunquam decedant scamno nunquà m otia captent Esine illis adeò dulcis labor illâ— rotandi And labor ille potest Divis nunqâ—à m esse molestus What good what gaine what honour or what pleasures Can any gods take in their turning Measures Wherein th' are alwayes tyed to moue the Sphere The greatest freedome them most fitting were As that where're they would they might apply Themselues with pleasure and facility Lest they might sâ—eme as chain'd to one set place And not elsewhere haue lâ—aue to take their race But euen as Potters task't to tedious labour From stall and wheele and worke do ne're giue ouer What is that toyle of whirling Spheres so sweete Or can that toyle be still for gods so meete This must needes be very yrkesome to continue still in one and the same motion without any alteration especially to any thing that hath a soule indued with either sense or reason And therefore Plato affirmeth that Seipsum semper convertere fermè nihil potest praeter id quod cursum agitatis omnibus praestat That nothing can endure to turne about it selfe euer but onely that one thing which giueth motion to all things Whereupon he there concludeth Mundum seipsum non convertere semper putting the doubt out of doubt That the motion of the Heauens is not voluntary of themselues His second Reason is this that Nature hath not giuen a voluntary or animal-motion vnto any thing but shee hath also giuen it fit meanes and instruments to exercise the same as feete vnto Beasts wings vnto Birds and sinnes vnto Fishes and such like But vnto the Starres shee hath giuen no such instruments but made them round and teret like a globe as if shee had purposely depriued them of all the meanes of voluntarie motion Vniversa videtur tanquam de industria abstulisse quibus per se procedere ipsa possent From whence hee collecteth that Nature neuer intended to bestow vpon them any voluntarie motion Nequeo enim animalia ipsi curae â—uêre adeò verò praestabiles res despexit Vnlesse we should imagine that Nature which hath shewed such a care ouer these
earthly Creatures would carelesly praetermit or despise those Heauenly This is the whole summe of Aristotles reasons to proue that the Starres haue no voluntarie motions Plato indeed rendereth a reason why the Heauens haue no neede of any instruments of motion as Legges or Feete But they be such as shew plainely that their motion is not voluntarie Now to recollect the summe of this long Chapter If this regular and orderly motion of the Starres be neither naturally giuen vnto them either by their Matter or by their Forme nor accidentally fallen vpon them either by Chance or Fortune nor voluntarily composed by them out of their owne election then must it needs be imposed vpon them by diuine constitution as Plutarch truely collecteth accompting this for a sufficient enumeration But the three former branches are largely proued in three Sections of this Chapter And therefore the Author of their motions must needs be God himselfe It can be none other Whom Boetius truly calleth Terrarum Coeli satorem qui perpetua mundum ratione gubernat Earths planter and Heauens placer who Worlds vast circumference Both made and doth maintaine and rule by lasting prouidence So that for this point I conclude with Lactantius that Tanta rerum magnitudo tanta dispositio tanta in sâ—ruandis ordinibus temporibusque constantia non potuit autolìm sine prouido Artifice oriri aut constare tot seculis â—ine incola potenti aut in perpetuum gubernari sine perito sciente Rectore Quod ratio ipsa declarat Such a greatnes in the Creature such a comelines in their order such a constancie in obseruing both their courses and their seasons could neuer either at first haue beene framed without a cunning hand or so long haue beene praeserued without a powerfull inhabitant or so wisely haue beene gouerned without a skilfull Regent As euen Reason it selfe maketh it plaine and euident CHAP. 12. That God hath made all his creatures in Harmonicall proportion and in a kinde of Musicke That all creatures are naturally deloghted with it 3. That they prayse God in their kinds with their naturall Musicks 4. That Artificiall musicke is the gift of God to men 5. That the chiefest end of it is to prayse God with it WE are now at the last come vnto the last of the Mathematicall Sciences which is the Arte of Musicke of which I purpose not to discourse as a curious Musitian but as a Diuine And therefore I will not Artem Musicam in trutina examinare as Aristophanes speaketh I will not strictly examine euery crochâ—t and quauer as it were vpon the ballance but looking directly vpon mine owne marke with a stedfast eye I will onely vnfold those fiue poynts vnto you which I haue summed vp before in the contents of this Chapter And that but very lightly to auoyd all curiositie First therefore for the first of them It was Pythagoras his position Vniversi naturam Musicis fuisse rationibus fabricatam That the frame of this whole world is made in a kind of naturall Musick And the most of the old Philosophers as Plutarch reporteth concurred with him in the very same opinion A Deo omnia fuisse instituta secundùm Harmoniam That God hath made all his workes exactly vnto the due proportion of a Musicall Harmonie And we may see it plainely verified if we will take a Suruey of all the Creatures of God beginning which the highest and so by degrees descending the lowest And first for the Heauens the highest of Gods workes I haue partly shewed before in the former Chapter what an excellent Harmonie God hath bestowed into them both actually in their motions and virtually in their influences I doe leaue the former of those Harmonies to the libertie of the Readers to beleeue or not beleeue as it pleaseth themselues But this latter of them is a thing so euident of their gracious influences vpon these inferior Bodies that he must needs be destitute both of sense and reason that denieth it Neither doe the Philosophers only beleeue the body of the Heauens are made in musicall proportion but also that their soules and Intelligences from whence they haue their motion are also made by the same composition Plato describing the Creation of the Soule of the world he setteth downe exactly all the seuerall substances whereof it is compounded and nameth there praecisely both all the particular Ingredients and all their seuerall doses In which Argument Macrobius likewise hath taken great paâ—nes to expresse more plainely that which was deliuered by Plato more obscurely as concerning both the Matters and the Measures of the Soules composition which hee reduceth exactly vnto Musicall proportion Yea and further ascribeth all the Musicall Harmonie of the Heauens themselues onely vnto that musicall composition which God gaue vnto the soule of the Heauens in his first Creation Ergò Mundi anima qu ae ad motum hoc quod videmus Vniversitatis corpus impellit contexta numeris musicam dese creantibus concinnentiam necesse est vt sonos musicos de motu quem proprio impulsu praestat efficiat The soule of the World which stirreth the bodie of the World vnto motion being it selfe made of such numbers as beget in it selfe a musicall Harmonie must needs in all those motions which it selfe procureth produce a musicall Harmonie likewise Yea and a little after hee attributeth vnto this musicall Composition of that soule not onely the Harmonicall motion of the Heauens but also all that delight in Musicke which all liuing Creatures does take here vpon the earth Iure igitur Musicá capitur omne quod viuit quia coelestis anima qua animatur vniversitas Originem sumpsit ex Musica By right must euery thing that hath life be delighted with Musicke because the soule of the world which giueth them their life is it selfe compounded of a kind of Musick This is the conceit which the ancient Philosophers haue had of the Musick and Harmonie of the Heauens not onely in their Bodies but also in their Soules All of them proceeding onely from that diuine and heauenly Harmonie which Anselmus affirmeth to bee in God himselfe as I haue before obserued I censure not their opinion but onely note it to declare how strongly they were possessed that all things in the world are compounded in a kinde of Harmony by God yea euen the Soule of the world it selfe Let vs therefore now come downe from the Heauens vnto the Elements For in them also the Philosophers haue obserued diuers Harmonies Plutarch in his Booke De prìmo Frigido reporteth an old opinion that God is called by the name of a Musition Which appellation hee interpreteth to bee giuen vnto him for his skilfull proportioning of the Elements and their qualities in the mixture and temper of all compound bodies Aeris mutationes effecta quia temperat Deus Musicus appellatur God is called a Musition for his skilfull
excellency in Poetrie is onely of God Which Agatho the Poet in a very religious manner expressed For hee hauing in the Olympiacke obtained the victory by his Tragoedie he out of his thankfulnesse the next day sacrìficed vnto the Muses Neither doe the Poets by these Insinuations onely acknowledge that their faculty is giuen to them by God but also by their direct and apert Confessions So Virgil Ille Ludere quae vellem calamo permisit agresti That God of mine is he That granteth this to me To sing and pipe and play My pleasing country lay So Horace Deus Deus nam me vetat God God doth me forbid So Ovid. Est Deus in nobis agitante calescimus illo Impâ—tus hic sacrae semina mentis habet There is a God in vs and by his power we liue This power of his the seedâ— of sacred minde doe giue So Ovid againe in another place Est Deus in nobis sunt commercia Coeli Sedibus aethereis spiritus ille venit A God there is in vs and with vs Heauens commerce And thence that Spirit comes that helpeth out our verse Otherwise as Theocritus ingenuously confesseth Arduae sunt Poetarum viae absque Musis Et lovis consilio The paths that Poets trace full vncouth proue Without Iâ—ues aide and Muses from aboue Thus euen the Heathen confessed not onely Philosophy but also Poetry to be a Diuine gift and to be sent vnto men out of Heauen by God But this point I now passe ouer because I haue touched vpon it before 5 And the like they acknowledge of all other arts too Yea and that as in the forâ—â—er both indirectly by Implication and directly by Confession The â—reekes insinuate that all Arts come from God in making 〈◊〉 Daughter of Iupiter and to haue had her generation in his Diuâ—ebâ—â—â—â— For thereby they imply that all Arts were first bred in Iupiters owne head For Minerva was the Mistresse of all good Arts as Salust in his inuectiue against Tully insinuateth where in derision hee affirmeth him to bee a man Quem Minerva omnes Artes edocuit Whom Minerua had adorned with all her Arts and Sciences Yea and the Romanes doe also insinuate the same in consecrating Mens among their other Gods Whereby againe they implyâ— that all vnderstanding is giuen to men by God Neither doe they onely by Insinuation imply it but also directly in expresse words confesse it So Orpheus Iovis omnia munus All goods are Gods His gifts they are So likewise Pythagoras sacrum genus est hominibus Quibus sacra natura pâ—ofereâ—do in lucem omnia monstraâ— He saith the holy God doth bring to light Whatsoeuer Mâ—n doth vnderstand aright So likewise Aratus nos ille benignus Fausta docet It 's he alone euen he the God beningne That vs instructs in euery blessed thing Yea and as Philo Iudaeus obserueth when he begins to teach men he teacheth them to purpose Quandò Fons Sapientìae Deus Scientias tradit humano generi sine mora hoc facit Whenas God who is the fountaine of all wisdome deliuereth any Art or Science vnto men he quickly doth dispatch them Hâ— doth it not instillando but infundendo He doth it not by instillation but by infusion He droppeth it not in but hee powreth it in As wee may see in the Apostles when hee gaue them the gift of toungs And therefore it is a very false position which is maintained by Xenophon That all Arts haue beene found out rather by the wit of man vsing the benefit of long time then by Gods speciall blessing Non Dij mortalibus principio oftendêre omnia sed melius quaerentes tempore longo invenêre It is true indeede that God doth not alwayes vpon a sodaine powre knowledge into men as hee did into the Disciples but teacheth them by degrees in distance of times but yet men were not able to get knowledge of themselues though they should labour for it with neuer so great paine and neuer so long time if they were not assisted with his speciall blessing And therfore Orpheus in the fore-alledged place he ascribeth vnto God not onely the beginning but also the proceeding in all kind of learning Iupiter est Caput Medium Iovis omnia munus God is the Beginning and God is the proceeding and All is of Gods giuing For Euery good giuing commeth downe vnto vs from the Father of Lights And It is onely in his Light that we see Light It is he saith the Prophet Dauid that teacheth a man knowledge It is he saith the Prophet Daniel that giueth wisdome vnto all that be wise and vnderstanding vnto all that vnderstand He gaue to Ananias and his fellowes their knowledge and vnderstanding in all manner of learning He gaue vnto King Salomon all his excellent wisedome which reached vnto all the parts of Philosophy And no man hath any thing which hee hath not of his teaching no nor can haue neither For he giueth not onely the possession of all Arts but also all possibility of attayning vnto them He both teacheth men and he giueth them the capacitie to learne Hee giueth docilitie together with his doctrine It is hee saith the Prophet that giueth an eare to heare as the learned Yea and this also euen by the Heathen themselues is acknowledged Strepsiades when hee entred into the Schoole of Socrates to learne his abstruse Arts hee prayed vnto the gods to lend him their assistance So that though Docility may seeme to bee a gift of Nature yet euen that nature is the gift of God Nature may giue the gift of docility to vs but God giueth the gift of docility to it So that all our capability of receiuing any Art is taught euen by the Heathen to be giuen of God And we must flye aboue nature if wee will rightly reduce it to his true Originall Author God both giueth all knowledge vnto them that haue it and all capacity to receiue it vnto them that haue it not And thus as Eusebius hath truely obserued it is Divinum verbum quod omnes Artes hominibus suggerit â—is onely the Diuine word which giues vnto all men all manner of Arts and knowledge But this point hath also beene touched by me heretofore And therefore I will not presse it in this place any more 6 Let vs therefore now come downe to the lowest degree of Arts that is Manuary and Mechanicall and we shall see that euen they as well as the liberall are by the Heathen confessed to bee the gifts of God Trismegistus saith of all kindes of knowledge in generall that Scientia est Dei donum That all manner of knowledge is the gift of God And Seneca of all humane Arts in particular Neque enim nostra haec quae invenimus dixeris non magis quà m quòd crescimus Insita sunt nobis omnium Artium semina