propinquitas dat motum calorem et levitatem and thereupon it comes to passe that we have coldnesse in the middle Region the cause first beginning it being in respect of the hills which hinder the aire from following the motion of the heavens as in two severall places of the second dayes work I have declared Sixthly I would also know why an arrow being shot upright should fall neare upon the same place where the shooter standeth and not rather fall beyond him seeing the earth must needs carry him farre away whilest the arrow flyeth up and falleth down again or why should a stone being perpendicularly let fall on the West side of a tower fall just at the foot of it or on the East side fall at all and not rather be forced to knock against it We see that a man in a ship at sea throwing a stone upright is carried away before the stone falleth and if it be mounted up in any reasonable height not onely he which cast it but the ship also is gone Now why it should be otherwise in the motion of the earth I do not well perceive If you say that the earth equally carries the shooter aire arrow tower and stone then methinks you are plainly convinced by the former instance of the ship or if not by that then by the various flying of clouds and of birds nay of the smallest grashopper flie flea or gnat whose motion is not tied to any one quarter of the world but thither onely whither their own strength shall carry them some flying one way some another way at one and the same time We see that the winde sometimes hindereth the flight of those prettie creatures but we could never yet perceive that they were hindered by the aire which must needs hinder them if it were carried alwayes one way by the motion of the earth for from that effect of the earths motion this effect must needs also be produced Arm'd with these reasons 't were superfluous To joyn our forces with Copernicus But perhaps you will say it is a thing impossible for so vast a bodie as the heavens to move dayly about the earth and be no longer then 24 houres before one revolution be accomplished for if the compasse were no more then such a distance would make as is from hence to Saturns sphere the motion must extend in one first scruple or minute of time to 55804 miles and in a moment to 930 miles which is a thing impossible for any Physicall bodie to perform Unto which I must first answer that in these mensurations we must not think to come so neare the truth as in those things which are subject to sense and under our hands For we oft times fail yea even in them much more therefore in those which are remote and as it were quite absent by reason of their manifold distance Secondly I also answer that the wonder is not more in the swiftnesse of the motion then in the largenesse of the circumference for that which is but a slow motion in a little circuit although it be one and the same motion still must needs be an extraordinary motion in a greater circle and so I say the wonder is not more in the motion then in the largenesse of the circumference Wherefore he that was able by the power of his word to make such a large-compassed bodie was also able so to make it that it should endure to undergo the swiftest motion that the quickest thought can keep pace with or possibly be forged in imagination For his works are wonderfull and in wisdome he hath made them all Besides do but go on a while and adhere a little to the sect of Copernicus and then you shall finde so large a space between the convexitie of Saturns sphere and the concavitie of the eighth sphere being more then 20 times the distance of Saturn from us and yet void of bodies and serving to no other purpose but to salve the annuall motion of the earth so great a distance I say that thereby that proportion is quite taken away which God the Creatour hath observed in all other things making them all in number weight and measure in an excellent portion and harmonie Last of all let me demand how the earths motion and heavens rest can agree with holy Scripture It is true indeed as they alledge that the grounds of Astronomie are not taught us in Gods book yet when I heare the voice of the everlasting and sacred Spirit say thus Sun stand thou still and thou Moon in the valley of Ajalon I cannot be perswaded either to think teach or write that the earth stood still but the sunne stood and the moon stayed untill the people had avenged themselves on their enemies Neither do I think after this that it was the earth which went back but the sunne upon Ahaz his diall in the dayes of Ezekias For when God had made the earth what said he did he bid it move round about the heavens that thereby dayes weeks moneths and yeares might be produced No. What then This was its office and this that which it should do namely bud and bring forth fruit for the use of man And for motion it was absolutely and directly bestowed upon the heavens and starres witnesse those very words appointing to the sunne and moon their courses setting them in the heavens so as they should never rest but be for signes and for seasons for dayes and for yeares And so also the wise Siracides understood it saying Did not the sunne go back by his means and was not one day as long as two I conclude therefore and concluding cannot forget that sweet meditation of a religious and learned Prelate saying Heaven ever moves yet is that the place of our rest Earth ever rests yet is that the place of our travell and unrest And now laying all together if the cause be taken away the effect perisheth My meaning is no more but thus that seeing the earth is void of motion the ebbing and flowing of the sea cannot be caused by it but dependeth upon some other thing Or again were it so that the earth had such a motion I should scarce beleeve that this ebbing and flowing depended on it For as I said before if this were the cause it could never be that the course of ebbs and flouds should keep such a regular alteration as they do day by day Neither could it produce a cause why the tides should be more at one time of the moneth then at another Nor yet as some suppose could the waters be suffered to flow back again but alwayes must be going on as fast as they can toward the Eastern part of the world But I leave this and come to another It was a mad fancie of him who attributed the cause to an Angel which should stand in a certain place of the world and sometimes heave up the earth above the waters
word and then the other creatures were produced but now he calls a councell and doth consult not out of need but rather to shew the excellencie of his work or indeed to shew himself he speaks not therefore to the Angels but the Trinitie saying Let us make man Wherein the Father as the first in order speaketh to the Sonne and holy Spirit and the Sonne and Spirit speak and decree it with the Father and the Father Sonne and holy Ghost all Three in One and One in Three create a creature to be the other creatures lord He was therefore the last as the end of all the rest the last in execution but first in intention the Map Epitome and Compendium of what was made before him Three worlds there are and Mankinde is the fourth The first is Elementarie the second a Celestiall world the third Angelicall and the fourth is Man the little world In the first is ignis urens a burning fire and this in the heavens is ignis fovens a nourishing and quickning fire but in those creatures above seated in the supercelestiall world it is ignis ardens amor Seraphicus an ardent burning and Seraphicall love and in the fourth are all these found at once For first as mans bodie is compounded of the Elements he hath his share of that warm fire in him The influence of the Planets working on him doth likewise shew the second And for the third their hearts who burn within them do declare it Neither was he made like other creatures with a groveling look or downward countenance but with an erected visage beholding the heavens and with lordly looks well mixt with majestie He hath a bodie whose members are either Principall and Radicall or else Lesse principall and Officiall His heart liver and brain contain the vitall naturall and animall spirits and these are carried by the arteries veins and nerves The arteries carrie the vitall spirits from the heart The veins carrie the naturall spirits from the liver giving nourishment to every part And the nerves carrie the animall spirits from the brain being spirits for sense and motion and therefore called animall spirits howbeit the motive nerves spring from the marrow in the back and the sensitive come from the brain Also know that under every vein is an arterie for wheresoever there goeth a vein to give nutriment there goeth an arterie to bring the spirit of life Neither is it but that the arteries lie deeper in the flesh then the veins because they carrie and keep in them more precious bloud then the veins keep and are therefore not onely further from outward dangers but clothed also in two coats whereas the veins have but one Whereupon it is no hard thing to distinguish between these two vessels of bloud if we can but remember that the arterie is a vessel of bloud spirituall or vitall and the vein a vessel of bloud nutrimentall for as I said before the veins have their beginning from the liver bringing from thence nutritive bloud to nourish every member of the bodie Moreover his heart is the seat of all the passions as in one instance may suffice for being transported with fear we call back the bloud to the heart as to the place where fear prevaileth the bloud going thither as it were to comfort and cherish the heart And whereas it may seem that our anger is seated in the gall love in the liver and melancholie in the splene it is answered that those humours placed in the gall liver and splene are not the seat of the passions and affections but they are the occasion whereby the passions are stirred up as the abundance of bloud in the liver stirreth up the passion of love which neverthelesse is placed and seated in the heart and so of the rest And again seeing the vitall spirits proceed from the heart it cannot be denied but that this member liveth first and dieth last And as the heart was the seat of all the passions so the head is a seat and place for all the senses except the touch for that is not onely in one place but in all and every place being spread quite through the whole bodie or isle of man The eyes are the windows of the bodie and albeit a man have two eyes in his head yet he receiveth but one sight at once because the optick nerves meet both in one The eares be like certain doores with labyrinthicall eâ—…tries and crooked windings and here again although the eares be two yet a man can heare but one sound at once because his acoustick nerves like to the optick nerves meet both in one His tongue discerneth tastes and albeit he have two eyes and as many eares yet his tongue is single and alone A man should therefore heare and see more then he speaketh and when he speaketh not wrong his heart and secret thoughts by uttering words with a double tongue for bilinguis is more then God made him and double tongues shall be rooted out Besides the lungs be the bellows of the voice and are seated close to the heart to teach us that speech ought to be the interpreter of the heart and not that a man may speak one thing and think another The nose serveth not onely as a gutter for the excrements of the brain to flow and passe through but also for a pipe of respiration to give and take our living breath and to conduct the aire and odoriferous smells up to the brain for the conservation and recreation of the animal spirits When the head is in danger the hand casts it self up to save it And in giving hands to man the speciall providence of God is to be marked for he hath made him to take his meat with his hand and hath not left him to gather and take it up with his lips as the beasts do because that would be a means to hinder his speech by thickening his lips as experience teacheth in those who either by nature or by accident have thick swollen lips causing them to speak in the mouth uttering their words very badly and indistinctly Neither could there be so many quick conceits of the minde or curious inventions of sundry artists brought to perfection without such an instrumentall help as the hand The feet be the bases of the bodie carrying man like a lordly creature with his face from earth and eyes to heaven that he might thither strive to come at last where he inhabiteth who gave him these and all his other members else which now I cannot stand to dilate upon at large And when he had them all and was framed out like a curious piece God breathed in his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul he then took his second part when his first was finished neither was that second made till then for in the infusion it was created and in the creation it was infused
Yet it is not so farre forth to be understood as that in their substances they shall be quite burnt up but rather that they shall be purified in their vicious qualities which the vanitie of sinne hath laid upon the model of the whole world And this S. Paul points at when he saith that the creature it self shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God For we know saith he that the whole creation groneth and travaileth in pain together untill now And again in the hundred and second Psalme where the Prophet saith that the heavens and the earth shall perish and wax old he sheweth that their perishing shall onely be a changing For as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed Whatsoever therefore is spoken of their consuming passing away and perishing is meant onely in respect of their corruptible qualities the substance still abiding and so shall the fire at the last day serve for a purging not for an utter consuming There shall indeed be nothing unchanged because all things shall be renewed and each thing brought into a perfect state Acts 3. 21. A new heaven and a new earth 2. Pet. 3. 21. Not new by creation but by commutation Non per interitum pristinorum sed commutationem in melius as saith S. Hierome Not by a destruction of the old but by a change into a better Which thing is yet further seen even in the little world Man who is the Epitome of the greater world it self For he in the substance of his bodie shall not be destroyed but changed and in stead of corruption shall put on incorruption as saith S. Paul beholding at the last day his Redeemer not with other saith Job but with these same eyes In like manner the greater world in stead of corruption shall I verily think put on incorruption and being purged by the fire shall be delivered into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God It shall not be delivered onely in the libertie of the sonnes of God that is when they are delivered but it shall be delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into their libertie as it is Rom. 8. 21. If it were onely in their libertie or when they are delivered then in stead of a changing there might be a consuming which is in some sort a deliverie because although quite taken away there is then no longer a subjection unto vanitie but seeing it is into the libertie of the sonnes of God it shall like mans glorified bodie put on incorruption and so suo modo in its kinde be partaker of an incorruptible state But in this changing I think we may fitly exempt all such creatures which now serve onely for the necessitie of mans life as those which be for food clothing and the like because then at the end of the world I mean there shall be an end likewise of all such needs Yet there are those who comprehend the brute beasts also and other creatures having sense and life within the limits of this libertie but they do somewhat qualifie their meanings as thus They shall not be partakers of the glorie of the sonnes of God yet in their kinde they shall be fellows with them in that glorious state like as once they were in Paradise before man had fallen But whether I may embrace this opinion I know not and that in regard of the foresaid reason unto which others also assent saying Istas naturas rerum non mansuras in extremo die nisi aliquid opus habiturae sint Wherefore we may rather relie upon this without any such speciall respect unto those creatures namely that the worlds fabrick consisting of heaven and earth shall not be destroyed but renewed according to the qualities by the purging fire For the moon shall shine as the sunne and the light of the sunne shall be sevenfold as saith the Prophet Esay chap. 30. 26. which S. Hierome expoundeth thus viz. that the sunne and moon shall receive that admired augmentation of light as a reward of their labours Yea and Zachary also witnesseth that there shall be but one perpetuall day for there shall be so great light that there shall be no difference between day and night as some observe from thence Neither is it a marvel saith Chrysostome that the creatures should at that time be illustrated with so great splendour and light for kings upon the day when they inaugurate their sonnes are wont to provide not onely that they may come forth with all singular pomp and appearance but also that their servants may be well adorned Much more therefore may we think when Christ shall sit in glorious majestie upon his throne and the just who are the sonnes of God shall be admitted to their paternall heritage and kingdome that then God Almighty shall cause that all his creatures be decked with an extraordinary brightnesse beautie and lustre For although it be said that the moon and the sunne shall shine no more but rather that the Lord himself will be for an eternall light yet it meaneth not that those starres should perish but that the uncreated light shall be more glorious So that as now the greater light obscures the lesse in like manner it shall be then when we come into that citie which wanteth not the sunne or moon It is not said Solem lunam non habebit sed Non indigebit ut luceant in ea that the citie shall have no sunne and moon but that it shall not want them to shine in it silently declaring that then indeed shall be those luminaries yet they shall not then perform as now the same uses of light being subject to motion and an incessant wheeling up and down to cause a rising and setting yea and to distinguish one time and day from another For time is but as a space borrowed and set apart from eternitie which must at the last return to eternitie again This for the heavens And as for the earth our Saviour promiseth amongst other blessings a blessing to the meek saying that they shall inherit the earth which promise of his saith one we see is not performed in this world and therefore to be then expected when there is a new heaven and a new earth for the saints of God and when the whole creation which now groneth shall be delivered into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God Thus some But in this new heaven and earth we must not expect any terrene pleasures as the carnall Jews do dream as the Turks beleeve or as that Heretick Cerinthus held and after him the Millenaries or Chiliasts because such pleasures are fading and corruptible joyes farre unfit for saints whose very bodies have put on incorruption We look therefore for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse as saith S. Peter 2 Pet. 3. 13. and spirituall delight unto eternitie as
viz. God commanded this elementarie light to be that so the thinner and higher element severed from the aire might by his enlightning operation effect a light some shining and the aire according to the nature thereof receive it which to the fire was an essentiall propertie to the aire an accidentall qualitie approved of God as good both to himself and the future creatures Thus some But others except against it affirming that this light was moveable by the presence of it making day and by its absence making night which could not have been had it been the element of fire unlesse it be more or lesse in one place then in another and not equally dispersed Or as Pareus answereth it could not be the element of fire because that is above the clouds according to the common rules of Philosophie and therefore in his judgement the fierie element was not untill the second day being created with the Expansum or stretching out of the aire But unto these exceptions I think an answer may be framed as I perhaps shall afterwards shew you Thirdly if as some have done we should think that this was the very light of the sunne and then in the sunne or in such a cloud or subject as was the matter of the sunne the text would be objected against it which affirmeth that the sunne was not untill the fourth day for the creation of that was but then although the light was before Fourthly Aquinas saith Lux primo die fuit producta secundum communem lucis naturam quarto autem die attributa est luminaribus determinata virtus ad determinatos effectus secundum quod videmus alios effectus habere radium solis alios radium lunae sic de aliis Whereupon he concludeth that howsoever it was it was but an informed light untill the fourth day Now therefore amongst a multitude of opinions which are besides these already mentioned I for mine own part cannot but preferre this as the best namely that the light for three dayes space wanted a subject such as now it hath and yet it did perform the same office which now it doth being fastened to a subject or to the bodie of the Sunne which is Vehiculum lucis A Chariot for the light For we may easily perceive that in the works of creation there is such an harmonious order observed as that there may be an union and reduction of all things of one kinde to their own heads and centre As for example the upper waters must be severed by the out-spread firmament and the lower must repair all to one sea as their naturall subject and as for heavie substances they hasten downwards and the light ones they fly upwards In like manner that light which at the first was dispersed and fixed to no subject doth presently as soon as the sunne was unite it self unto that body as now it is This of all other seemeth to me the best opinion to pitch upon and the most probable in this kinde which may well be as an Embleme how God will one day gather his elect from all coasts of heaven to the participation of one glorie S. Paul applieth it to our regeneration thus God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts c. that we who were once darknesse are now light in the Lord. And in this consideration I think we need not much dissent from them who would have the element of fire signified by it which opinion was before mentioned for howsoever it be that that element be now dispersed or wheresoever placed yet it might be that the first light shined from it thus I say it might be because we may not reason à facto ad fieri or from the order of the constitution of things in which they now are to the principles of their institution whilest yet they were in making And for further proof of this I do easily assent to them who have probably affirmed that the starres and lights of heaven contain the greatest part of this fire as afterwards in the fourth dayes work shall be more plainly shewed This I have said as seeming to me the best and most probable tenent although perfectly to affirm what this light was must be by our enlightning from him who commanded that it should shine out of darknesse Of which shining and darknesse seeing the Sunne was not yet made which by his course and turning about makes it day and night at the same time in divers places it may be said that it was day and night at the same instant now over the face of the whole earth which made one therefore say that the first darknesses were not loco divisae sed planè depulsae à luce ut nusquam essent yet so as that they should either return or depart according to the contraction or expansion of this first light caused by a divine dispensation Thus Pareus And now of thee oh bright-shining creature it may be said that hadst thou never been the beautie of the world had been as nothing For thou art the beautie of all the beauties else as saith Du Bartas Gods eldest daughter Oh how thou art full Of grace and goodnesse Oh how beautifull Quest. But if God made the Light was he not before in darknesse Answ. No For he needs not any created light who is himself a Light uncreated no corporall light who is a spirituall one God is light and in him is no darknesse at all 1. Joh. 1. 5. He made this light for our mortall journey on earth himself is the Light of our immortall abode in heaven neither did he more dwell in this light that he made then the waters were the habitation of the Spirit when it was said that the Spirit moved upon the waters But see there was Night Light and Day before the Sunne yet now without it there is neither which sheweth that we must allow God to be the Lord of his own works and not limit his power to means And surely as it was before man was made so shall it be after he is dissolved For then as the Prophet speaketh The Sunne shall no more be thy light by day neither shall the Moon give light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God thy glory Lastly unto this amongst many things let me adde but one thing more God made light on the first day so Christ arose from death on the same day being the first of the week And he is the true light which lighteth every one that cometh into the world Of which light if we have no portion then of all creatures man is the most miserable Sect. 3. Of the intercourse between day and night WHat now remaineth God called the light Day and the darknesse Night 'T is true Th' All 's Architect alternately decreed That Night the Day the Day should Night succeed Of both which we have more then
such a nature as that the rain falling through them should dissolve or corrupt them Those indeed who follow Aristotle make them of a Quint-essence altogether differing from things compounded of the Elements But for mine own part more easily should I be perswaded to think that there is no such fifth essence in them but rather that they are of a like nature with the Elements or not much differing For first although Aristotle deny any change or alteration to have been observed or seen in the heavens since the beginning of the world yet he was deceived For Hipparchus who had better skill in Astronomie then ever Aristotle had he as Plinie witnesseth telleth us out of his own diligent and frequent observations that the heavens have had changes in them for there was in his dayes a new starre like unto that which was once in Cassiopea And that which is beyond the authoritie of the greatest philosopher doth also witnesse as much I mean the sacred voice of the everlasting Spirit affirming that the two parts of this universe the heavens as well as the earth do both of them wax old even as doth a garment which is as if it should be said that by little and little they are changed tending so long to corruption till at last shall come the time of their dissolution What great difference then can there be between the heavens and things here below seeing in their own natures both of them do tend to corruption and are subject to mutation Besides as it is with Man who is the little world so certainly it is with Macrocosme who is the greater world but man changeth and declineth daily not being now as heretofore he hath been and so also as a good consequence it must follow that the greater world doth also suffer change and by declining alteration That man declineth saith one is a thing most manifest For men are of lower stature lesser bones and strength and of shorter lives then their forefathers were Now from whence cometh this but from the declining estate of the greater world The earth we see which is the lower part of it is not so fruitfull as before but beginneth to be barren like the wombe of Sarah neither do the fruits which she bringeth forth yeeld so much nutriment as heretofore they have done And how cometh that to passe but because the heaven also fainteth For the Planets wax old and cannot afford so great vertue and influence to these lower bodies as in times past they did which Plinie and Aulus Gellius testifie And indeed this must needs be a manifest proof seeing lesse and weaker bodies are conceived every Age in the wombe of nature that nature therefore waxeth old and weary of conceiving Also saith he if a man do but behold the face of heaven the Moon looketh pale and wan Mars lesse rubicund Sol lesse orient Iupiter not of so amiable and favourable countenance Venus more hypocriticall and all the rest both of the wandring and fixed starres more weak and suspicious then they did before That mighty Giant which was wont to runne his unwearied course now waxeth wearie as if he would stand still in heaven as he did in the dayes of Joshua for he shineth more dimmely and appeareth more seldome then before being much nearer to the earth then of ancient times For if we may give credit to the calculations of the chief masters in Astronomie the Sunne quoth Copernicus and after him also Stofler is nearer to the earth then it was in the dayes of Ptolomie by the space of twenty six thousand six hundred and sixtie miles or as Philip Melanchthon saith nine thousand nine hundred seventie and six miles to whom saith Diâ—…tericus assenteth that famous mathematician of our age David Origanus in his Prognostication for the yeare of our Lord 1604. All these are proofs and although we do not greatly contend concerning this last allegation of the sunnes approach so neare us yet neverthelesse the assertion in generall is true enough that the heavens as well as the earth as they grow older and older do suffer change and in that regard their natures cannot but be much alike Unto which adde this namely that these visible heavens of which we now speak were taken from that masse or lump which lay here below and that the whole lump was created at once in which regard it cannot be denied that they differ toto genere or altogether but that they are of a much like nature with inferiour bodies or things here below And as for Aristotle he never would so earnestly have defended the contrary had he not known that it was an excellent means to colour that which he also held concerning the worlds eternitie But besides all this the observations of our best and modern Astronomers make much against him for they have modestly and manifestly proved that not onely new starres but comets also have been farre above the moon As for example that strange starre which once was at the back of Cassiopea's chair was of an extraordinarie height above it for it shined without any difference of Aspect Parallax or diversitie of sight even untill all the matter whereof it consisted was consumed having alwayes as the observers thereof do witnesse one and the same station to every of the starres both in all climates and also in all parts of the heaven no diversitie of sight at all observed all which in the lowermost Planets is otherwise and perceived most of all in the moon because the Semidiameter of the earth according to which quantitie we dwell from the centre hath a sensible bignesse unto the distance of the moons sphere from us Had therefore that New starre Comet or what you please to call it been lower then the moon and not in the starrie heaven then like the inferiour Planets it would have suffered a Parallax or diversitie of sight and never have kept such a regular motion as it did contending not to be overcome of the starrie heaven in its motion but to keep as it were an equall pace with it thereby shewing that it was even in the Ethereall heaven it self For this is a rule that by how much a starre is higher then the earth by so much it imitateth the highest heavens in their daily motion Neither was it this starre alone but others also after it even Comets themselves whose places were found to be above the moon for observing more diligently and exactly then in former times the observers could easily demonstrate this truth also thinking thereupon that many of those Comets which have been seen in former ages were burnt out even in the starrie heaven it self and not so many of them below the moon as generally without serious observation have been supposed Longomontanus proveth this both in that last Comet which was seen in the yeare 1618 and also in other Comets before it And now what of all this Nothing but onely thus viz. If
then the other and yet in a manner as subtill swift and pure otherwise it would not blast but burn 3. The third kinde is Fulmen Urens and this is magis igneum quà m flammeum more fiery then flamie being of a grosse and earthy substance having much slimie matter in it which makes it therefore set such things on fire as are combustible whensoever it meeteth with them And yet there are some things which as it is said the lightning hurteth not As for example The Eagle Joves bird is free The laurell is not hurt neither can the earth be wounded any more then 5 foot deep Such places also as are covered with the skins of Seals or Sea-calves are secure wherefore of old time the tents of the Emperours were covered with them for their better safetie Suetonius telleth us a storie of the Emperour Caligula how he was scared with Thunder who although he bragged and boasted of himself that he was a god and threatned warre with Iupiter for a shower of rain that fell against his minde was neverthelesse by and by so terrified with thunder and lightning that he thereupon runnes and hides his head under a bed Moreover it is said that if lightning kill one in his sleep it openeth his eyes if it kill one whilest he is awake it shutteth them The reason being because it waketh him that sleepeth and killeth him before he can shut his eyes again and him that waketh it so amazeth that winking he dieth before he can open those eyes of his which the sudden flash of the lightning caused him to close And know that it is not good to stand gazing upon the lightning at any time for when it doth no other hurt if it be any thing neare us it may dry up or so waste the crystalline humour of the eyes that it perish the sight or it may swell the face making it to break out with scabbes or leprosie caused by a kinde of poyson in the Exhalation which the pores of the face and eyes admit and receive For this is certain that the matter of lightning seeing it cometh from sulfurous and other poysonous metallick substances is much infected and therefore hurteth where it entreth Sect. 2. Parag. 5 Of such Meteors as are fiery onely in appearance Artic. 1. The Galaxia is no Meteor ANd thus have I done with all those kinde of Meteors which are fiery in very deed whether pure or mixt Now it followeth that I speak of such as are fiery onely in appearance not being such as they seem to be but rather seeming more then they are Some account eight of them and make the Galaxia or milkie way to be one But that last may rather be left out For although Aristotle would have the Galaxia to be a Meteor yet his opinion is worthily misliked of most men and that not without good reason For if it were a Meteor and of the nature of the Elements as Exhalations are it would be at the length consumed like to other Meteors but this circle never corrupteth nor decreaseth and therefore it is no sublunarie concretion attracted and formed out of the starres which are above it and placed by their power in the highest part of the aire Moreover if this his tenent were true why hath it continued the Galaxia I mean in the same form place and magnitude alwayes from the beginning of the world untill now And besides other starres might also attain to the like luminous concretion as well as those which he imagineth to be over it And moreover this milkie way of Aristotle would admit of a Parallax were it so as he perswadeth and according to the opticall consideration saith noble Tycho by the shining of the fixed starres through it it would beget a strange refraction differing farre from that which is occasioned by the vapours that are seen about the Horizon For they seldome rise to the twentieth degree of altitude whereas this proceeding from the Via lactea would reach to the greatest height Wherefore we may say that it is rather of the nature of the heaven or a certain heavenly substance but somewhat thicker then the other parts of heaven or if you will much like to the matter of the starres or to the substance of the moon but diffused and spread abroad and not conglobated into one bodie as the starres are For although all be filled with aire from the earth to the fixed starres yet there the matter may begin to be more thick firm and solid and so the waters above the heavens are the better upheld For conclusion therefore not reckoning this amongst any of these Meteors fierie onely in appearance I may account them in number seven As thus 1. The colours of clouds 2. Many Sunnes 3. Many Moons 4. Beams of light 5. Crowns or circles about the Sunne or Moon 6. The Rain-bow 7. Chaps or openings in the skie Concerning all which in generall although they seem to burn yet they do not but are caused by refraction and reflexion of light either from the Sunne or Moon or brightest Planets Artic. 2. Of colours in the clouds ANd particularly for the appearance of colour in the clouds it ariseth not from the mixture of the foure qualities as it doth in bodies perfectly mixt as herbs stones c. but onely from the falling of light upon shadow or darknesse the light being in stead of white and the shadow or darknesse in stead of black Not that they are alwayes perfectly white and black for they differ according to the qualitie and composure of the cloud wherefore some be very white and that is when the vapour whereof the cloud consisteth is very subtil and thin some yellowish when the vapour is thicker some ruddie and duskish when it is meanly thick some black when it is very thick and some greenish when it is more waterie then ordinary being best discerned when it is farre from the Zenith and obvious by an oblique aspect The red and ruddie colours are seen onely in the morning and evening when the light of the sunne is not in his full force for at other times his light is too vehement cleare strong and piercing And by a diligent observation of these colours I think a man may as easily judge of fair or foul weather and the like as a physician may of the temperature of the bodie by inspection of the urine But of colours you may see more afterwards Artic. 3. Of many Sunnes and Moons ANd now concerning many Sunnes they are called Parahelii from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as if one should say apud solem because they are as it were with the sunne in place as also not absent from him in splendour and fashion Their generation is after this manner viz. when a smooth waterie cloud which is of equall thicknesse quiet and still is placed on the side of the sunne not under the sunne
in Psal. 16. 12. And further seeing it is said that righteousnesse shall dwell in the new earth as well as in the new heaven it may from thence be gathered that both the heaven and the earth shall be the seat of the blessed and that the saints shall follow the Lambe whithersoever he goeth and that there shall be an intercourse between the said heaven and earth which is as Jacob in his vision saw when the angels were some of them ascending some descending that ladder which reached from heaven to earth or as Moses and Elias were seen talking with Christ upon the Mount But herein let us not be too bold for in this we may soon wade too farre namely if we should nicely determine how the saints shall then be disposed of whether some alwayes to the heaven some alwayes to the earth or such like things which to us are unrevealed Let it therefore suffice that although the manner of this change be secret and not known in every point yet the change it self is most certain and therefore hold we most certainly this truth for our stay that the world shall end and leave we the manner thereof to be exactly and particularly revealed by him who will very quickly perform it But of the time when in the following Section Sect. 3. ANd thus much concerning the manner of the worlds ending Now follows the time when But here I purpose not to meddle with any thing which shall tend to the precise scanning of it I will leave that to them who out of a desire they have to lanch into the deep have pried too farre I fear into the secrets of the Thunderer for oftentimes we see that they do but wisely tell us foolish tales and smoothly bring long lies unto an end because they say more then they have warrant for To whom Du Bartas by our famous Silvester thus sendeth greeting You have mis-cast in your Arithmetick Mis-laid your counters gropingly ye seek In nights black darknesse for the secret things Seal'd in the Casket of the King of kings 'T is He that keeps th' eternall clock of Time He holds the weights of that appointed chime And in his hand the sacred Book doth bear Of that close-clasped finall CALENDER Where in Red letters not with us frequented The certain Date of that Great Day is printed That Dreadfull Day which doth so swiftly post That 't will be seen before foreseen of most Yet such is the folly and curiositie of many that they will needs undertake to tell us when this time shall be which if they could then it seems it should not come as a snare upon the world nor yet steal upon us as a thief in the night But so it shall do For of that day and houre knoweth no man saith our Saviour and we may take his word because himself by his humanitie could not know it although in his humanitie by reason of his Godhead he was not ignorant of it Had he not therefore been God as well as man and of a divine as well as humane nature he must have remained ignorant in both with men and angels Mar. 13. 32. And furthermore concerning us that we be not too bold the same lesson which he taught his disciples is also ours not to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power as it is Act. 1. 7. From whence we may learn that whilest we exercise our selves in things that be too high for us we shall sooner betray our own curiositie then deliver a truth For Maxima pars eorum quae scimus est minima pars eorum quae nescimus The greatest part of those things which we know is the least part of what we know not Whereupon I cannot but think that the predictions of men in this kinde especially seeing they are so various must needs be as true as those amongst the brood of presumptuous Astrologers concerning the end of Christian Religion which as Du Plessie observeth from them should have been some hundreds of yeares before this time nay it should then have ended when indeed it began most of all to flourish And so I doubt not but am certain that the world also should have had many endings before this time according to the doting froth of some mens idle fancies which if need were I could relate But as time was little beholding to them for cutting it off so short in like manner they were as little beholding to time for discovering their lies so plainly I will therefore before I meddle further with such approved liars leave them unto their best friends to gain if they can their credit for the time past and addresse my self to examine those who talk of a time yet to come Amongst whom the Jews have a tradition which although they fetch from the school or house of Elias yet we are not bound to credit it For it was not Elias the Prophet but a Rabbin of the same name as the learned know and who more fabulous or more full of vain fancies then those their greatest Doctours Six thousand yeares saith he the world shall stand and then it shall be consumed by fire Two thousand yeares shal be void or without Law two thousand yeares shall be under the Law and the last two thousand shall be the dayes of Messiah or Christ. Thus farre Elias And that this opinion hath been favoured by some of old and is also favoured now by some of our time I am not ignorant which chiefly they do for this reason namely because the six dayes of weekly labour do bear the Symbole of 6000 yeares wherein mankinde should endure the cares and troubles and travels of this world and then shall come that Sabbath of Sabbaths in the heaven of heavens when they are to rest from their labours Or as God was six daies in creating the world before there was a Sabbath so he shall be 6000 yeares in governing it and then the seventh begins an eternall rest in heaven Now this they ground upon the words of S. Peter who speaking of the day of judgement noteth that a thousand yeares in Gods sight are but as one day and one day as a thousand yeares 2. Pet. 3. 8. So that in this regard for six dayes of weekly labour they would have 6000 yeares of worldly trouble and the like before it endeth But if this weaknesse be the greatest strength for maintaining their assertion then I do not doubt to see their cause fainting upon the ground as not being able to subsist or stand upright For first concerning the Rabbin had he been a Prophet he would certainly have been a better Seer This I am sure of that he was much deceived in the particular division of his time in making three periods all of 2000 yeares apiece For although the yeares of the world have been diversly accounted by sundry authours yet you shall not finde the Rabbins just number of 2000
and all the hosts of them spiritu oris by the spirit of his mouth Psal. 33. 6. All which considered and found to be done in the beginning must needs be then when there was no pre-existent matter to work upon For as it is witnessed the Hebrew word Reshith which is englished the beginning doth not signifie any substance neither doth the other word Bara to create signifie any way to create but of nothing and thereby it is distinguished from the word Iatzar to form and Gnasha to make And therefore though now we behold a glorious something wherein appeares in every part more then much matter of wonder yet at the first saith noble Bartas Nothing but nothing had the Lord Almightie Whereof wherewith whereby to build this citie That Axiome therefore in philosophie Ex nihilo nihil fit must needs stand aloof off when we speak of creation For although it be true that according to the course of nature and ordinary custome of things nothing can be made unlesse out of some former matter yet when we descend ad inquirendam primarum rerum conditionem to enquire after the first condition of the first things then we shall finde that God is above nature because he is the Lord of nature And he whose sufficiencie and efficiencie is altogether absolute must needs be able supernaturali quadam ratione by a certain supernaturall means to produce all things out of nothing Of which nothing that I may say something my best and onely way is to look at Moses and as neare as I can explain his meaning In the beginning saith he God created the heavens and the earth In which words he laboureth not so much to deliver a generall proposition of the works of creation or of the two distinct parts of the world or of the matter of heaven and earth as if the one word did insinuate all the superiour parts of the world the other all the inferiour parts beside or as if taking both together he meant by them joyntly totius mundi semen the seed of the whole world mentioning it under these two words of Heaven and Earth as a Chaos This he meaneth not because that which concerns the Chaos is mentioned afterwards in the second verse And what were it but a plain tautologie to say that in the beginning God created a Chaos and that Chaos was a Chaos Wherefore in those first words he intendeth nothing more then to shew that the world which now is called according to its parts Heaven and Earth was not from everlasting but took beginning and so without controversie the right reading of his words doth also witnesse For in their originall as it is witnessed by expositours thus they sound In the beginning God created these heavens and this earth as if it should be said These very heavens and this very earth which now we see in being were not alwayes but began Then afterwards he proceedeth to shew how and in what time God created them speaking first how all was like a disordered and deformed Chaos the earth and the heavens not distinguished but lying as it were in a confused heap all together And this is manifest For on the second day when the heavens were made it seemeth that their matter was from amongst that masse or unfashioned lump which was said to be void and without form and not able to be kept together had not the Spirit of God cherished it for the Spirit of God moving upon the waters did as it were sit upon it and nourish it as a fowl doth her eggs with heat and life yea their matter I say was from among the waters which by the power of Gods word were extended and stretched like a canopie round about the earth as now we see them In which regard S. Austines words are also pertinent saying concerning this All of which we now speak Materies adhuc erat corporearum rerum informis sine ordine sine luce It was yet an informed matter of corporall things without order without light Or as that Nightingale of France hath sung it This was not then the world 't was but the matter The nurserie whence it should issue after Or rather th' Embryon that within a week Was to be born for that huge lump was like The shapelesse burden in the mothers wombe Which doth in time into good fashion come Thus and in this manner I cannot but think of these things not doubting that Moses in his description of the sensible world meaneth otherwise but sheweth that that heaven and earth which now we see were in the beginning or first degree of being an earth or as an earth or one lump without form and void a darkened depth and waters a matter of no matter and a form without form as one speaketh a rude and indigested Chaos or confusion of matters rather to be beleeved then comprehended of us And this saith he is the second naturall beginning For after the expressing of the matter followeth that which Philosophers call a second naturall principle Privation the want of that form of which this matter was capable which is accidentally a naturall principle required in regard of generation not of constitution here described by that part next us earth which was without form as is said and void This was the internall constitution The externall was darknesse upon the face of the deep Which deep compriseth both the earth before mentioned and the visible heavens also called a depth as to our capacitie infinite and pliant to the Almighty hand of the Creatour called also waters not because it was perfect waters which was yet confused but because of a certain resemblance not onely in the uniformitie thereof but also of that want of stabilitie whereby it could not abide together but as the Spirit of God moved upon these waters to sustain them c. Here therefore is the third beginning or principle in nature that form which the said Spirit by that action framed it unto The Hebrews call the whole masse as it is comprehended under the names of Heaven and Earth Tohu Vabohu Tohu without order bohu without varietie But it was not long that it continued in this imperfect state for in one week it was as I may say both begotten and born and brought from a confused Chaos to a well ordered and variously adorned Universe Or as one saith Materiam Deus ipse creat comitque creatam Whose meaning may be taken thus The matter first God out of nothing drew And then addes beautie to that matter new Which was not because he was unable to make all the world perfect in an instant but because he would not Whereupon an holy Father said Voluntas Dei est causa coeli terrae ideo major est voluntas Dei quà m coelum terra The will of God is the cause of heaven and earth and therefore it is greater then either of them God therefore doth not disable his
of Kings chap. 17. 16. and chap. 21. 3. and chap. 23. 5. and in Jeremie chap. 19. 13. and in Zeph. chap. 1. 5. and in the Acts chap. 7 42. For in all these places the holy Ghost calleth the starres the host and armies of heaven thereby amplifying the divine power of God by the force and power of these glorious creatures and this also is further confirmed by that in the song of Deborah Judg. 5. 20. where it is expressely testified that The starres fought from heaven the starres in their courses fought against Sisera Thus farre Scripture And now let experience also speak that thereby they who will not frame their understandings to be taught by the one but will seek for strange expositions may be forced to yeeld and acknowledge the truth by compulsion of this other in the front whereof I cannot but remember the noble Poets saying Senselesse is he who without blush denies What to sound senses most apparent lies And ' gainst experience he that spits fallacians Is to be hist from learned disputations And such is he that doth affirm the starres To have no force on these inferiours 1. As for example when the sunne shifts his habitation how diversly are the seasons differing insomuch that although the frostie beard of winter makes us tremble and shiver through extremitie of cold the warm lustre of the summers raies causeth us on the contrary to sweat and as it were pant through heat 2. Also the terrible accidents that succeed eclipses may not be forgotten nor vilipended for these testifie that the sunne by his heat and light quickeneth after an admirable fashion all earthly creatures being as it were the sourse and conserver of vitall heat and that the moon also hath a great power over inferiour bodies For if it were otherwise such lights coming to be hidden from the earth where there is a continuall revolution of generation and corruption could not cause after their eclipses the nature of inferiour things to be so altered and weakened as they are both in the elements and also in bodies composed of them 3. And furthermore who seeth not how orderly the tides keep their course with the moon of which I have spoken in the third dayes work 4. Also it is an observation that seldome faileth viz. that we have thunder and lightning in the summer time at the meeting of Mars with Jupiter Sol or Mercurie and for the most part great windes when Sol and Jupiter or Jupiter and Mercurie or Mercurie and Sol are in conjunction 5. And again the increase and decrease of bodies or of marrow bloud and humours in the bodie according to the increase and decrease of the moon doth speak for that horned queen and signifie that her vertue is not little For as she fills with light the marrow abounds in bones the bloud in veins the sap in trees the meat and moisture in the oister crab and creafish 6. Moreover experience also teacheth that all such wood as is cut for timber if it be not cut after the full moon will soon be rotten 7. Also those pease which are sown in the increase never leave blooming And as some report the pomegranate will bear no fruit any longer then just so many yeares as the moon was dayes old when it was first set and planted The Heliotropium with certain other flowers and plants we likewise see that they keep their course with the sunne And Plinie reports in his 37 book at the 10 chapter that the Selenite is a stone which hath the image of the moon in it increasing and decreasing according to her course in the heavens And doth not Cardan also report for certain as Sir Christopher Heydon it may be affirmed that the heavens in some sort do work upon mens mindes and dispositions And hereupon it comes to passe that Mars doth sometimes sow the seeds of warre by his working upon adult choler and the like Or the aire being greatly out of tune causeth not onely many sicknesses but strange disorders of the minde and they breaking out into act do many times disturb states translate kingdomes work unluckie disasters and the like of which I spake before in the second dayes work And now know that if the operation of the heavens in this be but so farre forth as the soul depends upon the bodily instruments all that is done to the soul is but an inclination for there can be no compulsion where the cause is so remote And therefore let it be observed that it is one thing to cause another thing to occasion or one thing to inferre a necessitie another thing to give an inclination The former we cannot averre to be in the power of the starres forasmuch as mans will which is the commandresse of his actions is absolutely free from any compulsion and not at all subject to any naturall necessitie or externall coaction Howbeit we cannot deny a certain inclination because the soul of man is too much indulgent to the body by whose motion as one worthily observeth it is rather perswaded then commanded There is therefore no Chaldean fate to be feared nor any necessitie to be imposed upon the wills of men but onely an inclination and this inclination is not caused by an immediate working of the starres on the intellectuall part or minde of man but occasioned rather mediately or so farre forth as the soul depends on the temperaments and materiall organs of the bodie In which regard I hope never to be afraid of the signes of heaven neither is there cause why I should ever curse my starres seeing I know in this the utmost of their power And as it was said to that Apostle My grace is sufficient for thee so may every one take it for granted that there is a second birth which overswayes the first To which purpose one makes this an observation Iustè age Sapiens dominabitur astris Et manibus summi stant elementa Dei Do godly deeds so shalt thou rule the starres For then God holds the elements from warres Or as another not unfitly also speaketh Qui sapit ille animum fortunae praeparat omni Praevisumque potest arte levare malum The wise for ev'ry chance doth fit his minde And by his art makes coming evils kinde And in a word that pithie saying of Ioannes de Indagine shall close this Article Quaeris a me quantum in nobis operantur actra dico c. Dost thou demand of me how farre the starres work upon us I say they do but incline and that so gently that if we will be ruled by reason they have no power over us but if we follow our own nature and be led by sense they do as much in us as in brute beasts and we are no better For agunt non cogunt is all that may be said Artic. 2. Whether it be not a derogation from the perfection of things created to grant that the starres have any kinde of power
large wide mouth but round This is a cruel fish to the marriners and will sometimes lift up his head above the sail-yard casting up so much water through certain pipes in his forehead that as the foresaid authour witnesseth great and strong ships are either compelled to sink or else are exposed to great and manifest danger Sometimes again by laying his head upon either end of the ship he drowns it by his over-loading weight Some call the Whirl-pool-whales Balaenae But howsoever Balaena is reckoned amongst the whales and is differing from the Prister or Physeter which before I called the Whirl-pool-whale Olaus Magnus speaking of the Balaena saith that it hath no gills but certain Fistulae are in stead thereof placed in the forepart of the head and that it is a fish which shews great love and affection towards her young ones For when they are little being faint and weak she takes them into her mouth to secure them from tempestuous surges and when the tempest is over she spues them again out into the sea A fit embleme this to teach all sorts of parents either in Church Commonwealth or private families to provide for and not destroy those under them as also to secure them from dangers whensoever they arise When this Balaena and her male-whale accompanie together for they increase by copulation they scatter much of their seed in the waters which being found by the marriners is taken and sold as a pretious drugge Some call it Ambra or Ambergreese affirming that it is good contra guttas and against the palsie and resolution of sinews if it be used as an oyntment good also to be drunk down against the falling sicknesse and swounding having also great power of strengthening the inward parts It is commonly white and sometimes counterfeited with the dust of Lignum aloes and the sweet gum Storax sea-mosse and the like but that which is sophisticated may be easily known because it will soon be dissolved like wax whereas that which is without sophistication is more solid lesse easie to be made liquid Thus affirmeth Olaus magnus howbeit others write that Ambergreese is the spawn of the whale But Avioen is perswaded that it grows in the sea and some again onely write that it is cast up on the shore and found cleaving to stones there the fume whereof is good against the falling sicknesse and comfortable to the brain Munster writeth that many in Iseland of the bones and ribbes of the biggest whales make posts and sparres for the building of their houses and how great profit proceedeth from the oyl of the whale no man is ignorant Plinie writeth of a little fish called Musculus which is a great friend to the whale for the whale being big would many times endanger her self between rocks and narrow straits were it not for this little fish which swimmeth as a guide before her Whereupon Du Bartas descants thus A little fish that swimming still before Directs him safe from rock from shelf and shore Much like a childe that loving leads about His aged father when his eyes be out Still wafting him through ev'ry way so right That reft of eyes he seems not reft of sight Which office of that little fish may serve as a fit embleme to teach great ones superiours that they ought not to contemne their inferiours for they are not alwayes able so to subsist of themselves that they never stand in need of their helps who are but mean and base in the eyes of greatnesse there may come a time when the meanest person may do some good and therefore there is no time wherein we ought to scorn such a one how mean soever he be Furthermore as the whale is befriended by the Musculus so also he is as much infested by the Ork for albeit the Ork be lesse then the whale yet it is a nimbler fish and cruell withall having sharp teeth with which as with an admired weapon she cruelly wounds the whale in the belly and then floating into a shallow place endangers the whale to follow after The Sword-fish called Xiphia is little like to any other fish he hath an horrid head like an owl a deep mouth as if it were some immensive pit ougly eyes with a back and a bill like a sword There is also another great fish called Serra or a Saw-fish having an hard copled head with teeth like a saw standing in manner of a combe upon the head of a cock with which the said fish when she wants a prey cutteth the bottome of ships that the men being cast away a prey may be provided by feeding on their carcases The Monoceros or fish with one horn may fitly be called the Sea-unicorn it is a sea-monster having a great horn in his forehead wherewith he is able to pierce through a ship Howbeit his crueltie is much hindered in regard that it hath pleased the Almighty to make him very slow in motion whereby those who fear him have advantage given them to flie away The Sea-elephant is a fish which often goes on shore and sleeps in the rocks hanging by his two Elephant-like teeth but both they and his bodie are farre bigger then the land-elephant and being espied by men at sea they call to others on the shore by whose help using nets and gins and other instruments for that purpose they together invelope his bodie and then suddenly assaulting and awaking him he leaps with a violent rush as if he would leap into the sea but being hampered and entangled by the fishers engines he cannot he is compelled therefore to yeeld himself to their mercie who having killed him do first skin him then take out his fat and of his skinne they make thongs which are sold for a great price as being very strong and such as will never rot Olaus magnus commendeth his teeth above the other parts of his bodie Lib. 21. This fish thus sleeping and caught suddenly may be as a fit embleme of those men who coming out of their right way do fall asleep in sinne and at last when death awakes them they think to go to heaven or leap into the wayes of godlinesse but then it is too late for they are taken as surely and as suddenly as was that fool in the Gospell who thought he had goods laid up for many yeares The Crocodile seeing it lives in the waters as well or rather then on land I reckon among the fishes They be commonly found about the river Nilus in Egypt and Ganges in India and as Munster writeth in his cosmographie it waxeth of a little thing to a very great beast For his egges are much like unto goose egges but the young which cometh of them taketh increase to 16 or 18 cubits in length He liveth almost as long as a man his back is hard and full of scales he wants a tongue but hath
in the woods of Prussia like unto the common sort of Bulls excepting that they have shorter horns and a long beard under the chinne They be cruell and spare neither man nor beast and when any snares or deceit is prepared and set to take them or if they be wounded with arrows or the like they labour most vehemently to revenge their wounds upon him that gave them which if they cannot do then through madnesse by rushing and stumbling on trees they kill themselves A frantick beast which when he taketh harm And cannot give dies whil'st revenge is warm Such savage beasts there be in humane shape Whose moodie madnesse makes them desperate And 'cause they cannot harm their hurting foe They harm themselves and shew their malice so The Elk cannot live but in a cold countrey as in Russia Prussia Hungaria Illyria Swetia Riga and such like Olaus Magnus hath written much of this beast and so hath Topsell out of Albertus Gesner and others and Plinie describeth it to be a beast much like an Ox excepting for his hair but others call it Equi-Cervus a Horse-Hart because it hath horns like an Hart and is used in some countreys to draw men in coaches and chariots through great snows and over ice They be exceeding swift and strong and will runne more miles in one day then a horse can in three as Topsell mentions in his historie of foure-footed beasts The Buffe hath an head and horns like an Hart the body like a Bull or Cow as also the feet and most commonly the colour of an Asse Howbeit being hunted he is said to change his colour which as some imagine cometh to passe like as in a man whose countenance changeth in time of fear This is that beast of whose skinne men make them Buffe-leather jackets and in Scythia it serveth to make breast-plates of strength able to defend from the sly force of a fierce dart Of Deere there be more kindes then one Amongst those which be termed Fallow-Deere there is the Buck and the Doe the one being the male the other the female And concerning the Red Deere there is the Hart and Hinde the Hart being the he and the Hinde the she Then again there is another sort bearing the names of Roes of which the male is the Roe-buck and the female the Doe These creatures are said to be their own Physicians and as it were not needing the help of man can cure themselves through a secret instinct of nature and the providence of God their maker for by feeding on that precious herb Dictamnum or Dittanie mentioned before in the third dayes work they cure themselves of their cruell wounds and so become whole again and for other ills they have other herbs The males are horned which they cast off once every spring and being disarmed Pollards they use to keep themselves close hidden and go not forth to relief but by night and as they grow bigger and bigger they harden in the sunne they in the mean time making some proof of their strength against hard trees and when they perceive them to be tough and strong enough then they dare boldly go abroad thinking themselves well armed now again Plinie saith they can endure to swim thirty miles endwayes and when they are to passe any great river to go to Rut in some isle or forrest they assemble themselves together in herds and knowing the strongest and best swimmer they put him in the forefront and then he which cometh the second stayeth up his head upon the back of the first and all the rest in like manner even-unto the last but the foremost being weary the second ever takes his place and he goes back unto the hindmost The said authour also witnesseth that the right horn of an Hart is of a soveraigne and precious vertue and as a thing confessed of all the Hart is known to fill up the number of many yeares as was proved by the Harts of Alexander caught about an hundred yeares after his death with rings and collars on them shewing no lesse Being hunted and ready to be taken by the hounds they will for their last refuge fly to houses and places of resort choosing rather to yeeld unto man then dogs They go to Rut about the midst of September and at the end of eight moneths they bring forth young sometimes two calves at once and these they practise to a nimble using of their legs from the very beginning leading them up to high rocks and teaching them to leap runne and fly away as occasion serveth A fit embleme of carefull parents who teach their children whilest their yeares be green instructing them betimes in the right way wherein they ought to walk according to that of Solomon Train up a childe in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Prov. 22. 6. And again in their flying to man when the hounds oppresse them they be fit emblemes of those who fly to that God in the cloudie dayes of dark affliction whom before they sought not after for saith the Lord In their affliction they will seek me early And is it not often seen that Misery can open those eyes which happinesse hath closed and abate that Tympanie which prosperitie hath ingendered Yes verily For as the waters of the sunne which Curtius mentions are cold at noon when the Aire is hottest and hot at midnight when the Aire is coldest so it is with us our zeal is coldest in the sunne-shine of prosperitie but gathers heat when trouble cometh And if trouble cannot do it nothing can Moreover this also is not impertinent I have read of the Hart saith one that he weeps every yeare for the shedding of his head though it be to make room for a better So do I see the worldling go away sorrowfull at this very saying Go sell all that thou hast though it be for treasure in heaven the reason of which is because men do not look at what they are to have but what they are to part with and at any time will be for one bird in the hand rather then five in the bush yet slight it not but mark it well He that consults with his bodie for the saving of his soul will never bring it to heaven neither is it any harm to lose the worse for finding of the better nor any thing in hand too deer for that happinesse which is yet to come No matter therefore though we sow in teares so we may reap in joy for as the difference between time and eternitie is unspeakable so it is also betwixt heaven and earth Also this I likewise finde that when the Hart is taken by the hounds or any other device of the hunters he will then shed forth teares as well as when he casteth his head So should a penitent and a watchfull sinner who is carefull to avoid the wiles of the devil he
ended and the next began And now if it be further demanded why God commanded the Israelites at their return out of Egypt to alter the beginning of their yeare from Autumne unto the Spring unlesse it had been so of old To that it is answered thus viz. that there are two reasons for it 1. The one is this They coming out of Egypt from the bondage of Pharaoh were to begin their yeare from that time in memorie of their deliverance And therefore it is said in Exod. 12. 42. It is a night to be much observed to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations 2. And not onely so but also at the same time of the yeare as God had determined it there was a better and a greater deliverie to be wrought for mankinde namely such a delivery as should free him from the bondage of Satan by the death of Christ. Now this may be called the Deliverie of deliveries of which that other out of Egypt was but a figure because it was but from a corporall bondage whereas this was from a spirituall And thus came the yeare to be changed which ever before pointed to the time of mans creation but now it is made to point another way namely to the time of mans redemption by which God taught his Church then typically delivered how to expect the acceptable yeare of the Lord and time of mans redemption which was both proclaimed and purchased by that Lambe of God who taketh away the sinnes of the world whose offering upon the crosse was at the same time of the yeare when that Paschal lambe by which he was prefigured was slain which time why it is severed from Autumne hath been shewed Yea thus came the first to be last and the last first thus came Nisan to get the dignitie from the other moneths and to be called the beginning or first monethâ—…in the yeare At which we need not marvell for the time of mans redemption was a more worthy mark from whence to reckon then the time of his creation And thus have I delivered what I finde and verily think to be most probable in this matter Unto which may be added that as the evening was before the morning so was the Autumne before the Spring for the yeare and the day have a kinde of analogie between the one and the other as may be seen in the seventh day compared with the seventh yeare and therefore they do well serve the one to expresse the naturall beginning of the other CHAP. III. Containing a discourse of such things as are pertinent to the first dayes work Sect. 1. Of God the Architect of all and of the first part of the first dayes work TIme by whose revolutions we measure houres dayes weeks moneths and yeares is nothing else but as it were a certain space borrowed or set apart from eternitie which shall at the last return to eternitie again like the rivers which have their first course from the seas and by running on there they arrive and have their last for before Time began there was Eternitie namely GOD which was which is and which shall be for ever without beginning or end and yet the beginning and end of all things Aeternitas enim Dei solummodo naturae substantialiter inest saith one that is Eternitie is substantially onely in the nature of God When Moses therefore would have known Gods name he tells him Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel I AM hath sent me unto you By which name saith Junius he would have himself known according to his eternall essence whereby he is discerned from all other things which are either in heaven on the earth or elsewhere Which in another place is thus illustrated Egosum Primus Ultimus praeter me non est Deus I am the First and the Last and beside me there is no God Esay 44. 6. Or thus Before the day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my hand Esay 43. 13. To which that of the Psalmist doth well agree Before the mountains were brought forth or ever the earth and the world were made thou art God from everlasting to everlasting Psal. 90. 2. Thus we see that before ever any thing was God onely was who gave both a beginning and a being unto every thing that is and he in respect of his divine essence is but one Yet so as in that single essence of his there be three divine subsistences or persons all truely subsisting whereof every one is distinct from other and yet each hath the whole Godhead in it self and these are the Father Sonne and holy Ghost 1. John 5. 7. 1. The Father is a person who from all eternitie hath begotten the Sonne 2. The Sonne is a person from all eternitie begotten of the Father 3. The holy Ghost is a person eternally proceeding from the Father and the Sonne as the holy Scriptures witnesse These thus distinct in person not divinitie All three in one make one eternall Trinitie From which eternall and undivided Trinitie the whole world consisting of things visible and invisible took beginning as the originall words Elohim and Bara do well expresse For Elohim being a word plurall doth signifie Dii Gods but being joyned with a word singular namely Bara which is Created they then together shew that there are three persons in the Deitie and that the three persons are but one God who did create Or thus Those two words being the one of the singular the other of the plurall number do note unto us the singularitie of the Godhead and pluralitie of the persons And not onely so but they also shew that the three persons being but one God did all of them create For such is found to be the proprietie of the Hebrew phrase Elohim bara Creavit Dii The Gods created 1. Of the Father it is witnessed that he created as the fountain of goodnesse For saith S. James Every good and perfect gift is from above cometh down from the Father of lights Jam. 1. 17. Of whom and through whom saith S. Paul are all things Rom. 11. 36. 2. Of the Sonne it is witnessed that he created as the wisdome of the Father For when he created the heavens saith Wisdome I was there Prov. 8. 27. And again By him were all things created that are Coloss. 1. 14 15. namely by him who did bear the image of the Father and was the Redeemer of the world 3. And lastly of the holy Ghost it is witnessed that he createth as the power of the Father and the Sonne For by his Spirit he garnished the heavens and by his hand he hath formed the crooked serpent Job 26. 13. and chap. 33. 4. Or as the Psalmist hath it By the word of the Lord were the heavens made