appear by Vapor and to Earth beneath it as may appear by Ice And though Earth and Water were in this Third Day made and still are one Terraqueous Globe yet as they were Created in the Begining so they still are several and different Elements aswell as Air and Aeâ—her are several and dâ—fferent Heavens And though they are thus Composed into one Globe yet they have their several Provinces therin as well as the others though not in the same maner or Figure And so it is said not only that Dry Land did appear which was before covered with the Sphere of Water as that was with Air and Air with Aether but also that there was a gathering together of the Waters into one place generaly wherunto all Rivers do run though branched out into several Canaleâ— and though standing Ponds Lakes and perhaps some Gulphs or Seas as the Caspian Sea may not communicate with the Ocean yet they are also Confluvia and Seas and so termed distributively afterward and all of them distinguished from the Waters which first covered the Earth all over wheras now the main Ocean covereth and compasseth it about only in one place And as these Waters beneath flow from the Earth so they are still above it as the Waters above floating in the Air are also said to be above or upon it for so the word signifies upon or above and so Fowl are said to fly above or upon the Heavens and as they are thus distinguished from Waters beneath so are also those Waters above the Earth from Waters beneath the Earth that is Subterraneous Fountains or depths of the Seas for neither are any Waters under the whole Earth which is most Dens and consequently lowest nor above any of the whole Heavens Superaether Aether or Air itself which are more Rare and consequently Higher as I have shewed but these Expressions concerning the Vapors and Fountains are Respective according to the Subject Matter and not to be understood Absolutely and they do indicate several Regions of the Waters wheras we have no such indication of any several Regions in the Air or Aether as I have observed Also though the Evaporation of Waters by Heat be Natural and only Supernaturaly produced by God in the Second Day as his other Works of Improper Creation were in other Days yet this Distribution of Earth and Waters in the Terraqâ—eous Globe therof which was so Composed in this Third Day seems more Extraordinary and Artificial and such as doth most plainly declare the Immediate Operation of God in this and all the other Days for by what Natural Power could the Earth and Isles be raised above the Waters or the Mountains and Vallys be so ordered and Indented or who could cast those great Banks of the Shores and cut those vast Chanells of the Seas and Rivers or say unto them thither shall ye go and no farther which therefore God is said Originaly to do by Line and Levell as in Waterworks we so set them out that they may run to their Levell this way or that way in the Cutts prepared for them And though men may make such less alterations therin and some greater have been made by accidental Breaches and Inundations yet as God saith I brake up for it my Decreed place or as it is Originaly established my Decree upon it and sett Barrs and Dâ—ors so generaly and in the main it continues the same and since that Great and Universal Deluge yet Cosmographers can still find out those Seas Rivers and Isles which Moses declareth to have been before it And thus the Divine Psalmist describeth both the Proper and Improper Creation of Waters and Earth Thou coveredst it with the Deep as with a Garment the Waters stood above the Mountains At thy rebuke they fled at the Voice of thy Thunder they hasted away They go up by the Mountains they go down by the Vallys unto the place that thou hast founded for them Thou hast sett a Bound that they might not pass that they turn not again to cover the Earth and so proceeds to shew the great Usefulness therof which thereby God prepared both for Vegetatives and Sensitives in the whole Oecumene or Habitable Earth But though the Earth generaly is thus raised above the Waters not only in the Mountains and Summits therof but in its whole Campus which lys above the Levell of the Waters yet the Water in its own Province is above the Earth on which it flows and so the Earth is very elegantly expressed standing out of the Water and in the Water And wheras it is said that God founded it upon or above the Seas and established it upon or above the Flouds it is very true and proper according to the Subject Matter wherof the Psalmist there speaks that is of the Oecumene or Habitable Earth as it was so raised above the Waters which before were above it and thereby was made fruâ—tfull and Habitable which the precedent Context doth plainly declare The Earth is the Lords and the fulnes therof the World and all that dwell therin nor do I apprehend that the whole World of Spheres Aereal Aethereal and Superaethereal is there intended though the Author of Esdras saith also that the Heavens are founded upon the Waters but I rather conceiv that by World is there meant Orbis Terrae as it is usually so taken Hebraicaly and in all other Languages because the Earth is our present World and so more restrictively we say the Christian World and the like But how farr the Waters are beneath the Levell or Campus of the Earth is not particularly expressed yet we read of a great Deep or Ocean and of Fountains therof or therin as we so say Fons Blundusii and the like not that there is besides the Ocean any Fountain therof beneath it which feeds and supplys it for it is called the Deep becaus it is the deepest of all Waters and so Fountains and Depths of Waters are used indifferently as it is said A Land of Brooks of Water of Fountains and Depths that spring out of Vallys and Hills and both are said to be under the Earth wherefore becaus Rain and Waters in those dry Countrys were accounted great Blessings Iacob blesseth Ioseph with Blessings of Heaven above and Blessings of the deep that lieth under which Moses also repeateth nor is it said that there is a Deep and also Fountains therof beneath and besides it but they are alway termed the Fountains of the Deep not only in respect of itself but also of all Vapors Rain and Rivers wherof the Deep or Sea is the Fountain to which that expression seems to refer for so they are joined together as it is said that there were the Fountains of the Great Deep broken up and the Windows of Heaven were opened and indeed they are so made to be Fountains one unto another mutualy and reciprocaly as I shall shew heerafter and in the Deluge the Conflux of all the Waters was gathered
with Dâ—ws and Rains and the officious Water runeth up and down to wash the face of the dusty Cortex and to bath and supple all the Limbs therof and also floweth forward and backward to carry and recarry the greatest Burdens from Shore to Shore Thus all the other more Active Elements as so many Circumsistent Servitors in their several Courses and Orders minister unto Earth which sitting still and resting in itself receiveth all their Homages and Tributes not Moving nor being Moved with all their Disorders and Confusions but founded on the Solid Base of its own Density and Gravity and strengthned by its own Consistence and fixed by its own Polarity doth also by its other Qâ—alitys fix all the more subtile and volatile Elementary Spirits Which covereth its own Nakednes with the Daedalous Embroidery of Leavs and Flowers and enricheth itself not only with the Stock of all the hid Treasures of Jewells Metalls and Minerals but also with all the Rents and Revenues of Annual Fruits and Profits both producing and mainteining all Vegetatives and the chief of Sensitive Animals yea Man himself whose Body is also formed of the Congenerous Dust and so the Earth which is given to the children of Men is the Stage of this great Amphitheater of the World wherin all the present Affairs therof are transacted and as all the other Elements are now subservient therunto so heerafter also the Superaether or Heaven of Heavens shall be the everlasting Mansion of Blessed Souls And now again let us tune our praises to an higher Note and bless God for the Creation of Vegetatives Grass Herbs and Trees and let us contemplate their several Kinds and Virtues which yet are Innumerable and Unknown to us their Curious Formations and Oeconomical Administrations the careless Comlines of their Leavs and Beautys of their Flowers the general conformity of their Greennes to our Sight and the delightfull varietys of all their other Colors how wonderfully they Compose Nourish and Augment their own Bodys and Generate others and having neither Sens nor Intellect in themselvs yet by their own Innate Plastical Virtues perform such works as no Sens or Intellect can Imitate or sufficiently Admire The Microscopical perfection wherof doth exactly correspond with the most Critical Sens and Organical usefulnes with the most Political Intellect And as God in the Begining Immediately Created the Heavens and the Eartâ— and the great Building of the whole World so they Mediately build all the Domicils and Officines of their own and all Superior Bodys as the Architects therof and Vulcans of all their Organs and Instruments and are themselvs together with the Subordinate Elements and Matter the Immediate Bodys of all Sensitive Spirits wherin they Reside and Operate and both Dress and Digest for them all their Nutriment wherof a great part is of the same Vegetative Nature which affordeth not only Salads for delight but solid food for strongest Animals Horses Bulls and the great Behemoth furnishing also Mans Table with Wine that maketh glad the Heart of Man and Oil to make his Face to shine and Bread which strengthneth Mans Heart Renewing the Annual Fruits of the Earth as fast as all the Animals can devour them which in Mans better State were his sole Diet and since he tasted of their only forbidden Fruit are his Physick or Natures Tree of Life for healing of the Nations SECTION X. And God said Let there be Lights in the Firmament of Heaven to divide the Day from the Night And let them be for Signes and for Seasons and for Days and for Years And let them be for Lights in the Firmament of Heaven to give Light upon the Earth And it was so And God made two great Lights the greater Light to rule the Day and the lesser Light to rule the Night He made the Starrs also And God sett them in the Firmament of Heaven to give Light upon the Earth and to rule ober the Day and over the Night and to divide the Light from the Darknes And God saw that it was Good And the Evening and the Morning were the Fourth Day EXPLICATION God having in the First Day made the Light and by it one Hemisphere of the Aether more Luminous then the other and thereby Day and Night Artificial in that first Day Natural which did accordingly succeed in the two following Days now in this Fourth Day did more particularly distinguish them by the several Luminarys which he made therin for that purpose and also for Signfications of Times and Seasons Months and Years and all the variations therof And he made two chief Lights the Sun to rule the Day and the Moon to rule the Night Also he severaly made all the Starrs according to their several natures And so sett all these Heavenly Luminarys in their several Positions in the Aether to run their several Courses therin and thereby to Illuminate the Earth and to make all the said Divisions and Distinctions of Time which was their Goodnes and Perfection And these were the Works of the Fourth Day ILLUSTRATION 1. Of the Aethereal Luminaâ—ys 2. Of the Sun 3. Of the Moon 4. Of the Starrs 5. Of Comets 6. Of the Goodnes of the Works of the Fourth Day I. WE now proceed to discours of the Second Part of Creation wherin when God had before perfected and prepared all the â—ower Elements and planted the Earth which was the last with Vegetatives which he produced out of it he began now to Introduce into them all their more Locomotive Inhabitants and to shew the Connexion of both these two Parts of Creation it is again said of the first Created Light Sit or Fiat Luminaria wherunto as I suppose the Singular Number doth referr and that it must be so understood Lux fiat Luminaria for it is afterward Sint or Fiant Pluraly And I also observ that wheras it is said of all the other Days Works when they were finished and perfected generaly God saw that it was Good it is said of that first Created Light more particularly God saw the Light that it was Good though also afterward in the same Day he divided the Light from the Darkness but as I have before observed of the three Inferior Elements Air Water and Earth that it is not said God saw that it was Good untill they were all perfected and the whole Work finished so though Day and Night Artificial were made generaly by the division of the Light from the Darknes in the First Day Natural yet becaus they were also to be more particularly distinguished by the Luminarys and to be so ruled by the two great Lights expressly made for that purpose that is the Sun to rule the Day and the Moon to rule the Night therefore the Goodnes is not pronounced of Day and Night in the First Day but in this Fourth Day wherin the whole perfection therof was consummated so accurately exact is God the Author of Nature and Scripture both in his Operation and
Notion therof Imprinted in our very Souls which made the Heathen Philosophers so much complain of the Prison of their Body and Bondage of this Conjunct State as expecting a better afterward And Christian Divines have a Problem Whether if Adam had stood he should not have been at length Translated to a better that is this other State and if we seriously consyder it there must probably have been some such ground of that wonderfull and otherwise inconceivable Tentation of Adam in Paradise which was not to any thing he then had nor to any thing which he was not capable to have especialy if it were Absolutely Impossible as to be a God or so to be like to God for though now the Corrupt Mind of Man may as I have said apprehend or affect Nonentity as Entitative and Impossibility as Possible yet we may not suppose any such thing of him in that State of Perfect Understanding and Will but it was a most obvious and prevalent Tentation that he having this Common Notion which we have now only Implicitely and Confusedly in his Perfect Mind most Explicitely and Distinctly and thereby knowing that he had such Angelical Facultys Potentialy in himself might covet to have them Actuated that so he might be like the Gods knowing Good and Evil. And though this be a farther and higher Perfection of the Human Spirit yet Adam was not therefore made Imperfect but Good and Perfect according to that Conjunct State wherin he was Created which was his Original Perfection and whereby he was so made a most Perfect Microcosm or Epitome of the preseâ—t World as he shall be also in his future State of the other World when not only these Angelical Perfections shall be Actuated in his Soul but his very Body shall be more Spiritualised as the Apostle termeth it or made fiâ—t for that more Spiritual State of an Immortal Life which yet shall still be a Body having all Corporeal Propertys and Affections such as the Body of our Savior was after his Resurrection which though not Sensible as before to present Sens for so he was not Visible or Tangible otherwise then as he so pleased to appear sometimes unto some yet heerafter when our Sensitive Bodys shall be also refined and sublimated and made like unto his Glorious Body every Ey shall see him as Iob saith I shall see for my self and my Eys shall behold him that is Iesus Christ his Redeemer who shall Eternaly be the Visible Deity and Image of the Invisible God Nor could Christs Spiritual Body penetrate any other Body as some have supposed from that Text wherin it is said that he entred when the Doors were shutt or the Doors being shutt which yet it doth neither express nor import but only that he did not enter into the hous so as our gross Bodys now do by Doors open which is their usual Avenue wheras his more Spiritual Body might enter in by a Window or other Aperture of the hous without any Penetration And this Renovation both of Soul and Body shall be generaly Conformable unto his and so made by his Divine Power as it is said The first Man Adam was made a Living Soul the last Adam is made a Quickning Spirit And as we have born the Image of the Earthly we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly VII Thus the Heavens and Earth were finished and all the Host of them which Consummation plainly refers to the first Inception In the Begining God Created the Heaven and the Earth or as it is Originaly these Heavens and this Earth which were the same that were afterward so finished in the several Works of the Six Days and which as it is also said God Created to make and particularly it is so expressed not only of Elements but also of Vegetatives These are the Generations of the Heavens and the Earth in the day that the Lord made the Earth and the Heavens and every Herb of the Field before it grew as I have formerly observed and now observ again how this Doctrine of Creation of all Generable and Corruptible things first in the Chaos of their Potentialitys and of their several Generations afterward in the Six Days is so plainly and cumulatively expressed and repeated that none may doubt of the Truth therof Again as not only Heavens and Earth heer are mentioned but also an Host therof or orderly Militia and thus God is called the Lord of Hosts or of the Armys of all the Creatures so as I have observed there is both a Scale of Nature and also an Oeconomy of the Composita and Polity of the whole Univers and that therefore it is declared of them all that they were Valde bona or as it is Originaly Valde bonum Singularly as of One and an Epitome heerof is every Man in himself as I have shewed and becaus as I have said he is such a Microcosm now in respect of this World and so shall be of the World future therefore God doth still continue to Create the Souls of men from the end of the first Created World which was thus consummated in Man as the Summ of all the rest untill the begining of the other World And if we rightly estimate the many Millions of men living together on the Earth probably he doth Create Human Souls every Minute and so though he rested from making the great World yet he maketh many such litle Worlds continualy for though it is said He had rested from all his Works which God had Created to make that is to be Generated or to make by Generation first Originaly which was Supernatural and their Improper Creation and since Successively by Natural Generation as I have shewed yet he rested not from Proper Creation of Human Spirits in their several Individualitys according to the same Specifike kind which he had Originaly Instituted and expressed in the Protoplast or first Mâ—n and so to be Composited with Human Bodys according to that very Institution and first Law of Human Generation as I have also shewed Nor doth he so Immediately Generate or Improperly Create the Human Compositum of any other Man as he did the first Adam except only Iesus Christ who was thereby declared to be the Theanthropus as it is said The Lord himself· will give you a Signe Behold a Virgin shall conceivâ— and bear a Son and call his Name Immanuel which being interpreted is God with us And when God had thus Originaly made Man that is both man and woman as it is said Male and Female Created he them and probably woman of whom Christ was to be born and so is called the Seed of the woman being made after man was also the last of all these Works of God then he pronounced of them all Universaly that they were very Good not only in respect of the Univers but also of Man as the Compendium of all and Consummation of his whole Work of Creation in order to his ensuing Work of Redemption
or End according to the Fixed Order and Succession of the Parts And as certeinly as this Present Instant is now the Last or End of all Time Past or Present which hath hitherto Actualy Existed or doth Exist so certeinly there was some determinate Instant which was the first or Begining therof And so this Conclusion also is most true and evident Ubi Prius Posterius ibi Primum et Postremum III. Lastly as Bodys and Time so Number or Quantity Discrete which hath Part Discreted and severed from Part is also Finite in it self and doth most Discernibly manifest the Finite Nature both of Bodys as in the Scale and also of Time as in the Dial whereby their Continuous Parts being Arithmeticaly Divided into Numerable Proportions are rendred most apparently Numerable and Finite And so also this Conclusion is most true and evident Nullum Multiplex est Innumerum From all which Conclusions drawn from every kind of Quantity Corporeal Successive and Discrete it most Necessarily follows That whatsoever is Quantitative is Finite for it must be granted under the highest pain of Contradiction That Actualy Mensurable cannot be Actualy Immense nor Temporary Eternal nor Numerable Innumerable IIII. Nor is this plain Probation concerned in those more Curious Disquisitions Whether Quantity be any Real thing in it self or only a Mode or Relative Respect or I know not what others pleas to term it Since it is most evidently the Geometrical Chronical or Arithmetical Measure of all Quantitative things which are within the Virge therof and Measurable by it Nor of what Parts it doth Consist or how it is Divisible into them since it is most evident that it hath Parts Nor yet whether any Whole Quantity hath Physical Parts since it is most evident that it hath Mathematical Parts and is Divisible into them And though I shall heerafter inquire into all these yet I will neither now prevent my Self nor intangle this Probation which as it is most firm and solid in it self so I desire to render it most clear and free from all Impertinencys with any such Curiositys Nor do I begg any therof before hand but only insist upon these most reasonable and undeniable Postulations That an Inch is the twelfth Part of a Foot not more nor less and a Foot twelve Inches not more nor less That an Hour is the fower and twentieth Part of a Day not more nor less and a Day fower and twenty Hours not more nor less That an Unit is the hundredth Part of a Century not more nor less and a Century an hundred Units not more nor less Or yet more plainly That an Inch is an Inch a Foot a Foot an Hour an Hour a Day a Day an Unit an Unit and a Century a Century And so any greater or less Part or Whole whatsoever which are all Identical Propositions and neither need nor are indeed capable of Probation Nor are these Sections of Continuitys only Imaginations or the Institutions of Reason but Realitys in Nature And so God Created the Heaven and the Earth distinct Parts of the whole Body of the World and made the Evening and Morning a distinct Day and consequently the Cardinal Numerations therof And he made the Heaven to be above or without the Earth and the Earth to be beneath or within the Heaven and the First day to be before the Second and the Second before the Third and consequently the Ordinal Numerations therof And heerin I suppose no Human Reason or Sens will or can dissent from Divine Authority becaus these are things also Rationaly and Sensibly evident in themselvs however some may doubt or dispute what I have evidently proved heerby That there was a Begining of the World Nor do I labor or care to prove when that determinate Begining was which I leav to Chronologists but only that there was such a Begining whensoever it was which sufficeth my present Intention V. For as in a great Wast or Common though only the learned Artist can give an exact account of all the Acres Rodes and Perches therof yet every Vulgar Ey can discern that it is Measurable and Finite and can estimate it more or less And as every Traveler though he hath not an Itinerary to instruct him in the just Distances between one City or Country and another yet knows that there is a certein Space between them otherwise such and so many Paces could never bring him from one to the other so though it be the Work of Geometricians and Astronomers to measure Heaven and Earth yet we all know that the Earth on which we tread hath a Surface and a Diameter which are Finite because the Surface on which we tread doth end and terminate it self under our feet and that doth also determinate the Diameter which is Proportionable unto it and because the Diameter is Finite therefore also the Circumference which must be Proportionable therunto is Finite And so is every Sphere of the World Air Aether and any higher Heaven or whatsoever we can Imagine to be the utmost Circumference of the whole World for to whatsoever Circumference our Imagination can extend it self it can only be Proportionably greater then the Circumference of the Earth which it encompasseth and must also have a Diameter proportionable to it self both which evidently prove it to be Finite as well as the Earth becaus there is no Greater nor Less in Infinite as I have already proved VI. And so though we may dispute the Nativity or certein Begining of the World yet it is most evident and indisputable that it had a Begining for none can deny it to be this Day or Hour or the like one Day or Hour or the like elder then it was the last and so backward as far as he pleaseth therefore he must also confess that there was some First Day Hour and the like and consequently some First Instant and Begining therof for the Duration and Age of every thing must necessarily be computed from a Begining or Nativity otherwise it should be incapable of any Addition or Succession which is apparently in all time becaus it already exceedeth all Number for Precedency of Part before Part without any Begining renders the Precedent Parts Innumerable and consequently incapable of any Succession or Addition VII So also in Number there must necessarily be a First and no Number can precede an Unit though you may still add to it and possibly multiply it to any Summ Imaginable which yet being once Stated will be found as Numerable as a Single Unit becaus it is only the Addition of so many Units for as a Day or Hour or any other Part of Time Actualy Past is only a Day or Hour or such Part of Time as it is and not greater nor less so every Day or Hour or other Part of Time whatsoever is only One Day or Hour or One such Part of Time as it is and not more nor fewer and therefore so many Days or Hours or
other Parts of Time as are Actualy Past are only so many Ones as they are and not more nor fewer which though never so many must necessarily be all Numerable by Addition of so many Ones as they are and not more nor fewer And consequently all Time Actualy Past which may be Numbred by them is Numerable and Finite and therefore had a Begining becaus the Number therof is Ordinal or Successive wherof there must be a First Thus if we should compute the whole Age of the World according to the particular Ages or Secula of Men or Brutes or if you pleas according to the Revolutions of Platonical years yet there must necessarily have been a First Second and Third Seculum or Revolution or so many as we will suppose to have been Actualy Past and Precedent and not more nor fewer nor other then Successive All which summed up together will be found as Finite as a single Unit and must have a First and Last aswel as One and One Ordinaly and Successively Nor indeed can we Rationaly Imagin any Time whatsoever Actualy Past and Precedent not to be Actualy Finite And if it cannot be otherwise in Imagination much less in Reality VIII Yet the World might Possibly have Existed before it did Exist or Actualy was and as long before as you pleas to Imagin and so it may still be continued Perpetualy in Possibility which yet will be alway Possible and can never be Actual for no such Precedent or Subsequent Perpetuity ever was or shall be nor can reasonably be Imagined to be Actual Neither is it properly a Possible Perpetuity but rather a Perpetual Possibiliâ—y of such a supposed Precedency or Subsequent Futurity which can never be Actual otherwise it should not be Perpetualy Possible for as Possible while it is Possible cannot be Actual otherwise it should not be Possible but Actual so Perpetualy Possible can never be Actual becaus then it should ceas to be Perpetualy Possible As it is said of Corporeal Quantity that it is alway Divisible into alway Divisibles ever Possibly but never Actualy becaus if it should once be Actualy Divided into all its Divisibles then it should ceas to be alway Divisible which is a most true and evident Ratiocination supposing such a Perpetual Divisibility therof wherof I shall heerafter discours But no Possibility whatsoever either Precedent or Subsequent doth militate against this present Discours concerning the Actual Existence of the World IX This Perpetual Possibility in Futurity is the Duration of Immortal Spirits which though it may not seem to be the same with Time in a restrained sens as Time may be distinguished from Duration yet is the same with it in a general sens And so the Soul of Man both in this Mortal Life and also in his Immortal Life heerafter shall continue to be under the same Duration though his Time may be restrained to this Mortal Life which hath an End and is computed according to the Chronology of the Hours Days and Years therof and so we commonly distinguish between Temporal and Eternal or Everlasting Thus Plato makes all Time to be the Measure of Duration according to the Motion of the Heavenly Bodys which divide it into such Parts or Sections therof and therupon I suppose grounded his Opinion of the Circular Revolutions of Time like the Circular Motions of the Heavens But as Duration was Coetaneous with the first Chaos for there was an Evening before any Morning or Illumination of the Aether and three several Days before the Sun and Stars so the same Duration shall continue when they shall be dissolved and when Time in that sens shall be no more And yet in all the Perpetual Possibility of this Duration so farr as it shall ever heerafter become Actual it shall likewise be Actualy Finite as I have already proved Wheras Proper Eternity is neither in any Precedent nor Subsequent Possibility but always Actual and alway Present or one Perpetual Instant which is Divine Infinite and Incomprehensible and of another nature Infinitely and Incomprehensibly Different from any Finite Duration Actual or Possible whatsoever which it doth Comprehend but not in any maner Confound or Chaâ—ge the Temporary nature therof as I shall shew in the next Section X. Wherfore I Conclude upon the whole precedent matter That every Quantity that hath Existed or doth Actualy Exist is Actualy Finite And so is every Quantitative thing measured thereby And that no Imagination nor Possibility it Self can make it to be otherwise Because all Quantity and Quantitative things have Parts and all Parts are Finite and therefore whatsoever hath Parts is Finite and whatsoever is Finite is Terminated or bounded with Extremitys or First or Begining and Last or End Respectively according to the Parts otherwise it should not be Finite And particularly that time and Duration which is Successive and all Temporary and Durable things had a Realy Precedent and fixed First or Begining Now that the force of this most Cogent Argument may not be lost or spent in so large a Dilatation I will briefly Summ it up in these few and short Propositions which I shall present to any Man of Reason most strictly to examin and consider whether he can deny any one of them or the Consequence of them all without forfeiture of his Rationality I. That every Day is One Day and of no more nor greater Number nor Duration II. That Yesterday was One Day Actualy Past and Precedent to this Day and so all the Days Actualy Past and Precedent one unto another III. That the whole Number and Duration of all the One Days Actualy Past and Precedent is as Finite or bounded with first or Begining and Last or End as of any One Day IV. Therefore there was a First or Begining of the whole Duration of all the One Days Actualy Past and Precedent aswel as of the particular Duration of any One Day Wherefore I Conclude according to that right and true Sentence Vim inferunt Humano Intellectui qui Mundum affirmant Infinitum ex Finitis Partibus Constantem SECTION II. God c. EXPLICATION The Infinite Creator of Heaven and Earth ILLUSTRATION 1. That God is Infinite 2. Of Infinite 3. That Absolute Nothing is Not finite 4. Of Proper and Improper Infinite 5 Of Proper and Improper Not finite I. WE have proved that Heaven and Earth and Consequently the whole World had a Begining of Being from Absolute Not being or was Created becaus it is Finite Wherefore the Creator of all Finites must necessarily be Infinite for if he were Finite he must also be Created by another and so Infinitely But there can be no such Process Infinite becaus it is Successive from one to another and therefore must be finite as I have already proved II. But becaus our Understanding also is Finite and not Infinite therefore the proper Object thereof must be Finite and not Infinite and all the knowledg we can have of Infinite is only
is a double Negation which as I have said is only the Affirmation of it self So God cannot Contradict Himself either in Essence as not to be God or not to be Infinite which is the same or in Operation as to make the same Thing to Be and Not be Absolutely for then he should undo what he doth And so God cannot make Absolute Nothing or Notbeing to Be for then it should Be and Not be Absolutely which is an Absolute Contradiction Neither can he Convert Absolute Nothing into Somthing or Extract Somthing out of Absolute Nothing for then it should not be Absolute Nothing out of which there is Nothing which may be so Converted Extracted or Made in any kind or maner whatsoever II. So that if to Create were any of these Operations as the Objection doth import then it should be confessedly Impossible And I suppose some such Misapprehension hath been the ground of that Error Wheras Creation rightly understood is only a Causing Finite Being to be from Absolute Notbeing as the Negative Term from which it doth Commence and not of which or out of which it is Made in any kind or maner whatsoever Now becaus Absolute Nothing or Notbeing is only a Negative Term or pure Negation it can neither resist Creation nor contribute any thing to or toward it becaus it is Absolute Nothing III. And becaus Absolute Nothing cannot resist in the least therefore Creation is Infinitely Possible to Infinite Power because there is Nothing to resist it And also becaus whatsoever is Possible to Infinite Power is Infinitely Possible to it and not Partialy or Gradualy becaus Infinite hath no Parts or Degrees Nor doth the Creation of Finite Being Contradict or Alter Augment or Diminish Infinite Being or Notfinite Not being And so the present Finite Being which is Created as we have already shewed doth not Contradict Alter Augment or Dâ—minish either of them which are Eternaly the same in themselvs IIII. But because Absolute Notbeing cannot contribute any thing to or toward Creation therefore it is Impossible to any Finite Power for Absolute Nothing doth afford no Matter Principle Preparation Inclination Capacity or any Somthing whatsoever wherupon or whereby Finite Power may begin to work and where there is no Begining there cannot Possibly be any Progress or Perfection therof by any Finite Power but only by Infinite Power which can Create Being and the very Begining therof from Absolute Notbeing Also all Finite Power it self before it was Created was absolutely Null and so had no Power in it Self to Create it self or any other Being from Absolute Notbeing Nor could God himself Delegate this Infinite Power to Angels or Daemons or any Rabbinical or Platonical Subcreators which must be either Totaly or Partialy not Totaly for then God should ceas to have or be Infinite Power in Himself and consequently to be God which is an Infinite Contradiction nor Partialy for Infinite hath no Parts Certeinly no Angel nor Man the chief of Natural Operators did ever arrogate unto himself a Creating Power Nor have we any Instances of Creation in the whole History of Nature among all those Monstrous Relations which the Writers therof have inserted Nor hath any Poetical Fansy ever Invented or Imagined a Metamorphosis of Being from Notbeing Much less hath any Philosophy ascribed this Creating Power to Nature her self but rather denieth a Creation and yet to solv it is forced to substitute an Impossible Eternity of Finite Nature and certein Fictitious Powers Eminences and Equivocal Causalitys which I shall also examin heerafter V. As Creation is a Causing to be from Notbeing so Annihilation is a Causing Not to be from Being which is most Possible to the Infinite Creator becaus it is only the withdrawing his own Infinite Power whereby he doth continualy Caus the Creature to Be but Impossible to any Finite Power becaus it cannot resist the Infinite Creating Power which doth so continualy Cause the Creature to Be. And as there can be no Annihilation by any Finite Power So we never read of any by Infinite Power Nor probably will God ever Annihilate any thing which he hath Immediately Created for he doth nothing in vain but continueth and reserveth all things which he hath made by Proper Creation for his own Everlasting Glory VI. Thus to Caus to Be or Continue to Be from Absolute Notbeing is Proper Creation But there are also Improper Creations which do not produce or preserv any Being from Absolute Notbeing but only alter the Created Being in such a Supernatural maner as is beyond all Natural Generation or any other Natural Power of the Creature which being Finite and no more then it is as it cannot Create without Infinite Power which it hath not so neither can it Act any thing beyond that Finite Power which it hath And thus though it is the Opinion of Divines that God Originaly Created nothing after the Begining except Souls of Men or Angels if they were not Originaly Created in and with their Heaven by Proper Creation Yet God is said to Create in all the Six days and expressly in the Fifth day to Create great Whales though it be also said that the Waters Produced them aswell as others by Improper Creation which was his Immediate Ordination of the whole Frame and Cours of Nature and Original Generation of them all which the several Creatures in their First Chaos before their Active Qualitys and Mist Forms were Produced and all other previous and requisite Matters Powers and Instruments were prepared and adapted by God could not perform in or by themselvs nor Generate others untill they were so fitted and instructed and the Divine Blessing of Multiplication added therunto as I shall shew heerafter and therefore all those Works of the Six Days which did Succeed the Original and Proper Creation in the Begining were Improper Creations So also all Positive Miracles which are Preternatuâ—al or beside the Natural Course and Order are Improper Creations VII Proper Annihilation is a Causing any Being not to be Absolutely and improper Annihilation only a Preternatural Alteration therof And as God in Positive Miracles doth work beyond Natural Power so in other Privative Miracles he doth obstruct and suspend it As in causing Iron to swim by suspending the Gravity therof or fire not to burn by Suspending the Heat therof and the like SECTION IIII. The Heaven and the Earth c. EXPLICATION The whole Body of the World consisting of Several Heterogeneous Members Heaven and Earth which were Created together in the Begining ILLUSTRATION I. Of Heaven and Earth 2. Of Heaven 3. Of Earth 4. Philosophical Consyderations of Entity and the Differences therof 5. Of Substances and Accidents 6. Of Matter and Forms 7. Of Common and Proper Accidents I. WE have heer a brief Description and Map of the World and of the whole Globe of the Matter therof from the utmost Circumference to the inmost Center which was all Created in the Begining for
neither do we read nor can we reasonably suppose that any new Matter was Created afterward Nor was it Created in the very Begining only Matter or one Homogeneous Mass therof but one Body expressly distinguished into several Heterogeneous Members Celestial and Terrestrial or Heaven and Earth Nor was the Heaven and Earth thus only Different in Nature in their First Creation but also Distinct and separate in their Situations and not Confounded together but Created such several Members of the great Body of the World And as the Heaven is named before the Earth so were the Celestial Bodys above or without the Terrestrial incompassing them as now they do for neither do we read nor can we reasonably suppose that there was any other Separation or Disposition of the Celestial Bodys afterward as is expresly mentioned of the Terrestrial or Terraqueous Globe wherof and of all their several Situations I shall further discours heerafter II. The word Heaven Hebraâ—caly is Heavens not only Grammaticaly as the word God in this Text but Phisicaly and in the nature of the thing it self And so generaly the Hebrews distribute Heaven into three several Heavens of three several Natures Wherof the highest is also called the Third Heaven becaus it is Utmost and the last above us and encompasseth both the others and this I shall therefore call the Superaether The midst or Second is the Aether or Starry Heaven The lowest or First is the Air which Immediately encompasseth the Terraqueous Globe And these are all the Celestial Spheres wherof we read and therefore I can acknowledg no more however Astronomers have pleased to multiply them These three Heavens are thus built one upon another and all upon the Terraqueous Globe which is the Habitation of all Corporeal Animals as Amos elegantly expresseth it He that builded the Storys of the Heavens and founded his Troop on the Earth Of all the three Heavens the Third which is the Supreme is most Properly Heaven and therefore also is called the Heaven of Heavens by way of Excellency and so is specialy called the Temple of the most high God and is the Native Region and Province of Blessed Angels or Caelum Angelicum and shall be the Everlasting Habitation of the Spirits of Just Men or Sedes Beatorum Wherof we have no farther discoverâ— then only that it was Created together with the other two Heavens and so is Comprehended uâ—der one Common Name with them and probably because it was made Perfect in the Begining or first Instant of the Creation therof and so must continue for ever without any Elementary Mistion Generation or Corruption therefore we have no other account therof among all the Works of the Six Days wherein the Elements and whole Elementtary Nature and the Cours of Generation and Corrupti on therin was Set in order And accordingly I observ that wheras the other two Elementary Heavens Aether and Air are called Expansa and Firmaments this Superaether is never so termed but only Heaven probably becaus it is not capable of Expansion or Compression But as the Divine Wisedom hath conceled any farther notice therof and also given us very little Knowledg of the nature of Angels the proper Inhabitants therof as Impertinent for us to know in this present State so I shall not presume farther to inquire therinto or discours therof and indeed if the Hebraical Word Heavens be dualy rendred it must be intended only of Aether and Air. III. As the Aether and Air are Elementary and both of them Heâ—erogeneous from the Superaether and every of them one from another So are all of them from the Earth and Terraqueous Globe And as Heaven generaly Comprehendeth all the three Heavens so heer also Earth Comprehendeth both Earth and Water which were afterward formed into one Terraqueous Globe and by that general Name in this Text is not only to be Understood Earth particularly which was not so termed untill the Third Day and then also is called Dry Land nor the Terraqueous Globe such as it was made afterward but the Orb of Earth and the Water above it which is also mentioned afterward Thus we have a Discovery of what was Created in the Begining that is Superaether which is also Superelementary and Aether Air Water Earth which are the fower Elements as God the Creator hath declared and Moses reveled them unto us both in this Text and in the Context whom I shall believ before all Athens or any Modern Conceptions whatsoever and shall accordingly prove them heerafter And now upon this Subject Matter proceed to discours and first enter upon such Philosophical Consyderations therof as may concern them all and all Creatures Generaly and so according to the order of this History of the Creation Expatiate into more Particular Contemplations of their several Natures afterward The first and most Universal Consyderation of Heaven and Earth and of all Creatures whatsoever is that they are Entitys for since Creation is of Being from Absolute Nothing whatsoever is Created must necessarily Be otherwise it should not be Created So that an Entity is any Thing that Is which I confess is no more in effect then that an Entity is Entity whose Subject and Praejudicate Genuâ— and Difference is and must necessarily be the same becaus it is the same Genus Generalissimum of all Things without any Specifical Difference And heer I must also premise that in every Perfect and Proper Definition of any Specifical or more Particular Thing the Specifical or particular Differences therof must be Identical becaus the Specifical or particular Essence or Entity is the only true Specifical or Particular Difference of every thing But becaus we cannot know Essences as they are in themselvs therefore we declare things by their Propertys which is rather Description then Definition As in the Common Instance Homo est Animal Rationale Rationality is not the true Specifical Difference of Humanity though it be most Proper to Man becaus it is not his Specifical Essence and therefore doth not Define the Humanity it self Nor doth it indeed Comprehend all the Properties therof as Risibility and the like but only Describe it by one Proper Faculty So that the most Proper Definitions are only Vocabularys and Nomenclatures which yet are of good use to explain one Term by another whereby we may avoid all needless Caption and Contention about Terms and when the Thing intended thereby is clearly understood it shall suffice me And I have now made this Digressive Parenthesis to save my Self the whole labor of Defining and the expectation of any who otherwise perhaps might exact it of me but I shall use as clear and pregnant Declarations or Descriptions as the Thing will afford Thus I affirm Created Entity to be a Creature or whatsoever is Created which is also Convertible with it Again becaus the Created World doth Consist of several Heterogeneous and different Entitys and Natures into which Differences we must also inquire I affirm such a Different
Entity to be whatsoever God hath Created Different in Nature from another for as whatsoever he hath Created must Necessarily Be so whatsoever he hath Created Different must necessarily Differ Now heer we must Consyder a Difference which Scholemen have made of Entity it Self which is that it is either Entity Real or Entity of Reason Entity Real is in the Thing it Self and Nature therof as Heaven and Earth and all things therin Entity of Reason is in our Reason or Mind as the whole Poetical World and all things therin Hircocervs Hippocentaurs and the like which are therefore also called Entitys becaus our very Imaginations and Fictions therof are Creatures and Entitative though the Imaginary Figments themselvs are as it were our Creatures and Objectively Nothings And so also there are Entitys of Sens as all Deceptions of the Senses for though there be no such Objects yet there is Realy and truly such a Sensation as well as when the Objects are Real and true as I shall shew heerafter Now as Entitys Real and of Reason are both Entitative So there is such a Diversity of Entity it Self Respectively and Improperly But as Entitys of Reason are Objectively Nonentitative So also there is Absolutely and Properly no Difference but a plain Contradiction between them and Real Entity as a Number and a Null or Cyphar do not Properly Differ but Contradict one another becaus one is and the other is not Wherefore all Real and true Difference must be between things that are truly Real and again whatsoever things are Real may Realy Differ from others in the Things themselvs and Natures therof So that Real Difference is not only Corporeal or of things wherof there is or may be a Local Separation but also of any other Thing or Entity though not Separated or Separable Localy for though Entity it self be only Generical yet there are also Specifical and Particular Essences and Differences Thus an Angel in a Body and the Body are Realy Different Specificaly in the Things themselvs and Natures therof though not Localy Separated yet as truly as when they are Localy Separated So that their Difference is not only from their several Localitys but from their several Specifical Natures So also the Soul and Body of Man are now Different though not yet Separated but only Separable by Death and shall be Different after the Resurrection when they shall be Inseparable as well as after Death and before the Resurrection when they shall be Localy Separated and So Heaven and Earth also Differ not only becaus they are Loâ—aly Separated but also becaus they are Heaven and Earth that is Several Natures Specificaly Different Also there may be an Individual Difference where there is no Specifical Difference as in a Legion of Angels or Men Lastly there is a Numerical Difference where there is no Individual Difference as all the Members of a Body are so many as they are Numericaly but yet do not Differ Individualy otherwise it should not be one Body or Individual Composition therof but so many several Individuals as there are Members But whatsoever doth Differ in any other kind doth also Differ Numericaly becaus Number or Quantity Discrete is Comprehensive of all Differences Diversitys or Discretions whatsoever And now I shall Conclude that whatsoever God hath Created and is in Nature and Not only in our Reason or Mind Realy is and whatsoever God hath Created Different and doth Differ in Nature and not only in our Reason or Mind is Realy Different which I suppose None can Deny and according to these Undeniable Rules I shall proceed VI The first Real Difference of Entity is that it is either Substance or Accident And now becaus I know I must fight out my way by Inches against all Sceptical Disputers I shall proceed as clearly and firmly as I can And first I shall explain my Terms By Substance I intend an Entity Naturaly Subsisting in it Self and from which other Accidental Entitys do Naturaly Flow and Subsist therin By Accident I intend an Entity which doth Naturaly Flow from and Subsist in a Substance So that Substance is both the Original Fountain and Continual Foundation of any Accident Cujus Esse est Inesse which some cavill against becaus they do not Understand it though it is very true and rightly said of an Accident that it is the Accident of a Substance and in respect of the Substance as it may be also said of Substance in respect of Accidents Cujus Esse est Subesse But as all particular Substances Matter and Forms have their own Specifical Essences or Entitys So also have all particular Accidents Extension Figure Density Gravity Motion Heat Light and the rest Also though all Accidents do Originaly Subsist in their Substances yet Derivatively one Accident may Subsist in another as Figure in Extension Gravity in Density and 〈◊〉 Imâ—mediately and the others Mediately in Matter 〈◊〉 Several Accidents may Subsist Immediately in the 〈…〉 as Extension and Density in Matter which is one 〈…〉 Substance And one Accident doth so Subsist in 〈◊〉 if it be a particular Product Property or Affection therof as Figure is of Extension or Gravity of Density and the like Now Accidents are therefore so called becaus they are Adventitious to the Substance wherof the Specifical Essence as I have said is in it Self and doth not consist in any or all the Accidents therof nor is or can be Altered or made More or Less by the Variations therof and also becaus Accidents in themselvs do sometimes Actualy Exist Appear and Exert their Operations and sometimes only Subsist Potentialy and are Latent and Quiescent in their Substances as may evidently appear by all the several Variations of Accidents the Substance remaining the same becaus it doth alway Subsist in it Self and therfore always is Actualy what it is in it Self for if it should be Potential then the Potentiality therof not Actualy Subsisting in it Self should Subsist in another and Consequently be an Accident and not a Substance And thus every Entity which is Created and cannot be Annihilated must necessarily alway Subsist either in it Self or in another Actualy or Potentialy But becaus Accidents Affect and indeed Perfect the Substance therefore they are also called Affections Now that there are Substances I Suppose none will Deny who acknowledg any Actual Entitys and that there are Accidents none can deny who hath the use of his Senses wherof all Sensible Accidents are the Proper Objects and Objects of Intellect are only understood by Objects of Sens. So that indeed all our Conversation is Immediately with and by Accidents and we neither know Essences of Accidents nor Substances otherwise then by their Actual Phaenomena or Appearances Nor can Substances Operate any thing without the Actual Operations of Accidents Wher efore that I may not fight as beating the Air nor Contend for that which will and must be yielded I shall more directly oppugn that wherin I conceiv the greatest
strength of opposition to ly and accordingly address my Self to prove that Accidents are Realy Different from their Substances whereby I shall also prove that both Substances and Accidents Realy are becaus any Real Difference is only between Real Entitys Now as I have said before God in the Begining Created Heaven and Earth and all other their Primitive Entitys therin which yet did not then all Actualy Exist Appear and Operate for it is said expresly that there was yet no Light in the Heaven but Darkness was upon the face of the Deep and of the Earth that it was without form and void and if they had been otherwise Created in the Begining all the ensuing Works of God in the Six Days had been needless and Superfluous Wheras Elementary Substances and the Essences of their Accidents in their Potentialitys being Created together in the Begining the work of the Three first Days was to Produce their Accidents out of Potentiality into Act as I shall particularly shew heerafter And though this was not Properly Creation of any New Entity from Nonentity yet as it was the Production of the Actualitys of the Accidents and not of the Substanceâ— of the Elements it plainly Discovers a Real Difference between Substances and Accidents Certeinly as it was the Production of Several Actualitys therof in several Days it declares the Accidents so severaly Actuated to be several and Different in themselvs and much more all of them to be Different from the Substances from which they all Differ more Genericaly and consequently more then one from another Again if Substances and Accidents did not Realy Differ then no Accidents of the same Substance should Realy Differ one from another but all should be one and the same with themselvs as well as with their Substance For as the Mathematical Rule is most true That if each of two Lines be Equal to a third one of them must necessarily be Equal to the other So if each of two Entitys could be one and the same with a third the one must Necessarily be one and the same with the other and so if Extension Figure Density Gravity Motion Heat Light and the rest and all the Several Variations therof were one and the same with the Aethereal Substance then they must also be one and the same in themselvs Yea if they were only Accidents of the Matter as some affirm all Contrary Qualitys Heat and Cold and the rest must be one and the same with the Matter which is most Absurd and Irrational for then Heat should be Cold and Cold Heat and the like Also if we Consyder the Continual Sensible Variations of Accidents and their Productions out of Potentiality into Actuality and Reductions from Actuality to Potentiality whereby they so often Appear and Disappear unto us and their Desultory and Exile Nature which to some scarcely seems to be Real we may not Imagin them to be Realy the same with their Substances which Subsist in themselvs and are Fixed Solid and Substantial Entitys and therefore always are Actual and never Potential as I shall particularly shew heerafter in all the ensuing Discourses Wherefore I Conclude that Since there are such Substantial and Accidental Entitys and that they Differ one from another in Nature and not only in our Mind and Reason that they both Realy are and that Accidents Realy Differ from Substances and also one from another VII Substance is either Matter or Forms for I must use that Common Term untill I can substitute another And becaus as I have said we know Substances only Intelligibly by their Sensible Accidents I shall accordingly by them declare what I intend by Matter and what by Forms Matter is known by Corporeal Quantity which is the Proper Accident therof And this Quantity is either Extension and the Products or Propertys therof Figure Porosity and the like or Density and the Products or Propertys therof Gravity Corporeal Motion and the like Also Matter hath a Common Receptivity of Forms and is Passively apt to be Consubstantiated with them and is as the Body therof being in it Self one Homogeneous and Uniform Moles or Mass and is also the Passive Subject of all its own Corporeal Variations which are Superinduced in it by the various Activitys of Forms Whence it is rightly called Materia which the Forms as Architects do severaly Mold and Fashion into fit Bodys for themselvs And therefore I Describe Matter to be One Passive Substantial Entity or Common Body of Forms Again Forms are known by their Qualitys which are Generaly Active as Heat Cold Moisture Drines and the like and are not only Various and Innumerable to us but also many of them Contrary one to another whereby I know their Substantial Forms also to be Several Heterogeneous and Difform wherof some are apt to Consubstantiate themselvs Subordinately with the Passive Matter which they as Spirits do Actively Inform or InSpirit as all Inferior Forms or Spirits and some do not Consubstantiate but only Inform it as the Human Spirit and some neither Consubstantiate nor Inform it as Angels and though all Exist in it yet none Subsist in it as Accidents do in Substances And so these Forms are Several Active Substantial Entitys or Spirits And I shall henceforth generally call them Spirits Wherby I do not intend Spirit Grammaticaly that is Breath nor yet with Physicians and others those Igneous Aereous Aqueous and Terreous Natural Vital or Animal Spirits which indeed are only such Qualitys of the Elementary Spirits but Substantial Spirits Distinct or Different from the Matter as I have before discoursed them And so there are not only Angelical Spirits which Exist Separate from the Matter Naturaly though in it Localy and Human Spirits which are also Immaterial and such as may so Exist separately as well as Angelical and yet are apt to Inform or InSpirit the Human Body wherwith they are Composited But also Material Spiritâ— which cannot so Exist Separately or as Separate Substances without the Matter and therefore are called Material though they are in themselvs neither Matter nor Homogeneous with the Matter as I shall shew heerafter And so the Wiseman mentioneth The Spirit of a Beast that goeth downward to the Earth as well as the Spirit of Man that goeth upward And so also there are Vegetative Spirits and the Spirit of the Heaven as the Author of Esdras saith of the Firmament and of all the Elements which are more Properly Material becaus they Immediately Consubstantiate Matter that is such Active Substantial Entitys as I have before Described And there are also Accidental Spirits or Spiritual Activitys Powers and Virtues mentioned in Scripture Which yet are no Substantial Spirits but Subsist in them And I suppose this general Name Spirit doth better express all simple Substantial Activitys which were Immediately Created by God as well as Matter and can never be Annihilated or Altered as they are in themselvs any more then Matter it Self then Forms by which they are
commonly exprest as well as Formâ— Mistorum And therefore I do not term them Forms but I rather reserv Form to express that which is otherwise called Formae Misti or Compositi by which I intend only the Generative Complexion and Compagination of those simple Created Spirits and Matter which are Ingenerable and Incorruptible in themselvs and wherof Generation and Corruption are only the Confabrication or Demolition as I shall shew heerafter and consequently every Formâ— Misti or Compositi is Generable and Corruptible and so these Forms are as far Different from the others which I therefore term Spirits as they are from Matter and are called Substantial only becaus they are the Complexions of the others which are Substances as also Material Spirits are so called only becaus they are so Unâ—ted to the Matter as I said before Having thus explained my Terms I shall proceed as before concerning Substances and Accidents to prove that Matter and these simple Created Spirits Realy Differ whereby I shall also prove that there Realy are both such Matter and Such Spirits And wheras it is now generaly granted that there are such Angelical and Human Spirits Realy Different from Matter for which I suppose we may thank Christianity I shall accept iâ— and apply my Self only to prove the same of the rest and then I presume no Heathen can deny it of the others Now in our present History of the Creation it is said that the Water brought forth Fishes after their Kinds and Fowls after their Kinds and the Earth Beasts after their Kinds and Creeping things after their Kinds Whereby it appears that these Creatures were of Several Kinds and Heterogeneous one from another and Consequently all of them from the Matter which being one Homogeneous Substance in it Self can never Produce any Heterogeneous Substances and therefore all this Heterogeneity must necessarily be from some other Substantial Principles that is their Spirits which were Created thus Specificaly Heterogeneous one from another and all of them more Genericaly Heterogeneous from the Common Matter And so it is also expresly said concerning Vegetatives and must be reasonably understood of Heaven and Earth and all the Elements for the Matter of them all being one and the same could not Constitute and Denominate them Heaven or Earth neither could they be so Denominated from their own Proper Qualitys which were not yet Actualy Produced but afterward in the Three first Days Wherfore there were such several Heterogeneous Substantial Principles which I call Elementary Spirits Created in the Begining and then Actualy Subsisting in and with the Matter which did so Denominate the Heaven and Earth and the rest And if they together with the Matter could not Produce their own Proper Qualitys without such a Supernatural though Improper Creation much less could the Matter of it Self Produce any Such Substantial Spirits and Activitys farr more excellent then it Self Again if Accidents of the same Substance being Several must therefore Realy Differ from the Substance as I have before proved then certeinly Accidents of Several Substances which are not only Several but also Contrary do necessarily prove that they can not proceed from one and the same Substantial Principle such as Matter is for then the same Nature should destroy it self by its own Natural Contrarietys And though in Mist Bodys which are Composed of all the Elements there be the Substantial Principles of Contrary Qualitys Heat Cold Moisture Driness and the like Mist and Contemperated together or though the same thing may Produce Contrary Effects in Several Subjects as Motion may excite Heat in Fire and Cold in Air or the same Faculty may exercise Contrary Actions toward Contrary Objects as the Will or Appetite doth Affect that which is Pleasant and Disaffect that which is Displeasant Yet Matter which is one and the same cannot Produce Contrary Activitys and Exercise Contrary Operations in it Self which destroy one another and so consequently should Corrupt it self by such Contrary Qualitys Wherefore all Generation and Corruption and all Menstrua and the like do plainly prove that there are Several Substantial Principles of Such Contrary Qualitys not only Realy Different from the Matter but also Difform one from another And therefore unless we affirm Heat Cold Moisture Driness and all other Contrary Qualitys and Consequently Aeâ—her Air Water Earth Vegetatives and Sensitives to be all one and the same and not Different and thereby Confound Heaven and Earth and all things therin and our own Notions therof we must Necessarily grant that there are such Several Accidental Qualitys and also such Substantial Principles therof Different one from another and consequently all from the Matter And this may appear most clearly by many Sensible Distinctions and Differences between them which I shall now only generaly mention and heerafter more particularly discover in the ensuing Discourses As that Matter hath Pondus and the Products therof which Spirits have not but there are Active Potentiae of Spirits and all the various Operations and Effects therof which Matter hath not And the Pondus of Matter tendeth from the Circumference to the Center but the Potentia of Spirits from the Center to the Circumference And Matter being only one Homogeneous Body hath only one Center but Spirits being Many and Several have every one of them in their Composita a several Center Also all Matter is Continuous becaus it is one Homogeneous Body but the Contiguity of several Bodys is only from the several Spirits Also Matter tendeth Naturaly to Rest but Spirits intend their Acts and Exercises to the Utmost Also Matter hath only Different Degrees of More or Less but Spirits have their Actively Contrary Qualitys and the like Now though I cannot Sensibly Produce and Present such a Genius of things or Spirit as it is in it Self not only becaus it is a Spirit but also becaus it is a Substance which as I have said that it is only Intelligible as none can discover Pure Matter or Materia prima as it is in it Self but both may be discerned by their Sensible Accidents wherof the Accidents of Spirits which are Proper Sensibles are more Sensible then of Matter which are only common Sensibles and Sensed by the others so I have proved Matter and Spirits by their Different Accidents to be several Substantial Principles and Realy Different one from another And though none can affirm that there is any Matter Separate from Spirits yet it is granted that there are Spirits Separate from Matter as Angels Nor may it seem strange that two such Substances should be Consubstantiated into one since there is no Matter without some Spirit to Diversify it and it is also granted that there is a Spirit of Man which doth Inform or Inspirit his Body and not only Possess it as an Angel Wherefore certeinly Material Spirits which are Connatural may also Consubstantiate the Matter And we must understand that as all Created Entitys are Creatures or Created by God
so they are United into one Genus of their Common Entity which though it be Metaphysical yet it is not only a Notional but a Real Universality of them all whereby they are so Realy United and accordingly have some Physical Communion one with another and all Conspire together against Nonentity And so Matter and Spirits though very Different Entitys yet because they are all Entitys either Consubstantiate one another as all Material Spirits which cannot be Separate nor Exert or Exercise their Qualitys or Operations without the Instrumentality of their Material Bodys or otherwise Inform and Inspirit them as the Immaterial Spirit of Man which may be Separate or not Separate from the Body therof and Exert and Exercise some Qualitys and Operations by the Instrumentality therof and some without it as I shall shew heerafter or at least as Angels who though they be purely Immaterial Spirits and have no such Consubstantial nor Compositive Union with the Matter nor do Inform or Inspirit it nor Operate by any Instrumentality therof but are in that respect wholy Separate from it yet have this Communion with it that they are Localy in it where they are and do Move from one Part or Place therof to another and more or less suddenly and easily and can not Move beyond the Universal Body therof for then they might Wander in Notfinite and Endless Inanity which as I have said is Pure Nonentity And though Extension and Local Motion be Properly of the Matter yet Material Spirits by their Conjunct State and Consubstantiation are Coextended with it and all others are Conteined in it and in this or that Part therof and Move from this or that Place therof according to the several Spheres of their own Substantial Activitys whether they be more United unto it by a Conjunct Consubstantiation as Material Spirits which are in the Matter like Inherent Light in the Lucid Body and in so much therof as it doth Inherently Illuminate or less and without any such Conjunct Consubstantiation as the Human Spirit which is in the Matter as Light in the Diaphanous Air which it requires to Illuminate or otherwise as Angels which are in it as Magnetical Emanations in any Medium And accordingly Material Spirits are most Powerful in their Center but Immaterial Intirely Equal in their whole Sphere Now wheras some affirm that Substantial Spirits and all their Spiritual Qualitys are only Various Motions of the Matter I shall according to my maner first endeavour to Understand what is or may be Intended by the Motion of the Matter which certeinly can not be any Substantial Activity in it Self Distinct from the Matter for then we might agree in the Thing and should not differ about Terms wherefore Motion of the Matter must be only an Accidental Affection therof like Extension and the rest whereby matter Extends it Self and so in Effect Motion of the Mâ—tter is only Matter Moving it Self Wheras it Naturaly tends to Rest and Moves only in order therunto as I shall shew heerafter and this Moving must be only Local becaus it is of the Matter from one Part or Place therof to another But as I have shewed that there are other Differences of things besides Local Separation So there are other Motions besides Local Motion as every Mutation from one State to another in Generation Corruption and the like and iâ— Intellection and Volition there may be such Spiritual Motions without any Local Motion whatsoever wheras Local Motion is only a Transition or passing from one Part or Place of the Matter to another as I shall also shew heerafter And now I may safely affirm that such Local Motion is only Local Motion and neither more nor less nor other for as this Identical Proposition is most true That Local Motion is Local Motion So the Predicate therof being Adaequate to the Subject it can be neither more nor less nor other then the Subject Now that this Local Motion which Properly belongeth to the Matter is an Instrument not only of Matter but also of all Material Spirits becaus they are Material or Conjunct with the Matter in their Consubstantiation and also in their Operation as well as Extension Figure and the rest I easily grant but must wholy deny that Aether Air Water Earth or any other Substantial Spirits Heat Cold Moisture Driness Vegetation Sensation and innumerable other Spiritual Qualitys are only Local Motions one way or other or any way whatsoever for then Local Motion should not be only an Instrumental Causality or Effect of all those Spirits and Spiritual Qualitys but the very Essence and Formality or Formal Caus therof which is most Uncouth and Inconceivable for they are Formaly every one of them Such as they are in themselves as well as the Matter is Matter in it Self without any Actual Motion and so also Extension is Formaly Extension in it Self and may Exist and be Such without any Actual Motion and Figure is Formaly Figure in it Self and may Exist and be Such without any Actual Motion and so any other Accidents of Matter much more Spirits and Spiritual Qualitys which I shall now very plainly prove In the Begining God Created the Heaven and the Earth and not only Matter and Motion nor could Matter by Motion Diversify it Self in the Begining into Heaven and Earth that is as I have before explained them Superaether Aether Air Water and Earth for no local Motion can be in an instant but the Begining was only the First Instant otherwise it should not be the First or Begining Wheras Local Motion being from Place to Place which are several Terms must necessarily be in several Instants and most Probably there was no Local or any such Natural Motion in the first Chaos but only the Spirit of God Supernaturaly Moved on the face of the Waters Also if several Local Motions were the Formalitys or Formal Beings of all Spirits and Spiritual Qualitys then they should not be before nor after nor any longer then the Local Motion doth continue for the Formality of any thing is the very Specifical Being therof as Wind which is indeed only Aer Motus continues no longer then the Motion and Nothing can be without the Specifical Being of it Self otherwise it should not be what it is Wherefore I suppose I may set this down as another Infallible Canon according to which also I may safely proceed that Whatsoever Actualy Exists without somthing which doth not then also Actualy Exist must Realy differ from it otherwise the same thing should Actualy Exist and not Exist at the same time which is Contradictory and Impossible And thus as I have proved Substances which did Actualy Exist in the Begining to differ Realy from Accidents which did not then Actualy Exist So particularly Spiritual Substances and their Qualitys which do or may Actualy Exist without any Actual Local Motion must necessarily be Realy Different from it And this is most Sensibly Evident that they may so Exist and be
and the only Question is whether there be any such Matter which is Comparatively more Dens or more Rare then any other Matter simply in itself And wheras generaly Porous Bodys that are filled are more Dens and Bodys which fill the Pores more Rare as I have shewed it plainly appears by Porosity itself whereby they seek to solv Density and Rarity that they also are such in their several Simple Bodys so consydered in themselvs otherwise becaus a Brass or Iron Kettle set upright with the Concavity therof above the Water will swim in Water the Complex Extension both of the Vessel and of the Air which fills that one great Pore of the Cavity being in the whole more Rare and consequently more Light then the same Proportionable Extension of Water we might therefore affirm that the Brass or Iron in itself is not more Dens and consequently more Heavy then the Water nor the Air more Rare and consequently more Lâ—ght then the Brass or Iron nor any of them more Dens or more Rare and consequently not more Heavy or more Light then another simply considered in themselvs which if they be as certeinly they are then there is also such Density and Rarity both of the Matter of any Porous Body and of that which fills the Pores simply consydered in themselvs And indeed if we should consyder Density and Rarity only Complexively and not Simply there should be no Density and Rarity in the World which would take away the very Subject of the Question for the whole World being one Complex Body though it consist of many particular Bodys more Dens and more Rare Simply in themselvs yet is all Equidens Complexively becaus it is all one Complex Body Wherefore either there is no Density or Rarity in the World or if there be the difference therof must be in the different Simple Bodys and particular Maâ—ter itself Also to inquire farther into this Porosity which is assigned to be the Formal Caus of Rarity we will again consyder the Reason therof which must be this that a more Porous Body is therefore more Rare becaus the Pores are filled with more Rare Matter unles we pleas to admitt a Vacuity therin which is another Subterfuge of this Question but now we will consyder it as filled with some other Matter which if it be Equidens will make the whole Complex Body Equidens and therefore necessarily must be more Rare to make the Porous Body more Rare and then I demand Why is that Matter more Rare which so fills it and according to the same Reason it must likewise be becaus that Matter is a Body more Porous and the Pores therof filled with another matter more Rare then itself and so Infinitely which is both Irrational and Impossible for suppose the Pores of any Terreous Body to be filled with Water and any Pores of that with Air and any Pores of that with Aether and any Pores of that with Superaeâ—hereous Matter yet we must at last stop somwhere and confess either that the last Matter is more Rare in itself which will destroy the Reason assigned or otherwise that the Pores therof are not filled but that the last Porous Body hath only Interspersed Vacuitys And so indeed whosoever doth deny Density and Rarity of the Matter in itself if he be true to his own Reason must hold an Absolute Vacuum in Nature wherof I shall discours heerafter not esteeming this sufficient occasion nor any present Discours therof pertinent to the Question which is as I have said concerning the Density or Rarity of the Matter in itself whether Porous or not Porous or whether the Pores therof be filled or not filled Now if there be such a different Density and Rarity of the Matter itself then there may be Condensation and Rarefaction of the Matter itself And becaus this is the greater Question and doth also contein the other I shall solemnly argue it according to my maner Certeinly there is no such fixed Standard of Density in the Matter itself and in the Nature therof that it could not Possibly be more or less Dens or that God could not have Created the Matter more or less Dens becaus there is no Contradiction in it for it should be Matter whether more less Dens and if God might as he pleased have Created the whole Matter more or less Dens then he could also Create one part of the Matter more Dens and another less Dens and so indeed he hath for he Created both Heaven and Earth wherof the Heaven and Heavenly Bodys are less Dens and more Rare and the Earth and Earthly Bodys more Dens and less Rare And if he could Create one Body more Dens and another more Rare then he can also caus the Dens Body to become more Rare or the Rare to become more Dens and so also he hath for he made the Water which is more Dens to Ascend in Vapors which are more Rare otherwise they could not so Ascend into the Air and again the Vapors which are more Rare to Descend in Miâ—ts and Rains which are more Dens otherwise they could not so Descend through the Air. Also I prove it by the Products of Density and Rarity which are Gravity and Levity and their very Motions of Descent and Ascent according to the Hydrostatical Rule of Archimedes and all others since him That more Matter of less Extension will sink through less Matter of more Extension if it be Fluid And this is the very Formality of Density that it is the Affection of more Matter being of less Extension and of Rarity that it is of less Matter being of more Extension And if there be Density and Rarity then also Condensation and Rarefaction of Bodys as I have shewed and which may be confirmed by many Sensible Experiments wherof I shall mention only two one of Condensation and the other of Rarefaction The first is the Impregnating of Common Water with Salt Take a Glass Wine-bottle and first put into it as much Salt as the Water may Imbibe and then fill it up with Water and stop it with a Cork so as no Water may come forth and being so stop'd stir it up and down by moving the Glass-Bottle until the Water be perfectly Impregnated with the Salt and so made Brine and when you let it rest again you shall find that the Brine which now conteins both the Water the Salt will not fill the Bottle as before but Subside in the Neck almost to the Belly which doth plainly shew a Consyderable Condensation or the same Matter of less Extension then it was before The other shall be the common Instance of Gunpowder fired in a Gun loaded with a Bullet which will be violently discharged by the sudden and great Rarefaction of so small a Body of Powder into so large a Body of Flame or the same Matter of more Extension then it was before which therefore requireth a larger Place according to the inlarged Extension therof and explodeth the
best suffice to contein it and less Matter of more Extension which is more Rare should be in a larger Sphere which is more fitt to contein it And thus the Globe of Earth and Water which is most Dens is seated in the Inmost Orb of the World which is least and the Air which is more Rare in a Sphere next above it which is more large and the Aether which is yet more Rare in the next above that which is still more large and the Superaether which is most Rare in the the uppermost which is largest And this most Proper and Connatural Situation of the Terraqueous Globe and of all the Spheres doth rightly constitute both the Circumfereâ—ce and the Center of the whole World and the most Symmetrical Chorus of all the Bodys therof as I shall shew heerafter And certeinly as there is but one Circumference of the whole Body therof so also but one Center for those two do mutualy Relate one to the other as there can be but one Circumference and one Center in any one Body Now that all this Body is Matter we all grant and I suppose no Materialist will or can deny it Also it must be granted as I have shewed of Density and Rarity that Gravity or Pondus is the Proper Affection of the Matter and not of Spirits becaus it Subsists in the Density of the Matter and that more Dens and Grave Bodys Naturaly do sink through more Rare and Light And that Sinking is to this Universal Center of all the Matter which is Lowest and Inmost as the Circumference is Highest and Utmost Wherefore if any Particular Body which is and must be a Part of this Universal Body of Matter be more Dens and consequently more Grave it must Naturaly sink through any other Bodys beneath it which are more Rare and consequently more Light toward this Universal Center of the whole Body of Matter which is the Center of the whole Body of the World and consequently of all Particular Bodys which are only Parts therof and no Parts of any such Particular Bodys which are also Matter as well as their whole Bodys can sink Inwardly to any Center of Gravity in themselvs as to any such Particular Center for then they should Ascend in departing from the Universal Center of Extension which is exactly Centrum Gravium to which all tend And though more Dens and Heavy Bodys may sometimes Ascend to prevent Vacuity yet that is not as to any such Particular Center but only to fill the Universal Globe when more Rare cannot succeed as I shall shew heerafter Or if they be supported by any Consistent Body though more Rare that is only a Fulciment and Tanquam a Natural Center unto them Wherefore as all Pondus is of the Matter and Matter only one Homogeneous Body in itself so there can be but one Center of the Pondus therof though as Potentiae are of the Spirits and they are several and Heterogeneous so there may be several Spiritual Centers therof which are all of another Nature and very farr Different from this one Universal Center of Matter and though they be Radicaly most Dens and Strong in those several Centers yet their Motion tendeth Outward every way from the Center to the Circumference of their Particular Sphere of Activity and not as the Matter Inward or only Downward from the Circumference to the Center of Rest becaus Spirits are Active and Energetical but Matter Passive and Torpid as I have shewed And now I shall proceed to prove this Center of the Universal Body of the Matter of the whole World which as I have said is also both the Center of the Extension of the Gravity therof to which all tend or the Universal Center to be in the Earth which will also comprehend that other Question concerning the Center of the whole World Certeinly this is the constant Language of Scripture and so it is said that the Waters which covered the Earth were Beneath and the Vapors in the Air Above and the Royal Philosopher saith expresly The Heaven for Highâ— and the Earth for Depth and I suppose none can shew any one Expression in the whole Bible which may seem in the least to color or favor the contrary Opinion And the Reason therof is as apparent which I have before sufficiently declared that Earth being most Dens and consequeâ—tly most Grave and Gravity being one and the same Affection of all Matter and having but one principal Motion which is Direct must therefore tend to one and the same Term which cannot be Outward or Upward for then Grave Bodys should Ascend but must necessarily be Inward or Downward which therefore must be to one Inmost Point or Center of that Gravity And I shall confirm this Motion of Descent by clearing a common mistake concerning the Ascent of Rare or Light Bodys for as all Dens and Heavy Bodys do Descend so also do Rare Proportionably becaus they are only less Heavy as I have said As if a Pound Weight be put into one Scale and two Pounds into the other which will caus its one Scale to Descend and thereby the other to Ascend yet apparently the Pound Weight is also Heavy becaus it weighs one Pound though the two Pounds be more Heavy and so caus that Scale Proportionably to Descend and the other to Ascend Thus the Motion of Ascent of Rare Bodys is indeed rather a being Moved and their Ascent only a Violent Elevation by more Dens and Heavy Bodys which crowding more strongly or swiftly to or toward the Center do Elevate and Extrude the more Rare and Light from it Also Earth only is Consistent and cannot be prevented in the Descent therof by any other Bodys which might be Fulciments unto it as it may be to others and all this doth Sensibly appear by any Terreous Body Descending through Water and through Air and so it would also through Aether if it were in it not particularly as to its Proper Element by any Potentia of the Elementary Spirit therof but generaly as to the Universal Center of all Matter by the greater Density and Pondus therof For so if a Hole were made in the Earth from the Surface therof to the Center Water would Descend thereby to it as well as Earth if there were neither Earth nor Water therin Air would Descend likewise and so if their were neither Earth Water nor Air Aeâ—her or Superaether would Descend likewise though some pleas to phansy otherwise and would make all the Planetary Orbs so many Worlds of themselvs having their own Proper Centers not respecting this Universal Center of the whole World to which all tend but only consyder it as the Universal Center of Extension wheras as I have said the Gravity or Pondus of the Matter is an Universal Affection of the Matter Subsisting in it as well as Extension which Absurdity they have Excogitated only to defend some others which I shall also disprove heerafter And though
noâ— yet Inwardly for it hangs upon nothing besides itself on which it might so Press and it doth not Press upon itself the whole Body and all the Parts therof being in their Proper Place as I have said And heer again I must clear one Vulgar and common Error which may be the caus of the contrary Apprehension that is That the Earth and consequently the whole Globe of the World doth Press upon the Center every way as upon a Foundation that bears it up or as two Bodys of equal Spiritual Strength or Potentia Pressing one against another with all their Power by such mutual Encounter and Resistance do forcible fix and setle each other Immovably in some midle Point between them wheras though there be such particular Combats between Contrary Qualitys and the like Opponents in Nature and so there are also particular Dislocations of Members in the Body therof yet generaly the whole Structure of the Body of the World and so of the Atmosphere is so Composed that there is no such Pressure which Properly is not Nature but Violence and the Descent of Heavy Bodys every way to the Center is only as to a Point or Term which they do not desire to pass and therefore do not Press beyond it and becaus Violence doth not long continue there is therefore an Innate Principle of Motion in Bodys to reduce them to their Proper Place whereby they may obtein that Rest which Nature Intendeth and Abhorreth all such Pressure Pain or Burden And heerin the Pondus of Matter and Potentiae of Spirits do manifestly Differ for wheras generaly the Powers of Spirits Act to the utmost Incessantly and without any Rest becaus they are Qualitys of Active Principles and so the Heavenly Bodys Move Indesinently the Weight of Matter which is a Passive Principle affecteth Rest and only tendeth unto it and when and where it obteineth it then and there it Resteth and the Actual Weight and Motion therof is thereby again reduced to Potentiality as I have said And I can not conceiv any Reason nor frame any Notion in mine own Mind why or how the Body of the World should Press rather or more Inwardly then it doth Outwardly which is not at all And if we could suppose any such Pressure it must be either every way which would accordingly Press and Squeez or only downward and then every one of the Terricolae should be Pressed Downward with a Proportionable Pyramid of the whole Body of the World so Inverted as I have shewed and according to Mathematical Rule inlarging itself from his Head or Back or Hand on which it doth so superpend as the Cone to the Utmost Circumference of the Superaether as the Basis for it is all Matter and there is no Consistent Body Intervening to prevent that Pressure and so if one part of that Pyramid Press all must Press and if we compute the Inestimable Burden therof it will be found Insupportable and at the Atmosphere also to be so Comprest in itself as would render it no Atmosphere or fit place of Breathing But let us descend farther and consyder the midle Point of the Earth and Center of the whole World certeinly no Poet can Imagin such an Atlas or Hercules as might so bear the whole Burden of the whole Body of the World being farr greater then of the Heavens only which they feigned them to bear up though indeed the Imaginary Pressure therof be the greater Fiction And I appeal to the common Experience of all men who with their own Hands can feel no such Pressure of the Atmosphere wheras it should Press the Area of the Hand Proportionably as much as 29 Inches of Mercury and of every Diver who can testifie the Nonpressure of the Deepest Water lying upon him and whosoever will not accept these for Experiments but seek to evade them I know not how he doth plainly thereby Invalidate the Testimony of all Experiment and render it as Sceptical as some would make both Reason and Faith since none can be more Sensible and Notorious then this which is by feeling the Fundamental and least Fallible Sens But I shall plainly clear by a whole Galaxy of Experiments which I shall therefore collect into this one Sâ—atike Rule That in any Body Internaly Consistent in itself or made Externaly to Consist together the more Rare Parts therof being duly placed above the more Dens do not Actualy Weigh or Press the more Dens Parts below them nor the Equidens Parts one another Perpendicularly Whereby it shall plainly appear how a Particular Body so disposed is a Module of the Universal Body of the World in this particular respect Thus in the highest Column of Timber or Stone or Coloss of Brass or Pyramid of Brick Perpendicularly Erected as they ought to be no one Part therof doth Press another supposing them all to be Equidens or only so farr Proportionably as they are not so Equidens for otherwise all must Press the very lowest and thinest Physical Area therof and then let all the Incumbent Weight be computed and compared with that Area and the Strength therof and I suppose the Impossibility of such a vast Weight and Pressure to be born by by such a slender Fulciment will easily be granted when we see a whole Brick to be broken and battered only by a Cart-wheel going over it Again let us consyder other Bodys sometimes Actualy Fluid and sometimes Consistent as a Firkin or any larger Cask of Butter Tallow or the like if it be uncased and the Upper and Lateral Parts of the Cask taken off from the Mass of Butter or Tallow yet it shall stand as firm as it did before though there is at least an half hundred Weight Incumbent upon the Area therof Wheras if you lay an Equal Plate of Lead or any more Dens Body of the same Weight upon a thicker Area of the Butter or Tallow it will not be able to bear it but be squeezed Outward becaus the Equidensity and Equiconsistency of all the Parts of its own Body make them all to be at Rest but the greater Density of the Lead doth Press them and so if the Cylinder of Butter or Tallow were much higher yet the upper Parts would not Press the neather until the Weight therof did overcome the Consistence as the Lead doth by its Unequal Density And if the Butter and Tallow were Melted and Fluid in the Cask and then should be uncased as before they would Press and flow every way but yet while they are conteined Externaly within the Cask no Part therof doth Weigh or Press another So in a Cistern of Water while it hath no Vent no one Part of the Water doth Weigh or Press another nor would Oil or the like upon the Water Press it But though the Parts in these and the like Cases do not Weigh or Press one another yet the Whole Body whether Internaly or Externaly Consistent doth Weigh and Press the next Body beneath it not
and Spirits and their Spiritual Qualitys which are all conteined within the same Extension of the whole Body of Matter and the several Figures therof are the Hieroglyphical Images of the Various Spirits and may have some kind of Signature therof and so Condensation is Analogous to Intension and Rarity to Remission of Qualitys and Pondus to Potentia and the rest but especialy Motion is Analogous to the very Activity of Spirits and yet as Matter and Spirit so all Material and Spiritual Accidents are Genericaly Different and particularly Local Motion from the Active and Generative or Corruptive Motion of Elementary Spirits and much more from Vegetation Sensation and Intellection which are Motions of a farr other Nature as I shall shew heerafter Again as Matter and Material Accidents are not nor can not be Formaly the very Spirits and Spiritual Qualitys so neither are they Potentialy as others have supposed and so would Educe them all out of I know not what Potentia Materiae and some Christian Philosophers in compliance therwith have supposed the first Chaos to be only such a Materia Prima though God saith expresly that in the very Begining he Created Heaven and Earth Comprehending Superaether and all the fower Elements as I have said and that the Matter had not only as a Materia Prima the first and common Affections therof that is one Extension one Orbicular Figure Equidensity and Equigravity and the like but particular Diversifications and Variations of Spheres of several Figures Densitys and Gravitys and the like and the Superaether then probably was Created Perfect and adorned with all the Furniture therof whatsoever it is and the Elements were Created in such a maner as did Denominate them Aethereal and Aereal Heavens Earth and Water yea the very Heavens and the very Earth as some have Criticaly observed though Inform and Inane and without Motion which is Secondary and Subordinate to Rest and wherof there was no Need nor Use before Generation and Corruption were Ordeined afterward in the Six Days Of all which I shall now proceed to discours SECTION VI. And the Spirit of God Moved upon the face of the Waters EXPLICATION The Spirit of God Moving in the Chaos by Supernatural Incubation did Prepare and Predispose it for the Producing and Perfecting all things that were before Created in it afterward in the Six Days ILLUSTRATION 1. Of the Incubation of the Divine Spirit 2. Of Actuality and Potentiality 3. Of Generation and Corruption 4. Of the Process therof 5. Of the Scale of Nature 6. Of the Oeconomy therof I. GOd who in the Begining or very first Instant Created Heaven and Earth could also have Perfected them and all Creatures therin in the very same Instant as most probably he did so Perfect the Superaether and Angelical Nature which are the highest Sphere and highest Nature for the manifestation of his Infinite Power yet also to manifest his Infinite Liberty and Absolute Sovereignty over Created Being and the Subordination and Subjection therof to himself and how the Creatures as they could not Caus themselvs to Be from Notbeing so also after they had a Being could not of themselvs Perfect themselvs nor attein any farther Degree of Welbeing without him and his Creating Causality did first let this Elementary World ly in the Chaos therof and afterward in such a Space of Time as seemed fitt to his Divine Wisedom that is in Six several Days proceed Gradualy and Orderly to Perfect them And though the first Creation which was from Absolute Notbeing to Being must therefore have been in an Instant becaus there is only one Affirmative Term therof that is Being which must necessarily be in the same Instant assoon as it was yet all these Works of the Six Days which were Productions from Potentiality to Actuality or Original Generations from not such a Being to such a Being which are several Affirmative Terms of Being and the first only Negative of such a Being which yet implys Being was Gradualy in Time according to Natural Generation and the Process and Cours therof which was then Instituted as I shall shew heerafter And this Original Generation was another Improper Creation and Pâ—rfective of the Primitive and Proper Creation and such as could not be perâ—ormed by Nature until the Natural Cours therof was sett in Order by the Divine Spirit who before it was so Produced and until it was Perfected did from the Begining Effectively Move or Incubate in or upâ—n the Created Chaos as it were hatching the Egâ— or Embryo therof in the midst of all the Elements that is upon or above the Face of the Waters and Earth beneath them and under the Aereal and Aehereal Heavens Preparing and Predisposing them for the Production of all their Apparatus and Inhabitants out of their first Created Potentâ—alitys Latent in the first Chaos into their Actualitys in the Six Days And all those Productions were also the Immediate Works of the same Divine Power as it is said God said Let there be Light and so of the rest which were not tâ—e same Creations with the first for that had been Vain and Superflâ—ous nor in the same maner for that was in the Begining or first Instaâ—t but these in Six several Days Gradualy and Orderly according to the Natural Process of Generation which was then fiâ—st Instituted as I have said and wherin as all their Primitive Enâ—itys were first Created in the Chaos and then Prepared and Predisposed by the Divine Spirit so every Production in every one of the Six Days was Previous and Preparatory in Nature to and for the Succeeding Productions as I aâ—so shall shew heerafter Aâ—d Angels probably being Createâ— Perfect in and with their Superae her in the Begining though they migâ—t be Spectators yet neither did Operate nor Assist in this Improper Creation which though Improper in respect of the former yet is only Proper to God himself who is expressly said so to Create in all the Six Days as well as in the Begining But I presume rather that as God made all things for himself and the manifestation of his own Glory to his Intellective Creatures Angels and Men so Angels were Created in the Begining in and with their Native Region of the Highest Heaven that they who can Intuitively behold all things and needed no Created Light to Inspect the Dark Chaos and so I suppose the whole World and Frame of Nature is Transparent to them might Contemplate all the Works of God in the Improper Creations of the Inferior Elementary World which was to be the Region of Man as he who is the other Intelligence was made last to Review as God himself afterward did all the Works which he had made and to celebrate that Sabbath of Rest which God Instituted and as it is said made for him And as the Divine Spirit was the only Creator and Angelical Spirits no Subcreators so much less was there or is there any such Archaus Faber or
into the Actuality then there is a Generation therof and when again that Actuality is Reduced into the Potentiality then there is a Corruption therof But Simple Substances which subsist in themselvs therefore always are Actualy in themselvs and are Ingenerable and Incorruptible Thus in the Begining there was not only the Matter nor only the Spirit of the Superaether Actualy Subsisting but also of Aether Air Water and Earth which did so Denominate those first Elementary Composita of the Matter and their several Spirits the Heavens and the Earth as I have shewed And so there were also in them and with them all the Substantial Simple Vegetative and Sensitive Spirits Subsisting Actualy in themselvs though there were yet no such Mist Composita of the Elements themselvs as afterward which might Denominate them Stone Metall and the like nor any Composition of the Elementary Spirits with the Vegetative or of Elementary and Vegetative with Sensitive which might so Denominate them Trees Beasts and the like untill such Composita were Produced in the Six Days afterward And so also there were all the Intrinsecal Created Essences or Entitys of Simple Accidents aswell as Substances which were also Created together in the Begining in and with their Substances though only the Universal Accidents of Matter Extension Orbicular Figure Density Rest and the like did then Actualy and Extrinsecaly Exist in the Matter and there were yet none of those Particular Variations therof which were afterward superinduced by the Spiritual Qualitys of Spirits becaus those Spiritual Accidents did not yet Exist themselvs and so not only Substantial Composita but also such Simple Accidents were in their Chaos of Potentiality As there was no Actual Light but Darknes and so of the rest but yet the Intrinsecal Essence or Entity of Light and the Rest was in the Chaos Pâ—tentialy which is therefore termed Inform and Inaâ—e becaus they were not yet in it Actualy and Extrinsecaly but were afterward so Produced in the Six Days And all the Previous and Requisite Principles Substantial or Accidental wherin any of their Produced Composita did Subsist Mediately or Immeâ—iately were first Produced themselves without which the other could not have been Produced as Mist Elements before Vegetative Composita and Vegetatives before Sensitive Composita And so doth the Natural Generation and Corruption botâ— Suâ—stantâ—al and Accidental still continue as doth plainly appear by all Generative Mistion and Composition and production thereby of the Composita which are so Confabricated Naturaly aswell as Artificialy As a Hous is Potentialy in all the Materials before it be built and every particular Figure in the Extension of the Materials before it is framed and when it is so Prepared and Eâ—ected it may be said to be Artificialy Generated and when it is Demolished to be Corrupted the Materials like Substances still remaining the same and the whole Compositum and every Figure therof being first Potentialy and afterward Actualy therin and so again Reduced from Actuality to Potentiality by Demolition and there is no other Difference heerin between them but only that Natural Generation and Corruption are Intrinsecal Consubstantâ—ations or Compositions of Proper Principles of Nature which are both the Materials and Architect therof and Artificial Generation and Corruption are Extrinsecal which only can be by Application and Apposition of the Intrinsecal Principles of Nature so applied and conjoined by the Architecture of Art And as all these Mistions Compositions Figures and Virtues which were afterward Produced in the Six Days were Potentialy in this first General Chaos so every thing now in the Cours of any Generation or Corruption while it is in Potentiality is so farr forth in the Particular Chaos therof and when it is Actuated is Produced out of it and there is no other difference heerin between them but that the first Production was by the Supernatural Power of the Divine Spirit and the others by the Power of Instituted Nature or Application of Art so that this Potentiality is not Relative to Essence or Entity as if it were only a Possibility of something which yet hath no Essence or Entity in any maner whatsoever but only to Actuality of the Essence or Entity therof which is not yet in such a maner as Potentialy it may be not only by Divine Power which may Create it Properly or Improperly but according to the ordinary Cours of Nature or Art which may so Generate it Naturaly or Artificialy And so the Existence itself or this Realy Difâ—erent maner of Being is an Entity Potentialy in the Essence before it Exists and Actualy when it doth Actualy Exist And whatsoever is not so Actualy Existent must necessarily Be before in the Essence therof Potentialy otherwise it could never be Produced or made Actualy to Exist by any Power of Nature or Art And these Essences or Entitys which are yet in their Chaos of Potentiality do then Actualy Exist when as I may so say they come forth upon the Stage of Nature and there Appear and Act or might so Appear and would so Act if there were no Violent Impediment as Accidents which are the Emissarys and Instruments of Spirits do Exist when they are Actualy so Emitted and Instructed and consequently Actuated whereby the Spirits of Sensible Composita do Immediately Act or Operate upon our Senses or Sensitive Facultys which are also Accidents and thereby Mediately upon our Substantial Spirits and yet there may be such a Violent Impediment whereby like Substantial Spirits which always Exist though sometimes Latent they may not so Appear and Act unto or upon us though they Exist Actualy in themselvs as a Picture under a Curtain or the like And so there may be also an Erupturient Endeavour which we call Nisus when they can not Appear and Act as otherwise they might and would by reason of some more immediate Obstruction like Retention by any Spontaneous Power with some Strife and Difficulty which plainly shews them to be so far Actual becaus there is no Actual Contention of or between any Accidents while they are in Potentiality though their Essential Natures be most Contrary one to another And I conceiv that all Mistion and Contemperature of Contrary Qualitys is first begun while they are in the Chaos of their several Potentialitys as they were so Prepared and Predisposed by the Divine Spirit in the Universal Chaos as I have before shewed and then there being no Actual Contrariety between them they are easily Mist at first and so by Degrees are more and more Actualy Mist as their Contrary Essences are more and more Actuated and Produced into Existence by a mutual Contemperation and Gradual Process therof Thus I have more largely explained what I intend by Actuality and Potentiality becaus the right Understanding therof is as I conceiv and shall shew heerafter the Fundamental Knowledg of the whole Doctrine of Generation and Corruption And now I shall proceed to prove it accordingly It is said of the first
own Apprehensions then in the Expressions wherin Scripture is alway Consonant the Truth therof Consistent with itself and so we are to Interpret them accordingly and to reduce them all to the System of the World which is Intentionaly reveled and declared unto us in this Divine History of the Genesis therof and then we shâ—ll neither as some place Waters below the Earth becaus Springs are termed Subterraneous or above the Aether yea the Superaether becaus the same word signifieth both Air and Heavens and so make them to possess both the Center and Circumference of the whole World nor conceiv that Rivers flow from the Ocean only by Subterraneous passages and so flow thither again in their Canales whenas there is not any mention made of Rivers in all the Six Days Works but only of Waters above and Waters beneath which were first gathered into Seas though I doubt not but that Rivers were also made afterward in the Third Day yet first by Waters above or Vapors and in the same Order of Nature wherin they are still continued that is by the descent of Vapors first raised from the Seas into the Earth and therefore only Vapors or Waters above and Seas or Waters beneath are heer mentioned and so afterward we read that There went up a Mist from the Earth and watered the whole face of the Ground before we read of the fower Rivers that encompassed Eden about and were also fed and continued by it and the Vapors thus descending into the Spongy Earth where they meet with Stones or other such Bodys less apt to Imbibe them do stand in Drops as they do on Marble which Poets call the Tears of Niobe and those Drops gathering together in Fluxes make at first litle Rills and they afterward Rivulets and Rivers which run again into the Sea and so the Rivers were made and are still continued and this and no other is the Cours of the Waters as the Psalmist affirmeth They go up by the Mountains they go down by the Vallys unto the place which thou hast founded for them and so we read of Windows of Heaven aswell as of Fountains of the Deep and the Author of Esdras calleth them also Springs above the Firmament for so indeed they are Mutualy and Reciprocaly Fountains each to other And this plainly is proved by the freshnes of Rivers which may not be imputed to any such Percolation through the Earth whereby it hath formerly been supposed that Salt might be Separated from Water but is now found to be otherwise I have tried it by so strict a Percolation that only a Drop or two of Brine have been Excerned in a whole Days time and yet they were so Briny that I could perceiv very little or no difference and all Saltmen find Evaporation to be the most easy and natural way of making Salt which therefore certeinly is the way of Nature in so great an Evaporation as apparently makes all Rainwater fresh and consequently all Riverwater Nor are Salt Springs from the Sea Immediately or Mediately but from Salt Mines in the Earth lâ—ke other Nâ—trous Bitumineous or Iron Springs and the like though I also acknowledg that Salt may be Volatilised as Chymists say and which doth very sensibly appear to us who dwell neer to the Sea where Woods on that side toward the Sea are blasted thereby and Iron Nails and Window Barrs rotted as Iron will swell and be corrupted by lying long in Saltwater yet these Vapors of the Sea go not farr nor are such Experiments therof found at any great distance much less can they make Salt Springs in the Inland where also fresh Springs â—low very neer to them but they are both first from Vapors and then the Salt Springs are made Salt by runing through Salt Mines And lastly I shall approve it by a plain Experiment which I received from a very Credible Person whose Hous standing at the bottom of a declive Hill and wanting Water he caused a large Trench to be digged down the side therof and many other less Trenches branching out of it both ways and then filled them all with Pebble Stones and again covered them over with the Earth and found Water to flow at the bottom of the main Trench through a Pipe laid to receiv it which is only by Artificial application of the same Natural Causalitys And when I had reported this to a Noble Lord he confirmed it with another Observation which himself had made in certein Quillets or litle Quagmires which have Water springing and standing in them by causing them to be searched and the ground to be digged under them where he found Beds of Stone which might also give occasion to the Poets to feign Rivers powring their Waters out of Stony Urns Nor indeed is it Imaginable that Rivers and Springs should otherwise come from the Sea whose highest Watermark is farr below the Springs as is well known to such who live neer to the higher Shores of the Sea and so also is attested by such who have gone up the Pike of Tâ—neriff wherin they found a Spring farr above the Sea wheras Water while it is such cannot ascend above its Levell for then it should rise above itself becaus it is all one Equidens and Fluid Body And Springs rise first out of the Earth in very small Sources and not from any such Subterraneous Rivers as some have supposed flowing in great Canales under the Earth and Impelled by I know not what Subterraneous Vapors like Bloud in the Veins But though all Water will run to its Levell yet if it be not also some way Impelled it will run very slowly and so swell and mingle by degrees as it can hardly be perceived to run wherefore it is observed in such Cutts and Aqueducts that if about a foot Fall be not allowed for every Mile there will be a very litle Current of the Water wheras Rivers run very swiftly and some of them with a very Rapid Current which must be by a farr greater Fall and therefore the Springs or Sources of all great Rivers must be farr within Land and also fall from much higher ground as the Author of Esdrâ—â— saith That the Flowds might powr down from the Rocks Having thus farr consydered the Cours of Waters from the Sea into the Air by Evaporation and from thence to the Earth and from the Mountains or higher ground therof to the Seas again which is the first and great Reciprocation therof whereby they are such Mutual Fountains each to other I shall now farther consyder that which we commonly call the Floud and Ebb or Tides of Seas and Rivers which is also another Mutual Reciprocation of Waters for so the Floud of the Seas is the Ebb of the Rivers and the Ebb of the Rivers the Floud of the Seas not Circularly as the other but only describing a very small Segment or part of an Arch like a Pendulum Now becaus so many several Hypotheses therof have been
Created and so we read of Gold Bdellium and Onyx but this general System mentioneth only such grand Mista as Elements and Planets which in the Whole are Ingenerable and Incorruptible and therefore are particularly mentioned as they were so specialy Created IX The Earth being such as I have described doth plainly declate itself to be Immovable that is not apt to Move itself if possible to be Moved by any others Yet there are some who not by any Natural Power nor by Faith but Fansy can remove not only Mountains but the whole Earth not by heaping and raising it up to Heaven as the Poets report of the Giants but as if they had obtained the Victory for it can place it among those Idol Gods Saturn Iupiter Mars and others which I shall now disprove having already shewed how the Earth is one whole Element in itself Naturaly and only Localy United with Water in the surface therof and so made one Terraqueous Globe in this Third Day but not with the Aery Expansum which was made in the Second Day and how in the First Day the Aether was made to Move about the Earth with the Light therin Diurnaly which made Day and Night and that the Earth was not made to Move about it but remained in its Chaos untill this Third Day Wherunto I shall add one Text more as a Comment upon the other being part of that Divine Hymn of Creation Who laid the Foundations of the Earth or founded the Earth upon its Basis that it cannot be Moved And so where it is said The World also is stablished that it cannot be Moved it is to be understood of this Orbis Terrae particularly as I have shewed or if any may conceiv otherwise then it shews that the Circumferential Superaether as well as the Centrical Earth is Immovable like the Roof and Foundation of an Hous which are both Immovable though other Bodys Move and are Moved therin between them and though the Roof also may be supposed to be Mobile as some very great Amphitheaters have been turned about yet the Foundation must be Immobile otherwise it should not be such a Foundation and so it is expressly said that the Earth is so founded upon her Bases that it may not be Moved Now as the Earth hath no Heat Planetary Virtâ—e or the like Active and Motive Qualitys which might Move it as Aether so it hath such as serv to found and fix it which are therefore called the Bases therof and Pillars of the Earth whence it is also by others rightly termed Bruta tellus Thus as I have shewed it is the most Dens of all Bodys and consequently most Grave and therefore possesseth the Center of the World to which it is united as to another thing by its own Gravity wherefore as the Universal Center is Immobile otherwise it should not be such a Center so the Gravity of the Earth doth Indissolubly unite it thereunto unless there can be assigned any other Body in Nature more Grave then it which might extrude it Again as by its own Gravity it is thus united to the Center so by its own Consistence it doth unite all its Parts together whereby they will not nor cannot Move in the Whole as Motes in Water and though it should be supposed to have more Consistent Parts one way then another yet becaus they are all Consistent they do not flow every way to fill the Sphere but all weigh Perpendicularly downward upon the same Center without any Fluctuation Trepidation or Inclination any other way And to keep it from being Moved in the Whole about the Center any way it hath Magnetical Virtue to fix it in one determinate Polar Position North and South so that it can neither be Moved out of its Place nor in its Place but is wholy Immobile And becaus this Magnetical Virtue of the Earth is the only colorable Caus offered to prove it Motive and so the Planets are also said to be Magnets and both confounded together which are most different in Nature I shall now more largely disprove that Assertion and thereby plainly prove the Earth not to Move I have granted the Earth to be Magnetical and I do also grant the Aether to be Planetary and shall observ a wonderfull Analogy between them that is that the Poles of the Earth do so Correspond with the Poles of the Aether that if the Magnetical Axis of the Earth were produced it would Intersect the Poles of the Aeâ—her so as it should seem to Move round upon and about them for so the Poles of the Earth are North and South and the Motion of the Aether East and West but though both Earth and Aether have their Axis Poles Aequator and Meridian and the rest not only Mathematicaly but Physicaly as I shall shew heerafter yet they are not Univocal as some suppose becaus they have the same Names but Equivocal in Nature and Physicaly different for the Earth hath them all for Fixation and Rest and the Aether to direct the Motion therof as I shall now shew I suppose we all agree that the Verticity of a Magnet is a Motion from Pole to Pole that is from North to South or from South to North Meridionaly according to the Magnetike Axis therof and not from East to West or from West to East about the Axis and according to the Aequator therof and also that if the Earth did Move Diurnaly it must Move from East to West or West to East becaus it is so Illuminated Now I say that no Magnet doth or can so Move but only from North to South or from South to North as may be tried by any Magnet or Terrella which hath Verticity Wherefore they greatly err who affirm any such Motion of the Earth or of any Magnet about its Axis for indeed if it should so Move about its Axis according to the Aequator it could not also Move from Pole to Pole according to the Meridian as I shall also shew heerafter Nor did the Antients so express the Earth to Move about its Axis but Circa Medium or about its Center which yet as I have shewed it cannot do Diurnaly becaus that Motion is according to the Aequator Again Verticity which is the only Motion of one and the same Magnet by itself is not Circular but only from Pole to Pole Semicircularly and Concursion of one Magnet to another is not Circular but Directly Progressive and therefore it may not be Imagined that the Earth or Planets do so Magneticaly Move one about another as I shall shew heerafter And though the Verticity of the Earth be Potentialy in it yet it never is nor shall be Actual for unless it could be Moved from its Polar Position there is no need nor use therof and such Potentialitys though they be never reduced into Act are not vain becaus they are Hypothetical and first suppose a violence which Nature abhorreth and so Superaether as it is Matter hath Motion as well as
by their greater Magnitude which renders them Visible proportionably according to the distance and by the farr greater and swifter Motion and so let the Man in the Ship sailing with full Sail though against the pretended Motion of the Earth behold the Moon and Starrs Transversly and observ whether they do not seem to Move otherwise then when he standeth on the Earth or when the Ship wherin he is doth not sail There is one who saith that both the Earth and also the Aether do Move becaus as he supposeth while one Moveth from the other the other also Moveth from it and so that it is all one and the same whether we affirm the Earth or Aether to Move whereby he can solv this very Phaenomenon of their Motion either way which I have already reâ—uted and I know none besides himself that did ever maintein it but generaly others affirm the Earth to Move and Aether not to Move becaus they suppose all the consequent Phaenomena may be solved either way who if they can find out any Error which they think is Tenible though it be not Truth they affect and embrace it rather then Truth and can pleas themselvs in amusing the World therewith which is a very Falsarious and Disingenuous Humor and more proper to Juglers and Impostâ—rs then Philosophers And becaus I scarcely know any Opinion wherin they more exercise this Art then this of the Motion of the Earth as I have already disproved it so I shall also heerafter prove the Motion of the Aether and Sun and therin shew how all the Phaenomena can only be solved thereby and shall now proceed to refute that other grand Error which is indeed more Fundamental and Universal that is their Doctrine of Matter and Motion Wherefore having discoursed of the Terraqueous Globe I shall review it and consyder whether only Matter and Motion could produce the Spirits and Spiritual Qualitys therof certeinly not Moisture which is the same whether the Water be Stagnant or Fluent nor Drines which is generaly Consistent and so of the rest which to prosecute particularly were supervacaneous but I will now only alter the Scene and transfer it from Air and Aether to Water and suppose it to be Tepid that is partly Hott and partly Cold and also Luminous as it is Diaphanous and we will admitt it Sonorous and Saporous and if you pleas Odorous besides Moisture and the other Simple Qualitys therof all which may be in the same Instant per omnia Puncta of the Water and if all these which are so Specificaly different in their own Nature could be only so many several Motions of the same Matter and we might Microscopicaly behold them we should see a most strange Moorish dance not only of every dancing Corpuscle but even in every Joint and Point therof so many several different and advers ways as must be assigned to make all their several Natures Specifical and Individual Simple and Compound which is indeed Impossible and so ridiculous as needeth no farther refutation Again once more we will alter the Scene from Water to Earth which becaus I have affirmed to be Immovable in the whole Body of the Matter therof and also the Spirits and Spiritual Qualitys therof to be least Active I will likewise inquire into one thing more which I doubt our new Philosophers had forgott and that is whether as Motion in others so also Rest in the Matter of Earth may not produce the Spirit and Spiritual Qualitys therof as Drines and others which though they be indeed less Active then others yet they are Active and Motive in themselvs and so Consistence though it be most like the Rest of Matter yet hath a Strength and Center therof very different from that of the Matter which also of itself is Fluid as I have shewed and Magnetike Virtue though it affect Polar Rest yet hath also an Intrinsecal Motion of Verticity in itself to restore it unto it Nor can all the Terreous Qualitys be only less Active Motions of the Matter becaus they are all in the same Instant per omnia Puncta in the same Matter and cannot be so made severaly by one and the same Motion of the Matter nor can there be so many several Motions therof together whether more or less Active wheras all the Terreous Qualitys may be Actualy together in the same Matter as I have before sufficiently declared of all the other Elements and their Spirits and Spiritual Qualitys and I now shall conclude that even Elementary Spirits and Qâ—alitys are somwhat more and other then either Mater and Motion or Matter and Rest. X. As Matter is Subordinate to the Elementary Spirits which do Immediately Consubstantiate it so are they with the Matter to Vegetative Spirits as I have shewed in the Scale of Nature and so Vegetatives were not produced untill the Elements were all Perfected becaus Vegetatives require an Elementary Mistion of them all and indeed a proper Mistion therof which every Spirit ordereth and governeth both as Subordinate and Subservient to itself but they are not governed by the special Influence of any Planet or Starr as the Rabbins say there is not a Starr in Heaven which doth not point to an Herb on Earth and bid it grow for as the Globe of Light in the First Day sufficed to make Day and Night so also the Heat therof was sufficient for Vegetation as may plainly appear in that Vegetatives were produced before the Sun Moon or Starrs and so also Metalls though others ascribe the Production therof to Planets which yet are more particularly Inservient and Beneficial to them as they do also more particularly vary Days and Nights and all the Seasons of the Year But Vegetatives were and still are produced out of the Earth or Terraqueous Globe as it is moistned with Water for the Earth is the Region both of Vegetatives and Sensitives and also of Man and so it is said The Earth brought forth Grass c. and it is observed that the first Produxit is of Vegetatives for the Elements which Immediately Consubstantiate the Matter were not produced but so Created in and with it in the Begining whereby they were then Denominated Heavens and Earth and so are Inseparably united unto it though they were afterward Perfected in their Mistions and production of their Qualitys thereby as I have shewed and so there is no Produxit of Planets becaus they also are Elementary wheras though Vegetative Spirits were Created in the Begining as it is said God made every Plant of the field before it was in the Earth and every Herb before it grew yet they were only Latent in their Elements and not produced before the Elements were Perfected in their Mistions and Qualitys which was previous and requisite to their production as they also were to the production of Sensitives as I shall shew heerafter and though Vegetatives are of a farr higher and more excellent nature then Elements yet they were
and Thistles and the like Thus I have briefly and generaly discoursed of Vegetatives as before of the fower Elements according to this Divine History which is an Universal System of the World both in the Proper and Improper Creation therof nor do I intend any particular Historys of them as Solomon spake of them all from the Ceder of Lebanon to the Hysop that is on the wall But heer before I conclude I shall again desire any who will rightly consyder the Nature of Vegetatives to try whether they also may be made only by Matter and Motion without their own proper Plastical Spirits which the Earth did bring forth and as I have observed the fower Elements were before perfected and prepared in order therunto without which the Matter alone as so consydered in itself though indeed it can never be without the Consubstantiation of Elementary or the Superaethereal Spirit hath no Automatous Motion of itself nor when it is dislocated any other then to Union and Station as I have shewed which is only to recover its due Rest and Position and therefore certeinly it cannot also Move from Rest which is Naturaly contrary therunto as Verticity is to Polar Position and therefore cannot be from it nor hath it any such Plastical Virtue of itself which may guide the Motions therof but would be only Equidens and Orbicular wheras Plastical Formation of all Vegetative Bodys and much more of the Bodys of Sensitives is constantly so Symmetrical Organical and Curious according to every Kind and Species and the successive Propagation therof and they so very various and different that he who will not believ Divine Authority nor Natural Reason heerin may satisfy himself by his own Sensation and making use of his Microscope Inspect the most admirable Structure and Mechanism of the least Vegetative or Sensitive which is composed farr otherwise and beyond the most admired workmanship of any Bezaleel Daedalus Apelles or Arâ—hytas and all the Mechanical Borcherys of Art which yet is all that some will allow to Nature itself and when he shall have consydered the most exact and Mathematical Conformitys of the one and Enormitys of the other which also shews that Mathematical Exactnes is not nor cannot be of Common Use he may easily judg with himself that since the Intellective Spirit of the most Ingenious Man cannot effect the like certeinly it must either still be Immediately Digitus Dei and so deny this whole History of Creation in the Six Days and all the Works of God therin whereby he did sett in order the Cours of Nature and consequently deny all Created Nature or otherwise acknowledg it to be the continual Succession of the same Natural Causalitys which also lead us back again to the Acknowledgment and Adoration of the Supernatural Creator who is the only Author and Institutor therof XI Wherefore let us prais the great Creator of Heaven and Earth as for the Aethereal so also for the Aereal Heaven and for the Water and the Earth And heer we must sing his praises in Consort for them all together as it is once said of them all that they were Good though they be in themselvs several Elements and were perfected in two several Days Nor is the Goodnes of Vegetatives which is another Classis of Creatures though also perfected in the last of these two Days pronounced of them which were before declared Good but becaus these three Inferior Elements Air Water and Earth being separated from the Aether by the rapid Motion and Circumvolution therof about them and more conjunct among themselvs were not perfected one without the other and the Water which is the midle Element and contributed to the Perfection both of the Air and of the Earth by ascending in Vapors into the Air and descending itself into the Canales and Pâ—res of the Earth was noâ— perfected untill this last Day nor in that alone but in both these two Days therefore this Proclamation of their Goodnes and Perfection was reserved for the Consummation of the whole Work of both the Days and then Relatively to be distributed to all the three Elements which were so perfected therin and so they now continue to be Severaly and also Mutualy Good And the Aether which was before made Good in itself yet had not been Good to others without the Goodnes of the Air whose Refrigerating Cold doth Temper the vehement Heat and Refracting Pellucidity the Lucidity of all the Aethereal Luminarys whereby not only as a common Thorough-fare but also as a Cooperator therin it both adapts and conveys the Aethereal Blessings of Rays above and also the Spirituous Vapors of the Waters beneath which as an Alâ—mbic it distills and refunds to the Terraqueous Globe Nor is it only thus Concurrent with Aether and Water and the Influences therof but hath in itself the Ventos of Winds both to Cool and Purify the Atmosphere and all the Organs of those admirable Sounds which it doth propagate continualy and successively and which as so many Cursores or swift Messengers make their Reports through the whole Sphere therof and all the Surface of the Earth and so is made to be the Cymbal of Nature which with its Inchanting Musike ravisheth or affrighteth all Sensitive Spirits and whereby Men Discours and Convers one with another and in Sacred Hymns render their gratefull praises of the whole Creation to the Divine Creator Also the Atmosphere therof is the very Breath and Life of Animals Neither doth the more Dens Water intercept all the Benefits of Aether and Air but partly transmitt them to the Earth which it contempers with its own Moisture and is as the Bloud Circulating through the Veins and Arterys therof by constant Reciprocations conveying Nutriment to all the Cortical Body therof being both the Inexhaustible Fountain of Drink to all Sensitives and also conditing their Meats with most gratefull Sapors and perfuming them with varietys of most delicate Odors And though both these Elements of Air and Water seem very Weak and Infirm in comparison of the Rapid Aether and Robust Earth yet being provoked and armed to execute Divine Revenge they so mutualy assist and fortify one another with unusual and unexpected Rage that Conflagrations and Earthquakes do not much exceed their furious Herricans and violent Inundations The Earth though last and lowest of all the Elements is not only their most Dens and Consistent Fulciment and Center of their Situation but also of all their Offices and Services Circumferentialy tending unto it being the Foundation of the whole Univers and another Orb in itself and Epitome of the great Globe wherof all the rest are only Concave Spheres having only some particular Orbs in themselvs and on which all those Luminous Orbs cast their smiling Aspects and the Sun Illustrateth all the other Luminarys that so they together with himself may give Light unto it which the nimble Air fanneth and refrigerateth with the Wings of Wind and watereth the great Garden therof
Expressions And though the common Light and Day and Night thereby in Aether and the ascent of Vapors in Air and eduction of Earth above the Waters and madefaction therof by them was sufficient for the productâ—on of Vegetatives which therupon were Immediately produced as I have shewed yet before the Introduction of Fishes and Fowls into the Water and Air and Beasts and Man into Earth it was requisite that the Aether which Sensitive Animals only can behold and by the Lighâ— therof all other Spectable things should be made perfect and complete and adorned with all the various Luminarys 〈◊〉 in their various Positions and runing their several Courses and so ordered and disposed as might best serv both for the Sensation of Sensitive Animals and Contemplation of Intellective Man And though these Luminarys were made after Vegetatives yet they are not therefore Vegetative or of a Superior Nature above Vegetatives as Vegetatives are above all that were made before them and as Man the chief of all was made last for though indeed this Order is observed in each of the Parts of the Creation and so the Creatures made in the last were respectively more excell ent then they which were made in the first Part therof yet the Luminarys which were made in the first of the last three Days are much Inferior to Vegetatives which were made in the last of the three first Days for they are Elementary and of the Elementary Classis though chief Composita of the chief Element Aether but all Elements and Elementary things are Classicaly below Vegetatives and though Planets have Locomotion out of their places which Vegetatives have not but only in their places being all Rooted in the Earth yet Locomotion is also in the Matter when it is dislocated and indeed no Material Spirit can so elevate their Bodys and caus them to ascend as Matter doth necessarily to Union and to prevent Vâ—cuâ—ty as I have shewed and much less are the Planets Sensitive or Intellective in themselvâ— or any such Deitys or Daemons as the Idolatry of Heathens made them and their Philosophy durst not contradict nor yet Moved by Intelligences or Angels as the Rabbins and Scholemen suppose for they can be only External Movers therof wheras Planets Move by their own Natural Power and Intrinsecal Virtue like the Verticity of Magnets and are not Moved like Studds fixed in solid Spheres as I have proved and as the Eccentrical Motions of the Planets therin do thereby plainly disprove and therefore others affirm them to be Magnets and the Earth which is the great Magnet to be a Planet but certeinly Aether and Earth are two different Elements having different Elementary Spirits wherin the same Qualitys cannot Subsist as I have shewed and so the Aether cannot be Magnetical nor the Earth Planetary unles we can also make the Aether to be Terrestrial and the Earth Aethereal wheras Heaven and Earth are generaly contradistinguished in the Begining and particularly Aether and Earth were made two several Elements in two several Days and Aether being as I have shewed Fluid cannot possibly be Magnetical which requires a very solid Consistence certeinly the whole Aether which is a Concave Sphere cannot be so Magnetical as Earth which is an Orbicular Globe for it cannot have an Axis and consequently Magnetical Poles as if a Ring of Iron be touched with a Loadstone it will have only one Pole and though the Aethereal Planets be Orbs yet they also are Fluid and Sensibly all Aethereal Motions are Circular and Perpetual wheras Magnetical Verticity is only Polar or to a Pole and not round about the Center nor about an Axis like Motion of Planets but to the Poles therof when by Trepidation it passeth beyond them and so Moving its own Axis the same way that is Meridionaly and not according to the Aequator of its own Body as I have shewed wheras if Earth and Water and Air as they say and also Aether and the Planets were all Magnetical they should make one Magnetical Orb and all Move one and the same way which plainly they do not or if otherwise one be Moved about another as they say the Moon is about the Earth it should observ the Magnetike Law which it doth not as I shall heerafter demonstrate of the Moon Thus the Magnetical Planetary Motions are very different and indeed opposite in their very Natures and Ends for Planetary Virtue makes the Planets to abhorr all Rest and Magnetical Verticity is to reduce Magnets to their Polar Rest. Wherefore we may not confound them though they are both Elementary Motions and not only Motions of the Matter or only by the Pondus therof as the Flux and Reflux of Water nor by Impuls like Winds in the Air wherof I have formerly discoursed nor yet any Vegetative Sensitive or Intellective Motions wherof I shall discours heerafter as indeed all things are Motive or Mobile one way or other within the whole Globe of the World and the Circumferential Superaether and Centrical Earth are only Immobile and as we are Sensibly satisfied concerning Magnetical Verticity so thereby we may conceiv of these other Planetary Virtues which God produced in this Fourth Day in the Planets as he did before the Magnetical Virtue in the Earth and Magnets Whereby also it plainly appears that Motion is not only of the Matter but also that Elementary Spirits may have a Motive and Directive Power in themselvs as well as any other Superior Spirits and from their different kinds and ways of Motion we may collect the very different Motive Powers and Virtues of the several Movers wherof Matter is most general and only tending unto a State of Rest in the whole Body therof and Center of itself wheras Magnets have a more particular Position of their Bodys which is Polar Rest North and South and a Verticity particularly to reduce them to it and Planets have their several and various Positions and Courses and an answerable Planetary Virtue which so setts them and Moves them and makes them to abhorr all Rest and Vegetative Spirits are more Plastical but Involuntary and Sensitive Spontaneous or Voluntary Movers and more indifferent either to Motion or Rest. And thus as Magnetical Bodys may Move from Pole to Pole Semicircularly by their Magnetical Verticity so we may very well conceiv how also Planets may Move Circularly which is only a continuation of Motion through the whole Circle whereby also they may so Move Perpetualy and as the Needle doth leap to the Loadstone by the Magnetical Virtue Actuated in itself which Motion is Progressively Locomotive so may also Planets by their Planetary Virtue which is always Actual in them Move Progressively in the Circles which they describe but though the Magnetical Virtue which setts the Magnetical Body in one determinate Polar Position may be removed as I have shewed and pass from that part of the Magnet wherin it now seats itself and which thereby becomes Polar unto any other part
therof and so render that Polar as may be sensibly seen in any Terrella whereby it is plainly proved that the Magnetical Virtue is a Spiritual Quality which can so remove itself from any part of the Body of the Matter to another and not any fixed Affection of the Matter itself yet Planetary Virtue being seated in the whole Orbicular Body of the Planet doth not nor can it so remove itself becaus it always possesseth the whole Body not Polarly or Ovaly but Orbicularly or at least it is therefore not to be discerned so to vary its own Situation in the Planetary Body Now as God in the First Day did Actuate that proper Aethereal Virtue which also may be termed Planetary causing it thereby to Move about the Inferior Globe from East to West in fower and twenty hours or therabout whereby he made Day and Night which could not otherwise be without such a Circumgyration of the Aether and of the Globe of Light therin as now the Aether doth still Move with all the Planets and Starrs in it whose Planetary Virtue is diversified into several other Motions which yet are all only Planetary Motion Genericaly as if wheras the Polar Position of the Magnetike Earth is only North and South God should have diversified it in other Magnets or Terrellae and made some East and West and so to any other Points so it is also said that in this Fourth Day he made Lights in the Firmament of Heaven to divide the Day from the Night that is to caus more particular Variations therof longer or shorter sooner or later and the like which must be by their Planetary Virtues Actuated in them whereby they Move respectively in the Aether as the Aether doth about the Inferior Globe and so they were not only for Days but also for Years Months and the like which though more or less then the Solar Year are the respective Years of their particular Planets Lunar Jovial or the like as we commonly call them And so God made not only the two great Lights to rule the Day and the Night that is the Sun and Moon as both Scripture and Nature do declare but it is said He made the Starrs also And God sett them in the Firmament of Heaven so as to perform these several Offices by all their various Courses Thus I conceiv that the Aether having the Planetary Virtue therof Actuated in it in the First Day when God said Let there be Light a great part of that Aethereal Light was divided from the common Light of Aether which was left and still is in the whole Body therof though not so Visible to us and that Globe of Light as it was generaly Connatural with the Aethereal Light being in one Hemispere of Aether was carried about Diurnaly by it and with it and not any other way by any special Planetary Virtue in itself which was not Actuated before this Fourth Day but that this common Globe of Light so divided and wherof we have no other account was the Chaos of the Potentialitys of all the Planetary Virtues which were afterward educed out of it and that then they were not only Moved in and with the common Aether Diurnaly but by their own special Planetary Virtues Predominant in them and directing every one of them to Move according to their several Courses for though Locomotive Virtue be common to Aether and all Aethereal Bodys yet the Motion of Aether from East to West Diurnaly was by a proper Planetary Virtue as I have said Actuated in it when God so divided it from that Globe of Light which is eminently called Light and made Day and so mutualy that Globe of Light from the rest of the Aether and Aethereal Light which is Comparatively called Darknes becaus it made only Night as I have shewed And so this particular Chaos of all the Planetary Potentialityâ— being so divided from the common Aether and not having any Planetary Virtue Actuated therin was carried about in and with the common Aether in the three First Days and then it was again divided into all the particular Planets and all their particular Planetary Virtues were respectively Actuated therin and by those special Planetary Virtues they perform all their several Planetary Motions and Courses Nor is it less wonderfull if we rightly consyder it how they Move in their several Zodiaks being indeed no such Gemmeous Studds or Bullae fixed in the Aether as some have imagined for both the Aether and they also being Aethereal Bodys are Fluid nor do they Fly or swim therin by any Spontaneous Power like Fowls in the Air and Fishes in the Sea becaus they are not Spontaneous but they are all Aetheruli as I may so term them and so their Original Globe of Light was only such a particular Portion of the common Body of Aether not differing from the rest but only as it was more Lucid for so it is said of the formation therof that God divided the Light from the Darknes in the Aether but not any part of the Aether from the Light or the Light from it nor is the Body of the Sun or any Planet more Condensated as I have shewed though they shall heerafter sink through the Fluid Aether to the Air and Earth at the Last Day when they shall be discomposed and disordered wheras now they are Connaturaly adapted to the Aethereal Heaven and so it is said of the Light Fiat Luminaria in Expanso and they are all equaly Expanded in it but their Light is farr more Conspissated as it was in their Original Globus and yet such Conspissation of a Spiritual Quality doth not make the Lucid Body to be more Dens or Grave which also proves Light not to be Corporeal but a Spiritual Quality as I have said and indeed as all Heat doth Naturaly Rarefy so should they be rather made more Rare and Light thereby but that Aethereal Bodys are already as Rare as any Elementary Power can make them to be and yet though we may easily conceiv them being Equirare with the common Body of Aether to be poised therin as Glass Bubbles in Water it is also to be consydered why or how they should still Move in their Regular Circularitys and not to be diverted or removed as such Glass Bubbles may very easily be and we have the true account heerof in the Text Posuit he sett them so at first and so they are still continued not by an Immediate Manutenence as he doth not Move them by an Immediate Manuduction but by the same Planetary Virtue Actuated in them and causing them Naturaly so to Move in their own Zodiaks Now becaus as I have observed there is no Produxit of any of these Planets as there was before of Vegetatives and afterward of Sensitives and indeed becaus there was such a Globe of Light decided before from the Aether which was the common Chaos of them all and wherof they were so many particular Decisions I conceiv that they were
to the Vegetative Deitys of Egypt but they who place him in the Center of the World and fasten him to it though otherwise they almost Idolise him yet heerby they even deprive him of that true Glory which God and Scripture ascribe unto him and therefore as I promised and becaus it is so pertinacious a Controversy I shall now again prove the Earth not to Move about the Sun but the Sun and Aether about the Earth and that the Glory of the Celestial Bodys is to Move about the Terrestrial and to bestow their Influences upon them and of the Terrestrial to Rest and receiv all their Benefits Thus the Text saith expressly God made the Luminarys to give Light upon the Earth whereby they Rule Day and Night and all the Seasons and therefore they are called Ordinances of Heaven and not of the Earth as God saith Knowest thou the Ordinances of Heaven Canst thou sett the Dominion therof on the Earth Now where the Rule and Dominion is there is also the Motion and Action whereby it is exercised and so thereby the Planets are said to divide the Light from the Darknes which the Earth should rather do if it did Move about the Sun and the Sun should only minister and as it were hold a Candle to the Earth Moving about it and it is also said in the First Day that God himself so divided the Light from the Darknes before Sun or Moon were made and thereby made Day and Night and as the Sun doth now divide the Diurnal Light from the Nocturnal Darknes by his Light so doth the Moon divide the Nocturnal Darknes from the Diurnal Light by her Light and so she was made to rule the Night as well as the Sun to rule the Day which certeinly she doth by her Motion about the Earth and therefore so doth also the Sun by his Motion about the Earth wherefore Ioshua who was the Disciple and next Successor of our Divine Philosopher Moses saith Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon in the vally of Ajalon Which conjunction of Sun and Moon had been very incongruous if the Sun did not Move as well as the Moon Diurnaly as he doth also Annualy and she Menstrualy but Ioshua should rather have said Earth and Moon stand still or only Sun stand thou still for so he had spoke either properly and truly or Popularly as they term it that is falsly wheras it is most absurd to conceiv him to speak both properly and Popularly truly and falsly at the same time and in the same words And wheras they say this was only Popular speaking they thereby do acknowledg that Mankind was antiently of this Opinion before Pythagoras Leucippus and other Graecian Wits fansied the contrary and therefore propounded it as their Novell Invention though I am not satisfied that they affirmed any more then the Diurnal Motion of the Earth about its own Center to save as they supposed the vast Aether so great a labor but I conceiv that they allowed the Sun also to Move Annualy aswell as the Moon Menstrualy wheras our new Philosophers whose Inventions are only Additions and their Additions some greater Absurditys will Move the Earth not only Diurnaly but also Annualy which is both contrary to Reason and Sens as I shall shew heerafter and also most contradictory to Scripture the Authority wherof no Christian should contemn much less oppose and that saith expressly The Sun stood still and the Moon staid and though it is true that the Sun doth not Move Diurnaly by his own Planetary Virtue as he doth about his Axis and Annualy but is carried about by the Diurnal Motion of the Aether which so Moves by its own Planetary Virtue as I have shewed yet even so the Sun Moves together with the Aether Diurnaly for Motion being as I said only a Transition from Place to Place though the Sun doth not so change his Place in the Aether by the Diurnal Motion therof yet he doth in and with the Aether thereby change his Place in the whole Body of the World and consequently Move as Rare Bodys do Move Localy in ascending upward though they are Moved Virtualy by the elevation of more Dens Bodys as I have shewed and so also the Sun and Moon and Starrs and Aether itself staid in all their Motions according to the Context So the Sun stood still in the midst of Heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole Day whereby as Siracides interpreteth it One Day was as long as two and afterward the whole Chorus of Heaven proceeded to Move again according to all the several Motions therof as it did before and certeinly the other is Maledicta expositio quae corrumpit Textum and destroieth the very Literal meaning of such an Historical and Memorable Matter of Fact and though I hope such Interpreters of Scripture may be true Believers of Matters of Faith yet the wild Liberty of such Interpretations doth so farr render Scripture no Scripture by an acknowledgment only of the Letter which they dare not deny and yet by denying the Sens which they will not admitt Wherefore plainly I will proceed to deal with them as I would with Heathen or any others that is by Reason and Sens Now wheras they affirm three Motions of the Earth I will accordingly examin them and first clearly explain them becaus I doubt they are not sufficiently understood nor indeed the very Doctrine of Motion generaly which some make only to be Remotion or Distancing of one Body from another and so confound the Motion of one Body with the Rest of others as I formerly observed and others confound opposite Motions from East to West and from West to East and generaly all confound Locomotive Action and Passion which are very different that is one a Moving and the other a being Moved as I said the Sun Moveth Actively in his Annual Motion and Passively in his Diurnal Motion and though both these be only Motions or Transitions in themselvs yet clearly one is an Active Motion and the other a Passive Motion which though they may not differ as Motions yet do so differ as they are Active or Passive and as they confound Motions so also the Terms of Barocenter and Center and Poles Axis and Aequator and the like as I have shewed which are Aequivocal Names according to the several Natures of the Things wherof they are expressed for so they may be either only Mathematical as all these may be painted and described on any Globe of Wood or Stone or the like Indifferently becaus there are no such things Physicaly in the Bodys therof or also Physical either in Terrestrial Bodys as Magnets wherin the Magnetical Virtue doth caus them all to be Physicaly to fix the Magnetical Body accordingly in one determinate Polar Position or in Celestial Bodys as Planets wherin the Planetary Virtue doth caus them also to be Physicaly to Move the Planetary Body accordingly in such a determinate
the other Annualy as I have said whereby it should Move both slower and faster about its own Cenâ—er at the same time which is Impossible otherwise then by an Epicyclicous Motion as I shewed in a Quern and that this is an Amechanon I appeal to any Mechanike or to any who shall Mechanicaly try to make a Terrestrial Globe so to Move the three several supposed ways or indeed any two several ways about any two several Axes of its own Body at the same time as certeinly none can Move by two several Progressive Motions at the same time without several Movers as is aforesaid so that though all the Relative Phaenomena of Aether or Earth may be solved by the Motion of either of them yet the three supposed Motions of the Earth itself cannot be solved wheras the Motion of the Sun about his Axis and also Progressively in the Zodiak Annualy and his being Moved and carried about Diurnaly by the Aether which is another Mover and so of Venus and Mercury Moving about him as any other Satellites about other Planets Progressively and being also Moved and carried about Diurnaly with him by the Aether are easily solved Primo Intuitu and according to the plainnes and facility of Nature without such Inconceivable and Impossible Inclining and Distorting of the Earth or their Brains as others have vainly done and can never approve unless they also find out some other Mover to carry about the Earth as the Aether doth the Sun which certeinly may not be the Aether becaus they affirm it to be Immovable nor the Air nor Water which have no such Diurnal Motions themselvs Wherefore though Scripture and the Verdict of all Mankind generaly besides themselvs were sufficient to turn the Balance and determin against such an Hypothesis wherof they can never be satisfied that it is so but only suppose that it may be so yet consydering that I have to deal with such Empirical Philosophers who make Sens alone to be both their Text and Topikes I have doubly and thus largely proved it against them that it is not nor cannot be so and though this last Ratiocination be also a Sensation or a Mathematical and Mechanical Demonstration yet I shall add one Sensible Experiment more which is agreed by all and that is the Motion of the Sun about its own Axis by his own Planetary Power whereby it plainly appears to be Actively Motive in itself and as a Wheel that may be Moved round by another Passively may by the same Passive Motion be also Moved Progressively and so all Coaches and Carts are Moved or drawn by Beasts so the Sun may and doth by the same Planetary Virtue whereby he Moveth himself about his Axis Move also Progressively in the Zodiak though not in like maner or by such proportionable Circumvolutions by his own Motive Power which apparently he hath in himself and so the Moon also Moveth about the Earth and the Satellites about a principal Planet and other Planets about the Sun which plainly shews that these Aetheruli are Motive and so indeed are all the rest and Aether itself wheras Magnets or Terrellae as I have shewed though they have Verticity yet cannot thereby Move once round about their Center nor at all about their Magnetical Axes and though they have a Magnetical Concursion yet one of them cannot thereby Move once round about the other by the Magnetical Virtue of one or both of them Wherefore the Earth is only a Magneâ— which cannot Move round by its own Magnetical Virtue and the Aether and Aetheruli Planets which do so Move round by such several Motions perpetualy and therefore we ought to ascribe these Motions to Aether and not to Earth becaus the Motion of either may solv the Phaenomenâ— and most Sensibly and confessedly the Aetheruli are so Motive and the Terrellae are not and so the Motion of the Aether and Aetheruli doth sufficiently solv them without any Motion of the Earth and wheras others would therefore ascribe Motion to the Earth becaus the Motion of that alone may suffice without the several Motions of all the Aether and so many Aetheruli they plainly contradict the Text which saith God sett them in the Firmanent of Heaven to give Light upon the Earth that is that both the Firmament of Heaven and all the Luminarys therin thus by Moving about this one Terraqueous Globe might give Light upon it by their Rays passing through the Diaphanous Air unto it as so many Lines from the Circumference to the Center and also the Reason of their very Nature which is most Motive of all the Elementary Bodys and likewise Sens itself which discovers them to be Mobile Others suppose the Earth should be more Mobile becaus it is less then most of the Luminarys which I believ was the first occasion of this Error but they consyder not also that it hath the least Motive Virtue which in the Aethereal Bodys is more proportionable to their Bulk and so the Sun is fitly compared to a Strong man or Giant runing his Race which he can do more swiftly then the Dull and Dwarfish Earth But their grand Argument and that which they esteem their most beautifull Helena though it be as fals and adulterine is the Orderly and Circumferential Situation of the Planets in their Spheres about the Sun as the Center wherof they make the Earth to be one but heer again the Moon doth break the Chorus becaus she Moves about the Earth and not about the Sun as the rest and so the Sun with them also about the Earth and therefore it is said that God made these two great Lights to rule the Day and Night upon the Earth as they principaly so Move about the Earth and all others about the Sun and they and all the others were sett by him in such Positâ—ons and to run such Courses whereby they might be most serviceable to the Earth nor are there any such several Spheres in the Aether as I have shewed but the true Spheres of the Elementary Globe are most Orderly and Circumferentialy situated about the Terraqueous Globe as the Center of them all without any Eccentricitys Epicyclicitys Hemitrochoids or the like and so the Air doth encompass it and the Aether the Air and the Superaether the Aether and thus Spheres properly and most conformably relate to their inmost Orb and not all or any one Orb in the Aether to the Orb of the Earth for so one Orb doth not relate unto another nor can Convex Orbs so comply as Concave Spheres with any Orb nor can they otherwise be Centers either of Gravity or Extension one to another becaus there can be but one Center to which all Gravia do tend as I have shewed and Orbs applied one to another make the greatest Chasms between them in their Extension And thus there is the greatest Conformity both of the Situation of the Elementary Bodys according to their more or less Density downward and of the Elementary Spirits
both of Vegetatives and Animals have no Use nor Inspection therof it must conformably have its own proper Inhabitants to use and enjoy it otherwise it should be so made in vain Again the Moon cannot be any such Magnet as the Earth which appears plainly by her Motions so often about the Earth without Moving once about her own Axis for such are not Magnetical nor in any respect like unto â—he Motion of any Terrella about the Earth or Needle about a Terrella which maketh two Revolutions about its own Axis while it Moveth once round about the other like one Wheel with Teeth so Moving about another whereby also the South Pole therof doth alway comply with the Noth Pole of the other and the North Pole with the South Pole of the other and so all the other Intermediate Points and if we say that the Moon hath any other Magnetical Virtue different from that of the Earth which doth so regulate her own Motions I grant that both the Moon and all the others have such proper Specifical Virtues as I have shewed and which I Genericaly call Planetary and though others may more Genericaly call them all Magnetical yet I must affirm them Subalternately to differ as I have said and shewed that the Poles Axis and Aequator of Aether do from them in the Earth though they be both so Denominated Equivocaly Also it is Sensibly evident that the Moon is not an Earth nor the Earth a Moon becaus the Moon is Luminous but the Earth Opacous though very much Illustrated by the Sun which becaus it is denied and will also concern all the other Starrs therefore I more willingly undertake to prove it though it be only a Superfoetation of the former Error It is expressly said that God made two great Lights that is the Sun and the Moon wherefore the Moon is a Light or Luminary as well as the Sun and greater or less Light doth not deny but affirm the less to be a Light as well as the greater and so they are both termed Synonymously and Univocaly Luminaria and not the Sun Luminare and the Moon Speculare as some men would make her to be and so it is said generaly of them and of all the other Planets and Starrs Let there be Lights in the Firmament of Heaven and so indeed is the whole Aether both Calid and Luminous though yet less then the Moon or Starrs becaus Heat and Light are the common Aethereal Qualitys though there may be farr more in one Aethereal Body then another becaus their Composita are Specificaly different but as they are all more Genericaly Aethereal so they must all have their Generical Qualitys without which they should not be Genericaly what they are as well as all Vegetatives and Sensitives though they differ Specificaly one from another in their Sâ—mple Substances and so have their Specificaly different Spirits and Spiritual Qualitys yet must also have such as are Genericaly Vegetative and Sensitive otherwise they should not be what they are Vegetatives or Sensitives and thus indeed they make the Moon to be a Terrella and not Aethereal which they may as well affirm of the Sun and all the Aetheruli and Aether itself and so make it to be no Aether And wheras we Sensibly see the Moon to shine the Question is whether she shâ—ne by her own Light or only by the Solar Rays Reflected from the Earth whereby the Earth should give Light upon her which I have before refuted nor can it be so according to Optike Law if we consyder the very great distance between the Earth and Moon for though Direct Rays pass from the Center Circumferentialy to the utmost Sphere of their Activity as the Solar Rays so Illuminate the Earth and the whole opposite Hemisphere yet Reflex Rays are much shorter though very Vivid and quick becaus they are so Reduplicated and Conspissated like the Horns of a Snail when they are touched and they are proportionably stronger as they are neerer to the Reflecting Angle or Point as we see a Candle much farther by the Direct Rays then any Object Illuminated thereby by the Reflex Rays therof and the neerer we are to the Object we see it better And so though it is said that the Pike of Teneriff may be seen at the distance of two or three Degrees as any Eminences of the Earth may be seen so farr as a Line drawn from the Summit therof will be Tangent upon the Globe of the Earth and perhaps somwhat farther by the advantage of Refraction which may suffice to render an Object Visible about such a distance as three Degrees yet at the first Degree it will be seen very Dull and Obtuse and much more at the Second and he that can see it at the third Aut videt aut vidisse putat though he look upon it at Sunrising or setting when the Rays are most Directly Reflected or with a Telescope which doth Magnify rather then Prolong the Reflected Rays or though the Object be of the greatest Magnitude as the Alps or Apennine or Rock of Lisbon and the like which yet will never be seen very Lucid or Colorate but Confused like a Cloud or Fume yea though it be Specular at so great a distance wheras plainly we see the Moon walking in Brightnes as it is said of her with our naked Ey yea her very Fâ—gure and Spotts Nor is it only by Reflection of the Solar Rays from the Moon herself though that be neerer to the Truth being only by a single Reflection wheras the other must be double first from the Earth to the Moon and then from the Moon back again to us on the Earth wherefore to find out the Mystery of so clear a Phaenomenon we must consyder the Moon in her own Native Light which is so great in herself that thereby she is also Visible unto us in an Eclips in her whole Disk and that part of her Disk which is not Illustrated by the Sun is Visible sometimes or with some advantages and wheras this Visibility is imputed to the Secondary Light of the Sun I have shewed that an Object cannot be so farr seen by his Principal Light Reflected and much less by any Secondary Light Wherefore certeinly she hath some Light in herself and such as is farr greater then the common Light of Aether becaus she may be so seen thereby in the Aether and yet this Light is farr less Lucid or Visible then when and where she is Illustrated by the Principal Solar Light which to explain we must consyder that she also is Aethereal and Connatural with the Sun and so was made one of those Luminarys which were Created in the Firmament of Heaven and sett there to give Light upon the Earth not only generaly as all the rest of the vulgar Starrs but more speciaâ—y and principaly as she is so called the Queen of Heaven and so we must conceiv that they all had not only their own Native Light produced in
themselvs but also adapted so as to Colluminate together and give Light upon the Earth as it is so said of them all together as well as particularly of the Sun to rule the Day and of the Moon to rule the Night and thus they were made one general Constellation or Host of Heaven wherof the Sun who was made to rule the Day which is called Light and in respect wherof the Night and all the Nocturnal Lâ—ght is Comparatively termed Dâ—rknes not only as they were so Divided and Denominated in the First Day before there were any Moon or Starrs to rule the Night but now also again in this Fourth Day wherin the Luminarys were made to rule over the Day and over the Night and to divide the Light from the Darknes was made also to be Fountain of Light generaly as the Ocean and the rest as Rivers or Streams of Light and as all the Luminarys and Constellations have their Influences so every other Planet and Starr and the whole Aether had their own Native Light more or less Actualy produced in themselvs and likewise an aptitude or Potentiality of production of a greater Lucidity and Emanation therof as well as of their Influences by the Sun whereby they also might give Light upon the Earth And thus as I have observed Univocal Generators do most Effectualy Generate and produce as Heat is so said to draw forth Heat and particularly Colors which are composed as I said of Lucidity and Opacity though they be Inherent in the Colorate Bodys wherin they are so Mist and do Subsist yet being so Mist with Opacity their Lucidity is thereby also so Imprisoned or fixed and confined to the Colorate Body that it is only Actualy Inherent therin and cannot issue forth in Emananâ— Rays whereby it becomes Visible unto us until it be Evoked Excited and Assisted by the External Light and the more Lucid the Color is as White and the like the more it is so produced as Whites are best Marks at a distance and a White Horse a better Mark or Guide in a dark Night then a Black and the more Light or Rays therof are cast upon any Colorate Object the more are the Visible Species therof produced wheras Culinary Lucid Bodys which of themselvs do Emitt their own Rays are not Assisted but rather have their Visibility Obscured by External Light especialy if it be greater as a Candle in the Sun and so the Starrs and Moon itself above the Horizon before Sun rising or setting are not so Visible as afterward as Water doth quench the flame of an Haystack which it before Incensed Wherefore I thus conceiv that the Native Light of the Moon being not a Culinary but an Aethereal Light Inherent in the Moon itself is like Color yet farr more Lucid and so farr more Evoked Excited and Assisted by the Solar Light as a White Color is thereby rendred more Visible then Black and that the Inherent Light of the Moon and External Light of the Sun so concurring by their more Connatural Homogeneitys do produce and draw forth themselvs together to so great a distance and with so great a Splendor and though the Sun doth so produce the Inherent Light of the Moon Positively by his Principal Rays when they are both above the Horizon yet the Moon doth not then appear so Visible and Splendid becaus Comparatively she is thereby made farr less Visible and Splendid then he is in himself for certeinly this Lucidity cannot be only from Reflection of the Solar Rays whether we suppose the Moon to be Cortical having Earth and Seas like the Terraqueous Globe which Sensibly doth not Reflect very farr or specular which may Reflect farther becaus the Rays penetrate less and more Splendidly in a fitt Position to the Ey being Reflected thereby more equaly but it must be also by some Inherent Light which is in the Moon itself that is so Collustrated by the Solar Light and by the Connatural Quality therof nor is it to be Imagined that the highest Planets and Starrs which are at the farthest distance and yet Emitt such a Splendid and Vivid Light should so shine only by the Reflection of the Solar Light Now though there are Spotts in the midle and seeming Gibbi in the Circumference of the Moon which I rather conceiv so to appear by such Intervenient Spotts therin yet this may not be from any Concavitys in the Body of the Moon and the unequal Reflection of the Solar Light thereby for there are Spotts also in the Sun whereby his conversion about his Axis is noted and yet he shines by his own Light but I suppose them to be only less Luminous parts and such defects of their Native and Inherent Light as I doubt much whether they were so Created in this Fourth Day and though Earth which is a Consistent Body may have such Constant Eminences and Water some Temporary Waves yet it hath been observed that as Flame of a Candle which is somwhat more Rare is rendred Pyramidal by Compression of the Ambient Air so if it be defended by another Intermediate Flame as of Spirit of Wine Inflamed or the like it will Conglobate within that Flame And wheras Saturn is commonly represented Oval it is said by a very curious Inspector that indeed he appears so if you behold him through a less Telescope but if through a larger you may discern two litle Aetheruli on each side of him and very neerly distant from him which make him so to appear when they are beheld together with him Confusedly and Indistinctly Though I shall not determine this or how they might be Composed and Constituted by the Divine Creator certeinly all the Planets do not Move in exact Circles but some of them describe Circles Indented with such Hemitrochoids as I have shewed but it shall suffice to have proved that the Moon and consequently the Starrs have their own Inherent Light as well as the Sun though perhaps not Emanant without his Collâ—â—tration and so plainly they have their several Influences and every one it s own Planetary Vâ—rtue Inherent in themselvs which Moves their own Bodys becaus there are such various and several Motions therof which therefore must be caused by various and several Motive Virtues The Moon as I have said doth not Move about her own Axis but she doth Move very notably and rapidly in her Zodiak Progressively and if we compute that Motion according to all her Revolutions perhaps as fast as the Sun which are the two swiftest Movers Progressively And the Moon as she is neerest to us so probably she is least Calid and Lucid wherefore her chief Influence is observed to be over Moisture not that she is Moist in herself which is a Quality of Water but as the Sun doth by his Heat draw up Vapors and also Desiccate or Concremate them whereby they do not presently return again into Water but turn into Dry Exhalations Clouds and Motes wheras more Moist Vapors and
they are therefore so Named let us not conceiv that we or any Angel could Mechanicaly form those Glorious Bodys by any the most curious Artifice and much less by our own Imaginations but acknowledg the Divine Creation and Original Institution of Aether and all the Luminarys therin which have been from this Begining therof and so shall continue and persevere untill the dissolution of this present Elementary World Ingenerable and Incorruptible in the Whole though not in all the Parts therof VI. Now let us prais the Father of Lights for all the Luminarys of Heaven the Sun and Moon and Starrs which the Heathen World formerly adored and which we ought all to admire and to adore him who is the Creator therof whose Gâ—ory the Heavens declare and the Firmament his handiwork which though we behold them according to their seeming Aspects yet we perceiv not their Real Magnitudes and Altitudes and much less their wonderfull Motions and Iâ—fluences and though they are but small Portions of one Element yet are many of them greater then any other and some of them then all the rest whose Positions are higher above us then the Center of the Univers is beneath us and whose Motions are without any Rest and yet swifter then of any other Bodys and stronger then of Spontaneous Spirits And they are all such Locomotive Automata in themselvs and every one Moved by his own proper Power going on in his own Path both distant and different from another but never from itself either in Space or Time which are the grand Horologes of Nature without any Weight Springe or Pendulum and yet farr more constant and certein not only marking and dividing by Lines and Numbers but making Day and Night and all the Seasons in the Year and such long Secula and Revolutions as probably shall never attein any Natural Period but be Violently prevented by the Final Conflagration which shall be effected by their own Aether and Element of Fire and all these Firebrands therof who as they were Supernaturaly Generated so shall also be Supernaturaly Corrupted And yet while this Elementary Globe doth stand it is Preserved and Governed by their Progresses and Circuits about the Inferior Orb who as they pass along scatter the Missilia of their various Influences And though they being a very great Multitude to us seem to be in a continual Rout yet every one of them marcheth in his own Rank and File and they are all severaly distributed into Troops and Partys of Constellations and the whole Host of them formeth one most Orderly and Powerfull Militia wherof Sol is the great General and Imperator who himself alone is able to conquer all the Inferior World not only by encountring it with his Victorious Presence which would burn up all before him but by his very Flight and Absence which would otherwise destroy them through their own Indigence and want of his Vital Heat who as the true Adonis brings along with him in his Accesses all the Fruits of the Year and Foetus of Animals and again carrieth away all that is Annual in his Recesses who is Sponsus Naturae As a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber and rejoicing as a strong man to run his Race His going forth is from the end of the Heaven and his Circuit to the ends therof And there is nothing hid from the Heat therof SECTION XI And God said Let the Waters bring forth abundantly the Moving Creature that hath Life and Fowl that may fly above the Earth in the open Firmament of Heaven And God Created great Whales and every Living Creature that Moveth which the Waters brought forth abundantly after their Kind and every winged Fowl after his Kind And God saw that it was Good And God blessed them saying Be fruitfull and multiply and fill the Waters of the Sea and let the Fowl multiply on the Earth And the Evening and the Morning were the Fifth Day EXPLICATION God having prepared the Elements Vegetatives and Aethereal Luminarys in order to the production and for the use and service of Sensitives did then caus the Waters to bring forth Fishes whose Spirits were before latent in them according to their several Kinds and particularly Whales the greatest of all Animals and so also caused flying Fowls according to their several Kinds to be produced And this was their Specifical Goodnes and Perfection And after God had thus made them Good and Perfect in themselvs he added the Blessing of Procreation whereby Fishes should multiply in the Waters and Fowls on the Earth according to their Kinds And these were the Works of the Fifth Day ILLUSTRATION 1. Of Fishes and Fowls 2. Of Sensation 3. Of the five Senses 4. Of Imagination 5. Of Appetite 6. Of the Goodnes of the Works of the Fifth Day I. WE now ascend into the Region of Life which is not only above all Elementary and Vegetative Nature but also so farr different from them as the same Living Animal is from its own Dead Carcass and though I have termed them all generaly Spirits whereby I intend only Substantial Activitys though they do not breath and Live as Sensitives and the Soul of Man which â—herefore to distinguish from others I shall only call Souls or Psychâ— and so Hebraicaly they only are termed Living Spirits or Souls though as the Poets termed Water Stone Turf and the like Vive so both they and Philosophers conceived that Vegetatives did indeed Live as appears by their Fabulous Transmigrations of Animals into Flowers and Trees and their Anima Vegetativa wheras Scripture thus speaketh only Metaphoricaly when it mentioneth Living Water Stone Bread and the like or that Trees and Corn Dy and I shall never differ about Terms but only contend that Elementary or Vegetative Spirits are also Substantial Spirits which Expression they who also call them Vive may very well allow but I also affirm that they do not Live as these Living Spirits nor have any Perception or Appeâ—ite which is properly and truly Life as I shall shew heerafter to defend my self and all my Expressions from the Opinion of them who either affirm both Vegetatives and Elements yea Matter itself to be Sensitive becaus they have such Affections Inclinations and Principles Created together with their Substances and Imprinted in them by God according to which they Act and Operate and produce such Effects Naturaly as Sensitives do Ingeniously Spontaneously and Artificialy with Perception and Appetite Knowing Affecting and Intending what they do which those Inferior Natures do not nor cannot becaus they have no such Perception nor Appetite properly and truly though Metaphoricaly they are also ascribed unto them in respect to such Effects and also of ot hers who becaus these Inferior Natures have not any such Perception or Appetite therefore deny them to have any such Natural Principles so Created or Imprinted in them whereby according to their several Natures thus Originaly Instituted and setâ— in order they proceed to Act and
And though I believ this Opinion of the Immortality of the Soul as also the other that there is a God to be Explicitely Exerted and Exercised by few yet certeinly they are both Implicitely Radicated in the Minds of all men which Renders their Lives and Conversations such as if sometimes and in some respects they did seem so to believ and at other times and in other respects as if they did not and it may appear so to be in themselvs and to themselvs in that they have such a continual strife and endeavor to cast and keep these Opinion out of their Minds which is commonly done either by not regarding or resolving against them wherof the very fear or doubtfull apprehension which no Brute can have doth approve to the Soul itself what it may expect and which if men begin at any time to think therof will return upon them though some more learned study to confute themselvs by Contrary Opinions and that they may make way for the denial of the Immortality of the Soul therefore also deny all Separate Spirits both of Men and Angels Good and Bad as the Sadduces and others with Epicurus deny all Inferior Spirits whatsoever hudling all things and themselvs together in the common Matter which is such a Physical Libertinism as though it may gratifie us at present yet is indeed no less then the Eternal Self-murder of the Soul And so likewise others though they will not reduce all Spiritual Substances to the gross Matter yet affirm their Soul to be only Pars Animae Mundi as they term it into which when it dieth it returns again as into another Spiritual Chaos and so though the Substance remain therin Confounded and Coagulated with others yet the Personality and Individuality therof is thereby Corrupted and destroyed like the Sensitive Spirits of Brutes which is only another more subtle Denial of the Immortality therof that is of the very Individuality and Personality of every Human Spirit as I have shewed Wherefore becaus they cannot deny the Immortality of the Soul Absolutely they thus deny the same Personal future Condition therof and any such Intensive or Extensive Rewards or Punishments in Heaven or Hell which to mitigate and moderate they have invented and appointed a Transmigration for all Souls into better or wors Bodys after Death accordingly as they have behaved themselves while they Lived in the former Whereas they must also affirm that they are still Human Spirits which are so detruded into Brutes or Vegetative Bodys as the Poets plainly do acknowledg and so the Man in the Buck would have said to his Hounds and Huntsmen Actaeon ego Sum as the Tree did to Aeneas Nam Polydorus ego which yet certeinly is contrary to all Philosophy and Nature for every Specifical Spirit must have its own proper Organical Body and if any of the more Noble and Necessary Parts of its own Body while it Lives in it be Discontinued Dissocated or Disordered it will Live no longer in it much less could the Human Spirit of Actaeon Live in a Buck or of Polydorus in a Tree for Bodys are nor only Vehicles of the Spirits but Domicils and Officines as I have shewed and as Sensitive Spirits cannot Live in any other besides their own Element so much less can they or the Intellective Spirit of Man live in any other then their own proper Bodys which are therefore so Effigiated and Formed for them by their proper Vegetative Spirits as I have also shewed Or if they could be Transpeciated into other Sensitive or Vegetative Spirits then their Substances being so Specificaly changed their Faculties and Qualities and all their Ideae and Notions subsisting therin must also be changed and alâ—ered whereby they should no longer remember who they were nor what they did formerly and so they should suffer for they know not what after such an Act of Oblivion not only of him that so forgiveth and forgetteth the Crime but also in him who forgetteth the Fact And though others say we be all born with some Reminiscentiae as they term them yet certeiâ—ly they are no such Acquired Notions of any Matter of Fact or thing Good or Evil that we formerly did or learned but only such Common Iâ—nate Notions which God and Nature have Imprinted in us and so taught us to know them which are only Natural and not Sinful and there are also certein Special Innate Notions of Specifical Spirits which are only proper to that Species and to none others as I have shewed all which should be lost by such Transmigration or Transpeciation which therefore is not nor can there be any such Metempsychosis as Philosophers would have it nor yet any such Metamorphosis as the Poets more rightly term iâ— and as both of them are contrary to all Reason or Sens so we have no other Authority but only Ipse dixit for such Assertions And yet this Opinion being apprehended as a Midle way between the Mortality and Immortality of the Soul though not according to the Excellent and Spiritual Nature of an Intelligence and also between no Reward or Punishment heerafter and the true Heaven and Hell and all the Glorious Transactions therof though not worthy the Majesty and Perfection of the Divine Creator hath very much prevailed antienâ—ly among the more Learned Heathen and generaly with the Common People and is still reteined by the Banians and some others But the most difficult Point that I know among Christians concerning the Immortality of the Soul is â—haâ— whiâ—h is called by some the Sleep therof and by others more rightly Psychâ—pannychia or the Pernoctation of the Soul between Death and the Resurrection for in Sleep there is some Opâ—ration both of the Sensitive and Intellective Spirit of Man though Wild and Irregular as I have shewed and iâ— is noâ— intended that in this State there is any Operation whatsoever but a total Vacatâ—on and Cessation therof like Rest of the Body or Bestial part of Man which is said to Sleep in the Grave and that is theâ—efore called a Coemeterium or Dormitory But certeinly the Soul when it deparâ—eth fâ—om â—he Body carrieth along with it all its own Innate and acquired Notions though as the Mâ—n himself so alâ— his Thoughts perish â—s to this world and I doubt not but that also it hath others and farr higher and better in that State and Blessed Souls are sâ—id to be in Paradise which import Pleasure and Delight and that cannot be wiâ—hout Contemplation and Enjoiment also they are now stiled Spirits of Iust Men madâ— Perfect which cannot be without Perfect Operation and since they are Separate from the Body and all Iâ—strumentality therof we must consyder how and in what maner they may probably Operate And heer I must explicate what I intend by terming the Intellective Spirit of Man an Intelligence and affirming that and Angels to be in the same Intellective Classis whereby I conceiv that as Fishes Fowls and Beasts are all in the
same Sensitive Classis and yet very farr Different one from another not only in their whole Composita but also in their very Sensitive Spirits which Specificaly Differ and the Piscine Spirits are much Inferior to the Bestial so also are Angelical and Human Spirits in the same Intellective Classis and not only Spirits Genericaly as they are distinguished from Matter and as all Elementary Vegetative and Sensitive are Spirits as well as Angels as I have shewed but Classicaly Coordinate one with another and though the Spirits of Men be Inferior to Angelical as it is said Thou hast made him little lower then the Angels yet certeinly they are not Subordinate unto them as Fishes though Inferior to Beasts are not Subordinate unto them so as all the Sensitive Classis is unto Man and the Vegetative to the Sensitive and the Elementary to the Vegetative and Matter to the Elementary becaus they are not of an Inferior Classis but of the same Classis wherin all are Coordidinate as I have shewed and so are the Intellective Spirits of Men with Angels and as our Savior saith in this Future State they shall be Isangeli not only like but equal to them and indeed if we should not be in the same Intellective Classis with them Man should not be a Microcosm as he is and Christ in our Human Nature should not have Assumed all the several Classes of Nature as he did And becaus we are so Coordinate with them therefore we need not their Mediation and Intercession but only his who is the Mediator God-Man And as the highest Excellence of their Nature is to Know Love and Enjoy God so we are capable heerof as well as they and as we and they are Moral Creatures so we are Mutualy obliged one to another but neither of us to Brutes and so the Angel said to Iohn I am thy fellow-servant and we are yet more united in Christ who shall also make us partakers of their Superaether and in whom all things are Recapitulated as the Apostle saith both which are in Heaven and which are in Earth even in him Whereby as it is also said we Come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the Living God the Heavenly Ierusalem and to an Innumerable company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven Now wheras I have shewed that in this present Conjunct State we cannot Operate without or beyond the Body that is we cannot Understand without Phantasms which we Irradiate with the Spiritual Light of our Understanding nor Localy Move the Body without the Motive Spirits which we Move by the Spiritual Power of our Will whereby we Command and Govern the Sensitive Imagination and Appetite Immediately and so the whole Body Mediately and that Angels need no such Instrumentalitys but may Intuitively Contemplate all things by the Irradiation of their own Mental Light and Move them by the Eradiation of their own Spiritual Heat as I may so term them thus our Human Spirit as well as they shall also then have the same Intuitive and Motive Qualitys Actuated therin which aâ—e now in it Potentialy for so Intelligences as well as all other Natures have their proper Potentialitys and Actualitys otherwise they should not be Mutable for Alteration is by production of Potentiality into Actuality and reduction of Actuality into Potentiality as I have said and though they are not Generable or Corruptible in their Substances which are Simple and without any Mistion or Composition and such as always Subsist in themselvs and are neither Generable nor Corruptible as I have also shewed yet they have their Accidental Qualitys by which they Operate and not by their Essences or Substances Immediately more then other Natures and all such Accidents do Subsist in their Substances and thereby and therin have their Actualitys and Potentialitys and are therefore Generable and Corruptible in themselvs and so Mutable Also all Simple Substances of the same Species have all the same Specifical Qualitys therof either Actualy or Potentialy becaus they are of the same Species as they are such Simple Substances though their Mista or Composita may otherwise Differ Specificaly as such for so though the Cortical Stones Metalls Minerals and Subcortical Magnet differ Specifically as Mista yet as all of them are of the same Predominant Element Earth so that being a Simple Substance in it self hath all the Terrene Qualitys in it self Actualy or Potentialy and thus the Magnetical Virtue which is a Terrene Quality is Actuated in Iron and so as is said may be in Brick-earth and the like And so though Aethereal and Culinary Fire may differ Specificaly as Mista yet the Elementary Fire which is Predominant in both is Specificaly one and the same Simple Substance and hath all the Aethereal Qualitys in it self either Actualy or Potentialy and so Planetary Virtue might be Actuated in Culinary Fire as well as in Comets and so also all Simple Substances of the same Classis have the same Classical or Generical Qualitys as every Grass Herb and Tree hath Vegetation and the like though in their own several Specifical maners and every Fish Fowl Beast hath Sensation and the like though in their own several Specifical maners And thus the Human Spirit and the Angelical Spirit being both Intelligences which may Live and Operate separately have also such Generical Qâ—alitys both Intuitive and Motive whereby they may so Live and Operate Separately in themselvs though in their own several Specifical maner either Actualy as the Angels or Potentialy as we also now have them And as an Embryon in the Womb hath many Facultys Potentialy which yet are not Actuated untill it be born and brought forth into the Light so have also our Souls while they are as Embryons in the Egg as it were of our Bodys and as we have now many Actual Qualitys which shall in that Separate State be reduced to Eternal Potentiality as Nutrition Tasting and the like so shall we then have others Actuated in us which we never had Actualy before And certeinly in the Palingenesy of the Body there shall be such a great and wonderfull change of Qâ—alitys that the Apostle calleth it a Spiritual Body as I have shewed which shall not be only a Platonical Vehicle of the Soul but Organical and most Glorious as the Apostle saith The Lord Iesus Christ shall change our Vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his Glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself Whereby also we may understand that Separate Spirits are not so vastly Diffusive or Atomicaly Retractive as some fansy but have their Bounds as other Finite Natures for so certeinly our Separate Soul after the Resurrection shall be confined within the Body as well as in this Conjunct State And that the Separate State of the Soul is such may somewhat Sensibly appear in our selvs who seem to have some Common
the Motion of the Earth if any should urge against me that Text which shaketh the Earth out of her place and the Pillars therof tremble I should answer him that if I wanted a Text to prove the contrary Truth this alone might suffice for both by it and the Context it plainly appears that it is spoken of a violent Commotion of the Earth by God in his anger and evidently imports that otherwise the Earth Naturaly resteth and hath a Place of Rest. And so their chief Reason to prove the Earth Mobile becaus it is Magnetical which I have grantâ—d doth as plainly prove the Immobility therof as I have shewed And the Sensible Experiment of an Arrow shot upright in a Ship sailing is a meer Fallacy though the Motion of the Ship and of the Archer in it while he dischargeth it may indeed caus some little Impuls that way in the very discharge which so directeth it But certeinly no man can believ that a Fly removing from an Horses head in travelling doth follow him with any less Nisus or labor by reason of any such Conjunct Motion then another Fly which freshly pursues the Hors for let an Hors that hath been washed in a River run swiftly on the Land certeinly the Drops that fall from him will not follow him There are many such fond Opinions and foolish Probations which serv only to render Philosophy ridiculous I am more confident of my Theses and hope I have offered no such Hypotheses but whatsoever they are I submit them to the several Masters in the respective Arts and Sciences and generaly all to learned Divines whose complete Province it is also to inspect this Divine Philosophy which God himself hath laid as the Foundation of Theology and as he doth delight to intitle himself the Maker of Heaven and Earth so Ieremy taught the Captive Jews that Chaldaike Sentence The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth even they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens to discriminate the only true God from all Idols nor do I remember that any Heathenish Religion did ever ascribe the Creation of the World to any of them nor indeed acknowledg any Proper Creation Wherefore since Errors in Philosophy are so dangerous in Divinity Theologists should affect the Genesis of Creation as well as the Exodus of Redemption as all the Sects of Graecian Philosophers did joyn Natural with Moral Philosophy Certeinly Theology only can teach us the right use and improvement of Natural Knowledg that is to Glorifie God and benefit Mankind and doth specialy admonish us that we should not so highly prize Curious and Costly Perierga or any vain Philosophy or Knowledg which only puffeth and edifieth not for indeed whosoever doth terminate in a Speculative Contemplation of the World is as much a Worldling as any Ambitious Covetous or Voluptuous men who seek a satisfaction therin VIII Let all men therefore prais and glorify their Creator who hath made this whole World and all things therin in Order Measure and Weight not only in all their own particular Natures but in the Univers and Polity therof since every man is himself a Created Module and Idea both of the Creation and of God the Creator who as a Melior Natura was made to represent God to all Inferior Creatures in his Dominion over them and them unto God in his Immediate Subordination unto him Wherefore as all the Works of God do prais him with the Echo of his own Goodnes and the whole Globe as a Cymbal doth sound forth his praises so should we sing and chant them out with Oral Voice and Mental Understanding And thus as blessed Angels who in Heaven behold the face of God continualy cry unto him Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts so we beholding the Reflections therof in the Speculum of Created Nature should subjoin in Consort the whole Earth is full of his Glory And more specialy we should prais him for our own Human Nature which is the Summ of all the rest and Completion of both the Sensible and Intelligible Worlds quartering all the Familys of Nature in the â—scutcheon of our Humanity whereby we of all others are most obliged to this Divine Service which is the very End of Creation and Divine Goodnes therof And every particular man should thus Personaly reâ—lect on himself becaus he is also an Abstract of Humanity singing the Doxology of the Divine Psalmist I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made and that my Soul knoweth right well my Substance was not hid from thee when I was made in seâ—ret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth Thine Eys did see my Substance yet being Imperfect and in thy Book were all my Members written which in continuance of time were fashioned when as yet there was none of them Thus I was Created through the most free Grace of my Creator and was not what I now am long since the World was made and which might still have continued without me who am a very Inconsyderable and Insignificant Portion of Mankind among all the Innumerable Millions of men who have been before me are now with me and shall be after me and yet as much concerned in my Creator and he as particularly regarding me as if there were none other man in the World And as I before I was so my Parents or any others could not designe or desire any such being for me nor foretell or imagin what I should be but only my Divine Father who did set down and prescribe in his Book of Eternity the Idea of my Personality and whole Compositum and accordingly formed me in my Mothers Womb molding my Body the Tabernacle of my Soul by a Vegetative Plastical Virtue and producing my Sensitive Spirit out of the common Clay and lowest part of the Earth inspired into it my Intellective Spirit as a Light Incensed that shall never be Extinguished an Intelligence Ingenerable and Incorruptible for ever And now I am my self and not another nor ever shall be any other then my self and so am put into the present possession of my own everlasting Being though my Soul living and dwelling in this Mortal Body for this short space of a Temporary Life hath this small Segment of its Eternity set out and appointed to be the sole opportunity of gaining my everlasting Welbeing and the Intellectual and Spiritual Welbeing of my Soul is only the Union and Communion therof with my Infinite Creator which is the true Apotheosis of Intellective Spirits In which Original State of Divine Perfection Human Nature was first Created but by the Apostacy and Defection of our first Parents did again sink down into the Mortality of the Body and the self-confounded Chaos of the Soul And now O Mankind admire and adore for ever the Infinite and Incomprehensible Glory of God and Mystery of his Spiritual Kingdom of Redemption farr exceeding all the Glory of his Natural Kingdom of Creation which was only the foundation or Scene of the other being so made in order therunto and wisely conâ—â—der how God Infinite in himself look'd through this Finite World as a Bubble of Diaphanous Air computing all Creatures therin only as so many Cyphars which though more or fewer greater or less before or after in or among themselvs yet all signify the same Nothing in Divine Account neither adding to nor diminishing from the Infinity of their Creator And therefore from all Eternity before the Foundations of the World were laid he designed and decreed to Invest his own Son the Uncreated Essential and Intrinsecal Image of himself with the Created Artificial and Extrinsecal Image of our Humanity and therin with the Universal Nature of the Created World By whom Finite is thus united to Infinity and Mutable to Immutability and in whom God Infinitely and Immutably enjoieth himself in the full Embraces both of his Essence and Operations And this is that new and better Creation which shall endure for ever wherof it is also said as of the first Creation In the Begining was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same was in the Begining with God All things were made by him and without him nothing was made that was made And now I prais thee I bless thee I adore thee Lord God Creator of Heaven and Earth for thine own Uncreated Glory Eternaly Immanent in thy self and for the Transient manifestations therof in and to thy Creatures And as I admire thine own Infinite Incomprehensibility so also all those Finite Incomprehensibles in Nature and all the Comprehensibles therof which may be known by us for whatsoever we do or can truly know of thee or thy Works is most excellent and so is all that we cannot know And I thank thee for the discovery of the Initial Creation and Original Confabrication of the World by thy Word and the retrospective Revelation therof to thy Servant Moses and for any Revelation of that Primitive Apocalyps to me thy most unworthy and unable Servant by the Illumination of thy Divine Spirit And now I beseech thee to revele it more and more to the whole World that we may all know and acknowledg the only true Genesis of the World and thee the Creator who art both the Author and End therof And wherin I am Ignorant still teach thou me or wherin I have Erred discover it to others that neither thy Divine Truth may be dishonored by my Human Infirmity nor any honor therof ascribed to my Infirm Humanity but that we all may always and in all things Laud and Glorify the most Holy Name of thee the Infinite Iehovah and Creator through Iesus Christ the Messiah our Redeemer whom to Know is Life Eternal Amen FINIS