of God is cause of all things and by good right must be the cause of all things which subsist For if it had had any cause then must that cause haue preceded and the will of God attended thereupon which were vnlawfull to be imagined Wherefore when it is asked why did God so we must answere bicause it was his will If proceeding farther any enquire why it was his will they demaund after a thing greater and higher then the will of God which cannot be found Yet neuerthelesse haue we sufficient in his word wherewith to satisfie our mindes in meditation of his secrets with all reuerence For they which haue declared them vnto vs penetrating into most hidden mysteries by the light of the holy spirit haue sufficiently reuealed them vnto vs with most splendant cleerenesse But the way of truth is shut vp to the wise of the world and cannot be attained but by the directions of it selfe So that which is greatly to be deplored it often commeth to passe which this Iambicke relateth That the vnderstanding of things giuen by God in long tract of time is cōfounded by mens opinions retaining very little diuinitie truth by reason that it agreeth not with those things which fall within the compasse of our sense The philosophers therefore attributing too much faith to themselues haue blinded themselues through their vaine discourses and haue become guides to the blinde so that falling into the ditch they haue drawne many after them by false arguments and apparant reasons whereof our subiect shall here be to insert the most principall They then who esteeme that nothing is stable or can be stable in such sort reasoning and arguing by sensible things prooue it by the same demonstration that Aristotle hath deliuered Of the demonstration of Aristotle yea and as he hath obserued in his whole discourse natural progression considering that all his consequences proceede from certaine maximes which he supposed to be perfect true amongst the most powerfull inuentions by which they pretend to ouerthrow the creation and framing of the world these Peripatericall reasons of the nature of the world are produced First they beholde the heauens altogither differing from contrarietie Reasons of philosophers against the creation of the world whereupon they conclude that it is not corruptible and by consequēce not made They finde moreouer that those things which haue a beginning doe get vnto themselues a new place nowe heauen not being able to get it selfe a new place they conclude that it could not be created at any time They consider also that all things which are mooued passe into a new place or are mooued round about some thing which remaineth firme as all the spheres are about their center to the end that all disorder might be brought to some vniformitie Likewise they suppose euery new thing to be reduced into the old so that all generation and corruption is made according to the old substance and all motion is gouerned by the firme and stable earth or the vnmooueable center by which principles they coulde not perceiue how the newnes of the world could any way come to passe And forasmuch as the generation of one thing is the corruption of another and that nothing which should be corrupted might precede the world thereupon they ground that it is eternall without a beginning Proceeding farther they suppose that euerie thing which is produced had a fore-being in the matter thereof Therfore they holde that of necessitie the matter must be eternall But the most principall and substantiall argument which they bring and most generally receiued is That of nothing nothing is created whereupon they conclude that the world could not be made bicause nothing did proceede it Now we may easily answere these reasons and trie whether they conclude Three sorts of works and three kinds of workers or not but first let vs suppose as it is most certaine that there be three sorts of works and three kindes of workers For there is the Artificer who presupposeth the nature to wit the stuffe fashion and all the compound There is the naturall agent which requireth before-hand the effect of God to wit the subiect or the matter And there is God the soueraigne worker who hath no neede of any other thing because he is perfect retaining in himselfe all manner of vertue Which three kindes of workers doe fitly accord by a certaine analogie and proportion but doe much differ in comparison one with the other and at the bounds and limits of the one worker cannot be concluded the power of the other For it were an error to proceed from arte to nature as if one should say The arte doth first require the compound the Goldsmith gold the Founder mettall the Carpenter wood and the Mason stones and cement therefore the naturall agent doth also require the compound Answere to the arguments of philosophers And likewise the philosophers deceiue themselues when they imagine that the soueraigne Creator hath neede of a subiect or matter to worke on as is requisite for the naturall agent Also they abuse themselues to teach that forasmuch as herein there passeth a certaine proportion from one contrarie to another it therefore followeth that God and nature doe proceede by one and the selfe-same way But where I pray haue they learned to inuent such conclusions when themselues teach that arte is distinguished from nature and that naturall things appertaine to one kinde of doctrine and the eternall and free-from-motion belong to another For the artificer giueth the artificiall forme and requireth the naturall and the naturall agent fashioneth the substantiall and requireth the materiall which is the worke of the soueraigne But if God should require any thing before-hand to worke with he should also require a former God which must haue produced it and by that reason there should be I wot not what former thing before the first What are then these shewes of arguments They conclude and accord badly when bicause of the passion of a new place which demaundeth that which is newly performed they would thereby exclude the world from generation bicause it getteth not a place But what absurditie shall they finde it if granting them that it hath obtained a place I say it is the same wherein at this present it remaineth For it subsisteth about the center or aboue that of the earth or of the whole vniuers or of the sphere intellectuall whose center as Hermes saith is all that which is euerie where created In that which they farther inferre that euery new thing must be reduced to an olde we grant it them But that olde is the diuine cogitation wherein all things are contained before they be displaied in their proper formes which being created by it selfe it alone doth gouerne and preserue them afterwardes What they moreouer adioine that all naturall transmutation is made of one matter transposed into another we consent to them But this is not requisite
description thereof is properly called Cosmographie which doth comprise in it the first part of Astronomie and Geographie that is the order and reason as well of heauen as of the earth vnder which we vnderstand all natures and essences in them contained And for this cause it seemeth that God being father and author of all things is oftentimes called in the scriptures creator of heauen and earth And as the Greekes did first call the heauen Cosmos bicause of the surpassing beautie so afterward the name of Mundus hath been attributed thereto bicause of the perfect and most pure hiew and neatnes thereof Againe because the world is a solide bodie that is full of celestiall or elementarie substances and because it is of a round and orbicular forme performing a circular motiō without intermission vpon his owne poles round about the earth as about the center thereof it is called a Sphere What a sphere is For a sphere is a bodie contayned vnder one round superficies in the midst whereof is a point from which all lines that are drawne to the circumference are equall Diuision of the world But as we consider the world in this sphere so must we also contemplate it in two distinct parts which manifest themselues by continuall experience and naturall reason to wit the elementarie region continually occupied in generation and corruption in change and alteration of all things as well liuing as not liuing and the celestiall part being of inuariable substance and adorned with innumerable stars as well fixed as wandring which enuiron the saide elementarie region round about so that the elements being diuersly intermingled infused and proportioned are the materiall cause and nouriture of all things and the heauenly part by the light thereof by the motion and influence of the stars is the formall cause of their figure varietie and specificall difference and from it proceedeth their life Now that we may entreat of this first part of the world which we haue named in our first diuision of the Vniuers the world of the spheres we must note that this celestiall region which philosophers call the fift essence thereby meaning that it is of another and more simple nature then the fower elements is by them diuided into eight orbes and particular heauens one ioyning to the other and all concentricall that is hauing one common and selfe same center to wit that of all the world and of these heauens the greatest doth enuiron and by a sphericall order enclose within it that which is next and lesse then it selfe being each discerned by the proper and particular motion of those stars which they containe all which motions do varie one from another And these eight orbes or spheres are the heauen of fixed stars which keepe an vnchangeable distance betweene themselues and for this cause it is called the firmament then follow the seuen planets of which the sunne and moone are properly called Luminaria or great lights Reason of the name of Planets And for Saturne Iupiter Mars Venus and Mercurie they are especially named planets that is wandring in their motions Whereupon we may note in regard of their names that Astrologians to the ende to make their doctrine to be more easily retayned and for certaine good respect and secret reason making themselues like painters to instruct the ignorant haue also named and represented these stars by personages of diuers habits and countenances as likewise they haue disposed vnder diuers figures the twelue signes of the Zodiacke which are certaine stars appointing to one the fashion of a ramme to another of a bull to another of two twinnes and so of the rest So likewise they haue signified the images of heauen which are out of the Zodiacke one by a beare another by an eagle another by an harpe this by a dog and that by a dragon and so of the rest To the sunne it selfe they haue assigned a proper forme and figure as also to the moone And we see that painters haue alwaies made the picture of stars with fiue beames to denote their twinckling light though all of them do not glister so but are of round fashion without points or corporall beames But returne we to our matter concerning the heauens and celestiall spheres and let vs speake of their order and situation Of the order and scituation of the heauens The firmament which is the eight heauen as the highest and greatest of all the rest and as the vttermost ornament and beawtie of all the world doth enuiron round about the heauen of Saturne that of Saturne the heauen of Iupiter that of Iupiter the heauen of Mars and that of Mars the orbe of the Sunne which possesseth the middle place among the seuen planets then the heauen of the Sunne compasseth round about the heauen of Venus that of Venus the heauen of Mercurie and lastly that of Mercurie the heauen of the Moone which is the least lowest of all the rest and placed next about the elementarie region And this number and order of the heauens is commonly receiued of all Astronomers and Philosophers and sheweth it selfe to be such both by naturall reasons and by Mathematicall obseruations Moreouer for so much as by the Astronomers ring and other instruments fitting for the demonstration of this science one may perceiue that these eight spheres are distinguished and separated one from the other certaine reason doth thereupon conclude Of the first moouer which is the ninth heauen that beside these there is a ninth which is called the first moouer which is the guide of the heauens and which by his owne power and violence doth carrie away all the others with it being no whit gouerned by any lower circle but onely by that intelligence which mooueth it or else by the commandement of God to whom all motion is drawen as to the first moouer to the end that the whole harmonie of heauen be not confused as Aristotle in the ende of his Organon prooueth True it is also that some moderne Philosophers doe place betweene the firmament and the first moouer a ninth sphere Of the Chrystalin heauen which they cal the Chrystalline heauen for that some stars are not seene therein And this is because that they cannot perceiue how there might be made in the eight sphere the motion called Trepidation or tottering of the fixed stars if there were not a ninth heauen enclosed within the first moouer For it seemes not likely to them that the firmament which is turned with three motions should be ioyned to the first moouer which is carried with one onely course For this eight sphere hath one daily motion from the west to the east vpon the poles of the Zodiack which is the circle of the signes vpon which according to Ptolomie in each hundred yeeres it rūneth one degree or else in sixty yeers as others hold then hath it the foresaid motion of Trepidation Wherupon they conclude that there is a ninth heauen that
That heauen is of round forme is a sure testimonie vnto vs. So likewise there are many naturall reasons which declare it to be such For all the partes of the frame thereof doe consist of themselues doe sustaine themselues and doe comprehend themselues not hauing neede of any stay or ioint hauing neither a beginning nor ending place Moreouer this roundnes of heauen may be knowne by the sight of the eie For on which side soeuer you behold it you may see the halfe in our hemisphere as it doth shew it selfe which could not come to passe in any other figure but in a round which also is the most perfect and most capable of all other figures to bee comprised in one selfesame circuit and is therewithall the easiest to mooue euery way And therefore it is not onely conuenient but also necessarie for all the heauens and celestiall orbes of which we before intreated as well bicause of the perfection of their essence as by reason of their proper motions which are circular and correspondent to a round forme besides all this bicause these spheres are placed one within another making their reuolutions vpon diuers poles and in diuers spaces of time Which could not be obserued nor the integritie of the whole heauen maintained if the celestiall forme were any other saue round and circular Of the proper and naturall motion of the spheres For the proper and naturall motion of the spheres is circular that is framed equally distant round about their center which is the point in the midst of the world so that neither the whole heauen nor any of the particular spheres doth wholy abandon or passe out of his owne place and situation but onely the partes of them doe incessantly change place in that they turne about their said common center And therefore is this circular motion much more noble and perfect then that which is made by a right line either mounting from the center of the world towards the circumference Of the motion proper to the fowre elements or else descending from it towards the center which motion is proper to the fower elements For fire and aire do mount vpwards but water and earth descend naturally downwards Also fire mounteth higher then aire and earth descendeth lower then water and each of these enuiron the center of the world which is the lowest place of all and farthest from the circumference which is the highest of all So then the circular motion is naturally due and conuenient to the most noble and most simple bodie which is the heauen and most necessarie for it as it appeereth more cleerely to vs by the continuall motion of the starres both fixed and wandring which proceedeth of the onely moouing of their spheres What stars are For we must note that the starres are nothing else but certaine firme cleere and solide partes of their heauens made in round forme like the heauen whose motion they follow which likewise receiue their light from the sunne who is the very source and fountaine whereinto the soueraigne creator hath put the brightnes of the whole vniuersall world Now this circular motion of heauen is found by obseruation to haue two principall differences that is to be made vpon sundry poles and axes and in sundry partes and positions of the world as also in diuers spaces and quantities of times Of the axis of the spheres and of the poles We call that the axis of the sphere which is the diameter that passeth through the same vpon which it is turned and the vttermost points of the same axis are the poles For the whole vniuersall world hath his proper and naturall motion like a liuing creature and euery of the orbes and particular heauens haue also a peculiar motion like to the partes and members of the whole great bodie For which cause as also for diuers other considerations many learned personages haue affirmed that the world is an animal or liuing creature And amongst others Origen is wholy of that minde who enforceth himselfe to prooue it as well by reasons as by authoritie of holy scripture And therefore he saith thus in his booke of principles Though the world be ordained to diuers offices yet the estate thereof must not be thought to be dissonant or any whit disagreeing But euen as our bodie alone is composed of many members Reasons of such as haue said that the world is an animal and is contained by one soule so I thinke we must suppose that the vniuersall world is a great and vnmeasurable animal which as by a soule is sustained by the power and wisedome of God The Platonists doe all with one mouth teach the same thing And among many reasons by which they would confirme this point we will take onely that of Plato in his Timaeus which me thinkes is most excellent There are saith he two motions the one proper the other strange or exterior now that is more diuine which of it selfe is mooued then that which is stirred by the power of another And this motion proper and diuine is in our soules onely from which the beginning of the other strange motion is taken Seeing therefore that all motion proceedeth of the ardor of the world and that this ardor is not mooued by exterior agitation but of it owne accord it is therefore necessarie that there must be a soule Whereupon we gather that the world is an animal and that not without vnderstanding Now if thereupon any aske why heauen changeth not nor becommeth diseased nor dieth nor faileth as other liuing creatures doe The answere of Chalcidius in this point pleaseth me very much Notable difference in the workes of God when he saith commenting vpon Timaeus That which is instituted by God without meanes is free and exempt from change from age from sicknes from oldnes and from death And in this point agree all Academicks as also might bee well proued by circumstance if that be well considered which the sage philosopher Moses declareth to haue beene produced by the creator without helpe or matter and that which hath beene also performed by meanes of the second causes For though man was created and formed by the handes of God yet was hee not made without dust or earth which was a meane subiect But the Eternall hath made the heauens and the whole frame of the world of nothing For which reason it might seeme perpetuall and not perishing For as we haue heretofore declared though the heauens and earth must passe away yet doth not this plainly conclude an annihilating of them but rather a changing and renewing Psal 102. For so speaketh the kingly prophet saying The heauens shall waxe old as doth a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed And of this consideration we may frame an excellent reason concerning the immortalitie of the soule bicause it was made without any meanes by God himselfe But leauing this argument let vs pursue that
subiect to change and the rest are immutable incorruptible persisting alwaies in their estate during the course of this world Stones mettals minerals and such like creatures are of the number of those that haue neither life nor any naturall moouing whatsoeuer but like the earth it selfe The water aire winde and fire are creatures which though they haue not life yet haue they moouing but they are subiect vnto corruption as are all other creatures composed of the elements whether they retaine life or not For by reason that they are compounded of matters and contrarie qualities they doe at length corrupt and are changed not in regarde of their first nature and substance which perisheth not Nothing perisheth in regard of the matter though it change formes but returneth alwaies into the same elements whereof euerie compound consisteth And though stones and mettals be exceeding hard yet are they not exempt from corruption but are consumed by vsage yea euen gold and siluer which are the most precious mettals and of so excellent temper that they resist fire But the celestiall bodies whereof we entreat now consist of such matter nature and substance that being in perpetuall motion they euer perseuere in their entire and first forme not being subiect to any change in their bodies nor any way consuming like to the other creatures winch are vnder them Of the matter or substance of heauen But what this matter or substance is hath beene much disputed on amongst the most learned For some Philosophers haue affirmed that the heauens starres and planets which we behold are compounded of the same elements whereof all other creatures are made but yet of the most pure parts and portions of them And render this reason viz. that they could not be visible if they were not created of visible matter For none can make a visible thing of an inuisible Whereupon they conclude that there is in the composition of celestiall bodies some portion of earth and water which are visible elements and more water then earth because it is more pure and cleere then the earth is and because it hath motion And in that they are most splendant cleere and mooueable they attribute the principall cause thereof to the nature of the aire and fire and the most subtile parts of them whereof say they they are singularly composed But others hold that the heauens consist of another kinde of substance then of the elements which they name a fift-essence of most rare and different substance from the elementarie and much more excellent and noble Others more cunning finde in the heauens diuers and vnequal substances Whereto may seeme to accord that which Americus Vespucius hath declared in the discourse of his third Nauigation to the Indies concerning the magnitude of the stars making mention of three verie great ones called Caponi which are not cleere And many other authors haue noted diuersitie of shining and cleerenes among the stars and that some part of heauen is thicker then the rest But whatsoeuer may be subtilly inuented in this matter it seemeth verie well that heat is the substance of celestiall bodies which is inseparable from brightnes Of heat light and brightnes which is a similitude and semblance of light hauing the substance of it and of heat so annexed with it selfe that it is almost nothing else So that the light brightnes heat may be taken for one selfe same substance and matter of heauen and of all the spheres Which we must moreouer note to be so established and ordained by God that the Sunne Moone and all the other stars and planets are no whit chaunged since the day of their creation any more then their said spheres neither are they more wearied worne Of the continuance and changing of the heauens or corrupted for all the labour which they haue performed by the space of so many yeeres then they were the first day of their creation For you must not holde it for a chaunge and alteration of their natures and qualities in that according to their diuers courses the stars and planets are sometimes far from and sometimes neere to one another and that they haue oppositions coniunctions and diuers and different respects according to the varietie of their motions nor yet for the eclipses of the Sunne and Moone For such changes are not in their proper bodies substance and qualitie but onely in regard of vs and our sight But to this constancie stablenes and continuance of the heauens and the celestiall bodies the words of the kingly Prophet in the Psalmes may seeme to be repugnant Psal 102. when he saith Thou O God hast aforetime layd the foundation of the earth and the heauens are the worke of thine hands They shall perish but thou shalt endure euen they all shall waxe olde as doth a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed But thou art the same and thy yeeres shall not faile Also it is written Math. 24. 2. Pet. 3. that the heauens and earth shall passe That the day of the Lord shall come like a Thiefe in the night and in which the heauens must passe away like a noise of a tempest the elements must melt with heat and the earth with all the workes that are therein shall bee burnt That the heauens being set one fire shall be dissolued Esay 65. 66. Apoc. 21. and that we looke for new heauens and new earth according to the promise of God in whom dwelleth righteousnes All these testimonies yet do not contradict that which we heretofore said concerning the nature of the celestiall bodies For we refer their stabilitie and continuance to the course of all this great world which God hath ordained and established to endure till the consummation and ending thereof in such sort as he hath declared to vs in his word Moreouer it is one thing to speake of the heauens comparing their nature with that of other visible and corporall creatures and another thing when we compare them with the nature of God or of his word as the holy Scripture cōmonly doth Psal 90. For according to the doctrine thereof a thousand yeers are as one day before God wherfore also this visible frame both celestiall terrestrial is nothing else but as a vesture which weareth waxeth old is clean done after that it is worne al out And sith that both heauen and earth are created by the word of God Iohn 1. there is no doubt but they shall faile rather then it For it remayneth for euer like God from whom it proceedeth from all eternitie There is yet diuersitie of opinions amongst the ancient doctors about the vnderstanding of the holy Scripture concerning the matter which we do now treat of For some indeed say that the heauens shall perish with the rest of the world if it so please the creator and if he will haue it so considering that all creatures both visible and inuisible
growe and increase in the earth wherefore it seemeth that they are nourished in the earth like to plants Yet we must note that to speake properly there is neither soule nor life attributed vnto them Foure kinds of soule and life For according to the common rule of the learned there are but fower kindes of soules of life except by abuse of the language this name life be taken generally for the estate of all creatures But when it is taken in his proper signification the soule and life is onely attributed to fower kindes of creatures A kinde of creature of a middle nature betweene plants and beasts that is to herbes trees and plants a nourishing or vegetatiue soule and life to * sensitiue plants as sea-sponges oisters cockles c. a sensitiue to perfect beasts a soule and life cogitatiue or knowing and to men an intellectuall or reasonable soule and life Though therefore that stones and mettals doe increase and grow in the earth yet this is done by addition of matter which is conuerted into their nature rather then by any nouriture which they draw from the earth as plants doe And therefore when we speake properly of life we must vnderstand something more then that which we simply call being And yet one may sometimes signifie the estate or being of any thing by the name of life taking the word generally and not in his most proper signification for the being of euery creature is like the life thereof insomuch as thereby it is conserued in his proper estate Iohn 1. And so it may seeme that Saint Iohn meaneth saying That all things were made by the eternall word of God and that without it nothing was made that was made and that in it was life for here the word Life might be taken for the being of all creatures In this respect it may be permitted vs to say that all creatures haue life but not like any of those which are properly called liuing creatures and each one according to the distinctions by vs before alledged Vnderstanding proper to men and angels onely Now let vs speake of the naturall vnderstanding which seemeth to be in all creatures I know that to speake properly vnderstanding and reason cannot bee attributed but onely to angels and men For though all creatures obserue their order and course in their naturall motions yet doe wee not conclude that they do this by vnderstanding and reason whereof they shoulde participate with men but rather by a naturall inclination which God hath bestowed vpon them to guide and direct them so Yet it seemeth that there is great difference betweene the celestiall bodies concerning which we now discourse and the other creatures which are without life and vnderstanding considering their well ordred motions and incorruptible nature as we haue heeretofore shewed For this is the cause why many Philosophers haue taught Opinions of diuers touching the life and vnderstanding of the celestiall bodies that the heauens retained some kinde of life and vnderstanding briefly that the world was an animall or liuing creature for the reasons heeretofore alleaged And therefore some haue supposed that the celestiall and luminary bodies did nourish and preserue themselues by the moistnes and vapors which they attracted and drew vp by their heate out of the water and other elements And for faculties of sense and reason they also considered the same to be in them because that they haue their course and motions so well ordred and comprehended one by another that therein can be found no fault disorder or confusion Which so excellent order could not bee kept nor maintained it seemed amongst them without great reason vnderstanding and wisedome yea more great then is seene in all the men of the world togither For although they were created partakers of these graces and gifts yet so farre are they from maintaining such an order amongst them as do the celestiall bodies that contrariwise there is nothing but disorder and confusion in them and in all their actions For these reasons therefore sundry Philosophers haue concluded that as there are animals or liuing creatures in the earth in the waters and in the aire so likewise are there in heauen and that the sunne and moone the other planets and stars are celestiall animals not onely liuing but also participating of reason and vnderstanding Of the excellent politicall and military order in the heauens yea some haue named them celestiall intelligences And in truth they which haue good skill in Astronomie do consider how the Sunne the goodliest and most excellent of the lights of heauen possesseth the middle place among the seuen planets like the king and prince of them and which hath about him the lords of his court For on one side is Mars the warrior which hath charge of armies and on the other side Mercurie his Orator and ambassador Then is there betwixt him and Mercurie the planet Venus which is the day starre messenger of the morning which alwaies attendeth on the sunne at his rising and setting for she riseth euery day before him and setteth euery day after him and vnder those is the Moone These two planets seeme to be allowed him like mistresses of his house and huswiues of the most moist natures Then aboue Mars is the milde and benigne planet Iupiter to the end to moderate the vehemencie and furie of him And higher yet is Saturne who is cold slowe and sadde wherefore he may the better temperate the heate of Mars and serue the sunne like a sound and well staied counsellor neere about his prince Then may be seene the high heauen commonly called the firmament which containeth all the rest of the stars vnder which the sunne marcheth in his royall magnificence accompanied like a king with his court and armie all in gallant order Is not this then a goodly policie like a royall court a celestiall common wealth and a braue armie wherein euery star and planet keepeth his ranke and order And not onely for these considerations but euen by testimonies of Scripture there are some will vndertake to prooue that the celestiall bodies haue reason and vnderstanding Deut. 32. Isay 1. For the prophets namely Moses and Isay sometimes addressing their speech to the heauens call them for auditors as when they say Oh heauens heauens heare that which I shall speake and giue eare to my words So that they woonder why these holy men should call to the heauens if they had neither soule nor life Psal 148. nor reason nor vnderstanding And the Psalmist in his canticles doth exhort the heauenly bodies to praise God no lesse then the angels themselues But now let vs tell them that if by these authorities we must conclude that the spheres haue in them a soule life sense and reason we might say the like of the aire of the clouds waters fire haile snowe vapors windes yea and of all earthly creatures to the very plants For the
by reason the minde may alwaies moderate and correct And taking occasion vpon this matter let vs come to the true Astronomie and Astrologie of Christians which is to contemplate the glorie and greatnes of God by the worke of the heauens as ACHITOB finishing this daies worke you may relate to vs. Of the true Astronomie which the heauens teach vs and especially the sunne in his admirable effects Chap. 32. ACHBTOB IT is not without cause that the prophet saith The heauens declare the glorie of God Psal 19. and the earth sheweth the worke of his hands For thereby he euidently teacheth that the worke of the spheres and their well ordred motion doe demonstrate as with the finger euen to our eies the great and admirable prouidence of God their creator euen as if the heauens should speake to euery one In an other place it is written Eccle. 43. This high ornament this cleere firmament the beautie of the heauen so glorious to behold is a thing full of hough then that the heauens haue neither voice nor speech like men yet when the workmanship of them and the goodly images pourtraied and placed in them do present themselues vnto vs it is as much as if God spake to vs. For sight belongeth to the eies as hearing doth to the eares and that which offereth it selfe to those The heauens are visible words which preach vnto vs God is as the sound is to these Wherefore in very deede we may call not onely the heauens sunne moone and starres but all other creatures also visible words which speake to the eies as those which are in sound and voice doe speake to the eares If likewise we can very well vnderstand dumbe folkes by the signes which they make vs say that they speake by signes why then should we not harken to the language of God speaking by the heauens and by the signes which he hath placed in them For may we not truly say that they speake vnto vs by signes And if we call bookes dumbe teachers bicause they teach by the meanes of writing which they lay before our eies what fairer booke may wee see written in a fairer letter and of more neate impression and printed with goodlier characters then this great booke of the whole vniuers and chiefly of the heauens Againe if it be needefull for vs to seeke out images to represent God that so he might become visible to vs where may we finde them fairer and more liuely and which speake vnto vs a language most easie to be vnderstood if we be not altogether deafe Wherefore it is not without good cause that when God willing to make his greatnes his magnificence and prouidence known to his people saith by Esay Lift vp your eies on high Isay 40. be hold who hath created these things which is he that bringeth out their armies by number and calleth them all by their names By the greatnes of his power and mighty strength nothing faileth This is it in all these considerations that Dauid in the place before alledged after he hath acknowledged that there is no language nor speech where the voice of the heauens is not heard doth further adde that their line is gone foorth through all the earth and their words vnto the ends of the world meaning by this line the magnificent frame and excellent workmanship of them For all is so well made and composed therein by the workmaster that it seemeth to haue been all drawne out by line rule and compasse And when he speaketh of their words he vnderstandeth the marke and impression which is in them by which they preach vnto vs in stead of words And for this cause also he saith before that one day vttereth speech vnto another day and one night teacheth knowledge vnto another night which is as much as if he should say that one day teacheth and preacheth another and the night doth the same bicause that from day to day and from night to night God manifesteth his power and glorie And let vs note Of the excellency of the sunne and true testimonie of the prouidence of God that the prophet proposing vnto vs the heauens thus in generall as true preachers of his diuine prouidence maketh principall and expresse mention of the Sunne bicause it is the most goodly creature the most agreeable most profitable and necessarie for men and for all the rest of the works of God For this cause also euery one giueth more heed vnto it then to all the other celestiall bodies For it is by the course and meanes of the Sunne that we haue ordinarily daies and nights and that they be sometimes longer sometimes shorter and another time equall as hath been already told vs and also that we haue the distinction of yeeres and of the diuers seasons of them as of the spring time summer autumne and winter and of the time fit to sowe plant till the earth and to gather the fruites thereof and generally to performe all other workes necessarie for the life of man And then may very well bee considered the course and compasse of this goodly light which is from the one end of heauen to the other end and how there is nothing that is hid from the heate thereof Shall we let passe in silence the gallant course which euery day it maketh compassing the whole world in the space of fower and twenty howers without being any whit wearie For from the hower that God hath created it it hath neuer desisted from worke day nor night and hath neuer failed one iot neither shal cease so long as the world shal endure And therefore it is also said in Ecclesiasticus The sunne also a maruellous instrument Eccles 43. when it appeereth declareth at his going out the worke of the most high And presently after Great is the Lord that made it by whose commandement it doth runne hastily Then speaking in generall of all the planets and starres It is a campe saith he pitched on high shining in the firmament of heauen the beautie of the heauens are the glorious starres and the ornament that shineth in the high places of the Lord. By the commandement of the holy one they continue in their order and faile not in their watch And who is it except the blinde that beholdeth not this goodly sunne to passe out of his pauilion like a magnificent king that marcheth foorth of his palace Who seeth not the faire countenance that he sheweth to all being as the eie and mirrour of the whole world Who vieweth not his trim locks and the golden haires and yellow beard of his raies by which he spreadeth his light and heate vpon all creatures In such sort that as none can auoide his heate so none can flie from his light For as it is written By the word of the Lord are his works Eccles 42. Eccles 43. The sunne that shineth looketh vpon all things and all the works thereof are full of the
let vs now returne to our elementarie world and particularly behold the nature of the fower elements and of things engendred in them and by them Then haue we enough to stand vpon for the common opinion of those who establish this number of fower in that which hath beene already declared and now also in this discourse Let vs first then AMANA heare you discourse of the fire and of the aire and of their maruailous effects Of the fire and of the aire and of the things engendred in them and of their motions and of the Windes Chap. 42. AMANA MAny Philosophers doe diuide all that which subsisteth vnder the concaue of the Moone into three parts one of which they call the highest the other the middle and the third the lowest part The highest they place aboue the middle region of the aire and make as it were the same element partaker with the most pure fire which the ancients nominated Aether because that there the elements are pure subtile thin rare and for that the aire there is very temperate and cleere agreeing with the nature of heauen as to the contrarie in the lower part which is that where we inhabite there is not any sincere element for a sensible element is not pure but all things are there compounded and mixed with the muddie and grosse part of this mundane bodie And concerning the middle region of the aire it is that verie place where the meteors and high impressions do appeere So then aboue the elements are pure beneath the perfect composed bodies do faile by reason of their mixture of the elementary simplicitie in the middle they compound themselues vnperfectly in such sort that one may say that they possesse the middle place betwixt the nature of the elements and of things compounded Now as we haue said before and as the common saying of people is the heauen is often taken for this supreme and middle region of the aire and for the things which are to them conioined and do depend vpon their effects Of the things conioyned and depending vpon the effectes of the fire and of the aire So that in this regard we may vnderstand first two of the fower elements to wit the aire and the fire then all things ingendred in them and by them as windes thunders lightnings haile whirle-windes cloudes Psal 8. Matth. 6. Luke 8. tempests raine dewes frosts snowes and all kinds of fire and such like which arise and appeere in the aire And therein we may also comprise all the creatures which conuerse in it as birds and all creatures that flie euen as the holy Scripture teacheth vs when it maketh mention of the birds of heauen Now the element of fire is knowne to haue his place neerest to the moone being by nature hot and dry and is for this cause lightest hauing his motion quicker then all the elements bicause that lightnes and quicknes is proper to these two qualities heat and drines and therefore also the propertie thereof is to mount alwaies vpwards Of the proper nature of the fire and of the aire vntill that it hath attained to the place destinated vnto it being most conuenient for the nature thereof and which ioineth next vnto the spheres Next the fire the aire possesseth the second place and agreeth in nature with the fire in that it is hot but is contrarie thereto in that it is also moist And therefore the motion thereof followeth that of the fire but it is not so light and quicke by reason of the humiditie which maketh it more heauie and slow That the aire is alwaies mooued And yet it appeereth that it is alwaies mooued bicause that in narrow places small winds doe blow without ceasing For considering that the aire hath the motion thereof tending alwaies vpwards and that it is continually mooued vp and downe it bloweth in a great space very gently but passing through a creuisse or streight place all the violence thereof being drawne togither by reason of the narrownes of the place driueth out flieth vehemently vpon vs after the maner of the waters of great flouds which when it seemeth that they can scarce flowe being vrged through a narrow place or through sluces are constrained to runne out by much force with noise and roring Moreouer according as the aire is mooued either by the heate of the sunne or by the vapors and exhalations which this heat causeth to rise out of the waters and out of the earth or by the waues of the sea or by the caues of the earth and such like causes What winde is we perceiue the aire diuersly agitated For we must note that the windes are nothing else but the aire which is mooued and driuen more violently then ordinarie and which hath his motion more sodaine more violent and strong being driuen and pressed forwards according as the causes are more great or small and according to the places from whence they proceed And this is the reason why the aire is sometimes so peaceable that one cannot feele so much as one onely small puffe of winde but it is as calme as the sea when it is not tossed with any winde or tempest As is euident by those vanes and weathercocks which are set in the tops of turrets and houses for when the winde bloweth not their plates are nothing mooued and yet the aire doth neuer faile to blowe by reason of the perpetuall motion thereof but insomuch as it is not hoised vp and downe it passeth and flieth lightly away without any noise or bruite towards that part whereto we see the point of the vane enclined Of the diuersity of the windes and of the order and boundes of them Sometimes also one may feele some small pleasant and gentle winde to blowe without any violence which is very delectable recreatiue and profitable not onely in regard of men and other liuing things but in respect also of all the fruits of the earth At another time likewise the violence of the windes is so great that it raiseth vp whirle-windes stormes and tempestes which driue the aire with such fury and roughnes that it seemeth they would ouerthrow and confound heauen and earth togither beating downe and carying away all that is before them like a great deluge and water-floud which beareth away with it all that it meets with But though one may suppose so during such tempests yet the course of the windes are not so confused but that all of them obserue their order and certaine places out of which they issue and proceed and their bounds likewise whereat they stay and wherein they are confined as the element of which they are engendred And therefore by experience we see that they follow the course of the Sunne and that they are distributed and disposed according to all the partes of the world as we vsually diuide it hauing respect to the moouing of the spheres For as we diuide the course of the sunne and
into chrystal bicause that from the moone vpwards there are no creatures subiect to corruption and to such changes as those that are vnder the moone Behold then why these men haue supposed such waters to haue beene made partakers of the nature of heauen But what neede is there to trauell in such disputations and to take paines for to haue recourse to allegories when one may be easily satisfied with the literall sense For there is nothing more easie then to make the wordes of Moses cleere and euident being throughly considered For first he hath declared Of the separation of the terrestriall and celestiall waters how that the earth was couered all ouer with water and that there was a great deepe ouerwhelmed with darknes so that the earth did in no wise appeere till such time as God had commanded the waters to retire themselues into their places which he hath assigned for their perpetuall residence And then the earth was discouered euen so much thereof as was needfull for the habitation and nourishment of men and of all the creatures which God did afterwardes create Psal 104. Therefore Dauid as the expounder of Moses words saith That the Lord hath set the earth vpon hir foundations adding straight after That hee had couered it with the deepe as with a garment and that the waters did stand aboue the mountaines but at his rebuke they fled which is as much to say as when God had commanded the waters to retire and to discouer the earth they suddenly obeied the voice of their creator Now Moses hauing spoken of those waters which are resident here belowe on earth gathered as well into the sea as into fountains and riuers he afterwards declareth how God would assigne vnto them another abode in a certaine region of the aire which he first calleth a spreading abroad and after that heauen which the Psalmist also signifieth when he saith of God that he couereth himselfe with light as with a garment and spreadeth the heauens like a curtaine which is to say that the light is to the creator like a stately garment wherein we beholde his glorie to shine and glister euery where and that he hath spread abroad the heauens like a pauilion for his habitation Moreouer he addeth The Lord doth lay the iousts of his high chambers amōgst the waters he maketh the great cloudes his chariot He holdeth backe saith Iob the face of his throne and stretcheth out his cloude vpon it Iob. 26. And therefore the Scripture doth also teach vs that God hath oftētimes declared his presence Exod. 13.14.16 40. Acts. 1. manifested his glory both to Moses to all the people of Israell by the cloudes And when Iesus Christ ascended into heauen a cloud taking him bare him vp in the sight of his apostles to declare vnto them and make them sure of the place whither he went vsing this cloude as a triumphant chariot which hath giuen testimonie of his soueraigne and eternall maiestie And therefore it is also written that he shall come in the cloudes of heauen with power and glorie Wherefore if we were well instructed in the sacred word of God we should haue a verie cleere doctrine concerning Meteors and which were much more profitable then that which Philosophers teach For the cloudes would excellently declare vnto vs the magnificence and maiestie of God so often as wee should behold them Matth. 24. and would represent vnto vs all the woonders by vs here mentioned as we shall also be induced to admire them considering more neerely the great miracle of the waters sustained and hanged in the aire as pursuing our purpose I leaue to you ACHITOB to discouer Of the waters sustayned and hanged in the aire and of the raine-bowe Chap. 48. ACHITOB. I Will begin my speech with the saying of the kingly prophet Psal 104. who after that he had appointed the heauens for the pauilion of God ordained the cloudes for the planchers thereof whereupon are raised the loftie chambers that is to say the great spatious waters amassed vp within the cloudes which he also proposeth vnto vs as the chariot vpon which the Eternall is borne being consequently willing to shew what the horses are by which this chariot is drawen and driuen he saith He walketh vpon the wings of the wind He maketh the spirits his messengers and flaming fire his ministers which is as much as if in sum he would declare that men need not labour to mount aloft into heauen there to cōtemplate and behold God sith that hee so cleerely manifesteth himselfe throughout the whole world principally by the celestiall creatures and then by the magnificent and maruellous works which he daily performeth heere in the aire neere vnto vs and before our eies So surely if we must account as great miracles the comming of the Sunne vnto vs and his returne which daily continueth and the courses and motions of all the other celestiall bodies we haue no lesse occasion to account as a thing miraculous and worthie of great wonder that we so often behold here below Wonder of the waters carried in the aire a great cel of waters ouer our heads in the aire sustained by the water it selfe by vapours like to smoke as if they were hanged in the aire and were there borne vp without any stay and prop but by the inuisible vertue and power of God For otherwise how could the cloudes sustaine so great heapes and such deepe gulfes of water considering that they are nothing else but water and do also come at lēgth to resolue into water Againe how without this diuine power could these cloudes be supported in the aire seeing that the aire it selfe seemeth to consist of waters most subtilly distilled beeing very light and in continuall motion For it euidently appeareth that the aire retaineth much of the nature of water because that so ordinarily it conuerteth thereinto beeing inclosed in a cold and moist place so that many fountaines are by this meanes engendred of aire if wee will credite Naturalists And therefore as Dauid saith of the waters which runne about the earth that God hath appointed a bound vnto them which they may not passe nor returne any more to ouerflow the habitation of men so may wee likewise say that he hath bounded the waters that hang in the aire within the cloudes to the end that they may not run loosely astray Iob. 26. And therfore Iob saith He bindeth the waters in the cloudes and the cloud is not broken vnder them For else it is most certaine that so often as these waters should fall vpon the earth they would drowne vp all things whereupon they powred like as when the sea and riuers ouerflow the banks or like a great deluge as came to passe when God punished the world by waters Genes 7. in the time of Noah For it is written that not onely all the fountaines of the great deep were broken vp
the care which it taketh to hatch and nourish hir chickens yea though they be not of hir owne kinde And it is a pretie pastime to make an hen hatch ducke-egges For at first when they open the shell she knoweth them not and neuertheles hauing beene a little accustomed to them she doth nourish them as carefully as if they were naturally her owne And when these yoong duckes according to their kinde cast themselues into the water it is a woonder to see the mourning of the hen fearing least ill should betide them Of the pigeon The pigeon likewise is an house-bird much to be considered of and bringeth no lesse profit and commoditie then pullen doe It is very chaste by nature and neuer changeth mate neither cocke nor hen and yet the cocks are very rude towards the hens beating them with their bils and chiding them with a kinde of grumbling in their throat as if they were iealous But afterwards as if they repented themselues they make much of them and bill togither running round about them and specially when their time of treading is come Both cocke and hen take great paines to hatch their yoong ones insomuch that when the hens are idle and tarie not in the nest the cockes will correct and beate them with their beakes But they doe likewise aide them as well helping them to make their nests as to serue them while they hatch yea and the cocke doth sometimes hatch in the day-time It is their propertie to bill togither before they tread And they lay ordinarily two egges out of which issue both cocke and hen that is the cocke first and the hen the morrow after They hatch commonly eighteene or twentie daies and breede after fiue times treading And one shall sometimes finde egges with little pigeons in them and shall see in one nest some yoong ones but newly out of the shell and some that are ready to flie They may lay egges eight or ten times a yeere but the ordinarie vse is to take out fower good layings They are of sundrie colours of feathers but the ashcoloured or the browne or the blacke are best the rough footed and tufted are most barren and domesticall so are the blacke and white checkered but those that seeme guilded about the necke and that haue the eie and foote redde are the freest and fruitfullest the white are good to hatch and most in danger of the kite and birds of pray the yealow and red are very barren They haue all this maruailous qualitie to giue their young ones at first some corne of salt grauell so to prouoke their appetite and season them to eat when time shall bee Now mee thinketh wee haue staied long enough in this matter sith we will not heere describe a naturall historie of creatures and sith that which wee haue discoursed concerning fowles hath beene onely for that wee will not depriue the aire of the naturall creatures thereof as wee will endeuour to do the like in the behalfe of the earth and water whereof the sequele of our speech requireth vs to entreat to accomplish our discourse concerning the elements First then let vs speake of the earth and of the firmenes figure and quantitie thereof And it is your turne ARAM to discourse thereupon Of the earth and of the scituation immobility figure and quality thereof Chapter 55. ARAM. AS wee haue heretofore heard that vnder the name of heauen is comprised commonly both the supreme and middle region of the aire and all things also which are conioined vnto them and depending vpon their effects namely of the two higher elements the fire the aire so by the name of earth wee do often vnderstand not onely the lowest element of all which is as the foot of all this mundane frame but also the sea which is next to it and the lakes ponds fountaines riuers and other waters and all that is contained in them and in the earth and which receiueth life and nourishment whether they be men beasts of all kindes plants trees hearbs fruits mettals mines minerals stones and generally all other things produced here below for the vse of all other creatures Pursuing then the order of our discourse wee will first intreate of that which concernes in generall the terrestriall globe and afterwards will meditate of the most rare beawties which enrich the partes thereof to the end to represent vnto our selues more and more the greatnes and glorie of the creator of all these things as we haue already well begun in the matters by vs hitherto intreated of Scituation of the earth Now it is certaine that by reason of the waight and heauines of the earth it is necessarily situated in the midst of the world as the center thereof being the lowest place and the farthest remote from the circumference of the whole And from which the earth cannot be parted for otherwise it should mount aloft contrarie to the naturall inclination thereof as likewise it cannot be mooued by the first and vniuersall motion of all the spheres by reason of the foresaid heauines thereof and subtilitie of the other elements which are about it and againe bicause it is of insensible quantitie in respect of the whole world as being the point and center thereof being also vnmooueable to the end that the motion of the heauens might thereby bee discerned and that which dependeth thereupon Immobility of the earth And as the seate of the elementarie fire doth not extend beyond the fire and as that of the water is in the place of water and that of the aire where the aire should be so the earth can retaine no place but in it selfe bicause that the other elements cannot suffer it to rest vpon them Which causeth that it remaineth hanged amongst them not being able to fall nor decline more towards one place then another Wherfore also it is made habitable in euery part except it be by accident The earth habitable throughout so that men are therefore Antipodes one to another that is going feete against feete hauing neuertheles all of them their heads towards heauen and meeting each of them in the midst of the earth Now that it is iustly situate in the midst of the vniuers one may see by experience of the daies and nights which are equall throughout the whole earth so often as the sunne is in the midst of heauen betwixt the poles of the worlde as also by the augmentations and diminutions of the same daies and nights regularly proportioned one to another as we haue demōstrated in our precedent discourses vpon the celestiall spheres and likewise by the eclipses of the moone by the inclination of shadowes which at noontide are one proportionable to another as well on the meridionall as on the septentrionall part That the earth is round Moreouer there is no doubt but the earth togither with the whole element of water which is spread abroad and dispersed in diuers armes and portions
about it is of a round and circular figure in all parts for as for the mountaines valleies they are insensible in regard of the whole globe of earth The roundnes whereof doth euidently declare it selfe by the shadow thereof which sheweth it selfe in the eclipses of the moone to be round for it could not seeme so if the earth were not also of the same forme Moreouer the diuers and certaine supputation that Astronomers calculate concerning the times of the eclipses of the moone according as the places are more orientall or more occidentall doth manifestly conclude the same round forme so also doth the natural inclination of all the parts of the earth and of the water who stil tend downe declining to a lower place and this common descent of euerie part causeth this round figure The earth is of insensible quantitie Consequently it is to be noted that this earthly frame although it be in it selfe of maruellous greatnes yet is it of verie little and insensible quantitie in regard and comparison not onely of all the firmament but also of the sphere of the sunne the same earth being but as a point in the middest of the whole world which is apparantly demonstrated by the foresaid equalities of the daies and nights and by the obseruations of the courses of the celestiall bodies and chiefly of the sunne taken here below by instruments fit for such effects in such maner as if one were in the center of the world For in a little space that one may passe here vpon the earth proceeding from one place to another the view and disposition of heauen doth change and varie notably And in an open plaine place wherein one may stand vpon the earth or be in the sea they may alwaies discouer the one halfe of heauen All which things declare as we haue said that the earth and the water make a round globe which is but as a point and center in regard of the vniuersall world So much for the situation immobilitie figure That the earth onely meriteth the title of a mother and quantitie of the earth which onely aboue all other elements hath merited the title of a mother by reason of the great good which it affoordeth to all breathing liuing creatures For this gentle mother receiueth vs when we are borne shee nourisheth vs being borne she maintaineth and sustaineth vs being nourished and finally when the other elements refuse and leaue vs she receiueth vs into her bosome and couereth vs hauing as it were a perpetuall care of vs. Moreouer she riseth not vp against man as other creatures doe For the water conuerts it selfe into raine snowe and haile it swelleth in surges and waues and ouerfloweth all with flouds the aire thickeneth and ladeth it selfe with cloudes out of which proceede stormes and tempests and the fire is often cause of strange calamities vpon earth But this gentle and debonaire mother maketh hir selfe as a slaue to serue for all the commodities of man For how many things doe we cause hir to beare by force and how many things doth she bestowe of hir owne goodwill What odours and perfumes what sauours what iuices what and how many sorts of colours With what exchaunge and interest doth shee restore that which is lent hir How many sundry things doth shee nourish for man What quantitie of pretious mettals doth shee conceiue and keepe in hir entrailes for his vse Of two kindes of earth And therefore it seemeth that the earth subsisteth not of one onely kinde and indeede Aristotle diuideth it into two the one fossible which may bee digged and the other transmutable which may change qualitie For the fossible earth it doth alwaies remaine the same and is very earth but the transmutable remaineth not the same in kinde and in view for it conuerteth it selfe into mettall or into iuice or into some other matter But before wee doe proceede vnto the consideration of so many admirable effectes produced by the earth wee may now here beholde that we haue summarily set downe particulars enough wherin we may learne to acknowledge the infinite power wisedome and bountie of God the creator Testimonies of the power of God Isay 6. and how according to the testimonie of the angels all the earth is full of his glorie For first of all is not this a great woonder that the earth which is so huge a masse and the heauiest element of all the rest should be hanged in the aire in the midst of the world being so counterpoised that it sustaineth as one may say all the other elements and that it is inuironed by them and by all the other spheres and celestiall bodies it remaining firme for euer not moouing from the place thereof For where are the columnes and the pillers which beare and sustaine it and vpon what foundation are they founded And therefore it is not without cause â—ob 38. that the Lord saith to Iob minding to cause him to acknowledge his power maiestie where wast thou when I laide the foundations of the earth declare if thou hast vnderstanding who hath laide the measure thereof if thou knowest Or who hath stretched the line ouer it to wit to signe and marke out the foundations thereof whereupon are the foundations thereof set Or who hath laid the corner stone thereof And afterwards he addeth It is turned as clay to fashion Wherein it seemeth that he had reference to that that he created the earth as all this great visible world in round forme because it is the most capable of all formes that may be Behold then the testimonie that God himselfe deliuereth to Iob his seruant of the admirable creation of the earth Psal 104. And to the same purpose the kingly prophet saith that God did forme the earth vpon the bases therof that is to say vpon firme foundations so that it shall neuer mooue But what may we say then to the motions and tremblings of the earth which haue euer been knowne and are ordinarily seene This might seeme repugnant to that which Dauid here speaketh and to that which we haue deliuered concerning the immobilitie and firmenes of the earth And therefore mine aduise is that pursuing this discourse we should consider the causes of such tremblings to the end that we may know how that the earth faileth not to remaine euer firme though such shakings happen in some parts thereof which ACHITOB let vs heare of you Of earth-quakes Chap. 56. ACHITOB. FOrasmuch as the earth is not onely heauie by nature but euen the heauiest of all elements and is heaped vp and compacted togither in the midst of the great vniuersall world as the point and center thereof it therefore followeth that it is immooueable and without any naturall motion For if it had any as the other elements haue it is certaine that it must be downwards But bicause that God hath placed the earth in the midst of all his works towards which all heauy
by winde and such like Whereto we will adde also this opinion of those who attribute the cause of such motions and tremblings either to the drinesse of the earth which is the occasion that it cleaueth and chappeth and by this meanes giues open way to the aire and to the windes which penetrate thereinto or else bicause of the older age thereof to which they esteeme all creatures subiect whereupon it happeneth to it as to old buildings which being ruinous and almost rotten doe fall downe in some places of themselues These are the diuers opinions of men vpon this matter wherin if we desire to take a very short and sure way to attaine to the true cause wee must referre it to the wrath and iudgements of God bicause that what causes soeuer the learned can inuent the Eternall sheweth himselfe very powerful The true cause of earthquakes and the profit that wee may reape thereby and to be feared therein considering that he hath disposed all of them and that they all depend vpon him alone And surely this is a worke of the omnipotent woorthie to be woondred at and which may well cause men to mooue and tremble before his maiestie For if he shewe himselfe terrible and fearefull by deluges of water by haile thunder lightning stormes and tempests he doth no lesse by the motions and shakings of the earth which are in regarde thereof as thunders are in the aire For seeing that the earth is as the foot of the world and that it is assigned to men for their habitation whither is it that they may haue recourse if it quake vnder them and faile to sustaine them Whither shall they retire if she will allow them no more dwelling in hir but will spue them out as the scripture saith For if it be hard for them to flie before fire Leuit. 19. and before water and to finde harbour against windes thunders and tempests whither shall they flie if the earth will not receiue nor beare them And what dread may inuade them when sometimes it quaketh in such sort that it openeth and is swallowed vp as into a bottomlesse pitte as it came to passe when it swallowed Corah Dathan and Abiram and their families Nom. 16. Who will not bee astonished when it riseth vp ouerturning all euen the highest mountaines and hardest rockes and mooueth it selfe in such sort that it maketh houses and buildings dance like rammes and sheepe that would one butte at another wherewith many are vtterly destroied Examples of meruailous earth quakes as it happened in the yeere 1531. in the realme of Portugall which was so shaken by an earth-quake that at Lisbone the chiefe citie thereof there were ouerthrown almost twelue hundred houses besides a great number of others which were greatly spoiled This horrible earthquake continued the space of eight daies and gaue verie furious assaults fiue or sixe times a day And in the time of the Emperour Tiberius twelue cities in Asia were quite ruinated in one night by an earth-quake And Iosephus recordeth that by another Lib. 1 de bello Iud. thirtie thousand Iewes died So Iustine recounteth that by another earth-quake many cities were destroyed an hundred and seuentie thousand persons perished in the raigne of Tigranes in Armenia What causes then soeuer there may be in nature of so many terrible euents yet we must alwaies haue recourse to the Author and Gouernour thereof without whom it can performe nothing and he it is Psal 135. that bringeth earth-quakes out of his treasures as he doth the winds either by his commaundement without a meanes or by his ministers ordayned thereto or else by some power infused into things the which may according to his good pleasure display it selfe in effect to denounce his iudgments on men For he it is of whom the prophet speaketh The earth trembled and shaked and the foundations of the mountaines were mooued and quaked 2. Sam. 22. Psal 18. and the foundations of heauen were bowed and trembled because he was angrie Wherefore wee may verie well conclude Isay 66. Matth. 5. Acts. 7. that as God declareth his magnificence and woonderfull glorie in heauen which is assigned to bee his seat as his word teacheth vs and as we haue heretofore amply discoursed so likewise he doth manifest it no lesse in the earth which is his footstoole when he causeth it to shake and remooue as if being supprised with some great strong feuer it shooke trembled before him Iob. 9. And therefore Iob also saith The Eternall is wise in heart and mightie in strength who hath beene fierce against him and hath prospered He remooueth mountaines and they feele not when he ouerthroweth them in his wrath He remooueth the earth out of her place that the pillers thereof do shake Iob. 26. the pillers of heauen tremble and quake at his reproofe But now let vs note that all that which we haue here deliuered disprooueth not the earth to remaine alwaies firme immooueable in it selfe in so much as it mooueth not out of the place which was appointed to it by God neither doth it swerue neuer so little considering that the moouings and tremblings are not vniuersall but particular onely in some places in such sort that the foundations thereof are not any whit altered And if we consider well of these things the Earth will serue no lesse for a preacher vnto vs then the aire and the fire yea then all heauen to denounce vnto vs the soueraigne maiestie of the Almightie ruling aboue all his workes as I hope to morrow we may haue goodly testimonies entreating of the water which is dispersed throughout the earth and afterwards speaking of the excellent commodities and pretious riches that these two elements doe yeeld to men into which matter you ASER shall enter with your dicourse The end of the seuenth day THE EIGHT DAIES WORKE Of the sea and of the waters and of the diuision and distribution of them throughout the earth Chap. 57. ASER. THE holy Scripture doth certifie vs how that in the beginning the earth was couered ouer with water and that it appeered not in any sort but onely vnder the forme of a great deepe till such time as God commaunded the waters to retire into the channels and places which hee had prepared for their aboade So that then the earth was discouered euen so much therof as was needfull for the habitation and nourishment of men and beasts But this soueraigne creator of the Vniuers would not haue the waters to be gathered all into one place and not to haue their course through the earth but prouiding for euerie commoditie for his creatures he ordained that out of the great Ocean sea which is as the great bodie of the waters there should issue diuers armes and members by meanes whereof we haue the Mediterran seas out of which againe proceed many other waters as lakes flouds riuers and brookes For although that all
chap. 73 Page 336 Of celandine cammocke wormwood hyssop sage and mints chapter 74 Page 340 Of thyme sauorie marierom rue parsley and fennell chap. 75 Page 344 Of rosemarie camomill the lillie baulme of grasse or dogs-tooth and of pimpernell chap. 76 Page 348 Of night-shade alkakeng pellitorie of the wall fumitorie angelica and of maidens-haire chap. 77 Page 352 Of rheubarb licorice aloês sene saffron and centurie chap. 78 Page 357 Of wheat rie barley and oates and of rice and millet chap. 79 Page 361 Of the vine of grapes of wine and of Aqua-vitae chap. 80 The eleuenth daies worke Page 366 OF terrestriall beasts and especially of serpents namely of the aspis or adder and of the viper chap. 81 Page 370 Of Bees and of their honie waxe and of silke-wormes cha 82 Page 373 Of the dog and of the horse chap. 83 Page 378 Of the elephant and of the camell and of the rhinoceros chap. 84 Page 382 Of the lyon of the tygre and of the panther chap. 85 Page 386 Of the woolfe of the beare and of the ape chap. 86 Page 390 Of the hart of the wilde bore and of the vnicorne chap 87 Page 394 Of the ciuet muskat of the castoreum of the ottar cha 88 Page 397 Of the right vse of venemous creatures and wilde beasts and of the iustice and bountie of God which shineth in them chap. 89 Page 401 Of the nourishment of many creatures by that which is poison to others and of the naturall amitie and enimitie which is betweene them chapter 90 Page 404 Of the profit which redoundeth to men by beasts and chiefly by tame and priuate beasts and of the wondrous prouidence of God which shineth in them chap. 91 Page 407 Of the blessing and prouidence of God in the multiplication and conseruation of those beasts that are most profitable for men and with which they are most serued chap 92 The twelfth daies worke Page 411 OF mettals and chiefly of gold chap. 93 Page 415 Of siluer amber iron lead brasse and copper chapter 94 Page 418 Of precious stones and namely of the diamond chap. 95 Page 422 Of the emeraud of the carbuncle or rubie of the saphir of the Iacinth and of the amethyst chap. 96 Page 425 Of the Chrysolite of the Topaze of the opall of the turkesse and of the agath chap. 97 Page 428 Of pearle corall and chrystall chap. 98 Page 432 Of the instructions that men may take in that gold and siluer are hidden vnder ground and of the vse and abuse of them and of precious stones chap. 99 Page 436 Of the doctrine and profit that euerie one must and may receiue of the whole worke of God in heauen and in earth thereby to acknowledge and glorifie him chap. 100 Par la priere Dieu m'ayde THE FORESPEECH OF the Academicke speakers in the discourses following Of Heauen and Earth ASER felicitie AMANA truth ARAM highnes ACHITOB brother of goodnes ASER. IT is time companions that we quit our selues of the promise which wee made one to another in the entrance of our discourses concerning man to recreate our mindes sometimes if God thereto gaue grace in the faire and spatious fields of the * Or whole world Vniuers by a diligent search and attentiue consideration of all nature to the ende thereby the better to acknowledge the soueraigne author thereof and to induce vs the more to honor him who is the foundation whereupon we began at first to build still desire to raise vp our Academie For seeing the knowledge of God tending to his seruice is the principall outte of our being and of all our actions and that his infinite essence cannot make it selfe to be comprehended woorthily and according to his greatnes by the feeblenes of mans vnderstanding it behooueth vs carefully to meditate vpon his workes for so much as in them the great Architect of the world hath imprinted certaine marks of his glorie sufficient to giue vs so much knowledge of his high Maiestie and of that wherein he requireth vs to honour him as our condition can beare and according as is altogither necessarie for the health and repose of our soules Now we consider of the worke of God principally in two things yea and to them we may easily refer all the discourse concerning this matter to wit in the creation conducting and gouernment of his creatures and in the mysterie of Redemption which it hath pleased him to vouchsafe on mankinde As then in the processe of our Academie where wee haue amply entreated of the little world which is Man we haue begun to instruct our selues concerning the chiefest of his workes so now I desire that wee may prosecute this goodly matter of the creation and being of the great world if you companions will answere me with the same affection And if we may obtaine so much fauour of our God that being well instructed in his schoole of wisedome and guided by his holy spirit we may dare to speake and what may we not dare in seeking his glorie of the incomprehensible secret of his worke for the health of man we will assay to accomplish our worke and rest our selues on this point AMANA For as much as the world is a shadow of the brightnes of God and like a great booke of Nature and naturall Theologie and that all creatures contayned in the Vniuers are like so many preachers and generall witnesses of the glorie of the creatour as all the learned teach we must diligently settle our vnderstanding to the contemplation of this shadow of the diuine brightnes and our eies to the reading of this booke of Nature and our eares to heare these naturall preachers which teach vs to acknowledge God his prouidence aboue all things else to the end to glorifie him as his bounty doth bind vs. We know also the great reasons which inuite vs to this natural search of all things namely the impietie of our age as we haue declared in the fore-speech of the second Tome of our works shewing that the world is of it selfe sufficient to vanquish all Atheisme there being nothing in the Vniuers either so great or small but from step to step doth direct man to acknowledgment of a diuinitie Which will appeere more manifest vnto vs if we entreat of the so great varietie of creatures Boldly then companions let vs prosecute our purpose If the enterprise be difficult and too high for vs to attaine to the summe thereof yet to approch to things excellent is alwaies very laudable ARAM. Many blame discourses which are made of heauen for that they be feeble and very slender beeing compared to the beautie and importance of the thing it selfe And indeede I must confesse that all that can bee spoken of the world accordeth therewith as it is in it selfe no more then the portraiture of the Romane common wealth vpon the shield of Aeneas could meetly represent the greatnes and maiestie of
the acts and power of this Empire But howsoeuer it be wee haue in the doctrine of the spheres most excellent principles and grounds which prepare men to the knowledge of nature and the author thereof yea which aduance them if they can apply this studie to his proper ende in the vnderstanding of the secrets wisdome and prouidence of God so far as the mind of man can pierce thereinto Let vs then companions direct our sight straight towards the place which wee must apprehend to be blessed to wit towards heauen and let vs especially regard God in his workes as the onely limit whereto we shall and must once attaine ACHITOB. The orderly motions of the heauens the goodly workemanship of so many starry pauilions disposed one aboue the other without any inter-annoiāce in their course the accord agreement power vertue and beautie of the elements the situation stabilitie and largenes of the earth in midst of the waters which continually threaten it and yet drowne it not and so many diuers natures and creatures which are which liue which haue sense and vnderstanding in this whole great Vniuers and serue each one in his place all these things I say are like so many interpreters to teach vs God as their onely efficient cause and to manifest him vnto vs in them and by them as their finall cause Therefore pursuing our first intent sufficiently declared in the beginning of our Academick discourse and according to the processe of the talke by vs obserued in our description of the naturall history of the Microcosme or little world let vs here make companions as it were another history of the Macrocosme or great world first entreating of the creation of the world then of the diuision of the same afterwards of the orders of the spheres of their substance natures and motions of the influences and effects of their planets consequently of the elements and lastly of euery essence and creature therein contained not by a particular description of their kindes which would amount to a work almost infinite but onely of the principall of each sort and so much as wee shall hold sufficient to induce euery one of vs and of those which will deigne to heare vs to consider and highly to praise the wisedome of the father and moderator of all these things in the creation conduction gouernance and end of them and by the vnion of their parts with the whole and among themselues we haue enough to refer the euent of our purpose to their beginning and principall scope which is to know God and his prouidence to the end to glorifie him Declare then vnto vs ASER that which you haue learned of the creation of heauen and earth THE FIRST DAIES WORKE OF THE THIRD TOME OF THE FRENCH Academie Of Heauen and Earth Of the creation of Heauen and Earth Chapter 1. ASER. IF all men guided by reason as Plato very wel said haue a custome to inuocate on God in the beginning of their worke In Tim. whether it be great or little how much more conuenient is it that desiring to dispute of the Vniuers if wee retaine any iudgement at all we should call God to our aide It is very difficult to speake as is requisite of the celestiall bodies and of so many diuers motions as they haue and yet not one hinder another but it is a much more high and intricate matter to finde out the workman and father of all this great world And when we shall haue found him it is altogether impossible vulgarly to expresse the cause reason of his works For though as it is the glorie and infinite wisedome of God shineth in this admirable construction of heauen and earth yet our capacitie is too too smal to comprise so great profound effects so much it wanteth that the toong may bee able to make a full and entire declaration thereof And we cannot hold disputation or argument vpon that which doth not offer it selfe vnto our sense and proper reason as is the creation of the world For therein haue we that woonderfull Architect whom Hermes called the great infinite sphere intellectual whose center is all that which is throughout the world created who performing his worke and giuing motion to all the celestiall bodies doth himselfe continue stable Now that which mouing is not it selfe moued surpasseth al discourses speculations humane and philosophicall and appertaineth to a diuine knowledge the which we ought to impetrate through praiers by reuelation of the holy Spirit euen in such sort as all things naturall are inuented and comprehended by reason demonstration and all morall are obtained by arte and vse Praier to God Then of the soueraigne and true God with his eternal Word and holy Spirit which three are one essence one God in Trinitie of persons Exod. 3. whose name is I will be that I will be or I am that I am Almightie Eternall Creator and gouernor of euery soule and bodie in contemplation of whom consisteth the onely good the true felicitie and blessednes of man whom he himselfe hath created to attaine thereunto a liuing creature reasonable by the gift of vnderstanding and free-will Who being iust permitteth not his creature made according to his owne image to remaine vnpunished hauing sinned and being merciful hath not left him without grace who hath giuen both to the good and euill an essence with the stones a life vegetatiue and full of seede with the plants a life sensuall with the beasts and a life intellectuall with the Angels from whom proceedeth all gouernance all goodlines and all order by whom all that is naturall euen from the highest of heauen to the center of the earth doth subsist of whom are the seedes of formes the formes of seedes the mouings of seedes and of formes who being good hath not left regardlesse not onely the sphericall and elementarie world or else the Angels and man but euen the entrailes of the most small and contemptible amongst creatures neither the lightest feather of the birds nor the least flower of the herbe nor leafe of the tree engrauing in each of all these things the workes of his omnipotencie certaine signes of his glorie and maiestie by the couenant and accord of euery of their parts and as it were by I wot not what manner of peace Of him I say father and moderator of all that which is which liueth which hath sense and vnderstandeth let vs request Companions that with the light of his wisedome he will illuminate our vnderstandings and by his holy spirit direct and gouerne our words meetely to discourse of according as mans power is able the works of his al-mighty hand in heauen and in earth according as our intent is The beginning of euerie thing whatsoeuer is of such waight and importance that on the knowledge of the same dependeth all the science thereof for it is impossible that a man can be skilfull in any thing if he be ignorant
builded and the very Idea thereof was contained in it by which this great architect when it pleased him performed his outward worke as saint Augustine verie learnedly discourseth in a long treatise vpon this text of Scripture All things were made by the word Iohn 1. and in it was life c. And thereby we learne that God almightie the vnit from which all number proceedeth and whereto all multitude referreth it selfe did increase himselfe in himselfe before he communicated his vnitie with creatures engendring one eternitie and by an alone vnique action neuer disturbed his linage full of vnderstanding the very image of the father his worde the perfect patterne of the worlde and his loue and power the holie Ghost which allieth the vnderstanding with the thought three persons in one essence and substance Afterward this Godhead though in it selfe it was soueraigne good not hauing neede of any strange thing yet woulde he according to his owne bountie in him consisting produce the outward worke of the worlde whereinto spreading himselfe by a kinde of processe of well ordered degrees and disposing through admirable workmanship the harmonicall formes of the heauens the angels and men by him created to be made partakers of felicitie contemplating these maruailes were rauished and carried away with meditation of spirituall things and by the beautie of his workes and ornament of his creatures haue learned to acknowledge the father of this Vniuers Who moreouer performed not so great a worke in such manner as mortall men accustome to labour who cannot do any businesse themselues if they haue not stuffe and tooles fit for it nay and then cannot do it according to their desire But God created all of nothing without helpe without counsell That God made all of nothing by himselfe by his worde by the power of his holie spirit in such time and manner as he hath pleased of his owne franke and free will Therefore it is written He spake and it was done Psalm 33. Psal 135. Ierem. 31. he commanded and the worlde was created Also The Lorde hath done whatsoeuer he pleased in heauen and in earth and in all the depths And againe Oh eternall Lord behold thou hast made heauen and earth by thy great power and by thy stretched out arme nothing is impossible to thee Briefly holy writings are filled with texts to this purpose which giue vs certaine testimonie that the works of God are not subiect to any other cause then to his only omnipotent will and that thereby the worde being spoken those things which were not haue beene created as well the substance as the fashion of them and also the worde Creation doth properly import so much according to the stile of holie-writ Beholde then summarily that which we learne of the originall of the worlde we will consequently consider as neere as may be of this notable and excellent doctrine and of certaine arguments which some vse to the contrarie Wherefore AMANA if you thinke good you shall frame the subiect of your discourse vpon the time wherein this Vniuers began to be builded Of Time which tooke beginning with the World Chapter 2. AMANA THe matter which we entreate of Hierom. in prolog Galâ—â— Auâ—ust 〈…〉 vpon Genesâ—â— hath alwaies beene accounted of the Sages to be of such depth and profunditie that it was ordered amongst the ancient Hebrewes that any who had not attained to ripe age good yeeres might not meddle with the creation Of this prohibition doth S. Hierome make mention And therefore Saint Augustine vpon Genesis searching out the deepe secrets hidden vnder the vaile of simple words therein contained speaketh to the Reader in this manner Comprehend this if thou canst if not not leaue it to them which are more learned But make profite of the Scripture which abandoneth not thy weaknesse but like a mother steppeth foote by foote an easie pace with thee For it speaketh in such sort that in height it scorneth the proude in depth it astonisheth those which are attentiue to it It feedeth the great with truth and nourisheth the small ones with milde and familiar discourse And in truth in each part of Moses writings the treasures of all Philosophie are by him discouered like as if they were closely hidden in some field chiefly in this place which we haue intended to entreat of touching the creation For of deliberate purpose he argueth in Philosophie of the originall of all things of God of the degree number and order of the parts of this great world We neuerthelesse hauing confidence in this saying of the Psalmist Psal 119. That the word of God doth illuminate and giue vnderstanding to the simple and that it serueth for a light to our pathes we may be bolde to touch so loftie a point But before we proceed to consider of the precious treasures and learned doctrine wherewith the sacred sayings of the prophet touching the creation are replenished it will be good that we discourse a little of the principall arguments whereupon manie better Philosophers then good Christians haue obiected against this doctrine of framing of the world And I will willingly begin with this old question of the Epicure Why God made the world in the time that Moses declareth which the atheists of our time haue renewed to wit Why in the time that Moses recordeth it pleased the eternal God to create heauen and earth which he had not made before If they which say thus woulde thereby inferre that the worlde hath beene eternall without any beginning and for that cause it seemeth to them that God made it not they are too farre wide of the truth and sicke of the mortall disease of impietie For besides the manifold tellings and propheticall testimonies which make the creation of heauen and earth vndoubtable euen the world it selfe by his motion and well ordered changing the gorgeous shew of all things visible therein contained not speaking one word do after a sort cry out that it was made that it could be no otherwise formed then by God who is ineffablie inuisibly glorious For it is not to be supposed that a thing of most exquisite order reason should haue bin made by chance that a deed most soueraigne could haue any other father then soueraigne nor so goodly a worke anie other architect then one essentially goodly And therefore all the schooles of those Philosophers which haue had any whit of diuine sense affirme with one consent that there is nothing which more prooueth that God hath made the world and that it is gouerned by his care prouidence then the only beholding of the whole world and consideration of the beautie and order thereof But see heere what imagination not grounded on sense putteth into the mouthes of many What did God say they before he created the world why staide he till then or why staide he not a little longer In these and such like doubts they inwrap themselues making
in the primitiue production free from all lawes of nature whereto by right the prince thereof is not obliged And we agree also that euery thing which is produced must first be included in some other power before it be effected but we say that naturall things remained first in the matter and the world and diuersitie of substances were comprised in the Ideas or exemplaries resident euerlastingly in God And so doe the Platonists maintaine who mounting much higher then the Peripateticks agree with that which Saint Iohn saith Iohn 1. That all things were made by the word and that in it was life which brought foorth all things and that in it the world before was by power comprised Wherefore these be no dreames as Aristotle calleth them but the Ideas of Plato but those are sighted like the bat who see not the things most manifest in nature thereby to acknowledge the author of nature And to the end that we loosen the strongest knot of their arguments to wit Nullitie of the argument Nothing of nothing can be made That of nothing nothing is created I would desire them to expound me their sentence bicause it is doubtfull and ambiguous for if the sense be thus that of nothing by arte or nature nothing is made bicause they require the matter whereupon to worke we willingly accord But what is this to purpose concerning the supreme and almightie architect whom nature doth follow after as farre as arte doth nature as all philosophers confesse For according as the naturall agent bounded and subiect to motion time and succession is lesse and more disable in essence so is it lesse in performance then he who is free and at libertie from all lawes of nature But if they meane that of nothing to wit after it hath no being nothing is created then haue they left it to this present to discusse and to all posteritie for euer Wherefore we haue a spacious field to denie them that which is neither prooued nor euident in it selfe If they inferre that this nothing reiecteth all manner of causes then we consent to them in this point But in the creation or generation of the world we presuppose as truth requireth a working and soueraigne cause who in the infinite vertue of it selfe containeth the matter subiect and fashion to bestow the meanes the disposing qualities and all that which is requisite to reduce and bring to perfection any busines Behold then how all these arguments conclude nothing against the doctrine of the worlds creation no more these other reasons deriued from the motions and their bounds which the Peripateticks doe farther induce against the same as pursuing this matter ACHITOB we may heare of you Of the Reasons taken from motion and the moouing Intelligences against the Genesis of the world and of the nullitie of them Chapter 4. ACHITOB THE Peripateticks whereof now adaies manie may be found perseuering in their naturall speculations Nullitie of the argument of materiall generations in respect of the diuine peece of worke and considering that motion consisteth in that which is mooued or ingendred or else in the subiect of transmutation and because no substance did precede the primitiue production of the world thereupon they conclude that it was neuer created But it is no maruell if they be greatly abused seeing they would neuer swarue from their sense and sensible things whereof no pure and sincere truth can be gathered because that by them or by the reasons on them founded we cannot attaine to the knowledge of diuine mysteries which are intellectuall farre remote from any substance moouing succession or other sensiblenes And therefore they much deceiue themselues when they in such sort argue of these grosse material generations comparing them with the diuine master peece of worke which surpasseth all meanes of nature They maintaine that all direct or forward motion cannot be perpetuall because it requireth infinit space which nature is not able to endure but circular motion because it passeth nothing infinit may be perpetuall Now in eternall things the consequence is good from the power to the being One may then say they thereby assure himselfe of the eternitie of the world But see a goodly reason to presuppose that to be perpetuall and infinite which they pretend to prooue Auerrois proceedeth farther and saith that it is impossible for the world to haue had any other disposition then such as at this present it hath and that being exempt from all contrarietie it followeth that in no wise it is corruptible and therefore was not engendred But who reuealed vnto him that which he supposeth of the state of the world With what measure pretendeth he to meat out the puissance of the soueraigne workeman Other vaine arguments of Philosophers By what authoritie dares he limite out the power of the infinite so that hee may not destroy and builde vp at his good pleasure I say then that the passing away of heauen hath another kinde of bound and limit then the earth and the very rest it selfe whereto as with one minde all Philosophers teach all motion doth tend All motion tends to a rest But forasmuch as motion begetteth time and time it selfe is the measure of motion thereby it commeth that forging their arguments vpon one part of time they misse and faile in reason when they dispute thus If the world was not before it tooke beginning seeing this before is an appendix of time then it followeth that time shoulde precede motion which is his cause and progenitor Again they say In euery instant and moment assigned is the beginning of time to come and the end of time past then time hath beene before this first instant and consequently motion and the world But the cause of these errors proceedeth from the misunderstanding of words when they woulde barre that this worde before should signifie any thing else then some part of time For as well in the diuine as prophane writings of all authors who can speake fitly and properly we may finde that this particle before signifieth more then a part of time for sometimes it denoteth the extreme as is said in the Prouerbes Prou. 8. The Lord hath possessed me in the beginning of his way before he created any thing I haue had principalitie from euerlasting Eccles 24.12 and before the earth And in Ecclesiasticus He created me from the beginning and before the world Ouid himselfe in his Metamorphosis vseth this manner of speech Before the sea the earth and heauen which couereth all things though that being of a fine and subtile spirite he was not ignorant that time slideth away by reason of the turning of heauen Moreouer this worde Ante signifieth amongst the Latins the highest degree whereof is deriued Antistes he which is principall and cheefe among others Sith therefore this particle before hath diuers significations why will our Peripateticks restraine it to denote any other thing but onely a portion of time
Would they not grant me this that by a certaine order the matter was before the forme and yet preceded it not in time So is it that God was before the world by a certaine order of eternitie What they farther inferre That the instant is the end of time past and the beginning of time to come Of the point as instant We answere them that as the point is to things continued so is the instant to things succeeding Now the point is sometime the extreme of one part of a line and the beginning of another part and sometimes also it is the beginning of the whole line and not the end of any part precedent So the instant and moment wherein the world had being was the beginning of the time to ensue and not the end of any past They adde another argument against this doctrine That say they which passeth on hath something both before and after it But I le proceede farther and grant them more to wit that all that which passeth on returneth to the same point from whence it began to passe For the water returneth to the sea from whence it had an originall The bodie returneth to the earth from whence it was borrowed The soule Al things returne to God and other intellectuall things created of God I except that which the Scripture teacheth vs of the reprobate returne to himselfe of whom they were engendred And all essences produced from the diuine thought make a full circle beginning in God and finishing in God himselfe So must time returne into the same eternitie whereout it proceeded and which shall remaine this same ceasing in such sort as it consisted before it And therefore we answere those who demaund how the creator coulde precede the fabrication of the world that hee proceeded it by an eternall enduring Wherefore they conclude iust nothing against the Creation of that which then was and is after the generation of things Others which reason vpon the point which we haue deliuered concerning the opinion of Auerrois that the world is not corruptible therefore not engendred argue thus That which is dissolued into another thing is diuided but considering that beside the world there is nothing into which it can be dissolued it must therefore endure euerlastingly To which we may answere them How the world is dissolued that the world is dissolued according to his parts to the ende that it may remaine in a better estate But now we dispute not of the dissolution but onely of the originall thereof And it may seeme nothing contrarie to Christian religion that the worke of God may alwaies haue a being but farre otherwise then as we see it and which shall be then when we most blessed shall inhabite the new heauens and new earth in life euerlasting And herein doe we concurre with sundrie great Philosophers who esteeme that it is ill done to suppose that those things which immediately proceed from the blessed God can perish And therefore we affirme that the soule is immortall because it was produced and inspired by God and that the bodie it selfe shall obtaine eternitie when afterwards in the resurrection it shall be reuested with the nature of the soule which subiect we haue amply discoursed vpon in the second part of our Academie But it is ill-concluded to take away all beginning from things by reason of the perpetuall enduring of the same The opinion of diuers is that the celestiall spirits mooâ—e the spheres For as we haue declared it were to argue by naturall generations of the diuine masterpeece of worke which surpasseth all sensible consideration And sith we are in this talke of the enduring of the world we may further note that those who haue thereupon imagined to take away the originall thereof haue taught that the spirits moouing the spheres should obtaine felicitie in the eternall recourse of the heauens which point Aristotle enforceth himselfe to demonstrate in his most loftie part of Philosophie where repeating diuers considerations more loftie then in any other place he sharply contendeth for this eternitie of the world And Iohn Lescot seemeth to graunt him more then he requireth when he saith that the spirits are blessed not only moouing the spheres but for so much as by such reuolution seruing God they communicate perfection to things here beneath To which agreeth that which Plotin entreating of heauen and of the soule of the world saith It is an absurd thing and discordant to suppose that that soule which did for a time containe the heauen should not alwaies do the same as if by violence it had contained it And thereupon he coÌ„cludeth that the world should endure for euer because the principall part of the soule thereof cannot be dissolued nor the nature thereof empaire Aristotle also amongst his other considerations inserteth this That the prince of this worldly palace being eternall not receiuing any vicissitude or chaunging it is most likely that his palace should also be eternall and that his ministers or celestiall spirits being altogither addicted to perpetuall motion should neuer take rest But that we may vntie this knot we will say that it is an error of comparison to argue of that which hath his beginning immediately from God in respect of the creator and of that which is here below in regard of things aboue and of the immediate ende of euerie thing in comparison of his last ende For the immediate end of vnreasonable creatures is to liue Of the sundrie ends of all thingâ— and feede themselues but their finall ende is to serue mans vse which according to the minde of sundrie wisemen is the ende of all things here below And the immediate ende of man is to gouerne his house and family or the common-wealth to contemplate trafficke and such like businesses but his latest ende is to attaine to God or to felicitie be it as one would say through a Stoicall vertue or by a Peripateticke contemplation or by Academicke purifying or which is most certaine true through faith and grace according as our religion doth import And also wee affirme that the immediate ende of the spirits separated from God and of the corruptible matter is to gouerne the heauens and men and such other things as haue beene committed to their charge But their last ende is their onely contemplation of that first essence from which they deriue their felicitie as Aristotle himselfe testifieth in his Ethickes Suppose then that they cease to mooue from their immediate end yet shall they neuer cease to be blessed no more then man shall be lesse happie when he shall cease to gouerne the common-wealth or to performe his other temporall businesses And certainely it is maruellous that any can thinke that the Angels and celestiall spirits should obtaine their happines by moouing the heauens continually about seeing that all moouings as the Philosophers teach do tend to a resting But none can say that the spirits shall not cease
eternall incorruptible which mooue them in an infinitenes and through an infinitenes that is emptines which bodies are in number infinite with these two qualities forme and greatnes and that by a chance of aduenture without constraint of any nature heauen and earth of them were composed Hipparchus Metapontine and Heraclitus the Ephesian said that fire was the vnick beginning bicause it is the subtile maintainer and sustainer of all bodies and whereof at first the heauens were made And bicause it is a brightnes that mooueth all things by his light they teach that in abasing it selfe it was mixed with all things in such sort that all things were thereof engendred by the meanes of discord and loue Empedocles for feare of failing said that all the fower elements had beene the onely beginning but that the earth was the matter and first subiect of all containing the formes and figures of things which neither the water aire nor fire could doe The Poets following his opinion attributed the originall of things to etherian Iupiter terrene Pluto aërian Iuno and to Mestis the beginning of the water who they said nourished with her teares the riuers of the earth Pythagoras mounting higher then many deeme esteemed that numbers and their subiect that is the measures and apt proportions called harmonies and consonancies were the originall of things not those numbers which marchants vse but the formall and naturall the knowledge of which lies onely hidden in such as haue learned Philosophie and Theologie by numbers Almeon followeth Pythagoras saying that the vnity was the effectiue beginning but the two or binarie not finite was the subiect and materiall beginning of all multitude Epicurus in his Philosophie pursuing the steps of Democritus teacheth the beginnings of things to be corporal solide not created perceiued by vnderstanding onely eternall that coulde not be corrupted nor destroied nor changed in any sort To which prime causes beside the forme and greatnes which his master assigned them he also attributeth waight Socrates and Plato set three principals God the matter and the Idea Aristotle affirmed for the first Entelechie or the kinde the matter and priuation although he had otherwhere taught the equiuocations as is priuation not to be numbred among the principles Zenon appointeth for the first God and the matter so that he is the actiue and it the passiue the fower elements meanes betweene But on this point wee may note that amongst all those which haue taught that the matter was the principall subiect we haue one alone who telleth vs whether it hath beene created by the blessed God or whether this nature pliable and depriued of all beawty togither with God hath made the world or else if voide of all fashion it hath beene coeternall wife and companion of Demogorgon father of the Gods as Poets faine or if like a Pallas it hath beene borne of Iupiters braine Certainly our minde can finde no repose when we finde a nature depriued of all power and all forme without the maker and creator thereof Now who or what he hath beene we haue none of these Philosophers that can relate vnto vs. Very well see we that they agree very ill togither in the doctrine of the principles and foundations of the world which doubtlesse hapned vnto them bicause they did straie very farre off from the vnity master of all veritie in whom they shoulde all haue met and yet euery one went a seuerall way following the inuentions of their naturall speculations temerariously presuming by their owne proper powers to manifest that which God would rather haue kept close and hidden to wit the nature of celestiall things And thence commeth it that their teachings founded on the confused multitude were dissolued and vanished after I say that they were so seuered from the vnitie which giueth to all essences the power to be and harmoniously to accord How all those that haue had the true knowledge of God do agree in the doctrine of one onely originall of the vniuers But they who confesse one God creator of all things and acknowledge him for the true source and fountaine from which all the waters of eternall sapience do flowe all vnited in profession of pietie religion and doctrine Hebrewes Chaldees Greekes and Latins doe all togither giue praise to this God alone father of the vniuers planting the foundations of this mundaine habitation with an harmonious concord For Moses Iob Dauid Salomon Esay and all the other prophets Euangelists Apostles and disciples of Iesus Christ and all those whom he hath made woorthie to entreat of diuine mysteries all with one voice do teach vs one onely and prime cause of all formes and that alone to be the maker of the matter and moderatresse of all nature To which doctrine agree all the ancient and moderne doctors of the Christian church hauing the rule of holie letters so fixed and bounded that they doe not crosse themselues in any point bicause they haue setled the foundations of all things in the onely and true author of all wisedome And vpon the same principles innumerable persons of great erudition and laudable life diuersly dispersed into contrary climates according to the course of times and different languages haue enterprised diuers works of a diuine consonancie and all to one end to cause acknowledgement of God creator of heauen and earth Which coulde in no wise haue beene done if all these excellent men had not beene illuminated with one selfesame diuine vnderstanding as the Platonists call it or with one selfesame holie spirite as our doctors teach which maketh all such as dwell in the house of God to be of one minde and indueth all of them with one hart and one soule and therefore also all the ancient Prophets blessed ambassadors of Iesus Christ being replenished with this spirit despising the vaine babble of Philosophers schooles and all contentious disputations haue proposed their teachings with such and so great constancie though they had to deale with princes and people learned and vnlearned that they haue confirmed them for truth by sanctitie and splendor of life and by many myracles yea with their owne bloud And our doctors imitating this doctrine lightned and illustrated with the same spirite haue acknowledged God the onely and very beginning of all things the free Creator and supreme fountaine from whom all veritie and vertue floweth Amongst which doctors fowre Greekes and fowre Latins shall sing in the little quire of God like the bases and fundaments of our Theologie according with the fowre disciples of our Lord who deliuered the Euangelicall elements in Canticles sweetely distinguished and yet in agreeable consonancie Of the most celebrated doctors of the church Greekes and Latins For Saint Hierome and Saint Chrysostome shall vnloose the knottie heads of the holie letters the one and the other Gregory to wit the Romaine and Nazianzene shall pursue the diuine sense closed and couered vnder the barke of the letter Damascenus with Saint
Ambrose shall remaine in the graue sentences and allegoricall sense And Saint Augustine with Basil shall mount vp in the anagogicall song to resound the supreme accents of the celestiall harmony And for the other celebrated persons who preceded these men till the time of Saint Hierome he in the booke of excellent men numbreth an hundreth thirtie seuen who were knowne by their writings To whom Gennade minister of Marseilles addeth ninetie and one who haue beene followed of many others till the time of Peter the Lombard who emulating Damascene in reducing and distinguishing into fowre volumes the Theologicall doctrine hath giuen faire matter for posteritie to dispute vpon And since then haue encreased so many others of diuers professions nations and languages consenting with an admirable concord in confession of one father author and principle without any meanes of this Vniuers that this point leaueth no doubt but constraineth euerie one to acknowledge that all of them haue beene illuminated and taught by the soueraigne doctor and supreme brightnes from which all truth and light doth issue For likewise he alone the eternall God containeth the source of veritie vnable to be emptied out of which it behooueth vs to exhaust so many and often times as we pretend to giue true instructions and agreeable to the mysteries of his omnipotencie bicause there is no knowledge of the separated substances of the secrets of nature and of God the author thereof which hath not beene diuinely reuealed For diuine things are not touched with our hands and the worldly flie from our senses euery moment From whence it commeth that that which Philosophers call wisedome and certaine science whether concerning celestiall or natural things is nothing else but error or at least a thicke obscuritie But we know so much as the pure bright and cleere vnderstanding placed in the point of mans soule doth behold by meanes of supernaturall light in the mirror of eternitie wherein we contemplate God the father and creator of this Vniuers And when the Philosophers shall confesse him such as nature teacheth religion perswadeth and reason prooueth him then may they concurre with the truth in that which they declare of the elements of the world fire aire water and earth and of the nature of things as heereafter we must discourse But first we will begin to enter into some consideration of the precious treasures and learned instructions wherewith the sacred words of Moses by vs heeretofore heard concerning the creation are fruitfully replenished namely in the space of the sixe daies which he describeth for perfection of this great humaine building as I referre to you ACHITOB to giue vs to vnderstand Of the space of the sixe daies mentioned in the historie of the creation of the world Chap. 12. ACHITOB IF we hold for certaine and vndoubted the fabrication of the vniuers as we haue in all our precedent discourse sufficiently prooued then must we confesse that it is new and made in time according as holy writ teacheth vs and all Mathematicians confirme when by the Genesis of the world they prognosticate the euents that should succeede We haue already made mention of the time since which we hold the creation thereof now must we consider the space of daies which are mentioned by Moses in recitation of this Master-peece of worke of the Almightie wherein the prophet hath concealed a mysterie of high and difficult vnderstanding For as Saint Augustine saith Lib. 2. de cluit Dei cap. 6. The sixe daies wherein God performed his works and the seuenth wherein hee ceased in what sort and manner they are is very difficult or rather impossible for vs to thinke much more to expresse For the daies which we haue now haue their euening and morning the setting and rising of the sunne and the three first daies whereof Moses speaketh passed without the sunne which was created the fourth day Heereof therefore grow profound and deepe questions and principally this Whether all things haue been created togither or in the space of diuers daies In the same book chap. 9. It seemeth that Saint Augustine made no doubt that all was not created in a moment seeing he saith speaking of the creation of the Angels made the first day that the second day nor the third nor all the rest were any other then the first day but that the same one was repeated to make vp the number of six or seuen for the works of God and his repose In the same book chap. 31. In another place he speaketh thus In the seuenth day that is the same day repeated seuen times There haue been also diuers ancient doctors that haue taught the like satisfying themselues with this text of the Wiseman saying He that liueth for euer Eccles 18. Whether all things were created togither or in diuers daâ—es made all things togither They also shewed these reasons All power finite and limited hath neede of time to worke in but not the infinite as that of the soueraigne creator and forasmuch as by an intelligible and eternall word which Saint Basil interpreteth the moment of the will of God all things had their beginning there is no reason why there should be any delay for the creation of the light after the darknes which was vpon the deepe as the prophet declareth and whereof the euening and morning of the first day were made or else of the heauen till the second day Genes 1. the budding foorth of the earth till the third the production of the sunne moone and stars till the fourth the gathering togither of the waters till the fift and to the sixt the forming of man For these reasons I say many great personages would conclude that heauen and earth and all things therein contained were created at one instant charging those which thought otherwise to doe great wrong to the Almightie and soueraigne creator to whom all things are of eternitie presented to suppose that he should operate by tract of time and succession of daies he I say to whom eternity is both the measure and possession togither They alledge also that the prophet repeating the creation which he seemed to haue distinguished by daies said thus in the second of Genesis These are the generations of the heauens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the heauens and the earth and euery plant of the field before it was in the earth and euery herbe of the field before it grew Whereby they say doth euidently appeere that al things were created togither And for that the principall members of this mundane bodie are said to haue been ordained and engendred separately that that must be vnderstood to haue been so expounded according to the order through which man for whom all things haue beene made is very properly induced as the last worke of God according to the common saying of the Peripateticks How the distinction of Gods works must be
vnderstood That that which is the first in intention is the last in execution but the meanes betweene keeping a like order doe succeed from the first till the last By such reason therefore the diuision of daies mentioned in Genesis must be referred not to the time but to the order which is to be considered in the producement of things created Thus much for their opinions But others contend to the contrarie and maintaine that God hath distinguished the creation of the world by certaine degrees and course of daies according as Moses describeth them to keepe vs the more attentiue and to constraine vs to abide in the consideration of his works For it is most certaine that we passe lightly ouer the infinite glorie of God which shineth vnto vs here below and the vanitie of our vnderstanding doth willingly carrie vs away To correct which vice his diuine bountie would temper his works to our capacity And they which hold this opinion haue noted how the text before cited out of Ecclesiasticus wherein this word togither is read is not properly so in the Greeke copie but the Greeke word signifieth likewise or in common and hath relation not to the time but to the vniuersalnes and communitie of creatures Now to reconcile these diuers opinions me thinketh we may say that for the matter and rich seede of all the beauties and richesses of the vniuers it hath been created of God all in one moment but that afterward he gaue forme to it taking out of them the works which he did in the sixe daies For thus the prophet speaketh Genes 1. v. 1.2 God in the beginning created the heauen and the earth And the earth was without forme and void and darknes was vpon the deepe and the spirit of God moued vpon the waters Behold then the matter of this All which had his being all at once the chaos the embryon created of nothing which was to take forme figure place and abiding according to the order and disposition of all his partes and which in the meane while was sustained by the secret power of God Afterward when Moses addeth Then God said Let there be light Vers 3.4.5 and there was light And God saw the light that it was good and God separated the light from the darkenes and God called the light day and the darkenes he called night So the euening the morning were the first day In this I say and in all the rest which ensueth concerning the workes of God in the fiue other daies is shewed vnto vs the forme that God gaue to the matter in the space of them creating and forming all creatures celestiall and terrestrial contained in the whole Vniuers See then how we may resolue this question whether all things were created togither or in diuers daies and thus we may reconcile their sundrie opinions Let vs farther note S. August de ciuit Dei lib. 11. ca. 7. how Saint Augustine accustomed to mount as we haue said with the wings of contemplation vnto the Anagogicall sense discoursing vpon this point concerning the light which was said to haue beene created the first day with euening and mormng three daies before the sun confesseth freely that it is farre-remote from our sense what light this is and by what alternate motion the euening and morning were made and he vseth this disiunctiue question whether it were some corporall light that is some lightsome bodie in the highest parts of the world farre from our sight or else a light without bodie in some place whereat the sunne was shortly after kindled or else by the name of light Gal. 4. was signified the holy citie of Angels and blessed spirits whereof the Apostle saith Hierusalem which is aboue is the eternall mother of vs all in the heauens Therefore in another place also this great doctor of the church referreth the euening and morning to the science and knowledge of angelical thoughts calling it morning when by the view of things created knowne in themselues where there is darkenes and most deepe night these blessed spirits aduaunce themselues in the loue of God And if louing and contemplating him they acknowledge all things in him which knowledge is much more certaine then if one should view them indirectly then is it day But it is euening when the angell turneth himselfe from God to things created regarding them not in him but in themselues And yet this euening commeth not to night because these angelicall thoughts neuer preferre the workes before the workman neither haue them in greater estimation for so should it bee most profound night Behold then how deepely Saint Augustine doth discourse in this place concerning the euening and morning But for the place before-cited concerning the point of the light he referreth the same termes euening and morning to the condition of our soule For he saith that that which it can know and vnderstand in comparison of the knowledge of God is like an euening and that yet when it is bent to praise and loue the creator then doth it returne to morning And for the distinct daies concerning the workes of God he applyeth them likewise to the orderly and perfect knowledge of things produced The distinction of the daies inferred to the acknowledgement of the workes of God saying thus When the minde stayeth in the knowledge of it selfe then is there one day when in the acknowledgement of the firmament which betwixt the water beneath and aboue is called the heauen then is the second day if concerning the earth the sea and all things fructifying which keepe themselues in the rootes of the earth there is the third day and when it stayeth in the acknowledgement of the lights both the greater and lesser and of the stars there is the fourth day if of the creatures which liue in the waters there is the fift day if of terrene things and man himselfe there is the sixt day And thus doth this good father trauell to discouer the great mysteries closed concealed vnder the couert of Moses words which in the relation of his historie hee doth most vndoubtedly apply to the capacitie of the rude and common people with whom he had to deale deliuering to the wise and more learned enough wherewith to satisfie their mindes But without farther disputing about this present matter wee may note that in the creation of the light wherewith the world was to be adorned was the beginning of forme giuen to the matter of the world and of the distinction of creatures Yea in that the light did precede the sun moone which were created but the fourth day God would thereby testifie that in his onely hand light is resident and that he can conferre it vpon vs without any other meanes For we are so enclined as nothing more to alligate the power of God to those instruments and organes wherewith he serueth himselfe because that for as much as the sun moone do minister light vnto
mans teaching a meane thing between man and beast as the Zoophyta partaketh of the plant and animal But it may be we haue said more concerning these things then is requisite for our purpose I will onely therefore adde that the mutual vicinity and communication of the worlds which we haue here described is also declared in holy writ For it is written in the Psalmes In wisedome he made the heauens Psal 136. 2. Cor. 12. And Saint Paul saith of himselfe that he was rauished into the third heauen which afterwards he calleth Paradise Psal 103. 104. We read also that the Angels of God are spirits and his ministers a flame of burning fire And thence without doubt it commeth that oftentimes to diuine natures are attributed both celestiall and terrestriall surnames when as sometimes they are figured by starres Apocal. 2. Ezech. 1.3 Apocal. 2. Apocal. 21. sometimes by wheeles and beasts and sometimes by elements as we sometimes also appropriate diuine and celestiall names to terrestriall natures For euen as the three worlds being girt and buckled with the bands of concord doe by reciprocall liberalitie interchange their natures the like doe they also by their appellations And this is the principle from whence springeth and groweth the discipline of allegoricall sense The originall of allegoricall sense For it is certaine that the ancient fathers could not conueniently haue represented one thing by other figures but that they had first learned the secret amitie and affinitie of all nature Otherwise there could be no reason why they should represent this thing by this forme and that by that rather then otherwise But hauing the knowledge of the vniuersall world and of euery part thereof and being inspired with the same spirit that not onely knoweth all things but did also make all things they haue oftentimes and very fitly figured the natures of the one world by that which they knew to be correspondent thereto in the others Wherefore the same knowledge and the grace of the same spirit is requisite for those who would vnderstand and directly interpret such significations and allegoricall meanings Moreouer besides these worlds which we haue also distinguished there is also another a fourth Of a fourth world wherein may likewise be found all that which subsisteth in the others And this is man who for this cause as our doctors shew is vnderstood in the gospell by the name of euery creature then when Iesus Christ commandeth to preach to men the good newes Mark 16. not to beasts nor angels being neuerthelesse enioyned to publish it to euery creature Likewise it is a common vse in schooles to teach that man is a little world and that within him the bodie is composed of the elements the reasonable soule is celestiall the vegetable power common to men and plants the sense common to brute beasts the reason participated to Angels and finally the image of God is therein seene considered But of him we haue sufficiētly intreated in the second part of our Academicall discourses wherefore of this great vniuersall world must our ensuing talke be And as we haue diuided it into three generall parts so must we particularly discourse of them First therefore let vs say something concerning the Angelicall and intellectuall world and of the celestiall intelligences or Angels which ARAM shall be the subiect of your discourse Of the Angelicall and intellectuall world Chapter 15. ARAM. NOw shal I haue great need to say with the kingly prophet Oh that I had wings like a doue Psal 55. wings I say of siluer and shining golde that I might flie vp into the supercelestiall region where resteth true rest true peace and certaine tranquillitie which this wretched worldly corps cannot yeeld Open mine eies you supermundaine spirits but rather thou oh father of them and I shall contemplate the woonder of your citie wherein God attendeth for those that feare him that which eie hath neuer seene eare neuer heard nor any hart woorthily thought vpon Well I wot that many call disputations and searching out of the nature and multitude of angels and their orders vaine questions and fit for idle imaginations but surely they are secrets which Saint Paule himselfe who had beene rapt vp aboue the third heauen hath not onely taught but hath also protested that he had there heard many things ◠Cor. 12. which were not lawfull for him to reueale And I am likewise of beleefe that the full reuelation of the angelicall and intellectuall world is deferred till the last day yet will wee heere speake soberly thereof and as briefly as we can according to that which diuines haue written without any waies offending pietie or christian religion When the holy Scripture speaketh of the creation of the world it is not euidently expressed in what order and how the angels were created Genes 2. That the angels are God his creatures But forasmuch as it is said that God created heauen and all things therein contained it is most certaine that therein are comprised the spirits celestiall as well those that through obedience haue stood in their integritie as those who rebelling against God haue beene cast out vnto destruction Neither is it heereto repugnant that Moses reciting the Genesis or creation of the world maketh no expresse mention thereof For we see how that in silence passing ouer all things which surmount our capacitie or else couering them vnder the mysticall sense of his words for those whom God would fully illuminate with the brightnes of his holy spirite he onely entreateth of those which we behold with our eies yea and that too in familiar and vulgar sort conforming himselfe to the rudenes of the people with whom he had to deale And for this cause hath the opinion of sundry great personages and namely of Saint Augustine beene Lib 2. de ciuit Dei cha 9. 1◠that the angels haue beene signified either by the name of heauen there where it is said In the beginning God made heauen and earth or else by the name of the light which he saith was created the first day But howsoeuer this is doubtlesse that the angels are the worke of God For the holy Scripture doth testifie it in infinite places with a most cleere voice namely in the song of the three children which were in the furnace Dan. 3. who hauing saide Blesse the Lord all his works in pursuite of the narration of them the angels are also named And the prophet saith You creatures of the heauens praise the Lord you which are in the hie places praise him All his angels Psal 148. and all his armies praise him Sith also they are the ministers of God appointed to doe that which he commandeth them as the apostle to the Hebrewes saith there is no doubt but they are his creatures Moreouer the holy Scriptures teach vs that they are alwaies watching for our safetie that they are alwaies readie to
hath onely a two-fold motion betwixt the starrie heauen and the first moouer which is onely turned with one motion to the end that in good order all things may bee reduced to the first moouing For as Aristotle in his profound Philosophie saith it is necessary that by most fit agreement and consent euery thing may be reduced to that which is the cause thereof But because Ptolomy Hermes Aratus and other ancients most exquisite beholders of the heauens and of their motions and aspects are contented with the number of nine spheres many therefore reiect the opinion of those which make ten because that nothing maketh for them but onely the motion of Trepidation which say they may be well considered vnder the first moouer put for the ninth sphere Besides which our diuines do yet declare to be a tenth heauen which they call Empyreall vitall flaming and diuine Of the tenth Empyreall heauen into which are receiued the soules of the blessed And it seemeth that Plato and his Academicks especially Plato in his booke of the world doth consent to them But this heauen and throne of God cannot properly be reckoned with the other nine For they bee mooueable but this is stable and immooueable they be of one substance onely and this of another Wherefore we may aptly referre it to the Angelicall and intellectual world whereof we discoursed yesterday And if we may bee permitted againe to discourse by numbers as we haue begun it is certaine that as the number of ten retaineth a double nature because it doth partake with that number whereof it is the end and with that other whereof it is the beginning so the tenth in all the prime kindes of things doth consist of double nature For man which is the tenth kinde of things subiect to corruption at whom the other nine finish is of a corruptible and incorruptible composition So the nine heauens end at the imperiall heauen which in that it is material agreeth with them but in dignitie of matter it doth participate with the supercelestiall throne As likewise they that speake of the nine orders of angels say that they end in Christ their king who holdeth and embraceth in all perfection both the nature of angels and also of God to whom at last all things must be reduced as to him of whom from whom and by whom all thinges consist Now that which heere we speake of the heauens may likewise be learned out of Moses the prince of all Philosophers or rather of the creator of all things himselfe who hath spoken by the mouth of his prophet as also by himselfe For after Moses had praied the Eternall that he woulde be alwaies with him and that he woulde by continuall oracles instruct him as there should be great need that hee might rule such a number of people and that he might giue them the law I will be saith he with thee and will dwell in the midst of thee And according to all those things which I shall shew thee euen so shall you make the forme of the Tabernacle They shall make an Arke of Shittim wood whereof the height and the bredth shall be a cubite and an halfe Such as haue diligently interpreted this text do amongst other mysteries finde therein the nine heauens aptly represented for a cubite is sixe palmes then a cubite and halfe hie and broad are nine palmes And againe when he commandeth that vpon the same arke he shoulde make a crowne of gold which should serue it for a couering and which was of precious stuffe farre aboue that of the arke of wood they would thereby make vs vnderstand that the tenth heauen was figured Which for that cause is not numbred commonly with the other nine but is considered by our vnderstanding to bee the beginning of an other combination and coupling For ten as it doth accomplish the other numbers so is it the originall of the tens so an hundreth finishing the tens beginneth the hundreths So this couering of gold otherwise called propitiatorie crowning the arke was beginning to a better thing for vpon the same were placed the Cherubims and there were obtained the mercifull and fauorable graces of God In such sort likewise the imperiall heauen though it accomplisheth and finisheth the number of the nine heauens yet is it the beginning of spirituall and diuine thinges and retaineth an angelicall nature yet so that it is proportioned to the spheres who are appointed to haue a place Againe wee haue heeretofore heard in the generall diuision of the vniuers how in the partition of the Tabernacle into three speciall parts was very aptly signified that of the world being a threefold-one How also by the seuen lampes of gold ordained to be set to the candlesticke in the arke might fitly seeme to be represented the seuen planets shining in their spheres as likewise by the body of the same candlesticke out of the sides whereof proceeded sixe branches to wit three out of either side might bee particularly denoted the sun which is placed in the midst of the planets wherof there be three on each part in round forme which like cups or vessels receiuing influences from aboue do conferre them on things heere below by which meanes sundry flowers do spring vp But because it woulde be too tedious for vs to compare all that which belonged to the making of the arke with that which is taught vs concerning the spheres wee will come to conclude that there be nine Heauens to wit the first mooueable by which the supreme worker and first moouer of all mooueth all things Then is the starrie heauen or firmament by which the same creator distributeth his power into innumerable instruments to performe such things as he executeth especially by meanes of the seuen planets which haue euery one their heauen according to the order heeretofore declared And vpon which according to our yesterdaies speech the Hebrew doctors and many other diuines do teach that certaine spirits which they call celestiall or separated intelligences do make abode who being before the throne of God reioicing in his presence do behold in his countenance as in a mirrour all things which may be contemplated and at the very becke of the prince of nature do put his will in execution vsing the heauens as instruments by which and according to the number of diuers influences proceeding from all the starres and signes heere below are produced with one concurrence mettals stones plants and liuing creatures But before we more amplie touch these things which respect the nature and admirable effects of the heauens in al creatures we must first entreat of their figure and motion which AMANA shall be the subiect of your discourse Of the forme and figure of heauen and of the motion thereof as well generall as particular Chap. 18. AMANA THat the heauen is generally and particularly of circular forme and altogether round the Latin name Orbis by which the ancients haue commonly called it
which we began to say concerning the principall differences of the circular motion of the heauens Wherefore the first and vniuersall motion of all the spherick world is that which we see is made round about the earth Of the first and vniuersall motion of heauen from the east by south towards the west alwaies with one and the same orderly celeritie and swiftnes and without any ceasing which performeth his course in a naturall day which is diuided into fower and twenty equall howers as is plainly shewed vnto vs by the ordinarie course of the sunne So that the whole heauen and each of those celestiall spheres doe followe the saide daily motion though it be not proper to them but accidentall in that they are the parts of the vniuersal world For as we shal presently see euery sphere hath an other proper and particular motion But this same whereof we speake doth in such sort by accident agree with all the parts of the world that the most thinne and subtile elements especially fire and the superior region of the aire are in like sort caried away therewith So likewise doth the sea though it enuironeth not the earth round about in some sort follow this motion by ebbing and flowing euery naturall day not performing an entire reuolution Wherefore nothing but the earth remaineth vnmooueable bicause of the waight and insensible quantitie of it in respect of the whole world as being the center thereof The stablenesse whereof is very necessarie that so both the vniuersall and each particular motion may be discerned for otherwise there should be a confusion in stead of harmonie And for this cause many haue supposed that this whole Vniuers generally considered is the first very true moouer of the vniuersall motion and not any heauen or particular orb Now for the second kinde of circular motions Of the second kinde of circular motions it is that which is proper to euery of the eight spheres and celestiall orbs which are the parts of the whole heauen from the firmament to the sphere of the moone For each of these spheres as is euidently perceiued by the starres enchased therein which can haue no motion but according to their heauen performeth his owne naturall and peculiar motion contrarie to the first and vpon other poles and axes to wit from the west by south towards the east And the entire reuolutions of those spheres are done and finished in diuers spaces of time to wit of the greater superior more late of the lesse and inferior being next to the elements more soone For the heauen of fixed stars according to the most likely opinion and apparent obseruation of Astronomers performeth his owne reuolution in thirtie sixe thousand common yeeres without bissext whereof each containeth 365. naturall daies Saturne the highest planet in thirtie yeeres Iupiter which hath his circle much lower in twelue Mars in two the Sunne in 365. naturall daies almost one fourth part of a day which make vp the time and space of a yeere For one shall alwaies finde that number of daies being runne out the shadow of the sunne to be such as if you marke it was the yeere before at the very same instant yea to the difference scarce of a minute Of the bissextile day or leap yeere Whereby it commeth that from fowre yeere to foure yeere is reckoned a bissextile day which serueth to make the yeere answerable to the course of the sunne The reuolution of whom Venus and Mercurie do neere approch vnto and for the Moone she maketh hirs in seuen and twentie naturall daies and almost one third part of a day so that in so small time shee maketh as much way in regard of vs as Saturne doth in thirtie yeeres because he is the farthest from and shee the neerest to the earth which causeth her course to be shorter then any other planet Of distances betweene the spheres And this is the consideration which hath giuen occasion to many to cast the distances and spaces which are betweene the spheres saying that there is nineteene times so much distance betweene the Sunne and Moone as is between the Moone and the earth so of the rest Pythagoras himselfe Plinie in his naturall history lib. 2. a man very ingenious counted by his calculation as Plinie relateth that there were 125000. stades or furlongs betweene the earth and the circle of the Moone and that from the Moone to the Sunne there were the double of them and betweene the sunne and signes of the Zodiacke the triple Now a stade or furlong was measured by the ancients to consist of one hundred fiue and twentie common paces or else of seuen hundreth and fiftie feete But so certainly to determine of the dimensions and distances betweene the spheres shoulde me thinketh be too great an enterprise for the capacitie of our spirits Yet may the curious by some infallible reason of Geometrie or rather by imagined coniectures resolue vpon it And to conclude our discourse concerning the motions of heauen we see that though by the rapiditie violence of the continuall motion of the first moouer all the spheres are caried away with it in the space of fower and twentie howers from east by south towards the west returning by north or midnight towards the east A good cause oâ— the motions of the spheres yet neuerthelesse euery one of them hath his proper and particular motion cleane contrarie to the vniuersall that is from the west towards the east Which is chiefly done because that by the reuerberation of these contrarie motions the aire may bee parted and dispersed which otherwise would heape and gather togither and become immooueable and heauie because of the continuall reuolution of the worlde turning alwaies one way And besides these principall differences of the circular motion of the heauens all the planets haue other motions of farther consideration which are called circuits of the great reuolution and which doe concurre in the great yeere which is taken for the time when all the planets shall fully finish their courses togither But we haue said enough concerning this matter considering the entent of our discourse wherefore we wil prosecute as briefly as we may the other particularities seruing for the knowledge of the spheres euen so much as we shall hold needfull for our present historie of heauen and earth Then you shall discourse to vs ARAM of those circles which shew themselues in the sphere and of the diuersitie and disposition of them Of the circles in generall and particularly of the Equinoctiall and Zodiack and of their signes Chapter 19. ARAM. IN the sphere of the world are two kinds of circles demonstrated whereof some are named greater Of the greater and smaller circles of the sphere and some lesser circles They which haue one selfesame and common center with the whole heauen are called greater circles and are one equall to another and do diuide the globe into two
the said howerly circles which are all of them then called Verticall circles Cause of the diuersitie of dials or quadrants Those dials therefore or quadrants which are made to take the height of the sunne are composed by diuers considerations for some depend vpon sections made by the foresaid hower-circles as those which are grauen on the face of the Equinoctiall and are therefore called Equinoctiall-dials or else vpon the plaine of the Horizon which are named Horizontall or vpon the face of the Verticall-circle which diuideth the Meridian at right angles which are erected towards the south and are nominated Verticall In which three sorts of dials the hower-spaces are noted by straight lines proceeding out of one onely point which representeth the center of the world and the Index or gnomon to shewe those howers representeth the Axis vpon which the heauen maketh his first and vniuersall motion The other sunne-dials depend vpon the coextension or impression of the foresaid hower-circles as those which are described vpon the face of the Meridian circle and are erected towards the east or west being named Laterall and can serue but onely for the forenoone or afternoone or such as are made vpon the face of the sixe howers circle hanging and inclining towards the south by the axtree of the world for this cause named hanging-dials In which two sorts of dials the hower-spaces are designed by parallell lines and the Indexes by the axtrees of the circles or else they are described and erected perpendicularly vpon the face of the said circles And in all the fore-recited dials and such like the hower-spaces are vnequall and haue notable difference one from another except those onely which are drawne vpon the face of the Equinoctial bicause it alone is diuided into euen portions by the hower-circles whereof the proiection in Plano must obserue equall spaces And by consequence it is euident that only Equinoctiall and Horizontall dials serue for all howers of the day at all times of the yeere and the Verticall onelie sixe howers before and sixe howers after noone the hanging-dials ten howers fiue before and fiue after noone and the Laterall from sunne rising till noone or from noone till sunne set Moreouer it is manifest that all these dials except the Equinoctiall dials must be described particularly according to the proper eleuation of the pole aboue euery oblique Horizon bicause the hower-spaces and Indexes are diuers according to the varietie of the said polary-eleuations But the Equinoctiall dials may serue vniuersally in applying them according to the height of the Equinoctiall aboue euery oblique Horizon because those spaces are equall and of one sort But breaking off this talke of dials Of the twelue howses of heauen let vs now entreate of those circles which with the Horizon and Meridian diuide the whole heauen into twelue equall portions which are named the twelue houses of heauen First then is to be noted that as the sunne and the rest of the planets in performing their reuolution by their proper and peculiar motion in the Zodiack according to the radiation of the sunne being notably diuersified from signe to signe and according to the disposition of elementarie substances do imprint their influence and vertue diuersly causing sundry effects vpon the earth so likewise these faire celestiall lights being turned euery day about the earth by the first and vniuersall motion of the whole sphere do make the verie like mutation of their power and influence vpon the terrestriall globe by the variation of their shining as may be marked from signe to signe either mounting aboue or descending vnder the Horizon Circles that deuide the twelue houses of heauen For this cause you must diuide the entire sphere of the world in regard of the Horizon being right or oblique into twelue equall parts or signes which are called houses that is notable mansions of heauen Which is done by the proper Horizon and Meridian with fowre other great circles and particular Horizons passing by the two intersections of the said proper Horizon and Meridian circle and diuiding euery quarter of the principall Verticall circle which maketh right angles with the said Meridian comprehended betweene the said Meridian and the Horizon into three signes which amount togither to the number of twelue And these houses or notable mansions of heauen begin at the east side of the Horizon and the first sixe are distributed vnder it and the other sixe aboue it according to the order of the twelue signes of the Zodiack and the proper motion of the planets which is from the west eastward So that by the Horizon with the Meridian the fower principall angles of the saide houses are distinguished that is the east angle which is named the Horoscope being the beginning of the first house the west angle of the Horizon whereat beginneth the seuenth house and the midde heauen which is the third angle and there beginneth the tenth house and for the fourth the angle vnder earth where beginneth the fourth house by the Meridian Agreeablenes of the twelue houses with the diuers seasons of the yeere Euen so as we haue heard as the colures distinguish the two Equinoctiall points and the two Solstists or sunsteads of the zodiack which are the foure notable points therof agreeing with the fower angles aforesaid For the Horoscope agreeth with the vernal Equinoctial point mid-heauen with the sommer Solstice the west angle with the Autumne Equinoctiall point and the angle vnder the earth with the winter Solstice and so consequently the fowre quarters of the foresaid Vertical circle are correspondent to those of the Zodiack which make the fowre seasons of the yeere and each whereof is diuided into three signes as also euery quarter of the said circle into three houses equall to those signes so that the sixe houses which are aboue the Horizon do accord with the sixe septentrionall signes of the Zodiack and the sixe other houses with the south or Meridionall signes And these twelue houses of heauen are called by diuers names for those fowre which begin at the fowre foresaid angles are named Angularie houses the next fowre following are called Succedent and the rest Cadent Moreouer we must note that in the right sphere each of these houses comprehendeth one signe of the Equinoctiall because this circle is ioyned with the foresaid Verticall and all the circles which distinguish them passe by the poles of the world because they consist in the foresaid sections of the Horizon and Meridian which hath caused many to erre in this point who would make the distinction of the said houses in the Equinoctiall both in the oblique and in the right sphere lightly following the authoritie of Ptolomie not noting how that author had the sphere right to him so that in that respect hee spake well referring the manner how to distinguish the saide houses in the oblique sphere to the iudgement of all good Astronomers Finally it is to be vnderstood
receiue their essence and continuance not from themselues but from God alone Yet for all that do they not thinke that the heauens shall altogither faile nor that God will haue it so And others maintaine that though the heauens must passe and be dissolued according to the word of God that yet this defect shall not be an entire annihilating but onely a certaine chaunge which shall come to them by which they shall be renued in far more perfection Whereto it seemeth that Saint Paule agreeth Rom. 8. when he cleerly testifieth concerning all creatures ingenerall that they are subiect to corruption because of the sinne of man and for that cause they doe attend with great desire for the reuelation and redemption of the children of God because they shal not be relieued nor deliuered from the seruitude of corruption to be in the liberty of the glory of them and restored to their integritie till the day ordayned by the creator for the acceptation of his into eternall felicitie For thereupon ensueth that the heauens and celestiall bodies sigh and grone attending togither with the other creatures this blessed day to be chaunged renued restored which S. Peter likewise teacheth in the place before cited Yea some philosophers accord with him concerning the dissolution of the world by fire but not concerning the cause thereof For they refer it not to the sinne of man which hath infected the heauen the earth and all things contained therein and put the world into disorder and confusion but to the nature of fire which at last consumeth all and whereof they giue a reason by naturall causes There are also some Astronomers who affirme that some change may bee perceiued in the spheres and heauenly bodies concerning their courses and ordinarie motions and that they are somewhat different from those which they haue had from the beginning how they waxe weary are worne and become old in their function like to other creatures although this change doth much lesse appeere in them then in the other works of God but wee will leaue this argument to the professors of Astrologie And let it suffice vs for conclusion of this matter to consider what the stabilitie and continuance of men in this world may be seeing that all other creatures must receiue a change and haue an end yea the very heauens themselues For what are all people in respect of this great Vniuers And againe what is euery one of them particularly in comparison of the generalitie of mankinde and of all those which haue already gone before vs But let vs returne to that which concerneth the heauens and sphericall bodies considering that which doth touch their motions besides that which hath beene already declared which AMANA shall be the subiect for you to discourse vpon Of the motions ingenerall of their first cause and of their vnion in all nature Chapter 26. AMANA EAre we enter into the declaration of the subiect which is now propounded vnto vs to discourse vpon concerning heauen my desire is that wee may cal to our memorie that which we haue already heeretofore heard of the nature of the heauens concerning the matter whereof they are compounded and concerning their beautie stabilitie and continuance For so shall wee reduce the end of our discourse to that principall point whereunto we haue alreadie from the beginning destinated it that is so much the better to acknowledge our God and his prouidence to the end to glorifie him I say then that if we considerately meditate vpon the excellencie of the celestiall bodies we shall therein finde a more expresse image of the eternitie and maiestie of God and of his diuine and immutable nature then in any of all the other visible creatures Moreouer we may accept of them as a testimony and example not onely of the immortalitie which God hath ordained for mens soules which are spirituall natures but also of that which he hath promised our bodies after our resurrection For that hee can accomplish his promise we neither may nor must make doubt of if we beleeue that he is almightie No more must we make doubt of his will sith he hath declared it vnto vs in his word If then he hath beene able to create the heauens and the stars and planets which in them are like splendant precious stones enchased in rings of a matter so firme and durable that it remaineth incorruptible and as it were immortall whether it be taken from the fowre elements or be of an other quint-essence as we haue already heard It shal be no lesse easie for him to make our bodies incorruptible and immortall hauing deliuered them from corruption and death to which through sinne they were subiect Now let vs pursue that which particularly concerneth the heauen in his motion wherein wee haue notable signes of the glorie and bountie of our God Three sorts of motion To vnderstand then sufficiently that which concerneth the present matter we will first note that there be three sorts of motion in the whole world For there is one which tendeth to the midst and to the center of the Vniuers which is in the earth the lowest of elements which motion for that it descendeth is proper to the most heauie elements and to such creatures as do most participate with them Then is there another motion contrarie to the first which alwaies tendeth from the midst and from belowe vpwards and this is proper to the most light elements and to those natures which do neerest approch vnto them and which participate with their qualities more then the rest But the third kinde of motion is that which neither mounteth nor descendeth either one way or other but goeth round euer turning about the midst like a circle or a wheele And this is that which is proper to heauen and to the sphericall bodies being most certaine disposed and composed by a most constant and firme order For though that all the elements and all other creatures which haue motion obserue an order therein yet is it more subiect to change according as the inferior bodies are subiect to the superior But those haue a more certaine course because they depend not vpon other bodies which are aboue them but immediately vpon God without the meanes of any other corporall nature And therefore of all the motions which are in all creatures that of the heauen and heauenly bodies is chiefest and most excellent Of the motion of the spheres attributed to the angels For whereas some attribute the motions of the spheres to the angels as if God vsed their ministerie heerein as we haue already declared whether it be so or not yet this is most certaine that the heauens haue their motion immediately from God seeing there are no corporall natures aboue them whereby they may be mooued For the angels are certaine spirituall creatures on whom if the omnipotent hath imposed this charge we must be content to leaue the vnderstanding thereof to him alone
sith it is so much hidden from man Now in that the celestiall bodies and the elements and all creatures haue their proper motion wherein they continue according to the first ordinance established in nature by the soueraigne creator thereof we are much to admire both the cause and effects of such a constancie I intend heere to speake of a neere cause which is a secret amitie ingraffed into euery creature toward his owne nature For there is a loue Euery creature foloweth his owne nature an appetite or vniuersall inclination in all creatures which vrgeth and inciteth them to desire and search that which agreeth with their nature so that there is none so insensible which hath not in it selfe this amitie innate which euer pusheth it to follow the nature thereof and for this cause may we say that all motions proceed from loue And passing further we may contemplate the loue of God as the eternall source of amitie and inclination of all nature and as the first cause of causes and we shall say that in the same loue God louing himselfe proceeded to his worke which hitherto we haue celebrated and do now meane to prosecute For sith that God is the soueraigne good that all goodnes is by nature louing it cannot be but he must likewise loue himselfe exceedingly and consequently loue all that which he iudgeth to be good insomuch as it proceedeth from him who is the supreme good and the limit of all goodnes This loue then not being able to be idle The loue of God is the first of all motions nor yet the good which it loued would manifest both the one and the other first in the creation of the world namely in that of man and then againe in the restauration and reparation of his fall So we learne that the first motion whereupon all the rest depend is the loue of God which proceedeth from his bountie which he would not keepe shut vp nor inclosed in himselfe but would manifest and communicate it with his creatures whom he hath created to the end that he might be glorified in them and by them And as he loueth them for his owne loues sake and for that they were his worke so hath he set in them the seeds of loue both towards him and towardes themselues according to the diuers nature which he hath conferred vpon them It is then this naturall loue which constraineth them by a secret feeling of nature imprinted euen in those essences which haue neither reason nor vnderstanding to take delight in that which is agreeable to their creator and to follow his ordinance tending all to him and to that which he loueth bicause it is good and therefore good being done according to his will and bicause it pleaseth him to iudge it and approoue it for such Whereupon we may conclude that loue and amitie is the good by which all creatures haue an accord and agreement first with God their creator and then one with another and that vpon the same cause their conseruation and perfection doth depend Of the vnion and accord betweene all creatures Wherefore loue must be the bond and vnion of all the world which is an vniuersall peace and concorde betweene God and all his creatures For the diuine prouidence hath so disposed all the order of them that they be all conioined one with another by such loue and amitie that euen they which seeme to be cleane contrarie are allied reconciled and vnited togither by those which haue more correspondencie betweene them In such sort that we may therein behold a very pleasant and perfect harmonie like as in musicke wherein although it seemeth that the notes tunes and sounds be different one to another yet notwithstanding there is such a moderation in them that they yeeld togither a goodly concord and sweete melodie keeping their proportions times and measures As then by such peace and concord the celestiall spheres follow the generall and common course of the first highest and greatest of all within which they are contained and inclosed performing likewise each of them his particular course without endommaging themselues as we haue heretofore made mention so doe all the elements follow the heauen and obserue their order after it euery one in their degree from the highest to the lowest hauing their motions agreeable to their nature And euen as liuing creatures haue their agreements and coniunctions one with another euery one in his degree according to the couenant and participation of nature which they haue togither and as they are either neere to or farre off one from another euen so is it in the agreement and consent of nature which is betweene the celestiall bodies and the elements and all creatures composed of them For this cause as the angels retaine the first degree among liuing creatures and then man the second next them by reason that in his nature he neerest agreeth with the angels and doth neerest approch them so doth the heauen and celestiall fires retaine the first degree among creatures which are without soule and without life in their proper and conuenient motions according as we haue already declared And as man doth in some sort hold the middle place betweene the angels and the most perfect beasts so doth fire betwixt the heauen and the aire and as the aire doth keepe the middle place betwixt the fire and water so the water is a meane betwixt the aire and the earth But these things will claime a fitter place when we come to intreate of the elementarie world Wherefore we will returne to that which onely concerneth the heauenly bodies which forsomuch as we haue saide to be of the number of those creatures which are without life being contrarie to the opinion of the most famous philosophers my minde is that we should consider neerer of this matter bicause that by the excellent politicall and militarie order which is amongst them it seemeth that they are not altogither depriued of life reason and vnderstanding as ARAM we may learne of you Of the life reason and vnderstanding of the celestiall bodies and of the excellent politicall and militarie order which is amongst them Chap. 27. ARAM. THis being true that all creatures haue a certaine motion agreeable to their nature and a naturall loue which euer vrgeth them to seeke and pursue that which is most naturall for them as hath been already related in our antecedent speech it seemeth that this can hardly come to passe but that there must be in them some kinde of soule and life yea euen in those creatures that are most insensible And more I will say that it is not onely to be presumed that they haue some kinde of life but also a naturall vnderstanding which we may properly name inclination sith there is no essence but can follow his proper course and order in his owne nature and peculiar motions For the stones themselues and mettals by a kinde of soule and vegetatiue life doe
double error and phophaning the contemplatiue doctrine of the heauen which is otherwise of it selfe good and profitable But beside all this I might likewise say that if all things heere belowe were disposed and directed by the gouernance of heauen and the influence of the planets as our naturalists better Philosophers then Christians do maintaine wee should behold nothing saue what were good as being gouerned by good causes And in this case I demand what sould become of those euill influences of the starres vpon which Astrologians do found their predictions Genes 1. I will not heere alleage that which Moses teacheth vs saying that God saw that all things which he had made were good for perhaps they would not beleeue it but let them giue eare to Mercury whom the ancients called the thrice great and supreme in Philosophie Metaphysicks and Theologie For he left written vpon pillars in Egypt as Iamblicus in a long discourse declareth how that all influences of the starres are good Against such as assigne euill to the influences of the stars and if there chance any euill it must be imputed to the indisposed subiect and not to the planets demonstrating this by the brightnes of the sunne which of it selfe is good and yet hurteth the bleare eie because of the badde state thereof Plato also saith Plato in Epimenide God hath made the Moone encreasing and decreasing and hath established the moneths in the yeere and hath taught by a kinde of happie fortune to bring in count the number of them Whereupon ensueth that the earth being most fruitefull conceiueth and engendreth her fruite for the nouriture of man at such times as the windes gently blowe and the raine prosperously droppeth into her lappe But if any euill befall heerein wee must not blame the diuine and celestiall nature but the humane which leadeth an vniust life And the Stoicke Hieracles crieth out in the verses of Pythagoras in these termes Each one through his owne euill ill will be For from the heauenly source no vice doth slow To soile our soules the cause are onely we The blame of mischiefe then on mortals throw And Plato in the sixt booke of lawes and Aristotle in his Politicks do testifie that man hauing attained to the true doctrine becommeth a very diuine and perfect debonaire creature but not hauing beene wel brought vp he be commeth the most cruell of all creatures borne vpon the earth What then remaineth for vs to attribute to the starres I demand of them also who affirme some influences to be euill from whence will they saie that this malice proceedeth Whether from God which commandeth or from the intelligence which mooueth the heauens or from the heauen it selfe Reasons to shew that the influences of the starrs be not euill Surely it cannot come from God who is the soueraigne good the first cause ordaining all things For that is euill or sinne which is done against the will of the creator or which declineth from his iustnes and in nature euill cannot proceed from the spring of goodnes Wherefore it should be too foolish and absurd a thing to thinke that euill should take original from God all-good and that from the soueraigne gouernour shoulde proceed the violation of the lawe seeing that his will is his owne lawe it selfe For the intelligence or angel which some saie continueth in the motion of the spheres and to whom some assigne the cause of euill influences I would faine aske them whether this intelligence doth so worke by the commaundement of his Prince which is the eternall and soueraigne gouernour of the world or else against his will and ordinance If it accomplish any thing according to his precept certainely that cannot be bad for nothing is bad but that which is done contrarie to the order established by the prince of Nature But if it operate against his will it might seeme to turne to the scandall of the Omnipotent creator to suffer his seruants so arrogant in rebellion vnpunished For at the beginning he spared not those amongst the angels who exalted themselues in pride And for the rest who persisted in obedience hee in such sort confirmed them that they cannot sinne any more Whereupon also ensueth that the Intelligences being loyall seruants of the Eternall do not cause euill influences neither yet do dispose any thing to euill since they alwaies accomplish the ordinance of the Soueraigne-good Against such as accuse the heauens to be euill And for those who not being able to blame God nor the moouing intelligence doe accuse the heauens as cause of euill influences I desire them to tell me if the heauens be malitious whence commeth their malice Whether haue they beene created euill or else beene depraued by euill manners Or else their nature failing them did they become euill Certainely they were not created euill by the most good woorker Neither haue they beene depraued by manners or a failing nature because they haue no choise in their workes and for that their motions and influences are naturall and inuariable not of freewill as all Philosophers affirme Againe I aske them whether the heauens giue influence as second causes or as instruments If as instruments then sith they neither mooue nor operate but according to the will of the Prince who created them he should remaine in fault which is alreadie confuted But if it be as second causes seeing the worke is performed by that which liueth the error should be referred to the intelligences who mooue them and are ordayned for soules to the spheres to which we haue also satisfied I will farther adde this point That the heauens do worke either by nature or by will If by nature sith the order thereof is established by God the sentence of Aristotle is woorthie the remembrance where saith What we possesse by nature we are therein neither praised nor blamed for the praise belongeth to the worker and the blame cannot be assigned to the order of the soueraigne Good But if the heauens worke freely being guided by an intelligence it must needs follow that being the causes of so many mischiefes which abundantly light on man they are guided by a furious or else by a couetous soule If by a furious seeing there is a certaine planet which as these Astronomers say doth alwaies designe violent influences wherefore is it not consumed with such a sempiternall furie Moreouer why say men that a planet is inflamed sooner in one house then in another What meeteth it in his owne house or in another that disposeth it to signifie euill Againe how is that inflamed with furie which they affirme to bee immutable But if the heauens be led by couetousnes what profit or gaine do they attract from things here below For this couetous desire remayneth onely in themselues And whosoeuer coueteth euill doth it as the Philosophers say because that he is as it were intoxicated and ouercome by inebriating matter But sith the matter of the
he returneth to the other without any ceasing rest or fainting Wherein we must especially acknowledge gods woonderfull prouidence who hath created him neither greater nor lesse then is necessary to performe the office which hath beene committed to him And for his greatnes we may truely iudge that it is immense and admirable because that in what place soeuer men may be whether in the east or in the west or in the north or in the south parts yet do they all behold it of one selfesame greatnes And therefore doth the prophet say They which dwell in the vttermost parts of the earth Psal 65. are afraid of thy signes and thou makest them ioyfull with the going foorth of the euening and the morning that is with the rising and setting of the sunne and other planets and starres Wherein we must note that though we commonly say of the sunne that he riseth and setteth as if we spake of a man that went to take his rest in the night after that he trauailed all day yet in truth he neither riseth nor setteth for that he is continually busie How the rising and setting of the sunne must be taken bringing day to some when others haue night But men say commonly so because that in regard of vs he seemeth when he retyreth as if he went to rest at euen-tide and that he riseth in the morning when he returneth vnto vs. Wherfore we say that he is hidden and downe when we see him not and that he is risen when he appeereth at point of day And so do the rude people and children which dwel neere the mountaines accustomablie say that he is gone to hide himselfe behind them And they which are neere the sea suppose that he goeth to plunge wash himselfe therein as the Poets also say accommodating their stile to the vulgar And yet al may behold that he riseth not on the same side where he setteth but on the other quite opposite Whereby is easie to be iudged that he hath not reposed all the while that men slept but hath passed much way And that he still carrieth his light with him for it is a most certaine thing that he hath not deliuered night and darknes to those people and nations by which he passed but light and day But if there be fewe amongst the rude and ignorant which meditate these things so farre there be fewer which consider of the prouidence of God that manifesteth it selfe in this perpetuall changing of day into night and of night into day For there is nothing more contrary then light and darknes and consequently then night and day And yet hath God so well disposed compacted and reconciled these contrarieties togither that if things were otherwise ordained there were neither man nor beast that could long liue vpon the face of the earth And therefore Ecclesiasticus saith Eccles 42. Oh how delectable are all his works and to be considered euen to the very sparks of fire they liue all and endure for euer and whensoeuer need is they are all obedient They are al double one contrarie to another hee hath made nothing that hath any fault The one commendeth the goodnes of the other and who can be satisfied with beholding Gods glory And indeed if the day should last perpetually and equally alike in all parts of the world the heat of the sunne would so scorch euery thing that it would drie vp and consume not onely men and beasts but euen all moisture and humiditie which is in the earth Meruailes of the prouidence of God in the commodities of day and night Whereby all liuing creatures should faile for they could not liue for two causes First because that life doth principally lie in heate and moisture and is conserued by them according to the order that God hath set in nature to guard and maintaine it Wherefore as men and beasts loose their life if their naturall heat be altogither extinguished so doth it likewise befall them when their moisture is entirely consumed For there must be a verie equall proportion in all those qualities which are in the bodies of liuing creatures to wit in heat and coldnes in drines and moisture according to the nature of the fowre elements whereof they are composed for the excesse of the one doth confound the other For which cause God hath so disposed the course of the Sunne that hee distributeth his heate in so good and iust measure that he hindreth the too much coldnes and moisture which might quench the naturall heate and yet doth not so consume them by the heat and drines which he causeth but that there alwaies remaineth so much as is needful for the life of all creatures And for the other reason that they would faile it is that neither man nor any other animall can liue without nourishment to repaire in them that which the naturall heate like a fire incessantly flaming hath consumed of radicall humor in their bodies yet this heat must be likewise maintained that it be not extinguished as wee haue amply discoursed concerning these things in the second part of our Academie For this cause then God hath ordained eating and drinking for the nouriture of all liuing creatures and hath appointed to the earth as to the mother of al the charge and office to produce fruits and other nourishments needfull for them Which she cannot do being by nature cold and drie if as she is warmed by the heat of the sunne she be not also moistned by the waters both of heauen earth And therefore when that the sunne hath heated and dried it vp all day long the night which is the shadow of the earth doth afterwards ensue and taking from vs the sight of the sunne and his light doth by this meanes bring vnto vs darknes which causeth night wherein the Moone who is colde and moist hath her rule as the sunne who is hot and drie hath his rule in the day time And so we must consider these two celestiall bodies very neerely according to their proper effects which we perceiue and experiment heere on earth below Genes 1 as also Moses testifieth vnto vs saying that God created two great lights amongst others to be as regents and rulers the one of day and the other of night So then as the earth and all that it beareth togither with all animals or liuing creatures that it nourisheth are heated and dried vp in the day time by the sunne euen so are they moistned and refreshed in the night time by the withdrawing thereof and by the humiditie and coldnes of the Moone Wherein there especially hapneth a mutuall accord betweene heauen and earth vnder which we comprise the aire waters and al creatures therein contained with their natures and qualities Moreouer in this maruel we are to consider that as men and animals cannot suruiue without nourishment which God hath prouided by the meanes aforesaid so likewise could they not liue without taking some rest
passe on the fifteenth day of the moones age bicause that then she doth oppositely confront the sunne Another time the superior moitie is fully illuminated to wit when she is conioined with the sunne which is ouer hir and then is hir lower part darkened not appeering to vs for two daies which commeth to passe at the ende of the moone and all the rest of the moneth she hath diuers illuminations For from hir coniunction with the sunne the light in the vpper part beginneth to faile and by little and little to come to the lower part towardes vs according as shee mooueth reculing from the sunne and so doth till the fifteenth day wherein all the inferior part towardes the earth is shining and the superiour part is cleane without light After which time the light beginneth to conuey it selfe to the vpper moitie decreasing by little and little towards vs in the lower moitie which at last is left cleane without brightnes and the other which wee see not becommeth all shining And it is to be noted that the hornes of the Moone which hir diuers aspect sheweth vs turne their back-parts towards the sunne and if shee encreaseth they are turned towards the sunne rising if she be in the waine they turne to the sun setting She shineth moreouer adding to each day three quarters and the fower and twentith part of an hower beginning from the second day till the time she make full moone and from that time forwards vsing the like substraction euery day till the time that she appeereth no more at all And when she is within fowerteene degrees of the sunne she is seene no more Whereby it appeereth The moone smaller then the other planets that all the rest of the planets are greater then the moone for none of them is hidde or obscured by the beames of the sunne except it be within seuen degrees thereof But in that they are all of them higher then the moone is they seeme to be lesser so in the same consideration it commeth to passe that the brightnes of the sunne hindreth vs of the sight of the fixed stars in the day time which neuerthelesse shine as well in the day as in the night time as may be perceiued at the eclipses of the sunne as likewise in a very deepe pit if one should descend thereunto in the day time Things to be considered in the shadow of the earth Moreouer all these stars are neuer eclipsed For the shadow of the earth which causeth the moone to loose hir light reacheth not beyond her heauen And the night also is no other thing but the shadow of the earth which shadow is in forme like a pyramis growing still lesse and lesse taperwise towards a point till at last it fadeth For all shadowes waxe lesse and lesse till they be cleane diminished by distance as may euidently bee seene by shadowes of birdes which flie in the aire Now the shadow of the earth finisheth in the aire at the beginning of the region of fire aboue the moone al things are pure wherfore it is not possible that the terrestriall shadow can hinder the brightnes of the stars which are aboue the moone And therefore likewise we behold them in the night time like a candle in a darke place But the shadow of the earth is the very cause that the moone is eclipsed alwaies by night Why the eclipses happen not euery month And it is to be noted in that that the eclipses both of the sunne and moone happen not euery moneth that it is by reason of the obliquenes of the Zodiacke and of the variable motions of the moone which being sometimes north and sometimes south as wee haue heeretofore declared meeteth not alwaies in coniunction or in opposition in the knots of the ecliptick circle which are in the head or in the taile of the dragon We may note also that the consideration of the shadowes and eclipses aforesaid hath taught men to iudge of the greatnes of the sunne of the moone and of the earth How one may â—udg of the greatnes of the sunne the moone and the earth For first it should be impossible that there had been any vniuersall eclipse of the sunne by the diametrall interposition of the moone if the earth were greater then the moone Againe this planet and the shadow of the earth deliuereth vnto vs greater certaintie that the vnmeasurable magnitude of the sunne is much more then their owne Hist nat lib. 2. in such sort that as Plinie saith there need nothing more be required to iudge of the immensitie of the sunne by the eie or by coniectures sith that the trees planted by the way side haue all of them their shadowes proportionably equall though there be much distance of ground betwixt them as if the sunne were in the midst of them and did giue light to all alike And during the time that the sunne is in the Equinoctiall-point ouer the southerne climates and regions he casteth his light downe right without making any shadow and yet in the north regions on this side the solstice-circle the shadowes fall on the north side at noone and toward the west at sunne rising which could not happen if the sunne were not very much greater then the earth But leauing this discourse we must out of our speech learne some point of Christian Astrologie Now we haue heard that the moone hath no light of her selfe at least that can appeere vnto vs but so much as she receiueth from the sunne according to the disposition or opposition of their diuers courses in such sort that the moon neuer persisteth in one estate but changeth incessantly But it is not so with the sunne for he hath alwaies as much light at one time as at another and is not subiect to any change I say then that in him we haue a goodly image of the constant and immutable God who is alwaies one The image of God in the sunne and euer without any variation and who firme in his counsell hath ordained concerning all things for euer according to his endlesse right and iust will Mal. 3. In the moone is an image of the creatures So contrariwise we haue represented to vs in the moone a perfect figure of the creatures by which is demonstrated vnto vs that all things vnder heauen are mutable and subiect to continuall change and also that according as we receiue our saluation in Christ through faith and as we increase therein in such degree are wee made partakers of his diuine light and of all his graces and blessings euen as the moone participateth of the brightnes of the sunne Many woorthy points to consider of in christian Astrology Moreouer we shall haue learned a woorthie point of Christian Astrologie when we shall consider that as these two celestiall planets haue perpetuall alliance and communication togither euen so the coniunction which is betwixt Iesus Christ and his church is eternall And
therfore according as it is said in the common prouerbe God keepeth the moone from wolues the faithfull may very aptly speake this of themselues concerning their enemies bicause they are much surer in the alliance of the Almightie and vnder his protection For as the sunne shall neuer be without the moone nor the moone without the sunne so the eternall sonne of God shall neuer be without his church nor his church without him although we see it sometimes increase and sometimes decrease and sometimes as if it cleane failed and were vanished like the eclipsed moone But as the moone doth not so faile by any eclipse that can happen but that it persisteth to remaine a moone still though she be not seene of men so the church can neuer cleane faile nor bee so consumed but that it shall euer bee a church notwithstanding that it may seeme to humane sight and exterior appeerance to be nothing at all and without any vigor For it is founded vpon the firme rocke which is Iesus Christ and therefore all the power of hell cannot preuaile against it nor waste it And the Lord can alwaies tell who be his though men knowe it not Next we must learne that as the moone is eclipsed when she is so opposed to the sunne that the shadowe of the earth spread out betweene them both hindreth her to receiue that light from him which she is accustomed to attract so commeth it to men in the church when their sinnes are like an obscure cloud and an obstacle which hindreth the fauor and grace of God that it cannot attaine to them and when there be mists and darknesses of ignorance which doe detaine them from beholding of Iesus Christ the true sunne of their soules and to commit themselues to be guided by the light of his worde But as the sunne faileth not though hee be eclipsed in regarde of vs so the soueraigne head of the elect doth neuer faile to his church though hee may seeme sometimes to bee absent and quite withdrawen for hee alwaies supporteth it by his power And therefore also it is written that the woman by whome the church is signified hath the moone vnder hir feete Apocal. 12. which is as much to say as that the conuersation of the children of God which are members of the church is not in earth but in heauen as Saint Paule testifieth and that they haue already put vnder their feete all worldly things Phil. 3. which are mutable and inconstant insomuch as they liue after the spirit not after the flesh Rom. 8. are illuminated by Iesus Christ who is the true sunne of iustice that by the brightnes of his word and of his comming discouereth all things It is most certaine that the number of these is verie small in respect of those worldly men Man subiect to greater changes then the moone who following the nature of elementarie and corporall things are subiect to greater changes then the moone hirselfe which being lower then all the other stars planets by so much neerer to the earth receiueth likewise some mutation greater then the rest of the starres as if God would represent vnto vs in her the changings whereto the elements and all creatures composed of them which are vnder the celestiall spheres are ordinarily subiect And yet doth not the moone change from her proper nature which was ordained by the creator from the beginning as we haue already declared yea though that in regard of vs and of our sight she haue the foresaid mutations yet doth she neuer faile but doth euermore repaire himselfe and presentlie renue so that we see her not weare away in such manner but that she persisteth without ceasing in her proper and naturall course But it is not so with men who change not onelie from day to day but also from hower to hower from instant to instant from age to age For as they daily proceed in growth of body and of strength from the hower of their conception and birth from time to time vntill they be arriued to their full vigor like the full moone so after they are ascended to this degree they alwaies abate and decline till their extreamest age and to death wherein they vtterly faile in respect of this life as if they had neuer beene For they cannot do like the moone who after her defect doth continually repaire and restore herselfe till such time as she shew herselfe full and entier But they are constrained to attend for that last day Acts. 3. which is called by Saint Peter the day of the restitution and restauration of all things foretold by the prophets So then in that day shall we be renued in a permanent estate for euer Behold then what me seemeth we must consider like christians vpon our discourses of the sunne and of the moone And hauing hitherto entreated of the heauenlie world and of the spheres sufficiently to content a Christian astronomer we will now proceed to describe the elementary world whereof ASER you shall begin to speake instructing vs in the principles of naturall and corruptible things Of the beginning of naturall and corruptible things Chapter 37. ASER. ALl Philosophers with one consent do teach that there hath beene at first or at least-wise one must vnderstand so some subiect without forme Of the first matter of aâ—â— things capable of all formes which they called matter or Hyle that is to say the substance or stuffe which some also haue named Chaos and which is properly described by Moses in these Hebrew wordes Tohu Bohu which is as much to say as I wot not what thing without forme containing by possibilitie all that which could be formed Plato in his Timaeo calleth it a Bosome without forme a power which is mother of the world a nurse a subiect and a receptacle of formes and saith that it was not distinguished by any quantity nor by any degree And bicause that out of this first subiect innumerable things were to be produced Anaxagoras disputeth how that in the same were coÌ„tained infinit formes and numbers not limited which the onely vnderstanding and thought creator of all things had drawne out in effect And this Aristotle attributeth to nature though sometimes he seemeth to distinguish this nature from God and make them companions oftentimes repeating these words God and Nature made or made nothing without cause Now for vs wee know that that nature which the philosophers called disposing distinguishing can be nothing else but God only as appeereth by sundry reasons which we haue heretofore deduced Wherefore holding this to be confessed we must be sure that the perpetuall generation of things declareth that it is a matter which hath at first beene made by some other meanes For corne commeth of the earth and of humor animals of seede and of bloud or egges ashes are made by wood and there is nothing so little but it is made of some subiect But in all these
haue the power to doe and to suffer neither also can they consist more then two togegither for else contraries should remaine in one selfe same subiect Neither can heat be ioyned with cold without some meane nor dry with moist Whereupon doth follow that the qualities not contrarie being ioyned two and two together doe declare vnto vs fower well ordered combinations or couplings which do argue vnto vs the fower elements But hearken what the aduers part answereth Such coniunctions and copulations doe onely shew themselues in mixtures and compound bodies for some things being hot in the first degree are also moist and some being cold are drie others are hot and drie others cold and moist and so consquently of the rest But for the elements because that heat and great drines had reduced all things to an ende in steed of ministring a beginning vnto them Nature or rather the author of Nature Of the celestiall heat producing fire hath ordayned a celestiall heat well tempered by which all things should be engendred And by it and by putrefaction and motion the creature called Fire is incessantly produced Whereupon ensueth that though there be a fire yet neuerthelesse it is no element And therefore they conclude that there are but three elements The earth most thicke and heauie seated below the aire most thin and light placed aboue and the water meane betwixt these qualities situate between both They also affirme that vnto these elements it is common to haue no naturall heat because there is no heat but from the heauens and consequently from the soule and from brightnes That the earth because it is exceeding thicke and solide and the aire because it is beyond measure thinne seeme to be least cold but the water which is of meane substance betweene both seemeth to be most cold That the earth because of some certaine thinnesse thereof admitteth heat and therefore is esteemed lesse cold then stones And the aire because of the temperate cleernes and for that by the thinnesse thereof it is easily chaunged is esteemed not onely not to be cold but to be hot though in truth all the elemēts are cold by their own nature Which coldnes is nothing else but priuatiō of heat which heat doth wholly rest in the stars which is a proper celestiall qualitie moouing the bodie which aided by motion produceth fire But say they many may bee deceiued by reason of the violent heat which sometimes maketh impression in the elements For by the action of the starres some parts of the elements are mixed and participate with the nature of the celestiall bodies as Pepper becommeth hot And yet such mingling cannot be said to be an element but a thing composed partly of elements And for the fire which lighteth by the striking and beating of stones that it is likewise an heat of the stars in a bodie rarified by the celestiall power By these reasons then they conclude that two qualities do onely appeere vnto vs the heat of heauen and the proper moisture of the elements and as for drie and cold that they be the priuations of those qualities and that therfore a thing verie hot or verie cold cannot properly be called an element What an element is but that that may be said to be an element which hath no need of nourishment which of it selfe is not corrupt neither wandreth here and there but retayneth a certaine place in great quantitie according to nature and is prepared for generation All which things not agreeing with the fire because it is alwaies mooued neither can subsist without nouriture and burneth the aire which is next it whereby being inflamed it is called a flame for flame is nothing else but the aire inflamed it followeth that it cannot be called an element but rather an accidentall and great heat Behold then how Philosophers do diuersly dispute vpon this matter but our intention is not to giue sentence therein especially against the ancient and generally confirmed opinion which admitteth fower elements Wherefore as leaning thereunto tel vs ACHITOB how they may be considered by the perfect compositions which are in the world Of the perfect compositions which are in the nature of all things by which the fower elements may be considered Chap. 40. ACHITOB. ACcording as we are taught by those who haue first diligently sought out the secrets of nature we shal consider an elementarie fire and the element thereof approching the heauenly spheres by reason of the naturall agreement which they haue together being much greater then there is of the heauens with the aire the water and the earth Now these fower elements do demonstrate themselues by the like number of perfect compounds The agreement of stones with the earth which follow the nature of them to wit by stones mettals plants and animals or sensitiue creatures For stones haue their foundation or originall vpon the earthie corner of this worlds frame because that agreeing with the nature of earth they descend alwaies towards the center except they be such as are ouer-dried and burned as are the pumice-stones which are made spungie in caues full of aire But when they are turned into dust then resuming their proper nature of stones they descend Chrystall and the Beryll are also numbred among stones because that though they may be engendred of water they are neuerthelesse so congealed and in manner frozen that being made earthie they descend downewards which is not the manner of frost and snow So is it with those stones that are bredde in the bladder though they be produced of a waterie humour And all these kindes of stones become so close and solide in their nature with such fastnes and binding that they cannot be molten like mettals although the saide mettals descend downewardes like stones Mettals agreeing with the water And therefore also vpon the second watrie angle of the elementarie world mettals are builded which though they be said to be composed of all the elements yet bicause they are principally made of water they retaine the nature thereof and will melt as Abubacher doth excellently discourse speaking thus We see in mines that by reason of the continuall heate of some mountaines the thickest of the water steweth and boileth so that in tract of time it becommeth quicksiluer And of the fat of the earth so stewed and boiled togither with heate is brimstone ingendred and through continuall heate also are mettals procreated For gold that hath no default is ingendred of quicksiluer and of brimstone that is pure tough cleere and red Siluer of the same liquid siluer and of close pure cleere and white sulphur wherein colour wanteth and something of the closenes surenes and consequently of waight Tinne that is more vnperfect is ingendred of the same causes and parts vnperfect bicause they are lesse concocted and attenuated Lead of the same terrestriall-siluer and full of filth depriued of purenes and surenes and of grosse sulphur or brimstone somewhat red whereto
wanteth fastnes clearnes and waight which makes this mettall vnperfect and impure And Iron is procreated of the same quicksiluer impure tough part earthie and burnt white and not cleere which maketh this mettall base and foule failing in purenes and in waight All which mettals being made of quicksiluer which is waterie doe for this cause retaine the nature of the water To this author accordeth Auicen in his Phisickes and in the epistle to Hazem the philosopher But Gilgil the Spanyard supposed that mettals had been engendred of cinders bicause they sinke in water and melt like the glasse which is drawne from terrestriall-cinders and beaten stone But this concludeth not for mettall sinketh and descendeth by reason of that terrestriall part which it hath incorporated with the liquid part and bicause that the pores which retaine the aire are closed and shut vp And for glasse it is not extracted out of the earthie matter but out of the radicall moisture which is within the cinders and stones For in euery compound are the fower elements though the nature of one hath more domination therein For this cause likewise plants are founded vpon the third angle of the world called airie Concord of the plants with the aire for they doe not growe nor fructifie but in open day and doe properly retaine the nature of the aire which they alwaies require as being fittest and aptest for them Yea the wood it selfe would presently corrupt and rot being depriued of the aire if the watrie humor doe not succour it which participateth with the aire Finally vpon the fourth angle of this fower-faced edifice to wit Animals accord with the fire vpon the fire is the liuing sensitiue creature built whose life as many learned doe teach is by meanes of fire and obtained from the Empyreall heauen and from the spirit of life which is a quickning fire and distributeth life to all the mundane wheeles as we may learne by the oracles of Ezechiel saying Ezech. 1. And the spirit of life was in the wheeles Behold then how vpon the fower bases of the elements are planted fower sorts of perfect compounds to wit stones mettals plants and liuing creatures True it is that vnder euery vniuersall kinde of these there are diuers particular species distinct the one from the other for although stones may be properly earthie yet are they sometimes nominated of some other element which most preuaileth in their composition For doubtlesse all the elements doe meete togither in the procreation of them but chiefly earth and water Whereupon obscure and thicke-darke stones are called earthie-stones and cleere transparent stones waterie Diuersitie of the nature of stones and some also are melted by a great fire to be turned into glasse Some also with raine falling drop by drop are engendred in the shels of oisters as those pearles which are found in the Indian and Britaine seas The chrystal and Beryll are made of water frozen voide of pores or subtile passages so that they can neither receiue heate nor be melted It appeereth also that there is fire in the composition of stones which likewise is forced out of the flint being stroken with a gad of steele To which purpose Hermes amongst his secrets teacheth that a stone doth sometimes spring out of the fire mounting from earth to heauen and then againe returning to the earth that nourished it For mettals likewise Diuersitie of the mettals though they be waterie some of them doe neuertheles retaine the nature of fire as gold and iron one of which imitateth the fire of the sunne and the other the fire of Mars But tinne and copper are airie this receiuing influence from Venus that from Iupiter Siluer agreeth with the moone Lead with Saturne quicksiluer with Mercurie and yet all of them are endued with a waterie nature wil melt and doe differ in waight For as one water doth differ in waight from another so doth mettall from mettall not onely in speciall but also in vndiuisible proportion For common gold differeth in waight from that which the Latines call Obrysum or else Ofiryzum of the Hebrue word Ofir which we call fine golde and which hath been oftentimes purged and refined in the fire and wasteth not therein The gold of Tharsis also doth differ from the gold of India and Hungarie and so of others So likewise doe waters differ in goodnes and in waight according to the region and place wherein they are and by how much they are neerer to the fountaine by so much are they better and lighter And by their waight as Vitruuius will haue it one may knowe the goodnes of the aire according to which he willeth men to choose out places to build houses in Concerning plants although they may be by nature airie A different propertie of the plants yet there are some whose rootes iuice leaues and blossomes are said to be hot in the first second third or fourth degree and others are cold and drie some also are moist which diuersitie happeneth according as the plant obtaineth more or lesse of the nature of one of the elements Diuersitie of nature in animalibus The like is of liuing creatures For though they may properly be said to be of the nature of fire yet are there some which being more earthie delight in the earth as mowles woormes and commonly all creeping things Likewise all fishes are nourished by the water the chameleon by the aire the salamander by fire as some affirme bicause that he long time indureth fire through his excessiue coldnes There are some also which burne with great heate as doues and lions some are cooled with moisture as the lambe and some are dry as hares and deere But neuerthelesse in regarde of their life they are all especially of the nature of fire distinguished by degrees wherefore diuers names haue beene assigned to them being borrowed from the elements or from their qualities Of the celestiall and supercelestiall elements And besides all this which we haue heere discoursed concerning the elements which may bee found in the perfectly compounded substances of this elementarie world many learned men affirme that they are also resident in the celestiall and supercelestiall world But that as they are heere thicke and grosse so by a contrary reason they are pure and cleane in heauen and in it liuing and euery where well doing They say then that these celestiall elements are as the woorthiest excellent portion of those which subsist vnder the moones-sphere in the second degree and which remaine also in the bowels of the earth as the most base and grosse lees of the elements And that in heauen they are certaine vertues or powers and in nature the seedes of things and in the world below grosse formes For as they argue if there were no elementarie powers in heauen how then by the celestiall influences should these elements heere below be engendred and transformed in such sort as that which
is to them as an interpreter taking away the vaile from strange languages obscurenes from riddles and parables and difficultie from euerie profound and mysticall speech and opening that which is shut vp in the secret cabinets of God and nature presenteth the naked truth to be contemplated Neither must we thinke that the starre of Mercurie performeth this but so far as it may operate in bodies by disposing or else as an instrument of the diuine omnipotency as we haue heretofore declared Concordance of the aire with Venus Let vs now speake of the aire It seemeth to be answerable in nature to Venus which is hot and moist And by the foresaid order of the planets succession in course that it must be referred to Iupiter For this cause the Astronomers haue dedicated to Venus the airie liuing creatures For euen as the aire winde coupleth and conioyneth things seuered so doth the Venerian power whereupon we will note that the Academicks taught how that there were two Venuses the one Etherian and the other Aërian the highest cleanest chasteth and most temperate according with Iupiter and conioyning the superiour diuine and spirituall things the lowest most disordinate slipperie variable and lasciuious which conioyneth in lust the creatures here below Of this Venus so many ribauldries are sung by wanton Poets because she is cause of all euill euen as the other is cause of all good To which speech the saying of Saint Augustine hath relation namely that two loues haue made two cities For the well disposed and good loue of God and the loue of one neighbour to the despising of ones selfe hath edified the citie of God But the peruerse loue of ones selfe to the forgetting of God hath reared vp the citie of the diuell Moreouer the Grammarians deliuer this reason why the power of this starre is called Venus because it doth concur in all things be they good or euill And surely all is filled with loue and nothing is void thereof as all things are full of aire which filleth the naturall appetite that abhorreth emptines By loue saith Boëtius are the heauens conioyned and the elements agree with bodies compounde Through it creatures dwell together the citie is preserued and the common wealth increased Through loue God made the world and doth gouerne it and the summe of all that which he requireth of vs is loue Saint Denis in his Hierarchie speaketh thus The loue of God hath not permitted that the king of all things should remaine in himselfe without fruit And as through loue he is spread abroad in all things without himselfe so hee delighteth to attract all things to himselfe and principally man in whom all is enclosed And therefore when he shall be vnited with God euen so shall all other things be Whether then that we speake of diuine or angelicall or spirituall or quickning or naturall loue we meane a power engraffed and conioyning which mooueth the superiour things to prouidence and care for the good of the inferiour disposeth equall things in a sociable communion and in fine admonisheth inferiour things that they turne themselues to those that are better and superiour Thus speaketh this great Doctor and Philosopher But let vs pursue the subiect of our discourse We haue declared that the Academicks haue taught a double Venus The like may be said of the Aire for we consider it in two parts the one thicke and foggie which is next the earth and the other pure and aetherian next vnto the stars which being heated by force of the winde which mixeth it selfe in all things seemeth to be verie fit for the propagation and maintenance of nature for which reason also the winde and the aire are called by one name of the Hebrewes who call all things according to their properties Finally the elementarie fire is answerable to the Sunne That the fire agreeth with the sunne and to Mars who are both of the nature of fire For as the Sunne is the true and celestiall fire boyling all that which appertaineth to the viands of this great animall the world so this elementarie fire causing all things to boyle by his great heat doth perfect the nourishment of creatures liuing in the earth Both the one and other fire heateth but this driuing the humours inward and the other drawing them out This imparteth his commoditie to that onely which is neere it but the superiour bestoweth his vertue vpon the farthest remote bodies in such sort that the force of his beames pierceth euen to the bowels of the earth where it boyleth and maketh mettals which afterward the elementarie fire purgeth Moreouer as Apollo so named as of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a priuatiue letter in composition and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth multitude as being he who alone contayneth the power of the heauens and of the starres or else because that his vertue and power consisteth of many fires by which he giueth light to all the stars whose naturall vigour produceth not their effects till such time as they bee filled with the powerfull seed of this faire Phebus who is so called of his beauty amiablenes which shineth in him as he is also named Sol as soly-shining or else by a name amongst the Hebrewes which one may interpret That which properly doth subsist because that the light and benefit thereof is proper and peculiar vnto him As this faire planet I say was acknowledged by the ancient Poets and Philosophers for the inuentor of phisicke because of the quickning heat well disposing power thereof so the fire heere beneath doth aptly patterne him by reason that heating the cold frozen creatures it doth in a manner restore their life vnto them So it is heate that giueth life and fruitfulnes For egges are not conuerted into chickens nor the silkeworme into a butterflie neither do plants grow nor yet are liuing creatures nourished and warmed except either by the superior or by the quickning or by the elementarie heat which by a certaine sympathie do seeme to bee of one selfesame kinde as it were through a correspondencie Yea the fire is so fruitefull that it engendreth it selfe and giueth power to other naturall things to engender not by the heate thereof onely but by the force of the light which it receiueth from him who hath said Genes 1. I am the light of the world Wherefore Moses being desirous to make manifest that all things had beene produced by the benefite of the light after that the matter which he calleth earth turned out of darknes was made he saith that presently the light was created as that by meanes of which life and forme must be giuen to all things and aptnes to be seene Which vitall vigor did no doubt consist in the diuine fire which is called the spirit of life the which resting vpon the face of the waters infused into all things the life and the formes by which euery thing might be discerned from other But
his voice he worketh great things which we know not And who I pray you would not woonder to see the fire and water which are of contrarie natures mingled one with another and lodged both in one lodging and proceeding out of one place together For where remayneth this fire which sheweth it selfe in lightning commeth it not out of the cloudes wherein it is enclosed before they be opened and burst by the thunder And of what substance is the cloude Is it not of water massed vp together which couereth and keepeth in the fire as in an harth For doe not we oftentimes behold while it raineth and great flouds and streames of water do fall so that it seemeth that all the cloudes and the whole aire should melt and resolue into water that great lightnings of fire flash appeere and runne euerie where about like burning darts and arrowes For while the hot exhalations are inclosed in the cloude Causes of the noise and of the lightning of thunder and retayned therein peforce with the violence and contention which is betwixt these contraries the noise of thunder is made And when the matter is so abundant in the cloude that it maketh it to breake and open and that it may reach to the earth then is there not onely thunder and great lightning but also thunderbolts and which are of diuers verie maruellous and fearfull kinds For some bring with them that fire which is not easie to be quenched as we haue alreadie declared others are without fire and pierce through the most solide and firme bodies so that there is no force which can resist them And sometimes also it happeneth that those which are stroken therewith be they men or beasts remaine all consumed within as if their flesh sinewes and bones were altogither molten within their skin it remayning sound whole as if they had no harme so that it is verie hard to finde in what part the bodie was striken We are not then to hold in small accompt that the holy scripture proposeth God vnto vs so often thundring and lightning when it would declare vnto vs his maiesty and how terrible he is and to bee feared For it is certaine that he hath many weapons and of diuers sorts very strong and ineuitable when he will punish men and that his onely will is sufficient to serue him when and how he pleaseth Supernaturall causes to bee considered in thunder And therefore also wee must acknowledge besides these naturall causes which make and engender thunder the prime eternall and supernaturall cause of all things from which proceede so many signes of the meruailous iudgements of God through the ministerie of his creatures oftentimes contrary to that which seemeth to bee ordained by the lawes of nature For when he will thunder vpon his enemies he breaketh and suddainely consumeth them in strange manner And therefore it is written 1. Sam. 2. 7 that the Lord shall destroy those who rise vp against him and that he shall thunder vpon them from heauen And in the battaile which the children of Israel had against the Philistims it is said that after the praier of Samuell the Lord in that day thundred a great thunder vpon his enemies and scattered them and slew them before the host of Israel When Moses also stretched out his rod towards heauen it is said Exod. 9. that the Lord caused thunder and haile and that the fire walked vpon the ground and that haile and tempests stroke many men and beasts in Egypt Moreouer we doubt not but that euill spirits do sometimes raise vp tempests thunder and lightning because that the principall power of them is in the aire And therefore when it pleaseth God to slack their bridle they raise vp terrible and woondrous stormes Which is apparently demonstrated vnto vs in Iob Iob. 1. whose seruants and cattell Sathan burned with the fire which he caused to fall from heauen and by a great winde that he raised he ouerturned the house vpon his children And therefore also the scripture calleth the diuell Prince of this world Ephes 2. 6. and of darknes and of the power of the aire teaching vs also that wee must fight against the euill spirits which are in the celestiall places It is no meruaile then if euill spirits ioyne themselues with tempests to hurt men to their vttermost abilitie For which cause Dauid calleth the inflaming of the wrath of God choler Psal â—8 indignation and anguish the exploit of euill angels Wherefore it is certaine that when God hath a meaning not onely to punish the wicked but also to chastice his owne or to try their faith constancie patience he giueth power to diuels to this effect yet such as that he alwaies limiteth theÌ„ so that they can do nothing but so far as is permitted them Now he permitteth them so far as he knoweth to bee expedient for his glory and for the health of his or so much as the sins and infidelity of men deserue that he may chastice and punish them and bring vengeance vpon them for their iniquities And therefore mee seemeth that to such meteors the Epicures and Atheists should bee sent who mocke at the prouidence of God as likewise the tyrants of this world Against Atheists and Tyrants who treade all iustice vnderfoot to make them thinke a little whether there be a God in heauen and whether he bee without power and without medling in the gouernment of the world For I cannot beleeue that there is any one of them but would be waked out of his sleep how profound soeuer it were when he should heare God shoote out of the highest heauens and should vnderstand the noise of his cannons and should behold the blowes that he striketh For he is in a place so high that all the wicked together cannot make batterie against him nor yet auoid his ineuitable strokes who can slay them with the feare onely which they shall haue of his noise without touching them But though they cannot assure themselues in their harts against this soueraigne maiestie and power of the eternall yet are they so peruerse and wicked that rather then they will render to him the honor and glorie which is due they forge vnto themselues a nature to which they attribute his workes or else beleeue that they happen by chance as things comming by haphazard without any diuine prouidence But leauing such manner of people we will pursue our discourse concerning things engendred in the higher elements entreating of snowes mists frosts and haile the discourse whereof ASER I referre to you Of snowes mists frosts ice and haile Chap. 45. ASER. SIth that God is not subiect to the nature which hee hath created but doth euer rest the Lord and master thereof who can performe both without it and with it all that he pleaseth it therefore followeth that we must refer not to the creatures or to nature the workes which he hath done
that the vapors attaine to Reasons of those who say that the cometâ— are scituate in heauen And therefore the comets beeing seene there higher then the place of the vapors it necessarily followeth that they are not there ingendred neither yet in the highest of the pure aire called Aether considering that there is no matter which may be kindled But if any one alledge that the combustible humor is rauished and attracted thither by the power of the stars though that this place be higher then the common place of vapors wee may answere that forsomuch as wee behold many comets to continue more then two months and some three that this their long continuance may bee an impediment thereto because that the totall masse of the earth would not be sufficient for such an inflammation For fire is not perpetually fedde with one onely matter but requireth a new supply And seeing that these comets haue for the most part a beard or a taile and are seated in an higher place then the aire a man cannot iudge them to bee lesse then the Moone And it seemeth impossible that so much matter should be consumed as might maintaine this huge flame for three moneths Moreouer there is a meanes to know whether the comet be in the region of the aire or else be ingeÌ„dred in heauen For if it be quicker in motion from west to east theÌ„ the moone is theÌ„ of necessity must the place of the comet be vnder the lowest sphere but if it be more slow Comets mooued with three motions then without doubt it is bred in heauen Now it is common to all comets to be mooued with three motions namely with the first from east to west in the space of fower twentie houres like all the stars with the second from west to east almost in like space of time with the planet Venus For a comet which appeered the two and twentieth day of September 1532. and ended the third day of December proceeded as Fracastorius writeth in 71. daies from the fift part of Virgo to the eight part of Scorpio Which maketh manifest that it could not be vnder the Moone for then it should haue beene more swiftly mooued then this planet which retrogradeth thirteenth parts of the Zodiacke in fower and twentie howers according to the ordinarie course of the first motion and the comet had proceeded but 63. degrees in 71. daies But for the third motion peculiar to all comets which is considered according to the latitude it is such and so great that if the foresaid Author be not deceiued one is now mooued with incredible speed towards the North and another in an instant towards the South Which commeth to passe when the comets are neere to any of the Poles for then a little varietie of place conferred to the Zodiacke doth greatly change the latitude Besides it is to be noted that the beard of euerie comet doth directly stretch out that way which is opposite to the Sunne and when it setteth the same taile is straight Eastward As the like may be daily seene in the darke part of the Moone Moreouer the comet doth most vsually accompanie the Sunne and appeereth not but at euen-tide at the shutting vp of the day Which giueth vs to vnderstaÌ„d What a comet properlyâ—â— that a comet is a globe placed in heauen which being inlightned by the Sunne doth plainely appeere and when his rayes passe farther they shew like the fashion of a bread or of a tayle Whereupon it appeereth that this flaming globe may be made in the midst of the spheres if the generation thereof be in them or else we must say and that seemeth true that the heauen is full of many stars not verie massie which the aire being drie and attenuated do present themselues to our sight For Venus hirselfe is sometimes seene in broad day which none can say to be newly engendred Of the prodigies which are attributed to comets Then through this drines of the aire it commonly happeneth that the seas are much turmoiled with tempests and that great blustring windes doe follow thereupon and that Monarches great Princes who are most drie through cold watchings or else through abundance of hot and delicate meates and of strong wine do thereupon die So likewise the drie and attenuated aire causeth the waters to diminish fishes to die and scarcitie of victuals which oftentimes stirreth vp seditions and the chaunge of lawes and finally the subuersion of states All which things I say doe seeme in some sort to proceed through the great tenuitie and drines of the aire thereof the comet then appeering may be a signe token but not the cause But if we wil meditate vpoÌ„ these things like christians we will say that what naturall causes soeuer Naturalists and Astrologers can render concerning comets signes and woonders which appeere sometimes in heauen that they should be so often vnto vs like so many trumpets heraulds and fore-runners of the Iustice of God to aduertise men that they remaine not buried in their filth and sinnes but returne to the infinite goodnes of God who reacheth out his hand and calleth to vs through such signes to change our life and leaue our execrable vices to the ende that through his mercie we may obtaine pardon for our faults Of diuers kinds of comets But let vs likewise note that although sundry sorts of comets are seene yet the Greekes call them properly stars that haue a sanguine bush of haire and are bristled at the top And those which haue vnder them a long beard made like haires they call Pogonies Plinie reporteth of sundrie other sorts and saith that the shortest time that euer comet was seene to appeare hath beene seuen daies Hist nat lib. 2. and the longest time eightie He maketh mention also of one which seemed terrible about the clime of Egypt and Ethiopia For it was flaming and wreathed round like a serpent hauing a very hideous and dreadfull aspect so that one would haue said that it had rather beene a knot of fire then a starre Afterward this author concludeth his speech with the opinion that many haue as is abouesaid that comets are perpetuall and that they haue a proper and peculiar motion saying also that none can see them except they be very far distant from the sunne in such sort that they may not be couered with his beames And yet the opinion of Aristotle is cleane contrarie thereto and so are a great number of other philosophers who affirme that comets are composed of a certaine fire and of an humor which it lighteth on by chance for which cause they are subiect to resolution But we will proceede no farther in this argument nor yet concerning the situation of them whether they be vnder the spheres or amongst them but will pursue our purpose concerning things vndoubtedly engendred in the highest elements as namely the cloudes The discourse whereof ARAM I referre to you
Of cloudes and vapors Chap. 47. ARAM. AS the Lord and father of this great vniuers doth publish his glorie by the motions of the heauens the maruellous courses of all the lights in them so doth he likewise in the aire after many sorts as we haue alreadie heard as we haue yet good proofs in that which is presented vnto vs for the matter of our discourse And therefore the kingly prophet saith Psal 19. that the heauens report the glory of God and the firmament doth declare his works For the Hebrew word which wee call firmament doth properly signifie a spreading abroad and comprehendeth both the heauen and the aire Now let vs first note that there is nothing more weake then the aire nor any element that can worse sustaine a charge if it haue no other prop. Then let vs consider of what matter the cloudes are made and what firmenes they may retaine How cloudes are made of vapors It is certaine that they are nothing else but vapors attracted out of the waters by the power of the sunne as wee behold after a great raine when the heat of the sunne striketh vpon the earth For wee perceiue the water to ascend vpwards like a great smoke and wee see an other cleere experience hereof in wet clothes and linnen when they receiue the heat of heauen or of the fire So it is then that the water ceaseth not to mount from earth vp into the aire and then to descend downe againe so that the course thereof is perpetuall as if there were a sea mounting from earth to heauen which we call Aire then descending from thence downe hither to vs. For after that of vapors which ascend from the earth the cloudes are gathered togither which like spunges doe receiue the steame of the waters whereof they themselues are engendred then doe they carrie them like chariots to distribute them through all the quarters of the world according as is ordained by the prouidence of God And therefore Elihu saith in the booke of Iob. Behold God is excellent and we know it not Iob. 36. neither can the number of his yeeres be searched out when he restraineth the drops of water the raine powreth downe by the vapor thereof which raine the clouds doe drop and let fall abundantly vpon man Then proceeding to shew how God spreadeth out the light of the sunne vpon the waters of the sea to draw out and produce vapors he addeth Who can know the diuisions that is the varieties and diuersities of the cloudes and the thunders of his tabernacle Behold hee spreadeth his light vpon it and couereth the rootes of the sea Meaning by rootes the waters of the sea as well because they are deepe as for that they are diuided by diuers waues like the branches of rootes Propertie of the windes in regard of the cloudes Moreouer we must consider that to carrie conuey the cloudes hither and thither God hath created the winds which blow from all the quarters of the world some to gather the cloudes together and to bring raine and snow or haile and tempests by meanes of the same cloudes according as pleaseth the Creator to dispose them other winds on the contrarie do disperse them and make the aire cleere and pleasant bringing faire weather Hereof then it commeth that aboue in the aire betweene heauen and earth there is as it were an other heauen made of clouds spread out like a curtaine and like a vault or couering ouer our heads which hindreth vs of sight of the Sunne Moone and stars But as this masse of cloudes is made by meanes of winds ordained thereto so when it pleaseth God to giue vs faire weather then doth he sende vs other winds which chase away all these cloudes and cleere the aire as if they had beene swept away and the heauen sheweth another countenance to the world as if it had beene changed and renued Now while the aire is so filled with cloudes this may verie well be considered by vs that men haue then as it were a great sea of water ouer their heads contayned and held within those cloudes as the waters of the sea are within the bounds which are assigned them for their course Which it seemeth that Moses taught when he sheweth that God creating all things separated the waters which are vpon the earth from those which are in the aire Genes 1. saying thus That there was a stretching out betweene the waters and that it separated the waters from the waters God then made the firmament or spreading abroad or stretching out and separated the waters which are vnder the firmament from those which were aboue it and it was so And God called the firmament Heauen It is sure that by these words many haue thought that the prophet would teach that there were waters both vnder aboue heauen which seemeth to be cōfirmed by the Psalmist Psal 148. Whether there be any materiall waters aboue the heauens saying Praise yee the Lord heauens of heauens waters that be aboue the heauens praise his name Neuerthelesse it is not verie easie for vs to vnderstand what waters may be aboue the heauens if we doe not take the name of heauen in these two texts for the aire as wee haue heretofore shewed that it is oftentimes so taken For what shall wee answere beeing demaunded to what vse the materiall waters may serue either among the spheres or aboue the planets and stars And for to take the name of waters here for spirituall waters not corporall as many haue argued mee seemeth vnder correction of the wiser which wee preferre in all our discourses that this cannot fitly be affirmed because it doth euidently appeare that Moses speaketh of materiall waters For he accommodating himselfe to a grosse people amongst whom hee conuersed maketh no mention in all the creation of the world but of the creating of visible and corporall things so that there is small likelihood that he should speake of other waters mixing spirituall things with corporall But because the Latin translator of the common version of the bible hath vsed in this text the word firmament following the translation of the Greekes and not the proper word spreading abroad as the Hebrue phrase doth signifie some of the learned haue obserued how that many Latine diuines haue beene hindred from the vnderstanding of this doctrine For they haue taken the name Firmament for the starrie heauen as also the Greekes haue iudged imitating their translation Whereupon the imagination is sproong of waters aboue the heauens and of a christalline heauen which I suppose to haue been so called Of the chrystaline heauen by reason of these waters which were supposed to be aboue the firmament bicause that chrystall is made of ice and ice of water For it had beene very difficult to conceiue how materiall waters which by nature are corruptible might be aboue the celestiall spheres except they were hardened and conuerted
distributeth the raine and heauenly waters by an admirable prouidence who also keepeth them hidden when he pleaseth in such sort that there is no cloud seene in the aire and sometimes for so long space that the earth becommeth drie and as it were burnt vp with the beames of the Sunne for want of moisture from heauen 1. King 17. 18. as it was in the dayes of Elias And then he executed the sentence wherwith he threatned the transgressors of his law when he denounced to them by Moses Leuit. 26. Deut. 28. that he would make the heauen as brasse and the earth as iron that is to say that there should come no more raine from heauen then if it were of brasse whereupon doth also follow that the earth not being moistned with water from heauen should become barren bearing no more fruit then if it were of iron For as it is written The earth which drinketh in raine that commeth oft vpon it Heb. 6. and bringeth forth herbes meete for them by whom it is dressed receiueth blessing of God But that which beareth thornes and briers is reprooued and is neere vnto cursing whose end is to be Burned And therefore likewise the Prophet saith in the Psalmes Psal 107. that God turneth the flouds into deserts and springs of water into drynes and the fruitfull ground into saltnes which is as much as if he should say that he maketh it altogether barren as if one had sowed salt there Adding also afterwards that it is for the wickednes of those that dwel therein that contrariwise he turneth the deserts into pooles of water and the drie-land into water-springs making it an habitation for such as were famished who there sow the fields and plant vines which bring forth yeerly fruit For this cause the Lord being angrie with his people saith by Isay Isay 5. I will commaund the cloudes that they shall distill no raine vpon my vine-yard Meaning by this kinde of speech his people whom he hath elected And surely the holy spirit would giue vs to vnderstand this one thing more in this text that as the earth waxeth barren if it be not watred by raine from heauen so men cannot performe any thing if God powre not downe his grace vpon them as he causeth the raine-waters to showre downe vpon the earth Wherefore as it is vnfruitfull not being watred from heauen euen so is mankinde when God withdraweth his blessing For we are all cursed by nature as the earth is as we euen now heard the Apostle giue euidence When therefore it pleaseth the creator he commandeth the cloudes to distribute their waters to the end that the earth may be moistned watred to make it fertile And therfore the kingly Prophet saith againe Thou visitest the earth and watrest it Psal 65. Of the fertility caused by raine thou makest it verie rich the riuer of God is full of water thou preparest the corne for so thou appointest it Thou watrest abundantly the furrowes thereof thou causest the raine to descend into the valleies thereof thou makest it soft with showres and blessest the bud thereof Thou crownest the yeere with thy goodnes and thy steps drop fatnes Meaning by the steps or paths and walkes of the Lord the cloudes for that the Scripture proposeth him vnto vs walking vpon them and by fatnes he vnderstandeth the raine which droppeth vpon the earth as it doth also serue therefore And in another Psalme he againe recordeth The Lord watreth the mountaines from his loftie chambers which is as much to say as God causeth it to raine vpon the mountaines to make them fruitfull And therefore he further addeth That the earth is filled with the fruit of his workes Wherein the Prophet doth also expound his owne meaning saying before that the Al-mightie laide the planchers of his high chambers amongst the waters and after that he hath generally entreated of the fertilitie which God bestoweth vpon the earth by meanes of the raine he doth declare it more particularly Psal 104. saying He causeth grasse to grow for the cattell and herbe for the vse of man that he may bring foorth bread out of the earth and wind that maketh glad the heart of man and oyle that maketh the face to shine and bread that strengthneth mans heart The high trees are satisfied euen the Cedars of Libanon which he hath planted That the birds may make their nests there the Storke dwelleth in the firre-trees Where we cleerely behold how God sendeth his blessing vpon the earth by meanes of the raine to the ende that it may bring foorth fruits not onely for the nourishment of men but also for the commoditie of beasts Which may serue vs for a certaine testimonie of his prouidence towards mankinde Testimony of the prouidence of God towards men For if he hath care of the bruit beasts which he hath created for men there is no doubt but he hath much more care of them whom he hath created after his owne image and semblance and aboue all of his children and elect And for this cause also the Psalmist signifieth how that God hath not onely beene carefull to prouide for their necessities as for the necessities of other creatures but it hath also pleased him to bestowe vpon them pleasures and honest comforts conuenient both for his Maiestie as also for the nature of man when hee saith that GOD hath giuen wine to man to make him merrie and oyle to make his face shine For although he alreadie had the waters for drinke and which might suffice him to staunch his thirst and for his necessarie beuerage it hath neuerthelesse pleased him through his great liberalitie to bestow wine vpon him also which is a much more delicious drinke and which doth so comfort him that it bringeth ioy pleasure to him And for oyle it doth not onely serue in meates and medicinall ointments but also to make compositions and sweete sauours to beawtifie and refresh mans countenance Which specialities the prophet would not omit because that in his daies oyle was in great vse to make such precious ointments as the auncients vsed to annoint themselues withall as is now adaies done with oyle of Spike and other such odoriferous oyles and sweete water 2. King 4. And if God hath at some times multiplied by the hands of his faithfull ministers the poore widowes oyle as his worde teacheth vs he causeth it to abound much more euerie day when he maketh it encrease in the lands which he hath destinated to that purpose conuerting the water which runneth vpon the oliue trees into oyle yea and that water which droppeth vpon the earth into corne and bread which he dayly doth much more abundantly multiply then in times past hee did the poore widowes meale by Elias 1. King 17. Matth. 14. 15. yea then Iesus Christ did multiply the loaues in the wildernes And therefore if we shall consider how the Al-mightie
creator of heauen earth causeth so many fruits to grow in this round-masse through the distillations of raine and through the heate of the Sunne wee hold in great admiration this woorthie naturall Alchimie which he hath set before our eies in the nature by him created Of true naturall Alchymie For all this world is to him as a fornace and a limbeck wherein he maketh so many goodlie and profitable distillations that it is altogither impossible to expresse in words their woorth and valew The earth is this fornace and all the plants and trees so many limbecks And if we haue in such estimation the distillations made by men following some imitation of nature this surely is a kinde of Alchymy very woorthie of great reputation and woonder For let vs consider onely what it is that hee extracteth out of a vine stocke and the branches There is no doubt but that this is a plant of no great shew so that many haue doubted whether it might rightfully be counted amongst trees for besides that it is crooked it is so weak that it cannot stand vpright nor sustaine not onely the branches thereof but euen it selfe if it be not alwaies propped at leastwise when it riseth neuer so little high And yet this is a marueilous and very rare Limbeck wherein God conuerteth water into wine and maketh it to distill out The like may we saie of Oliue-trees figge-trees and many other fruite-trees sauing that they make more shew and retaine more of the nature of a tree then the vine doth For all the excellent liquors and fruits which we draw out of these plants and all others are principally caused by the heat of the sunne and by the waterings of raine from heauen which by this meanes seemeth to change nature and put on diuers formes And yet this sun by meanes of whom as by a fire God performeth so many sundry and admirable conuersions and distillations hath not his face smeared with coles to kindle and maintaine his fire nor yet his faire eie soiled therewith or with any smoke So then I hold them very wise who profite in the contemplation of this Alchymie and emploie their time and cunning therein as husbandmen do who till the earth attending in good hope after their trauell the blessing which is promised them of God as he also doth daily send vpon the earth by the effects of the sunne moone stars and planets of the aire clouds raine and such other meanes which it pleaseth him to vse for the same purpose Psal 127. For we may fitly say with Salomon that without this blessing it is in vaine for those which eate the bread of their trauel Deut. 11. to rise earely to goe late to bed For it is he that hath promised the first and the latter raine aswell for the time to sowe in as for to ripen and gather fruits in vsing for this purpose according to the testimonie of the prophet great cloudes in forme of chariots Psal 18. 104. whereupon being borne on the winges of the winde he maketh the windes his messengers And sith we are in this talke before we deale with any other subiect let vs acquit our selues of that which we haue promised to entreat in a particular discourse concerning the windes the charge whereof ARAM I impose vpon you Of the windes and of their kindes and names and of the testimonies which we haue in them of the power and maiestie of God Chapter 51. ARAM. Hist nat lib. 2. ACcording to the testimonie of Plinie there are more then twentie Greeke authors and manie other ancients who haue entreated of the nature of the winds But to know from whence they proceeded the difficulties doubts are great vncertaine amongst them and amongst all the philosophers Yet that is the onely truth which the diuine poet teacheth vs saying Psal 135. That the Lord draweth the windes out of his treasures Aristotle in his Meteors maintaineth that the windes are produced by the heate of the sunne which it seemeth that the author of the naturall historie doth contradict when he saith that there are certaine caues wherein the windes are ordinarily engendred as may be seene in a deepe pit which is in the coastes of Dalmatia at Senta wherein if one cast any thing how light soeuer it be there issueth sodainelie out a whirle-winde although the weather be neuer so calme and faire And in many obscure places in houses one shall commonly feele a certaine small winde as if it were enclosed therein But we must note that there is much difference betwixt these particularities or small puffes caused by exhalations which proceed out of the earth and that which is properly named the winde For they are not felt in one place onely but haue their course generally through all the earth and their meanes limited therein to exercise their power Diuers opinions concerning the generation of windes And therefore whether the winde be engendred by continual motion of the heauen or by the crosse motions of the planets which goe contrarie to that of the firmament or else that the winde be an aire driuen by the sundry turnings of the spheres and by the multiplicitie of the beames of the celestiall signes or else that it proceed from stars particularly appointed to ingender it or from the fixed starres for all these opinions are found amongst Philosophers yet neuerthelesse we see by experience that the winde is subiect to the rules and lawes of nature that it hath his determinate course although mans wit cannot pierce to sound the reason of this secret But for the names and species of these windes they haue amplie entreated thereof True it is that the ancients made mention but of fower windes which they comprised vnder the fower parts of the world And then the naturall Philosophers appointed twelue giuing them names taken partly from the regions from which they proceeded and partly from the effects and qualities which they cause vpon the earth But the Hydrographers and marriners account sixteene Of the names and kindes of the windes To haue the vnderstanding of which wee must note that euery horizon is diuided into fower quarters by two right lines which crosse in the center thereof the one of which is correspondent to the Meridian circle and the other to the verticall circle which diuideth the same Meridian at right angles which lines demonstrate the fower principall parts of the earth that is the East West North and South part of which proceed the fower principall windes to wit out of the Septentrionall part the North winde from the Meridionall the south from the Orientall the East and from the Occidentall the West Betweene which are other middle and notable windes whose names are compounded of those of the fower foresaide windes and are therefore called North-east North-west South-east and South-west Then againe each distinction of these eight windes is consequently diuided into two equall parts
which make the distinctions of eight other windes called sub-principall and which compound their names of their two next collaterall windes expressing the most notable first to wit North-northeast North-northwest South-southeast South-southwest East-northeast East-southeast West-northwest West-south-west Moreouer they that frequent the Mediterran sea as Greekes and Italians do cal the north Transmontano the south Austro east Leuante west Ponante northeast Greco northwest Maestro southeast Sirocho southwest Garbin and so of them compound the names of the other eight windes which are betwixt them as hath beene before declared And we must note that the windes haue commonly euery one their turne in such sort that when one opposite wind ceaseth and is laid his contrarie riseth Notable things in the windes But if at any time the next winde to that which ceaseth begin to blowe it runs byas-wise from left hand to right as the sun doth and one may know the fourth daie of the moone what winde will raigne longest during her time But the easterne windes do longer endure then those which rise towards the west And the sunne doth strengthen the winde and also appease it for at his rising setting they are commonly greatest at noone he calmeth them especially in sommer The winde is also commonly found to lie still either at midday or at midnight for it doth alwaies cease either through great colde or through vehement heate Likewise the raine doth make it cease whereupon this prouerbe sprung vp that little raine allaieth much winde But it is woondrous that the windes which are as it were but a puffe should performe such things as men could not doe with their hands yea though there were a multitude togither For how many people neede there be yea horses and oxen yoked togither to breake burst and pull vp the great and mightie trees which the winde abateth ouerturneth breaketh and rooteth vp with a blast onely And herein we haue goodly matter againe Testimonies of the diuine omnipotencie in the windes whereby to profite in the acknowledgement of the soueraigne maiestie and almightie prouidence of the creator and gouernour of all nature For it is certaine that as the Lord manifesteth himselfe to men such as they may comprehend him to be when he calleth the sound and noise of thunder his voice that he performeth admirable things as we haue alreadie noted we may perceiue that he doth the like also by violence of the windes And therefore the prophet saith I know that the Lord is great and that our God is aboue all Gods Whatsoeuer pleased the Lord Psal 135. that did he in heauen and in earth in the sea and in all the depths He bringeth vp the cloudes from the ends of the earth and maketh the lightnings with the raine he draweth foorth the winde out of his treasures Ierem. 10. It is he saith Ieremie that giueth by his voice the multitude of waters in the heauen and he causeth the cloudes to ascend from the ends of the earth he casteth out lightnings in the raine and bringeth foorth the windes out of his treasures The winde saith the Preacher goeth towarde the south Eccles 1. and compasseth toward the north the winde goeth round about and returneth by his circuits Now if the blasts of the winds be so strong it must needes be that the bellowes out of which they are blowen must be puissant and mightie For although it is written of the wicked Psal 10. that they are so proud and doe presume so much of their force and power that they seeme to be able to ouerthrow men townes and fortified places onely with a blast yet neuertheles it is the Lord who hath the power to abate them and all the loftie and stout with all their forts and bulwarks For all the windes togither are but as one little puffe which passeth from his mouth Wherefore if in breathing onely he driueth and remooueth heauen earth and the sea and all this world performing actes so great and woonderfull what may we esteeme of his soueraigne force when he would imploy his whole power For there is neither winde nor thunder nor deluges of water nor any thing that is comparable to the wrath of God and to the power which he hath to execute his vengeance vpon his enemies But he emploieth his creatures as the ministers of his wrath when and how he pleaseth And therefore the diuine poet in his canticles wishing liuely to describe the assistance that God had shewed him Psal 18. in deliuering him out of the hands of the wicked and in punishing them he proposeth him comming accompanied with fearefull thunders with thicke cloudes with vehement windes and stormes with lightnings tempests great raine hard haile and darke weather so that the foundations of the sea and of the earth couered with waters were discouered and the earth was mooued and trembled the mountaines shooke and bowed bicause of the furie of the wrath of the Lord. For indeede who is God but the Lord and who is mightie but our God Now it is certaine that bicause men cannot comprehēd the greatnes of the power and wrath of God against the wicked the holy Ghost doth often speake of naturall things by the prophets for to make them vnderstand by that which is visible in nature and which may most astonish and affray them So then if we shall consider so many excellent points of doctrine concerning the prouidence of God as are taught vs in the schoole of nature by meanes of the meteors as we haue hitherto discoursed of the cloudes thunders lightnings stormes flouds of water windes whirlewindes and tempestes they will serue vs no lesse for preachers then the celestiall bodies doe to manifest vnto vs especially the iudgements and heauie plagues of the almightie and to make vs oftner thinke thereupon then we doe as also the raines by the fertilitie which they cause in the earth will minister matter vnto vs to acknowledge his blessing and perpetuall grace vpon those who feare and honour him Wherefore wee haue rested long ynough in that which particularly concerneth and is dependent vpon the two higher elements the fire and the aire sauing that before we intreat of the earth and of the water and of the principall things worthy of consideration in them we wil say somewhat concerning the birdes of the aire seeing that we haue already comprised them as in truth they must be amongst the things conioyned and depending vpon the higher elements I will leaue you then ACHITOB to discourse vpon their nature Of the foules of the aire and namely of the Manucodiata of the Eagle of the Phenix and of other wilde foule Chap. 52. ACHITOB. HAuing discoursed though simply like disciples of Christian doctrine and not like masters and professors of naturall philosophie vpon the two higher elements the fire and the aire and hauing considered their nature and effects and the things engendred in them and by them it falleth very fitly for vs
euery part from the highest heauen to the lowest center of this terrestriall masse Looke then AMANA what birds you hold most woorthie to haue place in your discourse Of the Estridge of the Peacocke of the Cocke and of other foules Chap. 54. AMANA AS we haue heeretofore heard of a birde that neuer abideth vpon the earth so contrariwise the Estridge doth alwaies staie vpon the earth Of the Estridge neuer mounting aloft to take the aire This is as bigge a birde as any other is common in Africa in Aethiopia It hath a long necke like a camell the beake eies and head like to a goose but that they are much greater their wings taile haue feathers of diuers colours skie-coloured white red blacke and greene and there is no birde which hath such faire plumes of which those fethers are made wherewith men of warre adorne their helmets The Estridges passe horses in swiftnes being herein aided with the wings which Nature hath bestowed vpon them although they fly not at al neither rise from the ground but run with their wings spread They haue clouen feete like an hart with which men say they vse to take vp and cast stones at those which chase them when they flie It is also said that they swallow and digest iron which commeth to passe through the vehement heat and thicknes of their belly Some also haue reported that the Estridge hatcheth her egges with her eies but the truth is that she onely watcheth them because that her yoong ones are brought foorth by the heat of the sunne The manner of taking this birde is verie easie for when he is wearie of running he is of so foolish a nature that he thinketh himselfe closely hidden when he is onely in the shade of some tree or shrub so that it is then easie to approch him so neere as the pursuer will desire Of the peacock But let vs speake of the birde which for the beautie and sense which it hath doth merit the chiefe degree amongst the greater sort of birdes to wit the Peacocke For when he knowes that men esteeme him then turneth he round to shew his colours shining like pretious stones and sets them directly against the sun to giue them a better lustre And he assayeth also to doe so with his taile spreading it round and shewing those colours which seeme fairest in the shade drawing all the eies thereof abroad as if he knew best how to make himselfe most noted Also when he hath lost his taile as he doth euery yeere at the fal of the leafe he hideth himself as if he mourned til the next spring when his taile groweth againe It is maruellous that this part of the peacocke is so filled with eies being so long thick of feathers of sundrie colors so splendāt yet neither the colour of white nor of black this being of it selfe sad and that obscuring all colours are found in the taile of this birde Which bird liueth ordinarily fiue and twentie yeeres and at three yeeres he beginneth to shoote the sundrie colours which he hath in his feathers and knoweth his beautie and seemeth to reioyce that men do maruell at his taile when they see it and therefore he will hold it vp be he neuer so wearie Of the Cock. Next to the proude nature of the peacocke that loftie birde seemeth to resemble a Sentinell which Nature hath appointed to interrupt mens sleepe and call them to worke that is the Cocke For wheresoeuer he is he will be master and commaund all the rest of the foules And if there bee two togither then must this rule remaine to the strongest and he must get it by those weapons which Nature hath placed in his legs wherein they put such trust that the issue of their combate doth oftentimes fall out with the death of the one or other And he which remaineth victor makes signe of his conquest by his crowing sounding himselfe his owne tantaraes and the vanquished runnes and hides himselfe This loftie bird marcheth proudly holding vp his neck stiffe and his combe aloft except he be not well And there is no birde which doth oftner cast his eie towards heauen then this for he alwaies beholdeth it holding his taile vp and yet crooked like a sickle so that arming himselfe after this manner he puts the Lion in feare which is the stoutest of all beasts Moreouer the cocke by a secret instinct of nature knoweth the course of the stars and diuideth the day by his crowing from three howers to three howers They roust at sunne set and neuer let the sunne rise without aduertising men for with their crowing which is accompanied with beating of their wings they giue notice of the day And their voice is heard very farre off yea in the night time a mile or more The Romanes honored so much the maiestie of this bird that they iudged of the good or euill lucke of their Augurations by the countenance which he shewed being either pleasant or not at such time as he fed Hens are of the kinde of domesticall birds Of hens renowmed aboue all for the delicatenes of their flesh and goodnes of their egges beeing much better then all other and which are most vsed in meates and medicines They lay at all times except the two first moneths of winter when they commonly rest themselues So is it the first and last bird that layeth and is so fruitfull that there are some will lay sixtie egges together without missing one day Whereupon wee will note that in all yolkes of egges there is a little drop of bloud in the middest which is holden to be the heart of the bird because this member is esteemed to bee first formed in all liuing creatures And indeed this little drop tasteth very salt and stirreth in the egge And for that which particularly concerneth the chicken it is certaine that the bodie thereof is made of the white of the egge for being formed it is nourished by the yolke And so long as it is in the shell it hath the head bigger then all the bodie and the eies which are shut bigger then the head And when it beginneth to growe the white of the egge retireth to the midst and the yolke disperseth it selfe round about And if at the twentith day one take the egge they may heare the chicken peepe within For from that time forward it beginneth to waxe feathered and to get strength and staieth not long in consuming the whole yolke but presently beginneth to open the shell And it is to be noted that as well this as all other foules come out of their shels with their feete forwardes contrarie to other liuing creatures Moreouer the hen is knowne to be good when hir crest is straight and sometimes double and hir feathers blacke and in some places red as also when the clawes of her foote are faire But aboue all there is nothing more woorthie of great admiration then
these waters seeme to haue their Springing out of certaine fountaines which many affirme to be made of the aire yet the verie truth is that their chiefe source is out of the sea which as it is named in Iob is as the wombe out of which all waters both celestiall and terrestriall haue their first originall and do engender repaire themselues continually by the meanes that we haue alreadie heard Why the water is mixed with the earth Now according to the opinion of the Philosophers all reason teacheth vs that this ordinance in nature concerning the distribution of the waters throughout the earth hath beene made of necessitie for the mutuall maintenance of these two elements for so much as the Earth being naturally drie cannot subsist without moisture and contrariwise the flowing water could not haue ought to stay vpon without being propped vp by the earth Wherfore it was necessarie that the earth should giue it place and that it should open all her vaines and conduicts that the water might passe through the same both within vpon it yea and to pierce euen to the highest mountaine tops in which place being pressed with the waight of the earth and also in some place mooued by the aire which driueth it one shall see it issue out in great vehemencie euen as if it were squirted out Whosoeuer then will consider of the whole circuit of the earth shall learne that the moitie of the roundnes thereof is enuironed by the sea which floweth round about it causing the waues thereof to goe and come continually sometimes aloft and sometimes verie low like as if this terrene globe were a bowle cast into the water one part whereof should lye discouered out of it That the water is round and the other couered within it Which water the Philosophers hold to be entirely round hauing the open heauen in euerie part ouer it And this is confirmed by those drops of water which fall vpon the ground or vpon leaues of trees and of herbs which are round If also one fill a vessell top-brim-full of water they may euidently behold that the water riseth and swelleth in the middest making a kinde of round forme In truth by reason that the water is subtile and soft these things are far better comprehended by arguments and concluding reasons wherewith the bookes of the learned are replenished then by the view of the eie Notwithstanding this is verie admirable that if one put neuer so little water into a vessell alreadie brimme-full the vppermost part thereof will shedde ouer and yet if one cast into the same so top-full vessell some heauy thing yea to the waight of twenty pence the water will not spill therefore but will swell onely till such time as it stand much aboue the brimme of the vessell by the rising thereof Moreouer the roundenesse of the water which causeth this doth also make that those which are in the top of a ship do sooner discouer land then those which are in the foredeck or in the sterne thereof so likewise if any shining thing bee fastned to the top of the mast at parting from the port it seemeth that the vessell still goeth downewards till at length the sight of hir will be cleane lost Moreouer how should it bee possible that the ocean sea which enuironeth the earth as being the mother-sea and the receptacle of all the rest doth not run abroad considering there is no banck to with-hold it if it were not of round forme Wherein this is to bee noted that the water of the sea doth in no sort ouerpasse the limits thereof nor doth euer runne but toward the place of the naturall scituation thereof Why the water doth retaine it selfe in it selfe without running abroade Of which the Greeke Philosophers haue rendred an especiall reason by Geometricall propositions and conclusions making demonstration that this water cannot run otherwise what roome or scope soeuer it haue For they say that considering the nature of water is to fall alwaies downeward and that also the sea stretcheth it selfe out so far as it can neuerthelesse according as the declining of the sea can suffer as euery one may see with his eie and by how much the lower it is by so much the more it doth approch to the center of the earth whereupon ensueth that all lynes drawne from that center to the waters neerest to it are shorter then those lines which are drawne from the vppermost waters to the extremity of the sea so that by that meanes the water of the sea doth alwaies decline towards the center from whence it can in no sort fall but doth there retaine it selfe Surely if wee doe neerely consider this maruellous worke of God the sea and waters we shall therein finde goodly mirrors wherein to contemplate his maiestie and greatnes Good christian instructions taken from the waters Ioâ— 38. According as he saith to his seruant Iob Who hath shut vp the sea with doores when it issued and came foorth as out of the wombe When I made the cloudes as a couering thereof and darknes as the swadling bands thereof When I established my commandement vpon it and set barres and doores And said Hitherto shalt thou come but no farther and here shalt thou stay thy proud waues The like is also taught by the Psalmist saying Psas 33. Hee gathereth the waters of the sea together as vpon an heape and layeth vppe the depths in his treasures Which is as much as if hee should say GOD holdeth backe the waters as with a bridle that they may not ouerrunne and couer the earth Wherein we are moreouer to note that the holy Ghost speaketh concerning the sea in this fore-alledged text of Iob and in many other places of scripture as if it had some sense and vnderstanding and that God had caused it to heare his voice and had commanded it as he commandeth men to obey his ordinance although it be a senselesse creature and without life but this is to the end that we may better learne to acknowledge the power prouidence of God ouer all his works For the sea is not onely deafe and depriued of all sense and much more without vnderstanding but also exceeding furious and outragious being mooued by force of windes and tempests in such sort that it often seemeth as if it would ouerrun and swallow vp all the earth with the waues thereof and would rise with the flouds thereof and mount vp to heauen For one may behold how at one time the waues will swell and rise vp like high mountaines and suddenly after wil tumble couch downe like vallies as if the sea would cleaue and diuide it selfe and so discouer the deepe bottome thereof Psal 107. And therefore the kingly prophet hauing diuinely described all things togither with the power that the soueraigne creator hath to raise and to appease such tempests hee exhorteth all men to acknowledge this infinite power of the
Eternall and those great works and woonders which he declareth in the sea and to haue recourse for their deliuerance out of all dangers to the creator and true Lord of the waters and of the windes and of all nature But yet wee must heere consider the obedience that the sea sheweth euen in the greatest furies therof to the commandement which God hath deliuered to it from the first creation thereof For although it be often mooued as we said yet doth it containe it selfe shut vp within the boundes which were appointed vnto it by the ordinance of God as if it were afraide to run out and durst not passe farther as hauing heard and vnderstood that which the creator thereof had commanded and had engrauen it in memorie for euer And therefore we may see that after it hath swollen risen aloft in waues and that it hath menaced the earth as if it would ouerflowe it and couer it againe with the deepe as at the beginning it is neuerthles arrested and beaten backe to returne into the proper gulfes thereof which are assigned for it to lodge in euen by a very little sand onely For what is the sea shore but sand onely which is a kinde of loose earth like the dust and is easily driuen with the winde And yet the word of God which hath giuen commandement to the sea which is so horrible and fearefull a creature being mooued is of such power that this small sand is sufficient to make it keepe within the confines and limits thereof and to breake the furious waues thereof as if he who hath established this ordinance in nature stood in presence vpon the shore side to command it to doe so and that for feare and reuerence of him it returned to hide it selfe in the deepe How much more then should his word and voice mooue the harts of men breaking cleauing and pearsing them thorough if they were not harder then stones and rocks and more senselesse then the waters For this cause the Lord saith by Esaie Isay 66. And to whome shall I haue respect but to him that is afflicted and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my words And Ieremie shewing to the people of Israel the malice and rebellion which was in them Ierem. 5. against the Lord their God doth giue them the sea for a patterne and referreth them to learne to obey their creator after the example thereof Let vs learne then that the sea and other waters do not ouer-passe their bounds and limits but when it pleaseth God that they should ouerflow to chastice men by deluges and flouds as it oftentimes commeth to passe through his iust iudgement But it shal bee your office ACHITOB to speake of this point discoursing vpon the ebbing and flowing of the sea whereupon me thinkes the order of our speech doth require that wee should entreat Of the flowing and ebbing of the sea and of the power that the moone hath ouer it and ouer all other inferior bodies Chap. 58. AMANA IF wee do not refer all things to the heauenly disposition of him who hath framed and compassed all with his hand and doth gouerne all by his prudence and sustaineth all with his power it will be very difficult yea impossible for vs to declare the causes and reasons of his works in an humane discourse which are of such authority that they may put a good spirit out of all scruple and doubt Yea euen in the subiect which wee intend now to entreat of to wit the flowing and ebbing of the sea The searching out of which secret did so trouble a certaine great Philosopher some say Aristotle that beeing vpon the shore of Euboea now called Negropont onely to search out and to behold the naturall cause thereof and not beeing able to enforme himselfe sufficiently therein it did so vex him that chafing at nature himselfe and against the water he cast himselfe into the sea saying to it sith I cannot comprehend thee yet shalt thou haue the honor to comprehend mee and keepe mee within thy gulfs and indeed he was heere swallowed by the deepe And certes this ordinary ebbing and flowing of the ocean according to which it goeth commeth spreadeth it selfe abroade and then doth euery day retire without euer fayling in the order thereof must needes be a most wonderfull thing And that which is most admirable therein is that the flowing and ebbing thereof doe follow the course of the moone Of the ebbing and flowing of the sea To which planet likewise is attributed with most apparant reason the cause of this flowing and ebbing she beeing as the regent of the seas and waters by the appointment of the soueraigne creator as is seene by experience and by the agreeablenes of nature which they haue togither For wee must note that as the moone encreaseth or waineth so is it with the state of the flowing of the sea And therefore although that it happen diuersly yet the principall cause of the motion thereof resideth in his planet For betweene the two times that she riseth which is in fower and twenty howers wherein she compasseth the whole earth the sea doth twise flow doth as oftētimes ebbe And when the moone beginneth to mount in the east then doth the floud rise and the sea swell till such time as this planet doth attaine to our right meridian which is in the mid-mid-heauen and that it begin to decline towardes the west at which time the water ebbeth Yet neuertheles all those six howers wherein the moone maketh hir course towards the line of mid-night opposite to our noone-line the floud returneth and increaseth till after it hath passed that line and then it doth ebbe againe till such time as the said regent thereof the moone returne againe aboue our horizon It is most certaine that the floud doth neuer returne iust at that very hower and instant wherein it flowed the day before But this doth proceede likewise from the course of the moone which seruing for these base and inferiour things and not rising euery day at one selfesame instant she doth draw the course of the sea with hir in such sort that the tide is more late and of shorter continuance at one time then at another and yet doth not the distance of time betweene the tides change one whit for it endureth six howers in ebbe and so long time in flowing But here we meane not all manner of howers as our common howers are according to the different situation of places but we meane equall and equinoctial howers by consideration whereof the ebbing and flowing of the sea will be found alwaies of like time as is abouesaide Moreouer from seuen daies to seuen daies the flowing is found different by the same power of the moone for it is but very small the first quarter thereof and till it be halfe round In the second quarter it alwaies encreaseth till full-moone at which time the sea is at hir greatest height From thence
forward the floud decreaseth so that the third quarter it is in the same state wherein it was the first quarter Neuerthelesse when the waining moone is halfe round the floud beginneth to rise But when she is in coniunction with the sunne the tide riseth as high as at full moone And when the moone is high and septentrionall the tide is not so vehement as when she is meridionall bicause that being then more neere to the earth she doth the more exercise hir power But many haue indeuoured in this matter to vnderstand Why the ocean doth differ in flowing from other seas why the flowings of the Ocean sea doe reach farther then those of the other Mediterranean seas wherein the ebbings and flowings doe not appeere as in the Ocean Which may be said to proceed because that a thing which is entire hath more power then any part which is separated Also the high sea retayneth in it selfe more of the power of the Moone which worketh vpon it at ease and pleasure beyond all comparison more forcibly then vpon other seas which are narrower and minister lesse meanes to this planet to exercise her rule therein From whence it commeth to passe that lakes and riuers do neuer flow And for the Mediterranean seas they are enclosed about with the earth as in an hauen though there bee some places or some armes of the same seas verie broad Some likewise are verie much subiect to the Moone as the Adriaticke gulfe wherein Venice is builded which ebbeth and floweth twise euerie day like the Ocean And it is to bee noted that such motions are better perceiued on the shore and sea-coasts then in the midst thereof euen as the pulse of the arteries is better knowne in the extremes of the bodie then in the bulk thereof Other causes of the flowing and ebbing of the sea Some also do render this cause of the flowing and ebbing of the sea to wit that though the waters thereof be salt yet were not this sufficient for their conseruation no more then of their neighbor the aire if they had not a continuall motion For we see that sea-water doth presently corrupt beeing in a vessel and not mooued Many also haue noted that in euery reuolution or course of the moone the tyde resteth for three daies long to wit the 7. 8. and 9. day thereof and that when shee is at full all seas do purge themselues by scummes Certainely it is woondrous to see what power this planet hath not onely ouer the waters but also ouer the earth and ouer all liuing creatures Of the power of the moone ouer all creatures Which hath ministred occasion to many Philosophers to suppose that the moone was that quickning-spirit which nourisheth the earth and that also by hir inconstant course approching diuers waies to the inferior bodies shee produced diuers effects sometimes replenishing them and sometimes leauing them void empty Whereof it commeth that all fishes hauing scales and shels do encrease and decrease according to the course of the moone and that all liuing creatures also which haue bloud do feele themselues refreshed when shee renueth It is likewise supposed that the bloud augmenteth or diminisheth in man according as the moone encreaseth or waineth yea that herbes and trees do partake of hir power Aristotle also doth note that those creatures which are readie to die do die onely when the sea ebbeth But in this matter as in all things which do concerne the ebbing and flowing of the Ocean wee must euer haue recourse to the ordinance that the Eternall father of the vniuers hath established in all his creatures according to which they perseuer in obedience to their creator without transgressing one title of his lawes as wee haue a notable example in the sea and in the waters which containe themselues in such admirable sort as in our former speech is declared within their bounds and limits A maruailous inundation of waters in the yeere 1530. And if at any time they ouerflowe as whilome happened in Holland where the water brake through the dams and banks wherewith the countrie is bounded swallowing vp the coast-townes with an incredible losse of men and riches as also at the same time Tiber did so ouerflowe at Rome that it rose in the fields the height of a lance ruinating in fower and twenty howers many bridges and stately edifices the endommagement whereof comprising therein the mooueable goodes lost was esteemed to amount to the value of three millions of golde there being aboue three thousand persons choaked and drowned Such deluges I say doe not come to passe what natural causes soeuer the learned force themselues to render without the expresse command and ordinance of God who will after this sort vse the water to take vengeance vpon those whom he pleaseth to wash from off the face of the earth as being vnwoorthie to dwell longer thereupon And so he himselfe hath prophesied vnto vs saying Luke 21. There shall bee signes in the sunne and in the moone and in the starres and vpon the earth trouble among the nations with perplexitie the sea and waters shall roare Adding afterwards For the powers of heauen shall be shaken Moreouer we may say that although the celestiall bodies haue no more life sense and vnderstanding then the earth and the sea yet neuertheles they haue as it were a secret feeling by nature of the maiestie of God their creator who causeth them to rise vp against men for their rebellion and wickednes Surely when we see them rise and stand vp against men to worke them euill in stead of doing them good contrarie to the end of their first creation we must consider of them as if they enuied and denied to serue men any more which turne disloyall ingratefull and peruerse towards him from whom their totall good proceedeth As the sunne did witnes when it waxed darke at the death of our Redeemer depriuing those of his light which were risen vp against the eternal Sonne of God that had created them For it is certaine that the creatures do grone and trauell altogither as the scripture saith till such time as Iesus Christ shall come in iudgement Rom. 8. Acts. 3. which is the day of the restitution and restoring of all things foretold by the prophets And which day being neere it is no maruell if God doe daily shew his particular iudgements vpon men to put them in minde of this generall and vniuersall iudgement whereto heauen earth the sea and all creatures shall come togither and therefore also he giueth them so many signes of his wrath by thunders tempests deluges and inundations of water as we haue made mention But let vs proceed to contemplate his other works and great woonders which abound euery where both in the earth and in the sea in other terrestriall waters by which very many commodities do redound to men thorough the prouidence of God And first we will speake of the
but by force Againe how could men exercise the workes of charitie amongst themselues which workes are very much commended vnto them by God to be done towards their neighbors if euery one could at his pleasure excell his companion As then God hath placed and disposed sundry members in one bodie and yet hath not appointed them one selfesame office but to euery one his owne so hath it pleased him to diuide and distribute his goodnes gifts and graces amongst men to the end that they may one serue another as members of one and the same bodie which can not consist without the reciprocall helpe of all So likewise hath he established the sundrie regions of the earth enriching euerie one of them with certaine particular commodities which do often constraine men to helpe and succour one another and to liue in peace without which they woulde like madde beasts ouer-runne and destroy each other as we wretches doe finde true especially in time of warre But wee may well note vpon this point that although the most mightie do by their hate enimities dissensions reuengements and warres contend oftentimes with all their power to stop and hinder the trafficke dealings and transportations of merchandize from one countrey and out of one place to another especially of foode and victuals yet whatsoeuer they may or can doe bee they kings princes or Emperors they cannot for all that make such a stoppe That nothing can stop the intercourse of men but that they will alwaies passe and scape by some meanes maugre all their powers Wherein wee must acknowledge that seeing God hath ordained that those which beare his image shoulde haue communication one with another for the causes aforesaide and that chiefly by the aide of nauigation it is a great presumption in mighty men to oppose themselues against the order of the Omnipotent and against that communion of benefits which hee will haue to bee maintained amongst men Whom he can constraine to obserue his ordinances euen through their owne couetousnes when their charitie faileth making them to despise all dangers that they may supply where neede is though they be forbidden vpon paine of death For such restraint by commandement is so farre from hindring their couetousnes that it doth more inflame it bicause they expect greater gaine then if there were mutual libertie and therefore they cause more ware secretly to passe and by that meanes they put all to hazard yea they would rather open a way vnder ground like moles or else would flie in the aire like birds then leaue such trading so woonderfull is God in all his works and in the gouernment of all nature For when he pleaseth he serueth his owne turne with the affections and euill works of men yea drawing good out of their euill euen against their owne wils And therefore we may very well affirme that seeing God will haue men trafficke togither it cannot choose howsoeuer they enterprise to the contrarie but that this order must be continued For this cause likewise it was not the will of the creator that the waters should so gather themselues into one place that they might not run through the earth but hee ordained that out of the great Ocean which is like the great bodie of the waters and like the wombe out of which they doe all first spring and wherein they are engendred and whereby they are repaired for euer there should issue diuers armes and members by meanes whereof wee haue the Mediterranean seas lakes floods riuers and brookes So also in this distribution and by the meanes of nauigation God hath giuen vs many other meanes to the ende we might behold with our eies many testimonies of his prouidence engrauen in euery part of the vniuers by the disposition of the works of his almightie hand as they who saile vpon the waters are constrained to acknowledge Of the direction that marriners haue by the stars For as he hath appointed the watrie element to serue men to nauigate therin so hath he established the heauē ordained the stars enchased therin to direct them in the midst of the great gulfs deeps of the sea For when the ships are entred very farre into it they that be therein doe cleane lose the sight of lande so that they cannot iudge by the consideration thereof in what place they are nor vpon what side neither to what place they may bend their course to finde a conuenient port but they must take their directions from heauen And for this cause also though that the heauen be in perpetuall motion and that all the planets and starres doe follow it rising and setting in such sort as they doe not alwaies appeere to men yet there are some of another condition For neere to the place which Astronomers take for the pole there are certaine starres which haue their motion and course so disposed that they are alwaies seene at sea being neuer hidden like the rest and among these that is one which is called the Pole-starre which is neuer seene to remooue except a very little out of one place so that it seemeth the whole heauen turneth about this starre As we also maintaine that it hath the like place correspondent thereto directly ouer against it in the other part of heauen with a like appellation of name as we haue heretofore declared in our discourses concerning the celestiall bodies excepting the difference which is put betweene these two poles taken from their opposite situation in heauen and from the starres which are next vnto them which also haue their course and motion like the rest but doe onely differ in this that rising and setting are not attributed vnto them bicause they may be alwaies seen when the spheres are discerned For when the skie is couered with clouds marriners doe finde themselues very much hindred and troubled For then they prooue that which Iob saith concerning the workes of God to wit Iob. 9. that hee commandeth the sunne and it riseth not and he closeth vp the starres as vnder a signet And that he maketh the starre Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the Climates of the south doing great things and vnsearchable yea maruellous things without number Whereupon we may note that here is especiall mention made of the septentrionall starres as well bicause that they are more seene then the rest as also bicause it is their propertie to bring and to procure raine and tempests if we may credite Astrologers which cause that the heauen cannot be seene Of Charles hi◠waine And bicause that some of these starres are so disposed that they seeme to represent the figure of a chariot with fower wheeles and they are very much glistering aboue others they are commonly called by the name of Charles-waine bicause also they haue three other very bright starres neere to them placed in such order as if they were cart-horses or oxen Indeede some haue called them the Beare seeing them so cōioined togither taking the foure quarters
not attribute either to the prudence and wisedome of any one or yet to the force and power or to the weapons or armies of men the changes which we daily see in the state of the most mighty but to the onely ordinance and disposition of God by which such alterations come to passe according as the soueraigne iudge knoweth to bee expedient and iust for the chastisement and punishing of men by one another or else to shew himselfe benigne and fauorable towards them For which cause the scripture saith that the Lord vsing as his instrument Senacherib the tyrant of Assyria to chastise many people and nations Isay 10. he calleth him the rodde and scourge of his wrath and doth greatly reprehend him by Isay for that he attributed to himselfe the glory of those victories which he had giuen him not bicause of his vertues considering he was a fierce and cruell king but bicause God woulde vse him against those who deserued to be chastised by the hands of such a tyrant and murtherer If then we consider as behooueth vs vpon that which we haue here summarily touched we shall finde therein excellent doctrine for all kings princes and people and for all men as well in generall as in particular to the end to induce them That euery one must containe himselfe within the limits of his habitation that they may containe themselues within the inclosure of those confines wherein God hath placed them For as he is cursed in the lawe which passeth the bounds of his neighbors possession so must we not doubt but that they are subiect to the same curse who cannot containe themselues within the bounds of those countries Deut. 27. in which God hath confined them bestowing vpon them power signories and habitation therein For from whence proceede the greatest dissensions and cruellest wars but from the ambition and auarice of men which will one vsurpe aboue another that which appertaineth not vnto them and by such meanes doe out-passe their limits whereas if euery one would content himselfe with that part and portion of land which the creator thereof hath bestowed vpon him who doubteth but that men should liue in much more peace As then God through his prouidence would constraine them by necessitie and neede which they haue one of another to trafficke and communicate togither in libertie and mutuall securitie by that meanes to receiue out of one countrie into another those things which faile therein and abound elsewhere and for the causes by vs heretofore deliuered so it hath pleased him to set mightie and strong bounds and limits against their ambition and auarice especially of kings princes and great men For we see how he hath diuided and separated one countrie from another and the diuers regions and kingdomes of the earth not onely by meanes of seas lakes and great riuers but also by craggie high and vnpassable mountaines which as the kingly prophet witnesseth he hath established by his power Psal 65. that by this meanes men might be cōfined within the bounds of the habitation assigned by the Eternall to euery people in such sort as he hath inclosed the waters within their places to the course which he hath ordained them Against the ambition and auarice of men hauing bounded them with hils and rocks And yet there are no boundes so difficult to passe which may bridle and restraine the ambition and insatiable desire of men within any limits but that they will passe ouer the deepest the longest the amplest and broadest waters and the highest and steepest mountaines in the world so that there are no places so inaccessible through which they will not cut a passage one to ouer-run another by great outrage and violence Wherein surely they euidently declare that they are much more furious then the sea how outragious and rough soeuer it bee seeing they can in no wise containe themselues within their limits as the waters doe which also maketh them more vnreasonable then brute beasts For although there be many vnruly and furious horses in one stable yet each of them will commonly bee staied with an halter made but of a little coard or leather and will be kept by a little bar of wood from striking running ouer one another so that one onely stable will serue them all But men doe to the contrarie shew themselues to be such furious and contentious beastes that the whole world cannot suffice them For there is neither riuer sea lake nor mountaine which can be a barre sufficient to withhold them from forcing and rauaging one another destroying themselues by horrible massacres and cruell warres Which no doubt commeth vnto them especially through want of acknowledging and considering vpon the prouidence of God by which he hath appointed bounds to their habitation ambition and auarice as we haue said and for that they will not containe themselues within them obeying the ordinance of their creator But we haue said ynough concerning this subiect Let vs now discourse vpon those commodities which come to men and to all creatures by the course of the waters thorough the earth Which AMANA shall be the substance of your speech Of the commodities which are incident to men and to all creatures by the course of the waters through the earth Chap. 62. AMANA IF men doe but slenderly acknowledge the prouidence of God in the limits of their habitation which hee hath appointed as well by meanes of mountaines as by waters as we haue heard in the precedent speech they doe also make but small stay in the consideration of those great commodities which he giueth and sendeth continually to them by means of them of al the earth For as he watereth this fruitfull mother by dew raine from heauen as hath beene heretofore expressed so doth he moisten it by meanes of fountaines floods and riuers which doe run through it Whereupon we must note that the life of all corporall creatures doth principally consist in heate and that this heate cannot be preserued and maintained without moisture whereby it is nourished euen as the flame of the snuffe or match of a candle or lampe is nourished and maintained by the fat and humor which is therein Therefore as God hath placed the sunne in heauen like a great fountaine of heate and a great furnace of fire for to be distributed and disposed into all partes of the world so hath hee established the sea here belowe in the earth as a great and perpetuall fountaine conuenient for the nourishment and conseruation of this heate which is communicated to the earth and to all the creatures that are therein And therefore also this sea spreadeth it selfe into diuers places by the meanes which haue beene declared so that the courses of the waters in the earth are like the vaines in a mans bodie Goodly similitudes of the course of the waters and of the vaines which are in the body For euen as the soueraigne Creator hath placed
like watrie birdes to whom he hath giuen wings agreeable to the element for to sustaine themselues with and fit for their nature as he hath done to the fowles of the aire Genes 1. We also read in Genesis that the Lord did make in one day the birds and fishes and euerie flying thing For as the aire hath more agreement with the water then with the earth and approcheth neerer to the nature thereof so is there more answerablenes betweene the creatures which liue conuerse in these two elements then is between thē the beasts of the earth And therefore we see that the seed of both kindes is multiplied by their egs And we must also note that forasmuch as men can receiue no great fruit nor much profit by fish except in their victuals or in some medicine or such like vse which is not so cōmon as ordinarie nourishment God by his prouidence blessing hath made them so fruitfull that they multiplie and increase woondrously as experience doth euidently manifest vnto vs by the great number of frie or spawne that is found in one only fish Which fertilitie we must beleeue to proceede from the power which the Almightie bestowed vpon them as also vpon all his creatures when he said vnto them Bring foorth fruit and multiplie and fill the waters in the sea and let the foule multiplie in the earth A thing which we must well consider vpon to the end that we may referre to this blessing of God all those commodities which we daily receiue either from those creatures or from the earth it selfe or from the other elements and that we must render him continuall thanks and praises therefore For he hath in no lesse wise blessed all his creatures then the fishes and the birds when by his word he gaue their nature to them in which hee created them and did presently after command them to bring foorth fruit according vnto that nature To the ende then that we may be the more induced to glorifie so great a workeman for the excellencie of his workes which shineth in all creatures let vs now intreat of some fishes most accoūted of by those who haue written of their nature and let vs consider of their singularities and woonders so much onely as the scope of our discourse will permit vs in such sort as we haue declared in our antecedent speeches To you then ARAM I referre the relation concerning this matter Of diuers kindes of fishes namely of the whale of the dolphin of the sea-calfe and others Chapter 63. ARAM. IT is affirmed by all the learned who haue diligently searched out the secrets of nature that the water bringeth foorth both more and greater creatures then the earth doth bicause of the abundance of moisture that is therein And the sea is so ample and so fit to giue nourishment and a gentle and fertile increase of all things by meanes of that generating seede which it attracteth from heauen and the aide of nature ordained by the creator which hath this propertie to produce alwaies something that seemeth new that it is no maruell if there be founde incredible and monstrous things in the water For the seedes of all forms doe so interlace and mix themselues therein as well by the windes as by the agitation of the waues that one may well say as is said commonly that there is nothing on earth which is not in the sea yea The admirable property of nature and that there are many things in it which cannot be found either in the aire or on the earth Now great fishes are chiefly resident vnder the Torrid zone bicause that in the Ocean heate and moisture serue for augmentation Of the whale as saltnes doth for conseruation And in this number is the whale of which the ancients write and whome some moderns call Gibbar bicause that the common whale which some take for the Musculus of Aristotle doth not answere to the description of this which is of incredible hugenes For if we will beleeue histories there haue beene some seene of fower acres of ground in length Plin. lib. 9. hist nat They make an horrible crie and spout out of two holes of a cubite long which they haue neere to their nostrils so much water that they oftentimes drowne ships therewith And of their crests men make faire rods which seeme to be of bone or of horne blacke in colour and like to the hornes of a buffe so flexible that they can hardly be broken they do shine in the sunne as if they were gilded Of euery peece of his crest is a rod made so that in one crest there are many rods Moreouer the bone of his whole head is so great that one might make a ship thereof Of the dolphin And as this kinde of fish is the heauiest and mightiest of all so the dolphin is the swiftest and most ingenious not onely of all watrie creatures but of those of the earth and of the aire For they swim faster then a bird can flie And therefore if this fish were not lowe-mouthed there were no fish could scape him But nature prouiding therefore in putting his mouth vnder his belly hath so restrained him that he can catch nothing but backwards whereby the great swiftnes of such fishes doth euidently appeere Wherefore when the dolphin pressed with hunger pursueth any fish to the bottome and that he hath staied long there alwaies holding winde when he riseth he leapes aboue water with incredible quicknes and force to take breath againe Some haue marked in this kinde of fish that they haue their toong mooueable contrarie to the nature of all other water-creatures Their voice is as when one waileth Their backe is bowed and bendeth outwards they are very louing to men and like well of musicke and indeede they doe not shun men as other fishes doe but come right before ships making a thousand leapes and frisks before them Sometimes also as if they had chalenged the mariners to trie who should goe speediest they take their course along with the ships and doe outstrip them how good winde soeuer they haue Of the seacalf Amongst sea-fish also the sea-calfe is very admirable For he hath vdders and haire and calueth vpon the earth as sheepe bring foorth and is deliuered of the second burthen presently after hir yoong ones He snorts mightily when he sleepeth neere to the shore he bleates and bellowes like a calfe and for that cause beareth the same name The sinnes wherewith he swimmeth serue for feete on ground to goe vpon His hide whereof the Islanders make girdles hath a maruellous propertie for the haire which is thereupon riseth when the sea increaseth falleth when it diminisheth Some holde also that this creature is very capable of discipline easily learning that which is shewed him and that he saluteth people by his lookes and with a certaine noise and shaking that he makes Now let vs speake of the tortoise
great and dangerous temptations and afflictions Now the tyrannie malice crueltie and peruersnes of the wicked serueth in all these things for his children and to his glorie through his prouidence notwithstanding that he hateth all the wicked vsing them only as rods and scourges to chastise and punish those whom he pleaseth as he is likewise serued by diuels without approouing their works insomuch as they proceed from themselues But there is more yet For considering that God hath not created men like vnto beasts onely to liue in this world with a corporall temporall life but hath made them to immortality and eternall life like the angels he will then by the aduersities which he sendeth vnto them heere giue them to vnderstand that other blessings doe attend for them far greater then those which may be tasted vpon earth and which are common betwixt them and beasts Behold then the fruit which me seemeth must be gathered in our discourse this day now to morrow wee will step out of the sea and waters to take land againe and to consider vpon the treasures and benefits therein which it produceth for the commoditie of men and the diuersitie of creatures that liue therein whereof ASER you shall begin to discourse The end of the eighth daies worke THE NINTH DAIES WORKE Of fruits and of the fertilitie of the earth and the causes thereof and of herbs trees and plants Chap. 65. ASER. AS the holy scripture teacheth vs that before God did create the beasts of the earth Genes 1. he commaunded the earth that was discouered and free from the waters to bud foorth the bud of the herbe that seedeth seede the fruitfull tree which beareth fruit according to his kinde which hath his seede in it selfe vpon the earth and it was so we must likewise vnderstand that this commandement had not such vertue for that time onely but that it endureth and remaineth alwaies and so will doe till the consummation of the world For all herbes trees and plants that the earth euer hath borne doth beare or shall beare euen from the creation of the same vntill the end of the world doe proceede from the first ordinance and eternall word of the soueraigne by which all things haue beene created Wherefore Moses to the ende that men might acknowledge this diuine power which maketh the earth so fruitful doth expressely tell vs that God gaue this fertilitie before there was any sunne moone or starre in heauen For hee saith that these goodly lights were created the fourth day but that the production of herbs What is the cause of the fertility of the earth trees plants was on the third day Thereby then we must learne that although the sun moone and starres besides the husbandrie of man do serue by the ordinance of God for to make the earth fertile yet for all that it can bring foorth no fruit if the word and blessing of the Almightie do not giue it power For as it was fertile before it was aided by the starres euen so is it now in regarde of the tillage and husbandrie of man For there was neither man nor beast when it budded foorth the fruites which God commanded it to beare yea so much wanteth it to become fruitful by the trauell of man that to the contrarie it hath lost very much fertilitie and a great part thereof hath become barren since his first creation bicause of his sinne For in lieu of the blessing that God at first gaue thereunto Genes 3. he said afterwards to the man that it should be cursed for his sake and that it should bring foorth thornes and thistles and that he should eate the fruits thereof in sorrow For these causes then we must alwaies haue respect to the power of the word and of the blessing of God by which all things haue been created in their order as we haue heretofore declared and man last of al as the master-peece of the Lords worke Who hauing determined in his eternall counsell to create man after his owne image and likenes to the end that he might in this visible world represent his creator as in his most liuely semblance was not onely pleased to build him his lodging first to wit the whole world but would also replenish and furnish it euery where to the end that nothing might be found emptie But that which is herein to bee chiefly considered is that this diuine prouidence hauing giuen essence to all corporall creatures hath therewithall prouided necessarie meanes to keepe and preserue them all in their natures For minding to giue life to birds to fishes and to the beastes of the earth he had already prepared their foode before he had created them and had ordained the earth as the mother and the nurse of all creatures which are engendred and which dwell and are conuersant therein How creatures are nourished and preserued and in the waters and aire also for the birds and fishes Moreouer as all bodies are composed of fire of aire of earth and of water so the Lords will was that all these enimies should conioine togither and receiue aide one from another to the preseruation of liuing creatures by vertue of the alliance and agreement which is not onely betwixt the said elements but also betwixt them and the celestiall spheres as wee haue alreadie discoursed For considering that they be the principles of things hauing life they cannot liue nor be naturally conserued but by meane of the very same elements from which they take their originall And therefore the prouidence of God causeth that they doe all accord togither to nourish and maintaine those creatures which he hath made and created But seeing that we are in talke of the fertilitie of the Earth Of the fertility of the earth ordayned by God to that ende according as we haue declared who is it that can number the diuers kinds of herbs of trees and of all sorts of plants which it produceth And who is it that can but onely name and finde proper denominations agreeable vnto them And if we should speake of their diuersities and varieties in rootes in stalks in stockes in tops in branches in boughes in leaues in shapes in flowers in colours in seeds in fruits in tastes in smels and in sauours who would not maruell verie much We see how the Lord speaking onely of the Lilly of the field doth testifie that Salomon in all his royaltie was not adorned like one of those and therefore he bringeth it as a testimonie of his goodnes in reproch of those which take care for their clothing as if they distrusted in the prouidence of God Matth. 6. Luk. 12. and as if they supposed him not able enough to apparell them or at least that he had not so much care of men as he hath of the herbs and flowers of the field which he endueth and decketh with so gallant clothing with so many sorts of excellent faire colours and yet
subiect of your discourse Of the vtility that commeth vnto men by beasts and chiefly by priuate and domesticall-tame beasts and of the woonderfull prouidence of God which declareth it selfe in them Chap. 91. ARAM. SIthence God hath so disposed all things by his prouidence for the good and commodity of men that they may receiue some profite euen out of the most venimous cruell and sauage beasts as wee haue already heard wee may in no wise doubt as indeede experience doth daily teach vs but that they do receiue great aide and help from priuate and tame beasts as are sheepe kine oxen bulles asses mules horses and such like For we are serued with their labours and trauaile with their fruit with their flesh with their wool and with their skinnes For from whence receiue wee our clothing except linnen but from beasts With how many sorts of wooles and of skins do they furnish vs Of the commodity that men haue by tame beasts And from whence haue wee the silkes cloth and workes which are made and which serue to cloath the most stout and proud tyrants and other princes of the earth Haue wee them not by the industry of wormes and small vermine In very truth wee may very well say that wormes cloath wormes and that the most stately amongst men doe take from the most vile amongst creatures the substance of their brauerie and pomp For what are men but poore wormes of the earth who to make themselues a little excell the rest do take from other wormes the ornaments of their magnificence And if we consider what commodity the milke which is drawne from some beasts doth deliuer vnto a thousand thousand persons if we consider of the great multitude that there is of all kinds of foure-footed beasts of birdes and of fishes all which doe serue vs for foode and nourishment in diuers manners if how many sundry tastes and sauours we finde in all these meates of different natures according to the tasts complexions and dispositions of men and which are so tempered that they bee good for those that are in health for those that are sick for great for small for yoong for olde shall we not be rauished with all these wonders thereby to giue glorie to the soueraigne Creator and moderator of all nature What shall we more say in that the skins of earthly beasts are of so many diuers colours and so well compact either of woole or of haire or of good skins of the varietie and diuersitie that there is in the feathers of birds and in the colours of them and in their songs which minister much pleasure to melancholy persons are not these so many excellent testimonies of the power of the Omnipotent who created all these things through his bountie and benignitie towards vs Surely there is nothing so vile contemptible in the least creature that is but doth preach the Maiestie of God vnto vs. And therefore he said vnto his seruant Iob Iob. 39. Hast thou giuen the pleasant wings vnto the peacocks or wings and feathers vnto the Ostrich For we see that they which will decke themselues do put vpon their heads the faire plumes of the Ostrich of other foules which are sold verie deere also euerie one admireth the taile of the peacocke wherewith he sets foorth himselfe which he turneth like as into a wheele or a roundell being so gallantly garnished that there seeme to be as many eies or sunnes as there be feathers therein I speake not here of the nature of beasts nor of the industrie which God hath giuen to euerie one of them to know what is conuenient or hurtfull for them and to couet the one and auoid the other as also how they are furnished with care and power to preserue their life and the liues of their yoong ones I passe ouer in silence the power and diuers properties which consist in each of them for the discourse thereof would be infinite and we haue likewise alreadie said somewhat concerning that which is most note-worthie in many rare and excellent beasts But I will here bring into the number one of the least and most common sort which wee behold euerie day in our houses for perhaps the consideration thereof will not be altogither vnprofitable vnto vs Many things to bee considered of in the nature of the Cock. and that is the cocke If any question be made concerning his beautie in what birde may we finde more be it that we consider of his plumage and the diuersitie of colours which is commonly therin or of his faire kingly crest or his stately pace and braue carriage which cannot be more magnificent in the greatest monarch of the world And if this birde were not so common but were verie seldome seene there are but few other creatures which would be preferred before him although there were nothing woorthie of consideration in his nature saue that which we haue alreadie declared What shall we say then if we will but meditate of what hart and courage he is in fight Is there any other creature which can lesse endure to be ouercome and is more ashamed thereof Againe what curtesie vseth he amongst the hens with whom he is conuersant and how much doth hee loue them euen to prouide for meat to feed them and to take it out of his owne beake to giue vnto them calling them when he hath found it as the henne calleth her little chickens together But that which I finde most strange in him is the agreement which by nature he hath with the Sunne which is such as one may verie well thinke that he hath some naturall Astronomie and Astrologie which is bred in him For he vnderstandeth and perceiueth the course and motion of the heauen and of the Sun and when his rising doth approch so that he declareth it by his crowing verie timely in the morning and that diuers times before any other creature can perceiue it yea or men themselues except they rise out of their beds to behold the skie And yet for all that they must haue obtained some knowledge of the course and of the motion of heauen either by the science of Astronomie or through long vse and continuall obseruations thereof as is with shepherds and those that watch in the fields But if the heauens be couered with cloudes what can the most expert of them know therein saue by meanes of clocks which they haue in their houses The cocke then is more skilfull in this art For without euer mouing from the place where he is at roust to sleep and what weather soeuer there be faire or fowle yet doth not he faile to sound out the chimes at his howers so as there is no clock so certaine and he serueth also for one to them that haue no other And therefore we may verie well say that how many cocks there are in the world so many naturall and domesticall clockes are they for those who haue them in their
wisedome of him and as mirrors wherein he presenteth himselfe euery where before our eies And when we serue him not according to our dutie we are well woorthie to be set to schoole to such masters as being beasts more brute more wilde more sauage then they who liue with vs and are created for to serue vs. It is then as Isay saide to the Israelites who were ingratefull and rebellious against their God The oxe knoweth his owner and the asse his masters crib but Israell hath not knowne my people hath not vnderstoode And indeed in these two kindes of creatures we haue a goodly example to raise vs out of our sloth and ingratitude towards God if we do but consider onely what benefits do redound vnto vs by the seruice which we haue of oxen in tilling of our lands and drawing of carts and wagons and by asses in bearing all loades and burdens which are laide vpon their backs Wherein we are also to esteeme of the prouidence of God in regard of the forme of the bodies and members of these beasts For he hath so disposed them that their onely figure and composition doth admonish men of the workes wherein these creatures must be imployed of the vses whereto they must be put For oxen do cleerely shew vs that their back is not fit to beare packs nor saddle but that their necke is fitte for the yoke and their shoulders to draw carts and wagons whereby one may easily iudge as also by their heauines that they are vnfit to beare burdens like the asse whose backe head and shoulders are apt for the same Of the docility of Bulles Moreouer shall we not consider of the great bountie and prouidence of God in that he hath created the puissant strong buls so docible that men doe easily teach them to leaue all their fiercenes and make them so tame that a little yoong boy shall lead them like sheepe and put the yoke vpon their necke couple them and make them labour as he listeth This may make vs woonder at the indocilitie and wildnes of man being so difficult to correct and tame For wee see that one onely childe can easily direct a great troupe of beasts be they oxen or buls and gouerne them himselfe But contrariwise the nature of man is so vntoward that many masters and gouernors are scarce sufficient to guide one onely childe And what may we more say in that all the gouernment of these beasts is done without any need to muzzle their mouthes or to tye and fasten them in chaines or halters and without keeping them in bits and bridles like horses which men tame by such meanes Surely wee neede not doubt but if God had not ordayned by his prouidence that oxen and buls should serue men in those vses whereto they would employ them that we should be able to draw no more seruice out of them then out of the wildest beasts that are in the world By so many testimonies then as we haue in the nature of beasts of the puissance bountie and benignitie of the creator of all things let vs conclude that we may verie well say to all such as doe not consider vpon the so admirable workes of God and vpon his prouidence therein that which Iob said to his friends speaking thus Aske the beasts and they shall teach thee Iob. 12. and the fowles of the heauen and they shall tell thee or speake to the earth and it shall shew thee or to the fishes of the sea and they shall declare vnto thee who is ignorant of all these but that the hand of the Lord hath made all these And to morrow companions wee will take a view of the goodly riches and treasures which are hidden within the earth to wit of mettalles and precious stones the discourse whereof ASER you shall begin The end of the eleuenth daies worke THE TWELFTH DAIES WORKE Of mettals and especially of Gold Chapter 93. ASER. AS we haue alreadie contemplated those things which appeere to be most rare vpon the earth so doe we now desire somewhat to refresh our spirits by the consideration of those things which are hidden within the intrailes thereof That then shall be the subiect of our discourse for this day to the end that as the contemplation of the highest heauens did open an entrance into our discourse so we should conclude it by a treatise vpon that which is within the earth neerest to the center of this great Vniuers to wit vpon mettals and stones Not that we intend to speake of them as by a particular description of their nature and species for then I dare affirme that there are so many kindes of mettals engendred within the earth that they cannot be particularly described and sith that nature adorneth the earth with aboue fiue hundred kindes of plants and with as many beasts it is verie likely that she exerciseth no fewer meanes vnder earth whereby to enrich it But as we haue proposed vnto our selues no other ende in all our discourses of heauen of earth and of the creatures therein contayned but onely to consider vpon the most worthie things therein which might incite vs to an holy meditation of the prouidence of God thereby the more to glorifie him euen so will we doe in that which we now intend to declare concerning mettals and precious stones What mettall is and of the kindes thereof Mettall is that which is pliable by the hammer and hard stones are hard but not pliable and wax and mud are pliable but not hard Mettalles are seuen in number as the planets are For gold representeth the Sun siluer the Moone amber called electrum Mercurie iron Mars lead Saturne brasse Venus and copper Iupiter or else wee distinguish them in this sort All mettall is perfect soft and pure as gold or it is pure and hard as siluer or it is hard and impure as iron or it is soft and impure as lead And for amber it is compounded of gold and siluer as cyprus copper is made of brasse and iron containing an equall substance of brasse and of iron which causeth that iron too much concocted and high tincted is easily changed into brasse and rechanged againe into copper But wee will now speake of gold which is the most perfect and purest of all mettalles In very truth nature neuer tooke delight to make a more perfect elementary substance then gold is for it is as pure and neate in the qualitie thereof as are the simple elements whereof it is composed And therefore by good right do wee hold it in price of excellencie far aboue all other riches and do esteeme it in our iudgement to bee much more precious then all other mettalles For beeing in the composition thereof proportioned in equall qualitie fitly correspondent in the symmetry of the elements which compound it it is euen from the originall thereof so purified already as are the simple elements In such sort that by their coniunction togither in
euery one must and may reape by the grace of God of this totall worke in heauen and in earth to the end to acknowledge and to glorifie him First then wee are to consider that not onely all that which wee haue declared concerning the workes of God in this great vniuers but also all that which the most learned euer could heretofore or hereafter euer may comprehend describe is nothing else but as a very light demonstration of some draught of his worke or of some corner of his magnificent pallace or of some small iewell of his inestimable treasures For sith hee hath created all these things and that the heauen is his seat and the earth his footstoole as Isay speaketh what may then bee the full perfection height and greatnes of himselfe Isay 66. It is as Iob saith in the highnes of the heauen it is deeper then hell Iob. 11. the measure thereof is longer then the earth and broader then the sea It is hee saith Isay againe who hath measured the waters with his hand and hath compassed the heauens with his palme and hath comprehended the dust of the earth with three fingers and hath poised the hanging of the mountaines Thereby then wee must learne that God is infinite and incomprehensible and so high and so great that all this visible world is nothing in comparison to him and that he doth containe and confine and surpasse it in euery side both aboue and below before and behinde on the right hand and on the left And that because wee cannot comprehend nor vnderstand what hee is the image of him was set before our eies in the heauens and in the earth and as in a glasse to represent vnto our vnderstandings him whom wee neither behold nor know except so far as it pleaseth him to represent himselfe vnto vs in his workes Lastly wee must learne that from the very first hower of our entrance into this world wee haue beene placed therein as in the temple of God to adore and praise him therein And in verie truth whosoeuer shall consider of and know God as hee hath manifested himselfe in the creation of the world shall not hee haue good and iust occasion to feare and stand in awe of him For as wee read in the booke of Iob If God cut off and shut vp or gather togither Iob. 12. 12. who can turne him And straight after In his hand is the soule of euery liuing thing and the breath of all mankinde On the other side shall not we be induced to haue recourse vnto him and to put our trust in him as in the Al-mightie who can saue and defend those whom he will take into his custodie and whom he will accept for his people and for his seruants and children Who so dwelleth in the secret of the most high saith the prophet shall abide in the shadow of the Al-mightie I will say vnto the Lord Psal 91. Oh mine hope and my fortresse in my God will I trust who will deliuer vs out of all trouble And to conclude we shall haue goodly matter whereby to giue him glorie and laude all the daies of our life by seruing him according to his holy will We shall be I say verie blinde and senselesse if we do not humble our selues vnder the greatnes of the puissance of God if we haue recourse vnto or put our confidence in any other but in him alone and if we do not acknowledge his great prouidence wisedome and bountie which he hath vsed euer since the beginning towards vs and the regard and care which he hath daily had of vs and how that he entreateth vs so benignly so tenderly and with such fatherly affection to the ende that we may render thanks vnto him For as we haue seene before that he created man he would prepare his lodging for him the which he did adorne with all beautie and with all riches and did afterwards place him in this world as in a most delectable palace made him Lord master ouer all his creatures of whom he hath prouided him such abundance in such variety that it is impossible to comprehend these or to desire more As it were then rauished in the consideration of so great bountie and liberalitie of God let vs crie out with the prophet Oh Lord our God Psal 8. how excellent is thy name in all the world What is man that thou art mindfull of him and the sunne of man that thou shewest him so much grace as to visite him and to take care of him And so giuing glorie vnto his name for so many benefits and particularly for that it hath pleased him to grant vs this grace as to reduce to a desired ende our Academicall discourses concerning his workes in the Vniuers let vs pronounce this goodly Canticle of the Angels Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hostes all the earth is full of thy glorie The ende if the twelfth daies worke and of all the third tome of the French Academie
which God hath created and established in nature wee shall heere make a briefe and generall discourse For if we should speake as the Philosophers haue written and disputed we should haue matter enough to compose a great volume But we will content our selues simply to propound heere the admirable works of God by which euery one may learne to feare and honor him which is the onely Of the true profit that must be reaped concerning meteors and the greatest profit that wee must make of meteors whereof our speech hath hitherto beene and which do yet rest for vs to consider of For our intent is to manifest in them not onely the workes of the creation which are therein proposed but those also of the diuine prouidence which are in the same after diuers sorts declared and not to do as many who are esteemed very learned in naturall Philosophie and in all other letters and humane sciences who are so badly aduanced in the knowledge of God by them that in stead of acknowledging and gloryfying him as it behooueth them they rather become Atheists and Epicures contemners and mockers of his Maiestie and of all religion But the iudgements of God shall therefore light very greeuous vpon them because they shall be by so much the more inexcusable For they are of the number of those of whom Saint Paul saith that by their infidelity iniustice Rom. 1. they detaine the truth in iniustice because they vniustly and wilfully suppresse the knowledge of the Eternall for hauing knowne him in the works of the creation of the world Heb. 11. which are as a mirrour and shew of inuisible things they glorifie him not as God neither are thankfull but become vaine in their imaginations and their foolish hart is full of darknes and when they professe themselues wise they become fooles bicause it hath pleased God so to punish their proud presumption and the vanitie of their vnderstanding Wherefore likewise as the Apostle saith in another place Ephes 4. They haue their cogitations darkened and are strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them bicause of the hardnes of their harts For by reason that they abuse the gift of knowledge which they haue in a more ample measure then others therefore doth the Omnipotent by his iust iudgement make them more blinde then the simple and ignorant so that they are rather woorthie to be accounted as beasts then as men And yet the science and knowledge which they haue of the works of God more abundant then others is not cause of their blindnes considering that it is an excellent gift from aboue profitable for all those which can and will well vse it but their malice ingratitude and peruersenes of hart and vnderstanding pulleth this euill vpon them through their owne fault and by the iust vengeance of God So that whereas their skill should open their eies to guide them by the knowledge of the creatures to that of the creator it is rather an hinderance vnto them and depriueth them of that great and soueraigne good But we shall haue woorthie arguments against their impietie in that which remaineth for vs to view concerning other things engendred in the highest elements amongst which many comprehende comets saying that they are of the number of sublime or high impressions which are made in the region of the fire and aire Wherefore pursuing our purpose we will heare you AMANA discourse vpon this subiect Of comets Chap. 46. AMANA ALthough we haue hitherto spoken of sundrie sorts of the creatures and workes of God by which he manifesteth and declareth his power glorie maiestie and eternall prouidence and chiefly in the region of the aire neuertheles there doe yet a great number remaine which we haue nothing at all touched either particularly or in generall no not so much as cursorily For there are so many sorts of fires of diuers formes that appeere in the skie aboue that it is impossible to distinguish them all particularly And amongst them there are some which somtimes seeme to fall from heauen or as if the stars did snuffe themselues as men snuffe a candle so that the most part of the rude and ignorant people suppose it is so Many others thinke that sometimes the starres sparkle Why it seemeâ—â— that the starâ— do sparkle But the cause of such appeerance is for that the substance of heauen being verie cleere their beames shining towards vs are euermore broken perpendicularly For the aire being mooued euen as we see the stones in the bottome of a riuer seeme to tremble because of the running motion of the water so do the stars seeme to sparkle and when the middle of the aire is vehemently stirred aboue then they seeme to sparkle both more and oftner But we will leaue this talke to speake of certaine heauenly fires which we call comets and which are worthie of great consideration and of much maruell Of comets and of the place where they are engendred For they appeere like bearded and hairie stars hauing their motion with the heauen as if they were verie stars and certes we might well suppose them such and placed in heauen like the rest if they should long time continue But the opinion of many is as Aristotle likewise writeth in his Meteors that they are naturally made of an hot exhalation which attayneth to the supreme region of the aire where it is enflamed by the element of fire so that of such an exhalation are fires kindled in heauen of diuers sorts and fashions Neuerthelesse some learned moderne writers which haue diligently obserued the height whither these vapours may mount do thinke cleane otherwise for they affirme that comets cannot be ingendred in the region of the elements and are not afraid to giue sentence against Aristotle who in truth being an Ethnike and Pagan hath failed in the resolution of many particular questions For he hath strained himselfe to affirme manie generall propositions which our experience sheweth to be vtterly false as these Some propositions of Aristotle false That no liuing thing apprehendeth by sense that which is good that a thing poized can incline neither to the one side nor to the other and that the earth is in no part higher then the waters and sundrie others Now if it hath beene permitted him to abandon the opinion of his master Plato who taught the truth yea and to reprehend him it shall be also lawfull for vs and verie laudable to separate our selues in opinion from him and to contradict his writings for the truth They then that do not acknowledge comets to bee conioyned vnto and depending vpon the effects of the elementarie fire and aire by meanes of exhalations and vapors arising from the earth do alledge among other reasons that the place which is seene by the inhabitants of Milan vnder the circle of winter or the Tropick of Capricorne is distant from the earth ten times more then the height