call the noone-day night And herein is that darknesse more accurst Of th'vnderstanding then the senses sarre For this defectiue we 're content to trust A friend to guide vs lest our steps should erre But that most wretched calls the darknesse day And thewd the light in darknesse striues to stay And why 's this cause we trust the sence alone And this light through the sences neuer past The Eyes no obiects haue but bodies knowne To speake of light vnseene to th'sence is waste But vnbeleeuing man that doest agnize Onely things obuious to thy sence and eyes When hast thou seene the Ayre at any time The chiefe sustaining meanes by which we liue Or thine owne soule whose beauties clearer shine More splendant beames then fading earth can giue For each thing is more noble in degree As'ts freer from Materialitie Water therefore 's aboue th'condensed dust Ayre aboue that then th'element of fire Then th'Orbes tralucent a incorporeall most Of bodies Lastly th'Angels that aspire Nearest that incorporeall Sunne aboue That giues the light of wisdome warmth of loue a Most incorporeall of bodies because of tralucent so many hundred thousand miles tho of Adamantine haranesse Coeli enim qualitates sunt 4. 1. Subtilitas siue puritas 2. Indissipabilitas seu soliditas 3. Immutabilitas 4. Rotunditas CHAP. XXIX Gods Wisdome YOu Nations then that starres and fire inuoke To this a light let your hallowed Incense smoke All Lights are darknesse else no other light Can guide your steps from errors dismall night Come then but when to see this light you come You must doe like those that behold the Sunne Looke on some third thing that reflects the skies Because two vehement obiects spoyle the eyes The Bashawes in the Turkish presence bow Their heads and bend their eyes to th' earth downe loe Fearing to gaze too freely on their Prince Then shall we dare more then the Scraphins They to behold this Light in highest place Doe interpose their wings before his face Not able so great glories to behold Then shall we wretched mortals farre more bold Gaze full vpon those beames that make vs blind No let vs for this weake eie of the mind Find some reflecting mirror as we doe For th'sences that t' our intellect may show As in a glasse the shadow of this light For this it selfe is in it selfe too bright For creatures to behold of so low state We haue a glasse a glasse of things create Wherein this wisdome doth so clearely shine That euery eye may see this light diâ—â—ne Therefore in this glasse of the creatâ—res we The glorie of our Maker best may see Who infinite vnbounded vnconteynd Himselfe in limits yet hath all things fram'd By number weight and measure for both Heauen Earth Sea Sun Moone the Stars the Planets seuen The Elements Men Beasts and Plants we find In these termes and dimensions all confind The Heauens in reuolution iumpe with time No accident doth ere their course decline From their first order Such proportion Of magnitude assignd to euery one And distance that if ought herein were chang'd From order the whole frame were quite estrang'd From goodnesse and pernitious to men But this is not ordaind alone to them The little Bees and Ants therewith are blest Such true proportion both in man and beast Of weight and measure in each member plac't And euery part with such true number grac't That if therein the least transgression be It brands the creature with deformitie God giues to man one head two hands two feete If any where this orders changd we meet A Monster If the Nose or Mouth or Eare Be fram'd too large they make the whole appeare Vncomely What an vniformitie In Flowers and Fruits in Seeds and Leaues we see Fram'd with such euennes that oft-times our sight Cannot distinguish all with number weight And measure And what can the wisdome show Of our great Maker more then this to know The number weight and measure of each part Shall not he know the motions of the heart He knowes the number of our steps and haires Shall not he know our secretest affaires And close affections He the drops of raine And of the Sands that on the shores remaine The number knowes And tell me shall not he The number of our words and actions see Yes For his Wisdome yet farre more appeares In that he at one instant sees and heares The actions thoughts and words of euery man Mans lame imperfect knowledge hardly can By many acts discoursing too and fro Scarcely attaine not fully come vnto The knowledge of some one thing But this King By one act sees himselfe and euery thing That Heauen and Earth containes But now we come To th'weighâ— and measure of perfection This Earth for which men striue so much we deeme Compar'd with Gold and Iems of small esteeme But these compar'd with things that life can saue Farre sleighter and much lower value haue The beasts that haue the benefit of sence Offencelesse creatures haue preheminence But men endued with reasons facultie Obtaine a splendor farre more cleare and high Yet these compared with those cleare minds aboue Whom no soule appetiâ—es of sences moue Are poore and low How great diuerâ—â—tie Of weight and measure is in digâ—itie In mens estates and callings here on earth Some wise some weake some meane and low by birth Others noble some indigent and poore Others swelling with abundant store But in the most mans weake opinion erres For tho the state of pouertie appeares Irksome and heauy vnto earthly minds The holy soule therein aduantage finds For wealth 's a snare that doth our soules betray But want's a tutor whips vs to the way That leads vnto eternall happines So that these present discommodities Returne in time an ample recompence When the faire guilded sweets of oppulence Repay their weight in bitternes and gall Oh how inscrutable are his workes all Who can declare the secret simpathies The hidden causes of antiphathies Who can expresse the wondrous properties Of Plants and Beasts their hidden qualities How many excellencies each were dwells Within the fabrick of these earthen cells For of the fairer faculties of mind The mind 's reflected knowledge darke and blind With such imperfectnes it selfe doth view We justly doubt if what we know be true Tho most we find our imbecillitie In contemplation of that Maiestie Which like a Faâ—lkon through the high clouds towres Where we come tardy with these wings of ours a God is light and there is no darknesse in him Iohn 1. 1. CHAP XXX His Power HIs Power againe as hard a taske I find For infinite can neuer be confind To place or number worke too hard and high To shew his powre that rules both earth and skie To whom the Saints and Angels all obey To whom the Lampes that rule both night day For he their Maker and their Mouer is Nor doe they runne their proper course but his Who sometime doth subiect their glorious
light Vnto the prayers of the faithfull wight And makes the Sunne stand still ore Gabaon And Moone against the Vaile of Ayalon At his voyce both the Winds and Seas doe turne From course and nature Fire forbeares to burne The Tygers and the Lions that deuoure All things at th'becke of this transcendent powre Turne tame and gentle The great King of Deepes That euery thing to 's hungry Shambles sweepes When this Powre list must their his Prophet saue The cruell Tyrant that delights to haue His bloody will when God in power commands Puts vp his sword and lends his helping hands The wretched Powres infernall whose curst will Swifter then lightning moue to doe man ill Are yet preuented by the swifter speed Of this Powre who is ready still at need To helpe the faithfull But this Powre most cleare And infinitely powrefull doth appeare In the production of his creatures all For what 's of greater wonder then the small And slender seeds that mightie things produce No man whose vnderstanding's most obtuse Can chuse but wonder how the bole and high Towre topping branches of the Oke should lie Within the little Akornes seed contain'd Those engins wherewith Neptunes force is tam'd I st not as strange that watry substance thin And flewent should be matter to begin The timber-buildings of the mightie Whale The monstrous â— Rhoyder and the poisenous â—ahal Or that the offices of life in Bees And Ants is as accomplisht as in these These haue their stomack liuer heart and gall Their instruments of sence and motion all The parts of generation as compleat As haue those massie buildings huge and great Whose mightie beames and transome few behold Without amazement If it should be told To some that knew it not would they not smile To thinke the bullet-scorning c Crokodile Whose iron sides doe engins force repell Should bring those anuils from the tender shell Of a small egge This Powre no lesse we see In contemplating that varietie Of seuerall formes in earth in sea and aire Of which the cunningst Artists not declare The smaller part of what vnknowne they leaue How various are the seuerall shapes they haue How various is their food and preseruation Their waies of breed and generation Quantities qualities their voyces soundes Their benefits that vnto man redounds This is a Sea which Reason clogd with sence Cannot swim ouer but this power immense Is fairest written in the Heauens aboue With what incessant swiftnes doe they moue Yet measured and obseruing still that time Which first they did before they ere had seene Mans guiltines and if God pleased might be Continued so to all eternitie Bâ—t in how short a moment is the cleare Sunnes light transfused throughout the Hemyspheare To this the lightning's flow and the swift wind And th' ayrie wings to phansies powres assiâ—â—d Nothing 's more strange conterâ—d in Naâ—uâ—â—s store Noâ— that the Deitie resembles more How highly in this Creature are we blest The Sunne that life preserues in man and beast Who by attenuation doth forth call The blew Mists from their Mother Thetis Hall To th'ayres cold region who comprest by th'skie And their lapps fild with young fertilitie Returne thence and bring fruit forth on the ground Before they see their Mother the profound But angry boyling Goddesse of the deepes Whose rage not long at home her Daughters keepes Ere Pilgrims new they turne to clense their staines Within the concaues of Earths secret veynes And for this good washing her dustie face Leaue many a stowrie Meadow as they trace The winding Vallies to returne againe Vnto their Mothers lap from whence they came But Heauens tralucent clearenesse in so wide Extended bodies arguing beside Their Adamantine hardnesse since no losse Of substance doth their speedie motions crosse Nor dissipation This doth well declare His power by whom they fram'd and gouernd are But what speakes more his powre then this he fram'd Both Heauen and Earth and all things there contain'd Of nothing all without precedent stuffe To build on for his owne word was enough The cunning Painter many yeares will stick Vpon some one rare piece and errors pricke Expunge and race before the worke be done A thousand times to giue perfection Onely to shadowes But th'Creator made â—heir substances of nothing and arraide Them all with true perfection with a word His onely Word their essence did afford God did command the Heauens and Earth to be And they were made With like facillitie The Angels â—unne and Moone that guides the night Plants Beasts and Men this Word prodeust to light And as one Word did all this All creaâ—e So must one Word all this All dissipate Tho man thus dissipated in despight Of Death and Hell and of corruptions might In spight of Time and Tyrants that disseuer Our members must vnited be together From thence before the mightie Iudge to goe That giues the doomes of endlesse ioyes or woe a The Rhoyder is a Fish in the Iland Seas one hunderd and thirtie ells long much larger then the largest kind of Whales their flesh good to eate and medicinable The Nahall is fortie ells long and deadly poyson yet he hath a horne in his forehead which is sold sometime in stead of the sea Vnicornes b Crocodilus fluuiatilis oua 60. quam plurimum parit viuit que diu maximumque animal minima hac origins euadit ouum enim non maius quam anseris foetus inde exclusus proportione est attamen crescit ad quindecem cubita Arist Hist. de aâ—â— lib. 5. cap. 33. CHAP. XXXI Man by reason of his sinfull condition the wretchedst and the worst of all creatures OH God how small a thing Is man compared to thee The Heauens all couering To thine immensitie Doe but a center seeme And earth where we remaine A center we esteeme Compard with heauens wide frame But man compard with this Doth seeme a thing more scant Where magnitude none is There must dimensions want Thus man with earth compard As nothing doth appeare And Earth with Heau'n declard As if it nothing were But th' Heauens Oh God to thee Are least of all in sight For lesse then nothing be Finites to Infinite Nothing of nothing's now How bâ—ld are we that dare Such minds Gigantiue show With Heauen to bandy warre The Lions are more stout The Elephants more strong The arm'd Rhynoceret Much more secure from wrong The Crocodiles for warre And Tortoyse fitter be The Congian a Zibraes are And b Dante 's more swift then we The Whales are larger syzed Th' Apodes lesse desire The Vnâ—cornes more prized Piâ—austa safe from fire The Okes liue longer farre The Caâ—dars be more tall The Lillies whiter are The Roses sweeter all Man is the weakest still The wretchedst and the worst Hath least meanes to doe ill Yet then the rest more curst For they to Natures Law Are subiect and confind But nothing keepes in awe His bad vnstable mind The Tyger's not so keene So
whence into her brest New poysons still she takes Then in the Soule recides Furie Despaire and Rage At God which them diuides From him an endlesse age Thus both aliue and dead Scorcht both with Frosts and Flames One while in burning bed And streight in Iere streames Stench neuer kills them here Night neuer shuts their eyes Noyce neuer deafes there â—are By wants or wounds none diesâ— The senses all remaine And euery facultie To worke their greater paine Their selfe tormenters be Therefore feare God and dread Not men that can impose Nothing vpon thee dead Shun Hells eternall woes CHAP. XXXVII The comparison of the great and little Worlds Et creauit Deus hominem ad imaginem similitudinem suam ad imaginem Dei creauit illum Genes 1. HOw much vnlike this great World seemes to be Vnto this little World in quantitie And yet in qualitie how neere they come Within the compasse of a comparison The Heauens and Earth this greater World we name Of Heauen and Earth's composde this lesse Worlds frame The Sunne illuminates the Heauens all And giues earth life So in these bodies small The soule performes as much The Sunne transmits His influence his light and benefits Through the tralucent bodies interposed And triple Ayre in Regions three disposed Euen so the sentient Soule likewise susteines Both moues and gouerns as with certaine reines On th' ayrie wings of b threefold Spirits sent Each facultie of this her instrument And as the Sunne from two halfe Hemispheares Illumines Earth which otherwise appeares But a sad mansion So the soule affords The like through her halfe seene halfe hidden Orbes The Sunne by rarifaction doth euoke Th'attenuated Waters vaprous Smoke To th'ayres cold Region and condensed there Melts them to feede the Earth and coole the ayre The like againe doth Natures lesser Sunne The Soule I meane when through concoction Motion or other cause the vapours flie Vpwards if through the head transpired they be They haue their vses in Dame Natures Hall But if dissolu'd like showres in Haruest fall And many a time the worst disease beget Thus squares the sentient facultie with it But the supreame irradiance of the mind Farre liker to the Worlds high Soule we find Both incorporeall essences and high Vnbounded by c Time Place or Quantitie And as the Worlds high Soule containing all Is not contained d The like thing doth befalâ— To this of ours As that hath supreame powre In all so by Creations right hath ours Ore this her petty Kingdome And as that Doth this great World two waies illuminate By e corporall and incorporeall meanes So seemes the soule to powre forth two-fold beameâ— Beames that doe this dead earth viuificate Beames that doe this darke sence illuminate Beames that forth from that f light and essence flow That in it selfe both light and essence holds And as God is by his infinite Of essence euery thing g So mens soules be After a sort by apprehending all Materiall things and immateriall And as that hath perfect knowledge and will So had this tho now spoild by Satans ill But much they differ in existencie God of himselfe subsists But by him we By whom our soules were first of nothing made The perfect patterns of th'â—de â—s laid Vp in the secret closets of his mind Now for the h Earth altho therein we find Betwixt things ouall and things angular But little semblance Yet some things there are Which in a measure paralels may seeme We haue both frozen Poles and burning Line The head and feete that furthest off remaine The frozen Poles I may imagine them The parts precordiall Line and Center be Where natiue heare consumes humiditie Within the earth is many a burning fire And in our selues Diseases and Desire No small flames breed When Water Fire or Aire Would from Earthes wombe vnto their homes repaire But are deteynd what Feauors they ingender And in our selues the same effects they render As diuerse know * An oylie humor feeds Our Natiue heate Trees haue the like and Seeds Our flesh is but a humour that 's concreat Earths superficies is no more the sweat And fatnes of the clouds Nature alone Imparts not i fat and marrow to our bone Earth hath her fat which k sulphure we doe call Which feeds her Bones her Mines and Minerall Nature to vs alone haire hath not lent The Woods and Groues are Earths like ornament Dame Nature not alone our wants supplies With fruitfull Veines and panting Arteries The christall streames and Riuers â—alt tide wasâ—t In stead of these arâ— reasonantly plac't The two great Seas the l Terrene and the Ocean That mouing still this seeming void of motion Natures Magazines of humiditie Be as in vs the heart and Liner be Hâ—w like are these yet how vnlike againe All faire did not mans sinne their beauties staine a Nonne capitis situs in quo intellectus rationis sapientiaeofficina supremam illam inuisibilis mundi partem quae summi illius numinis intelligentiarum sedes creditur reffert nonne mens Des â—lla portio corporis domina tribus potentijs sâ—u facultatibus eandem tamen cum anima rationalâ— essentiam perticipantibus Dei ousian amâ—riston in personis interim trinam adumbrat tacite quasi ingerit Nonne interiorum sensuum triga tres illas hierarâ—hias in quas religiosa antiquitas intelligentiarum numerum innumerum est partita exteriores autem sensus eas intelligentias quaerationem Angelorum induunt vt sunt Apostolo citante virtutes principatus throâ— Archangeli Angeli tanquam stipatores Deâ— omnipotentis thronum circumstantes iussa illius capessentes salutemque humani generis quouis modo promouentes representant innuunt Galen 1. de temp ad finem Galen 1. de vsu partium cap. 2. 3. Ex Knoblochio Institu Anato b Animall Vitall Naturall c Demonstratum est extra coelum necesse câ—rpus nec etiam esse posse patet ergo neque locum extra coelum esse neque vacuum neque tempus Arist. de coelo lib. 1. cap. 9. d Quid igitur continet animam si sua natura est partibilis Profecto non corpus nam potius econtrario videtur animam continere corpus vnde eâ egressâ euanessit putrescit Arist. de an l. 1. cap. 9. e Per solem nempe instrumentum materiale luminis per spiritum inuisibiliter irrhadiant em omnes piorum fidelium mentes f Quid enim aliud ipse Deus quam lux est sed tamen illa neque visa nec affatu facilis Scaliger Excert 297. 3. excer 365. 6. g Vt ergo Deo quam similimus homo reddatur necesse est cum quoque omnia fieri Cumque omnia fieri non possit per infinitudinem essentiae vt Deus est omnia ideo opportebat fieri per imaginem rerum omnium in mente hominis impressam diiudicatam Keckerman sâ—st Phys. l. 4. cap. 4. hominem intelligendo omnia omnia fieri