were onely mine owne and in mine owne possession not affecting to be curious either in this or in any thing else which tendeth not directly vnto the profit of my Readers Againe it may be obiected that the Sentences alleadged are not exactly translated Whereunto againe I answer that to the sense they be alwayes though to the words not alwayes For that needs not in the opinion of an excellent Criticke And the Poet telleth vs that hee may be a faithfull Translator that doth it not Nec verbum verbo curabis reddere fidus Interpres It 's not his part that is the best Translator To render word for word vnto his Author But the Orator telleth vs that hee cannot be a delightfull Translator that doth it Verbume verbo exprimere interpretis est indiserti Againe yet an other That I haue not alwayes cited them to the meaning of the Author To which I likewise answer That whensoeuer I produce them as Testimonies for the confirmation of the point then in question I cite them exactly vnto the Authors meaning But that is not alwayes my end in alledging them but sometimes to 〈◊〉 their words by way of 〈◊〉 rather then of allegation for the more commodious expressing of mine owne sense and meaning A thing very vsuall and familiar with Plutarch whose character and forme of stile I haue in that point propounded to imitate Finally it may be that some men will except against the publishing of this first part alone before the rest be ready in putting vnto me the incurious error of Curio the Orator Qui aliquoties tria cum proposuisset aut quarum adderet aut tertium quaereret Who often times propounding to speake but of three things commonly either added to them a fourth or else forgat to speak of the third But for this course of proceeding I am not without my reason as namely First the example of very many learned men whom wee dayly obserue to practice the same and to propine vnto their Readers an assay of their works to take a tast of them how themselues are tasted by them Secondly because this first part of the worke hath growne exceeding great and beyond mine expectation beeing now come vnto the measure and bignes of a Volume And thirdly it had no little moment with me that diuers of my learnedest and best affected Friends haue often importuned mee vnto the publishing of it hastening in their loue this vnperfect worke vnto the edition peraduenture as an vntimely fruit vnto his abortion but without peraduenture vnto that common condition which is obserued by Isocrates to be fatal to many Booke Vt dum adhuc in mentibus Authorum inclusi teâ—eantur magnam sui expectationem concitent sed perfecti tandem alijs oftensi longe tenuiorem quam pro concepta spe gloriam consequantur They stirre vp a greater expecâ—ation whilst they are in doing then they are able to maintaine when as they be done But yet the principall ende and intent of my writing being onely the good and profit of my Readers I should greatly wrong both their curtesie and equitie to make any doubt of their fauourable acceptance Which if they should not afforde they themselues should wrong them both For what can be more contrarie both to curtesie and equitie then either to speake or but to thinke euill of those that haue spent so much paynes onely to doe them good This were the reward of worse then a Pagan which I hope to be farre from euery good Christian. Quare habe tibi quic quid hoe Libelli est Such as it is I doe willingly permit it vnto thine equall censure desiring nothing more then that the same minde towards thine owne good may possesse thee in reading it that did me in writing it and then I shall not neede to doubt of thy profit by it Which I will accompt mine owne exceeding great Reward And therefore I conclude this preface with that prayer of Irenaeus Da Deus omni legenti hanc scripturam cognoscere te quia solus Deus es confirmari in t te absistere ab omni haeretica quae est sine Deo impia sententia Grant O Lord vnto all that shall be readers of this Booke to know thee to be the onely true God and in thee more and more to be strengthned and confirmed and to eschew all the impious opinions of Heretiks and Atheists Amen Thine in the Lord Martin Sarum The first part of this worke Proueth There is a God And is contained in eight seuerall Bookes inforcing the probation by eight seuerall Arguments The First Booke proueth it from the simple and Categorical affirmation of Nature which cryeth out in all men that There is a God The Second from certaine grounds and consequents in all manner of Arts and Sciences The Third from the structure of Mans Body The Fourth from the Nature of his Soule The Fift from the generall view of the visible world The Sixt from a particular surueigh of the most principall part 's of it viz. The Heauen The Earth The Sea The Seauenth from certaine speciall works of Prouidence obserued by Cleanthes The Eight from the Confutation of the Atheists Obiections A Table of the Chapters contained in this Booke CHAP. 1. TO beleeue there is a God is the ground of all Religion 2. The end and purpose of this booke is to prooue that Position 3. This cannot be beleeued but by the helpe of prayer 4. It cannot be proued A Priorj 5. Yet may it be shewed A Posteriorj pag. 1. CHAP. 2. What manner of Authorities be the weightiest in this case 2. That they may not here be vsed 3. How yet they bee heere vsed 4. What be the most proper in respect of the Aduersaries 5. Why they be more proper then any other pag. 8. CHAP. 3. That there is an inbred perswasion in the hearts of all men That there is a God 2. That this hath beene obserued by many learned men among the Heathens 3. That it hath also bin obserued by diuers learned Christians 4. Two notable testimonies out of Tullie asserting this perswasion both vnto all Nations and vnto al Conditions vnto all persons among men p. 15 CHAP. 4. That there is not any Nation but it hath his Religion 1. Ancient histories insinuate it 2. New histories affirme it 3. Trauellers confirme it 4. A generall surueigh of their gods declareth it 5. A particular surueigh of their tutelar gods proueth it p. 19. 20. CHAâ— 5. That all sorts of men of all degrees and orders doe beleeue There is a God is particularly declared by instance of Poets 2. Of Law-giuers 3. Of philosophers 4. And of all other seuerall Arts and professions pag. 29. CHAP. 6. That there is no particular person in the world but that in some degree he beleeueth There is a God 2. No Swearer 3. No Blasphemer 4. No Idolater p. 39. CHAP. 7. That a great discord may bee
is this that Punctum est principium omnis lineae So that all magnitudes and continuities are deduced from one originall prick And therefore Proclus calleth Punctum magnitudinis parentem authorem hee calleth a Pricke the parent of all magnitude Which position as it hath his Mathematicall truth in Geometry so hath it his Physicall truth in naturall Philosophy From whence it must needes follow that all those so largely extended lines in the greatest bodies of the world doe lineally descend from one onely prick which in it selfe is indiuisible Now what can bee this one indiuisible pricke or point which is the Author of all those huge magnitudes which are euidently seene in those vast and extended bodies of the world the heauens and the elements but onely God himselfe Can all those huge dimensions of those immense bodies such heights such bredths such depths and such thicknesses bee possibly deduced from any other pricke then onely from God who though hee be both higher then heauen deeper then hell broader then the sea and thicker then the earth yet is hee like a pricke in euery line of all of them and as vtterly vncapable of any diuision as is the very pricke of the Mathematician which cannot be diuided by the ege of very thought Vnto which Mathematicall conceit of deducing all magnitudes and all their dimensions from God as from their true Originall point the Apostle Saint Paul doth seeme to allude when hee exciteth vs to comprehend what is the bredth and length and depth and height c. 4 And indeed if wee consider of the nature and power of a point or a pricke in a line and in all other continuities whatsoeuer whether solides or plaines wee may easily perceiue that there is in a pricke a very great similitude and resemblance of God For first as a point or pricke is the very first fountaine of euery line which is indeede nothing else but only fluxus Punctotum so this whole vniuersality of things which wee call the World is indeed nothings else but a production and elongation and dilatation of the naturall goodnesse of Almighty God The goodnesse of God is the onely true point from which all created things doe proceede For as Dionysius Areopagita very truely teacheth Deus bonitate ductus omnes naturas in lucem protulit God being onely led by his owne naturall goodnesse was thereby induced to create and make all things This is the true Center of all good things which are but as the radij that bee drawne from it And this is that which the Pythagoreans aymed at in holding this position that Mathematicorum principia sunt omnium rerum principia That the Principles of the Mathematicks are the beginnings of all things Secondly as in euery line and in euery part of it wheresoeuer you cut it you shall surely finde a pricke which was a communis Terminus vnto both the diuided parts being the beginning of the one and the end of the other and which knitted and vnited them both together so in euery part of the world which soeuer you contemplate you shall find the mighty power of the Spirit of God which like a common bond knitteth all the seuerall parts of euery thing together and vniteth them all in one common nature And this is manifestly acknowledged euen by the Heathen Poet Principio Coelum ac Terras camposque liquentes Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem magnose corpore miscet From first beginning there hath bene a certaine inward Spirit Supporting Heauen and Earth and Seas Moone Stars and all things by it Which Spirit like the Punctum is in Mathematicke body And so transfus'd in all the World through all the parts that may be That as the Soule for such it is by mouing can be proued So all the Worlds vast body is by this Soule euer moued Thirdly as a pricke is the end of euery line Linearum terminus as Aristotle speaketh the extreame point wherewith it is shut vp and determined so is God the end of all his Creatures Hee is both that Terminus à quo from which all things doe proceede and that Terminus ad quem vnto which they all are referred and that medium per quod by which they are all of them vnited And all this is confessed euen by the very Heathen who do all affirme of God with one generall consent that it is he onely which doth Et principium media finem rerum omnium tenere That God holdeth in his hands both the Beginning and Middle and End of all things Yea and this also the Apostle Paul directly affirmeth though in somewhat other termes when hee telleth vs that Of him and through him and to him are all things Of him as of their Beginning Through him as by their Middle tye and Bond and To him as to their End For so Origen expresly interpreteth those threetermes Ostendit Principium omnium ex ipso Conseruationem Per ipsum Et Finem In ipsum So that God is that Punctum in euery part of the world from whom euery Creature in the world doth proceede by whom they are preserued and vnto whom they bee destinated And this is that resemblance which Geometry affoordeth to adumbrate the nature of God vnto vs. CHAP. 10. Vnity in Arithmeticke doth leade men vnto God 2. Which is affirmed by Philosophers to bee the Originall of all things 3. Yea directly affirmed to be Gód himselfe 4. With whom it hath indeed a very great resemblance THE second of those Mathematicall Arts is Arithmeticke wherein wee doe find another paralel position vnto that which formerly wee found in Geometry For as Geometry teacheth vs that Punctum est Principium omnis lineoe so Arithmeticke teacheth vs that Vnitas est principium omnis numeri As all magnitude ariseth from one only pricke so all multitude ariseth from one only vnity For Punctum and Vnitas differ no more but thus that Punctum est Vnitas sine numero and Vnitas est punctum sine loco And therefore Zaratas the Pythagorean called Vnitatem numeri patrem Hee calleth an vnity the father of all numbers Because as Boetius very truely teacheth Omnis pluralitas est ex vnitatibus All numbers are nothing else but a coniunction of vnities Now if vnity be the parent of all multiplicitie it must needs from thence follow that all this multiplicity and variety of so infinite many things as wee see in the world doe draw their originall from onely vnity For one vnity is the beginning of all plurality as well in numero numerato in that which is numbred as in numero numerante that which numbreth as Trismegistus expresly testifieth Omnes res ab vno fuerunt iuredicatione vnius fuerunt nataeres omnes ab hacrevna aptatione All things proceeded from One by
make any belly so great but that he prouided sufficient meate to fill it yea euen the great belly of that great beast Behemoth which himselfe so greatly magnifieth so likewise in his wisedome would he neuer haue made a mans appetite so great but that he hath appointed some obiect that can fill it yea and euery corner of it Now that the whole world is not able to doe As may bee well vnderstood by this Hierogliphicall conceit That the world is of a circular forme but the heart of a man is of a triangular And therefore as if wee should put a circle into a Triangle we can neuer so fill it but that all the corners will be empty in it so if we should put the whole world into a mans heart yet could it neuer fill it nor reach into euery corner of it And therefore the onely obiect that is able to fill this three cornered heart cannot be any thing else but onely the Holy and vndiuided Trinitie This is an all-filling obiect that is greater then our heart and therefore is easily able to fill it and to radiate into euery corner of it Yea so to fill a mans appetite in euery chanell of it vntill like Dauids Cup it euen runne ouer For he is able to fill all our naturall appetites both of eating and drinking and sleeping and such like For He openeth his hand and filleth with his blessing euery liuing thing And He it is that giueth vnto his beloued sleepe And though the mouth of our appetite doe gape neuer so wide yet hee openeth his hand wider and filleth both the mouth and the belly with his hidden treasure And so likewise for our sensible appetites of Hearing Seeing and Tasting and the rest hee can easily fill them too For he hath prouided such excellent things for vs as neither Eye hath seene nor Eare hath heard nor yet by the heart of man can be conceiued He can fill all our intellectuall appetites both of Power and Honour and Treasure and Pleasure For he hath prouided for vs an incorruptible crowne of glorie And In his presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at his right hand are pleasures for euer more Thus as the Psalmist noteth God can Replere in bonis de siderium nostrum He can euen fill our dâ—sire with euery good thing And therefore in another place he professeth that There is nothing in heauen that he desireth but him nor any thing on earth in comparison of him He fixed his whole desire vpon God because he alone could fill the whole of it without any diminution As the Psalmist againe in another place confesseth I will behold thy face in righteousnesse and when I awake I shall be satisfied with thine image God is a fantasme that can fill the fantasie and an Obiect that can still the appetite Which nothing in the world can doe without him no not the whole world nor all that is in the world but onely God himselfe For as S. Augustine truely writeth Si cuncta quae fecit Deus dederit non sussicit nisi sâ—â—â—sum dederit Though God should giue thee all hee hath yet would all that be nâ—thing if hee gaue thee not himselfe Whereupon hee professeth in another place that Quicquid igitur mihi vult dare Dominus meus auferat totum se mihi det There is nothing in the world that vnto me seemeth pleasant but onely God And therefore if God would giue vnto me al that euer he hath let him take all that away and giue me onely himselfe For there is nothing else that can fully content vs as in his Confessions he plainly professeth Domine quia fecisti nos ad te inqutetum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te O Lord saith hee because thou hast purposely made vs for thy selfe therefore our heart can no where finde any quiet vntill it doe come to rest in thy selfe Not in all the honours not in all the riches not in all the pleasures of the world As is likewise very notable obserued by S. Bernard Ad imaginem Deifacta animarationalis caeteris omnibus occuparì potest repleri non potest Capacem Dei quicquid Deo minus est non implebit Inde est quòd naturali quidem desiderio summum quiuis probatur appetere bonum nullam nisi adepto eo requiâ—m habiturus The soule of a man being made vnto the image of God may be busied about many other things but can be filled with nothing but with him For that which is capable of God himselfe cannot be â—illed with that which is lesse then God himselfe Hence euery man naturally desires the cheifest good and can neuer rest vntill he haue found it For as Bellarmine very aptly and wittily illustrates it As the body of a man cannot rest in the ayre be it neuer so wide nor yet in the water be it neuer so deepe but still sinketh downe vntill it come vnto the earth because that is his proper and naturall place so the Soule of a man can neuer finde repose neither in the aereal stickering Honours nor in the earthly and dirty Riâ—hes nor in the watery softening Pleasures of this present world but onely in God alone who is indeed the proper place and true Center of mans Soule in whom it can onely repose it selfe securely I will lay me downe to rest and sleepe in peace saith the Psalmist for it is the Lord onely that maketh me dwell in safetie Here is the true repose and naturall rest of the Soule when it lodgeth vp it selfe vnder the shadow of Gods wings And therefore Dauid beseecheth the Lord that he would hide him vnder the shadow of his wings Professing in another place that vnder the shadow of his wings should be his refuge And in another that his trust should be vnder the shadow of his wings And in another that he will reioyce vnder the shadow of his wings Thus vnder the shadow of Gods wings the Soule findes her true reposednesse her refuge her assurance and her fulnesse of ioy so that when she is come thither she can desire no more For as a Buble saith Gregorie Nyssen vsing a contrary comparison vnto Bellarmines cannot stay it selfe below in the botome of the water but by degrees ascendeth vp vntill it come vnto the toppe and when it is come thither it then striues no longer to ascend vp any higher but there breaking his thinne filme powreth forth it selfe naturally into the open ayre so likewise a mans Soule cannot content and stay it selfe in any of these earthly and inferior things but naturally ascendeth vpward vntill it come to God Whither when it is once come it then hath no desire to ascend vp any further but there naturally resteth Yea and like the Bubble beforementioned with the Apostle Paul desireth to bee euen dissolued that it may be with God
earthly Creatures would carelesly praetermit or despise those Heauenly This is the whole summe of Aristotles reasons to proue that the Starres haue no voluntarie motions Plato indeed rendereth a reason why the Heauens haue no neede of any instruments of motion as Legges or Feete But they be such as shew plainely that their motion is not voluntarie Now to recollect the summe of this long Chapter If this regular and orderly motion of the Starres be neither naturally giuen vnto them either by their Matter or by their Forme nor accidentally fallen vpon them either by Chance or Fortune nor voluntarily composed by them out of their owne election then must it needs be imposed vpon them by diuine constitution as Plutarch truely collecteth accompting this for a sufficient enumeration But the three former branches are largely proued in three Sections of this Chapter And therefore the Author of their motions must needs be God himselfe It can be none other Whom Boetius truly calleth Terrarum Coeli satorem qui perpetua mundum ratione gubernat Earths planter and Heauens placer who Worlds vast circumference Both made and doth maintaine and rule by lasting prouidence So that for this point I conclude with Lactantius that Tanta rerum magnitudo tanta dispositio tanta in sâ—ruandis ordinibus temporibusque constantia non potuit autolìm sine prouido Artifice oriri aut constare tot seculis â—ine incola potenti aut in perpetuum gubernari sine perito sciente Rectore Quod ratio ipsa declarat Such a greatnes in the Creature such a comelines in their order such a constancie in obseruing both their courses and their seasons could neuer either at first haue beene framed without a cunning hand or so long haue beene praeserued without a powerfull inhabitant or so wisely haue beene gouerned without a skilfull Regent As euen Reason it selfe maketh it plaine and euident CHAP. 12. That God hath made all his creatures in Harmonicall proportion and in a kinde of Musicke That all creatures are naturally deloghted with it 3. That they prayse God in their kinds with their naturall Musicks 4. That Artificiall musicke is the gift of God to men 5. That the chiefest end of it is to prayse God with it WE are now at the last come vnto the last of the Mathematicall Sciences which is the Arte of Musicke of which I purpose not to discourse as a curious Musitian but as a Diuine And therefore I will not Artem Musicam in trutina examinare as Aristophanes speaketh I will not strictly examine euery crochâ—t and quauer as it were vpon the ballance but looking directly vpon mine owne marke with a stedfast eye I will onely vnfold those fiue poynts vnto you which I haue summed vp before in the contents of this Chapter And that but very lightly to auoyd all curiositie First therefore for the first of them It was Pythagoras his position Vniversi naturam Musicis fuisse rationibus fabricatam That the frame of this whole world is made in a kind of naturall Musick And the most of the old Philosophers as Plutarch reporteth concurred with him in the very same opinion A Deo omnia fuisse instituta secundùm Harmoniam That God hath made all his workes exactly vnto the due proportion of a Musicall Harmonie And we may see it plainely verified if we will take a Suruey of all the Creatures of God beginning which the highest and so by degrees descending the lowest And first for the Heauens the highest of Gods workes I haue partly shewed before in the former Chapter what an excellent Harmonie God hath bestowed into them both actually in their motions and virtually in their influences I doe leaue the former of those Harmonies to the libertie of the Readers to beleeue or not beleeue as it pleaseth themselues But this latter of them is a thing so euident of their gracious influences vpon these inferior Bodies that he must needs be destitute both of sense and reason that denieth it Neither doe the Philosophers only beleeue the body of the Heauens are made in musicall proportion but also that their soules and Intelligences from whence they haue their motion are also made by the same composition Plato describing the Creation of the Soule of the world he setteth downe exactly all the seuerall substances whereof it is compounded and nameth there praecisely both all the particular Ingredients and all their seuerall doses In which Argument Macrobius likewise hath taken great paâ—nes to expresse more plainely that which was deliuered by Plato more obscurely as concerning both the Matters and the Measures of the Soules composition which hee reduceth exactly vnto Musicall proportion Yea and further ascribeth all the Musicall Harmonie of the Heauens themselues onely vnto that musicall composition which God gaue vnto the soule of the Heauens in his first Creation Ergò Mundi anima qu ae ad motum hoc quod videmus Vniversitatis corpus impellit contexta numeris musicam dese creantibus concinnentiam necesse est vt sonos musicos de motu quem proprio impulsu praestat efficiat The soule of the World which stirreth the bodie of the World vnto motion being it selfe made of such numbers as beget in it selfe a musicall Harmonie must needs in all those motions which it selfe procureth produce a musicall Harmonie likewise Yea and a little after hee attributeth vnto this musicall Composition of that soule not onely the Harmonicall motion of the Heauens but also all that delight in Musicke which all liuing Creatures does take here vpon the earth Iure igitur Musicá capitur omne quod viuit quia coelestis anima qua animatur vniversitas Originem sumpsit ex Musica By right must euery thing that hath life be delighted with Musicke because the soule of the world which giueth them their life is it selfe compounded of a kind of Musick This is the conceit which the ancient Philosophers haue had of the Musick and Harmonie of the Heauens not onely in their Bodies but also in their Soules All of them proceeding onely from that diuine and heauenly Harmonie which Anselmus affirmeth to bee in God himselfe as I haue before obserued I censure not their opinion but onely note it to declare how strongly they were possessed that all things in the world are compounded in a kinde of Harmony by God yea euen the Soule of the world it selfe Let vs therefore now come downe from the Heauens vnto the Elements For in them also the Philosophers haue obserued diuers Harmonies Plutarch in his Booke De prìmo Frigido reporteth an old opinion that God is called by the name of a Musition Which appellation hee interpreteth to bee giuen vnto him for his skilfull proportioning of the Elements and their qualities in the mixture and temper of all compound bodies Aeris mutationes effecta quia temperat Deus Musicus appellatur God is called a Musition for his skilfull
proper office it bringeth also some helpe vnto his other fellow-members Whereupon he there concludeth Sic omnis natura se diligit miro quodam modo plurium dissimilium in vnum redactorum concordia vnam in omnibus Harmoniam facit Thus euerything by nature is louing to it selfe and by ioyning things vnlike in true concord together after an admirable manner it maketh in the whole body a most sweete and pleasant Harmonie This Harmonie of Concords hath God generally disposed into the parts members of al cōpounded bodies Now he hath also placed among them another kinde of Harmonie consisting all of Discords in mixing of things of contrary natures throughout all his works For there is none of all his Creatures but God hath created something contrary vnto it which contendeth with it by the contrariety of Nature as one Enemie fighteth with another And yet all of them together beget in the world a most sweet wholesome Concord I meane not only of those Sympathies and Antipathies which God hath planted in diuers of his Creatures wherby some of them amicably embrace one another as most louing friends others of them hatefully decline one another as most mortal enemies A secret in nature whereof the learnedest men were neuer yet able to giue any reason as Plutarch truly noteth Aelianus confirmeth but euen in the other most common ordinary workes of God we shal finde none of them so free but that it hath in nature in some sort his contrarie So that the frame of the whole world doth seeme to benothing else but only a mixture composition of Contraries striuing stil together though in more orderly manner as they did in the masse of their confused Chaos wherein as the Poet describeth it Frigida pugnabant calidis humentia siccis Mollia cum duris sine pondere habentia pondus Cold things with hot moyst things with dry did fight Soft things with hard and sad things with the light And such is still the fight and conflict of contraries euen in this well ordered and beautifull world though the same hand which then distinguished them into their seuerall orders doth now so moderate and keepe them in order that their contraries and repugnancies tende both vnto the safetie and beauty of the world and not either to the hurte or to the blemish of it In which respect S. Augustine compareth that Naturall order which God hath taken in mingling of Contraries through all the rancks of his Creatures to that artificiall order which Musitions ofttimes take in the making of their Songs Deus ordinem seculorum tanquà m pulcherrimum carmen ex quibusdam quasi Antithetis honest avit God hath framed and compounded the order of the vniuerse in the manner of a curious elegant verse artificially adorned with members all of Contraries Like that sentence of S. Paules By Honour dishonour by euill report good report as deceiuers yet true as vnknown yet known as dying yet behold we liue as chastened yet not killed as sorrowing yet alwayes reioycing as poore yet making many rich as hauing nothing and yet possessing all things Not vnlike that of Terence Omnia habeo neque quicquam habeo nihil cùm est nihil deest tamen Whereupon S. Augustine in the same place concludeth that Sicut contraria contrarijs opposita sermonibus pluchritudinem reddunt ita quadam non verborum sed rerum eloquentia contrariorum appositione seculi pulchritudo componitur As contraries opposed vnto contraries do yeeld a kind of grace beautie to the speech so God by placing contraries against their contraries in a kinde not of verbal but of real eloquence hath giuen a great grace and beautie to his worke Which conceit of S. Augustine deliuered by him but in generall termes is illustrated by Tertullian by the apposition of many very notable particular instances and those very fit and apposite Tota operatio Dei ex diversitatibus constat ex Corporalibus incorporalibus ex animalibus inanimalibus ex vocalibus mutis ex mobilibus stativis ex genitalibus sterilibus ex aridis humidis ex calidis frigidis c. The whole workemanship of God is compounded all of Contraries of things corporeal and incorporeall of things liuing and without life of things loquent and silent of things moueable and vnmoueable of things fertile and sterile of things dry and moyst of things hot and cold c. And the same that hee hath shewed by those instances in the great world he proceedeth to declare in Man also the little world Sic Hominem ipsum diversitas temperavit tam in corpore quà m insensu Alia membra fortia alia infirma alia honesta alia inhonesta alia gemina alia vnica alia comparia alia disparia Perindè in sensu nunc laetitia nunc anxietas nunc amor nunc odium nunc ira nunc lenitas In like case Man himselfe is made by God of meerely Contraries and that not only in his body but also in his soule too Some parts of Man be strong some againe be weake some comely some homely some double some single some aequall some vnaequall And so likewise in his mind there is sometimes mirth and sometimes greife sometimes loue and sometimes hate sometimes feircenes and sometimes mildnesse So that the whole world is in effect nothing else but only a massie Coagmentation of Contraries As Ecclesiasticus also directly obserueth Euill is against good death against life the Godly against the sinner the vniust against the faithfull And so in all the workes of the most High thou mayst see that there be euer Two and the one of them is against the other Neither is this the onely Obseruation of religious Christians but also of the irreligious Heathen Wherein many of the most learned haue exactly concurred affirming that God like a skilfull Painter to shew the grace of his worke the better hath composed the whole world of opposite parts as it were of Lights and shadowes Which as Trismegistus noteth is a matter of so pure and absolute necessity that without it the world could haue had no beautie For if Contraries had not bene thus mingled together the curious workes of Nature could not haue beene distinguished one of them from another And therefore he pronounceth that Ex oppositione contrarietate constare omnia necesse est neque alitor se habere possibile est For as in a Picture if all were blacke or all white there could be no grace or beauty in the worke so in all the workes of Nature if all were good or all bad there could be no grace or sweetnesse in any of them because no distinction And therefore Pythagoras as Varro obserueth maintained this opinion Omnium rerum initia esse bina vt sinitum infinitum bonum malum vitam mortem diem noctem That
performe it For Sorte diuinaid recte efficere quisque potest ad quod Musa quempiam incitauit And so I haue followed the aduice of the Poet Quin hortante Deo magnis insistere rebus Incipe Why then beginne sith ayde from God is sent Proceede goe on driâ—e forth thy great intent A Worke great indeede yea and that of much greater both Difficultie and Variety and Vtility and Necessity then will easily at the first bee conceiued of many of all which foure I will giue you a little taste in order The Difficulty of the worke ariseth from hence that this Argument now intended to be handled by me is the most deserted part of all Theologie and wherein the fewest Diuines haue bestowed their paines For whereas there be but two wayes to bring men vnto the knowledge and vnderstanding of God as S. Augustine hath well obserued namely Creatura and Seriptura the Creature and the Scripture the World and the Word there haue so many men laboured in this latter that for number almost they be without number but in the former part so few that they likewise in comparison be numberlesse too Some few I confesse haue written before me of this matter but none at all in this manner as I leaue it to be iudged by the wise and learned So that I may truely take vp that excuse for all incident errors which Lucretius doth euen in this very case that Auia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante Trita solo I walke a way lesse way with vncouth pace Which yet no former Muse with foot did trace The naturall Difficulty of the Argument hath deterred the most men from writing vpon it and the paucitie of such writers hath begotten a second difficulty vnto me Those whom I haue seene to haue written vpon this Theme for I goe not beyond the compasse of mine owne Library are onely these following Aquinas contra Gentiles Raymundus de Sabunde in Theologia naturali Bradwardinus de Causa Dei and Valesius de sacra Philosophia But these foure dealing onely Scholastically by way of Logicall Arguments which doe not influere they cannot affect nor leaue any great impression in the mind of a man but as the Orator aptly censureth such short and sharpe conclusions Haec spinosiora prius vt confiteamur nos cogunt quam vt assentiamur Such thorny and prickly conclusions of Logique do rather inforce men to confesse them then induce men to beleeue them There is further Augustinus Eugubinus who in his Booke de perenni Philosophia hath laboured in this Theme with singular learning congesting out of Poets Philosophers and Orators an incredible masse of Authorities and Sentences But as the fore-named Authors delt onely by argument without any testimony so dealeth he mostly by testimony without any argument There is yet further Ludouicus Viues de veritate Fidej Christianae and Philippus Mornaeus of the same both argument and inscription Zanchius also de Operibus Dej and the Second Part of the Booke of Resolution all which haue done learnedly in their seuerall kindes But yet for those heads whervpon in this Book I doe principally insist they passe oâ—r them so sleightly and perstringe them so briefely that all of them may be truly affirmed to haue beene by those Authors rather touched then handled It hath beene mine endeauour so to temper my writing that neither Authorities should lacke their arguments nor arguments their Authorities nor the Reader store of both And yet in vsing the writings of those fore-named Authors I haue entertayned this course that whatsoeuer any of them hath prolixely handled that haue I either wholy pretermitted or at the most but lightly touched What they haue pretermitted that haue I sought out so farre as I could and more copiously inlarged Whereby neither their writings shal be preiudiced by mine nor mine thought a Plagium out of theirs and yet the Reader be inriched by the store of both of vs. And this hath also bred a third difficulty vnto me A fourth there groweth likewise from the destinate end and scope of this worke which is to compell the Heathens to preach the truth of Christians and Philosophy to proue the grounds of Diuinity yea and to inforce by strength of Argument both Infidels and Epicures and Atheists who will not beleeue God in his word yet to beleeue him without his word Which euery wise man will easily imagine to be a worke not easie to be done For as it is truely obserued by Tertullian Magna curiositate maiore longe memoria opus est ad studendâ— si quis velit ex literis receptissimis quibusque Philosophorum vel Poetarum vel quorumlibet sapientiae secularis Magistrorum testimonia excerpere Christianae veritatis It is a piece of businesse both of great curiosity and of greater memory and yet of greatest study to gleane out of the writings of Philosophers and Poets and other secular Authors fit authorities and testimonies for the proofe of ChristiaÌ„ truths Now secondly for the Variety of this Worke that is such and so great as none other could come neare it if it were handled as it should For this Worke intreateth both of God and all his Workes which containe all those varieties which God and Nature yeeldeth In God there commeth to be considered all those diuine properties which hee hath adumbrated in any of his creatures his Simplicity his Immortality his Immensity his Eternity his Strength his Wisedome his Goodnesse his Dominion his Omnipotency his Omniscience and his Omnipraesence and such like thinges incomprehensible in themselues but yet such as may in part be sufficiently vnderstood by that shadowy resemblance of them which he hath giuen vnto our soules In his Creatures there commeth to be discussed both the little World with all the faculties of his body and all the powers of his mind and the great World with all his most excellent and glorious parts the Heauens the Earth the Seas and all the seuerall creatures contained in all these yea and the admirable working of Gods diuine prouidence both in making and preseruing and in ruling of al of them Which as euery simple man may easily see be matthers of the greatest Variety that can be In all which points I haue giuen the Reader so much taste as may delight him yet not to glut him For the full handling of them would both be nauseous vnto him tedious vnto me and supersluous vnto both of vs a meere deviation from the scope of this worke and in it selfe an attempt not onely fond but also infinite Now thirdly for the Vtility and profit of this Treatise that may partly be collected from the varieties of it For it is the Orators obseruation That those things which carry with them the greatest delight doe commonly carry likewise the greatest profit Plerisque in rebus incredibiliter hoc Natura est ipsa fabricata vt ea quae maximam vtilitatem in se continent eadem
Poets then by the holy Scriptures And therefore saith Lactantius in another place that it is satis firmum testimonium ad probandam veritatem quod ab ipsis perhibetur inimicis It is a sound argument for the prouing of the truth which is fetcht from the enemies of the truth Yea though it were but a weake one in it selfe as the Orator obserâ—â—th in the very like case Tuum testimonium quod in altenare leve est id in tua quoniam contrate est grauissimum esse debet Thy testimony saith he which is but light and friuolous in another mans cause yet is weighty in thine owne when it is against thy selfe So that as Tertullian obserueth Ex aemulis nonnunquam testimonium sumere necessarium est si non aemulis prosit Sometimes to deriue a testimony from the mouth of the aduersary is an excellent help when it makes against the Aduersarie For to confute Atheists by their owne proper Authors is to cut off Goliah's head with his owne proper sword which is of all other the most grieuous kinde of wound Whereas to confute them by the authority of Scripture were in effect no better then to cast holy things vnto Dogs and precious pearles before Hogs which tread them vnder foote And therefore I haue chosen to fight against the Atheists the â—ighters against God not with a chosen company of Apostles and Prophets who are too worthy persons to stirre their least finger for such vnworthy Aduersaries which so contemne their holy writings but rather with a company of Infidels and Heathens By whom notwithstanding I hope God assisting to cut in sunder that band of prophane and wicked Atheists which band themselues against heauen and against God himselfe For as God himselfe once compelled the wicked Aegyptians by flyes and frogs and grashoppers and other such like contemptible wormes to confesse the power of his diuine Maiestie not vouchsafing to adact them by any other of his creatures more generous and worthy so will we likewise compell these vngodly Atheists to confesse There is a God by the arguments and testimonies of the Heathen Philosophers not vouchsafing them the writings of the most holy Authors Which weighty and important reasons of my so frequent alledging of prophane and Heathen Writers I request the Christian Reader to carry along with him throughout this whole Treatise for my perpetuall defence The cause you see requireth it the Aduersary exacteth it CHAP. 3. That there is an inbred perswasion in the hearts of al men That there is a God 2. That this hath beene obserued by many learned men among the Heathens 3. That it hath also beene obserued by diuers learned Christians 4. Two notable testimonies out of Tullie asserting this perswasion both vnto all Nations and vnto all Conditions and vnto all persons among men I Haue largely vnfoulded in the two former Chapters both what manner of Arguments and what manner of Authorities are most proper to this cause and most effectual with our Aduersaries either to bend them or to break them Let vs therfore now come on to the laying of them open Now they be of two sorts they bâ— either externall or internall Arguments For as it is true one way which is obserued by Seneca that Deus et extra et intra tenâ—t opus suum that God vpholdeth all his workes both without them and within them so is it also true another way that Deus et extra et intra tenetur ab opere suo that God is beheld of all his workes not onely without them but also within them Nature her selfe lending vs light to see the God of Nature euen in the most obscure and interior parts of vs. The first Argument then to proue There is a God is an internall Argument and that is taken from a naturall and inbred conclusion which is generally ingrafted into the hearts of all men that surely There is a God This is the most ancient and generall praenotion that Nature hath begotten in the mind of a man Which naturall perswasion though it be both bred and borne together with vs yet must it needs be a syence of Gods owne planting in vs. For if it be true which is affirmed by Seneca that Insita sunt nobis omnium artium semina sed Magister ex occulto Deus producit ingenia That it is God that hath implanted in the soule of a man the first seedes and principles of other humane Arts then must hee needes much more haue implanted in him this first seede and principle of all religion which is the proper Art of Gods holy worshipping an Art of which himselfe is the true and onely Obiect For Pietas is nothing else but onely scientia Diuini cultus an arte of worshipping God aright as Zeno rightly defineth it And therefore it is not probable that hee which hath replenished the soule of a man with those notions and conceptions that are the first seedes of all other Arts and Sciences should onely leaue out that which belongeth to himselfe But howsoeuer the Atheist be perswaded in this point that this inward perswasion is implanted by God or not yet can he not deny but that there is in mans heart such an inward perswasion because all the world confesseth it euery mans experience teacheth it and all learned men both of Christians and Heathens doe both know and acknowledge it 2 Let me giue you some instance for the demonstration of it Plato in his tenth Booke De Leg. taking vpon him to prooue by force of Argument that there needes must be A God hee bringeth this as one principall probation that there is et Graecorum et Barbarorum omnium consensus Deos esse fatentium that there is in this point a generall consent both of Greekes and Barbarians that surely There is a God And Xenophon euen in this respect preferres the soule of a man before all other creatures because none of them hath any sense of their Creator none of them vnderstandeth either that there is a God or that he is the maker and Creator of the world or of those great good things which therein are contained Cuius alterius animalis animus cognoscit maximarum optimarúmque rerum conditores esse Deos Doth the soule of any other thing know God to be the maker of euery good thing but only the soule of man No saith the Aegyptian Philosopher Spiritus de animalibus cunctis humanos tantùm sensus ad diuinae rationis intelligentiaÌ„ exornat erigit atque sustollit Among all other creatures the spirit of only man is adorned erected by the spirit of God to the knowledge vnderstanding of Gods diuine wisdome And so saith the Romane Orator Ex tot generibus nullum est animal praeter hominem quod habeat notitiâ—m aliquam Dei ipsisque in hominibus nâ—lla gens est neque tam immansueta neque tam fera quae non etiam
necessitie vpon the affirmation of the particularitie Qui Socratem dicit Hominem dicit He that affirmeth Socrates to be hee must needs affirme a man to be because Socrates is a man And so hee that affirmeth either Iupiter or Apollo or Mars or the Sun or Moone or Stars or any other particular either Person or Thing to be a God he must needs by consequence affirme the generall That there is a God Yea and though a thousand should dissent as concerning this or that particular God yet if euery one of them doe name some one particular God though he denie all the rest yet euen in that one particuler hee must needes conclude the generall that There is a God As for example if one man should say that Socrates were no Philosopher but yet grant that Plato is another that Plato were none but yet that Aristotle is one another that not he but Xenocrates and so in infinitum all these agree in the generall that A Philosopher there is though they disagree in the particular Who he is And so it is likewise in the opinions of the Heathens as concerning their gods Though they particularly denie this or that thing to be God yet in affirming some other particular they doe generally affirme that there is a diuine nature Their dissent in destroying of this or that particular doth not argue a consent in destroying of the generall no nor a dissent of any one of them from that but a generall consent in it As well may bee obserued both in Tullie and Plutarch who in the same sentence and complexion of words wherein they report the generall dissent of all men in their particular gods yet confesse their generall consent in hauing of some God So Tullie Multi de Diis praua sentiunt id enim vicioso more effici solet Omnes tamen essevim et Naturam Diuinam arbitrantur Many men doe thinke many euill things of the Gods for that they haue learned by wicked examples But yet all men doe confesse That a God there is So Plutarch Omnes hoc vno ore dicunt esse Deos. De Numero eorum Ordine Natura Potestate maxime sunt inter ipsos dissensiones All men doe confesse as it were with one mouth that gods surely there be herein they all agree But for their Number their Order their Nature their Power they doe vtterly disagree So that their disagreement as concerning the number and order of their gods dissolueth not their agreement in their being and essence but that herein they all agree Omnibus innatum est et quasi insculptum esse Deos sayth Tullie againe Quales sint varium est esse nemo negat It is naturally ingrauen into the mindes of all men to beleeue There is a God What an one hee is is doubted of many but that one there is is not denied of any And yet againe in another palce Nulla gens est neque tam immansueta neque tam fera quae non etiamsi ignoret qualem habere Deum deceat tamen habendum sciat There is not any people so feirce and vnciuil but though they may be ignorant what they ought to make their God yet they fully are perswaded that they ought to haue a God Whereby it appeareth that as Iustin Martyr noteth Non differunt inter se in vniuersali Dei cognitione sed in speciali opinione They differ not among themselues in the generall Position of hauing a God but in their particular Opinion of hauing this or that God So that this dissension doth make no opposition against the vniuersalitie of the former opinion No more doth it neither against the veritie of it For it followeth not by so much as a colour of consequence that there should therefore be no God because men cannot agree about this or that God as though Gods being or not being depended vpon mens agreeing or not agreeing It is not mans opinion that either giueth or destroyeth or altereth the being of any thing in the world and then much lesse of God But all things are as they are whatsoeuer we thinke of them they change not their being for our change of opinion For as it is truly obserued by the Poet. Nostrum scire quidem aut nescire nihil variat res Things still persist and varie ne're a iot Whether we know them or we know them not And therefore if there were ten thousand differing opinions as concerning any thing yet all they could not alter any whit in his being How many differing opinions are reckoned vp by Aristotle as concerning the soule and how many moe by Tullie yea and those in great varietie Hath a man therefore no soule because the Philosophers cannot agree what it is or hath the soule no being because Pherecrates affirmed the Soule to be Nothing Or may we beleeue that a man hath a soule notwithstanding their dissension about the soule And may we not beleeue There is a God notwithstanding their dissension and strife about God This were against all reason Or may we not beleeue that there be Starres in Heauen because of their dissension about the substance of them Whether they be burning Stones or shining Clowdes or polisht Cristals or such like This were against all sense And yet is neither the former opinion more directly against reason nor this against sense then it is against them both to beleeue there is no God because of Mens dissension who or what should be that God For how can either Mens soules giue greater euidence vnto reason or the starres themselus vnto sense of their true being and existence then God doth of his vnto them both If the soule sheweth his true being vnto the eye of Reason by those notable operations which it worketh in our bodyes and in all the parts thereof doth not God much more shew his by those glorious operations which he worketh in the world and in all the parts thereof Againe if the Starres doe shew their being vnto the eye of sense by the glorious brightnesse and shining of their bodyes doth not God much more shew his by his shining in those bodyes who as Ecclesiastious testifieth is ten thousand times brighter then the Sunne And therefore he that doubteth whether there be a God or no may as iustly doubt whether there be a Sunne or no as the Oracle collecteth Quid enim est hoc illo euidentius Therefore neither the generality nor the verity of this grounded opinion that There is a God is any whit impaired by the particular dissention that is among men about it Because it may truely be affirmed of them as Plutarch doth in the very like case Singulos non recte pronunciaâ—se That though in their particular they haue euâ—ry one erred yet that in their generall they are not deceiued 3. Nay it is thereby greatly fortified For as Saint Chrysostome collecteth in another like case that the differences of the Eâ—angelists
generally be affirmed of Atheists which Caecilius very falsly affirmeth of Christians that Deos quos negant reformidant That though in words they deny God yet in their hearts they feare him and consequently confesse him And this feare the Atheist bewrayeth at three speciall times more eminently and euidently then he doth at any other as I haue obserued out of learned Writers Namely first when he sleepeth secondly when it thundreth and thirdly when he dieth At these three speciall times when hee hath not the command of himselfe to vse that artificiall obluctation and facing out of the matter which he doth at other times but that his soule appeareth naked in his true and simple forme without any aâ—ting or fained palliation then sheweth it most plainely that inward feare of God which before it dissembled and artificially veyled 3 For the first of which three times to wit the time of their sleeping it is most certaine that no man can endure so great trouble in his waking though pressed with neuer so many outward euils as the vngodly man endureth in his sleeping by those fearefull dreames and visions which at that time seaze vpon him and make euen sleepe it selfe with Euripides calleth Morbi levamen suaue The sweet asswager of â—ll other greife yet to become vnto them a grieuous terror and vexation We may partly see this in Iob who complaineth in his Booke that when he thought within himselfe that his Couch should releeue him and his bed bring comfort to him that then he was so feared with dreames and astonished with visions that his soule desired rather to be strangled then with so great anxieties to abide in his bones So that sleepe euen to this good man was but Quies inquieta a restlesse rest as S. Augustine speaketh because of those fearefull dreames wherewith it was disquieted Then must it needes much more be so for their punishment and torment It is surely true in them which Plutarch hath obserued that Somnus corporis quide est requies animo interim terrores obuersantur somnia tumultus Their sleepe is indeede a kinde of rest vnto their bodies but in the meane time they doe finde no rest in their soules but terrors and dreames and perturbed cogitations As wee may plainely see in those dreames and visions that molested the Egyptians in the time of their dreadfull darkenesse with which they were so troubled that their very soules fainted as it is reported in the Booke of Wisedome where he notably describeth them So that as Plutarch very truly obserueth Somnia spectra oraculâ— de coelo seruâ—tiones quic quid aliud diuinitùs obijci videtur tempestatibus tâ—rroribus percellit malè bi conscios Dreames and Visions and Oracles and â—ignes in the Heauens and such like diuine tokens doe terrifie the mindes of men of euill conscience And this feare groweth vnto Atheists from a double cause which both of them are founded in their seruile feare of God The first is the conscience of their owne impietie and wickednesse which they needed not to feare if they thought there were no God The second is the terror of those nocturnall apparitions that represent themselues vnto them in their dreames which they might easily contemne for vaine and idle fancies but that they are printed deeper then can be blotted out with all their artificiall and forced irrisions For the first of those two causes that is the conscience of their owne wickednesse though they can easily passe it ouer in the day time when they wake yet returneth it vnto them in the night time when they sleepe and then tormenteth and afflicteth them with the feare of those punishments which they doubt may expect them after their deaths As Plato truly noteth Qui multas habet in vita iniquitates ex ipso somno tanquam puerâ— frequenter excitus extimescit in pessima speviuit Those men that are guilty of many iniquities in their life are often times like fearefull Children wakened out of their sleepe and leade their liues with very little comfort And therefore Tullie by a kinde of morall exposition interpreteth those Furies which are represented in Tragoedies affrighting the mindes of impious and vngodly persons to be nothing else but the affrightments of their consciehces which fall vpon them in their dreames Impietatum nulla expiatio est Sed impios agitant insectanturque Furiae non ardentibus tâ—dis sicut in fabulis sed angore Conscientiae fraudisque crucialu There is no satisfaction no sacrifice for Atheisme For the mindes of all Atheists are tormented by Furies yet not with burning Torches as we see it in Tragoedies but with the griefe and anguish of their owne guilty Consciences Now what reason can be alledged why they should be so perplexed and affrighted with their Consciences especially in their secret and hidden transgressions but onely that they know that they will be their accusers to lay them all open vnto the great Iudge This then is the first night-torment of the Atheist the terror which he sustayneth from a corrupt and guilty Conscience The second is the terror of diuers strange dreames and fearefull visions wherein God doth sometimes onely conferre and talke with them and sometime beside plainely shew himselfe vnto them not only conferring but also appearing For the first of those two sorts Iob telleth vs in his Booke that God will speake vnto a man once or twice though he see it not in dreames and visions of the night As we may see in King Abimelech with whom God conferred and talked in a dreame and threatened him with death for detayning of Abrahams wife away from him And these interlocutorie and dialoguising dreames were not vnknowne euen to the very Heathens as it euidently appeareth by that position of Possidonius That Dij cum dormientibus colloquuntur That the Gods doe oftentimes talke with men in their sleepes Of the second of those kindes wherein not onely a voice is heard but also an image and resemblance seene we also reade in the Booke of Iob where Eliphaz giueth himselfe for an instance saying In the thoughts of the visions of the night when sleepe falleth vpon men Feare came vpon me and dread which made all my bones to tremble And the winde passed before me and made all the hayres of my flesh to stand vp Then stood one and I knew not his face an image was before mine eyes and in silence I heard a voyce And this kinde of apparition was likewise knowne vnto the Heathen as appeareth in Iamblicus who describing the visions which are sent from God he saith that they doe commonly come betweene sleeping and waking and that then Breues audiuntur voces quid agendum sit admonentes aliquando Spiritus quidam non corpulentus non tractabilis se iacentibus circumfundit Qui tamen non perspicitur sed alio quodam sensu animaduer sione
of all finite things and the extending of mens appâ—tites beyond all boundes and limits Two out of the Physickes The first Cause and The first Moouer of all naturall things Two out of Phisick Diseases and their Remedies Two out of the Politicks the growing and decaying of Kingdomes and Empires Two out of the Ethicks the way to Felicity and Felicity it selfe Foure out of the Mathematicks Punctum in geometrie Vnitas in Arithmeticke Ordo in Astronomy and Harmonia in Musick Finally there is no Art neither liberall nor illiberall but it commeth from God and leadeth to God And this is the substance and oeconomy of this second booke 2 Let vs first beginne with the Metaphysicks which Aristotle calleth The first Philosophy Primam Philosophiam and so by degrees descend downe vnto the rest It affoordeth vs two considerations from whence wee may collect euen by the light of nature that There needes must be a God The first is The bounding and limiting of all finite things The second The boundlesse and vnlimited appetite of mens soules 3 For the first of which two points look throgh the whole world throgh all the sensible bodies therein contained you shal euidently see that though many of them be great yet that none of them is infinite there is none of them so great as to be without his limit As euen Aristotle himselfe both affirmeth and proueth in his first booke De Coelo Where he plainely and categorically setteth downe this conclusion Corpus infinitum in ratione rerum esse non posse That it is a thing contrary to the nature of things that there should bee any body without his termes and limits No not euen the body of the vniuersall world it selfe as in the conclusion of the same chapter he expressely inferreth Vniuersi corpus infinituÌ„ esse non posse ex ijs quae diximus patet Then much lesse can any part of the world be infinite if the whole be not Vnlesse we should make the whole to be lesse then his owne part which were vtterly absurde And therfore all the parts of the world must needs be limited determined Let me giue you an instance or two to this purpose and that out euen of Aristotle himselfe Terra in Aqua haec in Acre Aer in Aethere Aether in Coelo est collocatus Ipsum verò Coelum nullo in alio corpore est vlteriùs collocatum The Earth that is bounded and limited with the Water the Water with the Aire the Aire with the Fire the fire with the Heauen The heauen is not bounded with any further Body How then is the Heauen bounded if it be not boundlesse Why thus Euery one of the lower heauens is bounded or limited by the concaâ—e or hollow part of his higher vntill we come to that which is the highest of all and containeth all the rest being contained of none And yet euen that is not without his bounds but is limited and determined within his owne conuexe or swelling superficies as a man is by his skinâ—e or a bubble of water by his thinne filme So that there is not in Nature any Body that is infinite nor any that is without all limit To be vnlimited and boundlesse is onely the Prerogatiue of the Maker of all things as Prosper very well and truly obserueth NÃlque adeò magnum est quod non certus modus arcet Et Coelum Terras totum denique mundum Limes habet Meta est altis meta profundis Sed nusquam non esse Dei est qui totus vbÃque Et penetrat Mundi membra omnia liber ambit Ther 's nought so vaste as to be voyd of limit Both Hâ—au'n and Earth and all the world hath bounds All heights and depths haue termes is we esteeme it Height ne're so high be Depth ne're so proâ—ound Vnlimited and no where not to be Agrees to God alone Who wholy is The whole World through and euery least part He Within doth pierce without doth compasse this So that there is not any Body in Nature so infinite but that it is preâ—â—â—ed within some bound and limit Now euery finite Body being thus bounded limited it must needs haue had those bounds prescribed vnto it by some other thing and not by it selfe For euery thing by nature being desirous of scope and seeking to inlarge it selfe as farre as it is able if it had the setting of his owne bounds and limits it would set none at all but would be as infinite as God himselfe is who hath the setting of limits vnto all things And therefore as you see hath set none vnto himselfe but is illimitable and boundlesse Nullis neque finibus neque spacijs â—oarctatus as Saint Hilarie teacheth Being no way straitned by any space or place And so would it be with all other things too if they had the assigning of their owne bounds and limits they would all of them be boundlesse Because all bounds be like bonds and like shackles vnto all things which they would neuer put vpon them if they could be without them For as Scaliger well obserueth Vnicuique enti insita est appetitio infinitatis There is in euery thing an appetite to make it selfe infinite The Sea if it could eate vp the whole Earth and make all the Globe Sea as it once was it would surely do it For the waters do desire to stand aboue the mountaines as the Prophet Dauid testifieth Againe the Earth if it could vtterly close vp the Sea and make all the Globe dry-land it would surely doe it as Esdras notable expresseth in a witty apologue I came saith he into a Forrest in the plaine where the Trees held a Councell and sayd Come let vs fight against the Sea that it may giue place to vs and that wee may make vs more woods Likewise the floods of the Sea tooke counsell and sayd Come and let vs go vp and fight against the Trees of the wood that we may get another Country for vs. But the purpose of the wood was vaine for the fire came downe and consumed it And the purpose of the Sea was also vaine for the sand stood vp and stopped it Whereby it appeareth that there is in all things a desire to dilate and to ingreat themselues And therefore would neuer shut vp themselues within bounds and limits as it were in a prison if they themselues had the setting and appointing of them Therefore as it is true that Nullum ens finitum est a se so it is likewise true that Nullum ens finitum est a se. As nothing that is finite is of it selfe so nothing that is is finite of it selfe But all the finite things in vniuersall nature haue both their being and their bounding of some other And they all doe feele within them the imperiall power of a superior Nature which hath appointed and prescribed those limits vnto them and
multa membra vnum corpus constituunt Est Vnitas coniugatiua qua fit vt duo iam non sint duo sed caro vna Est natiua qua anima caro vnus nascttur Homo Est vnitas potestatiua qua homo virtutis non instabilis non dissimilis sed vnus sibimet semper nititur inueniri Est consentanea cum per charitatem multorum hominum est cor vnum et anima vna Est votiua cùm anima votis omnibus adhaerens Deo vnus spiritus est Est dignatiua vnitas qua limus noster à Dei verbo in vnam assumptus est personam There is an Vnitie which is made by collection as when many Stones doe make but one heape There is an Vnitie which is made by composition as when many members doe make but one body There is an Vnitie which is made by coniunction as when man wife are now no more two but become one flesh There is an Vnitie which is made by stabilitie as when a man is constant in his vertue whereby he is alwayes one and like vnto himselfe There is an vnity which is made by consent as when through Christian charity there is found but one heart and one minde in many There is an vnity that is made by deuotion as when the soule adhaering vnto God by piety and religion is thereby made but one Spirit with him And there is an vnity which is made by vouchsafing as when God the word vouchsafed to assume the nature of man into the indentity of his owne person These bee the eight kindes of S. Bernards vnity wherein I will not censure either any impropriety or any coincidency because they all may well passe for seuerall kindes of Vnity in the popular capacity But yet hee affirmeth of them all that all these vnities are but to little purpose if they bee compared to the Vnity of the Trinity much more then being compared to the Vnity of the Deity Haec omnia saith hee quid ad illud summum atque vt ita dicam vnicè vnum vbi vnitatem consubstantialitas facit All these vnities are as good as nothing in respect of that vnity which is found in the Deity by Consubstantiality Huic vni quiduis illorum si assimiles erit quoquo modo vnum si compares nullo To this vnity if you doe but liken any of those forenamed vnities they may in some degree be sayd to bee vnities but if you compare them in no degree at all Whereupon hee there concludeth Igitur inter omnia quae rectè vnum dicuntur arcem tenet vnitas Trinitatis quâ tres personae vna substantia sunt Among all the vnities that can be called vnities of which Suidas nameth ten Boetius reckoneth vp foureteene seueral sorts The vnity of the Trinity is the very chiefest Wherby three distinct persons are vnited in one substance Which sentence of S. Bernards Aquinas attributeth to Boetius being a little perhaps mistaken in the Author but nothing at all in the authority Whereby it appeareth that the Vnity in the Deity is so perfect and absolute that the world cannot affoord a fit comparison to expresse it Which Hugo de Victore acknowledgeth expresly handling the very same point God sayth he is not one either by Collection as a flocke is sayd to bee one which consisteth of many Sheepe Nor one by Composition as a body is sayd to be one which consisteth of many members nor one by Similitude as the same word is sayd to be one when it is vttered by diuers mouthes But God is one essentia identitate as the soule of a man which is but one in one boby Nay God is more purely one then the soule of any man For though the soule of a man be verè vnum yet it is not summè vnum as hee noteth in that place It is vnum essentraliter but it is not vnum invariabiliter And therefore not summè vnum For that which is variabiliter vnum that may bee quickly made Alterum as a man in his sicknesse is from a man in his health For as Seneca truely noteth Nemo nostrûm idem est in senectute qui fâ—it iâ—uenis nemo est manè qui fuit pridiè But God is both essentialiter and inuariabiliter vnus Hee neuer altereth from himselfe In him there is no change nay no shadow of change Yea and this haue some euen of the Heathen themselues found as wee may plainely see in Plutarch who pleadeth very earnestly for the Vnity of the Godhead against all supposed plurality And yet denieth that this vnity of the Godhead is either such a kinde of vnity as is among men who though he be but one yet is hee a congeries ex infinitis diuersissimisque affectionibus variè commixta A masse of many vnlike and repugnant affections but God is one in the most pure simplicite of his essence and being so as nothing els is Whereby it appeareth as before I noted that there is not any vnitie in the world sufficient to expresse the Vnity of God But that as the Iewes beleeue in their Creede There is talis vnites in Deo qualis non reperitur in vllo alio There is such a speciall vnitie in God as cannot in any other thing be found For as Dionysius very truely obserueth Deus est tale vnum quod cogitationem superat omnem God is such an vnitie as passeth all mans cogitation exceedingly And therefore Dionysius in another place sayth of God that he is not vnum but he doth ipsum vnum superare He surpasseth One it selfe or as Mirandula expresseth it he is Super-bonum Super-verum and Super-vnum a Super-good a Super-truth a Super-one a very Super-Superlatiue-one as surpassing all other Bonitie and Veritie and Vnitie But how then can God be sayd to be One if no created Vnitie be sufficient to expresse him Vnto this poynt I answere that God may be sayd in a speciall manner to be One three seuerall wayes as I find it obserued by learned writers For his Simplicitie for his Singularitie and for his Vniuersalitie The first way whereby God is sayd to be One is for the purity and simplicity of his substance which is not compounded with any thing els For that is most truely and properly one which is nothing but it selfe and hath none other thing mixed with it Vnum enim quod est syncerum est mixtionis purum sayth Plutarch And such an one is God who is so pure and simple an essence that he is not compounded so much as of parts But as I noted before out of Dionysius he is truely called Vnus propter simplicitatem vacuitatis partium He is truely called One because he hath no parts in him but is solely and wholly of his owne selfe aâ—one without any mixture so much as of matter as Plutarch affirmeth in his description of him Deus est Mens species
as Iustine Martyr very well collecteth If the absence or priuation of both Heauinesse and Lightnes were a formall cause of circular motion then Materia prima which Aristotle maketh to bee neither light nor heauy should from all eternity haue moued circularly and so there should haue bene a motion before there was any Heauen Which hee derideth there most iustly as a grosse absurdity But if wee should grant as Palingenius would haue vs Coelestia corpora per se Atque suis formis vt terra ignisque moueri That Heauenly bodies of themselues by their owne formes do moue As doth the Earth that is below and Fire that is aboue Yet he teacheth vs in the same place that it is onely God that giueth them their formes Nempe suis res a formis tales generantur Quales praecepit qui formas condidit ipsas Yet such are things by their owne formes begotten As He that made their formes doth please t'allot them And therefore the Orator proceedeth on further vnto the other two members of his forenamed diuision of Motion That this sphericall motion of the heauens not proceeding in them from any naturall principle inhaerent in their bodies it must needes either be a violent motion put vpon them by an externall force from some others or else a voluntary motion occasioned by an internall will in themselues For other principle can be none of this circular motion But that it cannot be a motion inforced vpon them hee assumeth from this ground That there cannot bee any force without them that is strong enough to compell them there being no force that is greater then their owne Quae enim vis potest esse maior What force can bee greater And againe Quid potest esse mundo valentius quod impellat atque moueat What power can be greater then the power of the world that should bee able to mooue it Hee supposeth though falsely that there can no such power bee And therefore hee concludeth That the motion of the Heauens must be of necessity a motion meerly voluntary proceeding from nothing else but onely from their owne wills Whereupon hee there inferreth that Haec qui videt non solùm indoctè sed etiam impiè faciet si Deos esse neget That this being admitted he must not onely be vngodly but also vnlearned too if hee deny them to be Gods meaning The Heauens and Starres This is the summe of his reason from the motions of the Starres Wherein though hee leade vs neuer so farre about yet at last hee bringeth vs home vnto our Conclusion That there needs must be a God and that the Heauens by their motion do plainely proue the same An Argument largely handled by the Prophet Dauid in the 19. Psal. And though Tully in that place doe bring the whole Argument vnto a false issue building vpon a false ground That the motion of the Heauens is voluntary and of themselues and that therefore They be Gods though I say it be false in the particular That the Heauens and Stars be Gods yet it is true in the generall that it proueth most certainly that There needes must be a God and that this motion of the Heauens cannot possibly be stirred by any other cause but onely by God himselfe For if the motion of the Heauens being admitted to be voluntary doe conclude them to bee Gods then must needes the same motion being admitted to be compulsory much more conclude that he by whose force they be so violently compelled must needes be God As euen Plato himselfe hath plainely confessed from whom the former Argument of Tullies is borrowed Cogitemus saith hee quî fieri possit vt tanta magnitudo ab aliqua possit natura tanto tempore circumferri Ego igitur assero Deum causam esse nec aliter posse fieri Let vs consider saith he how it can possibly bee that the Heauens being of so great and so vast a body should by any power of nature â—e driuen so impetuously And therefore saith he I do confidently affirme that onely God himselfe can bee the mouer of them This is his determination as concerning the Heauens motion And where is now that Soule of theirs which but a little before he made the mouer of them 2 But let vs now proceede further and come from the nature of their motion to the Order Which is so great and excellent that euen Aristotle himselfe who subiecteth all other matters with a kinde of Tyranny vnto the power of his reasons yet here leauing reason he sodainely breaketh out into a passionate admiration Quid vnquà m poterit aequari coelesti ordini volubilitati Cùm sydera conuertantur exactissima norma de alio in aliud seculum What can euer be compared vnto the order of the Heauens to the motion of the Stars in their seuerall reuolutions Which mooue most exactly as it were by rule and square from one generation to another Which rule of their motion Dauid affirmeth to be Gods law that he hath set them God hath made them fast for euer he hath giuen them a law which they cannot passe And so likewise doth Plato For he saith that God when he had made the Starres he did Singulis leges fatales edicere He gaue vnto them fatall vnchangeable Lawes And indeed the very name of this Art whereof we now intreat the very name of Astronomie in exact signification importeth that the Starres obserue a law in their motion Which law is giuen vnto them by none other but onely by God himselfe who is their true Law-giuer He is both their Maker and their Law-maker Yea and this law of his they obserue so exactly that as the Orator obserueth there is in all their motion Nihil temerarium nihil varium nihil fortuitum They neither iustle rashly one vpon another nor yet decline casually one from another no nor vary in the least poynt from their prescribed order For as Macrobius likewise noteth In Coelo constat nihil fortuitum nihil tumultuarium prouenire sed vniuersa illìc diuinis legibus stata ratione procedere There is nothing done casually nothing disorderly in the heauens but all things prescribed by most exact reason and determined by order of most diuine lawes So that hee ascribeth all the order of their motion vnto that law which God hath prescribed them And so likewise doth Seneca he saith that the Starres doe aeternae legis imperio procedere They moue by the appoyntment of an eternall Law that is by the law of an eternall God Both of them agreeing with the Prophet Dauid that the onely cause of their orderly motion is that exact law which God hath prescribed them In which poynt Tullie also consenteth fully with them For he rendring a reason why certaine of the Starres be called Planets that is to say Wanderers yet affirmeth that it is not because they wander in their motion but because of that
variety which they haue aboue others As for their owne motions they keepe so strict an order and so great a constancie in obseruing of them that they swerue not from that law which God hath prescribed them Et si stellarum motus cursusque vagantes Nosse velis quae sint signorum in sede locatae Quae verbo falsis Graecorum vocibus errant Reuera certo lapsu spacióque feruntur Omnia iam cernes diuina mente notata Marke Omnia diuina mente notata Wouldst thou the motions of the Starres and various courses know Which fixed are and which are sayd to wander to and fro How e're the Graecians name them such in very truth they runne In certaine tracts and distances not wandring vp and downe But all directed thou mayst see by Gods prescription But Manilius in this point goeth farre beyond them all both expresly acknowledging that the Starres in their motion obserue a law prescribed them and that this Law-giuer is none other but onely God their Creator Nec quicquam in tanta magis est mirabile mole Quà m Ratio certis quòd legibus omnia parent Nusquà m turba nocet nihil vllis partibus errat There is not ought a wonder t' is in such a wondrous masse More wonderfull or strange then this that Reason bring 's to passe That all obey their certaine lawes which he doth still preferre No tumult hurteth them nor ought in any part doth erre From whence by and by inferring Ac mihi tam praesens ratio non vlla videtur Quâ pateat mundum divino numine verti To me no reason stronger seem's to proue The world by power diuine thus still to moue And a little after asking the quaestion At cur dispositis vicibus consurgere signa Et vâ—lut imperio praescriptos reddere cursus Câ—rnimus ac nullis properantibus vlla relinqui Whence is it that wee see the Starres in turnes to rise And at Command to stoope and keepe their ordered guise c. He giueth this for an Answer of their immutabilitie that it is the worke of the immutable God Deus est qui non mutatur in aevo And indeed it is a wonder that these Planets still running sometime in diuers and sometime in aduerse courses yet should all of them obserue so vnchangeably their order that they neuer should impeach or hinder one another But though they doe Transuersos agere cursus as the Tragick noteth in one place yet doe they Inoffensos as hee noteth in another They runne in crosse courses and yet doe not crosse one another in their courses Nec errant saith Plato nec praeter antiqunm ordinem reuoluuntur Neither doe they runne randon nor are they rolled beside their ancient order Which orderly motion of the Starres both proueth There is a God yea and that this is his worke by so necessarie a consequence that whosoeuer seeth it not him Tullie affirmeth to be without all sense Coelestem admirabilem ordinem incredibilemque constantiam qui vacare Mente putat is ipse mentis expers habendus est He which thinketh the admirable order and incredible constancie of the Heauens to be without a Spirit hee may be thought himselfe to be without spirit or vnderstanding 3 And indeed the motions of the Starres are in so great Varietie and yet obserued with such order and constancie that they haue resemblance of a well measured dance some running directly and forth-right in their courses some dauncing round about in their Epicycles Yea and that with great varietie and change of their motions in Directions Stations Retrogradations and such like wherein they doe seeme as it were to treade the Maze and in their kinde to daunce their Measures Of which Tullie giueth instance in the Planet Saturnus Saturni Stella in suo cursu multa mirabiliter efficiens tum antecedendo tum retardando tum vespertinis temporibus delitescendo tum matutinis rursùm se aperiendo nihil tamen immutat sempiternis seculorum aetatibus quìn eadem ijsdem temporibus efficiat The Planet Saturne doth make many strange and great wonders in his motion sometimes going before and sometimes comming after sometimes withdrawing himselfe in the Euening and sometimes againe shewing himselfe in the morning And yet changeth nothing neither in the order of times nor in the nature of things And the like may be seene in the rest of the Planets as he himselfe sheweth in that very place So that Aristophanes his obseruation of the Clowdes is much truer in the Starres that they doe Arte choream instituere They make in their motions an artificiall kind of Daunces Plato affirmeth that God hath purposely prouided the Sunne to giue the Starres light the better to performe their well ordered motions which he calleth there Their Daunces where he also calleth their Courses Deorum choreas The daunces of the Gods For so he indeed esteemed of the Starres But Philo Iudaeus more truely Diuinas choreas Diuine and heauenly daunces For so in a sort they may truely be called Diuinas reuera choreas agittantes nec vnquam ordinem deserentes They daune in Gods presence as Dauid did before the Arke and yet neither breake their orders nor stray from their place So likewise Palingenius Nec se collidunt concutiuntque Occurrendo sibi sed certa lege modóque Vna eadémque vâ—a leni vertigine pergunt Et choreae in morem placidè taciteque feruntur Nor doe they dash together nor make shock By meeting one another But are lock't Vnto a constant law and one set way From which their smooth sweet windings neuer sway But runne as if they daunc't a Roundelay Whence Maximus Tyrius calleth God Coeli compositorem harmonicum and Astrorum circulationis chorea supremum moderatorem ascribing vnto him the melody of the heauens and the dauncing of the starres And therefore Plato againe in another of his Dialogues he sayth of the Starres that they doe Chorea optima vti omniumque chorearum magnificentissima that they daunce a most stately and magnificall daunce harping still vpon their dauncing From whence he there concludeth That therefore they haue within them Mentem a certaine spirit or soule that directeth them And it is true in very deed But it is not their owne spirit as he falsely supposed it is onely Gods Spirit By the word of the Lord were the heauens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth sayth the Prophet Dauid And so likewise holy Iob His spirit hath garnished the Heauens and his hand hath formed the crooked Serpent So that the Spirit which giueth vnto the starres their motion is onely the Spirit which giueth them their being It is onely that diuine Spirit in which all things both liue and moue and haue their being Yea and this is also confessed euen by the very heathen For Tullie affirmeth that Soule of the world
to be nothing els but god and that by the Platonists owne doctrine Animam mande dicunt esse Mentem perfectamque sapientiam quem Deum appellant So Plutarch Mens est Deus That soule is God And againe Democritus ait Deum in igne globoso esse mundi animam Democritus sayth that God in the fiery globe is the soule of the world Yea and Virgil speaking of that Mens or Spirit which giueth motion vnto the heauens he giueth such a description of it as an agree to no Spirit but to the Spirit of God Principio Coelum ae terras Campo'sque liquentes Lucentémque globum Luna Titaniaque astra Spiritus intùs alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem He saith the Heauens the Earth the Waters and the Stars Receiue their Motions and whate're they are From an internall Spirit which th' Eternall is That vnto all of them their Motion giu's Now what Spirit can this be in all those great Creatures but onely the Spirit of God their Creator Of whom the prophet Ieremie affirmeth that hee filleth both Heauen and Earth And the Wiseman in the Booke of Wisedom That he not onely filleth them but also maintayneth them answering to Virgils-alit This Spirit that made those Creatures doth also guide their motions And their mouing in so exact both a number measure and order doth evidently show That God himselfe is their Mouer That God himselfe is their Mouer Whom euen the Heathen imagined to be delighted which their dauncing in such an order before him Yea and that something too much as the Tragick seemes to chalenge him Cur tibi tanta est cura perennâ—s Agitare vias aetheris alti Why art thou so much taken vp oh why In those perpetuall motions of the sky Yea and euen among vs Christians that renowned Poet Bartas though hee goe not so farre yet he affirmes that sacred Harmonie And numbrie law did then accompanie Th' Almighty most When first his ordinance Appointed Earth to rest and Heauen to daunce 4 And therefore diuers of them as they ascribe a rythmicall motion vnto the Starres so doe they an harmonicall vnto the Heauens ymagining that their mouing produceth the melodie of an excellent sweete tune So that they make the Starres to be Dauncers and the Heauens to be Musitians An opinion which of old hath hung in the heads and troubled the braines of many learned men yea and that not onely among the Heathen Philosophers but also euen among our Christian Divines The first Author and inuenter of which conceited imagination was the Philosopher Pythagoras Who broched his opinion with such felicitie happinesse that he wonne vnto his part diuers of the most ancient and best leaned Philosophers as Plutarch reporteth Plato whose learning Tullie so much admireth that hee calleth him The God of all Philosophers Deum Philosophorum he affirmeth of the Heauens that Euery one of them hath sitting vpon it a Sweet-singing Syren carolling-out a most pleasant and melodious song agreeing with the motion of her owne peculier heauen Which Syren though it sing of it selfe but one single part yet all of them together being eight in number for so many Heauens were onely held by the Ancients doe make an excellent Song consisting of eight parts wherein they still modulate their Songs a greeable with the motions of the eight coelestiall Spheres Which opinion of Platoes is not only allowed by Macrobius but he also affirmeth of this Syrens Song that it is a Psalme composed in the praise of God Yea and he proueth his assertion out of the very name of a Syren which signifieth as he saith as much as Deo canens A singer unto God But Maximus Tyrius he affirmeth of the Heauens that without any such helpe of those coelestiall Syrens they make a most sweete harmonie euen by their proper motions wherein they doe Omnes symmetriae numeros implere contrarióque nisu diuinum sonum perficere They by their contrary mouing doe fill vp all the parts of a most Divine and heauenly Song Which hee affirmeth to be most pleasant vnto the eares of God though it cannot be heard by the eares of men Yea and the Sages of the Greekes insinuate also as much by placing of Orpheus his harpe in Heauen implying in the seauen strings of his well turned harpe that sweete tune and harmonie which is made in heauen by the diuers motions of the seauen planets as Lucian interprets it Vnto which his opinion there may seeme to be a kinde of allusion in the Booke of Iob as the Text in the vulgar translation is rendered Concentum Coeli quis dormire facâ—et Who shall make the Harmony of the Heauens to sleepe For so likewise the Diuines of Doway translate it Pliny indeede as concerning this Harmony doth write somewhat doubtfully whether there be in truth any such thing or no suspending his owne opinion with Non facilè dixerim So that as hee doth not defend it for a veritie so doth he not againe deny it as a falsity but leaueth it as vncertaine Whose doubting of it he being of so acute and inquiring a wit is rather a credit then a discredit vnto it But much more is Aristotles deriding of it because in the end hee was forced to retract in For though in his Booke De Coelo he confute it and make in a manner but a scoffe and scorne of it yet in his booke De Mundo he alloweth of it and confesseth it to be the proper worke of God For there hee sayth expresly that God doth In mundo rerum omnium concentum continere That hee keepeth that Harmony which is to be found in all the seuerall parts of the world And so likewise Tully although in one place hee doe scoffe at this Harmony that Mundus should ad harmoniam canere That the World should sing vnto a tune yet in another place hee not onely subscribeth vnto it but also ascribeth vnto the working of it all those benigne gracious influences which from the Heauens descend vpon these inferior bodies Stellarum tantus est concentus ex dissimilimis motibus vt cùm summa Saturni refrigeret media Martis incendat His interiecta Iouis illustret temperet infraque Martem duae Soli obediant Sol ipse mundum omnem sua luce compleat ab eoque Luna illuminata grauidates partus afferat maturitatemque gignendi There is so great an Harmony and concent of the Starres arising from the diuersity of their motions that as Saturne cooleth so Mars heateth and Iupiter which is betweene them hee tempereth them both The other two Planets which are below Mars are both of them obedient vnto the Sunne which filleth the whole world with the cheerefull light of it Wherewith it illumining the body of the Moone by it giueth power of increase and generation Concluding with these words his former obseruation
Creators praise And for Beasts Plinie giueth instance in the Elephants that they haue not onely a sense of Religion but also vse a kinde of Ceremonie in their practise of the same Yea and Aelian affirmeth of them as Proclus before did of the Cock that they doe Exorientem Solem venerari proboscidem tanquâ—m minum adversùs Solis radios alleuâ—ntes They worship the rising Sunne aud they lift vp their Trunck in honour vnto him Concluding there his Chapter with this notable increpation of Atheists and such like vngodly men Ergonè Deum Elephanti venerantur Homines autem rationis participes Sitne Deus necne sit dubitant tum si sit Humanasnè res curatione administratione dignâ—tur Shall an Elephant a Beast adore and worship God and shall a Man a Creature indued with reason doubt whether there be a God or whether he regardeth the doings of Men The like Religion he affirmeth Elephants to practise towards the Moone Thus euen in the opinion of the very Heathen all the Creatures of God in their seuerall kindes doe praise him And that in their opinion they be not mistaken it may euidently be seene in the 148. Psalme Where euen the Psalmist exciteth all the fore-named sorts of Creatures to offer vnto God their prayers and invocations Praise him all ye Angels his Intellectuall Creatures Praise him all ye People his Reasonable Creatures Praise him Beasts and Cattle Creeping things and flying fowles his Sensible Creatures Praise him Heauens and Starres Mountaynes and Hills Fruitfull Trees and Cedars his Natural and insensible Creatures All these he calleth vpon to praise the name of the Lord. Which he would not haue done but that all these Creatures in their seuerall kindes doe in their seuerall manners sing-out his due prayses Yea euen the very Wormes as Dragons and Creeping things whom he also calleth-vpon in the very same Psalme as he there doth aso vpon both Fire Haile and Snow meere insensible things Neither speaketh hee this only in a Rhetorical Prosopopoia as in the 98. Psalme where he calleth vpon the Earth to make a noyse the Sea to roare the Floods to clap their hands the Mountaines to reioyce and all these together to sing a song in Gods praise He vseth not in the former any such Poetical Figure but simply and plainly in the feruor of his spirit hee calleth vpon all the Creatures fore-named to sing vnto the Lord with those seuerall Harmonies which he hath giuen vnto their seuerall kinds And thus as Tertullian truly obserueth Deo etiam inanimalia incorporalia laudes canunt Not onely Angels who haue no Bodies but also other Creatures which haue no soules yet doe in their kindes sing-out Gods due praises 4 Now for Man hee hath not onely a naturall delight in Musicke as other Creatures haue and a naturall abilitie to expresse all the parts of it more then other Creatures haue by the sweetenesse of his tuneable and melodious voice farre excelling the sweetenesse of all musicall instruments But he hath also inlarged his naturall Musick with all the seuerall kindes of Artificiall Musick both Vocal and Organicall In which worke although he hath laboured and taken great paines from the very beginning yet could he neuer haue brought it vnto any perfection if God himselfe had not been a Scholemaister vnto him And this is acknowledged euen of the very Heathen who haue expresly affirmed that Musick is not the Inuention of Man but the very gift of God Plutarch affirmeth directly Non Hominem aliquem repertorem fuisse Musicae sed omnibus virtutibus ornatum Deum Apollinem That no man was the first inventer of Musick but Apollo their great and honourable God Yea and in the same place hee addeth that Musick ought to be honoured because it is the invention of a God Veneranda prorsus est Musica Deorum inventum cùm sit In which his opinion he was not alone but had diuers others of the chiefest Philosophers concurring with him Aristotle saith of Harmonie that it is Res Coelestis eiusque natura divina pulchra That Musicke is an heauenly thing and of a nature not onely pleasing but also diuine Theophrastus setteth downe three originall Causes whereby Musicke was first begotten in the mind of a Man Dolorem voluptatem instinctum divinum The allaying of his griefe the procuring of his pleasure and the inspiration of a divine and heauenly motion But he acknowledgeth this instinct to be the chiefest of the rest Yea and Plato affirmeth without all circuition Musicam esse Hominibus a Deo datam That musick was first giuen vnto men by God But Macrobius handleth this point a great deale more prolixely then any of the rest doe prouing by many Arguments that Musicke was not first inuented vpon earth but descended downe from Heauen Yea and that in the opinion of the very Heathen deliuered expresly in their mystical Theology His Reasons bee these following First that Hesiodus who writeth the generation of their Gods recording exactly from whence they first sprang calleth one of their Muses Vrania which signifieth Heauenly Insinuating thereby that there is Musicke in Heauen and that from heauen it first was brought by the Muses vnto men In whom also wee may obserue that hee maketh Harmonia to haue bene the Daughter of Mars and Venus two of the Heathen Gods thereby againe implying that Harmony was first begotten in Heauen Another of his Reasons is that Hesiodus calleth another of the Muses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 her name being giuen for the sweetensse of her voice as Vrania's was from the highnesse of the place Thereby againe implying that The sweetenesse of voice hath the highest place in Heauen Another that the Heathen called Apollo who was one of their greatest gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi Ducem Principem Musarum The Prince and Ruler of the Muses Another that euen their very Rusticks called the Muses Camoenas quasi Canenas Acanendo dictas that is Singing Damosels Now the Muses as they all confesse descended first from Heauen Another that in all their funerall pompes and solemne exequies they still carried-out their dead with musicall instruments which was likewise in practice euen among the Iewes And this he saith they did to signifie that their soules were now departed vnto the originall house of Musicke Ad originem dulcedinis Musicae idest ad Coelum in their owne interpretation And this againe hee saith is the true Cause why euery mans soule is so much delighted with Musicke vpon earth Quia in Corpus defert memoriam Musicae ciuius in Coelo fuit conscia Because it bringeth downe with it into the Body a remembrance of that Musicke whereof in Heauen it had a full fruition These and diuers such like Arguments hee congesteth in that place to proue that Musicke descended first from Heauen Of which