now As concerning the new Stars Galileus relates that in the yeares 1572 and 1604 were seen some new Stars that were higher then any one of the Planets whereof the first was in Cassiopeia as Tycho Brahe and Campanella declare so likewise did Hipparchus observe a new Starre 100 years before Christ's Birth And as touching the Spots of the Sun I shall content my self to say hat Galileus asserts That these Spots are bigger then all Asia and Africk some there are who believe them to be onely vapours and some impressions of the Ayr because that their figures are irregular and that they are seen in great number disappearing and again appearing but they onely hide themselves in the Sun or to say more congruously they onely disappear by reason of their too nigh approach to the light of the Sun and besides they have a regulated course according to which they fail not to return at a certain time and therefore they are some Stars touching which I send the Reader to Tardus's book who calls them the Stars of Bourbon after the name of the King of France under whose reign these new Stars were first discovered Chap. XLI Containing divers Reasons drawn from several places of Scripture AS it is said in divers places of the holy Scripture That the Earth is full of corruption or that it sings out the miracles of God by a figure of Rhetorick that puts the continent for the thing contained several Texts of the Scripture do also say as in Job 25. v. 5 6. that the Stars are not clean before God that they sing his praises and are his Armies These are things that very hardly enter into the heart of Men and very likely part of them that Paul saw in his extasie but being he saith that it never entred into the heart of man he might mean unto his time no body had believed it or at least hath not had the full and particular knowledg of them wherefore Job saith chap. 38. v. 37 38. Who can number the clouds in wisdom or who can stay the bottles of Heaven And Solomon in the book of Wisdome ch. 9. v. 16. And hardly do we guesse aright at things that are upon Earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us but the things that are in Heaven who hath searched out And Esdras in his second book chap. 4. v. 21. They that dwell upon the Earth may understand nothing but that which is upon the Earth and he that dwells above the Heavens may onely understand the things that are above the heighth of the Heavens It may be replyed That these Texts are to be understood of the Angels But the Texts alledged in the following Chapter will make it clear that it 's to be understood of Men onely for Campanella hath even observed that Paul to the Colossians Chap. 1. verse 20. saith That by Jesus Christ's blood all things are reconciled to God whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven and consequently it will follow that there are men in Heaven who have need of Redemption as well as we Chap. XLII Containing the Reasons drawn from the Word of God IF then there be divers Worlds and that the Stars be inhabited those worlds may have been created some before the others and so shall end at divers times and perhaps some are ended already and some are created of new the believers of those former Worlds seem to speak in Psal. 90. ver. 1 2. saying Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations before the Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth and the World And God seems to be angry against the men of those worlds in 2. of Esdras c. 9. v. 18 19. because those who were before were better in these terms And now when I prepared the World which was not yet made even for them to dwell in that now live no man spake against me for then every one obeyed but now the manners of them which are created in this World that is made are corrupted by a perpetuall seed but there is yet one Text more pregnant for to prove that there were other Worlds before this that are ended and have been judged as we shall be one day he speaks in these terms in the 2. Book of Esdras c. 7. v. 34. And the World shall be turned into the old silence 7. dayes like as in the former Judgments so that no man shall remain And if it be thus might we not say that those great Comets that remain so long above the Region of the meteor are the burnings and consummations of some Stars that are ending and which we had not perceived by reason of their far distance For as in former ages new ones have often been seen yea even in this our own so likewise may some others end and to all this we may adde that of the Revelations viz. that the Stars shall fall that is to say shall end Many ancient Authours were of this Judgment believing not only that there are divers Worlds at one and the same time but that there had already been some before Origenes was of this belief and that ours shall last seaven thousand years and that many of the others shall last forty nine thousand years Campanella differs not much from this judgment the Wisedome of God speaking in the Proverbs saith ch. 8. v. 23. 31. Before the Earth was I was with God rejoycing in the habitable part of his Earth and my delights were with the Sons of Men And in the 26. v. While as yet he had not made the Earth nor the Fields nor the highest part of the dust of the World Chap. XLIII which is a sequell of the Texts of the Holy Scripture THough we have divided these places of Scripture into two chapters for to confirm this opinion yet I will not omit some few others which may in some respects sit this same subject Paul to the Ephesians c. 1. v. 10. speaking of Christ Jesus saith That in the dispensation of the fullnesse of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are on Earth even in him And to the Colos. 1. v. 20. God having made peace through the bloud of Christs Crosse reconciled all things to himself whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven How may these two Texts be expounded if we do not understand them of these men who are in the Heavens or Stars whom God hath gathered to himself and redeemed For if it be said that they are those that died before Christ It cannot stand with reason because their Souls were already in Paradise or in Hell but where the Soul is thither also shall the body go after the Resurrection David speaks thus in the Psal. 112. v. 6. God humbles himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in Earth for he dwells on high This Text indicates that God is beyond the
and batter and thunder down the strongest places and that in a moment those instruments should execute our will That by printing and the letters we might communicate our thoughts to another and write in a short time a number infinite of books and even write a thousand times faster then we speak transmit and leave to our posterity our exquisite conceptions and get an immortal name And that by the prospective glasses we might approach to objects far distant strengthen our sight and make us distinctly to see things sar remote If these things I say had been proposed to us in a time wherein farther speech and enquire had never more been made of it who had believed them but rather who had not laughed at them and derided the first motioner of them and yet experience daily sheweth the effects of these Inventions to be true So the former Ages did condemne as hereticks those who believed the Antipodes and this belief was a long time held for a false and ridiculous opinion Christophorus Columbus was rejected of divers Kings when he proposed to them the discovery of the West-Indies and yet his propositions have been found very true and have immortalised their Author So likewise do I hope that time will bring forth the truth of this my opinion which I do not produce to the light without many strong Reasons and the authority of the most learned men the holy Scripture it self is not repugnant and contradictory to it but rather leans much towards my opinion And as touching those Philosophers who grant it not some deny not but that this may be others dare not contradict it and others have so ridiculous reasons that I cannot imagine weaker can be found and considering all they no more then I have ascended into Heaven and therefore who ever hath the best Reasons ought to be believed which being doubtlesse on my side my opinion ought not at all to be esteemed ridiculous Democritus King of the Abderitanes constantly smiled because the World could not apprehend the multiplicity of Worlds I like him have also sufficient occasion to smile and laugh at those who are ignorant of the plurality of the Worlds and even to compare them to bruit beasts which eat the fruits of the Earth without considering whence they come to them for Man is lodged in this World to contemplate in it the wonders that God exposes to the sight of his eyes and to which end he hath given him a face looking upward for to look up to Heaven but he will not make use of his gifts nor enquire after the place of their habitation Why open ye not your eyes O ye learned and wise Men and why awake ye not out of your slumber and deep sleep Awake up the eyes of your Understanding and Reason towards the Heavens contemplating the wonderfull things thereof despise the earthly things and as true Philosophers consider the rest of Men in a dunghill having their thoughts low and Earthly Souls which not being able to stretch themselves beyond the limit of their weak activity dare even accuse those who by noble projects desire to lend them their hands for to draw them out of their ignorance Having then so many and so good Reasons and authority on my behalf I shall not longer fear those who scarce can find any for the confirmation of their opinion or what they have is so weak that the building that the edifice is upon tottereth and leans on every side therefore will I not fear those backbiting tongues which envy anothers good repute and fame which I already foresee in great number opened against me but I shall justly say that they accuse God and Nature of weaknesse and insufficiency and their own proper reason of incapacity Can it be possible that so many rare and great persons who in former Ages did believe it and whose memory is by us honoured and reverenced had erroneous opinions and that so many pertinent reasons should have no solid ground Could it be possible that you would not willingly hearken to those who desire to free you from your mistakes nor suffer your eyes to be unfolded when they be folded with the vail of Preoccupation No I hope that some of the most reasonable at least will be found who will adhere to me and take my part against the assaults of the ignorants who endeavour to discredit me thinking to obtain great glory for the endeavouring the overthrow of so great a project for that is their ordinary scope Alta petit livor praestant altissima venti Alta petunt dextrâ fulmina miss a Jovis That is Envy nothing but high things emulates As by the whirlwinds shaken are high States And the thunders of great Jupiter the god of gods Fall upon the Steeples and not upon the Valleys But I shall smile at them in my heart and applaud my self if none can be found to second me hoping that the Ages to come will produce men more reasonable and who better esteeming my conceptions will accuse this present Age of great ingratitude Chap. II. Proving the plurality of the Worlds by a reason taken from the place wherein are ingendred the Comets PRoclus Cardanus Telessius and others have observed That most of the Comets are formed not onely out of the Region of the Meteors but even far above the Moon and Tycho Brabe that great Astrologian who by his exquisite and rare Observations hath gotten an everlasting name discoursing of it hath asserted That all the Comets are formed above the Moon even according to Kepler as high as the Sun Now it 's Impossible for the vapours to pierce and penetrate into the fiery Region there to be changed into Comets even far above it considering that according to all the Philosophers Judgment the fiery Region is under the concavity of the Moon and so these Comets are formed out of the exhalations of other Lands which are the Starres it 's so clear and perspicuous that I cannot believe that any Man is so void of Reason as to deny it If it be objected That it cannot positively and certainly be known that the Comets are above the region of the Moon I shall send them to the School of Astrologie which teaches by true Rules and Demonstrations the way to measure all the bodies and their far distances from the earth the which Galileus a Person of great fame and renown in this our Age hath confirmed by such like Observations Chap. III. Proving the same by another Argument taken from the bignesse and continuancy of the Comets THE same Astrologers have observed That some Comets have so vaste and great bodies that it 's impossible to believe that the exhalations of this Earth could furnish them sufficiently with matter but I shall dare to go beyond and shall say That though all the Earth should be dissolved into vapours and exhalations yet it could not form so great Comets and of such long continuancy as those which sometimes have been seen
Earth nor with the Sea and lastly because that our sight holpen by the Prospective-glasses observes in it some Seas and the tops of divers Mountains and such like remarkable things whereof the Maps and figures may be seen in Hevelius Argolius and several others and in our Book de Telescopio These Spots shew that the Moon is partaker of the Elementary and Terrestriall nature and consequently of the rest of the Elements This did move Plato to say That the Stars are composed of fire and earth by reason of their splendour and of their great and lumpish body This plurality of Worlds may again be proved by the variety of the causes that compose it and by the divers combinations that may thence be made which is the argument used by Morodorus in Plutarch in his book of the Philosophers opinion wherein it 's said That where the causes are there the effects ought to be also and the causes of the World being a great many so also ought the Worlds to be many the causes of the world are the four Elements and others that may yet be unknown to us or the infinite number of Democritus Atomes unlesse we had rather say That its God who being infinite so likewise hath created an infinite not onely of Worlds but of all things And indeed as the same Philosopher saith it would be a sad spectacle if there were but an ear of corn in a great field the same would it be of Heaven if it were true that there is no more Earth but one Chap. XXI Wherein is the same proved by certain Reasons drawn from Galileus's Observations and others as of the Stars of Jupiter and of the Spots in the Sun THat great Galileus who seemed onely to be in the World for to resolve the doubts in Astrologie hath discovered with his admirable invention of Prospective-glasses which immortalize his name by the discovery of what is contained in the Stars he is the first who hath directed his Telescopes or Prospective-glasses towards Heaven and by help of them that the milky line were small Stars which by reason of their proximity and great number do confound their light he also hath discovered the Moons superficies not smooth but rugged and full of risings of Hills and hollownesse of Valleys He also hath observed that the Star Venus doth imitate the course of the Moon being now full then half then in the first quarter as a sithe and hath observed the perspicuous change of bignesse in Venus and Mars's diameters things of great concernment and note for the theories of Copernicus and Tycho Brahe He hath ashamed the Sun discovering in him those Spots which for so many Ages he had buried and hid in his bright obscurity and hath discerned that those Spots were not fixed and alwayes lasting as those in the Moon but that they disappear appear again turning round the Sun he hath also discovered four new Planets that had not yet bin observed by some of the ancient Astrologers which he hath called the Planets of Medicis in favour of his Prince these Planets move onely round about Jupiter which hath induced some to believe that Jupiter was another world or another Sun round about which other Planets do run as round about that which in lightens us He hath farther observed that the Planet Saturn hath three bodies having two more at his sides and that the Planet Jupiter is be spotted with girdles or Zones that do girth it the which may plainly and perspicuously be seen by those Telescopes or Prospectives admirably well made by Torricelli the Florentine These are those rare Observations of that illustrious Person who though but little in body yet so great in ingenuity and acuity of spirit that all the World hath suffered by the losse of him He became blind by reason of his too great propensity and labour in these Observations and he who had in these things given light to all this world could not enjoy the light nor his Invention Foscarius adds to all these Observations that Venus hath been seen with three bodies as well as Saturn and that Jupiter hath 4. bodies But Gassendus Fontana Neapolitan hath now the excellentest Telescope in the world with which he hath seen the four Planets which are adjacent to Jupiter as four Moons two about Saturn which make a figure of a pot handle at each side of it In the midst of Mars a little Globe at his brimmes a darkish circle and about Venus two Moons or Stars Chap. XXII Proving the Plurality of Worlds by a Reason taken from the Clouds and the waters above in Heaven WIth the Prospective-glasse we may see some Clouds flying round about the Sun which can arise but from the Moon from other Stars or from the Sun it self because they be beyond the Region of the Meteors Now if the Stars ingender clouds they have water within themselves but if the Element of water is in them the Element of earth and the rest have as great priviledge to be in them as it Now that there is water in them the first Chapter of Genesis proves it clearly when he saith Then God said Let there be a Firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters And God made the Firmament and divided the waters which were under the Firmament from the waters which were above the Firmament he called the Firmament Heaven and the waters under the Firmament Seas Esdras in Chap. 6. of his second Book saith the same in these terms Thou madest the spirit of the Firmament and commandedst it to part asunder and to make a division betwixt the waters that the one part might go up and the other remain beneath Where are these waters above I beseech you if they are not in the Stars For it 's a very weak Reason to say That they are in the Clouds because that besides that they could not contain the Seas It s said in the second Chapter of Genesis that God had not caused it to rain upon the Earth but there went up a mist from the Earth and watered the whole face of the Earth and so consequently there was no vapour raised up to form them and what should have raised them seeing there was yet no Sun created to light the World Let us then lift up our eyes to Heaven and as the new Gymnosophists who daily contemplated the Sun let us observe in them those new Worlds wherewith it is wonderfully enriched which are divers and various in bignesse light and other qualities let us not be as poor simple Countrey fellowes who having seen no farther then the corner of their own chimney cannot apprehend that there can be any Town or City bigger then their Village but let us raise our spirits to the contemplation of the remotest and highest things that are thereby ennobling our selves though it be a very high attempt O how happy is that man who when he pleaseth can spiritually loosen his