rejected though commonly received Sect. 1 In Divinitie pag. 1. Sect 2 In Philosophie p. 4. Sect. 3 In Historie Ecclesiasticall p. 5. Sect. 4 In Historie Civill or Nationall p. 7. Sect. 5 In Naturall Historie p. 8. Sect. 6 With an application thereof to the present purpose p. 11. CAP. 2. Of the Reasons inducing the Authour to the writing and publishing of this discourse Sect. 1 Whereof the first is the redeeming of a captivated truth pag. 12. Sect. 2 The second is the vindicating of the Creators honour p. 14. Sect. 3 The third is for that the contrary opinion quailes the hopes and blunts the edge of vertuous endeavours p. 15. Sect. 4 The fourth is for that it makes men more carelesse both in regard of their present fortunes and in providing for posterity p. 19. Sect. 5 The fifth and last is the weake grounds which the contrary opinion is founded vpon as the fictions of Poets the morosity of old men the over-valuing of Antiquity and disesteeming of the present times p. 22. CAP. 3. The Controversie touching the worlds decay stated and the Methode held thorow this ensuing treatise proposed Sect. 1 Touching the pretended decay of the mixt bodies pag. 27. Sect. 2 Of the Elements in regard of their quantity and dimensions p. 28. Sect. 3 In regard of their qualities p. 31. Sect. 4 Of mankind in regard of Manners and the Arts. p. 32. Sect. 5 In regard of the duration of their liues their strength and stature p. 35. Sect. 6. The precedents of the Chapter summarily recollected and the Methode observed in the ensuing Treatise proposed p. 37. CAP. 4. Touching the worlds decay in generall Sect. 1 The first generall Reason that it decayes not is drawne from the power of that Spirit that quickens and supports it the second and third from the consideration of the severall parts whereof it consists pag. 38. Sect. 2 The fourth for that such a decay as is suppposed would in time point out the very date of the worlds expiration and consequently of the second comming of Christ. p. 42. Sect. 3 The fifth for that vpon the supposition of such a decay as is pretended the vigor and strength of the parts thereof must of necessity long since haue bin vtterly exhausted and worne out p. 44. Sect. 4 The sixth argument is drawne from the Authority of Salomon and his reason taken from the Circulation and running about of all things as it were in a ring p. 45. CAP. 5. Generall arguments made for the worlds decay refuted Sect. 1 The first generall objection drawne from reason answered which is that the Creature the neerer it approaches to the first mould the more perfect it is and according to the degrees of its remoueall and distance from thence it incurres the more imperfection and weakenesse p. 47. Sect. 2 The second answered which is that the severall parts of the world decay which should argue a lingering consumption in the whole p. 50 Sect. 3 The third answered which is taken from the authority of Saint Cyprian p. 50. Sec. 4 The same authority of Saint Cyprian farther answered by opposing against it the authority of Arnobius supported with ponderous pressing reasons p. 55. Sec. 5. The fourth answered which is borrowed from the authority of Esdras p. 60. Sec. 6 The rest answered pretended to be taken froÌ„ authority of holy Scriptures p. 62. LIB 2. Of the pretended decay in the Heavens and Elements together with that of the Elementary bodies man only excepted CAP. 1. Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies in regard of their substance Sect. 1 Of their working vpon this inferiour world and the dependance of it vpon them pag. 64. Sec. 2 Their pretended decay in their substance refuted by reason p. 67. Sec. 3 An objection drawne from Iob answered p. 69. Sec. 4 Another taken from Psal. 102. answered p. 71. Sec. 5 A third taken from the apparition of New starres answered p. 74. Sec. 6 The last drawen from the Eclypses of the Sunne and Moone answered p. 75. CAP. 2 Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies in regard of their motions Sec. 1 The first reason drawne from the causes of that Motion p. 78. Sec. 2 The second from the certainety of demonstrations vpon the Celestiall Globe The third from a particular view of the proper motions of the Planets which are observed to be the same at this day as in former ages without any variation The fourth from the infallible and exact prediction of their Oppositions Conjunctions and Eclypses for many ages to come The fifth from the testimony of sundry graue Authors averring the perpetuall constancy immutability of their motions p. 80. Sec. 3 The same truth farther proved from the testimony of Lactantius Plutarch p. 84. Sec. 4 An objection of du Moulins touching the motion of the polar star answered p. 85. CAP. 3. Touching the pretended decay in the light of the heavenly bodies Sect. 1 The first reason taken from the nature of the heavenly light those things wherevnto it is resembled p. 86. Sec. 2 The second for that it haâ—…h nothing contrary vnto it and heere Pareus and Mollerus are censured for holding that the light of heaven 〈◊〉 impaired p. 87. Sec. 3 Herevnto other Reasons are added and the testimony of Eugubinus vouched p. 88. CAP. 4. Touching the pretended decay in the warmth of the heavenlie bodies Sect. 1 That the starres are not of a fierie nature or hot in themselues p. 90. Sec. 2 That the heate they breed springs from their light and consequently their light being not decayed neither is the warmth arising therefroÌ„ p. 91. Sec. 3 Two objections answered the one drawne from the present habitablenes of the torride Zone the other from a supposed approach of the Sun neerer the earth â—…hen in former ages p. 93. Sec. 4 A third objection answered taken from a supposed remoueall of the Sunne more Southerly from vs then in former ages p. 94. CAP. 5. Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies in regard of their influences Sect. 1. Of the first kind of influence from the highest immoueable heaven called by Divines Coelum Empyreum p. 97. Sec. 2 Of th' second kind derived from the Planets and fixed starres p. 98. Sec. 3 That the efficacy of these influences cannot be fully comprehended by vs. p. 99. Sec. 4 That neither of them is decayed in their benigne and favourable effects but that curious inquisition into them is to be forborne p. 100. CAP. 6. Touching the pretended decay of the Elements in generall Sect. 1 That the Elements are still in number foure p. 102. Sec. 2 That the Elements still retaine the same properties that anciently they did and by mutuall interchange and compensation the same bounds dimentions p. 106. Sec. 3 An objection drawne from the continuall mixture of the Elements each with other answered p. 109. CAP. 7. Touching the pretended decay of tâ—… Aire in regard of
often trow ye is the moon eclypsed while you sleep yet she falls not from heaven Or is shee alwayes eclypsed in the night not likewise in the day time But then only it seemes is the moone eclypsed with you when your bellies are well stuffed with a full supper your braines steeled with full pots then only the Moone labours in heaven when the wine labours in your heads then is her circle troubled with charmes when your sight is dazled with over much quaâ—…ing How canst thou then discerne what befals the Moone in heaven when thou canst not discerne what is done neere thee on earth heerein is that plainely verified which holy Solomon foretold a foole chaâ—…geth as the Moone Thou changest like the Moone when beeing ignorant of the motion thereof thou who werst a Christian before now beginnest to be sacrilegious for sacrilege thou committest against thy Creator when thou imputest such impotency to the Creature Thou then changest like the moone when thou who before shinedst in the devotion of faith now fallest away thorow the weakenes of vnbeleefe thou changest like the moone when thy braine is as voide of wit as the moone is of light and I could wish thou diddest indeed change as the moone for shee quickely returnes againe to her fulnes but thou by leasure to the vse of thy wits shee soone recovers her light but thou slowly the faith which thou hast denyed Thy change then is worse then that of the moone shee suffers an Eclipse of her light but thou of thy soules health But willsome man say is not the moone in labour then yes indeed shee labours it cannot bee denyed but shee labours with the other creaturess as the Apostle speakes wee know that the whole Creature groaneth and travelleth in paine vntill now and againe the Creature it selfe shall also bee deliuered from the bondage of Corruption It shall bee freed from bondage You see then that the moone doth not labour with charmes but with dutifull observances not with dangers but with vsefull offices not to perish but to serue For the Creature is made subiect to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subiected the same So that the Moone is not willingly changed from her condition but thou wittingly and willingly robbest thy selfe of thine owne reason Shee by the condition of her nature suffers an Eclipse thou by consent of thine owne will art drawne into mischiefe Bee not then as the moone when shee is eclypsed but as when shee fils her circle with light For of the righteous man it is written Hee shall bee established for ever as the moone as the faithfull witnesse in heaven By which witty discourse of S. Ambrose it plainely appeares that in his judgement the moone suffered nothing by her Eclypse which opinion of his is confirmed not only by the testimony of Aristotle in the eight of the Metaphysickes but by the evidence of reason it being caused by the shadow of the earth interposed betweene the Sunne and the Moone as in exchange or revenge thereof as Pliny speaketh the Eclypse of the Sun is caused by the interposition of the moone betwixt the earth and it The moone so depriuing the earth and againe the earth the moone of the beames of the Sunne Which is the true cause that in the course of nature the Moone is never eclypsed but when shee is full the Sunne and shee being then in opposition nor the Sunne but when it is new-moone those two Planets being then in conjunction I say in the course of Nature for the Eclypse at our Sauiours passion was vndoubtedly supernaturall Quam Solis obscurationem non ex canonico Syderum cursu accidisse satis ostenditur quod tunc erat Pascha Iudaeorum Nam plena Luna solenniter agitur saith S. Augustine It is evident that that Eclipse of the Sunne happened not by the ordinary orderly course of the stars it being then the Passover of the Iewes which was solemnized at the full moone And this was it that gaue occasion as is commonly belecued to that memorable exclamation of Dennys the Areopagite being then in Egypt Aut Deus Naturae patitur aut machina mundi dissolvetur either the God of Nature suffers or the frame of Nature will bee dissolved And heerevpon too as it is thought by some was erected that Altar at Athens Ignoto Deo To the vnknowne God Though others thinke that Eclypse was confined within the borders of Iudea howsoever it cannot be denyed but that it was certainely beside and aboue the course of Nature Neither ought it seeme strange that the Sunne in the firmament of heaven should appeare to suffer when the Sunne of Righteousnes indeed suffered vpon earth But for other Eclypses though their Causes bee now commonly knowne yet the ignorance of them was it which caused so much superstition in former ages and left that impression in mens mindes as euen at this day wise men can hardly bee perswaded but that those Planets suffer in their Eclypses which in the Sunne is most childish and ridiculous to imagine since in it selfe it is not so much as depriued of any light nor in trueth can bee it being the fountaine of light from which all the other starres borrow their light but pay nothing backe againe to it by way of retribution Which was well expressed by Pericles as Plutarch in his life reports it For there happening an Eclypse of the Sun at the very instant when his Navy was now ready to lanch forth himselfe was imbarked his followers began to bee much apald at it but specially the Master of his owne gally which Pericles perceiuing takes his cloake with it hoodwinkes the Masters eyes then demaunds of him what danger was in that hee answering none neither saith Pericles is there in this Eclypse there being no difference betwixt my cloake and that Vaile with which the Sun is covered but only in bignes And the truth is that the Sun then suffered no more by the intervening of the Moone then from Pericles his cloake or daily doth from the cloudes in the aire which hinder the sight of it or by the interposition of the Planet Mercury which hath sometimes appeared as a spot in it But whether these Eclypses either cause or presage any change in these inferiour bodies I shall haue fitter occasion to examine heareafter and so passe from the consideration of the substance to the motion of the heavenly bodies CAP. 2. Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies in regard of their motions SECT 1. The first reason that there is no decay in the motions of the heavenly bodies drawne from the causes thereof MOtion is so vniversall and innate a property and so proper an affection to all naturall bodies that the Great Philosopher knew not better how to define Nature then by making her the Enginer and Principle of Motion And therefore as other obiects are
in workes of heate but the sunne burneth the mountaines three tymes more breathing out fiery vapours Neither were there wanting some among the ancient Philosophers who maintained the same opinion as Plato and Plyny and generally the whole sect of Stoicks who held that the Sunne and Starres were fed with watery vapours which they drew vp for their nourishment and that when these vapours should cease and faile the whole world should be in daunger of combustion and many things are alleaged by Balbus in Ciceroes second booke of the nature of the Gods in favour of this opinion of the Stoicks But that the Sunne and Starres are not in truth and in their owne nature fieric and hot appeares by the ground already layd touching the matter of the heavens that it is of a nature incorruptible which cannot bee if it were fiery inasmuch as thereby it should become lyable to alteration and corruption by an opposite and professed enimie Besides all fiery bodies by a naturall inclination mount vpwards so that if the starres were the cause of heat as being hot in themselues it would consequently follow that their circular motion should not bee Naturall but violent Wherevnto I may adde that the noted starres being so many in number namely one thousand twenty and two besides the Planets and in magnitude so greate that every one of those which appeare fixed in the firmament are sayd to bee much bigger then the whole Globe of the water and earth and the Sunne againe so much to exceede both that globe and the biggest of them as it may iustly bee stiled by the sonne of Syrach instrumentum admirabile a wonderfull instrument which being so were they of fyre they would doubtlesse long ere this haue turned the world into ashes there being so infinite a disproportion betweene their flame and the little quantity of matter supposed to bee prepared for their Fewell That therefore they should bee fed with vapours Aristotle deservedly laughs at it as a childish and ridiculous device in as much as the vapours ascend no higher then the middle region of the ayre and from thence distill againe vpon the water and earth from whence they were drawne vp and those vapours being vncertaine the flames likewise feeding vpon them must needes be vncertaine and dayly vary from themselues both in quantity and figure according to the proportion of their fewell SECT 2. That the heate they breed springes from their light and consequently their light being not decayed neither is the warmth arising there from THe absurdity then of this opinion beeing so foule and grosse it remaines that the Sunne and Starres infuse a warmth into these Subcaelestiall bodies not as being hot in themlselues but only as beeing ordeined by God to breed heate in matter capable thereof as they impart life to some creatures and yet themselues remaine voyd of life like the braine which imparts Sense to every member of the body and yet is it selfe vtterly voyd of all Sense But here againe some there are which attribute this effect to the motion others to the light of these glorious bodies And true indeed it is that motion causes heat by the attenuation rarefaction of the ayre But by this reason should the Moone which is neerer the Earth warme more then the Sunne which is many thousand miles farther distant the higher Regions of the Aire should be alway hotter then the lower which notwithstanding if wee compare the second with with the lowest is vndoubtedly false Moreouer the motion of the coelestiall bodies being vniforme so should the heat deriued from them in reason likewise be the motion ceasing the heat should likewise cease yet I shall neuer beleeue that when the Sun stood still at the prayer of Iosua it then ceased to warme these inferiour Bodies And we find by experience that the Sun works more powerfully vpon a body which stands still then when it moues the reason seemes to be the same in the rest or motion of a body warming or warmed that receiueth or imparteth heat The motion being thus excluded from being the cause of this effect the light must of necessitie step in and challenge it to it selfe the light then it is which is vndoubtedly the cause of coelestiall heate in part by a direct beame but more vehemently by a reflexed for which very reason it is that the middle Region of the aire is alwaies colder then the lowest and the lowest hotter in Summer then in Winter and at noone then in the morning and evening the beames being then more perpendicular and consequently in their reflexion more narrowly vnited by which reflexion and vnion they grow sometimes to that fervencie of heate that fire springs out from them as wee see in burning glasses and by this artificiall device it was that Archimedes as Galen reports it in his third booke de Temperamentis set on fire the Enemies Gallyes and Proclus a famous Mathematician practised the like at Constantinople as witnesseth Zonaras in the life of Anastasius the Emperour And very reasonable me thinkes it is that light the most Divine affection of the Coelelestiall Bodies should be the cause of warmth the most noble actiue and excellent quality of the Subcoelestiall These two like Hippocrates twinnes simul oriuntur moriuntur they are borne and dye together they increase and decrease both together the greater the light is the greater the heate and therefore the Sun as much exceedes the other starres in heate as it doth in light To driue the argument home then to our present purpose since the light of the Sun is no way diminished and the heate depends vpon the light the consequence to me seemes marvailous faire and strong which is that neither the heate arising from the light should haue suffered any decay or diminution at all SECT 3. Two obiections answered the one drawne from the present habitablenes of the Torrid Zone the other from a supposed approach of the Sun neerer the earth then in former ages NOtwithstanding the evidence of which trueth some haue not doubted to attribute the present habitablenesse of the Torride Zone to the weaknesse and old age of the Heauens in regard of former ages But they might haue remembred that the Cold Zones should thereby haue become more inhabitable by cold as also that holding as they doe an vniversall decay in all the parts of Nature men according to their opinion decaying in strength as well as the Heauens they should now in reason be as ill able to indure the present heate as the men of former ages were to indure that of the same times wherein they liued the proportion being alike betweene the weaknes as between the strength of the one and the other But this I onely touch in passing hauing a fitter occasion to consider more fully of it hereafter when we come to compare the wits and inventions of the Ancients with those of the present times That which touches
the times are more Civill and men more given to luxury and ease which passe and returne by turnes Succession it selfe effects nothing therein alone in case it did the first man in reason should haue lived longest and the son should still come short of his fathers age so that whereas Moses tells vs that the dayes of mans age in his time were threescore yeares and tenne by this reckoning they might well enough by this time be brought to tenne or twenty or thirty at most It cannot be denied but that in the first ages of the world both before and after the floud men vsually lived longer then wee finde they haue done in latter ages But that I should rather choose to ascribe to some extraordinary priviledge then to the ordinary course of nature The world was then to be replenished with inhabitants which could not so speedily be done but by an extraordinary multiplication of mankinde neither could that be done but by the long liues of men And againe Arts and sciences were then to be planted for the better effecting whereof it was requisite that the same men should haue the experience and observation of many ages For as many Sensations breed an experiment so doe many experiments a Science Per varios vsus artem experimentia fecit Exemplo monstrante viam Through much experience Arts invented were Example shewing way Specially it was requisite men should liue long for the perfecting of Astronomy and the finding out of the severall motions of the heavenly bodies whereof some are so slow that they aske a long time precisely to obserue their periods and reuolutions It was the complaint of Hippocrates Ars longa vita brevis And therefore Almighty God in his wisedome then proportioned mens liues to the length of Arts and as God gaue them this speciall priviledge to liue long so in likelihood hee gaue them withall a temper constitution of body answereable therevnto As also the foode wherewith they were nourished specially before the floud may well bee thought to haue beene more wholesome and nutritiue and the plants more medicinall And happily the influence of the heavens was at that time in that clymate where the Patriarches liued more favourable and gratious Now such a revolution as there is in the manners wits and ages of men the like may well bee presumed in their strength and stature Videtur similis esse ratio in magnitudine corporum siue statura quae nec ipsa per successionem propaginis defluit There seemeth to be the like reason in the groweth bignesse of mens bodies which decreaseth not by succession of ofspring but men are sometimes in the same nation taller sometimes of a shorter stature sometimes stronger and sometimes weaker as the times wherein they liue are more temperate or luxurious more given to labour or exercise or to ease and idlenesse And for those narrations which are made of the Gyantlike statures of men in former ages many of them were doubtles merely poeticall and fabulous I deny not but such men haue beene who for their strength and stature haue beene the miracles of nature the worlds wonders whom God would therefore haue to bee saith S. Austine that hee might shew that as well the bignesse as the beautie of the body are not to be ranged in the number of things good in themselues as being common both to good and badde Yet may wee justly suspect that which Suetonius hath not spared to write that the bones of huge beasts or sea-monsters both haue and still doe passe currant for the bones of Gyants A very notable story to this purpose haue wee recorded by Camerarius who reports that Francis the first king of France who reigned about an hundred yeares since being desirous to know the truth of those things which were commonly spread touching the strength and stature of Rou'land nephew to Charlelamaine caused his sepulchre to be opened wherein his bones and bow were found rotten but his armour sound though couered with rust which the king commaunding to bee scoured off and putting it vpon his owne body found it so fit for him as thereby it appeared that Rouland exceeded him little in bignesse and stature of bodie though himselfe were not excessiue tall or bigge SECT 6. The precedents of this chapt summarily recollected and the methode observed in the ensuing treatise proposed NOw briefely and summarily to recollect and as it were to winde vp into one clue or bottome what hath more largely beene discoursed thorow this chapter I hold first that the heavenly bodies are not at all either in regard of their substance motion light warmth or influence in the course of nature at all impaired or subject to any impairing or decay Secondly that all individuals vnder the Cope of heaven mixed of the elements are subject to a naturall declination and dissolution Thirdly that the quantity of the Elements themselues is subject to impairing in regard of their parts though not of their intire bodies Fourthly that the ayre and earth and water and diverse seasons diversely affected sometime for the better sometime for the worse and that either by some speciall favour or judgement of God or by some cause in nature secret or apparent Fiftly that the severall kindes of beasts of plantes of fishes of birds of stones of mettalls are as many in number as at the Creation every way in Nature as vigorous as at any time since the floud Sixtly and lastly that the manners the wits the health the age the strength and stature of men daily vary but so as by a vicissitude and reuolution they returne againe to their former points from which they declined againe decline and againe returne by alternatiue and interchangeable courses Erit hic rerum in se remeantium orbis quamdiù erit ipse orbis This circle and ring of things returning alwayes to their principles will neuer cease as long as the world lasts Repetunt proprios cuncta recursus Redituque suo singula gaudent Nec manet vlli traditus ordo Nisi quod fini iunxerit ortum Stabilemque sui fecerit orbem To their first spring all things are backeward bound And every thing in its returne delighteth Th' order once setled can in nought be found But what the end vnto the birth vniteth And of its selfe doth make a constant round And consequently there is no such vniversall and perpetuall decay in the frame of the Creatures as is commonly imagined and by some strongly maintained The methode which I propose is first to treate heereof in generall that so a cleerer way and easier passage may be opened to the particulars then of the Heavens as being the highest in situation and the noblest in outward glory and duration as also in their efficacie and vniversality of operation and therefore doth the Prophet rightly place them next God himselfe in the order of Causes it shall come to passe in that day saith
cannot be knowne or vnderstood If therefore they would haue the Almans Persians Scythians subdued because Christians did dwell liue among these Nations Why did they giue the Romans the victory seeing Christians dwelt liued among their Nations also If it were their pleasure that mice locusts should therefore swarme in Asia Syria because in like manner Christians dwelt in those Nations why did they not at the same time swarme in Spaine France seeing innumerable Christians liued in these Provinces also If for this very cause they send drought vpon the corne barrennesse among the Getulians them of Aquitaine why did they the same yeare giue such plentifull harvests to the Moores Numidians the like Religion being setled in these Countries also If in any one Citty they haue caused through the hatred of our name very many to perish with famine why in the same place haue they through the dearenes of all provision made not only those that are not of our body but even true Christians also much more the richer wealthier It behoued therefore that either none should haue had any thing that was comfortable if we be the cause of Euils for we are in all Nations or seeing yee see that things profitable are mingled with those that are incommodious leaue off at length to ascribe that vnto vs which impeacheth your estates since we be no hindrance at all to your wealth and prosperity SECT 5. The fourth objection answered which is borrowed from the authority of Esdras THat which yet farther disables the validity of this testimony of Cyprian is that in the opinion of Sixtus Senensis a learned Writer he borrowed it from the Apocryphall Esdras For Canonicall Scripture he seemes indeed to glance at the name thereof by the way but alleadges none And if Senensis had thought that any booke of the Canon had favoured this opinion of Cyprian hee would neuer haue sent vs to Esdras but since the appeale is made to Esdras to Esdras let vs goe Hee then in his fourth booke and fifth Chapter v. 51 52 53 54 and 55 thus speakes of this matrer He answered me and said aske a woman that beareth children and she shall tell thee say vnto her wherefore are not they whom thou hast now brought forth like those that were before but lesse of stature she shall answer thee They that be borne in the strength of youth be of one fashion and they that be borne in the time of age when the womb faileth are otherwise Consider thou therefore also how that ye are lesse of stature then they that were before you and so are they that come after you lesse then ye as the creatures which now begin to be old and haue passed ouer the strength of youth Now as others depend vpon the authority of Cyprian so Cyprian himselfe depending vpon this of Esdras it will not I hope be thought either vnseasonable or impertinent if we a little examine the weight thereof First then it is certaine that this book is not to be found either in Hebrew or Greeke neither is it by the Tridentine Counsell admitted into the Canon no doubt but vpon very sufficient reason is it excluded both by them and vs in regard of the doctrines which it teacheth manifestly repugnant to the rules of orthodoxe faith as in the fourth and seuenth Chapters it teacheth that the soules of the Saints departed this life are detained as it were imprisoned in certain cels vauts of the Earth vntill the number of the Elect be accomplished and that then they shall receiue their Crowns of glory altogether and not before In the sixt Chapter he tels vs a most ridiculous vnsavory tale of two vaste Creatures made vpon the fifth day of the Creation the one called Enoch or Behemoth and the other Leviathan In the seventh he deriues his pedegree from Aaron by nineteene generations whereas the true Esdras or Esras deriues his but by fifteene And to bring it home somewhat neerer to our purpose In the fourteenth chapter hee shewes himselfe manifestly a false Prophet touching the Consummation of the world which saith hee hath lost his youth and the times begin to wax old for the world is divided into twelue parts and tenne parts of it are gone already and halfe of a tenth part and there remaineth that which is after the halfe of the tenth part So that by his computation diuiding the whole time of the worlds duration into twelue equall portions onely one and a halfe were then remaining which had it beene true the world should haue ended almost fifteene hundred yeares agoe For the time from the worlds Creation to Esdras according to the Scriptures calculation containe about three thousand foure hundred and seventy yeares and this summe of yeares containe ten parts and an halfe of of the twelue alotted for the whole duration of the world whence it consequently followes that the residue of the time from Esdras to the worlds end could not exceede the number of fiue hundred yeares and yet from Esdras to this present yeare of the Lord one thousand six hundred twenty six wee finde there are passed almost two thousand yeares Heerevnto may bee added the sharpe but well deserved Censure of Iunius in his preface to the Apochryphall bookes Nihil habet Esdrae quam falfo emendicatum nomen injuriâ maximâ Authorem enim quem puduit sui operis longè amplius debuerat puduisse cum suis somnijs nomen tanti viri praefigeret impudenter Ecclesiam vellet fallere Hee hath nothing in him worthy of Esdras but only a borrowed name and that most injuriously assumed Hee was ashamed of his owne name but hee should rather haue shamed to prefixe the name of so worthy a man before his dreames and thereby attempt the deceiving of the Church And againe in his annotations on the first chapter of that booke Quis vero huic libro tantam fidem deinceps arroget quae in ipsa fronte naeuos tam immanes in re tam euidenti mendacia tam puerilia ne quid gravius dicam animadvertit Quisquis es qui hunc librum legis sume authoritatem probandi atque judicandi sermones ejus Non enim obstringit fidem tuam illius authoritas si qua est in tam crassis erroribus Who will heereafter giue credit to this booke who obserues in the very forehead of it so notorious blemishes and in a matter so evident not to say worse of it so childish lies Whosoever thou art that readest this booke take to thy selfe authoritie of trying and judging his speeches For his authority cannot binde thy Credence if there be any in such grosse errours It shall not bee amisse then to follow this advise of Iunius and to bring this counterfeite to the touch-stone whereby wee shall easily discerne that both the ground hee assumes is vnsound and his illation from thence deduced inconsequent His ground is that children borne
and operatiue bodies and seated in the most eminent roome LIB II. Of the pretended decay of the Heauens and Elements and Elementary Bodies Man onely excepted CAP. 1. Touching the pretended decay of the Heauenly Bodies SECT 1. First of their working vpon this inferiour World SUch and so great is the wisdome the bounty and the power which Almighty God hath expressed in the frame of the Heauens that the Psalmist might justly say The Heauens declare the glory of God the Sun the Moone the Stars serving as so many silver golden Characters embroidered vpon azure for the daylie preaching and publishing thereof to the World And surely if he haue made the floore of this great House of the World so beautifull and garnished it with such wonderfull variety of beasts of trees of hearbes of flowres we neede wonder the lesse at the magnificence of the roofe which is the highest part of the World and the neerest to the Mansion House of Saints and Angels Now as the excellencie of these Bodies appeares in their situation their matter their magnitudes and their Sphericall or Circular figure so specially in their great vse and efficacy not onely that they are for signes and seasons and for dayes yeares but in that by their motion their light their warmth influence they guide and gouerne nay cherish and maintaine nay breed beget these inferiour bodies euen of man himselfe for whose sake the Heauens were made It is truly said by the Prince of Philosophers Sol homo generant hominem the Sunne and man beget man man concurring in the generation of man as an immediate and the Sunne as a remote cause And in another place he doubts not to affirme of this inferiour World in generall Necesse est mundum inferiorem superioribus lationibus continuari ut omnis inde virtus derivetur it is requisite that these inferiour parts of the World should bee conjoyned to the motions of the higher Bodies that so all their vertue and vigour from thence might be derived There is no question but that the Heauens haue a marvailous great stroake vpon the aire the water the earth the plants the mettalls the beasts nay vpon Man himselfe at leastwise in regard of his body and naturall faculties so that if there can be found any decay in the Heauens it will in the course of Nature and discourse of reason consequently follow that there must of necessity ensue a decay in all those which depend vpon the Heauens as likewise on the other side if there be found no decay in the Heauens the presumption will be strong that there is no such decay as is supposed in these Subcaelestiall Bodies because of the great sympathy and correspondence which is knowne to be betweene them by many and notable experiments For to let passe the quailing and withering of all things by the recesse and their reviving and resurrection as it were by the reaccesse of the Sunne I am of opinion that the sap in trees so precisely followes the motion of the Sunne that it neuer rests but is in continuall agitation as the Sun it selfe which no sooner arriues at the Tropick but he instantly returnes and euen at that very instant as I conceiue and I thinke it may be demonstrated by experimentall conclusions the sappe which by degrees descended with the declination of the Sun begins to remount at the approach thereof by the same steps that it descended and as the approach of the Sunne is scarce sensible at his first returne but afterward the day increases more in one weeke then before in two in like manner also fares it with the sap in plants which at first ascends insensibly and slowly but within a while much more swiftly and apparantly It is certaine that the Tulypp Marigold and Sun-flowre open with the rising and shut with the setting of the Sunne So that though the Sunne appeare not a man may more infallibly know when it is high noone by their full spreading then by the Index of a Clock or Watch. The hop in its growing winding it selfe about the pole alwayes followes the course of the Sunne from East to West and can by no meanes bee drawne to the contrary choosing rather to breake then yeeld It is obserued by those that sayle betweene the Tropicks that there is a constant set winde blowing from the East to the West saylers call it the Breeze which rises and falls with the Sunne and is alwayes highest at noone and is commonly so strong partly by its owne blowing and partly by ouer-ruling the Currant that they who saile to Peru cannot well returne home the same way they came forth And generally Marriners obserue that caeter is paribus they sayle with more speed from the East to the West then backe againe from the West to the East in the same compasse of time All which should argue a wheeling about of the aire and waters by the diurnall motion of the Heauens and specially by the motion of the Sunne Whereunto may be added that the high Seasprings of the yeare are alwayes neere about the two Aequinoctials and Solstices and the Cock as a trusty Watchman both at midnight and breake of day giues notice of the Sunnes approach These be the strange and secret effects of the Sunne vpon the inferiour Bodies whence by the Gentiles hee was held the visible God of the World and tearmed the Eye thereof which alone saw all things in the World and by which the World saw all things in it selfe Omma qui videt per quem videt omnia mundus And most notablely is he described by the Psalmist in them hath he set a Tabernacle for the Sun which is as a bridegroome comming out of his chamber rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race His going forth is from the end of the Heauen and his circuite vnto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof Now as the effects of the Sun the head-spring of light and warmth are vpon these inferiour Bodies more actiue so those of the Moone as being Vltima coelo Citima terris neerer the Earth and holding a greater resemblance therewith are no lesse manifest And therefore the husbandman in sowing setting graffing and planting lopping of trees felling of timber and the like vpon good reason obserues the waxing waning of the Moone which the learned Zanchius well allows of commending Hesiod for his rules therein Quod Hesiodus ex Lune decrementis incrementis totius agricolationis signa notet quis improbet who can mislike it that Hesiod sets downe the signes in the whole course of husbandry from the waxing and waning of the Moone The tydes and ebbes of the Sea follow the course of it so exactly as the Sea-man will tell you the age of the Moone onely vpon the sight of the tide as certainly as if he saw it in the water It is the observation of Aristotle
of Pliny out of him that oysters and mussels and cockles and lobsters crabbs and generally all shell-fish grow fuller in the waxing of the Moon but emptier in the waning thereof Such a strong predominancie it hath euen vpon the braine of Man that Lunatikes borrow their very name from it as also doth the stone Selenites whose property as S. Augustine and Georgius Agricola record it is to increase and decrease in light with the Moone carrying alwayes the resemblance thereof in it selfe Neither can it reasonably be imagined that the other Planets and starrs and parts of Heauen are without their forcible operations vpon these lower Bodies specially considering that the very plants and hearbes of the Earth which we tread vpon haue their seueral vertues as well single by themselues as in composition with other ingredients The Physitian in opening a veine hath euer an eye to the signe then raigning The Canicular star specially in those hotter Climates was by the Ancients alwayes held a dangerous enemy to the practise of Physick and all kind of Evacuations Nay Galen himselfe the Oracle of that profession adviseth practitioners in that Art in all their Cures to haue a speciall regard to the reigning Constellations Coniunctions of the Planets But the most admirable mystery of Nature in my mind is the turning of yron touched with the loadstone toward the North-pole of which I shall haue farther occasion to intreate more largely in the Chapter touching the Comparison of the wits inventions of these times with those of former ages Neither were it hard to add much more to that which hath beene said to shew the dependance of these Elementary Bodies vpon the heauenly Almighty God hauing ordained that the higher should serue as intermediate Agents or secondary Causes betweene himselfe and the lower And as they are linked together in a chaine of order so are they likewise chained together in the order of Causes but so as in the wheeles of a Clocke though the failing in the superior cannot but cause a failing in the inferiour yet the failing of the inferiour may well argue though it cannot cause a failing in the superiour We haue great reason then as I conceiue to begin with the Examination of the state of Coelestiall bodies in as much as vpon it the conditionof the subcoelestiall wholly de-pends Wherein fiue things offer themselues to our consideration Their substance their motion their light their warmth and their influence SECT 2. Touching the pretended decay in the substance of the Heavens TO finde out whether the substance of the heavenly bodies bee decayed or no it will not be amisse a little to inquire into the nature of the matter and forme of which that substance consists that so it may appeare whether or no in a naturall course they be capable of such a supposed decay That the Heavens are endued with some kinde of matter though some Philosophers in their jangling humour haue made a doubt of it yet I thinke no sober and wise Christian will deny it But whether the matter of it bee the same with that of these inferiour bodies adhuc sub Iudice lis est it hath beene and still is a great question among Diuines The ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Primitiue Church for the most part following Plato hold that it agrees with the matter of the Elementary bodies yet so as it is compounded of the finest flower and choisest delicacy of the Elements But the Schoolemen on the other side following Aristotle adhere to his Quintessence and by no meanes will bee beaten from it since say they if the Elements and the heauens should agree in the same matter it should consequently follow that there should bee a mutuall traffique and commerce a reciprocall action and passion betweene them which would soone draw on a change and by degrees a ruine vpon those glorious bodies Now though this point will neuer I thinke bee fully and finally determined till wee come to be Inhabitants of that place whereof wee dispute for hardly doe wee guesse aright at things that are vpon earth and with labour doe wee find the things that are at hand but the things which are in heaven who hath searched out Yet for the present I should state it thus that they agree in the same originall mater and surely Moses mee thinkes seemes to favour this opinion making but one matter as farre as I can gather from the text out of which all bodily substances were created Vnus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe So as the heavens though they bee not compounded of the Elements yet are they made of the same matter that the Elements are compounded of They are not subject to the qualities of heat or cold or drought or moisture nor yet to weight or lightnes which arise from those qualities but haue a forme giuen them which differeth from the formes of all corruptible bodies so as it suffereth not nor can it suffer from any of them being so excellent and perfect in it selfe as it wholy satiateth the appetite of the matter it informeth The Coelestiall bodies then meeting with so noble a forme to actuate them are not nor cannot in the course of nature bee lyable to any generation or corruption in regard of their substance to any augmentation or diminution in regard of their quantity no nor to any destructiue alteration in respect of their qualities I am not ignorant that the controversies touching this forme what it should bee is no lesse then that touching the matter Some holding it to bee a liuing and quickning spirit nay a sensitiue and reasonable soule which opinion is stiffely maintained by many great learned Clarks both Iewes and Gentiles Christians supposing it vnreasonable that the heavens which impart life to other bodies should themselues bee destitute of life But this errour is notablely discovered and confuted by Claudius Espencaeus a famous Doctor of the Sorbone in a Treatise which hee purposely composed on this point In as much as what is denied those bodies in life in sense in reason is abundantly supplied in their constant vnchangeable duration arising from that inviolable knot indissoluble marriage betwixt the matter the forme which can never suffer any divorce but from that hand which first joyned them And howbeit it cannot be denied that not only the reasonable soule of man but the sensitiue of the least gnat that flies in the aire and the Vegetatiue of the basest plant that springs out of the earth are in that they are indued with life more divine and neerer approaching to the fountaine of life then the formes of the heavenly bodies yet as the Apostle speaking of Faith Hope and Charity concludes Charity to bee the greatest though by faith wee apprehend and apply the merits of Christ because it is more vniversall in operation and lasting in duration so though the formes of the Creatures endued
about the yeare 3369 after Christ. This opinion of Copernicus is received by most of this time some following him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 others somewhat varying in the difference of the greatest declination making it when it is least as in our time not lesse then 23 30 and in the Periodicall restitution thereof But to speake freely I cannot so easily bee drawne into this opinion but rather thinke the greatest declination of the Sunne to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immutable and for ever the same For the little difference of a few minutes betwixt vs and Ptolomy may very well arise as I formerly said from the errour of observations by the Ancients The greatest declination of the Sunne from the Aequinoctiall towards either Pole being alwaies the same the Sunne cannot goe more Southernely from vs nor come more Northernly towards vs in this then in former ages But supposing a mutability in the Sunnes greatest declination according to the former Periods it followeth that as the Sunne about 65 yeares before the Epoche of Christ went from our verticall point more Southernly then now it doth So many Ages before Christ it went no more Southernly then now it doth and that many ages after our time it shall goe as farre Southernly as at the Epoche of Christ. Secondly when the greatest declination was most As then in Winter the Sun went more Southernly from vs then now so in Summer it came more Northernly and neerer vs then now Againe when the greatest declination is least as in our Age it goeth not so farre Southernly from vs in Winter as formerly neither in Summer comes so farre Northernly From which answere it may as I conceiue bee fitly and safely inferred first that either there is no such remoueall at all of the Sunne as is supposed or if there bee as wee who are situate more Northernly feele perchance the effects of the defects of the warmth thereof in the vnkindly ripening of our fruites and the like so likewise by the rule of proportion must it needs follow that they who lie in the same distance from the South-Pole as wee from the North should enjoy the benefite of the neerer approach thereof And they who dwell in the hottest Climates interiacent of the abating of the immoderate fervency of their heate and consequently that to the Vniversall nothing is lost by this exchange And as in this case it may happily fall out so vndoubtedly doth it in many other from whence the worlds supposed decay is concluded Wee vnderstand not or at least-wise wee consider not how that which hurts vs helpes another nation wee complaine as was before truely observed out of Arnobius as if the world were made and the government thereof administred for vs alone heereby it comes to passe that as hee who lookes onely vpon some libbat or end of a peece of Arras conceiues perhaps an hand or head which he sees to bee very vnartificially made but vnfolding the whole soone findes that it carries a due and iust proportion to the body So qui ad pauca respicit de facili pronuntiat saith Aristotle hee that is so narrow eyed as hee lookes onely to his own person or family to his owne corporation or nation will paradventure quickely conceiue and as soone pronounce that all things decay and goe backewarde whereas hee that as a Citizen of the world and a part of mankinde in generall takes a view of the Vniversall and compares person with person familie with familie nation with nation suspends his judgement or vpon examination cleerely findes that though some members suffer yet the whole is thereby no way indammaged at any time and at other times those same members are againe relieued And from hence my second inference is that supposing a mutability in the Sunnes greatest declination looke what dammage wee suffer by his farther remoueall from vs in Summer is at least-wise in part recompensed by his neerer approach in Winter and by his Periodicall Revolutions fully restored And so I passe from the consideration of the warmth to those hidden and secret qualities of the heavens which to Astronomers and Philosophers are knowne by the name of Influences CAP. 5. Touching the pretended decay of the heavenly bodies in regard of their Iufluences SECT 1. Of the first kinde of influence from the highest immoueable Heaven called by Divines Coelum Empyraeum HOwbeit Aristotle thorow those workes of his which are come to our hands to my remembrance hath not once vouchafed so much as to take notice of such qualities which wee call Influenences and though among the Ancients Auerroes and Auicenne and among those of fresher date Picus Mirandula and Georgius Agricola seeke to disproue them Yet both Scripture and Reason and the weighty authority of many great schollers aswell Christians as Ethnickes haue fully resolved mee that such there are They are by Philosophers distinguished into two rankes the first is that influence which is derived from the Empyreall immoueable heaven the pallace and Mansion house of Glorified Saints and Angells which is gathered from the diversity of Effects aswell in regard of Plants as beasts and other commodities vnder the same Climate within the same Tract and latitude equally distant from both the Poles which wee cannot well referre originally to the inbred nature of the soile since the Authour of Nature hath so ordained that the temper of the inferiour bodies should ordinarily depēd vpon the superiour nor yet to the Aspect of the moueable spheres and stars since every part of the same Climate successiuely but equally injoyes the same aspect It remaines then that these effects bee finally reduced to some superiour immoueable cause which can be none other then that Empyreall heaven neither can it produce these effects by meanes of the light alone which is vniformely dispersed thorow the whole But by some secret quality which is diversified according to the diverse parts thereof and without this wee should not onely finde wanting that connexion and vnity of order in the parts of the world which make it so comely but withall should bee forced to make one of the worthiest peeces thereof voyde of action the chiefe end of euery created being Neither can this action misbeseeme the worthinesse of so glorious a peece since both the Creator thereof is still busied in the workes of Providence and the Inhabitants in the workes of ministration SECT 2. Of the second kind derived from the Planets and fixed starres THe other kind is that which is derived from the starres the aspect of severall constellations the opposition and conjunction of the Planets the like These wee haue warranted by the mouth of God himselfe in the thirty eight of Iob according to our last and most exact Translation Canst thou binde the sweete influences of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion Canst thou bring forth Mazzoreth in his season Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sonnes Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven
He was there shewed a tooth belonging as it was thought to that St bigger then a mans fist the patterne whereof belike was taken from that huge Colossus made to represent him at the entrance of Nostre-dame in Paris more like a mountaine then a man whereas notwithstanding Baronius professeth in plaine tearmes se non habere quid dicat de Gigantea statura qua pingi consuevit that he knowes not what to say to that Gyantlike stature in which they commonly set him forth But Villauincentius goes farther dubium nemini esse picturam hanc à sanctis Patribus in hunc vsum propriè excogitatum vt Evangelij preconem adumbret that no man neede doubt but that picture was deuised of holy men to shadow forth the preacher of the Gospell who whiles hee lifts vp Christ by his preaching and carries him about to be seene and knowne is indangered in the waues of this world and yet vpheld by the staffe of hope The like tooth is to be seene in the Netherlands pretended to belong to the Gyant of Antwerpe but Goropius Becanus rather thinkes it to be the tooth of an Elephant whose conjecture is therein the more probable for that as witnesseth Verstegan at such time as the famous water passage was digged from Brussells vnto the river of Rupell at Willibrooke there was found the bones of an Elephant the head whereof which is yet reserued himselfe had seene Of latter times it hath beene written and by some strongly auerred that the body of William the Conquerour was found vncorrupt more then foure hundred yeares after it was buried and in length eight foote the former of which could not well be since his tombe being too narrow for the vnbowelled body so say our stories it brake in the laying of it downe for the latter there is as litle shew since they who haue written his life all agree that he was a man of a meane or middle stature though for his limmes actiue strong And for a full confutation of the said fable saith Stow when his restlesse bones which so hardly had obtained intombing did afterwards as vnluckily againe lose it in the yeare of Christ 1562 viz when Chastillion conducting the remnant of those that escaped at the battell of Dreux tooke the citie of Cane certaine sauage souldiers aswell English as others did beat downe vtterly deface the noble Monument of that victorious King pulling out all his bones which some of them spitefully threw away when they could not finde the treasure they falsely surmised had beene laid vp there and others specially the English snatched euery one to haue some peece of them not making any wonder of them as they would haue done if they had exceeded the length bignesse of mens bones of latter yeares whereas indeede there was no such thing noted in them as I haue beene certainely informed saith the same Authour by English men of good credit who were then present eye-witnesses at the spoyle of that Monument bones and brought some part of them into this Realme Theuet likewise in the second Tome of his Cosmographie describing the city of Cane mentioneth the rifling of his Monument but of any such monstrous bones or body there found hee speakes not a word And besides it is most vnreasonable to conceiue that within the compasse of fiue hundred yeares or little more there should be such a wonderfull abatement neither in truth if our measures be the same as then they were is it at all possible SECT 2. Diverse reasons alleadged why such bones might be found in former ages and not now and yet the ordinary stature of mankind remaine the same NOtwithstanding all this I am not so incredulous diffident or so peremptory and daring in this case as is Becanus Non credam illud Orionis apud Plynium licet Lucius Flaccus Metellus qui visum iuisse dicuntur per capita sua iurarent I will not credit that story of Orion reported by Pliny though Flaccus and Metellus who are sayd to see it should sweare by their heads it was true Let vs not wrong Antiquity so farre but deale with them as we desire our posterity should deale with vs Let vs not conceiue they were all either so vaine as to affirme they saw that which they saw not or so weake as not able to distinguish betwixt the figure of the bones of men and those of beasts fishes specially when they found the Sceleton whole and intire Much I graunt might be and no doubt was fained much mistaken much added to truth thorow errour or an itching desire of Hyperbolicall amplifications yet I cannot but beleeue that many of their relations touching this point were true howbeit a diminution of the stature of mankind in generall cannot from thence be sufficiently inforced To let goe then the conceite of Theophrastus Paracelsus that by the influence of the heavens such bones might be bred in certaine tracts veines of the earth I should rather choose to ascribe these superlatiue prodigious shapes to artificiall or supernaturall then to naturall ordinary causes For the former it may be that either great princes out of ambition and desire of honour in succeeding ages or cunning woorkemen out of curiosity haue framed and composed such peeces which posterity discouering might behold with astonishment the infernall spirits thereby to delude men and the sooner to draw them from the knowledge and worship of the true God to Idolatry and superstition haue concurred with them heerein yeelded them their assistance who being able to raise wonderfull tempests in the aire stormes in the sea I see not but they might be as able to compose such frames vnder the earth The wit and art of man may goe farre but being assisted by the Devils helpe it produceth effects almost incredible That insana substructio that huge monstrous peece of worke knowne by the name of Stone-henge neere Amesbery though it be by the Ancients tearmed Chorea Gigantum the Gyants daunce yet shall I neuer thinke that it was performed by the strength of men but rather by some sleights or Engines now vnknowne or by some artificiall composition they being no naturall stones hewen out of the rocke but artificially made of pure sand by some glewy and vnctuous matter knit and incorporated together as Camden seemes to conjecture or whether Merlin as the common saying is brought them thither reared disposed them in that order by Magicke and the helpe of Deuills I will not take vpon me to determine howsoeuer it were it is doubtles a worke for admiration nothing inferiour to the greatest Sceleton or frame of bones that was euer yet discouered And for teeth I make no question but they may by meere art be made so liuely to resemble the naturall teeth of men that the wisest will hardly be able to distinguish the counterfeite from the naturall But that which I rather
choose to insist vpon is that the bodies of such men were begotten by Devills who that they haue had carnall familiarity with women is the consent of all Antiquity Creberrima fama est sayth S. Augustine multique se experâ—…os vel ab ijs qui experti essent de quorum fide dubitandum non est audisse confirmant Sylvanos Faunos quos vulgo Incubos vocant improbos saepe extitisse mulieribus ac earum appetisse peregisse concubitum quosdam Daemones quos Dusios Galli nuncupaâ—…t hanc assidue immunditiam tentare efficere plures talesque asseuerant vt hoc negare impudentiae videatur It is commonly reported many affirme that either themselues haue found it by experience or heard it from those of whose credit there was no doubt to be made who had themselues experienced it that Satires and Fayres whom they call Incubi haue beene often lewd with women lusting after them satisfying their lust with them and that certaine Devils whom the Gaules call Dusij daily both attempt performe the samefilthines such so many affirme as to deny this were a point of impudence nay there are yet many nations saith Viues in his commentaries on that place which count it an honour to draw their pedegree from Devils who had the company of women in the shape of men Thus not a few of the Ancients imagined those Gyants mentioned in the sixth of Genesis to haue beene begotten as the Heathen likewise for the most part deriue their Heroes and mighty men from the like originall And that the birthes of such monstrous mixtures must needes be monstrous Tostatus truely observeth Talibus conceptibus robustissimi homines procerissimi nasci solent of such conceptions are wont to be borne the strongest tallest of men And Vallesius hauing giuen the reason heereof at large which for feare of offending chast eares I list not heere to repeate at last concludes Robusti ergo grandes vt nascerentur poterant ita Daemones procurare Thus then the Devills might procure that mighty huge Gyants should be borne whose both opinion reasons heerein are both approued and farther proued by Delrio in his Magicall disquisitions The euidence heereof will yet farther appeare if wee consider that where God was least known the Devill most powerfully reigned there these impure Acts were most frequently practised which is the reason as I conceiue that among the Hebrewes the chosen people of God wee reade of no such matter nay those Gyants we find mentioned in holy writ were for the most part of other Nations But since the incarnation of the Sonne of God our blessed Saviour who came to dissolue the workes of the Devill the delusions of these spirits haue vanished as a mist before the Sun though their kingdome be not at an end yet is their malice much restrained and their power abated Which Plutarch himselfe ingeniously confesseth in that excellent discourse of his Cur Oracula edi desijrint why the Oracles ceased and to this purpose relates a memorable story which he reports from the mouth of one Epitherses sometimes his schoole-master that he imbarking for Italy and being one euening becalmed before the Paxe too litle Ilands that lie between Corâ—…yra Leucadia they suddainely heard a voyce from the shore most of the Passengers being yet awake calling to one Thamus a Pilot by birth an Egyptian who till the third call would not answere then quoth the voyce when thou art come to the Palodes proclaime it alowd that the great Pan is dead all in the ship that heard this were amased when drawing neere to the foresaid place Thamus standing on the pup of the shippe did vtter what was formerly commaunded forthwith there was heard a great lamentation accompanied with groanes and schreeches This comming to the knowledge of Tiberius Caesar he sent for Thamus who avouched the truth thereof And hereby was declared as we may well conceiue the subjection of Sathan by the death of Christ so that now he had no longer power to abuse the illuminated world with his impostures By this then appeares both the reason of such vast enormous bodies as were in former times and withall the Cause why they haue ceased since in succeeding ages To which we may adde that if wee should ascribe these effects to God himselfe and his extraordinary power for the manifestation of his greatnes yet as other miracles so likewise these are now growne out of date and vse hee manifesting himselfe to vs in a cleerer manner rather by the gratious power of his word then the miraculous greatnes of his power and so our Conclusion still remaines firme that the stature of mankinde is not generally impaired in regard of any such vniversall decay in the course of Nature as is pretended SECT 3. An answere to the argument drawne from the testimonies on behalfe of the adverse opinion THe second maine rubbe which to many giues occasion of stumbling and comes now to be remoued is the authority of diverse graue writers and those not onely of latter stampe but such as haue beene and still are accounted Venerable aswell for learning as Antiquity Among which the most Eminent that I finde named by the adverse part are Gellius Pliny Iuvenall Virgill and Homer and that I may neither wrong the Authours nor Vouchers I will produce them speaking in their owne words Gellius hauing alleadged the opinion of Varro that the vtmost point of mans growth in the course of nature is seaven foote and hauing stiled Herodotus a Fabler for saying the body of Orestes was seaven cubits presently adds Nisi si vt Homerus opinatus est vastiora prolixioraque fuerint corpora hominum Antiquorum nunc quasi jam mundo senescente rerum atque hominum decrementa sint Vnles as Homer thought men were anciently bigger taller and now as if the world waxed old there be a decrease both of things and men But this Nisi si of Gellius is too weake thereby to draw him to their side specially considering what he had said immediatly before out of Varro Which testimony of his prevailes somuch with Peter Martyr that hee cannot yeeld any decrease since the floud si rogarer sayth he an existimem corpora humana quae postea fuerunt ab ijs imminâ—…ta esse quae ante diluvium producebantur fortassis annuerem sed quod à diluvio vsque ad hanc nostram aetatem perpetuo decrescant id non facile concederem verbis praesertim annotatis quae Aulos Gellius 3 libr scripsit vbi ait modum adolescendi humani corporis esse septem pedum quae mensura hodie quoque videtur esse staturae procerioris In Apocryphis tamen Esdrae legimus lib. 4. ad finem 5. cap. ne quid dissimulem nunc minora esse corpora nostra ac indies imminuenda quod natura semper magis effoeta reddatur Idemque vt paulo ante
as they did And for the strength of their Physicke let vs heere Goropius a famous Physitian and doubtles a very learned man as his workes testifie and his greatest adversaries cannot but confesse Dicunt olim medicamenta multò vehementiora data fuissâ—… quà m nunc hominum natura ferre possit They say that the Physicke which the Ancients administred was much stronger then the nature of man is now capable of to which he replies eos qui sic arbitrantur insigniter falli contendo ferunt enim corpora aequè nunc helleborum atque olim eodem vel majori pondere vt ipse in alijs meipso sum expertus Verùm inscitia eorum qui nihil Medici habent praeter titulum vestem longam impudentem arrogantiam in causa est vt sic opinentur I am confident that those who thus thinke are notablely deceiued in asmuch as our bodies can now aswell endure the like or greater quantity of Elleborum as I haue made triall in my selfe others But the ignorance of such as haue indeed nothing in them of the Physitian but the bare title a long gowne and impudent arrogancie is the cause that men so thinke And with him heerein plainely accords Leonardus Giachinus of the same profession who hauing composed a Treatise purposely to shew what damage arises to learning by preferring Authority before reason makes this the title of his first Chapter Corpora nostra eadem ferre posse auxilia quibus Veteres vsi sunt idque cum ratione tum experientia comprobari That our bodies now a dayes may well enough suffer the same helpes of Physicke which the Ancients vsed that this may be made euident aswell by reason as experience And I suppose skilfull Physitians will not deny but that the Physicke of former times agrees with ours as in the receites so for the dosis and quantity and for them who hold a generall decay in the course of Nature they are likewise forced to hold this For if plants and drugges and minerals decay in their vertue proportionablely to the body of man as is the common opinion then must it consequently follow that the same quantity hauing a lesse vertue may without daunger and with good successe be administred to our bodies though inferiour in strength Roger Bacon in his booke de erroribus medicorum tells vs that the disposition of the heavens is changed euery Centenary or thereabout and consequently that all things growing from the earth change their complexions as also doth the body of man and therevpon infers that eaedem proportiones medicinarum non sunt semper continuandae sed exigitur observantia certa secundum temporis discensum The same proportions of medicines are not still to be continued but there is required a certain quantity according to the variation of time Where by the change of the disposition of the heavens I cannot conceiue that he intends it alwayes for the worst for so should he crosse himselfe in the same booke neither for any thing I know haue we any certainty of any such change as he speakes of but this am I sure of that if together with the heauens the plants change their tempers and with the plants the body of man then needs there no alteration in the proportion of medicines in asmuch as what art should therein supply nature her selfe preuents performes But for mine own part holding a naturall decay in neither vpon that ground as I conceiue may more safely be warranted the continuance of the ancient proportions Now touching the drawing of blood I know it is said that Galen vsually drew six pounds at the opening of a veine whereas we for the most part stoppe at six ounces which is in truth a great difference if true specially in so short a time he liuing three hundred yeares or thereabout since Christ. For decision then of this point we must haue recourse to Galen himselfe who in that booke which he purposely composed of cures by letting of blood thus writes Memini quibusdam ad sex vsque libras sanguinem detractum fuisse ita vt febris extingueretur I remember that from some I haue drawne six pounds of blood which hath ridde them of their feuer yet from others he tooke but a pound and a halfe or one pound and sometimes lesse as he saw occasion neither in old time nor in these present times was the quantity euer definite or certaine but both then and now variable more or lesse according to strength the disease age or other indications and in pestilent fevers his advise is vbi valida virtus subest aetas permittit vsque ad animae defectum sanguinem mittere expedit where the strength and age of the patient will beare it it will doe well to take blood euen to a fainting or sounding and such was the case as by his owne words it appeares in which he drew so great a quantity Neither is this without example in our age Ambrose Par a French Surgeon a man expert in his profession as his bookes shew reports that he drew from a patient of his in foure dayes twenty seven pallets euery pallet of Paris containing three ounces more so that he drew from him about seven pounds allowing twelue ounces to the pound which was the account that Galen followed as appeares in his owne Treatise of weights and measures and so continues it in vse among Physitians and Apothecaries vnto this day The whole quantity of blood in a mans body of a sound constitution and middle stature was anciently estimated and so is it still at about three gallons and I haue beene informed by a Doctour of Physicke of good credit and eminent place in this Vniversity that a patient of his hath bled a gallon at nose in one day and hath done well after it which as I conceiue could not be so little as seuen or eight pounds allowing somewhat lesse then a pound to a pint in asmuch as I haue found a pint of water to weigh sixteene ounces Now what Nature hath done with tollerance of life Art may come neere vnto vpon just cause without danger And if any desire to be farther informed in this point he need goe no further then the Medicinall observations of Iohannes Shenkius de capite Humano where to his 333 observation hee prefixes this title Prodigiosae narium haemorragiae quae interdum 18 interdum 20 nonnunquam etiam 40 sanguinis librae profluxere Prodigious bleedings at the nose in which sometimes 18 sometimes 20 sometimes 40 pouÌ„ds of blood haue issued The Authors from whom he borroweth his observations are Matheus de Gradi in his commentaries vpon the 35 chapter of Rasis ad Almans Brasauolus comment ad Aphor. 23. lib. 5. Donatus lib. de variolis morbillis cap. 23. Lusitanus Curat 100. Cent. 2. And againe Curat 60 Cent. 7 his instances are of a Nunne who voided by diverse passages 18 pounds of bloud of Diana a