in holy Scripture begin but likewise from the same Light for in vain it were were it not seen as Bartas excellently Expresseth O Father of the Light of wisedom Fountain Out of the Bulk of that confused Mountain What should what could issue before the Light Without which Beauty were no beauty hight St. Augustine in divers places of his works is of opinion That by the first Created Light we understood the Angels and herein is he followed by Beda Eucherius and Rupertus and divers others which opinion of his though it be questionless unsound in as much as we are taught That the Light fâ—râ—ng out of Darkness 2 Cor. 4. 6. Which of the Angels can in no sort be verified yet it shews the lightsome nature of Angels so likewise the Angelical nature of Light still flourishing in youth and is no more subject to decay then the Angels are They who maintain that the Soul of Man is derived ex traduce hold withall that the Father in begetting the sons Soul looses none of his own it being tanquam Lumen de Lumine as one Light from another nay more then so it is the very resemblance that the Nicene Fathers thought not unmeet to express the unexpressible Generation of the second Person in the Trinity from the First who is therefore termed by the Apostle The brightness of his Glory Heb. 1 3. As then the Father of the Communicating of his Substance to his Son looses none of his own so the Sun by Communicating of his Light to the World looses no part nor degree thereof Some things there are of that nature as they may be both given and kept as Knowledg and Vertue and Happiness and Light which in Holy Scripture is Figuratively taken for them all Whether the same Individual Light be still resident in the body of the Sun which was planted in it at the first Creation or whether it continue empty and spend it self and so lâ—ke a River be repared with fresh supplies for my part I cannot certainly affirm though I must confess I do rather incline to the former But this I believe as the body of the Sun is no whit lessened in extention so neither is the Light thereof in intention Men being now no more able to fix their eyes upon it when it shines forth in its full strength then they were at the first Creation of it Now we have spoken of the Light we shall next discourse of the warmth and influence thereof which springs from it which now succede in their order The Light of Heaven of which we have spoken is not more comfortable and useful then is the warmth thereof with a Masculine vertue it quickens all kind of Seeds it makes them Vegitate blossom and fructifie and brings their Fruit to Perfection for the use of Man and Beast and the perpetuating of their own kindness nay it wonderfully refresheth and chears up the Spirits of Men Beasts Birds and creeping things and not only imparts the life of Vegitation but of Sense and Motion to many thousand Creatures and like a tender Parent fosters and cherisheth it being imparted Some there are that live without the light of Heaven searching into and working upon those Bodies which the Light cannot pierce but none without the warmth it being in nature the universal instrument thereof which made the Psalmist say That there is nothing hid from the heat of the Sun Few things are hid from the Light but from the Heat thereof nothing I am not ignorant that St. Augustine St. Basil St. Ambrose and many Divines held that there were Waters properly so termed above the Starry Firmament who held withal that the Sun and Starrs cause heat as being of a fiery Nature those waters being set there in their Opinion for the cooling of that heat which Opinion of theirs seems to be favoured by Syracides in the forty third of Ecclesiasticus where he thus speaks of the Sun At noon it parcheth the Country and who can abide the burning heat thereof A man blowing a Furnace is in works of heat but the Sun bu neth the Mountains three times more breathing out fiery vapours Neither were there wanting some among the Ancient Philosophers who maintained the same Opinion as Plato and Pliny and generally the whole Sect of Stoicks who held that the Sun and the Starrs were fed with watery vapours which they drew up for their nourishment and that when the vapours should cease and fail the whole world should be in danger of combustion and many things are alledged by Baelbo in Cicero's Second Book of the Nature of the Gods in favour of this Opinion of the Stoick But that the Sun and Starrs are not in truth fiery and hot appears by the ground already laid touching the matter of the Heavens that it is of a nature incorruptible which cannot be if it were fiery in as much as thereby it would become lyable to alteration and corruption by an opposite and professed enemy besides all fiery bodies by a natural inclination mount upwards so that if the Starrs were the cause of heat as being hot in themselves it would consequently follow that their circular Motion should not be natural but violent Whereunto I may adde the noted Starrs being so many in number namely One thousand twenty and two besides the Planets and in Magnitude so great that every one of those which appear fixed in the Firmament are said to be much bigger then the whole Globe of the Water and Earth and the Sun again so much to exceed both that Globâ— and the biggest of them as it may justly be stiled by the Son of Syrac Instrumentum admirabile A wonderful instrument Ecclesiast 43. 1. Which being so were they of fire they would doubtless long ere this have turned the World into ashes there being so infinite a disproportion betwixt their flame and the little quantity of matter supposed to be prepared for their Fewel That therefore they should be 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 Air and then distill again upon the Water and the Earth from whence they were drawn up and those vapours being uncertain the flames likewise feeding upon them must needs be uncertain and daily vary from themselves both in quantity and figure according to the proportion of their Fewel The absurdity then of this Opinion being so foule and gross it remains that the Sun and Starrs infuse a warmth into these Subcoelestial Bodies as not being hot in themselves but only as being ordained by God to bread heat in matter capable thereof as they impart life to some Creatures and yet themselves remain void of life like the brain which imparts sense to every Member of the Body and yet is it self utterly void of sense But here again some there are which attribute this effect to the Motion others to the Light of these glorious
A BRIEF Natural History Intermixed with variety OF Philosophical Discourses AND REFUTATIONS Of such VULGAR ERROURS As our Modern Authors have hitherto omitted By Eugenius Philalethes LONDON Printed for Matthew Smelt next door to the Castle near Moor-gate 1669. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER I Presume I shall no sooner appear upon the Stage I am prepared for but I must without evasion expect to be assaulted by that furious and inconsiderate Monster called Censour whose lashes I will receive with the same slight concern the Lacedemonians did the cruelty of their Correctors sporting themselves whilst their backs were torn with the unmerciful Whip Of that efficacy is Resolution that it presents pain but meer Opinion and values a scoffing Lucian or a satyrical Memphus no more then a harmless Hellespont did the vain threats of a proud Xerxes Seneca saith well better aliud agere quam nihil for Idleness is the Devils opportunity the Considerations of which with my assent to the Judgment of Thucidides who sayes To know a thing and not to express it is all one as thongh he knew it not made me to expose my self to publick view My Subject is good and great called by the Name of Nature here I present her expressing mans Ingratitude who is fit to strip her of those Robes of Priviledge that God himself hath endowed her with not considering that what she acts is by the vertue of his Power and that She is one of those Mirrours that represents him to us which a Philosophick Passion adores as the supream Efficient But indeed how can She expect our Veneration till we have divested our selves of that prejudice ignorance possesses us with which must be done by a serious reflex upon her Effects as this little Volumn will acquaint you if you read it with an impartial and unbyased Reason for I have as all others of the same Inclination must do used Philosophy as the Tellescope by which we must make our Observations as you will when you see find my curiosity descending to little Insects and that with wonder at their production out of Corruption from thence I view her care in beautifying this little Globe we live in with Robes sutable to every Season and when I ascend the lower Region and mark the Clouds ranging themselves in such bodies as though they intended another Deluge it occasions wonder so likewise the coldness of the middle Region with the heat of the upper and the Element of Fire must be Miracles to ignorance And if we observe the Moon with the Motion attending that of the Seas flux and reflux it would make us judge that there is some secret contract made ab Origine betwixt her and the watery Element Mercury and Venus I have spoken of in their places the next that presents us with cause of Admiration is the glorious Sun the Luminary of the Universe called by some and not improperly the Anima Mundi for we find her approach gives life to Vegitives sense to Animals and almost a new Nature to Rationals As for Mars Jupiter and Saturn the Eighth Sphere and Christalline Heaven the Empyreum I have treated on if not like a knowing Secretary of Nature yet a submiss Admirer of her And whereas I make a refutation of Errours as an addition to my Title some perhaps will say I am like the Tinker that for stopping of one hole make two or for my refuting of one Errour I have made two it may be I have in the Opinion of some But whether I have or no who shall be judge for what appears an Errour to one is to another a very evident truth sometimes a Week or a Day nay an hour puts a change upon an Opinion of many years standing But let my Errours be as great and as many as I pretend to correct Reason shall convince me and command my Acknowledgment for it 's our Errours that presents us human I have writ this to give Satisfaction to others if I can but if not howsoever I have secured it to my self And let the Reader judge of it as it pleases him I have writ that which delights me And if envie cause a misapplication of my intention it matters not the contempt of it will make me bold to say I value it and thee after the rate as thou dost it and me The assertions here laid down are plain and perspicuous convincing and satisfactory to the intelligent But I know that common prejudice which is usually taken of any thing though never so true which is contrary to any mans belief it does beget such Passion and animosity c. and makes such a breach as is hardly to be repaired And since our own Opinion may make it disputable what reason we have to pretend of convince another by I shall only offer this for common satisfaction that things demonstrable are the most evident marks of Truth and that they are so clearly manifested in this little Book deserves nothing but sobriety and moderation and a well weighing of the matter herein contained Reader I am loth to leave thee but that I would not keep thee from the Book it self which I hope will be to thy ample satisfaction c. Vale. Eugenius Philalethes A Brief Natural History Intermixed With variety of Philosophical Discourses c. GOD by his presential Essence gives unto all things an Essence so that if he should withdraw himself from them as out of Nothing they were first made so into Nothing they would be again resolved In the preservation then of the Creature we are not to consider so much the impotency and weakness thereof as the goodness wisdom and power of the Creator in whom and by whom and for whom they live move and have their being The spirit of the Lord filleth the world saith the Author of the Wisdom of Solomon and the secret working of the Spirit which thus pierceth through all things as Virgil AEneid 6 hath excellently exprest Principio coelum ac terras camposque Liquentes Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaq astra Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem magno se corpore miscet The Heavens the Earth and all the Liquid Main The Moons bright Globe and Stats Titanian A Spirit within maintains and their whole Mass A Mind which through each part infus'd doth pass Fashions and works and wholly doth transpierce All this great body of the Universe The Spirit the Platonists call the Soul of the World by it it is in some sort quickned and formalized as the body of Man is by its reasonable Soul There is no question then but that this Soul of the World if we may so speak with reverence being in truth no other then the immortal spirit of the Creator is able for to make the Body of the World Immortal and to preserve it from Dissolution as he doth the Angels and the spirits of men were it not that he hath determined to dissolve it by the
same supernatural and extraordinary Power by which at the first he gave it existence For my own part I constantly believe that it had a beginning and shall have an ending and judg him not worthy of the name of a Christian who is not of the same mind yet so as I believe both to be matter of faith Through Faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God Heb. 11. 3. And through the same Faith we understand likewise that they shall be again unframed by the same Word Reason may grope at this truth in the dark howbeit it can never clearly apprehend it till it be enlightned by the bright beams of Faith Though I deny not but that it is probable though not demonstrative and convincing Arguments may be drawn from the discourse of Reason to prove either the one or the other I remember the Philosophers propose a question Uirum Mundus filo generall concursu Dei perpetâ—â— durare possit and for the most part they conclude it affirmatively even such as professed the Christian Religion and for the proof of this assertion they bring in effect this reason The Heavens say they are of a nature which is not capable of it self of corruption the loss of the Elements is recovered by compensation of mixt bodies without Life by accretion of living bodies by succession the fall of the one being the rise of the other as Rome triumphed in the ruines of Alba and the depression of one Scale is the elevation of another according to that of Solomon One generation passeth away and another generation cometh but the Earth abideth for ever Eccles. 1. 4. Again all Subcoelestial Bodies as is evident consist of Matter and Form now the first Matter having nothing contrary unto it cannot by the force of Nature be destroyed and being Created immediately by God it cannot be abolished by any inferiour Agent And as for the Forms of Natural Bodies no sooner doth any one abandon the Matter it informed but another instantly steps into the place thereof no sooner hath one acted his part and is retired but another presently comes forth upon the Stage though it may be in a different shape and to act a different part so that no proportion of Matter is or at any time can be altogether void and empty but like Vertumnes or Proteus it turns it self into a thousand Shapes and is alwayes supplied and furnished with one Form or other by a power Divine above Nature but to proceed such and so great is the Wisdom the Bounty and the Omnipotence which God hath expressed in the Frame of the Heavens that the Psalmist might justly say The Heavens declare the glory of God Psal. 19. 1. The Sun and the Moon and the Stars serving as so many Silver and Golden Characters embroidered upon azure for the daily Preaching and Publishing thereof to the World And surely if he have made the floor of this great house so beautiful and garnished it with such wonderful variety of Beasts of Trees of Herbs of Flowers we need wonder the less at the Magnificence of the Roof which is the highest part of the World and the nearest to the Mansion House of Saints and Angels Now as the excellency of these bodies appear in their Situation their Matter their Magnitude and their Spherical and Circular Figure so specially in their great use and efficacy not only that they are for Signes and Seasons and for Days and Years but in that by their Motion their Light their warmth and Influence they guide and govern nay cherish and maintain breed and beget these Inferiour Bodies even of Man himself for whose sake the Heavens were made It is truly said of the Prince of Philosophers Sol homo generunt hominem the Sun and Man beget Man Man concurring in the generation of Man as an immediate and the Sun as a remote cause And in another place he doubts not to affirm of this inferiour World in general Necessa est Mundum inferiorem super in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibus continuari ut â—â—â—â—is inde Virtus â—â—rivetur It is requisite that these inferiour parts of the World should be co-joyned to the Motions of the higher Bodies that so all their Virtue and vigour might be from thence derived There is no question but the Heavens have a marvellous great stroak upon the Air the Water the Earth the Plants the Mettals the Beasts and upon Man himself at least wise in regard of his body and natural faculties To let pass the quailing and withering of all things by their recess and their reviving and resurrection as it were by the reaccess of the Sun I am of opinion that the sap of the trees so precisely follows the motion of the Sun that it never rests but is in a continual agitation as the Sun it self which no sooner arrives at the Tropick but he instantly returns and even at the very instant as I conceive and I think it may be demonstrated by experimental Conclusions the sap which by degrees descended with the declination of the Sun begins to remove at the approach thereof by the same steps that it descended And as the approach of the Sun is scarce sensible at his first return but afterwards the day increases more in one week than before in two in like manner also fares it with the Sap in Plants which at the first ascends up insensibly and slowly but within a while much more swiftly and apparently It is certain that the Tulip Marigold and Sun-flower open with the rising and shut with the setting of the Sun so that though the Sun appear not a man may more infallibly know when it is high noon by their full spreading then by the Index of a Clock or Watch. The Hop in its growing windeth it self about the Pole always following the course of the Sun from East to West and can by no means be drawn to the contrary choosing rather to break then yield It is observed by those that Sayl between the Tropicks that there is a constant set Wind blowing from the East to the West Saylers call it the Breeze which rises and falls with the Sun and is always highest at noon and is commonly so strong partly by its own blowing and partly by over-ruling the Currant that they who sayl to Peru cannot well return the same way they came forth And generally Marriners do observe that caeteris paribus they sayl with more speed from the East to the West then back again from the West to the East in the same compass of time All which should argue a wheeling about of the Air and Waters by the diurnal Motion of the Heavens and especial by the motion of the Sun Whereunto may be added that high-Sea springs of the year are always nearer about the two AEquinoctials and Solstices and the Cock as a trusty Watchman both at midnight and break of day gives notice of the Suns approach These be the strange and secret effects of
the Sun upon the inferiour Bodies whence by the Gentiles he was held the visible God of the World and termed the Eye thereof which alone saw all things in the World and by which the World saw all things in it self Omnia qui videt per quem videt omnia Mundus And most notably it is described by the Psalmist in them hath he set a Tabernacle for the Sun which is as a Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race his going forth is from the beginning of the Heaven and his Circuite to the end of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof Psal. 19 4 5 6. Now as the effects of the Sun the head-spring of Light and warmth are upon these inferiour Bodies more active so those of the Moon as being Ultima caelo Citima terris nearer the Earth and holding a greater resemblance therewith are no less Manifest And therefore the Husbandman in sowing and setting grafting and planting lopping of Trees and felling of Timber and the like upon good reason observes the waxing and waining of the Moon which Learned Zanchius in his Operibus Dei well allows of commending Hesiod for his rules therein Quod ex Lunae decrementis incrementis totius agricolationis signa notet quis improbet who can mislike it that Hesiod sets down the signs in the whole course of Husbandry from the waxing and waining of the Moon the Tides and ebbs of the Sea follow the course of it so exactly as the Sea-men will tell you the age of the Moon only by the sight of the Tide as certainly as if he saw it in the water It is the observation of Aristotle and Pliny out of him That Oysters Mussels Cockles Lobsters Crabbs c. and generally all Shell-fish grow fuller in the increase of the Moon but emptier in the decrease thereof Such a strong predominancy it hath upon the Brain of Man that Lunaticks borrow their very name from it as also doth the Stone Selenites whose property as St. Augustine and Georgius Agricola records it is to increase and decrease in Light with the Moon carrying always the resemblance thereof with it self Neither can it reasonably be imagined that other Planets and Stars and parts of Heaven are without their forcible operations upon these lower Bodies specially considering that the very Plants and Herbs of the Earth which we tread upon have their several vertues as well single by themselves as in composition with other ingredients The Physitian in opening of a Vein hath ever an eye to the Sign then reigning The Canicular Star especially in those hotter Climates was by the Ancients always held a dangerous Enemy to the practise of Physick and all kind of Evacuations Nay Galen himself the Oracle of that profession adviseth practitioners in that Art in all their cures to have a special regard to the reigning Constellations and Conjunctions of the Planets But the most admirable mâ—stery of Nature in my Mind is the turning of Iron touched with the Load-stone towards the North Pole of which I shall have occasion to discourse more largely hereafter in another Tract neither were it hard to add much more to that which hath been said to shew the dependance of these Elementary Bodies upon the Heavenly Almighty God having ordained that the higher should serve as intermediate Agents or secondary Causes but so as in the Wheels of a Clock though the failing of the Superiour cannot but cause a failing in the Inferiour yet the failing of the Inferiour may well argue somewhat for it self though it cannot cause a failing in the Superiour we have great Reason then as I conceive to begin with the examination of the State of Coelestial Bodies in as much as upon them the condition of the subcoelestial depends Wherein five things will offer themselves to our consideration their Substances their Motion their Light their Warmth and their Influence That the Heavens are endued with some kind of Matter though some Philosophers in their jangling humours have made a doubt of it yet I think no sober and wise Christian will deny it But whether the Matter of it be the same with that of these inferiour Bodies adhuc sub Judice lis est it hath been and still is a great question among Divines The Ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Primitive Church for the most part following Plato hold that it agrees with the nature of the Elementary Bodies yet so as it is compounded of the finest flower and choicest delicacy of the Elements But the Schoolmen on the one side that follow Aristotle adhere to his Quintessence and by no means will be beaten from it since say they If the Elements and the Heavens should agree in the same Matter it should consequently follow that there should be a mutual Traffique and Commerce a reciprocal Action and Passion between them which would soon draw on a change and by degrees a ruine upon those glorious Bodies Now though this point will never I think be fully and finally determined till we come to be inhabitants of that place whereof we dispute for hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon Earth And with labour do we find the things that aâ—e at hand but the things that are in Heaven who hath searched out Wisâ— 9. 16. Yet for the present I should state it thus that they agree in the same Original Matter and surely Moses methinks seems to favour this opinion making but one Matter as far as I can gather from the Text out of which all bodily substances were Created Unus irat toto vultus in Orbe Ovid. 1. Metam So as the Heavens though they be 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 cold or drought or moisture nor yet to weight or lightness which arise from those qualities but have a Form given them which differeth from the Forms of all corruptible Bodies so as it suffereth nor nor can it suffer from any of them being so excellent and perfect in it self as it wholly satiateth the appetite of the Matter that is informeth The Coelestial Bodies then meeting with so noble a Form to actuate them are not nor cannot in the course of Nature be lyable to any Generation or Corruption in regard of their Substance to any augmentation or diminution in regard of their quantity no nor any obstructive alteration in respect of their qualities I am not ignorant that the controversies touching the Form what it should be is no less then touching the Matter some holding it to be a living and a quickning Spirit nay a sensitive and rational Soul which opinion is stiffly maintained by many great and learned Clerks both Jews and Gentiles and Christians supposing it unreasonable that the Heavens which impart life to other Bodies should themselves be destitute of Life But this Errour is
weight and credit to the relation being somewhat strange and rare I will set it down in the very words of Varro as I find them quoted by St. Augustine in coelo mirabile extitit portentum nâ—m in Stella Veneris nobilissima quam Plautus vesperuginem Homerus Hisperon appellat pulcherimam dicent Castor scribit tantum portentum exâ—â—tisse ut mutaret colorâ—â— magnitudinam figuram eursum quod factum ita neque antea neque postea â—iâ— hoc factum Ogyge Rege dicebant Adrastus Cyzicenus Dyon Neapolites Mathematici Nobiles saith he appeared a marveilous great wonder the most noted Star cal'd Venus which Plautus calls Vesperugo and Homer Vesperus the fair as Castor hath left upon Record changed both colour and bigness figure and motion which accident was never seen before nor since that time the renouned Mathematicians Adrastus and Dion averring that this fell out during the Reign of King Ogyges which wonder neither Varro nor Augustine ascribe to the changeable matter of the Heavens but to the unchangeable will of the Creator And therefore the one calls it as we see mirabile portentum and the other makes this Comment upon it that it happened quia ille voluit qui summo regit imperio ac potestate quod condidit because he would have it so who governs all things that he hath made with a Soveraign independing Power So that two special reasons may be rendred for these extraordinary unusual Apparitions in Heaven the one that they may declare to the World that they have a Creatour and Commander who can alter and destroy their Natures restrain or suspend their operations at his pleasure which should keep men from worshiping them as Gods since they cannot keep themselves from alteration The other to portend and foreshew his Judgments as did that new Star in Caessopaeia a most unnatural inundation of Blood in France And this change in Venus such a Deluge in Achaia as it overflowed and so wasted the whole Country that for the space of Two hundred years after it was not Inhabited It will next fall to our task to Discover of the Eclipses of which Virgil in his Georg. Lib. 2. Calls Defectus Solis varios Lunaeque Labores Defects and travels of the Sun and Moon As also the manner of the Ancient Romans while such Eclipses lasted who as Tacitus in his Annals saith Lib. 7. Did use to lift up burning Torches towards Heaven and withal to beat pans of Brass and Basons as we do in following of a swarm of Bees So Bâ—etius Lib. 4. Met. Commâ—vâ—t Gentes publicus Error Lassantque crâ—bris pâ—lsibus ara A Common Error through the world doth pass And many a stroke they lay on pans of Brass And Manilius speaking of the appearance of the Moons Eclipse by degrees in diverse parts of the Earth in his Lib. 1. Seraque in extremis quatiuntâ—â— gentibus ara The utmost Coasts do beat their Brass pans Last And Juvenal the Satyrist wittily describing a tatling Gosship in his Lib. 2. Sat. 6. Una lâ—boranti poterit succurrâ—re Lunae She only were enough to help The Labours of the Moon They thought thereby they did the Moon great ease and helped her in her Labour as Plutarch in his Life of AEmilius observeth That AEmilius himself a wise man as the same Author there Witnesseth did congratulate the Moons delivery from an Ecclipse with a solemn Sacrifice as soon as she shined out bright again which action of his that prudent Philosopher and sage Historian doth not only relate but approve and commendeth it as a sign of godliness and devotion yea this Heathenish and Sottish custom of relieving the Moon in this case by noise and out-cries the Christians it seems borrowed from the Gentiles as St Ambrose expresses in his Ser. 83. And Maximus Turriuensis hath a Homile to the same purpose Whereas Aristotle in his eighth Book of his Metaphysicks makes it plainly to appear That the Moon suffereth nothing by her Ecclipse where also he evidenceth by reason that it is caused by the shadow of the Earth interposed betwixt the Sun and the Moon as in exchange or revenge thereof as Pliny speaketh the Ecclipse of the Sun is caused by the Interposition of the Moon betwixt the Earth and it The Moon so depriving the Earth and again the Earth the Moon of the beams of the Sun which is the true cause that in the course of Nature the Moon is never Ecclipsed but when she is Full the Sun and She being then in opposition nor the Sun but when it is New Moon those two Planets being then in Conjunction I say in the course of Nature foâ— the Ecclipse at our Saviours Passion was undoubtedly Supernatural Quam solis obscurationem â—â—â— ex â—â—nico syderâ—â—â— cursu accidisse satis oftenditur quod tune er at Pascha Judeâ—â—â— nam plâ—nae Luna solemniter agitur saith St. Augustin Lib. 3. Civit Dei cap. 15. It is evident that that Ecclipse of the Sun happened not by an ordinary and orderly course of the Starrs it being then the Passover of the Jews which was solemnized at the Full Moon And this was it that gave occasion as is commonly believed to that memorable exclamation of Dennys the Areopagite being then in Egypt Aut Diuâ— Naturâ— patitur aut Machina Mâ—â—â—di dissolvetur Either the God of Nature suffers or the Frame of the World will be dissolved And hereupon too as it is thought by some was erected the Altar at Athens Ignotâ— Deâ— Tâ— the unknown God Act. 17. 23. Though others think that this Eclipse was confined in the borders of Judaea howsoever it cannot be denyed but that it was certainly besides and above the compass of Nature Neither ought it to seem strange That the Sun in the Firmament of Heaven should appear to suffer when the Sun of Righteousness indeed Suffered upon the Earth But for other Ecclipses though the causes be not commonly known yet the ignorance of them was it which caused so much Superstition in former Ages and left that impression in mens minds as even at this day wise men can hardly be perswaded but that those Planets suffer in their Ecclipses which in the Sun is most childish and ridiculous to imagine since in it self it is not so much as deprived of any Light nor in truth can be it being the Fountain of Light from which all other Starrs borrow their Light but pay nothing back again to it by way of retribution Which was well expressed by Pericles as Plutarch in his Life reports it for there happening an Ecclipse of the Sun at the very instant when his Navy was ready to Lanch forth and himself was imbarked his followers began much to be appald at it but especially the Master of his own Gally which Pericles perceiving takes his Cloak and therewith hood winks the Masters eyes and then demands of him what danger was in that he answering none Neither said Pericles is there in this Ecclipse
Bodies And true indeed it is that Motion causes Heat by the attenuation and rarefaction of the Air But by this reason should the Moon which is nearer the Earth warm more than the Sun which is many thousand miles farther distant and the higher Regions of the Air should be always hotter than the lower which notwithstanding if we compare the second with the lowest is undoubtedly false Moreover the Motion of the Coelestial Bodies being uniform so should the heat in reason derived from them likewise be and the Motion ceasing the Heat should likewise and yet I shall never believe that when the Sun stood still at the Prayer of Joshua it then ceased to warm these Inferiour Bodies And we find by experience that the Sun works more powerfully upon a Body which stands still then when it moves and the reason seems to be the same in the rest or Motion of a Body warming or warmed that receiveth or imparteth heat The Motion being thus excluded from being the cause of this Effect the Light must of necessity step in and challenge it to its self the Light then it is which is the cause undoubtedly of Coelestial heat in part by a direct beam but more vehemently by a reflexed for which very reason it is that the middle Region of the Air is always colder then the lowest and the lowest hotter in the Summer then in the Winter and at Noon then in the Morning and Evening the beams being then more Perpendicular and consequently in their reflection more narrowly united by which reflexion and union they grow sometimes to that fervency of heat that fire springs out from them as we see in Burning-glasses And by this artificial device it was that Archimedes as Galen reports it in his third Book De temperamentis Cap. 1. Set on fire the Emperours Ships and Proclus a famous Mathematician practised the like at Constantinople as witnesseth Zonarus in the life of Anastatius the Emperour And very reasonable methinks it is That Light the most Divine Affection of the Coelestial Bodies should be the cause of warmth the most noble active and excellent quality of the Subcoelestial These two like Hippocrates Twins Simul oriuntur moriuntur they are born and dye together they increase and decrease both together the greater the Light is the greater the Heat and therefore the Sun as much exceeds the other Starrs in Heat as it doth in Light The Suns continual Declination or nearer approach to the Earth is rather an idle Dream than a sound position grounded rather upon the difference amongst Astronomers arising from the difficulty of their observations then upon any certain or infallible conclusion Ptolomy who lived about the year of Christ one hundred and forty makes the distance of the Sun to be from the Earth One thousand two hundred and ten Semidiameters of the Earth Albategnius about the year Eight hundred and eighty makes it One thousand one hundred and forty six Copernicus about the year One thousand five hundred and twenty makes it One thousand five hundred and seventy nine Tycobrahe about the year One thousand six hundred makes it One thousand one hundred eighty two Now I would demand whether the Sun were more remote in Ptolomies time and nearer in the time of Albategnius and then again more remote in the latter ages of Copernicus and Tychobrahe which if it were so then one of these two must needs follow that either these observations were not grounded upon so certain Principles as they pretend or that the declination of the Sun is uncertain or variable not constant and perpetual as is pretended But what would Bodwin say if he lâ—ved to hear Lansbergius and Kepler and other famous Astronomers of the latter times teaching that the Sun is now remote above Two thousand and eight hundred nay three thousand Semidiameters from the Earth affirming that Copernicus and Tycobrahe neglected to allow for refractions which as the Opticks will demonstrate do much alter the case I will close up this point with the censure of Scaliger in his Exercit. 99. upon the Patrons of this fancy Quae vero nonnulli prodere ausi sunt solis corpus longè proprius nos esse quam quantum ab Antiquis scriptum sit it a ut in ipsa deferentis corpulentia â—â—cum mutasse videatur vel ipsa scripta spongiis vel ipsi Authores scuticis sunt castigandi In as much as some have dared to broach that the body of the Sun is nearer the Earth then by the Ancients was observed to be so that it might seem to have changed place in the very bulk of the Sphear either the Authors of this Opinion deserve themselves to be chastened with stripes or surely their Writings to be razed with Sponges So that as I conceive it may fitly and safely be inferred first that either there is no such removal at all of the Sun as is supposed or if there be as we who are situate more Northerly feel perhaps the effects of the defects of the warmth thereof in the unkindly ripening of our fruits or the like so likewise by the rule of Proportion must it needs follow that they who lye in the same distance from the South Pole as we from the North should enjoy the benefit of the nearer approach thereof and they who dwell in the hoâ—test Climates interjacent of the abating of the immoderate fervency of their heat From hence I again infer that supposing a mutability in the Suns greatest Declination look what dammage we suffer by his further removal from us in the Summer is at least in part recompenced by his nearer approach in Winter and by his Periodical Revolutions fully restored And so I pass from the Consideration of the warmth to those hidden and secret qualities of the Heavens which to Astronomers and Philosophers are known by the name of Influences Howbeit Aristotle thorow all those Works of his which are come to our hands to my remembrance hath not once vouchsafed so much as to take notice of such qualities which we call Influences and though amongst the Ancients Averroes and Avicenne and amongst some of the latter times Picus Mirandula and Georgius Agricola seek to disprove them yet both Scripture and Reason and the weighty Authority of many good Schollars as well Christians as Ethnicks have fully resolved me that such there are They are by Philosophers distinguished into two Ranks the First is that Influence which is derived from the Empyreal Immoveable Heaven the Pallas and Mansion House of Glorifyed Saints and Angels which is gathered from the diversity of Effects as well in regard of Plants as of Beasts and other Commodities under the same Climate within the same Tract and Latitude equally distant from both the Poles which we cannot well originally refer to the inbred nature of the soile since the Author of Nature hath so ordained that the temper of the Inferiour Bodies should ordinarily depend upon the Superiour nor yet the Aspect of the
moveable Spheres and Starrs since every part of the same Climate successively but equally enjoyes the same Aspect It remains then that these Effects be finally reduced to some Superiour immoveable cause which can be none other then that Empyreal Heaven neither can it produce these effects by means of the Light alone which is uniformly dispersed through the whole but by some secret quality which is diversified according to the divers parts thereof and without this we should not only find wanting that connexion and unity of order in the parts of the World which make it so comly but withal should be forced to make one of the worthiest peeces of it void of Action the chief end of every Created thing Neither can this Action mis-beseem the worthiness of so glorious a piece since both the Creatour is still busied in the works of Providence and the Inhabitants in the works of Ministration The other kind is that which is derived from the Starrs the Aspect of several Constellations the Opposition and Conjunction of the Planets and the like These we have warranted by the mouth of God himself in Job 38. 31. according to our last and most exact Translation Canst thou bind the sweet Influences of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion canst thou bring forth Mazoreth in his season or canst thou guide Arcturus with his Sons know'st thou the Ordinances of Heaven canst thou set the dominion thereof in the Earth where by the Ordinances of Heaven it may be thought is meant the course and order of these hidden qualities which without Divine and Supernatural Revelation can never perfectly be known to any mortal Creature Besides as Sr. Walter Raleigh hath well and truly observed it cannot be doubted but the Starrs are Instruments of far greater use then to give an obscure Light and for men only to gaze at after Sun set it being manifest that the diversity of Seasons the Winters and Summers more hot or cold more dry or wet are not so uncertained by the Sun and Moon alone who alwayes keep one and the same Course but that the Starrs have also their working therein as also in producing of several kinds of Mettals and Minerals in the bowels of the Earth where neither Light nor Heat can pierce For as Heat pierces where Light cannot so the Influence pierces where the Heat cannot Moreover if we cannot deny but that God hath given Vertues to Springs and Fountains to the cold Earth to Plants to Stones and Minerals nay to the excremental parts of the basest living Creatures why should we rob the beautiful Stars of their working Powers for seeing they are many in number and of eminent beauty and Magnitude we may not think in the Treasury of his Wisdom who is Infinite there can be wanting even for every Star a peculiar Vertue and Operation As every Herb Plant Fruit and Flower adorning the face of the Earth hath the like As then these were not Created to beautifie the Earth alone or to cover and shaddow her dusty face but otherwise for the use of Man and Beast to feed them and cure them so were not those incomparably glorious Bodies set in the Firmament to none other end then to adorn it but for Instruments and Organs of his Divine Providence and Power so far as it hath pleased his just Will for to determine which Bartas admirably expresseth I 'le ne'r believe that the Arch-Architect With all these Fires the Heavenly Arches deckt Only for shew and with these glistering Shields T' amaze poor Shepheards watching in the Fields I 'le ne'r believe that the least Power that pranks Our Golden Borders or the common Banks And the lest Stone that in her warming lap Our kind nurse Earth covetously doth wrap Hath some peculiar Vertue of its own And that the Glorious Starrs of Heaven have none But shine in vaine and have no charge precise But to be walking in Heavens Galleries And through that Pallace up and down to Clamber As golden Guls about a Princes Chamber But how far it hath pleased God in his Divine Wisdom to determine of these Influences it is hard I confess to be determined by any human Knowledg For if in the peculiar vertues of Herbs and Plants which our selves sow and set and which grow under our feet and we daily apply to our several uses we are notwithstanding in effect ignorant much more in the Powers and workings of the Coelestial Bodies For as to this purpose we said before Hardly do we guess at the things that are on the Earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us but the things which are in Heaven who hath searched out Wisd. 9. 16. It cannot well be denyed but that they are not Signes only but at least wise concurrent Causes of immoderate cold or heat drought or moisture lightning thunder raging winds Inundations Earthquakes and consequently of Famine and Pestilence yet such cross accidents may and often do fall out in the matter upon which they work that the Prognostication of these casual Events by the most skillful Astronomers is very uncertain And for the common Alminacks a man by observation shall easily find that the contrary to their Predictions is commonly truest Now for the things which rest in the liberty of Mans Will the Starrs have doubtless no power over them except it be led by the sensitive appetite and that again stirred up by the constitution and complexion of the body as too often it is specially when the humours of the Body are strong to assault and the Vertues of the Mind weak to resist If they have dominion over Beasts what shall we judge of Men who differ little from Beasts I cannot tell but sure I am that though the Starrs incline a Man to this or that course of life they do but incline inforce they cannot Education and Reason and most of all Religion may alter and over-master that Inclination as they may produce a clean contrary Effect It was to this purpose a good and Memorable speech of Cardinal Poole who being certified by one of his acquaintance who professed the knowledg of these secret favours of the Starrs that he should be raised and advanced to a great Calling in the World made answer that whatsoever was portended by the figure of his birth for natural Generation was cancelled and altered by the grace of his second Birth or Regeneration in the Blood of his Redeemer Again we may not forget that Almighty God created the Starrs as he did the rest of the Universal whose secret Influences may be called his reserved and unwritten Laws which by his Prerogative Royal he may put in execution or dispence with at his pleasure For were the strength of the Starrs such as God hath quitted unto them all Dominion over his Creatures that Petition in the Lords Prayer Lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil had been none other but a vain expence of words and time Nay