and that there are Elias and Enoch those Antients were not far from my opinion seeing the inconveniencies that would follow if we did seat it in this our World for if to believe that this Paradise was upon this Earth it 's a very hard thing for it 's of no moment to rely upon the names of the Rivers and Countreys that are named in the translation of the Holy Scripture considering that the Hebrew names in it are not conforme and that the Translators do yeild that they have Interpreted them but by conjecture and as nigh as they could guesse Again this Paradise can no more be found on the Earth nor those Rivers that are said to be those whom Moses doth mention do not issue from one and the same Spring as it 's recorded of those of Paradise And lastly it would be a ridiculous thing to believe that God hath driven his people from that place which he suffers the Turks and other Infidels to enjoy it being that whole Country apprehended to have been this Earthly Paradise of delight Before I conclude this Chapter I will here alledge two notable things The first is that as there is no Book though never so bad but there is also some good in it Neither is there any Religion but hath some good Maxims The Chineans and the Turks being perswaded by appearances do not at all doubt but that after death they go to inhabit the World of the Moon The second is that there are already divers bodies in Hell and also in Paradise In Hell are those who have yeilded up their bodies to the unclean spirits and Daemons but in Paradise are Elias and Enoch which both places to hold up those bodies must needs be solid which solidity cannot be but in some Stars or Star where God doth manifest himself more clearly and visibly and where are those Rocks of eternity whereof it 's spoken by Moses whereunto we must desire to go and there to dwell exchanging this Valley of misery to the great advantage and comfort of our glorious bodies Chap. XXXVII Proving the Worlds plurality by an Answer made by the Daemons IF any Creature can know the pure and naked truth of things and that may decide and resolve this question to the full certainly the evil spirits may but how may we enquire of them about it Thus it may be done for it 's very certain that Pans Sylvaines and other gods who in former Ages did appear to men were wicked spirits and Daemons who required worship from men but a certain Silenus who was one of that nature suffering Marsias to take possession of him told him That there were other Worlds where men lived as old again as we and were of higher and greater shape and stature And in the History of Faustus the Magician it 's said that his spirits did walk him amongst the Starres for the space of eight dayes and that he was carried 80000 miles high far from us and that ascending up very high he did perceive from far off this Earth the Cities and other things in it contained but this his relation is but in brief Chap. XXXVIII Proving the same by a Reason drawn from the unprofitablenesse of the light of the Sun and others IF there were no Globes inhabited above the Sun for what use would that light be which the Sun casts above him It would be altogether unprofitable and uselesse if it was lost in the Air It is then cast upon those bodies that have need of it which cannot be any thing else but the Starres which of their nature are dark and obscure and earthly as the earth that we inhabit for otherwise they would have no need of the Sun's light Shall not so many Reasons suffice for to overcome that obstinacy and Preoccupation Great Alexander may break the Ice and shew us the way who having heard Anaxarch the Philosopher discoursing upon this subject matter did believe him and fell a weeping because that there being other Worlds he had yet conquered but one Chap. XXXIX Proving the same by the Suns mutual ravishments betwixt the Earth and the Moon and by their equal qualities and by other notable Reasons WE may say That the time spoken by Seneca in his Medea is come now Quae Typhis novos deteget orbes Wherein we may learn things unheard viz. the discovery of new Worlds Et tabula pictos ediscere mundos We may say it with better ground then he seeing he onely spoke of the Indies and we speak of Worlds distinct and separated and prove it by so many Arguments as if we could not come to an end of them for it may yet be proved in that the Earth and the Moon deprive each other mutually of the Sun which deed doth testifie their conformity and that both may suffer Eclipses also by their mutual communications cold qualities solidity and roughnesse that help us to see it for many think that we should scarcc see it were it not for its irregularities which cause its light better to reverberate the beames of the Sun I shall add to this That if God who could make many Worlds had not made them his power might be said in some respects to have been idle unprofitable and limited for though it ayms not so much to the works as to the end of them yet it being for his greater glory though he doth not whatsoever he can we cannot assert That he was not willing to make many Worlds as we cannot deny but he had the power to make them Thirdly the common and general opinion grants the four Elements to be in Heaven for it believed that there is the Empyred Heaven that is the Heaven of fire the crystal Heaven that is of a waterish nature the Heaven of the Stars which is solid and by consequence of an earthly nature and the Air is apprehended to be amongst those Stars the four Elements then are in Heaven and why may not there be also mixt and composed bodies and why not the effects as well as the causes which compose them are in it and why could they not act as well within themselves as in things far remote Fourthly the Creation of the world or of many worlds is a thing that wholly depends from the free Will of God neither can it be denyed by any natural reason for God acts not outwardly by necessity as to limit himself onely to this our World but on the contrary God willeth whatsoever implyeth not contradiction But many worlds do not imply contradiction neither from God nor from the thing created and it seems requisite that the object be the measure of the power but this World not being infinite as God is there must needs be an infinity of them Chap. XL Discoursing of those Stars discovered of late and of the Spots of the Sun HAving above mentioned the Spots of the Sun and some new Starres and thence having drawn some Arguments it may not be out of our purpose to speak of them
its motion in 24. houres be alienated from it It 's also objected That the Towers would fall and that the Clouds and Rivers would all follow the course of the Earth But I answer That the Clowds are agitated by the winds and therefore cannot follow the course of the earth and as for the Towers they cannot fall considering that the Earth's motion is not violent and that the Towers by reason of their ponderosity bend still towards the Center of the earth and are not removed from their situation And as touching the Rivers the earth being as a gall-nut a River may run towards the East by the bending of its Seats towards the center of the earth although the Earth tends towards the West which may easily be apprehended if we conceive that a man walking in a Ship directs his steps towards the East whilest that the Ship sayles to the West Many severall other Reasons are objected which are but weak but because there are divers Discourses touching the Earth's motion which resolve them and reconcile the places of the holy Scripture upon this subject matter amongst whom are Foscarinus and Barantzanus I shall desire the curious Readers to read them and shall content my self with what I have said Chap. XIII Proving the Plurality of the Worlds by the variety of all natural things NAture is various in all its operations and God hath put such variety in all his Works that we can find nothing uniform in this world all things in it are various and different and this great diversity causes us the more to admire the Creator of this whole Fabrick If it be so concerning the earth which is near-upon the smallest of all the Globes what will it not be of the heavenly which are incomparably greater For this cause did Campanella say That though God and Nature do nothing in vain yet such a great number of Stars greater then the earth would be in vain if there was not in them divers demonstrations of the Idea's of God It 's then consonant to reason that not only the four Elements be in every one of the Starres but also that Men Bsasts and Plants and all whatsoever is seen amongst us be in them And thus did this famous Person of our time speak Chap. XIV Of the measures and dimensions of the Stars and their distance from the Earth and proportions with it with an argument taken from those distances for to prove the multiplicity of Worlds BUt because we have often mentioned the bignesse of the Stars and how they exceed the Earth in extension and also spoken of their infinite distances It will not be out of purpose and beyond our present Discourse to insert them in this Chapter These distances are somewhat variously given by divers Authors but the difference being but small is not of great concernment to us Charles Rapineus gives these distances in his book called Nucleus Philosophiae The Moon is lesser then the Earth 39 times and according to Cardan thirty nine times and a half Mercury is lesser then the Earth by 1100 times Venus by 37 times The Sun is greater then the Earth by 166 times Mars by 1 time Jupiter by 95 times Saturn by 91 times The fixt Stars are innumerable but those that are observed by the Astrologians are 1022 and are of proportions of bignesse Those of the first magnitude are 15 in number and are bigger then the Earth by 117 times Those of the second magnitude are 45 and are bigger then the Earth by 90 times Those of the third are 208 and are bigger then the earth by 70 times Those of the fourth are 472 and are bigger then the Earth by 54 times Those of the fifth are 17 and are bigger then the Earth by 37 times Those of the sixth are 49 and 5 dark and 9 bright ones and are all bigger then the Earth by 18 times The concavity of the Moon is distant from the Center of the Earth 14291 leagues which are 28541 miles From the Center of the Earth to Venus there is 542749 miles To the Sun 3640000 miles To Mars 3965000 miles To Jupiter 28845000 miles To Saturn 46816250 miles To the Concavity of the Firmament 65357500 miles The thicknesse of the Moons round is of 99504 miles Mercury's round is of 334208 miles That of Venus of 3097251 miles That of the Sun 32500 miles That of Mars 248820000 miles That of Jupiter 17969250 miles That of Saturn 18541250 miles That of the Firmament 55357500 miles The diameter of the Earth is of ten thousand and eight hundred miles But Cardanus saith of 10000 miles It s circumference is of 32400 miles and according to Cardanus of 31000 miles and a half It s semidiameter or half diameter is of 5000 miles These things being thus is it not very like that so huge and vaste bodies so distant one from the other should hide and contain in themselves something as well as the Earth at least those that move and are Planets as It is and that turn round the bright body of the Sun which communicates his light to them all Chap. XV Wherein the plurality of Worlds is proved by a Reason drawn from the colour of the Stars IF we see and punctually discern not onely with Jacob's staffe but also with our own sight without the help of any instrument a great diversity in the Stars in their bignesse colour light and other circumstances Shall we not say That those various colours do testifie their various nature and their bodily mixtures and that they may consequently be bodies as well as the Earth Chap. XVI Proving the same because that there is nothing empty nor vain in nature WE cannot remark any thing empty in the whole Nature this passes for a sure Maxim therefore did Hermes in his Asclepe say That all the parts of the World are very full the whole World is full of Globes or Stars these Stars and especially the Earth which we inhabit is filled with Seas Rivers four-footed Beasts Men Birds Minerals the waters are filled with Fishes these things have yet in themselves and unto their very Center so great a variety that their anatomy drawes us to admiration In a word we may lose our selves in the subdividing of them And why may not the Stars be so too seeing that as it hath already been proved in the foregoing Chapter we may see and observe in them some certain variety especially in the Moon where Mountains and Waters evidently appear and may very well be discerned with a good Prospective glasse with which Instrument is a notable Mountain discerned in Mars Chap. XVII Proving the plurality of Worlds by the plurality of Men and because things above are as things below GReat Mercurius Trismegistus who for his eximious Learning hath obtained the name of Thrice most Great hath left us this notable Aphorism That things below are as things above and vice versa those above as them below the meaning is That this World is an example to
Earth nor with the Sea and lastly because that our sight holpen by the Prospective-glasses observes in it some Seas and the tops of divers Mountains and such like remarkable things whereof the Maps and figures may be seen in Hevelius Argolius and several others and in our Book de Telescopio These Spots shew that the Moon is partaker of the Elementary and Terrestriall nature and consequently of the rest of the Elements This did move Plato to say That the Stars are composed of fire and earth by reason of their splendour and of their great and lumpish body This plurality of Worlds may again be proved by the variety of the causes that compose it and by the divers combinations that may thence be made which is the argument used by Morodorus in Plutarch in his book of the Philosophers opinion wherein it 's said That where the causes are there the effects ought to be also and the causes of the World being a great many so also ought the Worlds to be many the causes of the world are the four Elements and others that may yet be unknown to us or the infinite number of Democritus Atomes unlesse we had rather say That its God who being infinite so likewise hath created an infinite not onely of Worlds but of all things And indeed as the same Philosopher saith it would be a sad spectacle if there were but an ear of corn in a great field the same would it be of Heaven if it were true that there is no more Earth but one Chap. XXI Wherein is the same proved by certain Reasons drawn from Galileus's Observations and others as of the Stars of Jupiter and of the Spots in the Sun THat great Galileus who seemed onely to be in the World for to resolve the doubts in Astrologie hath discovered with his admirable invention of Prospective-glasses which immortalize his name by the discovery of what is contained in the Stars he is the first who hath directed his Telescopes or Prospective-glasses towards Heaven and by help of them that the milky line were small Stars which by reason of their proximity and great number do confound their light he also hath discovered the Moons superficies not smooth but rugged and full of risings of Hills and hollownesse of Valleys He also hath observed that the Star Venus doth imitate the course of the Moon being now full then half then in the first quarter as a sithe and hath observed the perspicuous change of bignesse in Venus and Mars's diameters things of great concernment and note for the theories of Copernicus and Tycho Brahe He hath ashamed the Sun discovering in him those Spots which for so many Ages he had buried and hid in his bright obscurity and hath discerned that those Spots were not fixed and alwayes lasting as those in the Moon but that they disappear appear again turning round the Sun he hath also discovered four new Planets that had not yet bin observed by some of the ancient Astrologers which he hath called the Planets of Medicis in favour of his Prince these Planets move onely round about Jupiter which hath induced some to believe that Jupiter was another world or another Sun round about which other Planets do run as round about that which in lightens us He hath farther observed that the Planet Saturn hath three bodies having two more at his sides and that the Planet Jupiter is be spotted with girdles or Zones that do girth it the which may plainly and perspicuously be seen by those Telescopes or Prospectives admirably well made by Torricelli the Florentine These are those rare Observations of that illustrious Person who though but little in body yet so great in ingenuity and acuity of spirit that all the World hath suffered by the losse of him He became blind by reason of his too great propensity and labour in these Observations and he who had in these things given light to all this world could not enjoy the light nor his Invention Foscarius adds to all these Observations that Venus hath been seen with three bodies as well as Saturn and that Jupiter hath 4. bodies But Gassendus Fontana Neapolitan hath now the excellentest Telescope in the world with which he hath seen the four Planets which are adjacent to Jupiter as four Moons two about Saturn which make a figure of a pot handle at each side of it In the midst of Mars a little Globe at his brimmes a darkish circle and about Venus two Moons or Stars Chap. XXII Proving the Plurality of Worlds by a Reason taken from the Clouds and the waters above in Heaven WIth the Prospective-glasse we may see some Clouds flying round about the Sun which can arise but from the Moon from other Stars or from the Sun it self because they be beyond the Region of the Meteors Now if the Stars ingender clouds they have water within themselves but if the Element of water is in them the Element of earth and the rest have as great priviledge to be in them as it Now that there is water in them the first Chapter of Genesis proves it clearly when he saith Then God said Let there be a Firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters And God made the Firmament and divided the waters which were under the Firmament from the waters which were above the Firmament he called the Firmament Heaven and the waters under the Firmament Seas Esdras in Chap. 6. of his second Book saith the same in these terms Thou madest the spirit of the Firmament and commandedst it to part asunder and to make a division betwixt the waters that the one part might go up and the other remain beneath Where are these waters above I beseech you if they are not in the Stars For it 's a very weak Reason to say That they are in the Clouds because that besides that they could not contain the Seas It s said in the second Chapter of Genesis that God had not caused it to rain upon the Earth but there went up a mist from the Earth and watered the whole face of the Earth and so consequently there was no vapour raised up to form them and what should have raised them seeing there was yet no Sun created to light the World Let us then lift up our eyes to Heaven and as the new Gymnosophists who daily contemplated the Sun let us observe in them those new Worlds wherewith it is wonderfully enriched which are divers and various in bignesse light and other qualities let us not be as poor simple Countrey fellowes who having seen no farther then the corner of their own chimney cannot apprehend that there can be any Town or City bigger then their Village but let us raise our spirits to the contemplation of the remotest and highest things that are thereby ennobling our selves though it be a very high attempt O how happy is that man who when he pleaseth can spiritually loosen his
inhabited and whether it is an Earth as ours and inclines sometimes to one sometimes to the other but at length it seems that he did believe it because he answers to divers objections that might be alledged against this opinion Bacon desires us seriously to cast our eyes upon the opinions of Pythagoras Philolaus Xenophanes Anaxagoras Parmenides Lucippus and of other ancient Philosophers indicating to us the truth thereof and wishes that some body would compose a book of their opinions this present discourse is part of it and therefore do we in some measure satisfie the desire of so rare a Person Lucretius whom we have here above quoted did confidently believe the same and hath testified it in divers places of his works and especially in these Verses besides those already alledged in the 18. Chapter Esse alios alibi terrarum in partibus orbes Et varias hominum gentes et saecla ferarum Huc accedit uti in summa res nulla sit una Unica quae gignatur et unica solaque crescat That is to say There are other new Worlds wherein is variety of Men and Beasts and of all other living creatures because that there is nothing groweth single and alone in this World nor in the earth nor in the Sea And in another place Praeterea cùn materies est multa parata Cùn loci est praeslò nec res nec causa moratur Ulla geri debet nimirum et confitier res Whereas there is store of matter and that the causes and the places do suffice this therefore ought to be declared and men must needs grant it so to be Paracelsus hath said That there are in Heaven some certain men called Tortelii and Penates for whom Christ did not die of whom some are without Soul and some not composed of the four Elements he yet names others never mentioned but by him Some of the Stoicks were of opinion not onely that there are people in the Moon but also in the body of the Sun And Campanella saith That those lively and bright habitations may have Inhabitants perhaps more wise and learned then we and better informed in those things that to us are incomprehensible But Galileus who in our Age hath perspicuously seen into the Moon hath observed That it may be inhabited seeing that there are Mountains in it c. for those parts in it that are the Plains and Valleys are obscure and dark and the Mountains are bright and clear For this cause have some said That the Stars do not shine but by reason of their irregularity asserting That we could not see them if they had not Mountains for to reflect and reverberate the light of the Sun Chap. XXXI Containing the Solution of some Objections that may be made against this Paradox of the World's Plurality BUt some may say There cannot be such Men as we in the Starres for they could not live there because men are divers even after the diversity of Countreys and those who ascend that high Mount Piracaca in the Indies dye there by reason of the too subtile ayr of the place To which I answer That those men must needs be different from us or indued with more robust and strong bodies then we or so well proportioned in the mixture of the Elements that that Ayr cannot be obnoxious and hurtful to them but that God hath so formed them that they may well live where he hath placed them but no where else And if we had never seen or heard of the Sea we could not be perswaded that Fishes could live in salt-water and that therein they could breed and grow for our food nor that those Countreys of the burning and frozen Zones could be inhabited So must we believe that God hath by prevention of inconvenience ordered all things for the best Here also might be objected the Incommodities and incongruences that might befall the Inhabitants of the Moon viz. the Meteors as the Clouds and other which would offend them and would hinder Plants to grow therein We answer to this That those Meteors are far enough from it and that rather they are lesse molested by them then we for Galileus did see with the telescope that it doth not rain upon the Earth of the Moon But it may be replyed How then do the plants grow To which I answer That they may grow in it not only by reason of the Moon 's natural humidity and moisture but also by the inundations of its Rivers as in Egypt where likewise no rain is seen I say farther That those Inhabitants of the Moon have no more ground to alledge these Objections being that when they look upon the Earth through the mists and clouds that incompass it they might doubt whether any creatures could be contained in it But hitherto we have answered none but weake objections Now come we to that with which our Opponents do arm themselves chiefly which is that of the Prince of the Aristotelists who as the Otthomans aymed to slay all his brothers that he might reign more securely viz. to beat down and suppresse all opinions contrary to his now this is his argument If there were many worlds the earth of those worlds would move towards our Earth or ours towards that of the other Worlds and so the other Elements of the other worlds would reach ours and so there would be nothing but a great tumult and Chaos This Argument is so weak that Magirus is constrained to speak in these terms when he alledges it not being himself able to find others because he maintains not the truth All these Reasons saith he and such like Philosophick Arguments cannot perspicuously demonstrate that there is but one World and Charles Rapineus speaks thus That it can but weakly be so perswaded Aristoteles could not comprehend what we have above said viz. That each world hath its center whereunto tend those heavy bodies that are in its sphere But he arguments upon a false foundation making the Earth to be the Center of all the worlds and allotting but one center for all his Argument would be good if his ground were good for what he saith was true it would be requisite that all heavy and ponderous things should tend towards our Center but there being many they also go into divers Centers for each Star hath its center that upholds it and though it be of a ponderous nature yet is it light in itself Having thus answered and so plainly and fully resolved the Objection of Aristoteles the grand Prince of Philosophers what may they expect who have not such pregnant Objections as his Chap. XXXII Continuing the Solution of divers Philosophers Objections against the Plurality of Worlds THese following Arguments are yet objected First That whereas there is but one principle and first Mover or but one God and first cause and that the world ought to answer in likenesse to its Architype there also ought to be but one World But we have here above shewed the contrary