where she overflows The Fertile Banks yet never further goes Without a Miracle tâ—an Natures Bounds Or if we think she do 't is where some Towns Encroach upâ—â— hâ—r 〈◊〉 â—or she Is full as constant fâ—r more just than we 7. In January All hail my Masters I must now implore Your Ticket for a twelve Months Recreation I know no Plot save that which keeps us poor And this of mine to gain your Approbation All my Designs lurk in these Rural strains My Guts Conspire indeed but not my Brains 8. In February I Honour all that have a Soveraign Pow'r Extol their Prowess be it more or less Admire them growing in a golden showre Observe but point not at their vain excess The Sun's defects seen in a line direct Hurt th' Eyes not when in Water they reflect 9. In March I pray for Kings and think 't a Pious deed Good Princes very well deserve our Pray'rs But thereof bad ones sâ—and the most in need For such be sure do stand on slippery stairs And like to Iron generate the rust From their own substance turns 'em into dust 10. In April I 'm hugely taken with the Golden Train Those lofty Stars which glide along this Sphere Yet Greatness without Goodness I disdain A Spungie Head full ill becomes a Peer Persons of Honour should have Princely parts No empty Cock-lofts or deceitful Hearts 11. In May. I Reverence Justice on the meanest seat She was a Vertue once though now a wonder I like sweet words intended not to cheat And works of Mercy not too far asunder But Cruelty how that would make me swagger Were it not common both to Sword and Dagger 12. In June I love the Ministry all but the name That Motly and promiscuous Appellation Which mingleth Dung-hill Dirt with Austin's Fame With Holy Writ pretended Revelation Give me the Priest disdains to tell a Lye That Priest who dare for his Religion die 13. In July I like the Comm'nalty that Sov'raign Pow'r Whilst not to Faction or Revenge dispos'd But Commons over-stinted or too sowre Are best improved when they are inclos'd Who gives a Giddy Multitude the Reins O're-whelms the State betrays his want of Brains 14. In August I own the Camp where Gallantry Commands Where Arts and Arms advance their awful Crosts But wish the Cramp befall such Victors Hands As cannot Conquer their Ambitious Brests Success enlarges Mens desires nay more It breeds some thoughts they dream'd not on before 15. In September I hug the Souldier dreads no violent end For stoutest Men such Fortune often have It is the Cause not Mode of Death shall send Us Glorious or Inglorious to the Grave He who'll avoid a shameful Death must run The danger of a brave one and 't is done 16. In October I fancy well our great Metropolis She harbours store of Men and store of Riches There is no sounding of that vast Abyss What wonder then if London wear the Breeches Yet must this Darling now and then untruss Correction keeps her most Obsequious 17. In November But O the Country free from jarring-strife Where Plants and Flow'rs abound with Eloquence Where ev'ry Hedge and Tree doth breath new Life Where pratling Birds do captivate my sense There I sequestred from the World abide And if needs must there I 'le be Crucifi'd 18. In Decembâ—r Thus in an Humour purely Innocent I add one Year more to a careful Age No more of this till freed from my Restraint I cannot chant like Birds within a Cage Yet know I have although my aim's not high Seleucus-like an Anchor on my Thigh 19. His Conclusion Thus have our melting Eyes England beheld With smooth-fac'd Peace and wanton Plenty swell'd Into a Monster so unweildly grown Her own vast weight depress'd her Princely Crown A Brutish War â—ore Church and State asunder Fool'd us with Fears fill'd all the World with wonder The fairest Sâ—â—rs losing their sacred light And cheâ—rfâ—l dâ—y turn'd into drowâ—ie Night Th' Aâ—tipodes true Mirrour of the Cause Re-aâ—ted through three Nations with applause Bâ—t EXIT OLIVER whilst yet we lend Oâ—r Patience till the PLAY be at an end In Kalendarium Ecclesiasticum 1660. We meet with thâ—se several Excellent and true Verses 1. Under the Regal Table WHere 's now the Sultan What remorsless Star Remov'd that Famous Idol Olivar Unwelcom Death But what flint-hearted Fate That Mushrome-Prince his Son Our glorious State Thus then we see what luck Protâ—ctors have A restless Life or Ignominious Grave 2. Under the Table of Terms Lo here 's a Trade surpasseth all the rest No change annoys the Lawyers Interest His Tongue buys Lands builds Houses without toyl The â—en's his Plough the Parchment is his Soil Him Storms disturb not nor Militia-Bands The Tree Roots best that in the Weathâ—r stands 3. In January And is He gone indeed Then farewel He Farewel to all our New Nobility Good-night Illustriousness Adieu old Joan The Kitchen better fits you than a Throne Lay ' side your Purple and your Râ—bes off cast Play'rs are but Princes while the Play doth last 4. In February About my Muse and try if thou can'st find What pow'rful Charm rais'd that Prodigious Wind Some dis-affected Conjurer I trow Did long to hear what News there was below But others think the Devil was matched so His breath grew short and so was forc'd to blow 5. In March But where be those fine Juglers did Address Such sugred Phrase such smooth Obsequiousness That vow'd to live and die with Richard yet Ne'r blemisht when they saw his glory set Such Hypocrites run with the stream of things And will keep Time whatever Dance begins 6. In April O for a Besom now to sweep the House And rid the Palace both of Fox and Goose Some choice Perfumes withal would be design'd Ill Spirits ever leave ill scents behind And when 't is cleansed and things sweeter grown Great Berecynthia's Sons go claim your own 7. In May. What 's to be done now all are grown so Wise And our fore-Fathers Wisdom counted Lies Were all the many Ages that are past Mistaken until this un-erring Last Good God! how sped they shall none saved be But Schismaticks Then what becomes of me 8. In June But 't is the Mode Come come let 's all comply There 's no firm footing on Integrity For having said and done all what we can The Pliant Willow is the Precious Man Whose Oaths of one day though of fair pretext Vail to an Inspiration of the next 9. In July Down then with Tythes they are a burthen great For which the Parson never soundly sweat Yet let 's remember maugre all new light He that detains them robs God of his right And though to him the tenth we should not pay The Publicans will sweep it all away 10. In August Let 's lay the Clergy by What need we Priests Or Ministers w' are all Evangelists The Bible's English thank the Bishops for
Porcum quam Puerum Better it was to be Herods Hog than his Son But touching this see the Learned Mr. Gregory in his Episc. Puerorum For the rest of the Saints and Martyrs as it cannot be expected they shall all of them be couch'd in this small Volume so neither are they especially in favour with the times and therefore forbear I any further mention thereof Of the Ember Weeks THe Ember Weeks so called from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e. i. Dies are four in every year as may be seen in the Calendar and anciently Wednesday Friday and Saturday in each Fasted according to the old verses Post Cineres Pentec postâ—rucem postque Luciam Mercurii Veneris Sabbatho Jejunia fient They are of great Antiquity in the Church and called by the Latin Fathers Quatuor Anni tempora For beside the first Institution of them for quarterly Seasons of devotion proportioned to each part of the year as the first Fruits of every Season that the whole and each Division of it might be thereby blest and again beside their answerableness to those Jejunia quatuor or Solemn Fasting days of the Jews before mentioned that we Christians may not be inferiour to them in that Duty an admirable use is assign'd to them in the Church in imitation of the Apostles Acts 13.3 Others think they are call'd Ember days or days of Ashes from the no less Antient than Religious Custom of using Hair-Cloath and Ashes in time of publick Piety and Penance Or from the Old Custom of eating nothing on those days till night and then only a Cake baked under the Embers or Ashes which was called Panem subcineritium or Ember-bread Of the Vigils or Fasting Eves of Festivals IN the Apostles days and some time after when the Poor Christians durst not appear in publick because of the continual Snares Treacheries and Persecution of Tyrants and Enemies of their Religion they were forc'd to meet in the Night time for the Exercise of their Devotion And in the first Church after the times of the Apostles when they stood not in Fear of any Persecution they publickly watched and Fasted in their Churches all Easter Week long but especially on the Eve of the Resurrection The Vigils of this Feast saith Eusebius lib. 4. de vita Const. were made as Light as day by hanging out great Waxed Lights throughout the whole City and Lamps mystically expressing the light of Salvation which was then ready to shine forth Whence grew the Custom both for Christian Men and Women to watch and Fast on the Eves of great Solemnities in their Churches and at the Sepulchres of Saints and Martyrs whereof Flavianus and Diodorus of Antioch are said to be the Authors Afterwards by the perswasion of Leontius Bishop of Antioch this Custom of Watching and Fasting at Sepulchres was restrained to the Church only about the year of Christ 375. But forasmuch as in process of time these Nocturnal and promiscuous Watchings occasion'd much wickedness therefore were the Women interdicted access thither eò quod saepe saith the Canon sub Obtentu orationis scelera latenter committantur At length the Vigils themselves were inhibitâ—d and these Fasts which are kept on the Eves of the greatest Festivals and observed as well as the Holy Fast of Lent instituted in their stead howbeit they are still called Vigils as being the Name of a Duty therein And this was confirm'd by Innocent the 3. about the year of Grace 1210. For the very purpose of the Church of God saith Judicious Hooker both in the Number and in the Order of the Fasts hath been not only to preserve thereby throughout all Ages the remembrance of Miseries heretofore sustain'd and of the causes in our selves out of which they have risen that Men considering the one might fear the other the more but farther also to temper the mind lest contrary affections coming in place should make it too profuse and dissolute in which respect it seemeth that Fasts have been set as Ushers of Festival days for prevention of those disorders as much as might be wherein notwithstanding the world always will deserve as it hath done Blame because such Evil being not possible to be rooted out the most we can do is in keeping them low and which is chiefly the Fruit we look for to create in the minds of Men a Love towards frugal and severe Life to undermine the Pallace of wantonness to plant Parsimony as Nature where Riotousness hath been studyed to harden whom pleasure would melt and to help the Tumors which always fulness breedeth that Childrâ—n as it were in the Wool of their Infancy dyed with hardness may never afterwards change Colour That the Poor whose perpetual Fasts are Necessity may with better contentment endure the hunger which Virtue causeth others so often to choose and by advice of Religion it self so far to esteem above the contrary that they which for the most part do lead sensual and easie lives they which are not plagued like other men may by a publick Spectacle of all be still put in mind what themselves are Finally that every man may be every Man 's daily guide and example as well by Fasting to declare Humility as by Praise to express Joy in the sight of God although it have herein befallen the Church as sometimes David so that the speech of the one may be truly the voice of the other My Soul Fasted and even that was also turn'd to my Reproof A Learned and useful Discourse touching the right Observation and Keeping of the Holy Feast of Easter occasion'd by a Complaint against the Almanack-makers to the King and Council Anno 1664. as if they all had been mistaken in the Celebration of this great Feast IN the year 1665. the Holy Feast of Easter falls out on March the 26. which is the Sunday following the first Full Moon nexâ— aâ—ter the Vernal Equinox And therefore I hope we Almanack-writers shall not this year be accused for mistaking the time thereof as all of us were the last year 1664. a whole week though without any just cause on our part Nevertheless somebody who would be thought wiser perhaps than yet the world thinks him made it look'd upon as a great discovery and more gloried in it than ever I heard Columbus did of his discovering America yet was so purblind as not to discover Five whole Weeks of the like Errour but the very year before Our Easter then falling not till the 19 of April which should have been the 15. of March according to the good old Rule of the Church Nor indeed was it any new thing or any Errour at all of ours that the Celebration thereof should the last year fall seven days later then it ought to do that being the twentieth time it hath so happen'd since the year of Christ 1600 viz. In the years 1602. 1609. 1610. 1613. 1616. 1619. 1620. 1623. 1626. 1630. 1637. 1640. 1643. 1646. 1647. 1650. 1653. 1657. 1661.
and the last year 1664. and so will again unless the Julian Calendar which yet we follow be reform'd in the years 1667. 1669. 1673. 1677. 1681. 1684. 1685. 1687. 1688. 1691. 1694. 1697. and 31 times more before the year of Christ 1800. Nor is this all For there often happens a whole Months Errour as to the time of the Celebration thereof having already fallen out so three years since that of Christ 1600 viz. in the years 1625. 1652. and 1655. and so will again without correction of the Calendar in the years 1679. 1682. 1720. 1723. 1747. 1750. 1774. 1777. and in the year 1807. For in those years there will happen from the Aequinox two Full-Moons befoâ—e our Easter can be kept Nay there falls out very often no less than 35 days or five Weeks errour in the time of our Easter having already fallen out so no less than eleven times since the year 1600. viz. in the years 1603. 1606. 1614. 1617. 1622. 1633. 1636. 1641. 1644. 1660. and as I said before in the year 1663. and so will again without amendment of the Calendar in the years 1671. 1674. 1690. 1693. 1698. 1701. and just twenty times more before the year 1800. But in the years 2437. 2446. 2491 c. there will be 42 days Errour and sometimes afterwards no less than 49 days And after the year 2698. if the old Calendar should still be continued it will never again happen according to the Rule of the Church which fixeth it on the Sunday following the first Full-Moon next after the Vernal Equinox One Cause of which Errours is the Precession of the Aequinoctium Vernum which from the first Nicâ—ne Council to this time hath anticipated no fewer than Eleven days falling now the Tenth of March whereas at the time of that Council it was on the Twenty first of the same Month. And the reason of this Anticipation is for that the Julian year exceeds the true Solar year by 10 Minutes 48 Seconds or thereabout which causes the Aequinoxes and Solstices yearly to change their places and fly backwards so many Minutes and Seconds The Lunations also by reason of the too great Quantity allowed them do in every 19 years anticipate almost an hour and an half and in 312 years and a half one whole day and therefore not exactly to be found by the Golden Number although on those Lunations the Feast of Easter dependeth as of it all the rest of the Moveable Feasts which is another cause of those Errours and both together the First occasion of the Roman Emendation whereby that Church doth always produce Easter on the Sunday following the first Full-Moon next after the Vernal Aequinox according to the Decree of the Nicene Council Now here I could willingly and indeed intended to have demonstrated how all this might be remedied but that multiplicity of business which Steers my thoughts another course and the Narrow limits I am here confin'd to do both obstruct and discourage me All therefore I shall further say is this I do much wonder that this Lyncaeus whoever he was that so vainly boasted of his discovery of that one Weeks pretended Errour in the time of Easter and therefore traduced us all with Ignorance or Inadvertency should himself not yet discover that real Errour of the first of those Rules prefixed to the New Common Prayer-Book Printed by John Bill and Christopher Barker Anno 1664. the very year of that his great Discovery which pretends to shew how to know when the Moveable Feasts and Holy-days begin viz. Easter-day on which the rest depend is always the First Sunday after the first Full-Moon which happens next after the One and Twentieth day of March. And if the Full-Moon happens upon a Sunday Easter-day is the Sunday after For although that Rule be true enough in respect of the Gregorian yet it is altogether mistaken as being in no wise applicable to our Julian Account which yet the Table of Moveable Feasts in the said Common Prayer-Book calculated for 40 years regardeth only and which must be followed until his Majesty shall think fit to command a better and therefore very improper for that place But I hope the Most Reverend Father in God his Grace the Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury will make it his concern not only to cause this Errour to be rectified but in due time also move His Sacred Majesty to assume the Glory of a better Emendation of the Calendar than yet the Roman Church can boast of APOTELESMA or The Nativity of the World and Revolution thereof I 'Le not trouble my self or the Reader with the various Opinions of Men and Nations concerning the Lapsed years of the World's Creation some being utterly lost in conceipts that repugn Philosophy others sway'd with Philosophical Conjectures destructive to Divinity and the rest miserably varying one from another For the Heathens afford us no satisfaction Epicurus and Aristotle will not allow it had any beginning The Jews are wâ—etchedly dissenting in their accompts Philo and Josephus irreconcileable The Samaritans differing from the Jews and indeed all others The Jews from the Christians and they amongst themselves Scaliger and Petavius of the Latins Clemens Alexandrinus and Nicephorus among the Greeks T is true Longomontanus a most learned modern Astronomer with a silere amplius nequeo takes boldly upon him to discover this grand secret from the motion of the Sun 's Apogaeum supposing the Sun's Eccentricity immutable and the Apogaeum a yearly motion of One Minute One Second Fifty Thirds Fourteen Fourths stiling it Illusâ—re testimonium de Mundi Exordio duratione hactenus For by positing the Sun 's Apogaeum in the beginning of Aries at the Creation and his Perigaeum in the opposite point Libra He concludes of 4000 years within a half betwixt the Creation and the Passion of our Saviour and till the 1588 th year of his Incarnation 5554. allowing 33 whole years for our Saviour's Age with addition of the time intercepted betwixt his Nativity and Passion And this this learned Author grounds on the accurate Observations of his learned Master Ticho-Brahe who indeed concluded the progress of the Sun 's Apogaeum S.S.S. till that year 55 degrees 30 Minutes And to the End we might compare the same with the Observations of sundry old and late Astronomers throughout the respective Ages they lived in exhibits to our view the following Table of The Place of the Sun 's Apogaeum from the beginning of the World and the true Vernal Aequinox In the several Ages of Years of the World Deduct Observat Difference Hipparchus Rhodius 3810 65 16 65 30 14 Min. C. Ptolemaeus Alexandriae 4099 70 3 Â Â Â Â Albategnius Maham 4849 82 53 82 16 37 Min. Guarterus Norimberg 5454 93 43 94 15 32 Min. Nicolaus Copernicus Tur. 5492 94 23 95 8 45 Min. Tycho-Braheus Dan. 5554 95 30 95 30 0 Min. Whereby it appears that the moved Apogaeum of the Sun proportionably deduced according to the Annual motion
in some shorter in others longer the quantity whereof is gathered from the Diurnal Motions in its own Circle collected into one Sum or from the Point whence its Motion began to the Point wherein it vanished the way of the Comet being traced in the Superficies of the Globe and measured by the Compass or else by a bare Ocular Observation of the Astronomer 13. The swiftness of Comets IF by a few we may judge of the rest their Motion is unequal and that very probably for so much as we find not even among the Planets themselves an equality in their apparent Motion Some have been swift at the beginning and by little and little become slower such were those of the Years 1577. 1585. 1590. 1607. and 1618. Some have been swifter at the middle than at last as that in 1472. observed by Regiomontanus and that in 1531. by Apian so likewise the other in 1556. by Hommelius and some swiftest at the end as that observed by Pontanus in the Year 1471. 14. Their Distance from the Earth FOR the place or distance of Comets some will needs throw them all below the Moon in which number are Regiomontanus Pontanus Fracostorius Apian Junctinus Scaliger Claramontius and Dassipodius Others will have them all above the Moon as Seneca Cardanus Tycho Longomontanus Galilaeus Blanchanus and Rothmanuus Another sort do allow either of some above and some below or of some that are sometimes below and sometimes above In which Rank are Maestline Apian Camerarius Gloriosus Clavius Maurolicus Fromundus Licetus Cabaeus and Resta Kepler and Gisatus aver one and the same Comet hath been one day above and another day below the Moon yet for the most part above her But the greatest part of our late Observers distinguish them into Elementary and Sublunary The Coelestial is maintain'd by many Arguments whereof that is the strongest which is taken from the Parallax or diversity of Aspect For from hence Tycho and Kepler do prove that a Star or any other visible Body impending or moving in the Air by how much lesser Parallax it hath is by so much the higher elevated from the Câ—nter of the Earth And because many Comets have been found to have lesser Parallax than the Moon they therefore conclude them further distant from the Earth and to have had their Course among the Planets 15. The Colour Smell and Diaphaniety of Comets FOR the first some have been clear and splendent like the Sun as were those of the Years 1264. and 1521. Some red and rutilant as those of the Years 1526. and 1556. Others of a yellow or Gold colour as that in the Year 1533. Others Silver colour'd as that which Haly observed 1200. Others of a Leaden Pale Ashy colour as that in 1607. Some of a dim red inclining to a brown refulgent colour as those of the Years 1477. and 1585. And others of sundry yea indeed all manner of colours as was that in 1513. Touching the Second there was only one in the Year 396. accompanied with a Sulphurous noisom smell For the last Seneca seems to attribute a Diaphaniety to all Comets per Cometas aciem transmittimus We see saith he through Comets And Tycho tells us in Epist. p. 143. that he saw the Fixed Stars through the Tail of the Comet in 1577. 16. The Matter Place and Efficient Cause of Comets 1. SOme think Comets not to be any real and distinct thing from other prae-existent Bodies but rather a meer Emphasis or Apparency made by the reflection or refraction of the Sun or Moons Rays in almost such sort as the Rain-bow Halo and Parelii 2. Some account them not any thing existing de novo but rather a meer Symphasis or Co-apparency of many known Stars united by a corporal Conjunction and by that means representing a kind of a longer Star 3. A third sort think that a Comet is a wandring Star or some Planet not of the seven commonly known but some other strange one seldom appearing either by reason of its nearness to the Sun it 's too far distance from the Earth or the grosser parts of the Heaven and Air where it is and which after some space of time coming to a more convenient distance from the Sun or nearer the Earth or else by reason of some intercurrent more Diaphanous parts of Heaven or the Air or for some other secret Cause becomes conspicuous 4. Another sort suppose that Comets are an aggregate of many incorruptible little Stars formerly joyned together as one entire Body and which afterwards separating cease to be visible 5. Aristotle and his followers hold that a Comet is a Fiery Meteor newly generated of the great plenty of Exhalations drawn up from the Earth and Sea into the Supream Region of the Air where it is easily distinguished from the thin Air and being well compact obtains a consistency and for that it is carried about by the Motion of the Primum Mobile by which the Supream Air is also moved begetteth Fire and retaineth the same until the Sulphurous Unctious Fat and Nitrous plenty of Exhalations gathered together either at first or successively administreth Matter or Sustenance of a Flame which ceasing the Comet by little and little diminisheth and at length is wholly extinguished 6. There are others that think it generated of an Elementary Matter that is of the more subtil Exhalations which are mounted so on high by their own Levity they ascend above the Moon and by their Crystal-like clearness do as it were drink up the Rays of the Planets especially the Sun and afterwards transmit themselves into a Tail or Beard 7. Another sort That a Comet is a Sublunary Matter arising from the most subtil breathings or vapours but not so much inflamed as illustrated of the Sun like as it were to Glass Pots distain'd with a yellow or Ruddy colour and full of water for the Diaphaniety or transparency thereof 8. Others be of Opinion that Comets are made de novo of a Coelestial Matter not by Generation of a new substantial Form but by condensation with a mixture of Opacity and Diaphaniety which receive and transmit the Light of the Sun Or by an addition of Light made in the parts of Heaven 9. A Ninth sort suppose they are generated de novo in Heaven of a Coelestial Matter and afterwards all or many of them corrupted 10. Kepler was the only Man believed them generated of Coelestial Matter but that nevertheless some descended below the Moon 11. Another Opinion is that if not all yet that many Comets are â—ither created by God of nothing as Maestlin supposed or made of what Matter soever it pleaseth him Coelestial or Elementary and put into any form or shape to terrifie Mortals and to threaten Calamities to the World but moved where he pleased by Angels and Intelligences 12. The twelfth and last Opinion is not differing from all the rest but rather distinguishing Coelestial from Elementary Comets in respect of their Place and Matter
and Movable Vertue also and Action is partly Individual and Immovable so far forth as it agrees with Divine things stedfastly worketh And partly Divisible in some Respects both because it is manifold and also for that it declineth to a manifold and Divisible Body And Movable because it worketh Temporally Where we term it Intellectual we mean the Angelical Intellects which are properly Perfect and Indivisible according to Place in their Government of the Spheres And Immutable in respect of time the Natural Life and Form Corporeal being Opposite thereunto Divisible and Mutable That even these Angelical Intellects be in the Body of the World Necessity requires it because the Body of the World is through Life made fit for the Intellect Therefore look how it is in regard of Life and the like it is in respect of the Intellect And as it hath not only a Natural lying hid in the Matter of the World but an Animal also that is A Soul existing in it self So hath it not only an Intellectual Quality infused in the Soul but also an Intellectual substance therein remaining For certain Qualities are very where reduced to certain Substances As a Vital Quality to a Vital Substance so also an Intellectual Quality to an Intellectual Substance But as touching these things we shall explain our self more at large The whole Body of the World is a certain Body composed of all the Four Elements the Members or Parts whereof are the Bodies of all Living Creatures For the small Body of every Animal is a Part of the Worlds Body Neither is it composed of the whole Element of Fire Air Water or Earth but of some parts of these Elements By how much therefore the Whole is more Perfect than a Part thereof by so much is the Body of the World more Perfect than the Body of any one Living Creature Hence were it absurd to think that an Imperfect Body should have a Soul But that it neither hath a Soul nor can live Perfect None will be so mad as to say the Part Liveth and not the Whole Therefore the whole Body of the World Liveth whilst the Bodies of the Animals therein Live which are the Parts thereof And now seeing there must needs be One Soul of the whole World we will in the next place enquire in what part thereof this Soul may Reside whence she distributes her Spirit through all things and preserves the same so distributed She fixeth not her Seat and Pavilions in Bodies subject to variety of Change and manifold Corruption as are the Elements and Elementary Bodies Wherefore seeing that in Heaven there is no Corruption of Bodies there certainly is her Place of Residence And although those Elements also may be in Heaven but most Purely or Spiritually Yet is it manifest that the Element of Fire hath therein Dominion Even as here in this Inferiour Part of the World where the Soveraignty of the Elements remains in the Power of Fire And this we are sensible of in our own Bodies But much more if we do but consider how the Fire by no means Puâ—rifieth nor is any way Corrupted notwithstanding it often Corrupteth other Bodies where it gets Preheminency Moreover Nature affords it Earth Water and Air as a certain Subject Matter whereon to Exercise its Power The Air it self as also the Earth with the Water surrounding it whence we are Nourish'd and draw our Breath is indeed so Affected of the Fire about it that sometimes Heat doth therein predominate otherwhiles it is so Extenuated that for want of Heat it leaves its own Quality and is forsaken of Cold. In like manner we see such Impressions conveyed from the Fire above us upon the Earth and Water that sometimes the Nature and Quality thereof is capable of some Excess otherwhiles of Defect the Celestial Fire it self remaining Entire Wherefore seeing the Soul of the World hath its Residence in Heaven of Necessity it must live in a Fiery Substance For Heaven is a Fiery Essence but withall most Temperate Pure Lucid and Incorruptible Nor shall they trouble us who deny the Fiery Heaven in regard the Motion of the Heavens is Circular the Fires Motion Perpendicular For because our Fire is Peregrine and Impure therefore it tends directly upwards and by a kind of Veneration Covets the Place of the Proper and Natural Fire yet is it not to be supposed such a Fiery Hot Heaven as that 't is Burning or Heating By how much less Fire is mingled with strange Matter by so much the less it Burneth The which is seen in the Flaming of the Purer sort of Oyl but especially of Oyl Artificiously Extracted from Gold The which true Alchymists do Witness and as these Mortal Eyes of mine have sometimes tryed Therefore seeing there is not any Matter in Heaven estranged from the Celestial no Adustion no Heat is made there We see no Adustion in Comets running through the Celestial Spheres but only some Illustration for that doubtless the Matter thereof much participateth of the Nature of the Celestial Bodies But TYCHO-BRAHE A Dane A Noble-Man An Astronomer and a most incomparable Philosopher of this Age shall anon more plainly unfold to us this matter far different from the Madded Nursery of Peripateticks and that not without the Infallible Curiosity both of Observations and Demonstrations Now because some Matter Opposed is Heated and Burnt by the Rays of the Sun contracted by a Glass that is a sudden generation of Heat and Fire increasing by the Flagration of the Collected Rays in the Glass and applyed to fit Matter which are of another Disputation Some will have the Matter of Heaven to be Aërial But for that Light is a Property of Fire enlightning even the Air it self in my Judgment we do better in supposing it to consist of a Fiery Matter Besides Heaven is next to the Divine Seat and God himself Yet not so as that God is not every where God is called The Father of Light with whom there is no Change by whom the Light may be Extinguished or Diminished Neither an over-shadowing of Change whereby sometimes he either is turn'd into Night or suffereth an Eclipse GOD is Light in which there is no Darkness that is Form wherein there is nothing Inform Beauty in which there is nothing of Deformity As therefore GOD is Light Invisible Infinite the Truth it self the cause of every truth and of all things So the Light of Heaven is the splendour or rather the shadow of Heaven Visible Finite the cause of visible things For the whole Universe receiveth Light and Life from Heaven Moses Aaron Nadab Abihu and 70 of the Elders of Israel saw the God of Israel and under his Feet as it were a work of Saphire stone and as the very Heaven when it is clear c. Exod. 24.10 Whence we shall not speak absurdly if we say that GOD shineth upon us by his Light from Heaven and the Sun as a Candle shineth through Glass and Windows made