his mouth passed as it were torches and as it were his breath did kindle coales and flame came out of his mouth Also the effect of this description is verified by these words Illuxerunt coruscationes tuae orbi terrae Thy Lightning shined over the earth Again Extenâ—it nubes quasi tentorium suum ut fulguret lumine suo desuper The members of the third description out of the which also the whole nature of the Thunders is enucleated are confirmed by the page of verity For first the materiall cause of the Thunder is pointed out in these words That it is a burning fire or fiery aire also in the description of it his formall cause is selected the efficient cause is noted to be JEHOVA in his wrath the immediate effect thereof is the exagitation of the clowds and the lowd noise or voice of the thunders Lastly it concludeth that the end or finall cause is to exercise God's vengeance on the wicked The fourth and fifth description in this Jam non respiciunt homines lucem cum nitida est in superioribus nubâ—bus quas ventus transiens purgavit Now men do not respect the Light when it is pure and neat in the higher clowds the which the wind that passeth by doth depurate As for the Thunder I gather out of the Holy Scriptures that it is to be defined thus The Thunder is a noise which is made in the clowdy tent or pavillion of JEHOVA over the which extending the beams of his Light he covereth the superficies of the Sea and illuminateth the earth that thereby he may judge the people thereof and give them meat abundantly To prove this by sacred authority job saith Si consideraret homo extensiones densarum nubium fragores in tugurio illius extendit super illud lucem suam cum his judicaturus est populum daâ—urus cibum abunde If man doth consider the extention of the thick clowd the noise and Thunders in his tent or pavillion he extendeth his light upon it with these he doth judge the people and give them meat in abundance In which words it is apparent that fragor or the noise and bruit is the formall cause and the light from JEHOVA the efficient The Organs of the voice are the thick clowds which are called the cottage or dwelling place of JEHOVA and therefore in another place Posuâ—t tenebras latibulum suum in circuitu Prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes transierunt intonuit de coelo Dâ—minus He put darknesse about his secret place The clowds did pass away at the sight of his brightness and the Lord did thunder from heaven To conclude the finall cause of the Thunder and Lightning is explained in this namely that it is as well to judge the people as to give them meat in abundance And threfore it is manifest by this that God appeareth in Thunder as well to the effecting of things which are naturall and necessary both for the punishment and nourishment of his creatures as miraculously Or else it may be defined thus Thunder is the vioce of the most High which is uttered out of a clowd and accompanied with flame and Lightning being ordained by God for the affliction of the wicked In the which definition the materiall is the Organicall cloud the formall cause is the voice with Lightning the efficient is JEHOVA and the finall that it is effected for the punishment or scourge of the wicked All which is confirmed out of the precedent Texts Intonuit saith David Dominus de coelo altâ—ssimus dâ—dit vocem suam grandinem carbones ignis misit sagittas suas dispaâ—uit eos fulgura multiplicavit conturbavit eos The Lord thundred from heaven the most High did utter forth his voice hail and coales of fire and he sent his arrows and did sever or disperse them he multiplied his Lightnings and troubled them Or after this manner Thunder is a voice or sound proceeding from the Lightning which issueth from the Throne of God and is sent by the divine power out of the cavity of the clowds into the open aire to execute his will either to the creatures good or harm Where the materiall or Organicall cause of the voice is the clowd the formall is the voice and sound the efficient is the Lightning from God and the finall is either for benediction or malediction And this is confirmed out of St. John De Throno procedunt fu gura The Lightnings proceed from the Throne And Job Numquid mittis fulgura ibunt revertentia dicent Adsumus Dost thou not send forth the Lightnings and they go forth and returning again they will say We are present And the Psalmist Ascendit fumus in ira ejus ignis a facie ejus exarsit A smoak ascended in his wrath and fire did flame forth from his face Again Nubes caligo in circuitu ejus ignis ante ipsum procedit inflammabit in circuitu ejus illuxerunt fulgura ejus orbi terrae Clowds and darkness were about him fire goeth out before him and will burn round about him his Lightnings gave light unto the earth Again Vocem dederunt nubes etenim sagittae tuae transierunt The clowds made a noise for thine arrows went out c. Where by arrows is meant the Lightnings as if he had said because thy Lightnings broke out of the clowds therefore they made a noise or uttered a lowd voice And Salomon Ibunt directe emissiones fulgurum taxquam à bene curvato arcu nubium Thy emissions or sending forth of Lightnings will go directly to the mark as if they were sent out of a well bent bow Whereby he seemeth to argue that the clowds do utter their voice by reason that the Lightnings do pierce them Or in this sort Thunder is the voice of God compassed about by the waters or clowds before whom the fire goeth forth and doth inflame and set them on fire circularly round about him Hereupon Job Numquid elevabis in nube vocem tuam impetus aquarum operiet te Wilt not thou elevate thy voice in the clowd and the abysse or power of the waters will cover thee And again as before Nubes caligo ejus in circuitu ejus ignis ante ipsum procedit inflammabit in circuâ—tu ejus Clowds and darkness are about him fire goeth before him and will inflame or burn circularly round about him Or thus Thunder is the the voice of God at the noise whereof he causeth a multitude of waters in the heavens or aire and effecteth Lightnings and rain For Jeremy saith Ad vocem suam dat multitudinem aquarum in coelo elevat nebulas ab extremitate terrae fulgura in pluviam facit educit ventum e thesauris suis At his voice he causeth a multitude of waters in heaven and doth elevate clowds from the extremity of the earth and turneth his
suae God doth weary the thick clowds and disperseth abroad the light of his clowds for the watering of the earth Whereby it appeareth that God doth ordinarily gather together the clowds and maketh them his organicall instruments to utter his voice unto mortall men for the prospering of the annuall fruits upon the earth And therefore thus in another place Si consideraret homo extensiones densarum nubium fragores in tugurio illius exteâ—dâ—t super illud lucem suam cum his judicaturus est populum daturus cibum abunde Also in another place all this is more plainly expressed where it is said Vide arcum benedic eum qui fecit illum valde specio sus est in splendore suo gyravit coelum in circuiâ—u gloriae ejus manus Excelsi aptaverunt illum imperio suo accelerat nivem accelerat coruscationes emittere judicii sui Propterea aperti sunt thesauri evolarunt nebulae sicut aves in magnitudine sua posuit nubes confracti sunt lapides grandinis in conspectu ejus movebantur montes in voluntate sua spiravit Notus Vox tonitruum ejus reverberavit terram tempestas Aquilonis congregatio spiritus aspergit nivem c. Behold the rainbow and blesse him that made it it is wondrous beautifull in his brightnesse it did compasse the heaven in the circle of his glory the hands of him that is on high made it By his command he hastens the snow and maketh speed to send foâ—th the lightnings of his judgment Therefore are the treasurâ—es opened and the clowds fly forth like birds He placed the clowds in his greatnesse and the stones of the hail are broken In his sight the mountains did move and according to his will the south-winde hath blown and the voice of his thunder have reverberated the earth The tempest of the north and the congregation of spirits doth spread abroad or besprinkle the snow c. In this speech of the son of Syrach the Lord of lords is proved to be the sole essentiall and efficient cause of all meteors namely of the rainbow the snow the lightnings the clowds the hail the thunder the winds and tempests as also it sheweth that the matter of them is the aire Wherefore he saith in the conclusion The congregation of spirit doth spread abroad the snow Lastly it telleth us that the hands or Spirit of God are not idle in the effecting of such works as Aristotle termeth natural and therefore operateth not only primarily but also secundarily yea and catholically in and over all things as well in their generation as preservation and corruption To the last clause of his definition wherein he seemeth to aver that the lightnings move downward because the stuff of it is of a terrestriall compacted nature I answer that this reason is over weak considering the Gigantean author that alledged it for it may in the self-same manner be inferred that the Gun-powder which is of a far grosser stuff then is that of the lightnings must therefore strike downwards and yet we see by experience it riseth in spight of a mean resistance by its naturall inclination upward as we may perceive by places that are undermined and squibs which are violently carried upward I come therefore unto such true definitions of lightning and thunder as are maintained and allowed by the Book of Verity CHAP. XII How the lightning and the thunder oughtrightly to be described by the true Philosopher and that seriously according unto the tenour of holy Writ SInce therefore it hath been made manifest in the precedent Chapter that Aristotle hath utterly erred in his conceit touching as well the materiall as essentiall and formall cause of the lightnings let me gather as near as my weak capacity will give me leave what should be the true nature and originall essentiall cause of the lightnings according unto the harmonicall consent of holy Scriptures Lightning is a certain fiery aire or spirit animated by the brightness of JEHOVA and extracted out of his treasury which is the heavens or catholick aire to do and execute his will for the good or detriment of the creature Or else in this manner Lightning is a shining brightnesse proceeding out of the clowds being the pavilion of JEHOVA and is sent from the throne of God even down unto the earth covering the surface of the seas But if we would describe the lightning with all his accidents and consequently expresse the whole essence of the thunder which is a mixed nature we may effect it thus out of the testimony of the holy Bible Lightning is a fire burning from the face or presence of JEHOVA at the sight or contact of whose brightnesse the clowds do pass away and the Almighty doth thunder and utter his voice from heaven and sendeth forth his arrowes for the destruction of the wicked Or thus Lightning is a fire proceeding from JEHOVA being sent out of his dark tabernacle from above at the sight whereof the waters or clowds as being terrified and the abysse as it were troubled do haste away in which turmoil the voice of his thunder moveth circularly and the fiery or kindled coals are sent forth as arrowes sent out from a well bent bow to effect his will as well for benediction as for vengeance both in heaven and earth Or in this sort Lightning or coruscation is a clear and pure light in the clowds above the which the winde that passeth by doth purifie c. By the first of these descriptions the manifest materiall cause of the lightning is expressed to be a fiery aire the place out of which it is drawn is the treasure-house of God or the heavens Also the formall cause is expressed in that it is set down to be a fiery spirit or aire the efficient cause I said according unto the truths testimony to be the will or word of God on which dependeth that spirit of wisdom by which God operateth all things Lastly the finall cause is also noted forasmuch as it is said That it was created to do the will of him that ordained it either for the pain or pleasure of mortall men All which is evidently confirmed out of the places of Scripture mentioned before The second definition is confirmed out of the Revelation which saith Fulgura procedunt à throno Lightnings proceed from the throne Again he is said Fulgurare lumine suo desuper cardâ—nâ—sque maâ—is operire To lighten with his brightness from above and to cover with it the corners of the Sea And again prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes transierunt The clowds did move by reason of the Lightning and brightness which was in his sight or presence And again ignis ab ore ejus evolavit Fire flew out of his mouth And again Ab ore ejus velut taedae praeeuntes quasi halitus ejus carbones accenderent flamma â—x ore ejus prodicret From
Lightnings into rain and bringeth the wind out of his Treasury Or in this manner Thunder is the multitude of the sound of waters or the voice of the clowds being effected by the coruscations and Lightnings of the Almighty Or thus Thunder is a sound of the multitude of waters being troubled fearing and bâ—aying at the bright aspect or presence of JEHOVA In which description the materiall Organ of the voice is the clowds or waters being as it were afraid and troubled at the emission of the Lightnings whereupon they give a loud voice or sound by reason of that penetrative power which the bright and shining or fiery presence of JEHOVAH who is the worker of wonders doth effect Whereupon the royall David as is said prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes transierunt grando carbones ignis intonuit de coelo Dominus At the brightnesse of his presence the clowds did move or pass their way hail and coales of fire the Lord did thunder from heaven And again Viderunt te aquae Deus timuâ—runt turbatae sunt abyssi multitudo sonitus aquarum vocem dedeâ—unt nubes vix tonitrui tui in rota The waters have seen thee O God and were afraid and the abysse was troubled a multitude of the sound of the waters the clouds ecchoed forth a voice the noise of the thunders wheeled about c. Also the formall cause is explicated in that it was made by a great noise and Lightnings The efficient cause seemeth to be the Lightnings from God or rather the fiery aspect of God animating the Lightnings and directing them unto a determinated mark So that it appeareth that the Lightnings are as it were the Instruments of God in his Wrath no otherwise then a sword is the instrument of the man that striketh when we say that it is this or that man which did strike and not the sword And for this cause I say with the Apostle that as it is onely God who is the sole Actour in things So also is he the Father of the Thunders who sendeth out his Lightnings as arrows from his throne Lastly I say that the finall cause expressed in them is to accomplish the divine will of the Creator To conclude it may be defined thus Thunder is the voice speech or eloquence of the Almighty or a sound going out of the mouth of JEHOVA which is directed under the whole heavens with light dispersed over the face of the earth after the which there followeth a loud noise or rumbling or God thundereth with the voice of his excellency the which when it is heard is not found Audite saith Job cum tremore vocem seu loquelam vel eloq â—um abore ejus egrediens quod sub â—oto-coelo dirigit lucem super terminos vel oraâ— terrae Post eum rugit sonitus tonat voce excellentiae suae non investigatur cum audita fuerit vox ejus Hear with trembling he directeth the voice speech or eloquence proceeding from his mouth under the whole heavens and his light over the ends of the earth After him roareth a sound he thundereth with the voice of his excellency the which when it is heard is not found To conclude it is most apparent by this which is already said that the opinion of the Peripateticks as well Christian as Ethnick is most inconsiderate and erroneous in averring that the lightnings are hot and dry exhalations extracted out of the earth and elevated on high even unto the middle region of the aire by the attractive vertue of the Sun and that they being included into a clowd and kindled partly by the collision or knocking together of other clowds and partly by the coldness of the place do by the eruption of their flames cause the thunders I would have every wise Christian to observe duely by what hath already been said whether the mystery of a tempest and whirl-wind do consist and stand upon a thing of so small moment and poor esteem as Aristotle would make us believe or if it arise not out of a far more profound and inscrutable abysse or profundity seeing that the lightnings are reported by truth it self to be such fiery lights of God as issue or proceed from his throne and the thunders are justly termed the voice word and eloquence of JEHOVA And for this reason JEHOVA reprehending the boldness of these kind of worldly Philosophers which presume so far to censure his inscrutable actions or to dive into the depth of his mysteries touching the essentiall causes of these meteors without the warrant and assistance of Gods Spirit and falsly to make the world believe that his hidden and abstruse secrets are effected after their vain imaginations which vanish in the conclusion and become as nothing because indeed they are grounded on nothing else but foolish and self-conceited phantasies and vanities seemeth to utter unto them these speeches Auribus percipite considerate mirabilia Dei fortis Nosti cum disponat Deus de illis cum splendeat lux nubis suae Nosti-ne de libramentis densae nubis mirabilia Dei perfecti scientiis Quaenam est via qua in partes dissilit lux Cujus utero egressa est glacies Aut pruinam coeli quis genuit Quanam via itur ubi habitat lux tenebrarum ubi est locus Perceive with your ears and consider the marvellous works of the strong God Dost thou know when God disposeth of them when the light of his clowd doth shine forth Dost thou understand the marvails of God who is perfect in sciences touching the ballancing and pondering of the thick clowds Which is the way in which the lightnings do skip forth being divided into parts Out of whose womb doth the ice proceed or who hath begotten the frost of heaven Which is the way that directeth oâ— leadeth unto the habitation of lâ—ght and which is the seat of darknesse This saith JEHOVA I say the strong God in checking of the vain-glorious wise-men of this world for their presumption and especially he pointeth at the bold Peripateticks who presumptuously profess that they of themselves without the teaching of the true wisdom do know all these things And yet the wisest amongst men speaketh thus Animadverti totum opus Dei non posse hominem ass qui illud opus quod sit sub sole quam laboriose homo quaerat non tamen assecutum esse quinetiam si cogitet sapientissimus cognoscere non tamen posse assâ—qui I observed every work of God that man is not able to attain unto that work which is under the sun how laboriously soever he seeketh Yea verily if the wisest man thinketh to know it he will not be able to attain unto it By which words Solomon pointeth at the insufficiency of man in himself that is to say without the conduct of the spirit of wisdom to attain unto the knowledge of Gods mysteries which also he doth seem to intimate in these
the mysty and ambiguous clouds of that cavilling brabling heathenish Philosophy which they so adore and follow with their Master Aristotle as if he were another Jesus rained down from heaven to open unto mankind the treasures of the true wisdome But maâ—k a while I beseech you how the Apostle doth describe these wrangling Philosophers with their Sophisticall Philosophy and with what characters and colours he doth justly describe them Si quis aliter docet non acquiescit sanis sermonibus Domini nostri Jesu Christi saith he ei quae secundum pietatem est Doctrinae superbus est nihil sciens sed languens circa quaestiones pugnas verborum ex quibus oriuntur iuvidiae contentiones blasphemiae suspiciones mala conflictationes hominum mente corruptorum qui veritate privati sunt existimantium quaestum esse pietatem If any man teach otherwise and consenteth not unto the wholsome words of our Lord Jesus Christ and unto the doctrine which is according unto Godlinesse he is puffed up and knoweth nothing but doteth about questions and contention of words whereof cometh envy strife rayling evil surmises froward disputations of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth which think that gaine is Godlinesse From such saith St. Paul unto Timothy Seperate thy self I could hartily wish that each Christian Peripatetick who spendeth his time in disputes and cavills after the Aristotelian manner and attempteth to draw out the endless bottome of truth or dive into the bowells or labyrinths of verity by subtle evasions I meane by an infinity of distinctions which doe rather distract then attract man unto the true wisdome which is but plaine and simple unity I could wish them I say to ponder this with patience and seriously to call to mind that in the Church of God and habitations or kingdoms of the true Sophia or if they please Philosophia there is no such custome as the Apostle teacheth us for this mixtion of multiform humane wisdome with the wisdome of God hath been the occasion of so many dissentions and discords as have sprung up among the Philosophers of this world whereupon every kind of this false Philosophy hath by stiffe cavillations and disputations maintained her Sect. This also hath been the occasion of errours in the Church of God as well among Christians as Turkes and Jewes For amongst us Christians it hath been the root of many Schisms and Heresies which have risen up in the re-search of one onely true God which is the eternall Unity And hereupon Convenientibus vobis in Ecclesia saith St. Paul si quis videtur esse contentiosus nos talem consuetudinem in Ecclesia non habemus If any man seem to be contentious we have no such custome in the Church of God To conclude there are so many waies of deception in this our Christian world by reason of these Aristotelicall evasions and Protean Peripateticall distinctions and sophistications that the self-same thing may by them like a nose of waxe be turned and changed or altered in outward appearance which way a man list and so plain simple truth is abused and the silly man seduced The Apostle doth notably decypher or paint forth this kind of Aenigmaticall Philosophers of our Age which like glorious Thrasoes are puffed up in their own conceipts and think very well of themselves though they approach not neare the mark or Summum bonum which wise men do ayme at in these colours In novissinis diebus saith he instabunt tempora periculosa c. Erunt homines seipsos amantes cupidi elati superbâ— c. Semper dâ—scentes nunquam ad scientiam veritatis pervenientes quemadmodum autem Jamnes Mambres restiterunt Moysi ita hi resistuunt veritati homines corrupti mente reprobi circa fidem ultra non proficient insipientia enim eorum erit manifesta omnibus sicut illorum fuit Tu autem assequuntus es meam Doctrinam In the last daies shall come perilous times for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters high-minded and proud c. alwaies learning and never attaining unto the knowledge of the truth And as Jamnes and Mambres did resist Moses so do these withstand the truth being men corrupt in minde and reprobate concerning the faith But these shall prevail no longer for their foolishnesse shall be made manifest unto all men as theirs also was But thou hast fully known my doctrine c. Now his doctrine was concerning the true Philosophy whose foundation was Jesus Christ or the true wisdom and corner-stone which sustaineth all and is all in all and filleth all and acteth or operateth all in all which is contrary unto the tenour of the Ethnick doctrine seeing that it maketh an infinity of essentiall Agents in this world as Daemons Stars Elements Meteors Fire Water Cold Heat Man Beast Plant Minerall and such like the which they will have as subalternate essentiall Agents to act and operate of themselves not understanding that there is but one catholick and indivisible Agent in many mansions which doth operate by and in an infinity of organicall vehicles all in all and over all And this doctrine of theirs hath so infected our Christian Philosophers which are of their sect that they distinguish of Gods Beeing saying That he is present vertualiter and not substantialiter or essentialiter As who should say that Gods vertue can be without his essence or divided from his divinity which is indivisible and so they dream of some accidents to be in God which are distinguished from his essence Or else they distinguish and say that he operateth all principaliter and mediate as he is the first cause But say they there are an infinity of secundary causes which act and operate of themselves But I wonder if that were true how God can be said to fill all things and operate all in all if he be onely the first efficient cause and not the generall cause of all action in this world by his blessed Spirit which he sent out into the world to do the will of him that sent it as well in heaven as in earth What needs more words when the Apostle in plain tearms decideth this controversie in the Text before mentioned Etsi sunt saith he qui dicuntur Dij sive in coelo sive in terra siquidem sunt dij multi domini multi nobis tamen est unus Deus Pater ex quo omnia nos in â—llo unus Dominus Jesus Christus per quem omnia nos per ipsum Sed non in omnibus est haec scientia Though there be that are called Gods as well in heaven as on earth as there are many gods and many lords yet unto us there is but one God which is the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him But every man hath not that knowledge By
aeri appendit aquas in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum Coelos creabat extendebat eos firmabat terram quae germinant ex ea sapientia creavit Deus terram stabilivit coelos prudentia facit ut oriatur lumen in coelis indeficiens sicut nebula tegit omnem terram Facit anni cursus constituit dispositiones stellarum fecit Arcturum Oâ—ionem Convertit in mane tenebras diem in noctem mutat vocat aquas maris effundit eas super faciem terrae Praeparavit terram in aeterno tempore replevit eam bipedâ—bus quadrupedibus ipsam effudit Deus super omnia opera ejus super omnem carnem secundum datum Ipsa denique operatur omnia Deus per ipsam operatur omnia in omnibus ipse vivificat animat omnia ut Apostolus Quare Propheta recte In sapientia omnia fecisti repleta est terra possessione tua c. Wisdom created the world of a matter without form She revealeth the foundations of the deep and discovereth the things that are hid in darknesse and light is with her She maketh the foundations appear out of darknesse and converteth the deadly shaddow into light She spreadeth forth the North upon the void or empty face of the abysse and hangeth the earth upon nothing For God made all things by the wisdom which came out of his mouth and compassed about the circuit of the heavens and walked in the profundity of the abysse She was present when he prepared the heavens when he covered by a certain law or compasse the abysse When he established the heavens or etheriall region above then was she with him as the composer of all those things She laid the foundations of the earth and fastned the heavens and broke up the Abysse and made the clouds to gather in a dew She giveth waight unto the Aire She hangeth or ballanceth the waters or clouds by measure She giveth unto the raine its laws and ordaineth a way unto the Lightning of the Thunder She created the heavens and did spread them abroad She fastned the earth and made the things which grow upon it God created the earth by her and established the heavens by his Providence and she causeth an indeficient Light to rise and appeare in the heavens and she covereth as it were with a cloud the whole earth She maketh the courses of the year and instituteth the dispositions or natures of the Stars She made the Pole-star and Orion and turned the darkness into the morning and changed the day into night She calleth the waters of the Sea and poureth them upon the face of the Earth She hath prepared the Earth from eterniâ—y and filled it with two-footed and four-footed Creatures God effused or poured her forth upon all his Works and upon all flesh in a divers measure To conclude â—â—e operateth all things as Solomon saith and therefore God by her doth operate all and in all things And again she vivifieth and animateth all things as the Apostle telleth us whereupon the Royall Prophet David doth rightly conclude in these words Oh Lord how glorious are thy works in Wisdome thou hast made them all the Earth is full of thy riches So is the wide Seas and innumerable creeping things therein both great and small Thou givest unto them and they gather it thou openest thy hand and they are filled with good things But if thou hide thy face they are troubled if thou dost take away their breath they die and return unto dust Aâ—ain if thou dost send out thy Spiâ—it they are re-created or re-vive and thou renewest the face of the Earth c. In which Speech the Prophet confirmeth that it is the Spirit of the Lord who by his presence reviveth that it createth and generateth and by his absence or vacancy mortifieth or corrupteth it And lastly by his returning or restoring of it again causeth both revivification and resurrection from the dead The which three mysticall operations of one Spirit in this world the whole Scriptures do handle at full and therefore we will conclude the last Chapter of this Book namely that which succedeth with this very Subject which shall truly correspond unto that defective treatise which Aristotle maketh of generation and corruption But before we come to speak of it we must proceed a little further in the opening of this present Principle By this therefore that is already said we may easily perceive that the Catholick Act or formall Principle with his infinity of dilatations or emanations are in the hands and volunty of the Creator who for that cause is said to operate by his Wisdome all in all as is already declared And therefore the Schoole distinction de operatione mediata immediata principali seu primaria minus principali seu secundaria with many other such like evasions forged out by the Ethnick Philosophers being necessary instruments of the Prince of this world forasmuch as they by their worldly discipline do distract even Christians themselves from Truth and Unity by a multiplicity of confused distinctions ought to be quite abolished being that the only act and Catholick agent in all things is immediatly from God and is all one in essence with God and is essentially in all things For the text saith that God hath poured out his Spirit on all his works and the incorruptible Spirit of God is in aâ—l things and the heavens and earth are full of it Again this Spirit is the most active and mobil of all things which being so what I beseech you should hinder it to work immediatly and absolutely in all things Being that it is the immediate vertue and vivifying emanation from God and consequently there can be no difference between the immediate act of God and the act of this Spirit which must needs be immediate in the creature because as it is present in it so also it is most mobil and all-sufficient in it selfe to operate Now therefore seeing it is evident that this Spirit is God and that the essence divine is indivisible it must needs follow that where it acteth immediatly there God also must act and operate immediatly and therefore all distinctions framed out after the inventions of men being laid aside these words of the Apostle and Solomon God worketh all in all doth generally hold over all and every particular and consequently we ought to acknowledg no subalternate acting or efficient cause in this world but onely one identity or divine essence and that is he who worketh all in all and vivifieth informeth and animateth immediatly all things alone without any assistance as Scripture tells us in divers places Ego IEHOVAH saith the Text faciens omnia solus nullus mecum I am IEHOVAH who work all things alone and have none to help or aid me Ego Sapientiaciâ—cumivi rotunditaâ—em coelorum sola I wisdome compassed the heaven alone c. For
ociosaque ad nihil respiciens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Nihil dicitur in quo statu Aleph tenebrosum dictitatur When the divine sapience was retracted in the abysse of darknesse resting still and quiet and respecting nothing it was esteemed as nothing and in that eâ—tate it was called dark Aleph In this contracted or rather sequestred or private estate therefore of the divine unity it operateth according unto this its negative pâ—operty or condition by his essentiall agent Cold which is proved therefore not to be an accident as the vain doctrine of the Peripateticks would perswade us being it is apparent unto each wise-man that no accidentall qualities are in or can be from God being that the divine Nature is meerly a simple essentiall and formall purity existing in himself and of himself and therefore he being but one essence is able to produce out of himself what essentiall property he pleaseth And for this reason the divine wisdom is said to be spiritus unicus multiplex one simple spirit in essence but manifold in respect of his essentiall properties Now that this essentiall property or nature of Cold is the formall instrument or instrumentall vertue whereby God doth operate in his hidden and potentiall estate for the resistance of heat and action or motion and for the deformity and destroying of that which he in his patent nature did effect by his Heat or active property it is made evident by effect for what the spirit of wisdom in its patent nature did operate by its hot spirit or blast from the south or easterly winde namely in subtiliating and raâ—ifying of the waters into thin aire making that which was gross subtle and making that which was opake and dark diaphan and invisible the self-same spirit again enduing his latent and cold property doth deform and undo For in blowing or breathing from the North the same thin and ratified aire is made thick dense and visible which was through raâ—ifaction made invisible and that which by dissipating of parts was made transparent light and diaphan is now by the Northern properties contractive vertue reduced into an opake or dark substance and no way perspicuous That which was active movable and lively by an addition of heat is now become stupid still and deadly by the invasion of cold That which was light and of no sensible weight is framed into an heavy and ponderous body or consistence as we see when the aire by the northern blast is turned into snow hail ice frost c. Now that it is but one and the same spirit in essence which bloweth from the four winds the Prophet Ezekiel doth testifie when he said Veni spiritus à quatuor veniis insuffla interfectos istos Come O Spirit from the four winds and breathe upon these slain persons c. Whereby he argueth that it is but one spirit though it endueth at his pleasure a four-fold property And now to confirm all this which is said to be true do but mark the words of the royall Psalmist Jehovah emittit nives sicut lanam pruinam sicut cineres dispergit deâ—icit gelu tanquam frusta coram frigore ejus quis conâ—istat Emittens verbum liquefacit ista simul ac efflat ventum suum effluunt aquae God sendeth forth the snow as wooll and scattereth the frost like ashes casteth out the ice like as gobbits who is able to withstand his cold He sending forth his word liquefieth all these northern effects So soon as he bloweth or breatheth forth his wind the waters do flow again that is the snow frost and ice do melt and are turned into water Out of which words we may observe many notable things namely first that God in his hidden or latent property doth by his essentiall action of cold contract unto the center those things which were before dilated towards the circumference Secondly that the property of cold is attributed or ascribed unto God in his northern action and therefore it is said Who is able to resist his cold For which reason it is evident that it is an essentiall vertue in the divine puissance Thirdly That it must be the act of unity in his dark hidden and privative property both because it darkeneth things that are diaphan transparent and light and then because it depriveth of life and motion that which did act move and live through essentiall heat And lastly because it is an utter enemy unto the action of heat which at tendeth on the revealed emanating and vivifying divinity Fourthly that the effects of cold are undone by the act of the revealed nature of God which is the word for the Text saith He sendeth out his word and resolveth or melteth all these namely the snow frost and ice Fifthly that all this is effected by one and the same spirit in essence but of divers and opposite conditions to perform the will of the Father which sendeth it forth Again that the cold property of the winde is the essentiall depriving vertue or stupifying and contracting act of God it appeareth by this of Job Deus fortis edit glacâ—em flatu suo flante Deo concrescit gelu The strong God bringeth forth the ice by his breath God blowing the ice is ingendered I conclude therefore that cold is the essentiall act of the divine puissance or eternall sapience shrowding it self in its mantle of darkness and therefore doth manifest the divine volunty in that estate of his by the effects namely in that it draweth from the circumference unto the center and therefore is the occasion of congregating of things as well hetero-as homo-geniall and by consequence the onely essentiall agent or efficient cause of inspissation contraction constriction fixation immobility ponderosity rest obteneration or darkness of mortification privation stupefaction and such like In the contrary divine property namely in this spirit's patent manifest and positive nature or as he is termed light Aleph wherein he moveth or sendeth out his emanation from the center towards the circumference and revealing himself upon the dark face of the Abysse maketh the invisible non Ens or potentiall Nihil to appeare in Act being first animated by his bright presence in the form of waters He is said by the Wiseman to be omnibus mobilibus mobilior ubique penetrans seu attingens propter munditiam ejus The most agile and movable of all movable things piercing through all things by reason of his purity So that as the other privative or Northern property did produce rest and vacancy from operation by attraction or contraction from the circumference unto the center so in this his positive or Southern and Orient property by dilating himself or sending out his active beam brightness or emanation from the center towards the circumference he doth beget and procreate motion being accompanied by the essentiall Act of Heat or calidity which operateth continually upon the effects of cold in resisting dissolving and
of those waters which are under the Firmament of which division Moses maketh mention and therefore every particular thereof doth correspond unto the whole and consequently the aire included in the glass of the Instrument is of the same nature as is that of the whole Catholick Aire and therefore by reason of their continuity as the excluded whole fareth so also doth the included part Again as the Spirit which walked upon the waters did animate vivify inform and dilate them giving them motion So also by his absence or by hiding its act or contracting its emanating beames into it self the waters are also contracted condensed and darkned as it appeareth by the Northern wind 's property which proceedeth from the privative or contractive action of this Spirit But as the waters do by their existence fill the vaulted cavity of the world So also doth the all-informing Spirit fill every corner of them insomuch as being it operateth all in all but in a diversity of property and therefore it is termed multiformis Sapientia so sometimes it operateth in its privative property in these lower waters as is already told you namely when it bloweth from the North and West and sometimes in his positive nature as when it breatheth from the South or East In the first by his cold action he contracteth from the circumference unto the center as is said by the last namely by his hot property he dilateth from the center to the circumference Seing then that it is water that is the Catholick passive out of the which as being the common Subject of all things the shape of the whole world and every thing therein was and is carved out and fashioned as St. Peter telleth us and that the eternall creating and all-inacting Spirit of the Lord is the universall actoâ— which moveth all in all in the waters as Moses doth intimate unto us and that in and by an infinity of Organs as Angels Sun Moon Starrs Winds fire c. as in many places of Scripture we find it it must needs follow that he is the agent as well in the contraction and dilatation generally without the Glasse as particularly within the Glasse Wherefore as the Sun the hot winds the fire or naturall heat of mans body have their dilative property from his emanating and inacting vertue and do alter by it the cold aire the winds and water from his privative disposition So it followeth that as well the dilatation of the aire in the Glasse as contraction is the immediate act of this Spirit 's positive or privative property for when this Spirit bloweth from the North or West the aire is contracted more or lesse into a narrower room within the Glasse and that is proved thus namely because the water is drawn up higher into the neck of the Glasse lest a corporall vacuity should be admitted in nature And again it is most apparent that the aire in the Glasse is by so much the more contracted by how much the Northern cold hath dominion in the outward aire because it is gathered into a more strait place oâ— passage then it was before the water was elevated up On the other side if the hot winds or Summer Sun do inflame the externall aire then the included aire will also dilate it self and in its dilation require a larger space That the aire is so dilated by heat it is plainly demonstrated in that the water is struck down by so many degrees lower than it was Again if one put his hand on the top of the ball of the Glasse the water will sinke for the aire will forthwith be dilated Now that the spirit of life which giveth this heat unto Man or Beast is from this eternall Spirit which as the Apostle saith doth vivifie all things Scriptures do in many places above and hereafter mentioned confirm Again the Prophet calleth this one Spirit from the four winds to breathe into the dead carcases that they might live again Thus you see it evidently confirmed by an ocular demonstration that cold doth contract inspissate and make gross the included aire which is argued by the drawing up of the water and straitning the aire And again that heat doth dilate and dissipate by the enlargement of the aire in hot weather or by laying of the hand on the bolts head which is made evident by the beating down of the waters Note I beseech you ye that will not be over-partiall on the Peripateticks behalfes the two notable errours of the Aristotelians whereof the first is manifested in that they hold for a Maxim that calidum doth congregare homogenea heat doth congregate and gather together things of one nature Now you see it here ocularly demonstrated that heat doth operate the contrary for it dissipateth and disperseth the aire which is of homogeneall parts and therefore it doth not congregate it But it is cold that doth congregate compact and gather homogeneall things together as well as heterogeneall For you see in our Instrument that it contracts and gathers together the aire yea and water in a straiter and narrower place And therefore their assertion also is not â—ound when they say that frigidum doth onely congregare heterogenea The other of their palpable errours is also described by this ocular experiment for whereas they say that the Sun starrs and Fire yea and all heat whatsoever doth attract and draw unto it the vapours and humidity of the earth waters c. we find the contrary by this our experimentall Glass for in onely laying the warm hand upon the Glass the aire dilates it self immediately and is so far from being attracted by the heat that contrariwise it flyeth away from the hand And that this is so it appeareth by the striking down or precipitation of the water as is said Thus have we sufficiently mentioned in this present Book the estate of the first and second Principles of all things and that but in brief tearms because my purpose is to touch them with a more large and copious style in the first Book of my Sympatheticall and Antipatheticall History I will now proceed unto the next Book wherein I purpose to handle the mystery of Rarefaction and Condensation with the manner of the variety in the heavenly Fabrick and the rotation of one catholick sublunary Element into a four-fold nature or existence And in the last place I will conclude with the radicall efficient cause of Creation Generation Corruption and Resurrection The fourth BOOK The Argument of this Book Herein is expressed the universall mystery of Rarefaction and Condensation where also it is proved that by them the World was made the Heavens established in due order and the catholick Element altered and changed after a quadruple manner and condition CHAP. I. Herein first the common or catholick subject of Condensation and Rarefaction is once again recited or repeated as also the two essentiall opposite properties or vertues which are derived from the eternall Principle in his privative
a divine emanation which made 2. and had the self-same regard unto unity as the diapason or perfection hath unto an unison Now this bright emanation by the which all things were created and framed in true harmony elected in this world the perfect seat of its royall regard unto all creatures in the point of diapason which is ever in the middle of the unison and therefore in the center of the heavens But it appeareth unto the eyes that the Sun is ranked in the middle of the seven Planets and again it appeareth by the divine glory which shineth from it that it is a seat of divine perfection and therefore the Platonists have imagined that the Solar orbe or sphear is the seat of their anima mundi or soul of the world Now as this royall and most consonant Diapason doth comprehend in his capacity the other two inferior accords in Musick namely Diapente and Diatessaron for of these two united is the Diapason composed it is likely that the whole harmony of the heavens and consequently of the world are put in practise in this created organ the actor or player whereon is the eternall Spirit which soundeth out every minute from this his glorious Instrument straines of life vivification multiplication pacification or preservation unto the creatures for this is the office of the eternall Christ in this world I mean the divine Word in the which as the Evangelist John testifieth is life But of this in the next Eightly it is proved by a physicall or naturall regard For we observe and not we onely but the beasts themselves nay the very herbs and vegetable plants of the earth do feel and as it were confesse that the Sun is the chiefest treasury of vivification and multiplication in this world Whereupon it is apparent that when the Sun approacheth near us the herbs and trees which seemed as dead before do now revive put on their green coats and flourish with their blossoms and flowers But contrariwise when it departs on the other side of the Aequinoctiall they put off their flowers and green apparell and begin to mourn as it were for his departure But saith St. Paul Deus vivificat omnia God doth vivifie all things And therefore if the Sun by his presence bringeth unto the world the vertue of vivification it is apparent that it hath this gift from the Spirit of God which is the Spirit of life and being abundantly poured on it by God into this heavenly vessell it doth effect these vivifying acts in the world no otherwise than the same spirit being affluently infused on Christ Moses Elijah and other Saints upon earth did effect wonders upon the earth in healing reviving from death c. Doth not the sacred Text also aver that Sapientiam Deus effudit supra omnia opera sua secundum datum suum God hath poured out his spirit upon all his works more or lesse Why then should any man make any scruple or question touching the Spirit 's habitation in the Sun in abundance This therefore is the chiefe subject of this Psalme of David to expresse that the glory of God doth palpably appear out of the creatures of heaven yea out of every creature the eternall Spirit doth shine or expresse his glory more or lesse and is according to the gift which is given unto him to be discerned out of it And thereupon Job saith Coelos ornavit Deus Spiritu suo God hath adorned or beautified the heavens with his Spirit By which words it is manifest that it is the essentiall spirit of God which giveth by the abundance of his presence the lustre and glory unto the Sunne which for that reason is termed and that not erroneously by the Platonists who therein have imitated the divine Poet Orpheus Oculus mundi because that in and by it as in a certain clear and smooth looking glasse or mirrour all things are seen and discovered And again the philosopher Heraclitus Si solem è mundo sustuleris quid est nostrum Corpusculum s◠desit anima Nulla ibi contractatur vena pulsatilis sentiendum nullum inest judiciuns Nullus in eo vitalis halitus aut respiratio If thou takest away the Sonne out of the world what is our little body if the soul be wanting There is no beating veine or pulse to be discerned in it there is no judgment to be perceived in it there is neither breath nor respiration in it For this reason also it is termed Co◠caeli the heart of heaven because that as in the heart doth exist the lively fountaine of blood which doth water and humect the other members of the body So also it appeareth by effect that the vertue vegetation and conservation of all things both inferiour and superiour doth issue and spring from the Sun forasmuch as it imparteth and inspireth by his light life and heat unto inferiour things and bestoweth formall light unto the superiour Now this light is a certain simple act which converteth unto it self all things by a vivificall or lively heat which penetrateth all things and conducteth their vertues over all and withall disperseth and expelleth away all darknesse and obscurity Whereby it is apparent that if the life in generall be in the word as St. John saith and if this catholick spirit of life vivifieth all things as St. Paul and Judith affirm and if the spirit of wisdom be brighter than the sun and a simple and pure spirit which is more movable and active than all things and therefore operateth all in all and if it penetrateth all things by reason of his purity as Solomon saith and all these properties are found in the solar vertue What should disswade man from thinking that the Hebrew Text was not rightly understood of Jerom when he interpreted it Posuit tabernaculum suum in sole He put his tabernacle in the sun Verily this was necessary for man to understand being that unto this very hour there are but few that will acknowledge that the Spirit of God doth immediately operate and work in his organ the Sun and by the Sun but being rather seduced by the Ethnick learning they will admit many subalternate agents or efficient causes per se that is of themselves distinguished from the essentiall act of God which is the reason of Idolatry and worshipping of the creature for the Creator and neglect or ignorance of the Creator in the creature For although it be said by Solomon Quod solem praevenire oportet ad benedictionem Dei We ought to prevent the sun-rising to give thanks unto thee And again we read that when we pray we should conver our faces unto the east or rising sun Yet ought we to imagine that he teacheth this doctrine for the Creator's cause which dwelleth in that bright tabernacle and not for the tabernacle's or creature's sake For it was into this errour that the Aegyptians fell who adoring this illuminated creature in lieu of the Illuminator
by degrees appear out explicitly namely in the sixt rank for it will be altered from humour to solidity with a certain distinction of the three principall Members in the seventh to an Embrionall shape and in the eighth which will make up a cube unto the materiall root 2. or the Square 4. which is characterized in the catholick Element by the impressions of the four winds into a perfect creature In like manner in the great world we see that the simple Element namely the generall aire appeareth externally plain simplicity and an invisible Nothing explicitly and yet it containeth complicitly a clowd water or rain Fire or Lightning and a ponderous stone with Salt and such like which by degrees do explicitly appear through the vertue of the four Winds So that a vapour possesseth the first rank the cloud the sixt the Lightning and clowd the seventh and the earthly Stone argueth an exact rotation of all the foure ventous forms into one mixtion which represents the eighth's place in Composition or Generation But when the man cometh to Corruption then his parts proceed in resolution backwards namely from 8. to 7. from 7. to 6. and from 6. to 5. untill it return unto the point of the simple Spermatick Element from whence it began and there it beginneth a new Generation in another form For the all-acting nature is never idle So also the Stone is resolved into water and water into a vaporous clowd and the clowd into aire from whenâ—e it came which is the simple catholick Element which admitteth no farther or proâ—ounder resolution by corruption Now the onely Operator in both these works is the Spirit of God for in Generation it shineth forth of the catholick Elements center or SpermS internall unto perfection and persevereth in his action till a perfect man be produced which Job confirmeth thus Nonne sicut Lac fudistime sicut caseum coagâ—â—asti me cute carne texisti me ossibusque nervis induisti me cum vita benignitatem exercuisti erga me Et visitatio tua conservavit spiritum meum Didst thou not poâ—â—e me forth like milk and like cheese didst crudle me Didst thou not cover me with skâ—n aâ—â— flesh Thou didst indue me with bones and sinews thou didest shew forth unto me thy benignity in my life and thy visitation doth preserve my spirit Contrariwise when the Spirit of God with-draweth his beames from the circumference of Generation and Composition unto the center of simplicity he leaveth to visite the Spirit of the creature and so it must fade ad decayingly return unto the principle from whence it came and from thence again if the same spirit is pleased to shine forth a new Generation beginneth where the Corruption or Resolution ended The Demonstration is such The Simple Square of the world's Composition where 2. that is to say Light and Water is the root The progression from the said Elementary Square unto the cube of Composition The root of Generation which is from the 4. Elements or the catholick Element four-foldly altered Where the four elements remain in their simplicity as they were created complicitely in one watry nature or rather catholick element called Aire which is the root from whence generation ariseth unto the period of perfect composition by four degrees or steps of alteration namely from the 4 to the 8. and whither tendeth retrogradely corruption namely from 8 to 4. CHAP. VII That God contrary unto Aristotle's assertion with the opinion of divers other Ethnick Philosophers doth not operate of necessity for the creation and continuation of his creatures but of his proper will and benigne inclination WE tearm that properly Necessary that can be no otherwise again we esteem that as well voluntary as fortuit or happening by chance which may be otherwise Now there hath risen and sprung up a great dispute among the Ethnick Philosophers whether God operateth in this world voluntarily or of necessity or as it were by compulsion the greater part therefore of them are flatly of an opinion that God acteth in this world as well in the generation and conservation of things as corruption of them by necessity and not by any voluntary motion whereby it must follow that he was enforced to do or effect what he doth from all eternity by some other nature which was either coeternall with him or pre-existent or else that he was excited or pushed forward against his will to effect this or that by some creature which he did make All which how erroneous and extravagant it is from the rules and center of truth I will in few words expresse unto you For first of all What I beseech you is of greater antiquity than God being that he was before any thing What is in Geometry before or in measure lesse then a point or which among all the numbers of Arithmetick is of so antient a standing as is the unity Wherefore it must needs follow that God is free and voluntary in his actions being that he was of himself and did exist without any respect had unto any other either precedent or coeternall principle from all beginning and therefore was sufficient in himself and of himself to work and operate by himself from all eternity But the principall reasons of the foresaid Ethnick opinion are two-fold first because God doth act and operate by his proper essence and not by any acquired vertue then forasmuch as the effects in the world seem to be necessary and hereupon they conclude that they cannot come or proceed from any contingent that is to say fortuit or voluntary occasion of another Unto the first me-thinks they seem to argue against themselves for as he acteth by his proper essence or substance it is evident that he is moved of his own accord and consequently not by any externall compulsion or internall necessity Moreover in the latitude of unity there can be no compulsion or coaction because that Unity cannot suffer Again it is not possible that he should be urged to work by any externall or alien efficient cause because that he remaining primarily fixed and stedfast in himself and of himself worketh as the originall fountain of all things by himself emitting his formall and vivifying beams of life at his pleasure and with-drawing them again when and where he pleaseth Unto the second I say that necessary effects do no way include any necessity in the first efficient cause because that secundary causes which Plato and other wise-men called Hand-maids or She-slaves do act at the command and inciting of him which is the unity of all multitude and therefore all in all or by a necessary order so that a necessity in worldly created things dependeth upon the volunty and command of him who made them the which order he accomplisheth and finisheth at his pleasure And therefore we find this written by the wise-man Ignem mitescit nè combureret modò ignem ille facit ardere inter aquas c. He
mover in the winds is the essentiall inspiration or breath proceeding immediatly from God Afflatu narium tuarum coacervatae sunt aquae flavisti vento tuo operuit eos mare The waters were gathered together in a heap by the breath of thy nostrils Thou didst blow with thy wind and the Sea did cover them And Job Flante Deo concrescit gelu When God bloweth from the North the yce is made Also that the winds are Divinely animated with a perfect life and intelligence it is made evident by the four Angels which are president over the four winds and that universall Spirit which was called from the four winds to breathe life into the dead carcasses of which we will speak forthwith And yet for all this the Ethnick Prince of our Philosophers will not blush forsooth to say that the winde is a some-thing meerly accidentall and that it hath his motion onely from externall principles and not from that centrall and internall agent which is the actor and operator of and in all things and consequently it could not blow or breathe where it listeth nor yet to hear the voice of the Lord when it was commanded to come from the four winds He according unto his fancy saith that this his figment is extracted out of the earth when Scriptures say that it is the most lively and agil creature of God which he bringeth out of the heavens that are his treasure-house for in this both the Prophets Jeremy and David do consent But in this member of his definition he concludeth that the laterall motion of the winde is caused through that resistance and impediment which is made by such exhalations as ascend O poor argument of so mighty a Philosopher as if such a ventall motion as that is from the north unto the south and so forth could be so certain and direct in his course being guided by so uncertain an agent as is an accidentall striving and contention made between ascending and descending fumes I beseech you tell me my quaint Peripateticks what manner of exhalation did rise out of the earth and shoulder or shove and resist one another in that emission of Spirit which happened when the Prophet said A quatuor ventis adveni Spiritus Come from the four winds O spirit me-thinks that I see the Christian pages or disciples of Aristotle to be clean mute and destitute of tongues to answer and if they should say that it was a miraculous winde and not a naturall I answer that I know no more efficient causes in nature or out of nature but onely one and therefore it is said in the production of Meteors namely in the common course of this world nature God bloweth from the north God produceth by his breath frost snow ice God thundereth from heaven God melteth the thick clouds into rain God sends lightning from his throne and coles of fire out of his mouth God maketh the dark clouds his hiding place God commeth from the south in thunder The voice of the Lord maketh the cedars of mount Libanus to stoop and the hinds to miscarry of their young ones God is a consuming fire Who can stand or resist the cold of God and so forth in many places more as well of the new as old Testament And to conclude that God operateth all in all and that he vivifieth all c. But our Peripateticall Philosophers come with their School-tricks and idle distinctions and say 'T is true indeed that he is causa efficiens principalls but there are many secondary and subalternate causes in nature which do act of themselves I say Plain dealing is a jewell and truth being one simple essence hateth double dealing let us imitate her in plainnesse and simplicity in understanding which we cannot attain unto unlesse we abstract our minds from the subtle multiplicity of worldly Philosophy and vain fallacy of which St. Paul biddeth us to beware for in multitude lurketh an infinity of errours but in unity consisteth that unique verity which is true wisdom Why then should we distract mens thoughts from the simple sense of Scripture by a multiplicity of distinctions which seem to wrest it like a nose of wax a hundred waies Scriptures say Of him by him and in him are all things The holy spirit of wisdom filleth the world The incorruptible Spirit is in all things Christ filleth every thing He vivifieth all things He operateth all in all He giveth life and inspiration and all things All things are from the Father by our Lord Jesus Christ. All things are in Christ and by Christ as well visible as invisible and he in all things He beareth and sustaineth all things by the word of his vertue God is the Father of all who is above all and in all And an infinite of other testimonies of Scriptures which confirm the divine essence to be all in all and to act all things universally without exception And yet our Peripateticks will perswade us that the creatures actions are divided from the act of God so that they do and can act of themselves through an active vertue given unto them by God but not now of God which assertion of theirs were it true indeed I will shew you how great an absurdity will follow namely that there must consequently be a division made in the divine essence which axiom true divinity will never admit for Athanasius his Creed doth teach us that it is sancta individua Trinitas the holy and undivided Trinity and therefore what act the creature hath received is not divided from the Giver neither is there any such need being the Giver of that formall vertue is by reason of that gift ever present and not divided from the gift and consequently acteth all in all and that immediately And for that cause it is rightly said by the divine Philosopher Hermes to be the center of all things whose circumference is every where so that it is in all but not as a part of any thing but as a composer of all parts and a container of them Wherefore let it suffice our Peripateticks that the creatures are onely organicall causes in which one onely catholick Spirit worketh and operateth according unto the variety of his property which is annexed unto his will and therefore he onely worketh in them and by them according unto his will and that immediately and absolutely and this is that which the Apostle intendeth when he saith Deus operatur omnia in omnibus God worketh all in all But to return unto my purpose How deaf and surd had this invocation of the wise Solomon been if the essence and life of the winds had been no other then that which is set forth by Aristotle Evigila saith he Aquilo veni Auster perflahortum meum Awake north-wind and come thou O south-wind and blow upon my garden To conclude if the winds had been procreated after Aristotle's invention or imagination whence cometh it that each winde is
the better gather and understand the truth of this business and find out whether Aristotle be a true or a false Prophet in this his description Let us here consider what the Book or Bible of verity shall teach us concerning the Generation of a cloud and how the members or clauses of this our definition do agree with the intention of it which that we may more distinctly and with the exacter method effect we purpose in this place to compare their minds and senses together that each person though but meanly literated may easily judge and determine of the case as truly it standeth In the precedent Definition he maketh the efficient and procreating cause the heat or act of the Sun saying that by the attractive vertue thereof the vapour which is the matter or substance of the clowd is drawn out of the earth and water and sublimed into the middle region of the aire averring also that partly by the motion of the Sun and partly by the winds it is moved this way and that way Again he surmiseth that the cause of the contraction or condensation of the vapour into the consistence of a cloud is the coldness of the middle region of the aire So that unto the consistence of the clowd he faineth that two Agents quite contrary in nature and condition unto one another do concur and meet together namely the heat of the Sun and coldness of the middle region of the aire but he assigneth no internall cause of motion unto the clowd esteeming it as a thing dead and without an active spirit For this cause therefore there do offer themselves unto each wise-man's consideration sundry doubts in this Definition to be throughly resolved and determined of before he will be able rightly to judge the verity thereof namely first whether the heat of the Sun do draw and attract vapours out of the earth and waters into the middle region of the aire for the composing and shaping out of a clowdy Meteor Secondly whether the coldness of the middle region of the aire be the occasion of the condensation or thickning of a thin vaporous substance into the consistence of a well compacted clowd Thirdly whether the clowds be only moved by externall efficient Agents namely by the winds and Sun as being destitute of any internall active principle or centrall Agent or else if it be moved and animated by an internall Spirit Unto either of these three questions or doubts I purpose here to answer in order as they are proposed Unto the first Objection therefore I say That it is a most false and erroneous Tenent of the Peripateticks that the Sun Starrs or fire do draw unto them any vapours or exhalations For it is proved by experience that they rather expell and dissipate from them such things as are rarified by them than draw and allure them unto them neither is it true as most men falsly dream and surmise that the Sun draweth fumes upward or that the fire sucketh the vaporous substance of the attenuated water unto it but their office is to rarify and subtiliate the waters and to reduce the moister part of the earth into vapour And then it is naturally incident unto those light Substances of their own inclinations to ascend and mount upwards without any other externall agent But all this we have plainly demonstrated by our experimentall Instrument For if you set your hand upon the bolts head or round glasse on the top the aire will dilate it self and presently fly away from the rarifying agent that dilateth it and therefore much less will that agent suck or draw it unto it self By which it is evident that whereas it seemed in the eies of worldly wise-men that because a vapour or fume ascendeth upwards therfore that motion from the Earth must needs proceed from the attractive vertue of the Summer heat now in the conclusion it is proved to be stark false and erroneous being that the nature of Heat and Light are clean contrary unto the attraction forasmuch as they expell by dilatation and do dissipate and enlarge which is contrary unto the condition of attraction gathering together and condensation which are the properties of cold as is mainfested by our experimentall Machin But now to prove that Aristotle's grounds are most extravagant unto the Truth who affirmeth that the clowds are made of a vapour drawn or elevated up into the middle region of the aire we must understand that the Opinion of the holy Scriptures is flatly adverse and contrary unto this clause or member of his definition or description being that first it is easily to be gathered by this Text of St. Paul That we ought to believe by Faith that things visible were first made of such things which were not seen and therefore it is neither the visible earth nor water that can be the Originall of the clowds but rather the invisible aire And this is also maintained by divers plain Testimonies of Scriptures Deus sapienti◠su◠aptat pondus aëri appendit aquas in mensura Ligat eas in densis nubibus facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum God by his Spirit of Wisdome doth give a weight and proportion unto the aire and hangeth or ballanceth the waters by measure tieth them in the thick clowds giveth laws unto the rain and assigneth a way unto the Lightning of the Thunder In which speech the wise and patient Job doth seem to confirm First that God is the Father and Head from whence this work and all other doth radically proceed and the eternall efficient instrument by which he acteth is his Spirit of Wisdome which also accordeth with this of the Apostle Nobis est unus Deus Pater à quo omnia unus Dominus Jesus Christus per quem omnia To us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and one onely Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things Secondly That the aire is the main Subject as well of the watery as fiery Meteors for by thickning or condensing of it it giveth a consistence unto the clowds and such-like Meteors which are easily afterward resolved into water and rain and then by attenuating it extreamly it becometh lightning Not that I say that the act of Lightning is of the Substance of the aire but is rather an admirable Light clothed with the aire as with a vestiment And in the very same sense the Text saith Indutus lumine quasi vestimento He is endued with light as with a vestiment And again the wise Philosopher In lumine numen in numine lumen So that the thinner the aire is the hotter it is and consequently the richer in coelestiall fire whose centrall act is divinity Now that the aire is the substance or materiall subject of the watry Meteors the precedent Text beareth it in these words God by his Wisdom assigneth or setteth by proportion a weight unto the aire that is he thickeneth it into clowds
and windy Angels as the Seraphins are fiery Spirits and so moveth upon the wings of the wind or aire which his Angelicall Cherubin doth animate So that in and by the windy Organ he is said to blow when and where he list It is I say the Eternall Spirit of Wisdome which is in brightness and vertue more noble then the Sun of Heaven as Solomon testifieth For as much as it also giveth life and splendor unto the Sun And therefore it is said to excell the Sun in brightness which is the onely efficient cause or formall and essentiall Agent in this business and consequently neither the Sun or any other of the created host of Heaven It is I say again the all-creating Spirit and not the created which is the generall act and onely formall mover in the Meteors whom his Angelicall Ministers which do ever stand before this Lord of all the earth that I may speak with the Prophet Zachary are ready to assist as Organs or instrumentall causes to execute his will It is I say the essentiall wind or Spirit which bloweth from the center of the cloud and moveth or inciteth his spirituall created Organs according unto his will For by it his Spirit also moveth in the Angels and winds causing them to effect his Command according unto David's assertion Wherefore we may see by this which is said how incongruous is this opinion of the Ethnick Peripatetick unto the Truth and how far it derogateth from the right of God's Word and consequently what an errour it is in our Christian Philosophers to follow and imitate his learning with such a devotion and fervency as if they were Theodidacti taught by God himself when in verity his doctrine doth rather disswade Christians from the knowledg of him in his works then instruct them therein being it perswadeth them that things are effected both in heaven above and in the earth and in the waters beneath by vain waies and accidentally that is to say meerly by naturall causes onely and so would blemish the honour and reputation of Him who in verity is all in all and operateth all in all and that not by constraint as the vain Peripatetick imagineth but according unto his Will as it is proved before CHAP. VI. The true and essentiall Definition or rather description of a Cloud is set forth in this Chapter WEll then will they reply Let us understand how you can better define or describe the nature of a clowd according unto that holy Philosophy and true Wisdom which you seem to profess To the which I answer that I am willing and that after a divers manner though agreeing in one unity of Essence A clowd is the revealing and making manifest of the invisible mundan spirit which is hidden in the treasury of God namely the heavens by the centrall operation of the divine wisdom and his windy ministers being incited thereunto by the will of God into a vaporous heap or clowdy substance which the said spirit of wisdom erecteth for his secret place or vehicle to move in and for the effecting of his will as well in heaven above as in the earth and waters beneath Or after this manner A clowd is the reducing of the invisible aire into a visible thick and gloomy consistence which is by the will of God effected through the concurrence or meeting together of opposite or transversall winds for the accomplishment of his secret will and pleasure Or else thus A clowd is a certain visible condensed heap of aire the which the Spirit of wisdom being expansed every wheâ—e doth make and compose as it were of nothing that is to say of an airy invisible somewhat which it extracteth out of his mysticall treasury to do and effect the will of God as well in heaven as in earth In which definitions or rather descriptions the materiall substance seemeth to be a coagulated mist or condensed masse or heap of aire the formall cause is set out in the shape and form of the clowd the efficient cause or centrall agent is the essentiall act of the divine wisdom who employeth and exciteth his windy ministers to work externally by the way of compression We have also the magazine or treasury out of which the substance of the winds is produced namely the heavens or aire which is termed Arca Dei thesauraria The chist or cabinet of Gods treasures To conclude the finall cause is manifested in this that the clowd is ordained to bring forth the effects as well of Gods clemency and benignity as of his severity and anger Now for the defence of the first part of these descriptions we find it thus written Deus sapientia suâ apt at pondus aeri appendit aquas in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum c. God doth by his wisdom proportionate the weight of the aire and hangeth the waters or clowds in measure assigneth lawes unto the rain and maketh a way unto the lightnings of the thunder That is to say according unto the will and ordination of the divine Spirit the aire or substance of heaven is changed from a lighter or thinner estate or weight unto a heavier or thicker the degrees of which mutation are expressed in the words following for first it was aire then clowds then rain or vulgar water Also the Text doth seem to make the lightnings internall or formall light of the clowd which is not revealed but by the violation or ruption of the compound and ablation of darkness Again it is said by Job as is already related Aer condensabitur in nubes ventus transiens fugabit eas The aire will be thickned into clowds And touching the clowds of snow Congregatio spiritus aspergit nivem The aire being gathered together doth scatter the snow on the earth Touching the efficient cause it appeareth to be God or the eternall Wisdom and therefore in the precedent Text it is said Deus sapientia sua aptat pondus aeri appendit aquas vel nubes in mensura God by his wisdom hangeth or ballanceth the waters or clowds in measure And again Nubibus densis obtegit Deus coelos God covereth the heavens with thick clowds But all this is sufficiently expressed before As for the finall cause set down in the foresaid definitions it is confirmed by Scriptures in this fashion Pro irrigatione fatigat Deus den sam nubem dispergit lucem nubis suae quodcunque praecipit illis faciendum in terra sive ad flagellum sive ad faciendam beneficentiam efficiet ut presiò sit God wearieth the thick clowd for the watering of the earth and he disperseth every where the light of his clowd whatsoever he commandeth them to be done upon the earth whether it be for a scourge or else in favour and benignity he maketh them to be ready to accomplish it And Baruch saith When God commandeth the clowds that they passe over the whole earth they
perform what is commanded them So that we see these creatures are drawn out of their secret dwellings to do the will of him that created them CHAP. VII How by our experimentall Instrument the reasâ—n of the composition of clowds is ocularly demonstrated A so in this the Snow is defined falsly and truly NOw I think it most fit to demonstrate unto you how the clowds are procreated by the opposite blast of two winds of a contrary nature namely of the Southerly wind in eminency and dominion and a Northerly spirit which also bloweth but insensibly I told you in the Chapter where I did demonstrate by our experimentall Instrument the reason of the Southerly winds which happen in winter that as the aire included in the Weather-glasse did by the onely touch of a warm hand dilate it self and in dilatation fly from the hand of the toucher unto the cold region of the water which was evidently proved and maintained because the water did suddainly thereupon move downward So also the grosse winter aire in the southern hemisphear did at the approach of the Sun unto the parts beyond the Line dilate it self by vertue of that ever-acting and subtiliating spirit which put his tabernacle in the Sun so that the southern dilated aire posted apace or flew hastily away to seek a larger place but comming into the northern hemisphear which by reason of the Sun's absence became brumall or wintry the constant aire of that region being now contracted by the northern cold and the north-wind by reason of the colds dominion blowing more or lesse though insensibly it meeting with the warm southerly spirit condenseth it with the rest into clowds and this is the reason that alwaies almost and that is where no northern blasts are discerned that the southerly winds do bring abundance of clowds and rain with them for that the hot southerly vertue of the divine agent doth more and more subtiliate and rarifie the winter aire which it found there till it had by rarefaction purified it and reduced it unto the nature of a true Summer aire so that the superfluous parts of the aire after rarefaction were chased away as is said into the northern region where it is condensed again partly by the privative act of the divine puissance and partly by the spissitude of the northern aire which denyeth it free passage into the form of clowds For the cold spisse aire of the northern hemisphear agitated and animated by the northern blast or property resisteth the hot vaporous aire and so it condenseth by little and little To conclude I could here set down the Aristotelian definitions of the snow frost hail ice and such like other meteors and then check and contradict them mainly by other true descriptions of them proved by the testimony of holy writ As for example Aristotle seemeth to aver that the snow is a clowd congealed by the great cold which before it be perfectly dissolved into water by a vaporous disposition it is changed into a snowy substance In which definition because he is ignorant as hath been proved already in the fabrick of a clowd we ought in no case believe him Again he digresseth from the tenour of Scriptures according unto the mind whereof we have defined the snow thus The Snow is a meteor which God draweth forth of his hidden treasury in the form of wool to effect his will upon the earth either by way of punishment or clemency Or thus The Snow is a creature produced out of the air or heavenly treasury of God by the cold breath or blast of the divine spirit in the form of wool to perform his will on the earth Where the fountain of his originall substance is made the aire or the matter of the heavens and therefore the Text hath it Congregatio speritus aspergit nivem The gathering together or condensation of the spirit ingendereth and sprinkleth the snow upon the earth And Job Pervenistine in the sauris nivis Camest thou into the treasury of the snow Also the form and efficient cause is expressed thus Deus verbo suo nives emittit sicut lanam coram frigore ejus quis consistat God by his word sendeth out the snow like wool who is able to resist his cold So that God by his Word which doth operate in his privative property by his cold is the essentiall efficient and omnipotent actor in the production of the snow I could I say effect all this at large but because my minde is not to dwell upon on these particulars forasmuch as in the description of the clowd I have sufficiently pointed at the rest I will proceed unto my enquiry touching Aristotle's opinion concerning the beginning of fountains that we may perceive thereby whether he have erred as far in that mystery as he hath done in the rest CHAP. VIII What Aristotle's opinion is touching the generation of Fountains and Rivers and whether he in his opinion doth jump with the verity of the true wisdom SInce therefore it is apparent that Aristotles doctrine is erroneous and deceiptfull touching the generation and essence of the winds and clowds we purpose in the third place to bring his judgment and opinion concerning the beginning and originall of fountaines and rivers unto the touch-stone of truth that thereby we may perceive whether it will endure the tryall and not shrink as the proverb is in the wetting The Peripateticks as well Christians as Gentiles are as much deceived in their meteorologicall grounds concerning the generation of fountains and rivers as in the rest of which we have spoken before and therefore their Master Aristotle all things being well pondered in the ballance of justice ought to be accounted of all true Christians for a seducer and deceiver of the world and consequently his doctrine touching this point ought of right to be repudiated and rejected Aristotle with his peripateticall sect or faction are of opinion that being the belly or bowells of the earth is full of cavities and hollow passages vapours to avoid vacuity must needs ascend from the center or bottom of it the which cleaving in their ascent unto the sides of the hollow vaults and streighter passages or veines of the earth do resolve into water which distilling down by drops do ingender fountaines and rivers In the which opinion of theirs they conclude that the matter of fountains is nothing else but a vapour arising from the bottom of the earth and resolved liquefied or condensed into water through cold and heat together within the earth no otherwise then after their saying the clowd rain snow and hail do arise and are generated in the aire of a vapour first condensed and afterwards liquefied But if we shall duely examine every member of this their description we shall perceive that they require as well a double matter as formall agent in this generation of fountaines for they faign that the remote matter is a vapour and then the near and immediate
matter they imagine to be drops of water which are caused by the concretion or condensation of that vapour Also they make their two efficient causes cold and heat for say they it is the office of cold to condense and congeal the included vapour into water and that it is the heat and cold together which maketh the water fluxible and moovable Let it therefore be lawfull for me judicious Reader to answer these Peripatetick Philosophers with an over-worn axiom of their own and consequently to fight with them at their own weapons Their axiom is Erustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora That is vainly done or effected by many which may be effected by lesse Now if that this originall work in the producing of fountains may be performed most conveniently by one and the self-same subject of water without the altering of it first into vapour by subtiliation and afterward by condensing again that subtle vapour into water Then I make no doubt but you will conclude with me that this Peripatetick definition is vain imaginary and sophisticall by their own rules But I will make it apparent hereafter by an ocular demonstration that it is possible by a course in nature onely that water without any alteration of his consistence may by the secret veines and close passages or conduits of the earth be drawn or sucked up out of the huge seas unto the top or summity of the mountains after by his soaking through the sands and pory substance of the earth it hath left his salt nature behind it which appearing evidently to every mans sense the vanity of Aristotles invention will soon be discovered unto wise men Besides all this the sterility of his reason or invention which would faign that these vapours cleaving unto the sides of the caverns or hollow places and that there forsooth they must be converted into drops of water which from thence must issue forth into rivers will be palpable and manifest if we consider that these drops so made are apter to circulate and readier to fall down again into the bowells of the earth from whence they came by those self-same vaulty passages or hollow veines through which they ascended than to issue forth of the ground allaterally because that every heavy thing is more prone to descend then to move sidelong And therefore it is likely that either all the waters so made or the greater part must needs return downward by the way it came or ascended in the form of vapour But omitting these reasons for a while we must see if the Text which is conteined in the Book of Verity do consent in this Opinion with Aristotle and his faction yea or no. We find in the first place that it is not an accidentall and imaginary heat or cold that acteth in this Meteor's Generation but God who operateth by his Angelicall Spirits and solar act in the accomplishment of this business And although that in his action as well privative as positive cold and heat do expresse themselves as his Ministers For the Text saith Coram frigore ejus quis consistat Who can stand against his cold Yet it is his catholick positive act which he extendeth out of his sunny Tabernacle and hotter winds and privative vertue which he manifesteth in the longinquity and absence of his bright Tabernacle from the region pointed at and the propinquity of the polar seat of the colder winds to alter annually the created Element And therefore it is God which by his Spirituall Organs as well in Heaven above as Earth and Water beneath that operateth all things and amongst the rest produceth the Fountains of which the rivers are made And consequently we ought to esteem it the Act of God's Spirit which filleth the earth as Solomon saith and operateth all the naturall effects therein Which also David doth testify in these words Qui emittis fontes per valles ut inter montes ambulent potum praebeant omnibus animantibus agri frangant onagri sitim suam Qui irrig at montes è caenaculis suis faciens ut germinet foenum adjumenti herbam ad hominis usum Who sendeth forth the fountains through the valleys that they may run between the mountains and give drink unto every living creature of the field that the Asse may quench his thirst and that they may water the mountains from their cells causing the grass to grow for the use of the Oxe and the herb for the benefit of man c. So that here we have the sole catholick Agent and therefore the Operator of fountains as is proved by this Text. Again here we have the finall cause set down for the which they were created and continued in succession by God namely to water the earth for the giving drink unto all cattell and living creatures and for the multiplying of grasse herbs trees and fruit for the use as well of man as beast But will our Peripateticks say we hear no news out of Scripture for the contradicting of our matter assigned for the composition or consistence of Fountains which we say to be a vapour and not water in its naturall substance Neverthelesse to qualify this their imagination and to make them behold the Truth without Spectacles I counsell them to give eare unto this assertion of Solomon Omnia flumina saith he intrant in mare mare non redundat ad locum unde exeunt revertuntur ut iterum fluant All rivers enter into the Sea and it is never the bigger they return unto the place from whence they came that they might flow again By the which Speech of the wise-man expressing the materiall cause of Fountains the foresaid definition of Aristotle is utterly othrown for this doth evidently prove that it is one and the self-same water and that in the plain form of water without any transmutation of it out of water into vapour and then from vapour into water again as he doth erroneously alledge which moveth from the Sea unto the Mountains and from the Mountains unto the Sea again Insomuch that for this onely errour some of his earnest disciples have become Apostates or renegado's unto his doctrine For Joannes Velcurius a learned man in the worldly Philosophy and one who hath sweat and taken great pains in the Aristotelian doctrine insomuch that he wrote a Comment on his Physicks when he cometh to speak of the Generation of Fountains he seemeth to confess and publish his Master's folly in these words Non conveniunt plane Sacrae Scripturae cum Physicis de ortu fluminum fontium quae ex mari per varios alveos meatusque fluere ac ad suos fontes refluere Eccles. 1. testatur dicens Omnia flumina intrant in mare mare non redundat aâ— locum unde exeunt flumina reveâ—tuntur ut iterum fluant Caeterum Physici dicunt materiam esse vaporem resolutum in aquam liquefactum à frigore et
calore simul intra terram The holy Scriptures do not agree with the Naturalists concerning the Originall of Rivers and Fountains which Ecclesiastes 1. saith to flow by divers channels or passages out of the Sea and to flow again unto their Fountains saying All rivers enter into the Sea and the Sea is not the greater they return again unto the place from whence they came c. Whereby it is plain that he must accuse his Master of false doctrine or else he must condemn Solomon in his Judgment For if the one be contradictory unto the other it ought of all wise-men to be chased away or expelled from Christian mens remembrance Now it were a foolish thing for any religious person to say that the divinely-wise Solomon lied to save the reputation of the Ethnick of diabolically wise Aristotle But if they would yet will I teach them in the next Chapter by an evident ocular demonstration that Solomon's assertion is most true and that of Aristotle's most erroneous and fantasticall I conclude therefore that I gather out of the aforesaid places of the Bible that this following Definition doth best agree with the nature of a Fountain A Fountain is a continuated Flux of water issuing from the Sea as from his beginning and flowing into bowells of the earth and after that from the bowells of the earth as from the mean by which it passeth unto the upper or higher Superficies of it by vertue of the divine act in the mundan Spirit as well positive or dilative as privative and contractive for the benefit and sustenance both of man and beast In which definition plain water without any alteration of his shape is expressed for the materiall cause and is said to have its beginning from the Sea from whence it moveth unto the Mountain's tops The efficient cause of this work we find to be the act of the Divine Word in a double property as shall be more at large demonstrated in the next Chapter And hereupon Solomon said Sapientia erat apuâ— IEHOVAM in principio viae suae cuncta componens quaâ—do roborabat fontes abyssi ponebat mari statum Wisdome was with IEHOVAH in the beginning of his waies as a composer of all things when he did establish the Fountains of the abysse and set the Sea within his limits or bounds And lastly The finall cause is to give drink and food unto both man and beast as we may gather out of the forementioned Text of the royall Prophet We come now unto the demonstration CHAP. IX Wherein Solomon's assertion touching the Fountains and Rivers is maintained partly by an ocular demonstration and partly by true Philosophicall reasons which are founded thereon I Did advertise you Learned Reader in my precedent discourse that Gods Spirit doth operate annually in the common Element of the Sublunary world by a double vertue whereof the one is dilative which is effected in his positive and manifest property namely in his light active and warm disposition the principall Treasury and store-house whereof he hath made the Sun Forasmuch as his bright emanating Spirit of Wisdome did elect that pure vessell for his Tabernacle The other is contractive which is effected in his privative and secret condition namely in his dark fixing and cooling disposition whose principall treasury is about the poles Forasmuch as it being contrary in effect with the first is seated in the farthest quarters or points of the world from the Sun So that as the vivifying Spirit which is seated in the Sun doth by his presence operate onely by dilatation in the common sublunary Element in banishing of the Northern cold and undoing the actions thereof by the way of Rarefaction In like manner by the absence of the Sun the spirits of the Polar property doth take possession of that portion of the Element and undoeth by the way of congelation all the subtill actions of the Spirituall and active solar vertue As for example all that in the winter time among the nations of the Southern world that is to say beyond the line the Sun being then in the Northern Hemisphere causing by his vertuous Spirit our Summer season the Antartick pole's cold property doth effect namely in thickning the aire raising the Fountains or Springs and multiplying the waters producing the Snows Frost Ice and Hail mortifying the herbs fruits and plants and such like the Sun at his next visitation of those quarters which will be in our Northern winter by the vetue of that dilating and vivifying Spirit from the Fountain and Father of Light which aboundeth in it will undo converting the thick aire to thin striking down the Fountains more towards the bowels of the Earth which were raised in the winter dissolving the Snow Frost ice and hail and of fix and opake bodies making them movable and transparent waters reviving the spirit of the trees plants and herbs which were almost livelesse through congelation and renewing their mourning bodies with new green garments blossoms and flowers and lastly with wholsome fruit To conâ—lude there is nothing that the polar cold prevaileth over in the one hemisphear but the solar heat operateth contrarily by the same pâ—oportion in the oppoâ—ite region of the world for else the world must endure an augmentation or a diminution in its substance that is sometimes it would be bigger and sometimes lesser But as Sâ—lomon averred that the seas for all the comming in of rivers are never the greater so also though fountains rise in one part of the world and sinke in another and although also the aire by attenuation made by the active spirit of the Lord moveth from the warm or summer hemisphear unto the cold and winter hemisphear yet is the world no bigger or lesser in its existency for all that What therefore the winter properly doth operate in one hemisphear of the world the summer-hemisphear must needs act in the same proportion in the contrary for if beyond the Line are made great raines in their winter we must needs have great drought in the summer on this side the Line When it is hottest with us it will be coldest with them if it prove temperate with us it will be so with them as the Sun being in the Aequinoctiall maketh daies and nights equally long and the season temperate to both hemispheares These things therefore being considered maturely in the first place I proceed unto my practicall conclusion and my naturall observation thereupon is that the aire included in the Weather-glasse is made Hybernall or of the nature of winter by the dominion of cold for as soon as the head of it feeleth the externall cold the contained aire will immediately shrinck up and contract it self into a little space and consequently the aire is made more dense and thick and that this is so it appeareth by the mounting or attracting up of the water for there is such a naturall tye betwixt the one and the other that if the one contracteth it self in a
afterward it was inclosed and saith that this light skipping and gliding out of the clowds is called the Lightning the effect of whose breaking forth is the Thunder Others will have these flashes of fire to proceed from the dry winds which being compassed about compressed or coarctated within the clowds these clowds are by them are set on fire thereupon cometh that noise which followeth that turmoile in the clowds And again many others have otherwise determined of it So that we may justly say touching this point and that rightly Quot homines tot sententiae And now concerning the Opinion of Aristotle it is in it self so contrary and contradictory unto the authority of the true Wisdome that some of his learned Christian Disciples have in the plain field of the Peripateticall Combat against the Truth turned tayl as the commâ—n phrase is and become Apostats or Renegado's or relinquishers of their Faith which they had in their Master's sincerity touching this Doctrine For we find it thus written by Margarita Philosophiae as is before said Qu dam Philosophorum considerantes mirabilem fulminis operationem ipsum non opus Naturae sed summi Dei effectum immediatum arbitrati sunt Some of the Philosophers considering the admirable operation of the Lightnings have assuredly held or thought it not to be a work of nature but the immediate effect of the most high God But to â—ome unto the particulars of his Definition He saith that the material cause of the Lightning is taken from the Earth the Agent in â—he elevation is the Astrall vertue the externall accidentall or adventitious efficient is the collision concussion or knocking together of opposit clouds by reason of the antiperistasis that is made between the heat of the Exhalation and the cold of the aire 's midle region whereby the accension or setting on fire the Exhalation is made And lastly He sheweth the reason that the Lightning moveth downwards namely because the Substance or matter thereof is terrestiall and of an earthly compaction I will therefore confute every one of these particles in order and that first by Philosophicall or naturall reasons and lastly by the Authority of the holy Scripture As concerning the materiall Substance of the Lightnings which he saith is a hot and dry exhalation and terrestially-compacted Substance which is derived from the earth First it seemeth to be but a figment because it is proved that the Starrs have no attractive vertue or force as is pâ—oved before Then for that if the windy exhalation which is light and more apt to arise and penetrate by reason of its subtility be denied passage into the middle region of the aire much more must this kind of exhalation have his passage barred or hindered into that cold place being it is as he confesseth grosser more terrestiall and apter to be inflamed But this impossibility will also be demonstrated by the authority of holy Writ Fulgura procedunt à Throno Lightning pâ—oceedeth from the Throne of God Again he is said Fulgur are lumine suo desuper cardinesque maris operire To enlighten with his light from above and to cover with it the compasse of the Sea And again ignis ab ore ejus evolavit Fire came from his mouth And again Flamma ex ore ejus prodiit A flame came fâ—om his mouth Again Illuxerunt coruscationes tuae orbi terrae Thy coruscations or Lightnings did shine over the earth Again Fumus in ira ejus ignis à facie ejus exarsit Smoak issued from him in his anger and fire did flame forth from his face What Shall we imagine that this flaming matter was as Aristotle faineth drawn or elected from the earth by the Starrs which God so familiarly sendeth forth or dare any true Christian imagine that so base and triviall an excrement of the earth would by the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles with such a boldness be ascribed unto God's essentiall power and to be derived from his presence Nay had it not been an impudency in them to say in regard of the divineness of the thing that God is a consuming fire as we finde it written both in the old and new Testament or would the Prophet testifie that he made his angels winds and his ministers flaming fires How basely might a true speculator into the divine mysteries judge of the beginning of the Angells and spirituall lights if their materiall substance were accidentall exhalation Again we are taught that the heaven or aire is the treasure-house from out whose bowells the winds the clowds the snow the hail and lightnings and rainbow is extracted and proportioned by the Spirit of God to do his will And therefore as before Deus sapientia sua aptat pondus aeri appendit nubes in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum God by his wisdom doth proportionate the weight of the aire and hangeth the clowds or waters in measure maketh lawes unto the rain and a way unto the lightnings of the thunders So that it is evident that the matter of all meteors be they watry or fiery is hewen by the word or wisdom of God out of the catholick aire consequently not out of the earth neither is there any such need of the starrs attraction or elevation in the business being the pure matter of the lightnings is evermore in the divine puissance and reserved in his secret treasure-house to be called or chosen out at his will who hath created all things to work how and which way he pleaseth for were it not I beseech you a wonderous thing that at an instant so great a quantity of exhalations could be drawn out of the earth and elevated by the stars as did suddainly and unlooked for rain down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah But our Aristotelians will say according unto custom that it was miraculous I answer that for all that the meteor was materiall for it was fire and brimstone Now I would fain know of them out of what magazine or store-house it came and whether the stars drew it up from the earth and whether God did not collect it immediately out of his own aiery or invisible treasury or store-house For St. Paul saith that all visible things were first of things that were not seen Secondly touching the agent he is more deceived in it then in the matter for first he maketh the agent which draweth up the exhalation the attractive vertue of the stars then he surmiseth that the efficient cause which enlighteneth it must be partly the dashing together of two clowds and partly the contrariety which is between the heat of the exhalation and coldness of the place which meeting together do cause the accension of the exhalation Good God what a Gallimofry he would make and what a confusion of externall actions or efficient causes doth he fain when there is but onely one indeed which is most internall or essentiall that moveth which way
it lift and operateth all in all Are these superficiall accidentall and externall formall agents the primary movers and animators of the bright lightnings And yet it is said that God doth animate and vivifie them with his presence What can we Christians imagine of the Aristotelian doctrine when it would faign the immediate act of God in his prime angelicall creatures to be so poor and mean as are the adventitious elevations of fumes by the starry creature and the concussion of clowds happening by chance and a conflict betwixt heat and cold Verily it was no marvell if when his invention did fail in the research of so high a mystery he was put to such weak shifts as in the eyes of wise men are scarce probable For when we behold the admirable effects of the lightning how it pierceth the scabbard without any hurt unto it and melteth the sword entereth the purse and liquifieth the mony nay pierceth the barrell or hogshead and drinketh or consumeth the wine the vessell not altered yea and what is more that it hath understanding and reason to punish wicked contemners of this wondrous work of God as having an angelicall reason to correct the presumptuous We cannot but say of Aristotle that he is onely embued with the wisdom of this world and not with that which is from God seeing that he doth foolishly imagine that the lightnings have not an internall principle and most essentiall agent which maketh them to work and move at will where they please even as the winde is said spirare ubi vult to blow where it list The lightnings I say are agitated and carried when they will and have consequently a volunty being that their internall and centrall agent is that eternall Spirit of wisdom which as Solomon saith est omnibus rebus mobilior sole atque stellis praestantior atque omni re penetrabilior More movable then all things in this world and more worthy in light than the sun and stars and more piercing than any thing And therefore it was rightly said Amictus lumine quasi vestimento He is attired with light as with a garment And In lumine numen in Numine lumen In light is divinity and in divinity is light And this is the reason of the brightness in the Lightning and of his infinite swiftness and subtle penetration And therefore it was but foolishly done of Aristotle to assigne unto the composition and animation of the lightnings onely externall and adventitious efficient causes and no internall and essentiall causes But I will tell you two famous stories of certain cases which happened in our time to manifest unto you that there is a divine volunty in the lightnings In Ireland there were two wenches which came from the market whereof the one had bought her a pair of new shoes these two travelling on foot homeward and passing through a field not far from a wood it chanced in the mean time that they were overtaken by a tempest of thunder and lightning The one of the wenches seeing the thunder to approach ran fast and called to the other wench to hasten and shelter her self under the trees But she laughed at her lagged behind and scorning like a gallant the thunder said Let the thunder kiss my back-side clapping her buttock with her hand so as it hurt not my new shoes I care not Which when she had uttered the lightning struck off onely her posterior parts and spared her shoes which were not touched and so the contemner of Gods wondrous and fearfull works died according as she had said miserably Loe here you Christian Peripateticks and see whether there be not an intellectuall mover and divine volunty in the lightnings clean of another nature than your master Aristotle hath taught you There was also a young towardly schollar a great follower of Aristotle and a disputer in the Schools a man as it should seem more confident in Aristotle's doctrine than in the documents of holy Writ This man being born at Salisbury and having been commended for his industry and learning was elected Master of the free-School there Upon a time he having been at the Act at Oxford did return home-ward in the company of some Merchants or other travellers being on horse-back It happened that as they travelled over Salisbury-plain a great tempest of thunder and lightning did arise and whereas the company which were with this schollar was very much dismaid he encouraged them bidding them not to fear For said he it is nothing but a naturall thing caused of a hot and dry exhalation which being drawn up by the Sun and being included in the cold clowd is there kindled and so breaketh forth and this is the cause of the noise you hear Which when he had said he onely of all the company was by the lightning struck dead and some of the rest somewhat astonished Loe here the loss of a miserable man through his so confident an observation of the Heathenish doctrine For if he had rejected that kind of learning which is founded on the terrene and diabolical wisdom and hearkened unto the instruction of the true sapience he would in lieu of that profane speech have worshipped him that speaks in thunder and joyned with his companions in prayer beseeching him to divert his wrath from them and to hinder his fiery ministers from harming them and then no doubt both he and they had passed free from dammage Then would he by rejecting the forgery of Aristotle have known the power of God by these authorities of holy Writ Nubes spargunt lumen suum quae cuncta lustrant per circuitum quocunque eas movet voluntas Creantis agit omne quod praeceperat illi super faciem terrae sive sit ad flagellum sive in beneficentiam The clowds do spread abâ—oad their light which enlighten all peripherically or circularly whither soever the volunty of the Creator moveth it peâ—formeth whatsoever the Creator commandeth be it to puâ—ish or to affect with goodnesse And again Fulgura nunquid mittis revertentia dicent tibi Adsumus Dost thou not send out the lightnings and when they return they will say Loe we are here Again Ibunt directè emissiones fulgurum tanquam a bene curvato arcu ad metam The lightnings being emitted will go directly unto the mark as if they were shot out of a well-bâ—nt bow But to come nearer it is said in another place Ignis exiens à conspectu IEHOVAE exanimavit filios Aaronis Fire or lightning issuing from the aspect or face of IEHOVA did kill the sons of Aaron And again Ignis egressus à IEHOVA consumebat centum quinquaginta qui admoverunt thus Fire or lightning proceeding from the face of IEHOVA did consume the hundred and fifty men which did offer francincense And as before Fulgura procedebant à throno Lightnings did go out from the throne But in another place all this is more
lively expressed thus Ascendit fumus in ira ejus ignis à facie ejus exarsit carbones accensi sunt abeo c. Prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes transierunt grando carbones ignis intonuit de coelo Dominus altissimus dedit vocem suam A smoak did ascend in his anger and fire did flame out from his face coales of fire were kindled by him c. By the Lightning in his sight the clowds did move hail and coales of fire the Lord did thunder from heaven the most High did utter forth his voice By the which speech it appeareth evidently that it is onely God which doth essentially effect all these things and although we say in our common phrase of speech that the Lightnings do cause the Thunder or in speaking more mystically that the Angells inflame the aire by their fiery presence yet in verity it is God in his fiery Angells or flaming Ministers as also in the thick clowds and watry spirits who produceth all these things to accomplish his will and pleasure And therefore the Apostle Deus operatur omnia in omnibus God operateth all in all And elsewhere Deus omnium Pater à quo omnia God is the Father of all from whom are all things And again Ex eo per eum in eo sunt omnia Of him by him and in him are all things But all this in our Meteorologicall business is more plainly expressed in the precedent words continued thus at large in another place Ascendit fumus de naribus IEHOVAE ignis de ore ejus vâ—ravit carbones sâ—ccensi sunt ab eo inclinavit coelos descendit caligo sub pedibus ejus ascendit super Cherubin volavit seu lapsus est super alas venti posuit tenebras in ciâ—cuâ—tu suo latibulum cribrans aquas de nubibus coelorum prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes succensi sunt carbones ignis volabant tonabat de coelo Dominus excelsus dabat vocem suam misit sagittas suas disparuit eos fulgur Smoak ascended out of the nostrils of IEHOVA and fire flew out of his mouth coles of fire were kindled from him and he inclined or bowed down the heavens and did descend and darkness was under his feet and he mounted upon a Cherubin and flew or glided upon the wings of the wind made darkness round about him his hiding place sifting forth rain from the clowds of heaven The clowds were kindled at the brightness of his face coles of fire did flie the Lord did thunder from heaven and the most high did utter forth his voice he sent forth his arrows and the Lightning did disperse them By all which it is made evident that there is no essentiall efficient cause which is naturall but onely God in nature and beyond nature operateth all in all For in the precedent description it is not said that the clowds or winds sent out coruscations or that fire came from the Sun or other heavenly bodies but smoke went out of the nostrills of JEHOVA and fire out of his mouth neither that vapours and Exhalations did gather clowds in the middle region of the aire but JEHOVA bowed down the heavens or aire and collected them at his pleasure neither the coldnesse of the middle region did accumulate them into a dark mass or heap by condensation But JEHOVA collected and gathered together by his privative and condensing property that dark chaos or confused abysse neither was it any Angelicall efficient but JEHOVA mounting upon the Cherubin did animate it to move according to his pleasure Nor was it the winds that moved of themselves but the spirituall Cherubin being first animated by JEHOVA did excite the winds to move neither was that exceeding darknesse made for a secret Tabernacle unto JEHOVA meerly by the act of the Angelicall wind But JEHOVA moving on the Cherubin incited the Cherubin to cause the winds to collect and gather together the clowds neither was it the resolutive faculty of the Sun that melted the clowds into rain but JEHOVA that did sift or cribrate forth water or rain out of them neither was it the collision or dashing together of the clowds or antiperistasis which was between the hot exhalation and the coldness of the place which caused the actuall Lightnings or inflammation of the clowds but the brightnesse and inexplicable light of his presence did set the clowds on fire neither was it the contentious strivings which was made between the fire and water in the cleaving of the clowd which maketh the fearfull sound from heaven but it was JEHOVA that did thunder from heaven it was the most high I say that did utter his voice from heaven and sent forth his Lightning as arrows to destroy the wicked Which being so what have we Christians to do to look after any naturall efficient cause with the acute eies of Aristotle which forsooth must act and operate per se of themselves without any consideration when by the precedent Text it appeareth that St. Paul was no liar when he said that God operateth all in all And as for that Peripateticall distinction of causa principalis and secundaria or subalterna you see here that it is utterly disannulled by the Text before mentioned For the onely efficient cause as well in the first second third and fourth Organ or Instrument was God For it was he that inspired the Cherubin it was he in and upon the Cherubin which did animate the winds it was he in and upon the Cherubin by the winds that gathered the clowds together it was he that in and upon the Cherubin by the winds did sift out water and rain out of the clowds and did set them on fire by sending forth Lightnings from his Throne And in conclusion though he use many Organs yet the essentiall act which operateth in and by them all doth issue forth from one simple and sincere identity which comprehendeth no otherwise all things in himself then unity in Arithmetick is assuredly reckoned for the father of multitude Thus we see that the foresaid young-man was lost by his too too much presuming on the vain and prestigious doctrine of his Peripateticall Master For whereas he taught unto the honest Christians which were his Companions the false doctrine of his Ethnick Master in their greatest need namely when the angry hand of the Almighty was in the heavens ready to menace them if they called not out for grace from him who spake out of the clowds in time and did wish them to abolish all feare making them believe that the Lightnings were contingent things in nature and made as it were by hap-hazard and not indued with sense or reason as being framed and shaped out yea and informed by externall and superficiall Principles he with his companions should have remembred that saying so often repeated by the Wiseman Timor Domini est principium Sapientiae The feare of the
words Quis hominum cognoscit consilium Dei nam ratiocinationes mortalium sunt timidae instabiles cogitationes eorum Infestum enim corruptioni corpus aggravat animam deprimit terrena habitatio mentem plenam curis multis vix conjicimus ea quae in terra sunt quae autem in coelis sunt quis investigavit consilium tuum quis noverit nisi tu dederis sapientiam miseris sanctum Spiritum tuum è locis altissimis sie enim correctae sunt eorum quae in terris sunt semitae itaque sapientiâ fuerint salvati What man doth know the counsell of God for the reasonings of mortall men are doubtfull and unstable are their cogitations For the body being subject unto corruption doth aggravate the soul and an earthly habitation doth depresse the mind which is full of cares And we do scarcely guesse at the things which are upon the earth who is then able to find out the things which are in heaven Or who can know thy counsell unlesse thou shalt give wisdom and send thy holy Spirit from above for by that means were the waies of such men as were upon the earth corrected and amended and therefore were they saved or preserved by wisdom c. Out of which golden words I gather first That the heathen men were ignorant in the mysteries and abstruse operations of God because they wanted the true spirit of wisdom which God revealeth unto his Elect by the vertuous infusion and influxion of his holy Spirit Next that for this reason the subject of true Philosophy is not to be found in Aristotle's works but in the Book of truth and wisdom forasmuch as it is a copy of the revealed Word Thirdly that it is a great folly for Christians to seek for the truth where it is not to be found I mean in the works of the pagan Philosophers and that is made manifest forasmuch as it contradicteth altogether the verity of Scriptures and therefore it is pronounced by St. James to be terrene animal and diabolicall Verbum saepienti CHAP. XIII A conclusion of this work including an admonition unto all good Christians to beware of the Ethnick Philosophy and to stick and cleave fast unto that which is taught us by the Scriptures and that for reasons herein set down LEt it now be lawfull for me in the concluding of this Section O ye Europaeans who seem so seriously and zealously to spend your daies in the Christian Religion to turn the sharp edge of my pen and the rougher file of my speech unto you who being too too much seduced by the fals doctrin of Aristotle do think and imagine the meteors but especially lightning and thunder to be a common natural thing of little or no estimation at all as being onely produced of nature by reason of a hot distemper of the air I would request you as a true Christian ought unto his brethren to observe well and attend with diligence this admonition which I will for a Farewell bestow upon you beseeching you not to scorn or reject my precedent assertion whith hath told and sufficiently proved unto you that the lightnings and thunders yea and all other meteors are the immediate works of Gods hand being that by this endeavour of mine you may not onely bring a comfort and consolation unto your soules when you hear the terrible voice of the Lord and make you to call to mind your passed sins and iniquities and to pray him heartily to pardon you and not to call your offences unto an account in his anger but also give the honour and glory unto him who thundering from above worketh marvellously I would have you therefore to know that the worldly wise-men of this our Christian world who are as it were pages or followers of the Ethnick Philosophers have hitherto blindly or after the manner of lunatick persons erred in their imaginations forasmuch as they being instructed in the blind wisdom of this world by their Ethnick tutors and doctors will not be brought to believe that God doth work immediately all things in heaven and in earth onely by his word but mediately namely by other necessary natural or supernatural means as essential efficient causes when as the holy Text doth in plain terms instruct us that it is one the self-same essence which doth act and operate all in all by his word using each creature onely as his organ or instrument wherein and by the which he moveth and worketh his will Is not this their tenet or assertion I beseech you altogether opposite and contradictory unto the divine authority which saith Though there be that are called gods whether in heaven or in earth as there be many gods and many lords yet unto us there is but one God which is that Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him But every man hath not that knowledge c Out of which words we may gather that though we worldlings attribute this or that work unto angels or stars or winds or a created nature according unto the doctrine of the Ethnick wisdom yet such true Christian Philosophers as St. Paul was dâ—d acknowledge but one God of whom proceed all actions in this world and one Word by which onely and not by any creature in the world each thing is immediately effected in this world All which although unto reall Christians it seemeth verity and truth yet unto the Philosophers and wise men of this world this kind of doctrine issuing from the heavenly wisdom is rejected and derided And why Forsooth because as the Text doth teach us every man hath not this knowledge and the reason is because they respect more the wisdom of this world which is terrene and animal and as St. Paul saith meer foolishness before God then that which is from above namely from the Father of light Et sic evanuerunt in imaginationibus suis And so they did vanish in their imaginations I heartily wish you therefore which are brought up and made familiar in the holy Bible and nourished spiritually and guided by the law of our Lord Jesus Christ to conceive seriously and perpetually to revolve with your selves that God created the first consistence of things namely the humid and fluid waters by his word and they remain in the word and by the word in the self-same humid or moist estate as they did even unto this very day Also he framed out of this catholick water the heaven and the earth by his word as St. Peter saith Again he did produce by his said word the light in heaven the Sun the Moon the Starrs the day the night and all other creatures and did ordain them to serve for divers Organs by the which he might variously act or operate his volunty as well in heaven above as in the earth and waters beneath All which do move and work in and by the Word