If the qualities and conditions of the man be lookt into there will be found no such integrity in him as may be any just cause of much confidence nor such manners as may exâ—oll him above the rest for doth not Eusebius and others relate that he betrayed his Countrey to the Macedonians and to blot out the infamy thereof that he prevailed with Alexander to restore it again And doth not Pliny relate speaking of the poison Cum id dandum Alexandro magno Antipater mitterit magnâ est Aristotelis infamiâ excogitatum that he was guilty of administring the same was he not accused for being guilty of immolation to his meretricious mistris was he not guilty of ingratitude the worst of vices against his divine Master Plato who therefore did justly and fitly call him his Mule because he kickt against the dugs from whence he suckt his knowledge what shall I recount his avarice which makes Lucian so nippingly feign Alexander in hell upbraiding him that he had constituted riches a part of the chief good that by that specious pretext he might obtain of him greater store of riches Shall I recount his intemperance voluptuousness and obscaene manner of living or his impious doubtful or wicked end no let them be buried with his ashes But these things do sufficiently declare that there is no just cause so much to esteem and applaud him above others seeing it is impossible to congest so many things against Plato Zeno or Epicurus 4. But I know they will say They respect not his life so much as his most excellent wit great judgement and laudable diligence well I easily grant that he was such an one but to prefer him notwithstanding before all others cannot be done without too much temerity And when arguments are comparative between the abilities of one person and another it behooves him that will judge and determine rightly thorowly to understand and preponderate what there is of value and price in either of them So when there is a question made of Phythagoras Thales Democritus Zeno Plato Phyrrho Epicurus and others it is fitting he should understand whatsoever they all knew or else he cannot discern wherein Aristotle doth exceed them all unless he will give his sentence before the one party be heard speak For how can any boast to be more wise than all the other Philosophers without being guilty of intollerable pride and arrogance and truly I believe that Socrates who confessed that he knew nothing understood far more than the Stagyrite who would hardly acknowledge himself ignorant of any thing 5. But perhaps it will be said that he hath been received and approved of by Thomistius Abenrois Thomas Aquinas Scotus and other men of great and vast learning and knowledge well it is truth he hath been so but who hath ever been the builder or rayser of any Sect that hath not had multitudes to cry him up to follow him and earnestly to defend him have not the Academicks as much applauded Plato as the Peripateticks have done Aristotle And have not the Sceptists as much extolled Phyrrho and the Epicureans their Master Epicurus of whom it is said Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit et omnes Praestrinx it stellas exortus ut aethereus sol Nay is it not common to all extremely and Hyperbollically to applaud the authors and builders of their Sect neither hath he been or is so generally received and commended but many men of as greatnote as any that have stood for him have disceded from him or opposed him for in his own times the whole Schools of the Academicks and Stoicks did oppugn him Epicurus in many things did contradict him and Pyrrho in all nay his famous disciple Theophrastus as Themistius relateth did tax his master in many things neither in all succeeding ages hath there wanted able and learned men who have strenuously opposed him in many things if not in all as Thomas himself Albertus Magnus Scotus Gregorius Durandus Harvaeus Maronaeus Alliacensis Nicolaus Cusanus and many others neither ought we therefore to follow or extoll him because multitudes have esteemed and adhered to him for as Cicero well said Philosophia multitudinem consultò devitat paucisque est contentae judicibus Philosophy consultively escheweth the multitude and is content with a few judges And as Seneca witnesseth Haec pars major esse videtur ideò enim pejor est Non tam bene cum rebus humanis agitur ut meliora pluribus placeant Argumenti pessimi turba est This part seemeth the greater therefore it is the worse It goes not so well with humane affairs that the better things should please the most The multitude is an argument of the worst Neither if his Philosophie had been sound and perfect need his Sectators appeal to authority and compliance of others because truth is able to stand of it self without the authority of others what is the cause that since the time that Euclide writ his Elements of Geometry there is not any one found that hath rejected them or who hath not followed them Truly because the indubitable verity is in them and it is impossible the intellect should not assent unto them when they are known And would not the same thing have happened to the tenents of Aristotle if they had been true and indubious 6. But they will urge further and say that he is praised and extolled of other famous men that were not of his Sect as Cicero Plinius and Quintilian and that he hath the testimony of Philâ—p and Alexander that were great and knowing men It is true and no way to be denyed for Cicero saâ—th of him Quis doctior quis acutior quis in rebus vel inveniendis vel â—udicandis acrior Aristotele unquà m fuit who hath been more learned who hath been more acute at any time than Aristotle either in the invention or judging of things And Pliny one while calls him Summum in omni doctrinà virum the chief man in all learning sometimes he calls him Virum immensae subtilitatis a man of immense subtilâ—y And Quintilian saith Quid Aristotelem quem dubito scienâ—iâ rerum an scriptorum Copiâ an eloquendi suavitate an inventionum acumine an varietate operum clariorem putem What shall I say of Aristotle whom I doubt whether I might think more famous by his knowledge of things or by his copiousness of writings or by his suavity of eloquence or by the acuteness of his inventions or by the variety of his works Well admit all this to be true as who would deprive him of his due honour yet these are but the judgements of men that might err as well as he and what if others have thought otherwise must we altogether stand to these mens judgements or hath nature appointed them to be final and infallible determiners from whose judgement there is no appeal might not Aristotle and these men err in something or were they privileged from the common frailty
man in the light and power of the Spirit of Christ with faithfull Abraham even against hope to believe in hope and not to stagger at the promise of God through unbelief but to be strong in faith and to give glory to God Concludamus igitur saith learned Verulam Theologiam sacram ex verbo oraculis Dei non ex lumine naturae aut rationis dictamime hanriri debere Therefore we conclude that sacred Theologie ought to be drawn from the word and Oracles of God not from the light of nature or the dictate of reason CHAP. III. Of the Division of that which the Schools call Humane Learning and first of Tongues or Languages THose Sciences that the Schools usually comprehend under the title of Humane are by them divided divers and sundry waies according to several fancies or Authors but most usually into two sorts Speculative and Practick wherein their greatest crime lies in making some meerly Speculative that are of no use or benefit to mankind unless they be reduced into practice and then of all other most profitable excellent and usefull and these are natural Philosophy and Mathematicks both of which will clearly appear to be practical and that in a few reasons 1. Can the Science of natural things whose subject they hold to be corpus naturale mobile be only speculative and not practical is there no further end nor consideration in Physicks but onely to search discuss understand and dispute of a natural movable body with all the affections accidents and cirâ—umstances thereto belonging Is he onely to be accounted Faelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Then surely we may justly conclude with Seneca Nostra quae erat Philosophia facta Philologia est ex qua disputare docemus non vivere That which was our Philosophy is made Philologie from whence we teach to dispute not to live Surely natural Philosophy hath a more noble sublime and ultimate end than to rest in speculation abstractive notions mental operations and verball disputes for as it should lead us to know and understand the causes properties operations and affections of nature so not onely to rest there and proceed no further But first therein and thereby to see and behold the eternal power and God-head of him who hath set all these things as so many significant and lively characters or Hieroglyphicks of his invisible power providence and divine wisdome so legible that those which will not read them and him by them are without excuse and not to rest there but to be drawn to trust in and to adore him who is the Causa causans ens entium and God of nature and not to become like the Heathen when we know God not to glorifie him as God neither to be thankfull but to become vain in our imaginations and to have our foolish hearts darkned And secondly not onely to know natures power in the causes and effects but further to make use of them for the general good and benefit of mankind especially for the conservation and restauration of the health of man and of those creatures that are usefull for him for ubi desinit Philosophus incipit medicus and is practicably applicable to many other things as we shall shew when we speak of Magick 2. Can the Mathematical Sciences the most noble useful and of the greatest certitude of all the rest serve for no more profitable end than speculatively and abstractively to be considered of How could the life of man be happily led nay how could men in a manner consist without it Truly I may justly say of it as Cicero of Philosophy it hath taught men to build houses to live in Cities and walled Towns it hath taught men to measure and divide the Earth more facilely to negotiate and trade one with another From whence was found out and ordered the art of Navigation the art of War Eâ—gins Fortifications all mechanick operations were not all these and innumerable others the progeny of this never sufficiently praised Science O sublime transcendent beautifull and most noble Mistress who would not court such a Celestial Pallas who would not be inamoured upon thy Seraphick pulchritude surely thy divine and Harmoniacal musick were powerfull enough to draw all after thee if men were not more insensible than stones or trees Is the admirable knowledge that Arethmetick afords worthy of nothing but a supine and silent speculation Let the Merchant Astronomer Mariner Mechanick and all speak whether its greatest glory stand not principally in the practick part what shall I say of Geometry Astronomy Opticks Geography and all those other contained under them as they are reconed up by that myrror of manifold learning Dr. Iohn Dee in his Preface before Euclide it were but to hold a candle to give the Sun light to deny that they are practical Nay are not all the rest also practical what is Grammar Lodgick Rhetorick Poesie Politicks Ethicks Oeconomicks nay Metaphysicks if they serve to no other use than bare and fruitless speculation I will onely conclude in this case as they do in that maxim of Philosophy frustra est potentia si non reducitur in actum In vain is power to speculate if it be not reduced into action and practice Therefore omitting the division of humane sciences as either the Academies or others have ordered them I shall proceed to divide them according to that way which I conceive most convenient and commodious for mine intended purpose and so shall put them under a threefold consideration 1. Those Arts or Sciences that though they seem to confer some knowledge yet is it in order to a further end and so are instrumental subordinate and subservient to other Sciences In the number of which I first reckon Grammar or the knowledge of tongues which in some sort and measure is instrumental and subservient to all the rest Secondly Logick which I account instrumental and helpfull to Mathematicks natural Philosophy Politicks Ethicks Oeconomicks Oratory Poesie and all the rest as it especially teacheth a Synthetical and Analytical method Thirdly Mathematicks which are not onely subordinate amongst themselves but especially instrumental and very usefull to Physicks 2. Those Sciences that confer knowledge of themselves and are not instrumental or subservient to others as natural Philosophy Metaphysicks Politicks Ethicks and Oeconomicks 3. Those that though they conferre some knowledg and have some peculiar uses so they seem necessary as ornamental and such I account Oratory and Poesie Which divisions I put not so much because they agree in this order in their proper subjects and ends as to accommodate them to my present disquisition And I shall speak in the order as I have put these and first of the Grammar 1. The knowledge of Tongues beareth a great noise in the world and much of our precious time is spent in attaining some smartering and small skill in them and so we do all servire duram servitutem before we arrive at any competent
discern when he produceth any thing of his own when of another mans And therefore who is there who when he perceives himself to be urged and pressed with any place in Aristotle may not oppose and say that it is not he that speaks there but some of the antients under his person and so never be without a subterfuge and way for evasion Again it is not seldome that he doth openly declare the fallaciousness and uncertainty of his doctrine by inserting of Adverbs of doubting as in his book of the Categories speaking of Relatives he saith Fortassis autem difficile sit de rebus hujusmodi vehementer asserere Perhaps it is difficult to affirm any thing vehemently of such like matters And further where he hath reckon'd up the four species of quality he addeth Fortassis quidem igitur alius quispiam apparuerit qualitatis modus sed ferè qui maxiâ—è dicuntur hi sunt For perhaps truly some other mood of quality may appear but these are almost all that are especially spoken of There are many such like places which I omit these being sufficient to manifest the man to be no other but such an one as the author of the censure commonly prefixt before his works who after many commendations given him saith Accedebat ad haec ingenium viri tectum et callidum et metuens reprehensionis quod inhibebat eum ne proferret interdum apertè quae sentiret Inde tam multa per ejus opera obscura et ambigua There happened to these things the closs wit of the man and crafty and fearing reprehension which did inhibit him that sometimes he durst not utter openly those things which he thought From whence it is that so many things throughout his works are obscure and ambiguous 7. But let us omit these and give it for granted that Aristotle hath uttered his opinion plainly and doth speak altogether Dogmatically and without haesitation will it not still remain of necessity that his doctrine is uncertain and obscure seeing it is beset with continual altercations amongst the Peripateticks themselves differing about the interpretation of his text neither is there any possible hope of their reconciliation but that we may sooner see a conjunction of the poles of heaven one holding this and another that and yet all affirming that their meaning was Aristotles mind for when they make the question whether and what kind of matter he did ascribe to the heavens some affirm that he did attribute matter to the heavens and some deny that he did attribute any some hold that he appropriated the same matter to the heavens that he did to the elements and other some affirm that he gave them a divers matter Wherefore suppose any one not preoccupated desired to be instructed in the Peripatetick doctrine what should he do or whither should he turn himself when he should see about some one difficulty propounded divers and sundry opinions differing one from another and Aristotle wrested against himself would he think it possible that Aristotle at one and the self-same time did hold things absolutely contrary one to another 8. And if all this were granted that the Aristotelians did not disagree amongst themselves and had a genuine interpretation of Aristotles mind yet would there remain much doubt and uncertainty in his doctrine because in it there are many things omitted and insufficient many things Tautological and superfluous many things false impious and calumnious and many things repugnant and contradictory which we shall make out hereafter and so pass them in this place 3. Neither ought the throne be yielded to Aristotle alone nor his Philosophy onely adored and admitted because in his writings innumerable things are wanting and defective that are essentially necessary to the compleating of Physical knowledge which we shall something at large demonstrate 1. I shall pass by the defects in his Organical learning as having been touched before when we handled Logick and onely come to open his defects in Physicks And here first is required a definition of Physick the declaration of the subject matter is wanting a general partition and distribution is required neither is it shewn to what end how or in what order he will proceed to speak of the heavens the meteors the animants and the like which all belong to Physical speculation this is all the order of this great Methode-monger And when he had laid it was to be proceeded ex notioribus nobis ad notiora naturâ and that even by common sense singulars are better known to us and universalls more known in nature yet presently after he preposterously concludes ab universalibus ad singularia procedendum 2. What a brave definition doth he give of Nature to wit Natura est principium causa motus quietis ejus in quo inest primò et per se et non secundum accidens in which there are more defects and errours than words For hereby nature is not distinguished from the efficient cause art may be a principle as well as nature and many more which I shall not stand to recite seeing the most acute and learned Helmont hath demonstrated no fewer than thirteen errors or defects in this so short a definition and so concludeth Atque tandem valdè anxius nescit quid vocet aut vocare debeat naturam naturalis auscultationis scriptor And at the length being very anxious the writer of natural auscultation is ignorant what he should or ought to call nature And also confutes some other descriptions of Aristotle with many pregnant and undeniable arguments and in the most of all his divisions and definitions as may be seen in his definition of motion and of alterarion and divers others which were tedious and fruitless to reckon up 3. His proofs and demonstrations for the most part have the same lameness with the rest ex uno disce omnes He goes about to prove the world to be perfect because it doth contain bodies and that a bodie is perfect because it containeth trinal dimension and that trinal dimension is perfect because three are all things but three are all things because if they be either one or two yet we have not named all things but as soon as there are three we may call them all things O how egregious O how super-sufficient is this proof O how wonderfully beseeming so great a Philosopher O how fit is he to be the Prince of Learning and the Dictator in the Academies And the same absurdities may be seen every where in his writings 4. The like appears in his argumentations against the antient Philosophers whom he seems every where to confute calumniate and contradict but with the same imperfections and defects as to instance in two or three He taxeth Democritus Leucippus and others very insufficiently who did hold that generation was by congregation and that no continuum was compounded of indivisible things which they speaking of Physical impartibilitie he impugns as of
should be inchanted and infatuated to admire and own this ignorant Pagan who being ambitious of erecting his own fame did traduce and darken the writings of those that preceded him and pretending to interpret and open the doctrine of learned Hippocrates he altogether obscured and perverted the same And yet can the Schools be so wilfully mad to adore this Idol and follow this blind guide Thirdly if the ground of Galenical Physick had been sound and firm and that it were the true and certain way both to find out the causes and to cure diseases yet notwithstanding hath it been but loosly prosecuted and smally promoted seeing for the space of so many hundred years there is not by the Schools found out any more certain safe or easie way to cure diseases than was in the daies of Hippocrates and Galen It is very strange that it should grow up and flourish with them and never since come to any more perfection when it is usually observed that nothing is simnl semel invented and perfected For it is plain that in Botanical knowledge nothing of value is found out or discovered since the daies of Dioscorides for though some plants be now found out that were not then known and many species of others also and their cuts and figures more perfected as beside much confusedly heaped up concerning their qualities of heat and cold driness and moisture yet is nothing more added by real experience and diligent observation of their specifick vertues and intrinsick properties so that in regard of the vegetable Kingdom the art of medicine hath got little advance Fourthly though medicinal knowledge have received some melioration especially in the Anatomical part wherein men have laboured with much acuteness diligence and observation so that this part seems to be growing and arising towards the Zenith of perfection especially since our never-sufficiently honoured Countryman Doctor Harvey discovered that wonderful secret of the bloods circulary motion yet for all this there comes small advantage by it in practice and application for the more certain safe and easie curing of diseases for though it bring great satisfaction to a speculative understanding and help to cleer many intricate doubts yet doth it little to remove dolor danger or death And moreover though it be grown to a mighty height of exactness in vulgar Anatomy and dissection of the dead bodies of men or the living ones of beasts birds and fishes yet is it defective as to that vive and Mystical Anatomy that discovers the true Schematism or signature of that invisible Archeus or spiritus mechanicus that is the true opifex and dispositor of all the salutary and morbifick lineaments both in the seminal guttula the tender Embrio and the formed Creature of which Paracelsus Helmont and our learned Countryman Dr. Pludd have written most excellently Fiftly the most excellent art of Chirurgery though much advanced by the help of Anatomy in all that belongs to manual operation or the use of instruments yet in the curing of great and dangerous sores as the Lupus Cancer Fistula Carcinoma Elephantiasis Strumaes virulent and malign Ulcers and the like it is much defective and can perform little without mineral and Chymical medicaments Not because nature and providence have ordained no remedies for them but because of the sloathfulness and negligence of professors and artists who sit down contented with Galenical medicaments thinking there is nothing of greater virtue and operation than they and so become slaves and captives to some few Authors whom they think it not lawful to relinguish or that natures whole mysteries were comprized in their paper Monuments and no search further to be made Not knowing that their scrutiny should be through the whole Theatre of nature and that their only study and labour ought to be to acquire and find out salves for every sore and medicines for every malady and not to be inchained with the formal prescriptions of Schools Halls Colleges or Masters but to seek continually that these things might be made known unto them and not to imagine it is sufficient to have served an appenticeship to it as to a trade except they arrive at higher attainments Quia medicus ad imaginem dei agere ac laborare jussus est constat ipsum non nugacibus rebus sed secretioribus Magiae ac Cabalae studiis operam suam locare debere non enim ut Iurisconsultorum vel Physicorum scientia sic et Medicina humanis speculationibus comprehendi potest cum ipsa supra omnes artes admirabilis ac occulta existat Because the Physician is commanded to act and labour according to the image of God it is manifest that he ought not to place his pains in trifling things but in the more secret studies of Magick and Cabalistick Science for not as the knowledge of Lawyers and Naturalists so also can Medicinal skill be comprehended by human speculations seeing it is admirable and occult above all arts Therefore what great error and how haynous a crime is it to leave the great book of the Macracosm nay and the writings of others only to adhere to the doctrine of ignorant wicked malicious and blind Pagans I shall onely add this Adeoque cum omne donum bonum nedum virtutum sed cognitionum descendat à patre luminum quis poterit à Scholis Gentilitiis scientiae medicae tesseram ediscere Dominus enim creavit medicum non Scholae Therefore seeing every good gift not onely of vertues but also of Sciences doth descend from the Father of lights who can perfectly learn the sum of Medicinal knowledge from the heathenish Schools For the Lord hath created the Physician not the Schools 4. There remaineth diverse excellent discoveries of many mysterious things in nature that do properly belong to Physicks which yet the Schools take small or no notice of and as little pains in either to know teach or improve them and so are a witness against them of their sluggishness and deficiency of their too-much-magnified Peripatetick Philosophy As first they pass over with a dry foot that laudable excellent and profitable science of Physiognomy which hath been admired and studyed of the gravest and wisest Sages that have been in many generations which is that Science which from and by certain external signs signatures and lineaments doth explicate the internal nature and quality of natural bodies either generally or specifically And this so necessary a knowledge both in the genus and species of it is altogether omitted by the School they understand and teach nothing of Caelestial signatures which are in some measure made known by the quantity light colour motion and other affections of those bodies They teach nothing of Sub-caelestial Physiognomy whether Elementary Meteorological or Mineralogical but are utterly ignorant in all these as also in Botanical and Anthropological Physiognomy contenting themselves with a few frivilous false and formal definitions and notions and so never seek to
penetrate into the more interiour nature of things by which it comes to pass that they know little in the vegetable and animal kingdomes and least of all in the subterranean or mineral and but that Paracelsus Crollius Quercetan Baptista Porta and some others had taken pains in it there had no footsteps of it almost been visible And my Lord Bacon doth reckon also as defective the interpretation of natural dreams for though Aristotle himself hath said something of this yet those that pretend most to admire and honour him have taken as little pains in this as the rest to improve it to the glory of their great Master Secondly they are as ignorant in the most admirable and soul-ravishing knowledge of the three great Hypostatical principles of nature Salt Sulphur and Mercury first mentioned by Basilius Valentinus and afterwards clearly and evidently manifested by that miracle of industry and pains Theophrastus Paracelsus Which however the Schools as hating any liquor that is not drawn out of their own Cask and despising all things that come by toyl and labor may sleight and contemn it and please themselves with their ayery Chimaera of an abstracted and scarce intelligible materia prima or Hyle which is neither planè ens nec non ens and think to make fools believe their Masters description of it that it is neque quantum neque quale neque quid neque quicquid eorum quae cernuntur and so the Delphick devil cannot expound it nor Sphinx nor Oâ—dipus be able to unriddle it Is notwithstanding so cleer certain and Apodictical a truth that all the Academies in the Universe will never be able to eradicate and whose verity is made so evident by Pyrotechny that he must needs distrust his own senses that will not credit it but what avails it to sing to a deaf man And though Helmont with the experiments of his Gehennal fire and some other solid arguments labour the labefactation of this truth yet doth he not prove that they are not Hypostatical principles but onely that they are not the ultimate reduction that the possibility of art can produce which he truly proves to be water yet are the most compound bodies in the universe to be reduced into them and by that introversion is the secrets of nature more laid open than by all the Peripatetitk Philosophy in the world and if this be not so let experience speak Thirdly what shall I say of that wonderful and most beneficial discovery of the Magnetical Philosophy by our worthy learned and industrious Countreyman Doctor Gilbert what rare and unheard-of mysteries doth it disclose what huge light and advantage doth it bring to Natural Philosophy and the Mathematicks What helps to Navigation and almost all other arts and trades How vastly is it improved inlarged and adorned by those great wits and unwearied persons such as Ridley Carpenter Barlow Cabaeus and the grand gatherer of all kind of learning Athanasius Kercherus Can the Schools say or make it good that in the space of fifteen hundred years they ever invented any such like thing nay it were well if they had not been and still were the opposers contemners and condemners of all new discoveries how transcendent useful or profitable soever they were Fourthly what shall I say of the Atomical learning revived by that noble and indefatigable person Renatus des Cartes and since illustrated and improved by Magnenus Râ—gius White Digby Phocyllides Holwarda and divers others Hath the Schools any thing of like firmness do they demonstrate after Euclides most certain and undeniable way as Democritus reviviscens doth no surely all theirs is but like dross and chaff in comparison of this What shall I say of that notable conceit of the most happy genius these latter ages have had Iohn Kepler of the Continued Emission of raies from the body of the Sun that causeth all the rest of the Planets to move Deserves this no further investigation What shall I say of the Epicuraean Philosophy brought to light illustrated and compleated by the labour of that general Scholar Petrus Gassendus Surely if it be rightly examined it will prove a more perfect and sound piece than any the Schools ever had or followed 4. The Philosophy of Aristotle maintained by the Schools ought not to be prised so much above others because in it there are many things superfluâ—us Tautological frivolous and needless as we shall in a few instances make cleerly evident For first omitting many superabundant reiterations and repetitions in his Organicks and Animasticks I shall only touch some few contained in his Physicks as in that much celebrated definition wherein nature is said to be Principium causa motus quietis ejus in quo inest primò per se non secundùm accidens 1. This particle causa seems to be put superfluously seeing every cause is a principle 2. That of quietis seeing the faculty of Contraries are the same for that which is the faculty of speaking and holding ones peace is the same 3. That ejus in quo est seeing also art is the principle of the motion of the artificer in whom it is 4. That primò 5. And that per se for also art is the cause of artificial motion primarily and by it self quatenus as far as it is of this sort 6. That particle non secundùm accidens is needless for wherefore was that necessary seeing before he had put per se I shall omit the rest of his nauseous Tautologies in the 3 5 and 7. chapters of the forcited book and in the most of the books of Physicks following as obvious to every one that will take pains to examine and consider them Secondly in his book de Coelo he reiterates this Simplicis corporis simplex est motus simplex est motus simplicis corporis as though these two were much different and there twice or thrice is repeated the probation that Circular motion doth agree to some body according to nature The like to which may be seen in the 5 6 7 8 9 and 12. chapters of the same book and in all the books following of the same subject I shall onely name one other and so pass this point in lib. 1. De orâ—u et interitu cap. 6. He propounds the question of the Elements whether they be or they be not and whether they be sempiternal or not As though they had not been agitated in his third book de Coelo and at last brings in that vain repetition est igitur tangens ut plurimùm id quod tangit tangens apparet tangens tangere quod tangit necesse videtur esse quod tangitur tangere c. O how egregiously is this disputed of him who must needs be accounted the Prince of Philosophers O how excellent needs must those disciples be that are taught by so worthy a Master 5. This Philosophy ought not so much to be magnified above
all solid and fruit-bearing knowledge doth it not superfluously abound with vanities and follies was ever any made either wise or happy by it and yet this is the Schools prime Philosophy or Metaphysical learning which is nothing but vain opination void of Scientifical demonstration and cleer verity Faâ—eamur rerum divinarum paucissimarum demonstrationes habemus omnia ferè opinionibus definentes We must confess we have the demonstrations of very few divine things defining all things by opinions In the next place comes the Ethicks to be considered of which how fruitless and vain they are may appear in a few reasons For 1. how can he be supposed to be the fittest teacher of that art who was himself an heathen and neither knew nor acknowledged God who indeed is the summum bonum and so placed felicity in fading and momentary things as riches and honour or at the best made but Vertue the chief good which cannot however be happiness it self but at the most but the way and means to attain it And it must necessarily follow that he that understands not the real and true end cannot teach the indubitate means that leads to that end and therefore must needs be a blind guide especially to Christians as Lambertus Danaeus hath sufficiently manifested and yet the Schools must needs follow and prefer the dark Lamp of a blind Pagan before the bright-shining Sun of the Prophets and Apostles 2. Though the Schools have disputed much of the Chief good of vertues and of vices yet have they either taught nothing at all that is practicable whereby vertue might be obtained and vice eschewed or felicity enjoyed or but touched it very slenderly perfunctorily and unprofitably as though it were sufficient to teach a Pilot the many dangers of his voyage in respect of tempests storms winds sands shelves rocks and the like and to make a large commendation of the peace plenty fruitfulness and happiness of the place to which his journey were intended yet leave him altogether ignorant and untaught how to escape those dangers and unfurnished with means to attain to the harbour unto which his navigation is purposed 3. They have chosen to themselves such a way whereby the mass of Ethical knowledge might be set forth as a splendid and beautiful thing bearing forth the brightness of wit and vigour of eloquence rather than any truth in the matter or benefit to the readers and hearers and so have made it facilely disputable but difficultly practicable seeking themselves more than truth or the benefit of others as Seâ—eca truly saith Nocet illis eloquentia quibus non rerum facit cupiditatem sed sui Eloquence hurteth those to whom it causeth not the desire of things but of themselves for water is better in an Earthen vessel than poison in a golden cup and he that speaks truly and to profiâ— others is to be preferred before him that speaks Rhetorically and elegantly to small profit or purpose 4. It cannot but be matter of much wonder to all ingenuous men that shall more seriously perpâ—nd and weigh the business why not onely the Moral Philosophy of Aristotle should take place above that which is deduced from principles of Christianity but also why he should have therein the preheminence above Socrates Plato Zeno and many others who truly taught many divine and pretious things for the eradicating of vice the planting of vertue and the establishing of mental tranquillity and moral felicity which Aristotle and all his Sectators never either understood or had fruition of What shall I say of that man of men the severe Seneca are not his writings about vertue tranquillity and curing the minds diseases infinitely beyond all those needless fruitless vain and impertinent discourses of the proud Stagyrite Let all that ever loved vertue and tranquillity and have perused the one and the other speak and declare their judgements nay doth not that one little Enchiridion of Epictetus contain more pretious treasure than all the great volumes of Aristotle let vertue speak and truth determine Now for the Political and Oeconomical learning taught by the Schools out of Aristotle as it hath many things of singular use and commoditie in it so is it not without its chaff and tares deserving rather purging and refining than the estimation of being compleat and perfect For as there are many things in it frivolous obscure immethodical superfluous and false so also is it very defective and imperfect for if we look upon what Plato hath written de legibus and de Republica though there may be found many things unpracticable and incompleat yet compared with the other it is no way inferiour but deserves as great if not an higher commendation and so the writings of Bodin nay Macchiavel and divers other modern authors may duly challenge as much praise in this point as that of Aristotle which the Schools do so much adhere to and magnifie yea even our own Countreyman master Hobbs hath pieces of more exquisiteness and profundity in that subject than ever the Graecian with was able to reach unto or attain so that there is no reason why he should be so applauded and universally received while more able pieces are rejected and past by Lastly for Rhetorick or Oratory Poesie and the like which serve for adornation and are as it were the outward dress and attire of more solid sciences first they might tollerably pass if there were not too much affectation towards them and too much pretious time spent about them while more excellent and necessary learning lies neglected and passed by For we do in these ornamental arts as people usually do in the world who take more care often time about the goods of fortune than about the good of the body and more nice and precise sollicitousness about fashions and garbs than either about the body it self or the goods of the mind regarding the shell more than the kernel and the shadow more than the Substance And therefore it was not without just cause that Plato though by some censured for it did reckon Rhetorick amongst the voluptuary arts for we most commonly use it either for the priding and pleasing of our selves that we may appear eloquent and learned to others or else use it cunningly and sophistically to captivate and draw over the judgements of others to serve our ends and interests and thereby make false things appear true old things new crooked things straight and commodious things unprofitable as Augustine saith Imperitior multitude quod ornatè dicitur etiam verè dici arbitratur The more unskilful multitude thinketh that what is spoken elegantly is also spoken truly And therefore Seneca saith Seest thou a man neat and compt in his language then is his mind occupied in minute things 2. Both Eloquence and Poesie seem rather to be numbred amongst the gifts of nature than amongst the disciplines for those which excell much in reason and do dispose those things which they