it is a vulgar errour for men to say the World stands still and is constant which the Famous Phylosoper Copernicus proves nothing to be more unconstant more frail more giddy then it The World is a Centre the Heavens are its circumference which do encircle it yea the VVorld it self is a circle and the Devil is the Conjurer in it men are bewitched and are so charmed with enchantments that they do nothing but sleep in the bed of insecure security That is a very good Emblem of the frailty of the VVorld the VVorld being pictured and a hand from Heaven holding it in a string which string is the threed of this Life during its Duration in the VVorld which when it is divided by Atropus the destinies knife then the VVorld falls into an abysse of nothing from whence it came and so according to that distick Omnia sunt hominum tenui pendentia filo Et subito casu quae valuere ruunt All humane things hang by a slender thred VVhat stands most strong is quickly ruined Experience that severe Mistris teaches us every day how unconstant how brittle how unstable the World is and what man is there now that will not believe the opinions of the New Philosophers and Mathematicians that the World turns round This World is a stage or a theatre upon which all men come to act their parts Heavens are the Spectators they fight or should fight against the Devil and divellish vices This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Phylosophers calls it is a Labirinth and death is the Minotaure in it which devoures all men in its devouring jawes but our Heavenly Theseus will be the death of this death and the life of our life The World is more filthy then the Augaeano Stable oh for a Hercules which might clense it by letting the Alphean Rivers of Justice run through it to purge it from the dung of sin and puddle of iniquity This Structure of the VVorld is as an Ark swiming and floating in a Sea of Miscry delug'd with floods of iniquity Oh there is too many unclean Beasts in it not only whose feet bears the Image of the Beast the Devil but whose Souls have upon them his Devillish inscription The VVorld is round as though it stood for a Cypher but in my Arithmetick it is one though in the laughing wise-man Democritus's account there were plurality of Worlds but Mundus wants the plural number The VVorld by that ingeniousest of Poets Ovid is said to have four Ages the first Age was the Golden or best Age the second the Silver Age the third the Brazen Age and this last and worst Age is the Iron Age well may it be called so for so much war and so many Iron instruments of it that it seem'd as though Mars had made the World his field of War So here is an end of my description of the World though not of the World it self A Man IS by the Phylosophers called a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a little World and by a witty Characterist the world is called a great man and man a little World Man is a Map or Description of the great World he is the World in Epitomy man is Natures darling This Microcosme is a compendium and an abridgment of the great World Let us peep in the cranyes of secret Anatomy and let us symbolize mans parts with the worlds Man is compounded of the foure Elements viz. Fire Aire Earth and Water and so is the World a compound of these his Liver Blood and Moisture is as the Sea which sends out its streams into all parts of the body by little sanguine Rivers in Violet veins which are as so many leaden pipes to convey his blood Mans natural heat is his fire his radical moisture his Water his breath blown out and in by the bellows of his Lungs his Air and his Flesh is earth but mans soul by the tenent of all Phylosophers and Christians is held to be of a spiritual substance like to the Angels and his soul is the angellick intelligences so it doth move its little orb its body in its right course as do the coelestial inteligences or Angels move their orbs every one in their proper sphear mans body is of admirable Architecture Frame and Composure but mans soul which Ovid calls his better part which some bruitish men makes the worst it is as the heavens of an heavenly existence though his body be but as the earth Mans reason is the sun that shines in the Firmament of his soul and gives light to his body the little world his soul is a little heaven as I may call it his faculties viz Fancy Imagination Wit Memory Understanding Will c. are the Stars that gives light to his lesser VVorld Man is the model and extract of nature he is all the creatures epitomized in his little coppy he is the greatest letter in the book of nature mans soul is indued with such exquisite faculties his soul can fly from one pole to another in a moment with this winged motion can ascend to the heavens in a minuite and descend into the abisse in an instant can pierce with the Lynx's eyes of his Imagination and Fancy into the secretest places yea and behold imaginarily the centre of the Earth A man is a master-piece in which there are a thousand several motions a soul indued with such excellencies as in one minuite it can be in a thousand places mounts up to the top of the world fadoms the universe without touching it which goes glisters sparkles which is the great indagatrix which searches all the treasures and magazines of nature which finds out all sorts of inventions which frames Arts which governs States which orders Worlds Man is a book which he ought to dedicate to his Maker and this man is the King Lord and Master of all other creatures which man shall be an inhabitant of heaven or hell if he be a valiant Champion and fight his Battel on the Stage of the World and can say truly Caesars three Triumphant words Veni Vidi Vici Then he shall be an inhabitant of the Coelestial Paradise where he may eat of the tree of Life freely drink of the Waters of Life abundantly and enjoy the Tree of Knowledg eternally when he shal know what soever is to be known but if he be vanquished he may say of heaven and happiness as one said in another case Vale in aeternum Vale farewell and forever farewell but he shall be a prisoner in the subterraneal Gaol of hell settered in chains of darkness The World is a Center and men are the lines about it he who moves in a larger Orb he is further from the Center of the World and neerer heaven but he who moves in a narrower Orb and Sphear is neerer the earth and further from Heaven Riches are trash and pleasures a toy But peace of conscience is a perfect joy A Wise man IS one of Apollo's
and to come This Terrene Apollo is a second Solomon A wise man is led by reason and judgement others by their sensual appetites he is with-held from vice by the chain of virtue and this bondage is true liberty other mens liberty is their bondage in sin or bondage in comparison of this freedom A wise man looks at the end of things others at the beginnings which is a Preposterous speculation for as our English Proverb saith All is well that ends well Exitus acta probat And as Solon said to Craesus when he was demanded by Craesus to judge whether he was happy or no for his Honour and Riches which he shewed to Solon wise Solon shaking his Head said to him He would judge whether he was happy or not when he saw Craesus's end or the end of these things this is a wise mans practical syllogisme his Major is for virtue his Minor is for earth and earthly things but his conclusion will be Heaven and Happyness A wise man is his own guide his Ship is himself floating in the Ocean of the world he sailes by Compass and keeps within compass and so is seldom blown and ship-wrakt against the Rocks of Adversity neither is blown about with the wind of vain Doctrine nor is charmed with the Syren Songs of vices but sailes on neither is swallowed up in a Sylla of Misery nor in a Charibdis of dispair but at last arrives at the Holy Land This Grand Sophy he fixes his eye of contemplation on Heaven and cares for his Country As Anaxagoras the Philosopher who being asked by his Country-men why he cared not for his Country He pointing with his finger to Heaven said I care for my Country A wise man is a Phenix for being burned if a Martyr or when he yields to the fates the Son of Glory out of his ashes will raise him again and so the Phenix's Motto fitts him viz. Ex morte Imortallibus A wise man is a good Physitian for out of Poisonous things he can bring out wholesom Medicines He with Promotheus flyes to Heaven to steal this Heavenly fire of wisedome to inspire his lumpish clay and also to warm and refresh him in the winter of Adversity when the Storms and Tempests of Affliction do not breath into him the breath of life but storms him to death he waits upon the goddess Occasio tempus he rides upon times flying winges his actions may be examples When the Rivers of Affliction would deluge his little world wisedom is the Ark that saves him from drowning and as the saying is it keeps his Head above water nay when he is in a Sea of misery sorrow and grief like the devouring Leviathan would swallow him up and hurry him down into a Gulph of woe then he is like the many eyed Lamprey who sets his eyes as so many Watch-men dives and swims out and at last arrives at the Pacifick Sea after he has been floating in a Turbulent Ocean of Misery A wise man is an Arithmetician for he has learnt the Golden Rule of Wisedome He has obey'd the Graecian Sophyes injunction Nosce te ipsum and has studied Vossuis's Book de Cognitione Sui A Fool IS Diametrically opposite to a wise man The Poles are not further distant from one another then a wise man is distant from a Fool a Fool is one of Simplicius his Off-Spring A Phylosoper saith A Fool may be known by these three things 1. By his Talk 2d By his Cloaths 3d. By his Cate or walking for his Speech bewrayes what he is A Fool is a Mute when he should be a Consonant and a Consonant when he should be a Mute so me times he is so loquar talkative that you would think he were all tongue and other times he is so silent that you would think he is an Egyptian that Sacrificed to the god Harpocrites and had lost his tongue and he is dumb with silence Then for his Cloaths he wears them so fantastically in such a fashion nay rather out of fashion that they are ensigns of his folly And lastly for his Gate swinging both his Armes as though he would cast them away and as a dog goes many wast Journeys so doth he A Fool is a meer Animal though not Animal sociabile He is no more usefull to his Generation then the fifth wheele is serviceable to a Chariot A Fool is Natures Hiroclite He is sent into the VVorld to make up the Order of the Universe but he doth rather disorder it A Fool is Thema Simplex he differs from a beast only in shape yea and that he has understanding and reason in Potentia yea but the chief difference is Resibilitas for by his laughing too much he is differenc't from other men whatsoever he apprehends he will do it per fas aut nefas be it right or wrong and this simplex apprehensio spoiles him yea he comes not so far as Discursus It is the opinion of most Phylosophers that by reason of the indisposition of the Organs men become fooles alas folly misbecomes them and this indisposition of his Organs is the cause why there is such bad harmony nay rather such discords in his thoughts words and actions He has wisedome in Potentia folly in Acta The definition of a fool may be that of Heaven Est corpus simplicissimum and he wilders himself in a wilderness of trouble and so becomes an Individuum vagum A Fool is an Intelligible Asse It is a hard thing to tell where his reason and understanding is whether it be in Sr. Thomas Moores Vtopia or not If he be a Shepheard then his mind wits runs a wooll gathering he commonly busies himself about de lana Caprina A Fool is Natures Antipode he doth alwayes contrary to it He is so missed by the Ignis fatuus of his imagination and wanders up and down in a maze of folly in the Meanders of trouble and Tabrinth of perplexities yea he is sick of the Apoplexie besotted in a Lethargy and may make the eighth sleeper he proves the best of any that mans life is a dream for he is alwayes asleep but he never dreams of these things viz. what he came into the VVorld for nor of Death Judgement Heaven or Hell c. The World as I said before is a Stage or Threatre and he acts his part viz. The Fool in the play he is come into the world to make one though I think he stands but for a cypher Let me speak à Sarcasmos Mundo he is sent into the World to be an Emblem to mock other men that account themselves wise and shews what indeed they are though in specie in shew they be other wise and his foolish actions are the mocking of most mens businesse he laughs at other mens folly and men deride his foolishnesse he laughs men loudly to scorn I have read a witty feigned story in Lucian where Charon was Conducted by Mercury to a high place it may be
been born up with four Soaring Flying Eagles and that this Tower might have been as the Tower of Babel whose top should have aspired to Heaven and so cause these Eagles that are Joves Messengers carry his Soul to the Emperean Heavens as the heathens of old when they used to Canonize their Emperours for gods when their bodies was burnt they used to set an Eagle or a painted Eagle at the top of the Rogus or funeral piler to signifie that the Emperours soul was transported to heaven by that soaring Eagle A Geometrician with Archimides is drawing lines when the fiery destinies is about burning the Mansion-house of his body and then there is an end of him An Astronomer AN Astronomer is an Heavenly minded man he with the Phylosopher Anaxagoras cares for his Country his contemplation is in heaven about heavenly things he has power over the Stars Sapiens dominabitue An Astronomer considers the motion of the Star he is a sublime Traveller for by his imagination he Travells in that milky way He looks on the Stars with a judicious eye yea with his eyes as two prospective glasses beholding the caelestial eyes of heaven whether or no they look kindly upon the earth He beholds heavens countenance that shines with those her orient Pearls her many eyes that are as though Titan the bright eyes of heaven were divided into so many eyes He beholds those eyes often weep their fiery beams to see the flames of anger burn in men yea he beholds what opposition there is in the houses of heaven about Venus as well as in the houses of the earth This Astronomer if skilled in Astrology too considers the powerful working influence and effects of the Stars Tycho and Braha are his Authors He beholds Aquarias eye that it weeps alwayes to look on the miseryes and obliquities of men done upon the earth of all signes he thinks Libra ♎ which is thought to be as the Scales of Justice yea and as Poets feign this Libra was a Justice on the earth who is now flone to heaven and that is the reason why we have so little justice on the earth I say this Astrologer sees that Libra has the least influence on men then any sign has which is the reason why there is so few Aristides's just men He also sees Leo that 's a bad sign that it hath great influence on men below that 's the reason so many men are so Lyon-like He has casten his own Nativity and can tell you that Mercury in his geniture was culminating which is the reason why he is so Studious and contemplative This Astronomer or Astrologer Prognosticates what will come to passe he knows that those heavenly Signes viz. Stars are set up that they may be as signes and tokens what shall be done on Earth which they first Presage This Astrologer he sees future things in the Chrystaline or glassie heavens yea and in his Gallilaean glasse he sees heavens face clearly and perspicuously and sees whether heavens face frowns upon the Earth or no but oh when he sees heavens Hyperion its illustrious eye to be blinded as to us thick mists clouds and the moon interposing and Titan suffering by reason of these a fatal ecclipse then he saith it prognosticates that the sun of the worlds glory or rather the sun of righteousnesse shall as to us be ecclipsed by reason of a world of sin and misery interposes An Astronomer is swallowed up in Des Cartes Vortices in which we leave him hopeing that he as Sir Francis Drake will passe the Gulph Nemo NEmo is a negative I will affirm that Nemo potest omnia Nemo is very wise Nemo omnibus horis sapit Though Nemo have no real existence yea we may have some confused notions of such non entitis and have a Platonick Idea of him in our minds many may wonder at this strange Chimaera that never was nor is nor will be but will suppose he is onely a Chimaera of our brain The Poets have attributed much to this Nemo he like Esops fellow servant can do all things then he leaves nothing for others to do all blame and accusations are laid upon poore Nemoe's back but that we may come to the knowledg of Nemo we will dive into the Abysse and see if we can finde him there then with our fancies we will rove into that spatium imaginarium that imaginary place beyond world and Heavens and we will fly into all Democritus's worlds and we will fly to the Moon and see if the opinions of the new Phylosophers be true that there is a world there and see whether that thing in the moon that represents a man whether it be so or not and if it be no man Nemo then I will cry out with Archimedes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have found him I have found him Nemo is some non-entity he dwels in Sir Thomas Moores Utopia and has his habitation in terra incognita Magellanica Nemo surely is something spiritual for we use to define spiritual things negatively and tells what they are not rather then what they are I think it would puzle the Delphick Oracles to declare Nemo unto us A Gyant A Gyant is a Hercules in a Lyons skin if he be wicked he is a Zamzummim if rebellious a Berisides that with his hundred hands attempt to throw Jupiter out of his Ivory throne A Gyant is natures Monster mans wonder a colosse and doth little but stands for an image A Gyant thinks to be a King for he has gotten his Iron Marke or Scepter and he is called Terra Filius the son of the Earth he is a Cyclops he attempts to snatch Joves Lightning out of his hand to reach the stars but Jupiter and they are out of his reach he looks at other men as so many Pigmies he has as little of goodness as he has a great deal of greatness and quantity but when he yeilds to the fates he is good for nothing but to make the birds of the Air a feast and his bones Shields and Mace as Precious reliques for antiquaries to adore and to shew as wonders to succeding generations He lives in the bowels of the Earth and may well be the son of the Earth and lives in Cells though I think he is no papist not so devout He is a Tytheus that shakes the Earth and makes the Earth-quake for fear He is a puple to the Whirl-wine and is a Cyclops skilled in the accents of the cracking sphears when he speaks he speaks in Thunder and fulminates comminations he sits upon the Center of the Earth then in all likelihood he is a Teutonick Philosopher that mind Centers much Nature has expatiated him to such a length and has reard him to such a height that he might be an Atlass to bear up Heaven with his shoulders This is his resolution when he cannot prevaile with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Flectere si nequeo superis Acheronta movebo A Melancholy Man