Earth nor with the Sea and lastly because that our sight holpen by the Prospective-glasses observes in it some Seas and the tops of divers Mountains and such like remarkable things whereof the Maps and figures may be seen in Hevelius Argolius and several others and in our Book de Telescopio These Spots shew that the Moon is partaker of the Elementary and Terrestriall nature and consequently of the rest of the Elements This did move Plato to say That the Stars are composed of fire and earth by reason of their splendour and of their great and lumpish body This plurality of Worlds may again be proved by the variety of the causes that compose it and by the divers combinations that may thence be made which is the argument used by Morodorus in Plutarch in his book of the Philosophers opinion wherein it 's said That where the causes are there the effects ought to be also and the causes of the World being a great many so also ought the Worlds to be many the causes of the world are the four Elements and others that may yet be unknown to us or the infinite number of Democritus Atomes unlesse we had rather say That its God who being infinite so likewise hath created an infinite not onely of Worlds but of all things And indeed as the same Philosopher saith it would be a sad spectacle if there were but an ear of corn in a great field the same would it be of Heaven if it were true that there is no more Earth but one Chap. XXI Wherein is the same proved by certain Reasons drawn from Galileus's Observations and others as of the Stars of Jupiter and of the Spots in the Sun THat great Galileus who seemed onely to be in the World for to resolve the doubts in Astrologie hath discovered with his admirable invention of Prospective-glasses which immortalize his name by the discovery of what is contained in the Stars he is the first who hath directed his Telescopes or Prospective-glasses towards Heaven and by help of them that the milky line were small Stars which by reason of their proximity and great number do confound their light he also hath discovered the Moons superficies not smooth but rugged and full of risings of Hills and hollownesse of Valleys He also hath observed that the Star Venus doth imitate the course of the Moon being now full then half then in the first quarter as a sithe and hath observed the perspicuous change of bignesse in Venus and Mars's diameters things of great concernment and note for the theories of Copernicus and Tycho Brahe He hath ashamed the Sun discovering in him those Spots which for so many Ages he had buried and hid in his bright obscurity and hath discerned that those Spots were not fixed and alwayes lasting as those in the Moon but that they disappear appear again turning round the Sun he hath also discovered four new Planets that had not yet bin observed by some of the ancient Astrologers which he hath called the Planets of Medicis in favour of his Prince these Planets move onely round about Jupiter which hath induced some to believe that Jupiter was another world or another Sun round about which other Planets do run as round about that which in lightens us He hath farther observed that the Planet Saturn hath three bodies having two more at his sides and that the Planet Jupiter is be spotted with girdles or Zones that do girth it the which may plainly and perspicuously be seen by those Telescopes or Prospectives admirably well made by Torricelli the Florentine These are those rare Observations of that illustrious Person who though but little in body yet so great in ingenuity and acuity of spirit that all the World hath suffered by the losse of him He became blind by reason of his too great propensity and labour in these Observations and he who had in these things given light to all this world could not enjoy the light nor his Invention Foscarius adds to all these Observations that Venus hath been seen with three bodies as well as Saturn and that Jupiter hath 4. bodies But Gassendus Fontana Neapolitan hath now the excellentest Telescope in the world with which he hath seen the four Planets which are adjacent to Jupiter as four Moons two about Saturn which make a figure of a pot handle at each side of it In the midst of Mars a little Globe at his brimmes a darkish circle and about Venus two Moons or Stars Chap. XXII Proving the Plurality of Worlds by a Reason taken from the Clouds and the waters above in Heaven WIth the Prospective-glasse we may see some Clouds flying round about the Sun which can arise but from the Moon from other Stars or from the Sun it self because they be beyond the Region of the Meteors Now if the Stars ingender clouds they have water within themselves but if the Element of water is in them the Element of earth and the rest have as great priviledge to be in them as it Now that there is water in them the first Chapter of Genesis proves it clearly when he saith Then God said Let there be a Firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters And God made the Firmament and divided the waters which were under the Firmament from the waters which were above the Firmament he called the Firmament Heaven and the waters under the Firmament Seas Esdras in Chap. 6. of his second Book saith the same in these terms Thou madest the spirit of the Firmament and commandedst it to part asunder and to make a division betwixt the waters that the one part might go up and the other remain beneath Where are these waters above I beseech you if they are not in the Stars For it 's a very weak Reason to say That they are in the Clouds because that besides that they could not contain the Seas It s said in the second Chapter of Genesis that God had not caused it to rain upon the Earth but there went up a mist from the Earth and watered the whole face of the Earth and so consequently there was no vapour raised up to form them and what should have raised them seeing there was yet no Sun created to light the World Let us then lift up our eyes to Heaven and as the new Gymnosophists who daily contemplated the Sun let us observe in them those new Worlds wherewith it is wonderfully enriched which are divers and various in bignesse light and other qualities let us not be as poor simple Countrey fellowes who having seen no farther then the corner of their own chimney cannot apprehend that there can be any Town or City bigger then their Village but let us raise our spirits to the contemplation of the remotest and highest things that are thereby ennobling our selves though it be a very high attempt O how happy is that man who when he pleaseth can spiritually loosen his
because that God is infinite so also ought the Worlds to be infinite For a second Argument it 's objected That if there were more then one World the Divine Scriptures would have communicated it to us but speaking but of one onely it 's not likely there should be any more To this I answer That the holy Scripture speaks clearly of none but of ours though yet in severall places it agreeth in the plurality of Worlds as we shall hereafter demonstrate and that it speaks after the manner of men of all heavenly things condescending to our weaknesse and to the common opinion as when it saith That the Sun and Moon are the great Lights and yet the Moon is one of the smallest Stars and there are some others that are as bigg as the Sun as Canopus Starre and others and an infinite number bigger then the Moon Likewise the Scripture saith That God is angry and doth repent though he is immutable and unchangeable and therefore might the Scripture do the like concerning the motion of the Earth and the plurality of Worlds For a third Argument Plato speaks thus The matter requisite for the composition of the world is but one and heaped up together into one lump or body alone and the Heaven contains within it self all the simple bodies so that no part of the matter can remain for therewith to compose and frame other Worlds To this I answer That it 's not necessary that all the matter be exhausted and spent in the Creation of this our Earth alone yea rather in the Creation of the whole Fabrick but and if it had been all spent at the creation alone of this our Earth God could yet create some new And last of all concedo totum I grant the whole Argument it proving nothing against my assertion for I comprehend all the Worlds or Earths to be in Heaven Plato saith farther against this opinion That the World would be imperfect if it should not contain all and secondly would not be like its pattern if it were not single and onely one and that it would not be incorruptible if there was any thing out of it But we have already answered the Objection touching Unity where we have discovered That God being infinite there must also be infinite Worlds for as Sextus Empiricus saith There is nothing one alone of all whatsoever is numbred in the World And as for the last Plutarch answers it saying thus That it hinders not the World's perfection that there are other Worlds besides for man is perfect and yet contains not every thing And to this answer I adde That by this word World Plato did understand the whole Fabrick of all these Earths or Worlds which make up but one whole world his Arguments cannot at all overthrow my Position Timplerus forms yet this Argument If there were divers Worlds they would have been made in vain and to no purpose because no use of them can be shewed This his Reason is so weak that it will suffice to say for to confute it That though we may not know for what use they are made yet they are not made for nothing for by this same reason the Indies from whence we receive great advantage and profit and the Northern Countreys that yet are unknown to us would also have been created in vain Again there are some who object That if the Stars were inhabited they would have need of the influence of other Stars and Heavens usque ad infinitum without number To this I answer That I am not much perswaded that the Starres are advantageous to us the Sun and Moon excepted it 's not possible that the Stars communicate and serve one another mutually and therefore there is no need of an infinite number of Heavens Last of all Zabarella arguments thus If there were other Worlds what in them should be contained would be either like to what is in this our World or differing from it if it were like it in vain would individuals be multiplyed if differing it could not be found out how it 's disposed To this Objection I answer That men and other things in the Indies would also have been created in vain if his Reason was valid and that though we knew not what was in those new Lands and Countreys yet it was in them notwithstanding so likewise though we be ignorant of what is in the other Worlds yet this our ignorance excludes not their being Chap. XXXIII Answering Pacius's Argument against this Assertion IN this whole Fabrick considered at large may be observed divers Worlds contained within it as the individuals under the species but Pacius labours to oppose this Position thus That the World such as it is comprehends all and that all the matter was spent in the composition of it and that therefore there can be no other bodies out of it for if there were any they would be either simple or composed if simple it would be the Heaven or the Elements But they cannot be the Heaven considering it changes not fully its place but turns round upon it self Nor likewise can it be an Element because it would be beyond nature nor also a mixt body because that if there be not some simple bodies there can be no mixt ones To which I answer That as I have already said by Worlds is to be understood Earths onely and by the general word of World or whole Fabrick are by me understood All the things of the whole Fabrick in the frame and composition of which I yield that all the matter was spent and employed and that out of them there is no other Universe or generall World Chap. XXXIV Answering Melancthon's Objections together with others who say That this Doctrine tends to Introduce new Maxims against Religion BUt there may yet some stand up and say with Melancthon That God ceased from creating and rested himself but Moses in the second of Genesis speaks and meaneth onely the Creation of this our World and truly it 's more consonant that some end and others be created of new as Empedocles did believe it together with Democritus God hath limited his power and he is still the same for to create again as he was afore and as it 's said in the Book of Wisdome ch. 11. v. 18. he wanteth not means to create of new unknown wild beasts Therefore both this and the other Arguments alledged by Melancthon are weak against this our Position which he himself being forced to confesse he saith in his natural Physicks that though his arguments do not fully conclude yet they must be considered and weighed lest that if we believe that there are other worlds we also should believe other Religions and other natures of Men For my part I see no necessity that because there are more Worlds there must also be more Religions the increase of this World through the discovery of the Indies hath not caused any new Religion and it 's very unlike from being capable of introducing
Heresie and Atheism I confidently believe that this admirable order of the World which disperses the confusisions and chaos which by reason of mens ignorance do yet reign will even make the greatest Atheists of this world to confesse That they cannot have their originall but from God alone who is the Soveraign Creator of all things Melancthon saith farther That if there were divers Worlds it would be requisite that Jesus Christ should suffer death several times for to save them all but what do we know whether those Men in the Stars are better then those that are in this world whereof Satan is called the Prince and where he abides for which cause St. John saith in Chap. 12. v. 12. of the Revelations Therefore rejoyce ye Heavens and ye that dwell in them wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea for the Devil is come down unto you And though we should certainly know that those men in the Starres have need of salvation God hath so many means and wayes to us unknown for to save them and to satisfie his Justice that we need not inform our selves about these things but believe them in faith captivating our understandings as an ancient Father of the Church hath well spoken But some may object Who is he that will believe it To whom I shall reply with Plato No wicked man shall ever know it but he onely who shall be found worthy of it Let then those who are unworthy of so high and sublime knowledge withdraw hence their gross spirit cannot apprehend the subtilty of it and as Spiders do turn the best food into venome and poyson they call that which is the true way to the knowledge of God the high-way to Atheism Chap. XXXV Proving the Plurality of Worlds by a Reason drawn from the place of Hell SOme scrupulous persons might say That the Reason of this Chapter seems in something to contradict the doctrine of the Church But I shall answer him That if any one should endeavour to prove that there is no Hell his Opinion should certainly be esteemed erroneous and pernicious but to do nothing but to establish and confirm it as I do in this Chapter and to remark the place where it is being that the Divines cannot certainly point out the place I find nothing in it repugnant to Christianity Now whereas our bodies are to rise from the dead for to be rewarded according to their deserts good or evill and that the damned are in greater number then the saved the place of Hell must needs be very spatious and great to contain them all and solid and firm to uphold them but it cannot be anywhere but in one of the Stars and so consequently the Stars may have Inhabitants in them for it 's said That the Center of the Earth because it is the center of the World and the farthest place from Heaven but that I cannot find it needful to place it in the Center of the World considering that God is equally every where and that men cannot alienate themselves from him and also because it 's very easie to prove the contrary not only in that it could not be sufficient to contain in it self all the damned that have been since the Creation and shall be unto the end nor can be penetrated through by their lumpish bodies and also because the Earth it self at the day of Judgment must be consumed and done away as Esdras saith in 4th Chapter and 42 verse of his second book but also in this that not the earth but the Sun is the Center of the worlds the Sun then by reason of its far distance from the highest Heavens saith Foscarinus is the true place of Hell even as its siery nature required for the internall habitations seems to perswade it but I cannot admit this opinion though that I hold that Hell must be in one of the Stars but to seat it in so beautiful a Star as the Sun is I cannot consent to it seeing that the damned Souls cannot merit so good and advantagious an habitation But on the contrary It may seem more plausible and consonant to truth to seat the Paradise of God in the Sun according to that Text in the Psalms In Sâ—le posuit tabernaculum suum God hath placed his Tabernacle in the Sun But to prove more certainly that Hell is not within the Earth let us but observe that it was created before the Earth seeing that the wicked Angels were banished into it before the Creation of the Earth to which agrees the first Chapter and 14 verse of the Wisdome of Solomon saying The Kingdom of death is not upon the Earth Chap. XXXVI Proving the plurality of Worlds by an Argument drawn from the Seat of Paradise both Celestial and Terrestrial IT may likewise be proved That Paradise is no where else but in the Stars Now it 's most clear and certain that it 's not this Earth but a new Earth wherein is the heavenly Jerusalem which must needs be a solid place as well as our Earth that it may hold us up wherein all joy and happinesse shall be and out of which shall all miseries and torments be banished this place is prepared of old for men and what do we know but that we shall be dispersed into severall Stars doth not our Lord Christ Jesus assure us That in his Fathers house are many Mansions and Esdras in the 4. chap. 7. ver. of his second Book tels us How many Springs are above the Firmament and which are the out-goings of Paradise It may be that after we have inhabited this Earth of misery and sorrow wherein death and infirmity are the wages of our sins we shall be introduced into those high Globes wherein we shall live for ever in fulnesse of happinesse and joy Is it not said in Rev. 2. ver. 28. To him that overcomes will I give the morning Star And Job in the 38. and 7. v. doth see through Faith the Morning Stars singing together and all the Sons of Men shouting for joy This his Vision shall be accomplished when we shall trample upon these moving wonders and if by reason of those glorious objects we may remember the things of this Earth we shall from those vast habitations of glory look with great contempt and disdain upon this lump of Earth so highly esteemed of men and by them divided into so many Regions and Countreys and upon that drop of water by them divided into so many Seas May it not also be that the Earthly Paradise or Garden of Eden out of which Adam was driven was the same place whereunto we shall return he was driven out of it for his sins without which he had not tasted death And now that Jesus Christ by his satisfaction to the Father's Justice hath blotted them out we shall be therein introduced Munster faith that many ancient Philosophers did imagine it scituated in a high place encompassed with fire adjoyning the Circle of the Moon
although it should all be burned insomuch that it 's needful to say That the other Stars whose body is so great in comparison of this our little Globe did furnish it with matter Chap. IV. Proving the multiplicity of the Worlds by a reason drawn from the conformity of the Moon with the Earth ALL Philosophers and Astrologers are agreed That the Earth and Moon have this commune between them that they both are thick grosse dark and solid bodies able to receive and refresh the light of the Sun this being granted What is easier than to conclude That the Earth reverberating the beams of the Sun would appear lightsome to them who should be raised high towards Heaven that it would seem so little and small by its far distance from us that it would be almost like the Moon both in light and bignesse and that it would even have its spots because of the waters which bury and smother the Sun beams and do not reverberate them We might discover in it by prospective glasses some of the chiefest Mountains whereby we might soon be perswaded to believe that those Seas and Mountains are inhabited and filled with living Creatures And if we turn what we have said of the Earth to the Moon shall we not say the same of it Wherein we discover those spots that by Galileus's prospective-glasses helps us so naisty to distinguish that we see in it as in a Table and Mapp some Seas some straights some Lakes some Rivers and some Islands some Rocks and Mountains that are perceived to swell out especially at the new Moon And if it be true of the Moon can it not be true also of the other Stars but their far distance stealing from our eyes their spots we must judge of it by the Moon which though lesser is nearer to us and appears greater to our eyes and that we may not think that the same things that are seen in the Moon cannot appear in the other Stars the Telescope sheweth us a Mountain in Mars some spots in other Stars and that Venus increaseth and diminisheth even as the Moon Chap. V. Wherein is proved this Opinion of divers Worlds in that the Earth is a Starre as the others THe foregoing Chapter declaring to us how the Earth would appear lightsome to us if we were once high raised up from it because it reflects the beams of the Sun which according to the divers places by it inlightned would cause it to increase and decrease considering also that Mountains seen from far are bright and shining and that as Milchius saith the fields adjacent to mount Hesperides shine at night as the Stars and seeing also that the Earth is moveable as hereafter we shall prove it that it is situated in the Ayr and weighed and counterpois'd in its proper weight and that the Ayr is the Heavens as the Holy Scriptures do sufficiently prove it when at every moment they confound the Ayr with the Heavens Shall we not then say That the Earth is a Star situated in Heaven as well as the other Starres That this at the first sight will amuse the Readers but they shall be pleased to yield That the yolk of an egg is in its shell neither can they deny that the Earth is in Heaven which wraps and compasses it on every side as an egg-shell and that the infinite spaces of the Aires which are the Heavens do not contain divers bodies far distant one from the other and so consequently the earth seeming from on high little and lightsome may be a Star inhabited But if the Earth be a Star inhabited the others may be Earths inhabited being they as well as the Earth seem and appear to be great and lightsome bodies to those who are far remote from them And that no Man may object that the Heaven is a place coloured solid and separated from their aire I beseech him to consider that things far remote from us appear as the Skie even the Mountains and Seas seen from far seem blewish so that this skie-colour'd Heaven that we see is not a solid and reall thing but the limit of our sight in a certain place of the infinite spaces of the Aire which are the common place wherein are lodged an infinite number of great globes of divers natures or inhabited by several living creatures which the Sun being in the middle equally inlightens as a great Torch set in the midst of a Chamber shines in every corner of it with the brightnesse of its light Chap. VI Proving the same by the great number of the Stars and by their noblenesse THose who imagine that the infinite number of the heavenly bodies are created for the globe of the earth and for the advantage of its Inhabitants are much mistaken for natural reason doth sufficiently disswade us to believe that the greater things serve the lesser and that those that are the noblest serve the vilest and that are of lesse consequence and moment Is it not very like that every Globe makes a World or a particular Earth and that this great number is suspended in the Air whereof the vast space conjoyns them all as so many dependances from the everlasting and divine Empire the greatnesse and bignesse of the whole World is composed of divers creatures which though far remote and differing one from the other as well by their nature as by their place do notwithstanding so well agree in a mutual love that they compose and make up a perfect harmony in the World where the Heaven or the Air is their common space and the Sea whereof the Earths or Stars are the Islands which doth so joyn and separate them and therefore is this Ayr purest near the perfectest bodies neverthelesse this spiritual body of the Air equally receives the influences and operations of every Globe and communicates with great speed to every one those of all the others Chap. VII Wherein the same is proved by a reason drawn from the bignesse of the Stars PYthagoras did often call the Earth a Moon and all well considered What hinders that the Earth be not as well reckoned in the number of the Stars as the Moon seeing that as we have said the body of both of them is of a thick dark and heavy matter that both do borrow their light from the Sun that they are both solid and reverberate the beams of this light of the World that both produce vertues and spirits of themselves and that both are heng'd and suspended each in its aire or heaven and upon its center and having all these things common together may not the Moon and so consequently the other Stars infinitely bigger then it self have Inhabitants And indeed this exceeds all belief that so great bodies as the Stars which many times over exceed the Earth in bignesse should be so idle and barren that no creature should dwell in them and that their motions labours and actions should onely redound to the advantage of this Terrestriall Globe alone
Soul and by his exquisite Meditations rise up to the meditation and contemplation of these Worlds When once we are well acquainted with it and freed from all Preoccupation nothing can be found sweeter pleasanter and more consonant to truth What Patents and particular priviledges have they who believe the contrary that we should adhere to them and our belief should be ruled by them as if it were under their commands Men feign and forge to us five Zones in Heaven and seen other things that are nothing but dreams and foolish fancies as if they had been there above to see it We may say the same to them as Diogenes said to such other creatures How long is it since thou camest from Heaven It 's then as lawful for us to establish new Maxims as for them and to believe in the strength of our reason what we here have attempted and what others say with reason or appearance of truth O that Nature would once open us her bosome and plainly shew us the direction and Government of its motion with what is contained in those great and vaste bodies which sparkle and glister in Heaven What abuses and grosse mistakes should we find in all Sciences Chap. XXIII Wherein the same is proved by an Argument taken from the place where the Clouds stay without going farther WE have here above spoken of the Clouds and thence have drawn an Argument to assert this our opinion we may yet draw this from them viz. that the Clouds and vapours being light should ascend without limitation untill that they were lost from our sight if there were not some other terrestrial Globes in Heaven nor any other attraction then that of the Center of the Earth but we may observe even in the hottest of Summer that the Clouds do not ascend above 3. miles and the strongest vapours that are not above 30 miles whence we must infer that they ascend unto the limit of the activity and attraction of the center of the Earth not being able to go beyond because it would be to bend downward viz. towards the Center of some other terrestriall Globe But that I may better be understood it 's to be observed that as the Loadstone hath a certain inward virtue to draw iron or to move the Needle of the Sea-compasse unto such a distance and no farther so likewise the Earth which by the opinion of some is a great Loadstone whose circumference and activity is extended towards the Moon unto such a certain heighth and the other Stars also have such like circumference wherunto their virtue attraction may reach Insomuch that the Clouds having attained unto that distance which makes a middle between us and the Moon there they are stayed not being suffered to go beyond it because then they would descend towards the Moon or some other Stars which would be contrary to their nature which is to rise upward still so that if a ponderous body as a stone being cast up could go beyond the Earth's attractive point it would not fall back upon the Earth but upon that Star whose attractive Center should reach unto that place whither the stone was cast therefore hath Bacon said in his Book de progressu Scientiarum that Gilbert did not doubt incongruously That the bodies of weight and ponderosity being at a far distance from the Earth would by little and little forsake their motion towards things below Chap. XXIV Containing a Reason drawn from the Bird of Paradise THe new World discovered by our Fathers amongst those infinite riches and rare things it communicates to us makes us partakers of a Bird called by the Indians Manucodiata that is to say the Bird of God or of Paradise This Bird is so beautiful that no one in the Earth is to be compared to it its figure is of so rare a form and so extraordinary that never the like hath been found for it hath neither feet nor wings but is clothed with a skin of feathers made otherwise then that of other birds it 's not found but dead either upon the Earth or in the Sea no body ever saw its eggs nor its nest and it 's asserted that it lives by the Air this Bird never being found upon Earth is it not confonant to Reason that it may come from some other Starre where it lives and breeds and that having flown higher and beyond the attractive Center of that earth or Star where he lived he dyeth by changing his Ayr unto that which is not proper and natural and dying falls upon this Earth Now if birds be found in the Stars there also may other living Creatures be having all the same right of habitation And grant that what some object be true that it hath feet but that they are very short or that its feet are cut that it may appear the rarer yet it hinders not the consequence drawn from it provided that the other circumstances of its nature be true for if it hath feet it must be understood of some of its species onely for Aldrovandus mentions five or six sorts of them whereof some have feet and some none Chap. XXV Wherein is alledged an Argument taken from the Eclipses BEfore the Creation of this whole Fabrick God did inlighten himself and contemplate himself he was a sealed Book which at length is opened and hath set forth to the view that which remained in Himself wherefore the whole World is nothing else then an evident image an Idea of his hidden God-head he is through it all as our soul is throughout all our body and by his will encompasses all the motions of the spheres having spread through them all the Aires as a scrowl which folding it self away at the last day shall be reduced to its former Silence or rather to Nothing This wonderful order thus by him established may be seen in the constant and unchangeable course of the Planets upon which the Astrologians make some certain Almanacks for many years together and foretell the eclipses of Ages to come without missing a moment of time These Stars being all of one and the same nature do eclipse one another the Earth eclipses the Moon the Moon the Sun and so all the rest if their small body is not overcome by the bignesse of those they intend to darken as it s testified by Averroe's Observation who hath seen Mercury in the center of the Sun which seemed to grow in it its light if it hath any being covered and put out Now from these Eclipses or want of light in the Stars we may draw this strong Reason for the assertion of our Position for it sheweth and verifieth that they are of an earthly nature and that their light is borrowed the Moon appears black when the Earth hinders it to receive light from the Sun and divers Philosophers have believed that all the Stars do borrow their light of the Sun they are then obscure and thick of their own nature and consequently earthy and may have
such variety and diversity as the Earth viz. Men Beasts Plants and whatsoever is seen here amongst us and the Pythagorians did believe and to which Copernicus agreeth Chap. XXVI Proving the same because otherwise it were to make God to act by necessity IF there were not many Worlds in this whole Fabrick God could not act so powerfully and freely but that by some certain necessity and constraint which would be a great impiety and blasphemy even to imagine it for God could assuredly not onely have made other Worlds but also much more perfect then this for his power is neither shortened nor exhausted neither the matter which he could create of nothing as well as that of this our Earth therefore as he hath created this World could he not also have created others Chap. XXVII How could we see the Earth if we were far distant from it SOme may ask If the Planets are so many Earths and the Earth a Planet how could we see the Earth if we were far remote from it Clavius in his Commentary upon Sacroboscus hath endeavoured some suppositions upon this question and hath found that if any one were in the Globe of the Moon and should look towards the Earth it would appear to him three times bigger then the Moon appears to us and somewhat more and if a man were in the Globe of the Sun it would appear to him twice bigger then Venus seems to us and in the Globe of Mars thence it would appear lightsome and would seem to be of the bignesse of one of the Stars of the sixth proportion and if he were in the highest heavens he could not see it at all And this is saith he the Astrologers common opinion Chap. XXVIII Of the number of the Worlds IT may also be asked What number of Worlds there is but though it is a thing not certainly known considering the infinite number of Stars to us perspicuous besides those that we cannot see by reason of our eyes weaknesse Yet I shall here alledge the Judgment of some Authors upon this question Baruck the Philosopher and Clemens a disciple of the Apostles as Origen saith do mention seven perhaps meaning the seven Planets An ancient Author according to Plutarch in his book touching the ceasing of miracles did believe that there were an hundred and eighty nine Worlds disposed in a triangle every side containing sixty three Petro of Sicily thought the same thing touching the plurality of Worlds But the Thalmudists going beyond say that there are nineteen thousand and Democritus did believe that they were infinite and innumerable Chap. XXIX Touching divers ancient Philosophers who have believed the plurality of Worlds Pythagoras who first called this Fabrick Worlds is also one of the chiefest who believed the plurality of them and hath had many disciples and Citators who have continued to establish and maintain this assertion for Socrates hath publickly asserted the Worlds to be infinite so did also his disciple Archelaus who perswaded it also to Xenophanes the Colophian who also did assert That there are many Moons and Suns in the world This same Axiome was believed by Melisseus of Samia Parmenides's disciple as also by his School-fellow Zeno of Elis and his disciple Lucippus of Elis also Item by Democritus of Miletum Pythagoras's hearer who saith That in these Worlds the Stars are more beautifull and bright which I think may be according to their proximity By reason of which opinion that King of the Abderitanes was esteemed by his ignorant people to be out of his wits and thereupon they sent for Hippocrates to cure him of his disease but Hippocrates found him very well in his mind and said nothing against his opinion which moved Democritus perpetually to laugh at them who were ignorant of the same Joubertus who hath composed a book concerning laughter in it hath set down Hippocrates's letter upon this subject Diogenes of Apollonia Anaximenes's disciple together with Seleucus hath also pronounced their assertion touching the plurality of the worlds Orpheus Origines and Baruck the Philosopher Anaxagoras and many Stoicks more do a vouch the same Plinius also seems to have been of this opinion but Anaximander Anaximenes Epicureus and others following Francis I. Picus Mirandulanus have fully asserted it Mahomet who though an Infidel wanted not wit and knowledg to establish his belief did believe the same thing and in his Alcoran mentions several Earths and Seas to be in Heaven and the four Elements and all that is amongst us to be in every one of the Stars Epicureus did say That these Worlds were some of them without Sun or Moon and some had greater then those that lighten us and that others had divers Suns and that some of them were without living creatures in them without Plants and without all moisture and that at the same that things are thus in our worlds as we see them so also are they in divers other worlds but had he seen how the Indians and we agree in severall things he would questionlesse have believed it more constantly Icetes the Pythagorian together with Philolaus did believe there were two Earths opposite one to the other and Picus Mirandula was forced to say That he thought that the Moon was an Earth like unto ours herein conforming himself to those Pythagorians who sometimes did call our Earth Moon and the Moon Earth Francastor Physitian at Zerona following Eudoxus and Calispus's Judgment together with divers others whom for brevity sake I shall omit did also believe the same But whereas so many Philosophers have asserted the Position of this opinion it will be answered That I am not the first author of 〈◊〉 To this I answer That it 's sufficient for me to renew it and plainly professe it the which hitherto was not yet publickly practised Chap. XXX Of those things that are in the Moon and other Planets THough the Ancients had not the help of Prospective-glasses as we have wherewith we see as new Linxes the Seas the Mountains and other things which are in the Moon yet they did inquire and speak of things more particular that are in the Stars as the Pythagorians and Orpheus who did believe that the Moon was not onely of the colour of the Earth but that it contained Men Beasts and Trees 15 times bigger then we or 50 times bigger as Herodotus who also asserts that in it are Towns and Cities Xenophanes did also think that there are men within the body of the Moon Anaxagoras and Democritus have also said That in it are contained Mountains Valleys and Fields Lucianus in his book of true history Aristoteles have both mentioned some particularities of what is in the Moon but we shall not take notice what the first saith because he relates it as a fable though for the composing of his work he hath made use of a great deal of those ancient Philosophers opinions Plutarch in his discourse of the Moon reasons pro and con whether the Moon is
and that there are Elias and Enoch those Antients were not far from my opinion seeing the inconveniencies that would follow if we did seat it in this our World for if to believe that this Paradise was upon this Earth it 's a very hard thing for it 's of no moment to rely upon the names of the Rivers and Countreys that are named in the translation of the Holy Scripture considering that the Hebrew names in it are not conforme and that the Translators do yeild that they have Interpreted them but by conjecture and as nigh as they could guesse Again this Paradise can no more be found on the Earth nor those Rivers that are said to be those whom Moses doth mention do not issue from one and the same Spring as it 's recorded of those of Paradise And lastly it would be a ridiculous thing to believe that God hath driven his people from that place which he suffers the Turks and other Infidels to enjoy it being that whole Country apprehended to have been this Earthly Paradise of delight Before I conclude this Chapter I will here alledge two notable things The first is that as there is no Book though never so bad but there is also some good in it Neither is there any Religion but hath some good Maxims The Chineans and the Turks being perswaded by appearances do not at all doubt but that after death they go to inhabit the World of the Moon The second is that there are already divers bodies in Hell and also in Paradise In Hell are those who have yeilded up their bodies to the unclean spirits and Daemons but in Paradise are Elias and Enoch which both places to hold up those bodies must needs be solid which solidity cannot be but in some Stars or Star where God doth manifest himself more clearly and visibly and where are those Rocks of eternity whereof it 's spoken by Moses whereunto we must desire to go and there to dwell exchanging this Valley of misery to the great advantage and comfort of our glorious bodies Chap. XXXVII Proving the Worlds plurality by an Answer made by the Daemons IF any Creature can know the pure and naked truth of things and that may decide and resolve this question to the full certainly the evil spirits may but how may we enquire of them about it Thus it may be done for it 's very certain that Pans Sylvaines and other gods who in former Ages did appear to men were wicked spirits and Daemons who required worship from men but a certain Silenus who was one of that nature suffering Marsias to take possession of him told him That there were other Worlds where men lived as old again as we and were of higher and greater shape and stature And in the History of Faustus the Magician it 's said that his spirits did walk him amongst the Starres for the space of eight dayes and that he was carried 80000 miles high far from us and that ascending up very high he did perceive from far off this Earth the Cities and other things in it contained but this his relation is but in brief Chap. XXXVIII Proving the same by a Reason drawn from the unprofitablenesse of the light of the Sun and others IF there were no Globes inhabited above the Sun for what use would that light be which the Sun casts above him It would be altogether unprofitable and uselesse if it was lost in the Air It is then cast upon those bodies that have need of it which cannot be any thing else but the Starres which of their nature are dark and obscure and earthly as the earth that we inhabit for otherwise they would have no need of the Sun's light Shall not so many Reasons suffice for to overcome that obstinacy and Preoccupation Great Alexander may break the Ice and shew us the way who having heard Anaxarch the Philosopher discoursing upon this subject matter did believe him and fell a weeping because that there being other Worlds he had yet conquered but one Chap. XXXIX Proving the same by the Suns mutual ravishments betwixt the Earth and the Moon and by their equal qualities and by other notable Reasons WE may say That the time spoken by Seneca in his Medea is come now Quae Typhis novos deteget orbes Wherein we may learn things unheard viz. the discovery of new Worlds Et tabula pictos ediscere mundos We may say it with better ground then he seeing he onely spoke of the Indies and we speak of Worlds distinct and separated and prove it by so many Arguments as if we could not come to an end of them for it may yet be proved in that the Earth and the Moon deprive each other mutually of the Sun which deed doth testifie their conformity and that both may suffer Eclipses also by their mutual communications cold qualities solidity and roughnesse that help us to see it for many think that we should scarcc see it were it not for its irregularities which cause its light better to reverberate the beames of the Sun I shall add to this That if God who could make many Worlds had not made them his power might be said in some respects to have been idle unprofitable and limited for though it ayms not so much to the works as to the end of them yet it being for his greater glory though he doth not whatsoever he can we cannot assert That he was not willing to make many Worlds as we cannot deny but he had the power to make them Thirdly the common and general opinion grants the four Elements to be in Heaven for it believed that there is the Empyred Heaven that is the Heaven of fire the crystal Heaven that is of a waterish nature the Heaven of the Stars which is solid and by consequence of an earthly nature and the Air is apprehended to be amongst those Stars the four Elements then are in Heaven and why may not there be also mixt and composed bodies and why not the effects as well as the causes which compose them are in it and why could they not act as well within themselves as in things far remote Fourthly the Creation of the world or of many worlds is a thing that wholly depends from the free Will of God neither can it be denyed by any natural reason for God acts not outwardly by necessity as to limit himself onely to this our World but on the contrary God willeth whatsoever implyeth not contradiction But many worlds do not imply contradiction neither from God nor from the thing created and it seems requisite that the object be the measure of the power but this World not being infinite as God is there must needs be an infinity of them Chap. XL Discoursing of those Stars discovered of late and of the Spots of the Sun HAving above mentioned the Spots of the Sun and some new Starres and thence having drawn some Arguments it may not be out of our purpose to speak of them
now As concerning the new Stars Galileus relates that in the yeares 1572 and 1604 were seen some new Stars that were higher then any one of the Planets whereof the first was in Cassiopeia as Tycho Brahe and Campanella declare so likewise did Hipparchus observe a new Starre 100 years before Christ's Birth And as touching the Spots of the Sun I shall content my self to say hat Galileus asserts That these Spots are bigger then all Asia and Africk some there are who believe them to be onely vapours and some impressions of the Ayr because that their figures are irregular and that they are seen in great number disappearing and again appearing but they onely hide themselves in the Sun or to say more congruously they onely disappear by reason of their too nigh approach to the light of the Sun and besides they have a regulated course according to which they fail not to return at a certain time and therefore they are some Stars touching which I send the Reader to Tardus's book who calls them the Stars of Bourbon after the name of the King of France under whose reign these new Stars were first discovered Chap. XLI Containing divers Reasons drawn from several places of Scripture AS it is said in divers places of the holy Scripture That the Earth is full of corruption or that it sings out the miracles of God by a figure of Rhetorick that puts the continent for the thing contained several Texts of the Scripture do also say as in Job 25. v. 5 6. that the Stars are not clean before God that they sing his praises and are his Armies These are things that very hardly enter into the heart of Men and very likely part of them that Paul saw in his extasie but being he saith that it never entred into the heart of man he might mean unto his time no body had believed it or at least hath not had the full and particular knowledg of them wherefore Job saith chap. 38. v. 37 38. Who can number the clouds in wisdom or who can stay the bottles of Heaven And Solomon in the book of Wisdome ch. 9. v. 16. And hardly do we guesse aright at things that are upon Earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us but the things that are in Heaven who hath searched out And Esdras in his second book chap. 4. v. 21. They that dwell upon the Earth may understand nothing but that which is upon the Earth and he that dwells above the Heavens may onely understand the things that are above the heighth of the Heavens It may be replyed That these Texts are to be understood of the Angels But the Texts alledged in the following Chapter will make it clear that it 's to be understood of Men onely for Campanella hath even observed that Paul to the Colossians Chap. 1. verse 20. saith That by Jesus Christ's blood all things are reconciled to God whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven and consequently it will follow that there are men in Heaven who have need of Redemption as well as we Chap. XLII Containing the Reasons drawn from the Word of God IF then there be divers Worlds and that the Stars be inhabited those worlds may have been created some before the others and so shall end at divers times and perhaps some are ended already and some are created of new the believers of those former Worlds seem to speak in Psal. 90. ver. 1 2. saying Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations before the Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth and the World And God seems to be angry against the men of those worlds in 2. of Esdras c. 9. v. 18 19. because those who were before were better in these terms And now when I prepared the World which was not yet made even for them to dwell in that now live no man spake against me for then every one obeyed but now the manners of them which are created in this World that is made are corrupted by a perpetuall seed but there is yet one Text more pregnant for to prove that there were other Worlds before this that are ended and have been judged as we shall be one day he speaks in these terms in the 2. Book of Esdras c. 7. v. 34. And the World shall be turned into the old silence 7. dayes like as in the former Judgments so that no man shall remain And if it be thus might we not say that those great Comets that remain so long above the Region of the meteor are the burnings and consummations of some Stars that are ending and which we had not perceived by reason of their far distance For as in former ages new ones have often been seen yea even in this our own so likewise may some others end and to all this we may adde that of the Revelations viz. that the Stars shall fall that is to say shall end Many ancient Authours were of this Judgment believing not only that there are divers Worlds at one and the same time but that there had already been some before Origenes was of this belief and that ours shall last seaven thousand years and that many of the others shall last forty nine thousand years Campanella differs not much from this judgment the Wisedome of God speaking in the Proverbs saith ch. 8. v. 23. 31. Before the Earth was I was with God rejoycing in the habitable part of his Earth and my delights were with the Sons of Men And in the 26. v. While as yet he had not made the Earth nor the Fields nor the highest part of the dust of the World Chap. XLIII which is a sequell of the Texts of the Holy Scripture THough we have divided these places of Scripture into two chapters for to confirm this opinion yet I will not omit some few others which may in some respects sit this same subject Paul to the Ephesians c. 1. v. 10. speaking of Christ Jesus saith That in the dispensation of the fullnesse of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are on Earth even in him And to the Colos. 1. v. 20. God having made peace through the bloud of Christs Crosse reconciled all things to himself whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven How may these two Texts be expounded if we do not understand them of these men who are in the Heavens or Stars whom God hath gathered to himself and redeemed For if it be said that they are those that died before Christ It cannot stand with reason because their Souls were already in Paradise or in Hell but where the Soul is thither also shall the body go after the Resurrection David speaks thus in the Psal. 112. v. 6. God humbles himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in Earth for he dwells on high This Text indicates that God is beyond the