in workes of heate but the sunne burneth the mountaines three tymes more breathing out fiery vapours Neither were there wanting some among the ancient Philosophers who maintained the same opinion as Plato and Plyny and generally the whole sect of Stoicks who held that the Sunne and Starres were fed with watery vapours which they drew vp for their nourishment and that when these vapours should cease and faile the whole world should be in daunger of combustion and many things are alleaged by Balbus in Ciceroes second booke of the nature of the Gods in favour of this opinion of the Stoicks But that the Sunne and Starres are not in truth and in their owne nature fieric and hot appeares by the ground already layd touching the matter of the heavens that it is of a nature incorruptible which cannot bee if it were fiery inasmuch as thereby it should become lyable to alteration and corruption by an opposite and professed enimie Besides all fiery bodies by a naturall inclination mount vpwards so that if the starres were the cause of heat as being hot in themselues it would consequently follow that their circular motion should not bee Naturall but violent Wherevnto I may adde that the noted starres being so many in number namely one thousand twenty and two besides the Planets and in magnitude so greate that every one of those which appeare fixed in the firmament are sayd to bee much bigger then the whole Globe of the water and earth and the Sunne againe so much to exceede both that globe and the biggest of them as it may iustly bee stiled by the sonne of Syrach instrumentum admirabile a wonderfull instrument which being so were they of fyre they would doubtlesse long ere this haue turned the world into ashes there being so infinite a disproportion betweene their flame and the little quantity of matter supposed to bee prepared for their Fewell That therefore they should bee fed with vapours Aristotle deservedly laughs at it as a childish and ridiculous device in as much as the vapours ascend no higher then the middle region of the ayre and from thence distill againe vpon the water and earth from whence they were drawne vp and those vapours being vncertaine the flames likewise feeding vpon them must needes be vncertaine and dayly vary from themselues both in quantity and figure according to the proportion of their fewell SECT 2. That the heate they breed springes from their light and consequently their light being not decayed neither is the warmth arising there from THe absurdity then of this opinion beeing so foule and grosse it remaines that the Sunne and Starres infuse a warmth into these Subcaelestiall bodies not as being hot in themlselues but only as beeing ordeined by God to breed heate in matter capable thereof as they impart life to some creatures and yet themselues remaine voyd of life like the braine which imparts Sense to every member of the body and yet is it selfe vtterly voyd of all Sense But here againe some there are which attribute this effect to the motion others to the light of these glorious bodies And true indeed it is that motion causes heat by the attenuation rarefaction of the ayre But by this reason should the Moone which is neerer the Earth warme more then the Sunne which is many thousand miles farther distant the higher Regions of the Aire should be alway hotter then the lower which notwithstanding if wee compare the second with with the lowest is vndoubtedly false Moreouer the motion of the coelestiall bodies being vniforme so should the heat deriued from them in reason likewise be the motion ceasing the heat should likewise cease yet I shall neuer beleeue that when the Sun stood still at the prayer of Iosua it then ceased to warme these inferiour Bodies And we find by experience that the Sun works more powerfully vpon a body which stands still then when it moues the reason seemes to be the same in the rest or motion of a body warming or warmed that receiueth or imparteth heat The motion being thus excluded from being the cause of this effect the light must of necessitie step in and challenge it to it selfe the light then it is which is vndoubtedly the cause of coelestiall heate in part by a direct beame but more vehemently by a reflexed for which very reason it is that the middle Region of the aire is alwaies colder then the lowest and the lowest hotter in Summer then in Winter and at noone then in the morning and evening the beames being then more perpendicular and consequently in their reflexion more narrowly vnited by which reflexion and vnion they grow sometimes to that fervencie of heate that fire springs out from them as wee see in burning glasses and by this artificiall device it was that Archimedes as Galen reports it in his third booke de Temperamentis set on fire the Enemies Gallyes and Proclus a famous Mathematician practised the like at Constantinople as witnesseth Zonaras in the life of Anastasius the Emperour And very reasonable me thinkes it is that light the most Divine affection of the Coelelestiall Bodies should be the cause of warmth the most noble actiue and excellent quality of the Subcoelestiall These two like Hippocrates twinnes simul oriuntur moriuntur they are borne and dye together they increase and decrease both together the greater the light is the greater the heate and therefore the Sun as much exceedes the other starres in heate as it doth in light To driue the argument home then to our present purpose since the light of the Sun is no way diminished and the heate depends vpon the light the consequence to me seemes marvailous faire and strong which is that neither the heate arising from the light should haue suffered any decay or diminution at all SECT 3. Two obiections answered the one drawne from the present habitablenes of the Torrid Zone the other from a supposed approach of the Sun neerer the earth then in former ages NOtwithstanding the evidence of which trueth some haue not doubted to attribute the present habitablenesse of the Torride Zone to the weaknesse and old age of the Heauens in regard of former ages But they might haue remembred that the Cold Zones should thereby haue become more inhabitable by cold as also that holding as they doe an vniversall decay in all the parts of Nature men according to their opinion decaying in strength as well as the Heauens they should now in reason be as ill able to indure the present heate as the men of former ages were to indure that of the same times wherein they liued the proportion being alike betweene the weaknes as between the strength of the one and the other But this I onely touch in passing hauing a fitter occasion to consider more fully of it hereafter when we come to compare the wits and inventions of the Ancients with those of the present times That which touches
Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth whereby the ordinances of heaven it may well bee thought is meant the course and order of these hidden qualities which without divine and supernaturall revelation can neuer perfectly bee knowne to any mortall creature Besides as a wise man of late memory hath well and truly observed it cannot bee doubted but the starres are instruments of farre greater vse then to giue an obscure light and for men to gaze on after sunne set it being manifest that the diuersity of seasons the Winters Summers more hot or cold more dry or wet are not so vncertained by the Sunne and Moone alone who alway keepe one the same course but that the stars haue also their working therein as also in producing severall kindes of mettalls and mineralls in the bowels of the earth where neither light nor heat can pierce For as heat peirces where light cannot so the influence pierces where the heat cannot Moreouer if wee cannot deny but that God hath given vertues to springs and fountaines to cold earth to plants and stones and mineralls nay to the very excrementall parts of the basest liuing creatures why should wee robbe the beautifull starres of their working powers For seeing they are many in number and of eminent beauty and magnitude wee may not thinke that in the treasury of his wisedome who is infinite there can be wanting euen for euery starre a peculiar vertue and operation As euery hearbe plant fruite and flower adorning the face of the earth hath the like As then these were not created to beautifie the earth alone or to couer and shadow her dusty face but otherwise for the vse of man and beast to feede them and cure them so were not those incomparablely glorious bodies set in the sirmament to none other end then to adorne it but for instruments and organs of his divine prouidence so farre as it hath pleased his just will to determine I 'le ne'r beleeue that the Arch-Architect With all these fires the Heav'nly Arches deckt Onely for shew and with these glistring shields T' amaze poore sheepheards watching in the fields I 'le ne'r beleeue that the least flower that pranks Our garden borders or the common banks And the least stone that in her warming lap Our kind nurse Earth doth covetously wrap Hath some peculiar vertue of it owne And that the glorious Starres of Heau'n haue none But shine in vaine and haue no charge precise But to be walking in Heau'ns Galleries And through that Palace vp and downe to clamber As golden Guls about a Princes Chamber But how farre it hath pleased the Divine Providence to determine of these influences it is hard I confesse to be determined by any humane wisedome SECT 3. That the particular and vttermost efficacie of these influences cannot be fully comprehended by vs. IF in the true and vttermost vertues of hearbs and plants which ourselues sow and set and which grow vnder our feet and wee dayly apply to our severall vses we are notwithstanding in effect ignorant much more in the powers and working of coelestiall bodies For as was sayd before hardly do wee guesse aright at things that are vpon the earth and with labour do wee find the things that are before vs but the things which are in heauen who hath searched out It cannot well be denyed but that they are not signes only but at leastwise concurrent causes of immoderate cold or heat drought or moysture lightning thunder raging winds inundations earthquakes and consequently of famine and pestilence yet such crosse accidents may and often do fall out in the matter vpon which they worke that the prognostication of these casuall events euen by the most skilfull Astronomers is very vncertaine And for the common Almanackes a man by observation shall easily find that the contrary to their prediction is commonly truest Now for the things which rest in the liberty of mans will the Starres haue doubtlesse no power over them except it be lead by the sensitiue appetite and that againe stirred vp by the constitution and complexion of the body as too often it is specially where the humours of the body are strong to assault and the vertues of the minde weake to resist If they haue dominion over Beastes what should we judge of Men who differ litle from Beasts I cannot tell but sure I am that though the Starres incline a man to this or that course of life they do but incline inforce they cannot Education and reason and most of all Religion may alter and over-master that inclination as they shall produce a cleane contrary effect It was to this purpose a good and memorable speech of Cardinall Poole who being certified by one of his acquaintance who professed knowledge of these secret favours of the starres that he should be raysed and advanced to great calling in the world made answer that whatsoever was portended by the figure of his birth â—…or naturall generation was cancelled and altered by the grace of his second birth or regeneration in the bloud of his Redemer Againe we may not forget that Almighty God created the starres as he did the rest of the Vniversall whose secret influences may be called his reserved and vnwritten Lawes which by his Prerogatiue Royall he may either put in execution or dispence with at his owne pleasure For were the strength of the Sarres such as God had quitted vnto them all dominion over his Creatures that petition of the Lords Prayer Lead vs not into temptation but deliver vs from evill had been none other but a vaine expence of words and time Nay be he Pagane or Christian that so beleeueth the only true God of the one and the imaginary Gods of the other would thereby be dispoyled of all worship and reuerence and respect As therefore I do not consent with them who would make those glorious Creatures of God vertulesse so I think that we derogate from his eternall and absolute power and providence to ascribe to them the same dominion over our immortall soules which they haue over our bodily substances and perishable natures For the soules of men louing and fearing God receiue influence from that divine light it selfe whereof the Suns clarity and that of the Sarres is by Plato called but a shadow Lumen est vmbra Dei Deus est lumen luminis Light is the shadow of Gods brightnesse who is the light of light SECT 4 That neither of these kindes of influences is decayed in ther benigne and favorable effects but that curious inquisition into them is to be forborne NOw then since the Immoveable Heaven by the confession of all that acknowledg it is altogether inalterable since the aspect of the fixed constellations the conjunction and opposition of the Plannets in the course of their revolutions is still the same and constant to it selfe since for their number their quantity their distance their substance thâ—…is motion their
most true that in the yeare of our Lord 1532 in the Northerne parts of our own land not farre from Tinmouth hauen was a mighty Whale cast on land found by good measure to be 90 foot in length arising to 30 English yards the very bredth of his mouth was sixe yards and an halfe and the belly so vast in compasse that one standing on the fish of purpose to cut off a ribbe from him and slipping into his belly was very likely there to haue beene drowned with the moisture then remaining had hee not beene suddenly rescued From whence we may gather that Iobs admirable description of this fish vnder the name of Leviathan is still true that in vastnes since Augustus his time he is nothing decreased And yet I well beleeue that those on the Indian Seas may much exceed ours which might perchance giue occasion to those large relations of Pliny Iuba Herevnto may be added the observation of Macrobius touching the growth of the Mullet Plinius Secundus saith he temporibus suis negat facile mullum repertum qui duas pondo libras excederet at nunc majoris passim videmus praesentia hac insana nescimus Plinius Secundus denies that in his time a Mullet was easily to be found which exceeded two pound weight but now adayes we euery-where see them of greater weight and yet are not acquainted with those vnreasonable prises which they then payde for them I will close vp this chapter with a relation of Gesners in his Epistle to the Emperour Ferdinand prefixed before his bookes De Piscibus touching the long life of a Pike which was cast into a pond or poole neere Hailebrune in Swevia with this inscription ingraven vpon a collar of brasse fastned about his necke Ego sum ille piscis huic stagno omnium primus impositus per mundi Rectoris Frederici Secundi manus 5 Octobris anno 1230. I am that fish which was first of all cast into this poole by the hand of Frederick the second governour of the World 5 of Octob. in the yeare 1230. He was again taken vp in the yeare 1497 by the inscription it appeared hee had then liued there 267 yeares so as it seemes that as fishes are not diminished in regard of their store or growth so neither in respect of their age and duration But I leaue floting on the Waters and betake mee to the more stable Element the Earth CAP. 9. Touching the pretended decay of the Earth together with the Plants and beasts and minerals SECT 1. The divine meditations of Seneca and Pliny vpon the globe of the Earth An objection out of Aelian touching the decrease of mountaines answered That all things which spring from the earth returne thither againe consequently it cannot decay in regard of the fruitfulnesse in the whole Other objections of lesse consequence answered BOth Seneca and Pliny haue most divine meditations vpon this consideration that the Globe of the Earth in regard of the higher Elements and the Heauens wheeling about it is by the Mathematicians compared to a prick or point These so many peeces of Earth saith Pliny or rather as most haue written this little prick of the World for surely the Earth is nothing else in comparison of the whole is the only matter of our glory this I say is the very seat thereof here we seeke for honours and dignities heere we exercise our rule and authority here wee covet wealth and riches here all mankind is set vpon stirs and troubles here we raise civill warres still one after another and with mutuall massacres murthers we make more roome therein And to let passe the publique furie of Nations abroad this is it wherein wee chace and driue out our neighbour Borderers and by stealth dig turfth from our Neighbours soyle to put into our owne And when a man hath extended his lands and gotten whole countreyes to himselfe farre and neere what a goodly deale of earth enjoyeth he and say that he set out his bounds to the full measure of his covetous desire what a great portion thereof shall he hold when he is once dead and his head layed Thus Pliny with whom Seneca sweetly accords Hoc est punctum quod inter tot gentes ferro igne dividitur ôquam ridiculi sunt mortalium termini Punctum certè est illud in quo navigamus in quo bellamus in quo regna disponimus It is but a point which so many Nations share with fire and sword Oh how ridiculous are the bounds of mortall men It is verily but a point inwhich we saile in which we wage warres in which we dispose of Kingdomes But from these sublime speculations wee are to descend to the examination of the Earths supposed decay Aelian in the eight booke of his history telleth vs that not onely the mountaine Aetna for thereof might be given some reason because of the daily wasting and consuming of it by fire but Parnassus Olympus did appeare to be lesse and lesse to such as sayled at sea the height thereof sinking as it seemed and therevpon infers that men most skilfull in the secrets of Nature did affirme that the world it selfe should likewise perish and haue an end His conclusion I cannot but approue and most willingly accept of as a rich testimonie for the confirmation of our Christian doctrine from the penne of a Gentile But that he inferres it from so weake groundes I cannot but wonder at the stupidity of so wise a man For to graunt that those mountaines decrease in their magnitude yet shall I never yeeld a vniuersall decrease in the whole globe of the Earth since the proportions aswell of the Diameter as Circumference thereof are by Geometricall demonstrations found to be the same which they were in former ages or at least-wise not to decrease And for the difference which is observed betwixt the Calculation of Ancient Moderne writers it is certainely to be referred to the difference of miles or of instruments or the vnskilfullnesse of the Authours not to the different dimensions of the Earth which I thinke no Geometrician euer somuch as dreamed of Notwithstanding which truth I must doe readily subscribe to that of Iob Surely the mountaine falling commeth to nought and the rocke is remoued out of his place but let vs take Iobs reason with vs which he immediately adds The waters weare the stones thow washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth This diminution then of the Mountaines as Blaucanus obserues is caused partly by Raine-water and partly by Riuers which by continuall fretting by little and little wash away eate out both the tops and sides and feete of mountaines whence the parts thus fretted through by continuall falling downe weare out the mountaines and fill vp the lower places of the valleyes making the one to increase as the other to decrease whence it comes to passe
the temper thereof Sect. 1 Of excessiue drouth and cold in former ages and that in forraine Countryes pag. 110. Sect. 2 Of excessiue cold raine in former ages heere aâ—…tome and of the common complaint of vnseasonable weather in all ages together with the reason thereof p. 112. Sect. 3 Of contagious diseases and specially the plague both here at home 〈◊〉 abroad in former ages p. 113. Sect. 4 Of Earth-quakes in former ages and their terrible effects elegantly described by Seneca p. 116. Sect. 5 Of dreadfull burnings in the bowels of Aetna Vesuvius and the rising of a new Iland out of the Sea with hideous roring neere Putzol in Italy p. 117. Sect. 6. Of the nature of Comets and the vncertainety of predictions from them as also that the number of those which haue appeared of late yeares is lesse then hath vsually beene observed in former ages and of other fiery and watery meteors p. 119. Sect. 7 Of strange and impetuous windes and lightnings in former ages aboue those of the present p. 121. CAP. 8. Touching the pretended decay of the waters the fish the inhabiters thereof Sect. 1 That the Sea Rivers and Bathes are the same at this present as they were for many ages past or what they lose in one place and time they recover in another by the testimony of Strabo Ovid and Pontanus p. 123. Sect. 2 That fishes are not decayed in regard of their store dimensions or duration p. 125. CAP. 9. Touching the pretended decay of the earth together with the plants beasts minerals Sect. 1 The divine meditation of Seneca and Pliny vpon the globe of the earth An objection out of Aelian touching the decrease of mountaines answered That all â—…hings which spring from the earth returne thither againe and consequently it cannot decay in regard of the fruitfulnes in the whole Other objections of lesse consequence answered p. 128. Sect. 2 Another obiection touching the decay of the fruitfulnes of the holy Land fully answered p. 131 Sect 3 The testimonies of Columella Pliny produced that the earth in it selfe is as fruitfull as in former ages if it be well made and manured together with the reason why so good and so great store of wine is not now made in this kingdome as formerly hath bin p. 133. Sect. 4 An argument drawne from the present state of husband-men and another from the many and miserable dearths in former ages together with an objection taken from the inhauncing of the prizes of victuals in latter times answered p. 136. Sect. 5 That there is no decrease in the fruitfulnesse the quantities or vertues of plants and simpâ—… nor in the store and goodnesse of mettals mineralls as neither in the bignesse or life of beasts together with an objection touching the Elephant mentioned in the first of Macchabes answered p. 139. Sect. 6 Aâ—…ection taken from the Eclypses of the planets answered p. 142. LIB 3. Of the pretended decay of mankind in regard of age duration of strength and stature of arts and wits CAP. 1. Touching the pretended decay of Men in regard of their age and first by way of comparison betweene the ages of the Ancients and those of latter times Sect. 1 Of the short life of man in regard of the duration of many other Creatures and that he was created mortall but had he not fallen should haue beene preserved to immortalitie pag. 144. Sect. 2 Of the long liues of the Patriarches and of the manner of computing their yeares and that Almighty God drew out the lines of their liues to that length for reasons proper to those first times p. 145. Sect. 3 That since Moses his time the length of mans age is nothing abated as appeares by the testimony of Moses himselfe and other graue Authours compared with the experience of these times p. 147. Sect. 4 The same confirmed by the testimony of other ancient and learned writers p. 149. Sect. 5 That in all times and nations some haue beene found who haue exceeded that number of yeares which the wisest of the ancients accounted the vtmost period of mans life and that often those of latter ages haue exceeded the former in number of yeares as is made to appeare aswell from sacred as prophane story p. 150. Sect. 6 The same assertion farther proved inlarged by many instances both at home abroad specially in the Indyes p. 153. Sect. 7 That if our liues be shortned in regard of our Ancestours we should rather lay the burden of the fault vpon our selues our owne intemperance then vpon a decay in nature p. 156. CAP. 2. Farther Reasons alleadged that the age of man for these last thousand or two thousand of yeares is little or nothing abated Sect. 1 The first reason taken from the severall stops pawses of nature in the course of mans life as the time of birth after our conception our infancie childhood youth mans estate old age being assigned to the same compasse of yeares as they were by the Ancients which could not possiblely be were there an vniversall decay in mankinde in regard of age and the like reason there is in making the same Clymactericall yeares the same danger in them p. 159. Sect. 2 The second is drawne from the age of Matrim ony and generation which among the Ancients was as forward as ours now is if not more timely p. 163. Sect. 3 The third is borrowed from the age which the Ancients assigned for charge and imployment in publique affaires Ecclesiasticall Civill Militarie they were therevnto both sooner admitted therefrom sooner discharged then men now a dayes vsually are which should in reason argue that they likewise vsually finished the course of their life sooner p. 167. CAP. 3. Contayning a comparison betwixt the Gyants mentioned in Scripture both among themselues and with those of latter ages Sect. 1 Of the admirable composition of mans bodie that it cannot bee sufficiently proved that Adam as he was the first so he was likewise the tallest of men which in reason should be were there in truth any such perpetuall decrease in mans stature as is pretended p. 171. Sect. 2 What those Gyants were which are mentioned in the sixth of Genesis and that succeeding ages vntill Davids time afforded the like p. 173. Sect. 3 That latter times haue also afforded the like both at home abroad specially in the Indies where they liue more according to nature p. 175. CAP. 4. More pressing Reasons to proue that for these last two or three thousand yeares the stature of the AncieÌ„ts was little or nothing different from that of the present times Sect. 1 The first reason taken from the measures of the Ancients which were proportioned to the parts of mans body in the view of them wee are first to know that they were standards that is for publique contracts certaine constant consequently if the graines of our barley corne the first
the Lord that I will heare the heavens and they shall heare the earth and the earth shall heare the corne and the wine and the oile and they shall heare Israell From that we may descend to the foure Elements which as a musicall instrument of foure strings is both tuned and touched by the hand of heaven And in the next place those bodies which are mixed and tempered of these Elements offer themselues to our consideration whether they bee without life as stones and mettalls or haue the life of vegetation only as Plants or both of vegetation and sense as beasts and birds and fishes and in the last place man presents himselfe vpon this Theater as being created last though first intended the master of the whole family chiefe Commaunder in this great house nay the master-peece the abridgment the mappe and modell of the Vniuerse And in him wee will examine this pretended decay first in regard of age and length of yeares secondly in regard of strength and stature thirdly in regard of wits and Arts and fourthly and lastly in regard of manners and conditions to which all that is in man is or should bee finally referred as all that is in the world is vnder God finally referred to man And because it is not sufficient to possesse our owne fort without the dismantling and demolishing of our enimies a principall care shall bee had throughout the whole worke to answere if not all at least the principall of those obiections which I haue found to weigh most with the adverse part And in the last place least I should any way bee suspected to shake or vndermine the ground of our Christian religion or to weaken the article of our beliefe touching the consummation of the world by teaching that it decayes not to wipe off that aspertion I will endeavour to prooue the certainety thereof not so much by Scripture which no Christian can be ignorant of as by force of Reason and the testimony of Heathen writers and finally I will conclude with an exhortation grounded therevpon for the stirring of men vp to a preparation of themselues against that day which shall not only end the world but iudge their actions and dispose of the everlasting estate of their persons CAP. 4. Touching the worlds decay in generall SECT 1. The three first generall reasons that it decayes not THe same Almighty hand which created the worlds massie frame and gaue it a being out of nothing doth still support and maintaine it in that being which at first it gaue and should it with draw himselfe but for a moment the whole frame would instantly returne into that nothing which before the Creation it was as Gregorie hath righly observed Deus suo presentiali esse dat omnibus rebus esse ita quod si se rebus subtraheret sicut de nihilo facta sunt omnia sic in nihilum diffluerent vniversa God by his presentiall Essence giues vnto all things an Essence so that if hee should withdraw himselfe from them as out of nothing they were first made so into nothing they would be againe resolved In the preservation then of the Creature wee are not so much to consider the impotencie and weakenesse thereof as the goodnesse wisedome and power of the Creator in whom and by whom and for whom they liue and moue and haue their being The spirit of the Lord filleth the world saith the Authour of the wisedome of Solomon and the secret working of the spirit which thus pierceth through all things hath the Poet excellently exprest Principio caelum ac terr as camposque liquentes Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem magno se corpore miscet The heauen the earth and all the liquide maine The Moones bright globe and starres Titanian A spirit within maintaines and their whole masse A minde which through each part infus'd doth passe Fashions and workes and wholly doth transpierce All this great Body of the Vniverse This Spirit the Platonists call the Soule of the World by it it is in some sort quickned and formaliz'd as the body of man is by its reasonable Soule There is no question then but this Soule of the World if wee may so speake being in truth none other then the immortall Spirit of the Creator is able to make the body of the World immortall and to preserue it from disolution as he doth the Angels and the spirits of men and were it not that he had determined to dissolue it by the same supernaturall and extraordinary power which at first gaue it existence I see not but by the ordinary concurrence of this spirit it might euerlastingly endure and that consequently to driue it home to our present purpose there is no such vniversall and perpetuall decay in the course of Nature as is imagined and this I take to be the meaning of Philo in that booke which he hath composed De Mundi incorruptibilitate of the Worlds incorruptibility there being some who haue made the World eternall without any beginning or ending as Aristotle and the Peripateticks others giue it a beginning but without ending as Plato and the Academicks whom Philo seemes to follow and lastly others both beginning ending as Christians and other Sects of Philosophers whom Aristotle therefore flouts at saying that he formerly feared his house might fall downe about his eares but that now he had a greater matter to feare which was the dissolution of the world But had this pretended vniversall perpetuall decay of the World beene so apparant as some would make it his flout had easily beene returned vpon himselfe his opinion by dayly sensible experience as easily confuted which wee may well wonder none of those Philosophers who disputed against him if they acknowledged and beleeued the trueth thereof should any where presse in defence of their owne opinions it being indeed the most vnanswerable and binding argument that possibly could be enforced against him were there that evident certaintie in it as is commonly imagined whereas he in the sharpnesse of his wit seeing the weakenesse thereof would not so much as vouchsafe it a serious answere but puts it off with a jeast For mine owne part I constantly beleeue that it had a beginning and shall haue an ending and hold him not worthy the name of a Christian who holds not as much yet so as I beleeue both to bee matter of faith through faith we vnderstand that the Worlds were framed by the word of God and through the same faith we likewise vnderstand that they shall be againe vnframed by the same word Reason may grope at this truth in the darke howbeit it can neuer cleerely apprehend it but inlightned by the beame of faith I deny not but probable though not demonstratiue and convincing arguments may be drawn from discourse of reason to proue either the one or the other
of Pliny out of him that oysters and mussels and cockles and lobsters crabbs and generally all shell-fish grow fuller in the waxing of the Moon but emptier in the waning thereof Such a strong predominancie it hath euen vpon the braine of Man that Lunatikes borrow their very name from it as also doth the stone Selenites whose property as S. Augustine and Georgius Agricola record it is to increase and decrease in light with the Moone carrying alwayes the resemblance thereof in it selfe Neither can it reasonably be imagined that the other Planets and starrs and parts of Heauen are without their forcible operations vpon these lower Bodies specially considering that the very plants and hearbes of the Earth which we tread vpon haue their seueral vertues as well single by themselues as in composition with other ingredients The Physitian in opening a veine hath euer an eye to the signe then raigning The Canicular star specially in those hotter Climates was by the Ancients alwayes held a dangerous enemy to the practise of Physick and all kind of Evacuations Nay Galen himselfe the Oracle of that profession adviseth practitioners in that Art in all their Cures to haue a speciall regard to the reigning Constellations Coniunctions of the Planets But the most admirable mystery of Nature in my mind is the turning of yron touched with the loadstone toward the North-pole of which I shall haue farther occasion to intreate more largely in the Chapter touching the Comparison of the wits inventions of these times with those of former ages Neither were it hard to add much more to that which hath beene said to shew the dependance of these Elementary Bodies vpon the heauenly Almighty God hauing ordained that the higher should serue as intermediate Agents or secondary Causes betweene himselfe and the lower And as they are linked together in a chaine of order so are they likewise chained together in the order of Causes but so as in the wheeles of a Clocke though the failing in the superior cannot but cause a failing in the inferiour yet the failing of the inferiour may well argue though it cannot cause a failing in the superiour We haue great reason then as I conceiue to begin with the Examination of the state of Coelestiall bodies in as much as vpon it the conditionof the subcoelestiall wholly de-pends Wherein fiue things offer themselues to our consideration Their substance their motion their light their warmth and their influence SECT 2. Touching the pretended decay in the substance of the Heavens TO finde out whether the substance of the heavenly bodies bee decayed or no it will not be amisse a little to inquire into the nature of the matter and forme of which that substance consists that so it may appeare whether or no in a naturall course they be capable of such a supposed decay That the Heavens are endued with some kinde of matter though some Philosophers in their jangling humour haue made a doubt of it yet I thinke no sober and wise Christian will deny it But whether the matter of it bee the same with that of these inferiour bodies adhuc sub Iudice lis est it hath beene and still is a great question among Diuines The ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Primitiue Church for the most part following Plato hold that it agrees with the matter of the Elementary bodies yet so as it is compounded of the finest flower and choisest delicacy of the Elements But the Schoolemen on the other side following Aristotle adhere to his Quintessence and by no meanes will bee beaten from it since say they if the Elements and the heauens should agree in the same matter it should consequently follow that there should bee a mutuall traffique and commerce a reciprocall action and passion betweene them which would soone draw on a change and by degrees a ruine vpon those glorious bodies Now though this point will neuer I thinke bee fully and finally determined till wee come to be Inhabitants of that place whereof wee dispute for hardly doe wee guesse aright at things that are vpon earth and with labour doe wee find the things that are at hand but the things which are in heaven who hath searched out Yet for the present I should state it thus that they agree in the same originall mater and surely Moses mee thinkes seemes to favour this opinion making but one matter as farre as I can gather from the text out of which all bodily substances were created Vnus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe So as the heavens though they bee not compounded of the Elements yet are they made of the same matter that the Elements are compounded of They are not subject to the qualities of heat or cold or drought or moisture nor yet to weight or lightnes which arise from those qualities but haue a forme giuen them which differeth from the formes of all corruptible bodies so as it suffereth not nor can it suffer from any of them being so excellent and perfect in it selfe as it wholy satiateth the appetite of the matter it informeth The Coelestiall bodies then meeting with so noble a forme to actuate them are not nor cannot in the course of nature bee lyable to any generation or corruption in regard of their substance to any augmentation or diminution in regard of their quantity no nor to any destructiue alteration in respect of their qualities I am not ignorant that the controversies touching this forme what it should bee is no lesse then that touching the matter Some holding it to bee a liuing and quickning spirit nay a sensitiue and reasonable soule which opinion is stiffely maintained by many great learned Clarks both Iewes and Gentiles Christians supposing it vnreasonable that the heavens which impart life to other bodies should themselues bee destitute of life But this errour is notablely discovered and confuted by Claudius Espencaeus a famous Doctor of the Sorbone in a Treatise which hee purposely composed on this point In as much as what is denied those bodies in life in sense in reason is abundantly supplied in their constant vnchangeable duration arising from that inviolable knot indissoluble marriage betwixt the matter the forme which can never suffer any divorce but from that hand which first joyned them And howbeit it cannot be denied that not only the reasonable soule of man but the sensitiue of the least gnat that flies in the aire and the Vegetatiue of the basest plant that springs out of the earth are in that they are indued with life more divine and neerer approaching to the fountaine of life then the formes of the heavenly bodies yet as the Apostle speaking of Faith Hope and Charity concludes Charity to bee the greatest though by faith wee apprehend and apply the merits of Christ because it is more vniversall in operation and lasting in duration so though the formes of the Creatures endued
with life doe in that regard come a step neerer to the Deity then the formes of the heavenly bodies which are without life yet if wee regard their purity their beauty their efficacy their indeficiencie in moving their Vniversallity and independencie in working there is no question but the heavens may in that respect bee preferred euen before man himselfe for whose sake they were made Man being indeed immortall in regard of his soule but the heavens in regard of their bodies as being made of an incorruptible stuffe Which cannot well stand with their opinion who held them to bee composed of fire or that the waters which in the first of Genesis are said to bee aboue the firmament and in the hundred fortie eight Psalme aboue the heavens are aboue the heavens wee now treate of for the tempering and qualifying of their heat as did S. Ambrose and S. Augustine and many others venerable for their antiquity learning and piety Touching the former of which opinions wee shall haue fitter oportunity to discusse it at large when we come to treate of the warmth caused by the heavens But touching the second it seemes to haue beene grounded vpon a mistake of the word Firmament which by the Ancients was commonly appropriated to the eight sphere in which are seated the fixed starres whereas the originall Hebrew which properly signifies Extention or Expansion is in the first of Genesis not onely applied to the spheres in which the Sunne and Moone are planted but to the lowest region of the aire in which the birds flie and so doe I with Pareus Pererius take it to bee vnderstood in this controversie This region of the aire being as S. Augustine somewhere speakes Terminus intransgressibilis a firme and immoveable wall of separation betwixt the waters that are bred in the bowels of the earth and those of the Cloudes and for the word heaven which is vsed in the hundred forty and eight Psalme it is likewise applyed to the middle region of the aire by the Prophet Ieremy which may serue for a Glosse vpon that text alleaged out of the Psalme When hee vttereth his voice there is a noise of waters in the heavens and hee causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth Now the Schoolemen finding that the placing of waters aboue the starry heavens was both vnnaturall and vnvsefull and yet being not well acquainted with the propriety of the Hebrew word to salue the matter tell vs of a Christalline or glassie heaven aboue the eight sphere which say they is vndoubtedly the waters aboue the firmament mentioned by Moses which exposition of theirs though it doe not inferre a decay in the heavenly bodies yet doth it crosse the course of Moses his historicall narration his purpose being as it seemes only to write the history of things which were visible and sensible as appeares in part by his omitting the Creation of Angells whereas the Christalline heaven they speake of is not only invisible and insensible but was not at all discouered to be till the dayes of Hipparchus or Ptolomy Since then the heavens in regard of their substance are altogether free for any thing yet appeares from any mixture or tincture of the Elements being made of an incorruptible and inalterable quintessence which neither hath any conflict in it selfe nor with any other thing without it from thence may wee safely collect that it neither is nor can be subiect to any such decay as is imagined SECT 3. An objection drawne from Iob answered HOwbeit the deserved curse of God deprived the earth of her fertility in bringing forth without the sweat of Adam and his ofspring yet I finde not that it stretched to the Starres or that any thing aboue the Moone was altered or changed in respect of Adams fault from their first perfection True indeed it is which Eliphaz teacheth that the heavens Bildad that the starres are not cleane in Gods sight it may bee because of the fall of Angels the inhabitants of heaven whom therefore he charged with folly Which exposition Iunius so farre favours as insteed of Coelum hee puts Coelites into the very body of the text But in my judgement it would better haue sorted with the Margin in as much as by Coelites wee may vnderstand either Saints or Angells both Citizens of heaven either in actuall possession or in certaine hope and expectation in possession as Angels and Saints departed in expectation as the Saints heere in warfaire on the earth And of these doth Gregory in his Moralls on Iob expound the place hoc coelorum nomine repetijt quod Sanctorum prius appellatione signavit saith hee Iob repeates that by the name of heaven which before hee expressed vnder the name of Saints And thus both hee and S. Augustine expound that of the nineteene Psalme The heavens declare the glory of God And with them most of the Ancients that petition of the Lords Prayer Thy will bee done on earth as it is in heaven But what neede wee flie to allegories figuratiue senses when the letter of the text will well enough stand with the analogie of faith the texts of other Scriptures and the rule of sound reason The very materiall heavens then may not vntruly or vnproperly bee said to bee vncleane in Gods sight First Quia habent aliquid potentialitatis admixtum as Lyra speakes they haue some kinde of potentiality I know not how otherwise to render his word mixed with them hee meanes in regard of their motion and the illumination of the moone and starres from the Sunne But chiefely as I take it they are said to be vncleane not considered in themselues but in comparison of the Creator who is Actus purissimus simplicissimus all Act and that most pure not only from staine and pollution but all kinde of impotency imperfection or Composition whatsoever And in this sense the very blessed glorious Angels themselues which are of a substance farre purer then the Sunne it selfe may bee said to be vncleane in his sight in which regard the very Seraphins are said to couer their faces and feete with their winges But to grant that the heavens are become vncleane either by the fall of man or Angells yet doth it not follow as I conceiue that this vncleannes doth daily increase vpon them or which is in trueth the point in controversie that they feele any impairing by reason of this vncleannes it being rather imputatiue as I may earne it then reall and inherent Nonne vides coelum hoc saith Chrysostome vt pulchrum vt ingens vt astrorum choreis varium quantum temporis viguit quinque aut plus annorum millia processerunt haec annorum multitudo ei non adduxit senium Sed vt corpus novum ac vegetum floridae virentisque juventae viget aetate Sic coelum quam habuit à principio pulchritâ—…dinem semper eadem permansit nec quicquam
waues to shoreward roll And againe Omnia ventorum concurrere praelia vidi I saw the windes all combating together Such a winde it seemes was that which smote at once all the foure corners of the house of Iobs eldest sonne Let any who is desirous to inquire into and compare things of this nature but reade what is recorded in the Turkish history of two wonderfull great stormes the one by land in Sultania set downe in the entrance of Solymans life the other at Algiers not farre from the mi'dst of the same life at Charles the 5th his comming thither as also at his parting from thence and I presume hee will admire nothing in this kinde that hath falne out in these latter times Vidi ego saith Bellarmine quòd nisi vidissem non crederem à vehementissimo vento effossam ingentem terrae molem eamque delatam super pagum quendam vt fovea altissima conspiceretur vnde terra eruta fuerat pagus totus coopertus quasi sepultus manserit ad quem terra illa deuenerat I my selfe haue seene which if I had not seene I should not haue beleeued a very great quantity of earth digged out and taken vp by the force of a strong winde and carried vpon a village thereby so that there remained to be seene a great empty hollownes in the place from whence it was lifted and the village vpon which it lighted was in a manner all couered ouer buried in it This example I confessâ—… could not be long since since Bellarmine professes that himselfe saw it Yet it might well be some skores of yeares before our last great windes which notwithstanding by some for want of reading and experience are thought to bee vnmatchable And I know not whether that outragious winde which happened in London in the yeare 1096. during the reigne of William Rufus might not well bee thought to paralell at least this recorded by Bellarmine It bore downe in that City alone six hundred houses blew off the roofe of Bow Church which with the beames were borne into the aire a great heigth six whereof being 27 foote long with their fall were driuen 23 foote deepe into the ground the streetes of the citty lying then vnpaued And in the fourth yeare of the same King so vehement a lightning which as hath beene said is of the same matter with the winde pierced the steeple of the Abbay of Winscomb in Glostershire that it rent the beames of the roofe cast downe the Crucisixe brake off his right legge and withall ouerthrew the image of our Lady standing hard by leauing such a stench in the Church that neither incense holy-water nor the singing of the Monkes could allay it But it is now more then time I should descend a steppe lower from the aire to the water CAP. 8. Touching the pretended decay of the waters and the fish the inhabiters thereof SECT 1. That the sea and riuers and bathes are the same at this present as they were for many ages past or what they loose in one place or time they recouer in another THough the Psalmist tell vs that the Lord hath founded the earth vpon the Seas and established it vpon the flouds because for the more commodious liuing of man and beasts hee hath made a part of it higher then the seas or at least-wise restrained them from incursion vpon it so as now they make but one intire Globe yet because the waters in the first Creation couered the face of the earth I will first begin with them The mother of waters the great deepe hath vndoubtedly lost nothing of her ancient bounds or depth but what is impaired in one place is againe restored to her in another The riuers which the Earth sucked from her by secret veines it renders backe againe with full mouth the vapours which the Sunne drawes vp empty themselues againe into her bosome The purest humour in the Sea the Sun Exhales in th' Aire which there resolu'd anon Returnes to water descends againe By sundry wayes into his mother maine Her motions of ebbing flowing of high springs and dead Neapes are still as certaine constant as the changes of the Moone and course of the Sunne Her natiue saltnes by reason thereof her strength for the better supporting of navigable vessells is still the same And as the Sea the mother of waters so likewise the rivers the daughters thereof â—…ither hold on their wonted courses and currents or what they haue diminished in one age or place they haue againe recompenced and repayed in another as Srâ—…bo hath well expressed it both of the sea and rivers Quoniam omnia moventur transmutantur aliter talia ac tanta administrari non possent existimandum est nec terram ita semper permanere vt semper tanta sit nec quicquam sibi addatur aut adimatur sed nec aquam nec candem sedem semper ab istis obtineri presertim cum transmutatio ejus cognata sit ac naruralis quiniâ—…ò terrae multum in aquam convertitur aquae multum in terram transmutatur Quare minime mirandum est si eas terrae partes quae nunc habitantur olim mare occupabat quae pelagus sunt prius habitabantur Quemadmodum de fontibus alios deficere contingit alios relaxari item flumina lacus Because thnigs moue and are changed without which such and so great matters could not well be disposed we are to thinke that the earth doth not remaine alwayes in the same state without addition or diminution neither yet the water as if they were alwayes bounded within the same lists specially seeing their mutuall chang is naturall kindly but rather that much earth is turned into water coÌ„trarywise no lesse water in to earth it is not theÌ„ to be wondered at if that part of the earth which is now habitable was formerly overflowed with water and that againe which now is sea was sometimes habitable as among fountaines some are dried vp and some spring forth afresh which may also be verified of rivers and lakes wherewith accordes that of the Poet. Vidi ego quod fuerat quondam solidissima tellus Esse fretum vidi factas ex aequore terras Et procul à pelago Chonchae jacuere marinae Et vetus inventa est in montibus anchora summis Quodque fuit campus vallem decursus aquarum Fecit eluvie mons est deductus in aequor Eque paludosa siccis humus aret arenis Quaeque sitim tulerant stagnata paludibus hument Hic fontes natura nouos emisit et illic Clausit antiquis tam multa tremoribus orbis Flumina prosiliunt aut exsiccata residunt What was firme land sometimes that haue I seen Made sea and what was sea made land againe On mountaine tops old anchours found haue been And sea fish shells to lie farre from the maine Plaines turne to vales by
that some old houses heretofore fairely built be now almost buried vnder ground and their windowes heretofore set at a reasonable height now growen euen with the pauement So some write of the triumphall Arch of Septimius at the foote of the Capitol mountaine in Rome now almost couered with earth in somuch as they are inforced to descend downe into it by as many staires as formerly they were vsed to ascend whereas contrariwise the Romane Capitoll it selfe seated on the mountaine which hanges ouer it as witnesseth George Agricola discouers its foundation plainely aboue ground which without question were at the first laying thereof deepe rooted in the earth whereby it apppeares that what the mountaine looseth the valley gaines and consequently that in the whole globe of the earth nothing is lost but onely remoued from one place to another so that in processe of time the highest mountaines may be humbled into valleyes and againe the lowest valleyes exalted into mountaines If ought to nought did fall All that is felt or seene within this all Still loosing somewhat of it selfe at length Would come to nothing if death's fatall strength Could altogether substances destroy Things then should vanish euen as soone as die In time the mighty mountaines tops be bated But with their fall the neighbour vales are fatted And what when Trent or Avon overflow They reaue one field they on the next bestow And whereas another Poet tels vs that Eluviemons est diductus in aequor The mountaine by washings oft into the sea is brought It is most certaine and by experience found to be true that as the rivers daily carrie much earth with them into the sea so the sea sends backe againe much slime and sand to the earth which in some places and namely in the North part of Deuonshire is found to bee a marveilous great commoditie for the inriching of the soyle Now as the Earth is nothing diminished in regard of the dimensions the measure thereof from the Surface to the Center being the same as it was at the first Creation So neither is the fatnes fruitfulnes thereof at least-wise since the flood or in regard of duration alone any whit impaired though it haue yeelded such store of increase by the space of so many reuolutions of ages yet hee that made it continually reneweth the face thereof as the Psalmist speakes by turning all things which spring from it into it againe Saith one Cuncta suos ortus repetunt matremque requirunt And another E terris orta terra rursus accipit And a third joynes both together Quapropter merito maternum nomen adepta est Cedit enim retro de terra quod fuit ante In terras And altogether they may thus not vnfitly be rendred All things returne to their originall And seeke their mother what from earth doth spring The same againe into the earth doth fall Neither doe they heerein dissent from Syracides with all manner of liuing things hath hee couered the face of the earth and they shall returne into it againe And that doome which passed vpon the first man after the fall is as it were ingraven on the foreheads not onely of his posterity but of all earthly Creatures made for their sakes Dust thou art and vnto dust shalt thou returne As the Ocean is mainetained by the returne of the rivers which are drayned deriued from it So is the earth by the dissolution and reuersion of those bodies which from it receiue their growth and nourishment The grasse to feede the beasts the corne to strengthen and the wine to cheere the heart of man either are or might bee both in regard of the Earth Heauens as good and plentifull as euer That decree of the Almighty is like the Law of the Medes Persians irreuocable They shall bee for signes and for seasons and for dayes and for yeares And againe Heereafter seed time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease so long as the Earth remaineth And were there not a certainety in these reuolutions so that In se sua per vestigia voluitur annus The yeare in its owne steps into in selfe returnes It could not well be that the Storke and the Turtle the Crane and the Swallow and other fowles should obserue so precisely as they doe the appointed times of their comming and going And whereas it is commonly thought and beleeued that the times of the yeare are now more vnseasonable then heeretofore and thereby the fruites of the Earth neither so faire nor kindely as they haue beene To the first I answere that the same complaint hath beene euer since Salomons time Hee that observeth the winde shall not sow and he that regardeth the clowdes shall not reape By which it seemes the weather was euen then as vncertaine as now and so was likewise the vncertaine and vnkindely riping of fruites as may appeare by the words following in the same place In the morning sow thy seede and in the euening let not thy hand rest for thou knowest not whether shall prosper this or that or whether both shall bee alike good And if sometimes wee haue vnseasonable yeares by reason of excessiue wet and cold they are againe paid home by immoderate drought and heate if not with vs yet in our neighbour countries and with vs. I thinke no man will bee so vnwise or partiall as to affirme that there is a constant and perpetuall declination but that the vnseasonablenes of some yeares is recompensed by the seasonablenes of others It is true that the erroneous computation of the yeare wee now vse may cause some seeming alteration in the seasons thereof in processe of time must needes cause a greater if it bee not rectified but let that errour be reformed and I am perswaded that communibus annis we shall finde no difference from the seasons of former ages at leastwise in regard of the ordinary course of nature For of Gods extraordinary judgements we now dispute not who sometimes for our sinnes emptieth the botles of heaven incessantly vpon vs and againe at other times makes the heavens as brasse ouer our heads and the earth as yron vnder our feete SECT 2. Another obiectiòn to uching the decay of the fruitfulnes of the holy land fully answered WHen I consider the narrow bounds of the land of Canaan it being by S. Hieromes account who liued long there but 160 miles in length from Dan to Bersheba and in bredth but 40 from Ioppa to Bethleem and withall the multitude incredible were it not recorded in holy Scripture both of men cattell which it fedde there meeting in one battle betweene Iudah Israel twelue hundred thousand chosen men Nay the very sword-men beside the Levites and Benjamites were vpon strict inquirie found to be fifteene hundred and seuentie thousand whereof the youngest was twenty yeares old there being none
Provinces Wherevpon temples were erected vnto him and a Colledge of Priests both men and women and coynes were stamped with rayes or beames about his head whence the Poet Praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores To thee while thou dost liue Honours divine we giue Now the Ceremonies of the Apotheosis or deifying their Emperours as appeares in Herodian and others was briefely thus After the Princes death the body being sumptuously and honorablely interred they framed an image of waxe resembling in all respects the party deceased but palish and wanne as a sicke man and so being laid at the entry of the palace in an yvory bed covered with cloath of gold the Senate Ladies assisting in mourning attire the Physitians daily resorted to him to touch his pulse and consider in college of his disease doctorally at their departure resolving that hee grew in worse and worse tearmes and hardly would escape it At the end of seaven dayes during which time saith Xiphilinus there stood a page with a fanne of peacockes feathers to keepe off the flies from the face as if he had beene but asleepe they opened and found by their learning the crisis belike being badde that the patient was departed Wherevpon some of the Senate appointed for that purpose and principall gentle-men taking vp the bed vpon their shoulders carried it thorow Via sacra into the Forum where a company of young Gentle-men of greatest birth standing on the one side and maydes of the other sung hymnes sonnets the one to the other in commendation of the dead Prince entuned in a solemne and mournfull note with all kind of other musicke and melodie as indeed the whole ceremonie was a mixt action of mourning and mirth as appeareth by Seneca at the consecration of Claudius who thus floutes at it Et erat omnium formosissimum funus Claudij impensa curaplenum vt scires Deum efferri tibicinum Cornicinum omnisque generis aeneatorum tanta turba tantus Conventus vt etiam Claudius audire possit It was the goodliest shew and the fullest of sollicitous curiositie that you might know a God was to be buried so great was the rabble of trumpetters cornetters and other Musitians that even Claudius himselfe might haue heard them After this they carried the herse out of the citie into Campus Martius where a square tower was built of timber large at the bottome and of competent height to receiue wood faggots sufficiently outwardly bedeckt hung with cloath of gold imagerie worke and curious pictures Vpon that tower stood a second turret in figure and furniture like to the first but somewhat lesse with windowes and doores standing open wherein the herse was placed all kinde of spiceries and odours which the whole world could yeeld heaped therein And so a third and fourth turret and so forth growing lesse and lesse toward the toppe The whole building representing the forme of a lanthorne or watch-tower which giveth light in the night Thus all being placed in order the Gentle-men first rode about it marching in a certaine measure then followed others in open coaches with robes of honour and vpon their faces vizards of the good Princes and honourable personages of ancient times All these Ceremonies thus being performed the Prince which succeeded taketh a torch and first putteth to the fire himselfe and after him all the rest of the company and by and by as the fire was kindled out of the toppe toppe of the highest turret an Eagle was let fly to carry vp his soule into heaven and so he was afterward reputed and by the Romanes adored among the rest of the Gods Marry before the consecration it was vsuall that some Gentlemen at least should bestow an oath to proue their Deitie Nec defuit vir Praetorius quise efligiem cremati euntem in coelum vid◅sse iurasset sayth Suetonius of Augustus neither was there wanting one who had beene Praetor Dion names him Numerius Atticus to sweare that he saw his Effigies mounting into heaven The like was testified of Drusilla sister and wife to Caius by one Livius Geminius a Senatour of which Dio thus writes One Livius Geminius a Senatour swore that he saw Drusilla ascending vp into heaven and conversing with the Gods wishing to himselfe and his children vtter destruction if he spake an vntruth calling to witnesse both sundry other Gods and specially the Goddesse her selfe of whom he spake For which oath he received a million of Sesterces which makes 7812l l 10s s Sterling What a deale of fopperie and impiety was here mixed together Yet this lesson as Sir Henry Savill frō whom I haue borrowed the greatest part of this last narration conjectures they may seem to haue learned of Proculus Iulius who took an oath not much otherwise for Romulus deitie whō the Senate murdered and made a God from whence this race of the Roman Gods may seeme to haue taken beginning And I doubt not but many of the wiser sort of the Romanes themselues secretly laughed at this folly sure I am that Lucan durst openly scoffe at it Cladis tamen huius habemus Vindictam quantum terris dare numina fas est Bella pares Superis facient civilia divos Fulminibus manes radijsque ornabit astris Inque Deum templis jurabit Roma per vmbras Yet of this slaughter such revenge we haue As heavenly powers may give or earth can craue Gods like to those aboue these civill warres Shall make and Rome with lightning beames starres Shall them adorne and in the temples where The Gods doe dwell shall by their shadowes sweare It is true that in our time after the death of the late Charles in France his image was laid in a rich bed in triumphant attire with the Crowne vpon his head and the coller of the order about his necke forty dayes at ordinary houres dinner and supper was served in with all accustomed ceremonies as sewing water grace carving say taking c. all the Cardinalls Prelats Lords Gentlemen Officers attending in far greater solemnity then if he had been aliue Now this I confesse was a pe◅ce of flattery more then needed but not comparable to that of the Romans in making their Emperours Gods which they might well haue conceived was neither in the power of the one to giue nor of the other to receiue Yet was not this honour conferred vpon their Emperours alone Tully as wise as he would be held would needes haue his daughters deified and the same did Adrian by Antinous his minion which no doubt might as wel be justified as Caligula's making his horse a Priest or the same Adrians erecting monuments to his dead dogges SECT 3. Of their impudent nay impious vaine-glory and boasting of their owne nation and city YEt their inordinate preposterous Zeale in extolling every where their Empire and cittie beyond measure and modesty and truth seemes to haue exceeded this toward their Emperours
from hence I beleeue hath chiefely growen in the world so great an admiration of them in many things beyond all succeeding ages and their deserts But certaine it is that never any people vnder the Sunne more daringly chalenged to themselues the toppe of all perfection Nulla vnquam Respub nec maior nec sanctior nec bonis exemplis ditior fuit sayth Livie Never was there any common-wealth more ample or holy or rich in good examples Gentiuâ—… in toto orbe praestantissima vna in omni virtute haud dubie Romana exstitit saith Pliny The Romane Nation hath beene doubtlesse of all others in all kinde of vertue the most excellent Nulla Gens est quae non aut ita subacta sit vt vix exstet aut ita domita vt quiescat aut ita pacata vt victoria nostra imperioque laetatur sayth Tully There is no Nation which either is not so vtterly vanquished as it is extinguished or so mastered as it is quieted or so pacified that it rejoyceth in our victorie and Empire and Claudian Haec est exiguis quae finibus orta tetendit In geminos axes parvaque à sede profecta Dispersit cum sole manus Small were her confines when she first begun Now stretcheth to both poles small her first seat Yet now her hands shee spreadeth with the Sunne This seemed not enough vnto Caecilius against whom Arnobius writes for he sayth that the Romans did Imperiuâ—… suum vltra solis vias prapagare They inlarged their dominion beyond the course of the Sun And Ovid he commeth not a steppe behind them in this their exaggerated amplification For he sayth that if God should looke downe from heaven vpon the earth he could see nothing there without the power of the Romanes Iupiter arce sua totum cum spectet in orbem Nil nisi Romanum quod tueatur habet Yea and as Egesippus recordeth there were many that thought the Romane Empire so great and so largely diffused over the face of the whole earth that they called orbem terrarum orbem Romanum the globe of the earth the globe of the Romanes the whole world the Romane world Hyperbolicall speeches which though Lypsius put off with an animosèmagis quam superbè dicta as arguing rather magnanimitie then ostentation yet Dyonisius Halicarnassaeus somewhat more warily limits them thus Romana vrbs imperat toti terrae quae quidem inaccessa non sit the citty of Rome commaunds the whole earth where it is not inaccessible But Lypsius himselfe more truly quicquid oportunum aut dignum vinci videbatur vicit it overcame whatsoeuer it could well overcome or thought worthy the ouercomming And Macrobius though himselfe a Roman ingenuously acknowledgeth Gangem transnare aut Caucasum transcendere Romà ni nominis fama non valuit The fame of the Romans as great as it was yet was neuer so great as to be able to swimme ouer the Riuer Ganges or climbe ouer the mountaine Caucasus so that euen their fame came short of their swelling amplifications vsed by their Orators and Poets but their Dominion came much shorter as is expressely affirmed by the same Author Totius terrae quae ad coelum puncti locum obtinet minima quaedam particula à nostri generis hominibus possidetur Though the whole Earth compared with the Heauens bee no bigger then a Center in the midst of a Circle yet scarce the least parcell of this little earth did euer come into the hands of the Romans Yet how could a man well devise to say more then Propertius hath said of that City Omnia Romanae cedant miracula terrae Natura hic posuit quicquid vbique fuit All miracles to Rome must yeeld for heere Nature hath treasur'd all what 's euery-where Except Martial perchaunce out-vy him Terrarum Dea gentiumque Roma Cui par est nihil nihil secundum Of Lands and Nations Goddesse Rome and Queene To whom novght peere nought second yet hath beene Which Frontinus seemes to borrow from him but with some addition of his owne Romana vrbs indiges terrarumque Dea cui par est nihil nihil secundum Now saith Crinitus alleaging those words of Frontinus Eos dicimus ferè indigetes qui nullius rei egeant id enim est tantum Deorum wee vsually call those indigites which want nothing for that is proper to the Gods Hubertus Golzius in his treasure of Antiquity hath effigiated two peeces of coine the one with a Greeke Inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other with this in Latin ROMA DEA the meaning of both being that Rome was a Goddesse neither was this figuratiuely but properly vnderstood she hauing advanced her selfe into the number of the Gods as witnesseth Dion in Augustus nay erected Temples and addressed sacrifices to her selfe as testifie Victor and Onuphrius in their descriptions of Rome which Prudentius a Christian Poet both glances at and deservedly derides Colitur nam sanguine ipsa More Deae nomenque loci seâ—… numen hà betur Atque Vrbis Venerisque pari se culmine tollunt Templa simul geminis adolentur thure deabus Shee Goddesse-like is worshipped with blood A places name is hallowed for a god As high as Venus Cities Church doth rise And joint to both they incense sacrifice And Lucan as to a Goddesse directs his prayer solemnely vnto her summique ô numinis instar Roma saue câ—…ptis And thou as greatest power divine Favour O Rome this enterprise of mine Her Temple was situate vpon mount Palatine as appeares by that of Claudian bringing in the Provinces as suppliants to visite the Goddesse Conveniunt ad tecta Deae quae candida lucent Monte Palatino They meet at th'Goddesse Temple which doth shine So white and glorious on mount Palatine But this was in truth such a mad drunkennesse with pride and self-loue that Lypsius himselfe cannot hold from crying out O insaniam aedificijs inanimato corpori non vitam solùm attribuere sed numen O strange madnesse to ascribe vnto houses and stones and a dead body not life onely but a deity And being now a Goddesse shee might well take to her selfe that of old Babylon a type of her pride I sit as a Queene and am no widdow shall see no sorrow and challenge to her selfe aeternity as most blasphemously she did as is to be seene in the coine of the Emperour Probus in which we haue Rome set forth sitting in her Temple in a victorious triumphant manner hauing on the one side this inscription Conserv vrbis suae and on the other Romae aeternae and so is it expressely named both by Symmachus and Ammianus Marcellinus And Suetonius testifies in the life of Nero cap. 11 that of all their seuerall kindes of playes pro aeternitate imperij susceptos appellari maximos voluit those which were exhibited for the aeternity of the Empire should bee had in greatest
strong nor bread to the wise nor riches to men of vnderstanding nor yet favour to men of skill but time and chaunce hapneth to them all The meaning is that the successe of these outward things is not alwayes carryed by desert but by chance in regard of vs though by providence in regard of God SECT 6. Secondly the Romanes hauing no right or iust title to those Nations they subdued we cannot rightly tearme their strength in conquering them fortitude SEcondly sicut non martyrem poena sic non fortem pugna sed causa facit as the torture doth not make a martyr so doth not the conquest but the justnesse of the cause make a valiant man if the Romanes then cannot shew vs by what right they conquered the world wee will neuer call their strength in conquering it Fortitude or crowne it with the name of Vertue vnlesse wâ—…hall we shall call the out-rage of robbers and cut-throats who with fire and sword spoyle and lay waste all they can Courage and Valour Remota itaque justitia quid sunt regna nisi magna latrocinia saith S. Augustine take away the justnesse of the cause and tell me what is the acquisition of Kingdomes but great robberies vnlesse we should say that the killing and robbing of one is a sinne but of many a vertue as S. Cyprian wittily speakes homicidium cùm admittunt singuli crimen est virtus vocatur cùm publicè geritur impunitatem sceleribus acquirit non innocentiae ratio sed saevitia magnitudo when one single man commits a single murther that 's a grievous offence when it is commonly and publiquely done that 's a vertue They purchase impunity not by reason of their innocencie but the greatnes of their Cruelty When a Pyrate was convented before the great Alexander for robbing vpon the Seas and demaunded what he meant so to doe or by what right he did it his answere to that Emperour was by way of recrimination by the same right sayth he as you robbe the world which was eleganter veraciter responsum they be the words of S. Augustine a trim and true answere For what was Alexander if we should tearme him aright but Faelix terrarum praedo non vtile mundo Editus exemplar A robber of the world yet prosperous And to mankinde example dangerous Or rather as the same Poet speakes Terrarum fatale malum fulmenque quod omnes Percuteret populos pariterque sydus iniquum Gentibus Earths fatall euill a thunder-bolt of warre Striking all Nations an vnluckie starre And Seneca professeth both of him and his father Philip that they were to mankinde no lesse plagues quam invndatio qua planum perfusum est quam conflagratio qua magna pars animantium exaruit then a land flood which drownes all the champian or a burning drought wherewith the greatest part of cattle perish Now that which hath been spoken of Alexander the Romans may as properly be applyed to themselues Foelix scelus virtus vocatur vnjust attempts if they be fortunate in the event are called vertues and some actions there are of that nature quae nunquam laudantur nisi peracta which are neuer commended till they are ended and surely so it was with the Romans for proofe that their attempts were indeed for the most part vnjust we need goe no farther then that of Mithridates in Salust Romani arma in omnes habent in eos acerrima quibus victis spolia maxima sunt the Romans make warre vpon all and that vpon them most fiercely from whom being conquered they hope for the greatest booty And againe Romanis cum nationibus populis Regibus cunctis vna vetus bellandi Causa est Cupido profunda imperii divitiarum The Romans haue one old and common quarrell with all Nations people kings an vnquenchable thirst of Empire and riches with whom Galgacus in Tacitus fully accords Raptores orbis postquam cnncta vastantibus defuere terrae mare scrutantur si locuples est hostis avari si pauper ambitiosi quos non oriens non occidens satiaverit Robbers of the world they are and after that they haue laid all places waste land wanting for them to spoile they search into the Sea if the enemy be rich their covetousnesse mooues them to invade him if poore their ambition so as neither East nor West can satisfie their insatiable appetite And though wee should perchaunce suspect the testimonies of Mithridates and Galgacus as being their enemies yet against that of Lactantius we cannot well accept Isti qui eversiones vrbium populorumque summam gloriam computant otium publicum non ferent rapient saevient injuriis insolenter illatis humanae societatis faedus irrumpent vt habere hostem possint quem sceleratius deleant quam lacessierint But they who account the subversion of cities and states their greatest glory will not endure the publique peace they will rob and spoyle and most insolently offering wrongs will violate the league of humane society that they may haue an enemy whom they may more injuriously vanquish then they haue injustly provoked I am not ignorant that Cicero in defence of his owne Nation tells vs noster populus socijs defendendis terrarum omniuÌ„ potitusest our people by defending their associats became Masters of the world but I would willingly be informed whether or no they did not often set their associates to coÌ„plaine without a cause or abet them in vnjust quarrels I desire that Cicero or any other Roman should tell me truely what just reason of warring they had vpon the Carthaginians in the first Punick warre I know there is a pretence coyned that it was vnder-taken in defence of the Mamertins whom the Carthagineans and Syracusians intended to chastise for their villanous treachery committed vpon Messana a City in Sicily where they lay in garrison putting to the sword all the Inhabitents dividing the spoile among themselues and Decius Campanus a Roman Prefect with his Legion consisting of 4000 Souldiers being receiued into Rhegium for the safeguard thereof against Pyrrhus by the example and assistance of the Mamertins did the like Now it is true the Romans at the instance of the people of Rhegium did justice vpon their owne Countrymen yet the Mamertins guilty of the same foule fact and that in a higher degree they tooke into their protection and made it the pretence of their first warre vpon the Carthaginians their ancient friends and allies But it is certaine that no company of Pyrats Theeues Outlawes Murderers or other such Malefactors can by any good successe of their villany obtaine the priviledge of Civil Societies to make league or truce yea or to require faire warre but are by all meanes as most pernitious vermin to be rooted out of the world Wherefore we may safely esteeme this action of the Romans so farre from being justifiable by any colour of confederacie made with them as that
a miracle shall they be suspended from a mutuall intercourse of working one vpon another and a production of Meteors mixt bodies And how shall the Earth disvested of the vegetables which apparelled her and appearing with her naked and dustie face be sayd to be more amiable then before Finally if the heavens according to their Essence shall remaine how shall they naturally without a miracle stand still being now naturally inclined to a circular motion Or how without a miracle shall the light be increased and yet the warmth springing from thence be abated nay wholy abolished Or if the warmth shall remaine how can it choose but burne vp those parts of the Earth vpon which it never ceases to dart perpendicular beames Or how can the Sunne stand still and yet inlighten both the Hemespheres or the starres of that Hemesphere which it inlightens at all appeare To these demaunds Pererius makes a short answere and in my judgement a very strange one and vnworthy the penne of so great a Clarke that some of these things God hath already done that we might be induced the more readily to beleeue that they both may and shall be done againe And for instance he alleageth the standing still of the Sunne Moone at the prayer of Iosuah the restrayning of the burning force of the fire in the Babylonian furnace but withall foreseing that those were miracles for satisfaction therevnto he concludes Non agere autem inter se qualitates elementorum nec lu em Syderum calefacere quamvis nunc ingens esset miraculum tunc tamen posita semel mundi renovatione non erunt miracula It were now a great miracle that the qualities of the Elements should not mutually worke each vpon other or that the light of the starres should not produce warmth but then the world being renewed they shall be no miracles Indeed if the world were so to be renewed as the former essence of it were to be destroyed or the former qualities to be entinguished then should I happily allow of his reason as probable passable but now granting that the same Identicall forme and matter shal still continue that the former qualities shall not be abandoned but perfected not altered in kinde but only in degree I cannot see how it should be held tearmed a great miracle heeretofore which shall not be so heereafter And whereas it is said that the bodies of the Saints shall then naturally liue without meate which now without a miracle they cannot doe we must consider that though the substance of their bodies shall remaine yet the qualities of them shall be intirely changed so farre as the Apostle is bold to call it a spirituall bodie And besides we may be bold to challenge a speciall priviledge vnto the bodies of the Saints the temples of the holy Ghost which without speciall warrant cannot be yeelded to any other Corporeall substance And withall we must remember that for the resurrection of the bodie wee haue an Article in our Creede most cleere proofes from Scripture but for the restitution of the Creatures no one such sufficient proofe as the mind of a Christian desirous to be truly informed can rest fully satisfied therein Such as they are I will not conceale them These places then are to that purpose commonly alleaged SECT 6. The arguments commonly alleadged from the Scriptures for the renovation of the world answered WHom the heavens must containe till the times of the Restitution of all things He layed the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed for ever sayth David And Solomon one generation passeth and another commeth but the earth abideth for ever Behold I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind To which words of the Prophet S. Iohn seemes to allude And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away and there was no more Sea And for the increase of the light of the Planets and other starres that passage of the same Prophet is vsually alleadged The light of the Moone shall be as the light of the Sunne and the light of the Sunne seaven fold But the pretended proofes most stood vpon are drawne from S. Paules Epistles The fashion of this world passeth away the fashion not the substance And againe The Creature it selfe also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God And lastly heerevnto they adde the words of the Psalmist Thou shalt change them and they shall be changed not abolished but chaunged Which words are againe by the Apostle taken vp and repeated Heb. 1. 12. These are I am sure the strongest if not all the pretented proofes that are commonly drawne from the holy Scripture and pressed for the maintenance of the adverse opinion the strength of which I thinke I shall so put backe as it shall appeare to any indifferent Iudge that it is in truth but forced and wrested The passages I will consider in order as they are alleaged severally examine their validitie to the purpose they are vrged First then whereas wee out of the Greeke reade the Restitution of all things the Syriake Interpreter hath it vsque ad Complementum temporum omnium to the end of all times whereby none other thing can be vnderstood then the finall consummation of the world but to take the words as we finde them The times of restitution are vndoubtedly the same which Saint Peter in the next verse saue one going before had tearmed times of refreshing and by them is meant the actuall fulnesse and perfection of our redemption quoniam restitutio illa adhuc in cursu est adeoque redemptio quando adhuc sub onere servitutis gemimus sayth Calvin because our restitution and consequently our redemption as yet is but imperfect whiles we groane vnder the burden of servitude To the second it may be sayd that in the course of nature the earth should remaine for ever without decay or diminution had not the Creator of it decreed by his almighty power to abolish it But I rather chuse to answere with Iunius who vpon the first place taken out of the Psalme giues this note tantisper dum saeculum duraturum est as long as time shall endure and vpon the second this hominis vani comparatione in comparison of the vanishing estate of man The earth then is sayd to remaine for ever as Circumcision and the Leviticall Law are sayed to be perpetuall not absolutely but comparatiuely Now for the new heavens and the new earth it should seeme by the places alleaged that if it be litterally to be vnderstood of the materiall heavens they shall not be renewed as the common opinion is but new Created creation being a production of some new thing out of nothing So as it shall not be a restitution of the