as in all things sufficiently so most assuredly touching God appereth to be true The foole seeth not that there is a God and sayeth in his hart there is none for his eyes are not in his head and his hart is at his left hand wherefore it is no meruaile that he is blind and consider nothing aright But with men of reason contrariwise it is they walke not in darknes nor stumble at noone dayes to them things seeme as they are and God aboue all things is manifest vnto them For heauen and earth yeeld testimony of his diuine nature and magnifie his infinite power yea all the creatures of the world are liuely witnesses be they dead or lyuing and euident proofes though they lye hidden and cannot be seene that a God there is who hath made them and doth rule them according to his will So as man hauing sence and reason cannot be ignorant or doubtfull thereof when by sence he may perceaue and by reason consider what those creatures are which so notably set forth the being of their Creator Opening his eyes toward heauen aboue or to the earth beneath he doth behold such variety such excellencie of worke so much beyond his skill to iudge of so farre aboue his power to reach vnto that not onely his minde is mooued to a sodaine admiration of that he seeth but his hart is touched with a solemne reuerence of that whatsoeuer is Author thereof though what it is he doth not conceaue For reason Reason leadeth to the knowledge of God his guide by nature leadeth him to think that strange and notable effects cannot proceed but from some rare or worthy cause and that although the cause in the effects be resembled yet are the effects by the cause excelled beeing that which from it selfe giueth being to another but more to it selfe reserueth then on the other it bestoweth VVherby it cometh to passe that looking onely vpon the frame of heauen and face of the earth beholding the great beauty of them both th' one being adorned with starres of sundry formes and bignes the other set with trees and deckt with flowers of diuers colours and proportions he cannot but thinke that frame and that face of so exceeding beauty to haue beene made and deuised by some skill of excellency where-vnto of duty reuerence doth belong VVhich are things so manifest and apparant as by men of common reason they are seene and perceaued But who so with a sharpe eye doth enter into the world and vvith sound iudgement examine the parts thereof he easily doth finde that the whole and euery parcell of the same is like a glasse of Christall wherein the might and maiestie of God doth shine in such sort as that the eyes and minds of all be they not starke blind and voide of vnderstanding are striked and pierced therewith so that they are enforced to see whom to acknowledge and they cannot but acknowledge God whom their eyes doo behold to be the maker and ruler of heauen and of earth and of all things therein contayned By the swift constant and continuall motion of heauen by the course of the starres all obseruing order though thousands in number by the due succession of day and night the true patterne of life and death by the seasons of the yeare still fading and neuer fayling to returne what can be thought but that there is a moouer and a ruler of being eternall and of wisedome infinite which first turned round the wheele placed the lights distinguished the times and hath caused them all so long in such order to continue But let vs examine a part the sundry parts of the great and little world whom God that Lord of all vseth as instruments and imployeth as officers to execute his will and to shew his power and we shall see that with one voyce they witnes all and all agree in one that they had a maker and haue a Maister by whose power at the first they were and at whose commaundement continually they are The throne and footestoole of this great Lord is heauen and earth which are the roofe and foundation of the whole world of which th' one is of substance thinne and pure and the other thicke and corrupt the one light the other darke the one still in motion the other euer at rest VVherefore being most contrarily disposed impossible it is that eyther of the other should be caused so as in the contrariety of their nature they acknowledge they had a Creatour who at the first made them to be such as neither could haue being by the others helpe Betweene them to fill and take vp The Elements the ministers of God the heigth and the depth the length and the breadth of the whole fire reaching heauen water touching earth and ayre possessing the midle roome are placed and ioyned to and with them both as vniuersall Ministers of that mighty generall But what are their natures Most repugnant The repugnancie of their nature prooueth there is a God and vtterly disagreeing fire hote and dry water moyst and cold ayre hot and moyst earth cold and dry more apt to destroy then able to make or preserue one another And why are they such To shew that they are not of them selues and that all things of them should consist For all naturall bodies whatsoeuer receaue constitution from them as they their power from the iustnes of their temperature which being vnable of them selues to make by reason of their contrary and disagreeing qualities they craue an vmpier not onely of fulnes to supply their weaknes and of indifferencie to ioyne them with equallity but of aucthority absolute to commaund their seruice and of wisedome infinite to direct their course which euer tending to the worlds good and neuer fayling to the worlds end excludeth chaunce and prooueth choyse as well in their placing as in their ordering and that by him to haue beene made which could doo all and would doo best Consider how they are placed The power and wisedome of God in placing ordering the Elements and how ordered and both will appeare to be so as therein the power and wisedome of God doth so appeare as wonderfull it is to consider The fire being full of motion cleare and pure as best agreeing with heauen which euer mooueth with the cleare substance thereof and purity of the bodies therein is set next ther-vnto whether it may seeme easily to haue beene carried being light of nature and giuen to ascend but howe strange is it that there against nature it should be helde within a sphere and not suffered to mount The earth massie heauy and full of drosse was fittest to be at rest VVherefore it was layed lowest and from heauen that resteth neuer remoued farthest although it cannot but presse downward by reason of waight yet can it not fall down from one appoynted place Pondere terra suo subsedit Ouid. fast 3 where it hangeth and vpholdeth it selfe in
miraculous sort The water that is cold and moyst and least meete of all the rest to haue the company of fire farre from that and next vnto the earth wherwith it well sorteth being cold and somwhat heauie is bestowed but so as in wonderfull wise it coÌ„passeth surmounteth and ouerfloweth the same beeing penned in with banks not made or deuised by any creature whatsoeuer Then is the ayre which is warme moyst placed betweene fire and water as betweene two aduersaries a stickler being friend to eyther side through qualities agreeable to eyther part It reacheth vp to the one and downe to the other and although it be ioyned to them both which are mighty and mercilesse yet being weake and of small force it doth both preserue it selfe in safety and hold those in continuall peace which continually are disposed to warre So are they martialled in places best agreeing to their natures that according to their most power they may execute their best seruice at the will of their Commaunder And to the end they should all agree in mixture which are diuers or contrarie of nature for that all naturall bodies haue beeing and constitution of them they are each to other so ioyned and coupled in fellowship that they are all in all and hold together a perpetuall friendship The transmutation of elements For fire extinguished passeth into ayre ayre thickned groweth into water water mudded incorporateth into earth and againe earth into water is dissolued vvater into ayre exhaled and ayre into fire extenuated whereby it commeth to passe that none is alone without the others company and all are setled in a common societie which holding they giue constitution to other things and bring no destruction to themselues For as in themselues so in other things considered they are mingled in such sort as one is Maister and the rest giue place which causeth them to rest in peace O the depth of that wisedome and riches of that power which hath placed disposed and ioyned them in so wonderfull wise and to so necessary vse Heereof it is FroÌ„ whence the varietie and diuersitie of creatures that within the bowels of the earth vaines of sundry mettalls quarries of diuers stones are found in colour and nature one differing from another that out of the earth varietie of hearbs and flowers doe spring whereof none in sent leafe and vertue doe agree that trees are vnlike in barke and in fruite that all brute beasts are knowne so vvell a sunder and that as well the fishes of the Sea as the fowles of the ayre are seene infinitely to differ For as the earth is a receptacle of all influences descending from heauen like a mother bringeth forth and feedeth those things which are begotten with in her herselfe receiuing nourishment from water breath from ayre and naturall heate from fire of which according to the seuerall quantities vvhich she receiueth she yeeldeth forth her broode more or lesse perticipating of euery of them but taking most from herselfe because in herselfe shee ouermatcheth all the rest so after the like manner all liuing things bred or fed vpoÌ„ the face of the same and within the depth of the Sea haue theyr beeing being earthly watery or ayriall according to the place of which they are temperature which they receiue and all by the inwarde power they haue to moue or to rest to increase or to decay shew forth that first power whereby strength was giuen to those elements at the first to strengthen all things which of them should consist Hoc opus immensi constructum corpore mundi Manili Astro 1. Membraquae naturae diuersa condida forma Aeris atque ignis terrae pelagique iacentis Vis animae diuina regit sacroque meatu Conspirat Deus et tacita ratione gubernat Et multain cunctas dispensat faedera partes Altera vt alterius vires faciatque feratque This worke of world so huge framed into a body And parts of nature formed formes diuers to bewray Of ayre and fire of earth and sea which low doth lie Soules power diuine doth rule and by a sacred way God doth with all conspire and gouerne secretly And so doth many leagues betweene al parties make That each each others vertue may both giue take Hee which so sayed was deceaued in that hee thought the heauen and the elementes to haue soule and life whereby they are mooued and ordered but he perceaued truly that by the secret working of God they all are gouerned and by him sondry wayes vnited to make and to suffer each others vertue and power But daylie experience may seeme to controle what hath beene sayed touching the places and the peace which the elements are sayed to hold For it is seene that water is drawn vp neere the fire which ought to remaine below the ayre and ayre passeth downe into the earth whose place is prefixed aboue the water whereby their peace is broken and they are at warre amongst them selues the ayre thundering aboue and the earth trembling below True that so it is and fit it should be so the more to shew his aucthority that doth commaund and their dutie which doo obey for thereby appeareth his power in heauen and on earth when he thundereth from heauen and shaketh the earth and that the elements are his instruments to vse at his pleasure when he maketh them to followe and to forsake their nature VVhich is done the water ascending and the ayre passing downe and after the same water falling downe when the cloud is broken and that ayre going vp when the earth is opened and both returning to their appoynted quarter and executing as before their prescribed order to the quiet preseruation of the world The care and the eye perceaue there is a God So as sounding the thunder the eare doth heare and the earth shaking the eye doth see and when both are calmed of both we are assured that one supreame there is whose onely will as dutifull seruants to their onely Soueraigne they all obay VVhereas were they of them selues and subiect to no higher power which could commaund their seruice and correct their disorder in the world nothing should be but a generall Chaos and confusion of all together They could neyther be deuided for each others safetie nor mingled but to each others hurt For would fire continue vnder heauen and aboue ayre without consuming the one or wasting the other The nature of it being continually to befed or immediatly to be extinguished or should not the earth by the ayre be rent a sunder or by the water be ouerwhelmed the ayre pearcing into euery corner and not iâ—â—luring to be smothered and the water ouerflowing whatsoeuer it lyeth ouer No more possible were it they should be mingled and not destroyed following their nature which beeing contrary would neuer suffer them to agree So should they haue no beeing nor cause any other thing to be VVherefore the heauen and the
elements the placing and the ordering the open shew and the hidden strength of them all beare witnes and make proofe not to be denied impossible to be disprooued that there is a God The consideration whereof might suffice and needlesse it were to seeke further were it not too great an ouersight for man to ouerlooke him selfe who beeing the worthiest creature of all other is the fittest to set forth the glory of his Creatour by whose admirable wisdome he is of such incomparable perfection The body of man the patterne of the world and his soule the picture of God that his body is the patterne of the vniuersall world and his soule the picture of the immortall God So that in him more then in all the rest God is to be seene and knowne his body shewing outwardly the worke of his hand and his soule inwardlie bearing the image of him selfe His body of earth doth represent whatsoeuer is betweene heauen and earth yea the very heauens them selues are figured all naturall causes contayned and their seuerall effects produced therein Three heauens resembled by the body of man deuided into three parts Three heauens there are sayed to be which the members of the body deuided into three parts make a liuely resemblance of The lower seruing for generation and nouriture are like the lowest heauen within the compasse wherof the elements are found for as from them all beasts plants trees liuing and other things haue being receaue nourishment growth motion and sence so of foure humours there ingendered all the members are made fed mooued and augmented The same agreeing in nature as in number with the elements and producing effects in all aunswerable vnto them choller being hote and dry as fire blood warme and moyst as ayre fleame as water cold and moyst melanchollie as earth cold and dry of which altogether a perfect mixture and iust temperature beeing made the growing lyfe of plants and that which to brute beasts giueth motion and sence in the body of man is found doth appeare The vpper part in which the hart is seated may be compared to the higher heauen the eight sphere wherein the starres are fixed which holding one iust and continuall motion giueth light and life to all the world beneath through shining beames and comfortable warmnes it sendeth downe and euery where bestoweth for so the hart being still in motion after a iust proportion preserueth the whole body in life and health by sending forth the spirits of life wherewith it is well stored into all the parts by vaines and arteries in due course to be conueighed Lastly the head the vppermost part is as the third and highest heauen there sitteth the minde as in a Tower and doth behold gouerne and direct all the actions of the whole body causing it to mooue and to rest to performe and to forbeare what seemeth good there-vnto euen as that excellent almighty power from that high throne his seate mooueth the heauens directeth the starres and preserueth all things within the compasse of the world Man a little world VVherefore it is not without cause that man is sayed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little world when as his body alone beeing but the one halfe the worst part of him is the figure of the whole and with good right may bee termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in regard of the great beauty which aboue other creatures it hath and serueth no lesse then all the world besides to shew the great excellencie of that power which first was the founder framer thereof VVhose exceeding beautie caused some to thinke that God himselfe was like there-vnto Cicero de natu Deo 1. supposing the fairest and finest shape to be most fit for the best and diuinest nature VVherein they were like deceiued as if they should haue thought the counterfaite of Venus to haue resembled the countenaunce of Apelles the same being for excellencie of worke the chiefe spectacle of his Art but altogether vnlike the fauor of himselfe But strange it may seeme and incredible it may bee thought that man alone eyther in part or in whole should represent the world which consisteth of thinges both contrary in nature and infinite in number I confesse it is so strange that it is a vvonder but vvonderfull is that God who to shew the greatnes of his power could make man so strange a creature that in varietie what of outward shape Man in him selfe resembleth all creatures and vvhat of inward conceite hee should expresse and excell all other things whatsoeuer Sundry are the sorts of mettals and stones hidden vnder the ground infinite are the kindes of hearbes trees and fruites growing and of beasts going and creeping on the earth so of fish swimming in the Sea and of fowle flying in the ayre all which are framed of so iust a shape and of proportion so agreeable as of each kinde found within the same region and vpon the same Coast all or most of all are so like as not the like but the same they woulde seeme were they set a sunder not seene together and yet if all at once could be viewed sufficient difference to shewe the diuersitie of each kinde might bee noted But amongst all the childrē of men not any two though bred within the same climate though borne of the same parents coulde euer be found in whom difference did not appeare of heigth or of breadth of feature or of fauour Albeit for number and place of all members and parts they are all as one Many haue beene sayed exceedingly to haue resembled each other Valer. Max and none more then Alexander and Ephestio whereby the Mother of Darius was occasioned in steed of Alexander to salute Ephestio but though both were strangers vnto her shee soone found that shee was deceiued and craued pardon of her error Some-what there is which better is discerned then can bee described that causeth amongst all men such difference to appeare as easilie one from another and euery one may be knowne a sunder By which diuersitie of shape in his owne kinde expressing the variable shew of all kindes of things whatsoeuer In man some thing resembling euery creature it is to be thought that he was made to represent not any one but all the creatuers of the world which yet to make more manifest some things hee hath of them all whereby in him alone theyr counterfaite may seeme to be drawne and layed open to be seene His flesh is as the earth sound substantiall and firme it is braunched with sondry vaines as the earth is distinguished with diuers mettals VVhich therefore are sayed to lye in vaines because they follow the like course and are dispersed a like inwardly with bone as the earth with stone it is strengthned it is quickned and nourished with the same life that causeth plants to spring and hearbs to grow and like times it hath for the renuing and decay of blood as
participation of any thing else when all whatsoeuer is or euer was by him was made and from him did proceede So was he the first yet not by priority of time by worthines of nature or by order of beginning for he was before time aboue nature and without beginning but first because all were after him and none equall and together with him And as the first so the last for hauing no beginning he can haue no ending being vnborne he cannot dye if nothing had power to make him what can be able to destroy him Then being the first and the last the beginning and the end he is that he is and shall be that he shall be when all things that are shall not be not as now they are but changed in nature as he can neuer be that is aboue nature and therfore one alone and the same And being the first and the maker of all he was almighty and had all power in him selfe But so he could not be if any other were of like power and could doo as much as him selfe For what is giuen to the one is taken from the other so as what the one hath the other wanteth and to haue any want at all were against the nature of eyther there being no fulnes where there is want nor perfection where defect is found If then a maker and almighty as he must be that is God there can be no partner of his power there ought to be no pertaker of his glory Neither possible is it that life should be giuen by more then one whereof the roote must be one or none for when all things that can be liuing of contrary qualities must consist and life is nothing else but an vnion of body and soule which can neuer be vnited but when those contraries of disposition to one iust and peaceable constitution are reduced wherby nouriture groweth and strength doth ensue it followeth that whatsoeuer giueth life must be of all vnitie without any the least diuersitie within it selfe otherwise if any difference it should haue and not altogether be one wherein it wanted indifferencie more to the one then to the other it would incline So should there be no equality of mixture for partiality of fauour and so no peace no vnity no life should be wherefore one in nature one in number one in all that one which is the authour of life ought to be If it be sayed that Gods may be the same in nature and yet sundry in number and that in them giuing life no such vnity is required but that which may fall into more then one no affinity being betweene the life giuers and the liuing things betweene the nature of Gods and the naturall parts of the world it must be aunswered that in trueth to God neyther nature nor number can be ascribed he being an essence in no sort to be conceaued if not supernaturally and al in singlenes he be considered For although he be not seene of men God seene of men in the glasse of nature but in the glasse of nature yet therin his greatnes doth appeare so much to exceede her compasse as easily they perceaue and assuredly resolue that he is so much aboue and so farre without her reach as that he cannot be subiect to the force of her lawes VVherfore when mortall men according to theyr naturall vnderstanding search for him they finde what he is not and there-vpon conclude him to be that which most probably theyr weaknes can neuer be comprehended VVhereof it hath been that sundry wise learned men haue thought no better way to define what he was then by way of deniall to shew what he was not saying that neyther the heauen nor the skie nor the sun nor the moone nor the elements nor the world was God but the works of God and therfore God to be the maker of all So reason teaching that multiplicity must needes be after vnity and that one there must be before many ones there can be the same concludeth that God which is the first cannot be multiplex sed vnus not many but one Againe sith nothing can be compounded which may not be dissolued it followeth that God which is euerlasting without dissolution could not be but eternall without composition and therefore ens vnum et simplicimum And so being most reasonable it is to thinke that he that is onely and merely one one in all vnity and simplicity is fittest to set at one those things which are of contrary disposition he being not likely to leane to eyther side who hath nothing in him bending to eyther part whereas being many and diuers as diuers they must be if they be manie they could not possiblie make a peace where contrariety mooueth a warre For how should things subiect vnto them by them be drawne together who through diuersity of them selues are not one but stand asunder How should fire end water become friends if as Thales thought Dioge laerti there were one God to doo all out of water and one other as Heraclitus might as wel haue thought to doo as much out of fire There could not nor there needed not an attonement to be made betweene them if both Gods had power a like by eyther without the helpe of other to doo what he would But they must be vnited and coupled as man and wife before any lyuing thing can be brought forth Quippe vbi temporiem sumpsere humorque calorque Concipiunt et ab his oriuntur cuncta duobus Ouid. meta 1. Cumque sit ignis aquae pugnax vapor humidus omnes Res creat et discors concordia faetibus apta est For when moisture and heate haue had temperature They do conceaue from them two springs al increase While fire with water striues made is the creature By vapor moist for breed being apt the warring peace Fire as the man and water as the wife are to be considered who being ioyned in marriage their issue it is whatsoeuer hath life for all liuing things consisting of body and soule there must be moysture to breede a bodily substance and heate to bring foorth a lyuing soule whereof the experience is seene in the egge and in the bird the egge being first a substance full of moysture without life and after a bird by long and continuing warmth quickned and made aliue yet of it selfe neither moysture can make the body nor heate the soule but both well tempered cause and ioyne together both a body and a soule VVherefore sith fire and water must be made friends that heate and moysture may meete and ioyne in one sith a iust temper by an equall temperature of contraries must be made that one constitution of diuers natures as one harmony of sondry times may consist before eyther life can be had or nouriture can be yeelded great reason it is that he that should draw all into one should be but one and alone without the fellowship of any other that