grant there were vnitie in the Angels which some call imperfect yet it cannot bee compared to that vnity which is in God Therefore God neuer spake of the Angels there when he spake of the Vnity Dici non potest quanto interstitio creator a creatura sit dissitus N. Cho. because it is repugnant that the self same thing should bee one in nature with God and his Angels there is so great disproportion betwixt the Creator and the creature Primasius an antient Father maketh a twofold distinction of penitence The one before Baptism Lib. de gratia at libero arburio which may bee tearmed a depriuation of Baptisme the other after Baptisme by which our sins are washt away There is a twofold Church the militant and triumphant in the one the faithfull dwell together with the wicked in the other the faithfull alone Man when he dieth hath a twofold receptacle his body passeth into the earth from whence it came his soule to heauen from whence originally it descended There is a twofould Book of life of vocation and election wee may haue our names blotted out of the first but not out of the last Euery dissolution of an argument consisteth in two by distinguishing by improouing By distinguishing when fallacies of words are detected through some ambiguity and construction the one by co-operation or conjunction the other by equiuocation many times through confusion of Synonimies diuersity of distinctions or lastly when the Principles bee quite differing from their Principiata as we call them Again by improouing two waies Either from the Principles themselues by shewing the absurdity of false Principles or from reason taken from authority or by conuincing the lesser authority with the greater which is frequent among Logicians Euery Figure is either angular or circular Those two appellations vsed by those Pythagoreans Vnum and Bonum may fitly bee called the two Names of God Hee is called One because he is the beginning of all things as also the vnity of each Number Good because hee is the end rest and absolute felicity of all things The water produceth two kindes of liuing things birds and fishes Euery point in the Line is twofold straight or circular according to Ptolomey There be two manifest operations in the Whole as touching celestiall bodies Motion and Illumination There be two motions one that is a mans owne proper the other borrowed There are two Starres beneficious vnto vs Iupiter and Venus The Art military consisteth of two things Men and munition Logick consisteth of two Inuention and judgement Two things are required in a souldier Strength and discipline Angels haue a twofold vision Matutine and Vespertine Christ's incarnation was necessary for two respects For the vnion betwixt the creature and the Creator for that it was needfull that God should become man for the full satisfaction of mans offense which by man alone could not be satisfied As there bee two Starres or Planets beneficious to vs so there are two maleficious Sol and Mercury There be two kindes of exhalations aride and humectall according to Plato's diuision of humours crasse and viscosius Wherein our Alchymists doo somewhat agree though some think the contrary for their Sulphur serueth in stead of that which is aride and dry their quick-siluer standeth for humid and viscosius euen as by red wine they signifie bloud Gold is of a twofold nature spirituall being astrall formall volatle corporall being materiall or fixe To the making of that which we call Aurum potabile two things are required The first is that the gold be volatle not able to be reduced to his first substance the second that the spirit of wine be added to this that both may be made volatle He that will be skilfull in this Art let him reade Paracelsus Book called Thesaurus Alchymistarum page 398. Of this drink he writeth thus in another place Tanta vis inest auro potabili vt non satis possit praedicari Maior enim vis confortandi non reperitur Ita vt per hoc remedium omnes morbi curentur inprimis y qui sunt in summo gradu cuiusmodi est contractura Besides Libauius in his Alchymistry hath written well touching this Subject Ficinus calleth the one Paradise celestiall the other supercelestiall Epist lib. 6. There is a twofold Paradise appointed for the twofold condition of man spirituall and temporall maintained by those Rabbines The one where that illuminant vision is that is viuificous which the School-men call the intuitiue knowledge of God which hapneth to the soule separated from the body the other wherein contemplation being not made is called illuminant which is made by connaturall Species and this is not beatificous The one commonly is called celestiall the other terrestiall There are also two tortures appointed for the punishment of the soule from their opinion the one placed in the highermost the other in the lowermost world Hell is taken two manner of wayes for the punishment and so the diuells carry hell continually about them for the place of punishment where the soules of the wicked are tormented According to Phylo there be two words two reasons two mindes one aboue vs as the exemplar of our reason the other our owne reason it selfe Naturall science is occupied about two either it handleth those things which commonly are in the things themselues or those things which seeme to bee but are not Some will haue the heauens composed of two elements that is from light and the water others from light and water permixed together The art called canonick consisting of harmonic vseth two kinds of instruments Monachorde Tetrachorde consisting of twenty strings called Nerui treated of by Ptolomie But this is found in Organes onely percussorie tensile inflatile That part of Astrologie called Meteoroscope handleth two things difference of sublimities distance of Starres There are two kindes of veynes which are as conduits by which our meat is conueyed into the body The one sort make way to the heart the other are deriued from thence They which goe to the heart are as ministers that they may conuey from the liuer to the heart imperfect bloud which the heart receiueth and turneth into that which is absolute and perfect The other which come from the heart prouide that the juice concocted by them may bee distributed through all the parts of the body CHAP. V. THREE THe Number of three is the first composite Number called a multitude of some by our Arithmeticians the ternarie his vertue and power is diffusiue among all creatures And it is a plentious Number because it is the fountaine and well-spring of all things productiue the beginning of all procession the continuance of all immutable substance as in our third Chapter before was touched By his multiplication with the vnity and dualtie he bringeth forth Tetraclys one of Pythagoras Principles beeing no other then the Idea of all things created conteyning one two and that which is infinite Whereto adde foure
parts thereof Now as the Frame of the world soon shewes vnto vs that there is a GOD the first and indiuisible Vnity from whence all other harmony proceedeth so this God although he be not to be measured with any quantity as hauing all number within himself yet the next way to knowe him perfectly is To begin with numbring For Except wee worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity without confounding the Persons and diuiding the substance as holy Father Athanasius saith in his Creed we shall neuer be saued And it is worth obseruation there is no number little or great begetting begotten or mixt of both which hath not some spark of the Deity in it wherein God may not be said familiarly to be known of vs yea euen to dwell with vs as farther in this discourse shall bee made manifest For example Our common Creed read in the Church being a Summe or an Abbridgement containing all the mysteries of Christian Belief cannot bee made knowne vnto vs without the ternary Number seeing it consisteth of three parts The first is To beleeue in one GOD Father omnipotent Creator of heauen and earth The second is To beleeue in Iesus Christ God and Man The third is To beleeue in the holy Ghost The first is a Symbole of our creation the next of our redemption the last of our sanctification Again all the Commandements of God consist of two from whence the whole Decalogue is deriued whereof three Precepts being of the first Table concern our knowledge and loue of God the other seuen the loue of our neighbour Now it is manifest that the mysteries of our Christian Religion cannot bee knowne without Numbers no more can many parts of Scripture for the Book called the Apocalypse stiled by the holy Ghost it self hath so many dark and problematicall Numbers so many mysticall and symbolicall impenetrables that without the Art of numbring it were foolishnes for a man to say that he were able to vnderstand them As God therefore hath not reuealed himself vnto vs but by numbring so man as touching both parts his soule and body called a little world cannot be knowne sufficiently without the help of Numbers Some therefore write that the soule is no other than an harmony framed out of Numbers by a maruellous concordance in which opinion was Pythagoras and Plato To finde out then her essence temperature condition quality is to be skilled in the Art of numbring As touching our body it is composed all of Numbers musicall concent and harmony for Anatomists hold Andra Iaw reu Prasa ante lâ—â— de anatomia that his symmetry reacheth in length 300 minutes in breadth 50 in height 30 according to whose proportion hauing some kinde of diuinity included in it the Ark of Noe some write was builded Yea others stick not to affirm that this Ark was builded of the wood called Cedar which lasteth longer than any other Now Qui se ipsum norit omnia nouerit cum in se rerum omnium habeat sunulachra for a man not to knowe himself which is the greatest ignorance that can bee I mean not to knowe the stature temperature and disposition of his soule and body is to be vnskilled in the Art of numbring Now I suppose that some of those Antients especially Marcus Varro though otherwise a learned man haue a little too much abased man in affirming that he came from the earth onely for that is common to all creatures indifferently But the true Originall of man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he is of all other creatures the most sociable And it is to be beleeued that man is to borrow his denomination rather from concord and coâ—sellowship seeing that in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken for like and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a similitude which is not to be placed in the earth nor in the body Homo â—bâ—â—e minor mundus appellatur quia vs seribit Nazianzenus Deâ—is in â—pso extrimâ—et sub bâ—â—â— quedam comsendio quâ—â—qâ—â—d disâ—use antâ—a secerat but in the minde wherein man excelleth all other creatures whatsoeuer Man then consisting of a soule and body is a louely and liuely harmony wherein God himself and the visible heauen is represented There are many other speculatiue knowledges which without Numbers can no more bee discerned by vs than the Art of Geometry can be knowne without demonstration the Art of Logick without syllogizing For to measure the distance of those higher Planets and how far they are sited from the Centre of the earth cannot be done without numbring Some of the Antients write that the earth is from the Moon 15625 miles from the Moon to Mercurie 7612 and a half from Mercurie to Venus so many from Venus to Sol 24433 from the Sun to Mars A man cannot diuide the age of man without numbring 15625 from Mars to Iupiter 6812 from Iupiter to Saturn so many from Saturn to the Firmament 24427. Out of which may be gathered from Arithmeticall Computation that the earth vnto the visible heauen containeth 108959 miles vnder which as Ptolomey affirms there bee eight Orbs or Sphears For a childe of ten yeers old is counted a Hinde but by reason of the tripled motion of the eightth Sphear they make iust ten in the whole by a kinde of multiplication Archimedes therefore That great Geometrician who in a certain Table made of brasse made the whole visible heauen to bee looked vpon A Youth at twenty a Calf contrary to the opinion of some who enuied his doctrine could not haue done this A young man at 30 an Oxe if he had been but superficially sighted in the Art of numbring To knowe the circuit of the earth and how farre it extendeth cannot be done without Numbers A man at forty a Lion Aristotle affirmeth that the Mathematicians of his time did attribute vnto the earth in compasse 40 Myriades of furlongs which make in the whole fifty thousand miles Our modern Astrologers will haue the earth to consist of 20000 and 40 miles Growing to fifty a Fox Howsoeuer whether they speak truely or roue at randome At threescore a Wolf it is certain from collection of Numbers and by consent of Astronomers that the earth in respect of the heauen is but a point Which is prooued after this manner All Astrologers hold confidently At threescore ten a Dog that euery Starre of the eightth Sphear is bigger than the whole earth But there bee many Starres which are not seen of vs and those which wee see are like vnto puncts At fourescore a Cat Therefore if the earth were placed in the starry Firmament and should shine as the Stars doo it would not be seen of vs. At fourescore ten an Asse Besides the continuall course of those Planets without calculation cannot bee made manifest vnto vs. The Sunne first stayethin euery Signe 30 daies and 10 hours he maketh his course through
Primitiue Church he should shew himselfe lesse then a God lesse then a man From Scriptures if wee goe to stories of the Church plenty of happie Numbers will be found The most antient and of greatest moment is that which was spoken from heauen to Constantine the Emperour when hee fought against the Tyrant Maxentius in these words In hoc Signo vinces Which foure elements haue no small vertue and admiration included in them portending more intrinsically then extrinsically they seeme For as there was visibly seene a forme of the Crosse in the element so the figure of this Crosse is agreeable to the foure words vttered which doth make the excellencie and wonder of it far greater then outwardly it appeareth This figure therefore of the Crosse that I may vnfold so great a mystery of all others is the straightest conteining foure straight Angles according to those foure elements resounding from heauen And it is the first description of that we call Superficies hauing both longitude and latitude which some auerre to be corroborated with those heauenly powers because their strength resulteth by the rectitude of Angles and beames Whereby it commeth to passe that the Starres are then most potent when in a celestiall forme they obtaine foure corners They that shew themselues enemies to this antient and venerable signe being no other then a badge or cognisance of our Christian profession will become enemies to Christ who suffered vpon this Crosse and by proiection of their beames one from another doe make a Crosse Which also hath great correspondencie with the quinarie septenarie and nouenarie Number Therefore among the Arabes men that were curious in the search of high mysteries the signe of the Crosse was had in no small admiration as beeing a most firme receptacle of all manner of heauenly intelligences Other Numbers I count vnhappy which by their exposition doe signifie or portend some fatall calamity to men As in Scripture we haue Mans Tekel Phares spoken to Balthazar which expressed in three Hebrew elements containing the ternary Number did no doubt signifie vnto him a threefold calamity or downfall The ruine of his Kingdome the sacking of Babilon the letting-in the riuer Euphrates for the passage of Cyrus and his hoast as a iust punishment denounced against him for his threefold sinne and wickednes Pride Idolatry drunkennesse Of this kinde there will be found many in Scripture as Christs word denounced against Hicrusalem those which he spake to the rich man Paul to Demas Peter to Simon Magus the holy Ghost in the Apocalypse to the Church of Laodicea which all contayne some inward secrecy of Numbers parted from their elements or which without exact calculation both of words and letters may not be well vnderstood So that such kind of Numbers as these be may be called tacite or implicite because they bee not properly taken for Numbers except the words or elements are diuided from each other wherein they are secretly or inclusiuely touched The last Number I meane to insist vpon is out of the Apocalypse included in the word Lateinos A word of such hidden and impenetrable mystery that since Saint Iohn's time that did vtter it it is a thousand and six hundred yeeres and yet among some it is hardly vnderstood Yes this word of all others hath frighted the B. of Rome more his ministers then the D. of Bourbon did when he and his souldiers seazedvpon the city of Rome made his Holiness to intrench himself in his castle of S. Angelo could not be redeemed nor his Cardinals without a great summe of mony To vnfold this secret Number I need not seeing I haue performed this task already in our Books against Antichrist Sure I am it consists of 8 elements cuery letter containing a Number more or lesse and it is the Number of the Beast and his Number is the Number of a man as well in Hebrew as in Greek and I doo not doubt but this Number rightly numbred according to Theologicall Computation will confound him and all his numbers although they be almost numberlesse For breuities sake I let passe those Climactericall or Enneaticall yeers consisting of 63 and 70 making either seuen-times nine or mine-times seuen which haue been fatall to sundry learned and honourable Personages as also the octonarie moneth being found noxious and prodigious to the birth of children by reason of the malignant disposition of Saturn judicially handled by that learned Anatomist Lib. 2. quast 38. Andraear Laurentius Neither haue I leasure curiously to insist vpon the opinion of that learned Clerk Hugo de S. Victore L. 2. didas c. 3 as touching the term of mans life consisting of 80 yeers handled with much subtilty and dexterity CHAP. XV. Mysticall and Symbolicall Numbers I Call them so that either from or vnder their riaked elements their proper names and significations represent some vnknown power or energie or for some other respects contain some Secret in them There be many of this kinde and therefore I will runne-ouer but some of the chiefest and choicest among them By the sixt-daies-work our Rabbines vnderstand six extremities of building proceeding from Bresit as Cedars doo from Libanus They hold that Messiah Enoâ— maketh his conjunction with the denarie spirit and Leuite that to the firmament and waters vnder the firmament and the visible heauen are attributed 17 18 and 19 gates to euery one according to their degree which put together doo amount to foure more than those which were mentioned in our thirteenth Chapter They hold again that out of the spirit is produced the word and voice yet these three are but one Those which they call Imperfections of influences in their collection communicant arise from 10 to 5110. That which they call Absolute in the subject proceedeth from the vnity to the nouenarie Order processiue surmounteth from ten to ninety Substance in things proper remaineth entire but their imperfections from an vniuersall collection go from 20 to 7670. Imperfections of parts in distributing of vertues proceed rightly from 25 to 2838. Whether these bee mysticall symbolical or Cabalisticall Numbers it skilleth not greatly sure I am they passe mine intelligence Capiat qui capere potest I haue borrowed them of purpose from those Synagogicall Doctors to exercise the wits of those who are better Arithmeticians than my self I mean to go to others more familiar When God made the world he said It was good This word Bonum in cludeth fiue elements hauing a secret signification for this creation was good fiue maner of waies As touching the Creator that was God creature that was man forme that was the beginning of all things one of Orpheus Principles matter that was prima Idea as Plato holds workmanship which is no other than his eternall Wisdome Or this way Good to contemplate praise glorifie extoll worship his Power and Majesty shining therein It was said to Abraham as touching the promise In semine â—â—o and so forth mentioned in