to the order and perfection of nature is farthest from the first The fifth is composed of the last element which is the earth and this is the first linke which begins to turne towards it beginning and it is the vegetative nature which intresseth it selfe with the sensitive and that with the rationall which uniting it selfe immediately with God shuts up the chaine and circle of this succession And because the last knot or linke of this chaine was to unite it selfe with God and betwixt God and the creature there could be no proportion of equality therefore the eternall wisdome created the soule which being immortall and incorporeall should have some resemblance of God and so uniting it selfe perfectly with him the chaine of the fabricke of this world should so close up and shut And in case that some curious body not content with the generall union of the seven rings or linkes which have bin set downe should desire more particularly to finde out the point of this trueth he may satisfie himselfe with the internall searching out of each nature and linke of the said chaine And beginning from the first he shall finde in it an infinite abysse of perfections and attributes which are Wisedome Omnipotency Justice Goodnesse Glory Mercy and innumerable more which are all with an unspeakeable incomprehensibility gathered in and united unto the indivisible latchet of the most simple divine nature Concerning the second linke which is the Angelicall nature he may very well apprehend not onely by the light of faith but also by the strength of his owne understanding the marveilous order perfect concord wherewith those Angelicall spirits are united together the Cherubins joyning themselves to the Seraphins the Seraphins to th' Archangels they to the Angels Thrones Powers Dominions the other kinds of the twelve quires of Angels with such great uniformity and concord as may be presumed in that heavenly commonwealth Then if we shall cast our eyes on the contemplation of the third linke which is the nature of the heavens we shall plainly see if Ptolomie deceive us not that the primum mobile is united to the Christalline heaven this to the eight spheare the eighth spheare to Saturne who joyneth himselfe to Jove Jove to Mars Mars uniteth himselfe to Sol Sol adheres to Venus Venus to Mercury Mercury to Luna from whose hollow superficies takes it beginning the fourth linke of th' Elementall nature joyning it selfe unto the annexed fire it unto the ayre whom the element of water followeth untill it comes to unite it selfe unto the earth which is the universall center of al heavie and ponderous things From the earth beginnes the fifth linke to goe upwards againe and this is the Vegetative Nature which like unto the rest keepes it dependance and succession united unto all her species and kindes beginning from the biggest trees and of greatest fruit even to the lowest humblest and poorest grasse of the field In this vegetative nature consists the basis and foundation of the sensitive which is utterly unable to put in practice th' operations of moving and feeling without it This likewise is not different from the first and hath it kindes and degrees of succession and dependency the noblest and perfectest of them which is the Lyon uniting himselfe to the poorest worme of the earth This sensitive nature linkes it selfe at last with the rationall which being by meanes of the soule spirituall exceeds in perfection the corporeall vegetative and nutritive remaining at last united with God So that the aforesaid union is not onely to be found in this whole universall frame but also in every one of its parts It being impossible that there should be any one not linked and united to the rest by the analogie of some attribute which is indifferently proper to them all The little microcosmos of man may be an example of this her being an epitome and cipher of the whole fabricke of the world in whom all natures are united he being participant of each vertue and perfection for he hath his body of the heavens elements and stones his vegetating or growing from the plants his feeling from beasts his discourse from Angels and the image and likenesse of God And passing to that which is proper unto this nature we shall finde that all his actions have a dependency one from the other the understanding being not able to understand any thing unlesse it unite it selfe to the sences nor these produce any sensations or feelings unlesse they joyn themselves by meanes of the species and image which presents it selfe unto them with the object And according to the Philosophers doctrines the object unites it selfe to the externall sence the externall transmits it to the common the common represents it to the phantasie from whence comes the names of phantasmaes With these imaginations doth the active intellect joyne it selfe illustrating them and with taking away all their materialities makes them of sensible intelligible The active intellect unites it selfe with possibility which cannot operate unlesse the active disposeth it to it by representing the species unto it disrobed of all matter and singularity From thence the intellect or understanding being disposed produceth its first operation which is the simple apprehension and this coupleth it selfe with the second which is affirmation or negation from whence groweth the third which is discourse The discourse goeth united with the will which could not produce any act of love or hatred or election if discourse had not gone before it being impossible to will or refuse that which hath not before bin knowne So that all things which are inclosed within this frame of the world are nothing but union accord and amity not onely through the dependency which every thing hath from one sole beginning but also through the loving correspondency which they hold amongst themselves And if any one shall aske me the reason of this marvailous linke and intrinsecall love wherwith so many and so different natures are linked together I will not answer them with that which is ordinarily said that God had so ordained But I wil say that the supreame artificer having determined in the creation of the world to make a perfect and durable compound variety and union were very requisite therein it being impossible to make any thing beautifull which was not composed of varieties or durable if it were in and against it selfe divided To this end he appointed all creatures at the least the corporeall ones a naturall and proper meane which hindereth all that which is contrary to the union and preservation of this world And this is that prima materia argued upon by all but as I beleeve knowne by none This materia which some say is pura potentia others an entitative act others that it is neither quid nor quantum nor quale is a beginning in the which stand united all corporeall or bodily natures It is not ingendred nor it doth not corrupt for so the union and pacificall
harmony of the world might come to be lost whose preservation is grounded upon the incorruptible unity of this matter It hath bin created but not from everlasting as Plato and others have affirmed it being impious to give or attribute the glory of eternity and of being without a beginning unto a creature which is due onely to God Finally it is sufficient for us to know without engulfing our selves into any other metaphysick that the matter whereof all corporall things are framed is of one and the same kinde and by that reason all your materiall species or kindes are united and coupled together And because that the formes of the compounds which must necessarily be sundry and diverse to make a perfect and faire compound should not deviate from that unity which God ordaines and nature pretends The supreame Artificer determined that they should all come forth of the entrailes of the materia or as the Divines call it de potentia materie that so in all their alterations and changes they might be tributary unto that beginning out of whose bowels and entrailes they came the power of corrupting engendring and altering resting onely in it as not being subject to goe out of the bounds of union and peace By this doctrin is confuted the opinion of many moderne Phylosophers who judging by the sence that which is contrary to reason beleeve that the formes of the Elements have no other end then to destroy and corrupt As for example the fire which we see consumes and devoures all as it findes living in perpetuall warre with the water as also the earth with the ayre For if we leave that seemingnes which sence sheweth us and examine the trueth with reason we shall finde that the elements being constitutive parts whereof all your mixtes are compounded it is repugnant and contrary to them to have destruction be their end their nature being essentially ordained to compound Whence is concluded that the naturall end of the Elements is nothing but union And although there ordinarily seemes to be a continuall enmity betweene them destroying one another yet we must hold for a certaine that this warre is onely made for the preservation of peace and union since the fire in seeking to persecute its contrary doth nothing but seeke a temperament to the rigor of his proper strength and any thing else which might hinder the union and conjunction whereby the compound is preserved So that we will conclude this Chapter saying that Union is an attribute of God the treasure of nature the naturall center of creatures and chain of the whole world This unites the mortall with the divine as the eternall Word with humane nature The mortall with incorruptible as the body with the soule The materiall with the spirituall as the understanding with the sences The living with the insensible as beasts with the earth The heaven with their elements the elements with man man with God And finally from God to God there is nothing but peace concord union agreement and love CHAP. II. That enmitie and discord are monsters of nature and the divels owne children FRom the precedent Chapter we may by very good consequence inferre that which we seeke to prove in this For if union and peace as we have proved be Gods attributes and the perfection of nature it is plaine that enmity and discord capitall enemies of union must of necessity be contraries to God and nature being altogether averse to the noblest perfection that our understanding can conceive in God which is unity and simplicity wherewith his divine attributes and perfections are so indivisibly united together that no manner of distinction can be admitted betweene them either reall formall or fundamentall as Divines doe terme them unlesse we should allow of the distinction of reason which our understanding licenciously frameth conceiving that to be distinct which in it selfe is indivisibly one Daily experience sheweth us the great repugnancy and contrariety that is betweene discord and nature either of them shewing it by their effects seeing the proper and principall end of the one is to corrupt diminish ruine and undoe Of the other to generate to joyne to multiply and unite all wordly things with the most firme bond of peace Because that knowing by evident induction that discord and enmity are enemies unto God and the very plagues of nature we may with good reason conclude them to be the workes of the divell wrought by his owne hands so pestilent a fruite doubtlesse proceeding from such an accursed tree The Apostle did in three wordes admirably set downe the genealogie and discent of this fierce monster saying that through the divells envy death was come into the world Wherein we must note according to the exposition of some Doctors that the Apostle in this place calleth dissention and discord by the name of death And that very properly seeing that the Doctors meaning by death as well the soules as the bodies death we shall finde death to be nothing else but a wretched separation and unfortunate divorce tending to ruine and perdition And as for the death of the body none can be so ignorant as to deny this truth beholding with his owne eies the dissolution of the streightest and internallest friendship as humane understanding can conceive and after that the miserable accidents which ordinarily accompany a dead carcasse And if this passage bee taken for spirituall death it being an enmity and divorce between God and the soule and not an ordinary divorce but an infinite one by reason of the infinite distance that is between God and a sinner we still conclude that death and discord are one and the selfe same thing and both daughters to the divell and envy as the Apostle saith the motive which moved the divell to bring this accursed dissention into the world was a cruell impatient rage against man being not able to endure that God should grow enamored of so ugly base and wretched a nature as humane nature is and that he should enrich it with so many extraordinary favours priviledges as unite himselfe hypostatically to it and make it the instrument of redemption denying that favour to the Angelicall nature which is more noble and perfect then the humane and so being desperately enraged he contracted matrimony with envy in which wedlocke death was borne so that death or discord hath the divell for her father and envy for her mother her grandfathers were pride and contempt and her first root was ambition This cursed plant was the first Angels plague and that which made him to exceed the bounds of his owne nature rashly opening the way unto an unbridled appetite and ambitious desire to climbe up unto the heaven of divine perfection to place his throne above the starres and to be like unto the most high Making the consideration of himselfe and the beauty and perfections wherewith he was enriched the instruments of so blinde a pretence and proud absurdity Judging himselfe thereby
an infinite distance Mercie in preventing an abysse of mischiefes which threatned the world and Wisedome in establishing an union indissoluble marriage Whereupon wee are to consider that God was not contented by finding out of such a way means to remedy the present evill but like a good Physitian hee left an antidote and medicine to preserve these two Nations from any infirmity or danger as might ensue This healthfull medicine which God sent into the world is matrimony the most effectuall and strong meanes that could be found in nature the wills being thereby so straightly knit together that they being two that are united come to be one flesh and so conformable and united that it causeth one to forget father and mother and brethren to forsake his country his own interest and even himselfe for married folkes many times deprive themselves of their owne liberties to subject themselves to the content and desire of one another wherefore marriage bringing forth such effects wee may say that God by meanes of it uniting these two actions found an extreame and exquisite remedy for an extreame and exquisite disease there being joyned to it by succession an eternall and perfect union out of danger of ever being lost by reason of the stability promised in those thinges which come from heaven where I dare say there could not have been found an inventiō more to the purpose or more secure then this was seeing there is nothing in the world that can mortifie the fire of enmity and discord more then the matrimoniall knot which once contracted between two enemies when they thinke the grievances and distastes which are past they quite forget them againe having not the heart or minde to persecute or offend so much as in thoght those that are of their owne blood or have any dependency of it The Romans as histories report made use of such remedies when they saw themselves most persecuted by the Sabines amongst whom there was so much enmity hatred and persecution that they did destroy and ruine one another burning their corne spoiling their vines and killing one another wheresoever they met whereby other nations which were not subject to them grew the stronger and encreased through their two enmities and discords so that at the last they perceiving the dammages and wrongs they did themselves by persecuting one another and the triumphs and glory which other nations got grounding their happinesse and greatnesse upon their discord they agreed to use for a remedy the same meanes which God had used with these two nations which was that the Romans determined to give their daughters in marriage to the Sabines sonnes and the Sabines held it for an excellent good remedy to give their daughters unto the Romans sons that so by this mixture the evill might bee remedied the nations remain in peace and concord and it is certain that though the Romans remembred the wrongs injuries they had received at the Sabines hands that through this remembrance there might some appetite and desire of revenge be stirred up yet when they saw that if they executed their rage and fury they must doe it upon their owne blouds having their daughters amongst the Sabines they staied themselves from doing them any hurt which consideration served also for a bridle to the Sabines knowing that they could not use their swords against the Romans without spilling of their owne bloud and so by meanes of marriage and confederacy they forgot all passed enmity and remained intimate and hearty friends such and many other good things ought wee assuredly to hope for through the meanes and confederacy which God hath ordained between these two nations for they being linked together with so firme and effectuall a knot as matrimony we may be sure that Spaine having matched her daughter with the sonne of France they will quite forget all enmities rancors hatreds as hitherto have troubled their peace and quiet to their great wrong and dimunition of the renowne which they might have gotten if they had agreed and will unite themselves with such indissoluble and firme amity that there shall not be seen any signe or shadow of what is past and their wils will be so well ordered and disposed that neither of them will have any more intent to attempt warre persecution breach of faith or any other manner of deceit against the other each of them binding their hands to their girdles for feare of doing hurt and harming their owne bloud moreover none can imagine but that by this confederacy the antipathy and enmity which was will be quite extinguished and ended seeing that marriage in all respects both of law and reason ought to bee more powerfull and effectuall in subjects that are so noble generous prudent Christian and fearing God as these two nations are then amongst barbarous heathen and idolatrous people as the Sabines and the Romans were whereby all those who are well affected to these two nations may assuredly promise themselves and hope for so perfect and compleat a peace and agreement as the like hath not been seen in the world with all the fruits and properties that from it as proceeding from heaven may or ought lawfully to be hoped for In so happy a confederacy I contemplate the supreame and extraordinary love that God hath shewed to these two nations giving unto them the same meanes manner for peace and union as hee himselfe tooke when he was most at enmity with the world not onely Divines but others also know the continuall warre and enmity which was between God and man before the incarnation of the word they employing themselves in nothing else but in offending him with all the sinnes and wickednesse as they could neither feare nor shame nor any thing else being able to refraine their disordered appetites and these sins were so great that there could not be five righteous men found in Sodom no nor one to stay the vengeance of heaven but mans nature was so corrupted and depraved that God seeing their wickednesses and sins said in Genesis poenitet me fecisse hominem not that he repented for he being exceeding perfect was uncapable of griefe repenting change or imperfection but it was as if he had said I see humane nature so disobedient ungratefull and bent to evill that were I capable of repenting I should repent that I had created it so that at that time men did so obstinately contemne Gods commandements that they offended him without any care and on the other side God was extreame severe and rigorous in punishing of faults which the names that were then given him in holy Scripture may witnesse calling him the God of armies the God of vengeance the strong rigorous and severe God which titles were accompanied with the fury of his power as it was seen in the generall Deluge of the world in the fire which descended from heaven to punish Sodome in the number of the Jewes which hee caused Moses to kill when they worshipped the Calfe in the four hundred yeares that he kept his people in slavery in Egypt in the number of the Egyptians which he drowned in the red Sea and infinite other examples which the Scriptures teach us so that God doth nothing but punish and men nothing but offend So that seeing hee had created mankinde to save it and his divine goodnesse being more inclined to mercie and love then to justice and crueltie hee tooke pitty and compassion upon humane nature and determined to make a peace by meanes of the most glorious and admirable marriage as could be conceived which was to marry his Sonne the Divine Word unto our Daughter humane Nature and to unite himselfe with it so intrinsecally and perfectly that hee never left it nor will ever leave it as great Anselmus saith by which consederacie and hypostaticall union our nature was so extolled and favoured that it surpassed the spirituall degree of Angels from whose greatnesse as wee have said the first Angell tooke an occasion to rebell against his Creator By meanes of this divine supream league Gods justice and divine wrath was converted into mercie and compassion Mercie and Truth as David saith meeting and Peace and Justice giving each other sweet kisses Yet there remained in man an Obligation of never offending God but alwayes to serve him taking as a motive thereunto Gods extraordinary mercie and clemencie shewed to Man in espousing himselfe to humane nature our daughter so that in offending him besides the disloyalty and ungratefulnesse wee shew wee doe also offend our owne bloud and nature And by this selfe-same union was God moved to use sinners mercifully staying the rigour and punishment by reason of the matrimony which his Sonne contracted with our Nature holding it for a certaine that this great Advocate which we have in heaven with the Father which is Christ doth obtaine forgivenesse for our sinnes and in consideration of his merits the everlasting Father bestowes those favours and mercies upon us which we feel every day Hence it is that holy King David when hee implored the Divine favour was alwayes wont to say Protector noster aspice Deus respice in faciem Christi tui As if hee had plainly said God of my soule my stay my protector and only refuge look on me with the eyes of thy divine mercie but doe not looke immediately upon me for thou shalt see nothing but sinnes iniquities disobediences and wickednesses which will provoke thee to wrath and anger but cast thine eyes upon thy Sonne for seeing him wedded to my nature questionlesse thou wilt bee moved to mercie and compassion Finally with this miraculous league God remedied the enmity which was betweene man and him and left man fortified with eternall peace and amity All this may in some sort bee seene by the heavenly conjunction which God hath made betweene these two Nations which hee hath of his infinite mercie protected it being certaine and sure that they being united by divine meanes and invention they shall live in perpetuall peace and continuall concord triumphing over their enemies and leaving unto posterity memorable enterprizes and actions of Noblenesse and Generositie FINIS
THE ANTIPATHY betweene the French and Spaniard Englished By Robert Gentilys Sold by R Martine at the Venice in old Baly 1641 THE 〈◊〉 AND THE Spaniard OR of the world displayed in lively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 representing the Antipathy of their Humours and different Dispositions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Customes of both those Nations By R. G. Gent. LONDON Printed for 〈◊〉 at the Princes Armes in Pauls Churchyard TO THE RIGHT Worshipfull SIR PAUL PINDAR Knight YOur well known goodnesse which makes you admired praised by every one excited long since a desire in me to testifie unto the world and your self that though a stranger unto you yet I was not such a stranger in the city but that I had heard and taken notice of your daily pious and charitable workes So that this my translation being to goe forth into the view of the world I have made bold to dedicate it unto you for two causes The first my desire to make knowne unto you that you had an unknowne servant who had long wished for some opportunity whereby he might manifest the desire he had to tender his service unto you The second to make this poore worke more acceptable to the world by prefixing your beloved name in the front of it which is greater in the worlds esteeme Quam cui possit invidia nocere Your curteous and noble mind will I hope not disdaine the gift though so smal that it meriteth not so great a Patron I promising ere long to present you with something which shall bee mine owne invention So wishing you many happy daies fore-runners of eternal happinesse I rest Your Worships most devoted servant Robert Gentilis To the Reader TO obviate an Objection I thought good to write these few lines unto thee For it may bee said that the extolling of one is in some sort the vilifying of another and the glorious praises given in this book to the French and Spaniards may seeme a disparagement to our Nation But when I think upon that Prince who desirous to have a valiant man brought before him and one being presented unto him who had many scarres about him which were questionlesse tokens of his bold adventerousnesse said he had rather have had the man who gave those wounds I resolve my selfe that our Nation is rather commended and magnified by their praises then otherwise For if their conquests be so glorious what must the English renowne be who never could bee said to have had but the upper hand of either of them in all attempts or enterprises witnesse Histories Chronicles of all ages If the Authour have beene any thing hyperbolicall in their praises impute it to the Spanish phrase humour which cannot speake in a low stile or strain in your owne discretion accept of his meaning circumscribe his generalities As for example when he saith that these two great Monarchs protect defend others taxe him not with so much indiscretion as to imagine he meant all but onely such petty Princes Dukes as have their adherencies and dependancies upon them And not those who equall in power need not crave ayde of any but God either to defend or vindicate them So submitting my authour and my selfe to thy curteous censure I rest Thine if thou esteeme me worthy of thy favour R. G. The opposition and conjunction of the two great lights of the EARTH CHAP. I. That Peace and Vnion are Gods Attributes and the perfection of nature THAT supreame God who made the Heavens chroniclers of his glory and greatnesse to give us by his visible effects some knowledge and notice of the invisible treasure deposited in the deepe treasures of his owne omnipotency In all his operations as well internall or as the Divines doe terme them ad intra which are the generation of the word and production of the holy Ghost as also in the externall as the creation the providence the preservation and the like sheweth us that his most essentiall and proper attribute is Union Since the reall distinction admitted by sacred Divinity betweene the Divine persons is not sufficient to make the Son not to be the same with the Father and both one with the holy Ghost Nor doth that infinite variety of divers natures whereof this artificial frame of the world is composed besides the universall dependency which they have from one beginning refuse the bond of peace wherewith they are straightly joined together For proof of the first the efficacy wherewith the same God did so much give in charge and urge unto his chosen people the unity of his divine nature shall serve me for a concluding reason he saying unto them a thousand times Hearken O Israel thy God is one and one is his name Which wordes as they are most true and unreproovable witnesses of this truth shall save me a labour of proving it by naturall and theologicall reasons The second which is the dependency which all creatures have from one onely beginning may be plainly demonstrated by that which historicall Moses writ the beginning of his sacred history attributing the creation of the world to one sole cause Which truth that great Mercurius Trismegistus did also leave engraven in pure Emerald beeing there in followed by the whole troop of Philosophers who unanimously confessed one first cause eternall independent and immortall needing therein no other Tutor but onely the light of naturall reason And if any curious man should aske me the proof of the third point he may yeeld himselfe satisfaction by considering the streight bonds and intrinsecall union wherewith all natures doe linke themselves one with another untill they come unto the first linke from whence they were taken Nor let any one thinke this union and naturall concord of the creatures to be a borrowed perfection or accidentally belonging unto them seeing that the supreame architect who made all thinges deliberately and with wisdome and measure having set every one of them in their owne poste and place convenient for their natures gave unto them all joined together union for the center of their preservation And that so properly and intrinsecally that if the said union could be broken the whole frame of the world whose harmony consisteth in the reciprocall consonancy of all its parts would be brought to nothing He that shall with particular attention consider the seven rings or linkes whereof the chaine of this world is composed shall easily finde out this marvailous bond of union Beginning from the first and last which is God who though he be generally united to all creatures which live in him subsist by him and move through him yet by a more particular assistance he is united unto the Angelicall nature as the perfectest of all creatures This joyneth it selfe with the nature of the heavens which by reason of its incorruptibility is the most perfect next unto the Angelicall To the celestiall enterlaceth it selfe the elementall in whose linke consisteth the diameter of the chain as that which according
similitude and quality so wel both in the beginning middle and end that there is not the least tittle of difference For as for the beginning it is well knowne that they all came out of the dust or slime of the earth and that they were all borne naked and came into the world weeping The equality of the end may bee known by the universall attribute which all Adams posterity doe owe unto their birth Since that neitehr Scepter nor Miter could ever finde any Antidote or spell against death And as for the middle which is from the time of their birth untill death wee have already said with Iob that mans life is a continuall warfare full of all manner of afflictions and calamities as may bee devised or imagined And this is universall and common to all there being none exempt from crosses So that there being in man a perfect and totall similitude with all his particulars and all agreeing in one and the same degree of misery basenesse and calamity there being none in this more noble or priviledged then others we conclude that pride and persecuting of his like in man is a monster and prodigy of nature and a frenzy of the understanding Hee being by his basenesse bound to humble himselfe and by his equality tyed to love those of his owne species Whence I doe inferre that your naturallists doe with very good reason call the Lyon King of the Beasts and preferre him before other Beasts for generosity and strength because God made him advantaged and shewing oddes of the rest but by what reason can one man esteeme himselfe to bee more then another What prerogative or excellency did nature grant unto him which she denied to other men which being most certaine wee may securely say that a man which is proud and at enmity with another is worser then the Divell or to say better pride and ambition is not so unproper for the Divell as for man Because if Lucifer did pretend to set his throne above the starres to be like unto the most high and had other foolish fancies and rash propositions though hee had no true nor reall ground for it the creature being incapable of the creators perfection and noblenesse yet he saw and knew in himselfe some likelihood and colour for his unbridled appetite knowing himselfe immortall incorporeall and the most beautifull of all creatures being as Isaiah saith not onely a bright shining starre but Lucifer unto the morne and the most perfect of all other angelicall spirits Moreover the whole army of Divells is united and concordant in the persecution of the soule one not entermedling in the others office nor endeavouring to disturbe or crosse the temptation that another shall intend Whereby it is proved that man being the most abject and wretched creature and having nothing but what other men are also partakers of growing proud and persecuting another man hee goeth beyond the nature of a brute beast and is worser then the Divell himselfe CHAP. IV. Of the noblenesse of man THE conclusion of the precedent Chapter gives us great occasion to treate in this Chapter of the noblenesse of man and of his excellencies by reason of a motive any one may have to wonder at our last proposition wherein we concluded that man is the most abject imperfect and wretched creature of the world Which being considered at the first sight seemeth quite contrary to that which both Scripture and common Philosophy teacheth us Canonizing man for the noblest and perfectest creature And truely if we doe with particular attention consider that high sublime and lofty degree of noblenesse and perfection which man attained unto by that Hypostaticall union which the divine word made in the incarnation wee shall freely confesse that it is the noblest and perfectest of all creatures since the angelicall nature did not onely remaine inferior to it but also subject to adore it in Christs humanity Whence as some Doctors testifie the first Angell tooke occasion to rebell against his Creator not being able to brooke the exaltation of humane nature and the extraordinary and exquisite favors which by revelation hee knew God would communicate unto it Neither is that proofe which is ordinarily brought by them who thinke man inferiour to the Angell of any great force or power for whereas the vulgar translation saith Thou hast made him little lesse then the Angels the Hebrew hath it Thou hast made him little lesse then Eloim which according to some Rabbins interpretation signifies that man is little lesse then God because that the word Eloim signifies many times God and many times Angell And that exposition is not much out of purpose but grounded upon very good reason for if we attentively consider that marvellous union which God made with our nature we shall finde that Gods Epithetes were thereby so appropriated unto man that it may truly be said that man is little lesser then God which thing the Angell cannot glory in hee being deprived of so notable a favour And although in all creatures there bee in some fashion a certaine resemblance of God yet it is more perfect in man then in any of the rest since that in none but man is to be found the Word incarnate His composition consisting of Soule whose three powers are correspondent to the three divine persons and of body which united to the soule is correspondent to the divine Word in which are divinely united Body and Divinity And of all this the Angell is incapable because he is incorporeall The Divines call these perfections perfections of meere grace because that God would out of his will and mercie so favour this nature though shee could no way deserve it by any vertue or excellencie And in this all cōfesse that human nature is more noble then the Angelicall since God did not bestow so many favours upon the Angell as hee did upon man But if wee consider both these natures of themselves without any respect to grace many or almost all will say that the Angell is more perfect then man In the deciding of which question I cannot resolve my selfe but with a distinction Noting first that in man there are two things to be considered the Soule and the body Of the soule some say that it is of the same substance nature as the Angels are incorporeall and rationall as they but that is not a compleat substance as Logicians call it wherein it only differs from Angels Others ingulfing themselves into an abysse of Metaphysickes say that the Angell is more perfect then the soule since he is not subject to the imperfections and miseries of the soule and hath his will not indifferent to good or evill as the soule hath but onely frame himselfe to doe that which is good and just Which reason I cannot allow of For considering the Angell according to his owne nature or in puris naturalibus as Divines tearme it he is as indifferent to good or evill as the rationall soule
pretious stones the Carbuncle amongst colours Azure and amongst Nations the Spanish which is the modell and major of all the rest and that which hath in it selfe all the prerogatives and eminences and is the noblenesse of all the nations of the world CHAP. VIII That the French and Spanish Nation being the beginning of the other Nations naturally ought to be opposite IT beeing concluded in the precedent Chapter that the French and Spanish nations are the beginning and spring of all the other It must through necessary consequence follow that they ought to bee opposite and contrary as likewise the two great lights of heaven are upon which the discourse of this my booke is grounded The end of the contrariety which is in the heavenly ones being none other then the variety whereby the spacious garden of the world shewes faire and enamelled with divers colours with infinite variety of natures and kindes yet with such order and art that all united together seem nothing but individuum of one onely thing And so it was requisite that their influence and motion should be various and divers it being certaine that there can be no difference in the effects if the causes be not different which punctually belongs to these two nations which as the beginning and modell of the rest must have some contrariety in their ceremonies humours fashions of cloathing conversations and the like that other nations which looke on these in a glasse might be various and so humane nature by reason of the said variety should be beautified and delightfull And though this truth be cleare to any one that shall looke on it yet I will confirme it by Aristotles authority who saith that beginnings ought to be different saying when he defineth them that contraries or beginnings are they which are not made by any neither any of them is composed of the other but of them all things are made which definition squares excellent well with these two nations since we cannot say that they are composed of any other that is that they have taken any perfection vertue or noblenesse from them which were before them seeing it is plaine that since the creation of the world there never was any nation florishing in learning wit subtilty policie or other laudable exercises more then these two And so it seemes that God did with particuler providence make them in this world bestowing on them immediately with his owne hand those perfections which they have Neither can it be said that the one is composed of the other since that neither France takes anything from Spaine nor any way seeks to imitate it nor Spaine likewise from France yet other nations are composed of them receiving all the good they have from these two beginnings and fruitfull springs so that it agreeing so well with these two nations to be beginnings they ought also to be of their nature that is to be contrary I hold it certaine that this variety and opposition of nature which is in these two nations was by divine providence For if all were of one minde and one humour either all would stay at home and would have no desire to see the world or all would be wandring and forget their homes and families against the law of nature preservation of humane kinde and the effects of the world not have that beauty which is in them if they were all alike And therefore this being the pretended and in the creation of the universe God made these two beginnings and nations so contrary and shared all favours and graces amongst them so equally that the one cannot prevaile against the other like two contraries of equall vertue that cannot overcome one the other Neither let any one deceive himselfe so farre as to thinke that the contrariety which is in these two nations as originalls be any imperfection but that it is in them the greatest excellenlency that may be seeing that if we consider it well they have no other end then peace and preservation it being a thing infallible that since they cannot overcome nor conquer one another by reason of the equality strength and valour they will preserve not onely themselves but these nations also which depend on them It being most certaine that a Province favoured and protected by Spaine shall not be destroied by France nor likewise by Spaine any nation favoured by the French And therefore wee shall finde that this contrariety is ordained for the peace and preservation of the world and if God had not made these two originall these two nations contrary and communicated unto them their valour with full equality I verily beleeve that a great part of the world would be left for if God had not tempred the fury and violence of the French with farre degrees lesse of Spanish patience and solidity they would questionlesse be soveraigns of the world And contrariewise if Spanish patience were not mixed with a slow and flegmatick deliberation there is no doubt but they would bring all the kingdomes of the earth in subjection And that therefore God who with an equall ballance measure and wisedome made all thinges sweetly disposing of them ordained that the world should be preserved in peace by meanes of this contrariety dividing the goods so equally betweene these two Nations that that which the one wanted the other abounded in that so like two perfect originals they might give peace and preservation unto other Nations This Philosophy wil not seem harsh to them who shall consider in the foure Elements the contrariety and order wherewith they mix themselves to produce and preserve those things which are composed of them for hee shall in them finde their qualities tempered and divided with such art that the one hath that which the other wants God gave the Element of fire heat as the Philosophers call it in summo and drinesse inremisso For if it were extreame as the heat it would with its power and activity destroy all the other And therefore to withstand that disorder he left the fire with a remisnesse If the earth had coldnesse in extreame as it hath drynesse it would by reason of its clamminesse hardnesse be intractable and altogether incapable of compounding any mixt He left the water with a remisse humidity giving the same to the ayre in summo So that with this distribution of qualities God made them originals of peace and preservation The same art did hee use in these two Nations for he gave the French the extreame of valour force and gentilenesse yet accompanyed with the remisse of variability and inconstancy He placed in the Spaniard courage stability and constancy in a supreame degree but tempered with a remisse deliberation I would lay open the point more diffusedly if I did not feare thereby to animate by telling of the truth the two nations one against the other who will not confesse that they have any thing in a remisse degree but all perfection in summo And so we are