was indifferent to create or not to create therefore there was in the instant of the creation some thing that restrained this his indifferency But we may answer That there was no such indifferency as they talke of God hauing from all eternity purposely determined at this time to beginne the worke of the creation So that vnto the fore-mentioned demand of the Atheist why God deferred the creating of the world vntill this moment of time we may answer that of the choise of this time rather then any other for this his worke there can no other reason be giuen but his most free-will that in his decree of creation restrained and bound it selfe to this time rather than vnto any other Now if they shall reply that we are not to imagine Gods will vnreasonable and therefore no doubt there was some reason that mooued him to this limitation of his will we may answer That we doe not deny but God had some reason though not without himselfe of this his prorogation Nay we may without offence goe so farre as to giue some reason of this dilation in generall That God would not from euerlasting create the world to shew the independency of his existence in regard of the creatures as also to giue vs vnderstand that not for any hope of benefit which should proceed to him from the creatures he vndertooke this worke but rather as it is the property of goodnesse to communicate it selfe out of the ouerflowing fountaine of his indefectiue goodnesse to deriue some commodity vnto vs his creatures for hee that could so long be without vs might without any inconueniency vnto himselfe for euer haue continued in that state of lonelinesse So that of the deferring of the creation in generall there may be a reason giuen but why hee began at this time rather than at any other either before or after there is no other reason but his owne free-will knowen vnto vs. But heere ariseth a doubt whether God could haue begun sooner or put off longer this worke of creation The answer is that he could by his potential and absolute power he could not by his actuall and conditionall For Gods power hath a two-fold consideration the one absolute without regard of any his decrees whatsoeuer whereby he is able to do all euen those things that he will not the other conditionall ioined with the consideration and respect of his will whereby he is able to doe all things which hee will and onely those things which he will God therefore respected without his decree was able sooner or later to create the world but if we consider him together with his purpose hee could not either haue preuented or deferred this his intended worke of the creation Nor do we heereby robbe God of his freedome or binde him to any part of the contradiction but if hee bee bound sure hee hath bound himselfe hauing this law onely prescibed him that he denie not himselfe that is indeed to take away his Godhead But if God would not from euerlasting make the world how is he not changed in his will The answer is that God would from euerlasting make the world but he would not make the world from euerlasting that is in plainer tearmes God had from euerlasting a will and purpose to create the world but it neuer was his will that the world should haue a coeternall being with himselfe so that Gods will is stil the same altogether vnaltered But they farther vrge this argument demanding how God by an euerlasting and old action of his wil could in time create the world anew remaining himselfe vnchangeable To which we may answer that a continued action of his will how ancient soeuer executing onely that which he before intended may well stand without admission of alteration as for example If the purpose of my will to day be to iourney toward London the next weeke which also according vnto purpose I performe will any man say my will is changed In like sort God from euerlasting decreeing to create the world at such a time if at the time purposed this his decree be put in execution is not thereby changed Nay rather he is thereby to be thought more vnchangeable for as much as he performeth that which before he did determine Why but say they God is not freed from alteration because that of a Non-creator hee was made a Creator The answer is That God was not heereby changed albeit there was indeed some change though improperly so called when as the world proceeded frō not being vnto being for the succession of a being after a not being importeth some alteration thogh not in the author of the new being but rather in the thing that receiued that being we shall make it plaine by this supposition Let vs imagine a vault or other close place so fenced from the Sunne beames that no light not the least glimmering can pierceit which afterward by digging or some such meanes may haue passage made thorough it for the Sunnes accesse would we say that the Sunne were by this meanes altered because it inlightneth a place which before was full of darknesse Euen so and much more so God the fountaine of Light whose Spirit moouing vpon the waters whereas before there was darknesse vpon the face of the deepe enlightned that darknesse distinguishing those things which before were confusedly mixed or rather bringing them from nothing to this their perfection is not at all altered but still remaineth the same euer vnchangeable And indeed if euery new worke of God should make him changeable how should hee not be often changed creating daily the soules of now liuing men For to say they haue being before their ioining vnto the body is plainly hereticall and Origen was in that behalfe accused of a verie grosse error Nor is it likely nor yet indeed possible they should come by traduction or propagation from our parents For our soules being as the Angels are Spirituall substances are as farre from that abilitie of procreation as the Angels are those supernaturall celestiall creatures and there is the like reason for both The Angels by reason of their spiritualitie are void and vncapable of procreation mens soules also being no lesse spirituall than the Angels are also vnfit for procreation therefore one soule begets not another much lesse comes it of a corporall seed it selfe being spirituall It remaines therefore that they are then anew created by God and so coupled vnto their bodies Neither is God for this cause changed seeing as is aforesaid he doth now onely put in execution that which before he had in intention and therefore to conclude this whole argument with that saying of Hugo de Sancto Victore Gods will was eternall and the worke of his will was temporary for alwaies euen from Eternitie he had a will to create the world yet neuer was he purposed to make the world from euerlasting but his purpose and will was to make that in time which hee purposed
be abolished and the same substance indued with a more glorious condition To which accordeth that of Dauid Psa 102. They shall perish but thou shalt indure they shall all wax old as doth a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall bee changed plainely signifying that the perishing of the creatures shall be onely an alteration which God shall bring vpon them Now to that fruitlesse question of the heauens motion or rest we may answer probably that they shall haue an end of moouing for their motion being ordained onely for ordering things below especially for continuance of their generation seeing all propagation of the species in liuing creatures as also mutuall procreation in the elementish liuelesse bodies being ended to what purpose should the heauens mouing longer indure Which may also semblably be answered touching the action and passion of the elements as also for the being of things compounded of their mixture as plants and sensible creatures being things ordained onely for mans helpe and sustenance who in that blessed state of immortality without the least defect shall neede no such supply of his wants which quiet restfull estate of these vnder-bodies is not as some haue fondly imagined to be attributed onely vnto the quiet rest of the heauens for when at the praiers of Ioshua the Sunne stood still and with it the rest of the celestiall bodies vnlesse we imagine the whole course of them to haue beene peruerted yet ceased not the naturall actions of things below for euen at that time did Ioshua fight But the true cause of their rest from motion is the will of the first cause without whose adiuuant-fellow-working the secundary causes are quite disabled to performe their functions From hence therefore namely from the certainety of the worlds dissolution we thus reason for our maine position For if the world vncapable of eternity haue a limited time of endurance which it cannot passe then hath man also his continuance bounded at least within compasse of the worlds lasting For location being a thing inseparable from existence the world mans habitation and mansion house being dissolued man the principall inhabitant must haue aioynt and fellow dissolution But for the more through-handling of this vndoubted truth our purpose is more particularly to treat thereof therefore to leaue this farre fetched though not impertinent reason taken from the worlds ineuitable destruction we will come to a neerer and more proper disquisition holding our selues within the compasse of mans owne nature I haue read of a late liuing learned Physitian Paracelsus by name who had such confidence in the absolute perfection of his skill that he doubted not to professe himselfe able by Physicke to preserue a man in so perfect a temperature that he should neuer die by sicknesse but his owne hastie leauing of his life was confutation sufficient of his either false ostentation or extreme madnesse For himselfe either not able which bewraied his vnskilfull impotencie or els vnwilling which shewed his wilfull folly ere he came to the prime of his age before he was thirtie yeeres old ended his daies learning at length by his owne experience that arte can neuer ouercome the necessitie of nature nor mans cunning preuent or preuert the decrees of the destinies But to the matter in hand the question is whether man by nature is subiect vnto death the end of nature To which we answer that mans nature hath a double consideration first in the incorrupt stare and puritie of creation secondly in the degenerated condition of corruption which although it were altogether vnknowen vnto the Gentilish Philosophers yet is its consideration in part Philosophicall therefore not wholly to bee omitted Now in the first cōsideration of nature we answer negatiuely forasmuch as vndefiled nature was vncapable of the soules separation from the bodie betweene which there was so absolute and perfect an harmony and consent that as the vnderfaculties of the soule were in subiection to the reasonable and most principall part thereof without the least iarre and disagreement so fared it in the bodie though compounded of the contrarie natures of the foure elements yet so wel tempered by proportion that there could bee no obseruance of the least discord But after that mans pride set abroch by the diuels suggestion ventred to taste of the forbidden fruite for desire of knowledge the light of reason being the life of the soule ouercast by the vnauoidable cloudes of ignorance there grew a disagreement and quarrell among the subiect inferior parts of the soule from whence followed the warre of the elements in the bodie neuer to bee ended till the field were lost by blood and therefore excellent was the speech of the Frier Ferus The diseases of the bodie came from sinne the soules sicknesse the death of the body from the death of the soule and who dares say the dealing is vnequall that hee should incurre the death of the body who wilfully reiected the life of the soule or who marueils that the diuell by Gods sufferance tormenteth the bodie with diseases that gaue the diuell a place of dwelling in his soule so that the death of the bodie being the separation of the soule from the bodie was a punishment inflicted for mans wilfull sequestration of himselfe from God and it is a good collection more then coniecturall that the bodie had neuer beene subiect to the corruption of destruction had not the soule beene tainted with the corruption of defiling Man therefore in his primarie state of creation was not naturally subiect vnto death but in the defiled condition of corrupted nature death is become ineuitable and therefore Thales Milesius one of the seuen wise men was wont to say that there was no difference betweene a mans life and his death being both things agreeable vnto nature and thence proceeded their resolute contempt of death because they thought it was ineuitable whereupon the Epicure himselfe considering the ineuitablenesse of deaths comming was as Maximus witnesseth wont to say that against other things we must finde some defence and remedie onely death was vnresistable our bodie the vndefenced citie of our soule being all vnsufficient to withstand the violent assaults of death But to leaue the infinite testimonies of the learned grounded vpon so long experience let vs deale with reasons more artificiall and shew this trueth first in particular that euery man hath his endurance dated which he cannot passe afterward goe vnto the species to declare it also in the whole kinde The principall and maine reason is taken from his composition for man consisting of a matter and a forme as doe also the other bodily liuing creatures though the spirituall substance of his soule be immortall yet his body being made of the first matter whose inseparable companion is a desire of change there must of necessitie follow dissolution for God and nature according to our presupposition doing nothing in vaine this insatiable appetite of receiuing newe formes shall
manifold turmoiles and dangers of our fore-spent life the good giftes and indowments of our minde as we see it fall out in the fruites of Nature receiue a kind of seasonable and timely ripenesse Our old age hee resembleth vnto the colde and troublesome winter season very fitly thereby expressing the cumbersome coldnesse of the latter end of our life Aristotle setteth downe onely three distinct ages child-hood floursshing man-age and old-age the first plentifully abounding with heat and moisture the middle age hauing the same two qualities of life aswell tempered as their nature possibly can be old age declining and swaruing from that good and moderate temper and by little and little decaying in both these qualities till at length they be both of them consumed Now that our life is thus often and thus in order changed in the temperature it will easily appeare if we consider the matter whereof we are all made and that is semen sanguis parentum both abounding with heat and moisture whereout ariseth this consequence that in the first entrance into life wee haue groatest store of those two liuely qualities which decay not but by length of time and that in our infancie wee are fullest of moisture our experience and sense teacheth vs for so we see infants flesh most fluid and almost of a waxen disposition ready to receiue impression of any light touch and as for heat Galen and Hippocrates both consent that man is most hot in the first day of his birth though by reason of the great store of moisture the heats power doth not so euidently appeere and because the heat without any the least intermission or pause worketh vpon our moisture and by little and little consumeth it it selfe also in time decaying who seeth not that the best part of our life euen necessarily is most cold and drie whence also this may be inferred that the space between the two extremes is most temperate forasmuch as Nature neuer passeth from one extreme vnto the other but by the meane and this is the warrant of Aristotles tripartite diuision of ages the seuerals are thus briefly defined Childhood is the first part and age of a mans life wherein their generation and growth is perfected and this lasteth for the most part vntill wee be fiue and twentie yeeres old and this age is proportionable vnto the Spring hot and moist for in this time our naturall heat supplieth greater store of vitall aerie moisture from the nourishment receiued than was spent of that our naturall store thence it is that within compasse of this time our bodies grow bigger and taller But according to the successiue decay and diminution of our heat and moisture it hath pleased antiquitie to point out certaine degrees of this first age the first is our infancie and that lasteth vntil the third or fourth yeere of our life and is alwaies best stored with moisture the next is our boy hood and that lasteth other fiue yeeres the third our budding and blossoming age when our cheekes and other more hidden parts begin to be clothed with that mossie exerement of haire which is proroged vntill the eighteenth yeere the last our youth lasting vntill we be fiue and twentie yeeres old and these are the parts of our growing age The next is our flourishing and middle age and this is when a man is come to the highest degree of perfection in the temper of his body continueth in that flourishing liuelinesse without any notorious decay or impairing his heat supplying the iust quantity of moisture from the nourishment which in the former action of it was consumed and this is compared to the Summer hot and drie or rather moderately moist drie onely in comparison of the former age not simplie lest the heat should too soone dissolue the body and this also hath it parts the first is our youth for so the penurie of our English toong warranteth me to call it when our growth is staied and our naturall heat beginneth to be most flourishing you may call it our Prime for then indeed are wee in our prime and most flourishing estate it lasteth from the fiue and twentieth to the fiue and thirtieth or fortieth yeere of our life the second part of our middle age is our Manhood the most constant and setled part of our life as hauing our lifequalities most firme and in greatest mediocritie wherein notwithstanding our naturall heat beginnes a little to decay and decline from its vigour yet so as it cannot by sense be perceiued and this lasteth oftentimes till we be fiftie yeeres old The last is old age when not onely the augmentatiue facultie of the soule ceaseth to increase the quantitie of our bodies but also by reason of our heats and moistures decay there is a manifest declining from our former lustinesse and liuelihood our bodily strength together with the weake and feeble operations of our soule in her functions sensiblie impaired And this last part of our life is resembled vnto Winter for that although it be in it self hot and moist as life consisteth wholly in these two qualities yet in comparison of the former ages and in regard of death vnto which it leadeth vs is accounted cold and this hath also its degrees or parts the first wherein our strength and heat are euidently impaired yet not so much but that there remaineth a will and readinesse to bee doing and this lasteth vsually from our fiftieth yeere vnto our three-score and fiue The second part of this last part of our life which they call decrepit old age is when our strength and heat is so farre decaied that not onely all abilitie is taken away but euen all willingnesse to the least strength and motion of our bodie and this is the conclusion and end of our life resembling death it selfe whose harbinger and fore-runner it is and so haue we seuen seuerall parts of our life comprising our Pubertatem and adolescentiam vnder one accordingly whereto the Astrologers haue assigned to euerie of them their peculiar predominant Planet our Infant age is allotted to the Moones milde and moist dominion cherishing vs with her sweet influence which she hath especially vpon moist bodies our Boy-hood Mercury hath charge ouer inclining vs to sportfulnesse talke and learning Venus guides our blossomming lustfull age our youthfull prime by the Sunnes liuely operation is lifted vp from base delights to a loftier and more man like resolution and liuelinesse Mars the sterne god of warre hath the precincts of his dominion limited within compasse of our man-age adding courage to our liuelihood and whetting our otherwise dull spirits vnto a more ventrous boldnesse in quarrelling combats Old age from Iupiter receiueth granitie and staiednesse Decrepit crooked age from the angrie aspect of drie Saturne sucketh the poisonous infirmities of crasie sicknesse and waiward pettishnesse and this is briefly the summarie explication of the differences of mans ages and the causes of this distinction together with those
properties which the Astrologians mystically and darkly haue propounded as proper and peculiar to euery and all of them to which if we adde the exposition of some few problemes incident to this Treatise wee will presently annex our Epilogue The first doubt is What the reason may be of our crying and lamenting at our very first entrance into the world There are that attribute this mourning vnto a diuining and naturall forefeeling as it were of the calamities to come but I rather thinke it ariseth from those infirmities and griefes which wee presently feele aswell for want of some good thing which we desire as also for some mislike and greeuance of some incumbent miserie as first that violent motion from that before so quietly inioied bedde as it were in the wombe Secondly the straight narrownesse of that passage by which wee enter into the world Thirdly the cold and hungrie intertainment which we haue driuen out of our warme harbour in the close imperceiueable habitation of our mothers wombe and barred of that nourishment which we before had vncessantly ministred vnto vs and thence is it that presently we betake our selues to that dary-house of nature euen by a naturall instinct and direction where when wee haue well battled our selues by the enwrapping in our clothes are armed against the colde aires iniuries our begunne lamentations are pacified and turned into a quiet contentednesse Secondly it may be demanded why children in their sucking age are naturally more giuen vnto sleepe then when they be of more ripe yeeres The reason is natures mother-like prouidence that for the better strengthening and speedier perfection of her of spring vseth this as a meanes to increase the vertue and operation of the heat and for that purpose hath stored their head with moist vapours fitted through their rarity and thinnesse for the braines coole operation vpon them For as vnited forces are strongest either for assault or resistance so the scattering discontinuity of the thin vapours is an occasion of the colds easier impression and so of their thickning better stopping of the passages of the spirits vnto the outward senses Another cause may be the braines coldnesse as hauing in so little time receiued no great annoiance from the stomacks distemperature it selfe also abounding with moistuure fit matter for procuring of sleepe Thirdly the good digestion of that mild milkie substance whence ascendeth into the head the soundest and most pure exhalations And therfore are their sleepes for the most part without any the least painefulnesse and molestation whereas contrarily we see surcharged stomackes breed vnquiet sleepes Thirdly the question may be why the naturall vitall actions as nutrition augmentation and such like are in infants so powerfull and those other of sense so feeble and vneffectuall The answer is that the good performance of those actions of life dependeth principally vpon our naturall heat For our soule the prince of our body hath assigned to our heat the administration and ordering of that prouince no maruell therefore if those duties be well performed in our infancy when the author of them is at that time most powerfull and plentifull Now the reason of the senses weake operation is the fewnesse of spirits deputed to that function for the instrumentall spirits of sense being to be made in the shop or worke-house of the braine by the braine that excellent spirituall artificer the workeman howsoeuer he bee his craftsmaster as hauing beene Natures Apprentice yet by reason of his imbeeillity and weakenesse is not able in so short space to make many or at least not so forceable instruments as may serue for the high function duty of the soule To which we may adde the abundance of moisture wherewith the celles of the braine are in our infancy ouerflowen hindring the actions of the soules sensitiue parts and dulling her thereto ordained faculties Where also wee haue opportunity to resolue a fourth doubt why children haue so slippery and short memories The reason thereof is their braines too great humidity whereby it is disabled to keepe the impressions of the outward senses obiects For there are two especiall annoiances of the braine that hinder our memoratiue faculties immoderate drinesse and too great moisture For the excesse of drought causeth excesse of hardnesse to resist the impressions And therefore it is that old men for the most part haue so bad memories their naturall moisture being by the heats long continued operation almost wasted And Galen in his treatise of the memories failing because of drinesse maketh mention of a Student that through immoderate watching and studiousnesse had so excessiuely dried his braine that he had almost quite lost his remembrance as also of an husbandman that by too much paines in that his painefull vocation and the slendernesse of hungry-fare was in danger of the like forgetting inconuenience And as drinesse by not admitting the impression is an impediment to the memory so is also too much moisture by not preseruing the imprinted species For so see we water howsoeuer most yeelding yet least fit to retaine any figure imprinted Children therefore so moist brained must needes be short remembranced The next question is Whether speech be naturall or wholly from discipline The answer is that it is naturall as vertue and other good habits be nature hauing giuen a disposition and fitnesse together with instruments fit for that purpose But as wax howsoeuer capable of any impression by reason of its pliable nature yet without the putting to of some outward seale hath no actuall print or resemblance of any thing so our nature though as fit to receiue any thing taught as wax is to receiue impression from the seale yet without the helpe of some outward instructer is not actually and fully indowed with any how proper so euer a quality especially such as are auailable for knowledge In the which kind this of speech hath a speciall prerogatiue but lest I should seeme to bee needlessely busied in this question I referre the Reader for his farther satisfaction to that excellent French Poet Du Bartas in his Babylon Englished by master William L'isle A sixt question is Why children in their infancie haue no actuall euident vse of their reason The cause is the abundance of moisture incident to that age whereby the functions of the inward senses as with a cloud are either obscured or els quite hindred whence was that forementioned speech of the learned Plato That there is a little mixture of folly and moisture in men and therefore Galen was woont to say that flegme the most waterish of all bumors was little or nothing profitable for the attainment of learning In the seuenth place it is demanded why children most fretfull are vsually shortest liued the reason is their plentie of heat in comparison of their small store of moisture for therfore are cholericke complexioned men most pettish because their blood is by the fiery heat of that humor so soone inflamed wherupon the
Eternall which neither had beginning nor shall haue end and such is God alone who onely being immutable subiect to none no not the least alteration is therefore only from euerlasting to euerlasting for that cause termed in holy writ the Ancient of daies amongst the old Egyptians resembled to a decrepit-old-man and pourtraied like a youth in the prime of his flourishing yeares by that first Image signifying his long continuance from before by the second his liuelinesse and immunity from all manerdefect and alteration by cancred corrupting time For as his power is infinite extended not onely to all things in the world but euen vnto things which are not as first hee made all things of nothing as his greatnesse is vnmeasurable not limited or bounded by any place or compasse and therefore said to haue his centrum vbique from which the essence of al things is drawen as lines and where they end and are all conioyned his circumference no where finally as all his attributes are infinite and immeasurable so is his continuance altogether boundlesse Wherefore not to enter at all into this inextricable Labyrinth of Gods infinite continuance let vs proceed vnto the next part of the distinction Beside God who is onely Eternall there are other things in a middle degree tearmed by the moderne Philosophers Euiternall hauing beginning from God the fountaine of being yet without end either of annihilation or corruption such are all spirituall creatures Angels and the Soules of men Where notwithstanding there is a doubt to be answered For in the whole Historie of the Creation recorded by Moses we finde no mention of the making of Angels nor any word of them till the narration of the Womans treacherous seduction by the diuel in the serpent so that either they were not created and so were from euerlasting or else Moses his Chronicle is in this point defectiue But wee may well answer that they had a beginning seeing that eternity is Gods peculiar attribute and the same though inclusiuely expressed by Moses in his booke of beginnings for by Heauen is signified not onely the body of heauen but the things also therein contained Now of the indirect and inclusiue mention made of these admirable creatures there may this reason be giuen The men of those times being very superstitious and giuen vnto Idolatry for the Egyptians euen at that time worshipped the Sunne the hosts of heauen Moses fearing to giue new occasion to their false will-worship of purpose refrained from expresse mentioning of their names or natures in his history For if these bodily visible creatures wrung from them such diuine worship the Angels by how much more excellent their nature is would haue so much the more added new fewell to their begun fire of superstition Secondly lest the detractory Nature of corrupted man should haue ascribed some part of the glory of the worlds creation to those heauenly creatures the wise pen-man of this excellent story of purpose concealed what hee knew either of their Creation or Nature so that Moses his history is in this regard not defectiue howsoeuer giuing no expresse notion of the creation of Angels Neither are the Angels though most excellent creatures void of beginning there being but one thing which one made all things of it selfe eternall The third degree is of those things that had both beginning with time and shal haue their end in time such are all bodily creatures as well simple as mixt although touching the celestiall bodies there be some doubt Now as concerning the world the question is to which of these three kinds it may and ought to be referred And I finde three seuerall opinions The first is of them that make the world eternall wanting beginning and incapeable of end The second of them that grant both beginning and end of being There is a third sect that parts these two opinions affirming that it had a beginning and shall haue no end But lest wee sticke in the words let vs in one word or two set downe the sense and meaning of the Question and because that crror is the child of confusion distinguish the things doubtfull lest through the equiuocation of the words by mistaking wee come vnto a contrary sense By the world therfore sometime is meant the whole compasse of things that are as well spirituall as bodily extended in this sense euen vnto God himselfe Secondly it is taken for all things only God excepted euen the whole worke of the Creation excluding no creature how excellent soeuer no not the Angels Thirdly it signifieth onely the circuite of bodily Creatures whether you interpret bodily things to be such as haue bodies as parts of them or such as though in regard of composition haue no bodies yet haue their being onely in creatures bodily as those things which we call Accidents For the first acception it concerneth not our purpose For Nature it selfe excludeth God from all kinde of beginning and it is a principle both in reason and in religion that God is from euerlasting In the second sense wee may take it comprehending all things both spirituall and bodily for euen the Angels as is before said had their beginning by creation but we rather hold our selues vnto the last signification as being most vsually meant by those that handle this controuersie And this also according to its threefold consideration hath three seuerall acceptions For first it is taken for that Idaea type preconceiued of the Maker God by which he was ruled and directed in the building thereof And this is tearmed by Plato the Ideal or exemplary world as it were the copie which God followed in the creation whereby if he vnderstand Gods decree to create we may without error entertain it otherwise it is somwhat harsh for we are not to imagine that God needeth any long premeditate or fore-conceiued type of his workes as our finite artificers do but as his wisedome and power is infinite so doth hee in an vnutterable manner at the same moment deuise the manner and performe the worke and yet not rashly but most wisely and with great deliberation For as he said in another sense so may I say in this case One day with God is as a thousand yeares and a thousand yeares as one day length of time adding nothing to his ability and wisedome nor fewnesse of daies any way detracting from the perfection of his workemanship Secondly it is taken for the vniuersity of things contained within the compasse and cope of heauen and earth now really and actually subsisting and this is called of Plato the world reall as hauing an actuall and externall being in Nature not onely in conceit and intention Thirdly man is called the lesser world in regard of that perfect analogie and similitude betwixt him and this greater world wherein there is nothing whose likenesse and resemblance may not be seene in man and this you may call the Analogicall world Now by the world in our question we
Indeed say they whatsoeuer is compounded of such a matter as this is of the sublunary creatures is subiect vnto corruption but the heauens haue a matter of a different and farre more excellent state than these vnder elements and that is the sum and foundation of Aristotle his opinion and reason touching the heauens incorruptible condition But we that make one matter of both may thus somewhat probably answer That though such a matter is alway accompanied with a capablenesse of corruption yet may it by some superior ouerruling power be preserued from all actuall cotruption And so standeth the case with the heauens which neuer had beene able of themselues so long to haue continued without alteration but by the helpe of some higher power not as the Peripateticks and Platonicks fondly imagine the Angels or Intelligences which Alcinous calleth Lesser gods but by the soueraigne appointment of God who to moderate and stay the too frequent and ouerhastie alteration of the vnder bodies hath allotted the heauens this regularity and vniformitie of motion But heere they will demand a reason what hath so fulfilled the matters desire of interchangeable succession of formes that it remaineth contented with that forme which it presently inioyeth The answer is That either the excellencie of the forme present causeth this contentment or els Gods appointment ouerswayeth its desire How then Are we Patrons or rather Authours of violence in those excellent agreeing bodies Nay rather by the limitation of the matters vnstayed indifferencie we doe more establish that their excellent harmonie For as in a city situate on the confines of two disagreeing kingdomes of it selfe inclining to neither side but indifferent for entertainment of either conquering aduersarie if after valourous conquest performed by one partie it yeeldeth it selfe to the vanquishers dominion and by the prouident industrious care of the new superuisor be fortified against the violent irruption of the forevanquished aduersaries by this new restraint of its old indifferencie suffereth no violence but rather is confirmed in a quiet and peaceable condition within it selfe so the matter of the celestiall bodies howsoeuer naturally indifferent to entertaine any forme if by the conquering action of some preuailing Agent it be possessed of so excellent and powerfull a forme as admits of no outward new impression in this limitation of its equall instable for disposition is not any way violenced but rather fitter for the intended harmonie of the celestiall bodies And that may serue for a sufficient reason of the hitherto-incorrupted condition of the celestiall bodies Now touching their future estate we shall after dispute if first wee haue their fourth argument for disproofe of the matter as also the substance of their opinion Auerroes therefore saith that heauen is a forme of a selfe-subsistence immaterial dimensional locally mooueable participating light and other accidents wherein me thinketh is a plaine contradiction for to omit the disquisition whether any forme can consist without matter what is more absurd then to imagine quantitie really separate from the matter quantitie hauing its basis and foundation in the matter and onely limitation from the forme farther whatsoeuer is capable of real diuision hath this capabilitie that I may so terme it from the matter Reall diuision I say for the Mathematicians proportionably to their mentall abstraction or separation of quantitie haue also a mentall diuision but whatsoeuer hath quantity is capable of such a diuision therefore also it hath a matter Ouer and beside all this whatsoeuer is perceiueable by sense hath a matter for the forme of nothing can be perceiued by sense but is vnderstood and conceiued by its operation in the matter but the heauen is sensible therefore also materiall To this adde Auerroes his owne testimonie set downe in his Comment vpon Aristotle his seuenth booke of Metaphysicks wherein himselfe confesseth that accidents are inseparable companions of the first Matter but the heauen by his owne authoritie in the first alleaged place hath in it light and other accidents inherent how then is it altogether voide of matter Other arguments taken from the inherencie of qualities peculiarly incident vnto things materiall for breuities sake I omit hastning to the second Patrons of the heauens immortalitie that doe acknowledge a composition of a matter and a forme in the celestiall bodies but will haue it a different and a distinct kinde from the elementish matter of the vnder bodies Touching the sense of the question Plato and some of his followers in this error interpret it as if when we say the heauens consist of elementary matter wee meant that they are so compounded of the elements as are mixt bodies heere below whereupon some of the more ancient sectaries in this kinde as Heraclitus and Pythagoras thought that it was made of fire Thales and Anaximenes of earth Empedocles of a medley of aire and fire Plato himselfe of the foure elements or as Proclus recordeth his opinion of the quintessence of them whose refutation we omit as impertinent vnto our purpose for our meaning is not that the elements are the matter whereof the heauens be made but thus we vnderstand it that the matter of the Ethereall and Elementish bodies is of the same kinde the whole first matter being diuided into these principal parts as into halfes the one halfe vnited vnto the formes celestiall the other halfe coupled vnto the formes of the elements and so as I conceiue is that place in the beginning of Genesis to be vnderstood where it is said that In the beginning God created the Heauen and the Earth that is the matter whereof heauen and the elements were afterwards made signified vnto vs by the name of those waters wherupon the spirit of God was mooued and mee thinketh the argument is very sound which is commonly alleged by our partakers for as in other kindes of causes there is one first principall whereunto all the rest are reduced so also in this kinde of the Matter there being the like reason of al. But if we distinguish the Matter of the heauens frō that of the elements we can not come to one first Matter of al things therefore there is the same Matter both of the celestial inferior bodies to which we may adde that thredbare argument of the Philosophers Wit hout necessity we must not imagine a pluralitie in Nature forasmuch as Nature abhorreth vanitie but there is no necessitie of the matters pluralitie for the maine ground of this distinction for ought that I can see is lest they should bee forced to grant a power in the heauens tending to corruption which as is before said hath no necessary illation forasmuch as the excellency of the forme present restraineth the wandring indifferent desire of the matter resisting the violent impression of forren qualities that should breed rebellion of the subiect creatures against their commander the heauens But touching their reasons in my poore opinion they are very insufficient for first thus they dispute The
formes of the sublunary bodies may be separated from their matter but the heauens forme is vnseparable when in my iudgement they proue rather a distinction of formes than any diuerfity of the matter Or if they thence prooue a diuersity of matter because the formes incident are of greater and lesse excellency one in respect of an other we may as well say that the body of a man is of distinct matter from that of the other more base creatures because his form is so passing excellent Or if they restraine their comparison onely to the power of separation that because the matter of the heauens is ioyned inseparably to the forme when contrariwise the elementish matter hath often separation therefore there is not the same matter of both wee answer that the same matter in kinde may so inseparably bee vnited to its forme as that it can neuer be seioyned not that we deny a power of future separation of the heauens matter from the present forme but that this may bee a sufficient reason of their hitherto inseparable vnion A second argument is that of Aristotle saith he whatsoeuer things participate the same matter are capable of mutable transmutation but the heauens can neuer bee changed into the inferior bodies for somuch as the elements are altogether passiuely disposed for receit of the heauens action without any reaction vpon the heauens therefore there is not the same matter of both To which we answer that the proposition or first sentence must be vnderstood of a potentiall transmutation and that with this exception vnlesse the matters imperfectiō be perfected by the formes inherent excellency or resistance be made of some superiour forme to turne away the violence of the oppugning agent We say that the forme now being in the heauens is of so powerfull and vnconquerable a nature as that no naturall contrary agent is able to compasie any the least new impression Thirdly thus they reason Were the heauens of the same matter with the bodies of the elements then in like fort should they at least by nature be corruptible but the corruption is altogether abhorrent from the heauens nature To which assumption Damascen answers by a flat deniall for euen the heauens in his Philosophie are naturally subiect to corruption To which accordeth that of Plato in his Timaeus that attributes the heauens incorruptiblenes to a superior more powerfull cause For so hee brings in the maker of the world speaking vnto the celestiall bodies By nature you are dissoluble but through my will preserued from dissolution Nor shall the destintes of death preuaile ouer you to destroy you because my will is a bond of more power to keepe you from corruption than that wherewith at your first making you were holden together And thus haue we hastily runne ouer the difficult question of the heauens matter Touching the certainty and meanes of their dissolution we will briefly speake by and by after the resolution of the other ar-arguments for the non-dissolution of the world Simon Magus as it is recorded lib. 3. Recog Beati Petri. cap. 3. if the records be true thus replied vpon the learned Apostle for the worlds immortalitie If God be infinitely and only good and the world also good how shall God in the end destroy the world If hee destroy that which is good how shall himselfe continue good If hee pull it downe because it is euill how shall he then be free from euill that made it euill To which wee answer with S. Peter in the same place That the world in its first originall state was good yet so as it was foreordeined to dissolution nor doe wee thereby detract from Gods goodnesse for the heauens the most excellent part of the world being not made for themselues but for some end after to be reuealed how good soeuer yet were to be dissolued that that for which they were ordeined might appeare which also Peter thus familiarlie sheweth Who seeth not how cunningly an egshell is framed yet for manifestation of the end of its making it must be broken of necessitie So must the present estate of the world of necessitie be destroyed that the more excellent condition of the kingdome of heauen may be made manifest at which time also this degenerated euill state of corruption shall be done away that a more glorious estate of incorruption may be restored So then that the world shall haue an end I take it it is manifest and that not an end of annihilation but of corruption which indeed shall be a way vnto its perfection Now concerning the times and seasons of the worlds dissolution we will not take vpon vs curiously to determine seeing God the beginning and end of all things hath left the time vnreuealed vnto vs. Touching the means and maner of the dissolution the Stoicks glanced at it a farre off being of opinion that the world should by fire be dissolued For thinking the starres and the skies fire to haue a wasting action vpon the inferiour elements their nourishing moisture by little and little decaying when neither the earth can haue refection by the water nor the aire procreation after its absolute consumption there shall-remaine nothing but fire to consume both the heauens and the earth of which afterward a new world should be made whose opinion is very consonant vnto that of Peter saue onely that they thought this destruction should come of a natural necessity for Peter also taugnt it should be by fire wherewith God withdrawing his hand of preseruation should consume this world and of the ashes heereof create a new yet so as neither the seate of the blessed souls in heauen nor the dungeon of the damned in hell should be destroied that neither the iotes of the Saints nor the torments of the wicked should be interrupted As for the firmament and the other inferiour spheres together with the elements they shal be indued with another that a far more excellent cnodition putting off these accidents and affections of corruption fit for the continuall generation and corruption of the naturall bodies and receiuing other qualities agreeable to the incorruptible estate of the world to come so that their substance shall be all one howsoeuer they alter their qualities As in the resurrection mens bodies shall bee of the same substance but of a different disposition For this corruption must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality So that as Saint Paul said our imperfect knowledge which we haue in this life shall in the after-world be abolished because then we shall haue a morefull and perfect knowledge of God and his Christ So may we well say this world shall be destroied because it shall lose this present estate of imperfection and put on a more glorious condition fit for the world to come And so as I take it are those places of scripture to bee vnderstood where niention is made of the worlds perishing that is the present estate of this world shall
not finally remaine wholly frustrate if therefore we grant an induction of a new forme we must withall grant an expulsion of that that before was inherent for as much as two formes of diuers kindes are vnsufferable together in the same subiect whereupon doth follow the corruption of the whole compound But if we shall make a more diligent and narrow inquirie into the causes of this dissolution we may find plentie of reasons ministred to confirme this trueth Now the first cause naturall of naturall death is contrarietie in the compound for all corruption presupposing alteration which is onely betwixt and by meanes of contrarie qualities contrarietie of the inherent qualities being the onely cause of alteration is also cause of the compounds corruption which is farther manifested by exprience for so we see things wherein is least disagreement to be of longest continuance and the immateriall substance of the creatures spirituall voide of all contrarietie vncapable also of corruption so that the inherence of contrarietie is one special cause of the compounds dissolution Man therefore whose bodie consists of the euer-iarring elements Fare Aire Water Earth hath also an vnresistable home bred cause of dissolution Furthermore the consent of al Philosophers and reason it selfe hath set downe this trueth as vndeniable that mans life and the chiefe maintenance thereof consisteth principally if not wholly in the due and iust proportionable temperature of the foure first qualities Heat Cold Drinesse Moisture and till their disproportion there is no danger of death or any growing sicknesse whereupon Auerroes hath this definition of sicknesse That it is nothing els but the vnnaturall disproportion of those foure qualities whereby the part whereinto the same is incident is disabled to performe its naturall functions whereout ariseth this collection as necessarie being almost all one with those things foresaid viz. that the disproportion of the foure first qualities and their swaruing from their iust temperature is cause of their subiects dissolution but in euerie man wee see a declining from his engrafted natural complexion which also increaseth more and more according as his ages are altered therfore mans dissolution cannot bee auoided where by the way wee must not let passe the saying of the Philosopher that mans life consisteth in heat which also is thereby prooued because in the presence thereof if it be not excessiue we see a kinde of claritie and vigor as it were newly infused at its departure the wonted or rather farre greater recourse of languor But we are not so to vnderstand that saying of the Philosophet as if heat were the sole onely cause of life for euen by Aristotle his own witnesse the temper of the foure first qualities is the truest most proper continent cause of life but the meaning is that our naturall heate is the chiefe instrument of the soule to exercise the vitall functions as nutrition augmentation and such like yet so tempred that it exceed not the proportionable measure of our naturall moisture the food and nourishment of our heat And hence is that of Ficinus that our life as light consisteth in heat whose foode and maintenance is of an aerie and fatte moisture not vnlike vnto oile whose immoderate excesse and impuritie or defect are all wasters of our vitall heate so that there was as great necessitie of moisture as of heat in the performance of our natutall vitall functions whence came the necessitie of nourishment for our congenerate heat hauing a consuming action vpon our moisture the resistance thereof being altogether vnable to withstand the heats assaulting action Nature that like a kinde mother is neuer wanting to the necessities of her of spring hath bestowed on our soule a faculty whereby to restore our decaied moisture through the assimilation of the nourishment applied vnto the wasted substance Now the especiall meanes of this decay as is aforesaid is our heats assaulting action whereby the soule continually engendreth of our humiditie new spirits for maintenance of the vitall and sensual actions which being wasted by their neuer-ceasing operation as nothing is able long to continue without interchangable rest haue of necessitie a supplie from our humiditie and our moisture also equally decaied hath the like supply made by nourishment which wee receiue lest there should follow a sudden destruction hence therefore that is from the necessitie of continuall nourishment we inferre a decay of naturall moisture for otherwise whereunto is nutrition directed But heere remaineth a doubt for if there be restitution of the lost naturall moisture made by the receipt of nourishment whence commeth death the end of nature for our heat hauing alway what to feede vpon either by nature or by this outward supply of nourishment and death neuer assailing vs but by the banishment and extinguishing of this naturall heate where is this necessity of ending our life The answer is that the impurity of the outward nourishment inwardly applied by degrees tainteth that naturall ingendred humidity and by its continuall mixture at length wholly corrupteth it For as in the mingling of water with wine the greater the infusion of water is the more is the infeebling and weakening of the wines force till at length it be cleane oppressed and extinguished so is it in the case of nutrition wherein though at first our naturall heat and moisture retaine their purity and naturall quality yet at length by continuall mixture of the alimentary humor there followeth a totall and perfect corruption of their integrity Now if by the restoratiue faculty of the soule there could bee supplie made of as pure moisture as that which was lost the creature might for any thing in nature be preferued aliue for euer And therefore Ficinus beside the iust proportion of moisture vnto the heat requireth also purity and incorruption in the moisture for as euerie moisture is not a preseruer of the light of a lampe but though oile maintaines the flame yet water doth quench it so is it in the case of our life which principally consisteth in heat for the watrish humidity doth cleane extinguish it And thence it is that old men when they are neerest vnto their end abound with a watrish humour yet are they said to be cold and dry as wanting indeed that moisture which is the fittest for their heat to feed vpon So that the truth of the position is manifest in the particulars namely that euery man hath an end and tearme of indurance which he cannot passe Now this end commeth either by meanes naturall and growing in him or by violent and vnnaturall meanes Whereupon they haue distinguished death into two kinds one Naturall the other Violent Naturall death is where our natiue moisture is by meanes of our haturall heat continually working vpon it consumed dispatched whence followeth a lingring languishing and pining of our naturall heate as wanting what to feed vpon contrary to the subtile opinion of the fault-finding Iulius Scaliger that thought our naturall heat
cause of life nor the best moisture in euery quantity there are one or two requisite conditions annexed first concerning the qualitie that it be not too thinne and fluid such as is the naturall disposition of water but more cleauing and fat such as may resemble the nature of oile for its better preseruation from putrefaction secondly that it haue some competent degree of heat to keepe it from congealing last of all that it be pure not mingled with excrementall superfluities forasmuch as all mixture of superfluities is against nature enemie to good digestion and sound nutrition Those things thus obserued our moisture shall be sufficiently qualified for our liues maintenance Touching the quantitie in a word as is before said it must neither bee excessiue lest the too great quantitie oppresse our heat as wee see infusion of too much oile oftentimes put out the lampe nor yet defectiue lest the deuouring action of our heat too soone consume it but in a competent mediocrity such as the heat may neither ouer-hastily vanquish nor with the violence of excessiue inequalitie too suddenly be extinguished Where briefly wee may see the reason why man is longer liued than other creatures of more vast bodies for though in the large capacitie of their great receiuers they haue a greater quantity of this naturall moisture than is incident vnto mans small body yet haue they it not so well tempered and proportioned to their heat which may well bee gathered by their slowe and seldome breathing So that it is true which the Philosopher hath that the great or little quantitie of the bodie is no sufficient cause of long life And yet this is withall most true that where there is greatest store of humiditie with a competent proportion of heat there is greatest fitnesse naturally for long life And that is the reason why those that in their infancie are most subiect to a languishing diseasednesse are afterward most healthfull and for the most part longest liued For the abundance of their naturall moisture hindreth the too speedy preuailing of the heat by resisting its action and so is it the lesse mingled with forren impurities For as we see the Smiths fire by the moderate sprinckling of water though at first for a time its force is somewhat abated yet it at length hauing ouercome its weake aduersary as in triumph burneth the cleerer and lasteth longer so fareth it in our bodies for our heat not able on the sudden to ouersway our multitude of moisture is the longer hindred from consuming it whence proceedeth long life and after it hath gotten the vpper hand performeth with more facility its naturall functions whence commeth healthfulnesse where wee may also explane that Probleme why children that are too ripe witted in their childhood are for the most part either shortest liued or els toward their old age most sottish according to our Prouerbe Soone ripe soone rotten for hence wee may gather that from the beginning they had but little moisture ouer which their heat soone preuailed for much humiditie is cause of blockishnesse and folly whence is that of Galen that fleame being a cold waterish humour is of no force for ornament of good conditions and Plato doubted not to say that looke how much moisture there is in vs so much also is our folly and thereof it is as the same Plato obserueth that children and women are for the most part most foolish For the glorious light and Sunne-like splendour of the soule is therwith as with a cloud obscured and intercepted which is an euident proofe of the small store of moisture in these quicke witted forward children ouer which the heat so much the sooner obtaining dominion and in processe of time drying the braine the subordinate instrument of vnderstanding either quite destroieth it and so bringeth death or els so corrupts it that it is altogether vnable and vnfit to steed the inner senses in their functions whereon the vnderstanding in this prison of the boby principally dependeth which may no lesse fitly serue for answer vnto that consequent demand why those infants for the most part are soonest able to walke to talke to conceiue to remember and such like the reason is taken from the little quantitie of moisture which may bee gathered by the contrary disposition in the otherwise affected subiects as also by that which we see in daily experience in creatures of other kinds For whereas man by reason of his fluid vnsetled substance hath for the better strengthning of his ioints his bodie swathed and is a long time before he is able to stand or walke or performe any such like his vitall functions we see other creatures almost in the same moment borne and inabled to stand walke and such like for their vnequall quantitie of heat preuailing ouer the little store of moisture soone sitteth them for the performance of vitall actions that being the soules chiefe instrument in the discharge of her duties Now if any man shall aske what this iust proportion is and when they are tempred so as may best be auaileable for long life the answer is that heat and moisture are then well proportioned when neither the moisture with its too great quantity deuoureth the heat nor the ouermuch heat too suddenlie consumes and eateth vp the moisture Yet must the heat haue a kind of dominion ouer the moisture else can it not be able to nourish the bodie For in nutrition the thing nourished by reason of the instrument ordained for that purpose must actually worke vpon that whereby it is nourished And because that euery Agent must be proportioned vnto the patient in the inequality of excesse therefore must the heat being the soules sole actiue instrument of nutrition haue dominion ouer the moisture the subiect matter of that facultie Touching the complexions the question is which of them is best disposed and fitted for length of life To take that for granted which Fernelius doubteth of namely that there are foure if not onely yet chiefely notable complexions we answer that those of a sanguine constitution are by nature capable of the longest life as hauing the two qualities of life best tempred And therefore is compared vnto the aire which is moderatly hot and in the highest degree moist Yet not with that too thinne and fluid watrish moisture but more oily oile it selfe resembling the true nature of the aire Therefore the sanguine complexion is fittest for long life For choler is an humor like vnto fire extreame hot and moderatly drie and so vnsufficient to make supply of moisture to the deuouring operation of that firie heat which is in it In the flegmaticke the copiousnesse of that humour resembling water oppresseth the heat and so hindreth good digestion whence proceed crudities in the stomacke and liuer from whence they are diffused into the veines and so vnto all the parts of the body and at length the body is ouergrowen with corruption Lastly melancholy resembling the earth and its qualities
naturall excesse of heat set on fire with the accesse of the externall heat of the aire Now for such as abound with too much moisture their best habitation in my iudgement is in hot and drie regions that the heat and drought of the soile may abate the superfluity of the humor But there are some of a moderate and well proportioned constitution and if any man shall aske what country is best for them to dwel in I answer that there are two sorts of men thus tempered some are of a more weake and lesse hardy disposition and to them I would prescribe a dwelling in countries rather hot then cold that the heat of the place may comfort and strengthen the heate of their bodies Others againe are more hardy better able to indure any not extreame violence of cold and for them it is best to liue in colder climates for so is their heat better inabled to performe it functions of digestion and such like and therefore Aristotle in his Politicks saith that Northren men and generally such as dwell in colder countries are stronger and bigger bodied and most an end better couraged and longer liued for the coldnesse of the compassing aire reflects the heat into the inward parts and by that reflexion the heats force is increased and the parts gathered better and closer together which both further the performance of its duties And that is the reason why men in Winter are more hungry and deuouring than in Summer as experience teacheth vs all for the stomacke is strengthned by the heats compression to the better concocting of the receiued nourishment Thus therefore may wee conclude with the exposition of Aristotle his opinion in this case when he saith that hot places are fittest for long life in his booke of the Length and shortnesse of mans life and in his Politicks The inhabitants of colder climates are stronger and longer liued for thus may we reconcile this apparent contradiction that for men of more cold complexions hot places are most preseruatiue and healthfull and for the contrary complexioned men contrary affected places so that if two of the same constitution imagine them both to be hot liue the one in a cold the other in an hot region if their heat was not accordingly proportioned to their moisture but vnequally in the excesse he that made choise of the colder habitation prouided best for his life And thus haue we briefelie set downe the common-receiued causes of long life where-out by the consequence of contraries wee may deduce the causes of short life And they are first the small quantity and watrishnesse of the moisture Secondly the superfluous abundance of excrements Thirdly the badnesse and vnholesomenesse of the soile Fourthly the vngentle aspects of the Starres that ruled either in our conception or birth Fiftly want of good nourishment Sixtly intemperance either in our diet or exercise or obeying of our affections To which some adde the fewnesse or tendernesse of teeth for that is a signe of thickenesse in the bone of the head the matter allotted to the teeths generation being turned into the substance of the scull which also importeth the weakenesse of the braine which is by meanes thereof vnfit for breathing and therefore being of a moist disposition the more fit for putrefaction as standing-waters soonest putrefie and gather filth but this I take rather for a signe then a cause of short life Now come we to that we first and principally intended to shew the differences of mens ages and the causes thereof together with their seuerall and singular properties wherein we will deale so much the more sparingly by reason of those doubtes and difficulties remooued in the former part of the treatise so that we shall not neede to digresse into any by-controuersies but keepe a direct and a straight course And to begin with the Definition for more orderly proceeding it may thus briefely be described An age is a period and tearme of mans life wherein his naturall complexion and temperature naturally and of its owne accord is euidently changed For such is the disposition and nature of our bodie that by the continuall combat and interchangable dominion of the euer-iarring elements it often changeth its primary constitution so that though there were no outward cause of transmutation which notwithstanding are many and manifold yet haue wee that home-bred cause within vs that would in time alter our temperature for our naturall heat vncessantly working vpon our natural moisture doth though not suddenly change the proportion into extreames yet by degrees perceiuably preuaileth more and more ouer the humidity For so see wee the same body in our youth and child-hood diuersly tempered our infancy ful of moisture as the fluid soft substance of our flesh manifestly declareth our youth bringeth a farther degree of solidity our riper age euer tēperate thence still declineth our body vnto colde and drinesse till at length death ceaseth vpon our bodies being the last end and period of our life But euery slight change of the foure qualities proportion changeth not our temperature for then we shuld euery day haue a diuers complexion our bodies eftsoones with wine and exercise changed from cold to heat and by the contrary from heat to cold yet by reason of the short indurance of these distemperatures the body returning to its former constitution we cannot say there is a new complexion wrought in the body for a temperature or complextion is a firme and standing habit of the body Nor yet must wee imagine the talnesse and growing of the body or the new budding of haires to be causes sufficient to procure this distinction but the variation of our originall constitution is the true and proper cause of this diuersity and difference And yet not euery change of the complexion but that onely which proceedeth from that inwardly ingendred cause of destructions for many times by the vnseasonable and immoderate heat of the aire as also by intemperate and riotous liuing men euen in the most milde temperat countries alter their complexions and with the Aethiopian become euen decrepit old men if we respect their constitutions and those other incident qualities of old age before they haue finished the full tearme of thirty yeeres and therefore was it added in the description that it must be a naturall and a selfe-alteration Now according to these naturall and euident alterations of heat and moistures proportion so may we best most properly diuide the ages Pythagoras diuides thē into four kinds or rather setteth downe their number which be according to his reckoning foure in number Child-hood youth man-hood old age proportioning our life to the foure parts of the yeere our Child-hood to the spring wherein all things together with a pleasant verdour and greenenesse flourish and by a plentifull supply of moisture continually increase in growth Our youth vnto Summer for that growen strength of the body and minde Our man-age vnto the Autumne or Haruest when after the