contemplatiue life according to Saturn politick and practick according to Iupiter angry and ambitious according to Mars concupiscible and voluptuous according to Venus vegetable and stupidous according to Mercury Hee must also be acquainted with these fiue frequent in Plato's Works Eus idean alterum status motus interpreted at large by Ficinus Our election standeth firm vnto vs for fiue special reasons following The first is the euerlasting and immutable decree of God before the world was created made as touching the liberation and reconciliation of all mankinde The second is the opening of this decree by his promise made vnto Adam Abraham Rom. 11 and the rest of the Patriarchs as touching the benediction to come The third is the consideration of the will of God teuealed vnto vs by his promise The fourth is the commandement of God from heauen that wee should beleeue in his Sonne Iohn 6 Rom. 8 1 Cor. 5 1 Thes 2 Ficinus holds there be fiue kind of lights In God in Angels in reason in the spirit in the body out of these words This is my well-beloued Sonne and so forth The last is the holy Ghost confirming and making vs sure that we are the chosen sonnes of God The holy Trinity includeth in his essence fiue things Vnity simplicity immensity eternity in commutability but holding that God is Immensus I mean not that there is in him any quantity of dimension but of vertue for it is a Theologicall Rule which will ouerthrowe their Popish reall presence Non est vbique Deus mole corporis sed prasentiâ Maiestatis And according to this immensity God is infinite incomprehensible There are fiue things which we ought not â—o put confidence in 1 Beauty which is fraile 2 Health which is vncertain 3 Life which is short 4 Honor which is transitory 5 Pleasure which is mixed with sorrow incircumscriptible eternall vnchangeable to make vp the fift Number There be fiue notions of God Paternity Filiation procession innascibility common spiration Whatsoeuer man can think-vpon fiue manner of waies God is Hee is the most perfect most worthy most noble most excellent most mighty Hee that will dispose the conception of his minde to others by way of teaching must doo it fiue manner of waies First hee must prosecute that matter or subject hee takes in hand Secondly hee must cleerly and perspicuously propound it to his hearers Thirdly hee must garnish it with some ornaments of discourse fitting time and place Fourthly he must confute that which is objected in his way Fiftly he must reduce all things into order by an apt kinde of partition repetition epitomizing dooing all thing to that end that he may finde his hearers attentiue obtaining their beneuolence now and then from the persons now and then from the things themselues A Theologist There are fiue things which often deceiue 〈◊〉 1 Wisdome which is small 2 Vertue which is weak 3 Will which is distorted 4 Affection which is turbulent 5 Reason which is vnbridled Rom. 12. ver 1. Mathematicas disciplotas multi Sancti nesciunt quidem qui sciunt cas sancti non sunt Aug. dealing with an aduersary must be able to distinguish fiue manner of waies By Allegoties Anagogies Translations Tropologies History There be fiue things inseparable Heauen and earth earth and that which we call Inane hell and darknes the Spirit of God and waters light and our bodies The earth void of it self concludeth domesticall darknes then it is joyned next vnto light by light vnto the heauen by heauen to the spirituall substance now put thereto God which is the end and beginning of all things one omnipotent without beginning without quantity form and number and who will not admire this fift Number All arts all kinde of knowledge whatsoeuer according to the opinion of the Antients is included in those fiue Books of Moses All antiquity holdeth that from the vertues of fiue things admirable emploiments haue been effected By prayer fasting alms-deeds repentance a chaste minde And this is meant by Saint Paul where hee saith Exhibiting our bodies as a sweet-swelling sacrifice to GOD holy pleasing rationall obsequious and so forth Perfection of vertue consisteth in fiue Sufficiency order religion prelation security The Mathematicks is a dangerous study for fiue respects It is no true science it leadeth not to felicity it destroies the fundaments of naturall Philosophy it is full of obscurity There are fiue thing neâ—eâ—sary â—o a â—â—â—â—ne 〈◊〉 he must not 〈◊〉 ignoâ—am of 〈◊〉 Piâ—â—â—ples â—â—â—â—ondly he 〈◊〉 must diuide 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 interpret 〈…〉 â—on â—â—y he 〈…〉 the â—â—â—â—monies of Scripture without peruerting them Lastly the must reconcile those places that seem contradictory Hypertus de studio Theologico it is full of scurity it hindreth Theology Wherefore one writeth Nihil magis nocivum Theologo quà m frequens assidua in Mathematicis Euclidis exercitatio All kinde of sounds in musick haue fiue differences Sharpnes grauity space Systeme region of the voice whereto adde Indole or sense called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there will be nothing wanting Pronunciation consisteth of fiue voice countenance gesture comelinesse and habit of the mouth The diuell an noieth mankinde fiue manner of waies Outwardly by hurting the body as in Iob inwardly as those that are possessed or lie in a trance by impression of idols or imaginations suggesting euill by tempting the body to sinne through exteriour senses lastly by deceiuing through objection of false forms For hee perswadeth good through obetext of euill hee suggesteth euill vnder shewe of good he disswadeth good praier deeds of charity for to auoid the crime of vain glory Hee disswadeth the lesse euill to bring a man by despair vnto the greater Lucifor fell from his first dignity for these fiue causes following First beeing placed in the highermost hierarchie he was not content with his owne proper state Secondly the consideration of his first happinesse blinded him Thirdly because hee ouercame the first man by tempting it was needfull he should be ouercome by the second Fourthly he loued himself and his owne priuate good more than Him that created him Last of all hee thought scorn that any should be equall with him There bee fiue kindes of garments according to Vives Profitable There bee fiue excellent qualities in an horse which hee borroweth from fiue sundry beasts 1 Quicknes or nimblenes from the Hare 2 Ready sight and a faire hanging tayle from the Fox 3 That he eat his meat well from the Wolfe 4 That he hold his hayre and haue strong hoofes and posterns from the Asse 5 That he loue to be bridled by his master from a woman vnder the comn and of her husband Epid l. 6. Actius l. 1. de notis affec c. 4. precious light neat vain There are fiue hard works to bee done To play the Commander in the Field to pray to preach in the Pulpit to teach in a school to bring forth a childe
Commandement did flee from the face of God so the second by bearing Christ in her womb and being made obedient vnto the Word for Irenaeus must not otherwise be vnderstood hath been a principall means or instrument to reconcile vs again to God which was Christ the second Adam For whereas hee saith that the second Eue was made an Aduocate for the first it is meant that her obedience to the Word was acceptable before God bearing him in her womb that should be the Redeemer of his people that as by the disobedience of the one sin entred into the world so by the obedience of the other an vniuersall restauration should be looked for again So that if any thing were admirable and praise-worthy in that virgin to make her an Aduocate for the other to vse Irenaeus word it was surely her obedience to the Word spoken by the angell conjoyned with a liuely faith that she should bear a Sauiour and no otherwise I could insist vpon many others of this kinde as The blessing bestowed vpon Abraham In semine tuo benedicentur omnes nationes the song of the three children praising the Lord in the fiery furnace the Song of Simeon the Farwell of Stephen couched in these seuen words Som will haue the 7 words that Stephen spake at his departure to signifie those 7 heauenly graces that shined in him In manus tuas Domine commendo spiritum meum and those spoken by the Prophet Ecce ex tribu Iesse meant by that victorious Lion of Iuda all which contain no vulgar representation or signification of Numbers included in them But leauing them we will come to those words of Christ vpon the Crosse expressing the most happy most courageous and triumphant conflict that euer was endured since the world began Neither doe I think that those words were vttered by any kinde of lamentation as some imagine but rather from inuincible courage and magnanimity if a famous and learned Cardinall of Rome in his exposition deceiue mee not That which I am to insist vpon as especially seruing my purpose are those two Hebrew words Eli Eli containing the duall Number in form as they lie but in their proper signification representing the two Persons in Trinity making this parcell of Scripture to the vnfolding of which many learned men haue imployed their wits to be farre otherwise vnderstood than the bare elements seem to import Now because this Cardinals exposition as seemeth to me wresteth not the sense of Scripture but fitteth my purpose and of all others that euer I read setteth out most liuely the victory of Christ vpon the Crosse I thought it good word for word to set down as followeth After he had repeated the words of Christ expressed by the Euangelist thus he commenteth If our Lord Iesus Christ was not forsaken if he fell not from the strength of his minde if not from hope if he knew assuredly that his soule should not be left of his Diuinity but should be ioyned with his body again if he left his momentary life willingly it is not fit that Christ should vtter those words in any lamentable sort My God my God and so forth And therefore I think beer lies a mystery Marcus Vigerius which I had rather bear and learn than expresse or teach yet I will say something not far from our Sauiours meaning as I think Our Lord Iesus Christ was the Sonne of God and trui God the second Person in Trinity God with the Father God with the holy Ghost all three as one God and by that vnion altogether impartible indiuisible and wholly inseparable the one from the other and yet the Son suffred on the Crosse not the Father nor the holie Ghost When the work of our redemption was taken wholly in the Person of the Son all three together the Father Sonne and holy Ghost worked All three appeared in his natinity The Sonne was born alone His peregrination his doctrine his miracles his Passion his death following all three worked and effected the Son alone suffred This mystery this ineffable Sacrament this inaccessible Secret hid in darknes the Lord Iesus would haue open by these words that if we may not ascend to the same wholly yet in part wee may learn with sobriety and trembling My God my Father my God my holy Spirit who hitherto haue laboured in all things with me but I only haue suffred all things wherefore haue you forsaken me and are now separted from â—â—ee in bearing this Crosse So that these words of Christ shewed forth the magnitude of his minde and no fear at all Hitherto that Cardinall out of his book cald Decachordum Christianum The Scape-goat mentioned in the old Testament hath cuer been accounted a figure of the Passion of Christ written vpon the life and Passion of Christ To whose words may be added for the further explaining of this secret Symbole As a man that in the midst of his enemies being forsaken of his friends fighteth the more valiantly vnder hope of victory so Christ in this agony hiding his Diuinity or laying it aside for a time forsaken of his two friends that so long had worked with him God the Father and God the holy Ghost all alone and in his owne proper person did manfully and victoriously vndergoe the terrors of death So that whether we consider the word Eli from his tripled element representing the whole Trinity or the word doubled expressing but two persons the Father and holy Ghost it cannot choose but stirre vs to an exceeding admiration and contemplation as often as we reade them but far more if from our dull senses and feeble vnderstanding wee were able to comprehend them I must confesse that the Cardinalls doctrine seemeth directly opposite to the common torrent of some English Diuines but my protestation is not to ouer sway the opinions of others better learned then my selfe to build my faith which is the anchor of a Christian man vpon the fancie-full opinion of any priuate man Onely this I must say by way of iust defense that hee was learned religious exceeding deuout from whom I borrowed it Who although hee sauour Popishly affected by reason of the corruption of those times he liued in yet he is nothing so superstitiously giuen as many of his fellowes were Their doctrine then who maintaine that Christ vpon the Crosse did suffer paines of the damned and reprobate seemeth very harsh to me And I would haue them take heed Al the Fathers doe speake but of Christs bodily sufferings If therefore one drop of his bloud was enough for the redemption of mankinde much more so many streames of bloud issuing from all the partes of his body as if it had beene a precious ointment that whereas Christ at his natiuity his circumcision in all his works and miracles he did in his life time was both God and Man vpon the Crosse and in his Passion by a strange kinde of diuinity neuer dreamed of in the
Church that I knowe CHAP. XVII Arithmeticall Discourse I Minde not in this Chapter to play the Arithmetician by putting Numbers for ciphers ciphers for Numbers as though I were an Accountant or bredde vp in a merchants or Scriueners shoppe No I meane to frame a scale or ladder according to Theologicall Arithmeticke such an one as neuer was deuised by any man before This is no otherwise then a secret manner of discoursing as touching the subiects of euery thing according to the harmony of Numbers figures concents Wee know that Numbers worke much on the soule figures vpon bodies concent vpon creatures I will frame our scale first afterwards wee will proceede in order to speake of all their subiects Our scale conteyneth six degrees beginning from the higher most to the lowest The first is the Architypall world in which is 〈◊〉 that is the diuine essence beeing God himselfe Second is the intellectuall world in which are intelligences Third is the celestiall in which are those simple bodies wanting all kinde of permixtion Fourth is the lesser world where are placed those rationall bodies Fift is elementarie in this are placed those pure naturall and artificiall creatures Sixt is the infernall world wherein those euill and malignant spirits beare rule In the architypall world from whence comes the Law of prouidence discourse is made as touhing God by simple Numbers which properly signifie diuine things as denaries celestiall centenaries terrestriall millenaries of the world to come exemplified in this wise First the diuine essence is one the fountaine of all vertue and power Secondly it conteynes in it selfe eternall productions according to the will and vnderstanding Thirdly existing in persons the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost Fourthly the existing Law of prouidence and of eternall happinesse in his holy and most blessed name 〈◊〉 Fiftly the existing Redeemer by the price of his fiue wounds of his bitter passion and in the name and vertue of CHRIST called Pentagrammaton Sixtly by creating and perfecting the world on the sixt day redeeming it againe the sixt day Seuenthly resting from his work called the Sabbath Eightly full of iustice and that iustice the fulnes of iustice Ninthly for that in the ninth houre he let goe his Spirit Tenthly in that the tenth day after his ascension he sent his Paraclete that is the holy Ghost Eleuenthly by sending his heauenly grace that is his comfortable Spirit in his most holy and blessed name In the intellectuall world from whence comes the Law of destiny discourse is made from intelligences in this wise First the foule of the world is one supreme intelligence the first creature the fountaine of life Secondly it is fellow vnto Angells which hath constituted that there should bee two intelligible substances Thirdly there are three hierarchies of Angells three degrees of the blessed foure triplicities or hierarchies intelligible foure presidents ouer the corners of heauen foure gouernours of the elements 4 beasts of sanctity 4 triplicities of Tribes foure triplicities Apostles 5 intelligible substances six orders of Angels which are not sent to gouern beneath 7 Angels which stand before the Throne of God eight rewards of beatitudes nine companies of Angels 9 Angells gouerning by triplicities 10 orders of the blessed bearing rule from the seprenary Number In the celestiall world from whence the Law of nature is cōsidered there is one Prince of Stars and fountain of light two great lights 3 quaternions of signs 3 quaternions of houses 3. Lords of triplicities 4 triplicities of signes so many qualities of celestiall elements fiue erraticall Starres called Domini terminorum six Planets passing from the Eccliptick thorow the latitude of the Zodiack 7 elements are adioyned to these with the Sun eight visible heauens 9 mouing Sphears ten Spheares of the world twelue signes of the Zodiack in foure triplicities of signes In the lesser world from whence the Law of wisdome consisteth there is to be considered first one liuing thing and last dying two principall seats of the soule three parts corresponding the threefold world foure elements of man so many powers of the soule and iudiciall faculties foure morall vertues foure elements of mans body foure spirits humors complexions fiue senses six degrees of man seuen members integrall distributed vnto Planers seuen holes or cauernacles of the head eight degrees of beatitude nine senses outward and inward ten arteries or pores of the inward man In the elementarie World where the Lawe of generation and corruption abideth there is to bee found one subject and instrument of all vertues naturall and supernaturall two elements producing a liuing soule three degrees of elements foure elements as many qualities seasons corners of the earth perfect kindes of mixt things so many kindes of creatures answerable to those elements fiue kindes of corruptibles or Species Mixtorum in Plants metals stones six subsanticous qualities of elements seuen birds of Planets so many fishes of Planets metals of Planets beasts and stones eight particular qualities nine stones representing nine companies of Angels tenne beasts of sanctity lifted vp to heauen twelue plants so many stones twelue moneths so many birds twelue sacred beasts and trees mentioned by those who haue treated any thing touching Orphicall Theologie In the infernall world where the Law of wrath and punishment endureth from euerlasting there is to bee seene one Prince of rebellious angels two captaines of diuels two things which Christ denounced against the damned three infernall Furies three infernall Iudges so many degrees of the damned foure Princes of diuels bearing rule in the elements called by Saint Paul Ayerie spirits foure riuers infernall answerable to those in Paradise so many Princes of diuels appointed ouer the foure corners of the world fiue corporall torments six diuels Authors of all calamities seuen infernall mansions if we beleeue Rabbi Ioseph in his booke called Hortus Nucis eight rewards of the damned nine orders of euill spirits tenne orders of damned to whom if you put the soules of the damned and three degrees of the damned they make just twelue degrees of diuels and damned He that can attaine to the Secrets of this scale 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 facile cognoseet to vse the words of that notable Peripatetick that is in one word he shall be able to comprehend both the sympathy and antipathy of all this whole Vniuerse set before his eies to contemplate he shall consider order which precedeth substance which bringeth proprietie which telleth vs what is absolute simple subiect what is the imperfection of substances of influences of parts with many other singularities beyond all formall naturall and artificiall Arithmetick Which scale in one entire summe hath shewed as much as in this whole discourse in grosse hath beene remonstrated so that it is no other than a compendious subtraction of the others confused and copious multiplication CHAP. XVIII Geometricall discourse WEE may discourse as wel by those Geometrical Figures seeing such māner of Figures consist of Nūbers Wherof their