it commeth nor whither it goeth In another place God is said to bring it out of his treasures and elsewhere it is called the breath of God And so likewise of the thunder Concerning which Iob proposes this question The thunder of his power who can understand and therefore too David do's so often stile it the voice of God All which places seeme to imply that the cause of these things was not to be discovered which yet later Philosophers pretend to know so that according to their construction these phrases are to be understood in relation unto their ignorance unto whom these speeches were immediately directed For this reason is it Why though there be in nature many other causes of Springs and Rivers than the Sea yet Solomon who was a great Philosopher and perhaps not ignorant of them do's mention onely this because most obvious and easily apprehended by the vulgar Vnto all these Scriptures I might adde that in Amos 5. 8. which speakes of the Constellation commonly called the seven Starres whereas later discoveries have found that there are but sixe of them discernable to the bare eye as appeares by Gallilaeus his glasse the seventh of them being but a deceipt of the eye arising from their too great neernes and if a man try in a cleere night to number them distinctly he shall find that there will sometimes appeare but sixe and some times more True indeed the originall word of this Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do's not necessarily imply any such number in it's signification but yet our English translation renders it the seven Starres and if it had been expresly so in the Originall too it might have spoken true enough because they are usually esteemed of that number And when it had been said He made the seven Stars and Orion we might have easily understood the words thus Hee made those Constellations that are commonly knowne unto us under such names From all these Scriptures 't is cleerly manifest that it is a frequent custome for the Holy Ghost to speake of naturall things rather according to their appearance and common opinion than the truth it selfe Now it is very plaine and our enemies themselves do grant it that if the World had bin framed according to the Systeme of Copernicus futurum esset ut vulgus de Solis motu Terrae statu proinde ut nunc loqueretur The vulgar phrase would have been the same as now it is when it speakes of the Sunnes motion and the Earth's standing still Wherefore 't is not improbable that such kind of Scripture expressions are to be understood only in relation to outward appearances and vulgar opinion PROP. IIII. That divers learned men have fallen into great absurdities whilest they have looked for the grounds of Philosophy from the words of Scripture IT ha's bin an antient and common opinion amongst the Iewes that the Law of Moses did containe in it not only those things which concerne our Religion and Obedience but every secret also that may possibly be known in any Art or Science so that there is not a demonstration in Geometrie or rule in Arithmeticke not a mysterie in any trade but it may be found out in the Pentateuch Hence it was say they that Solomon had all his wisedome and policie Hence it was that hee did fetch his knowledge concerning the nature of Vegetables from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hysop that growes upon the wall Nay from hence they thought a man might learne the art of Miracles to remoove a Mountaine or recover the dead So strangely have the learneder sort of that Nation been befooled since their owne curse hath lighted upon them Not much unlike this foolish superstition of theirs is that custome of many Artists amongst us who upon the invention of any new secret will presently find out some obscure text or other to father it upon as if the Holy Ghost must needs take notice of every particular which their partiall fancies did over-vallue Nor are they altogether guiltlesse of this fault who looke for any secrets of nature from the words of Scripture or will examine all it's expressions by the exact rules of Philosophy Vnto what strange absurdities this false imagination of the learneder Iewes hath exposed them may be manifest by a great multitude of Examples I will mention only some few of them Hence it is that they proove the shin-bone of Og the Giant to bee above three leagues long Or which is a more modest relation that Moses being fourteen cubites in stature having a Speare tenne Ells in length and leaping up ten cubits could touch this Giant but on the Ancle All which they can confirme unto you by a Cabalisticall interpretation of this story as it is set downe in Scripture Hence it is that they tell us of all those strange Beasts which shall be seen at the comming of the Messias as first the Ox which Iob calls Behemoth that every day devoures the grasse on a thousand mountaines as you may see it in the Psalme where David mentions the cattell or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon a thousand hils If you aske how this Beast do's to finde pasture enough they answer that hee remaines constantly in one place where there is as much grasse grows up in the night as was eaten in the day They tell us also of a Bird which was of that quantitie that having upon a time cast an egge out of her neast there were beaten down by the fall of it three hundred of the tallest Cedars and no lesse than threescore villages drowned As also of a Frog as big as a Town capable of sixty houses which Frog notwithstanding his greatnesse was devoured by a Serpent and that Serpent by a Crow which Crow as she was flying up to a Tree eclipsed the Sun and darkned the World by which you may guesse what a pretty twig that Tree was If you would know the proper name of this Bird you may finde it in Psal. 50. 11. where it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in our Translation the Foule of the mountains It seems it was somewhat of kinne to that other Bird they tell us of whose legges were so long that they reached unto the bottome of that Sea where there had bin an axe head falling for 7 yeres together before it could come to the bottome Many other relations there are which containe such horrible absurdities that a man cannot well conceive how they should proceed from reasonable creatures And all this arising from that wrong Principle of theirs That Scripture did exactly containe in it all kind of Truths and that every meaning was true which by the Letter of it or by Cabalisticall interpretations might be found out Now as it hath been with them so likewise hath it happened in proportion unto others who by a superstitious adhering unto the bare words of scripture have exposed themselves unto
Orbs supplied if so Caesar la Galla was much mistaken I think his assertions are equally true that Galilaeus and Keplar did not hold this and that there were none which ever held that other Thus much for the testimony of those who were directly of this opinion But in my following discourse I shall most insist on the observation of Galilaeus the inventor of that famous Perspective whereby we may discern the Heavens hard by us whereby those things which others have formerly guest at are manifested to the eye and plainely discovered beyond exception or doubt of which admirable invention these latter Ages of the world may justly boast and for this expect to be celebrated by posterity 'T is related of Eudoxus that hee wished himselfe burnt with Phaeton so hee might stand over the Sunne to contemplate its nature had hee lived in these dayes he might have enjoyed his wish at an easier rate and scaling the heavens by this glasse might plainely have discerned what hee so much desired Keplar considering those strange discoveries which this Perspective had made could not choose but cry out in a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and rapture of admiration O multiscium quovis sceptro pretiosius perspicillum an qui te dextrâ tenet ille non dominus constituatur operum Dei And Iohannes Fabricius an elegant Writer speaking of the same glasse and for this invention preferring our age before those former times of greater ignorance sayes thus Adeo sumus superiores veteribus ut quam illi carminis magici pronunciatu demissam representâsse putantur nos non tantum innocenter demittamus sed etiam familiari quodam intuitu ejus quasi conditionem intueamur So much are wee above the Ancients that whereas they were faine by their Magicall charmes to represent the Moones approach we cannot onely bring her lower with a greater innocence but may also with a more familiar view behold her condition And because you shall have no occasion to question the truth of those experiments which I shall afterwards urge from it I will therefore set downe the testimony of an enemie and such a witnesse hath alwayes beene accounted prevalent you may see it in the above-named Caesar la Galla whose words are these Mercurium caduceum gestantem coelestia nunciare mortuorum animas ab inferis revocare sapiens finxit antiquitas Galilaeum verò novum Iovis interpretem Telescopio caduceo instructum Sydera aperire veterum Philosophorum manes ad superos revocare solers nostra aetas videt admiratur Wise antiquity fabled Mercury carrying a rod in his hand to relate newes from Heaven and call back the soules of the dead but it hath beene the happinesse of our industrious Age to see and admire Galilaeus the new Embassadour of the Gods furnished with his Perspective to unfold the nature of the Starres and awaken the ghosts of the ancient Philosophers So worthily highly did these men esteeme of this excellent invention Now if you would know what might be done by this glasse in the sight of such things as were neerer at hand the same Author will tell you when he sayes that by it those things which could scarce at all be discerned by the eye at the distance of a mile and a half might plainly and distinctly be perceived for 16 Italian miles that as they were really in thēselves without any transposition or falsifying at all So that what the ancient Poets were faine to put in a Fable our more happy Age hath found out in a truth and wee may discerne as farre with these eyes which Galilaeus hath bestowed upon us as Lynceus could with those which the Poets attributed unto him But if you yet doubt whether all these observations were true the same Author may confirme you when hee sayes they were shewed Non uni aut alteri sed quamplurimis neque gregariis hominibus sed praecipuis atque disciplinis omnibus necnon Mathematicis Opticis praeceptis optimè instructis sedulâ ac diligenti inspectione Not to one or two but to very many and those not ordinary men but to those who were well vers'd in Mathematicks and Opticks and that not with a meere glance but with a sedulous and diligent inspection And least any scruple might remaine unanswered or you might think the men who beheld all this though they might be skilfull yet they came with credulous minds and so were more easie to be deluded Hee adds that it was shewed Viris qui ad experimenta haec contradicendi animo accesserant To such as were come with a great deale of prejudice and an intent of contradiction Thus you may see the certainty of those experiments which were taken by this glasse I have spoken the more concerning it because I shall borrow many things in my farther discourse from thsoe discoveries which were made by it I have now cited such Authors both ancient and moderne who have directly maintained the same opinion I told you likewise in the Proposition that it might probably be deduced from the tenents of others such were Aristarchus Philolaeus and Copernicus with many other later Writers who assented to their hypothesis so Ioach. Rhelicus David Origanus Lansbergius Guil. Gilbert and if I may beleeve Campanella Innumeri alij Angli Galli Very many others both English and French all who affirmed our Earth to be one of the Planets and the Sunne to be the Center of all about which the heavenly bodies did move And how horrid soever this may seeme at the first yet is it likely enough to be true nor is there any maxime or observation in Opticks saith Pena that can disprove it Now if our earth were one of the Planets as it is according to them then why may not another of the Planets be an earth Thus have I shewed you the truth of this Proposition Before I proceed farther 't is requisite that I enforme the Reader what method I shall follow in the proving of this chiefe assertion that there is a World in the Moone The order by which I shall be guided will be that which Aristotle uses in his book De mundo if that book were his First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those chiefe parts which are in it not the elementary and aethereall as hee doth there since this doth not belong to the present question but of the Sea and Land c. Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those things which are extrinsecall to it as the seasons meteors and inhabitants Proposition 7. That those spots and brighter parts which by our sight may be distinguished in the Moone doe shew the difference betwixt the Sea and Land in that other World FOr the cleare proofe of this Proposition I shall first reckon up and refute the opinions of others concerning the matter and forme of those spots and then shew the greater probability of this present assertion and how agreeable it is to
sometimes a great trepidation about the body of the Moone from which wee may likewise argue an Atmo-sphaera since we cannot well conceive what so probable a cause there should be of such an appearance as this Quod radii Solares à vaporibus Lunam ambientibus fuerint intercis◠that the Sunne-beames were broken and refracted by the vapours that encompassed the Moone 6. I may adde the like argument taken from another observation which will be easily tried and granted When the Sunne is eclipsed we discerne the Moone as shee is in her owne naturall bignesse but then she appeares somewhat lesse than when she is in the full though she be in the same place of her supposed excentrick and epicycle and therfore Tycho hath calculated a Table for the Diameter of the divers new Moones But now there is no reason so probable to salve this appearance as to place an orbe of thicker aire neere the body of that Planet which may bee enlightned by the reflected beames and through which the direct rayes may easily penetrate But some may object that this will not consist with that which was before delivered where I said that the thinnest parts had least light If this were true how comes it to passe then that this aire should bee as right as any of the others parts when as t is the thinnest of all I answer if the light be received by reflection only then the thickest body hath most because it is best able to beate backe the rayes but if the light be received by illumination especially if there be an opacous body behinde which may double the beames by reflexion as it is here then I deny not but a thinne body may retaine much light and perhaps some of those appearances which wee take for fiery comets are nothing else but a bright cloud enlightned So that probable it is there may be such aire without the Moone hence it comes to passe that the greater spots are only visible towards her middle parts and none neere the circumference not but that there are some as well in those parts as elsewhere but they are not there perceiveable by reason of those brighter vapours which hide them Proposition 11. That as their world is our Moone so our world is their Moone I Have already handled the first thing that I promised according to the Method which Aristotle uses in his Book de Mundo and shew'd you the necessary parts that belong to this world in the Moone In the next place 't is requisite that I proceed to those things which are extrinsecall unto it as the Seasons the Meteors and the Inhabitants 1. Of the Seasons And if there be such a world in the Moone 't is requisite then that their seasons should bee some way correspondent unto ours that they should have Winter and Summer night and day as we have Now that in this Planet there is some similitude of Winter and Summer is affirmed by Aristotle himselfe since there is one hemispheare that hath alwayes heate and light and the other that hath darknesse and cold True indeed their dayes and yeares are always of one and the same length unlesse we make one of their yeares to be 19 of ours in which space all the Starres doe arise after the same order But t is so with us also under the Poles and therefore that great difference is not sufficient to make it altogether unlike ours nor can we expect that every thing there should be in the same manner as it is here below as if nature had no way but one to bring about her purposes We have no reason then to thinke it necessary that both these worlds should be altogether alike but it may suffice if they be correspondent in something only However it may bee questioned whether it doth not seeme to bee against the wisedome of Providence to make the night of so great a length when they have such a long time unfit for worke I answer no since t is so and more with us also under the poles and besides the generall length of their night is somewhat abated in the bignesse of their Moone which is our earth For this returnes as great a light unto that Planet as it receives from it But for the better proofe of this I shall first free the way from such opinions as might otherwise hinder the speed of a clearer progresse Plutarch one of the chiefe patrons of this world in the Moone doth directly contradict this proposition affirming that those who live there may discerne our world as the dreggs and sediment of all other creatures appearing to them through clouds and foggy mists and that altogether devoid of light being base and unmoveable so that they might well imagine the darke place of damnation to bee here situate and that they onely were the inhabiters of the world as being in the midst betwixt Heaven and Hell To this I may answer 't is probable that Plutarch spake this inconsiderately and without a reason which makes him likewise fall into another absurditie when hee says our earth would appeare immoveable whereas questionlesse though it did not yet would it seeme to move and theirs to stand still as the Land doth to a man in a Shippe according to that of the Poët Provehimur portu terraeque urbesque recedunt And I doubt not but that ingenuous Author would easily have recanted if hee had beene but acquainted with those experiences which men of latter times have found out for the confirmation of this truth 2. Unto him assents Macrobius whose words are these Terra accepto solis lumine clarescit tantummodò non relucet The earth is by the Sunne-beames made bright but not able to enlighten any thing so farre And his reason is because this being of a thick and grosse matter the light is terminated in its superficies and cannot penetrate into the substance whereas the Moone doth therefore seeme so bright to us because it receives the beames within it selfe But the weaknesse of this assertion may bee easily manifest by a common experience for polished steele whose opacity will not give any admittance to the rayes reflects a stronger heate than glasse and so consequently a greater light 3. 'T is the generall consent of Philosophers that the reflection of the Sunne-beames from the earth doth not reach much above halfe a mile high where they terminate the first region so that to affirme they might ascend to the Moone were to say there were but one region of aire which contradicts the proved and received opinion Unto this it may be answered That it is indeed the common consent that the reflexion of the Sunne-beames reach onely to the second region but yet some there are and those too Philosophers of good note who thought otherwise Thus Plotinus is cited by Caelius Si concipias te in sublimi quopiam mundi loco unde oculis subjiciatur terrae moles aquis circumfusa solis syderumque
the earth do's unto that I say when a man in some retired thoughts shall lay all this together it must needs stir up his spirits to a contempt of these earthly things and make him place his love endeavour upon those comforts that may be more answerable to the excellency of his nature Without this Science what traffick could wee have with forreine Nations What would become of that mutuall Commerce whereby the World is now made but as one Common-wealth Vosque medijs in aquis Stellae pelagoque timendo Decretum monstrastis iter totique dedistis Legibus inventis hominum commercia mundo 'T is you bright Stars that in the fearfull Sea Doe guid the Pilot through his purpos'd way 'T is your direction that doth commerce give With all those men that through the World doe Live 2 As this Science is thus profitable in these and many other respects so likewise is it equally pleasant The eye saith the Philosopher is the sence of pleasure and there are no delights so pure and immateriall as those which enter through that Organ Now to the understanding which is the eye of the soul there cannot be any fairer prospect than to view the whole Frame of Nature the fabrick of this great Vniverse to discern that order comlinesse which there is in the magnitude situation motion of the severall parts that belong unto it to see the true cause of that constant variety and alteration which there is in the different seasons of the yeare All which must needs enter into a mans thoughts with a great deale of sweetnes and complacency And therfore it was that Iulius Caesar in the broiles and tumult of the camp made choise of this delight Media interpraelia semper Stellarum Coelique plagis superisque vacavit He alwaies leisure found amidst his Wars To mark the coasts of heav'n and learn the stars And for this reason likewise did Seneca amidst the continuall noise bussle of the Court betake himselfe to this recreation O quam iuvabat quo nihil maius parens Natura gennit operis immensi artifex Coelum intueri Solis currus sacros Mundique motus Solis alternas vices Orbemque Pheobes astra quem cingunt vaga Lateque fulgens aetheris magni decus O what a pleasure was it to survay Natures chief work the heavens where we may View the alternate courses of the Sun The sacred Chariots how the World do's run The Moons bright Orb when shee 's attended by Those scattered stars whose light adorns the sky And certainly those eminent men who have this way bestowed a great part of their imployment such as were Ptolomey Iulius Caesar Alphonsus King of Spain the noble Tycho c. have not only by this means pitched upon that which for the present was a more solid kind of pleasure and contentment but also a surer way to propagate their memories unto future ages Those great costly Pyramides which were built to perpetuate the memory of their founders shall sooner perish and moulder away into their primitive dust than the names of such Worthies shall bee forgotten The monuments of learning are more durable than the Monuments of Wealth or Power All which encouragements may bee abundantly enough to stir up any considering man to bestow some part of his time in the study and inquisition of these Truths Foelices animae quibus haec cognoscere primum Inque domos superas scandere cura fuit FINIS Faults escaped at the Presse in the second Booke IN the Epistle line 11. read prae monish Prop. 4. read words for grounds page 3. line 18. r. probable for possible p. 4. l. 15. r. obsolete for absolute l. 20. r. as to take up every thing for Canonical p. 8. l. 7. r. things for times p. 16. l. 10. r. move amongst the rest p. 17. l. 4. Philolaus p. 18. l. 20. Prutenicall p. 22. l. 7. marg 6. Consid. p. 26. l. 8. Schoâ—bergius p. 34. l. 14. pravity for variety p. 38. l. 8. imply for imploy p. 42. l. 22. signe for figure p. 43. l. 14. rather for either p. 58. l. 7. this for a. l. 8. product for quotient p 59. l. 6. is for as p. 70. l. 20. severall for generall p. 72. l. 13. Shall fall from p. 83. l. 18. tosse for crosse l. 27. from for with p. 86. l. 8. Sea for Sun l. 16. in for on p. 90. l. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 94. l. 3. with for of p. 97. l. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 24. dimoveria loco ubi collocata sunt p. 100. l. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 13. if for as p. 101. l. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 104. 3. cum for cur l. 4. gulae for vulgae p. 109. l. 6. false for foolish l. 12. as for in it 's p. 114. l. 25. about that for above the. p. 115. l. 10. in one of these three p. 120. l. 22. words for Worlds p. 123. l. 15. seconds for cubits p. 130. l. 26. lately bin p. 133. l. 8. conveniences p. 134. l. 4. Epicycles l. 6. Deferents p 153. l. 10. unus p. 159. l. 21. might only p. 160. l. 12. motions for notions p. 166. l. 11. one second p. 187. l. 16. say for see p. 190. l. 12. must for most p. 205. l. 1. motion is p. 228. l. 23. r. M m for M N p. 237. l. 17. r. Oâ— homini p. 236. l. 3. r. of all other naturall Place this against the first Page Mytholog lib. 3 c. 17. Lib. 7. c. 1. Vid. loseph Acosta de nat novi orbis lib. 1. cap. 1. De civit Dei lib. 16. cap. 9. Institut l. 3. c. 24. De ratione temporum Cap. 32. De nat rerum Lib. 1. Comen ìn 1. Cap. Gen. Psal. 24. 2. Comment in 1. Genes 1 Tim. 2. 4 Mat. 28. 19 Aventinus Annal. Boiorum lib. 3. Annal. Eccles A. D. 748. In vita Paul Aenâ—il Metam Lib. 4. Iuven. Sat. 6. Nat. Hist. Lib. 2. c. 12. Turinens Episc. LIB 1. Cap. 2. De Coelo l. 1. c. 8. 9. Ibid. De operibus Dei part 2. lib. 2. cap. 2. De Coelo l. 1. c. 9. q. 1. Metaphys l. 12. c. 8. Diog. Laert. lib. 3. Nic. Hill de Philosop Epic. partic 379. Plutarch de tranq anim Iuvenal Apologia pro Galilaeo Ethic. l. 1. c. 6. Rev. 16. 4. Part 1. Q. 47. Art 3. Annal. Eccl. A. D. 748. Ibid. De Phaenom in orbe Lunae Iob 38 7. Isai. 14. 12. Fromond Vesta t. 3. cap. 2. So 2 Reg. 23. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is interpreted both for the planets for the 12 signes Keplar introduct in Mart. In Epist. ad Gilbert Calvin in 1 Gen. Com. in 1 Gen. 11. Part 1. Q. 68. Art 3. Epist. 139. ad Cypri So Pererius in 2 Gen. Gen. 1. 16. Gen. 11. Mala. 3. 10. Sir Walter Rawly c. 7. sect 6. * Deut. 11. 17. 1 Reg. 3. 35 Luk. 4.