wit That is true which is affirmed by divine authority rather then that which is guessed at by humane infirmity For there he speakes of Philosophicall points which seeme to be contrary to Scripture but you are mistaken when you say that God descends to our capacity in naturall things and conformes his expressions to the mistake of our judgements as he doth apply himselfe to our apprehensions by being represented like a man There is infinite oddes betweene God and naturall things wee that are corporall cannot understand spirituall things much lesse that infinite Spirit but by familiar expressions yet such as doe in some sort represent his attributes to us as he is said to have eyes hands c. by which are signified his knowledge operations c. But for naturall things there was no such necessity because naturall men by natures light are able to understand naturall things so wee know what a circular motion is and if the Earth did truely move we should as soon apprehend the motion of it as we do the Suns motion therefore there was no need why God should descend to our capacity in affirming an untruth because wee cannot understand the Earths motion God then doth not conforme his expressions to the errour of our judgements for our judgements doe not erre in this but he speakes according to the truth of the thing which wee judge and apprehend as it is We apprehend the fire to be hot if you were of an opinion that it were cold which you may as well maintaine as the Earths motion you would doubtlesse tell us that the Scripture in saying the fire is hot applies it selfe to the vulgar errour or mistake of our judgements thus you may make the Scripture to serve you for defence of any absurdity by using such a subterfuge and running into such a starting hole 4. You examine those particular Scriptures which are urged to prove the Suns motion and you tell us that they are spoken in reference to the appearance of things and the false opinions of the vulgar and in the 75. pag. of your Booke you say it is a frequent custome for the holy Ghost to speake of naturall things rather according to appearance and common opinion then the truth it selfe I would 1. know if this consequence be Logicke the holy Ghost speakes of naturall things according to appearance frequently and of some ergo continually and of all or particularly of this to wit the Earths immobility The Scripture oftentimes speakes of God according to mens opinion and capacity as that he is angry that he repents c. Ergo the Scripture speaks still of God thus and so when the Scripture sayes that God is a Spirit or just or infinite or eternall that may be understood if your Logicke be good according to opinion or appearance this will prove a dangerous kind of reasoning 2. Why doth not the holy Ghost tell us in plaine tearmes that the Earth moves if it doth move what end hath hee to tell us that it is immoveable Is it because we are not capable to understand such a high mysterie that is ridiculous For is it a greater mysterie then Christs Incarnation Resurrection Ascension c. which are set downe in plaine tearms but indeed it is no mysterie it 's easie to understand the Earths motion if it did move Or is it because the holy Ghost would not give offence to the world in telling them plainly that the Earth moved being an opinion so repugnant to sense and reason Then doubtlesse he would not have told us that the Sun and Moone stood still at Ioshua's command or that the Sea was divided by Moses Rod and those other miracles of holy Writ as much repugnant to sense and naturall reason as the Earths motion is the holy Ghost useth not to hide or mince the truth for feare of offending men 3. There is great oddes betweene asseverations and allusions betweene the affirmation of a truth and an allusion to a fiction The Scripture speaking of perverse men that will not heare Gods word alludes to the fiction as you call it of the adder stopping his eare ergo when the Scripture speakes of the Earths immobility it speaks according to common opinion A goodly consequence as if you would say the Scripture speakes figuratively of Christ when it calls him a Lamb a Doore a Vine ergo when the Scripture speakes of the beheading of Iohn Baptist it speakes according to common opinion if there be no better Logicke taught in the Universities of the Moone we will never send our Sons thither 3. It is a rule in Saint Austin that we should expound Scripture as the Saints have expounded it before us Quomodo bac verba intellexerunt Sancti sic utique intelligenda sunt But name me that Saint that ever expounded these Scriptures which speake of the Heavens motion and of the Earths immobilitie according to appearance and common opinion Of St. Austins minde was the sixth generall Councell prohibiting any man to interpret Scripture otherwise then the Lights and Doctors of the Church have hitherto expounded them by their writings which Canon is confirmed in the eleventh Session of the third Lateran Councell 5. The ancient Fathers warne us that we doe not deviate or depart from the literall sense of Scripture so long as no absurdity doth follow thereupon now no absurdity doth follow upon the literall sense of the Earths immobilitie but upon your sense and exposition many absurdities follow therefore we must not depart from the literall sense 6. Where the holy Ghost speakes obscurely and figuratively in one place hee doth in another place open himselfe in plaine tearmes as Saint Hierome observes but speaking of the Earths immobilitie he useth still the same phrases neither doth he explaine himselfe otherwise in any one place which doubtlesse hee would have done if he had meant otherwise then hee spoake 7. I absolutely deny that the holy Ghost speakes of naturall things otherwise then in truth and reality and not as you say according to common opinions As for your expositions of these Scriptures which are for us and your instances against our opinion they are wrested and false and impertinent and of no soliditie as we will shew by our answer or reply to each of them severally 1. It is usuall with you to cut your throate with your owne sword and to bring passages against your selfe for you would prove that the Scripture speakes of the Heavens motion in reference onely to the Vulgars false opinion because The Sunne is in his glory like a Bridegroome and in his motion like a Gyant I answer if the Sunne be in his motion like a Gyant then sure the Sunne hath motion for how can that which is not be compared to that which is Similitudes cannot illustrate non entities 2. If the Sun were not a glorious creature David had not compared his glory to without motion he had not compared his motion to the motion
bringing forth and vipera quasi vi pariâ—ns But we will shake off this viper from our pen as Saint Paul did that viper in Malta from his hand and if your viper hath bit us let us see if your aspe for so naturalists doe write will cure us 9. The aspe which you translate the adder stops his eares saith the Psalmist against the voyce of the charmer This you say is fabulous if we may beleeve many naturalists yet the holy Ghost alludes to it because it was the generall opinion of those dayes Answ. You are a great Antiquary for you know the common opinions that were in Davids dayes and you tell us not out of what records or manuscripts you have this but indeed I will not beleeve you nor your many naturalists whom you should have named and shewed us their reasons why they think this to be fabulous 2. You will not I think hold inchanting of Serpents to be fabulous except you will as you use to doe contradict both sacred and profane ancient and recent stories 3. Nor will you deny that there is great cunning and prudence in Serpents to avoid dangers and to preserve themselves our Saviour will have us to learne wisdome of them why then may not the aspe naturally have this piece of policie to stop his eare 4. Though there were no such naturall policie in the Serpent yet may he not be taught by inchanters to do so You shal read in stories of stranger matters done by Serpents if you will reade Irenaeus Austin and Epiphanius of heresies you shall finde how that sect of the Valentinians or Gnostickes called from worshipping of the Serpents Ophits did teame and teach their Serpents to come out of their holes or boxes where they were kept to crawle on their altars eo licke their oblations to wrap themselves about their eucharist and so returne to their holes the like is recorded by Virgil of a Serpent on the altar which AEntas erected on his fathers tombe Tandem inter pateras levia pocula Serpent Libavitque dapes c. I will not speake of Olympias her Serpent and of many others 5. May not Satan who hath still abused the Serpent to superstition cause the aspe stop his eares when he is inchanted Is it a more incredible thing for an aspe to stop his eare then for a Serpent to speake and discourse as he did to Eva. I could tell you strange stories of the Serpent Epidaurius at Rome of that Serpent that barked at the ejection of Tarquinius and of others recorded by grave Historians which I will not account fabulous though you perhaps will because I know that Satan by permission can doe strange things 6. It is manifest that beasts birds and fishes are diversly affected with joy fear courage anger c. according to the qualitie of the sound which they heare why then should the relation of the aspe stopping his care be accounted so incredible It may be as naturall for him to stop his eare at an ungratefull sound as for other creatures to run away from it 7. Though men have but small knowledge of this yet as St. Austin saith the Spirit of God knowes better then all men do who had not recorded this had it not been true so that what is by men accounted an opinion in Scripture it is truth saith the same Father by all this you may see that the holy Ghost speaketh not according to mens opinions but according to truth and though you should erect your two Serpents over your dore as the Gentiles used to doe over their temples yet they will not priviledge your opinion 10. The North winde which the Scripture calleth cold and drie the Southwinde which is hot and moist are phrases as you say which doe not containe any absolute generall truth for though the North-winde to us on this side of the line be cold and dry yet to those beyond the other tropicke it is hot and moist Answ. There is no absolute generall truth in most of the sublunarie works of nature for they are subject to much change and especially the windes which are the emblemes of unconstancy So that even here in this Island I have known northern windes warme and moist and southerne cold and dry and if you read Acosta he will tell you that ordinarily beyond the line the North-winde is cold and dry as it is in this side and not hot and moist as you say though it blow from the line The windes doe vary according to the climate they blow through and yet they keep not the same tenure still in the same climate the North-winde is ordinarily cold and dry in that climate where these Scriptures of Iob and Proverbs were penned and the Scripture speaketh onely of that climate and yet if you will beleeve Acosta's owne experience these Scriptures are true also of the North-winde beyond the line But what will you inferre upon this marry that this proposition the earth is immoveable containes not a generall truth because the North-winde is not generally cold and drie as if you would say this proposition the sea ebbes and flowes containes not a generall truth ergo this proposition man is a reasonable creature is not generally true who will not laugh petulants splene to heare such Logick But you give a reason why this phrase of the coldnesse and drinesse of the North-winde is not generally true because in some places it is hot and moist prove unto us that the earth in some places moves circularly and then we will yeeld that this phrase of the earths immobility is not generally true 2. These Scriptures which you alledge for the coldnesse of the North-wind may be diversly understood for Iob 37.9 there is mention made of dispersers or scatterers but not of the North-wind and this quality is in every wind to disperse the clouds as well as to bring them In the Pro. 25. 23. it is said that the North-winde bringeth forth raine for so the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth as well as to drive away and so Iunius and Tremelius translate it gignit and instead of Aquilo they have Caecias which is the North-East-winde though some think it to be the North-West so the seaventy Translatours have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to excite and stirre up so Iob 37. 21. where some translate faire weather in Hebrew Greeke and in the old Latine Translation it is Gold cometh out of the North. Thus upon tottering and uncertaine foundations you raise the structure of your wilde phantasies 11. The darkning of the Sunne the turning of the Moone into bloud and the falling of the Stars will not help you for these are not naturall effects but miraculous workes of God to be done afore Christ second coming and to say that these things shall be but in shew or appearance is to make us thinke that God will affright the world as we doe little children with hobgoblins How will the
Sun elevates vapours out of Nilus So you will tell me that hail or snow are generated of moist vapours condensate by cold into that form but then why in the hottest countries even under the line are the greatest showres and biggest haile So might I reason with you of the other Meteors but that I will hasten to be rid of this taske having other imployments 4. I had said that there was no credit to be given to Pythagoras whom you make a patron of your opinion because he was both a sorcerer as Saint Austin sheweth and the father of many monstrous absurdities as I have shewed out of Theodoret. You would salve his credit by telling us that all men are subject to errours and I deny it not but it is one thing for a man to fall into an errour accidentally and an other thing to broach a multitude of errours A man may speake a lie by chance and that shall not derogate from his credit but if he use to lie I will scarce beleeve him when hee speakes truth That Pythagoras was a witch his name sheweth from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either because hee spoke as Apollo Pythius did falsly and obscurely or because he was possessed with the Pythian Spirit or the Devill who deluded the Gentiles who appearing and deceiving them in the forme of the Serpent Python which hee was said to kill was called Pythius His causing of an Eagle to flie to him by certaine conjuring words and being at the same time in two severall places at Thurii and Metapontii with many other such like conjuring tricks shew what he was Pliny saith that he went to Egypt and many other places to learne Magicke the Pythagoreans would kill no Serpents so highly they honoured them Saint Austin saith out of Varro that Pythagoras was much addicted to Hydromancie and Necromancie and to consult the infernall Spirits by bloud And Tertullian deciphers him to be a notable impostor who to make people beleeve his doctrine of transanimation hid himselfe seaven yeares under ground macerating his body with hunger thirst nastinesse hazarding his health and life with damps and filth to confirme a grosse lie Quomodo credam non mentiri Pythagoram qui mentitur ut credam He that will with swearing lying and deceiving trickes perswade us that he was in Hell and that he had been Aethalides Euphorbus Pyrrhus and Hermotimus would make small bones to broach such monstrous opinions as of the motion of the Earth and immobilitie of the heavens out of ambition to get him a name And this is the goodly Patron of your opinion Dignum patella operculum The man of eminent note and learning as you call him highly esteemed for his divine wit and rare inventions Againe when you say that many of his absard sayings are to be understood in a mysticall sense why will you in a literall sense understand his sayings of the Earths motion and Heavens immobilitie 5. I had said that indeed Pythagoras was not the Author of this opinion for no ancient writer ascribes it to him you reply that many ancient Authors ascribe it to the Pythagorean Sect. For proofe whereof in stead of many authors you bring one as if one were a multitude and that one is Aristotle Answ. There is a difference betweene Pythagoras and Pythagoreans betweene the Scholar and the Master I spake of Pythagoras Aristotle of the Pythagoreans The Scholars oftentimes broach opinions which the Masters never knew it is ordinary in all Heretickes and Sectaries to father opinions on the first founders and on other learned men which they never knew nor dreamed of That impure sect of the Nicolaitans fathered their opinions on Nicolas the Deacon The Arians would have made the world beleeve that Origen Dionysius of Alexandria and Lucian the Martyr had been the authors of their impieties The Donatists alledge Saint Cyprian for the author of their separation from the Catholick Church and the mad-headed Circumcellions called themselves Donatists Therefore when you say that it appeares by Aristotles testimony that Pythagoras thought the Earth to be one of the Planets you are deceived for he speakes not of Pythagoras but of the Pythagoreans of which number you are one not onely for affirming the Earth to be a Planet but also in holding transanimation for you make no difference betweene Pythagoras and his disciples thinking as it seemes that the soule of Pythagoras which had beene in so many bodies before was now entred into the bodies of the Pythagoreans 2. I said that Pythagoras held that the heavens by their motions made a musicall harmonie which could not consist with the earths motion you say it may consist but you doe not prove how it may tell me for what end doth the Heaven move Is it not for the benefit of the Earth But if the earth move to receive its benefit from the Heaven surely the Heaven moveth to no end or purpose Againe you would faine escape by telling us That Pythagoras meant by the musicall concent i. the proportion and harmony that is in the bignesse and distance of the Orbes You tell us so but how shall we beleeve you This saying of his is not reckoned amongst his symbolicall speeches and if it be symbolicall why not that saying of the Earths motion Is not that also mysticall 6. You set down seaven or eight men of speciall note as you say for their extraordinary learning and for this opinion Answ. If this opinion makes men to be of speciall note then you must needs be a noted man or shall be hereafter when you are come downe from the Moone or freed from the cloud that inwraps you for you are of this opinion but you might have spared your labour for these men were Pythagoreans and I told you before that Pythagoreans were of this opinion but few of these were noted men for their extraordinary learning they were obscure men and very little spoken of in old Histories Aristarchus the Tyrant Aristarchus the Poet and that rigid Aristarchus the Grammarian and censurer of Homer were noted men but not your Aristarchus the Mathematician So Philolaus Nicetas Syracusanus Ecphantus and Lysippus have little said of them as for Heraclides Ponticus he was a man noted more for his ambition then for his learning in that he affected to be a god causing his friends to convey his dying body out of the way and a dragon to be laid in his bed that the world might thinke he was now a dragon and that he should be worshipped in that forme and indeed he shewed himselfe to be that which he desired to be to wit a beast and not a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Diogenes Laertius speakes of him As for Plato it is not certaine if he were of your opinion and if he had been the matter is not great And as for Numa Pompilius he was not Pythagoras his scholar for he lived
saith he depart from that sense which our holy Fathers and predecessours have maintained And againe whatsoever saith he the Catholique Church hath of old retained that onely shall a true Catholique maintaine and beleeve therefore he shewes that it is the trick of Heretickes to delight in novelties and to reject and despise old doctrines Us profanis novitat bus gaudeant antiquitatis scit a fastidiant If then the Jesuites in reverence to the Churches authority and to the ancient Fathers doe oppose this opinion they deserve commendation and so did these Cardinals that called it in and punished the defenders of it Thirdly you say that we judge of things by sense rather then by reason but indeed you have no reason to say so for although that sensitive things such as the Earths stability and Sunnes motion are to be judged by sense yet we have many reasons for us whereby we judge it must be so as I have shewed heretofore But I confesse we judge not by your reasons because they are but shadowes of reason and no way satisfactory neither doe we so tie the meaning of Scripture to the letter of it as you say but that we give freedome to raise other senses whether allegoricall tropologicall or anagogicall so they be not repugnant to faith and good manners But in historicall things Saint Austin tells us that we must chiefly adhere to the literall sense and it is a Maxime in the Schooles that we must not reject the literall sense which is not contrary agendis aut credendis to the Creed or the Law neither is it unlawfull to conclude Philosophicall points from the letter of Gods word seeing there is but one truth in Divinitie and Philosophie But to conclude Philosophicall points flat contrary to the letter of divine Scripture as you doe is too much boldnesse therefore I will speake to you in the words of Saint Austin writing of the Philosophers of his time Quicquid de tuis voluminibus his nostris literis contrarium protuleris an t aliqua facultate oftendamus aut nulla dubitatione credamus esse falsissimum Your assertion of the Earths motion is contrary to the letter of the Scripture therefore we doubt not to say is it most false As for our ignorance of your Astronomicall grounds it is excusable seeing your owne ignorance is the cause of it how can the Scholar know if the Master be ignorant himselfe of these Principles which he undertakes to teach or knowes not which way to make them intelligible How can the blinde lead the blinde Non obtusa adeo gestamus pectora We are not so dull but we can understand other Principles but yours being Chimaera's fictions non entities having no other ground but your owne phansie cannot informe our understandings which have entities for their objects 9. No councell hitherto say you have censured this opinion for an Heresie Answ. The Church by her councells doth not presently censure Heresies she knowes best her owne times and seasons and reasons too The Physician doth not alwayes in the beginning of a disease prescribe purging physicke 2. From the Churches forbearance to censure an Heresie you must not conclude the nullitie of an Heresie for the Heresies of Arius Macedonius Euryches and Nestorius were Heresies before they were censured by the four generall Councells And the Church saith Saint Austin suffers and beares with many Heretickes so long as they doe not pertinaciously maintaine nor maliciously to the disturbance of the Church spread abroad their falshoods Quod si fecerint tune pollantur Many are Heretickes in sore Coeli which are not in foro Ecclesie and he is not onely an Hereticke which denieth an Article of the Creed but he also that gain-sayeth any plaine place of Scripture The broacher or maintainer of any false and new opinion is an Hereticke saith Saint Austin 3. Either you have not read or have not observed the censure of Galilies opinion by the councell of Cardinals who not onely call it a false opinion erroneous in the faith a doctrine contrary to the holy Scripture but also in plaine tearmes they call it Heresie 4. When you say that Fromundus calls it a rash opinion bordering upon Heresie that Paul the Third was not so much offended at Copernicus when he dedicated his booke to him that the Fathers of Trent call Epycicles and Eccentrickes but fictions these are such weake helps to support your cause that if you leane on them they will prove no stronger then reeds or cob-webs if I should insist on them I should but discover your weaknesse in alledging of them And likewise your instancing of Shonbergius who importunately begged the Commentaries of Copernicus was is not rather out of curiosity to see how he could defend such an absurd Paradox then out of true affection to embrace it So Herod desired to see Christ I doubt not but many will desire to see your booke of this subject which I dare presume will never be of your opinion Lastly where as you say It is absurd not to assent to any thing in naturall questions but what authority shall allow of I say it were both absurd and dangerous for mens soules and the peace of the Church if men were suffered to assent to any absurditie against Scripture sense reason and the Churches authority CHAP. II. 1. Wee must beleeve the Scripture not our own phansies 2. The Scripture never patronizeth a lye or an error nor doth it apply it self to our capacity in naturall things though it doth in supernaturall mysteries 3. Wee must stick to the literall sense when the Scripture speaks of naturall things 4. Some particular Scriptures vindicated from our adversaries false glosses as namely Psal. 19 of the Suns motion like a Gyant and Bridegroome to the ends of heaven And of his heat Eccles. 1. Of the Suns rising and setting Josh. 12. Of the Sunne standing still of the midst of braven how over Gibeon and how no day like that Esay 38. Of the Sunnes returning tenne degrees of the greatnesse and meaning of this miracle whether knowne to the Gentiles The testimony of Herodotus concerning this IT were happy for us say you if we could exempt Scripture from Phisophicall controversies And I say It were happy for us if all Philosophicall controversies could be decided by Scripture or if men would be so modest as to rest contented with Scripture phrases and expressions of such Philosophicall points as are mentioned there But what hope is there to end controversies when many are so wedded to their own phansies that neither will they yeeld to Scripture except they may have leave to interpret them nor to reasons except they may have leave to forme them nor will they trust their own senses but will captivate and enslave them also to their groundlesse imaginations The Scripture tells us in plaine tearmes the Earth is immoveable our senses doe assure us and many reasons which I have heretofore alledged induce
us to beleeve the truth of this assertion and yet you spurning at Scripture sense and reason as if your phansie were instar omnium would have our judgements senses Scripture Church and all regulated by your absurd dictates therefore it is an unreasonable thing in you to desire that the holy Ghost should not be Judge of his owne assertions in naturall truths and that there should be more credit given to your conceits which you call industry and experience then to Gods own words Indeed this travell hath God left to the sonnes of men to be exercised with as a punishment for their sins to toile and labour all their dayes about shadowes imaginations and indeed meer nothing groping at the doore of knowledge like blinde Sodomites all their dayes and cannot finde it so that they who have spent their whole life in Astronomie may with Saint Peter say on their death bed Master We have laboured all night but have caught nothing Thus with Martha they are busie about many things and neglect that one thing which is onely necessary 2. It is but a conceit of yours to say That the Scripture accommodates it selfe to the vulgars conceit in saying the Sunne riseth and falleth c. I warrant you if the vulgar should conceive that the heavens were made of water as the Gnostickes held or that the Sunne and Moone were two ships with the Manichees or that the world was made of the sweat of the AEones with the Valentinians or whatsoever other absurd opinion they should hold you would make the Scripture say so and to accommodate it selfe to their conceits The stability of the Earth and motion of the Heaven are absurd and false opinions in your conceit and yet the Scripture affirmes them You are as unapt I know to beleeve that the Sunne moves as others are that it stands still therefore it 's a wonder you do not begin to call the Scripture authority in question that affirmes the Suns motion seeing you say men would be apt to doe so if the Scripture had said the Sunne standeth c. How shall the Scripture please both parties if it say the Sun moveth your side will except against it if it say the Sun standeth ours will be offended at it Why should the Scripture be more loath to offend us then you except it be because we are the stronger side and we have our senses to witnesse with us which you have not I wish you would conceive a more reverend opinion of the Spirit of truth who cannot lie nor will affirme a falshood upon any pretence whatsoever neither will he countenance a lie to confirme a truth or speake false in one thing that wee may conceive his meaning the better in another thing He needs not such weake and wicked helps as falshoods to make us understand his will his word is strong and mighty in operation it 's the power of God unto salvation a sharp two edged sword his hammer his scepter c. As it stands not with his truth to affirme a lie so doth it no wayes consist with the power of his Word and Spirit to helpe our understanding by a lie 3. You say That if the Scripture had said the Earth riseth and setteth and the Sunne stands still the people being unacquainted with that secret would not have understood the meaning of it Answ. What matter is it whether they had understood it or not For you tell us that these things are not necessary in themselves and that it is besides the scope of these places to instruct us in Philosophicall points Will you have the holy Ghost then speake a falshood for feare lest we should not understand the meaning of a secret which is not necessary for us to know if it be not needfull for us to know whether the Earth stands or not so it was lesse needfull for the Scripture to say the Earth standeth when it doth not stand But you doe well to call the motion of the Earth a secret for so it is a great secret hid from the wise and prudent of this world and revealed onely to such babes as your selfe But why is this a secret If it be a naturall effect it is no secret for though naturall causes doe not incurre into our senses yet the effects doe and if this be a secret effect and not sensible it cannot be an effect of nature but I thinke it be such another secret as the Philosophers stone which never was and never shall be Though it be beside the chiefe scope of Scripture to instruct us in Philosophicall points yet it will not follow that these Philosophicall tearmes are to be otherwise understood then as they are expressed There be many Geographicall Historicall and Chronologicall passages in Scripture mentioned incidently and not chiefly to instruct us in such points shall we therefore understand them otherwise then they are set downe or rather the cleane contrary way But when you say the Earths motion is beyond our reach I grant it because we cannot reach that which is not made manifest to us either by sense or reason or divine authority If you can either of these wayes make it appeare I doubt not but our understanding will reach it and if you cannot one of these wayes make it appear to us we will account it a meere nothing For idem est non esse non videri and indeed you say well out of the Glosse that God doth not teach curiosities which are not apprehended easily for your motion of the Earth is an incomprehensible curiosity And it is well said by you againe that the Scriptures authority might be questioned if it did teach naturall things contrary to our senses and therefore if any booke of Scripture should affirme as you doe that the earth moves naturally and circularly I should verily beleeve that that booke had never been indicted by the holy Spirit but rather by a Pythagorean spirit or by the spirit of Dutch beer You condemne Tertullians Heretickes for retching Scripture a wrong way and forcing it to some other sense agreeable to their false imagination and rather then they would forgoe their tenents yeelded the Scripture to be erroneous De te fabula narretur You retch the Scripture a wrong way forcing it to your false imaginations you do not indeed call the Scripture erroneous but you make it to speake one thing and meane the cleane contrary therefore you shall doe well to apply Saint Austins counsell to your selfe and doe not settle your opinion rashly on that darke and obscure conceit of the Earths motion It is true also what you alledge out of Saint Austin that the holy Ghost being to deliver more necessary truths left out to speake of the forme or figure of Heaven c. because hee would not have us spend too much time in these things and neglect the meanes of salvation but you should have done well to have subjoined the following words of that same Father to
a vulgar opinion to say that the Sunne is in the midst of Heaven then all the chiefe learned both in Divinitie Philosophie and Poetrie speake as the Vulgar doe for they use the same phrase hence came the word Meridian Meridies Mid-day Mid-night If the Sunne were not every day in the midst of Heaven how should the Artificiall day be divided into equall parts Therefore Clavins tells us that the Meridian is called by Astronomers the midst of Heaven the line of the midst of Heaven c. And the Prince of Poets speakes both of the Sunne and Moone in the midst of Heaven Iam medium Phoebus conscenderat igneus orbem Phoebe Noctivago curra medium pulsabat Olympum 5. I would know of you if all Vulgar opinions be false That I hope you will not say If then the Vulgar speake sometime truth why may not the Scripture speake truth with the Vulgar or why should truth be of lesse esteeme because vulgar it should be otherwise for Bonum quo communius eo meliús It is ridiculous to think with you that the Sun was over Gibeon only in appearance and vulgar conceit For indeed the Sun was truly over Gibeon although he was no more over that then over other places Suppose you were in Pauls Church and divers others were there too is the roofe of that Church over your head only in appearance and vulgar conceit because it is over other heads as well as yours or because it is much larger then your head Or must that phrase be thought improper the roofe is over your head 2. The figure Eclipsis is frequent in Scripture when there some words wanting in a phrase which are to be supplied as 2 Sam. 6. 6. Vzza put forth to the Arke is understood his hand So 2 Chro. 10. 11. I with Scorpions is understood will chastise you So here Sun stand still in Gibeon is understood while we are fighting and so the words must be rendered Stand still whilest we are fighting in Gibeon for not onely the city but its territories where Ioshua's army was are called by the same name So Moon in the valley of Ajalon is understood goe not downe These words There was no day like that before it or after it you say are not to be understood absolutely but in respect of the vulgar opinion because there be longer dayes under the Pole Answ. Ioshua spoke not this with any reference to vulgar opinions but to the Climate in which he lived and where the miracle was shewed it was the longest day that ever was in those parts and what reason had he to except the dayes under the Poles being nothing to his purpose When Christ saith There be twelve houres in the day his words cannot be understood absolutely for there be more houres where the Horizon hath any obliquity and the higher the Pole is elevated above the Horizon the more houres have the dayes in Summer yet his words are true in sphera recta and in those Countreys that are under and neere the Line And what will you conclude from this that because these and such like phrases are not to be understood absolutely therefore this phrase the Sun moves is not to be understood absolutely But I will reply These phrases are true in respect of the Climate they were spoken of ergo this phrase also the Sun moves is true in regard of the Climate it is spoken of If then Judea be the place where the Earth is stable and the Sun moves your opinion is quite overthrown by the force of your own instance for if the Earth be immoveable in any Climate and the Sun moveable we have that which we desire it lieth on you to shew how and why the Sun should move there and not elsewhere why and how the earth moves here and not there 2. These words of Ioshua's perhaps have no reference to the length of the day although the vulgar Translation read it so but rather to the greatnesse of the miracle the Heavens hearkening to the voyce of a mortall man Ioshua acknowledgeth That never any such day was before or since that the Lord hearkned to the voyce of a man For so the Hebrew and Greeke read it 4. The Scripture saith That the Sun returned ten degrees in the dyall of Achaz this you will have to be understood of the shadow only So I perceive the Sun and the shadow light and darknesse is all one with you Take heed of the woe denounced against them that call light darknesse and darknesse light Why may you not in other places aswell as in this by the Sun understand the shadow as At Ioshua's command the Sun stood still that is the shadow stood Wee shall shine as the Sun that is wee shall be dark as the shadow 2. You mince the miracle and the power of God too much for is it not as easie for him to make the Sun goe back as to make the shadow returne Wherein is his absolute Soveraignty seen and his transcendent puissance but in the obedience of all creatures even of the Sun Moon and Stars to his commands St. Austin disputing against the Gentiles sheweth them That Nature is not the supreme guider of all things and hee instanceth in the standing and going back of the Sun His Argument had bin of no force had not the Sun moved at all as you think 3. If the shadow moved onely without the Sun then either that shadow moved it self which is ridiculous to think or it was moved by the motion of the dyall or of the gnomon and index of the dyall Now if the dyall or gnomon was moved by God or an Angel tell us where you read it Why might it not as well be turned about with a mans hand or by some engine and so this would have bin a suspected miracle or else the shadow returned according to the motion of some other luminous body so this were to multiply miracles needlesly for 1. that light must be created for that purpose 2. It must have a particular motion of its own 3. It must be a greater light then that of the Sunne otherwise the shadow had not beene discernible 4. It must either be united to some other light or else vanish all which was needlesse is it not safer then to adhere to Gods word from which when we wander we fall into many by-wayes And whereas you tell us That the miracle is proposed onely concerning the shadow I answer we are not to consider so much what is proposed as what was effected God useth to effect more then he proposeth and to performe more then he promiseth 2. You say There would have been some intimation of the extraordinary length of the day as it is in that of Ioshua I answer there was no such reason why the length of this day should be mentioned because this day was much shorter then Ioshua's in respect it fell out in the winter solstice whereas that of
one in essence for the will is nothing else but the understanding dilated extended inlarged to the desire and fruition of that object which it apprehends 2. The Apostle saith That we beleeve with the heart except you will have this also to be spoken according to opinion and not according to truth but without understanding we cannot beleeve For to beleeve saith Thomas is the act of understanding moved by the will to assent 3. The heart is the originall subject of sense and motion and consequently of understanding which cannot be in us without sense and motion 4. Understanding is in the soule the soule in the spirits the spirits in the blond and the bloud is originally in the heart which though it be in the liver as in a cisterne and in the veines as conduit-pipes yet it is in the heart as in the fountaine 5. The animall spirits in the braine in which they say the understanding is are both generated of and preserved by the vitall spirits of the heart being conveyed thither by certaine arteries small strings or fibrae 6. In a sudden feare which is the passion of the heart the understanding is much darkened and disturbed 7. Hippocrates every way a better man then Galen affirmes this truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mens minde or understanding is in the left ventricle of the heart That Booke De morbo sacro which goeth under the name of Hippocrates which contradicteth this truth is justly affirmed by Galen to be none of his 8. Though I should yeeld to the Galenists that the understanding is in the braine yet I will yeeld that it is there onely instrumentally and secondarily and in respect of its act or exercise for originally principally and in respect of its faculty it is in the heart onely neither would there be any exercise of understanding in the braine if it were not from the influence which it receiveth from the heart Neither is this strange that the act should be in one part and the faculty in another for the faculty of seeing is in the brain and yet the act of seeing is in the eye so that though the eye were lost yet the faculty would remaine still in the braine As for any thing that the Galenists can say against this it is of no moment for although the braine be hurt wounded or inflamed yet the faculty of understanding is not lost though the act or exercise be hindered Besides there is a phrensie or alienation of the minde upon a hurt or inflamation of the Diaphragma as well as of the braine therefore the ancient Physicians called this muscule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it being hurt the minde was hurt the remedies applied to the head by which the braine is cured doe not argue that the understanding is there but that there it doth exercise it selfe and yet remedies are applied sometimes to those parts where the disease is not but in some other place but this I leave to Physicians I remember that Philo will have the understanding which he compares to a King to be in the head because there be all the senses as the Kings guard but he is deceived for the guard may be in the same house with the King but not in his bed-chamber The guard or outward senses are in the outward court the inward senses are in the privy chamber but the King himselfe is in the heart as in his bed-chamber If any reply that the head is uppermost and therefore the worthiest part of the body and fittest for the King to be there I answer no for the garret or upper part of the house is for the servants to lodge in the King ought to be in the most inward and safest part of his palace It is evident then by what we have said that the holy Ghost by placing the understanding in the heart did speake according to truth and not to common opinion and therefore to write that the spirit of truth who leadeth us into all truth speaketh rather according to opinion then truth is a note blacker then your inke unfit to fall from the pen of a Christian. For even allegories tropes figures and parables are truths but I impute this slip rather to negligence in you then malice 8. The vipers egges will not help you Ova aspidum ruperunt they have broken the vipers egges as you translate it but 1. The viper hath no egges for whereas other Serpents lay egges the viper excludeth young vipers and not egges therefore called vipera quasi vivipara Vipers egges are such chimera's as your world in the Moone 2. The aspis and the viper are of different kinds to say that aspis is a viper is as true as if you did say a cat is a pig or a crow is a goose Read AElian Pliny and others who have written the stories of these creatures and Physicians who make treakle of vipers not of aspes if you will not beleeve me It was a viper not an aspe that leaped upon Saint Pauls hand they were aspes not vipers that Cleopatra applied to her breasts 3. This Scripture doth not allude to that common fabulous story of the viper as you say breaking his passage through the females bowels but it compares the counsels and plots of wicked men to the egs of the aspes which being white and faire to the eye are venomous within and cannot be broken without the indangering and poysoning of him that breakes them so wicked mens smooth counsels and plots howsoever specious in their pretences are notwithstanding venemous and deadly in their intentions and execution 4. Though I should grant you that vipers have egges yet it is one thing for men to breake vipers egges and another thing for young vipers to breake through the bowels of the female the Scripture speaketh of the former breaking and not of the latter neither hath it any relation at all in this place to that story of the vipers breaking through the belly of the female 5. Nor is this story so fabulous as you take it having the patrocinie of so many great and grave Authors for it namely Aristotle Theophrastus Herodotus AElian Plutarch Horapollus Pliny Saint Basil Saint Hierome Isiodor and divers others Scaliger indeed writes that he saw a viper bring forth her young ones without hurt and perhaps Angelus Brodaeus and some others have seen the like but what though we have seen some unhurt it is a hard skirmish where none scapes To inferre that no vipers are killed by their young ones because some are not is as much as if you would say no women are sicke or pained in their childe-birth because some are not Thus you see that you can make no treakle or antidote of your viper for the strengthening of your opinion the very names which are given by the Greekes and Latines to this creature shew that this is no fiction for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having much paine in
a powerfull voice it is to shake the hearts of the proudest Atheists even of Caligula himselfe and to teach the most perverse Epicures that there is a God in heaven who ruleth and judgeth the earth No eloquence prevailed so much with Horace as this when hee was parcus Deorum cultor an Epicure it made him renounce his errour retro vela dare by which the Gentiles acknowledged there was a supreme God whom they called Iupiter and that hee had the power of thunder qui fulmine concutit orbem qui foedera fulmine sancit So the same Virgil acknowledgeth that the thunder made the people to stand in awe of God an te Genitor cum fulmina torques Nec quicquam horremus c. By this God moved the hearts of the Romanes to use the Christians kindly when by thunder hee overthrew the Marcomans and the Christian Legion from thence was called The thundering Legion It is his weapon with which hee fights against wicked men and which hee flings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against perjurers as Aristophanes saith all the thundering disputations of Philosophers and the small sparkes of light or knowledge which they have of naturall causes are but toyes they are no better then glow-wormes What is the croaking of frogs to the cracking of thunder or the light of rotten wood to lightning in the aire Therefore in spight of all Naturalists let us acknowledge with David that it is the Lord that maketh the thunder that this voice of the Lord breaketh the Cedars and divideth the flames of fire and shaketh the wildernesse c. Besides the thunder is called Gods voice as the winde Gods breath by an Hebraisme as tall Cedars and high mountaines are called the Cedars and Mountaines of God the voice of God is as much as if you would say an excellent voice Then whatsoever Naturalists affirme peremptorily of the thunder I will with Iob and David acknowledge God to be the onely cause and will aske with Iob The thunder of his power who can understand Quis tonitrus sonum aut quemadmedum oriatur explicandis rationibus assequi possit saith Symmachus on these words of Iob. 15. The constellation called the 7. Starres are found you say by later discoveries to be but six What if I should grant you this and more too then you desire to wit that of old they were accounted but six of some So Ovid Dicuntur septeno sex tamen esse solent So Aratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And generally the Poets held that though Atlas had seven daughters called Atlantides from him yet one of them to wit Merope or as others say Electra hides her face but divers others hold there be seven to be seen And S. Basil tells us in plain termes that there are seven stars of these and not six as some think but let there be seven or but six what is this to your purpose Mary that the Scripture Amos 5.8 speakes of seven starres according to common opinion being but six in Galilies glasse but indeed the Scripture speaks neither of six nor seven but of a certaine constellation which the Seventy Interpreters leave out as a thing unknown to them Symmacbru and Theodotion interprete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the old Latine hath it Arcturus which is a starre in Bootes behinde the taile of the great Beare in English we call them Seven starres and to mine eyes they seem to be so many But if in Galilies glasse there be but six it 's no wonder for you tell us elsewhere That the better the glasse is the lesse will the starres appeare It is not like then that so small a starre can be seen through it Let therefore the number of 7. remaine it is a sacred nnmber numero Deus impare gaudet CHAPT IIII. 1. Many Philosophicall points are handled in Scripture 2. The heavens how round in the opinion of the Fathers 3. Wre must have a reverend esteem of the Fathers 4. How the seas not overflowing the land may be esteemed a miracle 5. The works of Nature may be called miracles HEre you tell us of Learned men which have fallen into great absurdities whilst they have looked for the grounds of Philosophy out of Scripture which you shew by the Iewish Rabbines and some Christian Doctors Ans. As it is vanity to seek for all Philosophicall grounds in the Scripture so it is stupidity to say there be no Philosophicall grounds or truths to be found in Scripture whereas Moses Iob David Solomon and other Penmen of the holy Ghost have divers passages of Philosophy in their writings as I have shewed heretofore of divers constellations out of Iob and why may not Philosophicall truths be sought for out of Scripture seeing Philosophy is the contemplation or knowledge of divine and naturall things both which are handled in Scripture divine things principally naturall things in the second place that by naturall things we may come to the knowledge of Divinity and by this to the attainment of eternall felicity Therefore in Scripture is recorded the creation the cause qualities and effects of the creature that by these we may come to the knowledge of the Creator If the Gentile Philosophers had not found much Philosophy in Scripture they had never conveighed so much out of it as they did into their Philosophicall books as Theodore sheweth The idle opinions of many Philosophers which are grounded neither on sense nor reason as yours of the Earth's motion are not to be sought for in Scripture but Philosophicall truths which are grounded on either or both may be sought and found there and whatsoever idle conceits the Jewes have had of Scripture or their idle fables which they have grounded on it concerne us not they were a giddy headed people given over to a reprobate sense groping at noone day having their hearts fat and their eyes blinded that they may not see their seeking for Philosophicall truths in Scripture was not the cause of their foolishnesse for few or none of them were addicted to the study of Philosophy but their owne voluntary blindnesse pride stubbornnesse and contempt of Christ the internall and essentiall Word of God are the causes of their ignorance in the externall Word so that they having forsaken the truth follow lyes But as for the Christian Doctors they have not exposed themselves to errours by adhering to the words of Scripture but you are fallen into grosse errors by rejecting the words of Scripture These which you count errours are truths as That the Sun and Moon are the greatest lights That there are waters above the firmament That the starres are innumerable as wee have already shewed As for the roundnesse of the heaven though the Fathers doubt of it yet they doe not absolutely deny it Iustine Martyr doth but aske the question Whether their opinion may not be true which hold the roundnesse of the heaven St. Ambrose saith that it is sufficient for us
us and we will imbrace them if you have not his utere mecum content your selfe with these till you know better But you promise that you will cleerly manifest the insufficiency of our arguments in this Chapter Let us see if you will be as good as your word which we have not yet found in you only large promises without performance Larga quidena semper Drance tibi copia fandi 1. We say that the earth is the center not the sun because the earth is lowermost and under the sunne To this you answer That since the sun is so remote from the center of our earth it may be properly affirmed that we are under it though that be in the center of the world Answ. That the sunne cannot be the center of the world and that the earth must needs be the center we have proved against Lansbergius for neither could there be Eclipses of the Moone nor could we discerne the medietie of heaven nor of the Zodiac if the earth were not the center And whereas the center is the middle of the globe equally distant from all the parts of the circumference the wise God placed the earth in the midst of this great systeme of the world not onely for mans sake who being the Lord of this universe and the most honourable of all the creatures deserved to have the most honourable place which is the middle but chiefly that man with all other animall and vegetable creatures might by an equall distance from all parts of heaven have an equall comfort and influence For imagine there were two earths this which is in the center and another out of the center the influence and powers of heaven must needs more equally concurre and be united in this then in that and if the place be it which conserves the creatures what place more fit for conservation then that which is in the midst of the world Having an equall relation to all parts of heaven and all the powers of the universe uniting themselves together in the earth as in a small epitome Therefore nature which is the hand-maid and imitatour of God layes up the seed in the middle of the fruits as being not onely the safest part but also because in the middle as in the center all the powers of the plant meet together in the forming of the seed wherein it doth perpetuate it self How unconvenient and unhealthy were mans habitation if it were neerer the heaven then it is for the aire would be too pure and unproportionable to our grosse bodies for they that travell overhigh hils find their bodies much distempered Acosta witnesseth that they who travel over the high hils of Peru fall into vomiting become desperately sick and many lose their lives by reason of the subtilty purenes of the air But your words would be a little corrected For since the sun you say is so remote from the center of the earth we are under it Indeed we are under it in that it is above us but not for that it is remote from us or from the earth Under and above are relative tearms so are neerenes remotenes 2. You slight the constant and perpetuall doctrine of the Church from the beginning concerning the site of hell which is in the center or bowels of the earth and you call it an uncertainty but so you may call any doctrine in Scripture for where will you have hell to be but either in heaven or in the earth These are the two integrall parts of this universe in heaven I hope you will not place it except you will have it to be in the moone But if there be any hell there it is for the wicked of that world as for the wicked of this world they are not said to ascend to hell in the moone but to descend to hell in the earth as Core and his fellowes Therefore it is called a lake burning with fire and brimstone Abyssus a deepe gulfe Gehenna the valley of Hinnon By Tertullian Thesaurus subterraneus ignis arcant The treasure of hid fire under ground The Apostle speakes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those that bow to Christ under the earth Horrende voragines fearfull gulfes they are saith Lactantius And that which you call uncertainty is called certa fides a sure faith an undeniable truth by Prudentius Certa fides rabidos sub terra nocte caminos c. And as this hath been the constant opinion of the Church as may be seen both in the Greeke and Latine Fathers so hath it been beleeved by the Gentiles as I could instance out of Greeke and Latine Poets of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tartarus Phlegerbon Cocytus Styx Acheron which they shew to be in the center or bowels of the earth therefore I hope you are none of those that Iuvenal speaks of who would not beleeve there was any hell under ground Esse aliquos manes subterranea regna c. Nec pueri credunt For whosoever denied hell to be below denied that there was any such place at all as Pythagoras Epicurus Lucretius Tully Seneca Lucian Pliny and some others to whom I may adde the Gnostickes who held there was no other hell but this world whom Irenaeus resutes 2. As hell must needs be in the earth below so must heaven the place of the blessed be above all these visible heavens which is called The third heaven and the heaven of heavens Therefore it is no uncertainty as you say that it is concentricall to the stars for if it be not tell us where you will have it in the moone or in the Elysian fields or in Mahomets paradise I wish you would thinke the dictates of Gods word to be more certaine then your groundlesse phansies and that the Scripture is a more stable foundation to build upon then the Moone 3. It is not an uncertainty that places must be as farre distant in scituation as in use Therefore Abraham saith That there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great gulfe or gap between Lazarus and Dives So David distinguished between the height of heaven and the deepe of hell so doth Amos and Esay and it 's fitting that heaven and hell the saints and the wicked the joyes of the one and torments of the other be as remote as may be which the Poet knew Tartarus ipse Bis patet in praeceps tantum tenditque sub umbras Quantus ad aethereum coeli suspectus Olympum 3. These things also you will have to be uncertaine 1. That bodies must be as farre distant in place as in nobility 2. That the earth is of a baser matter than other Planets 3. That the center is the worst place Answ. These are not uncertainties to men that have sense and reason for sense tells us that the grosser simple bodies are the lower place have they in this Universe the heaven being a quintessence and of the purest matter is uppermost next is
is but cobweb learning in your conceit but we thinke that these cobwebs are strong enough to catch such flyes as you and indeed there is more substance in these cobwebs then in your Astronomicall dreames and phansies 4. What you say of other knowledge That is depends upon conjectures and uncertainty is most true of your Astronomicall Booke wherein I have found nothing but suppositions may-bee's conjectures and uncertainties 5. Whereas you say That man had os sublime a face to looke upward that he might be an Astronomer You are deceived it was that hee might be a Divine for the starres were made not that he should doate upon them in idle speculations and niceties full of uncertainty but that by their light and motion he might be brought to the knowledge of Divinity which your self in your subsequent discourse is forced to acknowledge But take heed you play not the Anatomist upon these celestiall bodies whose inward parts are hid from you in the curious and needlesse search of them you may well lose your selfe but this way you shall never finde God 6. Whereas you say That Astronomy serves to confirme the truth of the holy Scripture you are very preposterous for you will have the truth of Scripture confirmed by Astronomie but you will not have the truth of Astronomie confirmed by Scripture sure one would thinke that Astronomicall truths had more need of the Scripture confirmation then the Scripture of them And indeed all Learning beside the Scripture is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theodoret saith that is meere contention and strife of words not to be reconciled Let us not then spend that time in vaine and needlesse speculations which we should imploy in knowing God and in working out our salvation with feare and trembling For it is life eternall to know God in Christ in respect of which excellent knowledge the Apostle accounted all things but drosse and losse Moses was a great Astronomer yet he reckoned the knowledge of this and of all the Egyptian wisdome but detrimentum stultitiam but losse and foolishnesse in respect of the knowledge of holy Scripture saith Saint Ambrose Astronomers with Martha are busie about many things but the Divine with Mary hath chosen the better part which shall never betaken from him How small was the store of gold and silver which the Hebrewes brought out of Egypt in comparison of that wealth which under Solomon they had in Jerusalem so small and meane is all humane knowledge compared to the Scripture for whatsoever learning is nought it is condemned here whatsoever is profitable it is to be found here and more abundantly in the wonderfull height and depth of Scripture then any where else saith Saint Austin Let it then be our delight Nocturna versare manu versare diurna still to be meditating in this holy Law of God that like trees planted by the river side wee may fructifie in due season And as Alexander did carry about him Homers Iliads in the rich cabinet of Darius even so let the holy Scripture be still our Vade mecum and in the cabinet of our heart let us lay it up as Mary did the words that were spoken of Christ. I may say of Scripture as the Apostle said of Christ Whither shall we goe from thee thou hast the words of eternall life Thus briefly and by snatches being with-drawne and distracted with many other businesses have I answered your Booke which I undertooke partly out of the considence I have of the truth of our side partly to vindicate my owne credit partly to satisfie my friends and lastly to excite others whose abilities exceed mine to maintaine and defend the truth of our opinion and to explode the contrary as false which in time may prove dangerous and pernicious to Divinitie FINIS l.g. Meta. 5.4 Cont. Lansbergium l. tsect 1. c. 20. * Plin. li. 2. cap. 65 August de civit li. 16. cap. 9. Macrob. in som. Scipionis li. 2. c. 5. Lactanti de falsá Sapien. li. 3. cap. 24. l. Categ c. 10. Iob. 42.3 Lactan. de fals i Sapi. lib. 3. cap. 3. Aug. ad Lau. li. 1. cap. 10. Lact. li. 3. ca. 3. defal Sap. Cont. Carpentar Sect 2. c. 10. Aug. l. 7. de Civit. c. 35. Theod. ser. ad Grac. infid Plin. l. 30. c. 1. Decivit Dei l. 7. c. 35. Tertul. l. de Anim. c 28 29. Vide Laertum l. 8. de viit Phil. O. 5. Solin c. 16. Cic. 4. Tuscul. Litius Dec. 1. l. 1. Plutarch in Numa Mercure Francois An. 1633. Vincent Lyr. adver Hares Vincent ibid. Cont. Lansbergum L. 8. De Genes ad lit c. 1 c. 2. L. 1. De Genesi ad liter c. 21. Lib. quast E. vang in Mat. 4. 12. Lib. de utilit sâ—edend c. 1. Le Mercure Franc. an 1633. In Gen. ad Fteram De verbis Domini Ser. 18. In Isai. c 19. Psal. 19. Eccles. 1. Josh. 12. 14. In cap. 2. Spharajaero Bâ—se Geor. 4. AEn 10. Esay 38. 8. 2 King 20. 11. De Civit. lib. 21. c. 8. Vide in Iosuam Munster Lyram c. 2 Chr. 32. 31 De civit Dei l. 21. c. 8. L. 2. Chron. l. 1. Prooem Philes sacr De Genes ad liter l. 2. cap. 16. Psal. 148. De civitat l. 11. cap. 34. Hexam l. 2. cap. 3. De Genes ad lit l. 2. cap. 6. Gen. 15. 5. Psal. 147. 4. Ier. 35. 22. Inc. 1. sphae De civit Dei l. 16. c. 23. August ibid. Rev. 4. Psal. 125. Cons. Lansberg l. â— sect 1. 6. 9. Iob 23.8 9. De cognit ver vitae c 6. Hom. 8. in Ierem. Epist. 59. ad Aritum Sect. 1. c. 6. Sect. 1. c. 1,4,5 Prov. 8.5 10.8 Eccles. 1.13 16 17. 8. 5. Odyss 1. 1 Pet. 3.4 Secund. Sec. 9.4 artic 2. Oportet intelligentem speculari phantasmata Arist. Lib. d corde Esay 59. 5. Exercit. 201 Psa. 58.4,5 AEn 5. 7. In Psal. 57. 67. Pinge duos angues Histor. Indicar l. 3. c. 3. Iob 37.9 22.17 Pro. 25.29 Iohn 3. 8. In Psal. 134 Eccles. 1.7 1 Cor. 15. lib. 1. Od. 34. Act. 4. Psal. 29. Iob 26.14 lib 4. Fast. in Apparen In Caten Comitoli in Iob 9. Cont. Lan the. l 1. sc. 1. c. 7. Rerum divinarum humanarumque cognitio Serm. 2. ad Grac. infid Resp. ad Qu. 93. Hexamer li. 1. cap. 6. Psal. 104.2 Isa. 40.22 De Genes ad liter l. 2. c. 9. August In Psal. 104. Hier c. 3. ad Ephes. Iob 8.8 Prov. 8.29 Ier. 5.22 Psal. 104. Du Eartas 3. Day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Barbara Pyramidum sileat miracula Memphis Martial Perseverantia consisetuimis amisit admirationem De Trin l. 3. c. 2. c. 5. c. 6. Virgil. l. 4. Geor. Eccles. 1.4 2 Pet. 3.5 1 Chr. 16.30 Psal. 93.1 96.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habitor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habito Psal. 90.2 Prov. 3.19 2. Chro. 1.4 Ps. 119.90 Ps. 104.5 Psal. 98.3 Luke 2. 51.6 Iob. 9.6 c. 1. sec. 2. Apol. c. 47. Philip. 2. L. 7. Inslie c. 7. De hamartigenia Satyr 2. Irenaeus l. 5. c. 31. Psal. 139. Amos 9. Esay 14,13 14,15 An. 6 Pliny Prov. 26. 4. Contra Lansberg Luke 12.56 L. 4. De trin In Prooem in Xenoph. L. 3 c.c De fals sapiens Serns 1. De side Iob 38.5 Verse 22. L. 1. sec. 1. c. 1. L. 1. sec. 1. c. 1. L. 1. Sec. 1. c. 5 AEn 11. AEn 1. De teros motu L. 1. c. 3. 4 5 c. De bello Iudaico 7. c. 12 Natural quaest 1.7 c. 6 L. 1. sec. 1. c. 6 Isa. 60.20 Rev. 10.6 Rom. 8. Iovis arcanis Minos admissus L. 2. sec. 1. c. 1. De Coelo l. 2. c. 10. Lib. 1. de Anima Serm. 1. De F. de L. 1. De Officus De Doctrina Christian. L. 2.6.41