seeing that in him we live move and have our being as Paul saith we should by consequence and that without all question dispute or brabling-quarrels know and understand in our selves that summum bonum which truly-wise men seek after and with Tantalus his appetite do so fervently affect Doth not the Philosophy of Christ teach us that Regnum Dei sit intra nos The Kingdome of God is within us Et quod sit in nobis omnium mirabâ—lium operator And that the worker of all marvails is within us Et quod sumus Tempâ—a Dei Spiritùs Sancti And that we are the Temples of God and the Holy Ghost and that we are the members of Christ c. Which being so why should we be at strife disputes and brables about difficulties or ambiguities of questions or why should our riper senses be battered in peeces by foolish distinctions in which are the inventions of humane or diabolicall wisdome on set purpose to immerge and drown us deeper in the abysse of multitude or profundity of ignorance when the only indeavour of truth is to conduct us through those clouds of errors in which the foolish wisdome of this world hath involved our understandings unto the fountain of Unity and Concord which is the eternall Wisdome the spirituall Christ Jesus Thus we see how contrary the Greekish wisdome is unto that of the Apostle's for as much as the Greekish Philosophy is contentious litigious full of disputes brables and emulations for which reason it is pronounced by St. James to be terrene animall diabolicall and not from above whereas contrarywise that Philosophy which is grounded on the true wisdome which is from above must be first pure then peaceable gentle easy to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without judging envy or hypocrisy For this cause therefore our Christian Philosopher Paul admonisheth his Schollar Timothy to eschew all profane and vaine babling and opposition of Sciences falsly so called which whilst some profess they have erred concerning the Faith All such Christians as have their Anchor-hold too firmly fastned on Aristotles Philosophy should seriously ponder this that our eminent Master St. Paul seemeth to advertise them with such fervency that the observation of this Ethnick Philosophy which consisteth in contentions questions vaine bablings and opposition of Sciences which seeme such but are not so indeed though they are called so falsely is the occasion that well-intending Christians have been deceived and have erred concerning the Faith in the true Wisdome and only verity Jesus Christ. Again saith the Apostle James The wisdome which contradicteth the Truth is not from above but terrene animal diabolicall Now I am assured that all good Christians will maintain that the fountain of Truth and Verity is the holy Bible What will our Christian followers of Aristotle say if I will prove evidently that Aristotle's doctrine doth erre from the maine grounds of holy Writ which is the treasure of Verity and consequently from that wisdome which is the Father of Light It is a common phrase among our lip-learned Sophisters to say when any contradiction is found between some axioms of Greekish Philosophy and the sacred Assertion Oh this is true in Philosophy but in Scripture it is found otherwise I say to these that if there be found any contradiction between the points of the one and that of the other there is a foul error and falshood or contradiction in the one or other and therefore the one of the two must needs issue from a terrene and diabolicall or mundan and human wisdome Now judge each good Christian whether we should rather stick unto Gods Word which is the only Truth or the affirmation of Aristotle which deriveth his wisdome from the father of lyes I mean the mundan wisdom which is for that reason termed of the Apostle diabolicall or devilish Others say that men are so deeply conversant in the secrets of nature or naturall Philolosophy that they are become Athiests and will acknowledg no God They must needs understand of the Ethnick Philosophy and not point at that of Jesus Christ for that leadeth and directeth the understanding spirit of man even unto the Throne and Majesty of the true God and perswades him to forsake the multitude of this naughty world to betake and contract it self unto that blessed union from whence his bright Spirit was originally derived A third sort of men seem to repine and storm that any man should presume to mingle naturall Philosophy with Divinity or should dare or attempt to draw any axioms or Authorities out of Scriptures to prove or maintain the Principles or causes of Philosophy averring boldly but erroniously that the Bible doth onely teach unto man what belongeth unto Salvation that is to say how we should feare God and behave our selves unto our neighbours As who should say that the holy Scriptures had indited any thing in vain And yet it is plainly found in them that all the treasure of wisdome and science doth lie hid in Christ. And it is said in another place A me discetis omnia Ye shall learn all things of me And again Spiritus Sanctus vos docebit omnia The holy Spirit will teach you all things Are we not likewise taught that all men are vain that do not know the Creator by the creatures which he hath made and the invisible God by the visible things which he hath created Besides all this man shall find therein most lively described the three principles whereby God made all things namely the dark Abysse or Chaos which they call first-matter the second matter which they term water and the first Act or light which they call their form Also the true manner of generation of Meteors of condensation and rarefaction of generation and corruption of action and passion and of all things else which can be imagined in that kind of learning which the Aristotelians call naturall is rightly and not Sophistically expressed in this true Philosophy as also every other kind either Morall or Politick with all other Sciences both liberall and Mechanick as is already prooved What was all this I say vainly set down and expressed by the Saints of God which were in their inditings or writings guided by the Holy Spirit of Truth No verily but rather we may excuse these zealous accusers without true understanding and say that they meant of intermingling the false Aristotelian wisdom with that of the Spirit of God which is onely truth for would these persons but rightly understand that Philosophia in his originall sense importeth sophiam or wisdom they would acknowledge and confesse that the true and essentiall philosophy or sophia is nothing else but the sacred wisdom or holy spirit of discipline which is the ground of not onely that which animal men of this world tearm Naturall Philosophy but also of the whole subject of Theology So that if we consider the case rightly we shall plainly perceive
cupidi elati superbi c. semper discentes nunquam ad veritaâ—em pervenientes Quemadmodum autem Jamnes Mambres restiterunt Mâ—yâ—â— ita hi resistunt veritati homines corrupti mente reprobi circa fidem ultrà non proficient In the last daies shall come perilous times for men will be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud c. ever learning and never attaining unto the truth And as IJamnes and Mambâ—es withstoâ—d Moses so do these resist the verity men of a corrupt mind and reprobates concerning the faith Out of which words we gather first That some men in these latter daies will be so wedded unto their own learning and conceipted in the worldly philosophy or science which they have been brought up in that whatsoeveâ— truâ—h it self shall proffer unto them that is opposite unto their intentions it will be scornfully rejected Secondly he seemeth to expresse the insufficiency of that learning or philosophy which they embrace in saying that they are semper discenteâ— sed nunquam ad veritatem vel perfectionem pervenientes Ever learning but never attainâ—â—g unto that high vertue and power at which the truly wise have aimed by Ethnick philosophy Thirdly it appeareth that he meaneth the mundane philosophists by the example which he maketh of Jamnes and Mambres who being worldly Sages or bred up in the human wisdom did resist that truth which Moses being instructed in the divine Philosophy did so stoutly maintain And lastly he seemeth to intimate that such as adhere so much unto the spurious wisdom are thereby corrupted in their imaginations and allured to erre concerning the faith and profit nothing And therefore it will be no marvell though I shall find this mine admonition rejected and repined at by many though perchance more acceptable unto such as are vertuously inclined unto the truth and are apt yea and sufficient in their purer discretions to distinguish and separate the errours of Aristotle from the infallible verity of sacred Writ and to carry their judgments so justly and sincerely that the All-hallowed honour of the one do not suffer any detriment or indignity by the paganish and unsanctified axioms or assertions of the other CHAP. VI. Here One great God IEHOVAH seemeth to call the false wisdome or Wisemen and Philosophers of this world unto an Account for their erroneous Doctrine touching the causes and manner of the Creation of the world and the Generation of the Meteors thereof I Have expressed unto you in the precedent Chapter that the great Master of the Peripatetick doctrine is not for nought termed by the Greeks themselves Cacodaemon or an evill spirit being that by his inventions he hath deceived the world and seduced it from the right path of Wisdome and directed it unto that way which leadeth and guideth unto assured error and ignorance and that by the painted mask of sophisticated reasons besmeared over with a false and outward shew of probability only faining those things to be accidentall and caused at hap-hazzard which in verity are from above that is to say essentially produced by the increated Spirit 's power which operateth all in all For according unto his doctrine the Earth the Stats the Elements were eternall and not created and he covereth this his false assertion with appearing naturall inventions framed out of his own brain saying ex 〈◊〉 nihil fit Of nothing nothing is made He giveth also a humane reason of life motion and limits or borders the Seas and faineth causes after his fancie of the generation and corruption of things And speaketh of a first matter and a form after his manner though he knoweth not essentially what they are He telleth us unreasonably the reason of the snow frost and ice hail rain clouds and mists saying that they are adventitiously caused of vapours which are drawn up by the heat of the Sun and Stars out of the earth and waters into the middle region of the Aire and are there condensed into those substances by the accidentall coldness of the place He inventeth and bringeth forth some sleight proofs to maintain his imaginations averring that the wind is made or caused by chance namely through the exalting or subliming of hot and dry exhalations out of the earth by vertue of the forementioned Agents the which exhalations after they approach the middle region of the Aire are repercussed and beaten down again And then in their motions downward they meeting with other exhalations which ascend are forced to move collaterally He presumeth to know the hidden causes of the Lightnings and Thunders making them to proceed also accidentally namely from a concourse of vapours mixed with exhalations and an infinite of such like frivolous inventions he hath erected All which he hath vailed over with his smooth words and subtill shews of externall or superficiall probabilities only instead of the reall and centrall visage of Truth But the God of Heaven and Earth which is the Author of all these things and doth mystically fashion them by his eternall power and calleth them out of his Treasury when and where he list seemeth to deride this inventor of lies with his obsequious followers in these very words which he spake unto Job Who is this saith JEHOVA out of the whirl-wind unto this bold abuser of his Works that darkneth the counsell of my Words without knowledg Gird up now thy loines like a man I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth declare if thou hast understanding Who hath laid the measures thereof or who hath stretched the line over it whereupon are the foundations of them set or who layed the corner-stone thereof What were they eternall and without all beginning as thou vainly surmisest Who shut up the Sea with doores when it issued and came foorth as out of a wombe Have the gates of death been opened unto thee And hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death that thou assignest a reason so confidently of corruption and generation according unto thine imagination Hast thou entred into the Treasury of the Snow or hast thou seen the Treasuries of the Hail which I have hid against the time of trouble that thou after thy fancy darest to forge fain or assigne unto them such accidentall principles By what way is the Light parted which scattereth the East wind upon the Earth what is it by a hot and dry exhalation attracted on high by the Son and Stars and afterward repelled downward laterally as thou hast published Who hath divided the spouts of the raine or the way for the lightnings of the Thunders And who is the father of the raine or who hath begotten the drops of dew must the created Sun and Stars be the Actors and Authors in this business as thou dost erroniously imagine Out of whose wombe came the Ice who hath engendred the frost of the heaven Is it the
words Quis hominum cognoscit consilium Dei nam ratiocinationes mortalium sunt timidae instabiles cogitationes eorum Infestum enim corruptioni corpus aggravat animam deprimit terrena habitatio mentem plenam curis multis vix conjicimus ea quae in terra sunt quae autem in coelis sunt quis investigavit consilium tuum quis noverit nisi tu dederis sapientiam miseris sanctum Spiritum tuum è locis altissimis sie enim correctae sunt eorum quae in terris sunt semitae itaque sapientiâ fuerint salvati What man doth know the counsell of God for the reasonings of mortall men are doubtfull and unstable are their cogitations For the body being subject unto corruption doth aggravate the soul and an earthly habitation doth depresse the mind which is full of cares And we do scarcely guesse at the things which are upon the earth who is then able to find out the things which are in heaven Or who can know thy counsell unlesse thou shalt give wisdom and send thy holy Spirit from above for by that means were the waies of such men as were upon the earth corrected and amended and therefore were they saved or preserved by wisdom c. Out of which golden words I gather first That the heathen men were ignorant in the mysteries and abstruse operations of God because they wanted the true spirit of wisdom which God revealeth unto his Elect by the vertuous infusion and influxion of his holy Spirit Next that for this reason the subject of true Philosophy is not to be found in Aristotle's works but in the Book of truth and wisdom forasmuch as it is a copy of the revealed Word Thirdly that it is a great folly for Christians to seek for the truth where it is not to be found I mean in the works of the pagan Philosophers and that is made manifest forasmuch as it contradicteth altogether the verity of Scriptures and therefore it is pronounced by St. James to be terrene animal and diabolicall Verbum saepienti CHAP. XIII A conclusion of this work including an admonition unto all good Christians to beware of the Ethnick Philosophy and to stick and cleave fast unto that which is taught us by the Scriptures and that for reasons herein set down LEt it now be lawfull for me in the concluding of this Section O ye Europaeans who seem so seriously and zealously to spend your daies in the Christian Religion to turn the sharp edge of my pen and the rougher file of my speech unto you who being too too much seduced by the fals doctrin of Aristotle do think and imagine the meteors but especially lightning and thunder to be a common natural thing of little or no estimation at all as being onely produced of nature by reason of a hot distemper of the air I would request you as a true Christian ought unto his brethren to observe well and attend with diligence this admonition which I will for a Farewell bestow upon you beseeching you not to scorn or reject my precedent assertion whith hath told and sufficiently proved unto you that the lightnings and thunders yea and all other meteors are the immediate works of Gods hand being that by this endeavour of mine you may not onely bring a comfort and consolation unto your soules when you hear the terrible voice of the Lord and make you to call to mind your passed sins and iniquities and to pray him heartily to pardon you and not to call your offences unto an account in his anger but also give the honour and glory unto him who thundering from above worketh marvellously I would have you therefore to know that the worldly wise-men of this our Christian world who are as it were pages or followers of the Ethnick Philosophers have hitherto blindly or after the manner of lunatick persons erred in their imaginations forasmuch as they being instructed in the blind wisdom of this world by their Ethnick tutors and doctors will not be brought to believe that God doth work immediately all things in heaven and in earth onely by his word but mediately namely by other necessary natural or supernatural means as essential efficient causes when as the holy Text doth in plain terms instruct us that it is one the self-same essence which doth act and operate all in all by his word using each creature onely as his organ or instrument wherein and by the which he moveth and worketh his will Is not this their tenet or assertion I beseech you altogether opposite and contradictory unto the divine authority which saith Though there be that are called gods whether in heaven or in earth as there be many gods and many lords yet unto us there is but one God which is that Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him But every man hath not that knowledge c Out of which words we may gather that though we worldlings attribute this or that work unto angels or stars or winds or a created nature according unto the doctrine of the Ethnick wisdom yet such true Christian Philosophers as St. Paul was dâ—d acknowledge but one God of whom proceed all actions in this world and one Word by which onely and not by any creature in the world each thing is immediately effected in this world All which although unto reall Christians it seemeth verity and truth yet unto the Philosophers and wise men of this world this kind of doctrine issuing from the heavenly wisdom is rejected and derided And why Forsooth because as the Text doth teach us every man hath not this knowledge and the reason is because they respect more the wisdom of this world which is terrene and animal and as St. Paul saith meer foolishness before God then that which is from above namely from the Father of light Et sic evanuerunt in imaginationibus suis And so they did vanish in their imaginations I heartily wish you therefore which are brought up and made familiar in the holy Bible and nourished spiritually and guided by the law of our Lord Jesus Christ to conceive seriously and perpetually to revolve with your selves that God created the first consistence of things namely the humid and fluid waters by his word and they remain in the word and by the word in the self-same humid or moist estate as they did even unto this very day Also he framed out of this catholick water the heaven and the earth by his word as St. Peter saith Again he did produce by his said word the light in heaven the Sun the Moon the Starrs the day the night and all other creatures and did ordain them to serve for divers Organs by the which he might variously act or operate his volunty as well in heaven above as in the earth and waters beneath All which do move and work in and by the Word
The love or friend of wisdom For the word is composed of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Amicus or a Friend and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Sapientia or Wisdome And it is so termed of the Greeks because that in the word at large is contained the love of wisdom or because that by teaching of wisdom men are incited or stirred up to love it In antique Ages it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sapientia onely and at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was added unto it by the notable Philosopher Pythagoras who would rather be called Philosophus that is Sapientiae-amator a lover of wisdom then arrogantly to assume unto himself the name or title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sapiens or a wise man From the Etymology of this word Philosophia or Philosophy we may derive his definition and describe it to be An earnest study of wisdome or a fervent application of our minds unto it being that the word importeth that it is the affectionate love of sapience It appeareth therefore that the main subject of Philosophy is Wisdom the perfect knowledge whereof is that summum bonum or highest goodnesse of this mortall life which was the mark whereat the wise men of all ages did ever levell and aime But as from all beginnings there was a distinction or opposite difference between light and darknesse good and evill righteousnesse and unrighteousnesse and to conclude between the reall things of God and the prestigious and imaginary inventions of man So also is there a main contrariety to be observed between the true wisdom which is of God and that false and onely-seeming one which is of this world and consequently there must be an endlesse jar and antipathy betwixt the essentiall and true-bred Philosophy and that which is bastard and spurious All which we find to be sufficiently warranted by the testimony of holy Writ for the Apostle saith in one place Non in sapientia carnali sed in gratia Dei versati sumus in hoc mundo We are conversant in this world not in carnall wisdom but in the grace of God And again Prudentia carnis mors est quoniam sapientia carnis est inimica Dei prudentia Spiritus est vita pax The prudency of the flesh is death because the wisdom of the flesh is destruction but the prudency of the Spirit is life and peace Again in another place thus more plainly Praedicatio mea non est in persuasionibus et humanae sapientiae vâ—rbis sed in ostensione spiritus et veritatis Sapientiam loquimur inter perfectos sapientiam autem non hujus mundi sed loquimur Dei sapientiam in mysterio quae abscondita est quam Deus revelavit electis per Spiritum suum My preaching saith he is not in the perswasions and words of human wisdom but in the shewing forth of the Spirit and verity We speak and utter forth wisdom among the perfect not the wisdom of this world but the wisdom of God in a mystery which is hidden and secret the which God hath revealed unto the Elect by his Spirit In these words we are taught first that the smooth perswasions of the wise-appearing Oratours or lip-learned Sophisters and self-conceited Philosophers of this world are vain being they bring along with them nothing else but an empty wind without any materiall or substantiall fruit and are in effect but a meer shadow in regard of a reall matter or subject forasmuch as they prestigiously appear something but are indeed nothing when contrariwise the words of the true and perfect Philosopher are essentiall and therefore accompanied with vertue and power Secondly that what the true and powerfull Philosopher utters is the flourishing and fruitfull wisdom even the eternall sapience of the Almighty and not the sterill wisdom of this world which when it is brought unto the touchstone will be found counterfeit as being unable to endure the tryall Thirdly that this heavenly wisdom is onely mystically revealed unto mankind as being reserved in the power of God and solely discovered or opened unto the Saints and elect and therefore unknown unto the Pagans or Ethnick wise-men who are the composers of our Christian Philosophers wisdome and therefore it is a vaine fallacy or sophisticate philosophy forasmuch as it is framed as the Apostle saith through the traditions of men according unto the Elements of this world and not after Christ who is the true wisdome for in him dwelleth all the plenitude of divinity bodily And for this reason the same Apostle saith in another place Nos non spiritum hujus mundi accepimus sed spiritum qui ex Deo est et quae à Deo donata sunt nobis loquimur non in doctis humanae Sapientiae verbis sed in doctrina spiritus spiritualibus spiritualia comparantes Animalis enim homo non percipit ea quae sunt spiritus Dei stultitia enim est illi non potest intelligere We have not received the spirit of this world but the spirit which is of God and we speak those things which are given us from God not in the learned words of humane wisdome but in the doctrine of the Spirit comparing spirituall things with spirituall things For the animal man doth not perceive the things which are of the spirit of God unto him it is foolishness and he cannot understand it Again he saith Sapâ—entia hujus mundâ— stuititia est apud Deum Deus enim novit cogitationes sapienium quod stultae sunt The wisdome of the world is foolishness with God for God knoweth that the cogitations of the worldly wise are foolish Whereby we may also discerne that there is a wisdome falsely so called which is cleane contrary in effect unto the true sapience and therefore it is termed of the Apostle foolishness and consequently the conceipts of such wisemen as are the Ethnick philosophers and their adherents though they think passing well of themselves are indeed foolish and sottish before God Of the which kind of philosophers the prophet uttereth these words Wo unto them that speak good of evil and evil of good which put darkness for light and light for darkness wo unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight Doth not St. James also and that in open and plain terms assigne a most palpable difference betwixt these two kinds of wisdomes where he sayeth Sapientia contradicens veritati non est de sursum descendens à patre luminum sed terrena animalis diabolica sapientia vero de sursum est à Deo That wisdome which contradicteth the truth is not from above descending down from the father of lights but is earthly animal diabolicall contrariewise the wisdome which descendeth from above is of God By this therefore it is made evident that as by the whole harmony of holy Writ sapience or wisdome is taken after a two-fold manner namely for a
are my seat and the earth my foot stool And Jeremy Coelum terram nunquid impleo Do not I fill the heaven and the earth Now that you may know more particularly how this is done hearken unto David In sapientia saith he omnia fecisti repleta est terra possessione tua Thou madest all things in wisdom and the earth is full of thy possession or riches he meaneth with his Spirit which replenisheth inacteth and informeth all things And therefore saith the son of Syrach Sapientiam effudit Deus super omnia opera sua super omnem carnem secundum datum suum God powred out his wisdom upon all his creatures and upon all flesh according unto the measure that he bestoweth it That is to say The Spirit of wisdom is more or lesse in all things according as it pleased God to impart it unto this or that creature And for this reason Solomon in another place Sapientia operatur omnia Wisdom worketh or acteth all things Which agreeth with this Text of the Apostle Deus operatur omnia in omnibus Why should we not infer then that this spirit is essentially and presentially in every thing To conclude therefore this general discourse of the true Philosophy Moses teacheth us that after the foundation of the Heavens and Elements every creature that was framed or composed of them and lived and moved in them did exist and was preserved by the self-same spirit namely the Sun Moon and other Starrs in heaven the seeds trees herbs and such like vegetables and the creeping and four-footed beasts of the earth and fishes of the seas And lastly Man was created by one and the self-same spirit but God imparted unto him a greater proportion of his Spirit that thereby he might excell in perfection all other creatures It were too infinite to expresse and set down the main scope of this businesse in writing as Scriptures do at large recite it for look into the works of Moses the books of Joshua and Judges the history of Kings or Chronicles the reports of Job the Psalms of David the Proverbs Ecclesiastes Cantiques and Wisdom of Solomon the monuments of the Prophets the subject of Ecclesiasticus and Maccabees and lastly the relations or stories of Christ and his Apostles and we shall find that this sacred wisdom with her essentiall vertues and acts in the vast cavity of this world both above and beneath is the ground and firm foundation of all their doctrine and science as well concerning naturall as supernaturall businesses or rather touching the acts of God in his naturall Tabernacles or watry and humid mantles which he assumeth or putteth off at his pleasure as Scriptures do testifie And yet I would have no man so far to mistake me as not to think that as God is not excluded from the creatures so he is not included by any of them I will now descend unto particularities and shew you how this eternall wisdom is the fountain or corner-stone first of the higher Arts namely of Theology Physick or the art of Curing Astronomy Musick Arithmetick Geometry Rhetorick and after that how the Meteoro-logicall Science onely dependeth on his act then how true Morall learning and Politick government is derived from the instructions and directions of this onely wise Spirit And lastly how all mysticall and miraculous Arts and discoveries are effected and brought to light by it confirming that place in Scripture where it is said Caeterae sunt ancillae hujus All sciences are but the handmaids unto this wisdom Of each of these therefore in order CHAP. III. In this Chapter it is proved that the true Sophia or wisdom is the ground of all Arts and therefore it being revealed or discovered unto man he may be taught and instructed by it as by the onely wise and essentiall School-mistress in all science and knowledge IN Christo saith the Apostle sunt omnes the sauri sapientiae scientiae absconditi All the treasures of wisdom and science are hid in Christ. And Solomon Sapientiam dat Dominus ex ore ejus prudentia scientia The Lord giveth wisdom and from his mouth is prudency and knowledge And Ecclesiasticus Thesaurabit super virum scientiam intellectum justitiae Wisdom will treasure up in man science and the understanding of justice And again Ego doctrinam quasi prophetiam effundam relinquam illam quaerentibus sapientiam I will powre forth doctrine or learning as prophesie and I will leav it upon such as seek wisdom And the incarnated Word or Christ Jesus said Spiritus sanctus vos docebit omnia The holy Spirit will teach you all things And again Cum venerit ille Spiritus veritatis docebit vos omnem veritatem When that Spirit of truth shall come it will teach you all truth Esdras tasted of that materiall wisdom in the form of a fiery drink and he was so full of sapience that he indited books of science and wisdom for the space of forty daies together which his Scribes did register as he uttered it by word of mouth And Solomon saith Sapientiam optavi data est mihi invocavi venit in me spiritus sapientis I wished for wisdom and understanding was given me I invocated and the spirit of wisdom came into me But lest the captious of this world should say that these words of Solomon were meant in another sense than in the conceiving of such sciences as are comprehended under Philosophy called Naturall I wish them for their better direction to listen unto Solomon who doth in this case sufficiently interpret himself and that to the simplest mans capacity in this sense Spiritus sapientis mihi datus est ut cognoscerem constitutionem mundi vim elementorum principium finem mediumque temporum solstitiorum mutationes varietates temporum seu tempestaium anni circuitus stellarum situs naturas animantium animos seu iras bestiarum ventorum seu spirituum vim cogitationes hominum differentias plantarum radicum facultates etiam cognovi quaecunque sunt occulta manifesta omnium enim artifex me docuit Sapientia By the spirit of wisdom I came to know certainly how the world was made and the power of the elements and the beginning end and middle of times the changing of the Solstices the variety of times and tempests the compasse or revolution of the year the scituation of the Starrs the natures of living creatures the dispositions and angry conditions of beasts the strength of the winds or spirits the cogitations of men the differences of plants and the faculties of roots Also I knew both what was hid and manifest for wisdom the work-mistresse of all things did teach me Out of which words we gather that by the revelation of this divine spirit he attained to the knowledge of all things For since wisdom is the center root or corner-stone of all things how should
the mysty and ambiguous clouds of that cavilling brabling heathenish Philosophy which they so adore and follow with their Master Aristotle as if he were another Jesus rained down from heaven to open unto mankind the treasures of the true wisdome But maâ—k a while I beseech you how the Apostle doth describe these wrangling Philosophers with their Sophisticall Philosophy and with what characters and colours he doth justly describe them Si quis aliter docet non acquiescit sanis sermonibus Domini nostri Jesu Christi saith he ei quae secundum pietatem est Doctrinae superbus est nihil sciens sed languens circa quaestiones pugnas verborum ex quibus oriuntur iuvidiae contentiones blasphemiae suspiciones mala conflictationes hominum mente corruptorum qui veritate privati sunt existimantium quaestum esse pietatem If any man teach otherwise and consenteth not unto the wholsome words of our Lord Jesus Christ and unto the doctrine which is according unto Godlinesse he is puffed up and knoweth nothing but doteth about questions and contention of words whereof cometh envy strife rayling evil surmises froward disputations of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth which think that gaine is Godlinesse From such saith St. Paul unto Timothy Seperate thy self I could hartily wish that each Christian Peripatetick who spendeth his time in disputes and cavills after the Aristotelian manner and attempteth to draw out the endless bottome of truth or dive into the bowells or labyrinths of verity by subtle evasions I meane by an infinity of distinctions which doe rather distract then attract man unto the true wisdome which is but plaine and simple unity I could wish them I say to ponder this with patience and seriously to call to mind that in the Church of God and habitations or kingdoms of the true Sophia or if they please Philosophia there is no such custome as the Apostle teacheth us for this mixtion of multiform humane wisdome with the wisdome of God hath been the occasion of so many dissentions and discords as have sprung up among the Philosophers of this world whereupon every kind of this false Philosophy hath by stiffe cavillations and disputations maintained her Sect. This also hath been the occasion of errours in the Church of God as well among Christians as Turkes and Jewes For amongst us Christians it hath been the root of many Schisms and Heresies which have risen up in the re-search of one onely true God which is the eternall Unity And hereupon Convenientibus vobis in Ecclesia saith St. Paul si quis videtur esse contentiosus nos talem consuetudinem in Ecclesia non habemus If any man seem to be contentious we have no such custome in the Church of God To conclude there are so many waies of deception in this our Christian world by reason of these Aristotelicall evasions and Protean Peripateticall distinctions and sophistications that the self-same thing may by them like a nose of waxe be turned and changed or altered in outward appearance which way a man list and so plain simple truth is abused and the silly man seduced The Apostle doth notably decypher or paint forth this kind of Aenigmaticall Philosophers of our Age which like glorious Thrasoes are puffed up in their own conceipts and think very well of themselves though they approach not neare the mark or Summum bonum which wise men do ayme at in these colours In novissinis diebus saith he instabunt tempora periculosa c. Erunt homines seipsos amantes cupidi elati superbâ— c. Semper dâ—scentes nunquam ad scientiam veritatis pervenientes quemadmodum autem Jamnes Mambres restiterunt Moysi ita hi resistuunt veritati homines corrupti mente reprobi circa fidem ultra non proficient insipientia enim eorum erit manifesta omnibus sicut illorum fuit Tu autem assequuntus es meam Doctrinam In the last daies shall come perilous times for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters high-minded and proud c. alwaies learning and never attaining unto the knowledge of the truth And as Jamnes and Mambres did resist Moses so do these withstand the truth being men corrupt in minde and reprobate concerning the faith But these shall prevail no longer for their foolishnesse shall be made manifest unto all men as theirs also was But thou hast fully known my doctrine c. Now his doctrine was concerning the true Philosophy whose foundation was Jesus Christ or the true wisdom and corner-stone which sustaineth all and is all in all and filleth all and acteth or operateth all in all which is contrary unto the tenour of the Ethnick doctrine seeing that it maketh an infinity of essentiall Agents in this world as Daemons Stars Elements Meteors Fire Water Cold Heat Man Beast Plant Minerall and such like the which they will have as subalternate essentiall Agents to act and operate of themselves not understanding that there is but one catholick and indivisible Agent in many mansions which doth operate by and in an infinity of organicall vehicles all in all and over all And this doctrine of theirs hath so infected our Christian Philosophers which are of their sect that they distinguish of Gods Beeing saying That he is present vertualiter and not substantialiter or essentialiter As who should say that Gods vertue can be without his essence or divided from his divinity which is indivisible and so they dream of some accidents to be in God which are distinguished from his essence Or else they distinguish and say that he operateth all principaliter and mediate as he is the first cause But say they there are an infinity of secundary causes which act and operate of themselves But I wonder if that were true how God can be said to fill all things and operate all in all if he be onely the first efficient cause and not the generall cause of all action in this world by his blessed Spirit which he sent out into the world to do the will of him that sent it as well in heaven as in earth What needs more words when the Apostle in plain tearms decideth this controversie in the Text before mentioned Etsi sunt saith he qui dicuntur Dij sive in coelo sive in terra siquidem sunt dij multi domini multi nobis tamen est unus Deus Pater ex quo omnia nos in â—llo unus Dominus Jesus Christus per quem omnia nos per ipsum Sed non in omnibus est haec scientia Though there be that are called Gods as well in heaven as on earth as there are many gods and many lords yet unto us there is but one God which is the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him But every man hath not that knowledge By
which words each Christian may discern how adverse the divine Philosopher Paul is unto the imaginary vertue and immediate act of either the Peripatetick's Daemons and Intelligences or of the starry bodies and influences or of the qualiâ—ies of his four Elements or of the Winds and other Meteors mentioned by their Master Aristotle And although they appear in outward shew that they act or work of themselves in this world yet our true Philosopher Paul teacheth us that by his Philosophy whose basis or ground is the true wisdom Jesus Christ he can discern no other Agent but one primary of whom are all things and the other secundary by whom are all things both which he acknowledgeth to be but one in essence for the one being an emanation out of the other doth onely and of himself operate all in all This is the perfect tenent of the essentiall Philosophy And therefore whatsoever the mundan and Ethnick Philosophy doth tell and by insinuating subtlety perswade us unto which is apparently contrary unto the true Philosophy we ought not in any case to believe And unto this the said divine Philosopher seemeth to consent in these words Though an angel from heaven doth preach unto you otherwise then that whâ—ch we have preached unto you let him be accursed If any man preach otherwise then that ye have received let him be accursed And therefore seeing that the Aristotelian learning is contradictory in diverse main points unto the positions of the essentiall wisdom or philosophy a true Christian ought not in the main points to believe it seeing that as St. James hath it the grounds and tenour of it are opposite unto the holy Bible which is the onely cabinet of truth and therefore is pronounced by him to be terrene animal and diabolicall Hereupon St. Paul writeth unto his schollar Timothy in this style Timothy keep that which is committed unto thee and avoid profane and vain bablings and oppositions of sciences falsly so called which while some professe they have erred concerning the faith In which words he seemeth to forewarn his Disciples that they be not entangled with the sophisticall allurements of the woâ—ldly Philosophy which contradicteth the truth and is not pacifick but troublesome and full of vain disputes and opposition pronouncing such kind of Philosophy to be not truly but falsly called a science as also all those sciences which depend on it And moreover insinuates unto his disciples that such Christians as profess it with too too vehement a devotion and confidence have by the meanes of it been subtilly induced into errors concerning the faith which is grounded upon the Anchor-hold of this invisible wisdome which is the spirituall Christ Jesus Again in this sense he giveth this Caveat before specified unto his Colossian disciples Beware that no man do deceive you by Philosophy and vaine fallacy according unto their adition of men according unto the Elements of this world and not according to Christ c. Whereby he admonisheth us Christians to eschew the false philosophy of the Ethnicks and to stick firmly unto the rules and doctrine of the true wisdome and therefore he saith in the same Text In Christo ambulate radicati et aedificati in ipso c. walk yee firmly rooted in Christ c. whereby he intendeth that Christ is the only corner-stone and ground work of the true Philosophy being that all creatures yea and the whole world is founded on it and consequently that the foundation of Paganish philosophy is sandy and of no validity whereupon the Apostle saith Fundamentum aliud nemo potest ponere praeter id quod positum est quod est Christus Jesus No man can lay any other true foundation but that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now that this is clean contrary unto the false grounds of the Ethnicks the said Apostle seemeth to intimate in these words Hoc dico ut non ambuletis sicut et gentes ambulant in vanitate sensus sui tenebris obscuratum habentes intellectum alienati in vita Dei per ignorantiam quae est in illis propter caecitatem cordis eorum c. I say this that you should not walk as the gentiles do in the vanity of their senses having their understandings obscured with darkness being alienated from the life of God by ignorance which is in them by reason of their blindnesse of heart I must now come to particularize upon the erroneous and false doctrine of the Peripatetick or Aristotelian philosophy that thereby I may the better lay it open unto the world by comparing the vanity thereof with the goodnesse and perfection of the divine and sacred Sophia or wisdome CHAP. V. Here the erroneous doctrine of the Gentiles Philosophy is set down being proved for certaine reasons herein expressed to be founded upon the wisdome of this world and not upon that which descendeth from God NOw me thinks I heare some sharp-witted Aristotelian reply and say How can he prove that the peripatetick Philosophy is not descended from above And why should not the foundation thereof be the true wisdome which came from God But before I come to the answering of this objection I beseech thee gentle Reader give me liberty first to apologize a little for my self Be thou therefore pleas'd in the first place to understand from my just and upright spirit that I acknowledge and confess this Prince of the Peripatetick Philosophy to be a personage of a profound speculation and that he had as deep an insight into the light of nature as any of the common ranck of Philosophers in his time Yea verily he had so sharp an ingeny and so subtill and refined a spirit that he not only allured by his worldly craft and humane invention the Gentilish Greeks whereupon he was termed by them Cacodaemon or a deceitfull spirit or seducing from the truth but also Christians themselves of every sect even unto this present Insomuch that they are so wedded unto his worldly wisdome that they admire each new proficient in Philosophy of their Universities to maintaine his actions and not to decline from his doctrine As for my self though I may be rancked in that number yet now I have collected my spirits and have by Gods grace attained unto that light of holy Scriptures whereby I am made able to distinguish and discerne their essentiall collours from this praestigious one of Pagans I must say with Cicero that Quaedam promissa sunt servanda nimirùm licita and on the other side Quaedam promissa non sunt servanda nempe quae sunt illicita Lawfull promises are to be observed but such as are unconscionable are to be violated Now God forbid good Christians should imagine that any oath which is made to derogate from the verity of the holy Bible should be perpetually confirmed for that were to rebell against the truth Wherefore my essentiall Motto in this my old age notwithstanding any alleageance which I have by
a ceremoniall rite vowed unto Aristotle in my youth shal be Amicus Plato amicus Aristoteles sed magis amica veritas though Plato and Aristotle be my friends yet truth is more my friend and therefore ought most to prevaile with me And now to answer directly unto the foresaid objection we must compare together the two wisdomes propounded by the foresaid Apostles First St. Paul saith that God hath made the wisdome of this world foâ—lishness And again Sapientia hujus mundi stuliitia est apud Deum Deus enâ—m novit cogitationes sapientum quod stultae sunt The wisdome of this world is foolishness before God for God knoweth that the cogitations of the wisemen or Philosophers of this world are foolish And for this cause the same Apostle in another place Nos non spiritum hujus mundi accepimus sed spiritum qui ex Deo est quae à Deo donata sunt nobis loquimur non in doctis humanae sapientiae verbis sed in doctrina Spiritus spiritualia spiritualibus comparantes Animalis enim homo non percipitea quae sunt spiritus Dei stultitia enim est illi non potest intelligere We have not received the spirit of this world but the spirit which is from God and we speak those things which are given unto us of God not in the learned words of humane wâ—sdome but in the doctrine of the spirit comparing spirituall things with spirituall things For the Animal man perceiveth not the things which are of the Spirit of God for it is foolishness unto him and he cannot understand iâ— By which words we ought first to examine whether Aâ—istotle were an Animal man or no if so then what should we expect from him but mundan wisdom and Philosophy which St. James termeth animal and terrene which indeed is nothing in it self but meet foolishnesse as St. Paul telleth us being that the animal man perceiveth not the things which are of God because he esteemeth them foolishnesse Of this kind of philosophy and wisdom the same Apostle biddeth us to beware being saith he it is grounded upon the traditions of men and the elements of the world and not upon Christ. But he pointeth at this Graecanicall wisdom more directly in these words in which he distinguisheth both it and the Jewish wisdom from that of God whose foundation is Jesus Christ Sapientiam Graeciquaerunt Judaei signa nos Christum crucifixum praedicamus The Greeks seek wisdome the Jewes signes we preach Christ Crucified arguing by these words that the Greeks search after the wisdom of the world which consisteth chiefly in speculation or contemplation as the wisdome of the Jewes is more conversant in signes and ocular demonstrations for without it they will not believe Lastly the third wisdome which is that true sapience which both the Greeks and Jewes did reiect and scoffe at was Jesus Châ—ist in whom was the plenitude of divinity Corporally and this is that reall and essentiall wisdom whiâ—h Christians ought to search after and whereon they ought to ground their Philosophy which is divine and not humane But if they reply that perchance Aristotle had an insight into the Christian doctrine or did apprehend Christ in some manner or at least had an eye into the wisdome of Moses and the Prophets First I answer That as Aristotle was before the incarnated Word so also is it evident that he knew little of the Mosaick learning which consisteth upon the Creation effected by the spagerick act of the divine Word when he would have the world to be eternall I confesse that his Master Plato was more essentially grounded on the true wisdom but Aristotle being puffed up with self-conceit would in derogation from the Stoicall doctrine of his Master arrogate all wisdom unto himself by framing out or fashioning a new worldly wisdom or philosophy which was afterward tearmed Peripateticall and so by his vain glory he added unto some truths many of his own inventions making as it were a Gallimofry of good and bad of true and false of wisdom and folly together which is far from the nature of the perfect Christian wisdom which must needs be therefore wholly truth it self because it is described by the Spirit of God in the which there is nothing but truth Again if the Peripatetick Stoick or Epicureall doctrine had been perfect and according unto the true wisdom Jesus Christ why should the Athenian Philosophers so persecute the right and exact Philosopher Paul for reaching the true wisdom Jesus Christ in whom onely is the plenitude of divinity as the same Apostle teacheth in divers places By this therefore we may perceive most plainly what the wisdom is on which Aristotle hath built his Philosophy But I will come a little neerer unto the point or main mark and compare the double wisdom expressed by St. James an other true Christian Philosopher or Apostle of Christ who telleth us in the place above mentioned that the wisdom which contradâ—cteth the truth is not fâ—om above that is to say from the father of light neither is it pacificaâ—l and modest but terrene animal and diabolicall Now that this philosophy or wisdom of the Peripateticks is such it appeareth first because it is litigious full of disputes fallacies brables and controversies which is contrary unto the rules of the true Wisdome and therefore the Apostle Paul adviseth Timothy to separate himself from such as teach other doctrine than that of the true Wisdome saying that they which do so are puffed up and know nothing but dote about questions and strife of words that is to say about verball distinctions wresting each word unto a multiplicity of senses whereof commeth envy strife and rayling evill surmizes from disputations of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth And again Stuâ—tas sine disciplina quaestiones deviâ—a saith he sciens quia generant lites Eschew questions that are foolish and without discipline for as much as they beget strife And such is the Philosophy of our Christian Aristotelians Forasmuch as their order and fashion is to be ever conversant about questions and cavilling disputations in their Schools and that is the occasion of equivocations and of the infinity of distinctions which give way unto the maintenance of falshood as well as of truth and is the foundation of so many opposit Sects as well in the common Philosophy as religion whereupon ariseth disputations strife contention and malice not only in the Schools between contrary factions but also among the common sort of people that are of sundry religions whereas if their Philosophy or wisdome were founded on the true Sophia which is Christ Jesus which as he is all in all so is he but one simple essence they would all agree in the unity of him who is but one and the same in us all for in him and by him we are all made brethren and coheirs with him of eternity And again
coldness of the middle region of the Aire as thou seemest to averre Canst thou restrain the sweet influences of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his time canst thou also guide Arcturus with his sons Knowest thou the course of heaven or canst thou set the rule thereof upon the earth And why not For thou professest by thy Peripatetick Philosophy to understand the causes of everything and he that truly knoweth the mysteries of things can do wonders For by that means my servant Josuah made the Sun to stand still And for the religious Hezekias his sake my Spirit did cause the Sun to move backward Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds that the abundance of water may cover thee Canst thou send the Lightnings that they may walk and say unto thee Lo here we are If the grounds and principles which thou hast invented be essentiall and substantiall all this and more maist thou effect For such of the Elect into whom my Spirit of Wisdome who hath assigned true principles unto the essentially wise hath inspired this knowledg are able to effect all these things as my servant Elias after a long drought caused the clouds to moisten the dry earth and my Prophets Moses and Samuel dâ—d by the power which I did assigne them produce Thunder and Lightnings unto the terror of their enemies Dost thou know who hath put wâ—sdome in the reins or who hath given the heart understanding And darest thou being led by the frivolous effects of thy inventions which are grounded on the Elements of this world and not upon my Spirit which is the true Wisdome ascribe my works who am the sole Creator of all things unto the creatures Is this to learn to strive with the Almighty he that reproveth God let him answer unto it Thus seemeth our great God to speak unto Aristotle and such like Philosophers of this world who being too much elated in their own conceits presume thus over-boldly on their terrene and animal wisdom and would check and contradict the vertuous actions of God by their phantasticall surmises I could wish therefore that these mundane Philosophers would turn from this their worldly wisdom and humiliate themselves before the onely Creator of heaven and earth and answer with the patient Job in this manner Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth I know that thou canst do all things I have spoken the things I understood not even things too wonderfull for me I have heard of thee by report but now mine eyes behold thee in thy creatures And for this cause I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes acknowledging that there is no true wisdom but that which is from thee who art the Father of light by the vertue whereof thou workest all these wonders And therefore we confesse that the wisâ—om of this world is meer foolishnesse and such as wholly addict themselves unto it are deceived forasmuch as they do neglect the divine wisdom Christ Jesus in whom all the treasures of science and sapience are hid Thus have you briefly understood the duplicity of wisdom and by consequence the bi-forked or contrary nature of philosophy that is in this world and how all good Christians contrary unto the custom of this our age ought to leave and forsake the one and with fervency and zeal to love and embrace the other And now in this Book following I purpose to set down those Mosaicall principles on which our sacred Philosophy hath erected the whole bulk or substance of her fabrick The third Book of the first Section touching the essentiall Principles of the Mosaicall Philosophy The Argument of this third Book IN this present Book the Author teacheth in a generality the true and essentiall principles of the divine Philosophy and in particular he expresseth how various and differing the Ethnick Philosophers have been in their opinions concerning the beginnings of all things where he proveth that the wisest amongst those Pagan Naturalists did steal and derive their main grounds or principles from the true and sacred Philosopher Moses whose Philosophy was originally delineated by the finger of God forasmuch as the fiery characters thereof were stamped out or engraven in the dark Hyle by the eternall Wisdom or divine Word And sheweth that although the foresaid pagan philosophers did usurp the Mosaicall principles unâ—o themselves and the better to maske their theft did assigne unto them new Titles yet because they were not able to dive into the centrall understanding of them nor conceive or apprehend rightly the mystery of the everlasting Word they erected upon their principles or foundations but a vain and worldly wisdom carved out not from the essentiall Rock of truth nor relying on Christ the onely corner-stone but framed after a human invention and shaped out according unto the elements of this world much like a Castle of straw or stubble which though it be planted on a Rock yet it is subject to mutation and is easily shaken and tottered at every blast of winde In conclusion here our Author doth set down what the true Mosaicall principles are namely Darknesse Water and Light Then that all plenitude and vacuity in the world doth consist in the presence or absence of the formall principle which is Light And lastly he sheweth how the two apparent active properties namely Cold and Heat do issue from the two fore-said fountaines of Darknesse and Light as the two passive natures Moysture and Drought do challenge their originall from the said active CHAP. I. Wherein is set down the uncertainty of the antient Grecian and Arabian Philosophers in their opinions touching the principles or beginnings of all things IT is an evident Argument that the Ethnick philosophers were not well setled upon the grounds of their philosophy but did waver in their imaginations touching the true principles of nature being that among each sect of them there was maintained and upheld a variety yea and sometimes a plaine contrariety of opinions concerning them as for example Thales Milesius who was inrowled amongst the number of the wise men of Greece had his opinion that Water was the beginning of all things But Anaximenes and his disciples affirmed that an infinite aire was the first cause or originall of every existence And for this reason also Anaximander did esteem this catholick aire to be God Again on the other side Zoroaster will have all things to take their beginning from Fire and light as also the Pythagoreans say that there is one universall Fire in and over all things in this world And verily each of these opinions if they be duely considered will be found to approach and have a near relation unto the Mosaicall truth for a divine fire or light issuing forth of darknesse or the dark abysse did suddainly by its bright presence reveal and make manifest the hidden and
invisible waters the subtiler part whereof is the vast spirit of the aire and for this reason both Thales and Anaximenes do seem in some sort to agree in one subject And yet if we penetrate more profoundly into the businesse we shall perceive that these two did insist but upon the materiall or passive principle forasmuch as from it the substance of heaven and earth and every thing therein hath his existence or materiall beeing On the other side Zoroaster did not without reason make choice of fire for the primary beginning of all things in that it did proceed and appear in act before the waters or humid nature were made manifest no otherwise then action goeth before passion or the cause precedeth the effect And yet neverthelesse he erred in this his assertion because the active principle can in no wise rightly be considered but as it hath his relation unto a passive originall The Stoick Zeno therefore being more wary than the rest establisheth his opinion concerning the first Principle by a firmer tye or obligation saying That the substance of the fire being by the aire converted into water is the beginning of all things But Empedocâ—es would be sure to lay his grounds more surely as he vainly imagined than Zeno and for that cause did ordain the four Elements to be the radicall principles of all things whereof two of them are agents and two patients Now the main errour of these philosophers in their judgments concerning the principles was that they did not mark or consider that the divine puissance or sacred word was more ancient and of a greater Antiquity then were any of their foresaid principles the which if by a riper contemplation they had understood they would have confessed being instructed and directed by reasons produced from the eternall unity or essentiall point and beginning of all things that the divine light or sacred emanation which Scriptures entitle by the name of the holy Spirit of wisdom was the actuall beginning of all things as neverthelesse before it there was another property in one and the same sacred essence which was termed the divine puissance or potentia divina which did precede his act or emanation no otherwise than the Father in time order and being is justly said to exist before the Son or the Creator before the creature And thereupon the wise man hath it Omnium prior creata est sapientia Wisdom was created before all things And yet it is most apparent that some of the Greekish and Aegyptian Philosophers namely Plato Pythagoras Socrates Hermes c. did so instruct their understandings partly by the observation of their predecessors doctrine and partly through the experience which in their long travails and peregrinations they had gathered among the Aethiopians Aegyptians Hebrews Armenians Arabians Babylonians and Indians for over all or most of these Countries did Plato Pythagoras Hippocrates and others of them travell for the augmentation and increase of their knowledge as Historiographers that are worthy of credit have related that without doubt they did discern though afar oft and as it were in a cloud the true light in the humid nature And among the rest it is reported as also it appeareth by his works that Plato had the knowledge of the Word and had read the Books of Moses and for that reason he was called Divinus Plato the divine Plato In like manner the excellent Philosopher Hermes otherwise termed Mercurius Trismegistus expresseth plainly that he was not onely acquainted with Moses his books but also was made partaker of his mysticall and secret practise as by his Sermons which he calleth Pymander a man may plainly discern where he doth mention the three Persons in Trinity and sheweth the manner of the worlds creation with the elements thereof by the Word And therefore of all other antient Philosophers I may justly ascribe divinity unto these two But in this I cannot much commend them viz. in that they having had a view of Moses his labours which were indited by the Spirit of God did gather out and confesse the truth of his doctrine touching the principles of all things and yet would not in open tearms acknowledge their Master but altered the names of them but as Plato served his Master Moses even so was he dealt with by his schollar Aristotle who knowing that his Masters three Mosaicall Principles of all things masked under strange titles were but truth would neverthelesse arrogate his doctrine unto himself and for that cause did alter the assumed names of Plato's principles gilding them over with new denominations and did afterward rear up upon them a spurious philosophicall structure carved and framed out after his own inventions which may be therefore rightly compared unto a house of straw or stubble which though it be erected upon a firm rock or foundation yet because their stuff is Heterogeniall unto the truth and evilly compacted it will not endure a storm no not the least blast of truth but will easily be destroyed and cast down Thus may every good Christian discern how each of the Ethnick Philosophers have stolen their principles from Moses his grounds stolen I say because they expresse them under covert names without any acknowledgment of their Master which did arrogate his doctrine and learning unto the Spirit of God which did teach him it and did practically express the grounds thereof in the apparition which God made upon the Mount Sina For upon the grounds of these three Principles the true mysticall Philosophers or Theosophers did pronounce that as well the externall Law of Moses as the internall of Jesus Christ was erected which was not discovered or discerned by Aristotle how cunning soever he maketh himself which if it had been so he would not without all doubt have founded or built upon the true Corner-stone I mean the eternall Wisdome a bastard Philosophy which did differ in shape and essence from the true Foundation And although he was taught in some sort by his diviner Master yet was he as it doth appeare all together ignorant of the centrall truth thereof wherefore it was but a folly in him who is so vainly magnified for the Prince of Philosophers to make a privation where there was no precedent position or information being there was a Chaos before any thing else was created But it was no marvel being that he surmised the world and all things or Species thereof to be eternall that is to say without beginning and end which if it had been true indeed he then had said but rightly that the dark Abysse or Chaos in respect of its beeing without form was a Privation of some Act or form in an actuall pre-existent matter But that this is false the whole concurrent of the Scriptures do confirm being that it is said that God created the world of matter without form and that the heavens and the earth were first of waters and by waters and consisting by the word of God And that
Lord is the beginning of Wisdom If then both he and they had acknowledged that it was God that spoke in Thunder being environed about with his potent Angells they would then not have been so careless but have prayed unto him hartily have utterly forgotten this absolute acting-nature of Aristotle considering that God is the onely Naturating Nature of Natures I could tell you of many other wonderfull stories to my knowledg but I will onely insist upon these two About some five or six yeares since there was one Piper's daughter of Colebrook who being a gleaning of Corn after the harvest was carryed in the company of her mother and another young woman newly married unto a Glover in Colebrook who had been my servant and also there was another daughter of the said goodwife Piper The tempest approached when they were in the field the elder daughter who had been by their report very disobedient unto her Parents and would fearfully curse her mother oft-times seeing the Lightning to flash about her cried out Fy upon these Lightnings I cannot indure them I will go home and when she was wished by the company to call on God shee would not but they hastned unto an high Oke which stood not far from a Park-pale against the body whereof she placed her back and laughing she said she feared not now For said she I am as safe as in my mother's parlor The new married wife that had been my maid leaned her elbow upon her knee being also sat down and the sister sat a little nearer the Park-pale the mother stood under another tree hard by and in a dry ditch under the Oke another wench did shelter her self But â—o for all their imaginary safety they could not fly the wrath of God For the Lightning fell on the very top of that Oke and the bolt plowed or made a furrow all along down the Oke continually without intermission and came directly upon the eldest daughter that thought her selfe so sure and struck her stark dead and took away for a time the use of the new married wive's arme that leaned on her knee that was slain the wench in the ditch was struck in an amazement as if she were dead the sister that sat more near the pale saw a globe of fire as it did descend the tree and found her self so hot as if she had been in a furnace but had no other harm the mother under the next tree having her foot set out towards the tree where her daughter sat was struck lame on that foot the new married wife was struck in such sort that in a kind of distraction she ran up the lane crying out still as she ran Lord open thy holy heavens Lord open thy holy heavens At last they were all convayed with the dead maid in a cart from the Village unto the Town of Colebrook where the rest did recover within a few daies I saw the place immediatly upon this and spoke unto the new married wife that was my servant and had all these things confirmed unto me at her own house where also her husband did relate unto me a wondrous case befell him in the interim For being very carefull of his new married wife he perceiving the Tempest did put on his new cloak and took his old under his arm and so went out into the tempest to meet his wife and as he went through a field great flakes of fire passed by him whose fore-parts were blont their hinder-parts shaped like fire-drakes and on the suddain as if it were by a great gust of wind they blow off his hat from his head which when he followed and stooped to reach up he found a piece of his new cloke which he wore so artificially cut out and in so neat a Triangular form that he did admire at it and there he shewed me the place of his cloak out of which it was cut which was so neatly done as if it had after an exact geometrical triangular form been cut out by a pair of sheeâ—s The second story is this In the great sickness time I came out of Waâ—es and remaining for a while with my noble friend the Lord Bishop of Worcester at Haâ—tlebury-Castle there I was advertised of a strange mischance which happened by lightening and thunder about five weeks before my comming thither some three or four miles from the Castle I would needs go see the place and in the company of my worthy friends Mr. Finch and Sr. Thomas Thornborow I took a view of the place which was under a tall and well-spread Elme upon a little hill where it was related by the inhabitants which dwelled close by it that two yeomens sons of good wealth passed along with a load of hay drawn with four oxen and two horses which one of their fathers servants did drive The tempest of thunder overtaking them he drew up the hill and placed his load and cattle under the Elme and himself stooped under his load of hay and the two youths got upon a bench or seat of â—urf made round about the tree at last there came a fearfull stroke of thunder at which the husband-man who stooped under the cart said Good Lord what a crack was that At which words the boyes laught out aloud and mocking of him said A crack But immediately a noise was heard on the upper boughes of the tree and a solid matter all on fire came down directly between the boyes and struck the hair of one of them into the tree and set the other so on fire that the man under the cart with others were forced to run down the hill to fetch water to quench it and when it was quenched his skin was as hard as rosted pork Thus they payed full dearly for their scoffs and contempt of Gods judgments when as indeed they ought to have prayed God to have preserved them from the ministers of his wrath It is a dangerous thing to sport with and laugh at the Saints There is the thunderer from above who hath messengers able to revenge his cause if he but nod unto them in the twinckling of an eye I know that some Peripatetiâ—k will reply that it is but metaphorically meant when Scriptures say that God speaketh in thunder and not really to be understood as it is spoken which if it were true then is the plainest phrase in Scripture to be so also understood namely clowds snow hail c. so that either it was a reall speech or not reall and if not reall it would rather draw me to errour than truth But Scripture is full of this kinde of speech and therefore the whole harmony of holy Writ doth take and construe it for reall Again others do acknowledge the speech to be reall but say they where God speaketh in thunder that act is miraculous and not naturall To which I answer with the mouth of the patient Job saying Pro irrigatione fatigat Deus densam nubem dispergit lucem nubis
there is not any bodily substance that is viod of a soul and that the world and every part thereof doth consist of a body therefore there is an intermediate spirit betwixt this soul and body which they neither call a soul or a body but a mean substance participating of them both to reduce both extreams together into one The wiser sort of Alchymists do make the Soul a certain infinite nature or power in all things which doth procreate like things of their like for this nature doth engender all things yea and multiplieth and nourisheth or sustaineth them and they also style it the Ligament or bond of the elements since by it they are fastned together with the Symphoniacal accords of peaceable harmony although of themselves that is in regard of their matter they are dissonant Also it is termed the true virtue that mingleth and proportionateth every thing in this sublunary world allotting unto each specifick creature a convenient and well agreeing form that thereby one thing might be distinguished and made to vary from another and in conclusion the mysticall Rabbies do averre that this occult fire is that Spirit of the Lord or fiery love which when it moved upon the waters did impart unto them a certain harmonious and hidden fiery vertue without whose lovely assistance and favorable heat nothing could be generated of them or multiplied in them Thus you may discern the manifold opinions as well of Christian as Heathen Philosophers touching this Anima mundi or soul of the world which will appear to vary little or nothing at all from the tenent of Holy Scripture in sense but in words onely Neither are these their opinions so hainous or abominable as some more superstitiously zealous than truly understanding Christians of this our Age will make them if they will scan the matter wisely and with moderation for then they shall really perceive that it doth concurre with the Bible of Truth And to confirm what I now say my purpose is in the first place to expresse unto each learned and well minded Reader the harmony of the Scriptures touching this point and then I will compare every one of the foresaid opinions with the sense and grounds of the said harmony that each wise man may thereby the better conjecture and guesse at the truth of the business before he shall rashly enter into the censuring of that deep and profound mystery which concerneth the Divine action in naturall effects I told you in my precedent discourse that the Eternall Unity which is the God of gods and Beginning of beginnings did cause by a double property in one essence two divers principles to issue out of himself whereof the one was potentiall and no way as yet inacted by the brightnesse of his emanation and in that respect is termed Darkness privation Nolunty opposit to Light and a friend unto death and rest The other was actuall and nothing else but a pure catholick form and brightness which is tearmed Light Position Volunty and in nature opposit to Darknesse and a friend unto life and action or motion And then I signified unto you that by the bright appearance of Eternity or the Eternall Spirit of Wisdom which I termed with the Scriptures the radiant emanation or effluxion from the Almighty which is all one with him in essence the deformed waters were inacted and made manifest out of this dark Principle or Chaos that is reduced from Potentia Divina or the Divine Puissance without form in which they abode into Actum Divinum the Divine Act and because all the humid and passive catholick nature of which both the heavens and the earth were framed did issue from this Mass of watery matter which the Poets call Pana or the second birth of Chaos we must imagine it to be that spirituall matter of the world which was made fertill and multiplicable by reason of that hidden active and formall Light or invisible fire which this increated emanation imparted unto it immediatly before the creation of the heavens and the earth Whereupon the holy Text hath it Spiritus Domini serebatur super aquas The Spirit of the Lord moved or was carried upon the waters And as St. Aâ—gustin addeth to it igneum illis vigorem impâ—râ—ieâ—s Bestowâ—ng upon thâ—m a fiery vigor or formall and actâ—ve vertue Now as we see that Man which is called the little-world is composed of soul and body whereof the soul is his heaven or spirituall part or as we may say the superiour and higher waters and the body with the humours thereof as it were the lower waters is the earth and gâ—osser humouâ—s and each of these two are informed united and vivified by the Spirit of life which God inspired into it even so we may observe that the heaven or spirituall humid nature of the great world is animated by the eternall emanation or spirit of the supernaturall wisdom of God to give life and figure unto the world And forasmuâ—h as it is eaâ—ie to discern that the macro cosmicall heavens are of two sorts namely composed of upper spirituall waters which are called Aeâ—her or heavenly and of the lower spirituall waters which are called Aer or elementary no otherwise than in the lesser world or man the receptacle of the heavenly spirit is known to be Aer so that Physitians distinguish by reason of this difference between the vitall or aetheriall spirits and the naturall or elementary body So we ought to consider that this materiall humid spirit of the heavens in both worlds which are the subtlety of the waters are in themselves dead but in respect of the super-celestiall emanation into them which informeth and vivifieth them they live move and are thinner or thicker according unto that more or less formall grace which the all-informing Spirit doth allot them for the more the sacred Spirit of life doth abound or really act in this or that region of the universall aire the more that sphear is thin subtle active worthy and noble Doth not Scripture seem to verifie that Deus sapientia sua aptet pondus aeri appendat aquas in mensura fecerit terram in fortitudine sua preparaverit orbem in sapientia sua prudentia sua extenderit coelos appenderit aquilonem super inane suspenderit terram super nihilum In coelorum structura cum Deus stabiliret fundâ—menta terrae ipsa aderat cuncta componens And again Wisdom saith Ex ore altissimi prodii primogenita ante omnem creaturam in initio ante seculum creata sum usque ad futurum seculum non desinam habitatione sancta coram ipsum ministravi In coelis â—eci ut oriretur lumeninde ficiens sicut nebula texâ— omnem terram In altissimis habitavi thronus meus in columna nubis coeli gyrum circuivi sola profundum abyssi penetravi in fluctibus maris ambulavi in omni terra sâ—eti Feci Arcturum Orionem converti in