vnderstand themselues to bee all as it were kinne and descended from the same originall then which there is no greater means to conciliate and ioyne mens affections for mutuall amitie and conuersation As it is reported of Diomedes and Glaucus and many others who being armed to one anothers ruine and ouerthrow haue beene drawne to breake off their hatred by the meere pretence and shew of consanguinity But these who so arrogantly boast themselues to bee Sonnes of the Earth not beholding to any other countrey for their ofspring striue to breake in sunder the bonds of society betwixt nations which God 's Word and the Law of Nations binds vs to obserue Hence grow those mortall hatreds and heart-burnings betwixt diuerse countreyes as of the Aegyptians against the Hebrewes of the Greekes against the Latines wherein they persecuted one the other extreamly Hence came it to passe that strangers amongst the Romans were called enemies as the name of Welch-men with the Germans signifieth as much as a forrainer wherein they seeme much to degenerate from the ancient hospitality of their Ancestors for which they haue been much praysed Finally from this one root spring those infamous libels cast out of one Nation against another written by such Fire-brands as delight in nothing more then dissention but how much better were it to reconcile all people out of this assured ground of consanguinity sith Religion perswades more to Charity and agreement then to Faction and contentions But this I leaue to the Diuine whom it more properly concernes 2 The first inhabitants of the Earth were planted in Paradise and thence translated to the places neere adioyning For the confirmation of this point we need no farther proofe then the authority of God himselfe speaking in his Word whereon all truth is grounded But of the placâ— of Paradise where we place the first habitation sundry disputes haue been amongst Diuines sufficiently examined of late by a iudicious and worthy Writer in his History of the World Which tract being too tedious to insert wee will contract as farre as concernes our purpose First therefore it would seeme meete that wee examine their opinion which hold this History of Paradise to bee a meere Allegory Of this opinion were Origen Philo Iudaeus Fran. Gregorius with many others who by the foure riuers of Paradise would haue to be vnderstood the foure Cardinall Vertues as by the Tree of knowledge Sapience or Wisdome To which opinion also S. Ambrose Teemes to adhere who would haue that by Paradise should bee meant the Soule or mind by Adam the vnderstanding by Eue the sense by the Serpent delectation by the rest of the Trees the vertues of the mind Against the Fathers themselues I will not inueigh sith some men suppose their conceits to be rather allusions then conclusions But against the opinion it selfe many reasons may bee drawne to proue there was a true locall Paradise Eastward first out of the text it selfe which saith For out of the ground made the Lord God to grow euery tree pleasant to the â—ight and good for meats by the processe of which Story it seemes that God first created man out of the garden as it were in the world at large and then put him in this garden the end whereof is expressed to dresse and manure it Paradise being a garden filled with plants and trees pleasant to behold and good for meate which proueth that Paradise was a terrestriall garden Secondly to expresse it more plainly he averreth that it was watred with a riuer springing out of a Region called Eden being a country neare vnto Canaan in Mesopotania as Ezechiel witnesseth Thirdly Epiphanius and St Hierome vrge to this effect if Paradise were such an Allegory then were there no Riuers no place out of which they sprung no Eue no Adam and so the whole History should be turned into a meere fable or poëticall fiction Fourthly it is proued by continuation of the same Story 1 Because God gaue Adam free-will to eate of euery tree of the garden the foresaid tree excepted besides he left all the beasts of the Earth to be named by him which cannot be meant of imaginary trees and beasts for this were to make the whole Creation aenigmaticall 2ly This name is often vsed in holy Scriptures else-where as in Ezech 10 Genesis 13.19 which would not haue been so if the whole story had bin meerely Allegoricall Paradise an Vtopia sith the Scripture specially the historicall part of them are written in a plaine stile fitting the capacity of vulgar auditors Lastly of this Paradise planted in the East wee may find some footsteps in prophane Poëts as in Homer Orpheus Liâ—us Pindarus Hesiod who often speake of Alcinous garden and the Elisian fields all which deriued their first inuention from this description of Paradise recorded by Moses in Holy Scripture whereof the Heathen themselues had some obscure traditions The second opinion was that Paradise was the whole Earth and the Ocean the fountain of these foure riuers which was defended heretofore by the Manichees Noviomagus Vadianus and Goropius Becanus The reasons which they alleage for their part to proue this assertion were chiefly these 1 Because those things which were in Scripture attributed to Paradise are generally ascribed to the whole world as that place of Genesis Bring forth fruit and multiply fill the earth and subdue it rule ouer euery creature But this argument may easiâ—y be answered for although the world in generall were created for man and all men descended from the same originall to wit the loynes of Adam yet this disproueth nothing the particular garden assigned to Adam to dresse wherein he liued before his transgression for if there had beene no other choyce but that Adam had beene left to the vniuersall as they imagine why should Moses say the garden was East from Eden sith the world can not be East or West but in respect of particular places Also why was the Angell set after Adams expulsion to barre his re entrance if it were not a particular place for according to their opinion Adam should be driuen out of the whole World Their second reason is because it semes impossible that Nilus Ganges and Euphrates by so many portions of the world so farre distant should issue out of the same fountaine To this we answer that by common Interpreters of Scripture being ignorant of Geographie Pison was falsely taken for Ganges Gihon for Nilus Although it can no way be true that Ganges should be taken for a riuer by Haâ—ilah in India and Nilus should runne through Aethiopia as we shall shew hereafter The third opinion is that Paradise is higher then the Moone or higher at least then the Middle Region of the Aire this opinion is cast vpon Beda and â—abanus to which also Rupertus seemes to accord who as it seemes borrowed their opinion from Plato and he from Socrates But these two as it seemes are misinterpreted Because by Paradise they
the other at the endes the former was thought not habitable by reason of the extremity of heat because the Sunne-beames there fall perpendicularly and so make a greater reflection The other for extremity of cold by reason of the obliquity of the Sunne-beames causing little or no reflection whence a second cause seemes to be drawne from the extreame drought of those places which seemes most opposite to mans temper requiring a reasonable degree of moisture But notwithstanding these reasons of the ancients it must needes bee confessed as an vndoubted truth confirmed by experience of many Nâ—uigatours that those Regions by them imagined vnfit for habitation are not onely habitable but in many places very populous Neither want there many reasons found out by latter writers to mitigate the rigour of this opinion some whereof wee haue already touched in our former treatise First whereas they vrge the places vnder the Equinoctiall to bee vnhabitable by reason of intemperate heat wee may easily answer that the dayes and nights are then alwayes equall containing not aboue 12 houres so that the space of either being shorter the cold of the night may well asswage the extreame heat of the day Another reason is ordinarily taken from the extraordinarily high mountaines commonly placed vnder the Equinoctiall which approaching neerer the middle Region of the aire must of necessity partake some what more of cold which dayly experience can witnesse in that their top â— are couered with snow euen in the depth of Summer Thirdly the neerenesse of the maine Ocean to a great part of this Region is a great cause of this cold temper because water is found to bee by nature cold Fourthly the set and certaine windes by nature ordained to blow in the hottest times of the yeere may adde much to temperature Fiftly the extraordinary Raines and showers which those places suffer which are vnder the Line especially when the Sunne is verticall are a great cause of the asswaging of the heat of the Sunne Lastly the custome of the Inhabitants being from their cradles inured to no other quality or disposition of the ayre will take away much from our admiration On the other side no small reasons may bee shewed why the Regions lying neere or vnder the Pole should not bee so extreamely cold but that they may admit of habitation First because the Sunne being for six moneths together aboue their Horizon must needs impresse into the Ayre more heat then otherwise it would doe Besides the thicknesse incorporated as it were with heat must needs receaue into it more degrees of it then a thinner and more refined ayre because the intention of the quality most commonly supposeth the condensation or thickning of the subiect wherein it is But no greater reason can bee shewed in this point then the custome of the Northerne inhabitants exposed from their infancy to no other temperament If wee should aske a reason why wee vnmaske our faces against the encounter of the greatest cold being a soft and tender part not daring to vncouer our other parts what reason can a man inuent but custome If any should aske why barbarous people liuing in farre colder climates then this of ours goe altogether naked whereas the cold is mother of many diseases amongst vs who goe alwayes clothed onely vse and custome can yeeld an answer These reasons make it probable enough that no place of the whole world is by nature made not habitable Now that it is not only inhabitable by nature but also for the most part truly inhabited will appeare as easily if wee trust the testimony of Nauigatours which haue discouered few or no Regions wanting some â—nhabitants But that this proposition may bee more distinctly vnderstood wee must know that the whole world is diuided into Sea and Land for the Sea we may call it habitable in that large sense before mentioned to wit that on it euery where men in ships may breath and liue which is plaine out of experience of Nauigatours who haue sailed round about the Earth from East to West and haue entred farre towards the North and South where at least some times of the yeere or other they might finde the way passable For the land which is here principally vnderstood wee must note that it may bee considered two wayes either for euery little quillet or parcell of land contaned in the superficies of the Earth or else for a certaine Region of some indifferent greatnesse In the former sense it were too much to affirme euery part of the Earth to bee habitable for as much as many places as the toppes of the Alpes or the sands of Africa properly admit of no habitation yet in an improper and large sense they may be called habitable because on them a man may liue and breath for a certaine space of time But if by the parts of the land wee vnderstand some reasonable greatnesse no great doubt can bee made but that it is either already inhabited by mankinde or can at least admit of habitation as that which not only for a time affords a man life and breath but also some conuenient meanes of sustenance for no countrey hath euer beene found so indigent and barren of all vitall aides which is neither capeable of liuing creatures in the land fit for mans nourishment or that cannot draw Fishes from the Sea or if this should faile cannot afford Fruits or Herbage from the ground or in case all the rest were deficient cannot haue passage by Water to other Countries whence to relieue their necessities And no question but nature hath stored euery Countrey with some commodity or other which by trafficke may draw riches from other Regions as by instances may more particularly appeare hereafter when wee shall speake of particular Regions and their seuerall accidents 2 All places of the Earth haue suffered manifold alteration and change as well in Name as Nature I need not spend time to demonstrate this Assertion for that euery place of the Earth hath beene subiect to much mutation in the processe of time as well in Nature of the Soyle as of the Inhabitants a few obuious instances in each Countrey will easily certifie yet will it not seeme amisse I hope to shew the progresse manner and causes of this alteration which would giue no small satisfaction To discourse of all changes according to all times were a matter infinite Wee may referre all to two heads to wit the change of Names and the change of Nature Concerning the former that most Countreyes haue changed their first and originall names is most euident to such as consult the Maps and writings of our common Geographers for few or none will discouer vnto vs any Region by that name by which it was knowne in former times in so much as great controuersie and dispute hath growne about diuerse countreyes mentioned by ancient writers whereof the name should take its first originall but of this change we shall speake hereafter But if we
it seemes the same leuell This may for ought wee know be the originall of all Lakes and this also may bee a way or meanes whereby they empty and disburthen themselues being ouercharged with too much Water CHAP. X. Of Mountaines Valleyes Plaine Regions Woods and Champian Countryes 1 THe second variation in the figurature of the Earth is expressed in Mountaines Valleyes and Plaine Countreyes A Mountaine is a quantity of Earth heaped aboue the ordinary height of the land A Valley is the depth of the Earth between two Mountaines A plain is a space of Earth where there is found no notable rising or falling of the ground The distinction of the Earth according to it's externall figurature into Mountaines Valleyes and Plaines is very naturall because euery space or parcell of land in respect of the places neere or about it must either rise higher or fall lower or at least must beare an equality where the former is admitted there must needs be Mountaines swelling higher then the ordinary leuell of the Earth where the second is found the ground is indented with Valleyes and concauities where the third is to be seene there must be Plaines Here is to be noted that howsoeuer Plaines absolutely considered haue a sphericall surface for the most part especially if the Plaines be large because they concurre as circular segments to make vp the Spheare of the Earth yet they may be called Plaines because they so appeare to our sense which in so short a distance cannot perceiue the Sphericall figurature of the Earth Some Gramarians here curiously distinguish betweene mons or a Mountaine and Collis or a Hillock which is a little hill also betwixt Vallis which they would haue to be a low parcell of ground betwixt two mountaines and Conuallis which is a lower space only bounded on one part by a mountaine which Varro would haue to bee deriued from Cauata vallis but these Grammatical scruples are of small vse to such as spend themselues on greater matters because the ordinary vsual manner of speech euen amongst the vulgar will shut out all mistakes in this kind what deserues the study of â— Topographer concerning this shall be expressed in these Theoremes 1 Mountaines Valleyes and Plaines were created in the Earth from the beginning and few made by the violence of the Deluge It hath bin the opinion of some aswell Diuines as Philosophers that the violence of the Deluge hath extraordinarily altered defaced the Earth being the chiefe cause of Mountaines Valleyes therein but this opinion is contradicted by many reasons first out of the Text it selfe of Genesis where it is said that the water of the flood ouer-flowed by 15 Cubits the highest Mountaines to which may be added the Testimony of Damascenus who reports that in the time of the Deluge many resorted to a high mountaine of Armenia called Baris where they saued themselues which last clause although it expresly contradicts the holy Scriptures which speake but of Eight Persons that were saued yet it is a sufficient testimony to proue that such Mountaines were before the Flood and therefore not made by it Secondly had there followed so great an alteration of the Earth to cause mountaines as some imagine then should not the same places after the flood retain their names bounds and descriptions which they did before the flood the contrary whereof we find in that Moses writing of Paradice other places about 850 yeares after the flood was most exact in setting down the Names Limits and whole description of them as though they had remained to be seene in his dayes Thirdly had the violence of the waters beene so great as to raise vp mountaines in the Earth it would without doubt haue bin forceable enough to haue turned Riuers and haue changed them from one place to another cast downe and demolished the greatest Cities and buildings throwne downe and ouer-whelmed all plants and vegetalls on the Earth and as it were haue buried from all succeeding time the memories of the former ages so that little or nothing should appeare but this may bee proued otherwiâ—e by sundry Instances First that the Riuers haue still remained the same may appeare out of the place alleaged of Genesis where Moses speaking of the site of Paradice sets downe all the riuers of it exactly especially Tigris Euphrates out of the which we may easily gather in what longitude and latitude it stood had any thing bin altered in the course of the riuers it is likely Moses would haue specified it in this Historie that after ages looking for these places might not mistake or suspect the truth of his Relations Secondly that it hath not extinguished all Buildings and ancient monuments of the fathers before the flood may probably be coniectured by the testimony of Iosephus a writer of good credit who affirmeth that he saw one of the pillars erected by Seth the second from Adam which pillars were set vp aboue 1426 yeares before the flood accompting Seth to bee a hundred yeares old at the erection of them and Iosephus himselfe to haue liued some 40 or 50 yeares after Christ Now although we are not bound to credit all thar he relates yet may we trust him concerning such matters as happened in his time and that this pillar was set vp by Seth was neuer yet called in question but warranted by antiquity the like is recorded by Berosus of the Citty of Enoch that it was not demolished by the flood but remained many yeares after the ruines whereof as Annius in his commentary reports were to be seene in his time who liued in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile It is also reported by Pomponius Mela that the Citty of Ioppa was built before the flood of which Cepha was King whose name with his brother Phineus together with the grounds and principles of their religion were found grauen vpon Altars of stone All which are sufficient to proue the violence of the Waters not to haue bin so great to demolish all mountaines and monuments Moreouer it may be plainly proued out of the text that the Waters suffered the plants and trees of the Earth to grow and remaine as they did before because it is said that when Noah the second time sent out the Doue she returned with an oliue branch in her mouth which no doubt she had plucked from the trees after the trees were vncouered for otherwise she might the first time haue found it floating on the Waters a manifest proof that the trees were not torne vp by the roots or turned topsy turuy but remained fixed in the Earth as they did before Fourthly had the water suffered this extreame violent motion as whereby it might make many mountaines I aske whence this motion should come it could not bee from the naturall motion of the water which is to moue downward for what descent of waters can bee in a Sphericall round body where no part is higher or lower That