the world is moved circularly being kindled in the air as it darts it self forth this way or that way as the matter is disposed or the wind sits included in a living creature as the strength of the phantasie forceth it this way or that way VII The motion of the matter is eightfold of expansion contraction aggregation sympathie continuitie impulsion libration and libertie Whereof the first two are immediately from the fire the four following from some other bodies the two last from it self but by the mediation of the spirit of the universe which if it seems harsh will soon appear plain by examples VIII The motion of expansion is that whereby the matter being rarified with heat dilate sits self of its own accord seeking larger room For it is not possible that the matter being rarified should be conteined in the same space but one part thrusts another that they may stretch forth themselves and gather themselves into a greater sphear you shall see an example if you drop a few drops of water into a hogs bladder and having tied the neck thereof lay it over a furnace for the bladder will be stretched out and will swell because the water being turned into vapour by the heat seeks more room IX The motion of contraction is that whereby the matter is contracted betaking it self into a narrower space by condensation For example if you lay the foresaid bladder from the furnace into a cold place for the vapour will return to water and the swelling of the bladder will fall or if you put a thong into the fire you shall see it wil be wrinkled and contracted because the softer parts being extracted by the fire the rest must needs be contracted from the same reason also the chinks and gapings of timber and of the earth come X The motion of aggregation iâ— when a body is carried to its connaturals For example our flame goes upward a stone goes downward for the flame perceives that its connaturals that is subtile bodies are above a stone that its that is heavy things are here below Note well that they coÌ„monly call this motion naturall who are ignorant of the rest But though it appear most in sight and seem to be most strong and immutable yet indeed it is weak enough because it gives place to all the rest that follow and puts not forth it self but when they cease which will of it self appear to one that meditates these things diligently yet I will adde this A drop of ink fallen upon paper defends it self by its roundnesse yet put a moist pen to it you â—â—ll see the drop run up into into it See it â—â—es not downward as it should by reaâ—â—â— of its heavinesse but upwards that it â—â—y joyn it self to a greater quantity thereâ—â— XI The motion of sympathie and antipathy â—hat whereby a like body is drawn to its like 〈◊〉 driven away by its contrary Now this similitude is of the spirit that habits in it this motion is very evident in â—â—ne bodies as in the loadstone which â—â—aws iron to it or else leaps it self to the 〈◊〉 in others weak and scarce sensible as 〈◊〉 example in milk the cream whereof seâ—rates it self by little and little from the hevie parts and gathers it self to the top some things it is as it were bound unâ—â—sse it be losed some way or other that apâ—ears in melted brasse wherein metals are â—â—parated one from another by the force of 〈◊〉 fire and by the virtue of sympathy eveâ—â— thing gathers it self to its like lead to â—â—ad silver to silver and flows together in 〈◊〉 peculiar place XII Motion of continuity is that whereby â—atter follows matter shunning discontinuity As when you suck up the air with a pipe â—â—tting one end thereof into the water the water will follow the air though it be upâ—ward For we said before that the world a living creature would not be cut the livinâ— spirit uniting all things XIII The motion of impulsion or cessionâ— is that whereby matter yeelds to matter thâ— presseth upon it So water yeelds to a stone that comâ— down into it that it may sink so a stonâ— to the hand that thrusts it c. for a bodâ— will not endure to be penetrated it had rather yeeld if it can If it cannot all the paâ—â— yeeld as wee may see it happen in eveâ— Breake Bruise Rent Wearing Cutting for the weaker yeelds every where to thâ— stronger XIV The motion of libration is that where in the parts wave themselves too and fro thâ—â— they may be rightly placed in the whole As when a ballance moves it self now this now that way XV The motion of liberty is that whereby a body or a part thereof being violently moveâ— out of its place and yet not plucked away returns thither again As when a branch of a tree bent forcibly and let go again betakes it self to its positure A SCHEAME Of Motions Motion therefore is of Spirit Light which is called the motion of agitation diffusion Matter which is caused by the fire and is called the motion of expansion contraction some body drawing by connaturalitie as of aggregation a secret virtue as of sympathie connexion as of continuitie thrusting or inforcing as of impulsion it self that it may be well with it self as the motion of libration libertie An example of all these motions in the fâ—â—tion of the Macrocosme or great World First the spirit moved it self upon theâ—ters with the motion of Agitation then light being sent into the matter penetraâ— it every way with the motion of Diffusion and by the matter above where the liâ—â— passed through being heated and rarifâ—â— dilated it self with the motion of Dispaâ—â— but below it coagulated it self with theâ—â—tion of Contraction And all the more suâ—â— parts gathered themselves upwards the 〈◊〉 downwards with the motions of Agregation and Sympathy for a more oâ—â— Sympathy and Antipathy was put in things afterwards and whither soever oâ— part of the matter went others followed 〈◊〉 the motion of Continuity or if one rushâ— against others they gave way by the motion of Impulsion but the grosser parts did poiâ—â— themselves flying from the heat whicâ— came upon them from above about thâ— Center to an exact Globosity with thâ— motion of Libration there was no motion oâ— Liberty because there was no externall violence to put any thing out of order An example of the same motions in the Microcosme or little World In man and in every living creature the food that is put into the belly grows hot with incalescency here you have the motion of Expansion then by the motion of Sympathie every member attracts to it self that which is good for it but by the motion of Antipathy superfluous things are driven forth as unprofitable and hurtfull to them then the blood is distributed equally to the whole body upwards and downwards by the motion of Libration and being assimilated to the members it is condensed that it may become flesh
give assimulation to the matter flowing in and that for want of gluten and therefore the body fadeth and withereth and at length perisheth Of the alteration of things XIII No body doth always retein the same qualities but changeth them variously For example wood when it grows is thin and soft afterward it is condensed hardned especially being dried fruit on the contrary as it ripens grows rare and soft changing its colour savour and smell For it is the law of the universe to be subject to vicissitudes as also to corruption of which it here follows Of the corruption of things XIV Every body is liable to corruption Because compounded of a decaying matter and an agitable spirit which may be disposed according to the mutation of the heat Therefore seing that alterations cannot be hindred neither can perishing And hence perhaps every materiall thing is called CORPVS as it were corrupus because it is subject to corruption XV All corruption is done either by arefaction or putrefaction For we speak not here of violent corruption which is done by the solution of some continued thing as when any thing is broken rent bruised burnt c. but of naturall corruption which brings destruction to things from within iâ— it is manifest that this can be done no way but by arefaction or putrefaction XVI Arefaction is when afflux of matter is denied to a body and the heat included having consumed its proper humour dries and hardens the rest of the parts and at length forsakes them So Hearbs Trees and living creatures c. wither XVII Putrefaction is when the spirit is exhaled from a body and the parts of the matter are dissolved and return into their hetâ—rogâ—neous parts For then the watery parts are gathered to themselves therefore putrefied things give an evill sent the oily parts to themselves whence putrefied things have always some unctuosity the dregs to themselves whence that confusion in putrified things and unpleasant tast c. and hence it is easie to finde the reason why cold salt and drying hinder putrefaction namely because cold stops the pores of a body that the spirituall parts cannot go out and exhale but dryed things are exhausted of thâ—se thin parts which might be putrefied salt last of all bindeth the parts of the matter within and as it were holds them with bands that they cannot gape let forth the spirit Again it may easily be gathered from hence why hard and oily things are durable namely because hard things have much salt which hindereth putrefaction but they are destitute of humidity the provocation of putrefaction And oily things because they do not easily let go their spirit by reason of their well nourishing and gentle usage of it suet and fat putrifie because they have loose pores and some aquosity N. W. We must neverthelesse observe that not onely soft things herbs fruits flesh putrifie but also the hardest bodies namely stones and metals For the rust of these is nothing else but the rottennesse of the inward parts spreading it self abroad through the pores XVIII Out of that which hath been said it may be gathered that the world is eternall potentially For seing that not any one crum of matter can perish nor the spirit be suffocated nor the light be extinguished nor any of them fly forth out of the world and must of necessity be together and passe through one another mutually and act upon one another it is impossible but that one thing should be born of another even without end For that old Axiome of Philosophers is most true the corruption of one is the generation of another the Architect of the World in that manner expressing his aeternity CHAP. VI. Of the Elements Skie Air Water Earth WE have hitherto contemplated the generall parts of the world namely the principles with the common accidents thereof now follow the species of things which are derived from the said principles by divers degrees Where first elements come to be considered as which being framed of the first congresse of the principles are as it were the bases and hinges of the whole order of the world I An element is the first and greatest body in the world of a simple nature A body or a substance for though we called matter spirit and light substances also cap. 2. because they are not accidents yet because none of them existeth of it self and apart but do joyntly make up other substances the elements and the creatures that follow may with better right be so called Now an element is said to be of a simple nature in respect of the substances following which have compound natures as it shall appear II The constitution of the elements is made by light For light being sent into the world by its motion and heat began to rouse up the Chaos of the matter of the world and when it turned it selfe round as yet it turnes it purified part of the matter and made it more subtile the rest of the matter of necessity setling and gathering it selfe into density elsewhere III There are foure Elements Skie Air Water Earth That is there are four faces of the matter of the world reduced into formes for at the first it was without form differing especially in the degree of rarity and density Note The Peripateticks put the sublunary fire for skie and call the skie a Quintessence But that same sublunary fire is a meer figment the heaven it selfe furnished with fiery light is the highest element of the world as after the Scripture the senses themselves demonstrate He that is not satisfied with these of ours but seeks more subtile demonstrations let him see Campanella Verulamius and Thomas Lydiat of the nature of heaven c. and he will acknowledge the vanity of this Aristotelicall figment IV The skie is the most pure part of the matter of the world spread over the highest spaces of the world It is vulgarly called the visible and starry heaven and by an errour of the Greeks who thinking that it was of a solid substance like Chrystal called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Firmament but little agreeably to the truth More conveniently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is light and fire Quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is fire above and so from burning as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to burn For it burneth with an inextinguable light of the stars whereby it is also purified The notation of the Hebrew word favours this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fire and water The nature of the heaven is to be liquid in the highest degree volatile and hot V Air is a part of the matter indifferently pure spread over the lower spaces of the world The nature of it is to be breathable and passable every way VI Water is a grosser part of the
so that it feignes new formes of things namely by dividing or variously compounding things conceived And this is done with such quicknesse that upon every occasion we imagine any thing to our selves as vve find dreaming and waking and by how much the purer spirit any one hath he is so much the more prompt to think or imagine but dulnesse proceeds from a grosse spirit Observe this also That the animal spirit vvhen it speculates forward and drawes new images of things from the senses is said to learne vvhen backward resuming images from the memory it is said to remember When it is moved too and fro vvithin it self it is said to feigne somewhat Note also that from the evidence of sensation growes the degree of knowledge for if the sense perceive any thing a farre off or weakly and obscurely it is a generall conception If nearer distinctly and perspicuously it is a particular conception for example when I see something move a great vvay off I gather it to be a living creature vvhen I come near I know it to be a man and at length this or that man c. IX Memory remembrance is the imagination of a thing past arising from the sense of a thing present by reason of some likenesse For vve do not remember any thing otherwise then by a like object For example if I see a man that resembles my father in his face presently the memory of my father comes into my minde So by occasion of divers accidents as place time figure colour found c. divers things may come to minde where the like vvas seen heard c. vvhich occasion sometimes is so slight and suddain that it can scarce be marked for what is quicker then the spirit N. Now it may be demanded seeing that the animal spirit moveth it self so variously in the brain yea and other nevv spirit alwayes succeeding by nutrition how is it that the images of things do not perish but readily offer themselves to our remembrance Answ Look down from a bridge into the vvater gently gliding you shall see your face unvaried though the vvater passe away And vvhen you see any thing tossed vvith the vvind in a free aire the winde doth not carry away the image of the thing from thine eye What is the cause But that the impression of the image is not in the water nor in the aire but in the eye from the light reflected indeed from the water and penetrating the aire So then in like manner an inward impression is not really made in the brain but by a certaine resplendency in the spirit Which resplendency may be kindled again by any like object Otherwise if images vvere really imprinted in the brain we could not see any thing otherwise in our sleep then it had once imprinted it self in the brain being seen But being that they are variously changed it appears that notions are made not by reall impressions but by the bare motion of the spirit and the imagination of like by like X An affection is a motion of the minde comâ—ng from imaginations desiring good and shunning evill There are more affections and more vehement in a man For bruits scarce know shame envy and jealousie and are not so violently hurried into fury and despaire or again into excessive joyfulnesse thence laughter and weeping still belong to man only XI The minde of man is immediately from God For the Scripture saith That it was inspired by God Gen. 2. v. 7. and that after the death of the body it returnes to God that gave it Eccles. 2. v. 7. For it returnes to be judged for those things which it did in the body whether good or evill 2 Câ—r 5. v. 10. But we are not to thinke that the soul is inspired out of the essence of God as though it were any part of the deity For God is not divisible into parts neither can he enter into one essence with the creature And Moses vvords sound thus And God breathed into the face of Adam the breath of life and man became a living soule See he doth not say that that breath or inspiration became a living soule but man became a living soul Nor yet are we to think that the soul was created out of nothing as though it were a new entitie but only that a new perfection is put into the animall spirit in a man so that it becomes one degree superiour to the soul of a beast that appears out of Zach. 1â— v. 1. Where God testifies that he formes the spirit of man in the midst of him Behold he forms and not creates it It is the same vvord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jatzar vvhich is used of the body also Gen. 2. v. 7. As therefore the body is formed of the prae-existent matter so is the soul of the prae-existent spirit of the vvorld Aud by cousequent even as the earth vvater air and skie are all one matter of the world differing only in the degree of their density so the naturall vitall animall and this mentall spirit are all one spirit of the world differing only in the degree of their purity and perfection Therefore it is credible that the divine inspiration conferred no more upon man but this that he 1 refined the inmost part of his spirit that in subtility of actions he might come nearest to God of all visible creatures 2 Fixed it that it might subsist both in the body and out of the body Therefore the Scripture makes no other difference betwixt the spirit of a man and of a beast then that the one ascends upwards the other goes downwards that is the one flees out of the matter the other slides back into the matter Eccles. 3. v. 21. Hence also that question Whether the soul be propagated by generation may be determined The root of the soul which is the vitall and animall spirit is certainly by generation but the formation thereof that the inmost parts thereof should become the mentall spirit or the minde God attributes to himself Zach. 12. 1. Yet not concurring extraordinarily or miraculously but because he hath ordained that it shall be so in the nature of man It appears also why man is commonly said to consist of a body and a soule only namely because the rationall soule is of the spirit and in the spirit For as our body is made of a four-fold matter that is of the four Elements so our soule to speak generally and contradistinguish it from the body consists of a fourfold spirit Naturall Vitall Animall and Mentall XII There are three faculties of the mind of man the Understanding the Will and the Conscience These answer to the three functions of the animall spirit or to the inward senses out of which also they result For we have said that as the spirit useth the body for its Organ so the soule useth the spirit Therefore the three inward Senses Attention Judgement and Memory are instruments by which the soule useth the Understanding
torch that some great secrets of Nature and very obscure places of Scripture the reason of which I knew not before were now plain as it were of their own accord to the exceeding great content of my mind For now with those that have lighted upon a more sound way of Philosophie in this age I saw and rested in it I That the onely true genuine and plain way of Philosophie is to fetch all things from sense reason and Scripture II That the Peripatetick philosophie is not onely defective in many parts and many ways intricate full of turnings and windings and partly also erroneous so that it is not onely unprofitable for Christians but also without correction and perfection hurtfull III That philosophie may be reformed and perfected by an harmonicall reduction of all things that are and are made to sense reason and Scripture with so much evidence and certainty in all such things as are of most concernment and have any necessity that any mortall man seeing may see and feeling may feel the truth scattered every where Of all and every of which observations least we should seem to have dreamed somewhat there will be some thing to be said more at large And for the first we make three principles of Philosophy with Campanella and his happy Interpreter Tobie Adams Sense Reason and Scripture But so joyntly that whosoever would not be left in ignoraÌ„ce or doubt should rest on no one of these without the others otherwise it wil be a most ready precipice into errors For Sense though it make an immediate impression upon us of the truth imprinted upon things yet because it is very often confounded either by reason of the multitude of things in a manner infinite and the strange complications of formes or else wearied and tired sometimes with the distance of the objects and so consequently dazeled and deceived Reason must of necessity be imployed which may conclude alike of like things and contrarily of contrary things by observing their proportion and so supply the defect of sense and correct its errours But then because many things are remote both from sense and reason which we cannot in any sort attein unto by sense nor yet by reason firmly enough we are indepted to the grace of God that he hath by his Word revealed unto us even some secrets which concern us to know Therefore if any one desire the true knowledg of things these three principlâ—s of knowing must of force be conjoyned Otherwise he that will follow the guidance of sense onely will never be wiser then the common sort nor be able to imagine the Moon lesse then a starre the Sun greater then the earth and that again sphaericall and every way habitable On the contrary if a man contemplate on abstract things and consult onely with reason without the testimony of sense he will be rapt away with meer phantasines and create himself a new world like the Platonicall and Aristotelicall c. Lastly they that heed the Scripture onely and hearken neither to sense nor reason are either carried away beyond the world by the sublimity of their conceptions or else involve things they understand not with the Colliers faith or following the letter propound unto themselves things though never so absurd and superstitious to be believed as Papists do in that most absurd transubstantion of theirs c. So then the principles of knowing must be conjoyned that divine Revelation may afford us belief Reason Understanding Sense Certainty And they must be used in this order in naturall things I say as that we begin with sense and end in revelation as it were the setting to the seal of God for by this order every subsequent degree will receive receive from the antecedent both Evidence and also Certainty and Emendation For as there is nothing in the understanding which was not first in the sense so there is nothing in the belief which not first in the understanding For he that believes must know what is fit to be believed Hence the Scripture frequently invites us to hear see tast consider And affirmes that faith too comes by hearing I said Certainty too For by how much the neerer Reason is to sense that is by how many the more experiments of the senses it may be demonstrated it is so much the more reall and on the contrary again the further it recedes from sense by so much the more vain speculation and naked imagination it hath But by how much the neerer divine Revelation may be reduced to understanding and the testimonies of experience so much the more strength it findes I said further that the precedent degrees were corrected by the subsequent and so it is For where sense fails or mistakes it is supplied and corrected by reason And Reason by Revelation For example when the sense judgeth the Moon to be bigger then Saturn or an Oare to be broken under the water c. Reason rectifies it by certain documents of experience So when Reason hath gathered any thing falsely of things invisible it is amended by divine Revelation Yet that emendation is not violent and with the destruction of the precedent principle but gentle so that that very thing which is corrected acknowledgeth and admits it of its own accord and with joy and soon brings something of its own whereby the same corrected truth may become more apparent For example Reason brings nothing to correct sense whereof it is not soon ascertained by sundry experiments and affirmes it self that so it is as that an Oare is not broken under water the Touch teacheth as also the sight it self looking on it after it is drawn out Faith holds out nothing which is contrary and repugnant to Reason though it bring that which is beyond and above Reason But all things such as Reason not onely yields being overcome by authority but also finds of a truth to be in things and so seeks and finds out some thing of its own which may serve to confirme and illustrate the same truth Therefore let it be taken for true That Sense is not onely the fountain of knowledge but also of certainty in naturall things But that the understanding is the Organ not onely of knowledge but also of certainty in revealed things Let us come then to the purpose Some deny that holy Scripture is to be drawn to Philosophie because it teacheth not the speculation of outward things but the way of eternall life I confess that the Scripture was given by inspiration of God to teach reprove correct and instruct in righteousness That the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works 2 Tim. 3. I confess I say that this is the ultimate end of the Scripture Yet who knows not that there are for the most part more ends of one thing even in humane things much more in divine where the wisdom of our adored God hath wholly wound up it self with an artifice scarce to be found out of us Truly
matter cherishes and rules it and produces every creature introducing into every one it s own form but being that this work-master had need of fire to soften and to prepare the matter variously for various uses God produced it For V God said let there be light and there was light ver 3. this is described as the third principle of the World meerly active whereby the matter was made visible and divisible into forms the light I say perfecting all things which are and are made in the World therefore it is added VI And God saw the light that it was good ver 4 that is he saw that all things would now proceed in order for that light being produced in a great masse began presently to display its threefold virtue of illuminating moving it selfe and heating and by turning about the World to heat and rarifie the matter and so to divide it for hence followed first of all from the brightnesse of that light the difference of nights and days VII He divided the light from darkness and called the light day and the darknesse he called night and the evening and morning were the first day ver â— that is that light when it had turn'd it self round compassed the World with that motion made day and night The second effect of light was from heat namely that which way soever it pass'd it rarified and purified the matter but it condensed it on both sides upward and downward whence came the division of the Elements this Moses expresses in these words VIII And God said let there be a Firmament that it may divide betwixt the waâ—er above and the waters below ver 6. God said that is he ordained how it should be let there be a Firmament that is let that light stretch forth the matter and let the thicker part of the matter melting and flying from the light thereof make waters on this side and on that above as they are the term of the visible World but below as they are a matter apt to produce other creatures under which the earth as thick dregs came together that was done the second day XI Therefore God said let the waters be gathered together under heaven into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so and God called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters he called seas and he saw that it was good ver 9 10. and so on the third day there came the foure greatest bodies of the World out of the matter already produced Aether that is the Firmament or Heaven Aire Water and Earth all as yet void of lesser creatures therefore said God X Let the earth bud forth the green herb and trees bearing seed or fruit every one according to his kinde ver 11. this was done the same third day when as now the heat of Coelestiall light having wrought more effectually began to beget fat vapours on the earth whereinto that living spirit of the World insinuating it self began to cause plants to grow up in various formes according as it pleased the Creator this is the truest original and manner of generation of plants hitherto that they are form'd by the spirit with the help of heat but as the heavens did not always equally effuse the same heat but according to the various form of the World one while more midly another while more strongly the fourth day God disposed that same light of heaven otherwise then hitherto it had been namely forming from that one great masse thereof divers lucid Globes greater and lesser which being called stars he placed here and there in the Firmament higher and lower with an unequall motion to distinguish the times and this Moses describes v. 14 15 c. thus XI And God said let there be light made in the Firmament of heaven that they may divide the day and the night and may be for signes and for seasons and for days and for years that they may shine in the Firmament and enlighten the earth therefore God made two great lights and the starres c. This done then after all the face of the World began to appear beautifull and the heat of heaven more temperate began to temper the matter of inferiour things together after a new manner so that the spirit of life now began to form more perfect creatures namely moving plants which we call animals of which Moses thus XII God said also let the waters bring forth creeping things having a soul of life and flying things upon the earth c. v. 20. the waters were first commanded to produce living creatures because it is a softer Element then earth first reptiles as earth-wormes and other worms c. because they are as it were the rudiment of nature also swiming things and flying things that is fishes and birds animals of a more light compaction that was done on the fift day with a most goodly spectacle to the Angels but on the sixth day God commanded earthly animals to come forth namely of a more solid structure which was presently done when the spirit of the World distributed it self variously through the matter of the clay for thus Moses XIII God said let the earth produce creatures having life according to their kind beasts and serpents and beasts of the field and it was sâ— v. 24. so now the heaven of heavens had for inhabitants the Angels the visible heaven the starres the air birds the water fishes the earth beasts there was yet a ruler wanting for these inferiour things namely a rationall creature or an Angel visibly clothed for whose sake those visible things were produced Therefore at the last when God was to produce him he is said by Moses to have taken counsel in these words XIV Then God said let us make man after our own image and likenesse who may rule over the fishes of the sea and the fouls of the air and beasts and all the earth c. Therefore he created man out of the dust of the earth and breathed in his face the breath of life c. v. 26. and cap. 2. v. 7. so man was made like to the other living creatures by a contemperation of matter spirit and light and to God and the Angels through the inspiration of the mind a most exquisite summarie of the world and thus the structure of the Universe ought to proceed so as to begin with the most simple creature and end in that which is most compound but both of them rationall that it might appear that God created these onely for himself but all the intermediate for these Lastly that all things are from God and for God flow out from him and reflow to him But that all these things might continue in their essence as they were disposed by the wisdome of God he put into every thing a virtue which they call Nature to conserve themselves in their effence yea to multiply whence the continuation of the creatures unto this very day and
matters we could have no fire but Solar on the earth for nothing would be kindled and then what great defects would the life of man endure Of the accidentary or extrinsecall qualities of bodies So much of the substantiall qualities the accidentary follow VII An accidentall quality is either manifest or occult VIII A manifest quality is that which may be perceived by sense and is therefore to be called sensible As heat cold softnesse roughnesse IX An occult quality is that which is known only by experience that is by its effect as the love of iron in the loadstone c. therefore it is called insensible N. The manifest qualities proceed from the diverse temperatures of the elements substantificall qualities the occult immeditely from the peculiar spirit of every thing X The sensible quality is five fold according to the number of the senses visible audible olfactile gustatile tangible that is colour sound odour savour tangour Let not the unusuall word tangor offend any it is feigned for doctrines sake and analogy admits it for if we say from Caleo Calor from Colo Color from sapio sapor from amo amor from fluo fluor from liquo liquor from clango clangor from ango angor why not also from tango tangor Of the tangible quality XI The tangible quality or tangor is such or such a positure of the parts of the matter in a body XII The copulations thereof are twelve for every body in respect of touch is 1 rare or dense 2 moist or dry 3 soft or hard 4 flexible or stiffe 5 smooth or rough 6 light or heavy 7 hot or cold Of every of which we are to consider accurately what and how they are XIII Rarity is an extension of the attenuated matter through greater spaces density on the contrary is a straighter pressing together of the matter into one For all earth water air and spirit is sometime more rare sometime more dense and we must note that there is not any body so dense but that it hath pores neverthelesse though insensible That appears in vessels of wood and earth which let forth liquors in manner of sweat also in a bottle of lead filled with water which if it be crushed together with hammers or with a presse sweats forth a water like a most delicate dew XIV Humidity or humour is the liquidnesse of the parts of the body and aptnesse to be penetrated by one another siccity on the contrary is a consistency and an impenetrability of the parts of the body So a clot hardned together either with heat or cold is dry earth but mire is moist earth water is a humid liquour but ice is dry water c. XV Softnesse is a constitution of the matter somewhat moist easily yeilding to the touch hardnesse is a drynesse of the matter not yeelding to the touch So a stone is either hard or soft also water spirit air c. XVI Flexibility is a compaction of the matter with a moist glue so that it will suffer it self to be bent stifnesse is a coagulation of the matter with dry glue that it will not bend but break So iron is stiffe steel flexible so some wood is flexible other stiffe but note that the flexible is also calld tough the stiffe brittle XVII Smooth is that which with the aequality of its parts doth pleasantly affect the touch rough is that which with the inequality of its parts doth distract and draw asunder the touch Note in liquid things the smooth is called mild the rough tart so marble unpolished is rough polished it is smooth Water is rough oile is mild a vehement and cold wind is rough and sharp a warm air is mild So in our body humours vapours spirits are said to be mild or sharp XVIII Lightnesse is the hasting upwards of a body by reason of its rarity and spirituosity heavinesse is the pronenesse of a dense body downwards as that appears in flame and every exhalation this in water and earth N. W. I how this motion is made upwards and downwards by a love of fellowship or of things of the same nature hath been said cap. 3. 2 The inaequality of heavinesse or ponderosity is from the unequall condensation of the matter For look how much the more matter there is in a body so much the more ponderous it is as a stone more then wood metals more then stones and amongst these gold quicksilver and lead most of al because they are the most compacted bodies 3 Amongst all heavy things gold is found to be of greatest weight spirit of wine or sublimated wine of least and the proportion of quantity betwixt these two is found not to exceed the proportion of 21 parts so that one drop of gold is not heavier than one and twenty drops of spirit of wine XIX Heat is a motion of the most minute parts of the matter reverberated against it self penetrating and rending the touch like a thousand sharp points but cold is a motion of the parts contracting themselves N. W. 1 It appears that heat and cold are motions and fixed qualities 1 because there is no body found amongst us perpetually hot or cold as there is rare and dense moist and drie c. but as a thing heats or cools the which is done by motion 2 because sense it self testifies that in scorching the skin and members are penetrated and drawn asunder but in cold they are stopped and bound therefore it is a motion 3 because whatsoever is often heated though it be metall is diminished both in bignesse and in weight till it be even consumed and whēce is that but that the heat casting forth a thousand atomes doth weare and consume away the matter Now it is called a motion of parts and that reverberated against it self for that which is moved in whole and directly not reflexedly doth not heat as wind a bird flying c. but that which is moved with reverberation or a quick alteration as it is is in the repercussion of light in the iterated collision of bodies in rubbing together friction c. 3 But we must distinguish betwixt Calidum Calefactivum and Calefactile Calidum or Calefactum is that which is actually hot and scorcheth the touch as flame red hot iron seething water or air which also receiveth amost violent heat c. N. W. among all things that are known to us fire is most hot wee have nothing that is most cold but ice which notwithstanding is farre off from being opposed in its degree of cold to the degree of heat in fire Calefactivum is that which may stirre up heat as motion and whatsoever may procure motion namely fire and pepper and all sharp and bitter things taken within the body for motion is from fire and fire from motion and heat from them both For as fire cannot but be moved else it presently goes out so motion cannot but take fire as it appears by striking a flint and rubbing wood something long
some modern Divines interpret it of the waters of the clouds that is too cold They say that Jer. 10. 13. The rain waters are signified by the name of the water in heaven and therefore here also But I answer 1 That the waters in heaven are one thing and the waters above heaven another Rain might be called water in heaven because the air was by the Hebrews called the first heaven but it cannot be called the waters above heaven as these of which Moses speaks 2 That the waters of the clouds are not waters in act but vapours but Moses speaks of waters For he sayes expresly that in the first seven dayes there was no rain cap. 2. ver 5. but he sayes that those waters above the Expansum were presently made the second day therefore they are some thing else then rain water 3 He sayes that the waters were seperated from the waters but the waters of the clouds are not separated from the waters of the sea and of rivers For they are perpetually mingled vapours ascending rain descending 4 He sayes that the Expansum was in the middest betwixt the waters and the waters but how can that be said of the clouds which are below the Expansum and reach not to the thousandth part of its altitude Lastly Psalm 148 placeth the waters above the heaven next of all to the Heaven of Heavens v. 4. but reckons up clouds and rain afterwards among the creatures of the earth ver 8. what need we any other interpretation Reason perswades the same thing most strongly For setting down the principles of the world in that order wherein we see them set down by Moses it was necessary that the matter being scattered by the light rolling about should flie hither and thither and coagulate it selfe at the terms of the world on both fides that in the middle where the light went and goes yet there should be pure skie but that on both sides above and below the mathardning it self should grow thick We see it done here below why not above also especially God himself intimating it Let it be so because naturally it cannot be otherwise But that there is fire included in the earth 1 the eructations of fire in Aetra Vesuvius Hecla c. do shew 2 the springs of hot waters every where 3 the progeneration of metals even in cold countreys and other things which can come from nothing else but from fire which shall be looked into in that which follows 4 lastly there is a testimony extant in the book of Job chap. 28. v. 5. Bread commeth out of the earth and under it is turned up as it were fire Let the Reader see Thomas Lydiats disquisition concerning the originall of Fountains and there he shall see it disputed at large and very soundly XVIII The waters above the heaven are there placed for ends known to God but the use of fire under ground is well enough known to us also Yet we may say something of these waters by conjecture As namely that it was meet that there should be visible termes of the visible World and that the heat of the frame ever rolling had need of cooling on the other side also and the like But that of the fire under ground mountains and valleys and caves of the earth are produced and also stones metals and juyces generated and many other things we shall see in that which follows for without heat there is no generation because there is no motion Of the Skie in specie XIX The Skie is the highest Region of the most vast world the dwelling place of the stars XX The Skie is the most liquid part of the whole world and therefore transparent and most moveable For by the motion and heat of the Sun always present it is perpetually attenuated to an exceeding subtlety XXI The whole skie is moved about because that burning and ever flying light of the stars hurries it about with it That appears 1 by reason for if the starres were moved in the heaven immoveable after that manner that birds are carried in the air and fishes in the water that penetration of the heaven would not be without violence neither could it be performed with so great celerity nor with so aequable a course by reason of the resistance Therefore the starres are carried in heaven in all respects as clouds in the air that is with their charriot 2 by sense for we see that our fire carries away with it the matter which it hath caught and attenuated namely vapours smoaks flames why not the heavenly fire also which comets also shew to the eye of which we shall see more chap. 8. 3. The same is to be gathered out of Moses words accurately considered Gen. 1. v. 14. 17. Of the air XXII The air is the lowest Region of the Expansum the abode of the clouds and birds In Scripture it is signified by the name of the first heaven Yet it penetrates water and earth to fill up their cavities because there is no vacuum XXIII The air is of a middle nature betwixt the heaven and the water in respect of site and qualities Yet it is thicker where it joyns to the earth and water and thinner towards heaven Therefore in the highest tops of some mountains neither men can live nor trees grow because of the thinnesse of the air by reason of which it is neither sufficient for the breathing of living creatures nor for the growth of plants XXIV The air neer the earth in summer is hot by the vehement repercussion of the Suns verticall beams in winter by reason of the obliquity and obtuse reflexion of the beams it cannot be heated above it is always cold yet most in summer when it is pend in on both sides with the heat of the heaven and of the earth Of the water XXV Water is thickned air Washing and and moistning the earth the abode of fishes XXVI Water of its own nature is onely moist and fluid to the rest of the qualities indifferent Obs. 1. The fluidity of the water is such that if you give it never so little declivity it runs But the humidity is unequall according to the degree of rarity and density For a ship sinks not so deep in the sea as in a river because the sea water is thicker and drier Obs. 2 They adde commonly that water is naturally cold by a twofold argument 1 because it cooleth 2 because it extinguisheth fire but I answer it cools not by its coolnesse but by its crudity But it quencheth fire after the same manner as hot water and wine do though they be hot not because they are contrary to fire but because fire is nourished with the thinner parts of the wood but if abundance of water be cast on or any fluid thing even oyl the pores are stopped and the fire is quenched Otherwise fires are made of Bitumen which is not a porous matter that burn in the very water which we see done also in
lime Lastly great fires are nourished with water We see also that there is sometime hot sometime cold water not onely in rivers but also breaking out of fountains according as it is affected yet it may not be dissembled in the mean time that air is more prone to heat by reason of its rarity water to coldnesse by reason of its thicknesse XXVII The water at first covered the earth round about but on the third day of the creation it was gathered into certain channels which are called Seas Lakes Pooles Rivers c. That this was done at the command of of God Moses testifies in these words Let the waters be gathered together into one place that the dry land may appear Gen. 1. v. 9. but David relating the processe of the creation describes the manner also Ps. 1â—4 v 6 7 8 9. That thunders were raised by which the Mountains ascended the valleys descended but the waters were carried steep down into their channels and that in this sort a bound was set them that they might not return to cover the earth Whence it is very likely that that discovery of the surface of the earth was made by an earthquake but that the earthquake was produced by the fire sunk into the earth which giving battle to the cold there conglobated shook the earth and either caused it to swell variously or rent it asunder Whence those risings aâ—â— fallings in the surface of the earth that is mountains and valleys were made but within caves and many hollow places This done the waters of their own accord betook themselves from those swelling eminencies to thc low and hollow places This pious conjecture will stand so long as no more probable sense can be given of this Scripture And what need many words common sense testifies that mountains are certainly elevated valleys and plains depressed therefore of necessity that was sometime so ordered but not in the first foundation of the earth the second day for then the grosser parts of the matter flowing about poised themselves equally about the center therefore it was about the third day when the face of the earth appeared and the waters flowed into their channels But besides perhaps God doth therefore permit earthquakes yet to be sometimes and by them mountatains and valleys and rivers to be changed that we may not be without a pattern how it was done at the first XXVIII The water then is divided into Seas Lakes Rivers and Fountains XXIX The sea is an universall receptacle oâ—â—â—aters into which all the rivers of the earth unburthen themselves Which uery thing is an argument that the sea is lower then the earth for rivers run down not up again XXX The sea is one in it self because it insinuates it self into the Continent here and there as it were with strong arms it hath gotten severall names in severall places That great Sea encompassing the earth is called the Ocean those armes dividing the Continent Bayes or Gulfs For all those gulfes are joyned to the Ocean except the Caspian or Hyrcanian Sea in Asia yet that is thought to have channells within the earth whereby it joyned to the Ocean XXXI The Sea is cf unequall depth commonly srom an hundred to a thousand paces yet in some places they say that the bottome cannot be found Hence the sea is called an Abysse It is probable that the superficies of the earth covered with the water is as unequal as this of ours standing out of the water namely that in some places are most spacious plaines in other places valleys and depths and in other places mountains and hils which if they stand above the water are called Islands but if they be hidden under the water shelves XXXII The water of the Ocean faileth not because huge rivers and showres continually flow into it neither doth it cverflow becruse it doth always evaporrte upwards in so many parts of it Of the earth XXXIII The earth is the most dense bedy of the world as it were the dregs and setling of the whole matter And therefore gross opacous cold heavy XXXIV It hangeth in the middle of the universe encompassed with air on every-side For being that it is on every side encompassed with the heaven and is forced by the heat thereof on every side it hath not whither to go or where to rest but in the aequilibrium of the universe XXXV The earth is every way round For the forme which at the first it received from the light of heaven wheeling about it it yet retaineth except that in some places it is elevated into mountains and hils by the thunder which was sent into its bowels the third day in other places again it is pressed down into valleys and plains for the running down of the rivers but that doth not notably hinder the globosity thereof XXXVI The better part of the superficies of the earth is yet covered with water the lesser part stands out of the water where it is called dry land or continent or if it be a small portion an Island There are seven Continents of the earth Europe Asia Africa America Peruviana America Mexicana Magellanica or Terra Australis and Terra Borealis but there are Islands innumerable XXXVII The earth is in its outward face in some places plain in others mountainous but within in some places solid in others hollow That appears in Mountains and Mines of metal where is to be seen here stones or clay very close compact there dens and most deep caves and endlesse passages which must needs be thought to have been the work of the thunder sent into the earth the third day of the creation which penetrating and piercing its bowels so tore them Now there are in the earth not only spacious caves and holes but an infinite number of straighter veins and as it were pores which is plain enough by experience XXXVIII The cavities of the earth are full of water air fire For being that there are cavernes passages and pores they must needs be filled and that with a thin matter Of air no man will doubt But that there are waters in the cavernes under ground appeares in the mines of mettall and is proved by the testimony of the Scripture which in the history of the deluge saith that all the fountains of the great deep were broken up Gen. 7. v. 11. Lastly that there is fire under the earth we have already seen Aphorism 16. which it is credible is the relicks of the lightning raised within the bowels of the earth the third day of the Creation Psalm 1â—4 v. 7. left there for the working of minerals but nourished with sulphureous and bituminous matter spread through the bowels of the earth CHAP. VII Of Vapours IF the Light of Heaven had wrought nothing else upon the matter but melt it together into the formes of the Elements as it was variously rarified or densified the world had remained void of other living creatures But it ceaseth not passing through the
those bitter and salt waters of the sea namely because they come by distillation to the spring head For they say that the sea water being distilled that is resolved first into vapours then into drops in an Alembick looseth its saltnesse by the same reason then the deep under ground evaporating salt waters sendeth them fresh out of fountains neverthelesse And what need words For clouds gathered of the vapours of the sea send down fresh showers Sâ— how excellently the truth of things agree with it selfe still LIV Medicinall waters are made of the various tinctures of the metals and juices of the earth from which they receive the virtue 〈◊〉 healing and savour For example hot waters or baths aâ— made of bitumen burning within Therefore they exhale sulphur manifestly bâ—â— sharpish waters relish of iron coper vitrioâ—allom c. of which earthly concretes it wilâ— be now time to speak Of earthly concretes which are called Minerals LV Minerals are earthly concretes begotten of subterrane vapours as clods concret juicesî metals and stones These are called minerals from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if you shonld say from the earth They call them also Fossiles because they are digged that all these are begotten of subterrane vapours and subterrane fire appears by the example of our body wherein bloud choler flegme melanlancholy urine spittle fat flesh veins nerves membranes gristles bone c. yea the stone and gravell are made of the vapours of food concocted and digested as shal be seen hereafter Now as these parts of ours are formed within the body by the heat included so minerals are generated in the bowels of the earth not elsewhere For the earth with its most deep passages and veins winding every way where infinite vapours are generated and perpetually distilled in a thousand fashions is that great work-house of God wherein for the space of so many ages such things are wrought as neither art can imitate nor wit well find out LVI Clods are digged earths infected only with fatnesse or some colour and apt to be soaked as 1 Clay 2 Marle 3 Chalk 4 Red earth 5 Paintings or painters colours as lake vermilion oker azure or blew verdigrease 6 Fullers earth in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 7 Medicinall earth as sealed earth Lemnian Armenian Samian c. These colours seem to be nothing else but the soot of the subterrane fumes variously distilled and those earths nothing else but a various mixture of liquors distilled also variously and brought to such or such a quality LVII Concrete juices are fossiles indued with a savour or some sharp virtue apt to be dissolved or kindled as sulphur niter salt allome vitriol arsenick which painters call orpiment antimonie or stibium such like N. Those juices seem to be nothing else but the cream of subterrane liquors variously distilled LVIII Metals are watery fossiles apt to be melted cast and hammered as gold silver brasse or copper iron tin lead quick-silver N. 1. That they are progenerated of fire this is enough to testifie that they are oft times taken hot out of the veines so that the touch will not endure them For in winter when all herbs are white with frost those which grow over the veins admit of no frost because of the hot exhalation within hindering concretion so also trees by the blewnesse of their leaves shew the veines of metals 2 Now that metals are made of vapours this is an argument that they are wont also to be procreated in the very clouds For examples are not unknown even in our age of bodies of brasse or iron of no small weight falling from heaven 3 That metals are made of watery vapours their liquabilitie shews now they are coagulated by virtue of salt Therefore the drosse of iron is salt and bitter 4 Quicksilver alone is alwayes liquid never consistent as a perpetuall witnesse of the watery nature of metals Other metals swim upon it because it hath the most compacted substance of all gold only excepted which therefore it receives only into it selfe 5 Whether metals differ in their species or only in degree of purity and hardnesse and in heat we leave now in suspense LIX Stones are earthly fossiles hardly compacted apt only to be broken in pieces That stones are earth coagulated with water and fire bricks and pots teach us for here art imitates nature Yet the severall formes of stones shew that they are not earth simply concrete but a masse concrete of divers most grosse earthly vapours with a various temperature of humours LX Stones are either vulgar or precious LXI A vulgar stone is earth most hardly compacted the principall kinds of which are seven The gravell stone the milstone the pumice-stone the flint to which I refer the Smiris wherewith glasse is cut and iron polished the whetstone and the touch stone or Lapis lydius the marble and the loadstone N. Every kind have their differences again 2 A great stone is called saxum or a rock a little one gravell and sand 3 Most mountains are stony and yield metals because the subterrane fire on the third day of the creation swelling the earth here made it self many channels and passages breathing through which it doth variously exhale melt mix and boile the matter which is not done so copiously under plains LXII Pretious stones are are called gems because they are the gums of stones sweating in the bowels of the earth Hence comes their clearnesse and brightnesse that is to say from their most thinâ— and accurate straining even more then in the gums of trees for wood hath looseâ— pores then stones LXIII All gems are transparent and pellucid but some onely transparant as these three the Diamond the Chrystall the Beryllâ— Others coloured with all and thoseâ— according to the diversity of their colours of sveâ—â— sorts 1 Bright and burning the Carbuncle the Chalcedon the Chrysolite 2 Yellow the Jacinth and Topaze 3 Green the Emerald and the Turquois 4 Red or purple the Rubie and the Granate but the Carnelous and the Onyx are more pale 5 Skie-coloured the Saphir and the Amethyst 6 Black the Morion 7 Changeable as the Jasper the Agat the Chrysoprase N. 1. That Chrystall is never found unlesse it be Hexagonall which is the miracle of nature And that it is growes in arched cels under ground dry and closed where the wind enters not for some years hath been experienced at Kings Itradeck in Bohemia Anno 1618. For elegant chrystals were found hanging from the stones of the arches like Isicles of an exact Hexagonall forme but in the silver mines of Catteberge there are found far more Of other gems we have nothing to say in particular N. 2. Stones that are wont to grow in some living creatures are usually reckoned amongst precious stones as the pearl in sea shell fishes the Bezoar the Chelidonius the Alectorius the Bufonites c. also Corall and Amber But these two are to be
matter of the world reduced into fluidity The nature of it is to be fluid and moistning VII The earth is the most grosse part of the matter as it were the dregs and setling gathered together at the bottom The nature of it is to be dry and immoveable VIII The elements therefore are all one matter of the world distinguished by degrees of density and rarity For where the light is wheeled about there the matter is most rarefied and pure below that more grosse then grosse and fluid at length in the bottome dregs and a thick setling Therefore this is a meer gradation For earth is nothing else but thickned and hardned water water nothing but thickned air air subtilized water water liquified earth But from this difference of density rarity there ariseth another difference of the same elements namely in regard of motion and rest heat and cold The water is moveable For it flows the air more yet for it transfuseth it self here and there the skie doth nothing but whirle about most swiftly that perpetually Also the heaven by reason of its perpetuall motion is hot yea burneth perpetually the earth by reason of its perpetual rest is cold perpetually except where it is warmed by the fire of heaven coming upon it or inclosed in it IX The elements are transmutable into one another That is because the heat raised in the matter may extend and condense it In the water and air we see that come daily to passe For who knoweth not that water doth evaporate and is turned into air that water is made again of vapour the rain teacheth us But we may also procure the same mutation in our hand or in vulgar Alembicks in which waters or wines are distilled Let theie be an Alembicks void of all matter filled onely with air To the long pipe of this that hangeth out apply some narrow mouthed glasse and stop the pipes mouth carefully that no air may any way get forth you shall see that when it cannot dilate it selse locally it will be coagulated into water in the utmost and coldest corner of it that is in the glasse You shall see I say that glasse sweat and distill drops into which the air heated and rarified in the Alembick contracted it selfe But remove away the fire you shall see those drops vanish by little and little and return into air X Aristotle thought that the Elements were in a tenfold proportion to one another but later men have found them near an hundred-fold That is that of one drop of earth is made by rarifaction ten drops of water and of one of water ten of air The truth of the latter assertion is easie to be demonstrated thus Let one take a bladder of an oxe or an hog and having cleansed it anoint it with oile to stop the pores that the air may not get out To the neck of this but having first crushed out all the air let him tie the neck of some little glasse with about an hundreth part of the water which the bladder might contein Let this instrument be set in the hot sun or in a very hot stove where the water is by the heat turned into air it will appear that the bladder will be full But bring the same bladder swelled with air into the cold you shall see it the vapour turning again into water fall again Note The same hundreth proportion or near upon is also observed among colours for one drop of ink or red will colour an hundred drops of water not on the contrary and that because blacknesse represents the earth in density whitenesse the heaven in rarity But this very proportion varies because the air is in it selfe somtimes thicker and grosser somtimes more rare and thin XI The matter of all the elements as it is made up of Atomes so it is turned again into Atomes by so much the more subtlely as it is the more subtle in its masse For example the earth and every dry and hard thing is brought into a dust almost indivisible which may be sifted through a sieve but cannot penetrate The water may both be strained and penetrate For example through vessels of earth and wood yea and of lead as chap. 4. aphorisme 13. We have set down an example Air and fire penetrate also through thicker bodies as heat through furnaces XII The elements are the four greatest bodies of the world of which others are generated That the lesser bodies of the world which are infinite in number and in forms are really compounded of the elements resolution shewes For when they are corrupted they return into the elements And sense teacheth For all things have some grossenesse from the earth some liquour from the water some spirituosity from the air some heat from heaven and because all things that live are nourished by these they are thence called Elementa quasi Alimenta as if you should say nourishment as in Bohemian ziwel or ziwent XIII The Elementary matter occupies a place in the world according to its degree of density and rarity For the earth resteth at the bottome the water swims upon that the air fleets above the water and lastly the skie is in the highest place you shall see the like spectacle if you pour clay water wine especially sublimated and oile into a glasse for every one of these will occupie a place accotding to its nature XIV Therefore the Elements make the four visible regions or sphears of the world For the earth is a globe which the water naturally encompasseth round the air it the skie the air after the same manner as in an egge the yelk is encompassed with the white and that with the skin and shell XV Of the Elements there are two extreams the skie and earth as many 〈◊〉 air and water They are called extream aad mean both in regard of their sites and of their accidents For the skie is in the highest place most thin and hot the earth in the lowest most thick and cold Skie the first moveable earth the first resting The air and water as they partake of the extreams so of their accidents being somtimes either lesse thick or thin moving or still hot or cold XVI But because the Elements were prepared not for an idle spectacle but for strong operation upon one another the Creatour did somewhat change that order and commanded two sorts of water to be made and two sorts of fire XVII For part of the water is placed above the highest part of the skie and on the contrary part of the fire is taken from the skie and shut up into the bowels of the earth Both these may seem paradoxes and therefore need demonstration And as touching the waters it is manifest by the testimony of Moses That God made the second day the Expansum of the heaven which might divide betwixt the waters which are under the Expansum the waters above the Expansum Gen. 1. 6 7 8. What can be more clear now whereas