forceably consequently hath a greater power of making men not outwardly formally but really inwardly vertuous And if we should look back into Histories compare time with time we shall easily finde that where this Profession spred it selfe men haue generally beene more accomplished in all kind of morall civill vertues then before it took place It is true indeed that in processe of time thorow the ambition covetousnes luxury idlenesse ignorance of them who should haue bin lights in the Church it too much degenerated from its Originall purity therevpon manners being formed by it were generally tainted this corruption like a leprosie diffusing it selfe from the head into all the body But together with the reviving of the Arts Languages which for sundry ages lay buried in barbarisme the rust of superstition was likewise in many places scowred off from Religion which by degrees had crept vpon it fretted deepe into the face of it and the Arts being thus refined Religion restored to its primitiue brightnes manners were likewise reformed euen among them at least in part in shew who as yet admit not a full reformation in matter of Religion A foule shame then it were for vs who professe a thorow reformation in matter of doctrine to be thought to grow worse in matter of manners GOD forbid it should be so I hope it is not so I am sure it should not be so That grace of God which hath appeared more clearely to vs then to our fore-fathers teaching vs to adorne our profession with a gracious and vertuous conversation to deny vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and to liue soberly and righteously and godly in this present world soberly in regard of our selues righteously in regard of others and godly in regard of religious exercises If then we come short of our Auncestors in knowledge let vs not cast it vpon the deficiencie of our wits in regard of the Worlds decay but vpon our own sloth if we come short of them in vertue let vs not impute it to the declination of the World but to the malice and faintnesse of our owne wills if we feele the scourges of God vpon our Land by mortality famine vnseasonable weather or the like let vs not teach the people that they are occasioned by the Worlds old age and thereby call into question the prouidence or power or wisedome or iustice or goodnes of the Maker thereof but by their and our sins which is doubtles both the truer more profitable doctrine withall more consonant to the Sermons of Christ his Apostles the Prophets of God in like cases And withall let vs freely acknowledge that Almighty God hath bestowed many blessings vpon these latter ages which to the former he denyed as in sending vs vertuous and gracious Princes and by them the maintenance of piety peace plenty the like Lest thorow our ingratitude he vvithdraw them from vs and make vs know their worth by wanting them which by injoying them wee vnderstood not But I will not presume to advise where I should learne only I will vnfainedly wish and heartily pray that at leastwise your practise may still make good mine opinion maintained in this Booke refute the contrary common errour opposed therein that you may still grow in knowledge and grace and that your vertues may alwaies rise increase together with your buildings These latter without the former being but as a body without a soule Yours to doe you service to the vtmost of his poore abilitie G. H. THE PREFACE TRuth it is that this ensuing Treatise was long since in my younger yeares begunne by me for mine owne private exercise and satisfaction but afterward considering not onely the rarity of the subject and variety of the matter but withall that it made for the redeeming of a captivated truth the vindicating of Gods glory the advancement of learning the honour of the Christian reformed Religion by the advise and with the approbation and incouragement of such speciall friends whose piety learning and wisedome I well know and much reverence I resolved permissu superiorum and none otherwise to make it publique for the publique good and the encountring of a publique errour which may in some sort be equalled if not preferred before the quelling of some great monster Neither doe I take it to lye out of my profession the principall marke which I ayme at throughout the whole body of the Discourse being an Apologeticall defence of the power providence of God his wisedome his truth his justice his goodnes mercy and besides a great part of the booke it selfe is spent in pressing Theologicall reasons in clearing doubts arising from thence in producing frequent testimonies from Scriptures Fathers Schoolemen and moderne Divines in proving that Antichrist is already come from the writings of the Romanists themselues in confirming the article of our faith touching the Worlds future and totall consummation by fire and a day of finall judgement from discourse of reason and the writings of the Gentiles and lastly by concluding the whole worke with a pious meditation touching the vses which we may and should make of the consideration thereof seruing for a terrour to some for comfort to others for admonition to all And how other men may stand affected in reading I know not sure I am that in writing it often lifted vp my soule in admiring and praysing the infinite wisedome and bounty of the Crator in maintaining and managing his owne worke in the gouernment and preservation of the Vniverse which in truth is nothing else but as the Schooles speake continuata productio a continuated production often did it call to my mind those holy raptures of the Psalmist O Lord our governour how excellent is thy Name in all the world Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy workes I will reioyce in giuing praise for the operations of thy hands O Lord how glorious are thy workes thy thoughts are very deepe An vnwise man doth not well consider this a foole doth not well vnderstand it And againe The workes of the Lord are great sought out of all them that haue pleasure therein His worke is worthy to be praised had in honour his righteousnes endureth for euer And though whiles I haue laboured to free the world from old age I feele it creeping vpon my selfe yet if it shall so please the same great and gratious Lord I intend by his assistance spating mee life health hereafter to write Another Apologie of his power providence in the government of his Church which perchaunce by some may be thought both more proper for mee and for these times more necessary though he that shall narrowly obserue the prints of the Almighties footsteppes traced throughout this ensuing discourse may not vnjustly from thence collect both comfort and assurance that as the Heauens remaine vnchangeable so doth the Church triumphant
the times are more Civill and men more given to luxury and ease which passe and returne by turnes Succession it selfe effects nothing therein alone in case it did the first man in reason should haue lived longest and the son should still come short of his fathers age so that whereas Moses tells vs that the dayes of mans age in his time were threescore yeares and tenne by this reckoning they might well enough by this time be brought to tenne or twenty or thirty at most It cannot be denied but that in the first ages of the world both before and after the floud men vsually lived longer then wee finde they haue done in latter ages But that I should rather choose to ascribe to some extraordinary priviledge then to the ordinary course of nature The world was then to be replenished with inhabitants which could not so speedily be done but by an extraordinary multiplication of mankinde neither could that be done but by the long liues of men And againe Arts and sciences were then to be planted for the better effecting whereof it was requisite that the same men should haue the experience and observation of many ages For as many Sensations breed an experiment so doe many experiments a Science Per varios vsus artem experimentia fecit Exemplo monstrante viam Through much experience Arts invented were Example shewing way Specially it was requisite men should liue long for the perfecting of Astronomy and the finding out of the severall motions of the heavenly bodies whereof some are so slow that they aske a long time precisely to obserue their periods and reuolutions It was the complaint of Hippocrates Ars longa vita brevis And therefore Almighty God in his wisedome then proportioned mens liues to the length of Arts and as God gaue them this speciall priviledge to liue long so in likelihood hee gaue them withall a temper constitution of body answereable therevnto As also the foode wherewith they were nourished specially before the floud may well bee thought to haue beene more wholesome and nutritiue and the plants more medicinall And happily the influence of the heavens was at that time in that clymate where the Patriarches liued more favourable and gratious Now such a revolution as there is in the manners wits and ages of men the like may well bee presumed in their strength and stature Videtur similis esse ratio in magnitudine corporum siue statura quae nec ipsa per successionem propaginis defluit There seemeth to be the like reason in the groweth bignesse of mens bodies which decreaseth not by succession of ofspring but men are sometimes in the same nation taller sometimes of a shorter stature sometimes stronger and sometimes weaker as the times wherein they liue are more temperate or luxurious more given to labour or exercise or to ease and idlenesse And for those narrations which are made of the Gyantlike statures of men in former ages many of them were doubtles merely poeticall and fabulous I deny not but such men haue beene who for their strength and stature haue beene the miracles of nature the worlds wonders whom God would therefore haue to bee saith S. Austine that hee might shew that as well the bignesse as the beautie of the body are not to be ranged in the number of things good in themselues as being common both to good and badde Yet may wee justly suspect that which Suetonius hath not spared to write that the bones of huge beasts or sea-monsters both haue and still doe passe currant for the bones of Gyants A very notable story to this purpose haue wee recorded by Camerarius who reports that Francis the first king of France who reigned about an hundred yeares since being desirous to know the truth of those things which were commonly spread touching the strength and stature of Rou'land nephew to Charlelamaine caused his sepulchre to be opened wherein his bones and bow were found rotten but his armour sound though couered with rust which the king commaunding to bee scoured off and putting it vpon his owne body found it so fit for him as thereby it appeared that Rouland exceeded him little in bignesse and stature of bodie though himselfe were not excessiue tall or bigge SECT 6. The precedents of this chapt summarily recollected and the methode observed in the ensuing treatise proposed NOw briefely and summarily to recollect and as it were to winde vp into one clue or bottome what hath more largely beene discoursed thorow this chapter I hold first that the heavenly bodies are not at all either in regard of their substance motion light warmth or influence in the course of nature at all impaired or subject to any impairing or decay Secondly that all individuals vnder the Cope of heaven mixed of the elements are subject to a naturall declination and dissolution Thirdly that the quantity of the Elements themselues is subject to impairing in regard of their parts though not of their intire bodies Fourthly that the ayre and earth and water and diverse seasons diversely affected sometime for the better sometime for the worse and that either by some speciall favour or judgement of God or by some cause in nature secret or apparent Fiftly that the severall kindes of beasts of plantes of fishes of birds of stones of mettalls are as many in number as at the Creation every way in Nature as vigorous as at any time since the floud Sixtly and lastly that the manners the wits the health the age the strength and stature of men daily vary but so as by a vicissitude and reuolution they returne againe to their former points from which they declined againe decline and againe returne by alternatiue and interchangeable courses Erit hic rerum in se remeantium orbis quamdiù erit ipse orbis This circle and ring of things returning alwayes to their principles will neuer cease as long as the world lasts Repetunt proprios cuncta recursus Redituque suo singula gaudent Nec manet vlli traditus ordo Nisi quod fini iunxerit ortum Stabilemque sui fecerit orbem To their first spring all things are backeward bound And every thing in its returne delighteth Th' order once setled can in nought be found But what the end vnto the birth vniteth And of its selfe doth make a constant round And consequently there is no such vniversall and perpetuall decay in the frame of the Creatures as is commonly imagined and by some strongly maintained The methode which I propose is first to treate heereof in generall that so a cleerer way and easier passage may be opened to the particulars then of the Heavens as being the highest in situation and the noblest in outward glory and duration as also in their efficacie and vniversality of operation and therefore doth the Prophet rightly place them next God himselfe in the order of Causes it shall come to passe in that day saith
AN APOLOGIE OF THE POWER AND PROVIDENCE OF GOD IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD OR AN EXAMINATION AND CENSVRE OF THE COMMON ERROVR TOVCHING NATVRES PERPETVALL AND VNIVERSALL DECAY DIVIDED INTO FOVRE BOOKES WHEREOF The first treates of this pretended decay in generall together with some preparatiues thereunto The second of the pretended decay of the Heauens and Elements together with that of the Elementary bodies man only excepted The third of the pretended decay of mankinde in regard of age and duration of strength and stature of arts and wits The fourth of this pretended decay in matter of manners together with a large proofe of the future consummation of the World from the testimony of the Gentiles and the vses which we are to draw from the consideration thereof By G. H. D. D. ECCLESTASTES 7. 10. Say not thou what is the cause that the former dayes were better then these for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this OXFORD Printed by IOHN LICHFIELD and WILLIAM TVRNER Printers to the famous Vniversity Anno Dom. 1627. TO MY VENERABLE MOTHER THE FAMOVS AND FLOVRISHING VNIVERSITIE OF OXFORD WERE I destitute of all other arguments to demonstrate the providence of God in the preservation of the World and to proue that it doth not vniversally and perpetually decline this one mightfully suffice for all that thou my Venerable Mother though thou waxe old in regard of yeares yet in this latter age in regard of strength and beauty waxest young againe Within the compasse of this last Centenarie and lesse thou hast brought forth such a number of worthie Sonnes for piety for learning for wisdome and for buildings hast bin so inlarged and inriched that he who shall compare thee with thy selfe will easily finde that though thou be truly accounted one of the most auncient Vniversities in the World yet so farre art thou from withering and wrinkles that thou art rather become fairer and fresher and in thine issue no lesse happy then heretofore The three last Cardinals that this Nation had were thine if that can adde any thing to thine honour Those thine vnnaturall Sonnes who of late dayes forsooke thee fledde to thine Enemies campe Harding Stapleton Saunders Raynolds Martyn Bristow Campian Parsons euen in their fighting against thee shewed the fruitfulnes of thy wombe and the efficacie of that milke which they drew from thy breasts What one Colledge euer yeelded at one time and from one Countrey three such Divines as Iewell Raynolds and Hooker or two such great wits Heroicall spirits as Sir Thomas Bodley and Sir Henry Sauill How renowned in forraine parts are thy Moore thy Sidney thy Cambden what rare Lights in the Church were Humfreyes Foxe Bilson Field Abbot What pillars those fiue sonnes of thine who at one time lately possessed the fiue principall Sees in the Kingdome So as if I should in this point touching the Worlds pretended decay be cast by the votes of others yet my hope is that by reflecting vpon thy selfe I shall be cleared and acquitted by thine And in confidence heereof I haue to thy censu◅ submitted this ensuing Apologie which perchaunce to the Vulgar may seeme somewhat strange because their eares haue bin so long inured vnto and consequently their fancies fore-stalled with the contrary opinion But to thee I trust who judgest not vpon report but vpon tryall neither art swayed by number and lowdnes of voyces but by weight of argument it will appeare not onely just and reasonable in that it vindicates the glory of the Creator and a trueth as large and wide as the world it selfe but profitable and vsefull for the raising vp of mens mindes to an endeavour of equalling yea and surpassing their noble and worthy Predecessours in knowledge and vertue it being certaine that the best Patternes which wee haue in them both either extant at this present or recorded in monuments of auncienter times had neuer beene had they conceiued that there was alwayes an inevitable declination as well in the Arts as matter of Manners and that it was impossible to surmount those that went before them I doe not beleeue that all Regions of the World or all ages in the same Region afford wits alwayes alike but this I think neither is it my opinion alone but of Scaliger Vives Budaeus Bodine and other great Clearkes that the witts of these latter ages being manured by industry directed by precepts regulated by methode tempered by dyet refreshed by exercise and incouraged by rewardes may bee as capable of deepe speculations and produce as masculine and lasting birthes as any of the ancienter times haue done But if we conceiue thē to be Gyants our selues Dwarfes if we imagine all Sciences already to haue receiued their vtmost perfection so as wee need not but translate and comment vpon that which they haue done if we so admire and dote vpon Antiquitie as wee emulate and envy nay scorne and trample vnder foot whatsoeuer the present age affords if wee spend our best time and thoughts in clyming to honour in gathering of riches in following our pleasures and in turning the edge of our wits one against another surely there is little hope that wee shall euer come neare them much lesse match them The first step to inable a man to the atchieuing of great designes is to be perswaded that by endeavour he is able to atchieue it the next not to bee perswaded that whatsoeuer hath not yet beene done cannot therefore be done Not any one man or nation or age but rather mankinde is it which in latitude of capacity answeres to the vniversality of things to be knowne And truely had our Fathers thought so reverently of their predecessours and withall of themselues so basely that neither any thing of moment was left for them to be done nor in case there had beene were they qualified for the doing thereof wee had wanted many helpes in learning which by their travell wee now injoy By meanes whereof I see not but wee might also advaunce improue and inlarge our patrimony as they left it inlarged to vs And thereunto the Arts of Printing and Navigation the frequency of goodly Libraries and liberality of Benefactours are such inducements furtherances that if wee excell not all ages that haue gone before vs it is only because we are wanting to our selues And as our helpes are more greater for knowledge learning so likewise for goodnes vertue I meane since the beames of Christian Religion displayed themselues to the World which for the rooting out of vice planting of vertue no Christian I hope will deny to be incomparably more effectuall then any other Religion that euer yet was heard of in the World Or if others should chance to make a doubt of the certainty of this truth yet cannot you who preach it publish it to others Doubtlesse being rightly applyed without apish superstition on the one side or peevish singularity on the other it workes vpon the Conscience more
the Nations fell away from the Romane Empire and yet Antichrist is not come And Lyra Romanum imperium florebat tempore Pauli à quo recesserunt quasi omnia regna negantia ei subijci redditionem tributi jam à multis annis illud etiam imperium caruit imperatore pluribus annis The Roman Empire flourished in Pauls time from which almost all kingdomes are falne away denying subjection and the payment of tribute to it And besides that Empire hath wanted an Emperour now for the space of many yeares Neither doe they only acknowledge that the Empire which flourished in the Apostles time is dissolved but that the Emperour which now is retaines rather the shadow then the power of the ancient Empire And this confession we haue out of the mouths even of Iesuites themselues Quampridem Romanum imperium in eas angustias redactum est vt vix tenuem quandam vmbram Imperij retineat long since was the Roman Empire brought to those straights that it scarce retaines a thin shadow of that Empire sayth Iustinianus And Salmeron most fully Imperium Romanum jam diu eversum est Nam qui nunc est Imperator Romanus levissima est vmbra Imperij antiqui vsque adeo vt ne quidem vrbem Romae possideat jam per multos annos Romani Imperatores defecerunt The Roman Empire was long since dissolved For he who is now Roman Emperour is but a light shadow of the ancient Empire so as he doth not possesse somuch as the Citty of Rome and now for many yeares haue the Romane Emperours failed I would demaund then whether a name a title a shadow can hinder the comming of Antichrist or be divided among ten Kings and shared out into ten kingdomes if it cannot then is Antichrist vndoubtedly already come into the world Now what he is or where we should finde him or when he came I leaue that to others to dispute or demonstrate it is for my purpose sufficient that he is come and that long since yet if we should a little more narrowly search into the matter who I pray you is more likely to be the man then he who hath specially advanced his throne vpon the Emperours ruines who hath thrust himselfe into the Emperours seate the Imperiall City the head and mistresse of the Empire then he who hath taken vpon himselfe the Majesty the power the ensignes the robes of the Emperour though in some what a different kinde And that the Bishop of Rome hath so done Pasquier in his Recearches of France Machiavell in his Florentine history Sigonius in his history of the kingdome of Italy and Guicciardin in his in part declare But Lypsius hath set it downe so cleerely particularly as we may easily guesse and need doubt no longer who it is that hath succeeded into the Emperours roome I will set downe his words at large as I finde them in his preface to his Admiranda Mira Dei benignitas in hanc vrbem cum Legionum vim eripuit Legum attribuit cum armis imperare noluit sacris indulsit Et sic quoque fecit eam decus tutelam columen rerum Atqui Senatus ille vetus non est inquiunt non ille sed alius vide in ista purpura ex omni nostro orbe selectos proceres moribus prudentia annis spectandos Si vetus ille Cyneas redeat hunc consessum videat nihil ambigat vel cum regibus iterum vel cum heroibus comparare Quid tributa non tam multa sed magis innoxia vltronea sunt Quid Legationes gentium nec eae desunt ex noto ignotoque orbe tanta diffusio Majestatis hujus est concurritur jura ac leges Sacrorâ—…m hinc petunt ipsi Reges ac Principes adeunt inclinantur obnoxia capita vni huic Capiti submittunt Great is the bounty of God towards this citty when he deprived it of the strength of Legions he strengthned it with Laws when he would no longer haue it rule with force of armes he armed it with holy orders And so likewise did he make it both the ornament and the safety of things But you will say the old Senate is not there to be found indeed not the same but another there is insteed thereof and there you may see clad in that purple the choisest worthies of Christendome and the most venerable for manners for wisedome for yeares If the old Cyneas were aliue againe and beheld this assembly he would nothing doubt to compare it againe with Kings and Princes What should I speake of their tribute indeed it is not so great but more innocently imposed willingly payd What of the Embassages from forraine Nations neither are they wanting Hither they resort both from the knowne vnknowne parts of the world so farre is this Majesty spread and seeke for Lawes Constitutions in religious affaires nay Kings Princes heere present themselues and all bow downe and submit their heads to this one head CAP. 13. That the world shall haue an end by Fire and by it be entirely consumed SECT 1. That the world shall haue an end is a point so cleere in Christian Religion that it needeth not to be proved from the principles thereof neither is he worthy the name of a Christian who makes any doubt of it HAving now by Gods assistance done with mine Apologie of his Providence in the preservation of the world least I should seeme thereby to vndermine or weaken the article of our faith touching the worlds end it remaines that according to promise I endeavour to confirme it not so much from Scripture which no true Christian can doubt of And besides the passages thereof to this purpose specially in the new Testament are so many and cleere as to be ignorant of them were stupiditie no lesse grosse then to deny them phophane impiety In this chapter then I will propose three things to my selfe first to proue by the testimony of the Gentiles that the world shall haue an end Secondly that it shall haue an end by fire Thirdly and lastly that it shall by fire be totally intirely consumed That the world shall haue an end is as cleere in Christianity as that there is a Sun in the firmament And therefore whereas there can hardly be named any other article of our faith which some Heretiques haue not presumed to impugne or call into question yet to my remembrance I never met with any who questioned this though at this day many eager be the differences among Christians in other points of Religion yet in this they all agree ever did that the world shall haue an end and that there shall be a resurrection of the dead and a day of judgement And surely as by the event of many things already fallen out we are sure that was true which the Prophets Apostles foretold of them So arc we as certaine that all other things and this in
the Lord that I will heare the heavens and they shall heare the earth and the earth shall heare the corne and the wine and the oile and they shall heare Israell From that we may descend to the foure Elements which as a musicall instrument of foure strings is both tuned and touched by the hand of heaven And in the next place those bodies which are mixed and tempered of these Elements offer themselues to our consideration whether they bee without life as stones and mettalls or haue the life of vegetation only as Plants or both of vegetation and sense as beasts and birds and fishes and in the last place man presents himselfe vpon this Theater as being created last though first intended the master of the whole family chiefe Commaunder in this great house nay the master-peece the abridgment the mappe and modell of the Vniuerse And in him wee will examine this pretended decay first in regard of age and length of yeares secondly in regard of strength and stature thirdly in regard of wits and Arts and fourthly and lastly in regard of manners and conditions to which all that is in man is or should bee finally referred as all that is in the world is vnder God finally referred to man And because it is not sufficient to possesse our owne fort without the dismantling and demolishing of our enimies a principall care shall bee had throughout the whole worke to answere if not all at least the principall of those obiections which I haue found to weigh most with the adverse part And in the last place least I should any way bee suspected to shake or vndermine the ground of our Christian religion or to weaken the article of our beliefe touching the consummation of the world by teaching that it decayes not to wipe off that aspertion I will endeavour to prooue the certainety thereof not so much by Scripture which no Christian can be ignorant of as by force of Reason and the testimony of Heathen writers and finally I will conclude with an exhortation grounded therevpon for the stirring of men vp to a preparation of themselues against that day which shall not only end the world but iudge their actions and dispose of the everlasting estate of their persons CAP. 4. Touching the worlds decay in generall SECT 1. The three first generall reasons that it decayes not THe same Almighty hand which created the worlds massie frame and gaue it a being out of nothing doth still support and maintaine it in that being which at first it gaue and should it with draw himselfe but for a moment the whole frame would instantly returne into that nothing which before the Creation it was as Gregorie hath righly observed Deus suo presentiali esse dat omnibus rebus esse ita quod si se rebus subtraheret sicut de nihilo facta sunt omnia sic in nihilum diffluerent vniversa God by his presentiall Essence giues vnto all things an Essence so that if hee should withdraw himselfe from them as out of nothing they were first made so into nothing they would be againe resolved In the preservation then of the Creature wee are not so much to consider the impotencie and weakenesse thereof as the goodnesse wisedome and power of the Creator in whom and by whom and for whom they liue and moue and haue their being The spirit of the Lord filleth the world saith the Authour of the wisedome of Solomon and the secret working of the spirit which thus pierceth through all things hath the Poet excellently exprest Principio caelum ac terr as camposque liquentes Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem magno se corpore miscet The heauen the earth and all the liquide maine The Moones bright globe and starres Titanian A spirit within maintaines and their whole masse A minde which through each part infus'd doth passe Fashions and workes and wholly doth transpierce All this great Body of the Vniverse This Spirit the Platonists call the Soule of the World by it it is in some sort quickned and formaliz'd as the body of man is by its reasonable Soule There is no question then but this Soule of the World if wee may so speake being in truth none other then the immortall Spirit of the Creator is able to make the body of the World immortall and to preserue it from disolution as he doth the Angels and the spirits of men and were it not that he had determined to dissolue it by the same supernaturall and extraordinary power which at first gaue it existence I see not but by the ordinary concurrence of this spirit it might euerlastingly endure and that consequently to driue it home to our present purpose there is no such vniversall and perpetuall decay in the course of Nature as is imagined and this I take to be the meaning of Philo in that booke which he hath composed De Mundi incorruptibilitate of the Worlds incorruptibility there being some who haue made the World eternall without any beginning or ending as Aristotle and the Peripateticks others giue it a beginning but without ending as Plato and the Academicks whom Philo seemes to follow and lastly others both beginning ending as Christians and other Sects of Philosophers whom Aristotle therefore flouts at saying that he formerly feared his house might fall downe about his eares but that now he had a greater matter to feare which was the dissolution of the world But had this pretended vniversall perpetuall decay of the World beene so apparant as some would make it his flout had easily beene returned vpon himselfe his opinion by dayly sensible experience as easily confuted which wee may well wonder none of those Philosophers who disputed against him if they acknowledged and beleeued the trueth thereof should any where presse in defence of their owne opinions it being indeed the most vnanswerable and binding argument that possibly could be enforced against him were there that evident certaintie in it as is commonly imagined whereas he in the sharpnesse of his wit seeing the weakenesse thereof would not so much as vouchsafe it a serious answere but puts it off with a jeast For mine owne part I constantly beleeue that it had a beginning and shall haue an ending and hold him not worthy the name of a Christian who holds not as much yet so as I beleeue both to bee matter of faith through faith we vnderstand that the Worlds were framed by the word of God and through the same faith we likewise vnderstand that they shall be againe vnframed by the same word Reason may grope at this truth in the darke howbeit it can neuer cleerely apprehend it but inlightned by the beame of faith I deny not but probable though not demonstratiue and convincing arguments may be drawn from discourse of reason to proue either the one or the other
and among the rest that taken from the Worlds decay to proue the finall consummation thereof I take to be most vnsound in as much as it beggs a principle which is not to be graunted and supposeth such a decay which in my judgment to the worlds end and the day of Judgment will neuer be soundly and sufficiently proued I remember the Philosophers propose a question Vtrum Mundus solo generali concursu Dei perpetuo durare possit Whether the World by the ordinary and generall cooperation of Gods power and prouidence could still last or no and for the most part they conclude it affirmatiuely euen such as professed the Christian Religion and for proofe of their assertion they bring in effect this reason The Heauens say they are of a nature which is not capable in it selfe of corruption the losse of Elements is recouered by compensation of mixt Bodies without life by accretion of liuing Bodies by succession the fall of one being the rising of the other as Rome triumphed in the ruines of Alba and the depression of one Scale is the elevation of another according to that of Solomon One generation passeth away and another generation commeth but the earth abideth for euer Mutantur in aevum Singula incoeptum alternat natura tenorem Quodque dies antiqua tulit post auferet ipsa Each thing in euery age doth vary And Nature changeth still the course she hath begun And will eftsoones vndoe what she erewhile had done Againe all subcoelestiall bodies as is evident consist of matter and forme Now the first matter hauing nothing contrary vnto it cannot by the force of nature be destroyed and being created immediatly by God it cannot be abolished by any inferiour agent And as for the formes of natural bodies no sooner doth any one abandon the matter it informed but another instantly steps into the place thereof no sooner hath one acted his part is retired but another presently comes forth vpon the stage though it may bee in a different shape and to act a different part so that no portion of the matter is or at any time can be altogether voide empty but like Vertumnus or Proteus it turnes it selfe into a thousand shapes and is alwayes supplied and furnished with one forme or other Nec sic interimit mors res ut materiaï Corpora consiciat sed coetum dissipat ollis Inde alijs aliud coniungit efficit omnes Res vt convertant formas mutentque colores Et capiant sensus puncto tempore reddant Vt nosâ—…as referre eadem primordia rerum Death doth not so destroy things As it the matter to nought brings It onely doth dissolue the frame And so it leaues to be the same And joyning other things it changeth Their shape forme colour and so rangeth Their being at times that you may know They all from like principles doe flow Neither in trueth in the course of Nature can it possibly be otherwise since it intends not the abolition of any thing as being a defect and contrary to it 's owne good but for the succession and generation of some other thing in the roome thereof As Nature then cannot create by making something out of nothing so neither can it annihilate by turning something into nothing Whence it consequently followes as there is no accesse so there is no diminution in the vniversall no more then there is in the Alphabet by the infinite coÌ„bination transposition of letters or in the waxe by the alteration of the seale stamped vpon it If a man should take but one drop of water in the whole yeare from the Ocean or but one sand from the sea shore or but one grasse from the earth without any new supply nay without a supply proportionable that the additioÌ„ may fully countervaile repaire the subtractioÌ„ their store must in continuance of time of necessity bee emptied and vtterly exhausted and in like manner the World being finite and there being no accesse to the whole if there should bee any such perpetuall and vniversall decay and decrease in all the parts thereof as is pretended it must needes at last by degrees be annihilated and brought to nothing which is both in reason and by the consent of all Divines as incommunicably the effect of a power divine and aboue nature as is the worke of the Creation it selfe so as whatsoeuer is taken from one must of necessity be giuen to another Ne res ad nihilum redigantur protinus omnes Lest things ere long to nothing should be brought Put the case then that some principall part of the World should still decrease surely some others must thereupon continually increase or there would follow some diminution and consequently some annihilation in respect of the whole if vpon the continuall decrease of some others should still increase there would likewise thereupon follow such a disproportion and jarring as they could neuer well accord and in the end the whole would be turned into those which gained by the losse and grew great by the fall of others consequently they would proue the ruine both of others and themselues as the splene growing and swelling to an immoderate bignes vpon the pining of the other parts in the end ruines both it selfe and them as then a due proportion is held betwixt the parts as well in the naturall body of man as the body politique of the state for the vpholding of the whole so is there likewise by the divine providence in this vast body of the World not that any of the limbs or members thereof the heauens onely excepted remaine without their alteration or diminution but because they mutually by turâ—…es and exchanges both take one from another and again repay one to another what they formerly tooke by which meanes neither is any thing lost in the whole nor any one part so either infeebled by decrease or by increase ouer strengthned as they loose that proportion which makes the musicke of the whole or that vse and seruice which to the whole they all stand obliged to performe and to this purpose it is surely as a diuine oracle for the wisdome trueth thereof which the Poet hath put into the mouth of Pythagoras Nec species sua cuique manet rerumque novatrix Ex alijs alias reparat natura figuras Nec perit in tanto quidquam mihi credite mundo Sed variat faciemque novat nascique vocatur Incipere esse aliud quà m quod fuit ante morique Desinere illud idem cùm sint huc forsitan illa Haec translata illuc summâ tamen omnia constant They hold not long their shapes but soone Dame Nature Of one shape lost brings forth another feature Beleeue it in so great and huge a masse Nothing doth perish but change and vary face We say a thing new borne is when as It doth become another then it was And so wee say a thing doth