TO Her mo&longs;t Serene HIGHNES THE Gran Duche&longs;s Mother.

Some years &longs;ince, as Your mo&longs;t Serene Highne&longs;s well knoweth, I did di&longs;cover many particulars in Hea­ven that had been un&longs;een and unheard of untill this our Age; which, as well for their Novelty, as for certain con&longs;equences which depend upon them, cla&longs;hing with &longs;ome Phy&longs;ical Propo&longs;itions commonly recei­ved by the Schools, did &longs;tir up again&longs;t me no &longs;mall number of &longs;uch as profe&longs;&longs;ed the vulgar Philo&longs;ophy in the Univer&longs;ities; as if I had with my own hand newly placed the&longs;e things in Heaven to ob&longs;cure and di&longs;turb Nature and the Sciences: who forgetting that the multitude of Truths contribute, and concur to the inve­&longs;tigation, augmentation, and e&longs;tabli&longs;hment of the Arts, and not to their diminution, and de&longs;truction; and at the &longs;ame time &longs;hewing them&longs;elves more affectionate to their own Opinions, than to Truth, went about to deny, and to di&longs;prove tho&longs;e Novelties; of which their very &longs;en&longs;e, had they but plea&longs;ed to have inten&longs;ly be­held them, would have rendered them thorowly a&longs;&longs;ured. And to this purpo&longs;e they alledged &longs;undry things, and publi&longs;hed cer­tain Papers fraughted with vain di&longs;cour&longs;es; and which was a more gro&longs;s errour, interwoven with the atte&longs;tations of the Sacred Scriptures, taken from places by them not rightly under&longs;tood, and which did not any thing concern the point for which they were produced Into which errour perhaps they would not have run, if they had but been adverti&longs;ed of a mo&longs;t profitable Document which S. Augu&longs;tine giveth us, concerning our pro­ceeding warily, in making po&longs;itive determinations in points that are ob&longs;cure and hard to be under&longs;tood by the meer help of ratiocination; where treating (as we) of a certain natural conclu­&longs;ion concerning Cele&longs;tial Bodies, he thus writes: (a) But nowhaving evermore a re&longs;pect to the moderation of pious Gravity, we ought to believe nothing unadvi&longs;edly in a doubtful point; le&longs;t we conceive a prejudice again&longs;t that, in favour to our Errour, which Truth hereafter may di&longs;cover to be no wi&longs;e contrary to the Sacred Books either of the Old, or New Te&longs;tament.

(a) Nunc au­tem, &longs;ervatâ &longs;em­per moderatione piæ gravitatis, nihil credere de re ob­&longs;curâ temerè de­bemus, ne fortè, quod po&longs;tea veritas patefecerit, quam­vis Libris Sanct is, &longs;ive Te&longs;tamenti Veteris, &longs;ive No­vi, nisllo modo e&longs;&longs;e po&longs;&longs;it adver&longs;um, tamen propter a­morem no&longs;tri erro­ris, oderimus.

It hath &longs;ince come to pa&longs;s, that Time hath by degrees di&longs;co­vered to every one the truths before by me indicated: and to­gether with the truth of the fact, a di&longs;covery hath been made of the difference of humours between tho&longs;e who &longs;imply and with­out pa&longs;&longs;ion did refu&longs;e to admit &longs;uch like Phænomena for true, and tho&longs;e who to their incredulity had added &longs;ome di&longs;compo&longs;ed af­fection: For as tho&longs;e who were better grounded in the Science of A&longs;tronomy, and Natural Philo&longs;ophy, became &longs;atisfied upon my fir&longs;t ntimation of the news; &longs;o all tho&longs;e who &longs;tood not in the Negative, or in doubt for any other rea&longs;on, but becau&longs;e it was an unlookt-for-Novelty, and becau&longs;e they had not an occa&longs;ion of &longs;eeing a &longs;ensible experiment thereof, did by degrees come to &longs;a­risfie them&longs;elves: But tho&longs;e, who be&longs;ides the love they bore to their fir&longs;t Errour, have I know not what imaginary intere&longs;s to render them di&longs;affected; not &longs;o much towards the things, as to­wards the Author of them, not being able any longer to deny them, conceal them&longs;elves under an ob&longs;tinate &longs;ilence; and being exa&longs;perated more than ever by that whereby tho&longs;e others were &longs;atisfied and convinced, they divert their thoughts to other pro­jects, and &longs;eek to prejudice me &longs;ome other wayes: of whom I prore&longs;s that I would make no more account than I have done of tho&longs;e who heretofore have contradicted me (at whom I alwaies laugh, as being a&longs;&longs;ured of the i&longs;&longs;ue that the bu&longs;ine&longs;s is to have) but that I &longs;ee that tho&longs;e new Calumnies and Per&longs;ecutions do not determine in our greater or le&longs;ier Learning (in which I will &longs;carce pretend to any thing) but extend &longs;o far as to attempt to a&longs;per&longs;e me with Crimes which ought to be, and are more abhorred by me than Death it &longs;elf: Nor ought I to content my &longs;elf that they are known to be unju&longs;t by tho&longs;e onely who know me and them, but by all men what&longs;oever. They per&longs;i&longs;ting therefore in their fir&longs;t Re&longs;olution, Of ruining me and what&longs;oever is mine, by all imaginable waies; and knowing how that I in my Studies of A&longs;tronomy and Philo&longs;ophy hold, as to the Worlds Sy&longs;teme, That the Sun, without changing place, is &longs;ituate in the Centre of the Conver&longs;ion of the Cele&longs;tial Orbes; and that the Earth, convertible about its own Axis, moveth it &longs;elf about the Sun: And moreover under&longs;tanding, that I proceed to maintain this Po­&longs;ition, not onely by refuting the Rea&longs;ons of Ptolomy and Ari&longs;to­tle, but by producing many on the contrary; and in particular, &longs;ome Phy&longs;ical pertaining to Natural Effects, the cau&longs;es of which perhaps can be by no other way a&longs;&longs;igned; and others A&longs;trono­mical depending upon many circum&longs;tances and encounters of new Di&longs;coveries in Heaven, which manife&longs;tly confute the Ptolo­maick Sy&longs;teme, and admirably agree with and confirm this other Hypothe&longs;is: and po&longs;&longs;ibly being a&longs;hamed to &longs;ee the known truth of other Po&longs;itions by me a&longs;&longs;erted, different from tho&longs;e that have been commonly received; and therefore di&longs;tru&longs;ting their de­fence &longs;o long as they &longs;hould continue in the Field of Philo&longs;o­phy: for the&longs;e re&longs;pects, I &longs;ay, they have re&longs;olved to try whe­ther they could make a Shield for the fallacies of their Argu­ments of the Mantle of a feigned Religion, and of the Autho­rity of the Sacred Scriptures, applyed by them with little judg­ment to the confutation of &longs;uch Rea&longs;ons of mine as they had neither under&longs;tood, nor &longs;o much as heard.

Lib_{+} 2. Gene&longs;i ad Literam in fine.

And fir&longs;t, they have indeavoured, as much as in them lay, to divulge an opiniou thorow the Univer&longs;e, that tho&longs;e Propo&longs;itions are contrary to the Holy Letters, and con&longs;equently Damnable and Heretical: And thereupon perceiving, that for the mo&longs;t part, the inclination of Mans Nature is more prone to imbrace tho&longs;e enterprizes, whereby his Neighbour may, although un­ju&longs;tly, be oppre&longs;&longs;ed, than tho&longs;e from whence he may receive ju&longs;t incouragement; it was no hard matter to find tho&longs;e Com­plices, who for &longs;uch (that is, for Damnable and Heretical) did from their Pulpits with unwonted confidence preach it, with but an unmerciful and le&longs;s con&longs;iderate injury, not only to this Do­ctrine, and to its followers, but to all Mathematicks and Ma­thematicians together. Hereupon a&longs;&longs;uming greater confidence, and vainly hoping that that Seed which fir&longs;t took root in their un­&longs;ound mindes, might &longs;pread its branches, and a&longs;cend towards Heaven, they went &longs;cattering rumours up and down among the People, That it would, ere long be condemned by Supreme Au­thority: and knowing that &longs;uch a Cen&longs;ure would &longs;upplant not onely the&longs;e two Conclu&longs;ions of the Worlds Sy&longs;teme, but would make all other A&longs;tronomical and Phy&longs;ical Ob&longs;ervations that have corre&longs;pondence and nece&longs;&longs;ary connection therewith to become damnable, to facilitate the bu&longs;ine&longs;s they &longs;eek all they can to make this opinion (at lea&longs;t among the vulgar) to &longs;eem new, and peculiar to my &longs;elf, not owning to know that Nicholas Coper­nicus was its Authour, or rather Re&longs;torer and Confirmer: a per­&longs;on who was not only a Catholick, but a Prie&longs;t, Canonick, and &longs;o e&longs;teemed, that there being a Di&longs;pute in the Lateran Council,under Leo X. touching the correction of the Eccle&longs;ia&longs;tick Ca­lendar, he was &longs;ent for to Rome from the remote&longs;t parts of Germany, for to a&longs;&longs;i&longs;t in this Reformation, which for that time was left imperfect, onely becau&longs;e as then the true mea&longs;ure of the Year and Lunar Moneth was not exactly known: whereupon it was given him in charge by the Bi&longs;hop of Sempronia, at that time Super-intendent in that Affair, to &longs;earch with reiterated &longs;tudies and pains for greater light and certainty, touching tho&longs;e Cœle&longs;tial Motions. Upon which, with a Labour truly Atlantickand with his admirable Wit, &longs;etting him&longs;elf again to that Study, he made &longs;uch a progre&longs;s in the&longs;e Sciences, and reduced the knowledge of the Cœle&longs;tial Motions to &longs;uch exactne&longs;&longs;e, that he gained the title of an Excellent A&longs;tronomer. And, according unto his Doctrine, not only the Calendar hath been &longs;ince regu­lated, but the Tables of all the Motions of the Planets have al­&longs;o been calculated: and having reduced the &longs;aid Doctrine into &longs;ix Books, he publi&longs;hed them to the World at the in&longs;tance of the Cardinal of Capua, and of the Bi&longs;hop of Culma. And in regard that he had re-a&longs;&longs;umed this &longs;o laborious an enterprize by the order of The Pope; he dedicated his Book De Revolutioni­bus Cœle&longs;tibus to His Succe&longs;&longs;our, namely Paul III. which, being then al&longs;o Printed, hath been received by The Holy Church, and read and &longs;tudied by all the World, without any the lea&longs;t um­brage of &longs;cruple that hath ever been conceived at his Doctrine; The which, whil&longs;t it is now proved by manife&longs;t Experiments and nece&longs;&longs;ary Demon&longs;trations to have been well grounded, there want not per&longs;ons that, though they never &longs;aw that &longs;ame Book in­tercept the reward of tho&longs;e many Labours to its Authour, by cau&longs;ing him to be cen&longs;ured and pronounced an Heretick; and this, only to &longs;atisfie a particular di&longs;plea&longs;ure conceived, without any cau&longs;e, again&longs;t another man, that hath no other intere&longs;t in Copernicus, but only as he is an approver of his Doctrine.

Now in regard of the&longs;e fal&longs;e a&longs;per&longs;ions, which they &longs;o unju&longs;tly &longs;eek to throw upon me, I have thought it nece&longs;&longs;ary for my ju&longs;ti­fication before the World (of who&longs;e judgment in matters of Religion and Reputation I ought to make great e&longs;teem) to di&longs;cour&longs;e concerning tho&longs;e Particulars, which the&longs;e men produce to &longs;candalize and &longs;ubvert this Opinion, and in a word, to con­demn it, not only as fal&longs;e, but al&longs;o as Heretical; continually making an Hipocritical Zeal for Religion their Shield; going a­bout moreover to intere&longs;t the Sacred Scriptures in the Di&longs;pute, and to make them in a certain &longs;en&longs;e Mini&longs;ters of their deceiptful purpo&longs;es: and farthermore de&longs;iring, if I mi&longs;take not, contrary to the intention of them, and of the Holy Fathers to extend (that I may not &longs;ay abu&longs;e) their Authority, &longs;o as that even in Conclu&longs;ions meerly Natural, and not de Fide, they would have us altogether leave Sen&longs;e and Demon&longs;trative Rea&longs;ons, for &longs;ome place of Scri­pture which &longs;ometimes under the apparent words may contain a different &longs;en&longs;e. Now I hope to &longs;hew with how much greater Piety and Religious Zeal I proceed, than they do, in that I propo&longs;e not, that the Book of Copernicus is not to be condemn­ed, but that it is not to be condemned, as they would have it; without under&longs;tanding it, hearing it, or &longs;o much as &longs;eeing it; and e&longs;pecially he being an Author that never treateth of matters of Religion or Faith; nor by Rea&longs;ons any way depending on the Authority of Sacred Scripoures whereupon he may have erroni­ou&longs;ly interpreted them; but alwaies in&longs;i&longs;ts upon Natural Conclu­&longs;ions belonging to the Cele&longs;tial Motions, handled with A&longs;trono­mical and Geometrical Demon&longs;trations. Not that he had not a re&longs;pect to the places of the Sacred Leaves, but becau&longs;e he knew very well that his &longs;aid Doctrine being demon&longs;trated, it could not contradict the Scriptures, rightly, and according to their true meaning under&longs;tood. And therefore in the end of his Epi&longs;tle Dedicatory, &longs;peaking to The Pope, he &longs;aith thus: (b) If there &longs;hould chance to be any Matæologi&longs;ts, who though ignorant in all the Mathematicks, yet pretending a skill in tho&longs;e Learnings, &longs;hould dare, upon the authority of &longs;ome place of Scripture wre&longs;ted to their purpo&longs;e, to condemn and cen&longs;ure this my Hypothe&longs;is, I value them not, but &longs;hall &longs;light their incon&longs;iderate Judgement. For it is not unknown, that Lactantius (otherwi&longs;e a Famous Author, though mean Mathematician) writeth very childi&longs;hly touching the Form of the Earth, when he &longs;coffs at tho&longs;e who affirm the Earth to be in Form of a Globe. So that it ought not to &longs;eem &longs;trange to the Ingenious, if any &longs;uch &longs;hould likewi&longs;e now deride us. The Ma­thematicks are written for Mathematitians, to whom (if I deceive not my &longs;elf) the&longs;e Labours of mine &longs;hall &longs;eem to add &longs;omething, as al&longs;o to the Common-weale of the Church, who&longs;e Government is now in the hands of Your Holine&longs;s.

(c) Si fort a&longs;&longs;eerunt Matæologi, qui cum omnium Ma­thematicum igna­ri &longs;int, tamen de tis judicium a&longs;&longs;u­munt, propter ali­quem locum Scri­ptur æ, malè ad &longs;u­um propo&longs;itum, de­tortum, au&longs;i fue­rint hoc meum in­&longs;titutum reprehen­dere ac in&longs;ectari, illos nihil moror, adeò ut etiam illo­rum judicium, tan­guam temera ium contemnam. Non enim ob&longs;curum e&longs;t, Lact antium, cele­lebrem alioqui Scriptorem, &longs;ed Mathematicum parvum, admodum pueriliter de forma Terræ loqui, cùm deridet eos, qui Terram, Globi for­mam habere prodi­derunt. Itaque non debet mirum vide­ri &longs;tudio&longs;is, &longs;i qui tales, nos ettam ri­debunt. Mathema­ta Mathematicis &longs;cribuntur; quibus & hi no&longs;tri labo­res, (&longs;i me non fal­lit opinio) vide­buntur etiam Rei­publicæ Eccle&longs;ia­&longs;ticæ conducere a­liquid, cujus Prin­cipatum Tua San­ctitas nunc teness.

And of this kinde do the&longs;e appear to be who indeavour to per&longs;wade that Copernicus may be condemned before his Book is read; and to make the World believe that it is not onely lawfull but commendable &longs;o to do, produce certain Authorities of the Scripture, of Divines, and of Councils; which as they are by me had in reverence, and held of Supream Authority, in&longs;omuch that I &longs;hould e&longs;teem it high temerity for any one to contradict them whil&longs;t they are u&longs;ed according to the In &longs;titutes of Holy Church, &longs;o I believe that it is no errour to &longs;peak, &longs;o long as one hath rea­&longs;on to &longs;u&longs;pect that a per&longs;on hath a de&longs;ire, for &longs;ome concern of his own, to produce and alledge them, to purpo&longs;es different from tho&longs;e that are in the mo&longs;t Sacred intention of The Holy Church. Therefore I not onely prote&longs;t (and my &longs;incerity &longs;hall manife&longs;t it &longs;elf) that I intend to &longs;ubmit my &longs;elf freely to renounce tho&longs;e et­rors, into which, through ignorance, I may run in this Di&longs;cour&longs;e of matters pertaining to Religion; but I farther declare, that I de&longs;ire not in the&longs;e matters to engage di&longs;pute with any one, al­though it &longs;hould be in points that are di&longs;putable: for my end endeth onely to this, That if in the&longs;e con&longs;iderations, be&longs;ides my own profe&longs;&longs;ion, among&longs;t the errours that may be in them, there be any thing apt to give others an hint of &longs;ome Notion beneficial to the Holy Church, touching the determining about the Coper­nican Sy&longs;teme, it may be taken and improved as &longs;hall &longs;eem be&longs;t to my Superiours: If not, let my Book be torn and burnt; for that I do neither intend, nor pretend to gain to my &longs;elf any fruit from my writings, that is not Pious and Catholick. And more­over, although that many of the things that I ob&longs;erve have been &longs;poken in my own hearing, yet I &longs;hall freely admit and grant to tho&longs;e that &longs;pake them, that they never &longs;aid them, if &longs;o they plea&longs;e, but confe&longs;s that I might have been mi&longs;taken: And therefore what I &longs;ay, let it be &longs;uppo&longs;ed to be &longs;poken not by them, but by tho&longs;e which were of this opinion.

The motive therefore that they produce to condemn the Opi­nion of the Mobility of the Earth, and Stability of the Sun, is, that reading in the Sacred Leaves, in many places, that the Sun mo­veth, that the Earth &longs;tandeth &longs;till; and the Scripture not being capable of lying, or erring, it followeth upon nece&longs;&longs;ary con&longs;e­quence, that the Po&longs;ition of tho&longs;e is Erronious and Heretical, who maintain that the Sun of it &longs;elf is immoveable, and the Earth moveable.

Touching this Rea&longs;on I think it fit in the fir&longs;t place, to con­&longs;ider, That it is both piou&longs;ly &longs;poken, and prudently affirmed, That the Sacred Scripture can never lye, when ever its true meaning is under&longs;tood: Which I believe none will deny to be many times very ab&longs;truce, and very different from that which the bare &longs;ound of the words &longs;ignifieth. Whence it cometh to pa&longs;s, that if ever any one &longs;hould con&longs;tantly confine him&longs;elf to the naked Gram­matical Sence, he might, erring him&longs;elf, make not only Contra­dictions and Propo&longs;itions remote from Truth to appear in the Scriptures, but al&longs;o gro&longs;s Here&longs;ies and Bla&longs;phemies: For that we &longs;hould be forced to a&longs;&longs;ign to God feet, and hands, and eyes, yea more corporal and humane affections, as of Anger, of Repen­tance, of Hatred, nay, and &longs;ometimes the Forgetting of things pa&longs;t, and Ignorance of tho&longs;e to come: Which Propo&longs;itions, like as (&longs;o the Holy Gho&longs;t affirmeth) they were in that manner pro­nounced by the Sacred Scriptures, that they might be accommo­dated to the Capacity of the Vulgar, who are very rude and un­learned; &longs;o likewi&longs;e, for the &longs;akes of tho&longs;e that de&longs;erve to be di­&longs;tingui&longs;hed from the Vulgar, it is nece&longs;&longs;ary that grave and skilful Expo&longs;itors produce the true &longs;en&longs;es of them, and &longs;hew the parti­cular Rea&longs;ons why they are dictated under &longs;uch and &longs;uch words. And this is a Doctrine &longs;o true and common among&longs;t Divines, that it would be &longs;uperfluous to produce any atte&longs;tation thereof.

Hence methinks I may with much more rea&longs;on conclude, that the &longs;ame holy Writ, when ever it hath had occa&longs;ion to pronounce any natural Conclu&longs;ion, and e&longs;pecially, any of tho&longs;e which are more ab&longs;truce, and difficult to be under&longs;tood, hath not failed to ob&longs;erve this Rule, that &longs;o it might not cau&longs;e confu&longs;ion in the mindes of tho&longs;e very people, and render them the more contu­macious again&longs;t the Doctrines that were more &longs;ublimely my&longs;teri­ous: For (like as we have &longs;aid, and as it plainly appeareth) out of the &longs;ole re&longs;pect of conde&longs;cending to Popular Capacity, the Scripture hath not &longs;crupled to &longs;hadow over mo&longs;t principal and fundamental Truths, attributing, even to God him&longs;elf, qualities extreamly remote from, and contrary unto his E&longs;&longs;ence. Who would po&longs;itively affirm that the Scripture, laying a&longs;ide that re­&longs;pect, in &longs;peaking but occa&longs;ionally of the Earth, of the Water, of the Sun, or of any other Creature, hath cho&longs;en to confine it &longs;elf, with all rigour, within the bare and narrow literal &longs;en&longs;e of the words? And e&longs;pecially, in mentioning of tho&longs;e Crea­tures, things not at all concerning the primary In&longs;titution of the &longs;ame Sacred Volume, to wit, the Service of God, and the &longs;alvation of Souls, and in things infinitely beyond the appre­hen&longs;ion of the Vulgar?

This therefore being granted, methinks that in the Di&longs;cu&longs;&longs;ion of Natural Problemes, we ought not to begin at the authority of places of Scripture; but at Sen&longs;ible Experiments and Ne­ce&longs;&longs;ary Demon&longs;trations: For, from the Divine Word, the Sacred Scripture and Nature did both alike proceed; the fir&longs;t, as the Holy Gho&longs;ts In&longs;piration; the &longs;econd, as the mo&longs;t ob&longs;er­vant Executrix of Gods Commands: And moreover it being convenient in the Scriptures (by way of conde&longs;cen&longs;ion to the under&longs;tanding of all men) to &longs;peak many things different, in appearance; and &longs;o far as concernes the naked &longs;igni&longs;ication of the words, from ab&longs;olute truth: But on the contrary, Nature being inexorable and immutable, and never pa&longs;&longs;ing the bounds of the Laws a&longs;&longs;igned her, as one that nothing careth whether her ab&longs;tru&longs;e rea&longs;ons and methods of operating be, or be not ex­po&longs;ed to the Capacity of Men; I conceive that that, concer­ning Natural Effects, which either Sen&longs;ible Experience &longs;ets be­fore our eyes, or Nece&longs;&longs;ary Demon&longs;trations do prove unto us, ought not, upon any account, to be called into que&longs;tion, much le&longs;s condemned upon the te&longs;timony of Texts of Scripture, which may, under their words, couch Sen&longs;es &longs;eemingly contrary there­to; In regard that every Expre&longs;&longs;ion of Scripture is not tied to &longs;o &longs;trict conditions, as every Effect of Nature: Nor doth God le&longs;s admirably di&longs;cover him&longs;elf unto us in Nature's Actions, than in the Scriptures Sacred Dictions. Which peradventure Tertul-lian intended to expre&longs;s in tho&longs;e words: (c) We conclude, God is known; fir&longs;t, by Nature, and then again more particularly known by Doctrine: by Nature, in his Works; by Doctrine, in his Word preached.

Nos definimus, Deum, primò N.­tura cogno&longs;cen­dum; Deinde, Do­ctrina recogno&longs;cen­dum: Natura ex operibus; Doctri­na ex pr ædicatio­nibus.

But I will not hence affirm, but that we ought to have an ex­traordinary e&longs;teem for the Places of Sacred Scripture, nay, being come to a certainty in any Natural Conclu&longs;ions, we ought to make u&longs;e of them, as mo&longs;t appo&longs;ite helps to the true Expo­&longs;ition of the &longs;ame Scriptures, and to the inve&longs;tigation of tho&longs;e Sen&longs;es which are nece&longs;&longs;arily conteined in them, as mo&longs;t true, and concordant with the Truths demon&longs;trated.

Tertul. adver. Marcion. lib. 1. cap. 18.

This maketh me to &longs;uppo&longs;e, that the Authority of the Sacred Volumes was intended principally to per&longs;wade men to the be­lief of tho&longs;e Articles and Propo&longs;itions, which, by rea&longs;on they &longs;urpa&longs;s all humane di&longs;cour&longs;e, could not by any other Science, or by any other means be made credible, than by the Mouth of the Holy Spirit it &longs;elf. Be&longs;ides that, even in tho&longs;e Propo&longs;itions, which are not de Fide, the Authority of the &longs;ame Sacred Leaves ought to be preferred to the Authority of all Humane Sciences that are not written in a Demon&longs;trative Method, but either with bare Narrations, or el&longs;e with probable Rea&longs;ons; and this I hold to be &longs;o far convenient and nece&longs;&longs;ary, by how far the &longs;aid Di­vine Wi&longs;dome &longs;urpa&longs;&longs;eth all humane Judgment and Conjecture. But that that &longs;elf &longs;ame God who hath indued us with Sen&longs;es, Di&longs;cour&longs;e, and Under&longs;tanding hath intended, laying a&longs;ide the u&longs;e of the&longs;e, to give the knowledg of tho&longs;e things by other means, which we may attain by the&longs;e, &longs;o as that even in tho&longs;e Natural Conclu&longs;ions, which either by Sen&longs;ible Experiments or Nece&longs;&longs;ary Demon&longs;trations are &longs;et before our eyes, or our Under&longs;tanding, we ought to deny Sen&longs;e and Rea&longs;on, I do not conceive that I am bound to believe it; and e&longs;pecially in tho&longs;e Sciences, of which but a &longs;mall part, and that divided into Conclu&longs;ions is to be found in the Scripture: Such as, for in&longs;tance, is that of A&longs;tro­nomy, of which there is &longs;o &longs;mall a part in Holy Writ, that it doth not &longs;o much as name any of the Planets, except the Sun and the Moon, and once or twice onely Venus under the name of Luci­fer. For if the Holy Writers had had any intention to per&longs;wade People to believe the Di&longs;po&longs;itions and Motions of the Cœle&longs;tial Bodies; and that con&longs;equently we are &longs;till to derive that know­ledge from the Sacred Books they would not, in my opinion, have &longs;poken &longs;o little thereof, that it is as much as nothing, in compa­ri&longs;on of the infinite admirable Conclu&longs;ions, which in that Sci­ence are comprized and demon&longs;trated Nay, that the Authours of the Holy Volumes did not only not pretend to teach us the Con&longs;titutions and Motions of the Heavens and Stars, their Fi­gures, Magnitudes, and Di&longs;tances, but that intentionally (al­beit that all the&longs;e things were very well known unto them) they forbore to &longs;peak of them, is the opinion of the Mo&longs;t Holy & Mo&longs;t Learned Fathers: and in S. Augu&longs;tine we read the following words. (c) It is likewi&longs;e commonly asked, of what Form and Figure we may believe Heaven to be, according to the Scriptures: For many contend much about tho&longs;e matters, which the greater pru­dence of our Authors hath forborn to &longs;peak of, as nothing further­ing their Learners in relation to able&longs;&longs;ed life; and, (which is the chiefe&longs;t thing) taking up much of that time which &longs;hould be &longs;pent in holy exerci&longs;es. For what is it to me whether Heaven, as a Sphere, doth on all &longs;ides environ the Earth, a Ma&longs;s ballanced in the middle of the World; or whether like a Di&longs;h it doth onely cover or overca&longs;t the &longs;ame? But becau&longs;e belief of Scripture is urged for that cau&longs;e, which we have oft mentioned, that is, That none through ignorance of Divine Phra&longs;es, when they &longs;hall find any thing of this nature in, or hear any thing cited out of our Bibles which may &longs;eem to oppo&longs;e manife&longs;t Conclu&longs;ions, &longs;hould be induced to &longs;u&longs;pect their truth, when they admoni&longs;h, relate, & deliver more profitable matters Briefly be it &longs;poken, touching the Figure of Heaven, that our Au­thors knew the truth: But the H. Spirit would not, that men &longs;hould learn what is profitable to none for &longs;alvation.

(c) Quæri etiam&longs;olet, quæ forma & figura Cæli cre­denda &longs;it &longs;ecun­dum Scripturas no&longs;tras: Multi e­nim multum di&longs;­put ant de iis rebus, quas majori pru­dentia no&longs;tri Auto­res omi&longs;erunt, ad beatam vitam non profutur as di&longs;cen­libus, & occupan­tes (quod prius e&longs;t) multum prolixa, & rebus &longs;alubri­bus impendenda temporum &longs;patia. Quid enim ad me pertinet, utrum Cælum, &longs;icut Sphæ­ra, undique conclu­dat Terram, in media. Mundi mo­le libratam; an eam ex una par­te de&longs;uper, ve­lut di&longs;cus, ope­riat? Sed quia de Fide agitur S cripiurærum, propter illam cau&longs;am, quam non &longs;emel commemoravimus, Ne &longs;cilicet qui&longs;quam eloquia divina non intelligens, cum de his rebus tale aliquid vel invenerit in Libris No&longs;tris, vel ex illis audiverit, quod perceptis a&longs;&longs;ertionibus adver &longs;ari videatur, nullo modo eis, cetera utilia monentibus, vel narrantibus, vel pranuntiantibus, credat: Breviter di&longs;cendum e&longs;t, de figura Cæli, hoc &longs;ci&longs;&longs;e Autores no&longs;tros, quod verit as ha­bet: Sed Spiritum Dei, qui per ip&longs;os loquebstur, nolui&longs;&longs;e i&longs;ta docere homines, nulli ad &longs;alutem profutura. D. Augu&longs;t. Lib. 2. De Gen. ad literam, Cap. 9. Idem etiam legitur apud Petrum Lombardum Magi&longs;trum Sententiarum.

And the &longs;ame intentional &longs;ilence of the&longs;e &longs;acred Penmen in determining what is to be believed of the&longs;e accidents of the Ce­le&longs;tial Bodies, is again hinted to us by the &longs;ame Father in the en­&longs;uing 10. Chapter upon the Que&longs;tion, Whether we are to believe that Heaven moveth, or &longs;tandeth &longs;till, in the&longs;e words: (d) Thereare &longs;ome of the Brethren that &longs;tart a que&longs;tion concerning the motion of Heaven, Whether it be fixed, or moved: For if it be moved (&longs;ay they) how is it a Firmament? If it &longs;tand &longs;till, how do the&longs;e Stars which are held to be fixed go round from Ea&longs;t to We&longs;t, the more Norchern performing &longs;horter Circuits near the Pole; &longs;o that Heaven, if there be another Pole, to us unknown, may &longs;eem to re­volve upon &longs;ome other Axis; but if there be not another Pole, it may be thought to move as a Di&longs;cus? To whom I reply, Thatthe&longs;e points require many &longs;ubtil and profound Rea&longs;ons, for the making out whether they be really &longs;o, or no; the undertakeing and di&longs;eu&longs;&longs;ing of which is neither con&longs;i&longs;tent with my lea&longs;ure, nor their duty, vvhom I de&longs;ire to in&longs;truct in the nece&longs;&longs;ary matters more di­rectly conducing to their &longs;alvation, and to the benefit of The Holy Church.

(d) De Motu etiam Cæli, non­nulli fratres quæ­&longs;tionem movent, u­trum &longs;tet, an mo­veatur; quia &longs;i mo­vetur, inquiunt, quomodo Firma­mentum e&longs;t? Si autem &longs;tat, quomo­do Sydera quæ inip&longs;o fixa credun­tur, ab Oriente in Occidentem circumeunt, Septentrio­nalibus breviores gyros juxta cardi­nem perag entibus; ut Cælum, &longs;i est a­lius nobis occultus cardo, ex alio ver­tice, &longs;icut Sphæra; &longs;i autem nullus a­lius cardo e&longs;t, vel uti di&longs;cus rotari videatur? Quibus re&longs;pondeo, Multum &longs;ubtilibus & labo­rio&longs;is rationibus i&longs;ta perquiri, ut ve­re percipiatur, u­trum ita, an non ita &longs;it, quibus ine­undis atque tra­ctandis, nec mihi jam tempus e&longs;t, nec illis e&longs;&longs;e debet, quos ad &longs;alutem &longs;uam, è Sanctæ Eccle&longs;iæ nece&longs;&longs;aria utilitate cupimus informa­ri:

From which (that we may come nearer to our particular ca&longs;e) it nece&longs;&longs;arily followeth, that the Holy Gho&longs;t not having intend­ed to teach us, whether Heaven moveth or &longs;tandeth &longs;till; nor whether its Figure be in Form of a Sphere, or of a Di&longs;cus, or di­&longs;tended in Planum: Nor whether the Earth be contained in the Centre of it, or on one &longs;ide; he hath much le&longs;s had an intention to a&longs;&longs;ure us of other Conclu&longs;ions of the &longs;ame kinde, and in &longs;uch a manner, connected to the&longs;e already named, that without the dedermination of them, one can neither affirm one or the other part; which are, The determining of the Motion and Re&longs;t of the &longs;aid Earth, and of the Sun. And if the &longs;ame Holy Spirit hath purpo&longs;ely pretermitted to teach us tho&longs;e Propo&longs;itions, as nothing concerning his intention, that is, our &longs;alvation; how can it be af­firmed, that the holding of one part rather than the other, &longs;hould be &longs;o nece&longs;&longs;ary, as that it is de Fide, and the other erronious? Can an Opinion be Heretical, and yet nothing concerning the &longs;alvation of &longs;ouls? Or can it be &longs;aid that the Holy Gho&longs;t purpo­&longs;ed not to teach us a thing that concerned our &longs;alvation? I might here in&longs;ert the Opinion of an Eccle&longs;ia&longs;tical ^{*} Per&longs;on, rai&longs;ed to the degree of Eminenti&longs;&longs;imo, to wit, That the intention of the Holy Gho&longs;t, is to teach us how we &longs;hall go to Heaven, and not how Hea­ven goeth.

* Card. Baronius.

Spiritu &longs;ancti mentem fui&longs;&longs;e, nos docere, quomodo ad Cælum eatur: non autem, quomodo Cælum gradiatur.Cardinal. Bar.

But let us return to con&longs;ider how much nece&longs;&longs;ary Demon&longs;tra­tions, and &longs;en&longs;ible Experiments ought to be e&longs;teemed in Natural Conclu&longs;ions; and of what Authority Holy and Learned Divines have accounted them, from whom among&longs;t an hundred other atte­&longs;tations, we have the&longs;e that follow: (e) We must al&longs;o carefully heed and altogether avoid in handling the Doctrine of Mo&longs;es, to avouch or &longs;peak any thing affirmatively and confidently which contradicteth the manife&longs;t Experiments and Rea&longs;ons of Philo&longs;o­phy, or other Sciences. For &longs;ince all Truth is agreeable to Truth, the Truth of Holy Writ cannot be contrary to the &longs;olid Rea&longs;ons and Experiments of Humane Learning.

(e) Illud etiam diligenter caven­dum, & emnino fugiendum e&longs;t, ne in tractanda Mo­&longs;is Dectrina, quic­quam affirmate & a&longs;&longs;everanter &longs;en­tiamus & dica­mus, quod repug­net manife&longs;tis ex­perimentis & rationibus Philo&longs;ophiæ, vel aliarum Di&longs;ciplinarum. Namque cum Verum omne &longs;emper cum Vero congruat, non pote&longs;t Verit as Sacrarum Litterarum, Veris Rationibus & Experimentis Humanarum Doctrina­rum e&longs;&longs;e contraria. Perk. in Gen. circa Principium.

(f) Si manife­&longs;tæ certæque Rati­oni, velut &longs;ancta­rum Litterarum objicitur autori­ritas, non intelli­git, qui hoc facit; & non Scripturæ &longs;en&longs;um (ad quem penetrare non po­tuit) &longs;ed &longs;uum po­tius objicit verita­ti: nec id quod in sa, &longs;ed quod in &longs;e­ip&longs;o velue pro eainvenit, opponit.

And in St. Augu&longs;tine we read: (f) If any one &longs;hall object the Authority of Sacred Writ, again&longs;t clear and manife&longs;t Rea&longs;on, he that doth &longs;o, knows not what he undertakes: For he objectsagain&longs;t the Truth, not the &longs;en&longs;e of the Scripture (which is be­yond his comprehen&longs;ion) but rather his own; not what is in it, but what, finding it in him&longs;elf, he fancyed to be in it.

This granted, and it being true, (as hath been &longs;aid) that two Truths cannot be contrary to each other, it is the office of a Judicious Expo&longs;itor to &longs;tudy to finde the true Sen&longs;es of Sacred Texts, which undoubtedly &longs;hall accord with tho&longs;e Natural Con­clu&longs;ions, of which manife&longs;t Sen&longs;e and Nece&longs;&longs;ary Demon&longs;trations

had before made us &longs;ure and certain. Yea, in regard that the Scriptures (as hath been &longs;aid) for the Rea&longs;ons alledged, admit in many places Expo&longs;itions far from the Sen&longs;e of the words; and moreover, we not being able to affirm, that all Interpreters &longs;peak by Divine In&longs;piration; For (if it were &longs;o) then there would be no difference between them about the Sen&longs;es of the &longs;ame places; I &longs;hould think that it would be an act of great pru­dence to make it unlawful for any one to u&longs;urp Texts of Scri­pture, and as it were to force them to maintain this or that Natu­rall Conclu&longs;ion for truth, of which Sence, & Demon&longs;trative, and nece&longs;&longs;ary Rea&longs;ons may one time or other a&longs;&longs;ure us the contrary. For who will pre&longs;cribe bounds to the Wits of men? Who will a&longs;&longs;ert that all that is &longs;en&longs;ible and knowable in the World is al­ready di&longs;covered and known? Will not they that in other points di&longs;agree with us, confe&longs;s this (and it is a great truth) that Ea quæ &longs;cimus, &longs;int minima pars eorum quæ ignoramus? That tho&longs;e Truths which we know, are very few, in compari&longs;on of tho&longs;e which we know not? Nay more, if we have it from the Mouth of the Holy Gho&longs;t, that Deus tradidit Mundum di&longs;putationi eorum, ut non inveniat homo opus, quod operatus e&longs;t Deus ab initio ad finem: One ought not, as I conceive, to &longs;top the way to free Philo&longs;ophating, touching the things of the World, and of Nature, as if that they were already certainly found, and all ma­nife&longs;t: nor ought it to be counted ra&longs;hne&longs;s, if one do not fit down &longs;atisfied with the opinions now become as it were com­mune; nor ought any per&longs;ons to be di&longs;plea&longs;ed, if others do not hold, in natural Di&longs;putes to that opinion which be&longs;t plea&longs;eth them; and e&longs;pecially touching Problems that have, for thou&longs;ands of years, been controverted among&longs;t the greate&longs;t Philo&longs;ophers, as is the Stability of the Sun, and Mobility of the Earth, an opinion held by Pythagoras, and by his whole Sect; by Heraclides Pon­ticus, who was of the &longs;ame opininion; by Phylolaus, the Ma&longs;ter of Plato; and by Plato him&longs;elf, as Ari&longs;totle relateth, and of which Plutarch writeth in the life of Numa, that the &longs;aid Plato,when he was grown old, &longs;aid, It is a mo&longs;t ab&longs;urd thing to think otherwi&longs;e: The &longs;ame was believed by Ari&longs;tarchus Samius, as we have it in Archimedes; and probably by Archimedes him­&longs;elf; by Nicetas the Philo&longs;opher, upon the te&longs;timony of Scicero,and by many others. And this opinion hath, finally, been am­plified, and with many Ob&longs;ervations and Demon&longs;trations con­firmed by Nicholaus Copernicus. And Seneca, a mo&longs;t eminent Philo&longs;opher, in his Book De Cometis, advertizeth us that we ought, with great diligence, &longs;eek for an a&longs;&longs;ured knowledge, whether it be Heaven, or the Earth, in which the Diurnal Con­ver&longs;ion re&longs;ides.

Epi&longs;t. 7. ad Mar­cellinum.

Eccle&longs;ia&longs;t. cap. 3.

And for this cau&longs;e, it would probably be prudent and pro&longs;i­table coun&longs;el, if be&longs;ides the Articles which concern our Salvati­on, and the e&longs;tabli&longs;hment of our Faith (again&longs;t the &longs;tability of which there is no fear that any valid and &longs;olid Doctrine can e­ver ri&longs;e up) men would not aggregate and heap up more, with­out nece&longs;&longs;ity: And if it be &longs;o, it would certainly be a prepo&longs;te­rous thing to introduce &longs;uch Articles at the reque&longs;t of per&longs;ons who, be&longs;ides that we know not that they &longs;peak by in&longs;piration of Divine Grace, we plainly &longs;ee that there might be wi&longs;hed in them the under&longs;tanding which would be nece&longs;&longs;ary fir&longs;t to enable them to comprehend, and then to di&longs;cu&longs;s the Demon&longs;trations wherewith the &longs;ubtiler Sciences proceed in confirming &longs;uch like Conclu&longs;ions. Nay, more I &longs;hould &longs;ay, (were it lawful to &longs;peak my judgment freely on this Argument) that it would haply more &longs;uit with the Decorum and Maje&longs;ty of tho&longs;e Sacred Vo­lumes, if care were taken that every &longs;hallow and vulgar Writer might not authorize his Books (which are not &longs;eldome grounded upon fooli&longs;h fancies) by in&longs;erting into them Places of Holy Scri­pture, interpreted, or rather di&longs;torted to Sen&longs;es as remote from the right meaning of the &longs;aid Scripture, as they are neer to deri­ri&longs;ion, who not without o&longs;tentation flouri&longs;h out their Writings therewith. Examples of &longs;uch like abu&longs;es there might many be produced, but for this time I will confine my &longs;elf to two, not much be&longs;ides the&longs;e matters of A&longs;tronomy: One of which, is that of tho&longs;e Pamphlets which were publi&longs;hed again&longs;t the MediceanPlanets, of which I had the fortune to make the di&longs;covery; a­gain&longs;t the exi&longs;tence of which there were brought many places of Sacred Sctipture: Now, that all the World &longs;eeth them to be Planets, I would gladly hear with what new interpretations tho&longs;e very Antagoni&longs;ts do expound the Scripture, and excu&longs;e their own &longs;implicity. The other example is of him who but very lately hath Printed again&longs;t A&longs;tronomers and Philo&longs;ophers, that the Moon doth not receive its light from the Sun, but is of its own nature re&longs;plendent: which imagination he in the clo&longs;e confirm­eth, or, to &longs;ay better, per&longs;wadeth him&longs;elf that he confirmeth by &longs;undry Texts of Scripture, which he thinks cannot be reconciled unle&longs;&longs;e his opinion &longs;hould be true and nece&longs;&longs;ary. Neverthele&longs;&longs;e, the Moon of it &longs;elf is Tenebro&longs;e, and yet it is no le&longs;&longs;e lucid than the Splendor of the Sun.

Hence it is manife&longs;t, that the&longs;e kinde of Authors, in regard they did not dive into the true Sence of the Scriptures, would (in ca&longs;e their authority were of any great moment) have impo&longs;ed a nece&longs;­&longs;ity upon others to believe &longs;uch Conclu&longs;ions for true as were re­pugnant to manife&longs;t Rea&longs;on, and to Sen&longs;e. Which abu&longs;e Deus avertat, that it do not gain Countenance and Authority; for if it &longs;hould, it would in a &longs;hort time be nece&longs;&longs;ary to pro&longs;cribe and in­hibit all the Contemplative Sciences. For being that by nature the number of &longs;uch as are very unapt to under&longs;tand perfectly both the Sacred Scriptures, and the other Sciences is much great­er than that of the skilfull and intelligene; tho&longs;e of the fir&longs;t &longs;ort &longs;uperficially running over the Scriptures, would arrogate to them­&longs;elves an Authority of decreeing upon all the Que&longs;tions in Na­ture, by vertue of &longs;ome Word by them mi&longs;onder&longs;tood, and pro­duced by the Sacred Pen-men to another purpo&longs;e: Nor would the &longs;mall number of the Intelligent be able to repre&longs;s the furious Torrent of tho&longs;e men, who would finde &longs;o many the more fol­lowers, in that the gaining the reputation of Wi&longs;e men without pains or Study, is far more grateful to humane Nature, than the con&longs;uming our &longs;elves with re&longs;tle&longs;s contemplations about the mo&longs;t painfull Arts. Therefore we ought to return infinite thanks to Almighty God, who of his Goodne&longs;s freeth us from this fear, in that he depriveth &longs;uch kinde of per&longs;ons of all Authority and, re­po&longs;eth the Con&longs;ulting, Re&longs;olving, and Decreeing upon &longs;o im­portant Determinations in the extraordinary Wi&longs;dom and Can­dor of mo&longs;t Sacred Fathers; and in the Supream Authority of tho&longs;e, who being guided by his Holy Spirit, cannot but determin Holily: So ordering things, that of the levity of tho&longs;e other men, there is no account made. This kinde of men are tho&longs;e, as I be­lieve, again&longs;t whom, not without Rea&longs;on, Grave, and Holy Wri­ters do &longs;o much inveigh; and of whom in particular S. Hieromwriteth: (g) This (Scilicet the Sacred Scripture) the talking old woman, the doting old man, the talkative Sophi&longs;ter, all venture upon, lacerate, teach, and that before they have learnt it. Others induced by Pride, diving into hard words, Philo&longs;ophate among&longs;t Women, touching the Holy Scriptures. Others (Oh &longs;hame­ful!) Learn of Women what they teach to Men; and, as if this were nothiug, in a certain facility of words, I may &longs;ay of confi­dence, expound to others what they under&longs;tand not them&longs;elves. I forbear to &longs;peak of tho&longs;e of my own Profe&longs;&longs;ion, who, if after Hu­mane Learning they chance to attain to the Holy Scriptures, and tickle the ears of the people with affected and Studied expre&longs;&longs;ions, they affirm that all they &longs;ay, is to be entertained as the Law of God; and not &longs;tooping to learn what the Prophets and Apo&longs;tles held, they force incongruous te&longs;timonies to their own Sen&longs;e: As if it were the genuine, and not corrupt way of teaching to deprave Sen­tences, and Wre&longs;t the Scripture according to their own &longs;ingular and contradictory humour.

(g) Hanc (Sci­licer Sacram Scri­pturam) garrula arus, hanc deli­rus &longs;enex hanc So­phi&longs;ta verbo&longs;us, h univer&longs;i præ­&longs;umunt, lacerant, docent, anteguans di&longs;cant. Alij, addacto &longs;upercilio, grandia verba trutinantes, inter mulierculas, de Sacris Litteris Philo&longs;ophantur. Alij di&longs;cunt, prob pudor! à fæminis, quod viros docent, & ne parum hoc &longs;it, quadam faci­litate verborum, imo audaciâ, edi&longs;­&longs;erunt aliis, quod ip&longs;i non intelli­gunt. Taceo de mei &longs;imilibus, qui &longs;i fortè ad Scriptu­ras Sanctas, po&longs;t &longs;eculares litteras venerint, & &longs;er­mone compo&longs;ito, aurem populi mul­&longs;erint; quicquid dixerint, hoc le­gem Dei putant: nec &longs;cire dignan­tur, quid Prophe­tæ, quid Apo&longs;toli &longs;en&longs;erint, &longs;ed ad &longs;en&longs;um &longs;uum, in­congrua aptant te­&longs;timonia: Qua&longs;i grande &longs;it, & non vitioci&longs;&longs;imum do­cendi genus, de­pravare &longs;ententi­as, & ad volun­tatem &longs;uam Scri­pturamtrahere re­pugnantem. Je­ron. Epi&longs;t. ad Paul. 103.

I will not rank among the&longs;e &longs;ame &longs;ecular Writers any Theo­logi&longs;ts, whom I repute to be men of profound Learning, and &longs;o­ber Manners, and therefore hold them in great e&longs;teem and vene­ration: Yet I cannot deny but that I have a certain &longs;cruple in my mind, and con&longs;equently am de&longs;irous to have it removed, whil&longs;t I hear that they pretend to a power of con&longs;training others by Authority of the Scriptures to follow that opinion in Natu­ral Di&longs;putations, which they think mo&longs;t agreeth with the Texts of that: Holding withall, that they are not bound to an&longs;wer the Rea&longs;ons and Experiments on the contrary: In Explication and Confirmation of which their judgement they &longs;ay, That The­ologie being the Queen of all the Sciences, &longs;he ought not upon any account to &longs;toop to accomodate her &longs;elf to the Po&longs;itions of the re&longs;t, le&longs;s worthy, and inferior to her: But that they ought to refer them&longs;elves to her (as to their Supream Empere&longs;s) and change and alter their Conclu&longs;ions, according to TheologicalStatutes and Decrees. And they further add, That if in the inferior Science there &longs;hould be any Conclu&longs;ion certain by ver­tue of Demon&longs;trations or experiments, to which there is found in Scripture another Conclu&longs;ion repugnant; the very Profe&longs;&longs;ors of that Science ought of them&longs;elves to re&longs;olve their Demon&longs;trati­ons, and di&longs;cover the falacies of their own Experiments, without repairing to Theologers and Textuaries, it not &longs;uiting (as hath been &longs;aid) with the dignity of Theologie to &longs;toop to the inve&longs;tiga­tion of the falacies of the inferior Sciences: But it &longs;ufficeth her, to determine the truth of the Conclu&longs;ion with her ab&longs;olute Au­thority, and by her infallibility. And then the Natural Conclu­&longs;ions in which they &longs;ay that we ought to bide by the meer Au­thority of the Scripture, without glo&longs;&longs;ing, or expounding it to Sen&longs;es different from the Words, they affirm to be Tho&longs;e of which the Scripture &longs;peaketh alwaies in the &longs;ame manner; and the Holy Fathers all receive, and expound to the &longs;ame Sen&longs;e.

Now as to the&longs;e Determinations, I have had occa&longs;ion to con&longs;i­der &longs;ome particulars (which I will purpo&longs;e) for that I was made cautious thereof, by tho&longs;e who under&longs;tand more than I in the&longs;e bu&longs;ine&longs;&longs;es, and to who&longs;e judgments I alwaies &longs;ubmit my &longs;elf. And fir&longs;t I could &longs;ay, that there might po&longs;&longs;ibly a certain kinde of equivocation interpo&longs;e, in that they do not di&longs;tingui&longs;h the prehe­minences whereby Sacred Theologie meriteth the Title of Queen. For it might be called &longs;o, either becau&longs;e that that which is taught by all the other Sciences, is found to be comprized and demon&longs;tra­ted in it, but with more excellent means, and with more &longs;ublime Learning; in like manner, as for example; The Rules of mea&longs;uring of Land, & of Accountant&longs;hip are much more excellently contain­ed in the Arithmatick and Geometry of Euclid, than in the Practi­&longs;es of Surveyours and Accomptants: Or becau&longs;e the Subject about which Theologie is conver&longs;ant, excelleth in Dignity all the other Subjects, that are the Matters of other Sciences: As al&longs;o becau&longs;e its Documents are divulged by nobler waies. That the Title and Authority of Queen belongeth to Theologie in the fir&longs;t Sen&longs;e, I think that no Theologers will affirm, that have but any in-&longs;ight into the other Sciences; of which there are none (as I be­lieve) that will &longs;ay that Geometry, A&longs;tronomy Mu&longs;ick, and Me­dicine are much more excellently and exactly contained in the Sacred Volumes, than in the Books of Archimedes, in Ptolomy, in Boetius, and in Galen. Therefore it is probable that the Regal Preheminence is given her upon the &longs;econd account, namely, By rea&longs;on of the Subject, and the admirable communicating of the Divine Revelations in tho&longs;e Conclu&longs;ions which by other means could not be conceived by men, and which chiefly concern the acqui&longs;t of eternal Beatitude. Now if Theologie being conver­&longs;ant about the loftie&longs;t Divine Contemplation, and re&longs;iding for Dignity in the Regal Throne of the Sciences, (whereby &longs;he be­cometh of highe&longs;t Authority) de&longs;cendeth not to the more mean and humble Speculations of the inferior Sciences: Nay; (as hath been declared above) hath no regard to them, as not concerning Bearitude; the Profe&longs;&longs;ors thereof ought not to arrogate to them­&longs;elves the Authority to determin of Controver&longs;ies in tho&longs;e Pro­fe&longs;&longs;ions which have been neither practi&longs;ed nor &longs;tudied by them. For this would be as if an Ab&longs;olute Prince, knowing that he might freely command, and cau&longs;e him&longs;elf to be obeyed, &longs;hould (being neither Phi&longs;itian nor Architect) undertake to admini&longs;ter Medicines, and erect Buildings after his own fa&longs;hion, to the great endangering af the lives of the poor Patients, and to the manife&longs;t de&longs;truction of the Edifices.

Again, to command the very Profe&longs;&longs;ors of A&longs;tronomy, that they of them&longs;elves &longs;ee to the confuting of their own Ob&longs;erva­tions and Demon&longs;trations, as tho&longs;e that can be no other but Falacies and Sophi&longs;mes, is to enjoyn a thing beyond all po&longs;&longs;ibi­lity of doing: For it is not onely to command them that they do not &longs;ee that which they &longs;ee, and that they do not under&longs;tand that which they under&longs;tand; but that in &longs;eeking, they finde the contrary of that which they happen to meet with. Therefore be­fore that this is to be done, it would be nece&longs;&longs;ary that they were &longs;hewed the way how to make the Powers of the Soul to command one another, and the inferior the Superior; &longs;o that the imaginati­on and will might, and &longs;hould believe contrary to what the Intel­lect under&longs;tands: I &longs;till mean in Propo&longs;itions purely Natural, and which are not de Fide, and not in the Supernatural, which are de Fide.

I would entreat the&longs;e Wi&longs;e and Prudent Fathers, that they would withal diligence con&longs;ider the difference that is between Opinable and Demon&longs;trative Doctrines: To the end, that well weighing in their minds with what force Nece&longs;&longs;ary Illations ob­lige, they might the better a&longs;certain them&longs;elves, that it is not in the Power of the Profe&longs;&longs;ors of Demon&longs;trative Sciences to change their Opinions at plea&longs;ure, and apply them&longs;elves one while to one &longs;ide, and another while to another; and that there is a great difference between commanding a Methametitian or a Philo&longs;o­pher, and the di&longs;po&longs;ing of a Lawyer or a Merchant; and that the demon&longs;trated Conclu&longs;ions touching the things of Nature and of the Heavens cannot be changed with the &longs;ame facility, as the Opinions are touching what is lawful or not in a Contract, Bar­gain, or Bill of Exchange. This difference was well under&longs;tood by the Learned and Holy Fathers, as their having been at great pains to confute many Arguments, or to &longs;ay better, many Phi­lo&longs;ophical Fallacies, doth prove unto us; and as may expre&longs;ly be read in &longs;ome of them, and particularly we have in S. Augu&longs;tinethe following words: (g) This is to be held for an undoubt­ed Truth, That we may be confident, that whatever the Sages of this World have demon&longs;trated touching Natural Points, is no waies contrary to our Bibles: And in ca&longs;e they teach any thing in their Books that is contrary to the Holy Scriptures, we may without any &longs;cruple conclude it to be mo&longs;t fal&longs;e; And aceording to our ability let us make the &longs;ame appear: And let us &longs;o keep the Faith of our Lord, in whom are hidden all the Trea&longs;ures of Wi&longs;dom; that we be neither &longs;educed with the Loquacity of fal&longs;e Philo&longs;ophy, nor &longs;cared by the &longs;uper&longs;tition of a counterfeit Religion.

(g) Hoc indu­bitanter tenendum e&longs;t, ut quicquid Sapientes hujus Mundi, de Natu­ra rerum veraci­ter demon&longs;trare potuerint, o&longs;tenda­mus, no&longs;tris libris non e&longs;&longs;e contrari­um: quicquid au­tem illi, in &longs;uis vo­lumintbus, contra­rium Sacris Lit­teris docent, &longs;ine ulla dubitatione credamus, id fal&longs;i&longs;­&longs;imum e&longs;&longs;e, & quo­quo modo po&longs;&longs;u­mus, etiam o&longs;ten­damus; atque it a teneamus Fidem Domini no&longs;tri, in qua&longs;unt ab&longs;conditi omnes the&longs;auri Sapientiæ, ut ne­que fal&longs;æ Philo&longs;o­phiæ loquacitate &longs;educamur, neque &longs;imulata Religio­nis &longs;uper&longs;titione terreamur.

From which words, I conceive that I may collect this Do­ctrine, namely, That in the Books of the Wi&longs;e of this World, there are contained &longs;ome Natural truths that are &longs;olidly demon­&longs;trated, and others again that are barely taught; and that as to the fir&longs;t &longs;ort, it is the Office of wi&longs;e Divines to &longs;hew that they are not contrary to the Sacred Scriptures; As to the re&longs;t, taught, but not nece&longs;&longs;arily demon&longs;trated, if they &longs;hall contain any thing contrary to the Sacred Leaves, it ought to be held undoubtedly fal&longs;e, and &longs;uch it ought by all po&longs;&longs;ible waies to be demon­&longs;trated.

Gen. ad Litteram. lib I. Cap. 25.

If therefore Natural Conclu&longs;ions veritably demon&longs;trated, are not to be po&longs;tpo&longs;ed to the Places of Scripture, but that it ought to be &longs;hewn how tho&longs;e Places do not interfer with the &longs;aid Con­clu&longs;ions; then its nece&longs;&longs;ary before a Phy&longs;ical Propo&longs;ition be condemned, to &longs;hew that it is not nece&longs;&longs;arily demon&longs;trated; and this is to be done not by them who hold it to be true, but by tho&longs;e who judge it to be fal&longs;e. And this &longs;eemeth very rea&longs;onable, and agreeable to Nature; that is to &longs;ay, that they may much more ea&longs;ily find the fallacies in a Di&longs;cour&longs;e, who believe it to be fal&longs;e, than tho&longs;e who account it true and concludent. Nay, in this particular it will come to pa&longs;&longs;e, that the followers of this o­pinion, the more that they &longs;hall turn over Books, examine the Arguments, repeat the Ob&longs;ervations, and compare the Experi­ments, the more &longs;hall they be confirmed in this belief. And your Highne&longs;s knoweth what happened to the late Mathematick Pro­fe&longs;&longs;or in the Univer&longs;ity of Pi&longs;a, Who betook him&longs;elf in his old age to look into the Doctrine of Copernicus, with hope that he might be able &longs;olidly to confute it (for that he held it &longs;o far to be fal&longs;e, as that he had never &longs;tudied it) but it was his fortune, that as &longs;oon as he had under&longs;tood the grounds, proceedings, and demon&longs;trations of Copernicus, he found him&longs;elf to be per&longs;waded, and of an oppo&longs;er became his mo&longs;t confident Defender. I might al&longs;o nominate other ^{*} Mathematicians, who being moved

by my la&longs;t Di&longs;coveries, have confe&longs;&longs;ed it nece&longs;sary to change the formerly received Con&longs;titution of the World, it not being able by any means to &longs;ub&longs;i&longs;t any longer.

* P. Clavius the Je&longs;uite.

If for the bani&longs;hing this Opinion and Hypothe&longs;is out of the World, it were enough to &longs;top the mouth of one alone, as it may be they per&longs;wade them&longs;elves who mea&longs;uring others judge­ments by their own, think it impo&longs;&longs;ible that this Doctrine &longs;hould be able to &longs;ub&longs;i&longs;t and finde any followers, this would be very ea­&longs;ie to be done, but the bu&longs;ine&longs;s &longs;tandeth otherwi&longs;e: For to execute &longs;uch a determination, it would be nece&longs;&longs;ary to prohibite not onely the Book of Copernicus, and the Writings of the o­ther Authors that follow the &longs;ame opinion, but to interdict the whole Science of A&longs;tronomy; and which is more, to forbid men looking towards Heaven, that &longs;o they might not &longs;ee Mars and Venus at one time neer to the Earth, and at another farther off, with &longs;uch a difference that the latter is found to be fourty times, and the former &longs;ixty times bigger in &longs;urface at one time than at another; and to the end, that the &longs;ame Venus might not be di&longs;covered to be one while round, and another while forked, with mo&longs;t &longs;ubtil hornes: and many other &longs;en&longs;ible Ob&longs;ervations which can never by any means be reconciled to the Ptolomaick Sy&longs;teme, but are unan&longs;werable Arguments for the Copernican.

But the prohibiting of Copernicus his Book, now that by many new Ob&longs;ervations, and by the application of many of the Lear­ned to the reading of him, his Hypothe&longs;is and Doctrine doth every day appear to be more true, having admitted and tolerated it for &longs;o many years, whil&longs;t he was le&longs;&longs;e followed, &longs;tudied, and confirmed, would &longs;eem, in my judgment, an affront to Truth, and a &longs;eeking the more to ob&longs;cure and &longs;uppre&longs;&longs;e her, the more &longs;he &longs;heweth her &longs;elf clear and per&longs;picuous.

The aboli&longs;hing and cen&longs;uring, not of the whole Book, but onely &longs;o much of it as concerns this particular opinion of the Earths Mobility, would, if I mi&longs;take not, be a greater detriment to &longs;ouls, it being an occa&longs;ion of great &longs;candal, to &longs;ee a Po&longs;ition proved, and to &longs;ee it afterwards made an Here&longs;ie to believe it.

The prohibiting of the whole Science, what other would it be but an open contempt of an hundred Texts of the Holy Scri­ptures, which teach us, That the Glory, and the Greatne&longs;&longs;e of Almighty God is admirably di&longs;cerned in all his Works, and di­vinely read in the Open Book of Heaven? Nor let any one think that the Lecture of the lofty conceits that are written in tho&longs;e Leaves fini&longs;h in only beholding the Splendour of the Sun, and of the Stars, and their ri&longs;ing and &longs;etting, (which is the term to which the eyes of bruits and of the vulgar reach) but there are couched in them my&longs;teries &longs;o profound, and conceipts &longs;o &longs;ub­lime, that the vigils, labours, and &longs;tudies of an hundred and an hundred acute Wits, have not yet been able thorowly to dive into them after the continual di&longs;qui&longs;ition of &longs;ome thou&longs;ands of years. But let the Unlearned believe, that like as that which their eyes di&longs;cern in beholding the a&longs;pect of a humane body, is very little in compari&longs;on of the &longs;tupendious Artifices, which an exqui&longs;ite and curious Anatomi&longs;t or Philo&longs;opher finds in the &longs;ame when he is &longs;earching for the u&longs;e of &longs;o many Mu&longs;cles, Tendons, Nerves, and Bones; and examining the Offices of the Heart, and of the other principal Members, &longs;eeking the &longs;eat of the vi­tal Faculties, noting and ob&longs;erving the admirable &longs;tructures of the In&longs;truments of the Sen&longs;es, and, without ever making an end of &longs;atisfying his curio&longs;ity and wonder, contemplating the Re­ceptacles of the Imagination, of the Memory, and of the Un­der&longs;tanding; So that which repre&longs;ents it &longs;elf to the meer &longs;ight, is as nothing in compari&longs;on and proportion to the &longs;trange Won­ders, that by help of long and accurate Ob&longs;ervations the Wit of Learned Men di&longs;covereth in Heaven. And this is the &longs;ub­&longs;tance of what I had to con&longs;ider touching this particular.

In the next place, as to tho&longs;e that adde, That tho&longs;e Natural Propo&longs;itions of which the Scripture &longs;till &longs;peaks in one con&longs;tant tenour, and which the Fathers all unanimou&longs;ly receive in the &longs;ame &longs;en&longs;e, ought to be accepted according to the naked and literal &longs;en&longs;e of the Words, without glo&longs;&longs;es and interpretations; and received and held for mo&longs;t certain and true; and that con­&longs;equently the Mobility of the Sun, and Stability of the Earth, as being &longs;uch, are de Fide to be held for true, and the contrary opinion to be deemed Heretical: I &longs;hall propo&longs;e to con&longs;idera­tion, in the fir&longs;t place, That of Natural Propo&longs;itions, &longs;ome there are, of which all humane Science and Di&longs;cour&longs;e can furni&longs;h us only with &longs;ome plau&longs;ible opinion, and probable conjecture ra­ther than with any certain and demon&longs;trative knowledge; as for example, whether the Stars be animated: Others there are, of which we have, or may confidently believe that we may have, by Experiments, long Ob&longs;ervations, and Nece&longs;&longs;ary Demon&longs;tra­tions an undubitable a&longs;&longs;urance; as for in&longs;tance, whether the Earth and Heavens move, or not; whether the Heavens are Spherical, or otherwi&longs;e. As to the fir&longs;t &longs;ort, I doubt not in the lea&longs;t, that if humane Ratiocinations cannot reach them, and that con&longs;equently there is no Science to be had of them, but on­ly an Opinion or Belief, we ought fully and ab&longs;olutely to com­ply with the meer Verbal Sen&longs;e of the Scripture: But as to the other Po&longs;itions, I &longs;hould think (as hath been &longs;aid above) That we are fir&longs;t to a&longs;certain our &longs;elves of the fact it &longs;elf, which will a&longs;&longs;i&longs;t us in finding out the true &longs;en&longs;es of the Scriptures; which &longs;hall mo&longs;t certainly be found to accord with the fact demon&longs;tra­ted, for two truths can never contradict each other. And this I take to be a Doctrine orthodox and undoubted, for that I &longs;inde it written in Saint Augu&longs;tine, who &longs;peaking to our point of the Figure of Heaven, and what it is to be believed to be, in regard that which A&longs;tronomers affirm concerning it &longs;eemeth to be, contrary to the Scripture, (they holding it to be rotund, and the Scripture calling it as it were a ^{*} Curtain, determi­neth that we are not at all to regard that the Scripture contra­dicts A&longs;tronomers; but to believe its Authority, if that which they &longs;ay &longs;hall be fal&longs;e, and founded, only on the conjectures of humane infirmity: but if that which which they affirm be pro­ved by indubitable Rea&longs;ons, this Holy Father doth not &longs;ay, that the A&longs;tronomers are to be enjoyned, that they them&longs;elves re&longs;olving and renouncing their Demon&longs;trations do declare their Conclu&longs;ion to be fal&longs;e, but &longs;aith, that it ought to be de­mon&longs;trated, That what is &longs;aid in Scripture of a Curtain is not contrary to their true Demon&longs;trations. The&longs;e are his words: (h) But &longs;ome object; How doth it appear, that the &longs;aying in our Bibles, Who &longs;tretcheth out the Heaven as a Curtain, maketh not again&longs;t tho&longs;e who maintain the Heavens to be in figure of a Sphere? Let it be &longs;o, if that be fal&longs;e which they affirme: For that is truth which is &longs;poke by Divine Authority, rather than that which proceeds from Humane In&longs;irmity. But if peradven­ture they &longs;hould be able to prove their Po&longs;ition by &longs;uch Experiments as puts it out of que&longs;tion, it is to be proved, that what is &longs;aid in Scripture concerning a Curtain, doth in no wi&longs;e contradict their manife&longs;t Rea&longs;ons.

* Pelle, a Skin in the Original, out in our Bibles a Curtain.

(h) Sed ait ali­quis, quomodo non e&longs;t coutrarium iis, qui figur am Sphæ­ræ Cœlo tribunt, quod &longs;criptum e&longs;t en Libris No&longs;tris,Qui extendit Cœ­lum, &longs;icut pellem? Stt &longs;ane contrari­um, &longs;i fal&longs;um e&longs;t, quod illi dicunt: hoc enim verum e&longs;t, quod Divina dicit authoritas, potius quans illud, quod humana in­firmitas conjicit. Sed &longs;i forte illud talibus illi docu­mentis probare po­tuerint, at dubi­tari inde non debe­at; demon&longs;trandum e&longs;t, hoc quod apud nos e&longs;t de Pelle di­ctum, veris illis rationibus non e&longs;&longs;e contrarium.

He proceedeth afterwards to admoni&longs;h us that we ought to be no le&longs;s careful and ob&longs;ervant in reconciling a Text of Scripture with a demon&longs;trated Natural Propo&longs;ition, than with another Text of Scripture which &longs;hould &longs;ound to a contrary Sen&longs;e. Nay methinks that the circum&longs;pection of this Saint is worthy to be ad­mired and imitated, who even in ob&longs;cure Conclu&longs;ions, and of which we may a&longs;&longs;ure our &longs;elves that we can have no knowledge or Science by humane demon&longs;tration, is very re&longs;erved in deter­mining what is to be believed, as we &longs;ee by that which he wri­teth in the end of his &longs;econd Book, de Gene&longs;i ad Litteram, &longs;peak­ing, whether the Stars are to be believed animate: (i) Whichparticular, although (at pre&longs;ent) it cannot ea&longs;ily be comprehended, yet I &longs;uppo&longs;e in our farther Progre&longs;s of bandling the Scriptures, we may meet with &longs;ome more pertinent places, upon which it will be permitted us (if not to determin any thing for certain, yet) to &longs;ugge&longs;t &longs;omewhat concerning this matter, according to the dictates of Sacred Authority. But now, the moderation of pious gravity being alwaies ob&longs;erved, we ought to receive nothing ra&longs;hly in a doubtful point, lea&longs;t perhaps we reject that out of re&longs;pect to our Errour, which hereafter Truth may di&longs;cover, to be in no wi&longs;e repugnant to the Sacred Volumes of the Old and New Te­&longs;tament.

(i) Quod licet in pra&longs;enti facile non po&longs;&longs;it comprehendi; arbitror tamen, in proce&longs;&longs;is tract an­dærum Scriptura­rum, opportuntora loca po&longs;&longs;e occurre­re, ubinobis de hac re, &longs;ecundum San­ctæ auctoritatis Litteras, et&longs;i non o&longs;tendere certum aliquid, tamen cre­dere licebit. Nunc autem, &longs;ervat â &longs;emper moderatio­ne piæ gravitatis, nihil credere dere ob&longs;cura temere debemus; ne fortè, quoà po&longs;tea verit as patefecerit, quam­vis Libris San­ctis, &longs;ive Te&longs;ta­menti veteris, &longs;ive, novi nullo modo e&longs;­&longs;e po&longs;&longs;it æever&longs;um, tamen propter a­morem no&longs;tri er­roris, oderimus.

By this and other places (if I deceive not my &longs;elf) the intent of the Holy Fathers appeareth to be, That in Natural que&longs;tions, and which are not de Fide, it is fir&longs;t to be con&longs;idered, whether they be indubitably demon&longs;trated, or by &longs;en&longs;ible Experiments known; or whether &longs;uch a knowledge and demon&longs;tration is to be had; which having obtained, and it being the gift of God, it ought to be applyed to find out the true Sences of the Sacred Pa­ges in tho&longs;e places, which in appearance might &longs;eem to &longs;peak to a contrary meaning: Which will unque&longs;tionably be pierced into by Prudent Divines, together with the occa&longs;ions that moved the Holy Gho&longs;t, (for our exerci&longs;e, or for &longs;ome other rea&longs;on to me un­known) to veil it &longs;elf &longs;ometimes under words of different &longs;igni­fications.

Id. D Aug. in Gen. ad Lute­ram, lib. 1. in fine.

As to the other point, Of our regarding the Primary Scope of tho&longs;e Sacred Volumes, I cannot think that their having &longs;poken alwaies in the &longs;ame tenour, doth any thing at all di&longs;turb this Rule. For if it hath been the Scope of the Scripture by way of conde&longs;cention to the capacity of the Vulgar at any time, to ex­ pre&longs;s a Propo&longs;ition in words, that bear a &longs;en&longs;e different from the E&longs;&longs;ence of the &longs;aid Propo&longs;ition; why might it not have ob&longs;erved the &longs;ame, and for the &longs;ame re&longs;pect, as often as it had occa&longs;ion to &longs;peak of the &longs;ame thing? Nay I conceive, that to have done otherwi&longs;e, would but have encrea&longs;ed the confu&longs;ion, and dimi­ni&longs;hed the credit that the&longs;e Sacred Records ought to have a­mong&longs;t the Common People.

Again, that touching the Re&longs;t and Motion of the Sun and Earth, it was nece&longs;&longs;ary, for accommodation. to Popular Capa­city, to a&longs;&longs;ert that which the Litteral &longs;en&longs;e of the Scripture im­porteth, experience plainly proveth: For that even to our dayes people far le&longs;s rude, do continue in the &longs;ame Opinion upon Rea­&longs;ons, that if they were well weighed and examined, would be found to be extream trivial, and upon Experiments, either whol­ly fal&longs;e, or altogether be&longs;ides the purpo&longs;e. Nor is it worth while to go about to remove them from it, they being incapable of the contrary Rea&longs;ons that depend upon too exqui&longs;ite Ob&longs;er­vations, and too &longs;ubtil Demon&longs;trations, grounded upon Ab&longs;tra­ctions, which, for the comprehending of them, require too &longs;trong an Imagination. Whereupon, although that the Stability of Heaveu, and Motion of the Earth &longs;hould be more than certain and demon&longs;trated to the Wi&longs;e; yet neverthele&longs;s it would be nece&longs;&longs;ary, for the con&longs;ervation of credit among&longs;t the Vulgar, to affirm the contrary: For that of a thou&longs;and ordinary men, that come to be que&longs;tioned concerning the&longs;e particulars, its probab e that there will not be found &longs;o much as one that will not an­&longs;wer that he thinketh, and &longs;o certainly he doth, that the Sun moveth, and the Earth &longs;tandeth &longs;till. But yet none ought to take this common Popular A&longs;&longs;ent to be any Argument of the truth of that which is affirmed: For if we &longs;hould examine the&longs;e very men touching the grounds and motives by which they are induced to believe in that manner; and on the other &longs;ide &longs;hould hear what Experiments and Demon&longs;trationslper&longs;wade tho&longs;e few others to believe the contrary, we &longs;hould finde the&longs;e latter to be moved by mo&longs;t &longs;olid Rea&longs;ons, and the former by &longs;imple appearances, and vain and ridiculous occurrences. That therefore it was nece&longs;&longs;ary to a&longs;&longs;ign Motion to the Sun, and Re&longs;t to the earth, le&longs;t the &longs;hallow capacity of the Vulgar &longs;hould be confounded, amu&longs;ed, and rendred ob&longs;tinate and contumacious, in giving credit to the principal Articles, and which are ab&longs;olute­ly de fide, it is &longs;ufficiently obvious. And if it was nece&longs;&longs;ary &longs;o to do, it is not at all to be wondred at, that it was with extraor­dinary Wi&longs;dom &longs;o done, in the Divine Scriptures.

But I will alledge further, That not onely a re&longs;pect to the Incapacity of the Vulgar, but the current Opinion of tho&longs;e times made the Sacred Writers, in the points that were not nece&longs;&longs;ary to &longs;alvation, to accommodate them&longs;elves more to the received u&longs;e, than to the true E&longs;&longs;ence of things: Of which S. Hieromtreating, writeth: (k) As if many things were not &longs;poken inthe Holy Scriptures according to the judgement of tho&longs;e times in which they were acted, and not according to that which truth contained. And el&longs;ewhere, the &longs;ame Saint: (l) It is the cu­&longs;tome for the Pen-men of Scripture, to deliver their Judgments in many things, according to the common received opinion that their times had of them. And ^{*} S. Thomas Aquinas in Job upon tho&longs;e words, Qui extendit Aquilonem &longs;uper vacuum, & appenditTerram &longs;uper nihilum: Noteth that the Scripture calleth that &longs;pace Vacuum and Nihilum, which imbraceth and invironeth the Earth, and which we know, not to be empty, bat filled with Air; Neverthele&longs;&longs;e, &longs;aith he, The Scripture to comply with the appre­hen&longs;ion of the Vulgar, who think that in that &longs;ame &longs;pace there is nothing, calleth it Vacuum and Nihilum. Here the words of S. Thomas, Quod de &longs;uperiori Hæmi&longs;phærio Cœli nibil nobis ap­paret, ni&longs;i &longs;patium aëre plenum, quod vulgares homines reputant Vacnum; loquitur enim &longs;ecundum exi&longs;timationem vulgarium ho­minum, prout e&longs;t mos in Sacra Scriptura. Now from this Place I think one may very Logically argue, That the Sacred Scripture for the &longs;ame re&longs;pect had much more rea&longs;on to phra&longs;e the Sun mo­veable, and the Earth immoveable. For if we &longs;hould try the ca­pacity of the Common People, we &longs;hould find them much more unapt to be per&longs;waded of the &longs;tability of the Sun, and Motion of the Earth, than that the &longs;pace that environeth it is full of Air. Therefore if the &longs;acred Authors, in this point, which had not &longs;o much difficulty to be beat into the capacity of the Vulgar, have notwith&longs;tanding forborn to attempt per&longs;wading them unto it, it mu&longs;t needs &longs;eem very rea&longs;onable that in other Propo&longs;itions much more ab&longs;tru&longs;e they have ob&longs;erved the &longs;ame &longs;tile. Nay Copernicushim&longs;elf, knowing what power an antiquated cu&longs;tome and way of conceiving things become familiar to us from our infancy hath in our Fancy, that he might not increa&longs;e confu&longs;ion and dif­ficulty in our apprehen&longs;ions, after he had fir&longs;t demon&longs;trated, That the Motions which appear to us to belong to the Sun, or to the Firmament, are really in the Earth; in proceeding after­wards to reduce rhem into Tables, and to apply them to u&longs;e, he calleth them the Motions of the Sun, and of the Heaven that is above the Planets; expre&longs;ly terming them the Ri&longs;ing and Set­ting of the Sun and Stars; and mutations in the obliquity of the Zodiack, and variations in the points of the Equinoxes, the Middle Motion, Anomalia, Pro&longs;thaphære&longs;is of the Sun; and &longs;uch other things; which do in reality belong to the Earth: But be­ cau&longs;e being joyned to it, and con&longs;equently having a &longs;hare in eve­ry of its motions, we cannot immediately di&longs;cern them in her, but are forced to refer them to the Cele&longs;tial Bodies in which they appear; therefore we call them as if they were made there, where they &longs;eem to us to be made. Whence it is to be noted how ne­ne&longs;&longs;ary it is to accommodate our di&longs;cour&longs;e to our old and accu­&longs;tomed manner of under&longs;tanding.

(k) Qua&longs;i non multa in Scriptu­ris Sanctis dican­tur juxta opinio­nem illius tempor is quo ge&longs;t a referant, & non juxta quod rei veritas contine­bat. D. Hiero. in c. 28. Jerem.

(l) Con&longs;uctudi­nis Scripturarum e&longs;t, ut opinionem multarum rerum &longs;ic narret Hi&longs;tori­cus, quomodo eo tempore ab omni­bus credebatur. In cap. 13. Matth.

* D. Thomas, in cap. 26. Job. v. 7.

That, in the next place, the common con&longs;ent of Fathers, in re­ceiving a Natural Propo&longs;ition of Scripture, all in the &longs;ame &longs;en&longs;e ought to Authorize it &longs;o far, as to make it become a matter of Faith to believe it to be ^{*} &longs;o, I &longs;hould think that it ought at mo&longs;t to be under&longs;tood of tho&longs;e Conclu&longs;ions onely, which have beenby the &longs;aid Fathers di&longs;cu&longs;&longs;ed, and &longs;ifted with all po&longs;&longs;ible diligence, and debated on the one &longs;ide, and on the other, and all things in the end concurring to di&longs;prove the one, and prove the other. But the Mobility of the Earth, and Stability of the Sun, are not of this kinde; For, that the &longs;aid Opinion was in tho&longs;e times total­ly buried, and never brought among&longs;t the Que&longs;tions of the Schools, and not con&longs;idered, much le&longs;s followed by any one: So that it is to be believed that it never &longs;o much as entered into the thought of the Fathers to di&longs;pute it, the Places of Scripture, their own Opinion, and the a&longs;&longs;ent of men having all concurred in the &longs;ame judgement, without the contradiction of any one, &longs;o far as we can finde.

* Namely, ac­cording to the Lit­teral Sen&longs;e.

Be&longs;ides, it is not enough to &longs;ay that the Fathers all admit the &longs;tability of the Earth, &c. Therefore to believe it is a matter of Faith: But its nece&longs;&longs;ary to prove that they have condemned the contrary Opinion: For I may affirm and bide by this, That their not having occa&longs;ion to make &longs;atisfaction upon the &longs;ame, and to di&longs;cu&longs;s it, hath made them to omit and admit it, onely as cur­rent, but not as re&longs;olved and proved And I think I have very good Rea&longs;on for what I &longs;ay; For either the Fathers did make reflection upon this Conclu&longs;ion as controverted, or not: If not, then they could determin nothing concerning it no not in their private thoughts; and their incogitance doth not oblige us to receive tho&longs;e Precepts which they have not, &longs;o much as in their intentions enjoyned. But if they did reflect and con&longs;ider there­on, they would long &longs;ince have condemned it, if they had judged it erroneous; which we do not find that they have done. Nay, after that &longs;ome Divines have began to con&longs;ider it, we find that they have not deem'd it erroneous; as we read in the Commentaries of Didacus a Stunica upon Job, in Cap. 9, v. 6. on the words, Qui com­movet Terram de loco &longs;uo, &c. Where he at large di&longs;cour&longs;eth upon the Copernican Hypothe&longs;is, and concludeth, That the Mobility of the Earth, is not contrary to Scripture.

Withal, I may ju&longs;tly que&longs;tion the truth of that determination, namely, That the Church enjoyneth us to hold &longs;uch like Natural Conclu&longs;ions as matters of Faith, onely becau&longs;e they bear the &longs;tamp of an unanimous Interpretation of all the Fathers: And I do &longs;uppo&longs;e that it may po&longs;&longs;ibly be, that tho&longs;e who hold in this manner, might po&longs;&longs;ibly have gone about in favour of their own Opinion, to have amplified the Decretal of the Councils; which I cannot finde in this ca&longs;e to prohibit any other, &longs;ave onely, Per­verting to Sen&longs;es contrary to that of Holy Church, or of the concurrent con&longs;ent of Fathers, tho&longs;e places, and tho&longs;e onely that do pertain either to Faith or Manners, or concern our edification in the Doctrine of Chri&longs;tianity: And thus &longs;peaks the Council of Trent. Se&longs;&longs;. 4. But the Mobility or Stability of the Earth, or of the Sun, are not matters of Faith, nor contrary to Manners, nor is there any one, that for the &longs;tabli&longs;hing of this Opinion, will pervert places of Scripture in oppo&longs;ition to the Holy Church, or to the Fathers: Nay, Tho&longs;e who have writ of this Doctrine, did never make u&longs;e of Texts of Scripture; that they might leave it &longs;till in the brea&longs;ts of Grave and Prudent Divines to interpret the &longs;aid Places, according to their true meaning.

Concil. Trid. Se&longs;&longs;.4.

And how far the Decrees of Councills do comply with the Ho­ly Fathers in the&longs;e particulars, may be &longs;ufficiently manife&longs;t, in that they are &longs;o far from enjoyning to receive &longs;uch like Natural Conclu&longs;ions for matters of Faith, or from cen&longs;uring the contrary Opinions as erronious; that rather re&longs;pecting the Primitive and primary intention of the Holy Church, they do adjudge it un­profitable to be bu&longs;ied in examining the truth thereof. Let your Highne&longs;s be plea&longs;ed to hear once again what S. Augu&longs;tinean&longs;wers to to tho&longs;e Brethren who put the Que&longs;tion, Whether it be true that Heaven moveth, or &longs;tandeth &longs;till? (*) To the&longs;e I an&longs;wer, That Points of this nature require a curious and pro­found examination, that it may truly appear whether they be true or fal&longs;e; a work incon&longs;i&longs;tent with my lea&longs;ure to under­take or go thorow with, nor is it any way nece&longs;&longs;ary for tho&longs;e, whom we de&longs;ire to inform of the things that more nearly concern their own &longs;alvation and The Churches Be­nefit.

(*) His re­&longs;pondeo, multum &longs;ubüliter, & labo­rio&longs;is ratiombus, i&longs;ta perquirere, ut vere percipiatur, ntrum ita, an non ita &longs;it: quibus in­eundis atque tra­ctandis, nec mihi jam tempus e&longs;t, nec illis e&longs;&longs;e debet, quos ad &longs;alutem &longs;uam, Sanctæ Ec­cle&longs;iæ nece&longs;&longs;ariam utilitatem cupi mus informari.

But yet although in Natural Propo&longs;itions we were to take the re&longs;olution of condemning or admitting them from Texts of Scri­pture unanimou&longs;ly expounded in the &longs;ame Sen&longs;e by all the Fa­thers, yet do I not &longs;ee how this Rule can hold in our Ca&longs;e; for that upon the &longs;ame Places we read &longs;everal Expo&longs;itions in the Fathers; (m) Diony&longs;ius Areopagita &longs;aying, That the Primum Mobile, and not the Sun &longs;tand &longs;till. Saint Augu&longs;tine is of the &longs;ame Opinion; (n) All the Cele&longs;tial Bodies were immoveable. And with them concurreth Abulen&longs;is. But which is more, among&longs;t the Jewi&longs;h Authors (whom Jo&longs;ephus applauds) &longs;ome have held, (o) That The Sun did not really &longs;tand &longs;till, but &longs;eemed &longs;o to do, during the&longs;hort time in which I&longs;rael gave the overthrow to their Enemies.So for the Miracle in the time of Hezekiah, Paulus Burgen&longs;is is of opinion that it was not wrought on the Sun, but on the Diall. But that, in &longs;hort, it is nece&longs;&longs;ary to Glo&longs;&longs;e and Interpret the words of the Text in Jo&longs;hua, when ever the Worlds Sy&longs;teme is in di&longs;pute, I &longs;hall &longs;hew anon. Now finally, granting to the&longs;e Gentlemen more than they demand, to wit, That we are whol­ly to acquie&longs;ce in the judgment of Judicious Divines, and that in regard that &longs;uch a particular Di&longs;qui&longs;ition is not found to have been made by the Ancient Fathers, it may be undertaken by the Sages of our Age, who having fir&longs;t heard the Experiments, Ob&longs;ervations, Rea&longs;ons, and Demon&longs;trations of Philolophers and Aftronomers, on the one &longs;ide, and on the other (&longs;eeing that the Controver&longs;ie is about Natural Problems, and Nece&longs;&longs;ary Dilem­ma's, and which cannot po&longs;&longs;ibly be otherwi&longs;e than in one of the two manners in controver&longs;ie) they may with competent cer­tainty determine what Divine In&longs;pirations &longs;hall dictate to them. But that without minutely examining and di&longs;cu&longs;&longs;ing all the Rea­&longs;ons on both &longs;ides; and without ever comming to any certainty of the truth of the Ca&longs;e, &longs;nch a Re&longs;olution &longs;hould be taken, Is not to be hoped from tho&longs;e who do not &longs;tick to hazzard the Ma­je&longs;ty and Dignity of the Sacred Scripture, in defending the re­putation of their vain Fancies; Nor to be feared from tho&longs;e who make it their whole bu&longs;ine&longs;&longs;e, to examine with all in­ten&longs;ne&longs;s, what the Grounds of this Doctrine are; and that only in an Holy Zeal for Truth, the Sacred Scriptures, and for the Maje&longs;ty, Dignity, and Authority, in which every Chri&longs;tian &longs;hould indeavour to have them maintained. Which Dignity, who &longs;eeth not that it is with greater Zeal de&longs;ired and procured by tho&longs;e who, ab&longs;olutely &longs;ubmitting them&longs;elves to the Holy Church, de&longs;ire, not that this, or that opinion may be prohibi­ted, but onely that &longs;uch things may be propo&longs;ed to con&longs;idera­tion, as may the more a&longs;certain her in the &longs;afe&longs;t choice, than by tho&longs;e who being blinded by their particular Intere&longs;t, or &longs;timula­ted by malitious &longs;ugge&longs;tions, preach that &longs;he &longs;hould, without more ado, thunder out Cur&longs;es, for that &longs;he had power &longs;o to do: Not con&longs;idering that all that may be done is not alwayes conve­nient to be done. The Holy Fathers of old were not of this opinion, but rather knowing of how great prejudice, and how much again&longs;t the primary intent of the Catholick Church, it would be to go about from Texts of Scripture to decide Natu­ral Conclu&longs;ions, touching which, either Experiments or nece&longs;&longs;ary Demon&longs;trations, might in time to come evince the contrary, of that which the naked &longs;en&longs;e of the Words &longs;oundeth, they have not only proceeded with great circum&longs;pection, but have left the following Precepts for the in&longs;truction of others. (p) In pointsob&longs;cure and remote from our Sight, if we come to read any thing out of Sacred Writ, that, with a Salvo to the Faith that we have imbued, may corre&longs;pond with &longs;everal con&longs;tructions, let us not &longs;o farre throw our &longs;elves upon any of them with a precipitous ob­&longs;tinacy, as that if, perhaps the Truth being more diligently &longs;earch't into, it &longs;hould ju&longs;tly fall to the ground, we might fall together with it: and &longs;o &longs;hew that we contend not for the &longs;en&longs;e of Divine Scriptures, but our own, in that we would have that which is our own to be the &longs;en&longs;e of Scriptures, when as we &longs;hould ra­ther de&longs;ire the Scriptures meaning to be ours.

(m) Non Solem, &longs;ed Primum Mobile immotum con&longs;ti­ti&longs;&longs;e: Dioni&longs;. Areop.

(n) Omnia cor­pora Cæle&longs;tia, im­mota &longs;ub&longs;titi&longs;&longs;e:

(o) Solem re­vera non &longs;ub&longs;titi&longs;­&longs;e immorum, &longs;ed pro brevi tempore, intra quod I&longs;ræeli­tæ, ho&longs;tes &longs;uos fu­derunt, id ita vi­&longs;um e&longs;&longs;e.

I&longs;a. Cap. 38.

(p) In rebus ob­&longs;ouris, atque a no­&longs;tris oculis remi­ti&longs;&longs;imis, &longs;iqua inde &longs;cripta etiam divi­næ legerimus, quæ po&longs;&longs;int &longs;alva fide, qua imbuimur, a­liis atque altis pa­rere &longs;entextiis, in nullam earum nos præcipiti affirma­tione ita projici­amus, ut &longs;i forte ailigentiùs di&longs;cu&longs;­&longs;a veritas eam recte labefact averit, corruamus: non pro &longs;ententia Divinarum Scripturarum, &longs;ed pro no&longs;tra ita dimicantes, ut eam velimus Scripturarum e&longs;&longs;e, quæ no&longs;tra e&longs;t, cum potius eam quæ Scripturarum e&longs;t, no&longs;tram e&longs;&longs;e velle debeamus,Divus Augu&longs;tin. in Gen. ad Litteram, lib. 2. c. 18. & &longs;eque

He goeth on, and a little after teacheth us, that no Propo&longs;i­tion can be again&longs;t the Faith, unle&longs;&longs;e fir&longs;t it be demon&longs;trated fal&longs;e; &longs;aying, (q) Tis not all the while contrary to Faith, until it be di&longs;proved by mo&longs;t certain Truth, which if it &longs;hould &longs;o be, the Holy Scripture affirm'd it not, but Humane Ignorance &longs;uppo&longs;ed it.Whereby we &longs;ee that the &longs;en&longs;es which we impo&longs;e on Texts of Scripture, would be fal&longs;e, when ever they &longs;hould di&longs;agree with Truths demon&longs;trated. And therefore we ought, by help of de­mon&longs;trated Truth, to &longs;eek the undoubted &longs;en&longs;e of Scripture: and not according to the &longs;ound of the words, that may &longs;eem true to our weakne&longs;&longs;e, to go about, as it were, to force Na­ture, and to deny Experiments and Nece&longs;&longs;ary Demon&longs;tra­tions.

(q) Tam diu non e&longs;t extra fidem, do­nec Veritate cer­ti&longs;&longs;ima refellatur. Quod &longs;i fæctum fuerit, non hoc ha­bebut Divina Scri­ptura, &longs;ed hoc &longs;en­&longs;er at humana Ig­norantia. Ibid.

Let Your Highne&longs;&longs;e be plea&longs;ed to ob&longs;erve farther, with how great circum&longs;pection this Holy Man proceedeth, before he af­firmeth any Interpretation of Scripture to be &longs;ure, and in &longs;uch wi&longs;e certain, as that it need not fear the encounter of any diffi­culty that may procure it di&longs;turbance, for not contenting him&longs;elf that &longs;ome &longs;en&longs;e of Scripture agreeth with &longs;ome Demon­&longs;tration, he &longs;ubjoynes. (r) But if right Rea&longs;on &longs;hall demon­&longs;trate this to be true, yet is it que&longs;tionable whether in the&longs;e words of Sacred Scripture the Pen-man would have this to be under­&longs;tood, or &longs;omewhat el&longs;e, no le&longs;&longs;e true. And in ca&longs;e the Context of his Words &longs;hall prove that he intended not this, yet will not that which he would have to be under&longs;tood be therefore fal&longs;e, but mo&longs;t true, aad that which is more profitable to be known.

(r) Si autem hoc verum e&longs;&longs;e ve­ra ratio demon­&longs;traverit, adhuc incertum erit, u­trum hoc in illis verbis Sanctorum Librorum, Scrip­tor &longs;entiri volue­rit, an aliquid a­liud non minus ve­rum. Quod &longs;i cætera contextio &longs;ermonis non hoc eum volui&longs;&longs;e probaverit, non ideo fal&longs;um erit aliud, quod ip&longs;e intelligi voluit, &longs;ed & verum, & quod utilius cogno&longs;catur.

But that which increa&longs;eth our wonder concerning the cir­ cum&longs;pection, wherewith this Pious Authour proceedeth, is, that not tru&longs;ting to his ob&longs;erving, that both Demon&longs;trative Rea&longs;ons, and the &longs;en&longs;e that the words of Scripture and the re&longs;t of the Context both precedent and &longs;ub&longs;equent, do con&longs;pire to prove the &longs;ame thing, he addeth the following words.

(&longs;) Si autem con­textio Scripturæ, hoc volui&longs;&longs;e intel­ligi Scriptorem, non repugnaverit, adhuc re&longs;tabit quærere, utrum & aliud non potuerit.

(&longs;) But if the Context do not hold forth any thing that maydi&longs;prove this to be the Authors Sen&longs;é, it yet remains to enquire, Whether the other may not be intended al&longs;o. And not yet re&longs;olving to accept of one Sen&longs;e, or reject another, but thinking that he could never u&longs;e &longs;ufficient caution, he proceedeth: (t) But if &longs;o be we finde that the other may be al&longs;o meant, it will be doubted which of them he would have to &longs;tand; or which in probability he may be thought to aim at, if the true circum&longs;tances on both &longs;ides be weighed. And la&longs;tly, intending to render a Rea&longs;on of this his Rule, by &longs;hewing us to what perils tho&longs;e men expo&longs;e the Scri­ptures, and the Church; who, more re&longs;pecting the &longs;upport of their own errours, than the Scriptures Dignity, would &longs;tretch its Authority beyond the Bounds which it pre&longs;cribeth to it &longs;elf, he &longs;ubjoyns the en&longs;uing words, which of them&longs;elves alone might &longs;uffice to repre&longs;s and moderate the exce&longs;&longs;ive liberty, which &longs;ome think that they may a&longs;&longs;ume to them&longs;elves: (u) For it many times falls out, that a Chri&longs;tian may not &longs;o fully under&longs;tand a Point concerning the Earth, lieaven, and the re&longs;t of this Worlds Elements; the Motion, Conver&longs;ion, Magnitude, and Di&longs;tances of the Stars, the certain defects of the Sun and Moon, the Revoluti­ons of Years and Times, the Nature of Animals, Fruits, Stones, and other things of like nature, as to defend the &longs;ame by right Rea&longs;on, or make it out by Experiments. But its too great an ab­&longs;urdity, yea mo&longs;t pernicious, and chiefly to be avoided, to let an Infidel finde a Chri&longs;tian &longs;o &longs;tupid, that he &longs;hould argue the&longs;e mat­ters; as if they were according to Chri&longs;tian Doctrine; and make him (as the Proverb &longs;aith) &longs;carce able to contain his laughter, &longs;ee­ing him &longs;o far from the Mark Nor is the matter &longs;o much that one in an errour &longs;hould be laught at, but that our Authors &longs;hould be thought by them that are without, to be of the &longs;ame Opinion, and to the great prejudice of tho&longs;e, who&longs;e &longs;alvation we wait for, &longs;en&longs;urcd and rejected as unlearned. For when they &longs;hal confute any one of the Chri&longs;tians in that matter, which they them&longs;elvs thorowly under­&longs;tand, and &longs;hall thereupon expre&longs;s their light e&longs;teem of our Books; how &longs;hall the&longs;e Volumes be believed touching the Re&longs;urrection of the Dead, the Hope of eternal Life, and the Kingdom of Heaven; when, as to the&longs;e Points which admit of pre&longs;ent Demon&longs;tration, or undoubted Rea&longs;ons, they conceive them to be fal&longs;ly written.