Section I, Book 5, chapters 1–2: Winds, clouds, fountains, lightning and thunder (part 2 of 2)

To the second and third part of this clause, I say, that the medium by the which the winds are carried or moved, is, by far, more vast and large, then that which Aristotle assignes unto it; for the winde doth not blow and act onely in the lower; but also in the middle, yea, and in the upper region of the aire. If therefore the winde do blow in the middle region of the aire, then will the vigour of Aristotle's definition be taken away, forasmuch as the efficacy thereof doth chiefly consist in this, namely, that such a hot and dry exhalation, as is the cause of the wind, is not permitted to penetrate the middle region of the aire, but is reverberated, precipitated, and beaten down again, by the vertue of the middle region's cold, which resisteth the heat of the sublimed exhalation. Now if there be any wind in the middle region of the aire, this cause of the winde will be taken away, forasmuch as then the exhalation will not be repelled downwards into the lower region, where it should meet other ascending exhalations to make a noise, and to be dispersed laterally on the earth; for the exhalation which causeth a wind in the middle region, will not be driven down by the cold, but is observed to blow, and to move the clouds and thunders in the middle of that sphear; yea, it is made manifest by daily experience, that as well the upper or higher clouds, which are white and yellow, and therefore more light and subtle, by reason of their fiery brightnesse, as the lower, which are grosser and more obscure, are driven and pushed by the winds, from any quarter of the world unto the opposite; for except the winds were also present in that region, they could never move as on the wings of the winds in that manner. Do we not also observe, that the south-wind bloweth from the southern horizon, and another from the next, which is northern, so that both winds have dominion in either of the horizons, at all one and the same time, whereupon it often happeneth, that great and dark clouds, moving from each opposite quarter, by four of those contrary angelicall spirits, do meet in the point of each Horizon, and cause one masse or huge sea of clouds, serving as a Tabernacle unto the great spirit of wonders, which worketh or causeth these things: whereupon there followeth great lightnings and thunders, by the concourse of opposite angelicall natures, being the messengers, ministers, and voice of the Almighty, which never could have been effected, unless the winds by the will of the Almighty, had moved impetuously the one against the other in the middle-region of the aire. And this we have also confirmed out of Scripture, where it is said: Ascendit fumus e naribus IEHOVAE, carbones accensi sunt ab eo, inclinavit coelos, & descendit, & caligo sub pedibus ejus, & ascendit super Cherubin, & volavit & lapsus est super pennas venti, Posuit tenebras in circuitu suo latibulum, cribrans aquas de nubibus coelorum; prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes succensae sunt, tonabat de coelo Dominus, &c. Smoak ascended out of the nostrils of IEHOVA, coales are kindled by him. He inclined or bowed down the heavens and descended, and darkness was under his feet, and he ascended upon the Cherubin, and did flie, and glide upon the wings of the wind. He put the darknesse round about him, to serve for to hide him, sisting out waters from the clouds of heaven, before his face; for at his presence the clouds were set on fire, and the Lord did thunder from heaven, &c. Out of which speech we gather, that not only the Clouds, and Thunder, and Lightnings, are moved by the windy ministers or Angels of the Lord: but also that Divinity it self, being compassed about with dark clowds in the middle region of the aire, is carried upon the airy Cherubin, and useth the wings of the winds as organs to move on: Whereby each wise man may easily perceive, that the worldly wisdome or Peripateticall Philosophy is plain foolishness: being that it would falsly perswade the world, that such essentiall Acts, as are the Angelicall winds, (whose inward essence is the bright Spirit of the Lord) are caused accidentally, and are moved and stirred up by externall violence: when by the doctrine of the true wisdome, it is evident that they are indued with most essentiall internall Agents, and therefore do move where and when they list, according unto that before-mentioned of St. John: For (saith he) Spiritus spirat ubi vult: The Spirit bloweth where it lists. Which being so, as is apparent, that the wind hath actum, formam, & principium internum: An essentiall and inward act, form, and Principle, at the motion whereof it is moved or caused which way the invard mover pleaseth, and therefore the Text saith, Spirat ubi vult: It bloweth where it will, and consequently it is indued with a volunty or will: whereby each man may see how extravagant from the Truth is the Peripateticks reason touching this point, who admit no essentiall and internall form unto the Winds, but make it a thing meerly accidentall: As for example, the Starrs by their heat stir or draw up a smoak out of the Earth, this smoak soring on high, is by the coldness of the place pushed down again, then by other ascending fumes it is forced to move side-long. I beseech you (that are wise and unpartiall) teach me which of all these externall accidents in the procreation of the winds, can be esteemed for that internall or essentiall principle, which can cause a volunty or voluntary motion in the winds, or can produce any Angelicall act in the aire? For the Text saith, Spiritus spirat ubi vult. If there be no such essentiall volunty, or internall or centrall agent to be found or really imagined in Aristotle's fiction or fained wind; then let his breath that teacheth unto Christians such falshood, be as vainly esteemed, as his Doctrine is prestigious in it self. Was not the unlikelyhood of Aristoteticall assertion, the reason that hath made some of the wisest of his Physicall disciples to start and doubt, yea, and plainly to avert their opinions from this vain doctrin of their Master, touching the winds? Among the which John Freg[…]us, a man well seen in the Philosophy of Aristotle, after he had made mention of the causes of the Meteors, doth forthwith start from the mind of his Master, touching the winds, and breaketh forth into these terms: Quanquam tota disputatio de ventis, sicut de aliis Meteoris plena sit admirabilium operum Dei, quorum nullae firmae & sufficientes in natur[…] causae proferri possunt, tamen prodest videre quousque humana ratio pro gredi possit. Sacr[…] quidem literae dicunt Deum ventos producere. de the sauris suis unde ipsius flatus audimus, sed unde veniant aut quò vadant nescimus. Haec Freg. lib. 25. in causa Ventorum: Although the whole dispute of the winds, as also of the rest of the Meteors, be full of the admirable works of God, of the which there can be produced no firm, or certain causes in nature: yet it is commodious and fit to try and look into this mystery, as far as mans reason is able to see or penetrate. The holy Scripture doth say, that God produceth the winds out of his treasury, whereupon we hear their blasts, but know not from whence they come or whither they will. Thus far Fregius, in his 25. Book, upon the cause of the Winds.

But I will proceed a little further in this my inquiry. Aristotle and his Peripateticall Disciples aver, that the stormy and tempestuous wind, called Ecnephia, as also the Whirl-wind, are certain repentine or suddain winds, which are forcibly expelled out of the clowds, and yet forsooth he will not admit, that a hot and dry exhalation can penetrate into the middle region, by reason of the coldness thereof: but that we may dive a little deeper into the abysse of his absurdities, he confesseth that the cause of all fiery Meteors and Comets, is a hot and dry exhalation, which is terrestiall, crasse, fat, and unctuous, and therefore apt to be inflamed or set on fire: now he assigneth the place of Generation of comets, to be the higher region of the aire, and yet he denieth passage unto the exhalation, which causeth the winds, into the middle region, which is not inflamable, but thin and light. Can any man be so ignorant in naturall effects, as not to judge and imagine that cold will more suddainly resist, and withstand that which is inflamable and of an actuall fiery nature, as is the exhalation, which causeth the Comets, then that which is neither actually inflamable or fiery of it self, namely the fumes, which is said to be the Original of the winds? Again, it appeareth by his description of Comets, that their materiall substance is heavier, more terrestiall, crass, thick or compacted, then that of the winds, and therefore it must needs be less apt to ascend and penetrate (for as much as all ponderous things, by a naturall inclination, tend downward); then that of the winds, which is more light, subtill and thin, and consequently more apt to clime upward: wherefore it were impossible that the grosser fumes, which cause the Comets should ascend and penetrate into the upper region, as well by reason of their inflamable heat, as compact and ponderous nature, and yet the fumes of the winds, whose heat is not actually inflamable but light and penetrative, by reason of their subtility, should be debarred from passing higher.

But I come unto the examination of the third member, and although I have already spoken somewhat concerning it, yet it is fit, that touching this point I utter my mind a little more at large in this place, because it is most pertinent unto our detection of this worldly wisdome's folly and errour. He describeth therefore in this member a double act of the wind, both which he but maketh accidents, as if a man should say, that they do not move from an internall and essentiall principle, but rather by externall accidents, namely by the heat of the Sun or Starrs, by the cold of the middle region of the aire, and the justling or encounter of other ascendent fumes: whereby he concludeth, that it moveth the aire allaterally and by consequence it happeneth by chance, and through externall means. What a glittering and golden lie is this, much like one of those fabulous figments of the antient Poets: a thing, I say, which maketh a faire shew, but is, in verity, without substance: For by this assertion he maketh the winds nothing else but quid per accidens, when contrarily the mouth of Truth flatly contradicteth such a falshood, affirming that the wind proceedeth primordially, from the Divine Spirit or breath of God: yea, and it is termed by it an Angell, which is dilated and sent forth every where to effect the will of him that animateth it. Qui facit Angelos ventos: saith David, Who maketh his Angells winds; that is, he animateth them essentially with his breath, and sendeth them forth as his messengers to do his will. And therefore the same Prophet saith in another place: Angeli Dei efficiunt verbum ejus: The Angels of God effect his word. And the Prophet Baruch: Ventus facit mandatum Dei: The wind accomplisheth the Commandement of God. And in another, Ventus procellosus efficie[…]s verbum Dei: The stormy or Tempestuous wind doth effect the Word of God. And the three Children in the fiery furnace: O venti benedicite Domino & exaltate eum super omnia in per petuum: O ye winds bless the Lord and exalt him above all things everlastingly. What say our Christian Peripateticks unto this? What? do they think that if the winds were such accidentall things, as their great Master doth make them, that God would employ them to effect his words, or if they had no internall principle in them could they laud the Lord, or move at pleasure to perform the will of him that sendeth them out? Nay verily, we will prove that the internall mover in the winds, is the essentiall inspiration or breath proceeding immediatly from God: Afflatu narium tuarum coacervatae sunt aquae, flavisti vento tuo, & operuit eos mare. The waters were gathered together in a heap by the breath of thy nostrils. Thou didst blow with thy wind, and the Sea did cover them. And Job, Flante Deo concrescit gelu: When God bloweth from the North the yce is made. Also that the winds are Divinely animated with a perfect life and intelligence, it is made evident by the four Angels, which are president over the four winds, and that universall Spirit which was called from the four winds, to breathe life into the dead carcasses, of which we will speak forthwith. And yet for all this the Ethnick Prince of our Philosophers will not blush (forsooth) to say, that the winde is a some-thing meerly accidentall, and that it hath his motion onely from externall principles, and not from that centrall and internall agent, which is the actor and operator of, and in all things, and consequently it could not blow or breathe where it listeth, nor yet to hear the voice of the Lord, when it was commanded to come from the four winds. He, according unto his fancy, saith, that this his figment is extracted out of the earth, when Scriptures say, that it is the most lively and agil creature of God, which he bringeth out of the heavens, (that are his treasure-house) for in this, both the Prophets, Jeremy and David, do consent. But in this member of his definition, he concludeth, that the laterall motion of the winde is caused through that resistance and impediment, which is made by such exhalations as ascend. O poor argument of so mighty a Philosopher! as if such a ventall motion as that is, from the north unto the south, and so forth, could be so certain and direct in his course, being guided by so uncertain an agent, as is an accidentall striving and contention made between ascending and descending fumes?

I beseech you tell me (my quaint Peripateticks) what manner of exhalation did rise out of the earth, and shoulder or shove and resist one another, in that emission of Spirit, which happened when the Prophet said, A quatuor ventis adveni, Spiritus, Come from the four winds, O spirit, me-thinks that I see the Christian pages or disciples of Aristotle, to be clean mute, and destitute of tongues to answer; and if they should say, that it was a miraculous winde, and not a naturall, I answer, that I know no more efficient causes in nature, or out of nature, but onely one; and therefore it is said in the production of Meteors, namely, in the common course of this world nature, God bloweth from the north. God produceth by his breath frost, snow, ice. God thundereth from heaven. God melteth the thick clouds into rain. God sends lightning from his throne, and coles of fire out of his mouth. God maketh the dark clouds his hiding place. God commeth from the south in thunder. The voice of the Lord maketh the cedars of mount Libanus to stoop, and the hinds to miscarry of their young ones. God is a consuming fire. Who can stand or resist the cold of God? and so forth, in many places more, as well of the new as old Testament. And, to conclude, that God operateth all in all, and that he vivifieth all, &c. But our Peripateticall Philosophers come with their School-tricks, and idle distinctions, and say, 'Tis true indeed, that he is causa efficiens principalls; but there are many secondary and subalternate causes in nature, which do act of themselves. I say, Plain dealing is a jewell, and truth being one simple essence, hateth double dealing; let us imitate her in plainnesse and simplicity in understanding; which we cannot attain unto, unlesse we abstract our minds from the subtle multiplicity of worldly Philosophy, and vain fallacy, (of which St. Paul biddeth us to beware) for in multitude lurketh an infinity of errours, but in unity consisteth that unique verity, which is true wisdom. Why then should we distract mens thoughts from the simple sense of Scripture, by a multiplicity of distinctions, which seem to wrest it, like a nose of wax, a hundred waies. Scriptures say, Of him, by him, and in him are all things. The holy spirit of wisdom filleth the world. The incorruptible Spirit is in all things. Christ filleth every thing. He vivifieth all things. He operateth all in all. He giveth life and inspiration, and all things. All things are from the Father by our Lord Jesus Christ. All things are in Christ, and by Christ, as well visible as invisible, and he in all things. He beareth and sustaineth all things by the word of his vertue. God is the Father of all, who is above all, and in all. And an infinite of other testimonies of Scriptures, which confirm the divine essence to be all in all, and to act all things universally without exception. And yet our Peripateticks will perswade us, that the creatures actions are divided from the act of God, so that they do and can act of themselves, through an active vertue given unto them by God, but not now of God; which assertion of theirs, were it true indeed, I will shew you how great an absurdity will follow, namely, that there must consequently be a division made in the divine essence, which axiom, true divinity will never admit, for Athanasius his Creed doth teach us, that it is sancta & individua Trinitas, the holy and undivided Trinity; and therefore what act the creature hath received, is not divided from the Giver, neither is there any such need, being the Giver of that formall vertue is by reason of that gift ever present, and not divided from the gift, and consequently acteth all in all, and that immediately. And for that cause it is rightly said by the divine Philosopher Hermes, to be the center of all things, whose circumference is every where; so that it is in all, but not as a part of any thing, but as a composer of all parts, and a container of them. Wherefore let it suffice our Peripateticks, that the creatures are onely organicall causes, in which one onely catholick Spirit worketh and operateth, according unto the variety of his property, which is annexed unto his will; and therefore he onely worketh in them, and by them, according unto his will, and that immediately and absolutely; and this is that which the Apostle intendeth, when he saith, Deus operatur omnia in omnibus, God worketh all in all. But to return unto my purpose. How deaf and surd had this invocation of the wise Solomon been, if the essence and life of the winds had been no other, then that which is set forth by Aristotle: Evigila (saith he) Aquilo, & veni Auster, & perflahortum meum; Awake northwind, and come thou, O south-wind, and blow upon my garden. To conclude, if the winds had been procreated after Aristotle's invention or imagination, whence cometh it, that each winde is endued with a various and divers condition or property, insomuch as the one is hot and moist, the other cold and dry, the third hot and dry, and the last cold and moist? It were impossible that this difference and variety should happen, if all winds were framed and fashioned onely after one fashion, that is, if they did move laterally by compulsion, as Aristotle telleth the tale.

I come now unto the last clause or member of the Peripateticall definition, which doth touch the finall end or reason of the production or creation of the winds. His opinion is, that his nature doth produce this manner of ventilation, for the purging and purifying of the aire, and for the preservation thereof. But we are taught by experience, that this is not true, being that we with Galen and Hippocrates do discern, that the southerly winds are contagious and pestiferous, forasmuch as they render the aire thick, and make it putrid and rotten by their malignant heat, and lax humidity: And this also we have confirmed by the sacred Text, Ne timeto (saith David) à lue seu daemonio vast ante in meridie, Fear not the pestilence o[…] corrupt daemon which commeth from the south. And Habacuck, Deo à meridio veniente praecessit (vel ante-ivit) eum pestis & antrax ad pedes ipsius. God comming from the south, the pestilence went before him, and at his feet went the boch or carbuncle. Yea verily, and all winds in a generality, as also the other meteors of heaven, are ordained by the Creator, as well for a whip and scourge, as to assist, preserve and save the creature, as by many places of Scripture we are certified, and Job in expresse tearms hath taught us. And therefore Aristotle hath erred in his judgment, concerning the finall cause of the winds, as well as in the rest.

We may justly hereupon conclude, that this definition of our pagan Peripatetick, whom we Christians do adore, and follow with such devotion and reverence, is altogether false and of no validity, because the winds are creatures of a nature more essentially eminent and divine, than either Aristotle, or any of his factious sect did ever understand; forasmuch as they are not things without internall lights and essences, and do not consist onely of externall and adventitious motions, that is to say, are not made of fumes or exhalations, arising by accident or chance out of the earth. But, as Zacharias doth teach us, they are created and animated by an angelicall spirit, and stand before the Lord of all the earth, and are hid in the power or treasury of their Lord, out of the which he calleth them at his pleasure, to do and accomplish his will and pleasure upon the earth, and upon the seas, either ad vin[…]ictam seu punitionem, to revenge and punish: or else, ad misericordiam & benignitatem creaturis praebendam, to shew unto the creatures his mercy and benignity.