Sacred and Truly Christian Philosophy, or Cosmic Meteorology

Section I. Portion I. Part I. Book I.

CHAPTER V.

On the progression in Nature which occurred from these primary principles toward the fabric of the three Elements: which are the secondary principles of Natural things.

Thus, once these simple qualities—and those derived from them—were produced from the aforementioned principles of Nature, the movement of nature then immediately tended toward the generation of secondary principles, which are called elements. In this state of simplicity, Nature seems to rest in its absolute construction of the world, so that in such a condition it would remain without any evident change or alteration until the very end. However, those things that follow these in the order of nature, pertaining both to the generation of a perfectly mixed body and to its corruption in this sublunary world The "sublunary world" refers to the region below the moon, which in ancient science was the realm of change, decay, and death, unlike the "unchanging" heavens., are subject to daily changes and alterations and can never rest in the same state for long. These are called meteors or imperfect mixtures, which we have not unwisely designated as tertiary principles, as was declared in its place in Part 1, Section 1, Portion 1, regarding the physiological discourse of both worlds, and will be explained more copiously below. Concerning these principles subject to change, as well as those simple ones—meaning the simple, least corruptible elements—the Wise Man A common title for King Solomon, the traditional author of Ecclesiastes. understood this when he spoke these words: Generation passes away, and generation arrives, but the earth stands forever original: "Generatio præterit, & generatio aduenit, terra autem in æternum ſtat." This is a quote from Ecclesiastes 1:4., arguing from this that the elements are immutable (meaning they are not to be resolved back into their primary principles), but that all "Generable" things, such as meteors and things procreated from them, are subject to alterations.

Just as three principles offered themselves at the first moment of the world's creation—namely, darkness (or Chaos), Light, and Water—so also in the production of these secondary principles, three parts of the universal water, distinct from one another in nature and quality, are seen to concur. Each of these has a very close relationship to one of the aforementioned primary principles. Of these portions of the moist sublunary nature, the highest is benevolently set aflame by the act of light and its heat. Since heat is excited by the vehement motion of light (for light is more mobile than all other things, as you will find abundantly in Chapter 1, Book 1 of our History of the Macrocosm), and since its nature is to thin and disperse the moist nature, it drives the humidity of the waters of that place downward from its region. From this, it happens that that place becomes very dry.

Furthermore, that moist vapor, having been driven downward toward the dark place of the earth, is naturally denied the ability to tend there because it participates in the heat of the light, which is in every way contrary to the terrestrial darkness and the cold inherent to it. Thus it happened that between these two extremes, a vast sphere of moisture was gathered, participating in both to some degree. Because of its commerce and proximity to the earth, the base of this sphere becomes thickened and rendered visible, borrowing its cold disposition from the earth. Hence, that portion of this sphere is called "cold and moist," just as, conversely, the part nearer to the luminous or fiery orb is the thinnest, and not as moist as the middle portion of the same, which is nonetheless called "moist and hot" along with the whole invisible portion.

And this is why Philosophers, both ancient and modern, have divided that sphere into two distinct elements, which they made Water and Air. However, my purpose in this discourse carries me to consider these two as nothing other than a single "moist element," which we call the Sphere of Moisture. In this way, we may better arrange these three principles according to the norm and order of those three prior ones. For Moses did not say: He divided the air from the water; but rather He divided the waters from the waters, etc. We therefore assign this sphere of moisture to the created waters. And just as in the first creation, the spirit of the Lord (or fiery love) was carried over the waters, so also the luminous orb (or fire) is carried over this sphere. Finally, the Earth, which is the lowest of the secondary principles, is compared to darkness—indeed, it is the gathering of darkness itself into the center of the universe. From this, cold keeps its offspring ready within its bowels to attack any invasion of the son of hot light.

Thus far, then, we have arrived at the completion of the fabric of the Macrocosm: namely, from the circumference of the shapeless shadows divided from the infinite darkness (from which the moist or aqueous matter of the world emerged) all the way to the center of the periphery, in which all the darkness resided.

But lest you think these things are fictions of mine or invented by my own brain—what we have put forward concerning the production of the first principles, the procreation of the primordial qualities (which serve the principles as handmaidens), and also the origin of the three Elements from them as secondary principles—I wish for you to observe with a diligent gaze and a somewhat more accurate speculation how these assertions of mine are defended by the consensus of Holy Scripture as well as those skilled in Theosophy and the mysteries of the Cabala original: "Cabala." Refers to Kabbalah, a tradition of Jewish mysticism that influenced many Renaissance thinkers., and how they seem to be supported by shoulders like those of Atlas.

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