Sacred and Truly Christian Philosophy, or Cosmic Meteorology

On the Primary Principles of Meteors. 11

CHAPTER VI.

In which our aforementioned principles—both the primary ones with their attendants, and the secondary ones—are established by various testimonies from the Holy Scriptures as well as from the Cabalists and philosophers.

The "Cabalists" were practitioners of Kabbalah, a Jewish mystical tradition. Robert Fludd, the likely author, was part of a movement of "Christian Cabalists" who believed these ancient mystical secrets confirmed Christian doctrine and natural philosophy.

Although these three principles of ours, and those things which proceed from them, are demonstrated clearly enough from the preceding chapters and from several passages of Holy Scripture; nevertheless, in order to fundamentally remove the objections of both the envious and the ignorant who speak against them, we shall bring forth certain other testimonies from the Holy Bible to confirm these primary principles. He reveals (says Job) the foundations from the darkness, and brings out the shadow of death into the light, Job 12:22. original: vmbram lethalem, literally "the lethal shadow." By which speech he seems to argue that GOD brought forth the waters—which (according to the opinion of Saint Peter cited above) were the matter or subject of the world’s construction This refers to 2 Peter 3:5: "...by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water."—out of darkness, so that the water, which he called the "shadow of death" insofar as it was destitute of all form or appearance, was brought back into light with its splendor now revealed; that is, it took on the form of waters. Whence Moses said—