St. Augustine, Of the citie of God vvith the learned comments of Io. Lod. Viues. Englished by I.H.

Against the Platonists that oppose the eleuation of the body vp to heauen, by arguments of elementary ponderosity. CHAP. 11.

AGainst this promise do many (whose thoughts God knoweth to be vaine) make op∣positiō * 1.1 out of the nature of elements: Plato (their M^r.) teaching them that the

two most contrary bodies of the world are combined by other two meanes: that is, by ayre, and water. Therefore (say they) earth being lowest, water next, then ayre, and then the heauen, earth cannot possibly bee contained in heauen▪ euery element hauing his peculiar poise, and tending naturally to his proper place. See with what vaine, weake, and weightlesse arguments mans infirmity opposeth Gods omnipotency! Why then are there so many earthly bodies in the ayre▪ ayre being the third element from earth? Cannot he that gaue birds (that are earthly bodyes) fethers, of power to sustaine them in the ayre, giue the like power to glorified and immortall bodies, to possesse the heauen? Againe, if this reason of theirs were true, all that cannot flie, should liue vnder the earth, as fishes doe in the water. Why then doe not the earthly creatures liue in the water, which is the next element vnto earth, but in the ayre, which is the third? And seeing they belong to the earth, why doth the next element aboue the earth presently choake them, and drowne them, and the third feed and nourish them? Are the elements out of order here now, or are their arguments out of reason? I will not stand heere to make a rehearsall of what I spake in the thirteene booke, of many ter∣rene substances of great weight, as Lead, Iron, &c. which not-with-standing may haue such a forme giuen it, that it will swimme, and support it selfe vpon the water. And cannot God almighty giue the body of man such a forme like-wise that it may ascend, and support it selfe in heauen? Let them stick to their method of elements (which is all their trust) yet can they not tell what to say to my former assertion. For earth is the lowest element, and then water and ayre suc∣cessiuely, and heauen the fourth and highest, but the soule is a fifth essence aboue them all. Aristotle calleth it a fifth (a) body, and Plato saith it is vtterly incorpo∣reall. If it were the fift in order, then were it aboue the rest: but being incorpo∣reall, it is much more aboue all substances corporeall. What doth it then in a lumpe of earth, it being the most subtile, and this the most grosse essence? It be∣ing the most actiue, and this the most vnweeldy! Cannot the excellencie of it haue power to lift vp this? Hath the nature of the body power to draw downe a soule from heauen, and shall not the soule haue power to carry the body the∣ther whence it came it selfe? And now if we should examine the miracles which they parallell with those of our martyrs, wee should finde proofes against them∣selues out of their owne relations.

One of their greatest ones is that which Varro reports of a vestall votaresse, who being suspected of whoredome, filled a Siue with the water of Tiber and carried it vnto her Iudges, with-out spilling a drop. Who was it that kept the water in the siue, so that not one droppe passed through those thousand holes? Some God, or some Diuell, they must needs say. Well, if hee were a God, is hee greater then hee that made the world? if then an inferiour God, Angell, or De∣uill had this power to dispose thus of an heauie element, that the very nature of it seemed altered; cannot then the Almighty maker of the whole world, take away the ponderosity of earth, and giue the quickned body an hability to dwell in the same place that the quickning spirit shall elect? And where-as they place the ayre betweene the fire aboue, and the water beneath, how commeth it that wee often-times finde it betweene water and water, or betweene water and earth; for what will they make of those watry clowds, betweene which and the sea, the ayre hath an ordinary passage? What order of the elements doth appoint, that those flouds of raine that fall vpon the earth below the ayre, should first hang in the clowds aboue the ayre? And why is ayre in the midst betweene the heauen,

and the earth, if it were (as they say) to haue the place betweene the heauens and the waters, as water is betweene it and the earth? And lastly, if the elements bee so disposed as that the two meanes, ayre and water, doe combine the two ex∣treames, fire and earth, heauen being in the highest place, and earth in the lowest, as the worlds foundation, and therefore (say they) impossible to bee in heauen; what doe wee then with fire here vpon earth? for if this order of theirs bee kept inuiolate, then, as earth cannot haue any place in fire, no more should fire haue any in earth: as that which is lowest cannot haue residence aloft, no more should that which is aloft haue residence below. But we see this order renuersed: We haue fire both on the earth, and in the earth: the mountaine tops giue it vp in a∣boundance, nay more, wee see that fire is produced out of earth•…•…, namely of wood, and stones, and what are these but earthly bodyes? yea but the elementary fire (say they) is pure, hurtlesse, quiet, and eternall: and this of ours, turbulent, smoakie, corrupting, and corruptible. Yet doth it not corrupt nor hurt the hills where-in it burneth perpetually, nor the hollowes within ground, where it work∣eth most powerfully. It is not like the other indeed, but adapted vnto the conue∣nient vse of man. But why then may we not beleeue that the nature of a corrup∣tible body may bee made incorruptible, and fitte for heauen, as well as we see the elementary fire made corruptible, and fitte for vs? So that these arguments drawne from the sight and qualities of the elements, can no way diminish the power that Almighty God hath, to make mans body of a quality fitte and able to inhabite the heauens.

L. VIVES.

A Fifth (a) body] But Aristotle frees the soule from all corporeall beeing, as you may read De anima, lib. 1. disputing against Democritus, Empedocles, Alcm•…•…on, Plato and Xenocra∣tes. But indeed, Plato teaching that the soule was composed of celestiall fire taken from the starres, and with-all, that the starres were composed of the elementary bodies, made Aristotle thinke (else-where) that it was of an elementary nature as well as the starres whence it was taken. But in this hee mistooke him-selfe and miss-vnderstood his maister. But indeed Saint Augustine in this place taketh the opinion of Aristotle from Tully (for Aristotles bookes were rare, and vntranslated as then) who saith that hee held their soule to bee quintam na∣turam, which Saint Augustine calleth quintum corpus, a fifth body, seuerall from the elemen∣tary compounds. But indeede it is a question whether Aristotle hold the soule to bee corpo∣reall or no, hee is obscure on both sides, though his followers •…•…old that it is absolutely incor∣poreall, as wee hold generally at this day. And Tullyes words were cause both of Saint Au∣gustines miss-prision, and like-wise set almost all the Grecians both of this age and the last, against him-selfe, for calling the soule 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, whereas they say Aristotle calleth it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that is, habitio perfecta, and not motio pere•…•…nis, as Tullyes word implieth. But alas, why should Tully be so baited for so small an error? O let vs bee ashamed to vpbraide the father of Latine eloquence with any misprision, for his errors are generally more learned then our labours!

Notes

• * 1.1

  Psal▪ 93.