Observations Natural and Moral, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Whether the Windes have any weight or not?
Iob. 28.25. He maketh the weight for the winds.
GOd by his power reſtraineth the waters that they over flow not the whole earth, therefore Iob ſaith that he weigheth them by meaſure, leſt they abounding too much ſhould breake up the fountaines of the deepes as they did in Noahs time, therefore he fitteth the water to the Center of the earth; ſo Iob addeth, who maketh the weight for the winds: The winds are kept downe by a certaine weight.and as hee admired before, why the water overflowed not the whole earth, ſo he admireth now why the winds aſcend not up through the whole earth, but are caried about the earth, and are kept downe by a certaine weight.
Weight and levitie are not the firſt qualities of things, Non prime ſed ort…e. Weight and levitie are … not the firſt qualities.but they ariſe from the firſt qualities: theſe which are the firſt qualities are made of no other, and the qualities of all creatures are made of them, and one of them ſtriveth againſt another & agunt invicem, and two of them are active and two of them paſſive; active are hot and cold, and paſſive are humiditie and dryneſſe
Weight and levitie ought not to bee reckoned amongſt the firſt qualities, becauſe non agunt invicem, one of them doth not fight againſt another, Reaſons proving that weight and Levitie are not firſt qualities.as heat and cold doe, they depend upon heat and cold; wee may give a reaſon why the earth is heavie, becauſe it is cold; but we cannot give a reaſon why it is cold, but here wee muſt reſt as in the firſt ſimple quality.
If levity and weight were qualities in things according to certaine degrees as things are hot or cold, then one thing ſhould weigh an ounce, and another a pound; but this is not found in heavie things ſimplie, but in heavie things compared with other things, and then they are ſayd to be light or heavie, and they are not a… ſolute qualities but have ſtil a relation to ſome other thing. Things become not ſweeter or ſowrer changing them from one place to another, but weight and levitie doe alter according to the midſt, and have ſtill relation to ſome other thing.
That which is heavie or light is conſidered two manner of wayes, firſt in reſpect of the place, ſecondly, in reſpect of the midſt; in reſpect of the place, that which is moſt ſimple goeth neereſt the Center, as water if it be mixed with wine it deſcendeth fartheſt downe ſeeking towards the Center. If ye put water firſt in the glaſſē, and then powre wine into it, he that drinketh firſt ſhall drinke pure wine, and he who drinketh laſt, ſhall drinke onelyonly water; but if wine bee powred firſt in the glaſſe and water upon it, then it maketh a ſmall mixture, becauſe the water ſeeketh to the owne place deſcending downeward, and the wine to the owne place aſcending upward; and by this we may try another concluſion, to find out the pure wine from the mixed, if ye pierce an hogs head at the uppermoſt part, if there be both water and wine in it, ye ſhall draw out the pure wine; but if ye pierce it below, then the water ſhall come forth firſt, and next the wine.
Secondly, weight and levitie are conſidered in reſpect of the midſt, Weight and levitie doe change according to the midſt.for they vary much changing the midſt; example: take a maſſe of pure gold, and a maſſe of that which is mixed gold, and weigh them both firſt in the ayre with a paire of ballances, and then they are of equall weight, but ſinke them both in the ballance halfe a foote deepe in the water, then the mixed gold ſhall be found much more heavier in the water than it was in the ayre: the reaſon of this is the poroſitie, the ballance is onelyonly the judge of the weight of things and reduceth them to one qualitie, but they being ſuncke in the water, the water judgeth of their qualitie, which is the lighter, and which is the weightier, the water trieth that but by accident onelyonly, by the poroſitie of the mettall, but the ballance trieth it per ſe, for the water entring into the impure mettall, becauſe of the poroſitie of it maketh it deſcend downeward, and the pure mettall having no pores in it retaineth ſtill the ſame weight which it had in the ayre; and thus the mixture or mixed mettall varieth according to the midſt here, the water. The ayre is ſeene ſometimes going up, and ſometimes going downe, and wee know not which is the proper Center of it, untill it enter into the hollow places of the earth, and then it burſteth upward, and then wee know that the Center of it is above here, and the earth is the midſt or judge to trie this, as the water was to try the pure mettall from the impure. When the pure mettall and the mixed mettall are in the water, to know how much the one is better than the other, adde to the mixed gold in the water a peece of pure gold, and ſo make the ballance of equall weight in the water, and that addition put to the mixed gold in the water will ſhew you the difference betwixt the pure gold and the mixed gold, here we ſee, mutato medio mutatur pondus, the midſt being changed, the weight is changed.
If ye weigh 21 pounds of Lead in the ayre, and ſo much gold of equall weight, and ſincke the ballance in the water, the gold ſhall bee but ſeventeene pound weight and the lead ſhall be one and twentie; the reaſon of this is the poroſitie of the lead which ſinketh in the water: ſo weigh thirtie one ounces of ſilver in the ayre, and thirtie one ounces of gold, and put them in the water, the gold ſhall be thirtie one ſtill, but the ſilver will be thirtie ſix.How the winds are weighed.
The winde is an exhalation which is more groſſe than the pure and ſubtile ayre, but more ſubtile than the groſſe exhalations which come out of the earth; therefore the winde for the ſubtilitie of it, aſcendeth to the loweſt religion of the ayre the clouds, but it is carried downe by the weight of it from the more pure and cleare region of the ayre, yet it cannot deſcend to the earth, becauſe of the thicke and groſſe vapours wch ariſe out of the earth ſtill, for they muſt bee loweſt, and it cannot aſcend through the more ſubtile ayre, for the lighteſt muſt alwayes be higheſt, and having no place to reſt in, it is carried about, and carrieth about the clouds with it; therefore the weight which God made to the winde was this, to varie according to the midſt, for compare the winde with the groſſer exhalations of the earth, then it is light, but compare it againe with the pure and ſubtile ayre, then it is heavie: ſo weight and levitie in the winde are onelyonly in compariſon. Concluſion.
The concluſion of this is, As things change their weight being compared with this or that, ſo doe things varie before God, and that which is in high requeſt amongſt men is abhomination before God. Balthaſſer for all the honour that he had before men, yet when he was weighed before the Lord hee was found light, Dan. 5.27.