The Wonderful Workmanship of the World, Discourse · Chapter 38
The. xxxviii. chapter. Of the place wherein the world was made.
S.
HEtherto you hauehave declared what y• worlde is, what is the cauſe therof, and what was the maner of making it. Adde hereunto alſo that which may bee demaunded concernyng the place, tyme, and ſtate of this created world, ſo that at length wee may conclude this whole diſputation.
M.
I will doe ſo: if you aſke mee of them all in order.
S.
Firſte therefore, I demaunde concerning the place wherin the worlde is made, what it was, and what maner one it was?
M.
It muſt needes bee, that it was ſome voyde place, whiche the Grecians call Kenos, & the Hebrues Tohu, wherin it ſhould be created, and placed.
S.
Why ſo?
M.
For bicauſe if the place wherein the worlde, beeyng ſo greate a frame, was placed, had bin already full of bodies, there could not bee another body placed in a roomth that was full alreadie. For twoo bodies cannot bee togither in one place. Moreouer, this whiche I ſay, is plainly confirmed. The Hebrues ſay out of the 26. chapter of Iob, and 7. verſe: He ſtretched foorth the North vponupon the void place, &c. Although that before this worlde was made, GOD occupied that place wherein the world now ſtandeth, & filled it with his power which is vnknowne to vsus, and in an vnſpeakable maner: as now alſo hee filleth althinges after they bee made by the vertue and meanes of his preſence, maieſtie, and power: whereof God is called Megonah, that is to ſay, that filleth all thinges: Deuteron. the 33. chapter, and 27. verſe: notwithſtanding in reſpect of this filling, which cummeth by the creation of thinges, verily the place wherin this world now ſtandeth, was a certein voyd place.
S.
How then, will you hauehave that there ſhalbee ſome void place in the world, againſt whiche thing Ariſtotle contendeth ſo mutch, and experience alſo?
M.
To the ende that I may cut of all occaſion of the vain errours of the Valentines, concernyng Bythus, whom Ireneus aboundantly confuteth in his 2. booke, and 4. and 7. chapters, thus I ſay: That beefore the world was made, the place and ſpace wherein it nowe ſtandeth, was voyde: but ſince the worlde was made, that it is not voyd now, but full.
S.
But doe you leaue nowe any voide place, within the compaſſe of the worlde?
M.
Uerily if you call that onelyonly ful, that is filled with this aire whiche wee drawe in and breath foorth, there bee many places too bee called voyd, For all that ſpace of the worlde. whiche is aboue the Circle of the Moone (which ſome ſay is very large) is void. But if you call that full, whiche is repleniſhed with ſome bodie and nature of it owne kinde, then maye I call no parte of this whole worlde voide, no not ſo muche as that whiche the Aſtronomers ſaye, is conteined within the Globe and ſpace of the Heauens: but all full, and occupied. Not onelyonly bicauſe God made nothing in vain, for that is repugnant to his wiſedome, but alſo for that the whole ſtretching foorth of the heauens, howe big ſoeuer it be, is an heauenly body. For ther is now no effect, no vſe of a voide place in the nature of thinges, whiche is created: but there are ſeene daylie many, and moſt excellent vſes in this pointe, I meane in that nature will hauehave all thinge to bee full. And that indeede ther is nothing voyd and emptie, both the vſe of cupping glaſſes in Phyſicke, & alſo in the plucking vp of Welles and waters into high places by Pumpes, and other deuiſes, ſufficiently doe teache. Suche Philoſophers therfore, as contend that there is ſome void place in this world, are not onelyonly thēſelues voide of wit and iudgment, but ſtriue alſo moſte manifeſtly againſt certeine experience, whom therefore I iudge not too bee eſteemed of.