THE FIRST lecture, Concerning NAVIGATION.  
Read publicly at Sr. Balthazar Gerbier's ACADEMY, AT Bednall-green.  
Septemb20th .1649.  
LONDON, Printed by Gartrude Dawson, 1649.   

The first Lecture concerning NAVIGATION.  
AS the Deep declares at all times the mervellous wonders of that great Author guider, and preserver of all things, can it be otherways, but a marvellous occup●tion? and can it be but glorious to the mind of the creature to exercise itself on that whereon the spirit of God was pleased to move, before all things were?  
Certainly, Navigation (whereof we shall now treat) cannot but afford a glorious delight to the minds of lovers of knowledge as the Seas affords a world of wealth to those that make Navigation their Trade.  
Is it not as rare as it is wonderful? That with an Instrument so little as an Astralabe is, and ●ith that called a Sea compass: By the first, to measure the Circles of the Heavens the height and distance of the sun and Stars; by the second (which hath neither mouth, tongue, legs, nor hands) man is told, guided, and shown where East, West, North, and South is (not only) in the stediest case a vessel can be, but when the moved waves tosseth the same as towards the Clouds, and thence lets it reelas into an abysm) No wonder Solomon the wisest of all men said, that the hardest to be found, is the way a Ship makes through the Seas. And is the wonder not the greater, that it finds the straight course thereof through that vast perpetual moving and removing body, as exactly when the firmament app●ars as black as ink, and all the lights of Heaven are covered with the Night (as with an estinguisher) as well as at the clearest day.  
Is it not a wonder above wonders that after so many months' Navigations, & that after such varieties changes of Winds, intermixture of ●tormes; the violence of tides so constantly changeable, a Vessel arrives to the mouth of an Harbour, as straight as if it were a Ferry-boat drawn by accord fastened from one shore to the other.  
With the ●oyall Prophet David, let all men say, Qui descendunt mare in navibus, facientes operationem in aquis multis, ipsi viderunt opera Domini, & mirabilia ejus in profundo. Dixit, & stetit spiritus pr●cella: & exaltati sunt fluctus ejus; Ascendunt usque at coelos, & descendunt u●que ad abystos: anima eorum in malis t●b●scebat: Turbati sunt, & moti sunt sicut eb●ius; & omnis sap●entia eorum devorata est. Et clamaverunt ad Dominum eum tribularentur: & de necessitatibus eorum eduxit eos: Et statuit procellam ejus in auram: & siluerunt fluctus ejus; Et laetati sunt quia siluerunt: & deduxit eos in portum voluntatis eorum, confit●antur Domino misericordiae ejus & mirabilia ejus filiis hominum: That is, They that go down to the Sea in Ships, that do business in great Waters; These see the works ●f the Lord, and his wonders in the deep: For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof; they mount up to the Heaven, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel too and fro, and stagger like a drunken man▪ & are at their wit's end. Then they cried unto the Lord in their distresses: He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still; Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven: Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the Children of men. Psalm 106.  
Let u● then take profit of this present meditation, wherein we shall find the great benefit of the Art of Navigation, in that it doth not only serve for the transportation of men and goods, from one part to the furthest of the world, and towards the which God was n●t pleased to prescribe any high ways for Carts nor Horses, but to make men acquainted with all such parts, in which God doth man●f●st the varieties of his power, and of his bottomless treasuries, so with Nations; in some of which his divine fath●rly mercy is glorified, and his justice made more apparent, rendering man also more capable to participate of those numerous riches, 〈…〉 what the Ind●an precious shoa●es are garnished with, by all the golden bowels of the Earth, where nature by the Sun beams is made capable of suc● productions, by what the Mother w●mbe pearls is possessed with by that wherewith Aaron's breast was made so sh●ning gl●rious, man loads his Vessels as freely, as Carts on other grounds with the most ord●nary fruits and production of the Earth, Spices, and Balms, for the preservation and restauration of man; and in that plenty, as common fields in other parts produce Pease and Turnips, Flax, and Trees for T●rp●ntine.  
Navigation, therefore may well be said to be for man, a Science the most profitable of all Arts; if man can make that use of it, as may justly draw blessings unto him; which is to be compassed by doing that so earnestly wished by the aforesaid King David. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.  
And by being as ready to labour in his cause (in which no soul can suffer any shipwreck) as to hazard life, ship, and goods, for transitory things.  
We shall begin with the Sea, and say, first, what it is? and why it is called Ocean?   

Concerning Navigation.  
THE Sea is all the vast extent of Water which environs the Earth.  
The Water hath been created by God; in principio creavit Deus Coelum & Terram, & Spiritus Domini ferebatur super aquas. In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth, and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. This is confirmed by the writs of Moses in his Generation or offspring of this World.  
The water doth engender and maintains itself in the Sea; the Rivers come from it, and return to it.  
The Egyptians have made four Elements; of each one whereof they have made two. The one Male, and the other Female: They do believe that the air which engenders the wind is the Male; and that which is loaden with clouds, and which doth not stir, to be the Female. They call the Water of the Sea Male, and all other water Female.  
They say, that the Fire (the flame whereof burns) is Male, and that which shineth (without doing harm) is the Female. They do believe that the hardest Earth, as the stones and Rocks are Males, and do give the name of Female to that which is maniable.  
It is called the Ocean Sea, by reason of its quick and continual motion: for Oris in Greek, is to hasten, or else it's called ocean, quasi Cianeus; for it embraces the Rivers of the Earth.  
It receives divers names, according to the diversity of places, by the which it passes, as the Sea of China, India, Persia, &c.  
The Sea hath no colour, for our sight doth not remain on the superficies of the water, but descends lower, and at a great distance, its colour is like that of Heaven; when it is disturbed by the Winds it is suscep●ible of divers colours.  
The Sea ●●ses increasing seven days, which is called quick wa●er, and seven other days it retires decreasing, which is called dead water. Aristotle treats of the causes of the incre●sing a●d decreasing in the second of the Meteors; as also Hipocrates in the Book of the air and water: where he says, That there is a proper cause of astrology, viz; by natural virtue, the Moon has on the waters; therefore as the Moon increaseth, and ●ecreaseth; so likewise doth the Sea:  
The increasing and decreasing of the Sea shall be more at full discoursed of, in his proper time and place.   

How the Sea belongs to the perfection of the Wo●ld, and that the World would have perished without it; and how it engenders water.  
THe world could not have been perfect without the Sea; forasmuch if there were no beginning of water, there would be no water simply, and if there were no water simple also there would be no mixed; and thus there could not be any thing of that which is engendered by water; also there would be nobody continued, and conglutinated to be found if there were no water.  
Generation would be destroyed, and consequently all the Wo●ld, if there were no beginning of waters, as also there could not be found all the assemblings of contraries, which are possible.  
Thus nature would fail to that which is unavoidably necessary, and failing to the same, the water would be hindered in the action: Whereof it would happen (there being no beginning of waters) that the workmanship of nature would perish, and consequently the world.  
Aristotle in the second of the Meteors says that the waters of the Seas engender in Septentrion: he will say that the greatest part of the waters of the Sea engenders in Septentrion, as the great Albert in the second of the Meteor▪ sixth Chapter decla●es, where he says that the Sea runs from Septentrion to the Meridian. The cause thereof is, that its higher in Septentrion, then towards the Mer●dian; and the reason wherefore it is higher, is, because that the cold of the Septentrion engenders more water than the Sea could contain in the space, distance, and height of its coasts; The water which is in the Meridian consumes and deminish●s by the heat of the Sun; therefore one part of the Septentrion water drives the other back towards the lowermost side; yet nevertheless doth move acci●entally from the place of its generation; because that it being moist, runs to be retained in the dry.  
The reason why the water consumes itself so much in the Meridien part, is because that the Sun turns always in his excentrique circle; its cen●er being not the same with that of the Earth: so that if the Diameter of the Circle of the Sun were passed between its centre and that of the Earth; the greatest part of the Diameter would be at one side, and the lest at the other, in the consideration of the centre of the Earth.  
It's shown by geometrical reason, that the greatest length of Diameter is near the twent●eth degree of Gemini, and that the least length is at the twentieth degree of Sagitarius, opposite sign. It appears 〈◊〉, that the sun approaches more nearer the Earth, in the Meridian Part then in the Septentrion: thus by its approaching heats in such a manner that it consumes the water and burns the Earth, which he doth not at the Septentrion.   

Wherefore the water of the Sea is Saltish, and and that it is the best for the Navigati●n.  
THe matter which causes the S●a to be Saltish, is because that there are two sort● of vapours, viz. Hot and Moist, and Hot and Dry. The one whereof evaporates from the superficies of the Sea, and the other rai●eth itself from the bottom by force of the sun's heat, and that of the Stars, which are efficient causes of its vapours, and because that the vapour of the water is very subtle between these two; therefore it elevates its self in the air, and is consumed by the Sun, and there rema●neth nothing else but the exhalations of the earth, the which are dissipated, extended, and mingled among the water, as appears by the example of eating; for the disgeasted meat spreads and divides itself through the members, and all the gross and undigested substance remains in such a manner also the V●pour of the Earth spread, remains amongst the substance of the water of the Sea; and the coldness of the water p●shes in such coldness, and consumes itself by coldnes●e; because of mingling by Antiperistacis, which is to say, for two contrary things joined together, which becomes stronger than before; for the heat of the exhalation which issues from the bottom of the Sea, fortifies itself by the virtue of the Sun with its contrary, which is the coldness: and thus the Heat overcomes, which is that which is required in the generation of the saltish taste.  
It is also more convenient for Navigation, that the water be saltish then fresh, for the saltish water is heavier than the fresh: That it is so, it's proved by many experiences, whereof the one is. Take fresh water and mingle it with a good quanti●y of salt, so that the salt melts, and be disolved in water; then take a fresh egg, and put it on the mixtioned water; the thickness of the water which proceeds from the mixtion of the Salt, will bear the egg by its thickness, and will swim over it, the which in the fresh water descends to the bottom. By this same experience is also demonstrated, that a Vessel will sink sooner in fresh water then in salt water; for the fresh water divides itself sooner, and closes more lightly than the salt water.   

Of the different Motions which are in the Ocean Sea.  
GReat part of the water is engendered in Septentrion, and runs from S●pten●rion towards Meridien, as aforesaid, when the tide increases we do see the Sea move at one side, and when it decreaseth it moves quite contrary, it beginneth first to decrease where it hath had the first increase.  
Thus it appears that the Sea hath contrary motions, and different the one from the other.  
Seneca says, that there is no cause of the of the course waters from one place to the other, than the high and low places; Except that only motion by the which the Sea increaseth, and decreaseth; For as aforesaid) it follows the order of the Moon, For the water of the Sea increases and decreases in all the parts of the world, that is to say, in Orient, Occident, Septentrion and Meridien, and also it decreases in all the said parts, Therefore the Sea hath no proper place where it begins its increasing, or decreasing; And thus the water doth move by accident from one part to the other, except towards the bottom, for such a Motion doth not happen by accident, but by the proper essence agreeing to its form.   

Wherefore the Sea doth not overflow, augment, nor enlarge.  
THe cause wherefore the Sea doth not overflow, augment, nor enlarge, though ●o much water engendereth in it and that it doth continually receive so many rivers and fountaine●, Is that the Sea is the natural receptable of all the waters, and their retiring place, and therefore it doth not overflow nor enlarge, for a place cannot drive back nor hinder the en●rance of the thing which by nature ought to be in her, since naturally the place ought to conform itself with that which it encloses, as the Sea which is capable to receive in her all the Rivers, and nevertheless ought not to overflow, nor augment, for their entrance, Also the Sea doth not overflow, because it is of such a vast extent, that the Rivers are as nothing in consideration to it, it's also because the heat of the Sun and the Air of the Wind consumes such a quantity of water, that though the Sea continually eng●nders, and that the Rivers incessantly enter into it, God hath ordained that it should not lessen nor augment, as it is written in Job, Lord, thou hast set a limit the which it shall not pass. The H●ly Writ says in Genesis, that the water of the Deluge did rise 15 cubits over the highest hills under the Heavens, in so much that all the Earth was covered with water. But though this increasing of water was so great, yet nevertheless the Sea did not overflow the earth, going out of its Limi●es, and bounds.  
The increasing of the water did proceed of two causes, the one wa● that the windows of Heaven were opened, as the Text says, and it rained on the earth forty days, and forty night's exceedingly, the Fountains, Rivers, and Currents did overflow, in so much that the earth was covered therewith, as beforesaid, every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, except Noah, who only remained alive, and they that were with him in the Ark, and afterwards the same Text says, That God made a wind to pass over the earth, which abated the water, The rain from Heaven was also restrained, and the earth returned in its first being.   

Of the Antiquity of Navigation.  
GOD the Creator of the universal world, did ordain the making of the first vessel, a● it is written in the six chapter of Genesiis, that God commanded Noah to make an Ark of Gopher wood, and to pitch it within and without with pitch, The length of the Ark was of three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.  
Those of Lydia were the first inventors of making of vessels, but they had no other invention then to join one beam to another well nailled, and well caulked.  
Afterwards Epaminondas did set forth the vessels in perfection to Navigate.  
The famous Captain Bias, was in the war of Peloponesse, with Ships, carracks and galleys.  
S●lomon King of Jerusalem, did send Vessels into Tharsis which went and came each third year, and brought Gold, Silver, Ivory, and divers other things.  
Julus Solinus says, that all the Meridien Sea which embraces Africque, was navigated from the Indies to Spain.  
Pliny writes in the second book, threescore and seven chapter, that in his time all the circuit of Spain and France was navigated and of all the Occident.  
From the Isle of Cadiz which is at the entry of the Gibraltar straet to the Est Indian, was navigated before Plato's time.  
When Tiberius Caesar did govern the Empire, there were seen in the Arabian Sea ensigns of Vessels which the Spaniards had lost.  
In the time of Augustus Caesar the greatest part of the Ocean Sea was navigated.  
When Selucus and Antiocl●us did reign all the coast of the Caspien Sea was navigated and known by the Macedonian Armies.  
The King of Switzerland gave to Metellus some Indians, which navigating with Marchandiz●s, were driven by a Tempest from their Country to Germany.  
In the time of the Teutonickall Emperors, there were Est-Indian ambassadors, found on the German coast, which were driven thither by the force of the wind.  
Some Authors write of great number and multitude of Ships which were in the anc●ent times, as those of the Assyrians, Persians, Grecians, &c.  
Homer writes that the Grecian Navy which came to Troy, had one thousand, one hundred and fourscore ships.  
Xerces' King of Persia, came with five thousand five hundred Ships, seven hundred thousand men, and three hundred thousand of his Friends and Aliens to the Grecians destruction, and when he came to the pontic Sea he made a Bridge of Ships over it, on the which he passed with his Army.  
The next Lecture concerning Navigation, will be of its use, How to foresee storms by the signs of the Sun, and the Moon, of Fires which appear when there are storms at Sea.  
What the wind is, and its qualities, how it is engendered, what the 32 points of the compass are, to know by the Moon, at what hour it doth flow or is full Sea. And how to sail by the Globe, &c.  
Saturday next, God willing, there shall be a Lecture of Fortification.