tdle.to tk h£mom,t()give them here a tafle\of thefe Treatljes, therehy 
to excite them to a further difquifitlon and elucidation of this matter, 
fball herein follow the order of the time, wherein thefe BoqI(s were fablijht; 
And therefore begin with 
L C O S M O P 0£ I A D I V I N A , ku Fabrica Mundi explicaca , 
per LudoVide Beaufort Parifinum Med. Dod:. Lugd, Batav. i556.in iz*. 
ThisAoichour having in the jD^df/mi^» of his Book profcffcd his aver- 
fion fromdevifing any ocher Syfteme of the world, than that, which i$ 
ddcribed by Mofes, and having alfo expreffed his labors and endeavours 
to adjuft and accommodate all the Phoenmena of Nature to the mind of 
that Divine Writer, tells us. 
In his firft Seftion, that God in the beginning of Time created, in a 
fpace beforevoid. Heaven] &ni Earthy or the Matter of both, and of ail 
thingscomprehended therein, asanunfliapenMaffe, continued, un-divi- 
ded, and un-raoved : And that afterwards by his divine cheriihing and fe- 
parating power he refolvcd that dull and movekfs matter into moving 
T^faters, or divided it into innumerable parts, and put it into motion by tliac 
divifion, and by the incroduftion of a vacuum by the means of which 
imparted motion, the particles began to extricate themfelves, to flirre, 
and to tend to their feveral places, and to afford the firft Rudiments ot 
three Ranks of great Bodies: fo that, after the fpace of iX hours or 
thereabout, fome Light began to appear, there being then fo much of 
that fubtile matter collefted, as was fufficient to illuminate a certain me- 
dium. 
In the fecond SeSion, that the Creator formed the Firmament^ as a kind 
of Arched Vault in the midfl of the Waters, that is, more perfe£Hy diftin- 
gaifht three Ranks or Material Principles of Bodies, vizi^ont in the middle, 
the Firmament^ and two extreams, retaining the name of Heaters but mo- 
vable and moved:For,iince on the firft day all the parts began to be gathered 
intb three C/^?j?e/,and the grofTeil to take the loweft placc,thelefs grofs,the 
middlemofi:,and thefineft,che uppcrmofl:,he conceiveth,that theFirmamenc 
was well faid to have been made this 2i'day,forafmuch as theCeleftial mat. 
ter was coIle£i:ed in the middle, and placed 'twixt the fubtiier^ whofe place 
was above,and the thickeft Elementary,being below : Which "Waters were 
fimply fo called before,as then aduaily conftituting but one fluid body, but 
now diftin guifh'd into three ranks. 
In the third, that the Creator began to fobdividc the third rank, or the 
Elementary matter/ which was yet very Heterogeneousjby gathering to- 
gether into one place all the Elementary Aqueous particles, which he caird 
Seas ; fo that the Drj began to appear,which he called Earth ^ refolving 
and raifing upwards into vapors and exhalations the thinner particles, 
thence to produce v^zV and Fire • which arc the four commonly fo called 
Elements and reputed fimplc Bodies : out of which the other are compoun- 
ded,fir[]: the impcrfedly mix't, then gradually the more pcrfedly mixc, and 
after that the ^egetatit/e^ which about the end of this day began to be 
aftually produced, ' In 
