spirit of the lesser world or man For the selfe-same spirit that viuifieth the ayre in the great world after a foure-fold fashion bringeth forth the very same effects in the lesser which I proue in this manner The Prophet saith A quatuor ventis adueni ô spiritus perflato interfectos istos vt reuiuiscant c. Come O spirit from the foure winds and breath vpon these flaughtered persons that they may liue againe and the breath came into them and they liued and they stood on their feet By which words wee may gather these foure things First that it was one onely Spirit which was indued with the property of the foure winds according to whose variety in properties the foure winds were animated with contrary natures that they might worke after a foure-fold manner in the Catholike element of the world to effect the will of the Creator in any manner whatsoeuer Next that this Spirit which is the essentiall actor and mouer in the winds was that incorruptible spirit of the Lord by the which hee vseth according to that of the Apostle to viuifie all things and vnto that of the Prophet dare â—…atum populo spiritum calcantibus terram to giue breath vnto the people and a spirit to all that trace on the earth or vnto that of Iudith emittere spiritum creare omnes creaturas to send foorth his spirit and to create by it all creatures or according to that of Esdras Spiramine suo facere omnia serutinare â—…mnia in absconditis terrae to make all things by his breath and to search out by it all things that are in the bowells of the earth or according vnto that of Iob Apponere homini animam suum cuilibet creaturae nam fi spirituÌ„ seuflatum suuâ—… ad se reciperet veltraheret omnis caro expirato giue man his spirit of life and to euery creature for if God should receiue or draw vnto himselfe his spirit all flesh would expire And therefore in this place when the dead bodies should arise againe hee commanded the Prophet to say Come spirit from the foure winds as if hee should say Come O thou Catholike and Vniuersall spirit of life of the world and doe thy office in viuifying and making the dead to liue againe Thirdly that this same spirit is it by which the Apostle doth acknowledge that God worketh all in all sometimes giuing life by taking away the killing Northerne cold and dissoluing the deadly or immobil congelation of spirits which did stupifie them as it were with the sleepy and restfull enchantment of Morphaeus by his Southerne or Easternely properties which is to liquifie resolue and giue a new motion and life to spirits congealed and stupified by the Northern property and therefore Dauid saith in the foresaid Text Emittit verbunâ—… liquefacit ista simul ac efflat ventum suuÌ„ effluunt aquae Hee sendeth forth his Word and melteth them as soone as hee bloweth forth his wind the congealed and as it were dead waters â—…oue and flow againe whereby we ought to obserue that it is Gods Word or his incorrupble spirit which animateth the winds Fourthly that the very selfe-same spirit which viuifieht and giueth life and motion vnto the great worlds spirit and at his pleasure by a contrary property killeth stupifieth ceaseth to act by life motion congealing mortally doth performe the very selfe-same office when the will of the Father is in the Catholike spirit of the little world or man yea in euery creature And therefore Iob saith It is God that wounâ—…eth or striketh and it is he that cureth the reason heere hee sheweth in the place before mentiened as also wee may find in Deuteronomy I will kill and I will make aliue againe and Salomon saith Thou hast the power of â—…fe and death in thine hand Thou bringest vnto the graue and bringest backe againe and the Sonne of Syrach Vita mors bonum malum à Deo sunt Life and death good and euill are from God Wherefore as this secret and mysticall spirit hath breathed into the dead a blast of life so that very blast or breath is essentially of the nature property and Will of the Breather which was to make aliue by a quickning and not a stupifying spirit and thereupon created spirits which were before congealed and mortified became now quickned and liuely and were closed in an externall body and in an ayery or bloody vehicle which by vertue of this quickning blast his spirit did moue in the channels or veines and arteries being animated by the vertue of that spirit of life And this is the reason that God did ordaine so strict precepts touching the blood of the creatures as is said before namely that it should not be eaten as is aboue related because in it is the spirit of life or the soule of the creature in which is the spirituall vertue of the foure winds For in this action of life hee exerciseth the very same property in the heart of the creature or little world as hee doth in the heauenly sunne of the great world For as the Sunne is hot operating by rarefaction and exciting vnto motion and therefore reuiuing and multiplying as well in vegetation as in generation graines plants and other animated things of the earth powring downe from aboue the beames of life and light vnto the inferiour creatures euen so this incorruptible spirit or blast of life thus infused into man is the spirituall Sunne of the little world who maketh the heart which represents the body of the celestiall Sunne his Tabernacle from which by the arteries and vaines he sendeth forth his beames and animateth the vniuersall spirit of mans fabrick and maketh the blood agill fluent and liuely euer mouing and operating vnto the nourishment and preseruation of the members as well with naturall as vitall spirits cauâ—…ng both corporall and spirituall vegetation and multiplication of parts in euerie specificall bodie But now that I may in this place touch in few words though somewhat allaterally Master Fosters Aristotelicall limited spheare of Actiuity which the old Schoolemen haue so tumbled and tossed in their externall Phantasies without any centrall regard vnto this true and essentiall viuifying and vegetating spirits dilatiue or contractiue power I would faine know whether any worldly philosophicall Axiome can conclude or limit this princely spirit of the foure Winds which bloweth and breatheth as well in the great world as little when where how farre and at what distance it pleaseth I will first giue an example of his action from each wind in the great world and shew you how it commandeth carrieth and dilateth the spirit of the vegetable Creature Wee can gather and collect the virtuall operation of the vegetable ad distans by no meanes but by the scent as for example Rosemary and Sassaphras c Doe emitt their spirit into the Aire at a proportionated distance more or lesse
piercing the very clouds are interposed But I will bring a more familiar example of the graine of Corne which being considered in himselfe without his mother earth seemeth no way to act for his vitall spirit doth lurke in the centre and not operate to the circumserence eyther by way of vegetation or multiplication The fountaine from whence the vegetable soule comes by multiplication is the sunne of heauen which worketh life in all vegetable things by the vertue of the foresaid Catholike spirit of life which did put his Tabernacle in the Sunne giuing a naturall increase of life and vegetation to euery thing For though this spirit in it selfe be Catholike yet as it entreth into any specificall creature it conuerteth his property vnto the viuification mulâ—…plication and generation of that very species yea euen vnto mankinde Whereupon Aristotle saith that Sol homo generant hominem the Sunne and a man doe engender a man As for example it hath multiplied by the successiue influence of this piercing spirit in a graine of Wheat being resuscitated as S. Paul saith after death and putrefaction in his proper earth from one to twenty and afterwards moueth vpwards in his ayery vehicle with his strawie stalk towards the fountaine of his being and draweth by a sympatheticall or magnetike vertue his like from aboue by the medium of the Carholike ayre But it is obserued by husbandmen that the better the ground is in temperature wherein the graine is sowed and the neerer vnto the nature of the graine the better doth the graine prosper and multiply in vertue Now the fountaine of the graines life namely the Catholike spirit of vegetation doth chiefely reside in the Sunne of the great world compared vnto the heart in man or the little world which is vitâ—… principium the beginning of life the graine is fitly compared vnto the little blood which is gathered from the bloody tree of life mouing in the veynes and arteries as in the strawy stalke or huske the stalk growing still with the other graines on it is referre vnto the whole masse of blood in the veynes which doth remaine in manifest act The amputed grâ—…ine to the amputed blood for which although they both doe remaine without any manifest act or life yet neuerthelesse they haue the spirit of life and multiplication in them centrally contracted and therefore it remaineth in them onely in potentia agendi able to act but as yet acting nothing except it bee euocated and put in action by his like acting and viuifying nature or rather by the same continued spirit emanating vnto the graine from the Sun or vnto the amputated blood from the spirâ—…t in the wounded body The in ward inuisible spirit of the blood in which the Spirit of lise doth moâ—…e to the oyntment from the wounded is compared vnto the Etheriall or heauenly Spirit in which the incorruptible spirits influence doth moue from the Sunne downe vnto the graine by the common medium or vehicle of them both in which the Etheriall Sprit moueth also from the Sunne downeward vnto it's like or rather it selfe in the graine being now buried in the earth or from the fountaine of life vnto the dead graine or blood in the oyntment the which medium is the common Element of Ayre The oyntment is the good ground in which the bloudy graine doth dye and rise again which I will now speake of The fourth to be considered is the ointment and his nature Who but a meare Ideot can deny that like doth desire his like or that one Nature being stronger doth cherish foster and releiue an other that is weaker and the weaker reioyceth in the aide and comfort it bringeth The ancient Physitians and Philosophers haue obserued that lungs nourish lungs and braines nourish braines that are weake the spleene helps to fortifie the spleene for weak gutts wee make Glysters of boyled gutts the stomacke of a cocke helpeth digestion the very spittle voided by the Phtisic all lungs are said to cure thâ—… lungs wormes mortified and dryed to pouder destroy wormes The stone of the Kidney or blather rightly prepared cureth the stone In conclusion it is certaine that simile agit naturali inclinatione in suum simile like worketh in his like Natura enim laetatur suâ naturâ natura naturâ gaudet Nature reioyceth in his nature Nature is glad at the presence of his nature Now if wee looke into the composition of this medicince we shall find that it is of a wonderfull consonance with the blood of man for â—…s before I haue signified vnto you That the blood is the seat of the spirit of life and that the life of the flesh is in the blood and also that the spirit of life is immediately as well in the fat as in the blood and therefore these two are forbidden to be eaten but are to be reserued a part for a sacrifice due vnto God and being that the life of the bones is in the blood and flesh and therefore doe communicate with the spirit of life and consequently haue in them a balsamick marrow which is full of spirits and affecteth wholesomely the other parts Therefore without doubt there is the selfe-same relation of vnison betwixt this ointment with the blood in it and the wounded mans nature as is between the string of one lute that is proportioned vnto the other in the same tone And for this cause will be apt to euibrate quauer forth one mutuall consent of simpatheticall harmony if that the spirits of both by the vertuall contact of one anothers nature be made by conueying the indiuiduall spirit of the one into the body of the other that the liuely balsamick vertue of the one may comfort and stir vp the dull and deadly languishment of the other no otherwise then the actiuity of one lute string struck doth stirre vp the other to moue which was before still and without life or as wee see the graine of corne being put into the earth which hath beene well manuâ—…ed with the dung of horses that haue fed on the same graine is quickly animated by the Sun beames and made to moue and ascend towards the fountaine of his acting Spirit For euery spirit doth by a naturall instinct or inclination tend vpwards vnto his natiue Country To conclude I must now come to the reaping vp of this mysticall operation of curing Master Foster saith it cannot be accomplished by any vertuall contact being it is out of the limited spheare of actiuity Doth hee or his sharpest witted Masters know the certaine limits of actiuity in euery thing that hee concludeth thus boldly Foelix qui potuit rerum talium cognoscere causas But I am sure I can discerne no such felicity in his reuelations or prescriptions of limits vnto naturall agents much lesse vnto that spirit which acteth and operateth all in all and ouer all Qui quicquid vult facit tà m in virtutibus Coeli quà m in habitatoribus terrae which effecteth what
did not sympathise but Antipathise the nature of the one would abhorre the nature of the other which experience proueth false Againe that there is a Balsamick nature in a Horse sympathising with that in a man the effect proueth For the effect of a Balsamick nature is to agglutinate wounds and to incarnate and breed flesh and that by a secret vertue of vegetation But the flesh of a Horse doth render his Balsamick suck or iuyce vnto the liuer of a man where it so sympathiseth with the nature thereof that it condenseth it selfe by a homogeneall transmutation into blood and becommeth as fibrous and well compacted as the other humane blood and in conclusion is made all one with it and after that by apposition vnion and assimulation that I may vse Galen his owne words it becommeth mans flesh An infallible argument that the Balsamick nature of these two creatures do consent and sympathise for else they could not make one vnion Thus our sharp-witted Remembrancer may see that I doe not onely say after his fashion but also proue and demonstrate my case so palpably that euery simple person may feelingly perceiue it I come now to such priuate experiments as the Noble Earle aboue-mentioned hath made vpon Horses whereof some haue beene pricked and some wounded or hurt otherwise He was pleased to tell me of many of his Cures as well on his own Horses as on others which by the vertue of this Oyntment hee had performed Now would I faine know whether any person of worth or discretion would rather beleeue that which this Nobleman affirmeth and auowed vpon his owne knowledge and manifold experience or else the threed-bare assertion of M. Foster who would perswade the world and that by his meere asseueration onely without any other proofe or practice that Castles may be builded in the Ayre What shall wee say then shall we call a conuocation of these turbulent incredulous and all-iudging persons to haue it decided whether the Deuill did this Cure to gaine the Horses soule or no Alas their demure worships wil after the due pleading and scanning of the cause finde that his blacke Lordship would not bestow the paines for a soule which is so fading transitory and not immortall as is that of a man after which he so eagerly thirsteth and gapeth But if they reply that he doth it to delude the credulous Mediciner and by that couert meanes to gaine his soule I answer that Frustrà fit per plurâ—… quod fieri potest per pauciora The Mediciner cured many reasonable persons before and would not that suffice the Deuils turne to gaine him but hee must assist him also in curing vnreasonable creatures to make the Obligation for the Practitioners soule the surer I would perchance giue more credit to these bold and high thundering Iudges or condemners and vilifiers of Iehouah's power by attributing that vnto the Deuill which appertaineth vnto him if one man had many soules to lose but who is so foolish to cast the Dice twice for that he hath surely wonne at once By this therefore each wise and iudicious Reader may plainely discerne that M. Fosters Sponge is herein also squeesed for as much as it is most certaine that the naturall Balsam of one Animal doth sympathise with his like in the other by reason that they haue both but one and the same acting vertue and one generall Balsamick spirit in nature and condition which is common vnto euery specifick CHAP. II. Wherein is proued contrary vnto the Sponge-carriers Tenent that mans Bones proceed originally from Blood The naked Assertion of D. Fludds text The Blood is mingled with the Mummy or Flesh the Fat or the Vsnaea or Mosse of the Bones which Blood was the beginning and food of them all M. Fosters Collection These ingredients haue their beginning and aliment from the Blood The act of his mundifying Sponge Secondly I deny that Mans Bones haue their beginning and aliment from Blood For Physicians and Philosophers sâ—…y that they haue their beginning from the grosser seminaryparts and their aliment from Blood or Marrow or both Here the Sponge is squeesed I wonder that my Confuter like the Comediant parasiâ—… sometimes denieth and againe with the same breath affirmeth For first hee denieth that Bones haue their aliment from Blood and then he concludes that they haue Well wee will passe this staggering error and come to the point Mans Bones saith he haue their beginning of the grosser seminary parts ergo not of Blood The consequence is erroneous For if he will â—…ucly looke into the nature of the Sperme he shall finde it to bee nothing else originally but the purest part of Blood strained from a double kinde of vessell whereof the purer or internall part issueth from the arteriall vessell the grosser and externall from the venall vessell What needs M. Foster to looke on Bauhines Notes or Galens Opinions and those of many other differing from them and so make Ipse dixit his whole strength when his eyes will teach him if he euer knew Anatomy as perchance his Father did that the fountaine of sperme is the Blood of two natures namely Arteriall and venall for the preparing seminary vessels that alter it purifie it haue their issues and heads out of the great artery and vena Caua Which being so I would faine know of M. Foster whether hee thinketh that the spearme doth not proceed from the Blood as original thereof for as much as the vessels from which it floweth be full of nothing else but Blood I care not for ipse dixit when in euery mans ocular experience it appeareth the contrary For some men will haue the substance of the seed to come from the braine and other some from the subtile parts of the whole body and some will haue it spring from the purest part of the foure humours which is all one to say that it proceedeth from the Blood which is composed of the foure humors though the element of ayre hath the dominion But most sure it is that the Blood is his fountaine and appeareth by ocular demonstration Which being so I pray you good M. Foster what error is it in me to say that Blood is the beginner of Bones when your selfe doth confesse that their immediate being is of sperme whose immediate existence is of Blood Againe we are taught that the â—…eat of life is in the Blood if therefore sperme doth bring forth life it receiueth that gift of life from the Blood To conclude it is euident by this that the viuifying Spirit of the Lord which is the animater of the foure Windes from whence the Prophet Ezechiel called it to animate the slaine moueth and operateth radically in the spirituall Blood and that the sperme is animated and moued by this spirituall Blood which is the spermes internum which Philosophers call semen in whose Centre the viuifying Spirit of the Lord acteth and then this Spirit in the seed framed Skin Flesh