else the body and soule would neuer abide together but warre against one another being that they are as contrary in nature as fire and water But vnlesse the spirit of ayre were put betweene these two contrary elements to ioyne them together they would neuer agree nor abide in their spheares no more would the soule and body without a spirituall meane Now as we see that the Heaven of the great World is composed of light and spirit proportioned and as it were glewed together by the eternall Spirit which is the Infuser of life in them both so also is the spirit in man so firmely vnited vnto the soule by the spirituall Word which is the tye or glew of life that it is not possible to be separated the one from the other except it be by that Spirit which did ioyne them together And this may easily be gathered out of these words of the Apostle Viuus est sermo Dei efficax 〈◊〉 omni gladio ancipiti pertingens vsque ad diuisionem animae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Word of God is liuely and effectuall and more piercing then a â—…edged Sword and attaineth euen to the diuision of the soule from the spirit Whereby it argueth that the life consisteth of soule and spirit and that these two are so vnited together by the tye of the Word that nothing but the composer or binder can make any separation of them And for this reason wee may see that there is a strong tye as well betweene the spirit and the soule as betweene the soule and the body And therefore as the soule is more worthy then the spirit so the spirit excelleth in dignity the body and consequently the spirit is by proportion interposed betweene the soule and the body no otherwise then the Ayre betweene the Sunne and Earth Wherefore it is an absurdity in the Peripateticks to deny this tye and vnion and more absurd for Master Foster to make such a poore excuse as to say that the body was generated for the soule and the soule created for the body and therefore that there needeth no bands to faften them A poore conclusion I say of so eminently appearing a Philosopher and Theosopher as who fhould say two extremes could more be ioyned together without a medium or middle tye or intermediate spirit to conioyne and vnite them then the two extremes of a Diameter in a Circle without a middle point or Center And more absurd it is in him to say that there can be a reciprocall desire of two extremes and contrary opposites to come and dwell together at the 〈◊〉 when they are so contrary that the Wise man saith Corpus infestum corruptioni aggrauat animam terrena habitatio deprimit mentem multis curis plenam The body which is subiect to corruption doth ouerburthen and aggrauate the soule and the earthly habitation doth depresse and keepe vnder the minde that is full of cares Is it not strange and vnnaturall that any captiue spirit should not desire his freedome and liberty especially the bright soule which is captiued in her darke bodily prison For this reason therefore Iamblicus saith that Anima dormiat in corpore humano The soule sleepeth in mans body And Porphyrie hath it That it is alwayes 〈◊〉 in the body And Mercurie Trismegistus That the body is vnto the soule a veile of ignorance Whereupon it is certaine that there is a spirit which keepeth it in this his darke prison By this therefore you may see what goodly doctrine this is of Master Fosters But to mend the matter he proceedeth thus And they endeauour after vnion so to keepe together c. It is true if he speaketh in the behalfe of the darke body who is â—…oth to leaue the bright soule which is his treasure But as for the soule we see how many there are that to escape the fetter of this prison doe sluce out their owne blood or destroy themselues and many as well amongst the Elect as by Scriptures we finde it as among the common Worldlings desire earnestly of God as being weary of this World to be dissolued and to passe out of this life Cupio dissolui esse cum Christo saith the one c. Whereby it is apparent that the soule doth not desire to liue in the body or with the body as Master Foster concludeth And when she departeth she cannot leaue her body without the spirit so firme is their vnion as the Apostle sheweth in the text before mentioned neither can the spirit wholly forsake that relation it hath to the body as is said I conclude therefore â—…at against Master Fosters assertion that the soule doth with a strict vnion depend and rely on the spirit and reciprocally the spirits rely on the soule no otherwise then the Agent can not be esteemed as an Agent without the Patient nor the Patient without the Agent And therefore they must both of them be vnited in one And consequently as an essentiall Agent doth act from the Center vnto the Circumference euen so it is to be conceiued that the agile soule is contained in the spirits as the Agent in the Patient or soule in the body or lightning in the cloud And thus farre haue we proceeded to squeese out all Master Fosters Sponges validity touching this matter I come vnto the next CHAP. V. The Authors essentiall Carrier of sympathetical vertue giueth in this Chapter vnto our Sponge-bearer but Iack Drummes entertainment for calling him Tom Long the Carrier Reade and you shall see the manner The naked assertion of D. Fludds Text. VVHereupon it is manifest that 〈◊〉 spirituall Line being inuisibly protracted or extended in the Ayre betweene the places of the wounded person and the Box or Pot of Oyntment doth carry along with it his animal forme the which soule or spirit of life is no lesse to bee diuided from his whole or integrality contained in the body of the â—…unded then the beame of the Sunne is from the Sunne Therefore as the beame of the Sunne swimming in the 〈◊〉 of the world is as it were a Messenger betweene Heauen and Earth euen so this animal beame is the faithfull conductor of the healing nature from the Box of the Balsam vnto the wounded body and this medium or directing and carrying Line namely that which conueyeth the wholesome and salutiferous spirit by meanes of the soule or spirit of life is that spirit which is inuisibly extended or drawne out in the ayre the which vnlesse it had beene in a hidden manner figured and fashioned forth the vertue of the Oyntment would euaporate or sluce out this way or that way and so would bring no benefit vnto the wounded Master Fosters Collection The spirit of the bloodshed is carried by the ayre which is the carrier of the spirit of euery thing vnto his body this spirit going by this ayre in a direct inuisible Line carrieth the sanatiue vertue from the anointed Weapon to the wounded party For the
in composition I meane it not as a part compounding but as the sole Compounder in composition Againe if he were absent from composition the word could not be said to be incarnated nor the Incorruptible Spirit to be in all things neither could God by the Apostle be said to be ouer all and in all But leauing this paratticall or parasiticall garb He bringeth the authorities of Scripture And what are they Saint Paul hath this We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spirituall wickednesse or euill spirits in high places And therefore Christ said Handle me and touch me for a spirit hath not flesh nor bones as yee see mee haue But Deuils can not be handled Therefore they haue no bodies Here is a stout Argument because Deuils as they are in their thinne aëriall bodies cannot bee handled Ergo they haue not any corpulency I would faine know of this acute Arguer what organicall body for speech this spirit had when hee in reciprocall words and speech did tempt our Sauiour Doth he thinke that the very ayre which is the externall of the Deuill as shall be proued is not a spirituall body when it may be felt heard or vnderstood though not as flesh and bones Doth not the Apostle make mention of a spirituall or heauenly and thin body and an earthly or grosse and thick body It is most true that there are some of the Fathers and Schoolemen who are of opinion that the Angels are absolutely incorporeal as Damascene Thomas Aquin Denis and so forth But there are as many yea and more of the learneder sort who giue a contrary sentence touching the bodily existence of these spirits and say flatly that an Angel is a corporeal substance and consequently that Angels may without any error be termed bodily creatures and amongst this number of the Fathers are ranked Basil Origen Gregory Augustine Isidorus Peter Lombard and of Philosophers Mercurius Trismegistus with all the Schoole of the Academicks And as for S. Augustine he saith in his Booke vpon Genesis in expresse words quòd Daemones sunt aërea ignea animalia that the Daemons or Angelicall spirits are aëry and fiery Animals and consequently assigneth vnto them aëry bodies Againe he affirmeth in another place that the Angels had in their creation aëry bodies to wit framed and fashioned out of the purer part of the superior ayre made more apt and proper to act then to suffer and hee auerreth that the euill angels were by reason of their fall changed as touching their bodies or externall being into the nature of the grosser ayre that they might be the rather made to suffer the torments of fire And Fetrus Lombardus saith Angeli corpora in quibus hominibus apparent de summo aëre sumunt solidamque speciem ex coelesti elemento induunt vt humanis obtutibus manifestiùs demonstrentur So that it is euident that Augustine and he agree in one Also Basil doth teach vs what manner of bodies the Angels haue when he saith they are thinne aëry and pure Spirits Againe Arteplius that wise man saith in his great Key of wisedome That the externall of the Deuill is ayre but his internall is fire For the which reason he sheweth that it is easie for him namely in regard of his externall or body to insinuate and communicate with the aëry and bloody spirit in man and consequently to engender in him hot and fiery diseases But why should we rely onely as Master Foster doth on bare Authorities I will come vnto plaine Philosophicall proofes to shew and demonstrate that Angels haue soules and bodies or externall and internall First you must know that if they were Identity that is of all one simple formall being they would be all one in essence with God their Creator who is called Identitas or absolute and simple vnity but for as much as they are compounded of two namely of light which is the beame of God which they receiue to informe them and make them creatures and spirit which as polished Looking-glasse receiueth the glory of that diuine light they are called Alteritas or Alterity that is composed of two And this is most liuely expressed by Saint Denis when he termeth them Algamatha that is most cleare Mirrours or Looking-glasses receiuing the light of God And therefore he defineth an Angel to bee the Image of God the shewing forth of bid light a mirrour pure and most bright And Damascen saith That they are intellectuall spirits hauing light as their soules from the first Light And Salomon describing the Prince of all Angels which as Ecclesiasticus saith was ante omnia creatus that it was candor lucis aeternae speculum sine macula Maiâ—…slatis Dei or the brightnesse of eternall light and a glasse without spot of the Maiesty of God Whereby it is euident that the Angels internall and as it were his soule is the brightnesse of Gods emanation his polished or pure aëry internall is his 〈◊〉 body which receiueth this light For we must note That in the beginning Heauen and Earth were made of water and by water consisting by the Word as S. Peter speakes And therefore the whole World was composed of an internall or inuisible which is the soule or spirit animated by Gods Word and an externall and visible earth and water which is the body So euery creature must needs be compounded of an internall or actiue soule and an externall or organicall receptacle of that soule which is the body Is it not apparent That when the Spirit of the Lord did moue vpon the waters the water was the Catholick Patient and the spirit the internall Agent For Saint Augustine super Genesim saith Spiritus ferebatur super aquas igneum â—…s vigorem impertiens The Spirit moued on the waters imparting vnto them a fiery vigor or vertue that is a viuifying nature So that the spirituall created Catholick waters were animated by the spirituall increated Catholick breath and light of life whose Spirit in euery creature is the Spirit of life and therefore their centrall soule and the creature animated is the body Wherefore as the purest and most spirituall part of water or ayre is the externall of the Angell so his internall is the lucid act of Gods Spirit Now I conclude thus If the externall substance of the Angel be ayre for either it must be of spirituall water or else of the substance of God which is meerely formall and not materiall then wee know by the rules of Philosophy that ayre subtiliated is fire and againe ayre inspissated is a vapour a mist a cloud and so by inspissation ayre inuisible becommeth a visible substance yea and a bodily vocall organ too as it appeareth by lightning the which soule of the cloud except it haue his cloudy organ or bodily instrument will not speake in thunder We finde therefore out of Holy Writ that God is said to speake out of his organic all cloud And
of influence continued vnto the spirituall sparke in the dead bloud which is all one with the influeÌ„ce emitting but buried in a dead bloody corporall graine namely the dead blood conueyed to the oyntment the which oyntment we compare vnto a good a wholesome or a comfortable earth most proper for the nourishing of such a hidden spirit as lurketh in the bloud being that they namely the ointment and the bloud transferred or committed vnto it are no strangers to one an other but as homogeneall or rather as well acquainted as one specificall body is vnto a Spirit of the same degree in nature for as much as the body of the oyntment is compounded according vnto my receipt ofbloud fat-flesh and the mosse or excresence of the bones of the same Microcosmicall Species though not indiuiduum all which are animated from that Spirit of life which abideth in mans bloud The Influence therefore of life issuing from the Microcosmicall or humane Sonne and assisting reuiuifying and multiplying by little and little the hidden graine of life in the amputated bloud now in the oyntment and also exciting the potentiall or sopified Spirit in the oyntment no otherwise then we see the Sunne of Heauen to stirre vp in the spring time the Spirits of the earth which the cold winter had stupefied and benummed leaueth not to operate betweene both extremes vntill the party doth recouer This is the true Mystery of the Question and I will stand to it that the vse of the earth to rott rayse vp and multiplie the graine of wheat is Magicall Diabolicall and vnlawfull if it can be truely demonstrated that the vse of this oyntment is witchcraft and vnsufferable for their mysterie of multiplication reviuification and coniunction of the viuifying spirit of the one with the viuified spirit of the other is all one and the same It was a type by which St. Paul doth teach vs the Resurrection namely by the dying and rotting of corne in the earth and as for the operation of the Sunne in the graines multiplication euery plowman will instruct you in it Now for a conclusion vnto this we see that sometimes the Sunne is further off and somtimes nearer and yet more or lesse he doth not cease to operate by vegetating and multiplying in Animals vegetables and mettalls I must now heare his conclusion O Agent aboue all Agents certainely the Angels of Heauen cannot worke at such a distance onely God whose Essence is infinite who is omnia in omnibus All in all can worke thus because from him nothing is distant at all 〈◊〉 in him we liue moue and haue our being Acts 17. Leaue your admiration It is nothing to this our text you haue opened your owne Absurdity I would haue you now abandon the abolishing of our Weapon-Salue and make vse of your Sponge to wipe away the staines of your owne error which you haue fully expressed in this your assertion for by it you haue ouerthrowne your tenent you say after your admiration aboue admiration that the Angells of heauen cannot worke at such a distance Therfore I conclude thus Ergò much lesse the Angells of hell for they are darker and therefore of a lesse extension Now you said before that a cloud will take away the Sunnes Light therefore surely the Diuell being an Angell of darkenesse must be more impedited in his vertuall operations and consequently in the extension of his power then the Angells of light But say you it is the power of the Diuell that makes this oyntment to doe such feates at so farre a distance for else it were not witch-craft nor diabolicall Then you conclude thus for me onely God whose Essence is infinite and is all in all can worke thus c And can hee so indeed And will Master Foster then attribute this act vnto the Diuell the worst of Angells and so commit worse then ordinary Idolatry to arrogate that to the Creature nay to the Diuell which by his owne confession belongeth to God Will you confesse that he is all and in all and will you make the goodnesse more All in the goodnesse of healing then God himselfe Will you acknowledge with the Apostle that God operats all in all and will you attribute his worke the fruits whereof is goodnesse vnto the Diuell whom he predestined and ordained to punish destroy and marre and not to make and heale Doe not you absolutely conclude for the Weapon Salue in saying In him we liue moue c. Proh Deum atque hominuÌ„ fidem What an error is this in so eminent an appearing Philosopher nay in a Theosopher The world may perceiue by this that Quaedam videntur non sunt But to proceed vnto the period Let the iudicious and Religious Reader iudge then if the weapon-curing mediciners make not a God of their vnguent and commit not Idolatry in attributing that to a little smearing oyntment of their owne making which is proper to God onely the Maker of all things You are deceiued Sir they make not a God of the vnguent but giue hearty thanks vnto him for that blessed gift of miraculous healing he hath bestowed on the vnguent Neither did the Iewes attribute the curing property vnto the Poole of Bethesdaes but vnto Gods curing or salutiferous Angell which imparted that gift vnto it Wherefore I would haue you good Sir and all the world besides to know that all suspicion of Idolatry is in this case taken away from the mediciners for asmuch as due acknowledgment and veneration is ascribed by them vnto God onely for his grace in healing manifested by this oyntment Yea verily rather the stile of an Idolater ought rightly to be imputed to your selfe Sir who so impiously dare to attribut these good healing blessings of God vnto the Deuill the worst of creatures Againe we deny that it is the artificiall composition made with mans hands that cureth but the naturall ingredients of the composition which God hath originally endued with such an occult and mysticall vertue in â—…uring To conclude this point if the iudicious Reader will well ponder the words of M. Fosters Text he shall finde him to be in it an Aâ—…stat or Heriticke vnto his owne tenent or Doctrine for his assertion which hee seemeth so Giant-like to maintaine is that the Weapon-Salues cure is diabolicall or effected by the subtill art of the Deuill but in this Text hee dotingly saith that the mediciners attribute that vnto the Salue or little Smearing oyntment which is proper to God onely which if it bee true as true it is then is Master Foster in an abominable errour to affirme this cure to be onely the act and operation of the Deuill Thus Gentle Reader you see the efficacie of this mans reasons as well Philosophicall as Theologicall whereby he seemeth through the Ignorance of the cause to maske Gods Goodnesse with a prestigious visard of the Deuill you see the improbability of it But as penitent sinners at
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
it is bounded with no limites and for this reason it is said the Spirit bloweth where it listeth and that without resistance that this spirit can conuert it selfe from an actiue and liuely power into a potentiall congealing c deadly property in the Creature by withdrawing his actuall beames from the circumference of the Creature whither it did emit them for liuely actiuities sake into the centre that is within it selfe where it doth in respect of the Creature rest and so depriueth the Creatures spirit by congealation of the motion act and life which by his spightfull Actiuity it did impart vnto the naturall spirits to make blood fat flesh and bones For this reason therefore I say namely because of the presence of this incorruptible spirit in the blood of the creature God in any case forbids the Israelites to eate of blood because saith the Text the life of the flesh is in the blood Here therefore obserue that the Spirit of life is from God who viuifieth all things the life of the blood and fat is in this spirit and of this Spirit wherefore it is written in another place Sanguinem adiâ—…em omnino non comedetis you shall by no meanes eate the blood and the fat for the life of the flesh is in the blood and the life of the bones is in the flesh It is easily therefore to be discerned what a concatenation heere is of members in succession which deriue their liues from one and the same radicall essence or spirit and are made by it to sympathise with one and the same harmony in the creatures composition being that he hath made of one blood all man-kinde as S. Paul doth fitly and consequently being all flesh and bones are made of one blood there must be a great relation betweene them and mans blood in generall and consequently betweene the blood and the oyntment which is made of them These things therefore being rightly pondered as infallible grounds wee conclude thus In the Question proposed wee are to obserue these fiue obiects namely first the wound secondly the blood which issueth from the wound thirdly the manner of conueyance from the oyntment to the wound at any reasonable distance fourthly the nature of the oyntment and lastly the manner of operation whereby the cure is effected First therefore concerning the wound it is a violation of the worke which the spirit of life did effect namely an effusion of blood in which the spirit of life is carryed and moueth a hinderance and dâ—…erting of the course of the naturall humors a diuision and solution of the fat flesh and other such like parts from their integrity and continuity an offence vnto that peaceable act of life effected by that incorruptible spirit of God which by this his property or attribute is apt to viuifie all in all For this cause therefore is this radicall acting spirit interessed in this businesse or vnnaturall action as finding his worke hindered and his essentiall action disturbed by the wound or violence offered For wheras the blood is the vehicle of it and his viuifying act was to circulate in the organicall blood and to cause transmutation of it into flesh and other parts for vegetation multiplications sake and for the preseruation of the induiduum Now is the same blood slused out at the mouth of the wound and made inutill and of none effect the body for the animating of the which this secret spirit is euer diligently enclined is debilitated and made drooping Wherefore as the incorruptible and viuifying nature hath intended to rectifie his humane spirit by her liuely actiuity so verily is she ready to oppose all violence offered and to correct repaire againe all that which violent irruption hath caused much like the wise Spider who when her web is made imperfect and in part broken doth her diligence to bring it againe to its wonted perfection Secondly the blood as it is the vehicle of the spirit of life though it be by the wound voided out yet retaineth in it this spirit of life but in another property for it doth not now act to liue that is to say it doth not send forth his beames from the centre to the circumference to cause life but contrarily being as it were displeased with the violence of the act contracteth it selfe from the circumference into the centre that is from action in the circumference of the creature into it selfe being contracted into the centre thereof where it seemeth to rest and so leaueth his bodily and ayery vehicle as congealed stupfied and dead and here is that mystery discouered namely the reason why the murtherer being brought before the murthered the spirit centrally resting in the blood doth miraculously emanate and flow forth and make fluent againe the blood as being stirred vp by the like spirit antipathetically acting and agitating from the blood of the murtherer For as I said before this spirit in his irascible property is as apt to hate as in his concupiscible to loue For this reason the Text teacheth vs that the blood of a slaine man is required not onely of the murthering man but of the beast if it be shed by it And againe the blood of any thing must not be eaten which were but superficiall if the spirit of life did not after the effusion of the blood rest in the blood as also the reason that the blood of such animalls as were slaine in hunting or hawking should be buryed in the earth would proue of little validity For this cause it is said in another place Sanguine insontium commaculata terra expiari non potest nisi per eius sanguinem qui alterius sanguinem fuderit The earth being commaculated with the blood of the innocent cannot be expiated but by blood of the other To conclude Why should it be said that the blood is the seat of the spirit of life if it did not participate with it after it is effused out of the wound congealed and as it were dead and rest in the centre of it yea this spirit doth entirely leaue and forsake the flesh of the dead being that his life as it is said is in the blood nor yet the very bones forasmuch as they participate of the nature of the most earthly part of the flesh Hence was it that when certaine theeues had cast the body of one whom they â—…ad murthered into the Tombe of Eliseus the murthered person did with the onely touch of the Prophets bones rise againe to life which could not haue been effected if as well his diuine as viuifying nature had not participated with his bones and vpon this it is sayd that after death Eliseus his body prophesied and that hee did wonders in his life and in death were his works maruellous To conclude the learned and wise Philosophers speaking Enigmatically of this spirit say that in the body there is a little bone called Luz which will remaine with man till the
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
it pleaseth and therefore at what distance it listeth as well with the vertues of heauen as with the dwellers on the earth If this great Aduersary to the Weapon-Salue-Salue would but consider the wonderfull operation that this Catholicke spirit produceth in this cold and contracting facultie as when he moueth from the North and maketh snow frost and Ice by the contracting of the thin spirit of the world into a thick body and sucketh vp the fountaines of the earth on high all which is done by contracting his action from the circumference vnto the center or emission from the center to the circumference causing the common element to alter from a dilated spirit to a contracted body And againe from a contracted body to a dilated one for by an alteration quite opposite to his Boreall act or Northerne disposition it vndoeth in his dilating property and resolueth all that it did effect by his cold condition in mouing and making aliue againe the waters that were congealed rendring them diaphanous or transparent and spirituall or inuisible things though they were before thick opack dark corporall and visible And againe if he with discretion would consider how it doth depresse and strike downe into the earth the fountaines by his presence in his Sunny tabernacle which by his cold propertie were raysed out of the eartâ—… If I say hee would well ponder with himselfe how the â—…unne being now in the South beyond the Equinoctiall doth subtilitate there the thick Ayre and dissolue the frosty snowy and Icy effects which the cold did make in that Hemispheare whilest the Sunnes presence in the Northerne world did worke â—…ere contrary effects and how on this side the Equinoctiall by his contractiue faculty it partly sucketh vp the fountaines of the Southerne world out of the earth and partly by his dilatiue action depresseth on that side the said fountaines appearing in the Northerne Climats Then would he not call the action of this most potent spirit in question or limit it according to the phantastick opinion of some men within an imaginary spheare of actiuity being that this spirit is from him who filleth all and operateth all and in all and therefore consequently effecteth the great works of contraction and dilatation which are so apparant in euery Angle of the world Will he circumscribe this action of eleuating fountaines and againe depressing them within any spheare or orbe except it bee that of the round world Will hee thinke that this action made betweene the potentiall habit of priuation or cold and that of life and position which is heate requireth a small interuall to make the two extremes so farre distant from each other as the North is from the South to meete and concurre in a Symphoniacall proportion The hotter and more intemperate and consequently the more dilatiue the one Hemispheare is the colder and more contractiue is the opposite And therefore the more depression of fountaines there is by extreme heate in the one Hemispheare the more are they sucked drawne vp out of the earth by the attâ—…actiue vertue of the extreme cold of the other This I can and will be ready to demonstrate to any one that doubteth of this point by an ocular conclusion or demonstration It is euident therfore by this which we haue produced that this magneticall kind of cure is Donum Dei the Gift of God according vnto Paracelsus his opinion and not the act of the Deuill as Master Foster most vnchristianly hath published attributing against reason and conscience that vnto the Deuill the worst and foulest of spirits whose office is onely destructiue and wounding and not constructiue or healing which is the onely property of this best fayrest or purest of all spirits on whom attend all good Angels to doe his will as the Deuill hath his bad angels to destroy You may therefore see by this Gentle Reader how life is breathed into the creature by Gods good Spirit of life how his seate or vehicle in which he moueth is the blood how that fat flesh and bones haue their life and vegetation from the spirit that moueth in the blood how this spirit operateth priuatiuely by contracting his beames of life from the circumference vnto the center of the Creature where it resteth or rather ceaseth to operate the effects of his office of life as it is made manifest in the dead congealed blood or graineof wheat and againe it operateth positiuely to life by which it reuiueth that which was dead by sending out his act from the centre to the circumference of the creature as it doth in the graine of Wheat buryed in the ground or the congealed blood cleauing eyther to stick or weapon conueyed to the oyntment as his most naturalest earth I shewed you how the spirit is all one and vndiuisible and therefore that this which resideth in the salue and that which operateth in the body are concatenated or continuated essentially one to another as being all one spirit though it commeth from the foure winds not diuided I say in essence but onely differing in property for it worketh contractingly by eold dilatingly by heate also that there is but one common vehicle which carryeth this spirit in the Etheriall substance of the blood And lastly that because the oyntment is made of mans blood mans fat mans flesh or mummy and the fumous excrescence of mans bones called vznie or the mosse that groweth on the skull according vnto my receit and for that the nature of the Catholike spirit thus specified is in the oyntment though not working and is stirred vp to operate by the vnion which it hath now from the beames of the liâ—…ely and operating spirit of the wounded no otherwise then the Sunne doth operate on the earth in which the dead graine of Wheat lyeth and with it calleth or stirreth vp the centrall spirit occult in the dead blood to operate as the Sunne beame doth the atome of life which is in the graine Therefore the mixtion of these two spirits now operating in one viuifying vnion makes them to tend vnto the fountaine of life as the graine rifing out of the earth would carry also his like which was clad in earth vpward toward his natiue home did not the heauy coats of the elements hinder his further ascent But because this earth or salue is more spirituall it sendeth out his power vnto the blood by that harmony which the continuation of spirit doth effect namely as it were by an vnison by reason of the vniformity of the specifick spirit belonging vnto man by the vnion whereof the foure discordant elements and euery member of mans body are vnited vnto a fympatheticall harmony adopted to the vse of life in the creature yea also forasmuch as the blood flesh fat and bones in all other vnreasonable creatures are framed out of one kinde of elementary forme and fashioned alike by the same operating spirit it is no maruell if his blood being brought vnto the
same oyntment doe also cause health in the wounded creature being it doth generally tend to life which is proper to all bloody creatures no exceptions had vnto each specifick difference Whether this therefore being well conceiued and pondered euen by the very zealous with little vnderstanding can appeare an act of the diuell and not the blessed gift of God I leaue it to the scanning of such as can better iudge of this matter then my selfe But now Courteous Readers that I may conclude this Theo-philosophicall member with a better tast or relish vnto the pallats of your riper iudgements and well seasoned conceptions I purpose to fall from this Theoricall or speculatiue course of demonstation and betake my selfe a while vnto a more practicall or experimentall way of direction whereby you may the better enter into the plaine and direct trace of truth touching the resolution of the foresaid question and I will diuide this my practicall discourse into three seuerall chapters whereof the first or fourth shall teach you by an euident experience that the agent or internall principle in this cure is in the blood or body of the liuing man that is wounded and consequently the diuell must needes be excluded from being any agent or actor in it The second or fift shall expresse diuers true histories touching this cure as they haue beene acted heere at home amongst vs in England The third or sixt shall disco or the true ground why our aduersary wrote this booke And the last shall tell certaine manner of sympatheticall cures which will appeare sarre more strange and more surpassing the capacity of our Sponge-carrier then that of the weapon-salue Of these therefore in order thus CHAP. IIII. Here are expressed certaine practicall obseruations concerning this cure whereby it is made apparant that the internall agent in this cure is centrall contained in the blood and consequently Master Fosters diuell must be excluded out of this wholesome businesse for a wrangler IF it were indeed as Mr. Foster would haue it that the diuell is the sole author and actor in this cure and that hee performeth it craftily and sophistically by other medicines to delude the simple Mountebanks then is it not likely that there can be any agent â—…in the blood that could resist or hinder this his cure which also appeareth to be the more probable because that the nature of the wounded person is apt and inclined by all meanes possible to put off all languishment and desireth to haue her Tabernacle in a wholesome and sound estate And for this reason wee see that by the application of salues balsames or inward physicke the naturall spirits and internall actor of life doth helpe and assist the medicines in their cure or else they would not effect any such matter For this reason is the Physician called Adiutor naturae The helper of nature Now that the principall agent of this cure is comprehended in the body of the wounded I proue it in this manner It hath beene auerred and will be maâ—…ntained by persons of great knowledg no Babies but of a farre greater maturity both in learning and iudgement then our Sponge-carryer that in their manifold experience they haue obserued and found it most true that when the wounded person hath sent his blood on a sticke yron or weapon to the place of the oyntment and that thereupon hee hath beene in a good way of healing if in the time of his cure he hath to doe with a menstruous woman immediately the curatiue power in the oyntment is lost and it will doe him no good also they haue oftentimes obserued that if the wounded person happen in the meane season to haue an issue of blood out of his nose the curatiue property will be quite taken away and it will profit nothing after this whereby it is apparant that this happeneth because the act and secret emanation of the internall spirit of life in the wounded is diuerred from his application or aspect vnto the weapon-salue And therefore leaueth the one to operate in the other which are so immediate vnto it and the body euen as in heauen we see that agreater aspect or more potent application of one planet vnto another doth drowne and take away the lesser There is another admirable experiment tryed by a noble personage of whom I wil make mention more at large in the sixt chapter of this member for one of his men hauing deeply cut his finger and that about the ioynt with a sith as he was mowing of grasse his finger bled still and could not easily be staunched Wherefore this Earle wished them to knoke off the Sithe from the handle and to bring it vnto him that hee might anoynt it the wounded fellow went about it himselfe and at the very first knocke that hee gaue the weapon that had wounded him the blood stanched and he bled not one drop more And verily he acknowledged that though there were not a iot of blood to be discerned on the weapon yet if hee anoynted the place of the instrument that made the wound which oftentimes he confessed he was forced to doe by guesse hee did performe as well the cure as if the blood had stucke vpon it Out of which reuelation or derection I gather that all the mystery of this cure consisteth in the secret and inuisible spirit which is within the blood as well remaining still and operating in the wounded body as that which hath penetrated inuisibly into the weapon for else without the presence of the visible blood it could not operate yea and out of that obseruation namely that the Sithe or weapon being strucke the blood did forth-with stanch there is as great a mystery opened as when the presench of the murtherer doth cause the congealed blood in the murthreâ—… to flow and runne againe all which is effected partly by the contracting property of the occult spirit in the blood and partly by his dilatation as is said before Hereby it is made cleare that it is not the deuill that by externall application worketh any thing in this cure but it is by the centrall emanation of that spirit in the wounded that giueth him life which operateth ab interno as by these experiments it is made euident I come to the next Chapter of experimented cures CHAP. V. Wherein certaine Histories touching the effecting of this Cure are expressed NOw will I relate vnto you the stories of certaine homebred cures which haue beene effected by this Weapon-Salue that thereby wise men may deeme or gesse vprightly whether the Deuill hath a finger in this cure yea or no. There is a Knight dwelling in Kent a man iudicious religious and learned called Sr. Nicholâ—… Gilbourne one I say with whom I both am and haue beene long familiar For he married my Sister This Knight hauing good acquaintance with one Captaine Stiles for asmuch as in times past he was his tenant was with the said Captaine in the Company of very good
a triple consideration this dull Sponge of M. Fosters is squeesed and how vnreasonable and vnprobable is his foresaid proposition I come therefore to the examination of the second question which ariseth from it Touching the second question which is Whether a Horse haue a Balsam sympathising with that of man Master Foster saith There is no such sympathy betweene Horse and Man Hee saith much but proued little or nothing As who should say M. Fosters wil is so and therefore stet pro ratione voluntas his wil must stand for a law He imitateth exactly in this his bragging M. Mersennus But I wil be so bold as to instruct him better in this matter and shew him that the bodily nature of the one doth easily sympathise and communicate with that of the other For the Flesh Fat and Bones of the one and the other are of blood in a naturall generality yea and in speciality of bloods though in number they vary For I beseech you doth not the selfesame Flesh Fat and Blood of the Beast nourish the like in man Is not the one transmuted into the other Nay doth not the Scripture speake this in a generall sense meaning all blood namely that the soule or life of the creature is in the blood and that the life of all flesh is in the blood and that for a diuine respect of that Spirit of life in the blood we are commanded not to eate of the blood of any creature And againe the blood of man in a reciprocall respect is to be demanded of the Beast that shed it All which being rightly considered who of wisedome can make any doubt and not absolutely conclude that the Beasts bodily nature doth sympathise and correspond with the parts of mans body I confesse that the Intellectuall nature of man maketh it to differ from that of a Horse for as much as he is said to be Animal rationale and the Beast Animal irrationale but these properties are onely seene in the specifying spirit and doe neither concerne or touch any action of life or vegetation or multiplication or healing I will therefore discourse in this manner God hath endued man with a double gift whereof the first is the spirit of life which he hath imparted not onely vnto him but also to all other creatures and againe he hath bestowed on him more then on any other liuing creature for he hath giuen him vnderstanding and yet the Giuer of this double gift is but onely one Spirit And thereupon Iob saith Spiritus Deifecit me inspiratio Omnipotentis viuificauit me The Spirit of God made me and the inspiration of the Euerlasting gaue me life Now as I haue said this very same benefit was giuen vnto all other creatures in all one property and office whereby it is said Deus viuificat omnia God viuifieth all things And Iudith Misit Spiritum creauit omnia He sendeth forth his Spirit and createth all things and the Prophet Isaias Deus dat flatum populo spiritum calcantibus terram God giueth breath vnto the people and spirit to euery creature that marcheth on the earth Wherby it is plaine that the same spirit of life is proportionably though diuersly in number measure and proportion powred out on euery specifick Animal and therefore there must be an admirable sympathy of nature betweene the parts of each Animal which are by vegetation and multiplication produced through the operation of the same spirit of life infused into the blood and so by the way of animation vnto the Fat Flesh and Bones And this is the reason and no other that like is conuerted into his like namely blood into blood flesh into blood and flesh and fat into his like and bones and marrow is made of both Is it not most palpable that any flesh or blood or fat of dead Beasts will be conuerted by mutation of concoction into the substance of man which it could neuer doe but that they egregiously doe sympathise in nature together and doe vnite the Balsamick nature or calidum innatum humidum radicale of the one with the other and transmute the substance of the one into that of the other which originally is the blood as well manifest as occult But touching the other extraordinary gift it is said by Iob in another place In homine est spiritus sed inspiratio Omnipotentis facit eum intelligere In man is the spirit of life but the breath of the Omnipotent maketh him to vnderstand Vnderstanding therefore is a gift a part which maketh man to differ from the Beast but not the spirit of life What then resteth more to be done Marry the Doctor must remember c. saith M. Foster And what must he remember For so strict an admonition of a wise man must import some thing of weight Hee must saith he remember his Horse-leechery And what Horse-leechery Namely that a Horse pricked with a nayle may likewise bee cured A wonderous piece of worke And was it for this mighty businesse that the same memoriall should be repeated in this his glorious Spongy piece of seruice to wipe that Assertion away Let vs therefore see the maine subiect of his commenforation which is this For saith the Doctor which I aduised him to remember if the nayle which pricked a Horse be put into the Oyntment-pot the Horse shal be cured I say There is no such sympathy betwixt Horse and Man Ha ha he Risum teneatis amici Because he saith so therefore it is so stat pro ratione voluntas Hee sayes it and though he proueth nothing yet hee must be beleeued But this mans Assertion shall be proued ridiculous as wel by a common and vulgar obseruation as the manifold practicall experience of the Nobleman or Earle which I mentioned in the 6. chapter of the 2. Member of this Treatise Touching the common vulgar obseruation we see that the flesh of all creatures as I said before be they Birds or foure-footed Beasts and therefore of a Horse is easily conuerted after it is digested in mans stomack into his blood flesh fat and bones which is an euident Argument that there is a manifest sympathy betweene a Horse his flesh and blood and that of a man yea and that there resideth in a Horse the like Balsamick nature or Radicall moysture which is in a man and that consequently the same Balsamick nature doth sympathise with the hypostaticall Balsam remaining in man The case is apparent for quod facit tale est magis tale and therefore if the blood or flesh of a Horse were not of such a nature as that of man it would neuer be conuerted and made one in vnion with the blood and flesh of man But that it is so euery Sot doth perceiue practically Whereby it is euident that the Balsamick nature of the one doth most exactly agree with the other or else they would neuer proue so homogeneall as to include one nature Againe if they
of this feate of occult curing and not rather such ingredients as are collected out of mans body being that they are neerer and more familiar vnto their kinde and therefore more benigne and affable vnto it then stranger Medicines as are vegetables or such like If the Reader will well ponder this he will perceiue all that our Sponge-carrier speaketh Pag. 8. is but foppery The Deuill saith he maketh the Mediciner beleeue it is spent by a vertue going to the wound whilst hee skilfull by long experience in all Arts and so in the Art of Medicine doth himselfe secretly apply some other vertuall operatiue Medicine to cure the wound to delude his credulous Mountebankes and makes them beleeue that this Salue which dropped out of the Hangmans bouget hath performed it O wonderous miracle and what getteth the Deuill by that namely to cure a man in that sort whose body and soule is in the hands of the Almighty In maâ—… Iehouae saith Iob est anima omnis 〈◊〉 spiritus 〈◊〉 carnis In the hand of God is the soule of euery creature and the spirit of all flesh Thinkes he that God will leese his owne by so weake and poore a sleight Nay more to giue or grant vnto the Deuill his Word which as Salomon saith 〈◊〉 all things to deceiue himselfe of his owne heritage What The Deuill doe good where no profit vnto him is to be expected And why not then by the virtuall contact of this Medicine being of a neerer consanguinity with man and therefore a more easie Curer then any other Medicine that can worke by any virtuall contact A goodly tale As if a man would perswade me that it is not the Load-stone that draweth the Iron but the Deuill vseth some other creature to doe the deed to coozen and deceiue the Philosopher or Mariner These are but fabulae Inuentions I say of a fantastick braine who to perswade vs vnto his imaginary and no way probable will would make vs beleeue that Castles are built in the Ayre and that we are in all our good actions deluded by the Deuill and that flying with the wings of Master Fosters wit we must needs be wafted on the clouds of error and so in a mist of ignorance forget the blessed workes of our good God and Sauiour and by Master Fosters palpable delusions to acknowledge them to be effected craftily by Gods enemy And how in Gods name hapneth it that the Deuill is become so great a Student in Physick and doth proue so expert in the art of curing who hath employed his whole cunning and bestowed the best fruits of his industry to play the Kill-cow and to destroy A very wonderous thing Master Foster said it ergo must we beleeue it No God forbid But blessed be our Lord God who by emitting forth the benignity of his countenance sendeth onely health where how and vnto whom he list But to proceede CHAP. IIII. This Chapter sheweth Master Fosters error in saying that the soule doth not reside after an hidden manner in the spirits The second attempt of the Sponge against the same Text. Fourthly I deny that the soule resideth after any hidden manner in the spirits The Stoicks indeed held that the spirits were vincula animae corporis but the Peripatetick and Diuines deeme this as needlesse seeing the body is generated for the soule and the soule created for the body and both make the totum compositum What needs there any bonds to fasten them together There is a reciprocall desire to come together at the first and an endeauour after the vnion to keepe together The soule cannot in any kinde depend on or reside in the spirits her instruments but the spirits in the soule c. We squeese once againe in this Argument this swelling and full-gorged Sponge after this manner Though in the precedent I answered sufficiently that point yet must I wring this Sponge a little harder or it will keepe some of the iuyce of verity in his porous paunch I said before that animaesedes was in sanguine and her chiefest vehicle was the humidum radicale as we see that the Spirit of life in the great world did place His Tabernacle in the Sunne of Heauen And againe it is said that the incorruptible Spirit is in all things but this is that spirit which viuifyeth all things and therefore it resideth in the blood and consequently in the spirits which are contained therein after a hidden and mysticall manner As touching the Peripateticks and some 〈◊〉 opinion who hold that it is needlesse there should be a tye betweene the soule and body verily that doctrine is most erroneous and false First because the soule and body are so contrary in complexion vnto one another that except an vnion were made betweene the two extremes it were impossible that they should meet together or if they should or could meete yet the pure and heauenly light of the soule would suddenly forsake the impure and earthly darknesse of the body For how can duo contraria conuenire in vnum Doe we not see that all influences from aboue must haue an ayrie Chariot vehicle or medium to conuey them into bodies and to vnite them together Why did God ordaine and place the Ayre betweene the Heauen and Earth but to serue as a vehicle to vnite celestiall things with terrestriall ones quasi amoris vinculo as it were with the band of loue Can we haue a better proofe hereof in this typicall world then that of the Archetypicall Is not the Father vnited to the Sonne by the Holy Spirit which Saint Augustine calleth and many others Diuinum amoris vinculum The Diuine tye or vnion of loue Now after the Archetypicall image were all things effected both in the little and great world For the Prophet saith By the Word of the Lord the Heauens were fashioned and by the Spirit of his mouth all the vertues of them So that the vertuous vnion or linke which is made betweene the effects of the Word in whom is life and the creature to be viuified is the Good and Incorruptible Spirit by which tye God hath his essentiall relation vnto the creature By this Spirit all the discordant elements are tyed in an vnion and louing consent whereupon it is called Peace and Loue and Concord which beareth as the Apostle saith and sustaineth all things by the Word of his vertue By it weight and proportion is assigned vnto the ayre and the clouds are fastened or hung vp in measure and the waters are tyed so fast in the thicke clouds that they cleaue not To conclude in the great World the Earth and the Heauens are established and linked together by the Word of God as the Apostle Peter telleth vs or else the elements would be continually at warre And by the same reason the soule and the body or Heauen and Earth in the little World are linked together by this intermediate eternall tye or
Weapon communicateth it to the blood fixed on it the blood to the spirits the spirits conducted by the ayre communicate it to the body and so the Patient is without application of plaister healed naturally c. It is plainely and euidently here to be discerned how he corrupteth my text to make it serue his owne ends For first I make no mention of a streight or direct Line onely I speake of carrying and direction of the vitall spirits from the body wounded vnto the Box of Oyntment and then of the magneticall attraction of the sanatiue vertue back againe by an inuisible Line protracted in the ayre Then he saith as from my text that the Weapon doth communicate the vertue of the Oyntment vnto the blood fixed on it But I neither said or meant any such matter for there is a neerer consanguinity betwixt the Oyntment and the blood then betweene the Weapon and the Oyntment But I care so little for him and his deuices as that I will let him haue his will The act of his cleansing Sponge vpon this Fiftly â—…deny Master Doctors Carrier viz. his direct inuisible Line carrying the sanatiue vertue so many miles from the Weapon vnto the Wound Surely this is Tom Long the Carrier who will neuer doe his arrant But the Sunne with his beames is a true Messenger betweene Heauen and Earth and so this Salue 〈◊〉 the Weapon and the Wound O incomparable comparison The Sunne is called quasi solus as hauing no pecre no creature working like it But the Doctor like another Archimedes can make one working by sending forth beames like it Though you call this my Messenger Tom Long the Carrier yet shall it doe his aâ—…ant so surely and returne so suddenly vpon you his slanderer being carried on the swift wings of verity that in the conclusion of this text it shall giue you but Iack Drummes entertainment for your reward I doe not say good Sir that as the Sunne-beame is a true Messenger betwixt Heauen and Earth so the Salue is a Messenger betwixt the Weapon and the Wound O admirable capacity of so learned a Gentleman in his owne conceit to imagine things that are not but I say that as the Sunne-beame is a Messenger betwixt Heauen and Earth so is the beame of the viuifying and incorruptible Spirit in the inward man which is his Heauen vnto the blood which lyeth hid in the Oyntment no otherwise then the graine of Corne in a good and fertill earth receiueth the viuifying comfort of the Sunne-beames by which after putrifaction of the graine it doth by a magnetick power draw the little soule now at liberty vpward towards his Fountaine of life from whence it descended the yeere before for the multiplying of the graine But because it is hindred by his elementary body it remaines houering in the ayre and by sucking down from aboue more of his like it multiplyeth from one graine vnto a great many Is it therefore impossible that the like might happen betweene the beame issuing from the body and the corrupted blood in the Oyntment the small Atome of life by 〈◊〉 of the dead blood arising and without impediment of his vnctuous earth sucked by little and little vnto his Fountaine of life But because all this is liuely expressed in mine answer vnto the very selfesame obiection made in the first and second Chapter of the second Member of this Treatise I will refer the Reader vnto those places where he shall finde all the Contents of this his insufficient Confutation answered his Sponge thorowly squeesed and all his rancor and venom pretended against this my Text quite crushed out and annihilated Then he proceedeth thus The Sunne is called quasi solus as bauing no peere no creature working like it but the Doctor like another Archimedes c. Good Master Parson semper excipio Platonem That incorruptible Spirit which as the Sonne of Syrach telleth vs was created before all things must be excepted Doe you marke this Sir For I told you that your Sponge in the inquisition of this text would haue but Iack Drummes entertainment I hope you will not preferre the visible Sunne either in glory or actiuity before this Diuine Spirit which giueth it glory and actiuity What The creature before the Creator The matter before the forme The Patient before the Agent Is this Master Parsons good diuinity Or doth Philosophy teach him thus much Whatsoeuer Tully telleth vs that this is reuer â solus in mundo actor It is certaine that it was this Spirit which put his Tabernacle in the Sunne of Heauen and by it only the Sunne liueth moueth and operateth here below and there aboue and it is one and the same Spirit which imparteth vnto all creatures and consequently vnto vs men the spirit of life by which we liue moue and haue our being It is he that hath reciprocally put his Tabernacle in man as well as in the Sunne and therefore are we termed the Members of Christ and Temples of the Holy Ghost Whereby the wisdome of Master Foster nay of a Christian Diuine may bee well skanned and discerned in saying in his text But D. Fludd like another Archimedes can make one working by sending forth beames like it c. No verily I will not be so bold to ascribe vnto my selfe that which belongeth onely vnto God my Creator howsoeuer Master Foster would ascribe it to the Deuill Concerning the full answer vnto this his Confutation I referre you as is said vnto the second Member of this Treatise I will proceede now vnto the greatest assault wherein his Sponge rubbeth very hard against my Text but preuaileth no more then they which goe about to wash away the colour of a Black-moore It will proue I hope a meere labour in vaine CHAP. VI. How contrary vnto our Spongy Cabalists intention it is proued first that euill spirits may contaminate and alter into their nature the aëry spirit of man as also that Deuils haue aëry bodies allotted vnto them in their creation Lastly the mutability and vnconstancy of the Consutor in his mayne Argument is discouered Doctor Fludds Text. FRom hence therefore ariseth that secret combination and vnion which is made betweene the euill spirit and the Cacomagicians or Witches by the which foolish men 〈◊〉 filthily deceiued by the Deuill whereupon the Deuill or malignant spirit by the alluerment of such a reward doth accomplish the will or desire of the witch And hereupon a compact is made betweene them namely that the spirit in what shape soeuer may sucke daily a portion of blood whereby the spirit lurking in the blood of the Magician may be made of one nature and condition with that of the malignant spirit and so his spirit was conuerted into a 〈◊〉 condition whereby it is impossible for him to depart from the worship of the Deuill Master Fosters Collection from the Text. That there is such a sympathy betwixt the blood in the body and
the blood drawne from the body it is most euident by the example of witches The Deuill sucketh blood from them this blood remaining with the Deuill participates of his maligne nature and hauing recourse by the spirits thereof vnto the Witches body maketh all their blood sympathise with that the Deuill hath and so the blood changeth the Witches nature and they become maligne and Diabolic all Here againe you may see that hee wresteth my Text beyond his true intended sense But I will yeeld him his desire and will please the Gentleman in his humour The act of his neate wiping Sponge vpon this Text. The Doctor proueth it by the example of blood sucked by the Deuill from Witches which remaining with the Deuill and sympathising with the blood in Witches bodies changeth their nature and makâ—…s them become maligne and Diabolicall O profound example Here Master Doctor 〈◊〉 a ground of his Argument which neither true philosophy nor orthodox Diuinity will giue vs leaue to assent vnto The Witches blood remaining with the blood-sucker the Deuill sympathiseth with the blood of the witches body How can this be How can blood a substance corporeall remaine with the Deuill incorporeall c Here this his Sponges validity is squeesed out O wonderous wit of our Sponge-bearer O light and spongy vnderstanding of so weighty a conception But if indeed Angels as he saith were incorporeall how could meate and drink a substance corporeal remaine with the Angels which Abraham entertained if they were incorporeall or if they assumed bodies accidentally could they eare and drinke with them naturally or was Abraham so senselesse to offer counterfeit shapes meat and drinke Surely a man so profound in diuine mysteries would not haue beene so absurd as to haue offered them his food if he had knowne that it would not naturally haue nourished them The same absurdity might iustly haue beene imputed vnto Lot Verily it is aboue the reach of Worldlings to scan rightly or discouer iustly this doubt But suppose it be granted that Angels and Deuils be not corporeall but spirituall creatures yet he confesseth elsewhere that the Deuill can indue and put on an organicall body namely of a man a Dog or Cat and consequently those Angels indued humane shapes I pray you when a squirt or syrynge or boxing glasse draweth is it the organ or the spirit in the organ that draweth Man operateth not with his body but with the inward spirit neither doth blood act any thing of it selfe but by the occult viuifying spirit which acteth in it Mans throat and tongue serue as organs of voyce but it is the Spirit that acteth If the Deuill enter into a body as he did into the Swine and humane bodies did he not make vse of the organicall voyce of the Beast and those men to speak vnto Christ But it was the spirituall act of the Deuill which did mingle it selfe with the aëry spirit of the Beast and man possessed and made it to answer according to the will of the Agent so I say that by the ayde of the creatures mouth and spirit which it indued it did suck the blood not that the blood in his grosse nature did abide with the Deuill in his spirituall substance but I say that the spirituall substance in the blood which participates of ayre is easie to ioyne and make an vnion by the contract with that of the Deuill euen as we see that Amber when it is burnt sendeth forth his spirit which vniting or mingling it selfe with the ayre infects it with his odoriferous nature and so there is an actuall communication made betweene the ayre and the fume betweene the spirit of the one and the other betweene a Priuy-house or plaguy Botch infecting and the spirit of the ayre infected the which ayre communicateth also that infection vnto the spirit of the smeller Againe doe we not see in one infected with the plague that first it was a corrupt spirit which by the virtuall contact ofit did infect not the blood onely but the inuisible spirits in the blood And doe we not see also that the same inuisible spirit so infecting doth inuisibly also infect the inuisible ayre about it and though it be in part exspired out of the body and blood yet it hath such communication with the blood that for all that the inuisible fume infecteth abroad not leauing neuerthelesse his persecution at home If therefore the Botch of the Plague in one man which the Prophet Abaku ' termeth the Daemonium or Deuill of the South doth infect the spirituall blood of another it is not the bodily Botch that doth it but the infected spirit in it The corporeall Boâ—…ch therefore we compare to the body assumed by the Deuill and the corrupting spirit vnto the Deuill Wherefore as we see that after the Botch of the one hath touched the person of another the spirit easily by reason of the reciprocall similitude of them communicate with one another so that although the party that hath the Botch departeth neuer so farre yet neuerthelesse the malignant spirit 〈◊〉 with the blood of the last infected and conuerteth it absolutely into his malignant nature Is it then impossible that the spirituall maligniâ—…y of the Deuill by a contactuall sucking of the blood should contaminate with the malignity of his spirit the spirit of the blood of the party sucked and leaue it so infected and changed vnto his owne nature as the venemous spirit of the Plague into a plaguy disposition Did not the Deuill worke the very same feate with Iudas his spirit when it was said 〈◊〉 Diabolus in cor 〈◊〉 vt traderet Christum hee sent or put it into the heart of ludas to betray Christ That is hee infecteth his spirit first and those spirits corrupted his thoughts or vnderstanding for without the helpe of a medium the Deuill being expelled from Heauen can not attempt the heauen of mans vnderstanding But to answer Master Foster at his owne weapon I meane that quick-sented Gentleman that so soone can smell a Rat What doth he thinke that Deuils haue not tenuia corpora Yea verily for he hath for it as he sayeth authorities of Scripture Counsels Fathers and Schoolemen to confirme so much But by the way he saith The Doctor who impiously attributes composition in God dareâ—… falsly attribute corporeity to Deuils In the first place M. Foster hath the Deuill the father of lyes for his Foster-father who can both foster and father vntruth vpon any one But as I haue said before the simple Frier Marinus Mersennus saith so namely because I auerred that the Spirit of the Lord filled and animated the heauenly Spirit Ergò saith he Fludd maketh God a part of Composition and therefore Master Parson holding the Friers words as an Oracle without pondering the sense of the businesse blundereth out like a Parrat these very words of the Frier The Doctor doth impiously attribute Composition vnto God But if I say that God is
for that very cause the Text calleth it in one place latibulum Dei in another tigurium Dei and in another vehiculum currus â—…ehoua so that if lebâ—…ua maketh this organicall Tabernacle of ayre to vtter vnto mortall eares his voyce as Scriptures in many places doe testifie it is no sinne to say that his inferiour spirits haue for their externall bodies aëry substances which being granted what should hinder spirits by contraction of this their external substances to appeare when they please visibly and organically to talke with a person as the tempting spirit did to Christ and againe by an immediate dilatation of the same externall aëry spirit to become inuisible no otherwise then a smoake by dilatation vanisheth or a cloud or mist made of a compacted and thickned ayre doth oftentimes without the appearance of any drop of raine passe away inuisibly Was it not strange that Christ himselfe that had flesh and bones should appeare etiam clausis ianâ—…is and then immediately to vanish And yet if we consider that after he was risen he did put on a spirituall body euen that body for that cause could deponere Tabernaculum suum visibile tangibile and become by subtiliation and dilatation as subtile and impalpable as the voluntie of him who hath the spirituall body pleaseth and so can appeare and vanishat an instant It is an admirable speculation to ponder and consider duely how God worketh in this world by contraction and dilatation by priuation and position by darknesse and light by apparition and disparition as we see when his Spirit moueth from the North the common ayre is by the contractiue nature of that spirit turned from inuisibility to visibility from transparency to opacity from ayre to Snow Haile Frost Ice from leuity to ponderosity from agility and mobility to fixation and immobility Contrarywise by his blast from the East or South the said bodies are altered againe into water and water into ayre and ayre into fire by dilatation and in conclusion corporeity terrestriall into corporeity aëriall or celestiall hardnesse into saltnesse grossenesse into subtility opacity into transparency fixation into mobility rest into action darknesse into light And to conclude contraction caused by this Spirit of God into dilatation visibility into inuisibility What shall I say more If Angels of all kindes haue their externall from the aëry spirit of the World and their internall act from this externall viuifying spirit in whom is the property of the foure Windes and therefore the Prophet said Come O Spirit from the foure Windes whereby he did argue that this one Spirit as being the essentiall actor in the foure Windes had the properties of the foure Windes in himselfe by the which he acted all things whereupon the Prophet called it from the foure Windes wee ought not to make any question but that by vertue of that internall act and the substance of that their externall ayre they may contract themselues from a spirituall fiery and aëry inuisibility vnto a nebulous or watery yea and earthly visibility or snowie or Icie nature especially the grosse malignant and darke spirits which by their fall haue indued the grosser ayre as Augustine saith and therefore is Satan called by the Apostle The Prince of the ayre And this is the reason that the Deuill or euill spirits do in their contraction conuert themselues into solid or firme shapes of man or beast and appeare in touch to be so excessue cold according to Master Fosters confession namely because the spirit by which they liue contracting it selfe from the Circumference of dilated ayre into the Center of contracted earth leaueth the externall or aëry compacted composition chill and cold like Ice For it is by his emanation or dilatation from the Center vnto the Circumference that kindleth naturall heate in the externall of euery creature To conclude against those that affirme that spirits haue no corporeity It is most certaine that where there is rarum densum thin and thick there consequently is corporeity either thinne or thicke For whatsoeuer is in his substance transmutable vnto a thinner or thicker body must needs bee bodily though not a visible body So is a Starre of Heauen called Densior pars sui orbis that is The inuisible â—…thereall spirit or thin body of Heauen thickned into the visible body of a Starre So also may fire be condensed into ayre and ayre into water and water into earth And againe that earth may be rarified into water and water into ayre and ayre into fire For such is the naturall rotation of elements Now the externall of Angels must be created of the spirituall substance of the higher world or not at all according vnto Basils tenor and consequently it is bodily though of a thinner or thicker consistence according vnto the dignity of the Angell Doth not also Dauid acknowledge thus much in these words Qui facit Angelos spiritus seu aëra 〈◊〉 Ministros ignem vrentem who maketh his Angels spirits or windie ayre and his Ministers flames of fire And therefore it is a shame that such mysteries as these which are most apparent to the considerant should by the ignorant bee derided and esteemed not workes and operations of the Spirit of God in the common element of the world but of the Deuill and so through their blindnesse mistake euill for good darknesse for light of which sort of people the Prophet meaneth in these words Woe vnto them that speake good of euill and euill of good which put darknesse for light and light for darknesse that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Woe vnto them that are wise in their owne eyes and prudent in their owne sight Thus iudicious and vnpartiall Reader you may perceiue by that which hath bene expressed in this Member how vnable mine Aduersaries Sponge hath beene to wipe away the least tittle of that naturall value and diuine vertue which in my mysticall Anatomy I haue ascribed vnto the Weapon-Salue And therefore for all I can see hee may inuent some more substantiall meanes then is this windie Sponge an expresse argument of a light braine or fantastick wit to subuert a Medicine of so weighty an importance and admirable power in working Hee must haue I say strong Cable-ropes in stead of a light Sponge to remoue the foundation of verity and yet I feare they will cracke too before they will be able to draw wise men to beleeue that the good gifts of healing in this Weapon-Salue should proceed from the Deuill and not from God and his benigne mercies which is the onely giuer of health and goodnesse And now I must remember you by the way of one absurdity in our Sponge-bearing Author For he saith first that this manner of cure is Diabolicall and afterward hee seemeth to attribute the effect of it vnto the vrine of man His words are these Doctor Fludds directions are that the Weapon be left in the Vnguent-pot till the