not the Opinions of Men not Custom nor the invented Fictions of the Wise not the Magnificent Decrees of Sects not Syllogisms Enthymems not Inductions not soluble Consequences but Divine Oracles consonant to one another received by the Universal Church with an unanimous and solid consent approved by Miracles Prodigies Wonders Holiness of life and testimony of Martyrdom The Doctors of this Prophetick Theologie were Moses Job David Solomon and many other Canonical Writers and Prophets The Teachers of the New Testament were the Apostles and Evangelists but all these notwithstanding they were fill'd with the Holy Ghost yet all at one time or other stray'd from the Truth and in some measure spake untruly not that they did so wittingly or craftily for to say so would be a greater Errour than that of Arius or Sabellicus subverting the whole Authority of the Scripture in which Errour notwithstanding the great and holy S. Jerome persisted disputing against S. Augustine about the reprehension of Peter for S. Paul said that S. Jerome told a lye craftily Which should it be granted and that such an untruth should be admitted in the Bible immediately as S. Austin saith the whole certainty of the Bible would fall to ruine But S. Jerome being thus admonisht after many Contradictions and defences at length acknowledged his Errour and confess'd the Truth But what I say that the holy Writers did secundum quid speak things not altogether true I would have to be understood so as that they did not willingly erre but onely stray through humane frailty Thus Moses failed in telling the people he would bring them out of Aegypt and carry them into the Land of Canaan for though he brought them out of Aegypt he did not carry them into the Land of promise Jonas failed in foretelling the destruction of Nineveh within forty days intended but delay'd Elijah failed in foretelling many things to come to pass in the days of Ahab which yet were not fulfill'd till after his death Isaiah failed foretelling the death of Hezekiah the next day when his life was prolonged fifteen years afterwards Many other Prophets also fail'd and their predictions are found either not to have come to pass at all or else to have been suspended The Apostles also and Evangelists fail'd Peter also fail'd when he was reprehended by S. Paul Matthew also fail'd when he wrote that Christ was not dead till the Launce had pierced his side But this defect was no defect of the Holy Ghost but either of the Prophet not rightly delivering what was suggested by the Holy Ghost or the Vision did declare or else proceeding from some alteration of the event of the Command the sentence of the Oracle being either alter'd or defer'd Hence it follows that all Prophets and Writers in some things seem to fail and erre according to the Scripture which saith All men are lyers Onely Christ both God and man never was nor shall be found to fail nor shall his words be altered or be defective who void of Errour divulged his Oracles most immutable as he said himself The heaven and the earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away Now because all Truth is through the Holy Ghost therefore onely Christ possesses this Truth firmly nor shall it ever depart from him but remains in him But it is not so with others for the Spirit was with Moses but when he strake the Rock it was departed It was with Aaron but departed when he made the Calf It was with Anna their sister but not when she murmured against Moses It was with Saul David Solomon Isaiah c. but rested not constantly with them Neither are Prophets always Prophets or Seers or foretellers of things to come nor is Prophecie a continual habit but a gift passion or transient spirit And whereas there is no man who doth not sin so there is no man from whom the Spirit doth not sometimes depart and leave him unless it be Christ the onely Son of God of whom it was therefore said to John He upon whom thou sawest the Spirit descending and remaining with him he is the Son of God who Baptizeth with the Holy Ghost being also able to impart the same to others Therefore as saith Simonides onely God hath this honour that he is onely Metaphysical so may we say of Christ that onely Christ hath this honour to be a Divine However let no man think that the Writings of the Old Testament since the Gospel of Christ had its divine birth from them are therefore obsolete and dead for they will ever live in high authority for by them have the Apostles proved their Tenets and without their testimony they have spoken nothing and Christ refers us to the search of them whose Gospel doth not at all abolish those Writings but fulfill'd the Law to the least tittle This is also to be noted that many Volumes of the Holy Scripture are lost which we may easily gather from the Scripture it self For Moses cites Books of The Wars of the Lord and Joshuah The Book of the Just Esther The Book of memorable things and Macchabees cites the holy Books of the Spartiatae and the Books of the Kings cite Books of Lamentations Books of Samuel the Seer Books and Writings of Nathan God Semeiah Haddo Ahia the Shilonite of Jehu the son of Ammon Jude also in his Canonical Epistle cites the Book of Enoch And some Authors of credit have cited a Book of Abraham the Patriarch All which are lost and never to be found Nor are these which we have received of equal Authority for Dionysius makes mention of A Gospel of S. Bartholomew and S. Jerome takes notice of A Gospel according to the Nazarenes and S. Luke in his Preface to his Gospel saith that many did undertake to write Gospels which are all lost And many others there are which are either corrupted with Heresie or set forth without Authority and so neither received by the holy Fathers nor approved by the Church I omit false Prophets who have come in by the by prophesying through vain-glory things which the holy Spirit never suggested but unheard-of lyes neither according to the Scripture nor tending either to unity of Spirit or the peace of the Church but for the introducing of Schism who rashly making themselves of Gods Privie Council dare presume to take the Word of God into their own mouthes and to write Scriptures and Prophecies altogether Heretical or Apocryphal Nor were the Canticles of Solomon inserted among the Canonical Books till they were corrected and approv'd by Isaiah From hence it appears how that Theologie it self that is to say the holy Scripture wants many of its Volumes and may in a manner seem defective and few of many that remain are true and certain really Books of life and Canonical CHAP. C. Of the Word of God YE have now heard how doubtful how uncertain how ambiguous all the Sciences are and how for any thing in them contained we
Epistle of Jude and many other places and Chapters of the New Testament by many call'd in question even to an endeavour of subverting the Evangiles themselves But now to the Poets CHAP. 4. Of Poesie POeste in the Judgment of Quintilian is another part of Grammar for this reason not a little proud that heretofore Theaters and Amphitheaters the most stately Fabricks of the time were with great cost and magnificence erected not for Philosophers Lawyers Physicians not for Rhetoricians Mathematicians or Divines but to represent the Fables of the Poets An Art invented to no other purpose but with lascivious Rhythmes measure of Sillables and the gingling noise of fine words to allure and charm the Ears of men addicted to folly and furthermore with the pleasing inticements of Fables and mistakes of feigned Stories to insnare and deceive the mind Therefore hath she deserv'd no other title than to be the female Architect of falshood and the preserver of idle and fond opinions And though we may pardon so much of her as counâ—enances Madness Drunkenness Impudence and Boldness yet who can bear with Patience her undaunted Confidence in maintaining Lyes For what corner of the Earth hath she not fill'd with her hairbrain'd Trifles and idle Fables Taking the first rise of her fabulous Stories from the very Chaos she relates the divisions of Heaven the birth of Venus the fight of the Titans the infancy of Jove the deceits of Rhea and cheat of the Stone Saturnus Bonds the Rebellion of the Gyants the Thievery and Punishment of Prometheâ— the wandrings of Delos the travail of Latona the slaughter of Pytho the Treachery of Tyrus Deauâ—aleâ—â—s Flood Stones turn'd into Men the Butcheries of Iacchus the Fraud of Juno Semelâ—s Conflagration the double Progâ—ny of Bacchus and whatever is reported of Minerva Vulcan Erichthonius Boreas 〈◊〉 Theseus Aegeus Castor Pollux the Rape of Helen the death of Hippolytus To these may be added the absconding of Ceres the Rape of Proserpina together with the storâ—s of Minos Cadmus Niobe Peâ—theus Attaeus Oedipus the Labours of Hercules the Fight of the Sun and Neptune Athamas madness â—o turn'd into a Hâ—â—fer and Argos her keeper kill'd by Mercury with those other Dreams of the Golden Fleece Peleus Jason Medaea the death of Agamemnon and punishment of Clytemnestra Danaë Perseus Gorgon Cassiopea Andromeda Orpheus Orestes the Travels of Aeneas and Vlysses Circe Thelagon Aeolus Palamedes Nauplius Ajax Daphne Ariadne Europa Phaedra Pasiphaë Daedalus Icarus Glaucus Atlas Geryon Tantalus Pan Centaurs Satyrs Syrens and whatever else has been delivered to memory concerning these notorious untruths Neither hath she been contented only with Mankind but also she hath made the Gods themselves Parties to her delusive Stories relating in pleasing measures and in the mischievous charms of Verse their Birth their Deceases Strifes Quarrels Animosities Battles Wounds Lamentations Bonds Loves Lusts Fornications Adulteries not only deceiving and infecting the present Age but having neatly preserv'd and pickled up these beâ—â—ialities of the Gods in neat Verse and Meter communicates the same to posterity like the Venome of Mad Doggs compelling all that are Bit to be in the same condition And with so much Art are her Lyes woven that they are often prejudicial to true History as appears by the feigned Adultery of Dido with Aeneas and the taking of â—rey by the Greeks Some there are arrived at such a height of madness that they ascribe some share of Divinity to her because the Devils formerly return'd their Answers in Poetical Anagrams Hence Poets are in some sence said to be Prophets and inspired from above their trifling Verses being us'd as Oracles and Answers of Divination which is the reason that Spartianus in the Life of Trajan makes mention of Sortes Homericae so called from the Verse of Homer and of the Vergilianae sortes so nam'd from the Poems of Vergil which superstition is now transferr'd and apply'd to sacred Text and the Poetry of the Psalms not without the connivance of some of the greatest Masters of our Religion But to return to Poesie St. Austin hath commanded it to be exil'd from the City of God Heathen Plato expels it out of his Common-wealth and Cicero forbids it to be admitted Socrates admonishes the person that desires to keep the Virgin-purity of his good name undefiled to beware of the acquaintance of Poets for that their power to praise is not so great as the force that lies in their slander and dispraise Thus we see Minos celebrated by Homer and Hesiod for the justest of Kings because he made War upon the Athenians rais'd all the Tragick Poets about his Ears who immediately sent him packing to Hell Penelope so famous in Homer for her Chastity yet Licophron reproaches as one that lay with many Adulterers Dido a most vertuous and continent Widow Foundress of Carthage Ennius the Poet in his Poem upon Scipio's Life feigns to have unchastly lov'd Aeneas whom by computation of time it was impossible for her to have seen And Vergil confirms the same so plausibly that the Story hath almost gain'd belief At length this Liberty of lying and slandering was advanced to that height that the Censors thought fit to enact a Law whereby the falshoods and reproaches of Poets might be suppressed Among the Ancient Romans Poesie was held in great disrepute so that whoever gave his mind to the Study thereof was as Gellius and Cato witness accounted as a publick Enemy And Q. Fulvius was accused by M. Cato for that he going Pro-Consul into Asia had taken Ennius the Poet along with him to bear him company Neither doth that great Justiciary the Emperor Justinian give any freedom or immunity to the Professors thereof Homer was call'd the Philosopher of all Poets and the Poet of all Philosophers yet the Athenians laid a Fine upon him as a Mad-man of fifty Drachma's and they laught at and derided Tiâ—hteus the Poet as one beside his Wits The Lacedaemonians also commanded the Books of Archilochus the Poet to be carried out of their City And thus the best and wisest of Men have always despised Poesie as the Parent of Lies finding Poets to be such monstrous Lyers as being such who never made it their Study to speak or deliver in Writing any thing of sound knowledge only to tickle the Ears and Fancies of vain Persons with idle Stories always building Castles in the Air as Campanus hath truly said of them Mad Poets only on their Verses feed Reject their Fables they will starve for need Their Lyes their Riches are and all their Gold They faign and think that they enjoy so bold To think the Palm grows only the reward To Crown the Brows of every lying Bard. Furthermore there are most desperate contentions not only about the Forms and Figures of Verses and also concerning the Feet Accents and quantity of Syllables long and short for these are the Trisles of Grammarians but also about their own Toys Figments and Lyes for example the
secure in Chinks and Crevises are easily trod upon in the plain field Sophisters are unwilling to Fight under the Banners of sound and approved Authors but like Stratagematists fly for Refuge to the strength of Memory and the whifling clamor and noise of a nimble Tongue Neither do they think it of any consequence to consider what reason to use so they can but give any high instance or example nor matters it what they think or say so that they talk loud and bold enough For he that among them is fullest of words seems to be the wisest and the most learned Person Arm'd with these Sorceries they visit the Schools haunt the Streets frequent great and full Tables provoke Antagonists if the Fight begin and they find themselves worsted then they fly to their old lurking holes and their accustomed Labyrinths If they find any person unwilling to grapple then they endeavour to entrap him at unawares with some unusual Question to which if they have not a ready and pertinent Answer or that the Party seem any thing puzl'd then they raise to themselves mighty Pyramids and Triumphs But what good fruit this Logick with her Sophists hath brought forth or is likely to bring forth in the Church let us consider Surely we shall quickly find that they not assenting to Divine Tradition confound the holy sence with Reasons deduced from their own fallacious suppositions to which while they give too much credit they banish the Light of Truth and embrace darkness and being thus wrapt and infolded in those shades of Error blind leaders of the blind they draw many with their false Argumentations and shadows of Reason into the Ditch together with themselves and always blundering in the deep Ocean of Ignorance and Error seduce the more Ignorant to adore their Fictions in honour of which they dare presume to aver That sacred Theologie is not able to subsist without Logick that is to say without Brangling and Jangling without Contention and Sophistry I deny not but that Logick may be useful in Scholastick Exercises but how it may assist or uphold Theological Contemplation I cannot apprehend whose chiefest Logick consists in Prayer For truly that promise of Christ was not made in vain Pray and ye shall receive Through which means the Faithful of Christ shall obtain from the Master of Truth all necessary Knowledg of the Truth long before they shall be able to compass the height of their Logical skill Furthermore Sophistry with all her quirks and devices could never soar higher than Philosophy but through the path of Prayer lies the certain and streight way to the highest Knowledge of Divine and Humane things Therefore they are in the wrong who affirm this Sophistry to be the only Engine and most Potent for the subversion of Heresie when it is indeed the chief Strength and Pillar of Heresie For Arrius and Nestorius relying upon this Art the one affirm'd divers Substances in the Trinity the other deny'd the Virgin Mary to be the Mother of God giving greater credit to the Sophisms of Aristotle than to the Word of God For as St. Jerom observes all the Opinions of the Hereticks have made their Nests and founded their Sanctuaries among the Briars of Aristotle and Chrysippus Hence Eunomius argues That which is born could not be before it was born Hence the Manichaean because he would free God from being the Cause of Evil makes a bad or evil Deity Hence Novatus that he may take away Repentance denyes Pardon From such Fountains as these do spring all the larger Rivolets of Heresie for seeing there is no sentence which may not be contradicted nor no Argument which may not be assail'd by another hence it is that it is so impossible to attain to any end of Knowledge or to come to the Knowledge of Truth by the means of Sophistical Argumentation and hence it is that so many deviate from Truth to Heresie thinking that they have found some appearance of more powerful Truth by the help of Logical Disputes or else condemn one Heresie to be themselves the Establishers of a new one And thus far of Logick and Sophistry CHAP. IX Of the Art of Lullius RAymund Lullie in these latter times hath Invented a Prodigious Art not unlike Logick by means whereof like another Gorgias Leontinus who was the first that in a Publick Assembly durst put the Question what they would have him to Discourse of to enable any person to discourse extempore upon any Subject But to insist farther upon this it will not be needful now seeing we have Commented sufficiently upon this Art already and the thing it self is so obvious that it will not be necessary to use many words about it This I am to admonish ye of in general That this Art is of no other use than only to shew the Pomp and Magnificence of Wit and Learning and is no way prevalent for the attaining of sound Learning having in it far more of confidence than efficacy CHAP. X. Of the Art of Memory AMong these Arts is to be reckon'd the Art of Memory which as Cicero saith is nothing else but a certain method of Teaching and Precept like a thin Membrane consisting of Characters Places and Representations first invented by Simonides Melito and perfected by Metrodorus Sceptius But let it be what it will more certain it is that it can never come to good where there is not a very god Natural Memory before which sometimes it perplexes with such monstrous Apparitions that instead of a new Memory it is the cause of Madness and Phrenzies and over-burdening the Natural Memory with the Characters and Images of innumerable things and words it occasions those that are not contented with the bounds of Nature to run Mad with Art This Art when Simonides or some body else did offer to Themistocles he refus'd it saying He had more need of Forgetfulness than Memory said he I remember what I would not but I cannot forget what I would As for Metrodorus Quintilian thus writes concerning him It was a great piece of vain Ostentation saith he to glory rather in his Memory by Art than in that by Nature Of this Art Cicero makes mention in his Book of Rhetoricks Quintilian in his Institutions and Seneca Among Modern Authors Francis Petrarch hath writ something concerning it together with Mareol Veronensis Petrus Ravennas Hermannus Buschius and others though unworthy of a Catalogue as being obscure Persons Many there be that at this day Profess the same though they get more Infamy and dis-repute than gain thereby being a sort of rascally Fellows that do many times impose upon silly Youth only to draw some small piece of money from them for present Subsistance Lastly 't is a childish Triumph to boast of a great Memory besides that it is a thing of shame and disgrace to make a shew of great Reading exposing a great Fair of words without doors when the House within is altogether unfurnish'd CHAP. XI Of the
So Orpheus asswag'd the Tempest of the Argonauts with a Song and Homer relates how the course of Vlysses blood was stopt by the power of words Moreover in the Law of the Twelve Tables there is a Law against those that did inchant the standing Corn whereby it is apparent that Witches have a power by the force of words to produce strange Effects not onely upon themselves but also upon outward things All which things that is to say to separate the hidden force of things and either draw them to themselves and repel them from themselves they credibly believe themselves to effect no other way than as the Loadstone draws Iron or Amber or Jet draws Chaff and as Onions again destroys the Magnetick Power So that by this Gradual and Concatenated Sympathy not only Natural and Celestial Gifts but also Intellectual and Divine may be receiv'd into humane Souls as Iamblicus Proculus and Sinesius gather from the Opinions of Great Men and that by this Consent and Harmony of things Magicians do call up the very Spirits For some of them are arriv'd at such a height of Madness that they believe that upon the right Observation of such and such Constellations at such intervals of time and by such reason of Proportions an Image being made would receive Life and Motion which upon counsel desired should be able to give Answers and Reveal the hidden Secrets of Truth Hence it is manifest That this Natural Magick inclining toward Conjuring and Necromancy is often entangled in the Snares and Delusions of Evil Spirits CHAP. XLV Of Conjuring and Necromancy THE Ceremonial Parts of Magick Conjuring and Necromancy Geocie or Conjuring curs'd for being familiar with unclean Spirits ceremonies of wicked curiosity compos'd of Prayers and Inchantments is held Abominable and wholly Condemn'd by the Decrees of all Lawgivers Men hateful to the Gods that stain the Skie And blot the Stars though Natures Progenie The setled course of things they can confound Can fix the Poles send Lightnings on the ground Pull down the Heavens and Hills eradicate These are those that Invoke the Souls of dead Bodies who Inchant Children and cause them to give the Answer of the Oracle and as we read of Socrates carry about with them certain Pocket Daemons and who as they say nourish little Spirits in Glasses by which they pretend to Foretel and Prophesie All these proceed in a twofold manner For some of them make it their business to adjure and compel Evil Spirits to appearance by the Efficacy and Power of sacred Names because seeing that every Creature doth fear and reverence the Name of its Creator no wonder if Conjurors and other Infidels Pagans Jews Saracens or prophane Persons do think to force the Devils Obedience by the Terrour of his Creators Name Others more to be detested than they and worthy the utmost punishment of Fire submitting themselves to the Devils sacrifice to them and Worship them become guilty of the vilest subjection and Idolatry that may be to which Crimes though the former are not quite so obnoxious yet they expose themselves to manifest dangers For the Devils are always watchful to intrap Men in the Errors they heedlesly run into From this insipid crowd of Conjurors have flow'd all those Books of Darkness which Vlpian the Civilian calls by the name of forbidden Writings Of which one of the first Authors is said to be Zabulus a man wholly inclin'd to unlawful Arts. Then Barnabas 〈◊〉 Cyprian and now frequently other Books are Published up and down under the feigned Titles and Names of Adam Abel Enoch Abraham and Solomon others under the Names of Paulus Honorius Cyprian Albertus Thomas Hierome and one Eboracensis to whose silly trifles Alphonsus King of Castile Robert the Englishman Bacon Apponus and many other of deprav'd Fancies have adher'd But besides this they have not only made the holy Patriarchs and Angels Authors and Upholders of their detestable Studies but also shew several Books which they pretend were written and delivered by Razial and Raphael tutelar Angels of Adam and Tobias Which Books notwithstanding to any one that narrowly considers the Rules of the Masters the Customes and Ordinances of their Ceremonies the Nature and Choice of their Words and Characters their insipid and barbarous Pharases sufficiently betray themselves to contain nothing but meer Toys and Geugaws and that they were in far later Ages contriv'd by such as were utterly ignorant of that Magick Profess'd by the Ancients being â—ounded only upon certain prophane Observations mixt with the Ceremonies of our Religion with an addition of many unknown Names and Characters to terrifie ignorant and silly people and to amuse those that are void of sence and understanding Neither doth it therefore follow that these Delusions are Fables for unless there were something of reality in them and that many mischievous and wicked things were accomplish'd thereby both Divine and Humane Laws had not so strictly provided for the punishment thereof and Ordain'd them to be quite extirpated from the Earth Now why these Conjurers make use only of evil Spirits the reason is because the Good Angels seldome appear being only attendant on the Commands of God and not vouchsafing to be known but only to upright and holy Men. But evil Spirits submit themselves more willingly to their Invocations falsely assuming to themselves and counterfeiting Divinity always ready to deceive and delighting to be ador'd and worship'd and because Women are more covetous of the Knowledge of Secrets and not less cautious and prone to Superstition and more easily Deluded therefore to them the Devils show themselves more familiar and make them the performers of many Miracles as are related of Circe and Medaea of many others the Stories of the Poets are full and Cicero Pliny Seneca St. Austin and many others both Philosophers Doctors and Historians as also Sacred Writ bring many Testimonies For in the Book of Samuel we read of a certain Woman-Witch that liv'd in Endor that rais'd the Soul of Samuel though most Interpreters agree that it was not the soul of Samuel but an Evil spirit that took upon him the shape of the Prophet Yet some of the Hebrew Doctors aver neither doth St. Austin to Simplician deny the possibility thereof that it was the true Soul of Samuel which before a compleat Year after its departure from the Body might be easily call'd up according to the rule of Necromancy The Necromantick Magicians believe that the same may be performed by certain Natural tyes and Obligations which was the reason that the Ancient Fathers well-read in Spirituals not without good cause ordain'd that the Bodies of the Dead might be buried in Holy-ground should be assisted with Lights and sprinkled with Holy-water be perfumed with Incense and pray'd for by the Living so long as they were above Ground For say the Hebrew Doctors All our Carnal Body remains as Food for the Serpent which they call Arazel which is Lord of the Flesh and the Blood
Corporeal elements and temper of the air we breathe in Strato from the surplusage and crudity of Nourishment and the consequent corruption thereof Nor do they less differ about the alteration of the Aliment For Hippocrates Galen and Avicen affirm the meat to be concocted in the Stomach by the heat thereof Erasistratus believes Concoction to be perfected lower in the Belly Plistonicus and Paraxagoras affirm not onely a Concoction but Putrefaction Avieen also and his Exposiâ—ors Gentiles and Jacobus de Ferlino not without a manifest error affirm that Ordure is made in the Stomach But Asclepiades and his followers believe that the meat is not concocted but distributed raw into all parts of the body and affirm the Opinions of all the former to be vain and ridiculous I omit their Judgements of Urine not yet perfectly known by any of um and the beatings of the Pulses as little apprehended by um Hippocrates whom they look upon as a God has not onely differ'd from many in opinion but erroneously mistaken for in his Book of the nature of Infants he saith The Bird is generated of the yellow of the egge but is nourished by the white of the egge which Aristotle proves to be manifestly untrue in his Book of Animals and in his Book of the Generation of Animals writing against Alcmaeon who was of the same opinion with Hippocrates he concludes the original of the Chicken is in the White nourishment is suckt in thorow the Navel out of the Yolk to which Pliny adheres saying The creature is generated out of the White his nourishment is out of the Yolk And is not that Aphorism of Hippocrates false No woman hath the Gout till her Terms forsake her it being evident that many Menstruous women have the Gout CHAP. LXXXIII Of Practical Physick THe whole Operative art of Healing is built upon no other Foundation than fallacious Experiments and the slender Credulity of the diseased doing more harm than good there being generally more danger in the Physician and Physick than in the disease which the chief Doctors of this Art ingenuously confess that is to say Hippocrates himself who does not deny this Art to be both difficult and fallacious together with Avicen who saith that the Patients confidence in the Physician oft-times prevaileth more than the Physiâ—k it self Galen also affirms that it is very difficult to finde a Medicament that does very much good but easie to finde many that do no good at all There is another who tells us that the knowledge of Medicines is delightful as of all other things that consist of Rule and Art but that the effects of Medicinal operation are meerly fortuitous Let the fortunate diseased therefore go and put their trust in dangerous Experiments and habnab-Remedies But so general is the sweetness of hoping well for a mans self as Pliny saith that he believes every Physician that offers himself though there be no delusion more dangerous Hence it is that generally men seek for help from Death he being the best Physician esteemed whom the Apothecary that shares with him recommonds or deceives the person whose servants are at the Physicians devotion who like Pandars for reward commend him with praises to the sick He is also accounted a most excellent Physician whom a Velvet Coat or two or three good Rings upon his fingers shall make to be admir'd or else his being a Forraigner or a great Traveller or else his being of such or such a Religion Of no less efficacie to give um credit fame and authority is a solid Confidence and a constant bragging of his Receipts adde to these a spirit of Contradiction many Greek and Latine sentences and the names of Authors which make him seem learned Thus arm'd with a Leaden Gravity but a Military confidence he undertakes the Trade of a Physician and first he visits the sick looks upon his Urine feels his Pulse considers his Tongue feels his Sides examines the Excrement enquires into his customary Diet and if there be any thing more privately kept he desires to finde it out as if he would weigh the Humours of the Patient in a pair of Scales Then with great boasting he prescribes Medicaments R â„ž Catapâ—tia let bloud give Clysters use Pessaries Oynments Plaisters Lozenges Masticatories Gargarisms Fumes Quilts use Preserves Waters Treacles If the disease be light and the Patient dainty then will the Physician invent fine pleasing Gugaws fit for women and effeminate persons Provoking Sleep sometimes with hanging beds sometimes extenuating the disease with Baths Frictions Cupping-glasses sometimes reâ—reshing the sick with delicate diet and change of air And to obtain greater fame and authority observing times and seasons and seldome administring Physick but according to the directions of some Mechanical Ephemeris He also claims a great authority over the Apothecary many times ordering him to make his Medicines before him pretending himself to be at the choice of the best ingredients when for the most part he knowsâ— not good from bad nay hardly knows the things themselves when he sees them But if the Patient be rich and a great person besides then for his greater fame and profit he prolongs the distemper as much as may be although perhaps he might have cur'd it with one single Medicine sometimes exasperating the disease he brings the Patient to deaths door before he will cure it that he may be said to have deliver'd the Patient from a most dangerous fit of sickness If he meet with a Patient whose distemper is dangerous and that he findes the effect of the Cure to be doubtful then he uses these Stratagems severely he prescribes Rules of Diet he commands unusual things prohibits things common he extols with great arguments what he offers himself what others bring he utterly condemns on the one side threatning ruine on the other hand promising life If he doubt of the event he perswades the Patient to call a Council of Doctors desires an assistant to proceed more warily in the Cure for fear lest any one coming alone should perform a Cure and take from him the glory of the business If any thing fall out amiss with the Patient or that he has kill'd him by his most signal want of skill then he excuses himself by pretending some sudden deflux of Rheum or some other chance neither to be helped nor avoided or else he accuses the Patient for not observing his directions or else blaming those that tended for want of care or else he blames his associates or else throws all the blame upon the Apothecary thereby endeavouring to prove that no diseased person ever died but through his own fault nor that ever any was cur'd but by the help and art of the Physitian But that Physicians are Knaves for the most part we shall prove by Witnesses For their own Reconciler Peter Apponius writes That the Art of Physick is ascrib'd to Mars which is the most odious of all the Planets as being the author of Ingratitude
Composition of Trifles and inventions of mad brains However they finde out men so covetous of so much happiness whom they easily perswade that they shall finde greater Riches in Hydargyrie than Nature affords in Gold Such whom although they have twice or thrice already been deluded yet they have still a new Device wherewith to deceive um again there being no greater Madness than to believe the fixed Volatile or that the fixed Volatile can be made So that the smells of Coles Sulphur Dung Poyson and Piss are to them a greater pleasure than the taste of Honey till their Farms Goods and Patrimonies being wasted and converted into Ashes and Smoak when they expect the rewards of their Labours births of Gold Youth and Immortality after all their Time and Expences at length old ragged famisht with the continual use of Quicksilver paralytick onely rich in misery and so miserable that they will sell their souls for three farthings so that the Metamorphosis which they would have made in the Metals they experiment upon themselves for in stead of Alchymists Cacochymists in stead of being Doctors Beggers in stead of Unguentaries Victuallers a laughing-stock to the people and they who in their youth hated to live meanly at length grown old in Chymical Impostures are compell'd to live in the lowest degree of poverty and in so much calamity that receiving nothing but Contempt and Laughter in stead of Commendation and Pity at length compell'd thereto by Penury they fall to Ill Courses as Counterfeiting of Money And therefore this Art was not onely expell'd out of the Romane Commonwealth but also also prohibited by the Decreed of the sacred Canons of the Church And if now there were a Law to forbid any of them to practise this Art without the special favour and license of the Prince upon the forfeiture of their goods and proscription of their persons we should have less false Money made wherewith many are now deceived to the great damage of the Commonwealth For which reason it is thought that Amasis King of Aegypt made a Law whereby every Magistrate was compell'd to give an account what Art or Science he most favour'd which he that did not underwent a very severe punishment Many things could I say of this Art of which I am no great enemy were I not sworn to silence a custom impos'd upon persons newly initiated therein which has been so solemnly and religiously observed by the ancient Writers and Philosophers that there is no Philosopher of approved authority or Writer of known fidelity who hath in any place made mention thereof which hath caus'd many to believe that all the Books treating of this Art were made of late days to which the names of the Authors Giber Morienus Gigildis and the rest of the whole Croud give no small confirmation the obscure words which they use and the unaptness of their language and their ill Method of Philosophizing Some have thought the Golden Fleece to be a certain Chymical Book written after the ancient manner in Parchment wherein was contained the way of making Gold Of which sort when Diocletian had got together a great many among the Aegyptians who were said to be very skilful in this Art he is said to have burnt them all left the Aegyptians confiding in their Riches and easie means of obtaining Treasure should at one time or other revolt from the Romans And therefore was this Art by a publike Edict of the same Emperour rendered infamous It would be too long to relate all the foolish Mysteries of this Art and empty Riddles of the Green Lion the Fugitive Hart the Volant Eagle the Dancing Fool the Dragon devouring his Tayl the Swell'd Toad the Crows Head of that which is Blacker than Black of Mercury's Seal of the Dirt of Foolishess of wisdom I ought to have said and a thousand other Trifles Lastly of that one thing besides which there is nothing else though as common as may be the blessed subject of the most holy Philosophers Storie not to be spoken of without incurring Perjury yet I will say somewhat of it obscurely and in such manner as none but the sons of Art shall understand me It is a thing which hath a substance neither too firy nor altogether earthy nor is it a watry nor sharp nor obtuse quality but indifferent light and soft or at least not hard not rough but sweet in taste sweet in smell grateful to the sight pleasant to the ear and delightful to think on More I must not say nor greater things can I. For I think this Art by reason of my familiarity with it worthy the same Honour as Thucydides gives to a good Woman when he says That she is the best woman of whom there is least discourse I will onely adde this That Chymists are of all men the most perverse for when God says In the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread and the Prophet in another place Because thou eatest the labours of thy hands therefore art thou blessed and it shall be well with thee they contemning the divine Command and promise of happiness endeavour to raise Golden mountains by Womens labour and Childrens play I deny not but from this Art many excellent Inventions have deriv'd themselves hence Cinaber Minimum Purple that which they call Musical gold and the temperatures of other Colours had their beginning To this Art Aurichalcum the changing of Metals Soders and Tryals owe their first finding out Guns are the terrible Invention of this Art Hence sprung the Art of making all sorts of Glasses a most noble Invention of which Theophilus hath writ a most excellent Treatise But Pliny relates that the temperament of Glass was found out in the time of Tiberius but the Work-house was by Tiberius pull'd down and the Artificer if we may believe Isodorius was put to death left the Glass should detract from Gold and Silver and Brass lose their value CHAP. XCI Of the Law in general WE come now to the knowledge of the Law that onely pretends to judge and discern between True and False Equity and Iniquity Right and Wrong The chief Heads now-a-days are the Pope and the Emperour who boast that they have all Laws written in the Cabinets of their Brests whose Will is Reason and who by their own Arbitrary opinions rule and govern all Sciences Arts Writings Opinions and whatever other Works of men For which cause Pope Leo commanded that no person should dare to dispute or justifie any thing in the Church but by the Authority of the holy Councils the Canons and Decretals of which the Pope is the Head Neither is it lawful for us to make use of the Interpretations of any the most holy and learned Divines but onely so far as the Pope permits and authorizes by his Canons And the Canon further commands that no Book or Volume whatsoever shall be received by any Divine but what is first approved of by the Canons of the Pope The