in great quantity in the Oare of the perfectly united Metals is by mortification transmutation or calciâ—â—ation changed into an acid Salt it ceaseth to be Sulphur Now forasmuch as all of the said Sulphur can be changed into a Salt so as that it cannot be re-changed into Brimstone back again because the Salt serveth onely as a mean to dissolve the two perfect Sulphurs in order to unite them and whereas the white incombustible Sulphur can never be changed into Salt how can we then make out three parts or principles which concur to the composition of Metals For two Fathers to one Mother would be monstrous and superfluous forasmuch as both of them are but one and the same Likewise also there cannot be two Mothers to one Father in order to the bringing forth of one Birth for so there would be two Births out of each Mother one For it cannot be denyed that for to generate a Child whether Boy or Girl of which the one hath more of the Fathers nature and property the other more of the Mothers there needs onely a union of Man and Wife and it is impossible that a third thing should be superadded essentially 12 Q. Thou hast now shewed that to thâ— birth and production of Metals Male and Female viz. a white and red Sulphur are required Nowâ— we see that in the most perfect Metals as Gold there is but little of this red Male Sulphur as its yellow colour doth witness which red Sulphur doth essentially joyn and is united with the Femaleâ— white Sulphur and so brings it into such a compact body What is the reason then that so great a quantity of combustible Sulphur is found in the Mines where Metals are which Sulphur may be changed into Vitriol in which several Metals in the Mines have been found dissolved R. Thou mayst find an answer to this in the answer to the next fore-going question and in this question itself also viz. that this Vitriol which proceeds or is prepared from the said Sulphur may be serviceable and helpful to dissolve Metals but not to make them 13 Q. We have been in part informed concerning the red Male Sulphur but may not likewise an instruction be given us concerning the white Female unwoven or unwrought Sulphur which is not yet united to the red Sulphur or come to be a Metal and is found by it self alone as also together with the Metals how may we find and distinctly understand the same R. Concerning the white Female Sulphur which in the German Tongue is called hutteâ— rauch and by Artists Ars Senum or Arsenicum and is found by itself and likewise with the perfect as well as imperfect Metals in great quantity it is unnecessary for us to treat of it at large here because the Books of Metallurgist's do give us sufficient information where the said Sulphur is to be 〈◊〉 with in great quantity This Arsenicum is by the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 probably from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Man and in the Hebrew the word that signifies a Man is Geber from whence we may infer that Geber the famed Author hath writ with understanding and like a man concerning this subject This Arsenick may also be compared to the Serpent of which mention is made Gen. 3. not onely because of the poisonous property common to them both but also because the Serpent was to eat the dust of the Earth even as the Serpent Arsenick must eat Ophir or dust of the Earth also according to what elsewhere hath been hinted viz. that Ophir signifies Dust Gold or Sand. 14 Q. Is it not necessary to have some information also concerning the Natural and Mechanical Weavings of both these Sulphurs R. When these Sulphurs are each of them alone or by themselves they continue brittle as Stones so that they cannot be wrought with the Hammer and when they are added to Metals by fusion they spoil them and make them impure As for instance When we take Arsenick and melt it down with Silver or Copper it robes and spoils the Silver and makes it impure and Copper it makes white hard and brittle Also when we take Arsenick which is somewhat more fixt by reason of a little red Sulphur which is in part nraurally interwoven with it as white Zink called Spelter which partakes of Lead and is in the Silver-oare at Goslar found in a Lead-mine that contains Silver and which sublimes and sticks fast to the sides of the Furnace partly in the form of a Glassie crust or rind the other part of it being fusible like to Regulus of Antimony when I say we cast a fourth part of this in to molten Copper it mechanically or externally interweaves itself with the said Copper so as the Copper by means of it gets a golden colour higher than any common Brass which is made of Copper by the addition of Lapis Calaminaris For when this stony glassie crust which sticks to the sides of the Furnace is taken thence and put to Copper it will not melt with it in order to make Brass of it But when this glassie matter hath been buried several years in the Earth the Salt of the Glass dissolves therein and becomes nitrous and by this means becomes a good fluxing powder and being ground to powder it is added to Copper instead of Lapis Calaminaris and produceth a gold coloured Brass as was mentioned insomuch that at Goslar some Goldsmiths make Rings and Chains of the same which to the eye may pass for Gold but is not so in weight But when any one goes about to hammer this Metal whilest it is hot as they do Gold Silver Copper and Iron it breaks all to pieces under the hammer For the white volatile Sulphurous Zink which as a strange guest is unnaturally through heat forced into the Copper as soon as it grows hot and that the Copper is swelled up sublimes away gradualâ—y through the Copper which is the cause why 〈◊〉 must of necessity break when struck with a hammer But when it is grown cold we shall find upon the Anvil in the place where it was laid to cool a white vapour the same as the Lapis Calaminaris doth in Brass evaporated sublimed and sticking to the Anvil and then it will let itself be wrought with a Hammer as Copper and other Metals are By which instances we may partly understand the natural and partly also the mechanical texture in Metals To what hath been already said this further may be added that when we take the common Arsenick by itself which is very volatile and poisonous and mix it with Copper it makes the Copper white and hard indeed but cannot by reason of its volatility abide in the fire so long as Spelter doth forasmuch as it doth not partake of the red Sulphur and consequently is not so fixt and constant For the volatility in Arsenick and Mercury is the cause that when the fire enters into the same
from it we shall find that the Pickle which drops down through the bottom full of holes into the Vessel that is set under it when by boiling it is turn'd to Salt again will retain the form and taste of Salt but its virtue and life will be gone so as it will be impossible to salt or season any thing therewith any more because its life is entred into the flush and hath preserv'd it from corruption for we shall find by experience that the flesh in this case will continue sound and good but the salt not so for with reference to this it is what out Saviour speaks of Mat. 5. 13. Salt-petre which is made of the Air and Earth as in Stables and out of Mortar as also out of Ashes doth not at all differ from the mineral Salt-petre Now it remains onely to speak something concerning Salt Armoniack This same is found in great quantity in the Territory of Naples at 〈◊〉 and elsewhere where the surface of the ground is hot by reason of a fire that burns under it where in many places we find this Salt sublimed being mixed with Brimstone which being made into a Lie and afterwards evaporated by degrees yields a perfect Salt Armoniack and is fold in cakes at a cheap rate because in those parts it is got without any great pains Concerting the commixture and union of Sulphurs which are either done manually as in the dry way viz. by trituration and grinding or with Mercury by way of amalgamation or solution or lastly by way of sublimation I leave it to the Lover of Truth for to judge of them himself whether they be natural ways or ever like to reach the desired end viz. the producing of a perfect union for without doubt he will find that it is impossible it should be effected by any of these ways 23 Q. We find everywhere up and down in the World many Books and we hear much spoken concerning the Philosophers Stone which should have the power to tinge and transmute all meaner Metals into Gold and Silver by which imagination many have precipitated themselves into great sickness and poverty the sum of which amounts to this that one grain of this Stone or Tinature can suddenly on the Fire change a whole pound of Lead or Mercury into Gold whether therefore is it thus or no R. In case this be true the thing must be subject to the judgment of the Senses and be comprehensible and if it be supposed so comprehensible we 'll propound these Queries which contain only my thoughts and as such are onely propounded to the curious for further examination 1. How can it be that such a small quantity of Tincture should enter into the foresaid quantity of Lead or Mercury and pierce through them per minima so as to change them into another perfect body such as Gold is so as to abide fixt in the Fire and not be changed into Glass as before was said 2. If so it must follow that the whole body of this pound of Gold which is changed out of Mercury can be through and through or wholly nothing else but the white incombustible fix Sulphur and forasmuch as there are no more but two Sulphurs of which Gold consists as before hath been shewed shall then this grain of Tincture alone be sufficient to change the white part of Mercury into Gold and to give it the solar tincture Or shall we suppose that Lead and Mercury contain in them a fiery sulphur not united which by means of the Tincture must be united to the said white part which is well to be noted 3. We are likewise to weigh and consider how it can be that such a little body of one grain should naturally be able so to subtiliate it self as to be able to pierce a body of a pound weight in all its parts which commonly is held to be impossible because they suppose the Metals to be meer gross bodies and that one body cannot penetrate another 4. But if any should say that a spiritual body is able to do all this as we see that Sulphur being in Fire changed as it were into a spiritual body doth with its heat or warmth pierce through all bodies in all their parts so as nothing remains shut up to it As for instance when we put Mercury into a Crucible upon the fire and when he swells up by the heat of the fire before he takes wing flies away and sulphur be melted together with him with what a great noise doth the molten sulphur enter the Mercury though indeed the sulphur cannot unite it self wholly with the Mertury because the sulphur which is in Mercury is not so perfect as that which is in Copper neither is it united with a white perfecting and superabounding sulphur of which also Gold and Silver have no more than they stand in need of for themselves as being that which hath given to each of them their peculiar form that so they can be melted without being broken or dissipated by the fire How can these difficulties be disintangled In answer to this may be alledged that if such a Tincture should be found it must be of such a nature as to be able to pierce through all the parts of a metalline body and to make it fix in the fire and incombustible and consequently must be incombustible it self and easie of fusion to stop and fix the Mercury before he flies away from the fire to the end it also may not flie away like the sulphur but abide in the said bodies united to them forasmuch as those bodies in all their parts have a part of the perfect Metals united with them Seeing that as hath been mentioned before one grain of Tin doth pierce through a whole pound of Silver one grain of Lead a whole pound of Gold so as that they cannot without difficulty be separated even upon the test it self Wherefore we are to consider that if both these which are but imperfect Tinctures be able to do so much then the Metals cannot be such gross bodies as commonly they are thought to be but that indeed they are spiritual bodies and are the life of stones in which they are found which likewise their very essence it self doth declare in that they are malleable and may be broken into many little parts and then made whole again as they were before without losing any thing of their form because they retain their seminal and attractive virtue which the fire cannot rob them of 24 Q. Here another doubt ariseth viz. If such a Tincture should be found that could tinge all Metals into perfect Gold the Question is Whether or no Silver is to be excluded seeing that it is fix in the fire and hath in it self a perfect essence consisting of a white sulphur and hath also a white body but possesseth very little united fiery sulphur which yet alone is that which makes it to be Silver and malleable but is too little in
him cover the Mare so that she conceives by him we shall find that the Mare will have a Fole whose colour shall resemble the artificial painting of the Stone-horse And must it not be concluded from hence that all Creatures continually without ceasing take in a true substance and give it out from them again And that the Species visibiles which we may well call Virtutes virtues or powers have a true living Being or Essence which they receive from the Sun as their Father and that they do not return to nothing but where they are not received they do by revolution return again to their original but when they are received become essential and corporeal And did not Jacob think we very well understand this viz. that such a living Essence continually flows forth from all Creatures when by means of the effect and out-working of his peeled Rods he procured so great an increase of Ring-streaked Speckled and Spotted Lambs from Laban's Sheep II. Concerning the Ears and Hearing 14 Q. As it happens in Sight or Seeing that the out-flowing Idea as the living Being or Essence out of all Creatures comes into Man and abides dwelling with him so that it cannot be separated from him because without keeping the Idea with him he could never know or remember the Original and all this by means of the influence of the Sun Moon and Stars so we may in part understand the essentiality of all Idea's in that Spirits and Ghosts whenever they appear in a distinct form do not onely take upon them the Image of the Man in whose form they appear but likewise the Image of his Cloaths from whence we may understand that an essential efflux must have proceeded from the Cloathes and entred the Spirit of Man And doth not the very same happen in Hearing likewise and is it not performed by means of a real Essence And do not the Idea's of things we take in by the Ears stay in the common Sense so called by means of which we can distinguish and know such things another time And is not this evident from hence in that by our Hearing we can distinguish between the voices and sounds of all Creatures so as to know which comes from each of them which could not be if the same had no Being or Essence Doth not likewise the Angel confirm this when he saith to Esdras Shew me the image of a voice 4 Esdr. 5. 37. And here by the way it is worth our enquiry whether the said fourth Book of Esdras was not called the Wisdom of God by Christ himself Luke 11. 49. especially seeing that what Christ there alledgeth is nowhere to be found in Holy Writ save onely in the fore-mentioned fourth Book of Esdras ch 1. v. 32 15 Q. Forasmuch as the Central Life-spirit of Man which hath its habitation in the Bones hath formed the Organ of the Ear of a Gristle which is the extreme or outward part of the Bones and by reason of its softness is fit and adapted for the Spirit to have its out and in-working through the same From which Gristles likewise proceeds that balsamick bitter matter called Ear-wax which is of use in many Diseases and is especially good for the Hearing Accordingly we find also in the Ears a striral Cavity which ends at the Tympanum or Drum as is notorious from Anatomy which Drum contains a vital Air that makes its revolution with the heavenly Air of the Great World together with the Sun Moon and Stars And is not this another great instance of the harmony and agreement which is betwixt the greater and lesser World Seeing that even as the Central Spirit of Life in Man as the Little World hath its continual out-workings and revolutions in the several Nerves Sinews Veins and Arteries so likewise in the Great World the spiritual operative essence in the Air is always at work in a continual and never-ceasing Revolution causing many changeable courses of the Clouds and Winds 16 Q. Forasmuch as we see that Nature hath wisely ordered two Ears for Man is it not to this end that both these Ears as Man and Wife or as the two Scales of a Balance should balance and weigh what must be again given out through the voice corresponding with what is received from the sound of another voice to the end it may be wrought out in an harmonious sound in which whole Nature stands that so a perfect Revolution may be brought to pass So that the left Ear as the Wife must receive and the right as the Man work it out or judge of it that so according to the universal sound which hath its seat in the inward man it may be wrought and formed as a spiritual Son by his Father 17 Q. What may be the reason think we why the Jews in the Hebrew Tongue express Deaf and Dumb with one and the same word May it not be upon this account that seeing the Speech of man must be sowed in him by Hearing that so â—he Seed of the Word may be formed and wrought â—ut in him especially since we find that those that â—e born deaf are dumb likewise and cannot speak â—orasmuch as Speech cannot be planted in them â—ut by the sense of Hearing We may likewise daily observe how the tongues of little Children â—re moved as by the Seed of their Mothers voice by which Tongue the Speech is formed And is â—ot this likewise the reason that we read of Zachaâ—ias the Father of John the Baptist Luke 1. 20. â—1 that he was struck not onely deaf but dumb when he did not believe the Angel Gabriel who â—eclared unto him the birth of his Son John for â—hat seeing he did not lend a right believing Ear to â—he voice of the Angel he was also disabled from â—ttering what he had heard as we find that he â—ould not speak till after the birth of John and that withal he was so deaf that they were fain to make signes to him for to know how he would have his Son named III. Concerning the Nose and Sense of Smelling in Man 18 Q. When we see that the Nose which is in the midst of the Face and whose substance is for the most part gristly as the Ears like a spunge receives through both the Nostrils as male and female the air of Life for to smell as also continually to feed and maintain the Life of man And that the said air which enters the Nose is by the inward director who in this work makes use of the Belly for a bellows through the Lungs as through a spunge in which the air is concocted and digested as the meat is in the stomach drawn into the Belly which is the common receiver or place in which the attracted air is treasured up from which afterwards the said air by a due and fit circulation or revolution is communicated to all other parts and members of the Body which is afterwards given out again to supply which new air
fell to be the Portion â—d Propriety of their fore-Fathers and which â—as as it were the foundation-root of their â—hole stock and all the boughs and branches â—owing on the same and from whence not oneâ— they derived their nourishment and increase but â—eir very Bodies themselves I say that they might â—gain as it were be planted into the same and â—ecome united with it and that so by means of their â—oprietary enjoyment of it the said Land might â—evolve in them according to the Divine Ordiâ—nce and Appointment in order to its further â—erfection and glorification And this Inheritance â—hus divided by Lot not onely Sons but Daughters â—lso with some restrictions had a share according 〈◊〉 Gods Laws given by Moses And so it was adâ—dged and determined by God himself in the case 〈◊〉 the Daughters of Zelophehad Num. 27. 36. viz. 〈◊〉 to them should be granted the free possession 〈◊〉 their Fathers Inheritance for their Father had â—st never a Son behind him yet with this caution â—â—at they must marry into the Family of the Tribe of their Father And may not we with â—round conclude that this was thus appointed to â—he end the deceased fore-Fathers Predecessours â—nd Fathers of these Daughters might by revolâ—ing through them be restored again to their own â—heritance as also for to shew that in case of the want of Sons the Souls may revolve through Daughters May not we likewise here be informed of the reason why the Children of Israel were commanded that the surviving Brother should raise up the seed of his Brother deceased without leaving any Heirs And will it not follow that the Husbands which the Daughters of Zelophehad married being of their Tribe by their Wives raised up seed to Zelophehad deceased without leaving an Heir Male that might perform the same 17 Q. Moreover do not we meet with another proof of this Doctrine of Revolutions in Lev. 18. where certain Rules and Limitations are given by God himself about Marriages with those that are near of kin determining what is lawful and what unlawful in that matter and when we narrowly inquire into the ground of the said Rules and Restrictions must not we conclude that though it be wholly natural for men to cohabite with women yet that God himself set these bounds to the end that the order and way of Nature which is appointed for mankind might not be neglected perverted broken or removed And is not this the greatest and most universaâ— Law and Ordinance which the Creator once for all hath established in Nature viz. that in all natural propagations there might be a continuaâ— processions or going forwards Now that in Nature it is so ordered that Life goes always forwards and that Parents do live in their Children doth not daily experience teach us this Thus we see that when a Mother finds her sick Child drawing near to death she is so highly afflicted and anguished that she oft wisheth to die for her Child Of which we have examples that Fathers have offer'd themselves to be hang'd for their Sons whereby they gave sufficient evidence that their own lives were sensible of and did suffer what ever happened to their Children Now this Law of Nature could never be broken in whatsoever degree of affinity or consanguinity Man and Wife might be related together if according to the common opinion God should for every Birth create a new Soul and put it into the Body for so no such confusion or perverting of the order of Nature could happen Whereas on the contrary according to our Hypothesis which supposeth many Souls concentred and united together every one of which in a due order and procession must manifest and display it self in many different births and propagations would it not sollow that from such a promiscuous and disorderly commixture a great confusion would arise to the subversion of the order of Nature For was it not therefore thus ordained by God because he is a God of Order And must not his will incontestably take place 18 Q We will here omit many passages and examples relating to this matter which might be alledged out of the five Books of Moses and onely make reflection on some passages in the Ten Commandments When we read Exod. 20. 5 6. That God will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him but shew mercy to thousands of them that love him and keep his commandments May it not bear this Sense That forasmuch as formerly hath been hinted concerning the Conception and Birth of Man every Child is generated and formed of the Seed of his Parents and that each of these Seeds is twofold viz. Male and Female so as the Child is as it were made up of four Is it not therefore worth our enquiry whether or no all out-working must not happen in four Generations For do not we observe that when a Father begins to grow covetous the said vitious disposition increaseth in his Child and in his Grand-child arrives to extreme covetousness And then when this Vice hath attained to its full growth and maturity the great Grand-child proves a Prodigal and Spend-thrift because he hath had nothing of the said covetous inclination transmitted to him but rather is possessed with an hatred against it forasmuch as by means thereof he hath been oft pressed and forced against his will and thus being made sensible of the evil of it he takes up an hatred against it and consequently falls into the opposite extreme so that he lavishly spends all what his Forefathers in their Covetousness had scraped together and leaves nothing but Poverty to his Child which Poverty then occasions that his Child 's great Grand-child becomes disposed to grow up from this humble reduction to a new propagation And the same may be said of any other Vices whatsoever For ought we not always to keep in mind this great and fundamental Maxim That God never punisheth for sin but with this aim that his creature thereby may be amended and his Salvation promoted forasmuch as Sin which is finite cannot come in any competition with the infinite Emanation of the Grace of the Creatour in his Creature He being in the highest degree Righteous and Good and gives to man the fruits of his own doing For man himself works his own suffering and punishment but God in and by the same works out and manifests His own Glory Would it not therefore prove a very false imagination for any one to think that God for every Birth doth create a new Soul and afterwards eternally punish the same for sin which according to the meaning of some it could not avoid nor was once guilty of For this can never comport with the infinite Righteousness and Mercy of God Nor according to this Supposition can it be true which is said in Scripture that we all sinned in Adam for how could we sin in him except we had lived and been in him