Philosophie reason experience with an vnitie of consent confirme If then a mans action be his owne if the end his owne the effectuall prosecution thereof vnto the end his owne if God himselfe haue granted this priuiledge vnto all men as indifferent and common vnto all whom he hath created vnder the condition of men what creature shall intercept the endowment of the Creator what shall take the honour of this gift from him that gaue it or the right thereof from him that thence receiueth it The heauens cannot so blaspheme their Maker though men thus dare belie the heuens to iustifie their owne impietie All things depend vpon the prouidence of God and from him and by him are ordained second causes which indeed in nature haue their necessitie but in the will of man haue a power onely to moue or incline and not to force This is the reason that though man by his starres be borne to infinite miseries diuersly mouing and affecting him continually from the earth from the sea from the land from the aire from the fire from his owne affections infirmities diseases from diuers haps and casualties yet vnto him that knoweth the free gift of his Maker and the good that he hath done for him none of all these things by any necessitie in themselues therto can touch him or once come neare him For whether calamitie approch from aboue or below from maligne constellation or other inferior or terrestriall incumbrances man by his spirit of vnderstanding by prudence and circumspect prouidence hath a large immunitie whereby he may and oft doth auoide these violences and delude their forces The wise man saith Salomon foreseeth the plague and hideth himselfe neither can any euill befall the wise which he may not and doth not either being to come by prouident foresight preuent or present by carefull industrie allay or past by diligence redeeme no influence or destinie being able to bring mans will and endeuour to an higher point then wisedome and goodnesse This is the reason that common calamities befall not all men alike yea rather to euery one vnlike This is also the reason that many borne vnder the same constellation haue different fortunes from each other and farre vnlike their like constellation nay it is oft seene and cannot be denied that many men by their owne industrie haue contradicted their starres whereby vnfortunately marked in their natiuities they haue triumphed ouer the heauens in the felicitie of their owne wisedome and vertue Of this sort haue bene not onely one Socrates and the great Philosophers but many common men Socratically disposed and endeuouring Contrariwise also diuers borne vnder good starres vnto good destinies in their growth haue either ouerunne or come short of their destinie For although the heauens doe worke by their hidden power and influence secret impressions procliuities and inclinations as in all things vnder heauen so in the constitutions and tempers of men in their generation conception and birth yet are their effectuall productions thereof in men themselues variously alterable according to education inclination occasion and circumstance and therefore as touching the absolute power of the heauens euer varying There is no man that can so farre deny himselfe a man as to make doubt of free arbitrarie choice in himselfe to do or not to do to like or dislike to do that he will to refuse that he nill For if heauenly influences compell or force mens actions and their wils be led and not free vniustly any man shall be vniust neither can the lawes of God or men be iust ordained against wilfull offenders but God is iust and lawes are righteous and therfore mens actions are their owne moued from an inward power and essence peculiar vnto themselues and from an end and intention which is their owne Touching those therefore that from the heauens promise to tell fortunes to cast figures to turne Ephemerides for natiuities for good haps for ill haps successes losses fortunate infortunate euents he that hath but common sense and reason and can thinke but worthily of himselfe may easily discouer their falshood imposture deceit and cousenage howsoeuer sometimes euents may countenance for hoodwinked happe may sometimes light vpon truth and craft working vpon credulitie may make any truth of any falshood Thus farre briefly concerning the powers of the heauens ouer the minds and willes of men their voluntary actions their consequences and issues Now concerning their vertue ouer the bodies and humours of the sicke and diseased No man can deny the heauens as generall and superiour causes to haue power ouer all things created vnder heauen by whose influence and radiation all things increase grow liue and are conserued and by whose recesse all things mourne wither fall and droupe This doth witnesse the sommer and the winter all other seasons which the heauens by their motion varying bring vnto all things vicissitudes changes and alterations and by their secret influence imperceptibly distill different and contrary inclinations tempers and affections Hence winter sommer spring and autumne breed their peculiar diseases Euill and maligne constellations beget plagues pestilences and other epidemiall contagions which the aire as the great mother of all things breathing doth fruitfully conceiue and plentifully bring forth Vnto what sight or sense hath euer bene vnknowne either the pride or splendor of the Sunne mounting in his glorious altitude or his eclipsed force and light somnesse opposed and abased Who is ignorant of the monethly metamorphosis of the Moone What thing is or can be insensible of the Cynosure and the nipping frosts Is not the glorie of the heauens ouer all and are not his forces in all Notwithstanding generall causes produce not particular effects and the heauens are but generall causes second causes outward causes remote causes mediate causes vnto those things which immediatly fall out in the bodies of men from inward causes contained within themselues and therfore soly hauing by their inseparate nearenesse an ineuitable and vnauoided necessitie in themselues The inward causes of diseases are the humors of the body which can neuer be separated from the body because in them consisteth the life and being of the body Therefore when either they corrupted frō their kind or offending in qualitie or quantitie raise diseases in the body how or by what meanes can the body choose but be therewith affected except it could leaue it selfe From any outward cause which is without and of another deuided and separate nature separation doth free from immediate necessitie or consecution Since then the heauens are outward causes and remoued causes therefore neuer necessarily or simply of themselues affect and the inward causes of diseases sticke nearer and so closely touch in their effects that they suffer no interposition it is manifest that the heauens haue no certaine or absolute h power in the diseased nor can match or equall the immediate force appropriate onely vnto the
disease The heauens indeed do oft and much also preuaile in raising allaying increasing diminishing enraging and calming the inward causes but euer by a proportion either with the temper and constitution of the sicke or the humours of their bodies whether originally bred or after by time acquired Saturne is therefore said a great Lord ouer melancholy bodies in like manner the Moone ouer phlegmaticke Iupiter and the Sunne in sanguine Mars in cholericke whether in their seuerall reuolutions apart or their coniunctions and combinations and according to the greater or lesse proportion of their peculiar humors in the bodie and the dispositions of the particular parts of the body they more or lesse exercise their rule Therefore also according as meanes more or lesse accrew to lessen or increase their proportion so more or lesse manifestly are their effects and operations weakned or quickned If the wise Physition foreseeing the euill approach of a maligne and Saturnine aspect by discreete preuention abate and withdraw the melancholy humor from the body Saturne shall thereby want a part of his proportion and as the greater abundance thereof doth necessarily more aduance and promote his efficacie so the exiguitie there of must needs abridge and obscure it The like may be said of all other aspects in their seuerall destined and appropriate humours For the constellation of it selfe simply cannot effect anything nor can build or ruine any being which first hath not the seminarie and prime foundation thereof in it self both as his subiect and his meanes And this is the true cause that the body either by Physick reduced to iust temper in it selfe or to an equall contemper of all the humors or of it selfe strong and healthfull in the most different constellations doth commonly find indifference of alteration And this is the reason that many in the most Saturnine and deadly constellations liue as the contrary also cause that many in the most faire and Iouiall die From this vncontrouersed ground Astronomers generally themselues aduise and prescribe meanes both to preuent the harmes of influences to come and also to redresse them present and giue vnto the Physitions hand powers and remedies to command countermand delay allay and abolish And from this reason Pâ—olomy himselfe the Prince and father of Astrologie in vnfortunate aspects doth aduise to consult the prudent Physition and by his counsell and helpe to decline the maligne constellation For right remedies rightly administred vnto the diseases and their inward causes by the decree of God and Nature necessarily oppugne allay preuent and expell diseases and therefore are not prescribed vnto outward causes but onely vnto the inward And although the outward cause haply first raised or impoâ—ed the disease yet in the cure is not that cause so much respected but his effect which is the disease it selfe or the inward causes by which and through which the outward had admission to their effects If the inward causes the antecedent and the immediate be remoued it is a miracle and a thing supernaturall that there should remaine his effect the disease but the outward cause may be remoued and yet his effect therein not follow him Thus corrupt and hote constitutions of the aire and constellations from the heauen breed pestilent and hote diseases in the body and the diseases still remain when the constitutions or constellations are changed but when the pestilent hote humors and dispositions within the body which are inward causes are throughly remoued there can no such effects continue be farther fed or maintained The outward cause may also be continually present yet particular subiects or bodies feele or participate no effect but if the inward cause grow in quantity or quality vnto the excesse it is impossible it should not in the same moment produce the like sensible effect For example in some heauenly coniunctions or combinations there may arise an hydropicall constellation though many particulars be nothing therwith affected or therto therby inclined but if hydropical humors or causes abound within the body it is impossible they should there be without not only the imminence but present coÌ„secutioÌ„ of the dropsy By these examples it is not obscure that the heauens are a forreine inuasion and therefore more easily admit interception and that diseases are euer to be suspected because euer present Where there is an vnproportioned congruitie or susceptibilitie in the bodie and humors with the heauenly inclination there the heauens haue no edge Where the disease hath once taken possession in the body the necessitie of his effect is absolute and vnauoidable howsoeuer the heauens or any outward causes are disposed He therefore that finding the inward disposition shall for the superstitious feare of starres delay with speed to seeke present remedie or in hope of forrein supply from constellations neglect certaine rescue more neare hand is a foole a mad man or worse then either The first is continually acted by common simple deluded people the other patronaged by obstinate defendants of vaine paradoxes and the third by our impudent Astrologers prostitute for gaine I commend not senslesse morositie in the peruerse reiection of true Astronomie so farre as is commodious for Physicke vse which reason it selfe experience and all the Ancients worthily extoll but with reason and authoritie I dislike superstitious and needlesse curositie in the ouer-religious esteeme thereof He that obserueth the wind shall not sow and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reape saith Salomon Ecclesiastes 114. And I cannot but detest the shamelesse dayly cousenage and imposture heathenishly practised by many vnder the colour pretext and false shadowes of true Astronomy An example here of may not impertinently for better illustration be here proposed A gentleman of Northampotonshire diseased by an immedicable vlcer of the reines was moued by his friends after my despaire of his recouerie signified priuatly vnto them to call the aduice of a famous Ephemerides-master who coming vnto him and not knowing and therefore not considering his disease from the counsel table of his Ephemerides pronounced that if the patient suruiued 3. or 4. daies which we must suppose were of an il aspect vntill the next ensuing Tuesday which was it seemeth a fairer influence he made no doubt of his recouerie and life But he suruiued three moneths or thereabout and in the interim neither did the aforesaid ill disposed starres any apparent hurt nor the wel disposed any eminent good but after the forenamed three moneths the starres brake promise the disease kept touch the gentleman died The reason in the disease was manifest without a new creation or generation a part in it selfe radically and in the whole substance perished can neuer be restored The disease therfore could not lie nor all the heauens could performe either a new generation because the patient could not again enter into his mothers womb nor a new creation because the world could not againe
ignorance whereof the chiefe vse is not the benefite of the sicke but the colour of fraud and comodity by deceit Touching the oracles of Fortune pretended in the vrine and their floating fauours in so low an ebbe those that too commonly in their owne experience find good drinke to steale their wit out of their braine may haply imagine it thence descended into the vrine I leaue them there to seeke it that want it so much and deserue it so litle The mention is vnworthie mention Concerning the looking of vnborne babes in an vrinarie glasse and the making of old fooles in loue with their owne reflexion to vnmaske the common illusion in this kind I will briefly point vnto the discouerie of the folly whereinto entring their serious cogitation due recognition they may more amply after exercise satisfie themselues whom their owne fatall stupidity doth not detaine or resolute obstinacie preoccupate The conceptions of women together with the accidents accompanying the same do necessarily bring forth generall alterations vnto the whole body partly by the consequent stoppages of the body and partly by distracting the naturall heate and spirits from other parts vnto that new intentiō whereby is added either quantitie or qualitie or both vnto the bloud and humors and from thence the vrine receiuing different tincture substance doth manifestly report the ods Yet for that this sodain productiō of change in the body issueth from conceptiō only by accident therof being truly and immediatly no cause it selfe but an occasion onely mouing other causes as commonly or more cōmonly moued both by diuerse kind of other obstructiōs beside also by other distractions of the naturall heate spirits by criticall intentions concoctions maturations of diseases therfore is the confused alteration of the vrine found vpon conceptiō indefinite can be no special note of cōception This is also further manifested by the alterations and effects themselues following conception which not onely in differing bodies but in the verie same are seldome the same but cōmonly farre vnlike yea and oft contrary at one time from themselues at another This women themselues in their owne experience must needs witnesse seldome obseruing the changes of bodies after cōception in all alike oft each in themselues finding the particular manners of their owne alteration farre discrepant This their oft deceit in themselues mistaking and vncertaintie in themselues commonly doth testifie sometimes suspecting thēselues with child when they proue diseased somtimes doubting diseases being only with child Since then conception is neither in it selfe a sole nor a separate cause nor any true immediate cause of the alterations of the body following therupon but onely the occasion mouing other causes and those causes are as indifferently also moued by many other occasions besides vnto the same effects their generalitie doth discharge their proprietie in this particular and the common indication in the vrine any speciall signification proper vnto conception alone This demonstratiuely proueth the vncertainty of the signs of conception that are common with other in the vrine Now concerning the small certaintie of the signes that are therto supposed peculiar the inward dispositions and affectiōs of inward parts which by the outward sense cānot be deprehended are by three waies or meanes soly to be detected The first is the action or function proper and ininherent in the partie The second is the proper excretions proceeding fromht he partie The third is a distinct feeling or paine in the part The proper functions of any part can neuer be disioyned from the part and therefore appeare not in the vrine Paine or other sense feeling are euer vnseparable companions with their patient parts whereof the vrine hauing no sense can haue no part and therefore therein also is vnsignificant It onely then remaineth that the affection and conception of the wombe soly doth discouer it selfe by the determinate excretions therto peculiar The peculiar excretiōs of any part do bring testimony vnto the truth of their indicatiō either by the cōcomitance of part of the substance of the part or of part of some substance either naturally orby some il dispositiō adherent to the part or of the ordinary recrements of concoctions or other preparatiōs or operations of nature in the part Whether excretions in al these kinds proceed frō the womb how with what differences distinction it is not here necessary to determine It is sufficiēt that the proper indicatiō of the dispositiōs of that part must necessarily be deriued from the excretions therto appropriate which therfore proueth the vrine no right prognosticator of any affectiō therof issuing frō other different vessels It may be obiected that by the contiguity of the wombe bladder and the neare termination of their extremities the expulsiue facultie of the seminarie vessels mouing sometimes with the vrinarie may thereby mixing their recrements connexe their indications This is true yet not alwaies but rarely and seldome true and therfore vncertainly hapning doth doubtfully promise or signifie The expulsiue motiōs and offices of the seminarie parts are not so ordinarie so frequent so common as the vrinarie neither doth their raritie in their motion alwaies then meete or consent with the vrine and sometimes also meeting therewith it giueth notwithstanding impertinent indication vnto the inquisition of conception other common recrements after conception no lesse or rather more descending then those which are onely consequents of conception And thus is made apparent the falshood and deceit of the ordinarie profession of the prediction of conception by the inspection of vrine which also the most ingenuous and iudicious writers and authours from their owne long proofe experiēce haue euer generally exploded as impious imposture The true Artist doth promise nothing beyōd that which reason doth demōstrate art habitually performe the deceiuer by faire pollicitations bewitcheth simple credulitie ridiculously to delight in his owne wrong and grosse collusion It is verie worthy note and memorie that a great and learned clearke Cornelius Agrippa retracting his former wont therein doth ingenuously confesse of his affectation and circumuention of common admiration by his supposed magicke and Astrologicall skill and it doth well fit and settle instruction and satisfaction in this our particular also though of another kind I haue bene saith he from my childhood by my parents carefully iustituted in Astrologie and in riper age and vnderstanding afterwards spent therein no small time At length by long and certaine proofe I found it wholly compound and founded of meere fictions and toyes of vaine imaginations wearied therefore and grieued with my time and study so long and so idlely spent I laboured to cast away the irkesome and vnpleasing memorie thereof out of my mind and neuer in my thoughts to entertaine it But the violent and forcible importunacie of great and mightie Potentates who vsually preuaile to abuse
Artist his right description and election THE FIRST BOOKE CHAP. I. The Introduction THE dignitie and worth of Physicks skill consisteth not as is imagined commonly in the excellence and preheminence of remedies but in their wise and prudent vse It is an ancient true saying that wholesome medicines by the hands of the iudicious dispenser are as Angels of God sent for the good of men but in the hands of the vnlearned are messengers of death vnto their farther euill Good medicines are in themselues excellent instruments of health and life but require a learned workeman iudiciously to guide them vnto their destined end It is order and not confusion that is euer safe and happie and knowledge which worketh by election and true reason and not rash boldnesse which doth good by chance and vncertaine euent that is the light and safe guide of vnderstanding mindes Who knoweth not how much opportunity aduanceth in all performances how descreete obseruation of smallest circumstances aduantageth how wise and learned cunctation and sometimes anticipation make fortunate an action Who seeth not in euerie dayes experience how necessarie it is by a mature and iudicious eye to foresee in all attemps the after vnauoydable hinderances Who discerneth not that without prudent circumspection and prouident forecast blinde rashnesse and ignorance do alwaies hazard oft vnrecouerably ouerthrow all good successe Through want of knowledge to mistake time is losse of labor and of time Ignorant slownesse doth come too late and rash haste doth stumble he that knoweth not the danger doth easily runne vpon the rocke Thus is it easie for the vnlearned to erre and those that want vnderstanding to fall into the snare If then all enterprises prosper by wise aduice it is wisedome in matters of meanest moment to consult with a wise and iudicious friend in cases of health and life certainly euery man is not a sufficient counsellor He that considereth the multitude of causes in diseases their infinite kindes manners and natures the varietie of accidents their sodaine and variable mutations the soone lost occasions and hardly gained opportunities the wisedome which circumstances require the care and vigilance which the subiect exacteth the doubts which repugnances bring the resolutions which necessities vrge shall find the most exquisite powers of vnderstanding iudgement wit discretion and learning herein exactly sifted From the varietie of causes of diseases what varying differences arise in the manner quantity qualitie and times of remedies euery one requiring a separate and distinct respect and dispensation euen in the same disease and person The immediate cause from the mediate the antecedent from the continent the necessarie from the casuall and contingent require both a diuers handling and also a distinction in order of handling neither is there a like consideration of the externall and internall the positiue the priuatiue the materiall the immateriall those that are single and alone and those that are ioyntly and with others Sometimes many causes are coincident in one effect sometimes many diseases from one cause Sometimes the same cause receiueth a difference from it selfe and exacteth an exact difference in his owne remedies Sometime the same cause is so farre vnlike it selfe that it seemeth not it selfe being either more then it selfe in quantity or a monster to it selfe in malignant quality As causes diseases according to their causes so no lesse materiall are accidents to be distinctly knowne and considered Some of them bring certaine knowledge some artificiall coniecture some matter of presumption and probability Some are manifest some anxious and ambiguous some significant by themselues some consignificant with others Some are of vertue in singularitie some in multitude some are considered as signes and causes some as neither some as both Some accidents go before the disease some accompany some follow after Ordinarily the disease doth draw all attendance vnto it selfe sometimes the accident doth obscure the disease Some accidents alone are ciphers but added vnto other make vp a iust account some prognosticate some iudicate some are idle some iudicate the constitution of the sicke some the humour some the diseased part some the disease it selfe and some the issue Sometimes diseases are discouered by no signes at all but by an exact and exquisite disquisition of a sound and solert iudgement So that according to the kindes places courses changes and courses of accidents varie significations iudications and prognostications and follow safe administration and application of apt remedies vnto the more speedy benefite of the sicke facilitie of cure and securitie of after health Diseases their causes and circumstances wisely distinguished and knowne do point a discreete knowing workman to a more certaine issue without which as the beginning of cure must necessarily be rash so must the end be doubtlesly vncertaine Hence it must needs be apparent that by the common neglect and ignorance herein the monopolizing of cures vnto the prerogatiue of this or that secret and thereby the contempt of the due permutation of medicines according to requisite circumstances and necessities and the omission reiection of the wholesome administratioÌ„ of the generall remedies without which the particular are vaine and preposterous do commonly turne to the common perdition of most valetudinary men From hence also it doth come to passe that many diseaâ—es beyond their owne nature and besides the constitution of the sicke grow so commonly so easily rooted and vnobseruedly confirmed in mens bodies that oft they can neuer haue end which by due ordering should neuer haue had beginning Hence grow so frequent the multitude of strange and vnnaturall changes and new fashions of fits euen through the too common vse of wholesome remedies in vulgar and prophane hands For through this presumption either by idle trifling and vaine flattery of ease dangerous diseases quickly in short time grow too proud for any medication or else in the other extreme by too much haste and violence are hunted out of their owne course and so metamorphize themselues into wilde and vnaccustomed shapes Hence likewise it cometh to passe that diseases in their owne kind easie and of small continuance by the wrong and iniury of remedies without aduice admitted and celebrated are not onely extended to a lingring age of many daies but from daies to weekes from weekes to yeares yea oft vnto a longer life then the sicke himselfe after him inheriting his children and posteritie It is a verified and true saying Worse are the bad after-consequences of ill applied medicines then diseases themselues Although this be often apparent euen vnto the common sence of vulgar sight yet much more infinite are the impeachments and ruines of health by the learned seene and discouered daily whereof a common eye is not capable while vnperceiued mischiefes stealingly insensibly enter with vnpriuiledged remedies and by some present benefite or ease
excellent vertues of prudence discretion and knowledge vpon which are safely founded wise moderation and temperate vse of meanes vnto which euer and onely God hath blessed all actions their ends and issues In whom therefore these are not how vnwarranted are their actioÌ„s vnto their owne hearts and how dangerous also must they be to others harmes If women then professe no arts nor as maisters of sciences can proue their rules let them with sobrietie gouerne the great rule of themselues and so shall they be most harmelesly happy in being freed from the vnhappinesse of hauing their hands so commonly in others mishaps vnto the dishonour of womanhood A gentlewoman lately falling grieuously sicke through the frights of bloud-letting wherewith womens counsell by many ill reports thereof had confounded her refused the only safe rescue of her life thereby Whereupon very shortly after her bloud grew so furious that breaking the wonted bounds and limits of her veines with violence it gushed out not onely at her mouth and nose with diuerse other passages of her body besides but also made a diruption in the veines of one of her legs from whence issuing in great abundance it speedily dispatched her euen vnto the end and last breath still making her choyce that rather her bloud should thus kill her then she coÌ„sent to part with any part thereof otherwise Thus she miserably died CoÌ„trariwise another gentlewoman in the yeare 1602. and of her age the 74. as shee her selfe numbred vexed many yeares with a continuall issue of bloud after she had bene long left in hopeles care despaire required and expected of me her last doome I found oft obseruing her pulse a manifest equall and constant magnitude altitude and vehemence the habite of her body well liking and by these assured my selfe as of the cause of her disease so also of the strength of nature Many other remedies before in vaine iterated and varied and none preuailing or profiting contrary to the iudgement of some former Physitions as also her owne liking in regard of her age and supposed weakenesse and contrary to the generall disclaime and wonderment of her friends her strength in the former indication fauouring it necessity vrging and therefore her age dispensing I commanded her to be sparingly let bloud in the arme whereupon without any farther other helpe she immediately recouered her strength and was freed the space of eight yeares together from the issue which had continually vexed her many yeares before I deliuer these familiar examples of mine owne for better satisfaction whereby vnto the meanest eye and simple vnderstanding it is apparent that bloud-letting or not bloud-letting as all other remedies are either good or euill or neither good nor euill in seuerall seasons and circumstances whereby the perswasion or disswasion thereof by such as want iudgement is euer casually also good or euill in it selfe but euer vniustifiable in the ignorant counsellor The iust will not herein offend but the foole will be babling whereof to beware vnto many had bene sauing physicke that now are dead Many times haue many by perswading without reason or iudgement drawne their friend vnto death contrarie to their better meaning troubling them with feare of death in the remedy while they run themselues to death for want of remedie Ill counsell for the most part produceth ill euent Ignorant counsell is neuer good counsell And therefore it is honest for it selfe and safe for the sicke that ignorance be euer silent or neuer presumptuous It is oft occasion of mirth to see how euen after sicke men are sometime perfectly recouered the very ill opinion of remedies past laboured into the conceite by the wauing of idle tongues holdeth them still needlesly sicke vntill their wiser thoughts draw their minds to forget their imagination or to remember themselues and thus vnawares they sometime ease themselues of their owne imposition which was first the vaine supposition of a friend Such friendship is oft simplicity and haply sometimes knauery but let the patient that desireth his owne good be impatient of such folly and not enlarge his kinde heart vnto so vnkinde hurt vnto himselfe remembring though it be humanity to heare a friendly voice that the attendant of wisedome is slow beliefe Oft and much babling inculcation in the weake braines of the sicke may easily preuaile with them to forget both that which their owne good hath taught them and also by a borrowed opinion from others indiscreete words to corrupt their owne sense It is the common custome of most common people thus ordinarily to molest and trouble the sicke Their presence therfore is dangerous carefully to be either prohibited or better gouerned Common vulgar mouthes easily incline scandalously to preiudice the things they know not Hence it is in these daies a customary worke to disswade physicke while meÌ„ not making right choyce of their Physition or perueâ—ting good counsell by their owne peeuish frowardnes and thereby multiplying vnto theÌ„selues continuall occasion of complaint vniustly therfore accuse art which they neuer duly sought nor found nor vsed therfore neuer knew The offences that men iustly take are the faults the blots the staines of vnperfect workemen not of art whereof art is as guiltlesse as they are void of art Many because they may haply obserue some others by the too much immoderate vse of physicke sometime too hardly to keepe vnder their owne streÌ„gth sometime haply to tire nature or too coÌ„tinually to interrupt perturbe her quiet fruition of herselfe the true sense of her owne power streÌ„ght in her selfe therefore in the other extreme they also with a nice and foolish morosity altogether contemne and reiect the temperate and moderate vse thereof denying vnto God nature their care duty to theÌ„selues restraining nature from the priuiledge of remedies which God hath giuen vnto her and iniuriously suffering her to liue within them imprisoned oppressed and oft needlesly ruined Physicke it selfe is honored by the mouth and mention of God himselfe and in it selfe hath demonstration of it selfe vnto them whose vnderstanding doth giue them eyes but the ignorant and the excessiue vse the abuse therof no lesse the peruerse contempt neglect thereof are the curse of God and the sinne of men They therefore that perswade the sicke that they haue no neede of the Physition call God a lyar who expresly saith otherwise and make themselues wiser then their Creator who hath ordained the Physition for the good of man Let men therefore flie and take heede of such foolish calumnie and in their necessities let them remember their Maker and thankfully embrace his blessing and benefite of ease and health which thereby he hath commended and giuen vnto them lest vnthankfull to him and accessarie to their owne hurt they perish in a double sinne Beside the ordinary meane sort of visiting people doing in the former kinds very
him a witch there shall thereby be allowed vnto the diuell a large commission which his malice will easily extend beyond the latitude as by right obseruation of many learned in their own experiences hath ben◠and may be oft truly noted I do not deny nor patronage witches or witchcraft but wish that the proofes and triall thereof may be more carefully and with better circumspection viewed and considered that rash determination beguile not the wise nor condemne the innocent vpon whom the diuell can with more nimblenesse and agilitie transferre his owne euill workes then either they can auoide it or others easily espie it Euerie thing whereof euerie man cannot giue a reason is not therefore a miracle There are many things whereof few men many whereof no man can attaine the reason yet euerie man knoweth to haue a reason in nature Behold a toy for an example There is seene in the hand of a iugler a thing as it is indeed sodainly in a moment without perceptible motion it is againe seene as it is not That there is a cause of the change who knoweth not what it is who knoweth except to whom it hath bene made known With great wonder and admiration haue diuers in this age shewed mercenarie spectacles incredible euen vnto the beholding eye and yet in the actors by meane vnderstandings deprehended to be nothing but agilitie and nimble cunning by continuall practise and custome working desperatenesse into facilitie Thus with common wonder haue some walked and danced voon cords Some are written to haue leaped and danced vpon the edges of sharp swords without hurt vnto thēselues with pleasure vnto the beholders Some haue credibly bene supposed to deuoure daggers and other sharpe and dangerous weapons That naturally the loadstone draweth iron the meanest know the reasō or cause the wisest neuer knew There are wonders in nature wonders aboue nature these are subtilties the other miracles That fire and aire contrary to their owne particular nature of the owne accord descend and waters ascend that the heauie mettals of iron and lead contrary to their owne naturall motion should with such admirable swiftnesse in so short a moment passe so large a distance through the aire from a small flash of a little flame these and such like are subtilties because the cause and reason thereof doth vnfold it selfe to few or not to all yet vnto the learned That the Sunne should stand still in the firmament the Moone be ecclipsed in no interposition the bodies of men should flie in the aire or walke vpon the face of the water these and the like are miracles because hereof is neither power nor reason in nature And as in the former to be easily drawne to admiration and to ascribe naturall effects to supernaturall causes is grosse ignorance so in the latter to enquire naturall causes in supernaturall effects is profane curiositie In both these extremes men too commonly erre the learned for the most part in the latter the vnlearned in the first the one too wise the other starke fooles None truly learned or that truly know the face of nature whose scholers the learned euer professe themselues can be vpon the vaine flashes of seeming wonders lightly moued to denie or call into question the power and force of nature With therfore the common amazed thoughts of vulgar people to be blasted by the stupiditie of euery idle feare to gape after witchcraft or to make nature a diuell or a bugbeare must needs be base procliuitie and vnlearned lightnesse To admit also nothing aboue or beside nature no witchcraft no association with diuels at all is no lesse madnesse of the opposite and extreame But those whom true learning and wisedome hath well instructed know how to stay themselues and to consist in a temperate mediocritie betweene both these The actions of the diuell are discouered by the proper notes and difference First they are euer euill either in themselues or in their end Secondly they are aboue the power and course of nature and reason This appeareth manifestly in his violent cariage of so many heards of swine headlong into the sea mentioned in the Gospell in his bringing fire from aboue so sodainly to deuoure so many thousands of Iobs sheepe These with other such like carry in their mischiefe and hurt the stamp of such an author and in the transcendent and supernaturall power thereof the testimonie of a spirit This is plaine and by these notes men may learne to distinguish between an imaginarie and a reall diuellish practise Now the doubt remaineth how we may in these workes and practises of the diuell detect the conuersation and commerce of men I do not conceiue how any markes in the flesh or bodie of any one may be any triall or manifest proofe for besides the grant that likenesse may deceiue who can assure me that the diuell may not as easily secretly and insensibly marke the flesh of men as their soules vnto destruction If the diuell may marke them without their knowledge and consent shall his malice be their offence or how shall I be assured he cannot so do He that can do the greater can do the lesse He that could giue vnto the Son of God a view of all the kingdomes of the world in one instant which was no doubt a speciall straine of his vtmost spirituall cunning considering he was then to deale with wisedome it selfe can that cunning finde no meanes to make a small scarre impresse or tumor in flesh Who dare presume to say God will not suffer him Who euer so farre entred into the counsell of God or measured what therein he doth permit If no holy writ no reason manifest it proud and blasphemously daring is obseruation in so infinite and vnmeasurable a subiect I denie not that the diuell by couenant may sucke the bodies and bloud of witches in witnesse of their homage vnto him but I denie any marke of neuer so true likenesse or perfect similitude sufficient condemnation vnto any man and beside and aboue all other notes or marks whatsoeuer iudge it chiefly and principally and first to be required that both the diuels propertie therein also the parties consent thereto may be iustly and truly euicted which is oft too lightly weighed It may be with good reason iudged that the diuell doth not blush to be both bold and cunning there to set his marke yea and make his claime where he hath no interest But when the diuell doth appeare in workes and signes proper to himselfe and therewith shall be euident either directly or by good consequent the act of any man consenting or cooperating there law may iustly take hold to censure and there also the former presumptions and markes denied sufficiencie while alone and single may now concurring be admitted and allowed I speake not this in contradiction of other learned iudgements but retaining
coelo possunt deducere lunam Virgil. g Data est Diabolo potestas non modò vt fallat malos sed vt exerceat bonos Augussin g Diabolus imperium exercet in impios In pios etiaÌ„ in multis casibus particularibus potestatem habet qua vulnerantur concidunt Caluin lib. instit h Quid Angeli mali possunt quid noÌ„ possunt facere per naturae suae conditionem homini explorare difficile immo impossibile Augustin de Trinit c Soli viri ingeniosi subtilis mentis acici difficilia cognitu facilè comprehendere valent Aristot d Multa sunt quorum cum veritas certa sit tameÌ„ causae nos latent Plutarch de Sympol e Inter praestigiatoris manus quod est video Mutatur species vel propter celeritatem vel propter aliud Quare verò mutetur latet me Scalig. de Subt. f In natura plurima fiunt miranda singularia inquit Aristoles ideoque naturam ipsam appellat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Camerarius de diuinat a A forma vniuersali mouentur sponte ignis aër deorsum ne eueniret vacuum Forma particularis obedit vniuersali ad conseruationem totius entitatis vnitatis Scalig. de Subt. b Quia nequit tam citò ratefieri ad implendum vacuum quod reliquum potest facere facit atque tam citò abit Scalig. de subt d Frustra de metaphysicis quaeruntur physicae rationes c Sapientia vera Nolle nimis sapere f Hoc nomine Cardanum taxat Scaliger lib. de subtilit Quae consultò natura in orbe molita est suo is praestigiae nomine denotandum putat c Hoc à diuinitatis excellentia separat omnis enim potestas supra naturam est vel diuina vel diabolica haec voique semper bona illa nusquam non mala d Quorum daemones authores sunt eorum ratio est trans naturam Fernel de abd rer caus e Daemoniaci nonnulli obloquuntur summè ardua arcana reserant occulta renunciant Edunt verba sententias graecas latinas cum ipsi vtriusque linguae omnina ignari sunt Fernel de Abd. rer caus g Many and strange haue bene the formes of diuers excrescencies or growings in the flesh through all parts almost of the bodie whose nature forme and cause are well knowne vnto the Physition though to his eye oft times strange and wondered Scaliger in his booke of Subtilties mentioneth a Waterman knowne vnto himselfe who had a horne growing vpon his backe The like haue others since and before knowne and written Some men haue bene borne with parts proper vnto the other sexe and women with parts or resemblances of parts naturally giuen to the malekind alone The errors of nature in monstrous births are not obscure and feede varietie of wonder nor are nor can be tied from the counterfeit of any shape likenesse marke or figure sometimes superfluously cast vpon one part sometimes vpon another d The diuels propertie is knowne by actions deeds or workes first found sustained by a supernaturall power and next bent vnto an euill end Thus for diuellish ends haue Witches and sorcerers bene knowne to ride vpon the seas in vessels vncapable of such cariage or of any defence Thus haue some haunted men and other creatures in maners meanes and circumstances more then any way reasonable or possible vnto humanitie or the nature of man alone Thus haue some also declared the secret words and actions of men then absent in farre distant places and foretold particular things to come These with their diuellish affection end and intention are certaine proofes of diabolicall power and witchraft e Consent and cooperation may be manifested first by proofe of any incantation inuocation spels and other performances of other diabolicall rites and ceremonies secondly by their vse of such instruments as are vsuall or proper vnto such diuellish workes Of this kind are pictures of waxe or other matter by which they secretly worke wasting and consuming paines vnto the liuing persons of those dead resemblances Of this kind are also charmed knoâ—s characters and figures Of this kinde also are diuers sorts of poisonsome matters by them knowne to be solemnly sought and carefully hidden or kept These found or detected are certaine conuictions of witches and witchcraft ioyned with other due presumptions and circumstances and a manifest detection of the assistance of any traâ— scendent force e Quippe vbi nec causas nec apertos cernimus ictus Vnde ergo veniant tot mala caeca via est Propert. f In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. de loc aff g In this maner Ann. 1598. my selfe being present a child of one M. Barker of Couentry was afflicted and in the end these fits changing into conuulsions of his face mouth and eyes he therein died h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. de loc aff i In Apoplexia vel morbo attonito Gal. de loc affect c An. Dom. 1602 In this maner a former wife of one M. Roson of Northampton continued the space of two daies and nights being then my patient d In Caro. Carum verò distinguit à Catalepsi Galen lib. de loc affect quòd in hac oculi aegrotorum clausi permanent in illa aperti e Hoc genus coma vigilans Galeno dicitur tract de comate quod insomne vocat Phreneticis attribuit Iuxta hoc coma pigrum somnolentum statuit quod è contra Lethargicis ascribit f Hippocrates in Prorheticis Epidemior 5. h Deprauati motus sunt plurimi tremuli conuulsiui palpitantes vibrantes qui prout in toto corpore vagantur diuersam appellatio nem sortiuntur Galen de sympt differ i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Epi epsia vel morbus caducus vniuerso corpori motus affert deprauatos Gal. de diff sympt g Conuulsio simulat omnem motus voluntarij speciem hac sola ratione à motu naturali differt quod praetor voluntatem fit Galen de loc affect k Motiua actio laesa pro particularium instrumentorum ratione ita variantur vt varias habere species videantur cum illius motionis ratio fit vna Galen de sympt diff a Conuulsis musculis oculos mouentibus b Musculorum masticatoriorum eorum qui peculiariter lati appellantur conuulsione contractione resolutione fit spasmus cynicus tortura oris risus Sardonius c. c Conuulsis musculis temporalibus contrahuntur dentes strident resolutis fit hiatus oris d Generalis haec palpitatio dicitur ab Auicenna ab alijs membrorum subsultus iactatio f Historia Theophili Medici aegrotantis lectu dignissima est libr. Galeni de diff sympt sect 3. g Vide Hollerij historiam de Pharmacopoeo incubo correpto scholijs in tractat de incubo Auicenâ—am in Cant. de signis Melancholiae k Thucydides de in