deliuereth them from their graues let them confesse before the Lord his louing kindnesse c. Whereby it appeareth that it was his louing kindnesse and not his seuerity and vengeance which by his Word did heale and cure For he operateth vengeance in his seuerity or destructiue will by the organ of the Deuill And then of Salomon But the teeth of the venemous Dragons could not ouercome thy Children for thy mercy came to helpe them and healed them for neither herb nor plaister healed them but thy Word O Lord which healeth all things for thou hast the power of life and death and leadest downe into the gates of Hell and bringest vp againe c. Now I would know whether it ought to be any true Christians opinion that the Deuill can command the misericord of God and so be Master of his word at his pleasure as to heale Gods creatures nay one framed after his owne Image for any wicked stratagems cause I meane for the gaining of both body and soule of man from God to himselfe Doth not Iob say In the hand of God is the life of euery liuing creature and the spirit of all flesh To conclude as Saint Iohn doth truely auerre that in the Word was life So it is certaine that all healing and restoring power is from this viuifying vertue in the Word and not from the priuatiue power of the Deuill in whom contrary wise is death and destruction Moreouer I would haue you to note these words of the Apostle Now there are diuers gifts but the same Spirit and there are diuersities of operations but God is the same which worketh all in all but to one is giuen by the Spirit the Word of wisedome to another the word of knowledge to another is giuen faith and to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit c. Can any good Christian thinke that this one Spirit that onely worketh these things is the Deuill No verily For in the third verse the Apostle termes it the Holy Ghost What shall we say then That the Deuill doth heale by the gift of the Holy Ghost or that the holy Spirit will grant the euill spirit his good gift of healing to deceiue mankinde and to rob God of his right God forbid But with iustice giue that vnto God which belongeth vnto God and assigne vnto the Deuill that property which was allotted him by his Creatour from the beginning the first Spirit from all creations was ordained in his office to be a good viuifying and a quickning Spirit the latter a bad a killing and a mortifying spirit For it is said by the Prophet in the person of God Ego creaui destructorem ad disperdendum I haue created the destroyer to destroy I will boldly therefore conclude and finish my Pamphlet or petty discourse as I began it namely with this religious verse mentioned in the diuine Hymne of the Royall Psalmist to the honour of God and disabling of either Deuill or any other creature to worke essentially wonders of himselfe or by himselfe Benedictus Dominus Deus Israël qui facit mirabilia solus Blessed be the Lord God of Israël who onely worketh wonders Or as he hath it in another place Confitemini Domino Dominorum quoniam in aeternum miserâ—…or diaâ—…ius qui facit mirabilia magna solus Prayse the Lord for his mercy endureth for euer who onely doth great wonders And therefore if the Lord of Lords onely or alone then hath he not any mortall man to helpe him if he alone then not any Angel of Heauen and lastly if it be God alone and onely then not any Deuill of Hell nor Daemon or spirit of the fiery or aëry or watry or earthly element to assist him For the text saith It is the Lord of Lords alone and therefore not any creature to helpe him or that is able to doe this without him it is he I say onely and consequently not the Deuill who performeth wonders But by euery mans acknowledgement this manner of cure is wonderfull for as much as the manner of working in it passeth the capacity of worldly mens vnderstanding Therefore with Dauid I will say Benedictus Deus qui facit tale mirabile solus and consequently I may inferre thereupon and that iustly Maledictus homo qui diuina falsò attribuit Diabolo Wherefore I wish euery zealous and religious person to haue this inuiolable Motto engrauen in his heart that by the vertue thereof he may fright away and banish from his thoughts all such irreligious perswasions as would moue him to derogate one Iota or tittle from Gods power who is Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end of all things to arrogate falsly vnto the vilest of creatures who in himselfe is nothing but what God is pleased that he shall be of himselfe hath nothing but what God pleaseth to bestow on him and by himselfe can doe nothing but what God is pleased to act in him and by him that he doth and not any thing else and therefore what God will not that he cannot doe Let this then be your Motto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Finis omnium principium Deus God is the end and beginning of all things And for this reason Reuchlin in his Booke de verbo mâ—…risico saith Omne hominis miraculum cuius vera non imaginaria deprehenditur substantia tum grande tum mediocre tum minimum si ordo sacrorum prascriptus obseruetur referendum est semper in Deum gloriosum cuius nomen est benedictum in aeternum Is enim solus est qui vel seipso vel delegato non sine seipso velper substitutum exseipso talia facit qualia demiramur quorum causam adaequatam scire non possumus vel quod fiant vel quod hoc modo fiant Euery miracle of man whose substance is certaine â—…nd not imaginary or prestigious bee it great or meane or little if the prescribed order of Holy Writ bee obserued is alwayes to bee referred and ascribed vnto one glorious God whose Name bee euer blessed For it is hee alone who either of himselfe or by a delegat with whom hee is present or by a substitute of his owne and from himselfe that effecteth such things the true or plaine grounds whereof and by what meanes they are brought to passe wee neither can discerne nor comprehend Thus farre Iohn Reuchlin And therefore in the period of this Treatise I may iustly put home and allude vnto Master Foster and his Complices the woe of Isaias against such persons which I did mention in the beginning of it for as much as they presuming too too much on their worldly wisedome doe mistakingly and through their blindnesse ascribe the things of God vnto the Deuill the deeds of goodnesse vnto euill and the effects of light vnto darknesse ISAIAS 5.20 21. Woe vnto them that speake good of euill and euill of good which put darknesse for light and light for darknesse that
latter day and cause him to rise againe but wee must vnderstand this after their owne sence and not vulgarly Let this I beseech you be remembred that the touch of Eliseus his bones caused the dead to rise from death to life In the third place I come to the manner of conueying of the blood from the wound vnto the oyntment The blood is taken from the liuing fountaine of blood in the wounded eyther as it is smeared on the weapon that did the deed or as it is fastened on some sticke Iron or other thing and so conueyed vnto the oyntment at any reasonable distance Now a reason is to be shewed how it is possible that there can be any certaine relation betweene the wound and the oyntment For as Mr. Foster saith there may be Castles hills walls and grosse ayre betweene the oyntment and the wounded which may hinder the cure First wee must remember that wee haue expressed in our precedent discourse the excellency of the animating spirit in whom is all the vertue and each property of the foure winds and being it is the spirit of spirits Et spiritus spirat vbi vult What I pray you can hinder his act or operation And with what distance can his actiuity be limited being that it is the spirit of the winds and the soule of the lightnings and the essence of the Sunne and starres of heauen which by his animation doe cast their beames periferically vnto euery angle of the Horison or Hemispheare Can this spirir because contained in mans blood not penatrate many hundred miles by emanation out of his bloody vehicle as it doth out of his cloudy Tabernacle in the forme or rather vehicle oflightning or out from his Phoebean Palace in golden beames whereupon it is said In lumine numen in numine lumen In light is diuinity and in diuinity is light so saith the Psalmist Amictus lumine quasi vestimento Hee is clothed with light as with a garment I tell you this is all one spirit which is in man and that which operateth in the wings and therefore it was said Come O spirit from the foure winds This spirit cannot be diuided into parts It filleth as Salomon saith the whole earth and hath his seate in heauen and therefore resideth in mans body and spirit as is said Esdras speaking of this spirit saith as before The spirit of God Omnipotent hath made all things and searcheth out all things in the bowells or secret places of the earth Whereby it appeareth that this very spirit by which man breathed cannot be limited in his penetrating and extensiue dimension nor yet hindred in his passage by any intermediate obstacle To conclude that man that beleeueth and relyeth on this spirit may effect what he desireth For euen by the true knowledge and vse of it the Prophets and Apostles did wonders as well in curing as effecting matters of greater admiration This spirit therefore which is called intellectuall as hee maketh to vnderstand Inspiratio omnipotentis saith Iob facit intelligere Vitall in respect of his viuification Spiritus Dei fortis fecit me saith he spiraculum omnipotentis viuificauit me And naturall in respect of vegetation and multiplication visitatio tua saith hee else where conseruauit spiritum meum doth act and shine forth by secret beames v to that obiect of the dead blood which is carryed from it vnto the oyntment in which amputated blood lurketh a portion of spirit resting without action Now the nature of the one is reioyced in the nature of the other forasmuch as both doe sympathise together being that they are all of one consonance or degree or vnison in vitall loue as for example I take two Lutes or Vialls or any other such like instruments I set one of them at one end of the table set the other at the other end I put a small straw vpon one of the strings of the one Lute which importeth A-la-mi-re or De-la-sol-re and then striâ—… the Gam-vt of the other Lute and the straw will not once stirre because theydoe not sympathise in one sound and proportion of wauing ayre therefore haue they not a relation one vnto another so also if the blood be carryed vnto an oyntment heterogeneall in nature vnto the party wounded it will doe nothing in this cure but if you put a straw on the Gam-vt or A-re of the one and strike the other on Gam-vt or Are being vnisons you shall perceiue the straw presently to leap of the other string by reason of the ouer great vibration or louing actiuity and like formall proportion which he sympatheticall harmony betwixt each strings causeth to other in the aire yea this effect wil happen though there be put boords or other such like obstacles as may hinder the direct line of the vibration in the aire or medium betwixt the two Lutes In which experiment you may note that the string strucke is aptly compared vnto the blood of the wounded being stil animated in his body who doth by a secret emanation or emission and that by a naturall inclination and sympathy cause in the selfe-same tone a secret communication between the still and occult spirit in the congealed blood which is in the oyntment which I compare to the string which the straw hath on it so that the string though it be of it selfe still yet at the acting of that other chord which is really moued with the actuall spirit of the chord strucken by meere concent stirreth vp the still chord to act also and by action to send backe againe a salutiferous harmony vnto the acting spirit which is as neere vnto his owne still or potentiall nature as the tone of one Lute acting or strucke vnto that of the other not strucke For as both are but one spirit though they seeme to differ in distance as doe the chord of both Lutes so likewise are those two tones but one tone though they seeme to differ and therefore make but one vnisone But because the one spirit cannot essentially be separated from the other no more then can diuinity effentially be diuided into parts as also the one tone cannot be essentially distinguished from the other therefore it doth liuely extend it selfe à termino à quo ad terminum ad quem from the wound vnto the oyntment as being all one spirit continuated euen as wee see one thred extended from one end of a Chamber vnto the other Now being this spirit requireth a spirituall vehicle like it selfe it is carried quasi super alas venti as it were vpon the wings of the wind in the hidden spirit of the blood which seemeth as a vehicle no otherwise then the essentiall spirit of the wind is carryed by the ayre and obserueth no limited distance neyther is hindred by mountaines woods or walls to worke his effect as wee see the Northwind doth produce in Lumbardy frost Ice snow c. Although the high Alpin mountaines
did not sympathise but Antipathise the nature of the one would abhorre the nature of the other which experience proueth false Againe that there is a Balsamick nature in a Horse sympathising with that in a man the effect proueth For the effect of a Balsamick nature is to agglutinate wounds and to incarnate and breed flesh and that by a secret vertue of vegetation But the flesh of a Horse doth render his Balsamick suck or iuyce vnto the liuer of a man where it so sympathiseth with the nature thereof that it condenseth it selfe by a homogeneall transmutation into blood and becommeth as fibrous and well compacted as the other humane blood and in conclusion is made all one with it and after that by apposition vnion and assimulation that I may vse Galen his owne words it becommeth mans flesh An infallible argument that the Balsamick nature of these two creatures do consent and sympathise for else they could not make one vnion Thus our sharp-witted Remembrancer may see that I doe not onely say after his fashion but also proue and demonstrate my case so palpably that euery simple person may feelingly perceiue it I come now to such priuate experiments as the Noble Earle aboue-mentioned hath made vpon Horses whereof some haue beene pricked and some wounded or hurt otherwise He was pleased to tell me of many of his Cures as well on his own Horses as on others which by the vertue of this Oyntment hee had performed Now would I faine know whether any person of worth or discretion would rather beleeue that which this Nobleman affirmeth and auowed vpon his owne knowledge and manifold experience or else the threed-bare assertion of M. Foster who would perswade the world and that by his meere asseueration onely without any other proofe or practice that Castles may be builded in the Ayre What shall wee say then shall we call a conuocation of these turbulent incredulous and all-iudging persons to haue it decided whether the Deuill did this Cure to gaine the Horses soule or no Alas their demure worships wil after the due pleading and scanning of the cause finde that his blacke Lordship would not bestow the paines for a soule which is so fading transitory and not immortall as is that of a man after which he so eagerly thirsteth and gapeth But if they reply that he doth it to delude the credulous Mediciner and by that couert meanes to gaine his soule I answer that Frustrà fit per plurâ—… quod fieri potest per pauciora The Mediciner cured many reasonable persons before and would not that suffice the Deuils turne to gaine him but hee must assist him also in curing vnreasonable creatures to make the Obligation for the Practitioners soule the surer I would perchance giue more credit to these bold and high thundering Iudges or condemners and vilifiers of Iehouah's power by attributing that vnto the Deuill which appertaineth vnto him if one man had many soules to lose but who is so foolish to cast the Dice twice for that he hath surely wonne at once By this therefore each wise and iudicious Reader may plainely discerne that M. Fosters Sponge is herein also squeesed for as much as it is most certaine that the naturall Balsam of one Animal doth sympathise with his like in the other by reason that they haue both but one and the same acting vertue and one generall Balsamick spirit in nature and condition which is common vnto euery specifick CHAP. II. Wherein is proued contrary vnto the Sponge-carriers Tenent that mans Bones proceed originally from Blood The naked Assertion of D. Fludds text The Blood is mingled with the Mummy or Flesh the Fat or the Vsnaea or Mosse of the Bones which Blood was the beginning and food of them all M. Fosters Collection These ingredients haue their beginning and aliment from the Blood The act of his mundifying Sponge Secondly I deny that Mans Bones haue their beginning and aliment from Blood For Physicians and Philosophers sâ—…y that they haue their beginning from the grosser seminaryparts and their aliment from Blood or Marrow or both Here the Sponge is squeesed I wonder that my Confuter like the Comediant parasiâ—… sometimes denieth and againe with the same breath affirmeth For first hee denieth that Bones haue their aliment from Blood and then he concludes that they haue Well wee will passe this staggering error and come to the point Mans Bones saith he haue their beginning of the grosser seminary parts ergo not of Blood The consequence is erroneous For if he will â—…ucly looke into the nature of the Sperme he shall finde it to bee nothing else originally but the purest part of Blood strained from a double kinde of vessell whereof the purer or internall part issueth from the arteriall vessell the grosser and externall from the venall vessell What needs M. Foster to looke on Bauhines Notes or Galens Opinions and those of many other differing from them and so make Ipse dixit his whole strength when his eyes will teach him if he euer knew Anatomy as perchance his Father did that the fountaine of sperme is the Blood of two natures namely Arteriall and venall for the preparing seminary vessels that alter it purifie it haue their issues and heads out of the great artery and vena Caua Which being so I would faine know of M. Foster whether hee thinketh that the spearme doth not proceed from the Blood as original thereof for as much as the vessels from which it floweth be full of nothing else but Blood I care not for ipse dixit when in euery mans ocular experience it appeareth the contrary For some men will haue the substance of the seed to come from the braine and other some from the subtile parts of the whole body and some will haue it spring from the purest part of the foure humours which is all one to say that it proceedeth from the Blood which is composed of the foure humors though the element of ayre hath the dominion But most sure it is that the Blood is his fountaine and appeareth by ocular demonstration Which being so I pray you good M. Foster what error is it in me to say that Blood is the beginner of Bones when your selfe doth confesse that their immediate being is of sperme whose immediate existence is of Blood Againe we are taught that the â—…eat of life is in the Blood if therefore sperme doth bring forth life it receiueth that gift of life from the Blood To conclude it is euident by this that the viuifying Spirit of the Lord which is the animater of the foure Windes from whence the Prophet Ezechiel called it to animate the slaine moueth and operateth radically in the spirituall Blood and that the sperme is animated and moued by this spirituall Blood which is the spermes internum which Philosophers call semen in whose Centre the viuifying Spirit of the Lord acteth and then this Spirit in the seed framed Skin Flesh
for that very cause the Text calleth it in one place latibulum Dei in another tigurium Dei and in another vehiculum currus â—…ehoua so that if lebâ—…ua maketh this organicall Tabernacle of ayre to vtter vnto mortall eares his voyce as Scriptures in many places doe testifie it is no sinne to say that his inferiour spirits haue for their externall bodies aëry substances which being granted what should hinder spirits by contraction of this their external substances to appeare when they please visibly and organically to talke with a person as the tempting spirit did to Christ and againe by an immediate dilatation of the same externall aëry spirit to become inuisible no otherwise then a smoake by dilatation vanisheth or a cloud or mist made of a compacted and thickned ayre doth oftentimes without the appearance of any drop of raine passe away inuisibly Was it not strange that Christ himselfe that had flesh and bones should appeare etiam clausis ianâ—…is and then immediately to vanish And yet if we consider that after he was risen he did put on a spirituall body euen that body for that cause could deponere Tabernaculum suum visibile tangibile and become by subtiliation and dilatation as subtile and impalpable as the voluntie of him who hath the spirituall body pleaseth and so can appeare and vanishat an instant It is an admirable speculation to ponder and consider duely how God worketh in this world by contraction and dilatation by priuation and position by darknesse and light by apparition and disparition as we see when his Spirit moueth from the North the common ayre is by the contractiue nature of that spirit turned from inuisibility to visibility from transparency to opacity from ayre to Snow Haile Frost Ice from leuity to ponderosity from agility and mobility to fixation and immobility Contrarywise by his blast from the East or South the said bodies are altered againe into water and water into ayre and ayre into fire by dilatation and in conclusion corporeity terrestriall into corporeity aëriall or celestiall hardnesse into saltnesse grossenesse into subtility opacity into transparency fixation into mobility rest into action darknesse into light And to conclude contraction caused by this Spirit of God into dilatation visibility into inuisibility What shall I say more If Angels of all kindes haue their externall from the aëry spirit of the World and their internall act from this externall viuifying spirit in whom is the property of the foure Windes and therefore the Prophet said Come O Spirit from the foure Windes whereby he did argue that this one Spirit as being the essentiall actor in the foure Windes had the properties of the foure Windes in himselfe by the which he acted all things whereupon the Prophet called it from the foure Windes wee ought not to make any question but that by vertue of that internall act and the substance of that their externall ayre they may contract themselues from a spirituall fiery and aëry inuisibility vnto a nebulous or watery yea and earthly visibility or snowie or Icie nature especially the grosse malignant and darke spirits which by their fall haue indued the grosser ayre as Augustine saith and therefore is Satan called by the Apostle The Prince of the ayre And this is the reason that the Deuill or euill spirits do in their contraction conuert themselues into solid or firme shapes of man or beast and appeare in touch to be so excessue cold according to Master Fosters confession namely because the spirit by which they liue contracting it selfe from the Circumference of dilated ayre into the Center of contracted earth leaueth the externall or aëry compacted composition chill and cold like Ice For it is by his emanation or dilatation from the Center vnto the Circumference that kindleth naturall heate in the externall of euery creature To conclude against those that affirme that spirits haue no corporeity It is most certaine that where there is rarum densum thin and thick there consequently is corporeity either thinne or thicke For whatsoeuer is in his substance transmutable vnto a thinner or thicker body must needs bee bodily though not a visible body So is a Starre of Heauen called Densior pars sui orbis that is The inuisible â—…thereall spirit or thin body of Heauen thickned into the visible body of a Starre So also may fire be condensed into ayre and ayre into water and water into earth And againe that earth may be rarified into water and water into ayre and ayre into fire For such is the naturall rotation of elements Now the externall of Angels must be created of the spirituall substance of the higher world or not at all according vnto Basils tenor and consequently it is bodily though of a thinner or thicker consistence according vnto the dignity of the Angell Doth not also Dauid acknowledge thus much in these words Qui facit Angelos spiritus seu aëra 〈◊〉 Ministros ignem vrentem who maketh his Angels spirits or windie ayre and his Ministers flames of fire And therefore it is a shame that such mysteries as these which are most apparent to the considerant should by the ignorant bee derided and esteemed not workes and operations of the Spirit of God in the common element of the world but of the Deuill and so through their blindnesse mistake euill for good darknesse for light of which sort of people the Prophet meaneth in these words Woe vnto them that speake good of euill and euill of good which put darknesse for light and light for darknesse that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter Woe vnto them that are wise in their owne eyes and prudent in their owne sight Thus iudicious and vnpartiall Reader you may perceiue by that which hath bene expressed in this Member how vnable mine Aduersaries Sponge hath beene to wipe away the least tittle of that naturall value and diuine vertue which in my mysticall Anatomy I haue ascribed vnto the Weapon-Salue And therefore for all I can see hee may inuent some more substantiall meanes then is this windie Sponge an expresse argument of a light braine or fantastick wit to subuert a Medicine of so weighty an importance and admirable power in working Hee must haue I say strong Cable-ropes in stead of a light Sponge to remoue the foundation of verity and yet I feare they will cracke too before they will be able to draw wise men to beleeue that the good gifts of healing in this Weapon-Salue should proceed from the Deuill and not from God and his benigne mercies which is the onely giuer of health and goodnesse And now I must remember you by the way of one absurdity in our Sponge-bearing Author For he saith first that this manner of cure is Diabolicall and afterward hee seemeth to attribute the effect of it vnto the vrine of man His words are these Doctor Fludds directions are that the Weapon be left in the Vnguent-pot till the