this great Sense of Life viz. the Feeling is universal and no part of the Body can subsist without it not so much as one moment and therefore when this Sense is Disordered or any Obstruction or Distemper invades it the whole becomes heavy dull and melancholy and Death quickly ensues so on the other side when it is in order the Motions and Circulations of the Body and Members are free from Obstructions then it is the true Pleasure of Life and all the other Senses are Subservient to this and rejoice in its Prosperity as being their Prince and King the Industry of all the others is to support and maintain this For if this Sense of Feeling sink none of the others are or can be well by the Innate Power of this Mankind and all Creatures viz. Animals distinguish between Joy and Sorrow Grief and Pain Sickness and Health Temperance and Gluttony also Hunger and Fullness Heat and Cold Weight or Lightness Hardness and Softness Fineness and Courseness Smoothness and Roughness Thickness and Thinness in a word in this Sense is apprehended and comprehended all Pleasures Touches and Embraces and as it were the very Centre of all natural Enjoyments both of the Body and Mind and therefore the great various and wonderful Powers of the whole Bows before it and with all endeavours each in its respective place to serve it with the highest diligence for the Life and Centre both of Joy Sorrow Pain and Pleasure is in this universal Sense Therefore all Powers yield their Obedience to it for this cause whensoever this Sense is Encountred or Invaded by any universal Disorder Intemperance or Uncleanness the Life of that part that suffers the Disorder immediately Perishes This the Learned call the Dead Palsy and several other Names they give this Disease which of all others is one of the most Dolorous and Melancholy which do attack and invade many Persons through disorderly Living and Intemperance Drinking and Eating both in Quantity and Quality such things that are too gross hard spirituous and of a strong fulsom Composition and Preparation from whence Juices of a proportionable Nature are Extracted which do infallibly generate thick gross Blood and impure Spirits which do as it were narrow stop and swell the Highways and natural Roads viz. The Porous Passages of the Body and the Nerves do by these thick Juices become stiff and Glewy so that the Blood and Spirits being touched with these Diseases and Infirmities cannot have their free Ingress Egress Regress and Circulation but are waylaied and stopt according to the degrees of these Obstructions the Diseases and the Distempers are more or less Now all Fumes and Vapours that many thousands of People especially Women are subject to as the Gout and all Obstructions Falling Sickness and several other cruel Maladies they are procured and likewise transferred from one Age to another for want of Wisdom Temperance and Cleanness in the Methods of Life for every Person does desire and incline to such and such Meats and Drinks Exercises and Communications according to the ruling Qualities and predominant Humours and their Equality and Inequality and the Nourishment Humours Blood Spirits and Dispositions are in proportion whence the Seed is Generated as being the Essence of all the natural Properties and Powers for this cause most or all the variety of new and old Diseases are transferred conveyed and intailed on their Posterity c. Therefore there is hardly found any Medicine capable to Câ—… them being so deeply rooted in the very Centre of Nature Now as these Diseases have encreased since Trade hath advanced so likewise have improper Compositions and Hetrogenial Preparations gotten great footing in the World bâ—… which every Age doth produce a new Off-spring of Diseases 〈◊〉 known or hardly heard of before as in this Nation since Stroâ—… Beer Ale and Wine became common Drinks and our comâ—… Foods compounded and mixed with Spices Sugar Spanish Fâ—… and several other Ingredients we say since this there aâ—… great number of cruel Distempers started up in Man's Body 〈◊〉 were not heard of before for every sort of Meat and Drâ—… hath the Key in its self to seek embrace and feel out its own likeness and hath an Innate Power in its Bosom or Centre to generate an Off-spring of its own Nature in proportion to the Nourishment such a thing affords as the Gout Stone Rhumatism Rickets and many Leprous or Scabby Diseases which within 70 80 100 or 200 years have been Midwifed into our Nation Now it is to be observed that all the other four Senses when they have gratified themselves and taken Pleasure even to the highest degree of Luxury Do slip their Necks out of the Collar as the Proverb has it leaving all their evil Works and Deeds of Darkness to this poor and most deplorable Sense of Feeling who is bound under the Iron Gates of various severe and intollerable Diseases all their malignant Influences the Taste Smell Hearing and Seeing shut their Gates and take their Rest but the Feeling is rarely ever quiet or easy Sleep and Rest gives them Resurrection and a new Life but the Feeling remains uneasy every Member and Joint akes and the whole Body is Indisposed Sleep being nothing else but a Transitory Death or an Occultation to a Renovation and therefore no Man nor other Creature can Subsist and Live except they Die near or altogether a third part of the time that is alotted them So that our Lives are a constant or continual Dying this being Matter of Fact why should Mankind be so fearful and timerous of Death seeing he that Lives 100 years is Dead more than 30 of it which time is an unaccountable to him as those that are really in Eternity where there is neither Time nor Place Near and Far off being altogether the same and no Man would be more concerned to Die than he is to Sleep if he had not broken the Law of his Maker by invading and bringing Desolation on all the Host of Heaven and Earth which is the Secret and Original of Mankinds Fear and the true cause of his Uneasiness and Perplexity for in this World there is no Creature that Lives without a continual Dying or becoming as it were Invisible Do not all the Herbs Fruits Seeds and Grains and whatever else appears in Bodies Shapes and Forms They we say do daily Die that they may be capable to reinvest themselves in new vigorous Bodies and do not all the Beasts of the Field every moment as it were enter into Death that they may be able to maintain a short Momentary Life though the Beasts do not enter so deeply into Death as Man Their Sleep being but a kind of waking in comparison of Mans for what Creature in the World is so drowsy and heavy as Man Nor is there any thing that sleeps so sound and deep or do require so much as he except some few that are called by the name of Sleepers whose Nature Original
Center which by a Sympathetical Agreement reinforces all the material Motions causing a powerful and lively Circulation both of the Blood Spirits and all the Aliments from whence doth arise and proceed a lively brisk Motion Strength Agility and strong sharp Appetite for the more free and open the Trade and Commerce is between the outward and inward Elements or between the Microcosm and Macrocosm the better is the state and condition of Health both of the Body and Mind For this cause the oftner and more any Person doth expose his Body to the open Air and Elements the stronger the Appetite and Digestive Faculties of the Stomach are and such Persons are more strong and lively likewise they are more hardy and more free from Colds and Obstructions which are nothing else but a Condensation or a stoppage of the porous Passages from whence cruel Colds and a thousand Diseases proceed therefore it is not good to Cloath the Body too Warm but of the two Cold is to be preferred to heat provided it be not too much and that it be born with pleasure or without pain For the inward Virtues of the Elements of Air and Water are curious living Powers which do sustain and preserve all the wonderful Beings in this great World but in what Creature or Thing soever these living Powers and the thin penetrating moist Spirits and Vapours become stagnated or thickened then that Creature or Thing becomes dull heavy and full of Indispositions and Crudities Now when in any Creature the fore-mentioned central Fires Burn too violently attracting and drawing all the moist Spirituous Vapours both of the Air and Water consuming and destroying as is before mentioned then immediately the Pores are in a manner stopt and the Forms and Properties do press and as it were rub against each other by which the Fire Burns more intense and fierce like two sticks rubbed hard against each other the Internal central heat is thereby stirred up and awakened and so fiercely kindled that this Fire which lay hid and captivated in the very Center doth by this agitation and fierce motion burn up and destroy the whole Body in a moments time the Fire being the Original of Motion and the true pleasure of all the other Elements when it burns easie or gentle but when it loses its power in any Creature or Thing all becomes cold dull heavy congealed and as it were frozen in that Creature or Thing in which the Fire is impotent and that thing stands near the House of Death and the Melancholly Regions And though this Noble Element the Fire be as it were the Life and Original of all lively Motion and the Well-being of every Creature and when it incorporates or equally mixes with the other Elements burning gently notwithstanding its Excellency wonderful and various uses yet most of the Distempers of the publick State and also the Diseases incident to Mankind are as it were Originally occasioned by this Element and also most of the Outrages that are committed in the great World from Man to Man and likewise the greater part of the Diseases that so terribly torment and afflict Mankind which if Man observe with a clear Eye and Understanding he will then see and find that this great Evil hath fallen upon him for his great and deep Degeneration and Separation from the Unity of Gods Holy Powers and his not knowing and distinguishing the Powers and Principles of God in himself Now Man having lost his way and being sunk into Darkness and Ignorance he takes hold and uses the gross fiery sulphurous and Brimstone Spirit which Governs in Man as he stands in Self-fulness and separated from the Divine Fountain of Benignity or Holy Union not being mixed incorporated or allayed with the sweet Water of Eternal Life in Jesus Christ. This Spirit or Fire before mentioned as it stands divided from the Union is a high lofty exalted Power the Original of all Pride and a domineering Spirit and in what Creature soever it obtains the Government that Creature becomes proud and of an insulting Nature Now the chief and principal cause or reason is that this proud fiery domineering and as it were consuming Spirit of Fire hath obtained and gotten such an Ascendant in the Hearts and very Souls of Mankind and also that the exalted and predominating power in most Diseases is this fiery brimstone or sulphurous quality of Fire Now as any Form or Property obtains the chief Government in the Heart immediately this very quality doth Sign or Stamp its Character and as it were lay its Commands on the imaginative Power and so Signs the Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works from the Government of this lofty fiery Power and Spirit from whence proceeds all Vain-Glory Pride high and lofty Imaginatioâ—… Inclinations and Desires after base slavish violent oppressive Employments as also ardent and longing Desires after unclean gross Foods and high lofty strong Drinks for every Mouth will be fed with agreeable Food the Attraction Desires and Inclinations do always arise and proceed from the ruling Quality and Man being divided from the Union of God and his own Composition into Disunion the fiery envious spiteful Powers exalting themselves cause a direful Appetite in Man And from these very Qualities the violent oppressive Trade of Killing one another and Eating the flesh of the Undergraduates or Beasts having taken their Original Birth for every Spirit Principle and Power doth desire and is supported and maintained by its Similie so that it is most clear nothing being more manifest than from those high exalted fiery Spirits and Powers in Man have sprung such violent and direful Appetites and strong Inclinations after the Blood of their own Kind and to eat the Flesh and Blood of the Beasts likewise to drink hot fiery exalted Liquors so that there is a Concatenation between the Imaginations Inclinations Natural Spirits Dispositions Words and Works Communications Employments and the Diseases Man is most subject unto Now as all the fore-mentioned qualifications do arise and proceed from a fiery ground which do with great power and strong vigour attract proportionable Foods and Drinks therefore most of our Diseases cannot but be Signed with the Character of Fire for every Principle Form or Quality whensoever it hath gotten or attained the Ascendant in any Man it goes on in a streight regular constant Method to do its own Work viz. to nourish support and encrease its own Spirit and Power whether it be in the Good or in the Evil. Hence it is no wonder that Mankind is so frequently seized wounded and destroyed by so many sorts of fiery Diseases viz. Fevers when any thinking Person considers what Powers Principles and Qualities rule and govern in his Heart and Soul there being a Sympathetical Agreement and Inclination between the governing qualities in Mens Minds and their Meats and Drinks and likewise their Diseases all follow one another in a direct Method or Line Now the power and influence Meats and Drinks
Stars and Configurations of the Heavens and yet all you say are of various Fortunes Shapes Figures Inclinations and Dispositions I answer now all that you take notice and affirm is a grand Truth and yet we must tell you that this doth not at all invalid or make void Judicial Astrology but that it is most evident that the Planets and Heavenly Bodies have an innate and powerful influence on all Suâ—…lunary Bodies or Things for it is most evident that by the circular Motions Configurations and Influences of those mighty Powers of God or Heavenly Bodies all material things are influenced altered and changed out of one thing or quality into another all the Elements bow before those great Powers and never fail to yield their Obedience and therefore as they retreat towards the Chambers of the South our fruitful Season ceases and the reviving Beams of the Great Eye of the World forsakes our Horrizon we are attended with cold Winds short Days long Nights Rainy Cloudy dark Weather with an intermixture of Frost and Snow which doth during the absence of the Sun and other ruling Constellations strip the Vegetable World of all its Ornaments so that Nature becomes like Old-Age and lies Bed-ridden till the return of this Glorious Body whose presence gives as it were a new Life Vigor and Strength unto all the Undergraduates and Off-spring of this World and for this cause no Man can or dare deny their influences conduct and power in and over visible things but as to the Forms Shapes Manners Strength Weakness Riches Poverty Honour Dishonour Healthiness and the contrary which variously do attend Persons in all Places and Countreys Born at one and the same time and under the same Stars and Constellations which as is said before doth not invalidate the Astrological Science or Influence of the Heavens on Mankind for the causes and reasons following viz. First every Seed produces or generates a Body and Spirit in some proportionable degree according to its Qualifications and Nature never failing to bring forth some new Essence that did not manifestly appear in the old Stock or Parents and although a thousand Persons should be Born at the rising of the same Constellation and under the same Elevation and Configuration of Heaven nevertheless each of these Persons will wonderfully and strangely vary both in their Shapes Forms Inclinations and Fortunes The reason is plain and as it were bare-fac'd for is there not a strange variety in the Foods Drinks Inclinations Dispositions Labours Communications Customs and Educations As for Example suppose that in one City or Town there are ten Persons have ten Sons Born at one and the same minute and they Educate and bring them up in ten several Arts and Trades every one of these Persons shall by the secret power of their Employment be influenced and subjected to the Method and Manners of those that are of the Employment Is not this clearly seen in all sorts of Business and the same is to be understood in Communication Now if those External Conversations as they may properly be termed are endued with such a mighty Energie and Power to seek out their Similies and thereby impose their propertys on the Humane Nature as in a great degree to encrease and change the Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works What then must Meats and Drinks do which are the very Essences and Substances of the Humane Nature every Son and Daughter is endued with all the Qualifications of their Parents and the Seed is made and generated from all the Qualifications of the Father and Mother First from the quality and quantity of their Meats and Drinks clean or unclean well or ill prepared proper or improper Mixtures Likewise it is influenced and as it were inspired by each Persons Employment Communication Words and Works for every Variation not only in Meats and Drinks but also in all other things or manners of Life do beget and produce variety of Shapes Forms Dispositions and Inclinations This is wonderfully manifested in the Husbandman's Art do not the mixtures of various Earths together alter and change the Vegetables for the better or worse stronger or weaker and every sort of Dung or Earth according to its quality and quantity is thereby rendred capable and do bring a newOff-spring of Vegetables called Weeds or Herbs that were never seen to appear in that spot of Land for the mixtures of Earths that are of differing qualities do alter and change the complexion of such Land or Earth by which secret power of Qualities that property that was strong becomes weak and that quality that was in the complexion weak and did as it were disappear becomes most powerful and manifest The very same is to be understood in the Art of Representation doth not a skilful Painter by an apt commixture of various Earths and Drugs most curiously represent all the wonderful variety of the Colours both of the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Worlds which is all done by the Sympathetical Power and Secret Operation of the mixtures and compounding the four grand qualities the Heavens and the Elements do continually sow and shower down Seeds of Varietys As for Example cast up Gravel or Clay that to all appearance is destitute of all the Sal Nitral or Seminary qualities of Vegetation nevertheless being for some time exposed to the Sun and common influences of the Elements such Gravel or Clay will become covered with various sorts of Herbage likewise it is farther to be observed that the Religion Customs and Manners of each Place or Countrey do powerfully alter and change the Complexions of Mankind either for the better or worse Virtue or Vice as suppose there should be a scrutiny made viz. a thousand Male Children of the most roughest fiercest cholerick Complexions should be sent to be Nursed and Educated in a Bannian Countrey where there is no Fighting Quarrelling not Killing either of Men or Beasts or of any Living Creature but all their Methods and Manners are sedate and calm where these young cholerick Sparks have nor do not see any other Precedent or Example but Clemency Mercy and an humble Deportment of their Elders to Men and Beasts esteeming it one of the greatest Sins or Crimes that Man is capable to commit against God and the whole Creation to oppress hurt or kill either Man or any Living Creature and let these Youths remain amongst them till they be 20 or 25 years of Age in which time they will be throughly grounded and fixed in their Religion and Customary Methods not letting them know from whence they came nor from what Parents they proceeded and then you may be assured that he that is fiercest by Complexion all the Rhetorick and profits or interest in the World will not be able to perswade such a one either to Kill Oppress be Drunk or go freely into the Armies of Princes to destroy those they never saw nor had no occasion of Quarrel The like is to be understood in all Religions can
exemplify others and to add divers things in divers parts of them by way of Illustration which made them spin out to such a length as you see them and was wholly designed for the Reader 's Benefit and Satisfaction but if I have been so Unhappy as to fall short of my intended Aim I am sorry for it both upon his and my own account and heartily beg his Pardon who am His highly Oblig'd and Very humble Servant Thomas Tryon THE CONTENTS LEtter 1. Of the noble Sense of Hearing with the various Uses and great Benefits thereof Letter 2. Of the Sense of Smelling with its proper Seat Nature and Uses Letter 3. Of the Sense of Tasting and wherein also the great Mysteries thereof are set forth Letter 4. Of the Sense of Seeing and of its various Uses and Benefits Letter 5. Of the Sense of Feeling with its universal Benefits and Influences over the rest Letter 6. Of Fires and the best way to make Grates whereby a less quantity of Fuel is required and yet that rendreâ—… more useful and expeditious in the Preparation of Foods and upon other occasions than our common Fires Letter 7. Of the best Methods for Tempering of Clay Making of Mortar Tyles Flooring and Bricks together with an Account of different sorts of Earths and what Herbage Fruits Seeds Grains and Trees each is applicable to Letter 8. Of Religion with the Nature and Practice thereof and that the Knowledge of God and a Man's Self is the first step to all true and undefiled Religion Letter 9. Of Dropsies and the Nature of them with some Account of what Diet and Exercises such should use as also how to Retrench Expences by a Frugal Method of Living Letter 10. Of various Opinions in Religion and the Original Cause of those great Differences Oppressions and Violences proceeding therefrom with Remedies proposed for prevention thereof Letter 11. Of the Humanity of Christ shewing the Grounds from whence the great Differences concerning it do arise how it is to be understood and the great Benefits that accrew unto Mankind from it Letter 12. Of an Afflicted Mind and shewing how it may be prevented with some other Remarks Letter 13. Of Faith Hope and Charity with the Excellency and Benefit of each and how Mankind by practising the last imitates his Creator and renders himself capable of being United to all that is Good Letter 14. Of that part of Scripture wherein God commanded or rather permitted Beasts to be Killed and Eaten with the great Error of Mankind in misinterpreting the same and how they are rightly to be understood Letter 15. Of a Soldier 's Life shewing from what Principle that Bloody Employment takes its Birth how contradictory it is to the Divine Law and destructive to the Unity and Well-being of Mankind and that all other Creatures have an equal share in those Calamities Letter 16. Of the Fountain of Darkness with the Actions Employments and Inclinations arising therefrom and how they Govern in every particular Creature when evil Principles obtain the Ascendant Letter 17. Of the Fountain of Love and Light and what Actions Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works proceed therefrom and how they Govern in each particular Creature Letter 18. Of Cleanness with the Benefits thereof and the Mischief of the contrary as also what Foods in their Nature are clean and unclean Letter 19. Of Flesh Broaths and Potages and those made of Herbs Seeds and Grains with an Account of which is most clean and affords the best Nourishment Letter 20. Of the Right and Left Hands with the great Error of Peoples teaching their Children to distinguish them by such Terms Letter 21. Of the Corpulency of the Body with the Cause thereof and how to prevent and abate it Letter 22. Of the Nature and Causes of Fevers and how in some measure to prevent them Letter 23. Of Education wherein is set forth the right true and natural way of Bringing up Children Letter 24. Of the Nature of Smells and what Scents in their Original are Clean Good and Beneficial or the contrary Letter 25. Of Predestination and how it ought to be understood Letter 26. Of Death and why all Creatures especially Mankind are unwilling to Die Letter 27. Of the Science of Astrology wherein are shewed the Causes in Nature why Persons Born at one and the same minute and under the like Constellations are of different Shapes and Forms and of various Fortunes Letter 28. Of the Perpetual Motion wherein is shewed the Impossibility of the Humane Nature's being capable of it as being Diametrically opposite to all God's Methods and Laws Letter 29. Of the noble Science of Musick with the Defects of the best Teachers of it and Methods proposed for the speediest and certainest way to attain to the highest Perfection therein to which is added somewhat concerning the Art of right Speaking and Reading Letter 30. Of Languages and the easiest way for a Person in Years to attain to the true Pronunciatiâ—… of any Foreign Tongue Letter 31. Of the Times of Eating wherein in shewed that about 8 in the Morning and 3 or 4 in the Afternoon is the most proper Season with the Reason thereof Letter 32. To a Planter of Sugar concerning the Premoting of the Cotton Manufactury in our Plantation Letter 33. To a Gentleman in Barbadoes concerniâ—… the first Settlement Growth and Decay of our Sugâ—… Plantations and the necessity they lye under of Planâ—… ing other Vegetations c. Letter 34. To a Planter touching the Manufactuâ—… of Cotton wherein the Necessity and Advantagâ—… thereof is amply considered Letter 35. Of the Making of Sugar wherein the Myâ—… stery of it from the very first Planting of the Caâ—… to its highest pitch of Refining is Explicated wiâ—… the vast Benefits that do accrew therefrom to Engâ—… land where also the Art of Distilling is handled Letter 36. Of the Burial of Birds how unaccountaâ—… it is and the Author's Conceptions thereupon Letter 37. Of Fermentation with the Nature and Oâ—… riginal Invention thereof wherein is also shewed hâ—… Pernicious and Destructive Fermented Liquors 〈◊〉 to Mankind Twenty Seven Philosophical Letters UPON Several Occasions LETTER I. Of the Sense of Hearing SIR I Perceive by your Letter that you have been mightily affected with a Consideration of the Senses in admiring the wonderful Composition of the Organs and the nice and exquisite manner of their Operation for your encouragement to proceed in so commendable and useful Speculation I shall endeavour to Suggest some hints of Meditation to you which perhaps you have not yet thought of I Shall begin with the Ear that noble and brave Sense of Hearing and descant a little upon its Use and Benefits and the great disadvantages Mankind is subjected to through the want of it it is placed in the most Intelligible part of Man It has its residence in the Head and is therefore capable to distinguish between the good and evil qualities of Sounds For Man being a compleat Image or
property that governs the Creature so that as soon as the Body of any thing is opened it may thereby be distinguished what Form or Principle ruled in the Center of Life and he that has the true Use of this Faculty may easily discern the Complexion of any Creature It is an invisible Power it s Body is the Air which in a very short time will convey the Scent to a considerable distance and is received into our Bodies by the Assistance and Mediation of the Air which is a thin Spiritual Body penetrating into all parts doing good or harm according to the respective Qualities that have the Ascendant incorporating with great Vigour with every thing it finds like its self upon which account gross stinking Foggs Scents and Vapours are unclean and extreamly hurtful to the Mind and Body being continually drawn into the Central parts and Wound the Health 〈◊〉 a Spiritual and Invisible manner The contrary is to be understood of good Smells and clean thin sweet Airs c. Now every Scent or Smell whether good or bad clean or unclean does by custom and continual communication beget and strengthen its Simile by which the grossest and most impure Airs become easie and familiar otherwise several stinking Trades and Employments would not be tolerable nor in any degree Healthful for as Gods Love is one and the same in all things so is his Handmaid Nature which uses all possible Endeavours to provide and Arm her self against the Assaults of her common Enemies Custom and Habit begetting their own properties and rendring those things easie which would otherwise never be endured Moreover such troublesom gross Smells are naturally more agreeable to some People than to others as being endued by their Constitutions with greater talents of suitable matter whereby they live as healthy as those who are accustomed to clean and finer Airs Nay some Mens Natures and Complexions are so agreeable to these gross Scents and thick Vapours that they find themselves Disordered when they come into more pure and subtile Airs as is evident in such who Live and are Born in Cities and great Towns A Consideration is also to be had to the Meats and Drinks any Person feeds on which prepare the Body to a better bearing of Scents or Smells whether clean or unclean for Food is the substance of each Mans Body and Spirit and for this cause London and some great Cities are as healthy and as few Dye in them as in the Country in proportion to the number of People notwithstanding the cleanness and goodness of the Air Besides the Foods in many Countries of England are grosser and worse prepared than in great Cities great part of them living on Hogs Flesh ill Ordered and Cooked eaten fresh or very little Salted also penning them up in close Sties during the time of their Fatning is very prejudicial to the Flesh which subjects the Eaters to a great number of unclean Diseases in their Bodies as Mangy Scabs Sores and Boils these things ought to be well considered because they do very much Affect the Body in order to the manner of its receiving the impressions of Airs Scents and Smells Again there is not the same likeness and affinity between the Countryman's Food and Air that he lives in as there is between the Citizens the Country Air being fine and full of Brisk Lively Spirits and the Cities the contrary neither is there the same Agreements in the Methods of living whereby the fineness of the Air is rendred of little value or benefit to them for what the one Builds up the other Destroys Now the Sense we are discoursing of is the common Officer that communicates these Airs and Scents to the whole Body whether they be good or evil and the Body nor the Mind cannot be hurt with them if this Sense will powerfully withstand and oppose them and not suffer them to enter for each Sense hath a Gate which it can open or shut as it pleases and therefore when any Person is among gross and unclean Smells he can hold his Nose But the best way is if he is forced to stay there any considerable time to draw the Air into his Mouth and expell it again the same way by keeping it open by this means a Man may in a great measure avoid the Injury which such Smells would otherwise do for neither the Taste Sight Hearing nor Feeling can be Afflicted with any evil or good Smell not communicate the evil of the bad nor the vertues of the good to the Central parts of the Body nor Affect the natural Spirits each must do its own Business they cannot Act for one another Nevertheless there are some Scents and Smells so highly graduated in the dark direful nature of sullen Saturn and fiery Mars which neither the Temper nor Constitution of Man or other Animals are able to sustain or endure They are of such a vehement subtle and resistless operation that they surprize and destroy all the Faculties and Powers of Life in a Moment Their Motion is so quick as admits no Guard or Prevention There are no Antidotes against their force neither in Foresight nor Physick Italy and Spain can give many fatal Demonstrations of this Truth who are so exquisite in the mixing preparing and compounding of Scents that they have dominion over the very Air to what Extent or Limit they please Nay they will force the Air to Conspire with their Black Designs and retain the Infection till their Mischiefs are Compleated Likewise there are several sorts of Minerals and Metals that in the Melting Refining and Separating send up such Mortal and Inimical Vapours that no Use or Custom in the World can ever render familiar and healthful the more crude and foul any Metal is the more gross and poysonous are its fumes when it passes the fluxes of the Fire as Quick-silver Lead and many other Metals On the other side the higher any Metal is in its Nature Refined and Purged the finer sweeter and more pleasant are the fumes it sends up from the Fire when Melted and Refined and consequently more healthy and agreeable to the Workman The very same is to be understood of the Fat of Beasts or other Animals 't is better or worse clean or unclean according to the Graduation or Birth of the Creature which is declared by their Shapes Forms and Figures to the distinguishing Eye also the Cries and Tones they send forth Likewise when the Flesh oâ—… Fat is Burned and the Centre of the Body opened the fume oâ—… smell informs you what property of Nature had the Principle Government in the Creature the scent of the Dung or Ordure of most Creatures will afford a manifest Discovery of their originaâ—… Qualities whether clean or unclean c. This is apparently evident let a Hog eat the same Grass Corn or Food as Sheep Oxen Cows c. yet the Swines Breath Urine and Dung will never have the same Scent or Smell with the other so that
was ordained viz. to an ill purpose and to their own damage to violate and oppress those of their own kind and all the innocent Inhabitants of the Earth breaking down all the Natural Laws and Bonds of Friendship between each other and destroying the Uniformity of all the under graduates This Sense is the greatest and most noble of all others for it makes the most hidden and mysterious things to appear and that which was and is inclosed in the very Centre of Darkness to become manifest that which was without motion to become Living that which was Cold to become Vigorous and full of Heat and Splendor by its peculiar power Mankind can as it were behold at once half the Globe Water and Earth with the wonderful Varieties and Mysteries therein contained In a word it is the Pleasure and Well-being of every Life and true Guide of all Actions The Eyes are the Gates through which the Spirits of life pass and repass having their ingress egress and regress through the whole Body on all sides by Pores but those that pass through the Eyes are more fine and transparent carrying with them a fiery powerful life and therefore if these two Gates are kept open too long the whole Body in a very little time becomes dull heavy and indisposed not being able to perform any Action or Exercise and this weight or heaviness will come on so strongly even like Death it self that all the powers of the Understanding and Mind cannot maintain the motion and vigour of the Body neither can the most choice Foods or Cordial Drinks but all become still and as it were benum'd For this cause persons may fast longer from Meats and Drinks than from Sleep therefore these Gates must be shut six or eight Hours in every twenty four or else Nature and our Bodies cannot subsist nor be able to go on with common business neither continue in a state of health so great is the necessity of Rest Therefore poor mean Meats and Drinks with a due proportion of Sleep will support and sustain Nature far bey ond the richest Foods and strongest Drinks with half the proportion of Sleep Wherefore all young People or Children ought to have their full time of Sleep and rest that making them strong lively and vigorous and fit for all Actions of Life Besides the Eye-lids are not only useful to preserve the fine thin pure Natural Spirits of Life from the usual motions by which all Actions and Exercises of life are performed but by their closing there is a kind of Cessation from their circular motions so that in this time of sleep the Spirits regain strength and vigour and thereby a new Life and Motion is Generated They likewise serve to many excellent uses in Nature so it defends this delicate tender Sight from all evils that may happen without in 50 60 or 70 years they are also of excellent use at all times or seasons to shut out the Light that the Evils Vanities Intemperances and Disorders lewd Sports and Plays that are daily Acted by Mankind to the great prejudice of himself and dishonour of God which all good Men ought to turn from and not so much as suffer this Glorious Light of Heaven to represent them to our understanding But above all to keep the Eye-lids of young People shut that they may not see the wickedness of this World at leastways as little as may be for vain things are the Pests and Distempers of every Age and whosoever avoids and shuns them as much as in him lies is the more happy And all Tutors and Parents instead of Tricking and Dressing their Children in Bravery and bringing them to Plays and Balls and Dancing Schools should represent to them all sorts of poor Tradesmen and Industrious People bringing them to places where they may see all sorts of poor indigent People who not only rise early but notwithstanding hard Labour and Pains fare very hard having ragged Cloaths and Shoes without Soles being all Dirty going about the Streets Cold and Hungry having no Food to Nourish them Also Weavers and Throwsters where great numbers of Boys and Girls are employed These and many others for want of Conduct and Education become barbarous in their Deportment Women as well as Men. These ought to be represented as Examples to those whose better circumstances will give them the advantage of Learning and Sobriety That it is not as some vainly imagine viz. Lost time to be well taught and skilled in several Arts and Sciences and that betimes too for Seeds Sown and Trees Planted in season bear the best Crop and brings forth the noblest Fruit and whatsoever thing you would not have your Children inclined to never let them see it for Children and young People use all Industry to imitate what they see Example and Precedent going beyond Precept The first is a compleat birth and substance the other but a Notion and no more than Air or Spirit without a Body which passes and repasses and is lost in an invisible breath or fume being quickly obliterated and forgot There are three degrees to be commenced before any thing in the mind of Man attains a compleat birth or come to be substantial the first degree is the Original thought or desire the second is this being modelled and banded to an fro by the five Councellors the inward Senses the Reason and Understanding being always at their Elbows to give necessary advice and this thought being represented to the Judgment to know whether it be fit or reasonable it should be Coyned into Words the next degree is putting these Words into Actions which does Crown the whole and makes the Birth substantial and compleat whether it be in the evil or in the good and can hardly ever be obliterated For instance if a Man think or imagine an evil thing and stop there he may easily repent and thereby annihilate it but if he bring this thought before the Judge by the Councellors and it is by them commanded to be Coyned into Words then if it be an evil thing it will be much harder repented of but if it proceed without Correction into Action then as is said before the case is much more difficult therefore Actions and Evil Precedents do Wound all People very deep more especially Children and young People therefore you ought not to let them see any thing that you would not have them practice as Soldiers in an Army Training fine Horses in their Furniture nor any sort of Shows or Games Fighting and Killing either of Man or Beast nor let them play with Dogs or such like Creatures for whatsoever is seen acted or practised takes deeper root than either that which is a Care Thought or Word every particular thing works on its likeness according to its power and whatsoever is done in the evil by Examples and Precedents the like is to be understood in the Vertuous and good courses of Life And were it possible to make Mankind intelligible
Constitution and Disposition compels them to it But most Beasts Birds and Fish their Rest and Sleep is nothing but a continual waking in comparison of Man's deep and dead Sleep The principal cause why the Creatures are not so drowned in this drowsy Death is they have not broken God's Law but live more intire and according to their Original their Meats and Drinks being more suitable to their Original Natures whether they be clean or unclean for to Unclean Creatures unclean Food is suitable and agreeable to its Qualifications and to the Clean clean Foods are in proportion suitable and therefore all the Beasts are not only more wakeful and less subject to the Sleep of Death than Man having all their Senses more ready lively brisk and at all times more at command for they rarely gratify the four Head Senses to disturb and torment the Sense of Feeling and therefore are not so terribly pestered with such a number of cruel Diseases as Man therefore it is most clear that all the great Powers called Senses are dull heavy and as it were half Dead when sleeping but when waking are brisk and lively all according to the Meats Drinks Employments Communications and Exercises for Mankind by rapacious unclean Meats and Drinks makes himself of another Complexion and his Constitution is another thing than originally it was nothing being so deplorable and so great an Evil as to act and live in a contrary Method to its own Creation and this is the greatest Curse that can fall upon any Creature this is Man's greatest Fall and Misfortune which can never be cured except he again enter into Resignation or Self-denial viz. Into Equality or Union that is into Temperance and Cleanness and live according to his Original State and Constitution But so long as he oppresses the Creatures and violates their Well-being and Quiet he can never have reason to expect to be freed from far greater than the inferiours and therefore this Feeling Power is rarely free from Trouble and Perplexity as being subject to all kinds of irregular Courses both of the Body and Mind there is no Disorder or Intemperance but does fall on it as all our Labour Care Love Hate Hope Fear Hunger Cold Heat evil Communications and all Words and Works this Sense is the Centre or House both of Joy and Sorrow both in Time and Eternity For this cause Mankind ought to be on his Guard at all times and Seasons being beset on all sides both within and without with a great number of Temptations and evil Customs the Degeneration of Man is such that all things he meddles with is a Share to him being deprived of the true use of the Powers Qualities and Principles of himself and being in the Dark he uses all his Senses to a wrong purpose so that all those high and noble Intelligences are sullyed and made subject to the gross inferiour unclean Powers which doth continually load and lay as it were intollerable Burthens on this universal Sense every Action and Motion of Life Inclination and Disposition doth influence that it being the Touch-stone which doth demonstrate from what Principle or Root each Action and Motion of Life doth proceed and take their Birth whether from the Evil or Good Now this Sense is the Judge both of the Body and all its Actions and also of the Desires and Inclinations so that Man hath no occasion to look abroad for Councellors or for a Judge they all dwell in himself he is the Thing viz. The great Mystery wherein all the Treasures both of Time and Eternity are to be understood and therefore the Apostles might well say that whatsoever could be understood or known of our Great Creator and of his great Powers in Nature was manifested in Man and as clear to be seen as the Sun at Noon but who can see the Sun if he be Blind Is it not a most miserable and deplorable Condition Mankind hath fallen and sunk himself into that he hath lost the Understanding and distinguishing Power of his own Composition and of his own Senses and that he hath not the use of them to that degree as the Beasts have as we shall demonstrate when we treat of the Common Animals for it is not possible for any Man to understand the whole if the parts of the Things or Qualities it is compounded of be not distinguished this is most clear and manifest in all Sciences Arts and Trades which do all arise and take their Birth from Man and the Mystery contained in his Microcosm for if all Sciences Arts and Trades yea a thousand Mysteries and rare Inventions that have are and will be found out and brought to light had not been originally Essential in the very Centre of Man then it had been impossible to have brought them to light What great Pity and Lamentation is it that Man who is endued with so many great noble and worthy Faculties and in whom is contained all the great Mysteries of Time and Eternity and made to live in and under the Operation of the United and Illuminated Powers of God's Law should suffer his Will and Desires to enter into the dark Magick of Discord Fierceness Wrath Violence Intemperance Uncleanness and Oppression of all the innocent Inhabitants of the Earth and at the same time to plague and to torment himself for the Groaning of those Creatures that suffer Pain never fail to procure Misery to the Actors thereof It is farther to be noted that that thing which is Pleasure to the Sense of Tasting and a Delight to the Sense of Seeing doth often prove a torment to the Sense of Feeling as in Gluttony and Drunkenness which do frequently distemper the Body and perplex the Mind The like the Sense of Seeing doth bring on this Sense by presenting curious Objects to the Intellects whicâ—… puts Man on the Rack till he hath obtained his desires and wheâ—… that is done there is no more satisfaction than before for iâ—… Wisdom be obliterated then there is nothing can give satisfaction for such do all things by Custom Tradition and President asking no question Now if Mankind hath lost the use of those grosser Powers how can he then be capable of the more Intellectual and Divine Operations of Gods eternal Law and Holy Light The first foundation of this Stupidity Blindness and Erroâ—… was gross Eating Drinking and Uncleanness for nothing hath so much Power and Authority on the Body and Mind 〈◊〉 Meats and Drinks which do sustain and support both Body aâ—… Spirits and according to their respective Virtues or Vices they nourish and incline to this or the other thing so that nothinâ—… hath so great power to preserve the intrinsick Vertues and gooâ—… Properties in Man as Sobriety Temperance and Cleanness and on the other side nothing doth so much fully the worthy and iâ—… telligible Faculties as Intemperance Disorder and Uncleanness This is clearly manifest in that noble Sense the Smelling whicâ—… is as we have said an
a proportionable Body and doth agree with the original Spiritual Power that governed in Spirit For this cause all the Words Works and Actions of Mankind are in their Original nothing else but a Magick or Spiritual invisible transparent Power which doth move and work by several degrees of progressions circular motions and births All these Powers by the help and management of the Judge and five Grand Councellors are Midwifed into the World and become substantial so that all things are Created Made and most wonderfully Generated out of nothing its ground or original being a Magical or Spiritual Power which when understood and distinguished are all Wonderful and Amazing and therefore what Knowledge what Understanding and Distinguishing is so Noble so Great so Divine and Beneficial to Mankind as the true uses of his Senses in himself for so soon as this Divine Sight or Union is in any competent degree obtained then all the Magical and Corporal Spiritual Powers feel and gently touch each other in which consist the highest harmony and solace of the Mind which happy State or Condition of the Soul is called Regeneration or an obtaining some degrees of the first original State and Condition Man was Created in For the fall of Mankind was and is still Magical and Incorporeal viz. in the very Center of his Life for he did by and from the power of his Free Will and consent of the five Grand Councellors penetrate into stir up and awaken the sleeping poysonous fierce Original Qualities and dark Magical Fires which immediately occasioned unequal Motions and Operations whereby each form becomes discontented and invades each others right and so the union of the still quiet and Spiritual Powers became of a terrible selfish nature and being divided in their Government Domineer over each other and then was Man immediately hid from the Divine Vision and the Holy Union hid from him For so soon as these fierce invading forms and qualities had obtained the Government and broken the Simplicity and Innocency of the blessed Union each form did with the highest diligence Court and Covet all things both inwardly and outwardly that was agreeable to its own nature that it â—…ight throughly be increased and strengthened and these disunited Powers of Man's Soul would not nor could not be satisfâ—…ed but had and still have a longing strong desire after Corporality or to Cloath themselves with suitable matter or Bodies and these insulting Powers have gotten the Dominion in the Free Will which is the Primum Mobile or chief Governor of all that Microcosm Man then each Quality longed and lusted strongly and vigorously after proportionable Food that they might thereby be strengthened and increased and so become Corporeal for from this very Ground did always and doe at this day spring those voracious gross and unclean Desires and Inclinations in the Mind and Souls of Mankind for every Desire and earnest Inclination is a swift Spiritual Property or Power proceeding from the awakened Magia of evil or good according to the equality or inequality of the Forms and Powers And if this invisible Thought or Imagination be brought before the Judges and the five Councellors and not cut off or condemned to the Dark Cell of Oblivion but permitted to pass into the World viz. to be Coined into Words and from thence into Actions which do compleat the Birth and then this Desire bare Thought or incoporeal Inclination becomes substantial and Corporeal so that that which was a nothing is by the Husbandman's Management and Cultivation made substantial and becomes a gross Corporeal Body and if that bare Thought Inclination or Desire be evil in its Original Forms or Magick Powers and the Judge and Councellors do propagate it that it arrives to Actions or a compleat birth such go on in their own way and attract all evil and fierceness to its self as proper suitable Matter for every Spiritual Power or Quality when it hath Cloathed its self with a suitable body does still more violently carry on the government and innate nature of its Original and is endued with all the Qualifications and Inclinations that did arise in the first Magick Thought For all things both in the evil and likewise in the good do eternally go on in their Law if the Judge and Councellors do not prohibit the Birth and annihilate the first Thought or Intention which is in their Province to do but if they admit it to pass through all the degrees and properties of Nature and it obtains Corporality then the Law stamps its Soul or Signature on it and so it proves of great difficulty to obliterate and destroy it This was and is still the fall and depravation of Mankind from the Union of God and all united Vertues and good Powers The Magick dark Powers of his Mind and Soul he suffered to be violently awakened which as is before mentioned long after a proportionable Food that they might become Corporal Now the command that he should not eat of the Central fruit that grows in the dark Magick where each form is divided in its government having their Operations in inequalities and the Judge and Councellors concurring then the Senses agreed to the eating all gross unclean violent Foods and such that cannot be procured without Oppression Mans fall was first Magical before it could be Corporal and so is every evil or wicked Action that is done or committed and as the Fall and Man's passing out of the Union of and from God was done in the Mind and from the Central powers of the Wrath and unequal Operations of the Forms and Qualities even so and from the same Center must Regeneration begin its work And first the Eye of the Mind and all the intelligible Powers Councellors and Judges must have the distinguishing Powers made clear and manifest or else no Man can distinguish between the two grand fountains of good and evil And if this Glorious Sight be once obtained then it will be easy to reconcile the divided Forms and Magick Spiritual Powers of the Mind for as the original Disunion began in the Center of Life in that place where the Tragedy was committed must the Redemption and Reconciliation be effected The Fall of Man as was before mentioned was nothing else but breaking the Union of his own Composition when each form quality fountain and spirit advanced it self in domineering and self-will by which all the intelligible Fountains Spirits and Principles operated in Divisions and Tumultuousness so that the Body and Mind was and is filled with pain and horror And what was the first Man's Fall and Degeneration is still every Mans fall that lives in and under the divided forms and disunited powers of their Minds and where the intelligible forms and powers have lost their innate sight and distinguishing properties then the Heart akes and the whole Body and Mind becomes uneasy and in this state and condition the feeling Sense or Power loseth all its harmonical Union true Pleasure and
be manifest to our Senses till it has past through the several Fermentations and Operations of being made into Malt which manifests the hidden sweet Quality which was so central and captivated by the Martial and Saturnine Forms that without this Operation would still have lain hid or disappeared The like is to be understood in the Temperament of most sorts of Earth This is farther manifest in the Housewifes Art of making good Bread when there is a due quantity of Water put to the Meal and well wrought up together such Bread becomes not only smooth and firm without having either eyes or being subject to crumbling but it Eats sweeter and mellower and becomes easier of Concoction affording far better Nourishment than such as is over watered and not sufficiently Tempered provided the other Operations which belong to the making of good Bread be performed viz. Baking c. as we have formerly written in several of our Writings It is farther to be noted that the common Method of over watering both in the Tempering of Bricks Mortar Flooring c. proves baneful and destroys the end for which they are designed for the Labourers generally Temper their Mortar with great quantities of Water to make it easy in Working and greater dispatch in fitting it presently for use but this Method does not open the body so that the Astringent Sal nitral Powers of Nature lie hid as before in which consists the tough glewy binding Quality therefore such Mortar becoming dry is almost as brittle â—…s the Earth of which it was made and is the ruin of many noble Structures for the Labourers instead of putting on much Water at once ought to lay it on by degrees and mix and incorporate the Lime Sand and Water well together by continual Stroaks or Workings which will open their bodies and manifest the hidden sal nitral Virtues and glewy Qualities that make it tough smooth and binding for much Working makes and melts it into a soft smooth Consistency fit for Use with half the Water and raises a dewy Moisture out of its own body which knits and binds and when dry becomes as hard and as durable as the best of Stones Bricks thus Tempered become solid smooth hard and durable and one Brick thus made takes up near as much as a Brick and a half made the common way which are light full of cracks and spungy occasioned by the want of due Working and Management and the mixing of Ashes and light sandy Earth to make them work easy and with greater dispatch as also to save Culm or Coals in the Burning of them The excellency of Bricks consist chiefly in the first and last Operation for Bricks made of good Earth and well Tempered become solid and ponderous and therefore will take up a longer time in Drying and Burning than our common Bricks need Note that the well Drying of Bricks before they are Burned prevents cracking and crumbling in their Burning for when the Bricks are too wet they are then extreams which doth never well together The best way of ordering your Fire is to make it gentle at first and encrease it by degrees as your Bricks grow harder It is also to be noted that in what Earth or thing soever the sal nitral oily Virtues are weak hid or unmanifested that thing is not only dusty and brittle but consequently subject to decay as is most clear and manifest in Stones which tho' they are hard yet are very brittle and more subject to decay than the Lime made thereof for the fierceness of the Fire or Martial Violence doth loosen and open the strong cold Contraction of the Saturnine Quality which Contraction in the original arises from the Element of Water which hath as it were set the Sal nitral Virtues at liberty which were before captivated under the cold Coagulation of the original Forms so that adding a small quantity of Water to those Burned Stones or unslacked Lime will melt them down into a dusty or mealy Substance which being put into a quantity of Water will as readily impart or give forth its Virtues into the said Water as ground Malt will yield and give its sweet Virtues to the warm Liquor in the Mash Tub and leaves the Grains without Strength or Virtue The like is to be understood in slack'd Lime put into a quantity of Water which will draw forth and imbibe the Sal nitral and Oily Virtues of the Lime which will have no more Strength or Virtue than the aforesaid Grains for if you take this Lime thus Infused and join it with Sand or other Earth altho' you Temper it to a high degree yet it will never make a binding or lasting Mortar whence it appears that where the Central Powers or Sal nitral Virtues are hid or captivated or where they are drawn forth by any Art or destroyed by Accident they are of little or no Use for that thing for which they are designed If this were not so why should not Stones beaten into Powder make Mortar or Barley when broken and not Malted yield forth its Virtues into the Water Note that Water draws forth the sweet Virtues of the Barley Malted which makes various Exhilerating Liquors The like is to be understood of Water which hath imbib'd the Sal nitral Virtues and Astringent Qualities of slack'd Lime which renders it fit for many Uses both in Food and Physick viz. It is the only Ingredient that Sugar-Bakers use in the Making and Refining of Sugar for no Sugar can be made without it or its Equivalent viz. Pot-Ashes which are too Dear with us in England for without this Lime-water no Sugar could be Boiled up to a Body or Grain but would still remain a Syrup Sugar in its own Nature is an Extream viz. A compleat Sweet in which the other Qualities are wanting and for that cause cannot be raised to a Consistency and fit for Use without this or a like addition for the Sal nitral Virtues in Lime have their Original from the strong Astringent Band and might of the Fire which is wanting in the Juice of the Sugar Canes which being joined to it gives Life and Vigour to this heavy flat sweet Body and raises it to a hard sparkling Grain shining like Christial and renders it much more useful for Eating and all other Operations than otherwise Lime-water is also good taken inwardly against all inward Bleedings or Ulcerations as also outwardly to wash all Itchy and Leprous Sores and Humors a Poultice made thus viz. Take a quart of Lime-water and make it boiling hot infuse therein some Rosemary for a quarter of an hour keeping it hot but not boiling then add as much Bread to the Water and Roseâ—…ary as will make it thick with two Ounces of Refined Sugar stir it and incorporate it well together spread it on a Cloth and apply it every two or three hours and in a short time it will allay and take away any Swellings or Pains in the Head Neck
or other parts of the Body It is likewise to be noted that the more powerful the Original Forms in any Body are the stronger is the Coagulation and that Body or Thing produces a more powerful Salniter for this cause Chalk will not make so good Lime as hard Stones or Flints for a weak thing cannot produce a strong which appears fatal to many fine Structures in London Built with Lime made of Chalk for the Original Forms viz. The Astringency which is from Saturn that gives a Shell Skin or Covering to all Bodies both in the Animal Vegitable and Mineral Kingdoms and is as it were the House where the other Forms dwell and is the Original of all Coagulating Attracting or Indrawing Powers which preserves and keeps the Volatile Salnitral Spirits from Evaporation If it were not so no Creature or Thing could obtain its highest Limit or Perfection and therefore whensoever this hard tart or severe Astringency is broken or wounded the Salnitral Oils or Sweet Virtues suffer Violence and sink into Death without an application of a powerful Medicine or agreeable Remedy Now Chalk doth manifest by its colour and its soft mealy weakness that the forms and principles of Saturn and Martial Fires aâ—…e weak and impotent and that Venus and Mercury have the Dominion or Government thereof who always produce more Nice and Weak Sal Nitral Virtues The powers of Venus are further manifested by its white colour which in its own nature is innocent and yielding and as it were wanting of toughness and fire which the Saturnine and Martial quality always endues their Children with and according as the degrees of those original Forms are placed and qualified in each thing or Body so that thing or Body is harder softer bigger lesser stronger or weaker and their Virtues and Use are accordingly for this cause all Herbs that are harsh astringent hot or bitter afford not only greater Quantities of Sal Niter but more powerful sharp and penetrating as Wormwood and others that are under the Regiment of Saturn and Mars The like is to be understood of all sorts of Earth and Stones for where the Original or Saturnine quality is strong in the Sal Niter such Stones are contracted and drawn into the most compleat consistency or hardness when in Earth then such Earth is of a glewey sticking nature as Clay and all Earth that has Affinity therewith the Sal Nitral Virtues thereof in such Earth lies so hid in the tough Saturnine Body that it will not bring forth Vegitation without being Manured by Earth that has passed through a Ferment or some Digestion wherein the Martial Salt and Venereal propertys are strong from whence such Bodies have their brittle mealy or yeilding quality as Lime Chalk Ashes and Dung for in this sort of Earth the Martial Fires from whence bitterness has its Original are as it were wholly captivated in the Astringent Chamber of Saturn It is also to be noted that this Earth wants the assisting Qualities of Sol Iupiter and Venus for in what thing soever any one Original Form is powerful the Unity thereof is thereby destroyed and that thing may be good for particular Uses but for general it cannot As for Example If the Saturnine Power have the chief Government in any Thing or Creature that Thing or Creature becomes Hard Cold Constringent Melancholy and Pensive as is farther manifested in all Earths wherein Mars hath the chief Government and Dominion such Earths are endued with great Heat are Short Gravelly and Sandy full of small Stones so that in all hot dry Seasons the Vegitations proceeding therefrom are subject to Scorching and Withering It is likewise to be noted that this Martial or bitter Quality is strong in Trees and such Trees are Hard full of Knots and not tall in Stature but when the Taciturn or Astringent Form of Saturn is joined in any Tree or other thing with the Martial or bitter Quality then such Trees or Bodies are tall smooth hard and very dâ—…rable as Oaks and the like in which those Forms are powerful But if Sol or Venus or the sweet Quality have the chief Government in any Earth or other thing such Earth is mellow easy to be wrought and worked up especially if the Form of Iupiter be joined in Government then it is more deep mellow fit for Herbage Tillage and the best of Corn its colour is yellowish and very good for Wheat and not so apt to be Blasted by unseasonable Weather as other Herbage and Grain are where extream Qualities Govern for the nearer the Union the four grand Qualities stand in any Thing or Ceature the more useful and beneficial that thing becomes and its Shape and Form is the more beautiful for every Original principal Quality and Form is endued with peculiar Sal nitral Virtues which is the Original ground from whence arises the great variety of Complexions Forms and Figures Usefulness and the contrary though this be a Digression I don't doubt but it will be useful to the Understanding Reader Note The same Method that has been described about making of Bricks will do for Tyles Note A Wall or House may be made with unburned Bricks first let your Earth be high and well Tempered smooth and well Moulded as is mentioned before this must be done in the hottest Season then dried and turned after the manâ—…er of Brickmâ—…king only it must be longer exposed to the Sun and Elements till they become hard and tough with these Bricks you may make firm substantial Walls for a House after this manner Take Loam or a Brick Earth and mix therewith some good Lime Temper them very high till they become tough smooth and glewey let the Wall of your House be two Bricks or two Bricks and a half thick your unburn'd Bricks being laid in this well Tempered Mortar they will cement and become one hard solid body as if the whole were but one Brick or Stone when you have raised your Wall 4 or 5 Foot high from the Foundation then let it dry 2 or 3 days before you proceed farther then Build thereon 4 or 5 Foot more making the like pause as before and so proceed till your Wall is finished then Temper some of the same Earth the Wall was made of with a little more Lime than you used for the Wall which you must be sure to Temper very well and with this Mortar Plaster all your Wall well on the outside which will keep off the Weather for nothing injures this Wall but wet and moisture which this Coat will defend and if you would have it more beautiful it is only putting more Lime to it and less Loam and when this is dry you may Colour and Paint it with Red Blue or any other Colour that pleases you best Floors the best of them are made thus Take two thirds of Lime and one third of Coal-Ashes well sifted with a small quantity of Loamy Clay mix the whole quantity that you intend to use
which hath the nearest affinity to it Now if the truth of what we have said be considered understood and distiâ—…guished then such a one will know that Temperance Order and Cleanness are the Spring-head of all Virtues and as it were under God the Original not only of Health but of every good Work and Action so great so powerful and so wonderful are the Laws of God and the innocent Methods of Nature they Crown their Observers with the Blessings of Time and Eternity I do not doubt but when you have well considered of what I have already said as to your Distemper and what I shall say but that you will incline to observe the Methods I shall propose for the Cure of your ill Habit of Body and the Diseases attending you Now the Meats and Foods that are most suitable for the preventing your Fatness and other Evils are all such as are clean in their own Nature having no manifest quality too highly exalted for every sort of Food that is unequal doth increase your Maladie and leave a Wound behind it You may eat and probably with some success too Bread Butter Cheese Herbs Roots Fruits Gruels Chocolate Paps Milk-pottage and various sorts of other clean innocent Foods but it will be better for you not to spread your Table too large but confine your self to a less compass viz. to Bread Butter and Cheese Water-Gruel and Flour-Pap only with Salt and no Butter in it and let this be your Method viz. in the morning a Pint of thin Water-Gruel with a small piece of good well Baked Bread a little toasted bite your Bread and sup your Gruell the like when you eat Pap always drinking a quarter of a Pint of Water after it presently and forget not before or after you eat your Gruel to take a walk of a Mile or two in the most clean airy place you can or by running Rivers side for all Airs are much â—…ner by running Waters than else where for by the curious moist thin Spirituous Vapours that such Rivers do send or breathe forth incorporating or mixing with the common Air it both becomes rarifyed and thereby is made more transparent thin and Spirituous so that it easily penetrates into the very center of all parts of the Body opening all the passages and moving Obstructions causing the Circulations of all the Humors Blood and Spirits to pass more freely if this were not so People that walk by such Rivers sides and others that work on it would not have such pressing sharp Appetites even far greater than those that are exercised on the higher Grounds but if any Man Swim or go into such Rivers to wash themselves or do any other thing of that nature it will sharpen and increase the Appetite to a higher degree Now this comes to pass by the fineness of such Airs and the thin Spirituous Virtues that penetrate to the Body on all sides whichare sucked in by the Pores giving a certain recruit to all the natural Spirits in the Body It is likewise to be noted that such as travel or work in Windy Rainy Weather do thereby obtain a shâ—…rper and a stronger Appetite than by the like Exercises in dry Seasons and such a one will not so often want supplys of Drink because such seasons and places do afford them a much finer moisture and more agreeable to Nature You may take your walk before or after you have eaten your Gruel and Bread then Fast till Dinner about one or two of the Clock eat a small Sallad raw made of Parsley Spinage Sorrell and a few Onions with them and eat them with a little Salt and Vinegar no Oil but with Bread and Butter or Cheese and sometimes only with Bread drink with them fresh small Ale or good Water the last being Superior to the first then fast till Supper and about Seven of the Clock eat a Pint of Water-Gruell or Pap with a little piece of Bread toasted and once or twice a week take a walk of 5 6 7 8 or 10 Miles or more as you shall find your self able and as you grow stronger increase your walks to 20 30 or 40 Miles And you must always go till you be weary but not till you be Faint for Nature will not encrease her strength if you do not in a moderate degree exert her Faculties and put her to a little Hardship for it is an undeniable rule and it always holds true that Nature endeavours to strengthen and arm herself against all Affronts and invading Powers for this cause the more you Labour the more you may and the easier it becomes to you which most attribute to Custom which is true in a Sense but give me leave to tell you so soon as you put your self to any unusual Exercise or Labour Nature useth all her endeavours and powers not only to withstand such Labours but to overcome them that she may be a Conqueror with ease and therefore if any particular Member be more used in this Trade or other Employment whether it be a Leg or an Arm that Member or part in a little time grows more potent and strong than the other and for this cause after Tradesmen have done their common days Work most of them can walk and exercise themselves in many other things with delight and not feel half the dulness and weariness as they did at their Customary Employments or Labours which had worn out or dull'd the natural Spirits that supported those parts most employed and did undergo the greatest part of the labour of that Employment or Trade But all this while other Members and parts of the Body that were not so intent or employed in the said Labour remained as it were fresh lively and full of Spirits so that when such a one comes to another sort of Exercise or Labour wherein those Members or parts were not so much concerned as is said before then they do readily lend their Aid and Assistance by which a Man does exercise himself in another Employment for some time with ease and delight notwithstanding he was weary at his usual Trade or Employment The principal cause and reason of this is every part of the Body hath its particular Offices and the natural Spirits that support and supply it with strength and vigour which lyes as it were still and doth not exert its strength nor powers till that part or Member comes to be employed This being the original Cause that a Man after he is weary and dull at the long continuance of Labour in one thing and the whole Body seems to be tired yet at another Employ or Work he shall be as was said before fresh and lively which is by the supplies of the lively Spirits that centered in such Parts and Members whose supporting Strength and Powers were not called forth in the foregoing Labour For this Cause and Reason variety of Exercises and Employments are best and least burthensome to Nature being much easier performed and with more
have on all the Faculties of Nature no Wise man will or can deny as is before sufficiently demonstrated besides there is still another Ground and deep Original for the conveyance and generation of a great multitude of Diseases but more especially this fiery Distemper viz. the Seed being the compleat Image or Epitome of all the Properties Forms and Powers both of the Body Soul and Spirit and for this cause Man is called the Son or Off-spring of God or his Image The same is to be understood of Man when he Generates a Child is he not his Son and doth he not bear the Image and true Signature of his Father is he not endued with all the principles and powers of Body Soul and Spirits and if the Seed did not contain the true Nature and Property of the whole Father then the Fathers power or part thereof would not have an Essential Being in the Son neither would the Son be his true Image this being true as no Wiseman can doubt Then by the same rule Virtues and Vices of all Kinds are Sowed in the Seed and according as the Father and Mother are qualified and tempered in their Order Sobriety Temperance or Intemperance in their Meats Drinks and Employments Communications Imaginations Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works such is the Seed and the Fruit that is Generated Begotten and brought forth and is in Body Soul and Spirit the very same in all the principles and powers This being true what Conduct Temperance and Order what Cleanness Self-denial and Wisdom ought Parents to be endued with seeing they entail all their Virtues and Vices on their Posterity Now Mankind hath so far estranged himself from all those fore-mentioned Virtues by his gross Evils Violences Oppressions and Uncleannesses that he is run into the deepest degree of Depravity Blindness and Ignorance so that most do live under and are governed by the divided powers and forms of their own Composition where every quality and principle are at Enmity with each other so that he is hunted out of one evil into another Fierceness Violence and Oppression being his chief Delight and as it were the Pleasure and Pastime of most Men viz. Great Men study how they may destroy ruin and kill those of their own Kind and Species and the lower Ranks in hunting oppressing and killing the inferior Graduates and all the innocent harmless Inhabitants of the four Worlds and in Conformity and Proportion to these rapacious Employments are the principal Foods of Man so that there is a Concatenation and Sympathetical Agreement and Concurrence of all sorts and kinds of wrathful fierce Violence contrived and managed by the inbred fierce encroaching spiteful envious Powers which have not only sullyed but as it were obliterated the Noble light of Understanding and hath sunk Man into the deepest and darkest ignorance of himself and all that is good so that he neither sees hears nor understands any thing as he ought and thereby becomes subject to and is acted and governed by the fore-mentioned tyrannical Spirits Now there is no way or means to prevent those violent Diseases and other Distempers but by the wholsom rules of Order Temperance and Cleanness in Meats Drinks Communications Employment Words and Works which doth oppose all the fore-mentioned Customs as much as Light doth Darkness or the Day the Night by which the Observers may obtain a better Seed which will produce a Healthy and Virtuous Off-spring viz. The Foods material and suitable for this purpose are as followeth Bread and all Foods made of the Flour of Corn have the first place both for Cleanness Virtue and good Nourishment as Bread and Water-gruel Flour-pap boil'd Wheat boil'd Barley Hasty-pudding boil'd Bread and several sorts made of the Flours of Seeds and Corn Next to these are Milk Butter Cheese Eggs and a great number of other Exhilerating Foods made thereof The principal Drink alotted and ordained by God and the Law of undefiled Nature is pure clean Water Next to these are Communications which have great power over the Imaginations Inclinations Dispositions Words and Works either to encrease or advance Virtue or Vice and these Employments are very material viz. All such as are Humane free from Oppression or Violence either to Man or Beasts likewise all sorts of Husbandry or any Business in the open Air more especially such as is on or near the Water and to Travel in rainy moist Seasons Thirdly Thin or moderate Cloathing airy clean sweet Houses and Beds observing a mean in all things for Temperance and to understand the proper Measure both in Quantity and Quality are the Sinews of Health both of Body and Mind which to distinguish and understand in a Man's self is the Spring-head of all Blessings for whatsoever may or can be understood of God and of his unalterable Law is compleatly and entirely contained in Man Therefore the greatest Calamity the most miserable melancholy and deplorable Condition in the World is for a Man to be Ignorant of himself not to understand and distinguish the Powers of God and his own Composition for want of this inward true Knowledge he Judgeth of all things as a Blind Man doth of Colours and a Deaf Man of Musick all is done by Chance Trade or Custom so great and so deep is the Depravation of Man SIR Yours to Command T. T. LETTER XXIII Of EDUCATION SIR I Réceived yours of the 20th instant wherein you desire me to give you an Essential Method of Educating and Bringing up your Children they being all Young and of tender Age by which they are rendred capable of being taught and moulded into any Form Method and Government First I referr you to our Book entituled A New Method of Educating Children which I desire you would Read However I shall endeavour to gratify your Desire with those Talents the Lord hath given me not doubting but they will be thereby improved by your Prudent Conduct therefore please to observe these following Rules and Methods 1. YOU ought to understand and endeavour to be sensible that our Creator hath made Man in his own Image and a compleat Epitome of all Principles Qualities and Powers both of the Corporial and Incorporial Worlds all things have an Essential Being in Man's Soul viz. Virtue true Light and Darkness Love and Hate and if Men once come to be sensible of their own Composition and to distinguish between Good and Evil Virtue and Vice and from what Principles each takes its Birth they would hate and lament their ill Conduct both of their own Methods of Life and the bringing up of their Children it is impossible any Man should be capable to avoid the Errors of Educating Children if he doth not distinguish the two Grand Fountains of Good and Evil in himself and how the various Powers Qualities and Inclinations which do all arise and proceed from these two Fountains are to be Qualified Allaied and United for all sorts and kinds of Knowledge and Learning though it
carries the fairest and most plausible Face yet if it do not arise and proceed from the Light of a Man 's own Life and have a Centre in himself and distinguished from what Ground and Principle it proceeds it is of no value but all Fantastick and Uncertain This is most manifest and true in this Visible World and likewise in all Sciences Arts and Trades no Man is rendred capable of giving any true Account or to Judge rightly of any particular Science Art or Trade and the inward Mystery thereof but only such who have Judgment or can distinguish the principal Qualities and Parts of that piece of Art or Workmanâ—…ip therefore it hath by the more Wise and Understanding Men of all Ages been owned that the Knowledge of a Man's self hath been the Spring-head of Wisdom because no Man can possibly know God who knows not his Works all which are a compleat Image of himself and he that doth not understand nor distinguish the Signature of his own Composition cannot do it in any Specifick Body or Thing be it ever so small and inferiour Now the want of this Self-knowledge and distinguishing our own Principles Qualities and Powers is the Grand In-let to all Evil and Error in this World both in particular and publick Governments For this Cause no Man can be a true Politician or Governor in this World if he doth not distinguish the Powers and Principles of Good and Evil in himself for where this central Knowledge is wanting there is nothing but Error Pride Self-Arrogance Covetousness Envy and Domineering their Imaginations being kindled not only in those Evil Qualities but also in the fantastick Regions of this World so that if any Good comes under such Kings or Princes Government it is all as it were by chance therefore my Friend the first true step for obtaining the Wisdom is to seek and know God and the Operation of his Powers in your self which to understand and distinguish is not only the greatest Blessing but it likewise furnishes you with all sorts of Materials for the Mamaegment and Government both of your self and all that God hath put under your Government and Conduct First Your Wife or whosoever Nurses or Brings up your Children must refrain and not use that most idle and pernicious Customs of fantastick foolish Talking to their young tender Infants which doth make such great and deep Impressions even from one Quarter of a year Old which takes such Essential root by way of Simile and so obtains such a Power and strengthens the fantastick Principle that it is not to be wholly rooted out or obliterated Secondly They ought likewise to Cloath their Children in modest plain Garments and by no means to point shew or endeavour to make them sensible where they are Fine This is frequent amongst all sorts of People as well those that esteem themselves Sober and Religious as others which doth mightily infinuate raise and awaken the high lofty Property of Pride and lay sure and lasting Foundations of Self-esteem and by degrees strengthen most evil Qualities by which Means and Methods they put an Esteem and Value on themselves and at the samâ—… time disregard and undervalue all their Inferiors this doth 〈◊〉 deeply wound and lay such sure and lasting Methods of Pride that many thousands of poor distressed Mortals are never heâ—…ed That Mothers and Nurses ought to refrain from the practise of that evil Custom of Slabbering and Kissing their Children asking and teaching the Children to do the same and though this seems to be an innocent Custom at first and likewise their talking of Baudy nevertheless this doth so early open the Gates of Venus and lays sure and lasting Foundations for Wantonness and Uncleanness so that many thousands can never free themselves from those invading turbulent Motions and Inclinations after Women Thirdly Mothers and Nurses should as much as is possible refrain and forbear much Talking especially impertinent Discourse and teach them by a sedate silence and shewing their dislikes in a few words and those as grave and sober as if they were talking with Senators Fourthly They ought not to shew or speak in the hearing of their Children any thing wherein Passion is expressed for whensoever this is practised the Children are thereby Precipitated into the same Principle of Wrath and Violence which from time to time is so mightily strengthened by which early planting Wrath and fierce Passion obtaineth the Ascendant in the Soul which can never be destroyed or overcome but let the Correction of your Children be done by some silent wise sober Methods sometimes by fasting standing silent alone and the like such Corrections will penetrate deeper into their Souls and make them more sensible than Whipping and Beating which doth chiefly serve to advance the Principle of Bitterness Envy and self-ful Power for by the Eternal Law of God every like begets and strengthens its Simile Fifthly Use your Children to a constant hour of going to Bed and Rising viz. Go to Bed at eight and Rise at six or seven according to the Season of the Year Custom makes their Sleep more sound and certain which is a great Conveniency both to Mothers and Nurses Sixthly So soon as your Children can go about teach them several little but useful things both within doors as in the House and also without in the Air viz. To know their Letters which they are capable to learn before they can Speak Sowing Knitting picking up of Sticks or small Stones carrying from and bringing to you several little things also learning to Write Cast Accompts Musick and Drawing in order to Painting and when you are minded they should stand still from those little Affairs then command them to stand silently by you looking on you and what you are doing which still makes a deep Impression on their Minds by which they will not know what that Vanity is called Play there being nothing more pernicious nor promotes Idleness and Vanity more than Childrens Playing promiscuously one amongst another it is certainly one of the Grand Original Banes and destruction of Mankind for it is so timely planted and awakens all sorts of Passions fantastick Spirits and Qualities so that as they by degrees grow stronger and stronger they Degenerate into all sorts and kinds of Wickednesses therefore all Parents Fathers and Mothers ought to employ their Children or else they will employ themselves and spend all their brisk sporting Spirits in Play and Vanity also keep them from the sight of those Children that are suffered to Play also from all Plays and Games and the ill Usage of any of the inferior Creatures for all those Evils are like Pestilential Airs they Influence all their Beholders and leave their fatal Strokes and Wounds behind them Suffer not your Children to speak much likewise be careful that you do not Laugh or make a Jest of any of their Actions for such things prove of evil Consequence to them Seventhly Keep not your Children too long at
and desire to be made manifest that is to be known to its self which cannot be any other way but by being cloathed with a Corporeal Body for a Spirit or an Inâ—…e Power cannot become Individual if it be not cloathed with a suitable Body they being like a Circle in which all the Spiritual invisible Principles and Powers do act and become â—…nown to themselves and thereby be made capable of Joy Hoâ—… Fear and Sorrow It is likewise to be understood as was before mentioned that the Spirit of each Creature is before the Body and the Desire the Cause and Original thereof and as the Learned Apostle Paul saith the Body is Dead without the Spirit and 〈◊〉 Spirit is not nor cannot be known to its self nor Enjoy or Sâ—…fer without the Body and every particular Creature or Being is endued with all the Principles Properties and Qualities of the Eternal Father or Invisible Fountain of Unity and are all the true and natural Sons thereof and therefore each Sensitive Creature doth from an Innate Disposition and Spiritual Inclination desire to be like its Father that hath Begotten it for the Son doth contain the true Nature and Properties of the Father and therefore not only Man but all other inferiour Creatures are the Likeness and Image of him from whence they proceed and had their Birth each according to its Kind and Graduation and as the Original Forms and Powers were more equal or unequal inferior or superior whence proceed the great and wonderful variety of visible Creatures both in the Animal Vegitable and Mineral Kingdoms in this World for accordiâ—… 〈◊〉 the degrees equality and inequality of the Spiritual Quaâ—… and Powers such were the Desires which did naturally 〈◊〉 vehemently attract a proportionable Matter out of all thiâ—… for a Covering our Body and that Sal Nitral or Spiritual Poâ—… and Virtue that did Predominate or had the Ascendant Sigâ—… the Body with a Character and the Inclinations Dispositioâ—… Shapes Figures and Forms were accordingly so that the â—…dation of the variety of Bodies and Complexions proceed 〈◊〉 the degrees of the Invisible or Spiritual Powers And for this Cause it is no wonder that every Creature 〈◊〉 hath obtained that high degree of Sensation and is thereby caâ—…le of enjoying or suffering either Pleasure or Pain 〈◊〉 with the highest diligence endeavour to avoid all Violence 〈◊〉 and Death and desire to Live for Ever seeing that 〈◊〉 sprung from the eternal and unsearchable Fountain of Unity for every Creatures Actions Inclinations and Desires are all â—…cording to the Composition of the Spiritual Properties and 〈◊〉 lities all which have an eternal Original whence the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desire in all Creatures do spring and arise of Living 〈◊〉 Ever and notwithstanding the Inferiors have no cause of Dread nor Sense on them of any World or being after this either Good or Evil nevertheless they fear and dread all kinds of â—…rt Violence Oppression and consequently shun and avoid â—…th with as much Cunning and Wisdom as Men and do 〈◊〉 the highest Diligence Industry and Prudence endeavour to â—…serve themselves and Off-spring nay they rather exceed 〈◊〉 besides they have not transgressed their natural Law and â—…fore they cannot be oppressed with any fear of Pain or Sorâ—… after this Life but the Original of all fear of Hurt Violence 〈◊〉 Death doth proceed from the Spirit or Spiritual Powers 〈◊〉 hath cloathed or incircled themselves in Matter or Corpoâ—… Bodies which the Spiritual Properties and Powers would preserve and keep as an Habitation for Ever for by means of 〈◊〉 Corporeal Body or Matter the variety of the Spiritual Proâ—…ties are encircled and so become a Self-subsisting Creature known to its self as was mentioned before and is thereby renâ—…ed capable both of Pain and Pleasure Joy or Sorrow for that which is Eternal doth naturally desire what is like it self 〈◊〉 therefore those Spiritual Beings and Powers that have the like motion and Sensation of all Creatures cannot by all the â—…ning Rhetorick in the World be perswaded on any account oâ—… be made willing to Die or be separated from their Bodies 〈◊〉 nothing is able to abliterate those Inclinations Dispositions and Qualifications of the Spiritual Powers cloathed with material Bodies they received from the Grand or Eternal Fountain the Father and Creator of all Beings so that the natural Disposition 〈◊〉 Desire of all Sensitive Creatures is to preserve their Bodies 〈◊〉 Ever which is like themselves and according to their Oriâ—…al Natures for no Spiritual Power can 〈◊〉 contrary to its 〈◊〉 and its Original Fountain or Father that Made or Created it And for this Cause the Under-graduates do all of them fear and dread Hurt Violence and Oppression or any thing that seems to tend to put a Period to their Lives as the like Actions 〈◊〉 Mankind and much more if it be possible for as they know 〈◊〉 Hurt nor do no Injury to their Knowledge but Live within the Limits of the Law their Creator prescribed them For this Cause all or most of the inferior Creatures do fear all kinds of Violence more than Mankind for the more harmless and innocent any Creature is the greater is the Opposition between the Species of Hurtfulness and Violence so that the Creaâ—… Fears and Calamities are thereby encreased and all Opâ—… is the harder to be undergone For this Cause the more innocent a Creature is the greater 〈◊〉 and Evil it is to Oppress that Creature and therefore Man's Violence Oppression and Killing the Beasts is an extraordinary Evil and Sin against God and his Law for Killing stands in eternal Opposition to the Creating Power of God which proceeds from Eternity to Eternity and this Eternal Spiritual preserving Power being the compleat Life and Essential Being of all Creatures whence proceeds and springs an eternal desire of Life or to Live for Ever according to its Innate Nature so that it is the greatest Sin that can be committed against that wonderful Mystery and Creating Power of God as being most opposite not only to the Creation but also to all the Eternal Spiritual Powers that are cloathed with material Bodies for the true Life Power Motion and Actions of all visible Bodies â—…esides in the Spirits which hath an eternal Original as was mentioned before and therefore not willing to be oppressed hurt oâ—… to have its Body any way destroyed for the Body is the Sâ—…rits natural Right and will not part with it unless necessity compeâ—…s And for these Reasons the highest Evil and Punishment that can be done to Mankind is to put a Period to Life and therefore the Laws of most Countries do not indict or compel Meâ—… to Die but only on the committing of great Evils The continuation of Life is strangelâ—… precious in the Central Qualities and Spiritual Powers of every Corporeal Creature and will not Man choose a miserable troubled laboâ—…ious Life of Vexation rather than a short and easy Death and this Desire and earnest
going to Church and the like which is often too true but this great perplexity of the Spiritual Powers and Soul is Man 's not living in any degree answerable to that great Law of God and innocent Method of Nature but instead thereof have contented themselves to live in the Observations Customs and Laws of Tyrannical Princes and Nations which have Originally sprung from and been Midwifed into the World by the divided powers of Nature Selfish Pride and Covetousness and all under pretence of Vertue and Religion which the poor ignorant miserable People receive believe and will dye in the defence of those wicked Laws and Customs they are Educated and Taught in which doth occasion the greatest number of Mankind violently to run into the greatest Errors and consequently into Discord and Disunity which is as I have said before the grand occasion of those Troubles and perplexing Agonies most Men experience on their Dying Beds for if Men Live in the practice of Violence Fierceness and Oppression be it either to their Kind or Creatures of inferior Ranks the Equality and Union of the Powers and Principles of God in a Mans Soul is thereby broken whence doth arise and proceed those unheard of troubles many Thousands endure when the Soul and Spiritual Powers must leave and be separated from their Habitations or Bodies and therefore we would have every one understand this grand and most necessary Truth viz. He that would Dye in Peace or in Unity must endeavour by all the ways and methods imaginable to transact his Life in Innocency and being obedient unto the Voice of Wisdom or Divine Principle â—…ch dwells in the Center of every Mans Soul which is the true and powerful Advocate and is not only willing but able to unite all the Sons and Daughters of Wisdom and Innocency unto the Blessed Fountain of Benignity Union with this great Original Being is the only one thing that all Creatures both Corporeal and Incorporeal ardently seek and groan after because nothing but that can or is able to give Peace and Satisfaction so great and wonderful precious and necessary is an harmless innocent Life it being the very Center of Peace and Eternal Tranquility the Understanding and Living in and under the good powers and principles of Innocency is both the pleasure of Time and the happiness of Eternity for Innocency wounds nothing nor nothing that Union being the Center not only of every Mans happiness and quiet but the highest satisfaction of all other Creatures which no Man can pretend to arrive at this Haven of Temporal and Eternal Bliss but only by observing and living in Gods Law in all the methods of Life viz. in Eating Drinking Speaking Wearing Buying and Selling avoiding all oppressions and violences both to Man and Beast for it is impossible that any Person should see the Blessed State of Unity whereas every day he greedily and exorbitantly sustains maintains and continues his Life by the effects and fruits of Disunity and Violencâ—… daily and hourly offered to his fellow Creatures many degrees more innocent and harmless than himself which miserable and melancholly condition of Man and his high and deep depravation can never be retrieved or redeemed so long as Mankind doth remain stupid and altogether blind as to the understanding of Gods Law in themselves and the particular Principles they are made and compounded of and their respective Operations for nothing is more true than he that doth not distinguish the birth of every Thought Word and Work and from what Fountains or Principles they proceed is compelled to do all things by chance Tradition and Custom they are his Projecters and Masters so that when Mankind comes to lye on a Dying Bed the Senses and all the Corporeal Powers become impotent and melancholly then most or all the actions of Life are as it were unaccountable unto the Soul and Spiritual Powers which Spirits do as it were with a rapid motion seek the cause of their Trouble and Disunion but being ignorant of Gods innocent Law they blame themselves for the neglect of some little or trivial matters many of which had they performed the Soul would have been as far from Satisfaction as otherwise and therefore to be ignorant of Gods Law in a Mans self is the greatest evil and brings on Mans Soul the greatest perplexity and trouble whatever some may think or imagine to the contrary for no Person hath any occasion to perplex and disquiet himself about what shall be his condition after Death if he spends this little part of Eternity in the observation of Gods innocent Laws for what can molest or disturb that Person that hath troubled nor hurt nothing but hath spent his few days in a calm innocent method of Life and Unity And as Blindness Depravity and Ignorance is the grand Inlet to all Violence Oppression and Disunity so it is the true Root of all fear suspicion and desparation in the Souls and Spirits of Mankind and likewise at this door comes in all wicked selfish mistaken Notions both in Religion and all other matters relating to the Soul for Mans Fall and deep degrees of Blindness and Depravation have divided and separated him from the true knowledge of his Maker and also from the knowledge of the Mysteries both of himself and all the uniform powers of Nature which stupidity and ignorance doth powerfully enclose and shut him up in the circle of Darkness having no certain knowledge neither of the things that shall be transacted in Time nor Eternity and it is well it is so seeing Mankind hath so violently and freely immersed his Will into this great Sea of Evil that he doth not know or understand future events and the sequel of things which the All Wise Father and ever Blessed Creatâ—… of all Beings hath wonderfully ordered for if Mankind were not limited as to the knowledge of future events of things he would be in a far worse condition and more miserable for should the Loving Mother foresee what Miseries and Calamities would befall her young and tender Child what a Melancholly condition would this fore-knowledge bring on the Parents whose affections is as their own Lives the Son runs into the Armies of Princes with a free undaunted Will rendring himself liable to all the Miseries of Life both in this World and that which is to come another Robs Breaks Houses Kills and Murders all that stands in his way or opposes his wicked practice and at last is Condemned and Hanged for his violent Crimes and furious Oppressions and an hundred other sorts and methods of Vice both the Sons and Daughters of Mankind immerse themselves into for according to what Principles govern in each Stock or Tree such is the Fruits according to the common Proverb for there is nothing more true than that Discord and Disunity begets and brings forth Children like themselves if the divided Forms and violent oppressive Customs and Principles have obtained the Government in the central Life of
any perswade a Turk to become a Christian after 20 years of Age Or on the other side a Christian to be a Turk and so of all others by which this great Truth doth appear over all that Customs Examples and Living Precedents have far greater power and influence over Mankind than the Constellation any Person is Born under Besides the wonderful and amazing Varieties both of the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms are such that the Births of all Created Beings are in one degree or other manifestly unlike many Men have been curious in this matter but no Man could ever find two things in all Circumstances alike or of one dimention or complexion And the original cause of this Wonder is hid from the Eyes and Understanding of the greatest number of Men the blindness ignorance and wickedness of Mankind is so great that the Sons of Wisdom are forbid discovering of this secret Wisdom for the Unlearned would not only trample Pearls under foot but also make an ill use of them no Man doubts but according to the old Maxim of Wisemen and Naturalists that Man in Soul Body and Spirit is a compleat Epitome or Image of the Great Immense Creator and Father of all Beings and therefore in him is contained the true nature and property of all material Things or Elements and he may be fitly and properly likened or compared with the Earth in which are the Seminary Seeds and powers of all Herbs Grains Fruits and Trees of which there is amazing variety even beyond Humane number only this difference is to be understood the Sal Nitral forms and four grand qualities stand in their several respective degrees in some things one form and quality is strong another weak which doth occasion the great difference of Earths which by the understanding Husbandman and his Cultivation can be made capable to bring forth all kinds of Herbage Corn Seeds Fruits and Trees by his encreasing and decreasing of qualitys which by his Dressing Dunging and Manuring he changeth the complexion of the Ground by his apt mixtures making weak qualities strong and strong properties weaker Now can any understanding Man imagine but that there will be the like great difference in the Humane Nature for Mens Employments together with their Communications are able to vary their Complexions abating and lessening their sanguine tractable Tempers and advancing their fierce invading Tempers which before their conversing with things of the like nature could hardly be seen or known so that there is nothing more true than that every particular Trade Employment or Practice doth incircle all such that enter into such Business having a Key that opens all the secret Doors and Gates and the Complexion or Nature of that thing is never satisfied till it hath found out its Similie which in a little time and practice doth strengthen and advance by which weak Dispositions and fainty Inclinations become strong and powerful and on the other side strong Inclinations and Dispositions are mightily weakned and grow languid and drooping as if they had a Consumption Now if every Man and Woman did not contain the true nature and property of the whole then this could not be done for every particular thing must have a Friend or a Confederate in the Humane Nature or else it could have no power to encrease decrease strengthen or weaken Forms Principles and Qualitys and mould them into their Natures by impressing their Dispositions and Inclinations in a great degree alter and chang them Now if this be true of Exercises and Employments which are but External and managed with the motion of the Members of the Body then what power and influence must Meats and Drinks have on the Soul Spirit and Body which are as it were the Original or Seminary Seeds and Substance of the Humane Nature whose Operations are all Internal from which are generated Blood Spirits Inclinations Words and Works either clean or unclean better or worse all according to the nature of the Foods If Mankind and those skill'd in the Astrological Science did understand and had Wisdom to distinguish these things they would be far more afraid of the malignant influences of the Stars and Constellations that rule in that part of the Globe called the Earth that is evil Education unclean Meats Drinks Exercises Trades Employments Communication Tradition wicked Customs and Examples than from the Male Configuration of the Heavenly Bodies not but Men do by their Uncleanness and Sinful Methods most powerfully attract and draw the venemous Nature and Dispositions out of all the Stars Elements and all Undergraduated things for as is mentioned before Man is like all things and all things like him and so he is rendred capable to influence all things and all things have power to influence him either for better or worse So wonderful hath our Blessed Creator made all Creatures and Beings enduing them with an influential Power and Energie and more particularly the Humane Nature for it is not to be doubted but that Mankind is endued with an innate Power and thereby is not only rendred as capable to move and influence the Starry Coelestial and all the powers of the Elements as they are to move and influence him to that or the other thing whether it be Virtue or the contrary for the Princes Governors Magistrates of all kinds together with the Priests Prophets and Advocates are the great Stars Planets and Constellations that Govern and under whose influence all Men and other Creatures and Things are subjected to in this Sublunary World there being nothing more true and manifest that they are the Lordâ—… of every Mans Ascendant for by the power and vertue of their Commands Laws Customs and Traditions they make all bow before them let them be of what Constitution Nature or under what Constellation soever all Configurations both good or ill must yield Obedience to their Methods as we have before shewed by the Memorials Laws Customs Traditions and Religions of all Nations for this cause that which is esteemed true Virtue and Religion in one Country is Evil or Vice in another Now can any Person that wears Eyes in his Head be so ignorant as to think or believe that the powers and influences of the Coelestial Bodies are the prime Cause and Promoters of those vast Variety and Difference there is in the Religions and Manners of Mankind no no the true Original of all this amazing variety of Sentiments and Methods are the Orâ—…cles Prophets and Gods each Country doth Observe Adore and Worship be they either good or evil all both the Wise and the Simple fall Victims to their power Would not Swearing as is mentioned before and all other evil Words be they of what nature soever be as unknown and altogether as hard and impossible as for Children to learn Hebrew Greek or any other Language they never heard any speak no the Coelestial Stars and great illuminated Bodies whose Orbs or Circles they move by our demonstrative Guesser The
Mathematicians do tell us that the Orb or Circle of each Planet is far greater than the whole Globe of Earth and Water which hitherto no Man in the general hath doubted what they have found true by the Observations of the most Learned and Ingenious of all Ages for some thousands of years and if so what morâ—…l Man can guess the wonderful Creatures and Inhabitants that may possibly dwell and inhabit those Spacious Airy Plains for so they seem to us and who can tell but that the Globe of Earth and Water may appear to the Creatures of those Worlds as they do to us and consequently that the Mathematicians and Astrologers of those unknown Worlds may make as great ado about the influences of our Planets Stars and Constellations as we do of theirs and give us the same Titles and Names as we do them but we have never ravelled in their Regions nor conversed with the People and World of the Moon and therefore shall submit and be silent in this guessing Philosophy It is further to be considered that the good and evil Successes or Fortunes to the Ascendants Planets and Significators that as Astrologers say are showered down upon Mankind by the benevolent and malignant influences of those great Luminaries and Coelestial Bodies which are various and strange if all be true as Philosophers say Now the Evils and Misfortunes are as it were beyond Humane number in comparison of the Good and whatsoever Misfortune or Evil doth happen or befall Mankind is by many of those cunning Men attributed to the Configurations and Directions of Planets and Significators or some one of them to Saturn they say when ill lignified he powerfully inclines his Sons and Daughters to Oppression Violence Killing Covetousness Back-biting Envy Strife and all kinds of evil Words and Works And the like is to be understood of the other Six Planets whereas it is as clear as the Sun Beams at Noon-day that all the Intemperances Evils and Outrages Mankind doth commit against God and his Neighbour are generated and midwifed into the World by Customs Presidents evil Communications and Examples as appears by the foregoing and if this be true how angry then will those great Illuminated Powers of Heaven be with Man for laying the Cause and Foundation of those great Evils upon them as when the fair Sex are vain proud wanton and foolish to say that Venus that great and wonderful Illuminated Body and Queen of Love is the cause that inclines them to such Wickedness or when a young Man is ingenious sharp and witty and turns all into Cheating to attribute it to Mercury and when any Person is vain wanton and unconstant to lay the cause on the Moon and her Influences or when a Man is fierce devilish hard-hearted cruel and subject to Wrath Passion and Violence to lay the cause on Mars and when false in Religion to attribute it to an unfortunate Iupiter and when proud and subject to Vain-glory and boasting to fix it on the Sun when in Truth the Original cause of most or all Evils and Sins take their first birth in the center of a Mans self and the People he Lives amongst and communicates with so that Mankind doth mightily add to his evil Course of Life by laying the cause where he should not and belying those innocent Powers which wicked Trade he hath followed ever since he transgressed Gods Holy Law and Commandment putting the evil from himself and laying the cause on some other thing of which its said that our Mother Eve was the first Precedent or Example Now what Mankind have to say for themselves when they shall be brought to the Test I cannot imagine for it seems impossible for Astrologers that they should pass their Accompt without making retalliation or satisfaction so that the Wisemen have made but poor work of their Studies It is likewise further to be Noted that no Creatures or Sublunary Bodies are subject or compelled to obey the Influences of the Heavenly Bodies but only such as have kept and Lived under the Law of God and observed and not broken the limits of their Natural Orbe or Circle in which each specifick Body or Creature was Originally Created and brought forth as we have hinted before for all the wonderful and most amazing of the Heavenly Luminaries called Stars Planets and Signs and though their number be far beyond all Humane Numeration nevertheless each of them doth keep within the limits and bounds of their Orbs and Original Circles and doth alway move with an exact and regular motion keeping and obeying the Voice and great Law of their Creator And for this cause all Corporeal Beings that live and move within the Limits of their first Law and have not at any time broken nor in any degree exceeded its bounds are all subject to the Laws Orders and Methods of Heaven and to all the Influences of those great Powers vulgarly called Stars Planets and Constellations and they do with the highest diligence endeavour to observe and imitate their Superior Powers every Creature observing both time and season so that all things are done and brought forth in an exact and wonderful Method and Order which is strangely amazing and surprizing to any considerate Person Do not all the numerous Off-springs of the Earth obey the Motions Influences and Voice of the Heavenly Bodi or Constellations And are not the Children or Fruits of our Mother Earth better or worse strong or weak vertuous or the contrary all according to the Benevolent or Malevolent Influences or Configurations of the Stars Constellations and Elements The like is to be understood of the Sensitive Creatures called Beasts of which there is an unaccountable variety nevertheless each doth in a most wonderful manner and curious method observe and constantly obey the Original Law God stamped on them and their Young Ones or Children learn and observe the same without the invading fierce Rods of School-Masters or Tutors and as the Heavenly Bodies and Governing Powers of the Great Creator do all work move and govern in a most exact and regular Order and Method The like is to be understood of all the Children or Off-spring of the Elements who keep their first Law and therefore they do all as exactly keep and observe their times and seasons alway moving within the compass and bounds of their own Circles or Orbs they were Created in and their whole business both of Motion Inclination and all the Actions of Life is to imitate and observe the Laws and Commands of their Superiors viz. the Heavenly Bodies But the contrary is to be understood of the Humane Race who have defaced their noble Image by breaking the Law of their Creator and thereby have destroyed the Orbs and Limits of their own Circle so that they are as it were blind and know little or nothing of the wonderful Operations of their own Heaven nor are they in any degree sensible of their own Natures or the Principles they are compounded
little contributed in as much as what from the one and the other cause we do experimentally find there is not one of Thirty or Forty that ever attains to any competency of knowledge in this Art or to perform a Part at Sight so that their Time Labour and Money spent therein is much worse and redounds more to their damage than if so much had been given clearly away for the Tree is not only lost but even the Season for Planting and Sowing also Wherefore upon the whole matter it must necessarily follow that if shorter easier and quicker Methods be not gone upon for the obtaining a competent stock of Knowledge and assurance in it than is now generally taught it will be the part of every considerate Person to desist from the pursuit of it and to engage and advise others as much as he can to the contrary But Sir your longing and earnest desire after Wisdom and true Knowledge having penetrated into the very Center of my Magia or Magick Powers as I may call them has generated many thoughts and true Mathematical Notions in my Head concerning thisScience ofMusick which I shall make bold toMidwife into the World in due Season whether with or without the leave of our Musical Gentlemen but first communicate them unto you for your approbation and satisfaction and having premised that I have already shewed in my Book Entituled A way to Health the Excellency of Musick in General and particularly the principles and Birth as Sounds and Harmony to which I referr you I shall endeavour in this place to lay down a short and easy way and method for Learners to obtain a competent Knowledge of this noble Science The first thing then that you are to teach your Children whom you design for Musick is to read and know the proper Names and the Notes and the Gamut and to distinguish them in their several places and distances Secondly you are to teach them the time and length of each Note by expressing them with the Voice and motion of the Foot if it be Instrumentals but if Vocal then with the motion of the Hand and this any Musical Child will readily learn and perform in less than four Months if they be kept to the practice thereof but two or three hours in a day When that is done then teach them to strike the Notes with the Bow or Finger according to what Musick it is and be sure to make them keep and constantly beat the time of each Note with the foot and never suffer them to neglect the motion of it or of the Hand and as soon as they can strike the Strings any thing clear and firm then proceed to some easy Lesson not to strike one Note or Bar without measuring of them with the motion of the foot and Voice too and tho' the Child cannot Sing them yet in Speaking of them in time together with the fore-mentioned motion of the foot will not only confirm them in the dividing of the time but also beget a natural motion and habit both in the Members of the Body and Intellect or Mind too Or else you may teach Children to strike the Strings then make them to do it in time always using the motion of the Foot or Hand and so proceed never suffering them to neglect the said motion of the Foot and Speaking or Voice which is a double confirmation and will give the Learner assurance making them to understand the dividing of time much sooner Now by either of these Methods you may learn any Child of Six Seven or Eight years of Age to play any indifferent Lesson Base or Division at sight within the space of one year which I caused one to do in less than Ten Months and when he could do that learned to Sing and take out all indifferent Songs without a Master in four Months space for the greatest difficulty in learning of this noble Science consists chiefly in understanding of the Time since by the wonderful and secret Art of dividing it all Musical Harmony is performed and without it there is none either in Man or Birds but only a Voice Tone or Noise undistinguishable and therefore Musical Harmony is nothing else but a proper and most natural method of Talking in Tune or a kind of a Simpathetical agreement between Words Tones and Sounds divided into longer or shorter Sentences which can never be nicely or properly performed either in Vocal or Instrumental Musick but only by the motion of the Members of the Body as well as the Intellectual part of Man For all Arts Sciences and Trades whatsoever are learnt by a three-fold Method or Birth the first whereof is done by opening the hidden or Magick powers in us vulgarly called Thoughts or Imaginations the second is when those Thoughts or Desires are formed into Words or Sentences and the third Birth is the putting of these two into Motion and Action whereby Thoughts and Words become in a kind Essential Substantial or Material which so long as the Art or Science remains in the Magia only could never obtain Essentiality but continued as an Ideal power and as it were unknown easily cut off lost or forgot But when the Thoughts or Magick Powers are formed into Words they then become more External and do thereby obtain as I may say a Sidaereal or Airy Body which is much more difficult to be obliterated than that which is retained in the Thoughts or Magia of the Mind but still Words being no more than a composition of the Airy Powers can by no means become really substantial but only by being put into Action which is clearly demonstrated and understood in the learning of all Arts Sciences Trades and Employments not but that the Five Senses may be made capable of great Distinguishings and Understandings by being accustomed to hear Musical Harmony but they can never perform or do any thing except such do midwife the Magick Powers of Hearing into Words Motion and Action which Crowns the whole with Essentiallity and gives it an existence and therefore it s almost impossible for any Person to be a compleat Artist in any common Trade Art or Science by the use of the Sense only except such things be performed by the Motions and Actions of the Body and Members thereof for while any Art remains in the Magia only of Thoughts or Words it can never be performed from that very reason or constitution of such Bodies if I may call them so which are invisible and as it were Aethereal and cannot be incircled or made Essential so that our Thoughts and Imaginations pass and repass leaving no Precedent or Foot-steps behind them that any thing can be learned thereby and tho' Words may be said to approach nearer unto a Corporiety than Thoughts yet they being too slender and their Airy Bodies invisible they cannot make such a deep impression nor become so substantial and significant as the Motions or the Members of the Body and for this cause
silent only giving the Tutor an account of what he shall discourse and act and within the limits of the fore-mentioned time of a year or two the Learner shall be able to Speak properly easily and readily with a true Accent or Pronunciation as tho' he had been bred up in that Country whose Language he learns Thus briefly and with my wonted freedom I have given you my Thoughts of this Matter but how far they may concur with your Judgment and Inclination is wholly to your self only I desire you to believe they are sincerely intended for your Benefit by him who is SIR Your affectionate Friend and very humble Servant T. T. LETTER XXXI Of Times for EATING SIR YOurs of the 18th of August is before me and am heartily glad of you and your Familys good Health and Welfare and in particular take notice of your Question which when you was in London we had some discourse about viz. The best and properest times of the day for Eating our common Meats and the Natural and Physical Reasons thereof which you desire more fully This Question we have in our Way to Health and some other of our Writings given an account of to which we referr you however the Talents the ever Blessed Creator and Preserver of all Beings hath given me are always Devoted both to the Publick and Private which please to take as followeth THE goodness or badness of Concoction of Foods doth cheifly consist in the strength or weakness of the natural Spirits and according to their Degrees and Powers so is each Person 's Digestion better or worse quicker or slower the Root and Centre of a strong Stomach stands in the Fire therefore all such as are dignified with strong heats such are likewise endued with brisk lively Spirits and consequently with their respective Virtues and Vices cleanness or the contrary so is each Person in Health Strength Sickness and Weakness likewise the times of the day for Eating and Drinking do also add or diminish to each Person 's Health Strength Briskness or dull cloudy Heaviness for this cause we have in several of our Writings given Direction for the times that is to Eat about 8 of the Clock in the Morning and about 3 or 4 in the Afternoon Now the natural Reasons for it is First The length of time between 4 in the Afternoon and 7 or 8 in the Morning is considerable and more hours than half the Day and Night by which the Digestion of the Meats and Drinks are compleatly Concocted and the Stomach freed and as it were cleansed from all superfluous Matter and thereby is rendred fit and capable to receive proper Meats and Drinks and though the Appetite so early in the morning be not so sharp and craving as it is in the day after Labour and Motion in the open Air occasioned by the heat of the Bed and Stilness or gentle Motion but this kind of Dulness that most have so early proves a Benefit rather than the contrary for both craving or sharpness of Appetite doth frequently centre in a kind of Gluttony from whence the old Proverb did take its Birth Too long Fasting and too sharp an Appetite makes a gluttonous Meal and the like is to be understood in too great Drought both being a kind of Distemper and never passes off without leaving behind some signal Evil or at leastwise sowing Seeds and laying sure Foundations for Diseases But the indifferency and cleanness of the Stomach and Appetite in the morning prevents this sort of Gluttony and yet at the same time the Meats and Drinks find a well-prepared Stomach and a Ware-house where there is sufficient place and room to stow the Foods without prejudice to Nature whereas great hunger and strong or too sharp Appetites is in many Persons apt to continue the pleasure of the Palate in Eating and Drinking much longer than the conveniency or necessity of the Stomach and therefore most after such Meals do Experience a heavy hot cloudy Indisposition Secondly Sleep and Rest from action and motion are the principles from which the natural Spirits take their Birth and are hereby continually recovered and sustained and on the other side Motion Exercise and Action are means and methods that waste spend and weaken Now it is clear that in a Morning every Persons Experience doth witness a more brisk lightsomness and that the Body and Mind are more able and fitter to perform all actions of the Body and likewise to exert the Functions of the Mind far exceeding what they are in the Afternoon or latter part of each day and as each Person is more capable and better prepared for all the Actions of Life in the first part of the Day or Morning The like is to be understood of the Actions of the Stomach because all the power of Concoction and Digestion consists in the strength weakness goodness and badness of the natural Spirits for this cause it always proves an evil for any Person to consume or waste the natural Spirits too much either by Labour Fasting or any other Motion or Exercise before Eating because Meats and Drinks do require as strong Spirits and many for the Concoction and Digestion of Foods as Labour Motion and the brisk actions of Life do or rather more as most can or may experience for the cloudy heavy hot weariness and unnatural Disposition that follows after such great Meals of Food and strong Liquors which do overfill and stock the Stomach or Natures Magazin with too great quantities and of contrary qualities proves far harder to bear and of more dangerous consequence than either hard Labour motion or action of the Body for this cause every Person ought to Eat and Drink before the brisk lively natural Spirits are too far spent either by motion labour or too long Fasting by which they are preserved so that such a one shall be capable to go through the fatigue and business of the day with ease and pleasure and thereby free Nature from various Indispositions and from Sowing of Seeds for future Diseases for these reasons all Persons will find by experience after a little use and custom that an early Breakfast as we call it of some sort of Pottages within half or one hour at the most after they rise always Drinking a Draught of Small Ale or Beer before they eat that is so soon as they are up will prove of far more advantage both for Health Pleasure and performing all the actions of Life and Business than a Breakfast about 9 or 10 of the Clock and a Dinner about 12 1 or 2 as the Custom is which doth for the most part prove burthensom all the last part of the day and prejudicial to Nature For this is to be noted that the Meats or Foods after they come into the Stomach do not afford nor distribute their nutritive Vertues under the length or time of 5 or 6 hours or at leastwise that a Person can be sensible or feel a refreshment proceeding
about themselves wherein many Thousands have not only been accessary to their own Destruction by the venemous fumes of their own Fires but inticed others into the same Mischiefs by their Lying Volumes left behind them which have had no small influence on many very Ingenuous Persons whose Inclinations prompted them to those curious Studies together with the hopes of Gain and to become Richer than the Princes of the Earth and who tho' they have been endued with much Wit and other ingenuous Faculties yet they are void of any spark of true light or distinguishing understanding in the wonderful Operations of Nature Gods Eternal Power and fixed Methods of his Law But admit we should suppose they could attain to a proper Ferment both in the Mineral and Animal Kingdoms and Seminary Qualities whereby they could Ferment all Minerals as also the Flesh and Blood of Animals yet they shall not be able thereby to obtain the multiplying quality of Nature let their Menstruum be what it will because Fermentation wheresoever it is effected does in a moment destroy the unity of that thing and all its Seminary Qualities from whence multiplication proceeds by this fierce motion awakening the Central Principles out of their rest as already mentioned Further I say if this Fermentation could have been effected in the Mineral and Animal Kingdoms these Gentlemen would be as far off an Universal Medicine as ever neither would they be able ever to have made better Work or Medicines than there are made of Vegetations in the method of Fermentation and Distillation nor probably so good because Minerals are harder crude and harsher by much than Herbs Fruits Grains and Seeds having as it were no proportionable assimilation with the Humane Nature to which they are great Strangers and so rendred not capable of being made Homogeneal insomuch that Metals this way could be of no real benefit to Mankind but rather increase our Evils and Intemperances and our Operators instead of preparing Universal Medicines would have made Universally destructive Liquors or Spirits which no Art could ever make agreeable to Humane Nature and must be much worse than the Spirits or Brandies made of Vegetables are Again whatever could that way be drawn or extracted from the Bestial Nature of Animals must of necessity be gross and unclean in proportion to the Original from whence it proceeds for Nature never lies but is constant and true in all her Operations I will not take upon me in this place to say that the Arts of Fermentation and Distillation in any kind had been better lost than found in the World tho' it is most certain that Fermentation in the strictest and best Sense is no other than a certain vegetative and insensible Delirium or Madness and therefore all its Operations when the Fermented Liquor is strong and spirituous are in proportion and the same as I may say being Disbanded from under the Government of its Superior Officers so soon as a quantity of it is introduced into Mans Body it plunders Nature of all its sweet Virtues by drying and parching them up and at the same time breaks the Government of the Sentes turning Reason and Wisdom adrift so that the Body is in no better condition than a Ship without either Pilot or Rudder and penetrating into all parts and corners awakens and stirs up the Original Fires and by confederating with the same the whole Man becomes Mad and like one out of his Wits For which cause the Egyptians and Eastern Countries where the Art is supposed to have been invented foreseeing the Evils that would necessarily ensue did both by Laws and customs prohibit the Drinking thereof confining the said Liquors to the circle of Medicines I might take upon me were it necessary to ennumerate here the many kinds of Evils and Distempers the Drinking of such Liquors has introduced into the World but to wave that as being well known and but too sensibly felt I shall touch a little upon the other Inconveniences that do attend Fermentation and Distilling Are not most of our noble Fruits Grains and Seeds very much wasted and destroyed hereby which if otherwise managed would be considerable Preservatives For Example one Bushel of good Barley made into Malt Ground Fermented and Distilled into what they call Common Proof-Spirit makes but about Five Quarts thereof which in weight is not above Eight Pounds and an Half whereas the Barley before it was so ordered as aforesaid weighed about Forty Five Pounds and would have made Bread enough to sustain Six or Seven Persons for a whole Week with some other Foods or if the said Bushel of Malt had been Brewed into Beer or Small Ale it would have made Twenty or Four and Twenty Gallons of good Drink And tho' this last be of much less value to Mankind than the said Corn made into Bread yet it far exceeds the Five Quarts of Brandy both in quality and in all its Uses The like is to be understood in most of our other Grains and Fruits In a word Fermentation and Distillation have Midwifed into the World all the enticing Drinks and Liquors that are Drunk and tho' these Arts may be allowed to advance some particular things to an higher degree of usefulness yet they are but few and might well enough be spared Indeed Bread and Flour of Corn being of a ponderous close glewy Body Fermentation doth advance and better accommodate it to our Stomachs making it of an easier Digestion tho' at the same time this virtue of putting Ferment into our common Bread the supposed advantages thereof proceed chiefly from custom for the Ancients whose Health and long Life far surpassed ours in these latter days according to the Testimony of History used neither Ferment nor Salt in their Cakes and many of the Eastern People do follow that custom to this day And it is also remarkable that among the Iews and other Religions too after some of them came to allow Drinking Wine and Fermented Liquors yet they would not admit of Bread that was Fermented either with Leven or Lees of Wine to be eaten in their Religious Rites or Worship esteeming the same unclean in comparison to that which had no Ferment or Leaven therein and this they called clean or unleavened Bread Neither is this also to be omitted concerning our common Bread that if the Yeast be too much in quantity such Bread becomes in a very short time dry and harsh losing its sweet pleasant taste and moisture And by the by I may add in like manner that Salt is a certain and sure Enemy to Bread not only by causing it to corrupt in a short time but also it takes away and doth as it were destroy the natural pleasant sweetness thereof and indeed there is no manner of thing to be urged but custom for putting it in and 't is well known that Bread which is designed to be kept for a considerable while must have neither Salt Ferment nor Yeast in it and this
invisible Power whose body is the Air This is the Sense by whose directions all the Beasts and Creatures who have kept Gods Law do distinguish and choose their Foods viz. what to eat and what to forbear this Sense penetrates to the very Center of each thing and doth distinguish the good and evil Qualities and presents them to the Judge and if good they embrace them if evil they refuse them this all the undergraduated Creatures do perform without touching oâ—… tasting which noble distinguishing Power Man hath least of anâ—… thereby the Sense of Feeling is wounded by receiving Meats and Drinks that produce Diseases and Pains for all the Disordeâ—…s Intemperances and Errours of the other four fall or centre oâ—… the Sense of Feeling whence springs such a multitude of Diseases in the Body and Mind This Sense is a faithful Centinel or Guard that presents all Comers and Goers to the distinguishing Powers and Judge which gives certain and true Judgment if it be not corrupted and blinded by degenerate Courses and unclean Methods of Life otherwise it is capable to determine by its Touchstone the Complexion of each thing if it be cold as a stone then it turns it by as unfit for communication because of his weight and hardness the Central fire being locked up in the cold Watry Coâ—…lation or strong Bond of the Saturnine property and thereâ—… it is only good for such uses as Building to withstand the wrath of the Elements and to shelter Man from their fierceness also if any thing be presented in which the strong fierce heat is kindled it puts that by and tells its various uses for which it is good and the contrary the Truth of this may be further demonstrated by several Arts Trades and Employments The judgment whereof chiefly depends on this Sense of Feeling for by handling it is known whether work be welldone and compleat It s smoothness closeness thickness thinness c. are represented to the Understanding and determined according to what it finds whether it be good or evil It is likewise farther to be noted that this Sense of Feeling is the ground or original to all Corporality for though the Mind or Soul do contain all Principles Forms and Powers which do all lie in the sleeping or silent Magia even as all forms and qualities of Nature do in the Earth which could never be known or become manifest if the Husbandman by Manuring and Cultivation did not stir up and awaken the innate Powers and Qualities which do as it were stir up and wrestle with each other from whence proceeds a lively brisk motion of heat and vigour which is called growing or vegitation and then the hidden or incorporeal Forms and Qualities become visible being manifested in corporeal and individual Bodies for none of the Magical Forms and Powers can be known before they become Cloathed with suitable Bodies For every Spiritual Power or Quality when it is stirred up or agitated by circular motions and the russling or rubbing together of contrary Principles which do generate and open the Gates of heat and moisture which lie hid under such Spiritual or Magical Power and Form and is capable to attract proper and agreeable matter for a Cloathing or Body and according to the Governing or Predominant quality in the Spirit or Magick fire whether it be the bitter sour salt or sweet such a Body Shape or Form that thing obtains and is accordingly Vitious or Vertuous For in all Corporal Beings the Flegm or Body is the House wherein the hidden or Spiritual Beings become manifest and therefore so soon as the Spiritual substance that is surrounded and skinned over hath obtained its highest limit then there is no longer a Progression or Vegitation but all falls into Retrogradation Now the Flegm or Body doth by degrees dye and the inward power strength vertue and spirit of the thing loseth its House or Cloathing and so sinks into its Original and becomes again mingled with the hidden Powers and Spiritual Beings of the Elements and so much difference and variety you see in the Shapes Forms and Colours in the Animal Vegitable and Mineral Kingdoms which is beyond all human numeration The same variety there is in the Complexions of the Spiritual Powers and Qualities each Spiritual matter that hath the Government gives the Shape and Colour and as the Operations of the hidden Nature are in the Creating Generating and bringing to Manifestation the deep and wonderful Powers of the Vegitable and Mineral Kingdoms The very same is to be understood in the Animal Kingdom there being no difference but that the last is higher graduated The Body of Man is the human Ground or Earth which is as it were a Circle in which is contained all the Spiritual Powers Forms and Principles of Nature if this were not so Man could not nor ought not to be stiled or called the Image or Likeness of God so that in Man lyes hid all the wonderful Mysteries and Magick Powers of things even as they do in the Earth Now the Will is the Husbandman who can and doth by the assistance of the five great Powers and Councellors the Senses stir up and awaken the sleeping Magick Powers unto a sensible Feeling Tasting Seeing Smelling and Hearing of each other And this is Sensation or a stirring feeling Power For all the hidden inwardmost Principles and Powers of the Body are Magical Spiritual and Invisible the Body is but the Flegm or Cloathing of the said Powers as the gross body of Vegitables are the Cloathing or Covering of the Spiritual Sal-Nâ—…tral Virtues and Powers and keeps the said Virtues from evaporation For no Spiritual Power can be or ever is contented or satisfied when once it is awakened or stirred up out of its silent Magia or quiet Rest till it obtains a body without which it cannot become manifest to its self nor to the rest of the Corporal or Visible Powers for all the hidden Principles or Qualities are not satisfied till they are invested with proportionable bodies that thereby they may obtain an individual Being Therefore from Words each Man doth proceed to Actions or Works which doth compleat all the gradual proceedings and birth of Nature by which they become essential and substantial so that Principle Quality or Power that was in its first original ground a Naked or Magick thought is by the working moving Powers and contrary Qualities brought into a visible substance or Corporeal Body so that from the Nothing or invisible Spiritual Powers the Visible and Corporal Bodies and Substances of all things have taken their birth and therefore it was well and truly said by the ancient Seers and Wisemen that God made all things out of nothing For the original ground or unchangeable and incomprehensible Being is a Nothing in comparison to Corporality or Corporeal Bodies and therefore no Magick Powers or Spiritual Being can be manifest to its self or become individual as before mentioned till it Cloaths it self with