with this Philosophical and Aethereal medicine in which is no grossenesse impuritie nor any thing superfluous And our Anima liuely and naturall fire doth take and receiue to it this Aethereall medicine vertue and heauenly power like to it selfe Whereby it is holpen strengthened and made able to bee deliuered from his impediments and lettes and to consume and expell superfluitics of the bodie whereby the body is compelled to agree and to bee changed into the like nature voyde and clean from corruption and superfluitie Because nature delighteth to bee ioined with her like with peace rather then with warre with vnitie and concord rather then with discord And all naturall bodies desire in their kindes to be perfected which naturall desire is the cause of all perfection This Medicine Vnary among the Philosophers and Chymicall Physitions is called by diuers and many names and couered vnder diuers parables darke kinde of speaches which brought the right vse of this Arte into obliuion and deceiued worldly men and brought many from rich estate to extreme beggery For whereas the Philosophers were louers of wisdom and not of the world nor of worldly riches but desired to haue ternam atque quaternam beatitudinem vz. mentem sanam in corpore sano Therefore they vsed this vniuersall medicine wherewith they disgest and expell the corruptions out of their naturall bodyes wherby the body was so prepared that therein was made a perfect vnion betweene Corpus Anima Spiritus and transitus ab extremo perfecto per medium ad imperfectum Whereby the body was made subiect to the soule whereof seperatio mentis à corpore might ensue This surely they accounted purest Golde and chiefest riches as appeareth aswell by other Philosophers as by them that write of this arte But they that did write of this Medicine did it so couertly that men thought that those Philosophers promised in their writinges mountaynes of Golde and such a Stone or fixed matter that could conuert and turne al other base metals into materiall Gold wherein I thinke they were greatly deceiued For though some say that they doe finde by experience howe to take out of an ounce of Gold a small quantity wherewith they wyll turne an Dunce of Duick siluer or Leade into perfect Golde yet they get nothing thereby for by this meanes they make no more Gold then that weight of Gold was ftō whence they tooke their medicine because the medicin had no more goldish nature then serued onely for an ounce therefore could giue no more to others but may slightly colour more metall but then it is no Golde The probable and likely reasons of concockting digesting purging and separating of the rawe and impure mettals and so to make them pure by arte as nature in the earth doth make perfect Golde and siluer by conquocting and purging of Sulphur and Mercury because arte is the folower of Nature hath deceaued and vndon many men But if there may be such trāsmutation made into gold as men imagine and hope for yet I would aduise no man to study this Arte to that end nor yet to assay or practise that way least he doe repent to late as others haue don before For in my opinion the Philosophers Gold is such a temperate medicine as I haue declared which in deede is Astrum seperated from his impediments and grosse substance and brought to such puritic that it worketh in mans body euen as the vertue and power of the Starres worke in any matter prepared therefore by nature For this cause the Philosophers called the Mynerall diseases and instrmities of mans body by the name of imperfect metals as of Leade or Saturne of Coper or Venus of Iron or Mars c. like as the Astrologians doe aswell by reason of their place in mans body as for their nature and properties For there be double Excrements in mans body the one proceding of his Balme which is his Gold the other proceeding of nourishment The excrements comming of his Gold be called Myuerall excrements of the likenesse of the drosse which is about the Gold before it be fyned with Antimony These Mints are as it were Starres or Seedes therefore they make influencies blomings which are the fruites of Starres and Seedes Therefore they call bealth and sicknesse in man Minerals that is the fruits of man Such diseases in mans Gold are called Mynerall diseases which be purged onely with Mynerall Medicines For Mynerall excrements are onely purged with Minerall medicins which consist in the vniuersall medicine and in the tinctures of Gold Mercury Antimony which purge mans Balme and remooueth it from all filth which being purged all other filth will easely be voyded But if these myneral excrements be not purged then they hinder the operation and working of mans Gold or Balme into the three Principia of mans body aforesayd Whereof followeth their corruption and of the corruption of the Salts in man followe Boyles Vlcers Impostumes griefes not outwardly discerned most paynefull c. So that whē any man y t had any of these infirmities was brought to perfect temper by this vniuersall medicine then they said that those imperfect metals were turned into Golde And by this meanes was this great treasure of medicine hidden so that very fewe Phisitians and professors of Philosophie did vnderstand it though the Philosophere themselues in their writings exhorted al men that did reade their bookes that they should not credit the bare letters of their writings but should rather make an allegorical exposition thereof This seeking of materiall golde by this Arte did bring it out of the right vse of phisick and did as I said bryng many rich folke to extreme beggery whereby they grewe to sophistication of mettalles and so when they had wasted their owne substance they proceeded to exercise deceite lying and deuises to bring others into like state case vnto them selues which mooued princes in their countreyes to make Lawes agaynst Multiplyers as they were termed The auncient Chymicall Phylosophers and Phisitions did vse such darke speeches and parables in their writings because Secretes are to be reueyled onely to the Godly and vnto the children of doctrine and knowledge and vnto the wise therefore they did write vnto such that the secrets might be hidden from the vngodly foolish slouthfull and vnthankefull hypocrites whereby the wise and diligent with trauayle and labour might attaine to the vnderstanding thereof as one of them sayde it is not meete to prouide for a man a Pigion and to rost it for him and also to put it vnto his mouth or chawe it for him The auncient Aegyptians did vse no letters in holy and secret matters but pictures figures and charects grauen of things and beastes least the Secrets and mysteries should be prophaned among the vulgare people Such was the maner of the wise men of the oldest age to deliuer the profund and deep inquisition and search of wisedom by allegogories of secret Letters and by
it is separated into treble nourishment that is of our Salt Sulphur and Mercury and into double excrement So that when these medicines be rightly considered and compared together there seemeth to bee as great diuersitie betweene the rawe and grosse medicines and those that be purged by fire as is betwixt the true doctrine of Christ and the Romish doctrine For as the doctrine of Christ for the health of the Soule is altogether spirituall and the holy Scriptures of God do instruct the soule of man and speake to it whereby the euill affections and the actions and filthy workes of the body be taken away and amendement of life foloweth So do these auncient medicines for the helth of the body consist in heauenly vertues which are to be ministred and ioyned with the liuely Spirits of mans body that they may therby be fortifyed and made strong or rectified brought to vnitie whereby foloweth the help and cure of the diseases of the body And as the Romish religioÌ„ is mixed with impurities staÌ„deth in outward ceremonies traditioÌ„s corporal exercises which be lets to the works of the spirite whylest it is occupied about them So these corrporall and grosse medicines which serue for the body consist in bodyly grosse and rawe substances whereby the worke of the heauenly vertues be let and hindered And these bodies doe resist digestion which is occupied about them by meanes whreof the weake and faint partes that desire reliefe can not drawe to them these vertues for their succour being bound and fast tyed to their grosse substance And euen as the Romish religion teacheth that in the Eucharist there is no substance of bread and wine but onely accidents and that our bodies be nourished with the accidents of the Sacrament euen so the Ethnicke Phisitions and their folowers doe teache that accidents vz. heate cold c. be causes of al diseaces And that by them diseases are cured and health restored whereby they attribute vim vitae to accidents dead qualities which are caused raised and stirred vp by other things bee them selues onely Simptomata morborum So that in curing those accidents and qualities they doe as if a man would goe about to stop the flame and smoke of the fire and leaue the hot coles burning Chapter seuen One cause why the Author did write this treatise I Was the last Parliament time before this that is now sommoned at the table of a reuerend Bishoppe of this land which was not vnskilfull in Phisicke in the companie of a Phisition which inueying against this auncient Phisicke by the name of Paracelsus his Phisicke ignorantly attributing to him the first inuention thereof pleased himself and some of his audience in telling that the same Phisicke had no ground nor foundation neither any being Whereupon he tolde a tale that a man came to a Phisition and sayd to him that he was sicke but he could not tell where neither how he tooke his sicknesse nor how it held him The Phisition aunswered him that he had a Garden he could not tell where it was full of simples he could not tell their properties and that he would helpe him but he could not tell when And concluded that this Paracelsicall Phisicke as he called it was like in that it was vaine had no ground nor being I aunswered him with an other tale of a Poet which disdayning that Paynters and Poets were compared together and ioyned in one prouerbe pictoribus atque poetis quidlibeâ— addendi semper sunt equa potestas came to a â—uÌ„ning Painter and asked of him whether he could paint a man shooting at a birde sitting vppon the top of a tree with a Sunne and the bird therwith killed and falling downe yet the man should not be seene nor appeare The Paynter aunswered he could doe all that he required sauing the noyse of the Gunne and the smell of the powder which being excepted the price was agreed on the daye set for the deliuerie of the worke and for the payment of the money and bandes made of each side for performance of couenauntes on both sides The Poet at the day prefixed seeing and vewing the peece of Paynting could not finde the man with the Gunne but all the rest of the worke he found very artificially wrought whereupon he entereth the Paynters bande into the lawe He pleadeth performance of couenauntes the condition of the band being read and the paynting vewed the Gunner could not bee founde whereupon the action was like to passe against the Paynter Then sayd he it is parcell of the condition of y e band that the Gunner should not be seene But yet sayd he turne ouer the leafe which cunningly was couched in the peece of painting then appeared the Gunner very artificially paynted and also a greate sorte of the fables and tales of the Poets before his time very cunningly wrought And among them he had made very artificially a little Ant or Pisiner with a Poets hood about his necke creeping out of a Caue vnder a greate huge Mountaine I left the applying of the tale in both the poâ—utes thereof to him I do confesse that newe vayne confused and vnperfect doctrine without grounde is odiouse and a signe of râ—she wit and greate follie But seeing that both sides do clayme trueth perfection aunciantie and continuance on their sides their methoodes and opinions beeing somewhat briefly layd abroad to the indifferent Reader and after the originall progression and continuaunce of both these Phisickes likewise being set downe I doubt not but he wilbe able to iudge hetwixt them The chiefe pointes therefore be these Chapter eight Certaine differenses betweene the auncient Phisicke and the Phisicke of the Heathens THE Ethnick Philosophers lay the foundation of their Philosophie vppon Aristotle a Heathen and ignoraunt Mayster and teacher of the true knowledge of God and of his trueth The Chymicall Philosopher layeth the foundatioÌ„ of his Philosophie in Gods booke and alloweth none other principles of Philosophie but such as be there sounde or such as may bee deduced out of the same or bee not contrary to it 2 The Ethnicke Philosophers ascribe the efficient chiefe and principall cause of thinges vnto nature which is in them wherby they tye and bind God to the second cause and take away his prouidence ouer his creatures The Chymicall Philosophers affirme that all nature of things be onely instrumentall causes not working of them selues nor principally but depending wholly vpon the power and commaundement of God 3 The Ethnicke Phisitions doe seeke with mortall medicines that is to say such medicines as haue corruption ioyned with immortalitie whereof must needes followe dissolution whereof commeth death to cure and helpe the heauenly and Aethereall vertue in mans body And they seeke to cure the materiall body subiect to the worker and mouer and leaue the worker and mouer and his arte and cunning vnthought on and not prouided for because his arte and cunning is not to them knowne
Mysteries Therefore all the wrytings of the auncient Philosophers and Poets are full of Riddles darke speeches and parables to auoyde the contempt of the common people Such were the often teaching of our sauiour Christ So in the Primatiue Church those that were Catechymeni and Energymeni and those that had penance enioyned them might heare the Psalmes and the reading of the holy Scriptures but they might not be present at the ministration of the Sacraments nor at the holy workes which were done afterward but they onely were present which were thought worthy ¶ An example by an excellent particular Chymicall Medicin vnder the title to conuert ☽ into ☉ TAke the greene dragon and bath hym in warme liquor so long vntill all his blood be come out of his vaynes take out the purer part of this blood according to arte and distill it then câ—hobate the same three time take this liquor and distill it with the Liuer of Mars and keepe it for a precious thing For it will turne the Calces of Luna into perfect Sol that is to say it will turne siluer into Gold But the true meaning hereof is that this medicin will conuert and turne those partes of mans body affected which be subiect or attributed to the moone into perfect health Chapter 4. Of the Medicine Ternarij or perticularis BVt because this vniuersall medicin and knowledge thereof is grâ—uÌ„ted of y e almighty God but vnto very fewe and is rather to be wished and praied for then to be looked for therfore the particular medicin called Ternarii as is aforesayd is diligently to be laboured for and searched out which often times performeth and worketh the effet of the vniuersall medicin euen in greeuous diseases in consuming the impure seedes of diseases and in confirming and fortifying the power of our inwarde and naturall Balme This medicin of Ternarii coÌ„sisteth in y e three substaÌ„ties which are to be fouÌ„d in euery body that is to say in Sal Sulphur and Mercuri For as eche body is compounded of these three so they be causes of all diseases and not humors In these three consisteth all mans health and sicknesse as long as they doe agree together the body is in health but as soone as they disagree and vnitie is broken betweene them and if any of them be exalted or breake vnitie the body is sicke Therefore there be three generall kinds of diseases and eche of them haue their especiall sortes of infirmities as there be sundry sorts of Sal Sulphur and Mercuri of diuers and sundry natures There be like wise three kinds of medicine required and eche kinde of sondry nature to preserue or restore mans body to health So that if any of these three be exalted to much and passe their meane or breake vnitie he must be amended and reduced to perfect state by his owne kinde and not by a contrary kind by way of trasmutation If the disease be mixed or compounde of any of these for there is no disease almost but is mixed by some meanes yet it hath one of these three that is chiefe then must such disease bee holpe with oue or two of these taken out of some other fit body or substance per propriuÌ„ ad suum innatum because nature couâ—teth his like nature and desireth much to be coupled ioyned and chaunged into his like This naturall desire is cause of all perfection As long therefore as the three substanties aforesayd doe abide in vnitie peace and concord in maÌ„s body and in their owne proper degrees without pride doing their office their body continueth in health But because nothing is perpetual nor continueth in estate long among creatures consisting of fleshe therefore by reason of the diuersitie of the giftes vertue and power which be in them and by reason of the impure seedes ioyned with our norishment they abide not long in their office they abide not long in their degrees they exalt themselues they breake vnitie peace and concorde the badd is seperated from the obedience and mixture of the good which breach of vnitie and seperation doth shew those sicknesses and deseases in mans body which before by reason of the vnitie concorde and obedient mixture could not breake forth appeare nor be made manifest The which thinges as they come to passe in man that is Mycrocosmus so doe they likewise in the great world Which therefore is called Mycrocosmus or the little world because after God had made all thinges in the great world of nothing he made man in whom spiritually be conteyned all those thinges that is the properties of all those thinges which bee really in the greate worlde as the auncient Philosophers haue taught by these and like wordes homo naturaliter habet naturam omnium tincturarum Therefore that this Mycrocosmus may bee inwardly knowne to the Phisition he had neede to haue lumen naturae that is the knowledge of thinges in the great world how all of them doe grow increase be chaunged and dye whereby he may by the insight of his minde vnderstand the inward and hidden nature of man Wherefore he that would perfectly knowe what inward thinges be in man he had need to compare the vertues and properties of the naturall things in the great worlde with the inward thinges of man As you may perceiue by wine for this purpose which as long as his spirite doth abide in him mingled with the tarte vineger in vnitie and peace the wine is sounde pleasaunt and perfect but as soone as the spirite of the wine is seperated from the mixture of the sharpe vineger then the vineger doth appeare is manifested and may bee tasted Likewise when the vineger is seperated from the tartar theÌ„ doth the tartar appeare So is it in all thinges when they growe to corruption putrifaction and dissolution then the good that was in them is seperated from the bad seedes the bad doe no longer abide in obedience of the good but haue broken peace concord vnitie and obedience whereby thinges doe growe to corruption death This auncient Chimnicall Phisicke doth teach such seperation of the good from the bad out of all thinges and to make them manifest to visible and palpable experience which the Ethnicke Phisicke hath nothing to doe with nor his followers hath any skill thereof yet they barke and bite against this skill through their ignoraunce Chapter fifth How deseases ought to be cured by peace and not by discord in mans body THerefore as when the seede of the disease or corruption in man is seperated from his temperature coÌ„corde and vnitie of the body or of the good séede in the body then the bodie feeleth griefe sicknesse so on the other side to seperate the impure seed that hach gotten the maysterie from the pure that is maystered is the way to get health therefore sweate which is the seperatioÌ„ of the vncleane froÌ„ the cleane is wholesome for it purgeth by the pores and transpirations so it maketh the
Paracelsus hath most Godly and learnedly expressed in his Labyrinth In comparison of which al other Aucthorities in those matters are small or none Ars Signata also hath his place to giue euidence of the properties of things 7 The Ethnickes themselues that write of Symples c. measure as the plowe man doth the nature of them by their outwarde tastes and accidentes which perish in digestion so fewe outward things keepe their degrees which the Hearbals describe for the middle bodie doth blinde the phisition The Chymicall Phisition in triall of the nature of thinges first spoyleth them of all their outward formes qualities impurities and accidents which be couerts and clothes of the vertues and garments or ornaments of nature because superfluities impurities c. doe come to bodies accidentally and not borne in them in their first nature nor bee in them radically therefore they are fugitine by reason whereof it is possible to spoyle them of their accidents and by the fire artificiall to purge and cleanse them and to take away all their superfluities and externe things meete for the plowman to iudge vpon leauing only their Arcana inward and secret things remayning for the phisition to iudge vpon For mortification is the beginning of dissolution and separation of good from euill Whereby the inwarde Nature and arcana thereof doeth remayne free from his accidentes which then do shewe the verie properties and nature of things Aron called in english Coccowpint hath a very hotte taste in the leaues and roote Wormewod hath a bitter taste yet by light digestion preparation and separation of their vertues and properties from their bodies they vanish away and be lost It is otherwise in Ginger because his heate is stable liuely and fouÌ„â—ed in his naturall seede vertue or propertie and cleaueth to it stedfast The Vitrum of Antimonie is without any tast yet for all that is vehement Purgation Lead like wise hath no taste yet notwithstanding a pleasaunt sweete Sugar wilbe drawen out of it comfortable or pourging medicines or such as cause sleepe can neuer be found out by their taste of heate or cold The practisers in this arte doe finde by experience by healpe of the fire that eche thing hath two natures that is occultum and manifestum and that manifestum is commonly contrarie to occultum By this meanes of the fire they find Quicsiluer in manifesto is cold and moyste and within his occultum is hotte and drie And farder that in ech thing is good and bad of the bad doe diseases rise by the good being separated from the bad the same diseases are cured holpen This good thing is ArcanuÌ„ of that thing and is in the inner parte of the thing in occulto and is not tasted before separation as in Arsnick and poysons And diseases caused by Quicksiluer Lead or any other thing bee cured by Arcana taken out of them Hony and Sugar haue good in manifesto but in occulto they haue sharpe poyson which can not be tasted before separation Glasse is hidden in ashes Glewe in leather Therefore the outward tastes of the inwarde body of any thing doeth not nor can trie the inwarde nature vertue or propertie of any thing which should serue for medicine Euen as the Stomache doth prepare all things put into it and dissolueth seperateth and breaketh all the accidents of heate colde c. and searcheth out all their Arcana and verâ—nes of the meate because all other thinges dye in the stomack euen so the Herbe Plant c. must putrifie and dye in putrifaction and bee borne againe before it be a medicine But the sâ—cend life which is after putrifaction is profitable for medicine For a Graine doth not bring forth fruite vnlesse it bee first cast into the grounde and suffer putrifaction so the stomacke leaueth nothing whole or vnputrified but seperateth digesteth and putrifieth all thinges put into it but if they dye not and putrifie in the stomacke they doc no good but it is a signe of weakenesse thereof So what soeuer of the Hearbes Plantes c. dyeth or goeth away with the life thereof as the outwarde ornamentes doe whatsoeuer doth not remaine after putrifaction nor doth passe in regeneration that is not subiect to the Phisition Therefore those thinges that let putrifaction let health And vnlesse all the outward thinges bee spoyled there can bee no knowledge of their natures And vnlesse all the olde nature of things doe passe into regeneration there will bee no right medicine Therefore all the Phisitions labour and endeuour ought to be bent about the seperation of the pure from the impure and about regeneration For from thence â—â—â—w Tyncturâ—s Arcana Quintum esse in which be reposed and hidden all misteries the whole foundation true labour and care of the Phisition 8 The Heathen Phisitions and their followers say there be fower humours in man and according to those humours they attribute to man fower complexions The Chymical Phisition sayth ech member hath his proper humour not like to any of the fower but according to the câ—â—itution of the members and their effect ech member possesseth his owne humour and that ech disease consisteth vpon one qualitie and not vppon two or many And that there is but one heate one colde one moysture and one drynesse because it cannot bee proued that there is a dubble or treble colde substaunce hott moyst or drie substaunce Neither doe those humours receiue any anatony nor yet can they bee shewed as the three principia can And humors are dead thinges without life or power of life 9 The Heathen Phisitions and their followers take vpon them to discerne the deseases in man by the complexions humors and qualities The Chymicall Phisition teacheth if the Phisition couet or desire to know the nature of maÌ„ with al his deseases he must first know the deseases of all thinges which nature suffereth in the greate worlde by reducing those bodies into their three substanties So then shall he see one desease in this kinde of thing in that kinde an other desease but in man he shall see them all For by the Anatomy of the three substanties the Seedes Rootes foundations causes similitudes and likenesses of the effects panges griefes and fittes which appeare in deseases sicknesses are knowne and espyed If he ioyne these thinges together he shall be indowed with the knowledge of all deseases And the knowledge of the nature and effect of deseases of the great world pertayneth to the Phylosopher Thereby therefore shall he bee a perfect Phylosopher And where the Philosopher endeth there beginneth the Phisition And he that can know the nature of man and his deseases and the efficient causes of them as the Phylosopher knoweth the causes of deseases of externe thinges for that which hurteth Hearbes and Plantes c. that causeth the like in man and can bring nature to that point and passe that it may bee made fit and apt to helpe and cure
Pelagius Stephanus Alexandrinus and Olympiodorus fower famous Chymistes and Philosophers did write Commentaries and Expositions vpon that worke of his After him of this Arte did write Blemida Zosimus and Archelaus Chapter 15. That in Plato his time the Priestes of Acgypt were very skilfull in this arte And that Plato did finde that fault with the Phisitions of Greece in his time as the Chimicall Phisitions doe now with the Ethnicke Phisitions and their followers And howe Aristotle and Plato doe differ in the naturall causes of Effects AFter these about the yere of the worlde 3586. followed Plato in the Mathematicalls Phylosophie wisedome knowledge vertue and Eloquence farre exceding al others in his time He was borne at Athens he did not onely heare the famous Phylosophers Geometricians in Greece but also weÌ„t into Italy Affrike and Aegipt to learne the misticall Sciences Strabo writeth that the Priestes of Aegipt were so much esteemed and reuerenced in the olde time for their wisedome and knowledge that the most famous and best Phylosophers of Greece did trauayle to them for learninges sake They excelled in secrete Seyences which they called Cabalisticae and did communicate the same to others that were desirous to learne All the Priests of the Aegiptians were Physitions as Homer and Plato doe testifie Plato himself when he trauayled to them with his companion Euripides was taken with sicknesse and was cured by those Priests The opinion of Plato was this that the Phiâ—tions of Greece had no knowledge nor vnderstanding of many deseases in mans body because they were altogether and wholy ignorant in that which they ought cheefly to cure the which if it be not well at ease it is not possible for any parte of the body to be in health For all thinges either good or bad be deriued and doe flowe from Anima before declared into the body and to euery parte of man as they doe from the head into the eyes And as a man cannot cure the eyes without that he first doe cure the head nor the head before the body bee cured euen so the body can not be cured without you begin with Anima For Anima corpus curat is his doctrine in diuers places This he learned out of Greece by his trauayle The lacke of knowledge hereof was in his tyme the cause of error of the Physitions of Greece and so hath hetherto continued This is the doctrine of the Chymicall Physitions which the followers of the Greekes and Ethnickes haue no skill of and therefore so much impugne it Aristotle was in the tyme of Plato and was his vngrate and vnkind scholer Wherfore Plato vsed to call him a Moyle whose propertie is wheÌ„ he hath filled his belly with his dams milke then to kicke at her with his heeles He did not onely kicke at Plato but he omitted no man whom he did not taunt reproue or find fault with thinking to gaine and deriue to him selfe so much glory as he had taken from others although hee were more high and more excellent theÌ„ others and could see farther then any man els Aristotle contrary to his Master Plato referreth naturall causes of effects onely to certayne Elimentall qualities and so vaynly he doth attribute the power of life to dead thinges and resteth in such a beginning and ending in which ascending by the doubtfull care of naturall thinges being remoued from diuine mans mynde is turned from them which is the right way to Atheisme But Plato vseth his naturall knowledge in descent and not in ascent for he doth demonstrate and shewe the naturall beginnings in descent by the diuine causes of naturall thinges Chapter 16. Of diuers Poetical Fables shadowing and hyding the secretes of this Arte. DIuers Poets before the tyme of Plato and also after his time did wrapp and hide this Arte in Ridles darke speeches and fables As by the fable of the golden Fleece brought from Colchos by Argonautae the companions of Iason in the yeare of the worlde 2694. by their perrilous nauigation by the place where it was kept which was the fielde called Martius or dedicated to Mars by y e plowing of it with Oxen that breathed blowed out fire at their nosethrills by the ground which should be sowne with the teeth of the Dragon that watched and kept the golden Fleece by the bringing the Dragon a sleepe and obtayning the golden Fleece they signified the practise of this Arte daungers and perrills in this worke the purging and preparing of the matters and substaunce of the medicine in the furnaces that breath out fire at the venteholes continually in equall quantitie the Quicksiluer and Mercury sublimed which should bee sowen in Mars his fielde like seede which by often sublimation doth so rise out of the matter coÌ„tained in the Alembeck into the helme or head and in it maketh diuers formes figures and fashions as if men were fighting and one killing an other By these finally they signifie the medicine obteyned by labor wherwith Medea restored Aeason the father of Iason to his youth agayne The Poeticall Fables and darke tales of the Stones which Pyrra Dewcalion did cast from theÌ„ which were conuerted into women and men The Fable of Gorgon which turned all thinges that he did see into stones The Fable of Ganimedes whom Iupiter did turne into an Egle and caried hym vp to heauen The Fable of Dedalus and his sonne Icarus inclosed in Laberinth and the winges which were made for them of feathers fastened together with waxe to flye out of the Laberinth The golden Bow which Virgil doth speake of which being cut of an other like to it did immediatly rise in his place The Fable also that Iupiter being angry with his father Saturne did cut of his prime members with a sharpe Cycle of the blood of which when it was fallen into the Sea Venus was begotten The Fable that Iupiter did shake his head wherby Minerua lept out of his brayne The tale how Minerua escaped from Vulcan taken with the loue of Minerua when he followed her hastely The tale how Io whom Iupiter loued was compassed with a grosse and dark Cloud whereby she was staied when she was running from Iupiter The blacke sayles of Theseus which his father did see for sorrowe whereof he drowned himself in the Sea The Serpent also that was ingendred after the great Flood whom Apollo did kill with an Arrowe The Fable of the Gardens of Hesperides out of the which Hercules tooke the golden Apples which were kept by a Dragon And the Fable of Cadmus the sonne of Agenor which killed the Dragon that deuoured his companions whose teeth he did pull out and sowed them of which men did rise which did immediatly kill ech other And his building of Thebes in Boetia after the maner of Thebes in Aegipt where he was borne as some say with money which he got by this Arte whereby it is signified that this Arte did still florishe in Aegipt All these and such other
the worke of the fire which doeth seethe the fleshe in the pott and giuethe no vertue to the fleshe it doeth onely seeth and prepare that which is in it euen as the Carpenter which buildeth the house to be dwelt in but he maketh not the dweler he fashoneth only the forme and the outwarde house with his signes by the whiche eache thing maie bee knowne accordyng to his forme and fation By these and such like testimonies whiche in many places yea euery where almost in his workes be found he sheweth that the Philosophie which he teacheth is agreable to y t which S. Paule teacheth y e Athenians y t God dwelleth not farre from euery one of vs so saiethe the psalmist thou arte nere vs O God and al thy commandiments are trueth The Prophet likewise saienh I am God nere at hand and not God a farre of sateth the Lorde Yet the greatâ—elle of the dâ—â—me power is not streightened in spaces or limites but is euery where as the inuisible and incorporall soule is diffused and disperâ—ed into all the members partes of the bodie and is not absent from aÌ„ny seuerall parte although it haue one priuate and principal seate in the whole bodie yet it is diffused and dispersed into the vaines fingers and other partes And if any member of the bodie be corrupte and neede to be cut of because that member beeng dead by defect hath not his proper vse that fâ—â—she which is rotten and corrupte is cut of without any detriment of the Soule euen so the invisible incorpeâ— all and immesurable God we doe vnderstande to be in this corporall cuâ—â—mscriptible world and sufâ—erith no detriment by the death or rather dissolution of any thyng therein he passe the through all thynges and ail thinges are full of him Therefore both heauen earth shew forth his glorie how is heaueÌ„ y t scate of God the earth his footestole as the Psalmist saieth But that bothe in heauen and in earth his vertue might power replenisheth al things So therfore is God the parent of al thyngs repleneshing all the worlde in the fulnesse of his vertue This kynde of Philosophie certain of the Poets before Sainct Paules tyme haue confessed as Sainct Paule saiethe for their great god Iupeter or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they cawhed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifiyng by this worde that we liue by hym for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as muche to saie as to liue Aratus also the Poet saied the waies markets gates and all thinges are Iouis Plena so saide Democritus omnia plena diis sunt all thinges are full of gods Therefore Christians ought not to attribute the vertues power and worke of God to Nature or other creatures or to dead qualities nor yet the office of life to dead thynges For this cause Selsus the hereticke is worthely reprehended for attributyng the creation and generation of one thyng out of an other as Bees out of ane Oxe Waspes out of a Horse c. to the temperature of qualities of heat cold moisture and drinesse c. and not to the workes of God For to giue life or to quicken belongeth to no creature but onely to the Diuine nature onely God quickeneth all thyngs and the spirite of God giueth life to all thinges For first there must be quod est Viuere afterwarde Vita because that Viuere is the cause of life and life is the effect of liuyng for Viuere bringeth forth life by force of Nature there must be Actor before ther be Actio for Agens begetteth Actionem wee must therefore confesse that there is a certain might and power wherby al thyngs doe liue and as it were with a liuyng spring be watered and erected into life to the ende that they may liue And because they doe liue they obteined their beyng God the Father whiche is principal Viuere and Potentia viuendi and tht Sonne whiche is Vita is that might and yower and cause of all life the fountaine and originall of liuing things the which from him that is Esse doeth giue Esse and beyng to other thynges accordyng to the power of that whiche receiueth and that moderateth the power of liuing and substance accordyngly But this cause of life doeth neuer forsake life for his inuisible thynges vz. his vertue power and prouidence doeth gouerne things visible liuyng and created otherwise without that eternall and inuisible vertue nothing can abide nor continue stedfastly in his essence beyng life for wheÌ„ that vertue of God is taken away that gouerneth and quickned the thyng visible then it liueth nor moueth any longer then hath it no beeyng longer then is it subiect to corruption therfore to giue life to liue and to maintain life beloÌ„g to the diuine nature so theÌ„ they be eternall For this cause the nature of the Elementes haue not of them selues that they cann avoyde corruption neither doe they consist of themselues but by the wordes and spirite of God If to liue and to giue life and to maintaine life be immortall and eternall of their owne nature then were thei not created neither can they suffer corruption And if at their creation thynges be inspired with life for life is the cause that thynges haue their beeyng and creation he the worke and vertue of the highest nature and of the onely God of all thynges for immittit spiritum creantur then it seemeth to be cheifly against the diuine glorie to say that God hath giuen to nature or to any thing created and subiect to corruption the office of creatyng and giuing life and to bring forth things that were not Likewise the secret operatioÌ„ and working of God giueth increase and norishment to all things and the inner power of the creator whiche filleth both heauen earth giueth forme figure and mouing to all things yea all those thnigs whiche we call natures of thyngs whiche doe worke in this sorte or that fashion do not proced outwardly nor are the workyng of creatures but are the workes of the highe God whose seecrete power perseth all thynges and causeth to be what soeuer is by any meanes For vnlesse he make it to be such or in suche sort it should be nothyng Therefore it is not lawfull to saie that those thinges that be proper to the diuine and vnspeakable Nature can naturally be in any thyng made by hym or to attribute the power of God to creatures or dead accidents vnlesse you will vnderstand naturally to be the workyng of summa natura in his creatures for this cause saieth Paracelsus the vertues of thinges be not naturall And not only in that we are begotten and liue but also in that wee moue wee haue it of the might and power of God so saieth the Psalmist thou hast put thy hand vppon me that is thou gouernest conteinest makest orderest and bearest me And if thynges liue not and haue not motum vitulem or stuendi refluendi naturam they bee
essenties seperated among whō those Orbes are distributed to bee equall and like substaunce but he alloweth that mynde or essence which is the elder that is God to bee onely so much the more excellent then the rest by how much the orbe assigned to him is more excellent then the other Orbes That Philosophie also teacheth that it is an absurde thing and against reason to say that any thing eternall had any beginning therefore because those Orbes be eternal they had no beginning Likewise it teacheth that God medleth not vnder the Moone and that he is not the maker nor the creatour of any thing but onely the mouer of the heauen and it maketh God to be the finall cause onely of motions and not of the nature of ech seueral thing neither doth his Philosophie teach any agent cause of those thinges which it affirmeth to be eternall And by this doctrine it must needes follow that because the world is eternall without beginning ending and incorruptible therefore it needeth not thy prouidence either that it should be or continue nor that it needeth thy helpe And because it hath no other efficient cause of any other but of it selfe therefore it needeth none other to prouide for his being or well being It also teacheth that thou O GOD medlest not vnder the Moone but that thou rulest vnder the Moone onely with a cōmon influence and vsuall course of second causes though some doe vntruely goe about to excuse this doctrine in saying that it accompteth Nature to be God or at least Gods Vicar or deputie which neither needest any such nor yet hast any deputie O most mightie God creator of all thinges strengthen thy people against these and all such doctrines tending to the derogation of thine honour goodnesse mercie and wisedome and by reason it appeareth that no body of it selfe is immortall because each body consisteth of his partes therefore it may be dissolued but the soule of man is immortall and the body is made immortall at the last resurrection by reason of the presence of the soule But Aristotle maketh no mention of the immortalitie of the soule neither doth he attribute any felicitie to it after the death of man whereby Alexander Aptrodisienses concludeth that he denyeth the immortalitie of the soule Also reason teacheth that many diuers and contrary thinges can not bee ioyned together by themselues without the helpe of an other and be not brought to one certaine forme vnlesse they bee vnited together by the helpe of some other The worlde therefore consisting of so many diuers and contrary partes in which colde heate drinesse and moysture are ioyned together and other thinges of contrary nature◠and vertues doe agree together in one forme And the Orbes and celestiall bodies of contrary motions from the East to the West and from the West to the East and in retrogradation and direction and stationarij their motions in the Epicycle in the Aust oposito angis doe make no discorde but keepe a regular order in all those contrarieties Therfore we must bee compelled to confesse that there was and is one that hath coupled vnited and ioyned together such and so diuers contrary things otherwise such diuers and contrary things and motions by their owne swing course and mouing would bee dissolued one from an other vnlesse they were preserued by some others Can there be a table painted with diuers colours and pictures or pots of diuers sorts and fashions without a workmaster Can any thing that lacketh a gouernour or ruler be moued by it selfe continually in a regular or certaine order Therefore by reason it appeareth that the worlde is gouerned and ruled O God by thy diuine prouidence And thou O God that rulest all the vniuersall worlde doest also gouerne rule and prouide for each parte thereof for he doth nothing well that neglecteth the least parte of that thing Likewise O almightie God that heathnish Philosopher doth teach that homo Sol generāt hominē whereby O good God it must needes followe that man and the Sunne must be eternall and infinite Though heate nourisheth and cherisheth our bodies yet for all that it is not the cause of generation and begetting but thy worde O mercifull God so commaunding that the blood of this or that man shalbe made male or female Reason can not comprehende this worde therefore it must needes childishly trifle off the causes of such things So the Phisitions following the Philosophers doe referre the cause of generation O God to a cōuenient mixture of qualities which doe worke in the matter ordeyned before what colour soeuer reason doth beare herein yet for all that they doe not attaine to the first cause thereof For the holy Ghost O God doth leade vs into a higher cause then to nature then to qualities and their temperature when it setteth before vs thy worde O omnipotent God in which all things are created and conserued Also O most high God this heathnish Philosophie doth not admit any Metaphisicall principle in naturall thinges in which ascending by the doubtfull care of naturall thinges being remoued from diuine mans minde is turned from them And surely such naturall Philosophie is the next way to make men forget thee O God and to become Atheists for it teacheth men to cleane and sticke fast vnto the nature of thinges not ascending nor considering the Creator And so it tyeth thee O God to the seconde causes and doth not attribute to thee any actions but according to that nature of thinges whereby it doth bewitch men in such sorte and make their mindes so mad that they neither do aske neither looke for any good thing at thy hande for the euent and successe of each thing must of necessitie bee answerable to the naturall cause And by that doctrine thou O God doest followe the nature of thinges created whereas contrariwise all thinges created must followe thee so that it placeth the effected cause in the steede of efficient and the instrumentall cause for the agent And further it teacheth that matter and forme is the first principle of naturall thinges which doctrine draweth thy people O God from true honoring of thee for the creation and prouidence of thy creatures It is not enough to confesse that thou didst create all thinges if it bee sayd also that thou hast forsaken those thinges as soone as thou hast created them as the Carpenter leaueth the house when he hath once made it for so should the worlde sone perish and come to ruine but thou O most mercifull God doest direct all thinges that bee or shalbe by thy vnderstanding and knowledge to meete and conuenient endes such as pleaseth thee to thy honour and glory For in thee wee liue moue and haue our being and all thinges be of thee and in thee and by thee For we can not moue our tongue which is the lytist part of our body without thy prouidence Man may prepare the heart but thou O God rulest the tongue
neither doth a Sparrowe light vpon the ground without thy good will O almightie father And all the heires of our head be numbred thou câ—riâ—st all things by the word of thy power thou art the Lorde of all flesh thou art the Lord of all spirites thou workest all things according to the decree of thy will Therefore O God graunt we may cast our care vpon thee that thou may nourish vs take thou care ouer vs touch the apple of our eye be thou our shield and brasen wall Bee thou our helper and wee care not what man may doe to vs. Giue vs a newe heart and a newe spirite as thou hast giuen vs thy Commaundements so make vs to walke in them By these and such like testimonies of thy most sacred and holy worde O good God we learne thy diuine prouidence ouer man and all other thy creatures and that thou doest not leaue nor forsake them when thou haddest made them but doest of thy most tender goodnesse gouerne not only man but also whatsoeuer thou hast created whose infinite power worketh euery thing in euery thing And thy seruaunts doe acknowledge O God that a peculiar force and vertue was giuen to euery thing at the beginning by thy worde voyce and commaundemeÌ„t which yet are in continuall force but yet the same bee but onely seconde and instrumentall causes not working of themselues not principally but depend vpon thy power and commaundement without which thou workest the same effects when thou pleasest which thou art wont to do by meanes of the second causes And all thinges which are in this world and which are seene doe not onely take their beginning from thee to bee thinges but also to haue such power and vertue and to be such maner of thinges as they are Therefore is the worlde a looking glasse in which thy wisedome is perceiued If wee ascende into heauen thou are there If we descende into hell thou art present And though thâ—se vertues and powers haue in them great strength and eâ—fâ—â—acie and thou O God 〈…〉 often tymes worke by them as thou doest by thâ—â—e Angels thy ministers which doe thy will yet are they all but the second causes and instruments of thy diuine prouidence and can doe nothing vnlesse thou bee present to gouerne the things and helpe and bring forth the effect For thou O God doest not so giue force to thinges nor doest so send thy Angels thy ministers that thou art absent thy selfe for thou reachest and touchest from end to end mightely and disposest all thinges sweetely and profitable to thy glory Therefore art thou O most mightie God the first and efficicient cause of all things For thou O God almightie father art the resting and quiet fountaine of al things that be perfect of thy selfe needing none other Thou art the first action and workest inwardly thou art the true light Thou art not onely all in each seuerall thing but all in all spiritually in power and essence so thou art euery where thou art the being first cheefe and principall liuing and parent of life hauing quiet motion in thy self and mouing thy self inwardly being not moued by motion Thou art the being and beginning of all other things Thou art silence thou art quietnesse or resting abyding in thy selfe that is secret mouing or secret action Wherefore thou art sayd as it were to sit in the Center of all thinges that bee from whence with an vniuersall eye that is with the light of thy substance by the which each thing hath his being life and knowledge thou doest beholde them thy will is the still worde Thou O Father art the beginning of being of all substaunces which from thee that is the being it selfe doest giue being power of life and substaunce to all thinges according to the power and capacitie of the receiuer All thinges dwell in thee potencially thou art the parent of all things in power Thou art omnipotent thou art all in all in those thinges whereof thou art the originall and cause in vertue and power Thou fillest heauen and earth and thy spirite hath filled the whole world yet it is in secrete that is in power For there must bee a certaine might or power wherwith all things are quickened into liuely Spirits as it were from a liuely fountaine that they may liue of that and because they do liue they obteine their being For there must be an Actor before there be action the Agent bringeth fâ—orth action Therefore thou O Father which art the principall and first liuing doest bring forth life Thou O God the Sonne by whom all thinges were made and without whom nothing is made art the fâ—ood or riuer running from the Father the fountaine thou art the light of the worlde for by reason of thee all worldly things liue Thou art the Image of the Father the word the wisedome of the father and the vertue and power of operation and working Thou O God the Sonne art the apparent and manifest motion or mouing moued by motion the actiue motion or action and actiue worde for the manifesting of the power is action which action hauing all thinges that bee in power liuing and knowledge according to motion doth bring forth and make manifest all thinges not by locall motion neither by transferring into place but by a better and diuine motion such as belongeth to the Spirite which by his owne motion doth giue life and bringeth foorth vnderstanding 〈…〉 in it selfe and not cut from the first power in the operation Thou O Christ art life hauing life in thy self appearing outwardly in quickning And because thou art life therfore thou art motion quickning al that is quickened for life is cause of motion And because thou art manifest motion comming from secrete and inwarde motion and life taking life from liuing and the principall life and beginning therefore life is begotten of liuing or principall life and thou art the Sonne of the father and by thee all thinges are made Thou art life in al things seing thou art euery where all fulnesse doth inhabite in thee corporally that is in operation substantially And because the very life had no beginning being alwaies of it selfe to it selfe of the father therfore it neuer câ—asâ—th and it is alwaies infinite and there is no life which in so much that it is life doth not pertaine to the riuer of life it giueth life breath to all thinges and in all thinges from supercelestiall thinges to coelestiall and to heauenly bodies to â—â—yall waterie and earthly thinges and to all thinges that the earth doth bring forth and to all other thinges therefore euery matter whereof the worlde consisteth is indewed with life and Christ is in the life by whose power all things doe come forth and proceede into generation and consist according to their matters and substancies to the which thou giuest such propertie and vertue as they haue Thou art the vniuersal word remayning impassible and not turning yet life is before
error Plato reproued in the Greeke PhisitioÌ„s long ago which Plato taught that Anima curat corpus And because the heathnish Philosophie doth attribute the cause of thinges to dead qualities of heate cold c. and not to the liuely vertues and powers in thinges therefore that heathnish Phisicke seeketh by like dead qualities to cure liuely and mechanicall spirites And because they vnderstand not that deseases doe proceede of the mechanicall spirites and tinctures of impure seedes ioyned to the pure by thy curse O iust God therefore they seeke not their medicines in the pure seedes And because O mercisull God the heathnish Phisicke and the heathnish Philosophie doth not acknowledge that it is thy power and vertue that bringeth forth all thinges that growe and that thy working power doth preserue and maintaine all thinges and that it is thy curing vertue that helpeth and cureth all deseases greeses and infirmities by such meanes as it pleaseth thee or without meanes therefore they cleaue fast to their false imagined naturall causes and meanes of helpe forgetting thee whereby many of them become Atheists And because the heathnish Phisick of Galen doth not knowe how thou O God hast ordeyned all thinges in vnitie peace and concorde therefore it seeketh the cure in dualitie and contrarietie To bee short because O most merciful God the heathnish Phisick doth not knowe that the purest best and medicinable parte of each thing is in his Center therfore it neither doth seeke neither haue his fauorers learned nor doe knowe how to finde that pure parte nor to separate the pure from the impure they cannot digest nor make ripe that is rawe they cannot chaunge sower into sweete they cannot mittigate the lothsomnesse of heates tastes smelles coagulations c. neither make any medicine volatile For which cause therefore doe they not knowe the power of the mechanicall spirites by meanes of their subtiltie finesse pearcing and moueablenesse neither do they knowe the finesse and pearcing by meanes of separation of thinges mixt with them neither the separaetion by meanes of digestion and circulation wherefore they doe not knowe how the mechanicall spirites of deseases doe differ among them selues and one from an other in power pearcing moueablenesse finesse grosnesse in easie or vneasie resolution and alteration and such like tokens whereby they are ignoraunt of the true causes of the pangs fits and passions of deseases and how and in what maner bodies and partes of bodies doe differ one from an other and among themselues For seedes do differ in partes of the body and as the seedes doe differ so the bodies and partes of the bodies doe differ one from an other and their natures and properties of which difference of the seedes coÌ„meth the difference of the mechanicall spirites conteyned in them in which the giftes and offices of the seedes doe florish Likewise might they know of the fits panges and passions of deseases the difference of the seedes and of the fruites of the seedes being knowne the seedes or rootes of deseases are knowne euen as the Peare tree is by the Peare because the fruites vz. the panges fits passions and maner of the deseases are brought forth like to the rootes Neither haue they any skill to reiect the Bynary and to bring the Ternary to the simplicitie of vnitie where by the medicines may bee purged from their carcases and impediments and the spirit Anima be brought out of darknesse into light by meanes whereof the corrupt body of man may bee so purged and purified that the troubled minde and oppressed memorie may bee quickned and releeued by thy gift O God and be made more able to vse the talent by thee giuen â—t the beginning and the more strongly to resist the wicked deceiuer and be better disposed to honest life and conuersation pleasing to thee O God Because O most mercifull God I doe finde these faultes and such like in the heathnish Philosophie and heathnish Phisicke I do know that by the fauorers and followers of that Philosophie and Phisicke I shalbe mocked laughed at had in derision and my sayinges and words shalbe wrested racked writhed dismembered pulled from their partes and turned from their right sence and meaning And the more vnskilfull the aduersaries be in the true Philosophie and Phisick and withall wilfull the more busie O God wil they be to replye with taunts quippes scoffes and gibes but such deserue no place nor time of answere Wherefore O most wise God author of all wisedome I pray thee instruct thy people and seruaunts in the true Philosophie and Phisick and open the eyes and mollifie the hearts of the followers of the heathen that they may see and followe the same for thine honor glory And from lying lippes and deceiptfull tongue deliuer me O God R. B. FINIS Chapter first What the auncient Phisicke is And what the phisicke of the Ethnikes or heathen is And that there is no trueth that is not deriued from Christ the trueth it selfe THE true and auncient phisicke which consisteth in the searching out of the secretes of Nature whose study vse doth flowe out of the Fountaines of Nature and is collected out of the Mathematicall and supernaturall precepts the exercise whereof is Mechanicall and to be accomplished with labor is part of Cabala and is called by auncient name Ars sacra or magna sacra scieÌ„tia or Chymia or Chemeia or Alchimia mystica by some of late Spagirica ars Which sheweth foorth the compositions of all maner bodies and their dissolutions their natures properties by labour by the fire following Nature diligently So that Philosophie naturall and supernaturall the Mathematicals Chimia and Medicina be so combined together that one of them can not be without the other I doe meane the true and right vse of Chymia and not the abuse thereof which promiseth golden mountaines vnder the vain title of Philosophie and Wisdome the wisedome whereof is consumed and wasted in smoke by force of the fire This auncient and true phisicke consisteth of Medicines of two sorts The first is Vniuersalis or vnarii The second is ternarii or particularis These two are founded vpon the Center of vnitie concord and agreement their scope and end is to bring the sicke person to vnitie in himselfe they doe agree with the rule of Gods worde they depend vpon the fountaine of trueth The Ethâ—â—kes or heathen haue of their own braynes deuised a third kinde of phisicke or Medicine which is binarii or vulgaris This is most grosse and worst and is that phisicke which is most commonly vsed and most stoutly mainteined and defended This phisicke is founded vpon a contrary Center to the other therefore a false Center For it consisteth in dualitie discord and contrarietie It maketh warre and not peace in mans bodie It is not founded vpon the rule of Gods worde but vpon the authoritie of men reprobate of God such as were Idolaters and ignorant of the
trueth consisting onely in God whome they knewe not and in his Christ the trueth it self whome Galene the prince of that phisicke in his workes hath blasphemed of set purpose and by expresse wordes And therefore he and the rest his folowers were sedused with the spirit of contradiction and error Yet their folowers thinke wee doe them great wrong in saying such haue not sayde nor written the trueth As though Artes and Sciences may be possessed and exercised by mans braynes and inuētions without God that made them This may well be called blasphemie Herein Plato may be sufficiēt witnesse against them saying that no man can rightly vnderstande and haue knowledge of things belonging to man if he be ignorant in things parteyning to God and doe not first know things diuine For seeing Christ is the way by the which we ought to begin proceede goe onward and to the ende in all our actions artes and Sciences we ought to walke in this way aswell to attaine knowledge health and life in this world as life in the world to come The heathen Phisitions not walking in this way must needes erre and stray not receiuing the key of wisdome which is science of GOD himselfe who giueth wisedome to the wise And seeing that all things which the Father hath be his sonnes Christes and seeing wisdome and science be the riches of God and all wisedome is of him and the power of God is wisdome and science and the working power of GOD is Christ and Christ is the trueth therefore hee that swarueth from Christ neither hath the treasures and riches of the wisdome and science of God neither is lead into the trueth by the trueth it selfe therefore hath not trueth And seeing Christ is life it selfe which is the power of life to himselfe and to al others by whome all things are made and moue and by whome life is in all things frō things celestiall to things in the heauens ayer water and earth and to all matter in the world which hath life and he is in the life and is the power of the seede of all things which become and proceede to be manifested and come to action of whom euery body brought forth by touching and coniunction doth grow and increase and by whome all thinges are one not as a heape of Corne or graine is one body onely by lying together but because all partes doe hang together and be as it were one chaine For God Christ the holy Ghost the soule Angels and all corporall things is as it were this chaine and the Father is the principall life and cause of life and al things in the world haue bèing and life of Christ the life it selfe which giueth them to all things and is in the life and all in all Who also is the light of the light that is of God which sitteth in the Center of all things that be from whence with his vniuersall eye that is with the light of his substance whereby he is their being and life doeth behold all things For from the Center all things are seene at once and alike Therfore all perswading speaches and fayre and plausible arguments hauing great shewe and colour of reason being deriued out of mans braines or corrupted or mingled with the leuen of mans inuētions swaruing from Christ or not resting in him or leauing nothing or very litle to him in whose power and gouernement all things are from whome health and life is deriued in whom all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge are hidde must needes be not onely confuse and vayne but also erronious foolish deceitfull false and counterfeit though they beare neuer so gay titles of Philosophie wisedome or phisicke Such is the Philosophie whereof S. Paule giueth vs warning Col. 3. saying beware lest there be any man that spoyle you through the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world and not after Christ for in him dwelleth al the fulnesse of the Godhed bodily Such Philosophie and phisicke hang not together in the chaine aforesaid nor yet bee illuminated from the right Center nor seene from the same but be founded vpon diuers Centers whereby their Circles doe cut one another or touch ech other therefore they doe not consist in vnion but are contrary to eche other Such Center is the Center of dualitie contrarietie and discord The originall thereof is worthely called Binari the author of diuersitie and contrarietie which alwayes maketh sedition and discord as vnitie is the band of concord For concord is the vnion of diuers appetites of those things that doe desire whereby they be of one minde Therefore euery thing in the worlde doth so long indure and abide as long as it is one but it dieth and is dissolued as soone as it sesseth and leaueth to be one Vnquietnesse beginneth in things where Meum tuum is become to be knowen in them whereof commeth griefe which is a sense or feeling that can not abide deuision or corruption Whereby it appeareth how desirous Anima which is medium inter corpus spiritum is of vnitie in his body which bendeth it selfe and striueth against that passion or griefe of his body by the which it greeueth him that his vnitie and integritie should be weakened Chapter second The originall causes of all diseases in the greate worlde and in the little worlde which is man GOD almightie the creator of al things did see the angels which he had created fall from vnitie and he made all the world to the image and similitude of vnitie wherein it did consist Also by his bountifull goodnesse and prouidence he created Microcosmum or little worlde vz. man his ternarium and last creature and substituted him in the place of his other creatures which were cast out of heauen From this one did God deriue all mankind And hee did not create the woman which should bee cowpled to man as he made him but out of him that al mankind should spring out of one to the commendation of vnitie and concord The worlde did persist in this vnion and did obserue the nature of vnitie vntill that wretched creature Binarius which fell from vnitie and made a dualitie contrarietie enuying the state of man that persisted in vnitie by captious sophisticall reason did perswade him to eate of the Apple forbidden whereby he brake vnitie and fell headlong into disobedience dualitie and contrarietie Then was he spoyled of perfection and of the health of his soule and body and purchased to himself all the filthinesse of vice infirmitie and sicknesse Also the Seedes of all things of the world which by vertue of the word of God at the beginning had receaued power of generatiō and multiplication were perfect and sound without corruption aud did persist in vnitie vntill such time as by the said counsel of Binarius man fell into disobedience and brake vnitie Whereupon by the curse of God impure Seedes were mingled with the perfect seedes and did cleaue fast
working to the skilful knowen it shal not only lose that haue it cleane takeÌ„ away but also it may bee brought to the highest degree of operation and working and made most perfect like to y e Aethereall fyre which nourisheth and quickeneth mans body whose property is to consume all corruptions caused hy the elementall fyre and with his batefulnesse to restore the naturall moysture which was consumed by the Elementall Fyre In these things labour and diligence is required which the followers of the Ethnicks for the ease sake loue not to heare of Yet God which hath created medycine would that the Phisition should prepare it by his labour and diligence For he selleth all things to vs for the price of our labour he willeth vs we should eate our bread in the labour and swette of our face There like probabitie of reason without knowledge of the working by this Arte maketh them to inueigh against medicins taken out of Mettals because they knowe not that before they be medicin they are not reducible into mettall againe but bee volatill spirits and they themselues being ignorant to get out such their nature vertue and propertie by Arte are glad to seeth Golde and steale in Drinke or Brothe and to giue Golde beaten into fiue leaues in medicin and to vse Pearls and Precious stones which be Mynerals also in power which is their body for medicin and sometimes the very bodies of some Mettals which is contrary to the Rules of this auncient Chymycall Phisicke and thinke they doe much good therewith 13 The folowers of the Ethnikes do call the names of diseases only the humors heate cold c. which be onely the signes of the diseases not the matter or cause of them So is the Agewe by them called and Agewe without any foundation in reason For this name is deriued of his heate which is onely the signe of the disease The Chimical Phisition taketh the names of the diseases of the matter property and nature of the true substance for all diseases are in the three substanties aforesayde therefore the Agewes ought to be called the disease of Sulphur of salt peter kendled for this cause diuers diseases are called tartareall diseases because of the likenesse of the propertie that those diseases haue vnto the Salt of Tartar which is most sharpe but the followers of the Ethnikes not knowing that Salt are sore grieued for that name and because the Chimical Phisitions doe lay tartar to be the cause of diuers diseases Or els the name is to be taken of the Medicin y t healeth cureth y e disease so by this meanes euery disease hath his right name and is rightly vnderstanded 14 In the medicins of the followers of the Etnickes no Anatomy is obserued but phantasie for qualities accidentall receaue no Anatomie In the Chymycall Medicins the Anatomy of the disease and medicine doe agree and ioyne together Hee considereeh the amitie concord and agreement of nature of externe and outward things with man and how they doe receiue and embrace eche other so is hee cunning and skilfull of the Anatomy and of the concordance of the two Anatomies the Phisition doeth growe so man is taught of the great world and not of man This Anatomy maketh a perfect Phisition when he knoweth the great worlde of that knoweth the disease in man by the disease of externe things and the Medicin by the medicine by the helpe of the Anatomie 15 The Medicins of the Ethnickes and their followèrs doe consist in grosse and rawe substancies in which the vertues of the medicine be fast tyed bound and incumbered with hurtfull baggage and therefore hard to be separated in the stomache and commonly they prouoke the pacient to vomite or at least his stomache abhorreth them The Chymycall Medicines for the most part be purifyed and pourged by the fire and the impure separated from the pure And the vertue and pure part onely ministred and therefore may be receaued without offence and that in small quantitie because the vertue of eche thing is small in quantitie but he ministreth not the substance and grosse quantitie or bodyes as the other doe vnlesse it bee in some Alimentary diseases 16 The followers of the Ethnickes in disccening diseases the original of them are merueilously trobled w t the causes antecedeÌ„t and conseqnent and with signes repugnant and agreeing and such other very doubtfull causes tokens and signes And so likewise in curing they proceede without respect of the right difference betwixt diseases vehement long circulated rooted and in places hard to bee remooued and their contraries with medicins grosse grosse grosse and sickly euen in such rooted diseases and in such places The Cimycall Phisition teacheth that the right causes signes and tokens of diseases be founded in the properties of nature their originals be by them rightly discerned And that some diseases be Caelestes other some be Terrestres by reason of the lower and vpper globe in mans body And they that be in the vpper globe are made mighty and vehement and harder to be remooued then those that be in the lower globe Wherfore those Alimentary diseases of the lower Globe may be cured with Arcana of vegetables but if they be in the vpper Globe they require medicins of higher degrees of preparation Likewise if the cause of the disease proceede of the Minerals or metals they must be cured with Arcana of Mynerals because such will not yeeld to Arcana of vegetables that is of hearbes and rootes c. But if the disease bee caused by influencies of the heauens neather of the other Arcana will serue but they are to be cured by Aâ—â—ronomy and influencies But those Diseases and griefes that come by supernaturall meanes will not be holpen by any meanes aforesayde but by supernaturall meanes Likewise the agreement of the Medicin with the disease in one degree is thus by those Phisitions coÌ„sidered that the Midicine that hath the pure onely separated from the impare may agrée in one degree with the diseases of the lowest degree of least danger and in places of least parrell and of least continuance And Medicins that haue that pure body sublymed and a purer thereby separated from it may agree with diseases more stubborne of longer continuance in place more perilous And medicins so sublymed after distilled in the Sunne may agree in degree with diseases most stubburne and of longest continuance For vnlesse the Mecicine doe agree with the disease in oue degree he can not preuayle because the weaker can not drawe consume nor expell the stronger In this sort doth the Chimycall Phisition proceede from medicins fyne and pure to purer fyner and most excellent and maketh choyse of his medicins as occasion serueth by the reason of the cause place vehemencie and continuance of the disease Such medicins doe not moulde and putrifie but will continue in the vertue a mans lyfe Furthermore by operation and working according
saith he when soeuer this Trismegestus Phisicke shall winne credit and furderauce that their authoritie shal fall to the ground For thei are ashamed after their doctershipp and long exercised weening practise to learne any more of Paracelsus and his folowers not withstandyng in greuious deceases they haue no knowledge either to councell or to helpe Against all whiche dezeases Theophrastus hath left to his folowers true and approued remedies After his Epistle he hath placed Paracelsus his picture and his owne by it hauyng Sentensis in lattin adioyned In the right hande of his picture he holdeth a Serpente by the brest the rest of his bodie writhing about his armes and handes Ouer the picture is the lattin of this englishe placed Questions framed vppon thy principles speakyng as it were to Paracelsus taken out of the pith of nature wee will in the light of Nature beyng from God illuminated resolue expound and wee will establishe the verities Under this picture is this sentence Sophisters alwaies writhing trimbling and shouing to heare the voyces of them whiche wisely charme them neither are wee afraied of nor make any accompt of you nor yet with their vnlearned rayling are we any thing moued standyng on the rocke of verity others there be many like wherof I wil name some as Adam Bodesten Gerardus Doru Michaell Toxites Iohannes Huerius Leonardus Turneihisserus Iosephus Quercetanus Iohannes Chrisippus Michael Neanger Theodorus Suingerus Theodorus Brickmanus D. Rochefort and Lieband Iohannes Gwinterus Andernacus And a number of others fauourers and folowers of this Arte aswell of them that haue written thereof as haue not written sence the tyme of Paraselsus Chapter 20. The true meaning of Paracelsus in dedicating his booke entituled Philosophia magna to the Athenians wherewith Erastus one of his aduersaries is so greued BEcause y e folowers of the heathnishe Phisitions doe seeke to deâ—ace this auncient tâ— Chimicall Phisicke by slaunderyng Paracelsus to whom the ignorant doe attribute the first invention thereof obiecting against him aswell heresie coniurations lacke of learnyng as also hurt and danger of mynerall medicines and obscuritie in writyng I will breefly explicate some obiections that be made against him such as maie giue some lyght to the better vnderstandyng of him And also sett downe some causes why he is not vnderstoode by reasen whereof his aduersaries run at large when vpon matters not by hym thought nor ment they persecute onely his shadowe and not him One greate fault is found with him for that he dedicated his booke intituled Philosophia magna vnto the Athenians whichr Erastus sayeth bee barberusse Tnrckes and Mahumetans His meaning herein was that all Arts and Philosophie ought of necessetie to haue their foundation in light of the holy Scriptures as expresly in the 119. leafe of that book and in the 38. leafe and in the 45. leafe and in the 48. 84 leafe of the same booke he plainly teacheth and expresseth And to be short in his book de Vermibus cap 5. he hath these words In diuinitie especially in the books of Salamon Prophets and in the new testament al Artes both naturall and supernaturall be conteined out of them we may learne them For in them is hidden the high treasure of the whole world though it be hidden from the simple men And because the originall cause of all creatures doeth prosede onely from God therefore God onely is to be sought for in him onely Arte doeth consist he onely is to bee considered of hym and his worde all Arte is to be learned Wherefore Paracelsus considering that the blindnesse among vs Christians in the true foundation of Philosophie whiche seeke it of the Heathen whiche bee onely gessers at the trueth beeyng not taught by Gods worde is as great as the ignoraunce of the Athenians was in the tyme of Sainct Paule in the true worshipping of God therefore be calleth vs Athenians And therefore he layeth the foundation of Philosophie in the light of the holy Scripture The effect of that doctrine which Saincte Paule did preache to the Athenians Acts 17. was that God made the worlde and all thinges therein c. seeyng he giueth to all life and breath and all things And hath made of one bloude all mankynd to dwell in all the face of the earth and hath assigned the tymes whiche weare ordained before and the bands of their habitation that they should seeke the Lord if so be they myght haue groped after hym and found him though doubtlesse he bee not farre from euery one of vs for in hym we liue moue and haue our beeyng as also certaine of your owne Poets haue saide c. how the doctrine of Paracelsus doeth agree with that of Saincte Paule appereth by that foloweth For in the same booke the first wordes of the same treatise be these All thinges are of God therfore the power vertue of herbes be of God The bringing forth of the Herbes is natural but the bringing forth of his vertue is not naturall For as God is not naturall neither be the vertues naturall All power and vertue is increate because God is without beginnyng increate For all vertues and power weare in God of heauen and earth when the spirite of God was carried vppon the waters euen so likewise when the heauen and earthe shall perishe all vertues shall returne to God againe because they had no beginning but the visible matter of ech thyng is increat for they were not in the begynnyng with God for he created them of nothing endued them with life and vertue Sainct Augustine in his thirde booke De trinitate hath the like doctrine saiyng virtus dei in terius operatur ista creanda againt he saieth Deus interius creans formaus Also the first words of the prologe of the same booke be these There be two sortes of influences of thinges one is of the creatures as of Heauen Spirites c. the other procedeth commeth to vs emediately from God whiche is the true influence The first is Nature it selfe and whatsoeuer God hath put in it Also in his booke de occulta Philosophia he saiteh The vertue power of God is the cause and originall of all creatures and gouerneth all things therefore we ought not to atribute and giue the power of God to cratures as the heathen do and their folowers And in the said booke dedicated to the Athenians fol. 13. he saieth the vertue and power of Stars Herbes c. be of God yea the vertue power is giueÌ„ only of God to al thinges wherfore he calleth Annimam and the secretts of Nature which be in Misteriis whereby a man is healed and suche like Magnalia dei because thei procede onely from God And the influenâ—is of God his giftes and vertues be in Arcanis and the influence and seede together bring forthe all thinges by the grace of God All vertues and power of thinges be of God onely The work of starres is like to
nothyng And that which lacketh to be some what doeth not hold and kepe his being so that truely it maie by no meanes be saied to haue being for quies bringeth forth nothing but motus agendio operatio doth frame to it felf that thing which is or in what sort it is And seing Vita is motus quidam hereof commeth beyng and that whiche is exstant and the substance Hereof it folowith that the liuely might â—â—â— and power flowyng from the worde which is life that is to say from the Sonne doeth cause the materiall thynges to be seene to haue their beyng and guieth to this beyng in eache thyng that which belongeth and is proper to it Furthermore all thynges that bee begotten or made bee made or begotten ex motu but motus ipse quo motus before it be moued is quies for it is a rule that contrarius ortus contrariorum fit ita vt contrario ortu contrariorum vnde hoc ortum est pereat as death folowith life and of deathe life riseth and of esse commeth non esse and of non esse riseth esse likewise of quies risethe motus and of motus quies Uppon this reason semeth to bee grounded that opinion whiche some doe hold that those things which seme here to dye doe passe or goe ad non eus But the trueth is that the thynges whiche seeme to dye haue their beyng For seeyng life is to haue beyng whereof riseth death death also hath his beeyng if life risethe of death likewise if of that which is is made that whiche is not of necessity that whiche is must not bee if that which is rise therof in like maner if there be ceasing or leauing of or quiet of necessatie ther must be ceasing of mouing if mouing be engeÌ„dered This semeth to be a strong argument totheÌ„ which haue not tasted true Philosophie For hereby it semeth y t by rising of the contraries the contrary doeth either dye or els is to bee thoughe not to haue beeyng but in truthe it is not so but cleare contrary For they bothe doe abide neither doe they dye concernyng their eternall vertue For in thinges vizible and materiall if there be any death it is the death of the bodie But yet to come nerer to the truth neither is there death of y e bodies in that they be materiall but there is made a dissolution in that figure and forme whiche is now by a certain departure therfore only the fashion forme of the body is dissolued But those thyngs doe remaine haue their beeyng whereof those thinges whiche shall liue â—e repaired renewed and rise For seeyng the first and principall liuyug by his omnipotencie is the cause that all thynges that be or can be haue their life beeyng and mouyng according to the capacitie of the thyngs ond substancies as they bee parted and deuioed for euery one hath his proper beeyng his owne life his proper mouing from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Viuere Vita what can death preuaile against close vertues and powers which flowe and are deriued from that fountaine and line Therefore seeyng they be eternall whilest they â—e in the matter or substance if death doeth onely loose the composition of them and separate them asonder nothyng dieth and perisheth vtterly Wherefore it is well saied that of life commeth death because there is a dissoluyng of that bodie from the power abilitie of liuyng And likewise there is a repairyng and a renuyng from death by those guides into an other composition and thynges that is newly raised and sprong For God doeth create when by his worde he calleth things into beeyng So the Father worketh euen vntill this tyme as our sauiour saieth But the gentle reader must knowe that I doe not here speake of man that his soule after the dissolution of it from the bodie doeth passe in to another bodie For his soule is created by God therfore those thyngs can by no meanes be vnderstanded of it Chapter 21 Haw materia prima and misceria magna was the beginnyng of all things according to Paracelsus his meanyng and how al create were at one time in the increate ONe other great falt doeth Erastus finde with Paracelsus for that he saiethe that Prima materia and Misterium magnum was the beginnig of al thinges by separation Aud this misterie he saieth to be increate hereof doeth Erastus conclude that accordyng to Paracelsus creation is nothyng but seperation Though in this place and many other places of the same booke ad Athenienses he doth intreate of the influencies which proceed from God as in the first entery of the same booke he plainly confesseth and of inwarde generations fruits and of inward seperations for deepe and secrete purpose yet if Erastus had delte indifferently with hym he myght easely perceiue his meanyng in other of his workes and also in this where he findeth this horible herecie concernyng the creation of vizible bodies to bee accordyng to Gods worde For in his booke intituled Paramirum lil 1. cap. 2. he confesseth accordyng to Gods holy worde that Prima materia mundi was Fiat Aud in the same booke to the Athenians he saieth that Materia prima can net be perceined by senses Also in that booke Lib. 1. cap. primo he plainely affirmeth that the vizible matter of ech thing was create for thei were not with God at the beginning For God created them of nothing and inspired into them life and vertue c. So are we taught by Gods worde that in the beginnyng after God had created the heauens and earth the earth was rude voide and emptie that is to saie it was imperfect and vnfruitfull it brought for the no Herbes Trees nor Flowers of diuers collours â—or sweete smelles nor yet any other thyng whiche afterwarde did growe or spryng in it The heauen also at the first lacked his ornaments and so did the water The earth continued baren vntill God by vertue of the word had commaunded it to be fruitfull whereby it brought forth Herbes Trees and Plantes which haue seeds eche of them in themselues accordyng to ther kynd The firmament was emptie vntill suche tyme God the creator of al thynges had by his word made the Sunne Moone and Stars and appointed them their office duetie and propertie The water also was baren vntill the same worde had made it fruitfull of liuyng creatures in their kindes and made likewise foules in their kyndes and blessed them and gaue them commaundemeÌ„t to increase and multiplie Also God created and made catell beasts and all creping things of the earthe accordyng to their kyndes and likewise gaue them propertie to increase and multiplie For as Sainct Augustine saieth if wee consider the nature of thinges properly without Allegerye this worde increase and multiplie doethe belong to all thynges which doe grow and come of seeds These leeds saith Paracelsus haue receiued by the diuine worde
the power of multipliyng and transplant action their essence and properties As Sainct Basill saieth nothyng is in any herbe or plante which is not planted by the commaundement of the Almightie Of these Semina Essentiae of their naturs vertues properties their seperations doth he here intreat The vertues of thinges saieth he were in God when the Spirite of God was caried vpon the waters And they be of God and are not naturall but God sendeth forth his influences euen as the sunne doeth his beames whiche be deuided in to diuerse and wonderfull vertues And God replenisheth all thyngs with his vertues And God did inspire life and vertues into those thinges whiche he created of nothyng By these places and others to the like effect it appeareth that he teacheth that in the beginning the vertues of vizible thynges were vnited in their fountaine neither were they seperated in diuersity and multitude of offices but after that by the vertue of the spirite whiche was caryed vpon the waters they were commauÌ„ded to doe their offices in the worldly ministration they were seperated and deuided in offices life essenties and beyngs We neede not here to imagine that these did proceede of Chaos but out of the treasures of the diuine wisedome but euen as the inuizible vertue in a carnell hath a might science and power able to worke and bryng forth diuerse and sundrie effectes which in winter doe not appere but lye quiet and in appointed and due tyme bringeth forth the roote bodie pith barke and bowe twige leafe fruite and all these things belongyng to the Tree and deuideth and seperateth them in iust and true order proportion forme sigure and qualitie So in the beginnyng were all the vertues vnited in God their fountaine vntill such tyme as by the vertue of the word they were commauÌ„ded to doe their seuerall officies in the worldly ministerie And as a man holdyng his peace doeth secretely reason with hymselfe and doeth comprehende in his reason all those wordes which after he vttereth and speaketh perticulerly in diuers seueral sentences words and sillables which wordes be receiued of diuers hearers So in the begynnyng all the might vertue and power of thyngs were in God vntill the word proceeded from God wherby they were distributed to ech as seemed best to the diuine wisedome But these vertues and power of God are not inuizible thynges as the harte is in a beast or as it is parte of a beast but they be in thynges as the beames of the Sunne be in those wherevppon it shineth yet the substance of the Sunne is not in them neither is God in part any where but in singulis totus and in onibus omnis And as the soule dispersed through the whole bodie is wholy in euery member and yet doeth not giue to eche member his giftes of his office worke and ministerie but to the eye he giueth onely the office of leyng and not to heere to the eare he giueth heeryng and not to see and to other members likewise so god beeyng Diffusus in singulis replenisheth all thynges essencially both aboue and benethe within and without and round about and doeth seperate distribute to euery thing as it pleaseth hym As to a tree he giueth life to growe not to feele to beasts he giueth feeling not to discerne to Aungels to y e soule he giueth to deserne if God do withdraw any of these things froÌ„ any thing immediately it shall be come vnprofitable in the vniuersall body euen as y e member of the body wil be vnprofitable without vse from which God hath withdrawen his gifte vertue Likewise God hath seperated perated parted the vertues of herbs plants among them elues gyuyng to some vertus stipticke to others vertues laxâ—â—iue c. And so iâ— Mineralleâ— Aâ—â—nailes and at thyngs vizible bâ— they deuided in â—â—ueralvertues one from an other so saieth olde Father Origen God the parent of all things for the health of al his creatures hath deuided and seperated to eche thing here ineffabilem rationem of his word and wisedome And the Psalmist saieth all his vertues be his ministers and workers doyng his will Therefore saieth Sainct Augustine every creature doth feele God to be in it by somewhat And because Paracelsus attributeth the beginning of thyngs asâ— ell to Materia prima which as is aforesaid is fiat which I iudge to be the diuine will the first councell of the spirituall motioÌ„ as to Misterium magnum which he meaneth to be Christ accordyng to these old verses Adesto lumen rerum pater omnipatens deus Adesto lumen luminis misterium et Virtus dei Adesto sanctâ— spiritus patris filij copula It is manifest by these words he meaneth God the father and the sonne whome he confesseth to be the creator of all thynges visible and from whom all Misteries did proceede For it is not to be vnderstanded that God the father did create all thynges without the wisdome word and vertue that is to saie without the onely begotten or God our Lorde Jesus Christ For so God saied of the person of the wisedome vz I was with hym making all thinges sei mone eius coeli confirmati sunt spiritu eius omnes vires eorum For the workes of the sonne be the workes of the father and the father worketh in the sonne for so he saieth the father which is in me oâ—â—h his worke and againe I doe the workes of the father So the father worketh onely workyng in hym and by hym whome he hath begotten In this sorte Christ that great mistery was the beginnyng of all thynges And because all those vertues wherewith God hath inspired thyngs visible and materiall do proceed and are deriued from that fountaine and line vz from the great Misterie he calleth them likewise Misteria saiyng that greate Misterie hath giuen seperated and deuided to all thynges their generall Misteries And sometymes he calleth the seedes the receptacles of the vertues by the name of Misteria like wise But Erastus fasly corruptly saieth that he affirmeth that all thynges did proceed out of Misterium magnum whereas his words be that all misteries did proceede out of Misterium magnum And that great Mistery doth giue to al things their general Misteries c. And that whiche is eternall is the cause of all thyngs visible and materiall God created visible thyngs and inspired into them life and vertues so all thynges be of God aswell thynges materiall and vizible as also the vertues power and might of thynges which he often calleth Misteria Fordermore whereas Paracelsus saieth all thyngs created were together at one time in the increate as butter and chese be in the milke and wormes in the chese whiche after growe in it and as the Image is in the wood before the Keruer hath made it Erastus saieth that this must needes be the Chaos of Anaxagoras The true meanyng of
say of the diuine Magestie therefore he concludeth that all coniurations be against Gods worde the diuine lawe and light of Nature whether they bee vsed to Spirites Rootes Herbes Stones or any thynge els And that Nigromantiers and Conturers are like to theues liuyng in woodes whiche robbe and kill so long as God permitteth them and no longer but when the time is come when their wickednesse shal bee made manifest and the hower of their punishment is at hand then by one meanes or other they come into the hangmans handes which giueth them the reward of their worke so is it with the nigromantier and coniurer whiche receiue iustly their rewarde bothe in this worlde and in the worlde to come besides this he saieth the diuell is the poorest of all creatures and most miserable and that he hath no money neither hath he any power ouer money therfore can not giue that he hath not nor hath power ouer to this purpose I coulde alledge out of hym a number of testimonies but you shall vnderstand that the cause why he sometyme vseth â—â—dicines drawen out of Vegetables and sometyme out of Mineralles and sometyme these heauenly medicines is this It the deceases haue light originalls or beginnyngs of meat and drink or other fruites of the earth those maie be cured by such medicines drawen out of herbes or rather with their Arcana and in suche deceases if they be not long circulated nor in the remote parts but in primis officinis ciboruÌ„ the grosse medicines of the heathens maie preuaile or at least thei may flatter som diceases But if the decease be caused by Minerals Metalles or Markesits in the principall partes of the body or in the Balsamum of man then they must be cured by medicine drawen out of Metalles or Markesits because suche deceases will not yealde to medicines drawen out of herbes or rootes c. Because the roots of those deceases are not so soone resolued as the other therefore they neade pure spirites for pascimur nutrimur curamur natura Mercurii id est spiritu saieth an auntient Chimist Likewise if disceases be caused by influencies of starres they are to be holpen by influencie And causes of inuisible deceases in the inuisible parte of man and those grefes and paines whiche be caused by supernaturall meanes will not be holpen by any meanes aforesaied but they must be remedied by such meanes as they were caused that is by suche maner of cure as hath power to worke in to the inuisible part of man If Paracelsus some tyme woulde be dronke after his Countrey maner I can not excuse hym no more then I can excuse in some nations glottenie in other pride and contempt of all others in comparison of themselues in others breach of promise and fidilitie in others dissimulation triflyng and muche babling but lett the doctrine bee tried by the worke and successe not by their faultes in their liues As for lacke of methode in his woorkes I saie his bokes intituled Paramirum his boks de vita longa lacke no methode But if in any other of his works he did not obserue methode he did it because he would disperse his minde in seuerall partes to the ende he would be vnderstoode onely of the Children of the Arte. The ignorance in the lattin tongue is vntruly obiected against hym as appereth by his bokes de Tartare written in latten and his epistles written to Erasmus in latten and by diuerse his lectures and by his commentaries vppon Hipocrates c. Chapter 25. The conclution of the Author THus thou hast harde gentle reader how this Auncient Chimicall Phisicke had his begynnyng from Abraham or at least from Hermes Trismegestus and after in the Aegiptian priests which were kynges or of the kynges bloud it had his continuaunce From whom it hath beene deriued amongst the godliest and best learned Philosophers in to diuerse partes of the worlde which haue shadowed and hidden it in parables and darke speaches to auoide contempte among the foolish and vnworthy readers and yet so that it should not be hidden from those whiche were meete to heare and vnderstande suche secreets and misteries Also thou haste harde how the newe Phisicke of the heathen hadd his begynnyng of late yeares in comparisonne of the other from the heathen and Idollaters whiche were without the true knowledge of God Thou hast harde also the difference between these two Phisiks whereby thou maiest be able to iudge whether this auntient Phisicke be vaine without beginnyng as it hath been obiected Thou hast hard the explanation of certaine obiections laied against Paracelsus whereby thou maist the better iudge of the rest wherewith he is charged Now I doe craue of thee gentle reader as I haue taken this in hand to do thee good so thou wilt interpret my meaning to the best if any thyng miâ—like thee doe not picke at euery sillable and worde but consider whilest mine eye was bent to the matter which I did folowe and intreate of wordes may esely escape and be misplaced especially with hym which lacketh eloquence vseth not to write If thou vnderstand not somewhat that is here written doe not therefore condemne it but kepe silence as Pithagoras his scholars did and be quiet or else learne of others If any thyng herein shall seeme to be absurde contrary to thy mynde because it is contrary to Aristotle Galen Auicen c. doe not therefore reiecte it but waye it with an indifferent iudgement and take not all thynges for Oracles which the heathen haue taught And if any thyng herein be amisse for no mans writynges can be warranted in all doe not giue iudgement and pronounce definite sentence agaiust the whole by reason of some one perticuler And if thou perceiue my meanyng to be Godly and sound doe not condemne me of error by reason of wordes not rightly placed nor aptly vsed for error consisteth in sence and meanyng and not in sound of wordes And though I write not to the latter Phisitions the folowers of the heathens that be practisioners and wilfully bent against this Chimicall Phisicke because thei be like knottie and bursâ—e woode not fit for framyng timber but will gnawe the line wherewith they bee ledd and girne erre and shew their angrie teeth at their leaders and will not now become scholars Yet because this my writyng can not escape their handes neither can they well digest it therefore I doe admonishe them that if they take in hand to answer it that they answer ech part therof and doe not dismember it nor put any thing to it nor take any thing from it and that they do not aunswer with railing scoffes quippes mockes tauntes and lies as some ignorant vse in their talke against this Arte And as Erastus vseth in his writing And as Bernar dus Dessâ—ius a Doctor of Phisicke of Colen vseth against one Fedro a Chimist after he was ded which by his writyng as semeth may teche a schole of scoldyng and railyng For suche maner eloquence may not passe for proofe amoÌ„g the indifferent readers neither is it worthie to be aunswered neither may the bare auctoritie of Aristotle Galen Auicen and suche like serue for aunswer against the Scripturs of God nor against the liuely artificiall proofe by fire followyng Nature but with charitable wordes and sounde arguments dependyng vppon Gods worde the true touchstone that can not erre and vppon vnfallible experience by the fire the Phisitions maister let the matter be tried then no doubt some good may come by this contention to the sicke and deceased which hath need of the Phisition and the doctrine of Phisicke will exalt and lift vp his hed and the trueth of it self will appeere as fire doeth by knockyng of two flintes together whiche the most high God of whom coÌ„meth all healyng and which hath created the Phisition because of necessity graunt for his deare sonne Jesus Christe his sake which is the life and trueth Amen Valete 1585. Origenes contra Celsum lib. 4. â—o 2. Fol. 84â— Iohn 5. Tract 1. Fol 10. Peri Aâ—choÌ„ Lib 2. Cap. 1. Fol. â—74 Tâ— 1. Psalm 102. De cognitione verz vitae Cap. 23. To. 9. De cognitione verz vitae Cap. 25. 10. 9. Sapient â—â— In hexamâ— hoâ—â—il â— Aetius Lib. 14. Maâ—heolus in dioscoe Lib. 5. RoÌ„dolerius Philosophia magna trâ—c 3. Oâ—culâ—a Philoso Cap. 2. Occulta Philoso Cap. â—