beginning of nature and naturall causes No doubt whatsoeuer is elsewhere necessarily or probably deliuered is either directly taken from hence Or else is but a shadow of this substance and a deriuation of this light CAP. 5. EVerie worke and action of God expressed or implied in his Creation hath as a necessary cause produced some created effect and established it vnder the law of Nature with time still to continue By his Power in the beginning he created that voide and vnformed Chaos which because it was void vnformed had power and hability alike to euerie thing or forme And because nature that is the Creature is the Image of the Creator as being Relatiue to him There is in it a naturall will and appetite vnto perfection which is the naturall Good and Goodnesse of euery creature which is manifested by distinction in instruments parts c. That the heauens may declare the glory of God and all his works magnifie his holy name The third cause in the creature was yet wanting that is spirit the formall cause of motion in euery Creature which likewise answered his proper cause distinct from the other as is said in their effects relatiuely but not in their vniuersall subiect nor in the Prototypal being whose Image they are Three in One and One in Three or rather Trinity Coessentiall in Vnity and Vnity in Trinity The spirit of God moued vpon the waters The spirit mouing vpon the waters created in them spiritualnesse and naturall motion in such proportion as might most absolutely answer the excellency of the Creators disposition and harmony in the innumerable variety of all his particular creatures and be a most sure ground to informe the contemplation of reason by exact dependence of effects vpon their causes The whole Chaos conteined two parts Water and Earth In this there is diuersity of positiō aboue and beneath The Water was aboue the Earth therfore lighter and more capable of actiuity The Earth was vnder the waters and therfore heauier naturally more passible The spirit mooued vpon the surface of the waters which then thereby became more spirituall actiue stirring from thence the other waters in that deepe receiued their dower in the like vertues in proportion euen to those that were contiguall to the earth The Earth in it selfe hath no power of spirit or motion but mediatly by the Waters and that likewise in exact and graduated proportion sufficient for the agreeing diuersity of al bodies This spiritualnes or naturall spirit being but potentially in the waters could not in naturall course which God had now established be acted but by a meane The Spirit was moued Motion breeds heat Heate causeth rarefaction or subtilty subtilty is the perfection of spirit in euerie kind And of all spirituall things light is most subtile which therefore was the first Creature actually distinguished in and out of the confused Chaos And that which before was the confused power of all things void and without forme by this appeared the vniuersall matter of all bodies informed with light the most vniuersall of all formes And as in the darkenesse nature trauailed with the burthen of this wonderfull birth in her wombe and as it were sate hatching her egges so now in this light shee was deliuered of her first borne and after disclosed her other chickens formed and well shaped out of the shell of darkenesse And here the waters were endowed with Spirit Motion Heat and Light as is aforesaid which light was not actually in the inferiour waters as nights Mantle prooueth But shewing the neerenesse of water vnto light by transparence the easie reception of light their easie rarefaction by the worke of heate the child of Spirit doe giue good testimony of lights materiality But this is not so proper to the vniuersall light of which we speake by which the superiour waters bee continually illumined and illustred without any shadow of the night of our lesse generall time yet it may serue in neere similitude to illustrate The next distinct Creature named the Expansion Firmament or Heauen which a certaine Wiseman calleth the heauenly Ayre had in the very instant of his calling and creation an office appointed most generall To diuide the waters aboue from the waters below And heere is no mention made of Ayre and Fire but of Motion and Light which are neuer without heate the most proper passion or forme of that which wee commonlie call Fire Also of the vpper Waters and their rarefaction which agreeth with the Ayre of common Philosophie in the efficient and subiect But whether those names be proper or no concerneth not this place and I haue elsewhere paradoxally handled Of the substance composition of heauen many heads haue brought forth many hornes and arming their reasons with fantasticall imaginations haue pushed at each other so long till they be all galled It is sufficient for vs to consider their vse and office that is to deuide the waters aboue from the waters below and how being composed of the common Chaos water and earth more pure then things beneath them lesse pure then things aboue them they be solid fixed permanent and as it were of an immortall substance patible onely by fire Iob 37.18 And therefore it is said the heauens are strong and as a molten glasse For when the Spirit getteth the vpper hand in a pure and cleane body and that bodie afterwards of the Spirit in the second coniunction not by incrassation of the spirit but by subtilation of the body the whole compound becommeth quintessentiall then all is permanent and as you would say fixed spiritually Then there is no naturall alteration nor corruption I know that some writers make two distinct materialities or materias primas first matters in this beginning of creation one containing the water of heauen aboue the other a confused masse of earth and water the corporalitie of all sublunarie bodies But that opinion seemeth to draw a tayle after it of many absurdities incōueniences that goldē chaine of Participation of Symboles which linketh heauen and earth together cannot abide two materiall principles of one creature Neither can such duality subsist with that Talmudique mysterie of light shining out of darkenes which is figuratiuely verbū Dei in nobis Then there is no naturall alteration nor corruption but mens sana in corpore sano a pure spirit in a perfect bodie Next after the firmament and this diuision of waters followed the separation or parting of the waters beneath the firmament from the earth whereby sea and land were made In all this relation and respect are manifest darkenesse and light aboue beneath and diuider or meane betweene extreames Water Earth Sea Land wet dry Motion Rest c. Then in order followed In the earth Vegetables In heauen starres and their offices In the waters Fish and Foule In the earth againe sensibles commonly called Brutes or Irrationals Lastly Man with appointment of meate for himselfe
ioined is able to receiue and so be Genus generum and forma formarum most vniuersall to all elementate compounds I say a naturall perfection and naturall change meaning so great and high degree as the possibility of this world hasting in speedy fluxe to an end can suffer and beare For I know that when the pure heauens and perfect elements doe burne melt and shall bee purged with the powerfull fire in the last complement of Nature that then also all things of or vnder them consisting shall much more suffer the same Such things therefore as we speake of be commonly diuided into animals vegetables and minerals vnderstanding each largely to comprehend all the particular Species of their owne kind also all errors whether by abundance or defect of matter strength and weaknes of causes c. amongst these we also comprehend lithophytes transplanted from a vegetable roote to a minerall body and zoophytes which for the most part haue in neerest agreement an animall body and a minerall house For a ground and principle heerein we assume that which with common consent is receiued in euery sect of Philosophy Nature not hindered in her actions doth produce that wherein she laboureth in the greatest perfection that may be This we see to be true in all indiuiduall things in the specification of their birthes in their proper and naturall matrices as also in vnnaturall issues from vnproper and vnnaturall matrices and in Monsters of superfluity defect c. In all which nature frameth somthing as neere to the specifical perfection of the seede sowen as the matrice matter causes and adaptation thereof will suffer Also in equiuocall generations things animated by fermentation putrifaction c. And this also in Vegetables as in graffing where a Crab-stocke feedeth a Pippin In transplantation as of wheate into Rye c. In culture both of degeneration and exaltation as in garden fruits double flowers c. Likewise in minerals as is sufficiently declared by good Authors and daily experienced by such as vse iudgement in searching digging and vse of Mines Also in spagyricall maturation of vnripe Mines and of vnperfect minerals by cohobating imbibition of fit minerall waters c. The second seruing to this point is no lesse euident and common Euerie effect is the effect of some cause and therefore answerable vnto it And of this followeth a third There is no reall cause actually being without his effect in actus all existence Else should nature labour in vaine and consume her selfe about nothing with lesse profit then a mountaine calling a Midwife to bee deliuered of a Mouse This being graunted let vs remember what is before prooued of the difference of causes Generall and Particucular not taking away the subalternate dependence of all for the whole beeing of subiects with their inherent vertues and applications as they now are to themselues and others By particular I meane not indiuiduall but that which is put vnder or beneath the vniuersality of Natures indefinitenesse by being appropriated to any inferior or subalternate kind of specificatiō General causes working in themselues produce generall effects but receiued in particular subiects work according to euery particular kind in Animals Vegetables and Minerals This barre or repulsion from generality commeth by specification and specification from the concourse of particular causes hindering nature from her generall worke The matter is indifferent to all because it is generall and more incorruptible and desiring a forme most naturall to it selfe must needs be best satisfied with generality Take away the particular specificating causes and this generall effect must needs follow as the light of the Sunne is altered according to the colour of any Glasse wherethrough it passeth which glasse being taken away it appeareth in that generall brightnesse which is proper to it selfe If therefore it bee possible to continue in nature the action of the generall causes not hindered by subalternation of particularity vnto the last digestiue fermentation of this matter no doubt there wil be produced an effect generall a reall existing substance indefinite indeterminate to al specificated substances being spirit of naturall life in all perfection to euery one in his kind of which it shall be receiued as aforesaid As the honour and authority of a King continuing in his owne absolute power vndiminished giueth honour and authoritie to all kinde of his subiects to euery one according to his place degree and office And to his subiects is as it were Genus generum and Forma formarum so matter beeing in it selfe indifferent to all and informed in the first light of Nature with the most vniuersall forme of simplicitie in composition naturally desireth the most generall forme which is possible for any elementate compound to haue Yet notwithstanding is specificated according to the subalternate causes working therein As we may say a King in his officers is coarcted into a Chancellor a Treasuror an Admirall Iudge Iustice Constable c. CAP. 10. THe possibility of this general vnspecificated substance appeareth and more a very necessity thereof lest Nature should worke in vaine hauing the concourse of all necessary causes not corrupted Let vs therefore search further how and of what this may bee done in any sublunary matter compounded of the elements animall vegetable minerall largely taken as aforesaid First let vs consider the state of innocency in which all things were absolutely perfect each in his owne kinde so that the measure of the generall causes in them was not hindered from their actions by any seed of corruption or clog of grossenesse but free in their owne libertie to worke and produce effects answerable to their proportion in euery body For all bodies in their naturall being are not alike perdurable but graduated with more or lesse as the concourse of particular causes and agents is more or lesse in them And those whose composition is most simple and least remote from the Elements by subalternation are of all others least subiect to corruption in their specificated naturall bodies as minerals But to returne where we left this primitiue and genethliacal perfection by Adams fal was impaired and ouerueiled as it were in a shadow of death so that those things which God saw to be good were now infected with the fruite and iuyce of that tree in which the knowledge of euill grew and being poysoned by Adams taste were with him cursed Neither was there any way left for him to enioy their goodnesse seuered from euill but by labour and trauaile Cursed is the earth for thy sake In sorrow shalt thou eate of it all the daies of thy life In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eate thy bread vntill thou returne to earth This sweate and trauell to eate bread is not tyed to the table of meales nor to plowing and sowing but is generall to the fruition of euery naturall thing in his vse of vertue and goodnesse Was not the water made sweete with wood Ecclus. 38. that
men might know the vertue thereof The vertue of this wood and all other things was knowne to Adam but lost in the heires of the slothfull married vnto the beauty of the Daughters of men either refusing or not rightly vnderstanding the sweate of eating bread Man became rebellious and disobedient vnto God so other creatures to man Man is restored to God by the suffering of one most perfect so naturall things vnder the ordinance of God vnto man by one most exactly purified digested regenerated naturall compound And not defining I thinke it no error to say â—â—m 8. that as euery creature is subiect to vanitie and groneth with vs and at last shall be deliuered from the bondage of corruption vnto the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God so also there may be naturally before that consummation of all things some proofe of this restored incorruptibilitie really existing in a complete elementate Compound as is before said in the 9. chapter Of this matter and substance speaketh Roger Bacon It is possible to nature and art helping nature to prepare Corpus aequalis complexionis in quo omnia elementa sunt aequalia adaequata quo-ad virtutes Necesse etiam est quòd sit possibilitas huius corporis quoniam corpora in resurrectione non possunt habere incorruptionem immortalitatem nisi per hoc corpus c. and in another place Et hoc est corpus aequale ex quo componentur corpora post resurrectionem And this is the rest from sweat and labour that euery naturall thing shall haue after it is returned into earth in the second purifying of examination by fire As our Hermes saith of the worlds wonder Vis eius est integra si versa fuerit in terram The perfection of the earthly paradise decaied not but the way thereof was precluded whither nature cannot enter but by passing the fiery sword Man in the Scripture is called Omnis creatura euery creature And therefore in him shall this restoring from groning and trauailing and deliuerie from the bondage of corruption bee vltimatè in consummation perfected As before in the eight chapter VVhere heate is multiplied It is indifferent to congeale earth and melt waxe to rarifie water into ayre or incinerate Combustible mater Clay in the potters hand and wood in the grauers are in the workemans power to forme at his pleasure Indifferent to all shapes So is the efficient cause in the minde of the Artist But after one forme induced there is no place for any other without destroiing the first So Nature though not abridged and so short tyed as mechanisme before the specificall perfection of any thing is free to any thing For things perfected haue attained the last determinate end of their possibility and therein naturall motion tending to generation doth cease But the seedes and spermatical substances haue not attained any end or perfection neither be out of thelatitude of indetermination indefinitenesse and therfore are in the power of the predominant causes to produce such effects as answere them which be most vniuersall most generall such as before are spoken of and declared This in any forme meerely artificiall cannot be because the matter in which art worketh hath no internall cause actiue neither power nor appetite naturall to the effects of art but lyeth there like a peripatetick priuation and all resteth in the braine and hand of the Workman externall and forreine to the matter It may be obiected and commonly is That of any seede or spermaticall matter nothing can naturally bee produced or bred but a body of that kind or species of which the seed is and that therefore God in the seuerall blessings of his seuerall creatures commaunded euery one to increase and multiply in his owne kinde But heerein we condemne the shallownes of vnderstanding and besotted reason which regarding onely things at hand and the first face looke no further Generally any seed groweth to a perfection of life being receiued in any neere matrice of his own next Genus though this thing so produced be not specificall to any kind either of male or female And this is of the naturall power of causes subalternately generall But this is against the end of specificall nature euer intending the preseruation of the species and so the generation of things like in specie that may haue the like power of propagation in their owne kind which is not onely according to the naturall law but also according to the commaundement So for preseruation of families the Iewes had a commaundement in what Tribe and stocke to marrie Yet if they married contrarie to that commandement there were children borne So for chastitie and preseruation of families adulterie is forbidden Yet there be whole generations of adulterous mixture according to the naturall gift though with breach of the morall law The seede of man receiued into his proper matrice can naturally produce nothing but man except in certaine causes of superfetation vnequalitie c. Yet these bee called vnnaturall errours c. and so they bee beeing compared to the finall intent But beeing in the matrice of some other Animall there is formed a Monster no man Partus exparte sequitur ventrem So in all other Animals else we should bee more full of Asses want Mules Hence commeth the prouerb Africasemper aliquid apportat noui The like we see in Vegetables both in grafts seedes which for the most part are in the hands of the husbandman and gardener to alter at their pleasure For as it is true that nature doth produce seede and spermaticall substances so it is most certaine that the hand of man may ioyne them together in any other matrice then that by which they are specificated or if they be hermaphroditicall plant them in like sort in any other matrice And beeing so ioyned or planted nature will fall to worke and neuer cease vntill shee haue brought the matter to the last perfection possible for those causes to induce bee it more or lesse excellent then the species of the seede Instance of this is not so easily giuen in minerals because their spermaticall matter is not so familiar amongst vs. Yet a man painefull in search diligent in obseruing iudicious in reading industrious in practise may satisfie himselfe therein Excellent things bee farthest from sense and therefore more difficult In the creation there is no mention made of Minerals But they bee afterwards named for the riches of some of the countries diuided by the riuers flowing out of Eden And in the whole Scriptures verie little is taught of their originall and that verie darkely This is the chiefe sweate and labour wherein man eateth his naturall bread It is somwhere said Out of much earth is turned a little gold But if wee can finde out their material element it will be no hard matter to know their next seedie substance All things that are of the earth shall turne to earth againe Ecles 40. â—â— and
because the feede and spermaticall matter is so straightly enclosed in the matrice that the elements cannot bee enlarged to any vnbridled circulare motion by which onely is acquired that last excellent perfection of which wee speake One probable argument of this is that minerals bee more generall and powerfull in effect then either Vegetables Animals or any other superterraneals And the heauens more then they For the Elements so communicate in their symbolicall qualities that they neuer cease ro worke each on other The earth striuing to ouercome and transmute the water and to bring the fire in accord therewith likewise the ayre with the water and fire water with earth and aire fire with aire and earth And finally all with all to make one c and if it happen the combate of Elements to be in a matter hauing the properties of life before spoken of though it liue in a dead house and that in a matrice or receptacle where they cannot be dispersed nor the spirits flie out Their Ambition of victorie and transmutation must needs end at last and determine in some naturall compounded bodie which shall not be specificated to any kinde Animall Vegetable or Minerall But that in application it may be aboue them all such as this generalitie of matter must needs produce For where the matter is the most simple pure mixture of Elemēts indefinite indeterminate and this matter continued in naturall motion without dispersing the elements or spirits without any adition of other matter It is impossible that the action of the actiue and passion of the passiue should euer cease so long as the causes continue that is any inequalitie in the formalities of these elements By which meanes there must needs be produced a bodie of most exact and absolute temper wherein no element is predominant such is the ninth temperament of which Galen speaketh and of late writers is called the temperament of iustice which they denie not to be at some time really in some Man but allow it not to continue any time because of the momentany alteration which that bodie suffereth by reason of the triangular specification If therefore they will grant this in such a market of meates and sallets as man is why may wee not boldly require it much more in such a bodie as we speake of which hauing gotten his perfection in the fire by the naturall triumph of all elements in a quintessentiall bodie must needs hold this exact temperament and the dowers thereof inuiolably against all elementall forces For if this exact measure of digestion bee compleate in a substance not yet restrained from the latitude and indifferencie betweene generall and specificall the cause of such momentany alteration is taken away especially if in the choise of the roote the number of the angles bee answerable And then it must needs bee reduced vnto and rest in an homogeneall substance of most perfect naturall vnity more permanent in being and victorious ouer all elements then any minerall euen gold it selfe remaining in his metalleitie In which worke the thing produced exceedes not in quantie the first spermaticall substance because there is no attraction of nourishment But the moist is foode to the drie the cold to the hot the dry to the moist and hot to the cold So they change and are changed vntill they bee all in equall strength and proportion geometrically anatised inseparably vnited in one body And before the matter comes to this point it is neuer properly said to be one or vnitie For as a true vnitie suffereth no diuision either in descending into fractions or ascending to warring dualitie so this substance beeing more transcendent then any naturall substance of Aristotles predicament and hauing no heterogeneall parts of different composition mixture and temper neither any notion of such difference is and must needs be the most perfect absolute vnitie of all naturall sublunare compounds The like whereof nature alone and of her selfe could neuer produce being hindred by the foresaid causes of specificall definitions but requireth the band of Gods image and then is able of her selfe to effect that which before shee could not adapt For man being so much aboue nature by how much hee is more then others illumined and formally essensificated of a diuine intellect doth in many things helpe nature to proceede naturally farther by many degrees then shee could without that helpe and so in the excellence of nature either exceedeth or greatly inricheth nature in the production of naturall effects But whether nature alone hath produced and left inclosed in any naturall bodie this mysticall transcendent and reall existing predicament it is a great question Doubtlesse shee hath in a certaine number and masked vnder a definition of determinate vses in the philosophie of generations But she hath not neither euer shall per se without the help of our science and art act and produce it in the number which we admire nor vnmasked in the glorious triumph ouer Animals Vegetables and Minerals beeing in a high freedome of generalitie indifferent to all Genus generum and Forma formarum naturalium And so we may truly say that this matter whereof wee speake at which so many good Archers haue bent their bowes is a naturall thing brought forth in his vnueiled glorie by the helpe of art yet is it neither naturall nor artificiall but hath a nature and essence exceeding common capacitie And to know in what forme or bodie this strange sonne of the elements shall arise and in what attire hee shall be presented to the world at his first natiuitie wee must consider the sphericall scale or ladder of naturall things wherein wee shall finde an admirable beautie and proportion The last of which sphere being Man a reasonable Creature standeth in place and nature next vnto spirits and they both next vnder God transcendēt aboue the sphere of Creatures Betweene these two we finde things in descent lesse noble then spirits more noble and perfect then Man concerning his elementall dowry and durability of his body In ascent lesse noble then Man concerning that forme whereby hee is called Man and a fellow seruant with spirits more noble then the spirits concerning their immediate application to natural things for perfection These bee the heauens with all their parts and distinctions the Elements Minerall Plantall Animall whereby it plainly appeareth that those things whose vse is most generall to the perfection before spoken of elementall naturall bodies are farthest from the simplicity of spirits But those things which be farthest from the simplicity of spirits haue in their naturall being least shew and apparence of the effects of spirit And where the effects of spirit in thenaturall body be most apparant that body is in the sphere remoued by most differences and specifications from the Elements So is Plantall farther then Minerall and Animal then Plantal and in the Animal kind though humane agree with the rest as hauing the natural life in blood yet it goeth
one degree further by that sparke of diuine irradiation by which it is essentially formed with an immortall substance which though diuerslie traducible and passiue by the naturall part of the coÌ„mon Genus in the Organs whereof it worketh yet either in real or conteÌ„platiue sequestration comprehendeth Notions of al diuine and immortall things and so verily findeth it selfe in the rancke of immortall essences and spirituall lifes This thing therefore we speake of being the regeneration of Elements in euery elementarie body and made with rest and peace purchased with the warre of his owne vnmingled vndispersed vndefiled Elements must needs be the meane or center of this sphere the first compound vnder heauen hauing no proper name of his owne to vs knowne yet necessarily appearing in that shape which the elements in their first composition not restrained by the specificating causes aforesaid must needes produce That is Minerale fluidum this is Aqua viscosa Aquae permanens and the Philosophers Mercurie sought of many found of few The passage of all naturall causes of this birth Raymond Lullie well vnderstood in the first Booke of his Testament being of Theorie in the figure proceeding from Elements to Mettals and from Mettals to Elements by eight letters A.B.C.D. E.F.G.H. which we haue therefore here set downe wherein we giue but this one note that it is a matter of deepe vnderstanding how G. and H. be immediate that is Sulphur Aqueum and Metalla for it conteineth a great practicke mystery This heptagonall is in all naturall generations truly circular The scale of degrees and differences in descent and ascent of which we speak here followeth Scala Magica naturalis Deus Potestas Voluntas Spiritus Synthesis Materia 1 1 Animal Analysis Angeli 2  Rationale Coelum diuisor 3 2 Animalia Caelum stellatum 4 3 Plantae Elementa 5 4 Minerae Minerae 6 5 Elementa Plantae 7 6 Coelum stellatum Animalia 8 7 Coelum diuisor Animal 9 8 Angeli Rationale  9 Materia CAP. 14. FOr our better vnderstanding herein let vs consider the Historie of the Creation That there be two waters superior inferior Two earths Eden and therest without and about it Two waterings Cohobation by the miste ascending out of the earth without attraction Another by raine attracted out of the earth and lower globe by heate Two Cultures or Manurings naturall without the help of man and artificiall by the help of Man The waters being spiritualized and hauing receiued motion light and heat were parted into superiour and inferior The inferior as connaturall to the superior and of the same wombe communicate with them though in lesse measure in this rich birthright The inferior waters being coupled in marriage with their naturall and equall Spouse the earth enriched her with fruitfulnesse as a meane by God appointed in the Lawe of Nature by him created and established And of all the earth that Sanctuary of Gods Image and glorie the Garden Eden had the preheminence This chosen earth was made fruitfull by water of miste or vapor ascending out of it selfe and againe descending vpon it This miste the earth did yeeld of her naturall ayre and portion of spirit and heate conceiued in the vniuersall coupling as it were ingendering with the Waters in the first darknes The second watering by raine God caused to beginne after the Starres and Man were created It commeth naturally by attraction of the Sunne and other Starres and the violence of windes from the earth particularized in such sort as of the Starres c. before is saide And because the heate of the sunne is not alwaies alike in any place of the earth no not in the same anniuersary day houre nor season neither the sunne c. alike neere and aspected at all times to the same place neither matter vaporous euer in like quantity quality and readinesse to bee attracted beside the particularities of other Astronomicall and Physicall obseruations therefore the raine is not alwaies in the same measure time and season Hence come vnseasonable times in the foure quarters too hot or too cold too wet or too dry and so in complexion with impurities of the first mixture minerall new diseases and much trouble But where the earth is watered by vapor or miste begotten in darknesse ascending from it selfe and againe descending no such mischances happen But Nature reioycing and well pleased with her selfe earth and water is made fruitfull vnto perfection And then the two Cultures or Manurings are both necessary and cannot faile of a good blessing but from Elements simple become Elements elementate in the first mixture simply quintessentiall impregnate with aethereall nourishing not burning fire whereof resulteth this Catholike vnity generall in application to all things which wee seeke for and so much admire and shall reioyce to haue found These two Cultures are the one naturall by Cohâ—bation the other artificiall by man attending onely the select earth or Garden to dresse and keepe it not hauing swallowed the fruite of dualitie the apple of euil nor being driuen or selfe-straying out of this Garden into other ground where not such miste or vapor doth arise and which is watered with the raine of the time of generations and corruptions This is that ladder in Nature of Angels ascending and descending betweene heauen and earth This is the hoope of pure gold round endlesse and bottomlesse and inscribed according to the truth and true resemblance Imago spei the naturall wedding ring of these two great parents of naturall things This is the continuall spring-tide of neuer vading greennes in the Emerauld the wealth of Hermes his Smaragdine Table True without leasing most true The strong strength of all naturall strength because it will ouercome euerie subtile and pierce euery solid thing c. Cuius vis est Integra si versa fuerit in terram FINIS