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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	woman_n	write_v	young_a	69	3	5.7408	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57647	Arcana microcosmi, or, The hid secrets of man's body discovered in an anatomical duel between Aristotle and Galen concerning the parts thereof : as also, by a discovery of the strange and marveilous diseases, symptomes & accidents of man's body : with a refutation of Doctor Brown's Vulgar errors, the Lord Bacon's natural history, and Doctor Harvy's book, De generatione, Comenius, and others : whereto is annexed a letter from Doctor Pr. to the author, and his answer thereto, touching Doctor Harvy's book De Generatione / by A.R.	Ross, Alexander, 1591-1654.	1652 (1652)	Wing R1947; ESTC R13878	247,834	298

women oftentimes Nature is wiser in her productions then we are in our conceits and imaginations 2. It overthrowes saith he Gods benediction Be fruitfull and multiply Answ. Gods benediction of multiplication was not pronounced to the beasts and creeping things but the birds and fishes 2. It 's a question whether Vipers and some other poysonous creatures were created before the fall 3. The viper multiplieth fast enough when at one birth she bringeth forth twenty young ones as Aristotle and others affirm there is then no cause to complain when twenty are produced by the losse of one neither is it a greater curse in the Viper to die then in all othe● living creatures for all are morrall in their individuals though immortal in their species 4. If the viper had been created before the Fall yet this punishment was not inflicted on her till after for all creatures doe fare the worse by reason of Adams sin who hath made them all subject to vanity Rom. 8.3 To bring forth in sorrow saith he is proper to the woman therefore not to be translated on the Viper Answ. I deny that painfull births are proper to the woman for all animals have some pain more or lesse in their productions I have seen a Hen which with the pain of excluding her Egge fell down gasping for breath as if the pangs of death had bin on her and so she continued till the Egge was excluded Many Bitches and other females have died with pain at the time of their littering Painfull productions then is a punishment of the woman and yet no translation to the Viper for her pain is not thereby eased because the Viper in such a case is killed nor are all women alike tortured some are lesse pained then many other creatures 4. This overthrowes saith he Natures parentall provision for the Dam being destroyed the youngling● are left to their own protection Answ. No they are left to the protection of him who is by David called the Saviour both of man and beast and by the same is said to seed the young Ravens when they call upon him And God in Iob long before David sheweth That he fills the appetite of the young Lions and provideth food for the young Ravens when they cry unto God For the Naturalists tell us the old Ravens quite forsake their young ones but God feeds them with Flies and Wormes he sends into their nests The like improvidence and cruelty we find in Ostridges who exclude their Eggs in the sand and so leave them without further care to his providence in whom all things live and move and have their being Therefore God complains in Iob Chap. 39.14 15 16. of the Ostridges astorgie and cruelty in leaving her Eggs in the earth forgetting that the foot may crush them or that the wild beast may break them shee is hardned saith he against her young ones as though they were none of hers The C●●kow also wanteth parentall provision for she layeth her Egge in another birds nest and so leaves it to the mercy of a stranger And no lesse cruelty is there in this young nursling then in the viper for he both destroyeth his Foster-brothers and the mother that brought forth and fed him I read also in AElian of Scorpions begot sometimes in Crocodiles Egges which sting to death the Dam that gave them life The young Scorpions doe use to devour the old I have also read of women who have brought forth monsters to the destruction both of the mother and of the child in her womb therefore what the Ancients have written of the vipers cruelty is not a matter so incredible as the Doctor makes it As for the experiments of some Neotericks who have observed the young vipers excluded without hurt to the parent I answer 1. There is great odds between the Vipers of Africk or other hot Countries and those in cold Climats and so there is in poysonable herbs and Serpents which lose their venome upon transplantation in cold Countries the most fierce cruell and poysonable animals lose these hurtfull qualities 2. The works of Nature in sublunary things are not universally the same but as the ●Philosopher saith● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the most part there is no Ruleso generall but hath some exceptions ordinarily the child comes out with the head forward yet sometimes otherwise ordinarily the child is born at the end of the ninth moneth yet sometimes sooner sometimes later Therefore though ordinarily the young Vipers burst the belly of the Dam yet sometimes they may be excluded without that rupture 3. Education and food doe much alter the nature of creatures these vipers mentioned by Scaliger and others which excluded their young ones or viperels by the passage of generation were kept in bran within boxes or glasses and fed with milk bran and cheese which is not the food of those wild vipers in hot Countries It is no wonder then if the younglings staied out their time in the womb being well sed and tamed by the coldnesse of the climat 4. All the Ancients doe not write that the vipers burst the belly but only the membrans and matrix of the Dam which oftentimes causes the●losse of her life and they wanted not reason besides experience for this assertion to wit the fiercenesse of their nature the heat of the countrey and the numerousnesse of their young ones being twenty at a time besides the goodnesse of God who by this means doth not suffer so dangerous a creature to multiply too fast for which cause also he pinches them so in the Winter that they lie hid and benumbed within the earth besides he will let us see his justice in suffering the murther of the Sire to be revenged by his young ones upon the Dam. As for the Doctors exception against Nicanders word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not material for it is a Poeticall expression and what is it to the purpose whether the head be bit or cut off if so be the bite be mortall CHAP. X. 1. Moles see not and the contrary objections answered 2. The opinions of the Ancients concerning divers animals maintained 3. The right and left side defended 4. The true cause of the erection of mans body and the benefit we have thereby 5. Mice and other vermin bred of putrefaction even in mens bodies 6. How men swim naturally the Indian swimmers COncerning Moles the Doctor proves they are not blind Book 3. cap. 8. because they have eyes for we must not assigne the Organ and deny the Office Answ. Scaliger tells us they have not eyes but the form of eyes Pliny lib. 11. cap. 37. saith They have the effigies of eyes under the membrane but no sight being condemned to perpetuall darknesse Aristotle lib. 3. de Animal saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it seems they have eyes under a thin skin and a place for eyes The Prince of Poets calls them Oculis captos Geor. 1. Scaliger Exer. 243. saith They are

of Sens in Bourgundie which went 28 years with a dead child in her womb this woman being dead and her belly opened there was found a stone having all the limbs and proportion of a child of 9 months old This was no miracle but an extraordinary work of nature for the child being dead and the slimie matter of its body having an aptitude by the extraordinary heat of the matrix to be hardned might retain the same lineaments which it had before If any wonder how within the soft and liquid humors of the matrix such a hard substance should be ingendred let him as well wonder at the generation of hard bones within soft flesh of hard stones within soft plums Peaches and other fruits of stones and hard thunder-bolts within watrish clouds CHAP. IV. 1. Some without Lungs 2. Impostumes voided in Vrine 3. Worms the cause of many diseases 4. No change of sexes 5. Giants 6. Some without livers 7. Fleshy bladders 8. Stones haires worms c. Begot in our Vrine 9. A woman without a matrix I Have read of divers bodies of men without lungs and I believe it for oftentimes the lungs are putrified and corroded with corrupt and acrimonious matter and wasted with burning heat but hence it will not follow that a man can live without lungs any time seeing the heart stands in need continually of refrigeration yet some do live a great while with half of the lungs after the other half is putrified and spit out II. I finde that when impostumations and corrupted matter in the breast cannot be evacuated by spitting or coughing or vomiting or by Phlebotomy or the stool it is notwithstanding purged out by urine naturally without the help of art by which we see how cunning and industrious nature is to help her self and that she is more carefull to thrust out noxious then to draw in profitable things hence sick mens expiration is stronger then their inspiration and hence also we see that there are many porous and pervious passages unknown to us which doubtless are in our bodies being alive which cannot be found being dead because shut by the cold III. I finde that many Physitians are mistaken in the causes of divers diseases and therefore their remedies prove oftentimes fruitless or hurtfull For I have known Ap●plexies Convulsions Coughs Consumptions Feavers Cholicks and other Diseases proceed from Wormes which when they have beene voided either dead or alive the sick partys have recovered Nay I have read of some who have had worms crawle out at their navels and some whose organs of voice and speech having been assaulted and hurt by worms have become speechless how carefull then should we be of our diets not to delight so much as we do in sweet meats sauces and drinks or in such food as breeds sl●my matter whereof worms are ingendred and Physitians should be as carefull to prescribe such things to their patients as may kill and evacuate these enemies of our health and life IV. That maids have become boyes I have read in divers Stories but I have shewed in the former Book that there is no such change in nature because the organs of generation in the two sexes differ both in number form and situation and that therefore such transformations are meant of Hermaphrodites or of such boyes in whom the vessels of generation have not at first appeared outwardly for want of heat and strength which afterwards have thrust them out Dr. Brown admits the change and yet shews that the vessels are different both in form and situation which is a contradiction V. That there have been Giants and men of stupendious stature in all ages is not to be doubted seeing there are so many witnesses extant and the reason of their bigness can be none else but the aboundance of seed and menstruous blood of which they are begot the quality and pliableness of the matter ●apt to be extended the strength also of the heat and formative power and that these men should have rapacious stomachs to devour incredible quantities of meat and drink is not to be wondred at if we consider the bulk of their bodies the capacity of their stomachs and rapacity of their heat VI. Nature is not deficient in necessaries nor abundant in superfluities there is not any one member in our bodies that can be spared for if there be any one defective our life proves short and miserable I have read of some who have been found without Livers but such had a fleshy lump in stead thereof which not being able to sanguifie or turn the Chylus into blood the parties lived but a short while and died of Tympanies or Hydropsies and others whose Livers have been found full of stones have died of the same disease and so have those whose spleen hath been found stony A woman who died of an Hydropsie I saw dissected whose spleen was full of stones of a blewish and green colour VII Not onely are stones of great bigness bred in the bladder by which the passage of the urine is intercepted and so death and many tortures are procured but also there have been found in some bladders great lumps of flesh yea all the internal side of the bladder filled up with fleshy excrescences that there could be no room for the urine but I doubt whether this were true flesh or not seeing no flesh is begot but of blood I think therefore that this was an excrementitious substance res●mbling flesh in colour and shape VIII It is manifest that some with their urine evacuate stones gravel matter hairs little crawling creatures of divers shapes which doubtless are begotten of putrifaction according to the disposition of the matter and heat of the bladder or kidneys if the matter be adust and b●rned hairs are begot sometimes as big as hogs brissles and sometimes the stones of the kidneys are so big that they stick in the yard and cannot be evacuated without incision upon the stoppage of the urine by these stones malignant vapours ascend from the corrupted urine into the noble parts that convulsions syncopes and other dangerous effects are procreated IX As a man can live without testicles so can a woman without the matrix these being members given by natur● not for conversation of the individuals but for continuation of the species Therefore Zacu●u● speaks of a woman who lived thirty years after her matrix was cut out which by a fall that she had from a high tree had slipt out of its place and could never be again replaced Obs. 76. l. 2. CHAP. V. 1. Strange but not miraculous births 2. Strange and strong imaginations 3. Poison inward and outward 4. Poison of mad Dogs 5. C●ntharides 6. Poison how it worketh 7. Why birds not poisoned as men 8. Amphiam Opium Mandrakes 9. The Plague no Hectick nor putrid Fever 10. Epidemical diseases THat a boy of nine years old should beget a child is rar● but much mor● strange it is that a child should be

body to be more solid so doth the right hand begin to be more agill though I deny not but in some the left hand is more agill but these are few and aberrations from the common course of Nature for we see that in all her works there are some accidentall deviations His other objections are coincident with these two and his discourse of the right and left side of heaven is impertinent to this purpose therefore I will spend no time in refelling it for some make the East some the South the right part of heaven but I will conclude with Aristotle hist. animal 1. c. 15 the right side and left in man consist of the same parts but the left side is every where weaker IV. The end why mans body was made erected was to look up toward heaven whence the soul hath its originall where our hopes should be and our happiness shall be by the contemplation of which we are brought to the knowledge of Gods goodness and wisdom For the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament his handy work Psal. 19. Yet the Doctor book 4. c. 1. will not have this the end of mans erection but out of Galen the exercise of Arts which could not be performed in any other figure Again saith he the eyes of divers fishes regard the heavens● birds who have no upper eye-lid have in this the advantage of man So the position of the frog with his eyes above the water serves to behold a great part of the heavens Answ. All these are weak Assertions for the God of Nature created man to enjoy happiness and to glorifie him this is the chief end of his creation Now this happiness is heaven by beholding which our knowledge of God is confirmed our hopes established and our joy and affections to heavenly things are enlarged The invention of Arts then was but a secondary end which it seems Galen that meer naturall man thought to be the chief end And whereas the Doctor saith that by sursum aspicere was not meant to look upward with the eye but to have his thoughts sublime I would know what means so forcible to sublimate the thoughts as the eye All knowledge and affection of and to the object comes by the senses How should Abraham have known the glory and multitude of his posterity had he not looked up as God commanded him to the stars The wise men found Christ in Bethlehem by looking upward to heaven where they saw his star Christ in blessing the bread and in Praying looked up towards heaven should not our eyes be fixed there where our treasure is Our Saviour went up to heaven and we exspect him again to return with the clouds of heaven Our eyes then should be directed thither as well as our thoughts The Philosophers by the knowledge of the first Mobile came to the knowledge of the first mover And though birds some fishes and frogs may have an advantage in looking upward yet this advantage was not given them to look on heaven of which they have neither knowledge hope affection or interest they look upward then not to contemplate heaven but to watch either flies to feed on or kites hawkes and other ravenous fowle to avoid them V. He doubts whether mice can be procreated of putrifaction So he may doubt whether in cheese and timber worms are generated Or if Betels and wasps in cowes dung Or if butterflies locusts grashoppers shel-fish snails eeles and such like be procreated of putrified matter which is apt to receive the form of that creature to which it is by the formative power disposed To question this is to question Reason Sense and Experience If he doubts of this let him go to AEgypt and there he will finde the fields swarming with mice begot of the mud of Nylus to the great calamity of the Inhabitants What will he say to those rats and mice or little beasts resembling mice found generated in the belly of a woman dissected after her death of which Lemnius is a witness who thinks this generation might proceed of some sordid excrement or seminal pollution of those animals with which the womans meat or drink had been infected I have seen one whose belly by drinking of puddle water was swelled to a vast capacity being full of small toads frogs evets and such vermin usually bred in putrified water A toad hath been found in a sound piece of Timber VI. That men swim naturally he cannot assent to because other animals swim as they go but man alters his natural posture as he swims 4. Book c. 6. Answ. This is no reason for man alters his natural posture when he crawls will it follow therefore that this motion is no natural to man But to speak properly swimming is no natural motion neither in man nor beast For if we take natural as it is opposite to animal swimming is an animal motion and if we take natural as it is opposite to artificial then swimming is an artifical motion for there is some Art in it But if we take nature for a propensity facility inclination or disposition then I say these are as well in men as in beasts Therefore Pliny tells us of the Troglodites that they swim like Fishes Lerius Acosta and other Indian Historians write that the American children begin to swim as soon as they begin to walk and that for eight dayes together they can live in the Sea and longer if it were not for feare of the great Fishes so swift and skillfull they are in swimming that they out-swim the Fishes and catch them and so farre they exceed other animals in this motion that they can swim with the left hand onely holding hooks and darts in the right which no other creature can doe If it be objected That swimming is not naturall to man because he learns it I answer That walking and talking are naturall actions to man and yet he learns both when he is a child So I have seen old birds teach their young ones to flye Lastly if it be naturall for beasts to swim because of their posture then it must needs be as naturall to those wilde men who from their infancy were brought up among wild beasts to walk upon all foure having no other posture CHAP. XI 1. The Pictures of the Pelican Dolphin Serpent Adam and Eve Christ Moses Abraham and of the Sybils defended 2. The Pictures of Cleopatra of Alexander of Hector of Caesar with Saddle and Stirrops maintained THe Doctor Book 5. c. 1. quarrels with some pictures as 1. With that of the Pelican opening her breast with her Bill and feeding her young ones with her blood But for this he hath no great reason for Franzius de animalib to whom he is beholding for much of his matter tels him that this and divers other pictures are rather Hieroglyphical and Emblematical then truly Historicall for the Pelican was used as an Emblem of paternall affection among the Gentiles and of Christs love to

some other pictures which offend the Doctors eyes as 1. That of Cleopatra with two Asps. Suetonius speakes of one Florus of tvvo so doth Virgil Nec dum etiam geminos à tergo respicit angues So doth Propertius Brachia spectavi sacris admorsa colubris He should therefore have reproved these rather then the Painter he should also have quarrelled with Augustus who from the prickes he found in her arms concluded she was bit by Asps and therefore imployed the Phylli to suck out the poyson But whether she was bit by one or two or none the picture is harmlesse and consonant both to Roman Historians and Poets 2. The pictures of the nine Worthies displease him because Alexander is described sitting upon an Elephant Hector on Horseback and Caesar with Saddle and Styrrups But he should remember that Painters and Poets have a priviledge above others Pictoribus atque Poetis quid libet audendi semper fuit aequa potestas Horat. And yet these pictures are partly historicall partly hieroglyphical Alexander sits on an Elephant to shew his conquest over the Indians which most abound in Elephants Besides this picture hath reference to that story of the Elephant in Philostrates Lib. 2. Cap. 61. which from Alexander to Tiberius lived three hundred and fifty yeares This huge Elep●hant Alexander after he had overcome Porus dedicated to the Sun in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he gave to this Elephant the name of Ajax and the inhabitants so honored this beast that they beset him round with Garlands and Ribbons they used also to anoynt him and adorned him with a golden chain It was not then without cause he is painted sitting on an Elephant rather then Iudas Macchabaeus or any others who have overcom● battels wherein were Elephants or Caesar whose triumph was honored with captive Elephants for he was not the first long before him Curius Dentatus was thus honored and so was Me●●llus who had an hundred and twenty captive Elephants in his triumph Again the Doctor asks Why Hector is painted upon an horse I answer because he was a brave Cavalier and kept excellent Horses such as if we will believe Homer had understanding for Hector makes an eloquent speech to them and his wife Andromache fed them with good bread and wine Ili●d lib. 8. Their names were Zanthus Podargus Aithon and Lampus Is it likely that he would keep such horses and never ride them whereas Horsmanship was in use long before And we read in Pindarus in Olympiad that the Grecian Princes took delight in keeping and riding of good Horses And although the Ancients used to fight in Chariots yet sometimes they fought on Horseback too being as Pliny saith taught so to fight by the Theban Centaurs As for Caesars Saddle and Stirrops they are neither dishonour to his picture nor repugnant to story for though we find some of the ancient equestral Statues without Saddle or Stirrops it will not thence follow these were not in use for we find the ancient Roman Statues bare-headed will it therefore follow there were no use of Helmets or that they fought or rid bare-headed But we doe not find saith the Doctor out of Salmuth upon Pancerol the word Stapida in ancient Authors I answer We find words equivalent for what is Suppedaneum Pedamentum Subex Pedaneus and Sta●iculum but the same that Stapida which we call Stirrup So we find Ephippium in Horace Optat Ephippia bos piger and Equorum strata found out by Pelethronius in Pliny and what were these but Saddles For to take stratum there for an Horse-cloth is ridiculous as if that had been such a piece of invention to be recorded to cover the Horse back with a piece of Cloth Appian writes of the Numidians that they used to ride without Saddles but nothing of the Romans The two verses which the Doctor citeth out of Salmuth to prove his Assertion are needlesse for in the one is left out the principall word Saltus superbus emittat in currum So that Turnus did not leap on Horseback but into his Chariot AEn 12. The other Corpora saltu subjiciunt in equos shews that they jumped on Horseback but whether by stirrups or not is not there set down CHAP. XII 1. The Picture of Iephtha sacrificing his daughter maintained 2. The Baptist wore a Camels skin 3. Other pictures as of S. Christopher S. George c. defended 4. The antiquity distinction and continuance of the Hebrew tongue of the Samaritans and their Letters THe picture of Iephtha sacrificing his daughter is questioned by the Doctor 5 Book c. 14 15 16 c. because saith he she died not a natural but a civil kind of death Answ. Indeed her death was neither natural nor civil but violent being sacrificed by her father This he denieth because she bewailed her virginity not her death Answ. She had no reason to bewaile her death to which she freely offered herself but to die childlesse deserved lamentation because that was a curse among the Israelites 2. Because the women went yearly to talk with Iephtha's daughter which had she been sacrificed they could not have done Answ. The word Letannoth from Tanan signifieth to lament and so it is rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Seventy and Leallaah by the Chaldee Paraphrast so it is interpreted by Munster by the old Latin Edition by the French and English translation But suppose the word were derived from Tanah to declare or speak yet this will not prove Iephtha's daughter was alive For in mournfull complaints and lamentations over the dead words and Elegies were oftentimes expressed and Prosopopeia's are used to them as if they were alive as we see Davids Lamentation for Ionathan and in other places both of sacred and profane writ So did that sorrowful mother speak to her dead son Eurialus and AEnaeas to dead Pallas in the Poet. 3. Because it is said in the Text And she knew no man he inferres that virginity was her onely death Answer These words she knew no man are added to shew the cause why the women so much lamented her death in that she died childlesse 4. The offering saith he of mankind was against the Law of God Answ. True But will it therefore follow that Iephtha did not sacrifice his daughter He may as well infer that David committed not adultery and murther because these were against the Law of God How often are Gods Laws violated by the best of his servants 5. He thinks the Priests and people would have hindred this sacrifice and that Jephtha was no Priest and that he had evasion for his vow by redeeming his daughter and that his vow of Sacrifice was to be understood only of that which was sacrificeable and lawfull Answ. These are but the conjectures of those who would defend Iephtha for it is more likely neither Priest nor people durst oppose his resolution being now strong and crowned with victory and though he was no priest

foreshewed by a skirmish between the magpies and jackdaws I have read also of skirmishes between wild-ducks and wild-geese likewise between water and land serpents premonstrating future calamities among men In this land of late years our present miseries and unnatural wars have been forewarned by armies of swallows martins and other birds fighting against one another And that privat men have been forewarned of their death by ravens I have not only heard and read but have likewise observed divers times a late example I have of a young gentleman Mr. Draper my intimate friend who about five or six years ago being then in the flower of his age had on a sudden one or two ravens in his chamber which had been quarrelling upon the top of the chimney these he apprehended as messengers of his death and so they were for he died shortly after There is then no superstition in the observation of such things for God is pleased sometimes to give men warning of their ends by such means so we finde in the life of Cicero who was forewarned by the noise and fluttering of the ravens about him that his end was near which proved true for the murtherers sent by Mark Antonie slew him presently after in his Sedan Why may not God forewarn men of their future death and calamities by birds as well as by generation of monsters apparition of comets strange showres of frogs blood stones and such like I saw a little before these last troubles of Germany divers Parseleons or Moors with crosses in the air not long before the appearing of the last blazing star Why is it less superstitious to observe such uncouth meteors then uncouth actions of birds and beasts or why is there less credit to be given to the one then the other seeing God can make use of all his creatures as he pleaseth therefore he that imployed a raven to be a feeder of Elias may employ the same bird as a messenger of death to others Camerarius out of Dietmarus and Erasinus Stella Writes of a certain fountain near the river Albis or Elbe in Germany which presageth Wars by turning red and bloudy coloured Of another which portendeth death if the water which before was limpid becomes troubled and thick so caused by an unknown Worm There is a noble Family in Bohemia vvhich is forevvarned of death by a spectrum or ghost appearing like a Woman cloathed in mourning Such an apparition had Mr. Nicholas Smith my dear friend immediatly before he fell sick of that feaver vvhich killed him having been late abroad in London as he vvas going up the stairs into his chamber he vvas embraced as he thought by a Woman all in vvhite at vvhich he cried out nothing appearing he presently sickneth goeth to bed and vvithin a vveek or ten days died Novv vvhether these things be true and real or only imaginary in the phantasie I vvill not here dispute it is sufficient that by such means many are forevvarned of their ends as Brutus was in his Tent to whom his evill Genius appeared the night before he died And why may nor our tutelary Angel by these and such like means give us warning of our dissolution We read in Histories of a Crow in Tr●jans time that in the Capitoll spoke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things shall be well And St. Hierom tels us that the Ravens fed the two Eremites Paul and Anthony many yeares together with bread The same God that imployed these birds as Stewards to feed his servants may also use them as messengers to warn them of their migration And yet in this I doe not patromize the heathen augurations who in all their actions depended superstitiously upon the chattering flying and feeding of birds then the which nothing could be more vain seeing they cannot naturally foreknow the death of others who cannot fore see their own as that Roman Commander made appeare to his Army who shot the bird dead by whose chattering the Augur would have hindered the Armies march Yet from hence it will not follow that all observations of meteors or animals are superstitious or that they do not fore-warn at all death and future calamities seeing Historie and experience teach the contrary and Christ sheweth that before the destruction of Ierusalem there shall be signes from heaven in the Sun Moon and Starres and Sea which Iosephus confirmes Obsequeus tells us That at Rome was extraordinary thundring immediatly before Catilines conspircy the like was before the Pharsalick battel as the Roman Stories inform us in which also we find that before the invasion of Italy by the Goths under Alaricus by the Huns under Attila and by the Lombards there was more then usuall thundring and lightning presaging the calamities that were to fall on that Countrey And this very houre that I am writing this discourse Aug. 23. anno 1651. I observe that it hath continued thundring and lightning almost 14 hours with some short interruptions whereas usually thunder lasteth not above an houre or two By which I fear me God is forwarning this Land of the horrible bloodshed and calamities which are suddenly like to fall out among us which we beseech God in his mercy to avert and to give us all repenting and relenting hearts IV. That sneezing or sternutation was superstitiously abused by the Centiles in divination is manifest by their writings who used to fore-tell good or bad events by sneezing they held that propitious which was in the afternoon and towards the right hand but to sneeze in the morning or towards the left hand was counted unlucky as Aristotle sheweth So superstitious they were that if they sneezed whilst they were rising in the morning they would to bed again and if any sneezed at Table whilst the meat was taking away they would set down the meat again If the Generall of an Army did sneeze when he was going to fight he would forbeare fighting that day such an ominous thing they held sneezing to be On the other side at Monopotama sternutation was of such high esteem that when the King sneezed all the people would fall down and worship him and proclamations were sent abroad to give notice to all the Kings subjects of his sneezing to the end they might rejoyce and worship Among the rest of the Gentiles ridiculous opinions this was one That Prometheus was the first that wisht wel to the sneezer when the man which he had made of clay sell into a fit of Sternutation upon the approach of that celestiall fire which he stole from the Sun This gave originall to that custome among the Gentiles in saluting the sneezer They used also to worship the head in sternutation as being a divine part and seat of the senses and cogitation They held also sternutation one of their gods because their chiefest soothsayings and divination was by Birds hence sternutation was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Bird by them by reason it is the action of the brain which is