a continual Coction the Volatil Essences ascending and descending till at last they are fix'd according to that excellent Prosopopaeia of the stone Non ego continuò morior dum spiritus exit Nam redit assiduè quamvis soepe recedat Et mihi nunc magna est Animae nunc nulla fa cultas Plus ego sustinui quam Corpus debuit unum Tres Animas habui quas omnes intus habebam Discessere duae sed Tertia poenè secuta est I am not dead although my spirit 's gon For it returns and is both off and on Now I have life enough now I have non I suffer'd more than one could justly doe Three soules I had and all my own but Two Are fled the Third had almost left mee too {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I have written what I have written And now give me leave to look about mee Is there no Powder-Plott or practice What 's become of Aristotel and Galen Where is the Scribe and Pharisee the Disputers of this world If they suffer all this and believe it too I shall think the General Conversion is come about and I may sing Jam redit Virgo redeunt Saturnia Regna But come what will come I have once more spoken for the Truth and shall for Conclusion speak this much Again I have elsewhere call'd this Subject Limus coelestis and the middle Nature The Philosophers call it the Venerable Nature but amongst all the Praetenders I have not yet found one that could tell me why Hear me then that whensoever thou doest attempt this work it may be with reverence not like some proud ignorant Doctor but with lesse Confidence more Care This Chaos hath in it the foure Elements which of themselves are contrarie Natures but the wisdome of God hath so placed them that their very order reconciles them For Example Ayre and Earth are Adversaries for one is hot and moyst the other cold and drie Now to reconcile these two God placed the Water between them which is a middle Nature or of a mean Complexion between both Extremes For she is cold and moyst and as shee is cold shee partakes of the Nature of the Earth which is cold and drie but as shee is moyst she partakes in the Nature of the Ayre which is hot and moyst Hence it is that Ayre and Earth which are Contraries in Themselves agree and imbrace one another in the water as in a middle Nature which is proportionate to them both and tempers their Extremities But verely this Salvo makes not up the Breach for though the water reconciles two Elements like a friendly Third yet shee her self fights with a Fourth namely with the Fire For the Tire is hot and drie but the water is cold and moyst which are clear Contraries To prevent the Distempers of these two God placed the Ayre between them which is a Substance hot and moyst and as it is hot it agrees with the fire which is hot and drie but as it is moyst it agrees with the water which is cold and moyst so that by mediation of the Ayre the other two Extremes namely fire and water are made friends and reconciled Thus you see as I told you at first that Contrarie Elements are united by that Order and Textare wherein the Wise God hath placed them You must now give me leave to tell you that this Agreement or friendship is but parâ—il a very weak love cold and skiâ—tish for whereas these Principles agree in one qualitie they differ in two as your selves may easily compute Much need therefore have they of a more strong and able Mediator to confirme and preserve their weak Unitie for upon it depends the very aternitie and Incorruption of the Creature This blessed Caement and Balsam is the Spirit of the living God which some ignorant Scriblers have call'd a Quintessence for this very Spirit is in the Chaos and to speak plainly the fire is his Thrrne for in the Fire he is Sèated as wee have sufficiently told you elsewhere This was the Reason why the Magi call'd the first Matter their Venerable Nature and their blessed stone and in good earnest what think you is it not so This blessed Spirit fortifies and perfects that weak Disposition which the Elements already have to Union and Peace for God works with Nature not against her and brings them at last to a beauteous specificall Fabric Now iÌ„f you will aske me where is the Soul or as the Schoole-men abuse hwer the Form all this while what doth shee doe To this I answer that shee is as all Instrumentals ought to be subject and obedient to the will of God expecting the persection of her Body for it is God that unites her to the Body and the body to her Soule and Body are the work of God the one as well as the other the Soul is not the Artificer of her house for that which can make a Body can also repayre it and hinder death but the Soule cannot doe this it is the Power and Wisdome of God In a word to say that the Soule form'd the Body because shee is in the Body is to say that the Jowell made the Cabinet because the Jewell is in the Cabinet or that the Sun made the world because the Sun is in the world and cherisheth every part thereof Learn therefore to distinguish between Agents and their Instruments for if you attribute that to the Creature which belongs to the Creator you bring your sleves in Danger of hell-fire for God is a jealous God and will not give his glorie to Another I advise my Doctors therefore both Divines and Physicians not to bee too rash in their Censures nor so Magisterial in their Discourse as I have known some Professors of Physic to be who would correct and undervalue the rest of their Brethren when in Truth they Themselves were most shamefully ignorant It is not ten or twelve years Experience in Druggs and Sopps can acquaint a man with the Mysteries of God's Creation Take this and make a world Take I know not what and make a Pill or Clyster are different Recepts Wee should therefore consult with our Judgements before wee venture our Tongues and never speake but when wee are sure wee understand I knew a Gentleman who meeting with a Philosopher Adept and receiving so much Courtesie as to be admitted to Discourse attended his first Instructions passing well But when this Magician quitted my friends known Roade and began to touch and drive round the great Wheele of Nature presently my Gentleman takes up the Cudgells and urging all the Authorities which in his vain judgement made for him opprest this noble Philosopher with a most clamorous insipid Ribaldrie A goodly sight it was and worthy our Imitation to see with what an admirable Patience the other received him But this Errant concluded at last That Lead or Quick-silver must be the Subject and that Nature work'd
Aristotel to AEelohim and condemn the Truth of God to justifie the Opinions of Man Now for my part I dare not be so irreligious as to think God so vain and improvident in his workes that he should plant in Man a Desire to know and yet deny him Knowledge it self This in plain termes were to give me Eyes and afterwards shutt mee up in Darkness lest I should see with those eyes This earnest Longing and busie Inquisition wherein Men tyre themselves to attain to the Truth made a certain Master of Truth speak in this fashion Ergo liquidò apparet in hac Mundi structurâ quam cernimus aliquam triumphare Veritatem quae toties rationem nostram commovet agitat implicat explicat toties inquietam toties insomnem miris modis sollicitat non fortuitis aut aliunde adventitiis sed suis propiis originariis Naturae Illicibus quae omnia cum non fiunt frustra utique contingit ut Veritatem Eorum quae sunt aliquo tandem opportuno tempore amplexemur It is clear therefore saith he that in this Fabric of the world which we behold there is some Truth that rules which Truth so often stirrs up puzzles and helps our Reason so often sollicites her when shee is restless so often when shee is watchfull and this by strange meanes not casual and adventitious but by genuine provocations and pleasures of nature All which Motions being not to no purpose it falls out at last that in some good time wee attain to the true Knowledge of those things that are But because I would not have you build your Philosophie on Coralls and whistles which are the Objects of little Children of whom we have spoken formerly I will speak som what of those Elements in whose Contemplation a Man ought to employ himself and this Discourse may serve as a Preface to our whole Philosophie Man according to Trismegistus hath but two Elements in his power namely Earth and Water To which Doctrine I adde this and I have it from a Greater than Hermes That God hath made Man absolute Lord of the first Matter and from the first matter and the Dispensation thereof all the fortunes of man both good and bad doe proceed According to the Rule and Measure of this Substance all the world are rich or poore and hee that knows it truly and withall the true use thereof he can make his fortunes constant but hee that knowes it not though his Estate be never so great stands on a slipperie Foundation Look about thee then and consider how thou art compassed with infinite Treasures and miracles but thou art so blind thou doest not see them nay thou art so mad thou doest think there is no use to be made of them for thou doest believe that Knowledge is a meere Peripateticall Chatt and that the Fruits of it are not Works but words If this were true I would never advise thee to spend one Minute of thy life upon Learning I would first be one of those should ruine all Libraries and Vniversities in the world which God forbid any good Christian should desire Look up then to Heaven and when thou seest the Coelestiall fires move in their swift and glorious Circles think also there are here below some cold Natures which they over-look and about which they move incessantly to heat and concoct them Consider again that the Middle spirit I mean the Ayre is interpos'd as a Refrigeratorie to temper and qualifie that Heat which otherwise might be too violent If thou doest descend lower and fix thy Thoughts where thy feet are that thy wings may be like those of Mercurie at thy Heeles thou wilt find the Earth surrounded with the Water and that Water heated and stirr'd by the Sun and his starrs abstracts from the Earth the pure subtil saltish parts by which means the water is thickened and coagulated as with a Rennet out of these two Nature generates all things Gold and Silver Pearles and Diamonds are nothing els but water and salt of the Earth concocted Behold I have in a few words discovered unto thee the whole system of Nature and her Royal High-way of Generation It is thy Duty now to improve the Truth and in my Booke thou mayst if thou art wise find thy Advantages The foure Elements are the Objects and implicitly the Subjects of Man but the Earth is invisible I know the common Man will stare at this and judge me not very sober when I affirme the Earth which of all substances is most gross and palpable to be invisible But on my soule it is so and which is more the Eye of Man never saw the Earth nor can it be seen without Art To make this Element visible is the greatest secret in Magic for it is a miraculous Nature and of all others the most holy according to that Computation of Trismegistus Coelum AEther Aer sacratissima Terra As for this Faeculent gross Body upon which we walk it is a Compost and no Earth but it hath Earth in it and even that also is not our Magicall Earth In a word all the Elements are visible but one namely the Earth and when thou hast attained to so much perfection as to know why God hath placed the Earth in Obscondito thou hast an Excellent Figure whereby to know God himself and how he is visible how invisible Hermes affirmeth that in the Beginning the Earth was a Quakemire or quivering kind of Jelly it being nothing els but water congealed by the Incubation and heat of the Divine spirit Cum adhuc sayth hee Terra tremula esset Lucente sole compacta est When as yet the Earth was a Quivering shaking substance the Sun afterwards shining upon it did compact it or make it Solid The same Author introduceth God speaking to the Earth and impregnating her with all sorts of seeds in these words Cumque manus aquè validas implesset rebus quae in Naturâ Ambienteque erant pugnos validè constringens Sume inquit ô Sacra Terra quae Genitrix omnium es futura nè ullâ re egena videaris manus quales oportet Deum habere expandens demisit Omnia ad rerum Constitutionem necessaria When God saith he had filled his powerfull hands with those things which are in Nature and in that which compasseth Nature then shutting them close again hee said Receive from me O holy Earth that art ordained to be the Mother of all lest thou shouldst want any thing when presently opening such hands as it becomes a God to have hee powr'd down All that was Necessary to the Constitution of things Now the meaning of it is this The Holy Spirit moving upon the Chaos which Action some Divines compare to the Incubation of a Hen upon her Eggs did together with his Heat communicat other manifold Influences to the Matter For as wee know the Sun doth not onely dispense heat but som other secret Influx so did God also
Dreame which his own Sorcerers and Wizards could not interpret but Joseph alone expounded it Verily it cannot be denyed but some Branches of this Art though extremely corrupted were dispers'd among all Nations by Tradition from the first man and this appeares by more Testimonies than one For in the Land of Canaan before ever Israel possest it Debir which Athniel the son of Kenaz conquered was an Universitie at least had in it a famous Librarie wherefore the Jewes call'd it Kiriath-Sepharim I might speak in this place of the Universalitie of Religion for never yet was there a people but had some confused Notion of a Deitie though accompanied with Lamentable Ceremonies and Super stitions Besides the Religious of all Nations have alwaies praetended to Powers Extraordinarie even to the performance of Miracles and the healing of all Diseases and this by some secret meanes not known to the common Man and verily if wee examine all Religions whether false or true wee shall not find one but it praetends to something that is Mysticall Certainly if men be not resolved against Reason they must grant these Obliquities in matters of Faith proceeded from the Corruption of some Principles received as we see that Heretics are but so many false Interpreters but not withstanding in those very Errors there remained some Marks and Imitations of the first Truth Hence comes it to passe that all parties agree in the Action but not in the Object For Example Israel did Sacrifise and the Heathen did Sacrifise but the One to God the other to his Idol Neither were they onely Conformable in some Rites and Solemnities of Divinitie but the Heathens also had some Hints left of the Secret Learning and Philosophie of the Patriarchs as wee may see in their false Magic which consisted for the most part in Astrologicall Observations Images Charmes and Characters But it is my Designe to keep in the Rode not to follow these Deviations and misfortunes of the Art which notwithstanding want not the weight of Argument the Existence of Things being proved as well by their Miscariage as by their Successe To proceed then I say that during the Pilgrimage of the Patriarchs this Knowledge was delivered by tradition from the Father to his Child and indeed it could be no otherwise for what was Israel in those Dayes but a privat Familie Notwithstanding when God appointed them their Possession and that this private house was multiplied to a Nation then these secrets remained with the Elders of the Tribes as they did formerly with the Father of the Familie These Elders no doubt were the Moysaicall Septuagint who made up the Sanhedrim God having Selected some from the rest to be the stewards and Dispensers of his Mysteries Now that Moses was acquainted with all the abstruse Operations and Principles of Nature is a Truth I suppose which no man will resist That the Sanhedrim also participated of the same Instruction and Knowledge with him is plain out of Scripture where wee read That God took of the spirit that was in Moses and gave it to the Seventy But lest any Man should deny that which wee take for granted namely the Philosophie of Moses I shall demonstrate out of his own Books both by reason as also by his practice that hee was a Natural Magician First of all then it is most absurd and therefore improbable that hee should write of the Creation who was no way skill'd in the Secrets of God and Nature both which must of necessitie be known before wee should undertake to write of the Creation But Moses did write of it Ergo Now I desire to know what hee hath written Truth or a Lie if Truth how dare you denie his Knowledge if a Lie which God forbid why will you believe him You will tell mee perhaps he hath done it onely in general Termes and I could tell you that Aristotle hath done no otherwise but think you in good earnest that hee knew no more than what hee did write There is nothing you can say in this point but wee can disprove it for in Genesis he hath discovered many particulars and especially those Secrets which have most Relation to this Art For Instance hee hath Discovered the Minera of Man or that Substance out of which Man and all his fellow-Creatures were made This is the first matter of the Philosophers stone Moses calls it sometimes Water sometimes Earth for in a certain place I read thus And God said Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving Creature that hath life and Fowle that may fly above the Earth in the open Firmament But elsewhere wee read otherwise And out of the Ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowle of the Aire In this later Text hee tels us that God made every fowle of the Ayre out of the Ground but in the former it is written hee made them out of the Water Certainly Aristotle and his Organ can never reconcile these two places but a little skill in Magic will mak them kisse and be friends without a Philtre This substance then is both Earth and Water yet neither of them in their Common Complexions but it is a thick water and a subtil Earth In plain termes it is a slimie spermatic viscous Masse impraegnated with all powers Coelestiall and terrestriall The Philosophers call it Water and no Water Earth and no Earth and why may not Moses speak as they doe or why may not they write as Moses did This is the true Damascen Earth out of which God made man you then that would be Chimists seem not to be wiser than God but use that subiect in your Art which God himself makes use of in Nature He is the best workman and knowes what matter is most fit for his work hee that will imitate him in the Effect must first imitate him in the Subject Talk not then of Flint-stones and Antimonie they are the Poets Pin-dust and Egshells Seek this Earth this Water But this is not all that Moses hath written to this purpose I could cite many more Magicall and mysticall places but in so doing I should be too open wherefore I must forbeare I shall now speak of his Practice and truly this is it which no Distinction nor any other Logicall Quibble can wave nothing but Experience can refell this Argument and thus it runs And Moses took the Calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire and grinded it to powder and strewed it vpon the water and made the Children of Israel drink of it Certainly here was a strange kind of Spice and an Art as strange as the Spice it self This Calf was pure gold the Israelites having contributed their Eare-rings to the Fabric Now would I gladly know by what meanes so solid and heavie a Body as Gold may bee brought to such a light powder that it may bee sprinkl'd on the face of the water and afterwards drunk up I am sure
here was Aurum potabile and Moses could never have brought the Calf to this passe had he not plowed with our Heyfer But of this enough if any man think hee did it by common fire let him also doe the like and when he hath performed hee may sell his powder to the Apothecaries If I should insist in this place on the Moysaicall Ceremoniall Law with its severall Reverend shadows and their Significations I might lose my self in a Wilderness of Mysteries both Divine and Naturall For verily that whole System is but one vast Skreen or a certain Majestic Umbrage drawne over two Worlds Visible and Invisible But these are things of a higher speculation than the Scope of our present Discourse will admit of I onely informe the Reader that the Law hath both a shell and a Kernell it is the Letter speaks but the spirit in erprets To this agrees Gregorie Nazianzen who makes a twofold Law {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} one literal another spirituall And elsewhere hee mentions {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the hidden and the manifest part of the Law the manifest part saith he being appointed {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for many men and such whose thoughts were fixed here below but the hidden {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for few onely whose Mindes aspired upwards to heavenly Things Now that the Law being given might benefit the people in both parts spiritual and literal therefore did the Law-giver institute the Sanhedrim a Councell of Seventy Elders upon whom hee had poured his Spirit that they might discerne as Esdras did the Deep Things of the Night in plain Termes the hidden things of his Law From these Elders the Cabala I believe had its Originall for they imparted their Knowledge by word of Mouth to their Successors and hence it came to passe that the Science it self was styl'd Cabala that is a Reception This continued so long as Israel held together but when their Frame began to discompose and the Dilapidations of that House proved desperat then Esdras a Prophet Incomparable notwithstanding the brand of Apocrypha writ that Law in Tables of Box which God himself had sometimes written in Tables of stone As for the more secret and mysterious part thereof it was written at the same time in Seventy Secret Bookes according to the Number of the Elders in whose hearts it had been sometimes written And this was the very first time the Spirit married the Letter for these Sacraments were not trusted formerly to Corruptible Volumes but to the aeternall Tables of the Soul But it may bee there is a blind Generation who will believe nothing but what they see at hand and therefore will deny that Esdras compos'd any such Bookes To these Owles though an unaequal Match I shall oppose the Honour of Picus who himself affirmes that in his time hee met with the Secret Bookes of Esdras and bought them with a great Price Nor was this all for Eugenius Bishop of Rome order'd their Translation but hee dying the Translators also fell asleep It is true indeed something may be objected to mee in this place concerning the Cabala An Art which I no way approve of neither doe I condemne it as our Adversaries condemne Magic before I understand it for I have spent some yeares in the S̄earch and Contemplation thereof But why then should I propose that for a Truth to others which I accompt for an Error my self To this I answer that I condemne not the true Cabala but the Inventions of some dispersed wandring Rabbies whose braines had more of Distraction than their fortunes of this thirteenth Tribe I understand the Satyrist when hee promiseth so largely Qualiacunque voles Judaei Somnia vendunt These I say have produc'd a certain up-start bastard Cabala which consists altogether in Alphabeticall knacks ends alwayes in the Letter where it begins and the Vanities of it are grown Voluminous As for the more Ancient and Physicall Traditions of the Cabala I embrace them for so many Sacred Truths but verily those Truths were unknown to most of those Rabbins whom I have seen even to Rambam himself I mean Rabbi Moses AEgyptius whom the Jewes have so magnified with their famous Hyperbole A Mose ad Mosen non surrexit sicut Moses But to deale ingenuously with my Readers I say the Cabala I admit of consists of two parts {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Name and Thing The former part is meerly Typicall in reference to the later Serving only as the shadow to the substance I will give you some instances The Literal Cabala which is but a Veile cast over the Secrets of the Physicall hath Three Principles commonly styl'd Tres Matres or the Three Mothers In the Masculine Complexion the Jewes call them {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Emes in the Foeminine {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Asam and they are {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} aleph {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} mem {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} schin Now I will shew you how the Physical Cabala expounds the Literall Tres Matres {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Emes saith the great Abraham or as some think Rabbi Akiba id est Aer Aqua I gnis Aqua Quieta I gnis sibilans Aer spiritus medius That is the Three Mothers Emes or Aleph Mem and Schin are Aire Water and Fire a still Water mark that a hissing Fire and Aire the middle Spirit Again sayth the same Rabbi Tres Matres {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Emes in Mundo Aer Aqua Ignis Coeli ex Igne Creati sunt Terra ex Aquá Aer egressus est ex spiritu qui stat medius The Three Mother Emes in this world are Ayre Water and Fire The Heavens were made of the Fire The Earth was made of the Water mark well this Cabalism and the Ayre proceeded from a middle spirit Now when the Cabalist speaks of the Generation of the Three Mothers he brings in Ten secret Principles which I think ten men have not understood since the Sanhedrim such Non-sence doe I find in most Authors when they undertake to discourse of them The first Principle is a Spirit which sits in Retrocessu suo fontano in his primitive Incomprehensible Retreats like Water in its Subterraneous Chanel before it springs The Second Principle is the Voice of that first Spirit this breaks forth like a Well-spring where the Water flowes out of the Earth and is discovered to the eye They call it Spiritus ex Spiritu The third Principle is Spiritus ex Spiritibus a Spirit which proceeds both from the first Spirit and from his Voice The Fourth Principle is Aqua de Spiritu a Certain Water
know it wee will teach you something not Common The Body of the Serpent tells you it is a fierie Substance for a Serpent is full of heat and fire which made the Egyptians esteem him Divine This appears by his quick motion without feet or finns much like that of the Pulse for his impetuous hot spirit shootes him on like a Squib There is also another Analogie for the Serpent renewes his youth so strong is his natural heat and casts off his old skin Truely the Matter is a very Serpent for shee renews her self a thousand wayes and is nèver a perpetuall Tenant to the same Forme The wings tell you this Subject or Chaos is Volatile and in the outward Complexion Arrie and Waterie But to teach you the most Secret Resemblance of this Hieroglyphic The Chaos is a certain Creeping Substance for it moves like a Serpent sine pedibus and truly Moses calls it not Water but Serpitura Aquae The Creeping of Water or a water that creepes Lastly the Knott on the Tayle Tells you this matter is of a most strong Composition and that the Elements are fast bound in it all which the Philophers know to be true by Experience As for the Assinitie of Inferiors with Superiors and their private Active Love which consists in certain Secret Mixtures of Heaven with the Matter their Opinion stands thus In the Vital fire of all Things here below The Sun say they is King In their Secret Water the Moon is Queen In their pure Aire the five lesser Planets rule and in their Central Hypostaticall Earth the fixed starrs For these Inferiors according to their Doctrine are Provinces or Thrones of those Superiors where they sit Regent and Paramont To speak plainly Heaven it self was originally extracted from Inferiors yet not so intirely but some portion of the Heavenly Natures remained still below and are the very same in Essence and Substance with the separated starrs and skies Heaven here below differs not from that above but in her Captivitie and that above differs not from this below but in her Libertie The one is imprisoned in the Matter the other is freed from the grossness and impurities of it but they are both of one and theÌ„same Nature so that they easily unite and hence it is that the Superior descends to the Inferior to visit and comfort her in this sickly infâ—ctious Habitation I could speak much more but I am in haste and though I were at leisure you cannot in Reason expect I should tell you all I will therefore decline these generall Principles to tell you something that makes for the AEgyptian Practice and proves them Philosophers adepted The first Monument I reade of to this purpose is that of Synesius a very learned intelligent man Hee found in the Temple of Memphis {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Bookes of stone and in those hard leaves these Difficult Instructions {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} That is One Nature delights in another One Nature overcomes another One Nature over-rules another These short lessons but of no small Consequence are fathered on the great Hostanes The Sâ—cond Monument is that admirable and most Magicall one mentioned by Barachias Abenesi the Arabian This also was a stone erected neere Memphis and on it this profound Scripture {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} That is Heaven Above Heaven Beneath Starres Above Starres Beneath All that is Above is also Beneath Understand this and bee Happy Under this were figur'd certain apposit Hieroglyphics and for a Close to all this Dedicatorie Subscription I find it onely in the Coptic Character but our Founts wanting that Letter I must give it you in the Greeke {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Isias the High Priest erected this to the Resident Gods in AEgypt And now though I formerly suspended the Authoritie of Irismegistus I might like the Italian produce his weapons Sfodrato but I love no Velitations and Truth is so brave it needs no Feather Quod est Superiùs sayd Hermes est sicut id quod est Inferiùs quod est Inferiùs est sicut id quod est superiùs This is his Mysterie and 't is great The Benefit that attends the Purchase is no losse habebis Gloriam totius Mundi All the Pomp and Splendor of the World shall bee Thine To this Language the Dialect of I sias doth so Echo these two like Euphorbus and Pythagoras might passe for Ono Coelum sursùm sayd he Coelum deorsum Astra sursùm Astra Deorsùm Omne quod sursùm omne id deorsum And then follows a reward for the Intelligent Haec cape faelicitare understand this and thou art fortunate Thou hast made thy self very happy This is enough to prove that Magic sometimes flourished in Egypt and no doubt but they received the Truth of it from the Hebrewes who lived amongst them to the terme of four hundred and thirtie years This is plain for their own Native Learning was meere Sorcerie and Witcheraft and this appears by the Testimonie of Moses who tells us their Magicians produc'd their Miracles by Inohantments And why I beseech you should this Instruction seem impossible For Joseph being married to Asenath daughter of Potipherah Priest of On some of the AEgyptian Priests and those likely of his own alliance might for that very Relation receive a better Doctrine from him But this is not all 〈…〉 d say of this Nation and their Secret 〈…〉 ing if I were dispos'd to bee their Mercurie There is not any I believe who praetend to Antiquitie or Philosophie but have seen that famous Monument which Paul the Third bestow'd on his Cardinal Petrus Bombus and was ever since called the Bembixe Table No doubt but the Hieroglyphics therein contained were they all reduced into Letters would make a Volume as ample as Mysterious But 't is not my Designe to comment on Mcmphis that were to make Brick and look out the straw withall AEgypt having no compleat Table but the World over which her Monuments are Scatter'd This place then was the Pitcher to the Fountain for they received their Mysteries immediatly from the Hebrewes but their Doctrine like their Nilus swelling above its private Chanel did at last over-run the Universe Jamblicus the Divine in that excellent Discourse of his de Mysterus tells us that Pythagoras and Plato had all their learning ex Columnis Mercurii out of the Pillars or Hieroglyphicall Monuments of Trisinegistus But the Ancient orpheus in his Poem de Verbo Sacro where hee speakes of God hath these words Nemo IlluÌ„ nisi Chaldao de Sanguine Quiddam Progenitus vidit None saith he hath ever seen God but a certaine Man descended of the Chaldaean Bloud Now this was Moses of whom it
so compact but every Sophister concludes it is no Simple but shee is so much One that no man believes she is more Shee yeelds to nothing but Love for her End is Generation and that was never yet perform'd by Violence Hee that knows how to wanton and toy with her the same shall receive all her Treasures First shee shedds at her Nipples a thick heavy water but white as any snow The Philosophers call it Virgin-milk Secondly she gives him Bloud from her very heart it is a quick heavenly fire some impioperly call it their sulphur Thirdly and lastly shee presents him with a secret Chrystall of more worth and lustie than the white Rock and all her Rosials This is shee and these are her Favours Catch her if you can To this Character and Discoverie of my owne I shall adde some more Descriptions as I find her â—imm'd and drest by her other Lovers Some few but such as knew her very well have written that shee is not onely One and Tirce but withall Foure and Five and this Truth is Essentiall The Titles they have bestowed upon her are divers They call her their Catholic Magnesia and the Sperme of the World out of which all Naturall things are generated Her Birth say they is Singular and not without a miracle her Complexion heavenly and different from her Parents Her Body also in some sense is Incorruptible and the Common Elements cannot destroy it neither will shee mix with them Essentially In the outward shape or figure shee resembles a stone and yet is no stone for they call her their white Gum and Water of their Sea water of Life most pure and most blessed water and yet they minde not water of the Clouds or Rain-water nor water of the Wel nor Dew but a certain thick permanent saltish water a water that is drie and wetts not the hand a viscous slimie water generated out of the saltish fatnesse of the Earth They call her also their twofold Mercurie and Azoth begotten by the Influences of two Globes Coelestiall and Terrestriall Moreover they affirme her to bee of that Nature that no fire can destroy her which of all other Descriptions is most true for shee is fire her self having in her a portion of the universall fire of Nature and a secret Coelestiall spirit which spirit is animated and quickened by God himself wherefore also they call her their most blessed stone Lastly they say shee is a middle nature between thick and thin neither altogether Earthy nor altogether Firie but a mean aereall substance to bee found every where and every time of the year This is enough but that I may speak something my self in plain Termes I say shee is a very salt but extreme soft and somewhat thin and fluid not so hard not so thick as common extracted Salts for shee is none of them nor any kind of Salt whatsoever that man can make Shee is a sperme that Nature her self drawes out of the Elements without the help of Art man may find it where Nature leaves it it is not of his office to make the sperme nor to extract it it is already made and wants nothing but a Matrix and heat convenient for Generation Now should you consider with your selves where Nature leaves the seed and yet many are so dull they know not how to work when they are told what they must doe Wee see in Animal Generations the sperme parts not from both the Parents for it remaines with the Female where it is perfected In the great world though all the Elements contribute to the Composure of the sperme yet the sperme parts not from all the Elements but remaines with the Earth or with the Water though more immediatly with the one than with the other Let not your Thoughts feed now on the Phlegmatic indigested Vomits of Aristotle look on the green youthfull and flowrie Bosome of the Earth Consider what a vast Universall Receptacle this Element is The Starrs and Plarets over-look her and though they may not descend hither themselves they shed down their golden Locks like so many Bracolets and Tokens of their Love The Sun is perpetually busie brings his Fire round about her as if he would sublime something from her bosom and rob her of some secret inclosed Jewell Is there any thing lost since the Creation Would'st thou know his very bed and his pillow It is Earth How many Cities dost thou think have perished by the Sword how many by Earth-quakes and how many by the Deluge Thou doest perhaps desire to know where they are at this present believe it they have one common Sepulcher what was once their Mother is now their Tombe All things return to that place from whence they came and that very place is Earth If thou hast but leasure run over the Alphabet of Nature examine every Letter I mean every particular Creature in her Booke What becomes of her Grasse her Corne her Herbs her Flowers True it is both Man and beast doe use them but this onely by the way for they rest not till they come to Earth again In this Element they had their first and in this will they have their last station Think if other Vanities will give thee leave on all those Generations that went before thee and anticipate all those that shall come after thee Where are those Beauties the Times past have produced and what will become of those that shall appear in future Ages They will all to the same ' Dust they have one Common house and there is no Familie so numerous as that of the Grave Doe but look on the Daily sports of Nature her Clouds and mists the Scaeue and Pageantrie of the Aire Even these Momentary Things retreat to the Closet of the Earth If the Sun makes her drie shee can drink as fast what gets up in Cloudes comes down in Water the Earth swallows up ail and like that Philosophicall Dragon eats her own Tayle The wise Poets saw this and in their mysticall language call'd the Earth Saturne telling us withall shee did feed on her own Children Verily there is more Truth in their stately Verse than in Aristotle's dull Prose for hee was a blinde beast and Malice made him so But to proceed a little further with you I wish you to concoct what you reade to dwell a little upon Earth not to fly up presently and admire the Meteors of your own Braines The Earth you know in the Winter time is a dull dark dead Thing a contemptible frozen phlegmatick Lump But towards the Spring and Fomentation of the Sun what rare Pearles are there in this Dung-hill what glorious Colours and tinctures doth she discover a pure eternall green overspreads her and this attended with innumerable other Beauties Roses red and white golden Lilies Azure Violets the Bleeding Hyacinths with their severall coelestiall odours and Spices If you will be advised by me Learn from whence the Earth hath these invisible Treasures This Annuall
Flora which appears not without the Complements of the Sun Behold I will tell you as plainly as I may There are in the world two Extremes Matter and Spirit one of these I can assure you is earth The Influences of the spirit animate and quicken the matter and in the Material Extreme the seed of the spirit is to be found In middle Natures as Fire Aire and Water this Seed stayes not for they are but Dispenseros or Media which convey it from one extreme to the other from the Spirit to the Matter that is to the Earth But stay my friend this Intelligence hath somewhat stirr'd you and now you come on so furiously as if you would rifle the Cabinet Give me leave to put you back I mind not this Common faeculent impure Earth that falls not within my Discourse but as it makes for your Manuduction That which I speak of is a Mysterie it is Coelum Terrae and Terra Coeli not this dirt and dust but a most Secret Coelestiall Invisible Earth Raymund Lullie in his Compendium of Alchimie calls the Principles of Art Magic Spiritus fugitivos in Aere condensatos in forma Monstrorum Diversorum Animalium etiam Hominum qui vadunt sicut Nubes modo hùc modo illùc Certain fugitive spirits condensed in the Ayre in the shape of Divers Monsters Beasta and Men which move like Cloudes hither and thither As for the Sense of our Spaniard I refer it to his Readers let them make the most of it This is true As the Ayre and all the Volatile Substances in it are restlesse even so it is with the first Matter The eye of Man never saw her twice under one and the same shape but as Cloudes driven by the winde are forced to this and that figure but cannot possibly retain one constant forme so is shee persecuted by the fire of Nature for this fire and this water are like two Lovers they no sooner meet but presently they play and toy and this Game will not over till some new Babee is generated I have oftentimes admired their subtil perpetual Motion for at all Times and in all places these two are busie which occasioned that Notable sentence of Trismegistus That Action was the Life of God But most excellent and Magisterial is that Oracle of Marcus Antoninus who in his Discourse to himself speaks indeed things worthy of himself {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The Nature saith he of the Universe delights not in any Thing so much as to alter all Things and then to make the like again This is her Tick Tack shee playes one Game to begin another The matter is placed before her like a peece of Wax and shee shapes it to all formes and figures Now shee makes a Bird now a Beast now a Flowre then a Frog and shee is pleas'd with her own Magicall performances as men are with their own fansies Hence shee is call'd of Orpheus {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Mother that makes many Things and ordaines strange shapes or figures Neither doth shee as some sinfull Parents doe who having their pleasure care not for their Child shee loves them still after shee hath made them hath an eye over them all and provides even for her Sparrowes IT is strange to consider that shee workes as well privatly as publicly not onely in Gardens where Ladyes may smell her perfumes but in remote Solitudes and Deserts The Truth is shee seeks not to please others so much as her self wherefore many of her works and those the Choysest never come to Light Wee see little Children who are newly come from under her hand will be dabling in ' Dirt and Water and other idle sports affected by none but Themselves The Reason is they are not as yet Captivated which makes them seek their own pleasures But when they come to Age then Love or Profit makes them square their Actions according to other mens Desires Some Cockney claps his Revenues on his backe but his Galantrie is spoil'd if his Mistris doth not observe it Another fights but his Victory is lost if it be not Printed it is the world must heare of his Valour Now Nature is a free spirit that seeks no Applause shee observes none more than her self but is pleased with her own Magic as Philosophers are with their Secret Philosophie Hence it is that wee find her busie not onely in the Potts of the Balconies but in Wildernesses and ruinous places where no eyes observe her but the Starrs and Planets In a word wheresoever the fire of nature finds the Virgin Mercurie there hath he found his Love and there will they both fall to their Husbandrie a pleasure not subject to Surfets for it still Presents new Varieties It is reported of Marc Antonie a famous but unfortunate Romane how he sent his Agent over the world to Copie all the handsome faces that amongst so many excellent features hee might select for himself the most pleasing peece Truly Nature is much of this straine for shee hath infinite beauteous patternes in her self and all these shee would gladly see beyond her self which shee cannot doe without the matter for that is her Glasse This makes her generate perpetually and imprint her conceptions in the matter communicating life to it and figuring it according to her Imagination By this Practice shee placeth her Fansie or Idea beyond her self or as the Peripatetics say extra Intellectum beyond the divine Mind namely in the Matter but the Idea's being innumerable and withall different the pleasures of the Agent are maintain'd by their Varietie or to speak more properly by his own fruitfulnesse for amongst all the Beauties the world affords there are not two that are altogether the same Much might bee spoken in this place concerning Beautio what it is from whence it came and how it may be defaced not onely in the outward figure but in the inward Idea and lost for ever in both worlds But these pretty shuttles I am no way acquainted with I have no Mistris but Nature wherefore I shall leave the fine Ladies to fine Lads and speak of my simple AElia Laelia It was scarce Day when all alone I saw Hyanthe and her Throne In fresh green Damascs she was drest And o're a Saphir Globe did rest This slipperie Sphaere when I did see Fortune I thought it had been Thee But when I saw shee did present A Majestie more Permanent I thought my Cares not lost if I Should finish my Discoverie Sleepie shee look'd to my first sight As if shee had Watch'd all the Night And underneath her hand was spread The White Supporter of her head But at my Second studied View I could perceive a silent Dew Steale down her Cheeks lest it should Stayne Those Cheeks where onely Smiles should reigne The Tears stream'd down for haste and all In Chaines of liquid Pearle did fall Faire Sorrows and more
stone which is a Body aereal and volatil cold and moyst watrie and adustive and in it is Heat and Drought Coldnesse and Moysture one virtue inwardly the other outwardly Belus the Philosopher in that famous and most Classic Synod of Arisleus inverts the order to conceale the practice but if rightly understood he speaks to the purpose Excelsum sayth hee est hoc apud Philosophos magnos Lapidem non esse lapidem apud I diotas vile Incredibile Quis enim credet Lapidem Aquam Aquam Lapidem fieri cum nihil sit diver sius Attamen revera it a est Lapis enim est haec ipsaper manens Aqua dum Aqua est lapis non est Amongst all great Philosophers it is Magisterial that our stone is no stone but amongst Ignorants it is ridiculous and incredible For who will believe that water can be made a stone and a stone water nothing being more different than these two And yet in very truth it is so For this very permanent water is the stone but whiles it is water it is no stone But in this sense the Ancient Hermes abounds and almost disvocers too much Scitote Filii Sapientum quod priscorum Philosophorum aquae est Divisio quae dividit ipsam in Alia quatuor Know saith hee you that are the Children of the wise the Separation of the ancient Philosophers was performed upon water which Separation divides the water into other foure Substances There is extant a very learned Author who hath written something to this purpose and that more openly than any whom we have formerly cited Sicuti Mundus Originem debet Aquae cui Spiritus Domini incubabat rebus tà m Coelestibus quà m Terrestribus omnibus indè prodeuntibus ita Limbus hic emergit ex Aquâ non vnlgari neque ex Rore Coelesti aut ex aere Condensato in Cavernis Terrae vel in Recipiente ipso non ex Abysso Maris fontibus puteis fluminibusvè hausto sed ex Aquâ quadam perpessâ omnibus obviâ paucissimis cognitâ Quae in se habet quaecunque ad totius operis Complementum sunt necessaria omni amoto Extrinsico As the world saith hee was generated out of that Water upon which the Spirit of God did move all things proceeding thence both Coelestiall and Terrestriall So this Chaos is generated out of a certain Water that is not common not out of Dew nor Ayre condensed in the Caverns of the Earth or Artificially in the Receiver not out of water drawn out of the Sea Fountains Pitts or Rivers but out of a certain tortured water that hath suffered some Alteration obvious it is to All but known to very few This water hath all in it that is necessarie to the perfection of the work without any Extrinsecal Addition I could produce a Thousand Authors more but that were tedious I shall conclude with one of the Rosie Brothers whose Testimonie is AEquivalent to the Best of These but his Instruction far more Excellent His Discourse of the first Matter is somewhat large and to avoyd prolixitie I shall forbeare the Latin but I will give thee his Sense in punctuall plaine English I am a Goddesse saith hee speaking in the person of Nature for Beauty and Extraction famous born out of our own proper Sea which compasseth the whole Earth and is ever restlesse Out of my Breasts I poure forth Milk and Bloud Boyle these two till they are turned into Silver and Gold O most excellent Subject out of which all things in this world are generated though at the first sight thou art Poyson adorn'd with the name of the flying Eagle Thou art the first Matter the seed of Divine Benediction in whose Body there is Heat and Rain which notwithstanding are hidden from the wicked because of thy Habit and virgin vestures which is scatter'd over all the world Thy Parents are the Sun and Moone in Thee there is Water and Wine Gold also and Silver upon Earth that mortall man may rejoyce After this manner God sends us his Blessing and Wisdome with Raine and the Beams of the Sun to the eternall Glory of his Name But consider ô Man what Things God bestows upon thee by this means Torture the Eagle till shee weeps and the Lion bee weakened and bleed to death The Bloud of this Lion incorporated with the Teares of the Eagle is the Treasure of the Earth These Creatures use to devoure and kill one another but notwithstanding their love is mutuall and they put on the Proprietie and Nature of a Salamander which if it remains in the fire without any detriment it cures all the Diseases of Men Beasts and Metals After that the Ancient Philosophers had perfectly understood this Subject they diligently sought in this Mysterie for the Center of the Middlemost Tree in the Terrestrial Paradyse entring in by Five litigious Gates The first Gate was the Knowledge of the true Matter and here arose the first and that a most bitter Conflict The second was the Praeparation by which this matter was to bee praepared that they might obtain the Embers of the Eagle and the Bloud of the Lyon At this Gate there is a most sharp fight for it produceth water and bloud and a Spirituall bright Body The Third Gate is the Fire which conduceth to the Maturitie of the Medicine The Fourth Gate is that of Multiplication and Augmentation in which Proportions and Weights are Necessarie The fifth and last Gate is Projection But most glorious full rich and high is hee who attains to the fourth Gate for hee hath got an Universall Medicine for all Diseases This is that great Character of the Book of Nature out of which her whole Alphabet doth arise The fifth gate serves onely for Metals This Mysterie existing from the Foundation of the World and the Creation of Adam is of all others the most ancient a knowledge which God Almighty by his Word breathed into Nature a miraculous power the blessed fire of Life the Transparent Carbuncle and red Gold of the Wise men and the Divine Benediction of this life But this mysterie because of the Malice and wickednesse of men is given onely to few notwithstanding it lives and moves every day in the sight of the whole world as it appears by the following parable I am a poysonous Dragon present every where and to bee had for nothing My water and my fire dissolve and Compound out of my body thou shalt draw the Green and the Red Lyon but if thou doest not exactly know mee thou wilt with my Fire destroy thy five Senses A most pernieious quick poyson comes out of my Nostrils which hath been the Destruction of many Separate therefore the Thick from the Thin artificially unlesse thou dost delight in extreme Povertie I give thee faculties both Male and Female and the Powers both of Heaven and Earth The Mysteries of my Art are to bee performed magnanimously and with great Courage if thou
whose lipps the Truth did breathe and knew no other Oracle Coelestium vires dum in se existunt à Datore Luminum per sanctas Intelligentias Coelos influuntur quousque ad Lunam pervenerint earum Influentia bona est tanquam in primo gradu deinde autem quando in Subjecto viliori suscipitur ipsa etiam vilescit That is The Heavenly powers or spirituall Essences whiles they are in themselves or before they are united to the Matter and are shower'd down from the Father of Lights thorough the holy Intelligences and the Heavens untill they come to the Moone Their Influence is good as in the first degree But when it is received in a corrupt Subject the Influence also is corrupted Thus He. Now the A stronomers pretend to a strange familiaritie with the starrs the Natural Philosophers talk as much and truly an Ignorant man might well think they had been in heaven and conversed like Lucians Menippus with Jove himself But in good Earnest these Men are no more Eagles than Sancho their fansies are like his flights in the Blanket and every way as short of the Skies Ask them but where the Influences are received and how bid them by faire Experience prove they are present in the Elements and you have undone them if you will trust the foure Corners of a Figure or the three Legs of a Syllogism you may this is all their Evidence Well fare the Magicians then whose Art can demonstrate these Things and put the very Influences in our hands Let it be thy studie to know their Region of Light and to enter into the Treasures thereof for then thou mayst converse with Spirits and understand the Nature of invisible Things Then will appear unto thee the Universal Subject and the two minerall Spermes White and Red of which I must speak somewhat before I make an end In the Pythagoricall Synod which consisted of Threescore and Ten Philosophers all Masters of the Art it is thus written I gnis Spissum in Aera cadit Aeris vero Spissum quod ex igne Spisso congregatur in Aquam incidit Aquae quoque Spissum quod ex I gnis Aeris Spisso coadunatur in Terrâ quiescit Ita istorum Trium spissuudo in Terrâ guiescit inque eâ conjuncta sunt Ipsa ergo Terra omnibus caeteris Elementis spissior est uti Palam apparet videre est That is The Thicknesse or Sperm of the Fire falls into the Ayre The Thickness or Spermatic part of the Ayre and in it the Sperm of the Fire falls into the Water The Thickness or spermatic Substance of the Water and in it the two Spermes of Fire and Ayre fall into the Earth and there they rest and are conjoyned Therefore the Earth it self is thicker than the other Elements as it openly appears and to the eye is manifest Remember now what I have told thee formerly concerning the Earth what a generall Hospitall it is how it receives all things not onely Beasts and Vegetables but proud and glorious Man when Death hath ruin'd him his courser parts stay here and know no other Home This Earth to Earth is just the Doctrine of the Magi Metalls say they and all things may bee reduc'd into that whereof they were made They speak the very Truth it is God's own Principle and he first taught it Ad. m. Dust thou art and to Dust shalt thou return But lest any man should be Deceived by us I think it just to informe you there are two reductions One is Violent and Destructive reducing Bodies to their Extremes and properly it is Death or the Calcination of the common Chimist The other is Vital and Generative resolving Bodies into their Sperm or middle Substance out of which Nature made them for Nature makes not Bodies immediatly of the Elements but of a Sperm which shee drawes out of the Elements I shall explain my self to you by Example An Egg is the Sperm or middle Substance out of which a Chick is ingendred and the moysture of it is viscous and slimie a water and no water for such a Sperme ought to bee Suppose Dr. Coale I mean some Broyler had a minde to generat something out of this Egg Questionlesse he would first distill it and that with a fire able to roast the Hen that layd it then would hee calcine the Caput mortuum and finally produce his Nothing Here you are to observe that Bodies are nothing els but Sperm coagulated and he that Destroyes the Body by consequence destroyes the Sperm Now to reduce Bodies into Elements of earth and water as wee have instanc'd in the Egg is to reduce them into Extremes beyond their Sperm for Elements are not the Sperm but the Sperm is a Compound made of the Elements and containing in it self all that is requisit to the frame of the Body Wherefore be well advis'd before you distill and Quarter any particular Bodies for having once separated their Elements you may never generat unless you can make a Sperm of those Elements but that is impossible for man to doe it is the Power of God and Nature Labour then you that would be accounted wise to find out our Mercurie so shall you reduce things to their mean spermaticall Chaos but avoyd the broyling Destruction This Doctrine will spare you the vain Task of Distillations if you will but remember this Truth That Spâ—rmes are not made by Separation but by Composition of Elements and to bring a Body into Sperm is not to distill it but to reduce the whole into one thick water keeping all the parts thereof in their first naturall union But that I may return at last to my former Citation of the Synod All those Influences of the Elements being united in one Mass make our Sperm or our Earth which is Earth and no Earth Take it if thou doest know it and divide the Essences thereof not by violence but by naturall putrefaction such as may occasion a genuine Dissolution of the Compound Here thou shalt find a miraculous white Water an Influence of the Moone which is the Mother of our Chaos It rules in two Elements Earth and Water After this appears the Sperm or influx of the Sun which is the father of it It is a quick Coelestiall fire incorporated in a thin oleous Aereall Moysture It is incombustible for it is fire it self and feeds upon fire and the longer it stayes in the fire the more glorious it growes These are the two mineral Spermes Masculine and Foeminine if thou doest place them both on their Chrystalline Basis thou hast the Philosopher's flying Fire-drake which at the first sight of the Sun breathes such a poyson that nothing can stand before him I know not what to tell thee more unlesse in the Vogue of some Authors I should give thee a flegmatic Description of the whole process and that I can dispatch in two words It is nothing els but