Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	air_n	body_n	element_n	4,001	5	9.7677	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26259	Averroeana being a transcript of several letters from Averroes an Arabian philosopher at Corduba in Spain, to Metrodorus a young Grecian nobleman, student at Athens in the years 1149 and 1150 : also several letters from Pythagoras to the King of India, together with his reception at the Indian court, and an account of his discourse with the King, and his gymnosophists, and his rules and precepts : his account of the power and efficacy of numbers, and magical uses thereof : to which is prefixt, a Latin letter by Monsieur Grinau, one of the Messieurs du Port Royal in France, to the ingenius Monsieur Gramont, merchant at Amsterdam, concerning the subject of these papers, and how they came to his hands : the whole containing matters highly philosophical, physiological, Pythagorical and medicinal, the work having been long conceal'd is now put into English for the benefit of mankind, and the rectification of learned mistakes.; Correspondence. English. Selections	Averroës, 1126-1198.; Pythagoras. Correspondence. English. Selections.	1695 (1695)	Wing A4271; ESTC R1981	54,271	185

Spirit or Demon comes Love Pity Mercy Compassion c. as also Temperance Chastity Sobriety and Philosophy And from the third proceed mixed Thoughts various and wanton Discourses Laughters and Merriment and all that is called Phantastical They labour hard to make their Children understand the Nature and Operation of each of them that they may be sensible which hath the reigning and predominant power in them They call the second Spirit the good Demon and with great earnestness inculcate to their Children that they should be Governed by its Dictates and observe its Directions They teach them that it was from this good Angel that their Seers and Holy Men received the Law of Innocence They inform them that it is a great Blessing and a Token of being a particular Favourite of Heaven to avoid Violence and Oppression especially towards those Inferiour Creatures that cannot defend or help themselves That the greater part of Mankind are govern'd by the Counsels of the other Demons from whence proceed Wars Murder Destruction and all manner of Mischief From Three Years old to Seven they Instruct them in the Precepts of Moral●●● setting before them the Excellence o●●ertue and the Reason of their Duty Above all things they commend to them a strict and severe Justice which they never depart from for these Instructions are so early graffed in them and so plainly represented to ●●em that they become as it were incorporate and grow up along with them insomuch that they are no longer Moral Precepts but have in them the force of Nature They also very Vehemently and Pathetically set before them the Ugliness of an Idle Life Nay they say Idleness is inconsistent with Life for Life in the very Expression implies Activity and Motion They greatly commend to them moderate Labour and Exercise and frequently put them upon the Practice of the same even in their very tender Age. They are very Exact in teaching them the Art of Numbring and acquaint them with the Method of God's Works 〈…〉 Worlds viz. The Heavens Star● and Elements the Amazing Varieties 〈…〉 Vegetations and Minerals how they were all made and are wonderfully sustained by the Invincible Power of the Omnipotent Creator They teach them the Motions of the Celestial Bodies their Courses and Distances Postures and Configurations and Influences 〈…〉 they keep them continually 〈◊〉 in what either Employs their Understanding or Improves their Manners always accustoming them to the Exercise of Patience and the E●●●rance of Hardship Having therefore such an Early Education and continually before their Eyes the Examples of their Parents and Associates the Notions of these Truths do a● it were enter into their very Natures by repeated habits that nothing can remove them Having been Instructed that every word in their Law proceeds from God and at the same time having imbibed a true Apprehension of the Excellency and Justice of that ●eing they look upon it as his positive ●ommand and dare not disobey Thus a● Esteem of their Law is planted in them that no Avocations of Business nay nothing but invincible Necessity can exempt them from a punctual compliance with the same I shall here insert one passage of their nice exactness to the Rules of their Law It is held Sacred amongst them to keep themselves undefiled from any thing they think unclean and if such an Accident happen they a●● compell'd to repair to a certain pla●● of Purgation where they are to undergo all the Discipline of that Mystery before they must enter on their Bus●●ess Some of that Religion who were Factors came to Surat to Buy up a Commodity to be Transported into Persia The Europeans having notic● thereof and knowing the Obligation these People lay under one of their Merchants came near the Place where they sat and unawares took off one of his 〈◊〉 and touched them Immediately ●● great Cry was heard for the 〈◊〉 ●ound themselves polluted ●nd 〈◊〉 forced to leave their Business 〈…〉 to the Place of Purgation to the designed Satisfaction of the European Merchant If any of their Princes at any time desire their Daughters for Concubines they lo●e their Longing for they will submit to the Severest Tortures rather than break their Vow They are never to be Engaged in the Armies of their Kings for as much as they abominate all manner of Violence c. Nor can they ever be prevail'd with to become Servants being extreamly Jealous of their Original Liberty In all Revolutions of States they are free and enjoy under all Governments an undisturbed Exercise of their Religion on account of their Peaceable Deportment They abhor all strong Liquors their most customary Drink is Water They lye upon hard Quilts oftentimes on the bare Ground They neither Invade nor Covet any Man's Property they are tenacious of the Customs of their Ancestors and remain secure in the Satisfaction of their own Vertue and Integrity Dated Corduba 1150. Metrodorus THere is one thing more that will 〈◊〉 me with Matter for another Letter and that is Their Opinion of the Transmigration of Souls which shall be the last concerning these People that I shall trouble you with hoping that my over-forwardness in this matter shall be understood as an Evidence of my Willingness to embrace any Occasion of signifying the Respect I bear to a Person of your Character and ● Lover of Vertue All our Philosophers and Seers both Indians and others do firmly believe That God hath made Man in his own Image or Likeness which all acknowledge but few have so well considered it as they ought And that Man does contain the Principles and Properties of all things Corporeal and Incorporeal Also 〈◊〉 ●e is endued with an Elementa●● 〈◊〉 ●●pable Body which Body is 〈◊〉 enlivened or informed by an Et●●rial Spirit and so answers to the great Body of this World from whence the same is taken and therefore is an Abridgment or Epitomy thereof And as he does contain all the true Properties of the gross Elements viz. Earth Air and Water that nourish and sustain the Body He has also the Principle of Fire and Light that is an Immortal Soul and Spirit which gives Life and Motion to the Body of Flesh and answers to the Soul of the great World or that mighty Spirit which is the Moving and Vivifying and most wonderfully Creative and Conservative Power in this vast System of Things which we call the World and which does preserve and maintain every part thereof in Beauty Splendor and Harmony Now in this Illustrious Estate Man was Created and in him all Forms Qualities and Powers stood in equal Weight and Measure and if Man had continued in this 〈◊〉 then he would have imitated his 〈◊〉 in all well-doing and Governed all the Host of Heaven in Love and have been a Preserver and Guide to all inferiour Creatures which would have powerfully attracted not only the sweet and benevolent Influences of Heaven but also the Prayers and good Wishes of all the under-graduated

of so much Science in any Person 's Hands but yours who so well know how to use it and so bountifully to dispence it And I beseech you let the Accomplishments of my Desires hitherto be an Encouragement to me of hoping to prevail with you to give my Curiosity some further Satisfaction in the Works of Nature particularly in this whether there be any fixt Salts in Vegetables or Animals according to the common Opinion of Philosophers and Physicians which shall be embraced by me with the highest Testimony of Respect and Honour Athens 1149. Metrodorus IT is not the least Delight I take to see a Person of your Eminence and Quality so vehemently to aspire and thirst after Truth besides the Complacency I have to be able to contribute any thing towards your Noble Endeavours I greatly commend your Emulation which can never be unjust while you have so inestimable and desirable a Prize in Chace the Attainment whereof will more illustrate your Name than all the Trophies and Dignities of your Ancestors In answer then to the Question you sent me I deny that the Sal-nitral Vertues of things can be fixed for then there would be no waste or decay for you must know that so soon as any Animal or other thing arrives to its highest degree of Perfection those Salnitral Vertues or Balsamick Spirits become more or less Volatile according to the Nature and Strength of that thing Could you by any Art continue and maintain the Oily Vertue or Sun's quality in any Animal or Vegetable so long would that thing remain in full strength and vigour All Death and Decay arising from the Evaporation of the fine Spirits and Volatile Salts Take any Herb when 't is in full force and vertue dry it a little in the Sun but not too much then burn it into Ashes and from these Ashes you may gather a great quantity of that Matter which the Physicians call fixed Salt Amongst Herbs Wormwood affords the most by reason of its bitterness and heat But if you take the same Herb and expose it to the Sun and Elements till it becomes light dry or like Chaff till it hath lost its smell and taste and then burn it you shall find very little or none of that fixed Salt There can be no such thing as fixed Salt in any Vegetable so long as it remains intire for if it were there it were impossible for it to evaporate or fly away but if you burn this Herb when it is in its full Vertue the heat and violence of the Fire doth Coagulate or Condense the Volatile Spirits and Oily Qualities into a fixed Salt which Effect is to be assigned to the meer accidence of the Fire and nothing else even as the Balsamick or sweet qualities in Spirituous Drinks by a fierce Fermentation are turned and transmuted into a quite contrary Nature By these little Arts Men can change one quality into another but for the most part for the worse viz. They can transmute the Noble Spirits and Vertues into a keen and soure quality and thence into a fierce Sulphureous Spirit And also in Vegetables by the help of Fire captivate and fix the fine and Volatile Vertues into a sharp standing Salt and neither the one nor the other can be reduced to their former state but by the powerful Operations of the Heavens and Elements which by their wonderful and undiscerned Influence can change and unfix that that was fixed so that it becomes Volatile again so great and admirable is the Power of God in Nature's Works None of the Chymists Furnaces with their fierce and terrible Fire can unlock the Body of Salt so fixed if you have any desire to do that you must hearken to the Voice of Nature and attend her Motions and Works in her own way Take your fixed Salt either of Herbs Stones Wood c. sow or mix it with the common Earth it will abundantly enrich the Soil and enable it to produce a large and plentiful Crop and by this means the Fixed will become Volatile again and is the Life Power and Vertue of all Vegetation but in time it will again evaporate There is no fixed Salt in Nature nor made by Art that this Method will not unlock and unmix till it becomes a pure fine Volatile Spirit but only the Crude Unseparate Seawater-Salt that we use with our Food which some affirm passes through us undigested The Physical Uses of these fixed Salts are much the same in Operation as to quality though they differ in strength and power according to the Vigour Heat and Vertue the Body from whence they are Extracted is endued with All Salts i● their o●n Nature are quick penetrating and opening and of excellent use ●●ng duly compounded with proper Medicines Of all sorts of Salts that of Tartar is the best and most Medicinal for 't is more subtle and penetrating than any derived from Herbs c. And those Physicians that have this by them have no occasion to search for other let the Disease be what it will Thus Metrodorus I have over and above answered your Question both by proving that there can be no fixed Salts really in Animals or Vegetables And have also given you the true nature and use of all fixed Salts Extracted thence by Art I had thought that by this time I had fulfilled your Request But another Question suggesting it self relating to the former I shall a little trespass on the Limits of ●●●stolary Confinement in order to offer somewhat by way of Solution to That and so intirely dismiss the present Subject Having already affirmed that there is very little difference betwixt fixed Salts I shall proceed a little further to acquaint you with somewhat of the Nature of Spirits drawn from Wine Sugar Fruits c. in Physical Operations All Spirits be they drawn from what they will have as to quality one and the same Operation only weaker or stronger according to the Nature of the Matter from whence they are Extracted Being taken inwardly they have all more or less a hot-penetrating Vertue and are of good use if properly administred viz. now and then as Medicines but otherwise they become destructive to the natural Heat and inimical to the Vital Powers and after a Series of Paralytick Contractions of the Nerves and Sinews induce as their utmost Malignity Death it self which consideration ought to have a peculiar place am●●g those who would make the most ●● a short Life and not lose the advantage of the most inestimable Blessings the Gods can bestow even Health it self When by Burning any Herbs c. to Extract its Salt which by no other Method can be obtained do not you destroy or at least change and transmute all the lively and brisk Volatile Vertues into another quality of a contrary Nature and Effect The same is to be understood of all Vegetations when fermented And hot strong Spirits drawn from them are much less Medicinal than fixed Salt if not partaking of