preserved from extinction and so the individuum supported in some way like nutrition And so when it is said by the same Author Pulmo contrarium corpori alimentum trahit reliqua omnia idem it is not to be taken in a strict and proper sense but the quality in the one the substance is meant in the other for ayre in regard of our naturall heat is cold and in that quality contrary unto it but what is properly aliment of what quality soever is potentially the same and in a substantiall identity unto it And although the ayre attracted may be conceived to nourish that invisible flame of life in as much as common and culinary flames are nourished by the ayre about them I confesse wee doubt the common conceit which affirmeth that aire is the pabulous supply of fire much lesse that flame is properly aire kindled And the same before us hath been denyed by the Lord of Verulam in his Tract of life and death also by Dr. Jorden in his book of Minerall waters For that which substantially maintaineth the fire is the combustible matter in the kindled body and not the ambient ayre which affordeth exhalation to its fuliginous atomes nor that which causeth the flame properly to be termed ayre but rather as he expresseth it the accention of fuliginous exhalations which containe an unctuosity in them and arise from the matter of fuell which opinion is very probable and will salve many doubts whereof the common conceit affordeth no solution As first how fire is strickeÌ„ out of flints that is not by kindling the aire from the collision of two hard bodies for then Diamonds and glasse should doe the like as well as slint but rather from the sulphur and inflamable effluviums contained in them The like saith Jorden we observe in canes and woods that are unctuous and full of oyle which will yeeld â—ire by frication or collision not by kindling the ayre about them but the inflamable oyle with them why the fire goes out without ayre that is because the fuligenous exhalations wanting evaporation recoyle upon the flame and choake it as is evident in cupping glasses and the artifice of charcoals where if the ayre be altogether excluded the 〈◊〉 goes out why some lampes included in close bodies have burned many hundred yeares as that discovered in the sepulchre of Tullia the sister of Cicero and that of Olibius many yeares after neare Padua because what ever was their matter either a preparation gold or Naptha the duration proceeded from the puritie of their oyle which yeelded no fuligenous exhalations to suffocate the fire For if ayre had nourished the â—lame it had not continued many minutes for it would have been spent and wasted by the fire Why a piece of â—laxe will kindle although it touch not the â—lame because the fire extendeth further then indeed it is visible being at some distance from the weeke a pellucide and transparent body and thinner then the ayre it self why mettals in their Equation although they intensly heat the aire above their surface arise not yet into a â—lame nor kindle the aire about them because them sulphur is more fixed and they emit not inflamable exhalations And lastly why a lampe or candle burneth onely in the ayre about it and inâ—lameth not the ayre at a distance from it because the flame extendeth not beyond the inflamable eâ—â—â—uence but closly adheres unto the originall of its inâ—lamation and therefore it onely warmeth not kindleth the aire about it which notwithstanding it will doe if the ambient aire be impregnate with subtile inflamabilities and such as are of quick accension as experiment is made in a close roome upon an evaparation of spirits of wine and Camphir as subterranâ—ous fires doe sometimes happen and as Creâ—sa and Alexâ—anders boy in the bath were set on â—ire by Naptha Lastly the Element of aire is so far from nourishing the bodie that some have questioned the power of water many conceiving it enters not the body in the power of aliment or that from thence there proceeds a substantiall supply For beside that some creatures drinke not at all unto others it performs the common office of ayre and seâ—ves for refrigeration of the heart as unto fishes who receive it and expell it by the gills even unto our selves and more perfect animals though many wayes assistent thereto it performes no substantiall nutrition in sâ—â—ving for refrigeration dilution of solid aliment and its elixation in the stoâ—macke which from thence as a vehicle it conveighs through lesse accessible cavities into the liver from thence into the veines and so in a â—oride substance through the capillarie cavities into every part which having performed it is afterward excluded by urine sweat and serous separations And this opinion surely possessed the Ancients for when they so highly commended that water which is suddenly hot and cold which is without all favour the lightest the thinnest and which will soonest boile Beanes or Pease they had no consideration of nutrition whereunto had they had respect they would have surely commended grosse and turbid streames in whose confusion at the last there might be contained some nutriment and not jejune or limpid water and nearer the simplicity of its Element All which considered severer heads will be apt enough to conceive the opinion of this animal not much unlike unto that of the Astomi or men without mouthes in Pliny sutable unto the relation of the Mares in Spaine and their subventaneous conceptions from the westerne winde and in some way more unreasonable then the figment of Rabican the famous horse in Ariosto which being conceived by flame and wind never tasted grasse or fed on any grosser provender then ayre for this way of nutrition was answerable unto the principles of his generation which being not ayrie but grosse and seminall in the Chameleon unto its conservation there is required a solid pasture and a food congenerous unto the principles of its nature The grounds of this opinion are many The first observed by Theophrastus was the inâ—lation or swelling of the body made in this animal upon inspiration or drawing in its breath which people observing have thought it to feed upon ayre But this effect is rather occasioned upon the greatnes of its lungs which in this animal are very large and by their backward situation afford a more observable dilatation and though their lungs bee lesse the like inflation is also observable in Toads A second is the continuall hiation or holding open its mouth which men observing conceive the intention thereof to receive the aliment of ayre but this is also occasioned by the greatnes of its lungs for repletion whereof not having a sufficient or ready supply by its nostrils it is enforced to dilate and hold open the jawes The third is the paucitie of blood observed in this animal scarce at all to be found but in the eye and about the heart which defect being observed inclined
its fixation in spirits of wine as may be observed in Ice injected therein Againe the concretion of Ice will not endure a dry attrition without liquation for if it be rubbed long with a cloth it melteth but Crystall will calefy unto electricity that is a power to attract strawes or light bodies and convert the needle freely placed which is a declarement of very different parts wherein wee shall not at present inlarge as having discoursed at full concerning such bodies in the Chap of Electricks They are differenced by supernatation or floating upon water for Chrystall will sinke in water as carrying in its owne bulke a greater ponderosity then the space in any water it doth occupy and will therefore only swim in molten mettall aâ—d Quicksilver But Ice will swim in water of what thinnesse soever and though it sinke in oyle will float in spirits of wine or Aqua vitae And therefore it may swim in water not only as being water it selfe and in its proper place but perhaps as weighing no more then the water it possesseth And therefore as it will not sinke unto the bottome so will it neither float above like lighter bodies but being neare or inequality of weight lye superficially or almost horizontally unto it And therefore also an Ice or congelation of salt or sugar although it descend not unto the bottome yet will it abate and decline below the surface in thin water but very sensibly in spirits of wine For Ice although it seemeth as transparent and compact as Chrystall yet is it short in either for its atoms are not concreted into continuity which doth diminish its translucency it is also full of spumes and bubbles which may abate its gravity And therefore waters frozen in pans and open glasses after their dissolution do commonly leave a froth and spume upon them They are distinguisht into substance of parts and the accidents thereof that is in colour and figure for Ice is a similary body and homogeneous concretion whose materiall is properly water and but accidentally exceeding the simplicity of that element but the body of Crystall is mixed its ingredients many and sensibly containeth those principles into which mixt bodies arâ— reduced for beside the spirit and mercuriall principle it containeth a sulphur or inflamable part and that in no small quantity for upon collision with steele it will actually send forth its sparkes not much inferior unto a flint Now such bodies only strike fire as have a sulphur or ignitible parts within them For as we elsewhere declare these scintillations are not the accension of the ayre upon the collision of two hard bodies but rather the inflamable effluencies discharged from the bodies collided For diamonds marbles heliotropes and agaths though hard bodies will not strike fire nor one steele easily with another nor a flint easily with a steele if they both be wet for then the sparkes are quenched in their eruption It containeth also a salt and that in some plenty which may occasion its fragility as is also observable in corall This by the art of Chymistry is separable unto the operations whereof it is lyable with other concretions as calcination reverberation sublimation distillation And in the preparation of Crystall Paracelsus hath made a rule for that of Gemms as he declareth in his first de praeparationibuâ— Briefly it consisteth of such parts so far from an Iciâ— dissolution that powerfull menstruums are made for its emolition whereby it may receive the tincture of minerals and so resemble Gemms as Boetius hath declared in the distillation of Urine spirits of wine and turpentine and is not onely triturable and reduceable into powder by contrition but will subsist in a violent â—ire and endure a vitrification Wherby are testified its earthy and fixed parts For vitrification is the last worke of fire and when that arriveth humidity is exhaled for powdered glasse emits no fume or exhalation although it bee laid upon a red hot iron And therefore when some commend the powder of burnt glasse against the stone they fall not under my comprehension who cannot conceive how a body should be farther burned which hath already passed the extrâ—amest teste of fire As for colour although crystall in his pellucide body seems to have none at all yet in its reduction into powder it hath a vaile and shadow of blew and in its courser peeces is of a sadder hue then the powder of Venice glasse which complexion it will maintaine although it long endure the fire which notwithstanding needs not move us unto wonder for vitrified and pellucide bodyes are of a clearer complexion in their continuities then in their powders and Atomicall divisions So Stibium or glasse of Antimony appears somewhat red in glasse but in its powder yellow so painted glasse of a sanguine red will not ascend in powder above a murrey As for the figure of crystall which is very strange and forced Plinie to the despaire of resolution it is for the most part hexagonall or six cornerd being built upon a confused matter from whence as it were from a root angular figures arise as in the Amethists and Basaltes which regular figuration hath made some opinion it hath not its determination from circumscription or as conforming unto contiguities but rather from a seminall root and formative principle of its owne even as we observe in severall other concretions So the stones which are sometime found in the gall of a man are most triangular and pyramidall although the figure of that part seems not to cooperate thereto So the Asterâ—a or Lapis Stellaris hath on it the figure of a Starre and so Lapis Iudaâ—cuâ— that famous remedy for the stone hath circular lines in length all downe its body and equidistant as though they had been turned by Art So that we call a Fayrie stone and is often found in gravell pits amongst us being of an hemisphericall figure hath five double lines arising from the center of its basis which if no accretion distract them doe commonly concur and meet in the pole thereof The figures are regular in many other stones as in the Belemnites Lapis anguinus Cornu Amnâ—onis and divers beside as by those which have not the experience hereof may be observed in their figures expressed by Mineralogistes But Ice receiveth its figure according unto the surface wherein it concreteth or the circumambâ—â—ncy which conformeth it So is it plaine upon the surface of water but round in hayle which is also a glaciacion and figured in its guttulous descent from the ayre And therefore Aristotle in his Meteors concludeth that haile which is not round is congealed nearer the earth for that which falleth from an high is by the length of its journey corraded and descendeth therefore in a lesser magnitude but greater rotundity unto us They are also differenced in the places of their generation for though Crystall be found in cold countries and where Ice remaineth long and the ayre exceedeth in cold
receive its verticity and be excited proportionably at both extremes now this direction proceeds not primitively from themselves but is derivative and contracted from the magneticall effluxions of the earth which they have winded in their hammering and formation or else by long continuance in one position as wee shall declare hereafter It is likewise true what is delivered of Irons heated in the fire that they contract a verticity in their refrigeration for heated red hot and cooled in the meridian from North to South they presently contract a polary power and being poysed in ayre or water convert that part unto the North which respected that point in its refrigeration so that if they had no sensible verticity before it may be acquired by this way or if they had any it might be exchanged by contrary position in the cooling for by the fire they omit not onely many drossie and scorious parts but whatsoever they had received either from the earth or loadstone and so being naked and despoiled of all verticity the magneticall Atomes invade their bodies with more effect and agility Neither is it onely true what Gilbertus first observed that Irons refrigerated North and South acquire a Directive faculty but if they be cooled upright and perpendicularly they will also obtaine the same that part which is cooled toward the North on this side the Aequator converting it selfe unto the North and attracting the South point of the Needle the other and highest extreme respecting the South and attracting the Northerne according unto the Laws Magneticall for what must be observed contrary poles or faces attract each other as the North the South and the like decline each other as the North the North. Now on this side of the Aequator that extreme which is next the earth is animated unto the North and the contrary unto the South so that in Coition it applyes it selfe quite oppositely the coition or attraction being contrary to the verticity or Direction Contrary if wee speake according unto common use yet alike if we conceave the virtue of the North pole to diffuse it self and open at the South and the South at the North againe This polarity Iron refrigeration upon extremity and in defect of a Loadstone might serve to invigorate and touch a needle any where and this allowing variation is also the truest way at any season to discover the North or South and surely farre more certaine then what is affiâ—med of the graines and circles in trees or the figure in the roote of Ferne. For if we erect a red hot wire untill it coole then hang it up with wax and untwisted silke where the lower end and that which cooled next the earth doth rest that is the Northerne point and this we affirme will still be true whether it be cooled in the ayre or extinguished in water oyle of vitrioll Aqua fortis or Quicksilver And this is also evidenced in culinary utensils and Irons that often feele the force of fire as tongs fireshovels prongs and Andirons all which acquire a magneticall and polary condition and being suspended convert their lower extremes unto the North with the same attracting the Southerne point of the Needle For easier experiment if wee place a Needle touched at the foote of tongues or andirons it will obvert or turne aside its lyllie or North point and conforme its cuspis or South extreme unto the andiron The like verticity though more obscurely is also contracted by brickes and tiles as wee have made triall in some taken out of the backs of chimneys Now to contract this Direction there needs not a totall ignition nor is it necessary the Irons should bee red hot all over For if a wire be heated onely at one end according as that end is cooled upward or downeward it respectively acquires a verticity as we have declared before in wires totally candent Nor is it absolutely requisite they should be exactly cooled perpendicularly or strictly lye in the meridiaâ— for whether they be refrigerated inclinatorily or somewhat Aequinoxially that is toward the Easterne or Westerne points though in a lesser degree they discover some verticity Nor is this onely true in Irons but in the Loadstone it selfe for if a Loadstone be made red hot in the fire it amits the magneticall vigour it had before in it selfe and acquires another from the earth in its refrigeration for that part which cooleth toward the earth will acquire the respect of the North and attract the Southerne point or cuspis of the Needle The experiment hereof we made in a Loadstone of a parallellogram or long square figure wherein only inverting the extremes as it came out of the fire wee altered the poles or faces thereof at pleasure It is also true what is delivered of the Direction and coition of Irons that they contract a verticity by long and continued position that is not onely being placed from North to South and lying in the meridian but respecting the Zenith and perpendicular unto the center of the earth as is most manifest in barres of windowes casements hindges and the like for if we present the Needle unto their lower extremes it wheeles about it and turnes its Southerne point unto them The same condition in long time doe bricks contract which are placed in walls and therefore it may be a fallible way to finde out the meridian by placing the Needle on a wall for some bricks therein which by a long and continued position are often magnetically enabled to distract the polarity of the Needle Lastly Irons doe manifest a verticity not only upon refrigeration and constant situation but what is wonderfull and advanceth the magneticall hypothesis they evidence the same by meer position according as they are inverted and their extreams disposed respectively unto the earth For if an iron or steele not formerly excited be held perpendicularly or inclinatorily unto the needle the lower end thereof will attract the cuspis or southerne point but if the same extream be inverted and held under the needle it will then attract the lilly or northerne point for by inversion it changeth its direction acquired before and receiveth a new and southerne polarity from the earth as being the upper extreame Now if an iron be touched before it varyeth not in this manner for then it admits not this magneticall impression as being already informed by the Loadstone and polarily determined by its prâ—action And from these grounds may we best determine why the Northern pole of the Loadstone attracteth a greater weight then the Southerne on this side the Equator why the stone is best preserved in a naturall and polary situation and why as Gilbertus observeth it respecteth that pole out of the earth which it regarded in its minereall bed and subterraneous position It is likewise true and wonderfull what is delivered of the Inclination or Declination of the Loadstone that is the descent of the needle below the plaine of the Horizon for long
that Bats have teats it is not unreasonable to infer they suckle their younglings with milke but whereas no other flying animall hath these parts we cannot from them expect a viviparous exclusion but either a generation of egges or some vermiparous separation whose navell is within it selfe at first and its nutrition after not inwardly dependent of its originall Againe nature is so farre from leaving any one part without its proper action that she oft-times imposeth two or three labours upon one so the pizell in animals is both officiall unto urine and to generation but the first and primary use is generation for many creatures enjoy that part which urine not as fishes birds and quadrupeds oviparous but not on the contrary for the secondary action subsisteth not alone but in concommitancie with the other so the nostrills are usefull both for respiration and smelling but the principall use is smelling for many have nostrills which have no lungs as fishes but none have lungs or respiration which have not some shew or some analogy of nostrills And thus we perceive the providence of nature that is the wisdome of God which disposeth of no part in vaine and some parts unto two or three uses will not provide any without the execution of its proper office nor where there is no digestion to be made make any parts inservient to that intention Beside the teeth the tongue of this animall is a second argument to overthrow this ayrie nutrication and that not only in its proper nature but also in its peculiar figure for indeed of this part properly taken there are two ends that is the formation of the voice and the execution of taste for the voice it can have no office in Camelions for they are mute animals as beside fishes are most other sort of Lizards As for their taste if their nutriment be ayre neither can it be an instrument thereof for the body of that element is ingustible void of all sapidity and without any action of the tongue is by the rough artery or weazon conducted into the lungs and therefore Pliniâ— much forgets the strictnesse of his assertion when he alloweth excrements unto that animall that feedeth only upon ayre which notwithstanding with the urine of an Asse hee commends as a magicall medicine upon our enemies The figure of the tongue seems also to overthrow the presumption of this aliment which according to the exact delineation of Aldrovand is in this animall peculiar and seemeth contrived for prey for in so little a creature it is at the least halfe a palme long and being it self very slow of motion hath in this part a very great agility withall its food being slyes and such as suddenly escape it hath in the tongue a spongy and mucous extremity whereby upon a sudden emission it inviscates and tangleth those insects And therefore some have thought its name not unsutable unto its nature the nomination is Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a little Lion not so much for the resemblance of shape but affinity of condition that is for the vigilancy in its prey and sudden rapacity thereof which it performeth not like the Lion with its teeth but a sudden and unexpected ejaculation of the tongue This exposition is favoured by some especially the old glosse upon Leviticus whereby in the Translation of Jerome and the Septuagint this animall is forbidden what ever it be it seems more reasonable then that of Isidore who derives this name a Camelo Leone as presuming herein some resemblance with a Camell for this derivation offendeth the rules of Etymology wherein indeed the notation of names should be Orthographicall not exchanging dipthongs for vowells or converting consonants into each other As for the possibility hereof it is not also unquestionable and many wise men are of opinion the bodies of animalls cannot receive a proper aliment from ayre for beside that taste being as Aristotle termes it a kinde of touch it is required the aliment should be tangible and fall under the palpable affections of touch beside also that there is some sapor in all aliments as being to be distinguished and judged by the guste which cannot be admitted in ayre Beside these I say if wee consider the nature of aliment and the proper use of ayre in respiration it will very hardly fall under the name hereof or properly attaine the act of nutrication And first concerning its nature to make a perfect nutrition into the body nourished there is required a transmutation of the nutriment now where this conversion or aggeneration is made there is also required in the aliment a familiarity of matter and such a community or vicinity unto a living nature as by one act of the soule may be converted into the body of the living and enjoy one common soule which indeed cannot be effected by the ayre it concurring only with our flesh in common principles which are at the largest distance from life and common also unto inanimated constitutions and therefore when it is said by Fernelius and asserted by divers others that we are only nourished by living bodies and such as are some way proceeding from them that is the fruits effects parts or seeds thereof they have laid out an object very agreeable unto assimulation for these indeed are sit to receive a quick and immediate conversion as holding some community with our selves and containing approximate disposition unto animation Secondly as is argued by Aristotle against the Pythagoreans whatsoever properly nourisheth before its assimulation by the action of naturall heat it receiveth a compulency or incrassation progressionall unto its conversion which notwithstanding it cannot be effected upon the ayre for the action of heat doth not condense but rarifie that body and by attenuation rather then for nutrition disposeth it for expulsion Thirdly which is the argument of Hippocrates all aliment received into the body must be therein a considerable space retained and not immediatly expelled now ayre but momentally remaining in our bodies it hath no proportionable space for its conversion that being only of length enough to refrigerate the heart which having once performed lest being it selfe heated againe it should suffocate that part it maketh no stay but hasteth backe the same way it passed in Fourthly the proper use of ayre attracted by the lungs and without which there is no durable continuation in life is not the nutrition of parts but the contemperation of that fervour in the heart and the venâ—tilation of that fire alwayes maintained in the forge of life whereby although in some manner it concurreth unto nutrition yet can it not receive the proper name of nutriment and therefore by Uippocrites de alimento it is tetmed Alimentum non Alimentum a nourishment and no nourishment that is in a large acception but not in propriety of language conserving the body not nourishing the same not repairing it by assimulation but preserving it by ventilation for thereby the naturall flame is
seen the expire of Daniels prediction as some conceive he accomplished his Revelation But besides this originall and primary foundation divers others have made impressions according unto different ages and persons by whom they were received for some established the conceit in the disciples and brethren which were contemporary unto him or lived about the same time with him and this was first the extraordinary affection our Saviour â—aâ—e unto this disciple who hath the honour to bee called the disciple whom Iesus loved Now â—om hence they might be apt to beleeve their Mâ—ster would dispencâ— with his death or suffer him to live â—o see him returne in glory who was the onely Apostle that beheld him to dyâ— in dishonour Another waâ— the beliefe and opinion of those times that Christ would suddâ—nly come for they held not geâ—â—ally â—he same opinion with their successors or as descending ages after so many Centuâ—ies but conceived his comming would not be long after his passion according unto severall expressions of our Saviour grossely understood and as we â—â—â—de the same opinion not long after reprehended by St. Paul and thus conceiving his comming would not be long they might be induced to believe his favourite should live unto it Lastly the long liâ—e of Iohn might much advantage this opinion for he survived the other Twelve he was aged 22 yeares when he was called by Christ and 25 that is the age of Priesthood at his death and lived 93 yeares that is 68 after his Saviour and dyed not before the second yeare of Trajane Now having outlived all his fâ—llows the world was confirmed he might live still and even 〈◊〉 the comming of his Master The grounds which promoted it in succeeding ages were especially two the the first his escape of Martyrdome for whereas all the rest suffered some kinde of forcible death we have no history that he suffered any and men might thinke he was not capable thereof for so as History hath related by the command of Domitian he was cast into a Cauldron of burning oyle and came out againe unsinged Now future ages apprehending hee suffered no violent death and finding also the means that tended thereto could take no place they might bee confirmed in their opinion that death had no power over him and easily beleeve he might live alwayes who could not be destroyed by fire and resist the fury of that Element which nothing shall resist The second was a corruption crept into the Latine Text reading for Si Sic eum manere volo whereby the answer of our Saviour becommeth positive or that he will have it so which way of reading was much received in former ages and is still retained in the vulgar Translation but in the Greek original the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying Si or if which is very different from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and cannot bee translated for it and answerable hereunto is the translation of Iunius and Tâ—emellius and that also annexed unto the Greeke by the authority of Sixtus quintus The third confirmed it in ages farther descending and proved a powerfull argument unto all others following that in his tombe at Ephesus there was no corps or relique thereof to be found whereupon arised divers doubts and many suspitious conceptions some beleeving he was not buried some that he was buried but risen againe others that he descended alive into his tombe and from thence departed after But all these proceeded upon unveritable grounds as Barooius hath observed who alledgeth a letter of Celestine Bishop of Rome unto the Councell of Ephesus wherein he declareth the reliques of John were highly honoured by that City and a passage also of Chrysostome in the Homilies of the Apostles That John being dead did cures in Ephesus as though he were still alive And so I obseâ—ve that Esthius discussing this point concludeth hereupon Quod corpus â—jus nunquam reperiatur hoc non diserent si veterum scripta diligenter perlustrassent Now that the first ages after Christ those succeeding or any other should proceed into opinions so farre devided from reason as to thinke of Immortality after the fail of Adam or conceit a man in these later times should out-live our fathers in the first although it seeme very strange yet is it not incredible for the credulity of men hath beene deluded into the like conceits and as Ireneus and Tertullian have made mention one Menander a Samaritan obtained beliefe in this very point whose doctrine it was that death should have no power on his disciples and such as received his bâ—ptisme should receive Immortality â—herewith 'T was surely an apprehension very strange nor usually falling either from the absurdities of Melancholy or vanities of ambition some indeed have been so â—ffectedly vaine as to counterfeit Immortality and have stolne their death in a hope to be esteemed immortall and others have conceived themselves dead but surely few or none have falne upon so bold an errour as not to thinke that they could dye at all The reason of those mighty ones whose ambition could suffer them to be called 〈◊〉 would never be flattered into Immortality but the proudest 〈◊〉 have by the daylie dictates of corruption convinced the impropriety of that appellation And surely although delusion may runne high and possible it is that for a while a man may forget his nature yet cannot this be durable for the inconcealeable imperfections of our selves or their dayly examples in others will hourely prompt us our corruptions and lowdly tell us we are the sons of earth CHAP. XI More compendiously of some others MAny others there are which we resigne unto Divinity and perhaps deserve not controversie Whether David were punished onely for pride of heart in numbring the people as most doe hold or whether as Josephus and many maintaine he suffered also for not performing the commandement of God concerning capiâ—ation that when the people were numbred 〈…〉 they should pay unto God a shâ—kell we shall not here contâ—nd Surely if it were not the occasion of this plague wee must acknowledgâ— the omission thereof was threatned with that punishment according to â—he words of the Law When thou takest the summe of the children of Israel then shall they give every man a ransome for his soule unto the Lord that there be no plague amongst them Now how deepely hereby God was defrauded in the time of David and opulent State of Israel will easily appeare by the summes of former 〈◊〉 For in the first the silver of them thaâ— were numbred was an hundred Talents and a thousand seven hundred threescore and 〈…〉 We will not question the 〈…〉 of Lots wife or whether she were transformed into 〈…〉 though some conceive that expression Metaphoricall 〈…〉 thereby then a lasting and durable columne according 〈…〉 of salt which admitteth no corruption in which 〈…〉 of God is termed a Covenant of Salt and it is also said God 〈◊〉 the kingdome unto David
a frequent addition in humane expression and an amplification not unusuall as well in opinions as in relations which oftentimes give indistinct accounts of proximities and without restraint transcend from one unto another Thus for as much as the torrid Zone was conceived exceeding hot and of difficult habitation the opinions of men so advanced its constitution as to conceive the same unhabitable and beyond possibility for man to live therein Thus because there are no Wolves in England nor have beene observed for divers generations common people have proceeded into opinions and some wise men into affirmations they will not live therein although brought from other Countries Thus most men 〈…〉 few here will beleeve the contrary that there be no Spiders 〈◊〉 Iâ—eland 〈…〉 beheld some in that Country and though but 〈◊〉 some cobwebs we behold in Irish wood in England Thus â—he 〈◊〉 from and 〈◊〉 growing â—â—to an exceeding magâ—â—â—de 〈…〉 and divers Writers deliver it hath no period of 〈…〉 long as it liveth And thus in briefe in most 〈…〉 men extend the considerations of things 〈…〉 beyond the propriety of their naturâ—es CHAP. XVI Of 〈◊〉 other relations 1. THe relation of Averâ—â—oes and now common in every month of the woman that conceived in a bâ—th by attracting the sperme or seminall effluxion of a man admiâ—â—ed to bathe in some vicinity unto her I have â—carce faith to beleeve and had I beene of the Jury should have hardly thought I had found the father in the person that stood by 〈…〉 unseconded way in History to fornicaâ—â— at a distance much 〈◊〉 the rules of Physick which say there is no generation without a joynt emission 〈…〉 a virtuall but 〈…〉 and carnall contaction And although Aristone and his adherenâ—s doâ— cut off the one who conceive no effectuall ejaculation in women yet in defence of the other they cannot be introduced For as he delivereth the inodinaâ—e longitude of the organ though in its proper recipient may be a meanes to improlificate the seed surely the distance of place with the commiâ—ture of an aquâ—ouâ— body must prove an effectuall impediment 〈…〉 of a conception And therfore that conceit concerning the 〈…〉 Lot that they were iâ—pregnated by their â—leeping father or conceived by seminal pollution received at 〈◊〉 from him wil hardly be admitted And therfore what is related of Divels and the coâ—â—â—ved delusion of wicked spritis that they 〈◊〉 the seminall emissions of man and transmit them into their 〈…〉 is much to be suspected altogether to be denyed that there ensue conceptions thereupon however husbanded by Art and the wisest menagery of that most subtile impostor And therefore also that our magnified Merlin was thus begotten by the Devill is a groundlesse coÌ„cepâ—ion as vain to think from thence to give the reason of his prophetical spirit For f a generation could succeed yet should not te issue inherit the 〈◊〉 of the Dâ—vil who is but an auxiliary no univocal Actor nor will his nature substantially concurre to such production 2. The relation of Lucillâ—â—s and now become common concerning Crassus the grandfather of Marcus te wealthy Roman that hee never laughed but once in all his life and that was at an Asse earing Thistles is something strange For if an indifferent and unridiculous object could draw his habituall austerenesse unto a smile it will bee hard to beleeve hee could with perpetuity resist the proper motives thereof for the act of laughter which is a sweet coâ—â—raction of the muscles of the face and a pleasant agitation of the vocall oâ—gans is not meerely voluntary or totally within the jurisdiction of our selves but as it may be constraiâ—â—d by corpâ—rall contraction in any and hath beene enfoâ—â—ed in some even in their death so the new unusâ—all or unexpected jucundities which present themselves to any man in his life at some time or other will have activity enough to excitate the earthiest soule and raise a smile from most composed tempers Certainely the times were dull when these things happened and the wits of those Ages short of thâ—se of ours when men could maintaine such immutable faces as to remaine like statues under the â—latteries of wit and persist unalterable at all effortes of Joculaâ—ity The spirits in hell and Pluto himselfe which Lucian makes to laugh at passages upon earth will plainely condemnâ— these Saturniâ—es and make ridiculous the magnified Heraclitus who wept preposterously and made a hall on earth for rejecting the consolations of life he passed 〈◊〉 dayes in teares and the uncomfortable 〈◊〉 of hell 3. The same conceit there passâ—th concerning our blessed Saviour and is sometimes urged as an high example of gravity And this is opinioned because in holy Scripture it is recorded he sometimes wept buâ— never that he laughed Which howsoever granted it will be hard to conâ—eive how he passed his younger yeares and childhood 〈◊〉 a smile if as Divinity affirmeth for the assurance of his humanity unto men and the concealement of his Dâ—vinity from the Divell he passed this age like other children and so proceeded untill he evidenced the same And surely no danger there is to aâ—â—irme the act or performance of that whereof we acknowledge the power and essentiall property aâ—d whereby indeed hee most neerely convinced the doubt of his â—umanity Nor need we be afraid to ascribe that unto the incarnaâ—â— Sâ—n which sometimes is attributed unto the uncarnate Father of whom it is said He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh the wicked to scorn For a laugh there is of contempt or indignation as well as of mirth and Jocosity And that our Saviour was not exempted from the ground hereof that is the passion of anger regulated and rightly ordered by reason the Schooles do not deny and besides 〈◊〉 experience of the money-changers and Dove-sellers in the Temple is testified by S. John when he saith the speech of David wâ—â—fulfilled in our Saviour Now the Alogie of this opinion consisteth in the illâ—â—â—ion it being not reasonable to conclude from Scripture negatively in points which are not matters of faith and pertaining unto salvation and therefore although in the description of the creation there be no mention of fire Christian Philosophy did not thinke it reasonable presently to annihilate that Element or positively to decree there was no such thing at all Thus whereas in the briefe narration of Moses there is no record of wine before the flood can we satisfactorily conclude that Noah was the first that eveâ— tasted thereof And thus because the word Braine is scarce mentioned once but Heart above an hundred times in holy Scripture will Physitians that dispute the principality of parts be induced from hence to berâ—ave the animall organ of its priority wherefore the Scriptures being serious and commonly omitting such Parergies it will be unreasonable from hence to condemne all laughter and from considerations inconsiderable to discipline a man out of his nature for