the Parts of Nature reduceable to two Heads or Principles an Active Vital or Formal one and a Passive or Material This I conceive Moses intended when he tells us that in the Beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth which things are expressed in the very same words by the Chaldeans Assyrians and Greeks as I have hinted before Thales who was one of the first amongst the Grecians as Laertius Strabo Cicero and Plutarch affirm that made enquiry into Natural Causes conceived Water to be the Material Principle of all living Creatures because all Seed is humid and Plants and Animals are nourish'd by it This he had from a more ancient Nation the Phoenicians by whom Orpheus was likewise instructed To this Material Principle Anaxagoras is said to be the first that added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mind by which I conceive he meant the Formal Hence Virgil calls the Universal Form the Mind Totamque insusa per artus Mens agitat molem magno si corpore miscet 'A Mind infus'd through this World 's every part Does move the whole Machine with wondrous Art But Homer and Hesiod both gave an account of these two Principles long before Various afterwards were the Opinions of the Philosophers about Principles Pherecydes the Assyrian asserted Earth to be the Principle of all things Anaximenes Air Hippasus Fire Xenophanes Earth and Water Parmenides Fire and Earth Enopides Fire and Air Democritus and Epicurus Atoms Empedocles Plato and Aristotle c. to these Principles added four Elements being the visible Matter as they conceived of which all Bodies did subsist And this the School-men following them have hitherto maintained and it is now the Doctrine of the World The Chymists hold Three Principles at this day these Principles and Elements I now intend to examine And first for the Three Principles I know it is no less a crime than Heresie in the Communion of Chymists to deny any of their three beloved Principles their Salt Sulphur and Mercury but being not of their Church I need not fear their Censure I do admit Salt in some sence to be one of their Principles but I do deny Sulphur and Mercury to be several for their best Authors affirm Mercury to be only crude Sulphur and Sulphur ripe Mercury they differ therefore not in specie but in degree of Digestion The Ancients saith Eirenaeus the Great thought them all one and though Paracelsus has invented a Liquor by means whereof he taught the way of separating the Sulphur in the form of a tincted Metallick Oil yet I conceive this is nothing but an extraction of the riper and more digested part of the Mercury This will appear more evident by considering the Matter of Metals which I will deliver in the sence of Eirenaeus the Great having translated him but not having the Original in Latin by me That Mercury saith he which is generated in the veins of the Earth and all Metals arise from the same Matter is the universal material Mother of all things cloathed with a Metallick Species which may be easily proved because Mercury is accommodated to them all and by Art may be conjoyned which would be impossible unless they did partake of the same Nature Mercury saith he is Water yet such as will mix with nothing that is not of its own Identity whereas therefore it drinks up all Metals by its moisture it follows they have all a Correspondency of Matter with it Again Mercury by the help of Art assisting Nature may be successively digested with all the Metals And this same Mercury retaining the same Colour and Form of flowing will assume the true Nature of them and by succession exert their true Properties which would be impossible to be done by Art did not Nature shew us the possibility by their Correspondency of Matter Besides all Metals and Minerals too that are of Metallick Principles may be reduced into a current Mercury Hence I conceive 't is evident that current Mercury is the nighest though not the first Matter of Metals which Mercury hath a Salt included in it and becomes a more or less ripe Metal according to the purity or impurity of its Matrix What need then can there be of Sulphur as a distinct Principle But they that contend that these three Salt Sulphur and Mercury are the constituent Principles of a Metallick Body ought to shew that Nature produces these three simple Substances and then unites them in the composition of a Metal But who ever yet saw a Specifick Metalline Salt void of Mercury and Sulphur Or simple Mercury without Salt or a Metalline Sulphur by it self The Truth is in a strict sence there are no other Principles but the moist vapor impregnated with vital heat for these two alone constitute all Bodies As for the Salts I mentioned in the generation of Plants and Metals I conceive them to be only a congelation of a former Vapor differenced in Metals by a long circulation in the Alembick of the Earth and in Plants by a speedy resolution near the Superficies Now this Homogeneity of Salts in two such different Bodies will not appear strange to them who consider the vast Alteration Heat makes on Bodies by time in different Vessels thus common gross Water in an open Vessel by a gentle heat is soon evaporated and rarefied into Air whilst Dew a much purer Substance by the same heat circulated in a close Vessel by length of time is condensed into Earth But are not the Principles of Bodies known by their Resolution and may not Metals be reduced into three distinct Principles If the various Figures into which the Fire is able to divide Bodies must be called Principles Monsieur L'Emery assigns no less than five but he honestly confesseth that this is effected by the alteration the Fire makes on Bodies not by a natural Analysis into their first Principles But does not the Great Stagyrite hold three Principles Matter Form and Privation By Privation he doth not mean a Principle in a strict sence i. e. an Essence constituting a Body or part of such but with respect to the previous Matter of each Body before it is specificated which he calls the Terminus à quo as when determined the Terminus ad quem But if it must be a Principle let it be of Death not of Life For how can that be a Principle of Life that is a separation of Soul and Body If instead of Privation he had called it Putrefaction that might well enough have passed for a Principle or something like it since Putrefaction is the Gate to Life I think therefore the Two Principles of the Ancients Matter and Form stand firm notwithstanding Aristotle or the Chymists But if there are four Elements that constitute Bodies according to the general Doctrine they I must confess will overthrow the Two Principles of Matter Form unless these Principles being first the Elements afterwards are made out of them
Modest and the Vertuous move only in this elevated Sphere But Morals are needless after what the Excellent Dr. Lucas has said in his admirable Works who has obliged an ungrateful Age. If what I have said take with the few Wise and Vertuous I have my End as for the Dissolute may he reform but as Vicious I neither court his Suffrage nor value his Judgment Quid mali feci c. Sempiterna Lux Nec Honores nec Divitias peto me modò Divinae Lucis Radio illumines Sapientiâ Rerumque Naturalium Cognitione instruas ut hisce à me probè perspectis Majestatem tuam earum meique Creatricem intensiore Amore Ardore Animi prosequar adorem ut cum mei transierint Dies Coelesti Regno tuo illatus comparatior sim ad Divina contemplanda Sapientiamque tuam Amore Seraphico amplexandam FINIS a Thus high the Cynicks and Stoicks advanced Vertue whose sole Reward which it self brought they held sufficient to conquer the Miseries of Pain and Want Of the Generation of Metals How 〈◊〉 Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 this Position answers them all b 〈◊〉 may be understood the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Orpheus the Father of the Gods with Vesta his Wife and what he and the rest of the Philosophers meant by a Generation of Deities proceeding from such Parents Of the Imperfect Metals Of Perfect Metals How various Metals are in the same place Of Stones The precious The Common Vegetables of Two Sorts what grow of themselves and what are sown That grow of themselves The Cause of Variety of Plants * This is evident from Tunbridge and other waters which passing thro' Iron Mines are impregnated with the virtue of the Mines through which they pass Nay put but a few Iron Nails into a little common water for half an hour and it shall have the same taste not to say virtue for the Iron-stone is too hard to have much of its Particles washed off by the soft gliding of Water and common Water is too weak a Menstruum to dissolve a Martial Body Of their Figure This difference of Qualities Epicurus imputes to the various transposition of Atoms Of the sowing of Seeds Of Plants Of the Generation of Animals How the Form leaves Matter in Animals How in Minerals and Vegetables What then becomes of the Form that it passes into the Air where it receives new virtue Mundus nunquam est moritur semper nascitur id tantum habet constantiae quod divina Providentia ab eo nunquam recedit That thence it flows down again and animates a new Body which is the true Notion of Transmigration If Bodies are not annihilated much less are Forms Objection That Animals convey a Sensitive Spirit in Generation Answered Though they do convey a portion of Specifick Spirit yet the Universal 〈◊〉 The manner how the Universal Spirit joyns with the Specifick in the Generation of Animals That the Universal Spirit is more plentifully in the Air than elsewhere That the Animal Spirit increases in Animals The Mischief of Sulphurous Vapors fluctuating in the Air that they cause the Plague A Means to foresee a Plague The Foresight of a Dearth Of Augury The Loss of Arts. The Benefit of good Air. Homer explained Superior govern inferior Natures The Seven Planets called Gods and why in a large not a strict sence The ancient Philosophers did not adore all they called Gods Aristotle proves from Motion that there can be but one God How the Philosophers came to call many Things Gods a I say Created because this Spirit of Light was on the 4 th Day contracted into the Body of the Sun The Description of Nature in her Ascent and Descent a I say of one Species for various were the parts of Idolatry and there were several Origins from whence they sprang the Worship of the Stars not being the Original of all Idolatry for most Nations adored several Deities The Scythians ado red the Wind as God being as they say the Cause of Life The Chaldeans adored Fire the Persians Water the Romans Earth under the Name of Vesta the Egyptians divers Animals and Insects and all Nation had their Deisied Heroes Of the Mysteries of the Ancients That all the ancient Philosophers that treated mysteriously of Nature meant the same Thing under divers AEnigma's Au Egyptian Symbol explained According to the Chaldean Astrology Grecian Mythology Egyptian Chaldean Grecian Mercury described Egyptian Explanation Chaldean Explanation The Grecian Explanation The Fables of the Ancients refer to Things not Persons Objection Respons Objection Respons Of the Identity of Form in all Bodies a Aliment says Aristotle must be the same potentially which the Thing augmented or nourished is in Act. A comparison of the Form in Animals Plants and Minerals Of the Excellency of the Form in Metals Of the perpetual light made out of them and of its great difficulty a This is Jargon to those only who do not understand it Object 1. Object 2. Respons Aristotle held that there was an Element of Fire above the Region of the Air. Of the Universal Spirit Respons 2. Object Resp. Object Resp. That Bodies are only changed not annihilated a In nihilum nil posse reverti The Moral of Transmigration Transmigration in Plants and Minerals demonstrable to sense Of the duration of Bodies Of the general Conflagration 2. Of Principles and Elements Of the 3 Principles of the Chymists Principles Objection Respons Objection Respons Of the Elements Of the Air. Of the Earth Of Water Of Fire Of the Creation a 'T is an usual Hebraism to impute second Causes to the first This distinction of First and Second Causes was found out first by the Greeks who taught the World to speak Scholastically but the Jews made them all one which indeed in a large sence they are for the world is the Lord's and all things therein And therefore I saiah c. 40. v. 8. saith The Grass withereth the Flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it As the World is God's and all the Spirits in it and Parts of it so indeed this may be said to be the Spirit of the Lord in point of Property but not of Identity Can any one think that this Spirit that blows on the Grass or take it Metaphorically for Man is the Holy Ghost Junius and Tremellius translate the Words Spiritus Jehovae the appropriate Name of the Eternal yet in their Commentary say 't is not Regenitus Spiritus Sanctificationis in Christo which if they had remembred they would not have rendred the Spiritus Dei Gen. 1. Spiritus Sanctus Tertia illa Persona Deitatis à Deo Patre Filio procedens But they have I must acknowledge not a few Commentators on their side though I conceive the Jews never dreamed of such an Interpretation they might believe it some Vis Potentia or Emanatio Dei but not the Divine Nature himself which it is dishonourable to imagine was incubans superficiei Aquarum brooding over the Waters as a Hen does over her Eggs. This piece of Mechanism may be suitable to Man or some created Power but the Almighty Fiat is worthy only of God But besides this Conjecture the Original will bear it for the Learned say that Ruach signisies not only Spiritus but Ventus Voluntas Angulus Pars Plaga And therefore R. Abraham on this Place renders it Spiritus aut Ventus Dei sufflabat aut cubabat super faciem Aquarum i. e. saith he Ventus missus à Deo ad desiccandum Aquas The First Day The Second Day The Third Day The Fourth Day The Fifth Day The Sixth Day a I am confirmed the more in this Opinion by an Iron Mine which I saw at Tunbridge whose Vein running about three Miles was stopt at a hard Rock for this Rocky Substance hindred the ascending Vapour Conclusion
of Paracelsus A Description of Mercury p. 132 41. An Objection of reducing Things by Fire into three Principles answered Aristotle's Three Principles likewise answered p. 138 42. Of Elements when distinguish'd from Principles A short Description of the Air the Earth the Water and the Fire That by the Words Heaven and Earth are to be understood the Form and the Matter p. 141 43. That Elements and Principles may be termed Equivocal and that there are but Two p. 147 44. An Answer to S s touching Four Elements wherein 't is shewed that there are but Two Elements that of Water the Passive Matter and the Solar Influx the Form p. 148 45. Some Aristotelian Hypotheses examined and compared with those of Democritus That the Elements are not contrary and opposite as Aristotle holds but agreeing and alike in a remiss degree according to Democritus p. 150 46. Of the Primary Qualities in Bodies according to Aristotle whence proceed their Effects and of the Atomical Physiology of Leucippus Epicurus and Democritus Both Opinions examined p. 152 47. Reasons against both and for a middle Opinion p. 157 48. Of the Original of Qualities Herein the Creation is considered and that according to Moses p. 164 49. That these Words The Spirit of God moved on the Face of the Waters are not to be understood of the Holy Ghost p. 167 50. Of the First Day 's Work The Creation of Matter and Form and dividing the Light or Form from the grosser Matter p. 168 51. Of the Second Day 's Work or the Expansion and Division of the Waters above from those below p. 169 52. Of the Third Day 's Work The Generation of Plants p. 171 53. Of the Fourth Day 's Work The Collecting of the Light or Form into the Body of the Sun ibid 54. Of the Fifth Day 's Work The Generation of Fish and Fowl by the Union of Water and the Form p. 172 55. Of the Sixth Day 's Work The Creation of Beasts and Reptiles and lastly Man ibid. 56. How the Earth comes to be filled with variety of Bodies abounding with different Qualities p. 173 57. That the various Accidents and Qualities of Bodies proceed from the various Intension and Remission of the Form not according to Des Cartes from the different Magnitude and Figure of their Principles This illustrated by several Instances p. 176 58. The Conclusion p. 184 LICENSED January 2d 1691 2. Ja. Fraser OF Transmigration c. THis Opinion of Transmigration of Souls which is father'd upon Pythagoras is mistaken every where but very grosly believed in Pegu Magor and other parts of Asia For believing that the Soul doth pass into some other Creature after its departure from the Humane Body they abstain from no sort of respect to the most contemptible Creatures and superstitiously avoid doing any hurt to that Animal whose Body they think contains the Soul of their deceased Father Now how they could tell or why they should think that this or that Beast is thus animated rather than another I confess is strange and what is more so it seems from the Belief of those in Bengall and other Parts of the East-Indies who imagine that the Souls of Good Men pass into Cows and such useful Creatures and the Souls of Bad Men into Crows and such hurtful Birds or Beasts that these People think it of the Immortal Rational Soul rather than the Sensitive For the Faculties of the Rational Soul are exerted naturally in the kind Offices of Beneficence and Humanity but those of the Sensitive only in Growth and Sense It looks as if Folly begot and Superstitious Fancy propagated this Opinion Though to do Right to Pythagoras who was doubtless a great Man the absurdity of this Opinion is as far remote from his Sentiments as the Manichaean Heresie is different from the Christian Religion But Philosophy and Religion have both suffered alike by Ignorant Expositors For what will not a wild Fancy and little Judgment center'd in a Man fond of his own Thoughts produce What strange Opinions in Religion What barbarous Cruelties by Humane Sacrifices to the Heathen Gods hath the World been filled with Nor is Philosophy it self exempt from very odd Conceits Thus are the best Things corrupted But to return to our Author whose Opinion asserted is That the Soul after its departure from the Body passes into some other Animal This is as strongly put as any thing said of him for we have all by Tradition will bear 〈◊〉 Opinion I propose to defend and free it from the Absurdities Men have put upon it and restore it to its native Sence But let me 〈◊〉 here That I do not intend this Migration of the Rational Soul but of the Sensitive and Vegetative Spirit which Terms of Soul and Spirit being often used as Synonyma's have given occasion especially to the Ignorant to mistake the meaning of Pythagoras He that considers the Frame of this World the Contexture of Man and the perpetual Vicissitude and Change of Things will easily believe that either God makes new Matter and Form daily to supply the perishing old or that Things pass and are changed into one another by a continual Circulation But we all know that the Eternal having made the World by his Wisdom and Power does preserve it now by his Providence and Goodness so that we must be forc'd to acknowledge not a new Creation but a Mutation of Things that begets this Variety Man indeed is endowed with something more than the rest of the Creatures he hath a Rational Soul that should sit President in his Body govern his Passions and direct his Affections How little it does so proceeds from the Vileness of our Wills rather than the Degeneracy of our Nature but we would excuse our selves Besides this he hath a Vegetative or Sensitive Spirit which is perfectly distinct from the Rational Soul as well as Body It seems to be a Medium to unite two Extreams of a Divine Immortal Ray and Gross Matter I am not discoursing now of the Government of the Mind over the Sensitive Part and what Obedience the one ought to pay the other nor how they contend for Dominion like Prerogative and Liberty in a disturb'd State But I am laying the Foundation of the Reasonableness of Pythagoras his Opinion which is the Transmigration of Souls or Spirits for these Terms are used equivocally To go to the bottom of this Question 't is fit to consider Nature in her several Provinces Mineral Vegetable and Animal for all created Beings on this side Heaven may be placed under one of these Heads nor are the meanest of them without a Spirit or Vital Principle which is all one and these like the Sensitive Souls of Animals evaporate on the Dissolution or Destruction of their Bodies To say how these Spirits leave their Habitations before I offer how they enter may be improper I shall speak therefore of this first and then of the other Nor will it be impertinent to the
Defence of Pythagoras his Opinion since Transanimation of Spirits may refer as well to Minerals and Vegetables as Animals in regard they are all animated alike as to Vegetation I shall begin with Metals The Globe of Earth being placed in the Air and the Heavenly Bodies moving round her does receive into her Lap the Celestial Influences they give Heat or Life she Passive Matter The Air the winged Messenger of the Gods big with the Heavenly Fire penetrates the porous Earth and there abides Being there detained it is congealed into a moist Vapour or subtil Water and by the internal Vulcan of Nature sublim'd in the Vessel of Earth through the Pores and Chinks thereof till meeting with compact Matter that denies it entrance or through defect of the moving Instrument it falls back into the Nest from whence it came By which means it become less subtil carrying with 〈◊〉 somewhat of the gross Matter through which it passed both in its Ascension and Descension it having not 〈◊〉 obtain'd the Gravity of a 〈◊〉 Body but enjoying still the Priviledge of a pure and subtil quick and volatil Nature it again takes another 〈◊〉 through the dark Chambers of the Earth passing and repassing thus frequently thro these places it becomes the true Laver of Nature washing away the Defilements thereof which falling down with it detains it as in a Prison and not being able to free it self from its Bondage suffers the impure parts to be congealed together with the pure Salt of Nature its proper Habitation And thus an imperfect Metal is made diversified only by the difference of the heterogeneous Impurities and the Remission or Intension of the Heat of the Place But Nature that tends always to Perfection makes an improvement from the 〈◊〉 carriage of this Foetus for new Vapour passing Channels through these purified Channels obtains what its 〈◊〉 could not that is pure and refin'd Salt void 〈◊〉 heterogeneous Faeces 〈◊〉 uniting with the warm Vapour and being dissolv'd 〈◊〉 it causes it to lose its Air vaporous Nature and become a clammy Substance from which State being digested by its own internal Fire and that of its Matrix continually replenish'd by a 〈◊〉 Influx it advances into a 〈◊〉 but clayie Body till through length of Time it become decocted into a more or 〈◊〉 ripe Metal according to 〈◊〉 more or less Purity and Heat of the Womb. Thus in the same Vein of Earth Metals of divers sorts may be found as Albertus Magnus testifies in these words In Naturae operibus didici proprio visu quod ab unâ Origine fluit Vena in quadam parte fuit Aurum in alia Argentum sic de caeteris quae tamen Materia prima fuit una sed diversus fuit locus in calore ideo diversitas loci depurationis Metalli diversitatem secundum speciem fuit operata In English thus I have seen in the Works of Nature from the same Original a Vein of Metal one part whereof was Gold another Silver and so of the other Metals The first Matter of which never 〈◊〉 was one and the same but the degree of Heat in 〈◊〉 parts of it was 〈◊〉 therefore the 〈◊〉 of that caused the 〈◊〉 of the Metallick 〈◊〉 according to 〈◊〉 several sorts But he 〈◊〉 doubts this let him read 〈◊〉 Three Tracts of Eirenaeus 〈◊〉 Great who deserves a 〈◊〉 of Gold to be erected to him in all the Colledges of Learning throughout the World Stones fall under the 〈◊〉 Denomination with Metals the best of which through their great plenty of Heat and Light give a Refulgency to the Matter which is a Concrete of that Vapour joyn'd to a pure Salt Water and shines even to the Superficies their form being so intense that they seem even to swallow up their Matter Whilst the Common through their grosness of Matter partly occasioned by the defect of Internal Heat become dark and opake their Generation being rather a Mixture of Earth and Water bak'd in the Furnace of Nature than the Impregnation of Passive Matter digested by a lively Form As for Vegetables I divide them into Two Sorts the one those that grow of themselves without any sowing as Weeds and wild Plants the other those that are raised by Art by sowing the Specifick Seed As for the First The Production of them seems to be thus The warm Vapour that penetrates the Earth is sublim'd by the Internal Heat and passing through large Pores arrives near the 〈◊〉 and carrying with 〈◊〉 or rather meeting there some what of the pure Salt dissolves it into a liquid Substance which pure Salt give a Specification to the 〈◊〉 Vapour and is a sort of a specifick Matrix to that Form which was before General and Universal for Salts of 〈◊〉 sorts do abound in all parts of the Earth Thus variety of Plants may arise as we see they do very near one another differenc'd by the several Salts through which the Vapour pass'd and joyn'd it self to them For if the Air impregnated with Vital Heat congeal'd into Water is one and the same in all Places free and undetermin'd how is it possible it should have any Specification but by somewhat it meets with in the Earth that joyning with it becomes a Seed and shoots up into a Plant This I conceive is the meaning of Democritus and Galen That the first Element of Things is void of Quality that is undertermin'd But why the Salts of the Earth give to some Plants a bitter to others a sharp Taste that is why are the Salts thus differenc'd I had rather profess my Ignorance than with Democritus and Galen say They are all one but only in Opinion This Question how various Plants come to grow of themselves appear'd to the Great Du Hamel so difficult that though he starts the Question he slips from it without a full Answer His Quetion is in these Words Unde prodeant quae à terra nascuntur injussa gramina Nunquid forte à coelo formantur Sed Coelum cum sit omni vitâ privatum quî poterit vitam sensum largiri At last after giving many Answers and then confuting them he comes to this doubtful resolution Influxus Coelestes his inferioribus fortasse se applicant But this comes not up to the Point Who doubts that the Heavenly Influences occasion the Growth of Plants and give the formal Essence to those that grow of themselves But why the same Universal Influence produceth different Plants which is the great Question in that he is silent This Matter having not yet been spoke to at least as I have met with and in regard the searching Nature to her Original and first Cause is more excellent than to solve Phaenomena's by their Effects I shall say something to it in its Place But to return from whence I have digress'd taking things now as we find them can it be a wonder
Plant and infuse it into the Body of another And thus Van Suchten and the acuter sort of Chymists tell us may be done with Metals But what need we fly to Laborious Art for the proof of this Does not sagacious Nature afford Instances enough of this sort in divers Places witness the petrefying Baths at Buda Glashitten and Eisenbach in Hungary that turn Wood and Iron into Stone and the Venereal Mine at Hern-grunat near Neusol where by leaving Iron in the Vitriolate Water for Fourteen Days it is transmuted into excellent Copper better and more ductil than the Natural But enough of this I have done with Pythagoras and shall touch now on Four Things 1. I shall speak somewhat to the duration of Bodies 2. Examine some Principles and Elements generally received 3. Compare some Aristotelian Hypotheses with those of Democritus 4. Having already shewn how variety of Plants and Metals are now generated in the Earth from the Diversity of Salts c. I will endeavour to shew how the Earth comes to be filled with such variety of Bodies abounding with different Qualities First As to the Duration of Bodies Bodies after the sensitive Spirit has left them and before their resolution into Dust have a sort of Vegetable Life remaining in them as appears by the growth of Hair and Nails that may be perceived in dead Bodies and a weak Animal one that lurks in the Moisture whence in Putrefaction Worms and divers sorts of Insects may be generated who dying others of another sort arise If therefore Bodies obtain this sort of Immortality not to speak of the Resurrction of the Body in a Philosophical Discourse why should it be denied to the Spirit which hath a much greater Right to it by the pure and incorrupt lasting Nature of its Essence But I shall advance the Nature of Bodies to a much more unmixt and pure Immortality For the Radical Moisture of Bodies that lies in the Bones may justly challenge a Right as things now are to an eternal duration For not to mention Bones that are found entire after a Thousand Years Burial nor the Bodies of Egyptian Mummies preserved whole for several Thousand Years there is in the Bones a Radical Moisture that is fix'd and permanent and is so far from giving way or suffering loss by that Element that is the Destroyer of mix'd Bodies that it is the Vessel made use of to purge the fix'd Metals in the Fire and remains unhurt when the volatil Metals fly away so that none of the Elements can destroy it no not the most torrid Vulcan Now for mix'd Bodies Fire indeed may separate the Parts of a mix'd Body change the Figure and so alter its Appearance as to puzzle the best Mechanick to reduce it to its primitive state yet this is no Annihilation but Division The burning of Wood or any Fuel is a Destruction of it I confess as to the Proprietor but not with respect to the Universe no more than there is less Money in the World by the Profuseness of a Prodigal as the one doth but change Hands so the other alters only the situation of its Parts The Watery or Mercurial Part of the Wood passeth away in Smoak the Oily or Sulphurous in Flame and the Body of Salt rests in the Ashes The Air preserves the two former and the Earth retains the latter each part returns to its native Country What then can destroy this Body except the First Cause I am yet to learn For though Bone-Ashes by reason of Moisture may flow and become Glass the ultimate end and use of them yet so glorious a lightsome body as that of Glass is rather an exaltation of its Essence than diminution of its Excellency nor does it give any termination to its Being but only a change to its Figure If Culinary Fire destroys the Parts of the Universe in time it may the whole But this is inconsistent with the Wisdom of its Maker to create Principles destructive of one another The Light of Nature as well as Experience taught Plato that the World was not destroyable by any other Cause but by the same God who composed it which the Eternal can easily do by Fire according as Things now appear without the Light of Holy Writ Which makes me wonder that Aristotle Zenophanes and other Great Men did not see this but thought the World of necessity as Eternal as God for though the Heat of the Sun is now tolerable between the Tropicks yet he that considers its being a little multiplied by a concave Glass even in our Meridian though its Rays pass through a vast Region of Water rarefied if reflected on a Man for some time it will scorch and destroy him when the volatil Waters that allay his Heat become fixed which the People think now are and a Philosopher knows may easily be then the Sun having no Cloud to obstruct his Light nor any Water to cool the scorching Heat of his Rays will necessarily burn up and calcine the Earth Thus the very Elements would destroy us did not the Eternal by his Providence defend us from the Heat by the interposition of the Waters and from the Chilness of the Waters by impregnating them with a Solar Heat whose invisible congealed Spirit saith one of the Learned Magi is more valuable than the whole Earth Clementissimo itaque infinitae sint Laudes Secondly As to Principles and Elements being to speak of these it will not be amiss to enquire how and when these came into the World The Study of Natural Philosophy was as early in the world as Men came to call upon God For whatever Appearances God made to the Antediluvian Patriarchs and by that means communicated his Divine Will and Nature to them yet we cannot suppose that the World in general had any other Light of the Divine Glory and Majesty than what came to them by Tradition and the Contemplation of the several Parts of the Universe for God is known by his Works they are the Witnesses of his Wisdom Power and Goodness The Knowledge of these Works comes not to Mankind at least generally by Inspiration but by exerting our Faculties And as for Tradition that is apt to make but a weak impression on thinking Men unless it is back'd with Reason But besides though the Creation of the World was a Tradition and the manner out of Chaos yet to give an account of the Phaenomena of Things and the manner now of Nature's Productions could not be a Tradition This was left to Man as the proper exercise of his Rational Powers that by improving and advancing his Thoughts he might come to have a clearer Light and Knowledge of God and consequently love him the more intensely for it is almost impossible to have a true knowledge of God and not to be inflamed with Love of him such is the Purity and Perfection of the Divine Nature When Men therefore began to contemplate the works of God they found all
as Plutarch will have it and then 't will be disputing only about Words But we 'll consider this Elements seem to be but modern in respect of the Ancients Moses speaks only of the Spirit and the Abyss and so for what I perceive it continued even to the Time of Thales who flourished in the 35th Olympiad Principles and Elements being not then distinguished by him for which Plutarch finds fault with him The same Author makes Empedocles to hold Four Elements who 't is said was a Disciple of Pythagoras who was contemporary with Thales Here I will suppose Elements to begin the Reason this They that held four Elements perceiving that besides the moist Vapour and heavenly Influence or Fire and Water in the modern Language there were Earth and Air that Air is the Food and as it were the Companion of Fire and Water of Earth and that things generated in the Earth could not but partake of its Nature as the Foetus in the Womb. That two of these were active and two passive two heavy and two light must of necessity be those Parts of Matter that constitute the Harmony of each Being To speak clearly to this Matter I shall take each Element apart and by that you will see whether these four or two only are self-subsisting Beings Pure Simple Primitive and Unmixt which is the Notion of an Element I will begin with the Air. That the Air we walk in is pure and unmixt no one will pretend for the Sulphurous Steams that are sublimed into the Air and the abundant Moisture fluctuating in this Region shew the contrary The Truth is what we call Air is nothing but Water rarefied attracted by the Heat of the Sun or sublim'd by the Archeus of the Earth and this may be made manifest by many several Experiments as the evaporating of Water into Smoak which is a gross Air or calcin'd Tartar that will attract it and dissolve it into Water The Earth can never be said to be pure simple or unmix'd for it is the common Shop of Nature wherein bodies of all sorts and qualities do reside It is in truth nothing more than the grosser parts of the Waters which condensing into a body became the Settlement of the Waters which God afterwards caused to become dry by the removal of the Waters from it and the Spirit of Light shining on it Though it is said In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth yet this is by a Figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usual as the Learned say amongst the Hebrews for the Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep and the Spirit moved upon the Face of the Waters The Chaos therefore or first Matter was plainly an Abyss of Waters and so our Latin Translators and Commentators render it Aquarum Terrae supernatantium say Junius and Tremellius Water I conceive is in its own Nature pure simple and unmix'd without any quality though susceptible of all A Primitive in Nature a middle Substance whose one Extream constituted Earth and its other Air or Heaven This may well be called a Principle for she is the first Matter of all things into which all things may be reduced Fire in its Original is an emanation of a Solar Spirit its Rays darting downwards impregnate and enkindle Passive Matter into Motion and Vegetation It is the Life or Spirit of the World as Water is the Matter To doubt this a Principle or Element for I think it no Blunder under Plutarch's Favour to make them Synonyma's were a mortal Sin in Philosophy Having said this 't is easie to infer That Water is the passive Principle and the Solar Influence the Formal of all created Beings and that properly speaking these two are the only Principles according to the Ancients and the other two only Derivatives But does not the excellent a Learned Magus tell us That the Four Elements by their never ceasing Motion cast forth a Sperm or subtil Portion of Matter into the Earth where meeting and uniting it is digested and brought to perfection according to the purity or impurity of the place The Authority of this Person and the Reverence and Admiration I have for him as it makes me conceal his Name so it does almost make me blush to lift up my Pen against him Sed magis Amica Veritas If Four Elements go to the Constitution of each Being these Elements must be intimately united Now that cannot be unless the purest part of one Element enter per minima the purest part of the other But Earth cannot enter Water per minima unless it be reduced to the Form and Tenuity of Water and then what need is there of Earth if Earth must be first resolved into Water ere it can unite with it Again Water must be rarefied to the dignity of Air or else it cannot unite intimately with Air if so what need is there of Water since Water must become Air before it can assist in the Constitution of a Body It to me therefore seems most plain that all created Beings here below are a Concrete of Water the purest part whereof being rarefied and impregnated with a celestial Heat which is all the Element of Fire I know of is digested into the various works of Nature diversified now according to what Nature has wrought in the Matrix before the Form enters for the Form is as capable of divers effects as the Water is susceptible of qualities Thus much for the Second Viz. Principles and Elements Thirdly I shall compare some Aristotelian Hypotheses with those of Democritus Aristotle and Heraclitus too held the Elements to be contrary to each other as Fire to Water Earth to Air two active and two passive Principles but Democritus denies it alledging that the Agent and Patient must be in some measure alike otherwise they cannot act upon one another Wherein Democritus is certainly in the right for Fire and Water differ not in a remiss but intense degree witness the quiet resting of Iron in which the Fire of Nature dwells plentifully in Water and witness the Generation of Animals in water which cannot be done without heat and witness the Seeds of all Beings whose germinating Virtue is the Fire of Nature involved in Moisture There is in truth no more difference between these two than between Water and Plants of which the one is so far from being repugnant to the other that the Plant is nourished by the water yet when the water is raised to an Acid and the Plant reduced to an Alkali by the union of these two a violent ebullition is caused a controversie even unto Death As for the Cause of the variety of Bodies the difference between Aristotle and his Followers and Leucippus Democritus and Epicurus and their Followers is no less and 't is no wonder that they who differ in the Nature of their Principles should fall out in the effects they produce The Aristotelians impute the effects of Bodies to secret
there was no more intended by this than to shew how close a Union these two Bodies would make by the power of Fire ' The 〈◊〉 whereof was not casually mentioned since there are some living who have seen the Operation reticulatìm Tho' after all to do right to the Ancients Ovid and other Poets that have collected the Grecian Mythology out of their Philosophers and Poets have Poeticâ Licentiâ added Inventions of their own which are as apparently to be distinguished as the bold strokes of an Apelles from the shaking ones of a Tyro Having said this I shall first shew what this Mercury is Secondly His Qualitiess Thirdly How these Three Nations agree in their Descriptions of him all of them meaning the same Thing under different Veils But before I describe him it is fit to premise this That the Ancients who studied Natural Philosophy found a greater Excellency in the Mineral Province than in all the Parts of Nature besides and therefore applied themselves thereto and in their Mythology have discovered their Experiments therein Mercury then is what the Chymists call Argent vive and the People Quick-silver the Wonder of the World dry and yet current fluid and yet not wetting the hand an imperfect crude Metal For his Qualities he is the most volatil of the Seven and may well therefore be called the Messenger of the rest who are all Gods susceptible of any Form yet will mix with nothing but what is of his own Nature With the Egyptians he was the second Dynasta according to Kircher Aureumque Deum vocabant ex eo enim Sol oritur and as a Planet he was so too according to Vossius upon R. Maimonides in AEgyptiorum Hieroglyphicis Stellâ Deus exprimebatur A Messenger of the Gods with the Greeks a Planet with the Chaldeans both which call the Planets Gods and with the Magi who understood him one of the Seven Metals The Egyptians to denote his crude Nature paint him young his volatil with wings on his Feet and Head his Caduceus that works wonders with two Serpents seven times twisted about the mighty Power he obtains when acuated seven times that as the Egyptian Serpents were wont to destroy so he then becomes powerful in the Dissolution and natural Destruction of Metals This is that Serpent that devoured the Companions of Cadmus and who they are he that now knows not let him be ignorant still The Chaldeans to shew his volatil Nature make him a constant Attendant on the Sun and to shew his Mutability and susception of diverse Qualities that he is of the Nature of that Planet with which he is in Conjunction Benevolent with the Benevolent Malevolent with the Malevolent i. e. joyn'd with a Metal abounding with an Arsenical Sulphur he assumes the Nature of that Metal with which he is in Conjunction and so becomes Arsenical which being a poisonous Substance may well enough be called Malevolent but joyned with a Metal abounding with a pure Metalline Sulphur he changes and puts off his Arsenical Qualities before assumed and then becomes impregnated with a true Metalline Sulphur which for its excellency may well be called Benevolent The carrying this to its Height would give a greater Blow to that vain Art of Judicial Astrology than either Cornelius Agrippa or any Author I have yet met with hath given and give a rational account why some Planets are called Masculine some Feminine some Cholerick some Phlegmatick Saturn cold Mars hot c. The Grecians to express his young and volatil Nature make him a swift Messenger of the Gods call him Thief for stealing the Arrows of Apollo whereby they shew his susceptibility of Qualities that joyned with Sol acuated with the other Metals he assumes his their Virtues and Qualities steals from them their Nature and Essence For Mercury is the same to Metals as common Water is to Animals and Plants and as this imbibes the Nature of the Animal or Plant decocted in it so does that the Nature of the Metal digested with it Hence may be easily understood what Pythagoras meant when he says he received the Gift from Mercury to know the Migration of the Soul as it past from one Body to another This is that Proteus that assumes all Forms but enough of this I am not insensible that I have gone against the Current of the Learned Kircherus the profound Vossius and the industrious Galtrucius Bochartus Natalis Comes and the rest of the College of Learning whose Memories I reverence whose Works I honour whose Library-Keeper I confess myself unworthy yet no humane Authority ought to weight more than the Reasons they give will naturally allow So that I conceive all these Learned Men have followed one another in the same Learned Tract of ancient Error a sufficient 〈◊〉 for those who are fond of that old Notion Quò antiquiùs 〈◊〉 veriùs which Hypothesis will not always hold good for who knows not that there was Darkness in this World before Light That the Angels fell before Adam was created That Adam was deceived even in Paradise by the Great Impostor and since that the next Man Cain was both a Murtherer and a Liar He that considers how soon Sin entred into the World and that ever since Mankind hath been beset with Sin Error and Folly of which he has been very fruitful even from the beginning that the Devil hath advanced his Kingdom to a great height that Error is more ancient than Adam will not be easily persuaded to believe that what is most ancient is therefore most true though gilded with a shew of Learning Were there not erroneous Tenets in Christianity coaevous with the Apostles Who then can say that the bare antiquity of an Opinion is a good Argument for it's Truth For my part I think it not fit to be the sole Criterion of Matters of Fact for we are to judge not only how ancient the Historian is but how agreeable the Thing delivered is to true Reason Now the Great Men was speaking of have been exceeding industrious to find out to what Persons the Fables of the Poets do relate when in Truth they are not Historical Relations of Persons but real and true Experiments in Natural Philosophy though veil'd in Fabulous Relations to conceal them from the Vulgar One Experiment whereof will give more Light than the Talk of all Mankind without it The Explanation of which may do great Right I conceive to the Ancients deliver them from Calumny and give some greater Light to the Learned World than hitherto has been done and yet so as not to transgress the great Law of Pythagoras or incur the Punishment of Theopompus or Theodestes The Famous Lord Verulam has made this one of the great Pillars in the building up his Instauratio magna wherein that Great Man saw that the Wisdom of the Ancients 〈◊〉 couched in these Mysteries Of which Opinion I find like wise Sir Kenelm Digby But 〈◊〉 was
then their Excellency would be very manifest 〈◊〉 that has seen the perpetual Light to which they have been advanced by Dissolution does know what place 〈◊〉 merit in this Life 〈◊〉 were the operation as easie 〈◊〉 the Reason is evident no ingenious Man would be without it For my part I own myself herein only Un 〈◊〉 yet he that is not able to 〈◊〉 a Bow may yet give 〈◊〉 Wherefore to this I conceive there is need of an homogeneous Agent defecated from all Impurity and impregnated with a Metalline Sulphur the former found in the House of Gemini the latter in that of Aries by the benign Influences of Libra and Aquarius But let none but the Happy pretend to this He that can retire and enjoy the Freedom of Horace his Countryman Beatus ille qui procul negotiis Ut prisca gens mortalium Paterna rura bobus exercet suis Solutus omni foenore c. Happy the Man from toilsome cares set free Who does regain Man's ancient Liberty Ploughing his Ground with Oxen of his own By Parents left 's free from Usurious Loan To this Freedom of Thought there is necessary a Knowledge of all Nature a plentiful Fortune and above all a wise and a Learned Friend Qui publicis 〈◊〉 bus Muneribus funguntur 〈◊〉 privatis necessariis 〈◊〉 cupationibus jugiter incumbunt 〈◊〉 summum hujus Philosophiae 〈◊〉 contendant Totum enim 〈◊〉 illa desiderat 〈◊〉 possedet Possessum ab omni 〈◊〉 longo negotio vendicat 〈◊〉 omnia aliena reputans flocci 〈◊〉 They who are 〈◊〉 tigued with Publick Honours and Employments or have continual Avocations of private domestick Affairs let them not pretend to the Heights of this Philosophy for she requires the whole Mind which obtain'd she keeps and retains him from all tedious Business teaching him to slight all Things else as Trifles This is an Eternal Bar to such as my self who am bow'd down to an Employment of daily Attendance Me Miserum Well may the Qualifications above be thought necessary since besides the Fineness and Acuteness of Mind there is required Herculean Labour Non viribus ullis Vincere nec duro poteris convellere fern This to attain no Steel 〈◊〉 any Force Nor French Dragoons 〈◊〉 Missionary Horse For 't is so difficult that 〈◊〉 tells us Mars being imprisoned by Neptune's Son Thirteen Months in a Dungeon could scarce be set 〈◊〉 by Juno's help though assisted by Hermes himself 〈◊〉 meaning whereof when have told you that Mars the Son of Juno and she the Metallick Nature is too obvious to need an Explanation for a Surcharge is nauseous to the Mind of an Ingenious Man Now to remove all Objections to the Foundation of this Opinion of Pythagoras and what is superadded It may be asked How doth it appear that the Heavenly Bodies bestow an Influence or Universal Spirit on the Earth Why may not the Earth it self be impregnated ab initio with Seed enough to hold out for all Species to the end of the World That the Heavenly Bodies move and transmit Heat we Both see and feel Nay this Heat beyond the Tropicks is so intense and powerful that with us collected by a concave Glass it will melt Silver and that in a more extraordinary manner than a Culinary Fire is able to perform Whence Mechungus affirms that there is no artificial Fire able to give such a heat 〈◊〉 that which comes down from Heaven We see Infects sort of Animals in a feu days are generated by it is waterish places Those 〈◊〉 pass for Animals as Frogs Toads and even Mice whose Generation is aequivocal 〈◊〉 so produced by means whereof we perceive that Vegetables grow and increase Timaeus the Locrian saith That God scatters Souls i. e. Forms some in the Moon others in other Planets and Stars whence they are instilled into Creatures To which Aristotle agrees when he saith That the Universal Efficient Cause of all things is the Sun and the other Stars and that their Access and Recess are the Causes of Generation and Corruption If so what need is there of an Element of Fire above the Region of the Air But I conceive 't was placed there for Order's sake only Now this Virtue that is Ministerial to such Variety of things must be in its own Nature General and Catholick or it could not be subservient to so many several different Individuals The Specification of it naturally proceeds from the Particulars We see a little Salt seasons a great Lump and a Scion transmutes the whole Juice of the Tree into its own Nature Wherein we may observe a twofold Change First Of the general Moisture into an Identity of that of the Tree Secondly A new Specification of it by its passing into the Scion Nay such is the virtue of Fermentation that you may inoculate Scion upon Scion after a little Growth and whatever becomes of Transmutation in the Mineral we daily see it various ways in the Vegetable Province to that degree that in many Trees you may ingraft and inoculate out of species as Cherries on a Laurel Pears on a Hawthorn-Tree nor is it otherwise in the Animal of which no man's Experience is without some Instances Fermentation saith the incomparable Eirenaeus the Great is the Wonder of the World by it Water becomes Herbs Trees Plants Fruit Flesh Blood Stones Minerals and every Thing This Epicurus calls the attracting and intangling adaptable Atoms by their Fellow-Atoms by which they grow up into the same Nature of which hereafter As for the latter part of the Objection touching the Earth's having Seed enough in it self and therefore needs not borrow of the Heavens What I said already to the first part of the Question may be a sufficient Answer But to proceed That the Earth is barren sluggish dead and passive we may easily see by considering how unfruitful all places are that are surrounded with Buildings For if the Earth had Seed enough in it self she might be as fertil in a City-Garden as in a Country But it is plain that the want of a free access of the Air whereby an Universal Spirit or animating Heat is conveyed is the only Cause of Sterility Why do your Country-men after some years plowing leave the Ground fallow Is there not Seed or Virtue enough in the Earth to hold out If there is not whence does she receive it It must proceed either internally from the Centre or externally from the Heavens if from her own Centre why does she wait the accession of the Sun to call forth her Vegetables And why where his Influences are interrupted is she barren But may not the Earth have a Feminine Sperm in it and may not this vital Heat be as a Masculine Principle that may only excite and bring this dormant Seed from Potency into Act to which Opinion Xenocrates seems to be inclined If the Earth were filled with such an