MOSAICALL PHILOSOPHY Grounded upon the ESSENTIALL TRUTH OR ETERNAL SAPIENCE Written first in Latin and afterwards thus rendred into English By ROBERT FLUDD Esq Doctor of Physick The Lord giveth Wisdom and out of his Mouth commeth Knowledg and Understanding Prov. 2.6 The Wisdom of the world is foolishness with God The Lord knoweth that the thoughts of the wise be vain 1 Cor. 3.19 20. Psal. 94.11 Beware lest there be any man that spoil you by Philosophy or vain fallacy through the Traditions of men according unto the rudiments of the world and not after Christ For in him dwelleth the fulness of the God-head bodily Colos. 2.8 9. LONDON Printed for Humphrey Moseley at the Prince's Armes in St. Paul's Church-yard 1659. To the Judicious and Discreet READER MY desire is Judicious and Learned Reader that it may not prove offensive unto any if in the imitation of my Physicall and Theo-philosophicall Patron St. Luke I mention and cite the testimony of Holy-Writ to prove and maintaine the true and essentiall Philosophy with the virtuous properties of that eternall Wisdom which is the Foundation and Corner-stone whereon it is grounded Was not this the radicall Subject of my foresaid Patron who was as well a Divine Philosopher as a Physitian If the office of of Jacob's Ladder was for Souls and Angels to ascend from the Earth unto Heaven and to descend from Heaven unto Earth and that by many steps or degrees corresponding-to both the Elementary and ethereall or Heavenly nature Or as the Poet speaking mystically If the chain of Nature hath its highest and last linck fastned unto the foot of Jupiter's chair in Heaven as the lower is fixed on Earth how is it possible for us earthly creatures or rather divine Images howsed and obscured in clayie tabernacles to wade of our selves through the confused Labyrinth of the creature unto the bright Essence of the Creator that is to search out the mysteries of the true Wisdom in this world and the creatures thereof but by penetrating with a mentall speculation and operative perfection into the earthly Circumference or mansion thereof and so to dive or attain by little and little unto the heavenly Pallace I mean the middle point or Center thereof where onely her abiding place is to be found who is the Center of all things whose Circumference is no where rationally to be imagined or thought of If God therefore in and by his Eternal Word or Divine Wisdom hath first made the creatures and sustained the same unto this present How can a reall Philosopher enucleate the mysteries of the Creator in the creature or judiciously behold or express the creature in the Creator for in him are all things but by such rules or directions as the onely store-house of Wisdom namely the holy Scriptures have registred and the finger of that sacred Spirit indited for our instructions Shall we with the Agarens and those which were of Theman forsake the Fountain of Virtue to search after true Wisdom where it is not to be found And yet nevertheless lest mine intention should by the misprision of any be ill interpreted or misunderstood I think it convenient to certify you that my pâ—â—â—pose in the progress of this Sacred or Mosaicall Philosophy is farre from any presumption to trench upon or derogate from the deep and mysticall Laws of Theology in her pure and simple essence or to oppose the current of her Argument against those usuall Tenents and Authentick rules in Divinity which have been long since decreed and ordained by the Ancient Fathers of the Church But as it is certain that one and the self-same place in Scriptures hath a two-fold meaning to wit an internall or spirituall and an externall or literall and either of these two senses are true and certain though they seem to vary or differ by a diverse respect no otherwise than under the name of one and the same man a double nature namely a spirituall Soul and a materiall Body are really to be understood So also besides such mysticall interpretations as the Texts of Scripture do internally contain it may also express and delineate externally such created realities as belong unto the true Subject of the most essentiall Philosophy And again we ought co consider that the Subject or method in proceeding or handling of both these progressions are in some sort different being that the one I mean Theology pointeth directly at the sincere and simple nature with the virtuous extentions and powerfull operations of the Divine Essence making her demonstration à Priori as if for the proof of a Circle's existence one should begin his inquisition from the formal Center or middle-point and so proceed unto the Circumference The other to wit Philosophy moveth by a clean opposit action or method from the externall of the creature or organ quasi demonstratione à posteriori to dive and search into its internall Center that it might there find out or attain unto the knowledg of the eternall Actor to wit of that all-working Wisdome which doth manifestly act or operate in it being warranted in this her manner of research by the wise Physiologist Solomon who teacheth us to search after and to discover the unknown Work-man by his known or visible works that is to apprehend the Divine or eternall cause by the created or temporall effect Or as the sacred Philosopher St. Paul hath it to see and consider the visible things of God that is his eternal Power and Godhead by his works No otherwise than the hidden centrall Monady or punctuall Unity of a Globe is after diligent inquiry found out by moveing first from the Circumference by the semidiameters and then attaining by degrees unto the middle and secret point which serveth as a formall prop or essentiall Corner-stone to sustain the whole Spherical Fabrick Which being so and seeing that the holy Bible doth fully handle and set down the Subject of both these Sciences by the way of the two foresaid Demonstrations namely as well after a Physicall as Metaphysicall manner My hope is that this my Philosophicall Discourse will not be therefore sinisterly judged of by the truly wise and unpartiall Reader because it chiefly relieth on the axioms or testimonies of Scriptures Now That the sacred Text doth every where specify the manner of these two proceedings it is made apparent in that it doth certify the mysticall acts or operations as well of the aeviall and temporall as of the eternall world But it is clear that the eternall world which hath neither beginning nor end being onely replenished with the glorious Majesty of God is the main Foundation on which Theology is grounded as on the other side the temporall or lowest world having both beginning and end and being divided into a visible heaven and earth with the creatures thereof is the main plat-form of the true Philosophy As for the aeviall world which hath a beginning but no end and was ordained by God to be
descendeth from above even from the Father of light But to proceed unto the doubt which is Whether according unto Aristotles intention the originall matter of the wind be of the earth and his first motion from the earth into heaven A man more learned and wise by far in the mysteries of nature than Aristotle ever was answereth in this manner Venti viam saith he ignorat homo ignorat homo opus ipsius Dei qua via faciat haec omnia Man knoweth not the way or path of the winds man knoweth not the work of God namely by what means he effecteth these things But Aristotle was a man yea and an Ethnick man and therefore could so much the lesse judge rightly of such abstruse things as are these wherefore JEHOVAH seeming to deride the boldnesse of such a worldling and as it were in reprehending of him speaketh in these words Nosti nè ubinam sit via in qua dividitur exhalatio quae spargit ventum super terram Knowest thou where is the way wherein the exhalation is divided which spreadeth the wind upon the earth Arguing hereupon the impossibility for a worldly mans capacity to conceive or understand these things unlesse he be taught and instructed by the Spirit of wisdom who teacheth all things the which Spirit is bestowed by God on whom he pleaseth And yet Aristotâ—e seemeth impudently to answer God and say I know it well for the way of this exhalation is from the earth upward unto the middle region of the aire where partly by an Antiperistasis caused of cold driving it downward again and partly by other exhalations which are successivly ascending the exhalation is compelled to move laterally upon the face of the earth c. But I will shew the impossibility of this reason by that which followeth immediately hereafter To the second and third part of this clause I say that the medium by the which the winds are carried or moved is by far more vast and large then that which Aristotle assignes unto it for the winde doth not blow and act onely in the lower but also in the middle yea and in the upper region of the aire If therefore the winde do blow in the middle region of the aire then will the vigour of Aristotle's definition be taken away forasmuch as the efficacy thereof doth chiefly consist in this namely that such a hot and dry exhalation as is the cause of the wind is not permitted to penetrate the middle region of the aire but is reverberated precipitated and beaten down again by the vertue of the middle region's cold which resisteth the heat of the sublimed exhalation Now if there be any wind in the middle region of the aire this cause of the winde will be taken away forasmuch as then the exhalation will not be repelled downwards into the lower region where it should meet other ascending exhalations to make a noise and to be dispersed laterally on the earth for the exhalation which causeth a wind in the middle region will not be driven down by the cold but is observed to blow and to move the clouds and thunders in the middle of that sphear yea it is made manifest by daily experience that as well the upper or higher clouds which are white and yellow and therefore more light and subtle by reason of their fiery brightnesse as the lower which are grosser and more obscure are driven and pushed by the winds from any quarter of the world unto the opposite for except the winds were also present in that region they could never move as on the wings of the winds in that manner Do we not also observe that the south-wind bloweth from the southern horizon and another from the next which is northern so that both winds have dominion in either of the horizons at all one and the same time whereupon it often happeneth that great and dark clouds moving from each opposite quarter by four of those contrary angelicall spirits do meet in the point of each Horizon and cause one masse or huge sea of clouds serving as a Tabernacle unto the great spirit of wonders which worketh or causeth these things whereupon there followeth great lightnings and thunders by the concourse of opposite angelicall natures being the messengers ministers and voice of the Almighty which never could have been effected unless the winds by the will of the Almighty had moved impetuously the one against the other in the middle-region of the aire And this we have also confirmed out of Scripture where it is said Ascendit fumus e naribus IEHOVAE carbones accensi sunt ab eo inclinavit coelos descendit caligo sub pedibus ejus ascendit super Cherubin volavit lapsus est super pennas venti Posuit tenebras in circuitu suo latibulum cribrans aquas de nubibus coelorum prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes succensae sunt tonabat de coelo Dominus c. Smoak ascended out of the nostrils of IEHOVA coales are kindled by him He inclined or bowed down the heavens and descended and darkness was under his feet and he ascended upon the Cherubin and did flie and glide upon the wings of the wind He put the darknesse round about him to serve for to hide him sisting out waters from the clouds of heaven before his face for at his presence the clouds were set on fire and the Lord did thunder from heaven c. Out of which speech we gather that not only the Clouds and Thunder and Lightnings are moved by the windy ministers or Angels of the Lord but also that Divinity it self being compassed about with dark clowds in the middle region of the aire is carried upon the airy Cherubin and useth the wings of the winds as organs to move on Whereby each wise man may easily perceive that the worldly wisdome or Peripateticall Philosophy is plain foolishness being that it would falsly perswade the world that such essentiall Acts as are the Angelicall winds whose inward essence is the bright Spirit of the Lord are caused accidentally and are moved and stirred up by externall violence when by the doctrine of the true wisdome it is evident that they are indued with most essentiall internall Agents and therefore do move where and when they list according unto that before-mentioned of St. John For saith he Spiritus spirat ubi vult The Spirit bloweth where it lists Which being so as is apparent that the wind hath actum formam principium internum An essentiall and inward act form and Principle at the motion whereof it is moved or caused which way the invard mover pleaseth and therefore the Text saith Spirat ubi vult It bloweth where it will and consequently it is indued with a volunty or will whereby each man may see how extravagant from the Truth is the Peripateticks reason touching this point who admit no essentiall and internall form unto the Winds but make it a thing meerly
was pure light but the world did not know it And Solomon Sapientia Deus fundavit coelos stabilivit terram in prudentia By wisdom God made the heavens and by his prudency he laid the foundations of the earth In conclusion the whole harmony of holy Writ which is too long for me punctually in this place to rehearse doth testifie thus much that all things of what nature or condition soever were made disposed and effected in by and through this divine vertue or emanation which is God himself forasmuch as it is the divine act whose root is the word Ex ipso saith St. Paul per ipsum in ipso sunt omnia Of him by him and in him are all things But because some of the learned of this world may reply that though it is true that God by his divine Spirit or Word did create all things yet it followeth not that he doth act immediately and exist essentially in every thing But after that this eternall Spirit of wisdom had bestowed on each creature a peculiar vertue in its creation then the creature can act of it self by a free-will which is absolutely and distinguished and divided from the immediate act of God I answer that by our founded rules in Divinity the true essence of the Deitie is individuall and therefore God doth impart no essentiall act or vertue unto any creature which can be discontinued or seperated from Himself And for this reason Christ who is the eternall spirit of wisdome is said to fill all I marry will our learned say that is vertually but not substantially or essentially I would fain know laying all such school distinctions apart of which St. Paul biddeth Timothy to beware if the vertue of God be not his essence or whether the one can be divided from the other If they reply and say that this vertue of God is no essence but an accident Verily they must needs erre in saying so being that it is most certainly known unto the very Jewes and Gentiles themselves that God hath not any accidents in him seeing that he is absolutely essentiall and reall of himself for where his divine act is there is also his vertue and where his vertue is there is he truly said to be essentiall for else the word or divine act which doth vivifie and quicken every creature should seem to be but an Accident and that divided from the divine essence which how absurd it is the immortality and root of it doth argue For David in his forsaid text sayeth spiritu ab ore ejus omnis virtus eorum from the spirit of his mouth doth issue every vertue of the heavens I imagine that there is no man of an upright sense that will esteem this vertue to be an Accident which being so then must it needs be essentiall and consequently in God and of God and therefore not divisible from his spirit But what needs more words when Scriptures do confirme this every where St. Paul sayeth in the text before mentioned Quoniam in ipso condâ—ta sunt universa in coelis et in terra tam visibilia quam invisibilia omnia in ipso et per ipsum creata sunt et omnia in ipso constant Because all things in heaven and earth are made in him as well visible as invisible all things are created in him and by him all consist in him Ergo nothing without him Again St. John saith In verbo erat vita Life was in the Word And therefore the creature is annexed unto him by a continuated tye of one and the self-same spirit of life which is in the creature without the which it cannot exist one minute And for this cause the Psalmist saith O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom thou hast made them all The earth is full of thy riches so is the wide sea and the innumerable creeping things therein both great and small Thou givest unto them and they gather it thou openest thine hand and they are filled with good things but if thou hide thy face they are troubled if thou takest away their breath they die and return unto dust Again if thou sendest out thy Spirit they are re-created and revive and thou renewest the face of the earth Whereby we see that it is the immediate act of the Spirit of wisdom that worketh these things by which God is said to vivifie all things and that by him we breathe and live and have our being And not onely we but also all other flesh whatsoever as it appeareth by the foresaid Text as also by this testimony of Job Si Deus apponens ad hominem animum suum spiritum seu flatum ejus ad se reciperet deficeret exspiraret omnis caro simul homo in câ—nerem reverteretur If God setting his heart or mind upon man should receive or draw unto himself his spirit or breath of life all flesh would die together and man would return unto dust And the Prophet Deus dat flatum populo qui est super terram spiritum calcantibus eam God giveth breath unto the people which is on the earth and a spirit unto the creatures which tread on it Now I beseech you How is it possible that this spirit of life should be present with and in all things and therefore essentially in every thing and yet it should cease to act immediately that is in persona sua when it is the most swift and mobil ' in his active nature and agility of all things as the wise man telleth us That he is present in all things it is apparent because all things do act and live in him and by him for St. Paul's Text before mentioned saith Omnia in ipso constant All consist in him And again Ipse operatur omnia in omnibus He worketh all in all And St. Peter The heavens and the earth which were of water exist by the word And Solomon Incorruptibilis Dei spiritus inest omni rei The incorruptible Spirit of God is in all things And again Spiritus disciplinae sanctus implet orbem terrarum The spirit of wisdom filleth the earth And the Prophet David Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend into heaven thou art there if I lie down in hell thou art there Let me take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea yet thither shall thine hand lead me and thy right hand hold me If I say yet the darknesse shall hide me even the night shall be light about me yea the darknesse hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darknesse and night are both alike Therefore it is his reall Spirit that filleth all things and not any accidentall vertue as is falsly imagined by some And the Prophet Isaias Coelum est sedes mea terra scabellum pedum meorum saith the Lord The heavens
clouds be onely Superficially moved by externall winds and the heat of the Sun as Aristotle's imagination is and not by any centrall agent which ruleth it as it pleaseth and at whose Command the winds themselves are obedient Verily I answer that contrary unto the intention of the Peripateticks the clowds have their inward agenâ— the which calleth the winds to effect his will and push and move forward hiâ— clowdy vehicle or Chariot when where and which way he pleaseth For as this Agent is catholick so is he not absent from the Spirit of the winds though centrally present in the cloud For he being present with and in the spirit of the winds doth in and by the Angelicall Spirits of the winds operate centrally in the aire and by the contracting act in himself gathering the aire together into a clowd which he maketh his vehicle or Chariot Therefore it is said in one place Nubibus densis obtegit Deus coelos quae comparent terrae pluviam qui facit ut proferant montes foenum dent jumentis cibum God filleth the heavens with clowds that they might bring forth rain unto the earth that thereby hay or grass may spring forth for the nourishment of Cattle Out of which speech we may gather First that God by his windy Ministers doth condense and shape out the aire into clowds For the stormy winds are said to effect the Will and Word of God Then that this was no miraculous work but a common work in nature being that it is daily effected to produce grass herbs and plants for the sustenance of living creatures And Job Densae nubes tugurium ejus The thick clowds are his dwelling place And David Nubem expandit Deus pro tegumento God spreadeth abroad the clowd for a covering And Moses Descendit Dominus in nube loquutus est ad eum The Lord descended in a clowd and spake unto him But all this which is said touching this point is notably expressed in these words of Samuel Inclinavit IEHOVA coelos descendit caligo sub pedibus ejus ascendit super Cherubin volavit lapsus est super pennes venti Posuit tenebras in circuitu suo laâ—ibulum cribrans aquas de nubibus coelorum prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes accensae sunt IEHOVA did bow down or incline the heavens and ascended and darknesse was under his feet and he ascended upon a Cherubin and did fly and glide upon the wings of the wind He made darknesse his hiding place sifting out waters from the clowds of heaven and the clowds are set on fire at the sight of him c. In which relation of holy Writ what I have spoken before is notably set forth For first it is said that God ascended or mounted on the Cherubin which is an airy Angell then that he did glide upon the wings of the wind arguing thereby that the aire being animated by the Angelicall Spirit was made a wind in the which the Word or Spirit of God did move and then after this he in and by the wind did shape out his dark Tabernacle For it is said He made darkness his hiding place that is he made the dark clowds his Chariot For David hath it thus Nubes densae vehiculum seu currus Dei qui itat super alas venti The thick clowds are a vehicle or Chariot of God who rideth or walketh upon the wings of the winds In another place it is called Mons Dei coagulatus in quo bene placitum est Deo inhabitare The condensed curdled or coagulated Mountain of God in which it is pleasing unto him to dwel So that it is evident that the Spirit of God moveth the Angelicall Spirit the Angelicall Spirit exciteth and informeth the aire with a windy nature Forasmuch as by his moving in it the aire is made a windy spirit and therefore the Prophet said Qui facis Angelos ventos then that animated aire by opposit Angelicall Spirits incited by one and the same Divinity doth reduce the common aire into clowds which are the Chariots of him who essentially doth act and operate all these things by divers Organs one within another which vary in dignity from one another For by how much the more internall a thing is the more worthy and noble or veruous it is esteemed because they approach nearest unto that essence in Divinity which acteth and operateth centrally all in all That God doth move in the Thunders speaketh out of the whirl-wind and clowds and is at his pleasure a consuming fire and that he operateth centrally in the winds clowds Snow and Tempests and that all these are effected by his Spirit of Wisdome the Scriptures do here and there in most places express And therefore it is vainly said that the clowds only move by the Sun-beams or the externall pushing winds caused of so vain impossible Principles as Aristotle telleth us when it is the Tabernacle in which that Eternall Spirit is pleased to abide or a Chariot in which he is delighted to ride whose horses as Zachary saith are the winds or rather the Cherubinicall Spirits which he doth animate So that the volunty or centrall principle of the motion is in the clowd but the Angells and winds are the Ministers or organicall Agents which move according unto the willer wherefore though we proved before that the aire was thickned into clowds and that the following wind did drive them before it yet the willer and commander of this Generation of clowds by the winds was the onely and essentiall internall principle or centrall mover in the clowds which by his will made his Ministers to move him where or to what purpose he pleased And therefore Solomon Sapientia ejus abyssi ruperunt sese coeli distillant rorem By his Wisdome the abysse brake forth and did rain down the dew And Flante Deo concrescit gelu God blowing the Ice is gathered together Again Sapientia aptat pondus aeâ—i appendit aquas in mensura Wisdome doth proportion the weight of the aire and hangeth the waters in measure c. We may therefore boldy conclude against both Aristotle and all other doctrine of the Ethnicks that neither the earth nor the water are the immediate fountains of the clowds but the heavens or aire which is the Treasure-house of God neither is it the cold of the middle region of the aire which condenseth any imaginary surging or ascending vapours arising from beneath but that centrall animating Spirit born or gliding on the wings of the wind residing but not inclusively in the cloud who according unto his pleasure by the means of his organicall Ministers the Angelicall winds fashioneth forth the clouds to serve as a cover or tabernacle unto it And therefore the cloud acteth not by the heat of the Sun but by the Divine Light that is centrally in it which as an Emperour sitteth upon the Cherubins which are airy
lively expressed thus Ascendit fumus in ira ejus ignis à facie ejus exarsit carbones accensi sunt abeo c. Prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes transierunt grando carbones ignis intonuit de coelo Dominus altissimus dedit vocem suam A smoak did ascend in his anger and fire did flame out from his face coales of fire were kindled by him c. By the Lightning in his sight the clowds did move hail and coales of fire the Lord did thunder from heaven the most High did utter forth his voice By the which speech it appeareth evidently that it is onely God which doth essentially effect all these things and although we say in our common phrase of speech that the Lightnings do cause the Thunder or in speaking more mystically that the Angells inflame the aire by their fiery presence yet in verity it is God in his fiery Angells or flaming Ministers as also in the thick clowds and watry spirits who produceth all these things to accomplish his will and pleasure And therefore the Apostle Deus operatur omnia in omnibus God operateth all in all And elsewhere Deus omnium Pater à quo omnia God is the Father of all from whom are all things And again Ex eo per eum in eo sunt omnia Of him by him and in him are all things But all this in our Meteorologicall business is more plainly expressed in the precedent words continued thus at large in another place Ascendit fumus de naribus IEHOVAE ignis de ore ejus vâ—ravit carbones sâ—ccensi sunt ab eo inclinavit coelos descendit caligo sub pedibus ejus ascendit super Cherubin volavit seu lapsus est super alas venti posuit tenebras in ciâ—cuâ—tu suo latibulum cribrans aquas de nubibus coelorum prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes succensi sunt carbones ignis volabant tonabat de coelo Dominus excelsus dabat vocem suam misit sagittas suas disparuit eos fulgur Smoak ascended out of the nostrils of IEHOVA and fire flew out of his mouth coles of fire were kindled from him and he inclined or bowed down the heavens and did descend and darkness was under his feet and he mounted upon a Cherubin and flew or glided upon the wings of the wind made darkness round about him his hiding place sifting forth rain from the clowds of heaven The clowds were kindled at the brightness of his face coles of fire did flie the Lord did thunder from heaven and the most high did utter forth his voice he sent forth his arrows and the Lightning did disperse them By all which it is made evident that there is no essentiall efficient cause which is naturall but onely God in nature and beyond nature operateth all in all For in the precedent description it is not said that the clowds or winds sent out coruscations or that fire came from the Sun or other heavenly bodies but smoke went out of the nostrills of JEHOVA and fire out of his mouth neither that vapours and Exhalations did gather clowds in the middle region of the aire but JEHOVA bowed down the heavens or aire and collected them at his pleasure neither the coldnesse of the middle region did accumulate them into a dark mass or heap by condensation But JEHOVA collected and gathered together by his privative and condensing property that dark chaos or confused abysse neither was it any Angelicall efficient but JEHOVA mounting upon the Cherubin did animate it to move according to his pleasure Nor was it the winds that moved of themselves but the spirituall Cherubin being first animated by JEHOVA did excite the winds to move neither was that exceeding darknesse made for a secret Tabernacle unto JEHOVA meerly by the act of the Angelicall wind But JEHOVA moving on the Cherubin incited the Cherubin to cause the winds to collect and gather together the clowds neither was it the resolutive faculty of the Sun that melted the clowds into rain but JEHOVA that did sift or cribrate forth water or rain out of them neither was it the collision or dashing together of the clowds or antiperistasis which was between the hot exhalation and the coldness of the place which caused the actuall Lightnings or inflammation of the clowds but the brightnesse and inexplicable light of his presence did set the clowds on fire neither was it the contentious strivings which was made between the fire and water in the cleaving of the clowd which maketh the fearfull sound from heaven but it was JEHOVA that did thunder from heaven it was the most high I say that did utter his voice from heaven and sent forth his Lightning as arrows to destroy the wicked Which being so what have we Christians to do to look after any naturall efficient cause with the acute eies of Aristotle which forsooth must act and operate per se of themselves without any consideration when by the precedent Text it appeareth that St. Paul was no liar when he said that God operateth all in all And as for that Peripateticall distinction of causa principalis and secundaria or subalterna you see here that it is utterly disannulled by the Text before mentioned For the onely efficient cause as well in the first second third and fourth Organ or Instrument was God For it was he that inspired the Cherubin it was he in and upon the Cherubin which did animate the winds it was he in and upon the Cherubin by the winds that gathered the clowds together it was he that in and upon the Cherubin by the winds did sift out water and rain out of the clowds and did set them on fire by sending forth Lightnings from his Throne And in conclusion though he use many Organs yet the essentiall act which operateth in and by them all doth issue forth from one simple and sincere identity which comprehendeth no otherwise all things in himself then unity in Arithmetick is assuredly reckoned for the father of multitude Thus we see that the foresaid young-man was lost by his too too much presuming on the vain and prestigious doctrine of his Peripateticall Master For whereas he taught unto the honest Christians which were his Companions the false doctrine of his Ethnick Master in their greatest need namely when the angry hand of the Almighty was in the heavens ready to menace them if they called not out for grace from him who spake out of the clowds in time and did wish them to abolish all feare making them believe that the Lightnings were contingent things in nature and made as it were by hap-hazard and not indued with sense or reason as being framed and shaped out yea and informed by externall and superficiall Principles he with his companions should have remembred that saying so often repeated by the Wiseman Timor Domini est principium Sapientiae The feare of the
transplanting of it into a vegetable plant herb or tree as in the progress of this Book shall be more amply declared But because the order of these things in our demonstration à posteriori or by progression from the effect unto the originall cause of these things will be most convenient for the common and vulgar capacity I will begin to ascend in this mine explication from grosser elements unto more subtle intricate and abstruce things as if by proportionate degrees I should mount from the earth into heaven I purpose therefore first to express and demonstrate unto you those things magnetically which are onely wrought by the corporall contact of two severall bodies of the same naturall condition But before I will begin with the Mummy which is taken out of mans dead body I think it in the first place most necessary to entreat of the dead carcase his mystery that we may proceed the more methodically in our intent CHAP. II. That there are four sorts of corporall Mummy whereof one onely is usefull and necessary for salutary purposes In this Chapter also is set down an experiment with certain ocular Demonstrations confirming the magneticall or a tractive vertue of the Basamick spirits which are in the usefull Mummy SUch as have profoundly considered and deeply respected as well the externall as internall nature of man have perceived that the microcosmicall Mummy is of two conditions namely corporall or spirituall of the first I purpose to speak in this present Chapter the second shall be handled hereafter and that at large Touching the corporall Mummy it is either naturally sympatheticall or unnaturally antipatheticall We find therefore by experience that the naturall Mummy is onely medicinable and salutiferous after his due preparation which is effected chiefly by his own magnetick property the rest are apter to breed diseases and to infect such persons as are in health than to afford them any salutary relief or consolation for as according unto the nature of the four elements there are four kinds of corporall and substantiall Mummyes so also are they distinguished according unto those elements whose natures they have endued of the which three of these are corruptible and inducers of death and sickness namely the earthly the watery and the fiery and onely that which is airy is util to mans life and amicable unto his nature Concerning those three kinds of Mummy which breed corruption the reason why they prove corruptible is this We must hold it first for a generall axiom in Philosophy Quod corruptum corrumpentis naturam in se induit That the thing corrupted doth endue the nature of the thing corrupting As for example If the dead carcase of a man be corrupted in the earth it is changed and passeth into the nature of the earth and becommeth inutil for mans health and indeed rather destructive then constructive or wholsome Again if the corruption be made in the water then the corrupted flesh or dead body will acquire or endue a waterish and masseluginous disposition which also will prove very incommodious or unprofitable for the conservation of the vitall spirits And lastly by the inordinate violence of fire the spirits in the Mummiall body will be consumed wasted or expired Now the reason why these said corporall Mummie's in those estates are inconvenient for the conservation of health is Because the foresaid three do so destroy and corrupt the body of them that they make and constrain his earth his water and his fire to return unto their first matter so that whereas the earth and the water are ordained to be the receptaâ—les of two vivifying elements namely of fire and aire which onely can be conserved in a body that is incorrupted it must of necessity follow that in the three foresaid Mummies those vivifying spirits must needs vanish and fly away for want of a naturall body which is now become corrupted and destroyed and therefore unnaturall Seeing therefore nothing is required in the true Mummy more then that which is apt and proper for the conservation of life yea for life it self which is the aire which is banished and expelled from the three forsaid Mummies therefore nothing can be extracted out of them but sickness death and destruction and consequently antipatheticall effects so that if a sound murthered oâ— strangled body do rot under the earth or in the water it is not fit or proper for the wholsome use of mans body The very self-same regard is to be had unto such bodies as die through infirmityes and diseases and although they are not visibly corrupted by the three foresaid externall elements yet nevertheless it happeneth so that a certain invisible corruptible influence and impression is made or caused from the externall elements into the internall From hence therefore proceedeth that intestine war in mans body whereby the elements do kill and corrupt one another but after a divers fashion namely otherwise in one body than in another according as one element or elementall alteration is said to have dominion or rule over the other And this is the reason that such variety of diseases do haunt mans body as for example The Dropsie commeth of the strong impression of water the Hectick or burning Feavor of fiery insultations and the Leprosie of the dominion of earth c. And therefore also where any such elementary corruption happeneth unto the body there the wholsome spirit of the corporall Mummy with his habitacle or dwelling mansion is utterly overthrown and the spirit is forced to depart and consequently contrary Mummiall spirits do dominere and are ready to operate antipathetically as shall be expressed in the second member of this Book But if the sound body that is not haveing any infirmity be killed onely by and in the Element of aire that is to say through strangling or by hanging then there will be found no impression of the foresaid Elements in the corporall Mass of mans carcass And for that reason it will remain incorrupted and will not suffer any Elementall resolution so long as it is conserved in the aire If therefore the body or tabernacle of the spirits and vital Balsom remaineth entire then that aereall vitall Balsom is not compelled to depart from his lodging so long as the body is not resolved by nature or art But if it be resolved then it will forsake the body as the soul doth as also the animal astral spirit which did reconcile the one with the other But the vitall vegetable and Balsamick spirit remaineth in the incorrupted body It followeth therefore that this airy kind of Microcosmicall Mummy is most proper for the conservation of vitall spirits in the living man being extracted prepared and rightly after preparation to be applied I will therefore come briefly unto our Magneticall Experiences touching this Mummiall Subject The Proposition If this salutary kind of airy Mummy with his vehicle or Magneticall instrument be taken or chosen or selected rightly it will indue by reason of the