a receptacle for the Angelicall Spirits and blessed Souls as it hath its position betwixt both the extream worlds namely that of Eternity and the other of Temporality for it hath an immediate relation or commerce with them both For first it receiveth its immediate light life or formall existence from Eternity and then it poureth it out or communicateth it with the temporall or inferiour mansion to create and vivify it with the creatures thereof insomuch that as the formall act of the temporall world is Angelicall so the vivifying soul or spirit of the aeviall is divine or eternall Wherefore it followeth that the nature and property of Angells is neither to be excluded from the Subject of Theology forasmuch as they participate with the Divine Light or bright presence of Eternity neither can they be exempted from the body of Philosophy being that the Angelicall light is the soul and life of the Temporal nature and consequently the true Philosopher must acknowledg his essentiall science or Philosophicall grounds to proceed radically from the Eternall God by his aeviall or Angelicall Spirits into his temporall creatures I mean the Stars Winds Elements Meteors and perfect mixed bodies and therefore in respect that the Philosophicall Subject is animated by Angelicall influences it must needs pierce with a mentall regard into the eternall Light which doth centrally vivifie both the aeviall and temporall creatures beyond the which there is nothing to be found or imagined This therefore is the perfect tri-partite measure of that Ladder which Jacob dreamed of when he laid his head upon the stone which in its longitude latitude and profundity contained the images or characters of these three worlds and for that reason it was termed by the Patriarch himself Domus Dei The tabernacle of God Whereupon as that stone had his externall and internall so in his divine dream he observed Angells to ascend by it namely from earth which is the Creator's soot-stool unto the Eternall world where his Throne is by the aeviall mansion and also to descend again by the same degrees Thus may the sacred Philosopher with the Prophet not onely perceive by a more externall spirituall vision Rotam in Rota or the aeviall essence in the temporall beeing but also by a most internall or mentall aspect he may contemplate Rotam in medio Rotarum to wit a centrall mover and Eternall Spirit in the aeviall by the which the temporall or corporeall creature is immediatly vivified and agitated whereby we may boldly infer with the Scriptures that God is essentially one and all And therefore I may lawfully conclude with these axioms of the divine Theo-Philosophists which appertain as well unto the formal act in the Creature which is the true life of Philosophy as the essentiall virtue of Divinity that God operateth all in all He vivifieth all things He filleth all things His incorruptible Spirit is in all things By the Word all things were made In the Word was life and that life was the light of men He giveth life and inspiration and all things In him we live move and have our beeing He is the Father of all who is above all and through all and in all of us From him by him and in him are all things He sent his Spirit and created all things He giveth breath unto the people and spirit unto the creatures that tread on the earth O Lord how manifold are thy works in Wisdom thou hast made them all the earth is full of thy riches c. If thou hidest thy face the creatures are troubled if thou takest a way their breath they die if thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are re-created or revived By him were all things created which are in heaven and which are in earth things visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominations or Principalities or Powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things consist Note here how the Apostle doth livelily set forth in these words the foresaid three worlds Again Christ is all and in all things He sustaineth all things by the word of his Virtue In him are all the treasures of Wisom hid God by his Wisdom giveth or proportioneth a weight unto the aire and hangeth the waters or clouds in measure and maketh a decree for the rain and ordereth a way for the lightnings of the Thunders He speaketh in Thunder and answereth Job out of a Whirl-wind He by his Word giveth Snow like wool and scattereth the hoary Frost like ashes he casteth forth his Ice like morsels who can resist against his cold He sendeth out his Word and melteth them so soon as he sendeth forth his breath the waters do flow again By his breath the Frost is engendered and the breadth of the waters is made narrow I could produce an infinity of other places out of Scriptures to manifest the universall acts and virtuous operations which are effected in the Elementary creatures by that most essentiall and eternall Wisdom which is the main ground and true Corner-stone whereon the purest Mosaicall Philosophy doth rely but I esteem it needless being that they are copiously expressed already by me in this my Philosophicall Discourse and therefore I imagine that these which are already produced will be sufficient to content and satisfy all such as are unpartially judicious unto whose better wisdom and favourable constructions I recommend these mine indeavours and finally both them and my self unto God's blessed protection Your Friend Robert Fludd MOSAICALL PHILOSOPHY The First Book Section 1. The Argument of the First Book THis first Book sheweth that whereas the minds of worldly men are at this very day erected and soared up even unto the highest pitch of infidelity insomuch as they require and demand after signes and ocular demonstrations as the Jewes did For it is said The Greeks hunt after wisdom the Jewes demand for signes c. or else they will in no case be drawn to believe our Author did esteem it the greatest means of conquest in this Herculean-combat which is to be effected betwixt the two deadly enemies and strong champions Truth and Falshood that is to say the wisdom of God and that of the World if he could find out some vulgar and well known Experiment or practicall Insâ—rument which might serve our celestiall Champion Truth instead of an Herculean-Club to tame and exanimate that foul monster Infidelity who standeth so stifly in the maintenance and defence of his Lord and Master I mean the Prince of darknesse and errour his privileges being that such persons as will not be conducted and directed unto the center of Veritie by reall practise and ocular demonstration may rightly be adjudged more irregular and extravagant from the square and polished rules of reason than the brute beast who warned by experience which in that respect may rightly be esteemed for the mistresse of fools doth make his
essentiall perfect and only reall one forasmuch as it is from the father of lights acccording unto the Tenent of the forementioned Apostle and divine philosopher Now we proceed to shew you briefly what this wisdome is and how it was produced and that according unto the mind of the wise Solomon Sapientia saith he est vapor virtutis Dei emanaâ—io quaedam claritatis omnipotentis dei sincera et candor lucis aeternae et speculum sine macula Dei maâ—estatis et imago bonitatis illius Wisdome is the vapor of the vertue of God and a certaine sincere emanation of the brightness of the omnipotent God and the beauty of the eternall light and the immaculated or unspotted mirror of the majesty of God and the image of his goodness And the Apostle Christ is the brightness of the glory and the ingraved forme of his person which beareth up all things by his mighty word Whereby it is an easie thing for wisemen to discern what a main difference there is between the false Ethnick and mundane wisdome which is terrene and that true and essentiall one which is from above and hath his originall from the Father of light forasmuch as the fountain thereof is the Word or voice of the Lord. Sapientiae fons saith the Text verbum Dei in excelsis ingressus illius mandata aeterna The fountain or beginning of wisdom is the word of God from above and her entrance the eternall Commandements Having then expressed unto you what this onely true wisdom is I will endeavour to open and discover also her catholick vertues in the which she acteth and operateth as well in generall as in particular over all the world Nay verily what can she not do and effect when she is all in all and operateth all in everything as the Apostle teacheth us For this reason also is Christ the true wisdom said in the forementioned Text to sustain and bear up all things by the word of his vertue This omnipotent power of hers in and over all things in this world is most excellently explained and set down thus by the divine Philosopher Paul Christus est imago Dei invisibilis prâ—mogenitus omnis creaturae quoniam in ipso condita sunt universa in coelis terra visibilia invisibilia sive thront sive dominationes sive principatus sive potestates omnia per ipsum in ipso creat a sunt ipse est ante omnes omnia in ipso constant Christ is the image of the invisible God the first begotten of every creature because that in him all things visible and invisible in the heavens and in the earth were made whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or potestates all were created by him and in him and he is before all creatures and all things consist in him This may seem very strange doctrine unto such Academick persons as are too confident in the Ethnick Philosophy forasmuch as it doth acknowledge no such wisdom from above no such a Christ or sacred Word which was the Creator of heaven and earth and who made the Angelicall Intelligences and in whom and by whom all things were and do yet exist But it telleth us of subalternat efficient natures namely of Intelligences of Stars of Elements and such like things which operate or effect of themselves all things above and beneath and will have the world to be eternall and without all beginning when contrariwise this true Philosophy telleth us that God created all things in and by his word and wisdom that he operateth all in all and that he is all and in all For the plain words of the precedent Text is Omnia in ipso constant All consist in him But to the purpose The foresaid Text seemeth to confirm this of the wise Solomon Sapientiam possidebat in principio viae suae ante opera sua ante ullum tempus ante seculum cum nullae essent abyssi edita erat ipsa cum nulli essent fontes abundantes aquis ante montes fundati essent cum nondum fecerat terram cum aptaret coelos ibi erat cum slatueret ambitum in superficie abyssi cum fortificaret superiores nubes superne quando roborabat fontes abyssi quando ponebat mari statutum suum cum statueret fundamenta terrae erat sapientia apud ipsum cuncta componens Jehovah did possesse wisdom in the beginning of his waies before any of his works and before there was any time before the world was made she was brought forth before there was any abysse and before there was any fountains that did abound with water before the mountains had their foundations when as yet he had made no earth When he did adapt and make fit the heavens she was there when he did ordain a compasse or appoint margins for the surface of the abysse When he did fortifie the highest clouds above when he did corroborate the fountains of the deep when he did set bounds unto the sea when he did establish the foundations of the earth then was wisdom with him composing or making all things Whereby he argueth first the antiquity of the eternall wisdom and then he proveth that she was the composer and maker of Heaven and Earth and consequently of every thing as well invisible as visible therein And this agreeth in all things with that of our sacred and essentiall Philosopher Moses where he acknowledgeth first an abysse without form then that the informed matter of the abysse was by the presence of Gods emanating Spirit universally informed and called waters Then how by the acting of the divine or essential voice or word Fiat which was uttered by the mouth of the Omnipotent the light or created form was produced in the waters and afterwards by the will of the Creator the word was pronounced the second time and the waters above were divided from the waters beneath by the firmament and so the heavens were made by the second fiat as by the third the division of the lower waters into elements was effected by the assistance of this one and the self-same word or the Spagerick operation of this divine and catholick Spirit Elohim but in a various property Doth not David in few words affirm so much saying Verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli Spiritu ab ore ejus omnis virtus eorum By the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the spirit of his mouth each vertue thereof Again In sapientia omnia secisti Thou hast created all things in wisdom And St. Peter Coeli erant prius terra de aqua per aquam existentes verbo Dei The heavens were first and the earth of water and by water consisting by the word of God And doth not St. John say By it all things were made and without it nothing was made The world was fashioned by this word or essentiall spirit which
this cause St. Paul saith in excluding all other essentiall acts or operations out of this world saving onely this which is from God Dii sunt qui dicuntur in coelo in terra nos tamen agnoscimus unum Deum Patrem a quo omnia unum Domâ—num Jesum Christum per quem omnâ—a Though there are which are termed Gods in heaven and earth yet we acknowâ—edg but one God the Father of whom are all things and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things As if he had said however the world speaketh of the actions of the Angels Stars Elements Winds Meteors Waters Animals Vegetables or Mineralls we do not acknowledg them to act essentially and by themselves but by the Spirit of God who onely acteth and operateth in the creatures and by the creatures what he pleaseth To conclude of this spirituall Corner-stone or sacred Wisdome and Vertue of God as is said before the Scripture speaketh thus Christus implet omnia Christ filleth all things In ipso condita sunt universa in coelis in terra visibilia invisibâ—lia omnia in ipso per ipsum sunt creata Ipse est ante omnes omnia in ipso constant Ipse in omnibus primatum tenens nam in â—pso omnis plenitudo divinitatis inhabitat In principio terram fundavit opera manuum ejus sunt coeli Nam ipse est verbum De aqua per aquam mediante hoc verbo coeâ—i eâ—ant prius terra creata Denique est splenâ—or gâ—oriae figura substantiae Dei portans omnia verbo virtutis suae In Christ all things in heaven and earth are madâ— as well visible as invisible By him and in him are all things created He is before all and aâ—l consist in him He holdeth the Principalâ—ty in aâ—l things for in him all the pâ—enitâ—de of divinity dweâ—leth In the beginning he established the earth and the heavens were the works of his hands for he is the word But the heavens were made first and the earth of the wâ—ters and by the waters by the activity of the Word To conclude this divine Spirit is the splendor of Gods glory and the figure of his sâ—bstance which beareth up and sustaâ—neth all thâ—ngs by the word of his vertue By which it appeareth that it is this Spirit of Wisdome which operateth woâ—keth guideth informeth viâ—â—teth maintaineth sustaineth feedeth and illuminateth all thingâ— with life and being And again by his absence darkneth depâ—iveth and causeth death and â—orruption to all things in this world as shall be delivered more at large in the sixt Chapter of the Book which followeth CHAP. V. Of Plenâ—tude and Vacuity and what true fulness and voidness or inanity is NOw that we have in few lines discussed and set down the nature both of the two constituting or compoâ—ing Principles and also of the privative and decomposing nature It is necessary for us to know the property and sense of Pâ—enitude and Vacuiy according unto the true Wisdome or Christian Philosophy And first I will speak a word or two of that Vacuity or Emptiness which is so detestable and odious in the works which the Creator hath made As well the Fathers of the Philosophers as such as have been expert in Theology have termed it by the name of Nihil or Nothing Moses doth call it a deformed darkness or a dark abysse Hermes a fearfull or horrible shadow void of shape or form The Cabalists a potentiall being which is as yet nothing in act Plato maketh it a thing scarcely credible and therefore hardly to be imagined and likneth it to a mere dream which when a man is awake proveth nothing St. Augustin saith Cum aliquid informe concipâ—o prius nihil intelligo quam intelligebam quemadmodum nâ—hil videndo videntur tenebâ—ae nihil audiendo auditur silentium When I conceive any deformed thing I do first understand nothing else then I understood before as when I behold nothing Darkness is seen when I heare nothing Sâ—lence is heard Whereby it appeareth that he compareth this Nothing unto darknesse and silence Job therefore saith Aquilonem Deus extendit super mane vacuum suspendit terram super Nihilum God did extend the North upon Inanity and Vacuity and he hanged the Earth upon Nothing And again elsewhere Revelat fundamentaâ—e tenebris educit in lucem umbram Lâ—thalem God revealeth the Foundations out of Darknesse and maketh the deadly shadow to appear into Light By all which he argueth that Vacuity Inanity Nothing and Darkness are one and the same thing to wit Vanity Inanity or Voidness because that all fulness and plenitude is from God in his actuall property But God did not as yet shine forth unto the world and therefore as the first deformed matter of the world was void and destitute of all inacting grace and formall goodness it was said to be Vain Empty and Darkness For this reason Moses said before the act of Creation Terra erat inanis vacua The earth was void and empty because it was not as yet indued with the beames of Light Life and Form Tenebrae fuerunt super faciem Abyssi Darkness was upon the face of the Abysse before the all-informing and creating Spirit of the Lord was caried on the waters but after the Spirits apparition it is said that God calleth that which appeared dry out of the water Earth and God saw that it was good and it produced the tender herbs and seeds of every kind c. Wherefore the Earth that was before the revelation of Gods Spirit inane and void is now become full of divine Light and multiplying Grace Whereupon it was no more void and empty that is to say destitute of essentiall being but became fertill and fruitfull being now replenished with divine fire and the incorruptible Spirit of God according unto that of Solomon Spiritus Disciplinae sanctus implet orbem terrarum The spirit of Wisdome filleth the Earth And again Incorruptibilis Spiritus inest omni rei The incorruptible Spirit of God is in every thing Per hanc lucem saith St. John mundus est factus By this light the world was made And the Apostle Christus implet omnia Christ filleth all things Whereby we may perceive that all plenitude is from the divine Act as contrariwise Vacuity is when that formall life is absent from the waters and this is the reason that Vacuum or Inane is held so horrible a thing in Nature Forasmuch as the utter absence of the eternall emanation is intolerable to the creature because that every thing desireth fervently to be informed and that by a naturall appetite and affection and therefore it is abominable unto each naturall thing to be utterly deprived of being For this reason it followeth that unless God had filled all things in this world with his Spirit Vacuity and empty deformity would have possessed the world but because he by his presence did
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
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
are my seat and the earth my foot stool And Jeremy Coelum terram nunquid impleo Do not I fill the heaven and the earth Now that you may know more particularly how this is done hearken unto David In sapientia saith he omnia fecisti repleta est terra possessione tua Thou madest all things in wisdom and the earth is full of thy possession or riches he meaneth with his Spirit which replenisheth inacteth and informeth all things And therefore saith the son of Syrach Sapientiam effudit Deus super omnia opera sua super omnem carnem secundum datum suum God powred out his wisdom upon all his creatures and upon all flesh according unto the measure that he bestoweth it That is to say The Spirit of wisdom is more or lesse in all things according as it pleased God to impart it unto this or that creature And for this reason Solomon in another place Sapientia operatur omnia Wisdom worketh or acteth all things Which agreeth with this Text of the Apostle Deus operatur omnia in omnibus Why should we not infer then that this spirit is essentially and presentially in every thing To conclude therefore this general discourse of the true Philosophy Moses teacheth us that after the foundation of the Heavens and Elements every creature that was framed or composed of them and lived and moved in them did exist and was preserved by the self-same spirit namely the Sun Moon and other Starrs in heaven the seeds trees herbs and such like vegetables and the creeping and four-footed beasts of the earth and fishes of the seas And lastly Man was created by one and the self-same spirit but God imparted unto him a greater proportion of his Spirit that thereby he might excell in perfection all other creatures It were too infinite to expresse and set down the main scope of this businesse in writing as Scriptures do at large recite it for look into the works of Moses the books of Joshua and Judges the history of Kings or Chronicles the reports of Job the Psalms of David the Proverbs Ecclesiastes Cantiques and Wisdom of Solomon the monuments of the Prophets the subject of Ecclesiasticus and Maccabees and lastly the relations or stories of Christ and his Apostles and we shall find that this sacred wisdom with her essentiall vertues and acts in the vast cavity of this world both above and beneath is the ground and firm foundation of all their doctrine and science as well concerning naturall as supernaturall businesses or rather touching the acts of God in his naturall Tabernacles or watry and humid mantles which he assumeth or putteth off at his pleasure as Scriptures do testifie And yet I would have no man so far to mistake me as not to think that as God is not excluded from the creatures so he is not included by any of them I will now descend unto particularities and shew you how this eternall wisdom is the fountain or corner-stone first of the higher Arts namely of Theology Physick or the art of Curing Astronomy Musick Arithmetick Geometry Rhetorick and after that how the Meteoro-logicall Science onely dependeth on his act then how true Morall learning and Politick government is derived from the instructions and directions of this onely wise Spirit And lastly how all mysticall and miraculous Arts and discoveries are effected and brought to light by it confirming that place in Scripture where it is said Caeterae sunt ancillae hujus All sciences are but the handmaids unto this wisdom Of each of these therefore in order CHAP. III. In this Chapter it is proved that the true Sophia or wisdom is the ground of all Arts and therefore it being revealed or discovered unto man he may be taught and instructed by it as by the onely wise and essentiall School-mistress in all science and knowledge IN Christo saith the Apostle sunt omnes the sauri sapientiae scientiae absconditi All the treasures of wisdom and science are hid in Christ. And Solomon Sapientiam dat Dominus ex ore ejus prudentia scientia The Lord giveth wisdom and from his mouth is prudency and knowledge And Ecclesiasticus Thesaurabit super virum scientiam intellectum justitiae Wisdom will treasure up in man science and the understanding of justice And again Ego doctrinam quasi prophetiam effundam relinquam illam quaerentibus sapientiam I will powre forth doctrine or learning as prophesie and I will leav it upon such as seek wisdom And the incarnated Word or Christ Jesus said Spiritus sanctus vos docebit omnia The holy Spirit will teach you all things And again Cum venerit ille Spiritus veritatis docebit vos omnem veritatem When that Spirit of truth shall come it will teach you all truth Esdras tasted of that materiall wisdom in the form of a fiery drink and he was so full of sapience that he indited books of science and wisdom for the space of forty daies together which his Scribes did register as he uttered it by word of mouth And Solomon saith Sapientiam optavi data est mihi invocavi venit in me spiritus sapientis I wished for wisdom and understanding was given me I invocated and the spirit of wisdom came into me But lest the captious of this world should say that these words of Solomon were meant in another sense than in the conceiving of such sciences as are comprehended under Philosophy called Naturall I wish them for their better direction to listen unto Solomon who doth in this case sufficiently interpret himself and that to the simplest mans capacity in this sense Spiritus sapientis mihi datus est ut cognoscerem constitutionem mundi vim elementorum principium finem mediumque temporum solstitiorum mutationes varietates temporum seu tempestaium anni circuitus stellarum situs naturas animantium animos seu iras bestiarum ventorum seu spirituum vim cogitationes hominum differentias plantarum radicum facultates etiam cognovi quaecunque sunt occulta manifesta omnium enim artifex me docuit Sapientia By the spirit of wisdom I came to know certainly how the world was made and the power of the elements and the beginning end and middle of times the changing of the Solstices the variety of times and tempests the compasse or revolution of the year the scituation of the Starrs the natures of living creatures the dispositions and angry conditions of beasts the strength of the winds or spirits the cogitations of men the differences of plants and the faculties of roots Also I knew both what was hid and manifest for wisdom the work-mistresse of all things did teach me Out of which words we gather that by the revelation of this divine spirit he attained to the knowledge of all things For since wisdom is the center root or corner-stone of all things how should
the center be known and not the circumference being the circumference of all things is nothing else but what it pleaseth the center to make it And for this reason this divine spirit is termed rightly of the wise Philosopher Hermes The center of every thing whose circumference is no where but yet it comprehendeth all circumferences that are We may therefore collect out of the foresaid speech of Solomon that wisdom discovered unto him First all the abstruse mysteries which do concern the making of the world as she did unto Moses Secondly the nature and power of the Elements with the hidden act and miraculous generation of the Meteors framed out of an elementary stuffe and of their wondrous properties Thirdly the reason and manner how the winds are produced with the Astronomicall division of the year the scituation of the starrs in heaven and their Astrologicall natures Fourthly the necessaries belonging unto the art of Physick for he saith that wisdom taught him the nature of all living creatures the conditions of beasts the differences of plants and the faculties of roots c. Fifthly the secrets of all things occult and therefore of the Angels yea and of God himself by consequence and in this is the mystery of Theology comprehended But I wil prove this progression more particularly beginning with Theology Touching Theology which is derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus or God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is sermo or speech quasi sermo de Deo the speech or teaching of God Solomon saith that Spiritus sapientiae transsert se ipsum in animas sanctas amicos Dei prophetas constituit Neminem enim diligit Deus nisi eum qui cum sapientia habitat The spirit of wisdom doth transfer it self into holy mens spirits and maketh them friends of God and prophets For God loveth no man that dwelâ—eth not with wisdom And again Sapientiam suis emittit Deus è sanctis coeâ—is à throno inquam gloriae suae mittit illam homini ut praesens versetur secum in labore ut cognoscat quid gratum sit apud ipsum illa enim novit omnia Gâ—d sendeth wisdom out of his holy heavens from the throne I say of his glory doth he send her unto man that it may be conversant and present with him in his labour that he may know what is acceptable unto him for she understandeth all things And in another place Except God had given wisdom and had sent his holy Spirit from the highest places what man could have known the counsell of God After this manner were the waies of such as lived on the earth corrected and men were taught the things which were pleasing unto God For this reason therefore Wisdom saith Ego illuminabo omnes sperantes in Domino I will illuminate all that trust in the Lord. Ego sum liber vitae testamentum altâ—ssimi agnitio veritatis I am the book of life the testament of the most high and the acknowledgment of the truth And Solomon Sapientiae concupiscentia conducit ad regnum perpetuum The desire of wisdom doth conduct unto the eternall Kingdom And again Sapientia doctrix est disciplinae Dei electrix operum illius Wisdom is the misiress of the discipline of God and she that maketh choice of his works And in another place he saith Per sapientiam habebo immortalitatem I shall obtain immortality by wisdom It would be tedious to reckon up the confirmation of the Theologicall doctrine which is declared and made manifest by this Spirit for verily it was this very Spirit in the fleshly Christ and his Apostles which made their corporall or bodily organs I mean their tongues to speak and their hands and pens to indite all that Theologicall wisdom and doctrine which the new Testment hath registred And it was this Spirit that spake in the old Testament by the mouths of the Patriarks and Prophets the essentiall marrow of Divinity and therefore let us look back upon them as being the literall fountain of Theology under whose typicall or graphicall instruction the hidden spirit doth lurk and may by the mysticall Theology easily be extracted I will proceed unto the next which belongeth unto the Aeviall world In ipso saith the forementioned place of St. Paul condita sunt universa in coelis sive Throni sive Dominationes sive principatus sive potestates In him are all things in heaven made whether they be Thrones Dominations or Principalities or Potestates And again elsewhere In Christo inhabitat omnis plenitudo divinitatis corporaliter qui est caput omnis Principatus Potestatis In Christ doth inhabit all the plenitude of the divinity coâ—porally who is the head of all Principalities and Potestates and in another place Châ—istus constituitur ad dextram Dei in coelestibus supra omnem Principatum Potestatem Virtutem Dominationem c. Christ is placed at the right hand of God in heaven above all Principality Potestates Virtues and Dominations c. By which places and many other authorities out of holy Writ which for brevity sake we omit at this time it is proved that there is no secret mystery comprehended among the Society of Angels either touching their creation essence properties or denominations but will be lively expressed by this superexcellent Spirit which only is able to disclose all in all because he is all in all and that in every thing I descend unto the next Step which is Astronomy Touching the essential nature of Astronomy it seemeth to consist on the Basis or Foundation of this eternal Spirit and therefore the wise son of Syrach said Sapientia in coelis fecit ut oriretur lumen indeficiens Wisdome made a never-failing light to arise in the heavens And it should appear according unto this Kingly Prophet's phrase that this Spirit did put his Tabernacle in the Sun howsoever some men are pleased by the corruption of the Text to interpret that place in another sense and that little to the purpose for the said Spirit speaking in her own person saith Ego sapientia gyrum coeli circuivi sola I wisdome did compass about the heavens alone that is in her sunny-Tabernacle and again David saith God in his wisdome doth number and count the stars and calleth them by their names whose wisdome is innumerable Whereby it is apparent that if in his wisdome or by this Spirit the stars were numbred and had their proper names it followeth that their vertues courses and properties must be best known unto him who hath created ordained and doth maintain them in the estate they are in For David affirmeth that every vertue of heaven doth proceed from the Spirit of the Lord and Esdras Stellae fundatae sunt in Verbo Dei qui novit numerum stellarum The stars have their foundation in the Word of God who knoweth the number of them
accord the whole file of Scripture doth confirm that it is effected by this wisdom Again the wise-man expresseth the wondrous effects of this Spirit in these words In se elementa dum convertuntur sicut in organo qualitatis sonus immutatur omnia suum sonum custodiunt c. Whilst the elements are converted in themselves as the sonnd is converted in an Organ of quality and all do keep and observe their proper sound c. But the Apostle doth more excellently expresse this in these words In Christo condita sunt universa in coelis in terra omnia visibilia invisibilia per ipsum in ipso creata sunt Ipse est ante omnes omnia in ipso constant In ipso complacuit omnem plenitudinem divinitatis inhabitare per eum reconciliare omnia in ipso pacificans per san guinem crucis ejus sive quae in coelis sive quae in terris sunt All things are made in Christ in heaven and in earth and all are created by him and in him as well visible as invisible he is before all and all â—o consist in him and it pleased all the plenitude of divinity to dwell in him and to reconcile by him in himself pacifying by the blood of his cross all things both in heaven and earth Lo here the perfect and catholick fountain of all harmony the taker away of discord both from heaven and earth and the pure essentiall and formall love and sympathy of this world and therefore by the wisest and most mysticall Philosophers he is said to be Vinculum seu ligamentum elementorum the band or tie whereby the discording elements are compelled unto an harmonious accord After the imitation of whose melodious tunes and concords all the accords of our externall musick as well vocall as instrumentall are typically framed which are in respect of the true and essentiall symphony of this spirit even as a shadow is unto a true subject or an image unto a reality I come now unto Arithmetick and Geometry As for these two Arts the wise-man doth include them in these few words Omnia mensura numeroque pondere disposuisti seu temperasti Thou hast disposed or proportioned all things in measure number and weight In which words by measure is meant the progresse into longitude latitude and profundity which this Spirit made in his emanation from the point unto the line and from the line or root unto the square and from the square unto the cube By number is meant those Arithmeticall dimensions in progression whereby this Spirit issued out of unity into multitude as from 1 unto 10 and from 10 unto a 100 and from a hundred unto a 1000 namely from God who is the eternall point or unity unto the first articulated number which is 10 and it represents the aeviall or angelicall world which is the first degree of composition and from 10 unto a 100 which argueth the composition of the temporall world and from a 100 to a 1000 which pointeth at the compound creature of the Elements So that hereby each Christian may see how God is all and in all and yet without all and as the Text hath it in heaven in the seas in the abysse and in hell And for this reason the Pythagoreans did include all things under these three principles 1 2 3. whereby they attributed 1 unto God in his abstruse being 2 unto matter and 3 unto form under which all are contained But of this I will declare my minde more copiously when I speak of the essentiall principles of Sympathy and Antipathy namely in the first Book of the second Section of this present Treatise And therefore the patient man in the person of JEHOVAH saith thus Ubinam eras quando fundebam terram Aâ—nuntia si nosti intelligentiam Quis disposuit mensuras ejus aut quis extendit super eam lineam super quo bases ejus defixae sunt aut quis jecit lapidem ejus angularem Where wast thou when I did lay the foundatâ—ons of the earth tell me if thou hast understanding Who disposed of the measures thereof or who did stretch forth upon it a line upon what were her foundations fastned or who laid her corner-stone Whereby he argueth that by this Spirit which is the corner-stone or foundation of everything for without it nothing is made or can exist as St. John doth testifie not onely the earth had his Geometricall dimension scituation and position but also the Sun the Moon the Stars and each thing else both in heaven and in earth have assigned them their weight proportion magnitude and limited seat in the world Yea verily by it the aire by proportion and weight is carried and framed out into the shapes of Meteors for the sacred Text hath it Deus sapientia aptat pondus aeri appendit aquas in mensura God by his wisdom doth adapt a weight unto the air and imparts a mensurable proportion unto the waters or clouds I will shew now her power in the science of Rhetorick and Oratory and prove in few words how she is also the exactest Mistris in those Arts as also the onely essentiall mover in the spirits of men to make them truly eloquent and perswasive and withall she is the essentiall Magnet in the Oratours voice which can draw and attract the auditors minds to listen and affect the organ by whom she is intended to plead by Saith Moses in his conference with this divine Spirit Non sum vir facundus neque unquam anteafui ne quidem ex quo locutus es cum servo tuo sed impedito ore impeditâ linguâ sum Tunc dixit Jehovah ad illum Quis statuit os hominum aut quiâ— statuere potest surdum aut mutum Nonne Ego qui sum Jehovah Nunc itaque ito ego adero ori â—uo docebo te quae te loqui convenit I am not an eloquent man neither have ever been so no verily not from the time that thou hast spoke with thy servant But I have an impediment in my mouth and am defective in my tongue Then said Jehovah unto him Who hath made the mouth of man or who can make deaf or dumb Is it not I who am Jehovah Now therefore go thy way and I will be with thy mouth and I will teach thee what is fit for thee to say c. In which file of speech God teacheth us that eloquence and apt disposition of words sentences and speech both in the Rhetorician and Orator are from God who can give it or take it away at his pleasure And therefore the Evangelist sayeth in another place Erunt omnes docibiles Dei or docti à Deo All shall be taught of God And the Prophet hath it Universi filii tui sunt docti à Jehovah All thy sons are instructed by Jehovah But Christ expresseth this in fuller terms thus Spiritus
that sacred Philosophy is nothing else but the ground-work of Divinity or an expression of God and his acts in his creatures or if you will have it so in things as well supernaturall as naturall Neither can any man finde that God was ever mentioned or specified in Scriptures but as he was considered in this world which he framed and the creatures thereof So is he said to be endued with light as with a vestment To be a consuming fire To fill the heavens and to make the earth his foot-stool To put his tabernacle in the sun To make the dark clouds his dwelling or tabernacle To speak in thunder from heaven To parley with Job out of the whirle-wind To blow out of the north and south To be everywhere Also his Spirit is said to descend from heaven like a dove and in the form of cloven tongues of fire and to fill the earth and to make man his temple and to be in all things To conclude all Scriptures are full of nothing else but of his essentiall operation in all created things by his infinite organs Wherefore I may justly say that true Philosophy forasmuch as the foundation thereof is the Spirit of wisdom which descendeth from the Father of light is nothing else in effect but Theology onely we may for fashions-sake make this distinction that essentiall Philosophy passeth or maketh his enquiry after the summum bonum moving from the creatures circumference or externall unto his center or internall for the finding out or describing of that eternall essence who is onely good and is the sole actour in all things and so proceedeth as it were demonstraâ—â—â—ne a posteriori that is from the visible creature unto the invisible Creator according unto St. Pauls rules and Solomons precepts in the places above cited And the Theologian or Divine seemeth to move another way to wit from the radicall center or invisibility of God and so proceedeth quasi demonstratione a priori that is moving from the divine internall act or center unto the visible circumference or externall creature whereby we may perceive in the conclusion that both Sciences do attain unto one point in the end that is to say unto one and the self-same thing or highest goodnesse in effect And yet it so falleth out that many an Academist in this world is so extracted beyond the limits of the creature in their researches that they forsooth seek him out beyond the Moon nay beyond the margins of the vaulted world and so divide him absolutely from his creatures in which proceedings they do but attempt or presume to clamber up a ladder without steps or degrees They will I say soar up unto the highest pitch without any consideration had unto the lower degrees in that they attempt to find out God without any respect had unto his creatures when as the Scriptures warrant us that he is not far off from any of us And therefore it will be but needlesse to seek or expect him beyond the sphear of the fire or above the starry heavens when he is neerer unto us than we are aware of But it is no marvell for some of them being altogether addicted for the first seven years unto the Peripatetick philosophy are so corrupted thereby and understand by that doctrine so little newes of Gods being in his creatures that when they come unto their higher function they are flat enemies to such as shall tell them any such thing and though they find Scriptures in plain tearms to verifie that the Word and Spiâ—it is in all and over all yet by those sophisticall School-distinctions which they have learned or gathered out of their Ethnick-master's documents or his obsequious Commentators they do so involve and bewrap the plainly-meaning places of Scriptures in the equivocating clouds of obscurity that they make them ambiguous or of little or no effect As when it is said and by the whole harmony of the sacred Text affirmed that God is in all and over all and that the holy Spirit is in all things they streight-waies distinguish and say It is true that he is virtualiter or vertually but not substantialiter or essentially over all as who should say his vertue can be divided or separated from his essence And again when the Text saith that God operateth all in all Verum est say they quatenus est causa principalis as he is the prime or principall cause but there are many secondary or subalternate Agents say they which do act in Nature by themselves as the Intelligences the Starrs the Elements the Meteors the compounded creatures as well animal as vegetable and mineral and so they would by these Aristotelicall sophistications disgrace the truth of him who saith in plain tearms Deus operatur omnia in omnibus God worketh all â—n all For if we look rightly into the matter we shall find that as God filleth all by his essentiall Spirit of wisdom so that Spirit worketh all in every thing which it filleth and that without any helper For how can the created organ by any act of his own help the Creator which filleth it to operate when what it hath it receiveth from that eternall Act which bestoweth it Ego saith Jehovah sum Dominus faciens omnia solus nullus mecum I am the Lord who make and do all things alone and not any one with me Neither should it seem strange being that the Scriptures do verifie that he is all in all And again The incorruptible Spirit of God is in all things And again the Apostle as is said before In Christo omnia sunt condita per Christum in Christo omnia sunt creata omnia in ipso constant ipse est in omnibus primatum tenens In Christ all things are made by Christ and in Christ all things are created all things consist in him and he is in all things bearing in them the principality Which being so it followeth that the distinction must needs be false which is that Deus doth agere mediate and not immediate and consequently that the creature can act per se sine actu immediato Deâ— As who should say that the divine essence or vertue is divisible or that Gods essence must therefore be partible or separable because it is in divers organs I may therefore boldly conclude and say that if Christian Schollars would bestow that seven years which they employ in their Aristotelian study in the true essentiall and sacred Philosophy they would not so erre after the manner of the Gentiles but embrace without any rebellion or contradiction the precepts of the true wisdom so firmly that they would at the end of the said time be compleat in that essentiall doctrine and made fit members to proceed in the streight way of enquiry into and acquiry of the mysticall wisdom which God hath ordained to be revealed unto his Elect and so after the example of the Apostles they might as well become potent in vertue
Mosaicall Principles are very plain and evident unto all such as do wisely contemplate and observe the words of the most excellent Philosopher Moses in his first Chapter of Genesis For before there is made any mention of that Spagiricall separation which by the Word of God or divine Spirit Elohim was effected in the six daies work of the Creation mentioned and expressed there It is said that darknesse was upon the face of the Abysse and that Terra erat inanis vacua the Earth was without shape and form Where it appeares that the Heavens and the Earth were not as yet inacted or informed but were one deformed rude and indigested masse and consequently all were complicitly comprehended in one dark Abysse but explicitly they were as yet nothing as for example we see that a great tree with his body branches bark leaves and fruit is complicitly comprehended in a grain or kernell but explicitly it is no such thing but only somewhat in imaginatione St. Augustin compareth this Nothing unto Speech which whilst it is in the mind of the speaker is as nothing unto him that it is spoken unto that is to say somewhat in puissance and nothing in essence but when it is uttered or spoken then is that which was before complicitly in animo loquentis now explicitly apprehended by the hearer Plato compareth it in this estate of its Nullity unto a vision in a dreame which when a man awaketh proveth nothing saving a mere imagination But because this speech to wit God created all things of nothing hath pusled the minds of many understanding persons being it could not be perceived really what should be intended by this word Nihil I purpose in few words to discourse upon it and to expresse mine opinion what is meant thereby Saith the Prince of Peripateticks Ex Nihilo nihil fit A learned Sentence and infallible axiom of so learned a Personage if the sense of the word were alwaies to be construed one and the same way But I say being founded on good grounds that if there be any who either upon presumption or through ignorance are of an opinion that in these words God created all things Ex nihilo Of nothing this word Nihilum or nothing ought not to be taken or interpreted for Nihilum negativum or such a negative nothing which falleth not under the capacity or understanding of mans reason or intellect Such a kind of Nihilum or Nothing was never meant or taken for the first-matter of the Creation For it appeareth as well by the infallible sense of holy Scriptures as the sacred Light in nature that the first essence and matter of all things was from all eternity in God and with God one and the same thing and this we prove out of Scriptures after this manner Saith Moses In Principio creavit Deus coelum terram In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth In which speech this word Principium is not to be taken for a negative nothing For the Scripture telleth us in plain terms that ex ipso per ipsum in ipso sunt omnia Of him by him and in him are all things And therefore if all things proceed from God the Creatour who is the highest of Entities it followeth that it proceedeth not from a negative nothing And again Scriptures say Omnipotens Domâ—ne manus tua creavit orbem teâ—rarum saith St. Jerom or mundum according unto Tremellius ex mateteria invisa as St. Jerom interpreteth it but Tremellius hath it Ex materia informi Almighty Lord thine hand hath created the earth or world of an invisible or informed matter And therefore if of an invisible matter or substance without shape it followeth that it is not of a negative or absolute Nothing Also the Scriptures say in another place Fide intelligimus aptata esse secula verbo Dei ut ex invisibilibus visibilia fierent We understand by faith that the world was so made or adapted by the word of God that of invisible things such things as are visible were made and consequently not of an absolute or negative Nothing Moreover if God had not produced and created all things essentially out of himself but of a vain negative nothing then creation would not appertain unto God neither could it rightly be referred unto him that is to say if all things were not essentially of him nor did take their beginning from him then verily it must needs follow that all were not made by him but would have their existence from Nothing neither would they consist in him but in Nothing But it is evident that the case is otherwise for the Creation is the work of God and not the work and subject of Nothing he is the entity of all entities the life of all the living the beginning of all beginnings and the fountain of all waters of which heaven and earth were framed To conclude nothing ever came into being or had its existence from any other but onely from him and by him neither can any thing exist but onely in him And therefore we may conclude that God did beget produce make and create nothing but that which was eternally in himself which also the Apostle seemeth to verifie in these words In Christo sunt omnia condita sive visibilia sive invisibilia ipse ante omnes omnia in ipso constant angeli throni potestates dominationes per eum in eo sunt creata qui est principium In Christ are all things made and created He is before all and all as well visible as invisible consist in him The angels thrones potestates dominations were by him and in him created who is the beginning But because this is more fully discussed in the first Book of my sympatheticall and antipatheticall History I will say no more of it in this place but proceed directly unto my purpose As therefore darknesse is rightly termed potentia divina so also is light called actus divinus which the Cabalists express by Alephtenebrosum and lucidum as else-where it is declared And therefore the Scriptures aver in another place that God is omnia in omnibus God is all in all And again Christus est omnia in omnibus Christ is all in all c. I say therefore that the very same which is meant by Moses his dark abysse and terra inanis Job tearmeth umbra lethalis because it is void of form and life and for that cause he saith also Aquilonem extendit Deus supra inane vacuum suspendit terram supra nihilum God spread or extended the north upon the void or inanity and did hang the earth upon nothing Whereby also it appeareth that it was not the negative Nihil but a matter that was in potentia ad actum in the way to be inactuated being destitute neverthelesse as yet both of any form or act But Forma dat nomen esse Form doth give
which are extant For this reason also Renclin speaketh of the beginning by the mouth of the mysticall and learned Rabbies in these words It is written in the book of â—ahir Nihil est principium nisi sapientia haec est infinitudo ipsa trium summarum cabalisticae arboris numerationum quas vos tres in divinis personas appellare consuevistis quae est absolutissima essentia quae cum sit in abysso tenebrarum retracta immanens ociosaque vel ut aiunt ad nihil respiciens idcirco dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Nihil sive non ens ac non finis quia nos tam tenui erga res divinas ingenii paupertate mulctati de iis quae non apparent haud secus atque de iis quae non sunt judicamus At ubi se ita ostenderit ut sit aliquid reverá subsistat tum Aleph tenebrosum in Aleph lucidum convertitur scriptum enim est Sicut tenebrae ejus ita lux ejus Nothing is the beginning but wisdome or sapience and it is the infinity of the three highest numerations of the Cabalisticall tree which yee are accustomed to call the three persons in divinity the which is an absolute essence which whilest it is retracted in the abysse of darkness and resteth still and quiet or as they say having respect unto nothing is for that cause termed of the Hebrewes Ain that is to say Nihiâ— or nothing or no entity Because that we being affected with extreame shallowness or poverty of wit and capacity in the conception or apprehension of divine things do judge of those things which do not appeare as we are accustomed to do of such things as are not at all But when it hath shewed forth it selfe to be somewhat indeed and that it doth really in human apprehension exist somewhat then is dark Aleph converted into light Aleph for it is written As his darknesse such is his light or the expresse words of the Prophet are Tenebrae sunt ei sicut ipsa lux darknesse is unto him as Light Whereby it is Evident that though darknesse or invisibility do appear unto our sense to be nothing in regard of that which is made manifest in light yet in verity all are reall and essentiall before God and therefore that nothing or deformity in regard of our weak capacity out of which the waters which is the materiall principle of all things were originally extracted seem unto him in whose divine puissance they remain a materiall existence For as much as nothing is in God but what is essentiall reality or a something in being but of him by him and in him are all things as we are taught by holy-Text wherefore as well the dark matrix or womb of the waters as the watry infant or humid nature which sprung out of the belly of the gloomy abysse or Chaos were really in God before they appeared to sight that is to say they remained in the Almighties puissance or volunty and were to be disposed of by him as he pleased no otherwise then the number of things to be builded was first in the mind of the builder But that this is so namely that the world was framed and made of such a matter which was said therefore to be without forme because it was invisible we find it proved and maintained by this Authority of Scripture before mentioned which Tremellius interpreteth thus Omnipotens manus tua creavâ—t mundum ex informi materia which Jerome translateth ex invisa materia ô Omnipotent thy hand hath Created the world of a matter without forme or as Jerome speaketh of an invisible matter Now that this generall matter was waters which the presence of the all-informing spirit of the Lord did vigorate and inact in a generality and termed them by the name Shamaim and that the waters were the first materiall principle of which the world was made no otherwise then out of a rude masse of Clay a great pallace is fashioned or framed the Text of Moses doth seem evidently to confirme first for that it doth mention the waters on which the spirit of the Lord was carried and that immediatly after he had nominated the confused Chaos under the Title of the dark abysse and Terra inanis vacua or the void and deformed earth and that immediatly before the first day's seperation Whereby it is plainly argued that waters were the materiall principle being created or inacted by the spirit of the Lord or Elohim Ruach Forasmuch as they were nominated before the first dayes work Secondly that it was the said eternall wisdome or spirit Elohim who acting as it were the part of a mid-wife did deliver and bring forth this birth and gave it act and form Again we may learn out of the same Chapter of Moses that the waters were the Subject of that separation which was effected by the Spagirick or fiery-vertue of the said Spirit or divine word Thirdly that the heavens above were made of the purer brighter and more worthy waters and the Elementary world beneath of the grosser darker and viler sort of waters and that there was a midle kind of them which participating of both extreames was termed the firmament whose main office was to devide and seperate the water from the waters Then out of the lower waters by the same word or spirit were the Elements proportioned and placed their severall regions namely the Aire the Seas and the dry Land So that we see how the spirit of the Lord did fabrick the whole world and every member thereof out of this humid spirit or aquatick nature which also is most plainly verified by this Text of the Apostle Peter Coeli saith he erant prius et terra de aqua et per aquam existens verbo Dei The heavens were First and the earth of waters and by waters existing in and by the word of God But the world is composed only of heaven and earth and therefore it followeth that the whole world is made and existeth of the waters and by the waters consisting by the word of God Now therefore since the Starrs of heaven are esteemed nothing else but the thicker portion of their Orbes and again every Creature which is below is said to be compacted of the Elements it must also follow that both the Starrs in the higher heaven and the compound-Creatures beneath in the Elementary world be they meteorologicall or of a more perfect mixtion namely Animal vegetable or minerall must in respect of their materiall part or existence proceed from waters the which as they were brought unto light by the divine word So also do they eternally consist and are in their being sustained in and by the same Spirit as shall be plainly manifested unto you in this Chapter following Thus therefore I have sufficiently expressed unto you and evidently proved by holy Authority that the originall Catholick matter of all things was Water
aeri appendit aquas in mensura facit pluviae statuta viam fulgetro tonitruum Coelos creabat extendebat eos firmabat terram quae germinant ex ea sapientia creavit Deus terram stabilivit coelos prudentia facit ut oriatur lumen in coelis indeficiens sicut nebula tegit omnem terram Facit anni cursus constituit dispositiones stellarum fecit Arcturum Oâ—ionem Convertit in mane tenebras diem in noctem mutat vocat aquas maris effundit eas super faciem terrae Praeparavit terram in aeterno tempore replevit eam bipedâ—bus quadrupedibus ipsam effudit Deus super omnia opera ejus super omnem carnem secundum datum Ipsa denique operatur omnia Deus per ipsam operatur omnia in omnibus ipse vivificat animat omnia ut Apostolus Quare Propheta recte In sapientia omnia fecisti repleta est terra possessione tua c. Wisdom created the world of a matter without form She revealeth the foundations of the deep and discovereth the things that are hid in darknesse and light is with her She maketh the foundations appear out of darknesse and converteth the deadly shaddow into light She spreadeth forth the North upon the void or empty face of the abysse and hangeth the earth upon nothing For God made all things by the wisdom which came out of his mouth and compassed about the circuit of the heavens and walked in the profundity of the abysse She was present when he prepared the heavens when he covered by a certain law or compasse the abysse When he established the heavens or etheriall region above then was she with him as the composer of all those things She laid the foundations of the earth and fastned the heavens and broke up the Abysse and made the clouds to gather in a dew She giveth waight unto the Aire She hangeth or ballanceth the waters or clouds by measure She giveth unto the raine its laws and ordaineth a way unto the Lightning of the Thunder She created the heavens and did spread them abroad She fastned the earth and made the things which grow upon it God created the earth by her and established the heavens by his Providence and she causeth an indeficient Light to rise and appeare in the heavens and she covereth as it were with a cloud the whole earth She maketh the courses of the year and instituteth the dispositions or natures of the Stars She made the Pole-star and Orion and turned the darkness into the morning and changed the day into night She calleth the waters of the Sea and poureth them upon the face of the Earth She hath prepared the Earth from eterniâ—y and filled it with two-footed and four-footed Creatures God effused or poured her forth upon all his Works and upon all flesh in a divers measure To conclude â—â—e operateth all things as Solomon saith and therefore God by her doth operate all and in all things And again she vivifieth and animateth all things as the Apostle telleth us whereupon the Royall Prophet David doth rightly conclude in these words Oh Lord how glorious are thy works in Wisdome thou hast made them all the Earth is full of thy riches So is the wide Seas and innumerable creeping things therein both great and small Thou givest unto them and they gather it thou openest thy hand and they are filled with good things But if thou hide thy face they are troubled if thou dost take away their breath they die and return unto dust Aâ—ain if thou dost send out thy Spiâ—it they are re-created or re-vive and thou renewest the face of the Earth c. In which Speech the Prophet confirmeth that it is the Spirit of the Lord who by his presence reviveth that it createth and generateth and by his absence or vacancy mortifieth or corrupteth it And lastly by his returning or restoring of it again causeth both revivification and resurrection from the dead The which three mysticall operations of one Spirit in this world the whole Scriptures do handle at full and therefore we will conclude the last Chapter of this Book namely that which succedeth with this very Subject which shall truly correspond unto that defective treatise which Aristotle maketh of generation and corruption But before we come to speak of it we must proceed a little further in the opening of this present Principle By this therefore that is already said we may easily perceive that the Catholick Act or formall Principle with his infinity of dilatations or emanations are in the hands and volunty of the Creator who for that cause is said to operate by his Wisdome all in all as is already declared And therefore the Schoole distinction de operatione mediata immediata principali seu primaria minus principali seu secundaria with many other such like evasions forged out by the Ethnick Philosophers being necessary instruments of the Prince of this world forasmuch as they by their worldly discipline do distract even Christians themselves from Truth and Unity by a multiplicity of confused distinctions ought to be quite abolished being that the only act and Catholick agent in all things is immediatly from God and is all one in essence with God and is essentially in all things For the text saith that God hath poured out his Spirit on all his works and the incorruptible Spirit of God is in aâ—l things and the heavens and earth are full of it Again this Spirit is the most active and mobil of all things which being so what I beseech you should hinder it to work immediatly and absolutely in all things Being that it is the immediate vertue and vivifying emanation from God and consequently there can be no difference between the immediate act of God and the act of this Spirit which must needs be immediate in the creature because as it is present in it so also it is most mobil and all-sufficient in it selfe to operate Now therefore seeing it is evident that this Spirit is God and that the essence divine is indivisible it must needs follow that where it acteth immediatly there God also must act and operate immediatly and therefore all distinctions framed out after the inventions of men being laid aside these words of the Apostle and Solomon God worketh all in all doth generally hold over all and every particular and consequently we ought to acknowledg no subalternate acting or efficient cause in this world but onely one identity or divine essence and that is he who worketh all in all and vivifieth informeth and animateth immediatly all things alone without any assistance as Scripture tells us in divers places Ego IEHOVAH saith the Text faciens omnia solus nullus mecum I am IEHOVAH who work all things alone and have none to help or aid me Ego Sapientiaciâ—cumivi rotunditaâ—em coelorum sola I wisdome compassed the heaven alone c. For
this kind of Angelicall vertue the divine spirit doth work his privative effects and acts of Inspissation and fixation in the sublunary Element causing terrestriall and earthly effects But contrariwise we find that by and in the Southerne and Easterly Angelicall spirits the all-Creating and operating power doth cause Rarefaction and Subtiliation in the said inferiour waters through their essentiall action which is heat And for this cause the said hot winds do undoe by rarefaction all that which the cold Northern winds did effect by congelation Hence therefore it commeth that of this potent Angell who is said by the wise Cabalists to be the President and Governour of the Celestiall Sun which some terme Michael quasi Quis sicut Deus of whom we will speak hereafter also touching his Angelicall organs in the 4. Corners of the earth by which he useth to do his will it is sayed The sonne of man will send out his Angels from the four winds of heaven and moreover we shall find in the place before mentioned that this imperiall Angell did rise from the Easterly angle of the world and did command the foresaid fowr Angels which had dominion over the four winds as vassals unto his will For the Text hath it And I saw another Angell come up from the East and cryed with a loud voice unto the 4. Angels unto whom power was given c. Hurt not the earth neither the seas nor the trees till I have sealed c. Whereby it is apparent that the 4. Governours of the winds are subject unto that great Angell who is the powerfull and potent Intelligence which moveth and ruleth not only the Sun but sustaineth all things by vertue of this word and this Almighty Angell is esteemed by some to be the same mentioned in the first Chapter of the Apocal. Who said I am Alpha and Omega Now that the Sun by vertue of this omnipotent Spirit whose immediate angelicall organ or instrument the Angell Michael is doth govern the airy spirit both of the lower and upper world the wise Solomon doth seem to acknowledge where he saith Sol lustrans cuncta in circuitu pergit spiritus The sun illustrating all things the aire or spirit moveth about For this reason also the Philosophers have called the winds Titanei filii the sons of Titan or of the celestiall Sun It appeareth therefore that the increated spirit which supereminently moveth in the angelicall creature Michael and therefore El or Deus fortis is annexed unto it is that self-same Princely Spirit specified by the Prophet Ezekiel as is already proved who dwelleth in the great Angel who rising up from the East commanded the 4. governours of the winds with their legions whereby it is manifest that they have all their act and power from it and are ordained to be employed onely at his will either to effect privation or position and consequently to produce condensation or rarefaction in the world at his pleasure namely position and information by his light and heat and privation or deformation by his dark and cold property And hereupon the kingly Prophet speaketh thus Angeli Dei validissimi robore efficientes verbum ejus auscultantes voci ejus ministri ejus facientes placitum The strong Angels of God which do execute his word and hearken unto his voice are his mâ—nisters to perform his will And again Qui facis angelos tuos ventos et ministros tuos ignem urentem Who makest thy angels winds or spirits for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruach signifieth Ventus Spiritus Flatus and thy ministers flames of fire Whereby it is evident that the eternall Breath is that which animateth the Angels the Angels give life and vigour first unto the stars and then unto the winds the winds first informe the elements or rather alter the catholick sublunary element into divers natures which are tearmed Elements and then by the mixtion of divers windy forms in that one element they do produce meteorologicall compositions of divers natures according unto the diversity of the windy forms which alter it But that I may the more pertinently discourse upon these businesses and withall discusse many difficulties and scruples which have not a little troubled the Philosophers and Theosophers of our age touching the principle tabernacle of this all-acting and creating Spirit in the world Before I passe any further in this my story of Condensation and Rarefaction I will expresse mine opinion touching that point at large because the enucleation of it will be very pertinent and necessary for the opening of this main businesse forasmuch as in it not onely the world's creation but also the emperiall government of the worlds Spirit and the formall manner of production of Meteors doth consist CHAP. III. What the cavills of this our age hath been touching the seat of the all-creating and universall inacting Spirit in this world And herein also it is proved that Jerom's translation upon this Text of David Posuit tabernaculum suum in sole God put his tabernacle in the sun is according unto the true sense of Scriptures And lastly the reason of the errour in our latter Translations is herein according unto the Author's capacity expressed I Confesse there hath been a great controversie whether Jerom or Tremellius or Pagnâ—ne and some others have erred in their translation of the fore-mentioned Hebrew Text for Jerom being of greater antiquity howsoever he found the nature of the Hebrew which he translated interpreteth the first verse of the nineteenth Psalm of David Posuit Deus tabernaculum suum in sole God hath put his tabernacle in the sun Pagnine making use of the same Text but perchance corrupted and altered from the Originall copy and therefore construeth the Hebrew thus In coelis posuit Soli tabernaculum He made for the Sun a tabernacle in the heavens And Tremellius expounds it Soli disposuit tentorium in iis He made the heavens a pavillion for the Sun Verily if we consider all things rightly we must imagine that either the Text must be altered and corrupted from that Originall copy which St. Jerom had or else the reverend Jerom's worth must of necessity be called into question for so grosse a mistaking Touching the petson surely the whole Christian Church in his days would not have made election of a man of mean skill in the Hebrew language to undergo a task of such importancy being for the main good of the whole Christian Church as was the translation of the Bible out of Hebrew into Latin It would not I say have relied upon a man of small cunning either in the Hebrew language or mysteries of divinity to judge of the likelyhood or coherence of the Scripture's Harmony and therefore the ability of the person unto whose charge so great a business was committed and consequently the fruits of his labours could no way be undervalued being compared unto either Pagnine or Tremellius Again that he was held for a person
not denied for all that to fill the earth and heavens Concerning the third The Theologians do affirm that the Light which was expansed over all the heavens and did operate in place of the Sun for the first three daies space was at the fourth day congregated into the body of the Sun But this Light which was so dispersed was the immediate act of that Eternall Spirit which was carried on the waters and therefore that Light which is in the Sun doth participate with divinity as shall be more evidently expressed in the eighth and last Argument By the fourth which is proved out of the Celestiall or Astronomicall dignity which the Sun representeth it is most evident that it comprehendeth in his mansion divinity being that by how much the more perfection any thing hath in it self and excelleth the rest in glory by so much the more it approacheth unto divinity For as much as Hermes doth rightly tell us not disagreeing in that from our Saviour Christ his doctrine that Bonum and perfectum is onely God Now the Macrocosmicall Sun's dignity and perfection is easily to be discerned in that this Royall Phoebus doth sit in his chariot even in the center or middle of the heavens glittering with his golden hair as the sole visible Emperour holding the royall Scepter and government of the world in whom all the vertue of the celestiall bodies do consist as Jamblicus and many other learned personages have confirmed And Proclus averreth that all the powers of the starrs are congregated and collected into one at the aspect of the Sun the which are afterward disseminated by the fiery spiracle of the said Sun upon the Earth Doth not the Wiseman also by reason of the glory of this heavenly vessell or organ compare the brightness of the in-created Spirit or fiery emanation of divinity with it by reason of his excellency in brightness And again is it not proved before by the Son of Syrach that the Fabrick of the Sun is full of the glory of the Lord But I will say more unto this point in the eighth and last Argument The fifth sheweth how by an Arithmeticall regard Divinity must needs dwell in the Sun namely as it is onely one unity from which all the multitude of the starrs in heaven do derive and draw their formall essence no otherwise than from the Arithmeticall unity all numbers whatsoever are produced for the number two hath but the form of one and the same unity twice conceived and then one unity more maketh three and so in infinitum In the very like manner as one candle lighteth another and a third and so proceedeth in infinitum Even so this one heavenly Candle informeth with light and beauty all the starry candles in heaven and yet it reserveth still without any detriment his wonted unity in perfection power and glory By the sixt Argument which is Geometricall in regard that the Sun is a most bright circular body it must needs be that it hath a centrall point unto his circumference in the which all his illuminating power doth consist being that the circumference is nothing else but a semi-diametrall dilatation of a punctuall and essentiall vertue from the center unto the circumference And this is the meaning of that Axiom in Philosophy In medio consistit virtus veritas Now if that wonderfull beauty and clear brightnesse which is in the Sun were not extended from the center it would not proceed à principio interno and then it must like as the Moon doth require some other externall corporall illuminator but that is proved to be otherwise being that there is not any body found in the world that is equall in brightnesse unto it And this is an argument that it hath a centrall divinity or divine vertue in it which like unto the soul in the center of the creature vivifieth or acteth from the center unto the circumference thereof and so making the superficies of the body a fiery and bright coloratum causeth it according unto the infinity of its centrall agent to extend his beamy emanation to all the limits of the vast world Hence is it that God is said to be the center of all whose circumference is no where that is to say in and over all and beyond or without all Neither let it seem strange unto any that I say the in-created light is visible in regard of his tabernacle which it endueth being that Scriptures do testifie that he is a consuming fire And again that the spirit of wisdom excelleth the sun and starrs in brightnesse And again it is said He is attired with light as with a vestment To conclude he is fons pater luminis and therefore there can be no light either visible or invisible in this world which is not from it Doth not St. Paul seem to aver that all visible things were first from things that were not visible whereby is argued that all visible light was first from the invisible whose fountain is God the which invisible light is continued in essence unto his like in the creatures as shall be shewed anone The seventh is confirmed by an observation in Musick namely that the divine Spirit hath elected the Sun for his tabernacle to wit by reason of his position in heaven For if we consider that God as he is said to exist in himself is reputed by Scripture to be seated in the heaven of heavens and in another place in the highest heavens and yet he respecteth and looketh down unto the earth In that regard we may compare him si sacra cum mundanis componere fas sit unto an unison in Harmony for if a string of a musicall Instrument be struck open it soundeth a unity from the bridge of the Instrument unto the nut or head So we imagine that a chord may be extended from the worlds circumference or highest heavens unto the center or earth Again if we presse the chord of the Instrument just in the middle then each half chord being struck will sound in a diapason unto the whole and will prove the center or perfection unto each end of the chord which will then point out as it were the circumference Now the consonant diapason is the most perfect accord of all others and therefore noteth that the middle betwixt the light or heaven and the earth is the seat of the greatest perfection which doth correspond unto the unison as 1 doth to 2 which is in proportione dupla in a double proportion It followeth therefore and by effect it appeareth that the Sun is placed in this centrall seat which correspondeth unto the whole as 2 doth unto 1. because it is the opinion of all Astronomers that the Sun is placed in the middle or center of the heaven Now how this perfect accord was mystically shaped out of the divine and radicall unity or unison which said Fiat and it was done I beseech you observe Unity said Fiat and so this unison caused
visible things and therefore the seas and the earth were first made or produced out of things not visible that is to say aeriall or heavenly For it is one universall aire that filleth the vast cavity or vault of the world which by reason of its levity tenuity or invisibility is called Heaven as contrariwise the earth and seas are so termed because of their gravity density and visibility Since therefore it is evident that the catholick sublunary aire is the main materiall ground and substance of that which the world calleth elements and that it is altered and changed from one estate into another by the Word or divine Spirit Ruach Elohim I mean by the eternall wisdom let us consider with our selves how this potent Spirit doth effect in that one and the same homogeneall invisible thin water or aire such Protean trans-mutations whereby there is an evident rotation made in it out of one nature into another which are therefore tearmed distinct elements We must therefore consider in the first place that this was that vivifying Spirit which the Prophet called from the four winds saying Veni Spiritus a quatuor ventis insuffla interfectos istos ut reviviscant And therefore this one Spirit Ruach Elohim was the royall commander of the four winds and by consequence could contract the aire by his windy organs and again dilate it at his pleasure and therefore it was he and no other that doth animate the four winds and agitate the Angels that are his under-governours of them to alter and change the invisible aire into visible shapes when and how be listeth And first touching his generall act in ordering the aire into divers shapes it is said Deus ventos depromite thesauris And again Aer subito cogetur in nubes ventus transiens fugavit eos Sapientia aptat pondus aeri appendit aquas in mensura ligat densas nubes ut non findantur facit pluviae statuta viam fulgeâ—ro tonitruum God draweth the winds out of his treasury The air is thickned into clouds and the wind that passeth-by doth drive them By wisdom he giveth weight unto the aire hangeth or ballaenceth the waters in it by proportion and measure bindeth fast the thick clouds so that they cleave not giveth lawes unto the rain and maketh a way unto the lightnings of the thunders By which words we may conceive that the invisible aire is the main subject on which the all-operating Spirit of God worketh and bringeth forth the fore-named visible effects and that onely by Condensation or Rarefaction which is insinuated by giving weight unto the aire For by Condensation he converteth the invisible aire into visible clouds and then by a profounder degree of thickening those vaporous clouds are condensed into raine and the thicker and more unctuous part of the cloud is concreted into a hard stone or earth So that out of the invisible aire we see evidently by condensation produced three degrees of visible substance namely a vaporous aire a thick visible water which is rain and a dense and ponderous earth which is the stone called Lapis cerauneus or Thunder-bolt ingendred by the Spirit of God in that fight which is made in the conflict between the liquifying nature of the fire and congealing disposition of the cold water Again on the other side by rarefaction the aire is converted into fire namely into lightning and all these receive their severall forms and changes from the catholick nature of the invisible aire into those shapes in which after the alteration they abide So that you may by this perceive that all that which the antique Philosophers have termed Elements are nothing else but a four-fold changing and mutation of one and the same catholick element or humid nature unto the which according as they in their changes do appear various have divers and sundry names namely of fire water and earth imposed upon them Now the principal organs by the which and in the which this Spiâ—it moveth and acteth by a diversity of property in turning and changing this catholick aeriall subject into a four-fold nature that is to say out of one thing into another are the angelicall winds which he hath ordained to blow from the four quatrers or angles of the earth in a diverse property For as before I told you out of Solomon's doctrine that this wise spirit was one simple thing in essence but man fold in property or operation so doth he being but one Spirit for it is said Veni spiritus à quatuor venus act after a four-fold manner by his four-fold angelicall winds in the catholick element of aire for when he bloweth or breatheth from the North he contracteth the common element into an earthly body namely into frost snow hail and ice And therefore David saith Deo emittente sermonem suum in terram quà m celerrâ—mè excurrit verbum ejus qui edit nivem sicut lanam pruinam sicut cineres dispergit dejicit gelu suum tanquam frusta coram frigore eius quis consistat Emittens verbum suum liquefacit ista simulac efflat ventum sâ—um effluunt aquae God sending forth his word upon the earth it runneth swiftly who bringeth forth the snow like wool and disperseth the frost like ashes and casteth down his ice like lumps who is able to resist against his cold Sending forth his word he liquefieth or melteth all these so soon as he bloweth forth his wind the waters do flow forth c. Out of which speech we may gather first that it is but one word or Spirit of God which both by a northern contraction doth change the sublunary element into an earthly condition and hard and visible consistence namely when he bloweth from the North and therefore saith Ab Arcturo egreditur frigus flatu suo edit Deus fortis glaciem latitudinem aquarum coarctat From the North commeth the cold the mighty God doth bring forth ice by his breath and coarcteth or straightneth the latitude of the waters and also by a southern blast doth melt and undo those terrestriall effects which by his northern spirit it did produce and cause Secondly that the subject in which and on the which it did operate was the aire which it did metamorphose and change from a soft tender light volatil transparent thin and invisible substance into a hard rough heavy fix opake thick and visible masse Thirdly that the word there is taken for the essentiall spirit of the wind in generall and therefore it is used as well to contract the aire into snow ice or frost as to dilate it Again the Psalmist saith Angeli Dei faciunt verbum c. Again when he breatheth from the south then this generall element becommeth vaporous airy humid and hot and will easily by the concourse of the northern fortitude though in never so small a measure be changed into clouds for the southern blast is ever apt to undo the effects
of the north and so by their mutuall action a middle nature of a westerly condition will be produced namely water which is between aire and earth as the western position is betwixt the south and north But the southern blast of its own nature is hot and moist as is the disposition of the catholick element of aire or else the word being sent from that quaâ—ter would not have melted and undone the cold and drie effects of the north as is said Again that the breath of the Lord which commeth out of the South affecteth the catholick element of aire diversly but spiritually this Text of Abakkuk doth testifie God comming from the south his glory covered the heavens and the pestilence went before his face c. whereby he argueth the invisible effects namely the corruption and infection of the aire which this divine Spirit in his displeasure breatheth forth from the southern quarter of the world But when he worketh or operateth in his windy organs of the East then they imprint upon the generall element a fiery character and dilateth his substance into the nature and disposition of the fire and then may it passe under the title of the Element of fire as we have it confirmed out of many places of the holy Text Praecepit Dominus saith Jerom vento calido urenti or as Tremellius hath it Paravit Eurum silentem ut percuteret sol caput Jonae adeò ut aestuaret petiit animae suae ut moreretur The Lord commanded a hot and burning wind or a still easterly wind to go out that the sun might strike upon Jonas his head that he might be enflamed with heat insomuch as he did desire in his heart to die And again Ventus urens seu Eurus desiccabit fructus ejus rami ejus erant marcore contracti A burning or Easterly wind shall dry up his fruits and his boughs shall be consumed and wasted And again Ventus Eurus aduret spicas And JEHOVAH saith in his anger Percussi vos in vento urenti in aurigine multitudinem hortorum vestrorum Misi in vos pestem pro ratione Aegypti I have struck you with a burning winde and have blasted the multitude of your gardens I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of that of Aegypt Again Postquam veniente Euro vento IEHOV Ae à deserto ascendente exaruerit scaturigo ejus siccatus fuerit fons ejus After that by Eurus the wind of IEHOVAH comming and arising out of the desert his spring and fountain was dryed up And Haggaj Percussi vos vento urente grandine omniae opera manuum vestrarum I have struck you with a burning winde with hail even all the works of your hands c. Whereby it appeareth that at the blast of these easterly winds the aire or catholick element becommeth burning and fiery so that it heateth and enflameth the bodies of the creatures On the other side the occidentall winds are found by experience to be opposite in nature and condition unto these for they convert the hot aire or generall element into cold and naturall visible water being that they are the procurers of cold raines So that we may see by this that the formall act in each Angell of the four corners of the earth of which the Apocalyps doth make mention hath an essentiall vertue imparted unto it from God according unto his volunty at the instant of the Angels information and therefore in that very property doth the angelicall creature act in the common element or lower waters in the which the creating Spirit properly was when he made it so that the common element is daily informed anew and altered by the formall or essentiall act of the angelicall winde which bloweth with dominion insomuch as if the easterly angelicall wind informeth it then it becommeth a fiery element for it heateth and drieth by super-excellency If a southerly it is changed into that element's nature which is called aire and if a westerly spirit hath dominion it is converted into the temper and proportion of water Lastly the Northern blast transmuteth it unto the consistence and disposition of earth By this therefore that maine doubt which hath so long troubled the Peripateticks and hammered in their brains and yet hath never been rightly resolved by them unto this day may easily be undone and taken away namely to find out the essentiall form of the Elements For by this true Philosophy we find it to be an Angelicall Spiracle or essentiall blast of wind infused by the Spirit of God diversly into the aiery or spirituall vessell to alter and change according unto his will the humid passive nature out of one condition into an other Moreover the Catholick air being diversly so animated bringeth forth and informeth a new after the condition of his variety of animations a multiplicity and multiformity of Meteors As for example the Easterly element brings forth children like it self As are the fiery and light Meteors namely Coruscations Lightnings Comets and such like according unto the nature of such Seminary influences as shall descend from heaven at that instant The Southerly Vapours Clouds Lightning with Thunders The Westerly Cold raines and as it were Snowy resolutions The Northenly Frost Snow Ice Hail But I know that this wil be objected against me What then will you make of the Earth and Seas Are not these distinct Elements which have been from the beginning I answer that if they listen unto St Peters doctrine he teacheth that the Earth was of waters and therefore the waters were before the Earth and again the heavens were made before the Earth as Moses sheweth and therefore the Earth appeareth to be the Foeces or the grosser part of the lower waters and the visible water the grosser part of the Ayre For doth not the Apostle Paul tell us in the Text before mentioned that things visible were first of things invisibâ—e The change therefore of all things visible or invisible are effected by the Condensing or contracting faculty and property in the all-acting spirit And the reducing of them againe from a visible estate unto an invisible is caused by the Rarifying or dilating act of the self same Spirit in essence but differing in property And therefore as air was changed into water and water into Earth by the degrees of Cold so also is Earth changed insensibly into water and water into Ayre by the severall degrees of heat for if this were not how is it possible that so many waters falling from the Clouds should not more and more augment the Seas and diminish the Ayre or why should so much Earthen Coals and whole mountaines of wood that are burnt not make the earth lesse in Consistence if there were not an hourly supply and transmutation of Ayre into water and from water into Earth which though this divine nature doth effect secretly and insensibly yet by effect it
nostrills the waters were gathered together thou dâ—dst blow with thy winde and the sea covered them And Job Glaciem edit Deus vento suo flante Deo concrescit gelu God doth bring forth the ice with his breath when he doth blow the frost and ice ice is ingendered Deus facit pondus vento God giveth proportion unto the aire or winde And the Prophet David Qui facit angelos ventos minâ—stros suos ignem urenâ—em Who maketh his angels winds and his ministers flames of fire And hereupon such learned personages and Doctors as are profoundly seen and dived into the mysteries of the true nature do averre that the externall of the Angels is aire or the subtle humid nature of the world and that their internall or formall portion is a hidden divine fire And for this cause St. Denis doth tearm the Angels Algamatha that is to say clear Mirrours or looking-Glasses which do receive the splendour or light of God and do represent his image And therefore the Prophet in the place above mentioned doth describe both the hidden and invisible winde and that which is fiery and doth manifestly appear in the form of lightning to be an angelicall spirit animated by the divine fire or bright emanation from God All which being rightly considered we must either confesse that the Spirit of the nostrills or mouth of IEHOVA is a hot and dry exhalation subject unto preternaturall passions and arising out of the earth which would appear too profanely uttered out of a Christian's mouth or that this member of the Peripateticall definition is most false and erroneous But this shall be discovered more plainly in my enquiry and laying open of the other members The second member of this definition doth intimate unto us that the place wherein that exhalation which is the materiall cause of the winde is ingendred and from the which it is derived is the earth but the place or seat unto the which it tendeth saith it is the middle region of the aire and the medium and space in which that moveth as well upward and downward as laterally is the lower region of the aire In the which assertion of this Ethnick Philosopher I will make plain and prove evidently that there will be found divers grosse errours and palpable absurdities But that we may the better effect our enquiry and hunt after the truth of the businesse that is to say for the exacter examinations cause it will be necessary for us to divide this member or clause into three parts in the first whereof we ought seriously to consider whether the matter of the winds be extracted out of the earth or no. In the second if that substance do onely soar up and make his way unto the concave superficies of the middle region of the aire onely In the third whether the place in which the wind moveth be onely the lower region of the aire To the former question or doubt we say That either the sacred Bible which is the fountain of truth is false or this particle of the second member must be most erroneous for saith St. John Spiritus ubi vult spirat vocem ejus audis sed nescis unde veniat aut quò vadat The wind or spirit bloweth where it will and thou hearest his voice but thou knowest not from whence it commeth or whither it goeth Which being rightly pondered by wise-men they must conclude that either Aristotle saw further into the mysteries of God and nature than the Evangelist who was a true and sincere Christian Philosopher and Theosopher and then St. John must be proved a lyar in his doctrine which were a great impiety in any Christian to imagine or else the assertion of Aristotle must clearly be found false and in all things contradictory unto the truth Aristotle saith that the matter of the winde doth move from the earth and ascendeth into the middle region of the aire and from thence is repelled downward But St. John saith that the winde moveth not constrainedly that is to say by coaction nor any accidentall compulsion but voluntarily and according unto its own pleasure and appetite for his words are Spiritus spirat ubi vult It bloweth where it will and that although the voice and noise of it be familiar unto the ears yet neverthelesse it is not known from whence it commeth or whither it will This doctrine of the Evangelist which so mainly differeth from that of Aristotle is maintained out of divers places of holy Writ for the royall Psalmist with the Prophet Jeremy saith Depromit ventos è the sauris suis He draweth forth the winds out of his treasuries But the Scriptures prove that the earth is not the seat or place of Gods treasure where it speaketh thus Aperiet tibi IEHOVAH thesaurum suum optimum coelos dando pluviam terrae suo tempore IEHOVA will open unto thee his best treasure the heavens giving rain unto the earth in his due time He doth not say the earth but the heavens so that between these two there is a great difference as between night and day Wherefore it is evident that the heaven or catholick element of air is the secret cabinet of these meteorologica Dei magnalia or meteorologick wonders Hereupon it is said in another place Januas coelorum aperuit pluens Manna c. He opened the gates of heaven raining down Manna Again it is so hard a thing for a mortall man that is not illuminated with the spirit of wisdom to find out or discover this arcane treasury of God that JEHOVAH himself speaketh unto Job though he were a just man and one that feated God much more he pointeth at the wise-man or Philosopher of this world who never was acquainted with the divine Word in this manner Pervenisti nè in the sauros nivis et in the sauros grandinis inspectionem habes Camest thou ever into the treasury of the snow or hast thou any insight into the treasury of the hail Arguing that without his Spirit had shewed or revealed his treasury it was impossible to know it And for this cause Solomon saith Corpus infectum corruptione aggravat animam vix conjicimus ea quae in terra sunt quae autem in coelis sunt quis investigavit nisi tu dederis sapientiam The body which is subject unto corruption doth aggravate and depress the soul and we scarcely conjecture or guesse at those things which are upon the earth Who hath found out or discovered the things which are in heaven unlesse thou give and bestow upon him wisdom Now Soâ—omon confesseth that he knew the force of the elements and power of the winds and consequently of their reall originall or beginning for Sapientia saith he omnium artifex me docuit Wisdom the worker of all things taught him Now Aristotles false Philosophy and his Ethnick and worldly wisdom sheweth that he never attained unto the wisdom which
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
mover in the winds is the essentiall inspiration or breath proceeding immediatly from God Afflatu narium tuarum coacervatae sunt aquae flavisti vento tuo operuit eos mare The waters were gathered together in a heap by the breath of thy nostrils Thou didst blow with thy wind and the Sea did cover them And Job Flante Deo concrescit gelu When God bloweth from the North the yce is made Also that the winds are Divinely animated with a perfect life and intelligence it is made evident by the four Angels which are president over the four winds and that universall Spirit which was called from the four winds to breathe life into the dead carcasses of which we will speak forthwith And yet for all this the Ethnick Prince of our Philosophers will not blush forsooth to say that the winde is a some-thing meerly accidentall and that it hath his motion onely from externall principles and not from that centrall and internall agent which is the actor and operator of and in all things and consequently it could not blow or breathe where it listeth nor yet to hear the voice of the Lord when it was commanded to come from the four winds He according unto his fancy saith that this his figment is extracted out of the earth when Scriptures say that it is the most lively and agil creature of God which he bringeth out of the heavens that are his treasure-house for in this both the Prophets Jeremy and David do consent But in this member of his definition he concludeth that the laterall motion of the winde is caused through that resistance and impediment which is made by such exhalations as ascend O poor argument of so mighty a Philosopher as if such a ventall motion as that is from the north unto the south and so forth could be so certain and direct in his course being guided by so uncertain an agent as is an accidentall striving and contention made between ascending and descending fumes I beseech you tell me my quaint Peripateticks what manner of exhalation did rise out of the earth and shoulder or shove and resist one another in that emission of Spirit which happened when the Prophet said A quatuor ventis adveni Spiritus Come from the four winds O spirit me-thinks that I see the Christian pages or disciples of Aristotle to be clean mute and destitute of tongues to answer and if they should say that it was a miraculous winde and not a naturall I answer that I know no more efficient causes in nature or out of nature but onely one and therefore it is said in the production of Meteors namely in the common course of this world nature God bloweth from the north God produceth by his breath frost snow ice God thundereth from heaven God melteth the thick clouds into rain God sends lightning from his throne and coles of fire out of his mouth God maketh the dark clouds his hiding place God commeth from the south in thunder The voice of the Lord maketh the cedars of mount Libanus to stoop and the hinds to miscarry of their young ones God is a consuming fire Who can stand or resist the cold of God and so forth in many places more as well of the new as old Testament And to conclude that God operateth all in all and that he vivifieth all c. But our Peripateticall Philosophers come with their School-tricks and idle distinctions and say 'T is true indeed that he is causa efficiens principalls but there are many secondary and subalternate causes in nature which do act of themselves I say Plain dealing is a jewell and truth being one simple essence hateth double dealing let us imitate her in plainnesse and simplicity in understanding which we cannot attain unto unlesse we abstract our minds from the subtle multiplicity of worldly Philosophy and vain fallacy of which St. Paul biddeth us to beware for in multitude lurketh an infinity of errours but in unity consisteth that unique verity which is true wisdom Why then should we distract mens thoughts from the simple sense of Scripture by a multiplicity of distinctions which seem to wrest it like a nose of wax a hundred waies Scriptures say Of him by him and in him are all things The holy spirit of wisdom filleth the world The incorruptible Spirit is in all things Christ filleth every thing He vivifieth all things He operateth all in all He giveth life and inspiration and all things All things are from the Father by our Lord Jesus Christ. All things are in Christ and by Christ as well visible as invisible and he in all things He beareth and sustaineth all things by the word of his vertue God is the Father of all who is above all and in all And an infinite of other testimonies of Scriptures which confirm the divine essence to be all in all and to act all things universally without exception And yet our Peripateticks will perswade us that the creatures actions are divided from the act of God so that they do and can act of themselves through an active vertue given unto them by God but not now of God which assertion of theirs were it true indeed I will shew you how great an absurdity will follow namely that there must consequently be a division made in the divine essence which axiom true divinity will never admit for Athanasius his Creed doth teach us that it is sancta individua Trinitas the holy and undivided Trinity and therefore what act the creature hath received is not divided from the Giver neither is there any such need being the Giver of that formall vertue is by reason of that gift ever present and not divided from the gift and consequently acteth all in all and that immediately And for that cause it is rightly said by the divine Philosopher Hermes to be the center of all things whose circumference is every where so that it is in all but not as a part of any thing but as a composer of all parts and a container of them Wherefore let it suffice our Peripateticks that the creatures are onely organicall causes in which one onely catholick Spirit worketh and operateth according unto the variety of his property which is annexed unto his will and therefore he onely worketh in them and by them according unto his will and that immediately and absolutely and this is that which the Apostle intendeth when he saith Deus operatur omnia in omnibus God worketh all in all But to return unto my purpose How deaf and surd had this invocation of the wise Solomon been if the essence and life of the winds had been no other then that which is set forth by Aristotle Evigila saith he Aquilo veni Auster perflahortum meum Awake north-wind and come thou O south-wind and blow upon my garden To conclude if the winds had been procreated after Aristotle's invention or imagination whence cometh it that each winde is
for the words following importeth so much which are Appendit aquas seu nubes in mensura He hangeth or ballanceth the waters or clowds by measure or attenuateth it into lightnings as the words following do witnesse So that he seemeth to aver that the invisible aire is altered according to weight and measure into the bodies or substances of the visible clowds which afterwards are resolved into rain and fiery lightnings which by compression do appear Again that it is neither the earth nor waters from which the existence or substance of a clowd is made but onely the aire we plainly do gather out of these words in Deuteronomy Aperiet tibi IEHOVA the saurum suum optimum â—oelos dando pluviam terrae tuae suo tempore IEHOVA will open his best treasury the heavens giving rain unto thy earth in due season Out of which words observe first that by the heavens is meant the Aire for in the aire the clowds are procreated and again the aire is called heaven in many places of Scripture as volatilia coeli the fouls or birds of heaven And therefore this is the sacrarium divinum the divine treasury or treasure-house out of the which God at his pleasure produceth and fashioneth the clowds Secondly that the aire is called his best treasury and therefore it is out of it that not onely he doth extract his meteorologicall creatures but also that wise-men do enquire after their mysticall summum bonum and Christian Philosophers that are well grounded the character of the divine wisdom Again it is said in another place Propterea aperti sunt thesauri evolarunt nubes nebulae sicut aves Therefore his treasuries are opened and the clowds did fly out like birds But this is made yet more evident by these plain words of Job Subitò aer condensabitur in nubes ventus transiens fugabit eas The aire will suddenly be condensed or thickned into clowds and the moving winde will drive them before it By which words it is apparent that the aire is the subject out of the which the clowds are compacted and framed and that the heavens are the onely treasury out of the which they are collected and therefore neither the earth nor the water as Aristotle would have it which if it were true indeed mark what an absurd impossibility must follow For then whereas the Sun doth attenuate the aire in the summer-season it would contrary unto reason condense it by the continuall raising of vapours and then a greater absurdity would follow on the neck of this to destroy Aristotles tenent touching the generation of the clowds for then we should have more clowds and rain in the summer than winter being that there are made more vapours at that season by the Suns heat and emptying of ponds and rivers then in the winter which experience proveth false And lastly it is neither the heat of the Sun nor Stars but the eternall Spirit of JEHOVA whose dominion is over the angelicall winds by which he moveth and operateth all these alterations in the air and by the aire as shall be told you hereafter And therefore it was said By his wisdom he giveth weight unto the aire and hangeth the clowds in measure and assigneth rules unto the rain and proportioneth a way or passage unto the lightnings and thunders c. But I come unto the second Doubt To the resolution of the second doubt I say that there is another manner of reason for the incrassation and condensation of an invisible vapour or the aire into a cloud than that which Aristotle and his followers have assigned and set down for whereas he saith that this feat is performed by the contractive cold of the middle region of the aire it may be wondered at why this effect is not wrought as well at other times as when the winds do blow from their certain quarters of the earth for when the southerly winds have dominion then do we see clouds to multiply and the rain to poure down in the greatest abundance I would fain know of these Peripateticks why the vapours should be raised so thick just at that time when the wind bloweth from the south to make a greater abundance of clowds in the aire then at another season namely when they have no dominion Or why should the cold of the middle region of the aire be apter to coagulate or curdle vapours at that time than at other times being that the warm clouds or dense aire which is driven from the Aequinoctiall do moderate the middle region's cold through which they glide by reason of their hot temper Verily I know that they are ignorant what to answer touching this point and therefore I will presse them no further But I will tell you of an experiment of mine own whereby I was induced unto the truth concerning the generation of the mists and clouds When in my travells I went or journeyed from Venice unto Augusta or Ausburg in Germany as I travelled between the high mountains and rocks of the Alps upon a certain day when the heavens were passing clear and without any cloud to be seen in the Horizon the Sun also as in these times it must needs being passing bright I espied on the top of a steepy mountain on the which the Sun-beams did strongly beat a certain fogg or mist by little and little to arise and ever it thickned more and more untill it grew from a sleight vapour unto a mist and from a foggy mist at the last unto a thick cloud and all this while the aire was every where clear except only on that side the hill from the top unto the bottom which we beheld It made me a little to marvell and therefore alighting from our Coach I took some grasse and flung it into the aire to try which way the wind did blow and I found it to be full upon or against that eminent hlll which was advanced towards the heavens above his fellows Whereupon I did streight-way gather that the degrees of progression from a vapour unto a mist and from a mist unto a fogg and so forward unto the consistence of a clowd was by compression of the common aire which was chased before the winde by little and little against the lofty rock or mountain which hindering of it in its passage or flight was the cause that the consequent-aire was added unto the precedent and so by adding and compressing of parts of the aire unto other parts a perfect clowd onely conformable unto that part of the mountain was made which forthwith when it became ponderous and apt to endure the reflexion of the Sun did resolve it self for four miles space on this side the rock into rain all the rest of the aire remaining still clear and without any clowd Whereby I did forthwith conceive that clowds were not ingendered after the manner described by the Peripateticks that is by the vapours rising out of the earth and waters but by
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
perform what is commanded them So that we see these creatures are drawn out of their secret dwellings to do the will of him that created them CHAP. VII How by our experimentall Instrument the reasâ—n of the composition of clowds is ocularly demonstrated A so in this the Snow is defined falsly and truly NOw I think it most fit to demonstrate unto you how the clowds are procreated by the opposite blast of two winds of a contrary nature namely of the Southerly wind in eminency and dominion and a Northerly spirit which also bloweth but insensibly I told you in the Chapter where I did demonstrate by our experimentall Instrument the reason of the Southerly winds which happen in winter that as the aire included in the Weather-glasse did by the onely touch of a warm hand dilate it self and in dilatation fly from the hand of the toucher unto the cold region of the water which was evidently proved and maintained because the water did suddainly thereupon move downward So also the grosse winter aire in the southern hemisphear did at the approach of the Sun unto the parts beyond the Line dilate it self by vertue of that ever-acting and subtiliating spirit which put his tabernacle in the Sun so that the southern dilated aire posted apace or flew hastily away to seek a larger place but comming into the northern hemisphear which by reason of the Sun's absence became brumall or wintry the constant aire of that region being now contracted by the northern cold and the north-wind by reason of the colds dominion blowing more or lesse though insensibly it meeting with the warm southerly spirit condenseth it with the rest into clowds and this is the reason that alwaies almost and that is where no northern blasts are discerned that the southerly winds do bring abundance of clowds and rain with them for that the hot southerly vertue of the divine agent doth more and more subtiliate and rarifie the winter aire which it found there till it had by rarefaction purified it and reduced it unto the nature of a true Summer aire so that the superfluous parts of the aire after rarefaction were chased away as is said into the northern region where it is condensed again partly by the privative act of the divine puissance and partly by the spissitude of the northern aire which denyeth it free passage into the form of clowds For the cold spisse aire of the northern hemisphear agitated and animated by the northern blast or property resisteth the hot vaporous aire and so it condenseth by little and little To conclude I could here set down the Aristotelian definitions of the snow frost hail ice and such like other meteors and then check and contradict them mainly by other true descriptions of them proved by the testimony of holy writ As for example Aristotle seemeth to aver that the snow is a clowd congealed by the great cold which before it be perfectly dissolved into water by a vaporous disposition it is changed into a snowy substance In which definition because he is ignorant as hath been proved already in the fabrick of a clowd we ought in no case believe him Again he digresseth from the tenour of Scriptures according unto the mind whereof we have defined the snow thus The Snow is a meteor which God draweth forth of his hidden treasury in the form of wool to effect his will upon the earth either by way of punishment or clemency Or thus The Snow is a creature produced out of the air or heavenly treasury of God by the cold breath or blast of the divine spirit in the form of wool to perform his will on the earth Where the fountain of his originall substance is made the aire or the matter of the heavens and therefore the Text hath it Congregatio speritus aspergit nivem The gathering together or condensation of the spirit ingendereth and sprinkleth the snow upon the earth And Job Pervenistine in the sauris nivis Camest thou into the treasury of the snow Also the form and efficient cause is expressed thus Deus verbo suo nives emittit sicut lanam coram frigore ejus quis consistat God by his word sendeth out the snow like wool who is able to resist his cold So that God by his Word which doth operate in his privative property by his cold is the essentiall efficient and omnipotent actor in the production of the snow I could I say effect all this at large but because my minde is not to dwell upon on these particulars forasmuch as in the description of the clowd I have sufficiently pointed at the rest I will proceed unto my enquiry touching Aristotle's opinion concerning the beginning of fountains that we may perceive thereby whether he have erred as far in that mystery as he hath done in the rest CHAP. VIII What Aristotle's opinion is touching the generation of Fountains and Rivers and whether he in his opinion doth jump with the verity of the true wisdom SInce therefore it is apparent that Aristotles doctrine is erroneous and deceiptfull touching the generation and essence of the winds and clowds we purpose in the third place to bring his judgment and opinion concerning the beginning and originall of fountaines and rivers unto the touch-stone of truth that thereby we may perceive whether it will endure the tryall and not shrink as the proverb is in the wetting The Peripateticks as well Christians as Gentiles are as much deceived in their meteorologicall grounds concerning the generation of fountains and rivers as in the rest of which we have spoken before and therefore their Master Aristotle all things being well pondered in the ballance of justice ought to be accounted of all true Christians for a seducer and deceiver of the world and consequently his doctrine touching this point ought of right to be repudiated and rejected Aristotle with his peripateticall sect or faction are of opinion that being the belly or bowells of the earth is full of cavities and hollow passages vapours to avoid vacuity must needs ascend from the center or bottom of it the which cleaving in their ascent unto the sides of the hollow vaults and streighter passages or veines of the earth do resolve into water which distilling down by drops do ingender fountaines and rivers In the which opinion of theirs they conclude that the matter of fountains is nothing else but a vapour arising from the bottom of the earth and resolved liquefied or condensed into water through cold and heat together within the earth no otherwise then after their saying the clowd rain snow and hail do arise and are generated in the aire of a vapour first condensed and afterwards liquefied But if we shall duely examine every member of this their description we shall perceive that they require as well a double matter as formall agent in this generation of fountaines for they faign that the remote matter is a vapour and then the near and immediate
narrower place namely the aire then the water will immediately mount up with it and to it because it is contiguous unto the aire By this therefore it is apparent that the contracting and attracting vertue of the northern spirit or rather divine puissance which is made manifest in cold doth first attract contract and condense the dilated aire and then the aire so contracted by the northern spirit doth draw or attract the water from beneath upwards and that without altering of that water which was beneath in any thing from that which is above so that in conclusion it is but one and the self-same water Lo here therefore it is by this demonstration proved feazible and possible that water may be sucked and drawn from the caverns of the earth which is fostered and maintained by the sea even unto the top of the high mountains and that by a naturall means or operation without any necessity of altering the form of the water into vapour as Aristotle doth vainly surmize and that contrary unto his axiom Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora That is vainly done by many which may be effected by a fewer Contrariwise we see and observe in the Weather-glasse that if the dilative vertue of the present Sun or hot winds doth heat the head of the Weather-glasse or inflame the outward aire then the aire within the glasse will also dilate it self and by its dilatation will strike down or precipitate the water that the aire contracted by cold had sucked or drawn up and again the visible sinking of the water doth point at and prove the invisible dilatation of the air CHAP. X. That the actions of contraction and dilatation and consequently of attraction and expulsion of aire in the Weather-glasse with the effects of the elevation and depression of the water which are caused thereby are most conveniently applyed unto the aire and water in the world WE must consider as I have said before that the catholick air and water in the world filleth the whole vaulty cavity thereof no otherwise then the air in the Weather-glasse filleth the hollowness thereof so that the fountains of all the world issuing from one sea do seem to penetrate into the bowells of the earth and fill the generall veines thereof being sucked and drawn up unto them by that self-same reason by the which the water is exalted into the uppermost part of the neck of the glasse and by this reason there is an evident relation between the fountaines of the northern hemisphear and those of the southern forasmuch as it is expressed before that the southerly aire which is on that side the Aequinoctiall line is continued in his homogeneall nature with that on this side the line So that the flying dilated aire passeth from the south and is condensed into clowds in the north Wherefore it is apparent that the matter which feedeth the fountains in the north are more or lesse continuated unto those of the south as the waters that are raised up into the highest degree of the glasse are continued with them in the lower all which is fed and maintained with the pot of water which we compare unto the sea In which figure EFG is the northern hemisphear where the Sun is absent and therefore winter inhabiteth there and cold hath his dominion EHG is the southern hemisphear where the Sun is present and therefore summer dwelleth there and heat hath dominion EG is the Aequinoctiall line which is as it were the barr that divideth the northern region from the southern A and B is the hollow vein in the earth which continueth from the northern region to the southern that there might be a relation between or continuation in some measure of the northern and southern waters as well as of the northern and southern aire of heaven for being the wide sea D. which stretcheth from north to south is the head from whence all springs and rivers do originally arise I see no reason that it should seem strange to any man that I say the northern fountains have relation by a continuity of substance unto the southern and therefore the southern unto the northern Wherefore I conclude that when the catholick northern aire of the hemisphear EFG is cold it sucketh or contracteth unto it the aire in the vein of the earth A the which aire being contracted elevateth of the water out of the wide sea D as is evidently demonstrated by the Weather-glasse for when the cold externall aire hath contracted by congelation the aire in the head and neck of the glasse which head and neck I compare unto the veine in the earth for the vein of the earth is close and expireth no way then the water is drawn up by the contraction of the aire out of the vast water in the pot or basin which I compare unto the sea On the other side in the summer or southern hemisphear EHG where the Sun is present the catholick aire is subtiliated or rarified and dilating of the aire about the fountain and in the cavity of the vein beateth down and abaseth the water in the southern mouth of the vein in the earth B towards C so that oftimes in the summer the springs are found either dried altogether or at the least-wise much depressed Now therefore I say that by reason of the depression of the waters in the summerly south by way of subtiliation of the aire and exhausting or drawing them up in the winterly north by the cold the water is the apter to be raised in the cold north Again the elevation of the waters in the north which were the summer before depressed is effected by the empty aire 's contraction which possesseth the place in the summer time in the vein of earth where the water was as we see in the Weather-glasse and by the dilation of the aire in the south the water is easily there hid in the earth So that it appeareth that it is partly driven and pressed down in the south by heat and consequently with the greater ease drawn up at the north and partly elevated in the north by the cold winter as if a chord were put into a hole of a great piece of timber downward at one end and did ascend upward at the other thus The self-same will happen but in contrary order when the Sun and consequently summer is in the northern hemisphear EFG for then the springs will be there depressed and in the southerly parts exalted The seas draining or soaking into the bowells of the earth D being the commune medium or cistern of both extreams as well to receive the water pressed down and distributing upward of that superfluity unto the surging increasing or winter fountaines Thus therefore do you see evidently how Solomon's saying is proved true All rivers run into the sea and the sea is not the greater they return into the place from whence they came that they may run or flow again But
words Quis hominum cognoscit consilium Dei nam ratiocinationes mortalium sunt timidae instabiles cogitationes eorum Infestum enim corruptioni corpus aggravat animam deprimit terrena habitatio mentem plenam curis multis vix conjicimus ea quae in terra sunt quae autem in coelis sunt quis investigavit consilium tuum quis noverit nisi tu dederis sapientiam miseris sanctum Spiritum tuum è locis altissimis sie enim correctae sunt eorum quae in terris sunt semitae itaque sapientiâ fuerint salvati What man doth know the counsell of God for the reasonings of mortall men are doubtfull and unstable are their cogitations For the body being subject unto corruption doth aggravate the soul and an earthly habitation doth depresse the mind which is full of cares And we do scarcely guesse at the things which are upon the earth who is then able to find out the things which are in heaven Or who can know thy counsell unlesse thou shalt give wisdom and send thy holy Spirit from above for by that means were the waies of such men as were upon the earth corrected and amended and therefore were they saved or preserved by wisdom c. Out of which golden words I gather first That the heathen men were ignorant in the mysteries and abstruse operations of God because they wanted the true spirit of wisdom which God revealeth unto his Elect by the vertuous infusion and influxion of his holy Spirit Next that for this reason the subject of true Philosophy is not to be found in Aristotle's works but in the Book of truth and wisdom forasmuch as it is a copy of the revealed Word Thirdly that it is a great folly for Christians to seek for the truth where it is not to be found I mean in the works of the pagan Philosophers and that is made manifest forasmuch as it contradicteth altogether the verity of Scriptures and therefore it is pronounced by St. James to be terrene animal and diabolicall Verbum saepienti CHAP. XIII A conclusion of this work including an admonition unto all good Christians to beware of the Ethnick Philosophy and to stick and cleave fast unto that which is taught us by the Scriptures and that for reasons herein set down LEt it now be lawfull for me in the concluding of this Section O ye Europaeans who seem so seriously and zealously to spend your daies in the Christian Religion to turn the sharp edge of my pen and the rougher file of my speech unto you who being too too much seduced by the fals doctrin of Aristotle do think and imagine the meteors but especially lightning and thunder to be a common natural thing of little or no estimation at all as being onely produced of nature by reason of a hot distemper of the air I would request you as a true Christian ought unto his brethren to observe well and attend with diligence this admonition which I will for a Farewell bestow upon you beseeching you not to scorn or reject my precedent assertion whith hath told and sufficiently proved unto you that the lightnings and thunders yea and all other meteors are the immediate works of Gods hand being that by this endeavour of mine you may not onely bring a comfort and consolation unto your soules when you hear the terrible voice of the Lord and make you to call to mind your passed sins and iniquities and to pray him heartily to pardon you and not to call your offences unto an account in his anger but also give the honour and glory unto him who thundering from above worketh marvellously I would have you therefore to know that the worldly wise-men of this our Christian world who are as it were pages or followers of the Ethnick Philosophers have hitherto blindly or after the manner of lunatick persons erred in their imaginations forasmuch as they being instructed in the blind wisdom of this world by their Ethnick tutors and doctors will not be brought to believe that God doth work immediately all things in heaven and in earth onely by his word but mediately namely by other necessary natural or supernatural means as essential efficient causes when as the holy Text doth in plain terms instruct us that it is one the self-same essence which doth act and operate all in all by his word using each creature onely as his organ or instrument wherein and by the which he moveth and worketh his will Is not this their tenet or assertion I beseech you altogether opposite and contradictory unto the divine authority which saith Though there be that are called gods whether in heaven or in earth as there be many gods and many lords yet unto us there is but one God which is that Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him But every man hath not that knowledge c Out of which words we may gather that though we worldlings attribute this or that work unto angels or stars or winds or a created nature according unto the doctrine of the Ethnick wisdom yet such true Christian Philosophers as St. Paul was dâ—d acknowledge but one God of whom proceed all actions in this world and one Word by which onely and not by any creature in the world each thing is immediately effected in this world All which although unto reall Christians it seemeth verity and truth yet unto the Philosophers and wise men of this world this kind of doctrine issuing from the heavenly wisdom is rejected and derided And why Forsooth because as the Text doth teach us every man hath not this knowledge and the reason is because they respect more the wisdom of this world which is terrene and animal and as St. Paul saith meer foolishness before God then that which is from above namely from the Father of light Et sic evanuerunt in imaginationibus suis And so they did vanish in their imaginations I heartily wish you therefore which are brought up and made familiar in the holy Bible and nourished spiritually and guided by the law of our Lord Jesus Christ to conceive seriously and perpetually to revolve with your selves that God created the first consistence of things namely the humid and fluid waters by his word and they remain in the word and by the word in the self-same humid or moist estate as they did even unto this very day Also he framed out of this catholick water the heaven and the earth by his word as St. Peter saith Again he did produce by his said word the light in heaven the Sun the Moon the Starrs the day the night and all other creatures and did ordain them to serve for divers Organs by the which he might variously act or operate his volunty as well in heaven above as in the earth and waters beneath All which do move and work in and by the Word
granting or positive emanation and privative or negative condition which are as I have said both good in him who is nothing but pure goodnesse in his simple and absolute nature and therefore are one in him who is sincere unity in himself Whereupon the wise Philosopher not disagreeing in this from Scriptures saith Non est â—n monade divinâ nisi unum bonum ab ipso enim factore nihil malum nihilque turpe In the divine essence there is not any thing but unity and goodnesse for from the Creator there is neither evill nor filthinesse And for this cause when Job saw that God did strike him as it seemed to him without a cause forasmuch as he was a just man and as the Text saith according unto Gods heart he being egged forward notwithstanding all his pains with a pious zeal towards his Creator though he knew that his affliction proceeded from the hiding of his Maker's countenance from him did break forth into these terms Et tamen absit à Deo impietas ab Omnipotente iniquitas And yet for all that far be it from me that I should deem any impiety to be in God or that iniquity should proceed from the Almighty It is most apparent unto the sleightest Philosopher that God is conversant in the created nature as well about corruption and privation as generation and position and yet no good Christian can be ignorant but that either of these opposite properties so familiar in one sincere essence is absolutely good in that it is compleatly excellent in goodness in it self although nothing is more terrible fearfull abominable and wicked to the creature than is his own death and corruption If we Christians deny the property in the Ideal unity namely as well to deprive the creature of his life by withdrawing his act of life from it into it self we may justly imagine our selves to be inferiouâ— in judgment unto the Infidell Poets and Philosophers who do verifie this fore-mentioned axiom of the wise-man Bonum malum vita mors honestas paupertas à Deo sunt Good and eviâ—l life and death riches and poverty are all from God Whereby he intimateth that this one essentiall divinity operateth oppositely in the created world by a two-fold differing property Their Allegoricall story is this Proclus follâ—wing the antient Theology of Orpheus Ilesiode Euripides and Eschylus which personages have inveloped in their fabulous Counts or Stories such hidden secrets as they had learned of divine persons and such as were profoundly seen in the mysteries of God doth decipher the properties of the supream and archetypicall Son under the shadow of the visible and typicall Sun in this manner expressing thereby that one and the same eternall essence doth operate all in all as well privatiâ—ly as poâ—â—tivly These Poets tearm it by the name of Apollo in the day-time because they pretend that in his position and benigne nature which is manifested by the vivifying property of the Sun he composeth the creature of seven parts fo◠〈◊〉 â—he quaternary number the Pythagoreans did signifie matter which is â—â—amed of the Elements for it is the square oâ— 2 which is an unperfect number and therefore doth deâ—ipher matter and by the ternary which is the number of perfection they express the form of things so that these two numbers united do make up the septenary number whiâ—h doth inâ—lude the perfect complement of the creature Again they intitle it Dionysius in the night time namely in his dark and privative disposition saying that under this name he useth to tear and divide that creature into seven pieces which under the title of Apollo or in his positive property or solar and divine nature it had composed So that they seem to argue that the self-same unity in essence is the author as well of destruction and corruption as of the generation and vivification of the creature but they therefore tearm it according unto the variety of his property by a differing name no otherwise than the Cabalist calls it in his hidden and privative property Aleph tenebrosum or darâ— Aleph namely when he keepeth in his beams of life in himself or withdraweth his face from the creature and Aleph lucidum or light Aleph when he shineth forth unto it and extendeth his beams of life upon it By this therefore we Christian may see that the very Pagans did grant or acknowledge that which the Scriptures do testifie though it be by an allegoricall way concluding with them that it is onely in the power of one and the same radicall unity to save or destroy to give life or take it away to will or to nill and in conclusion to operate all and in all and that according unto its pleasure Thus have we confirmed that the two members of an opposite condition or disposition do spring out of one eternall root and that they operate in this world by clean contrary effects and consequently that since the mass of waters whereof as St Peter doth testifie the heavens and the earth were made of old did come out of the dark chaos and was as it were her second birth which the Poets feigne to be Pan or the universall nature it is easie to be considered by the wise Philosopher that this passive portion of the world is by a naturall instinct inclined to darkness and unto all the privative conditions thereof so that if it were not for the formall portion of the world which proceeded from that bright spirit of wisdom which Solomon calleth The vapour of the vertue of God and the sincere emanation of the brightnesse of the omnipotent and the splendour of the divine liâ—ht and the mirrour without all spot of his goodnesse that divided the waters into distinct orbes or sphears and gave a proportionall weight unto the aire and tyed or hanged up the waters in the thick clowds by measure and gave orders unto the rain and made a passage for the lightnings of the thunders if it were not I say for the act of this Spirit all things would be alike It is this Spirit that said Ab ore altissimi prodij retunditatem coelorum circumivi solus in profundo abâ—ssi ambulavi I came out from the mouth of IEHOVA and compassed about the heavens I walked in the profundity of the abysse c. It was the bright wisdom which IEHOVA did possesse in the beginning of his waies before his works before all time before the world was made when there was not any abysse before there was any fountain before the mountains were raised or the earth created When he made the heavens it was there when he did fortify the superiour waters it was there when the limits of the sea were framed lest the waters should passe their bounds When he gave the earth her foundation it was there with him as a helper to compose all things To conclude by it all was formally made and
there is not any bodily substance that is viod of a soul and that the world and every part thereof doth consist of a body therefore there is an intermediate spirit betwixt this soul and body which they neither call a soul or a body but a mean substance participating of them both to reduce both extreams together into one The wiser sort of Alchymists do make the Soul a certain infinite nature or power in all things which doth procreate like things of their like for this nature doth engender all things yea and multiplieth and nourisheth or sustaineth them and they also style it the Ligament or bond of the elements since by it they are fastned together with the Symphoniacal accords of peaceable harmony although of themselves that is in regard of their matter they are dissonant Also it is termed the true virtue that mingleth and proportionateth every thing in this sublunary world allotting unto each specifick creature a convenient and well agreeing form that thereby one thing might be distinguished and made to vary from another and in conclusion the mysticall Rabbies do averre that this occult fire is that Spirit of the Lord or fiery love which when it moved upon the waters did impart unto them a certain harmonious and hidden fiery vertue without whose lovely assistance and favorable heat nothing could be generated of them or multiplied in them Thus you may discern the manifold opinions as well of Christian as Heathen Philosophers touching this Anima mundi or soul of the world which will appear to vary little or nothing at all from the tenent of Holy Scripture in sense but in words onely Neither are these their opinions so hainous or abominable as some more superstitiously zealous than truly understanding Christians of this our Age will make them if they will scan the matter wisely and with moderation for then they shall really perceive that it doth concurre with the Bible of Truth And to confirm what I now say my purpose is in the first place to expresse unto each learned and well minded Reader the harmony of the Scriptures touching this point and then I will compare every one of the foresaid opinions with the sense and grounds of the said harmony that each wise man may thereby the better conjecture and guesse at the truth of the business before he shall rashly enter into the censuring of that deep and profound mystery which concerneth the Divine action in naturall effects I told you in my precedent discourse that the Eternall Unity which is the God of gods and Beginning of beginnings did cause by a double property in one essence two divers principles to issue out of himself whereof the one was potentiall and no way as yet inacted by the brightnesse of his emanation and in that respect is termed Darkness privation Nolunty opposit to Light and a friend unto death and rest The other was actuall and nothing else but a pure catholick form and brightness which is tearmed Light Position Volunty and in nature opposit to Darknesse and a friend unto life and action or motion And then I signified unto you that by the bright appearance of Eternity or the Eternall Spirit of Wisdom which I termed with the Scriptures the radiant emanation or effluxion from the Almighty which is all one with him in essence the deformed waters were inacted and made manifest out of this dark Principle or Chaos that is reduced from Potentia Divina or the Divine Puissance without form in which they abode into Actum Divinum the Divine Act and because all the humid and passive catholick nature of which both the heavens and the earth were framed did issue from this Mass of watery matter which the Poets call Pana or the second birth of Chaos we must imagine it to be that spirituall matter of the world which was made fertill and multiplicable by reason of that hidden active and formall Light or invisible fire which this increated emanation imparted unto it immediatly before the creation of the heavens and the earth Whereupon the holy Text hath it Spiritus Domini serebatur super aquas The Spirit of the Lord moved or was carried upon the waters And as St. Aâ—gustin addeth to it igneum illis vigorem impâ—râ—ieâ—s Bestowâ—ng upon thâ—m a fiery vigor or formall and actâ—ve vertue Now as we see that Man which is called the little-world is composed of soul and body whereof the soul is his heaven or spirituall part or as we may say the superiour and higher waters and the body with the humours thereof as it were the lower waters is the earth and gâ—osser humouâ—s and each of these two are informed united and vivified by the Spirit of life which God inspired into it even so we may observe that the heaven or spirituall humid nature of the great world is animated by the eternall emanation or spirit of the supernaturall wisdom of God to give life and figure unto the world And forasmuâ—h as it is eaâ—ie to discern that the macro cosmicall heavens are of two sorts namely composed of upper spirituall waters which are called Aeâ—her or heavenly and of the lower spirituall waters which are called Aer or elementary no otherwise than in the lesser world or man the receptacle of the heavenly spirit is known to be Aer so that Physitians distinguish by reason of this difference between the vitall or aetheriall spirits and the naturall or elementary body So we ought to consider that this materiall humid spirit of the heavens in both worlds which are the subtlety of the waters are in themselves dead but in respect of the super-celestiall emanation into them which informeth and vivifieth them they live move and are thinner or thicker according unto that more or less formall grace which the all-informing Spirit doth allot them for the more the sacred Spirit of life doth abound or really act in this or that region of the universall aire the more that sphear is thin subtle active worthy and noble Doth not Scripture seem to verifie that Deus sapientia sua aptet pondus aeri appendat aquas in mensura fecerit terram in fortitudine sua preparaverit orbem in sapientia sua prudentia sua extenderit coelos appenderit aquilonem super inane suspenderit terram super nihilum In coelorum structura cum Deus stabiliret fundâ—menta terrae ipsa aderat cuncta componens And again Wisdom saith Ex ore altissimi prodii primogenita ante omnem creaturam in initio ante seculum creata sum usque ad futurum seculum non desinam habitatione sancta coram ipsum ministravi In coelis â—eci ut oriretur lumeninde ficiens sicut nebula texâ— omnem terram In altissimis habitavi thronus meus in columna nubis coeli gyrum circuivi sola profundum abyssi penetravi in fluctibus maris ambulavi in omni terra sâ—eti Feci Arcturum Orionem converti in
mane tenebras diem in noctem mutavi vocavi aquas maris effudi eas super terrae faciem Coelos den que mediante Spiritu meo ornavit Deus converti coelum in gyro in locum suum uno die omniaque numero pondâ—re meâ—sura disposuit temperavit God by his wisdom giveth proportion of weight unto the aire hangeth the waters in measure He made the earth in his strength prepared the world in his wisdome and extended the heavens by his prudency He hanged the North upon emptinesse and inâ—nity and ballanced the earth upon nothing For she was present at the building of the heavenâ— and it was â—he that did compasse and fashion out all things When God did establish the foundations of the earth she was present and composed all things And in another plaâ—e this Spirit of wisdom saith I came out of the mouth of the most high being first-born or brought forth before any creature I was created in the beginning before all ages neither shall my beeing cease in the latter age of the world and I do administer before him in his holy habitation I caused a never failing light to rise in the heavens and I covered the earth after the manner of a mist. I dwelled in the highest places and my throne was in a câ—owdy pillar I alone did compasse round about the heavens and did penetrate into the profundâ—â— of the abysse and I walked in the waves of the seas and I stood upon every earth I made the North or pole-star and Orion and I turned the darknesse into day and the day unto night I called the waters of the seas and poured them out upon the face of the earth I turned the heavens about unto his place in one daies space To conclude God adorned the heavens by my spirit and did proportionate and temper all things in number weight and measure c. By which testimonyes it is most apparent that all changes alterations actions ornaments of beauty motions numbers weights measures and consequently all diversities that are made in the generall homogeniall mass of the waters are effected by this vivifying emanation of the benigne and bright spirit of the eternall Unity whose root is the Word for in verity according unto St. Paul it is onely this Spirit that doth operate all in all And therefore I must needs conclude with the kingly Prophet and say Opera Dei mirabilia ampla sunt quae omnia fecisti in sapientia The works of God are marvellous and ample which thou hast effected in thy wisdom And again Verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli Spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum By the word of the Lord the heavens were fashioned and fastned and by the Spirit of his mouth each vertue thereof Which words do seem to infer not onely the materiall substance of the world which is intimated by that word Heavens but also the inacting form that is the vivifying beginning of all things which hath no beginning and this is signified by the Word and his off-spring the Spirit from the which the waters first received their beeing and then of these catholick waters were the heavens the earth and elements made in number weight and measure that is to say were effected by a subdivision through the spagerick act of the self-same word or spirit And therefore St. Peter hath it Coeli erunt priùs terra de aquis per aquas consistentes verbo Dei The heavens and the earth were of old of waters and by waters consisting by the word of God As who should say after the Spirit of the Lord had issued out of the dark abyss for it is said Verbum erat in principio The Word was in the beginning and had given act and form and consequently a name unto the waters for it was said that the Spirit of the Lord was carried upon the waters the same Spirit did operate to reveal explicitely and particularly that which the Chaos did at the first contain in it self complicitely and confusedly and that in a generality wherefore when it had revealed the universall matter of all things which was water it did by little and little anatomise it and open the secret closets thereof to shew forth and make manifest that which from all eternity lay hid in it and was without form or beeing and therefore esteemed rightly for Nothing And first the substance of the world was made of it in generall as it appeareth by this Text Manus omnipotentis mundunt ex informi materia effecit The hand of the Omnipotent did make the world of a matter without form or shape And as St. Jerom interpreteth it Ex materia invisa Of an unseen or invisible thing Then that watry and humid substance was divided into the heaven and earth in distinguishing the waters from the waters by the same Spirit which is the ministring hand of the Almighty for the Text hath it In habitatione sancta coram ipso ministravi I did administer before him in the holy habitacle And again Sapientia apud ipsum fuit cuncta componens Wisdom was she that composed all things with God And this was the second daies work Then the lower waters were divided into elements namely earth water aire c. and that was the third daies separation as Moses doth methodically demonstrate All which Hermes expresseth thus as is said before Ex luminis voce verbum factum prodit verum hoc naturae humidae astans eam fovebat Ex humidae autem naturae visceribus sincerus ac levis ignis protenus evolans alta petit aer quoque levis spiritûs parens in mediam regionem inter aquam ignem sortiebatur terra verò aqua sic invicem commixta jacebant ut terrae facies obruta nusquam pateret The word which was made did issue out of the Light 's voice and this Word being present and assistant unto the humid nature did foster and preserve it Then the light fire proceeding out of the bowells of the humid nature soared or mounted aloft The thin air aâ—sâ— which is the father of the spirit did elect the middle region which is between the fire and the water for his abode The earth and water did lie so intermingled together that the face of the earth was no where overflowed or drowned by the waters Whereby it is evidently proved that this thin spirituall water or humid nature in it self is no more than mans spirit without the vivifying act of life for as in the soul of every creature that liveth there are two things chiefly to be required namely an Agent and a Patient so where the one of these are wanting there can be no created soul for if that the world's life was onely the essentiall breath of God without the vehicle of the created humid spirit which is the matter of heaven then that life would be simple identity and of one and the same property
in its simple and separated estate Damascene seemeth to define it thus Anima est subâ—tantia spiritualis a divinis fontibus emanaâ—s simplex indissolubilis immoâ—â—alâ—s libeâ—a incorporea indivisibilis quantitate figura pondere colore carens The sâ—â—l is a spirituall sâ—bstance flowing from the divine fountains simple indâ—ssolvable immortall free incorporealâ— indivisible wanting quantity figure waight and colour Unto this also Bernard seemeth to consent And Augustin defineth it thus Est mens divâ—na omnia intelligens omnibusque se assimilans It is a divine Spirit that understandeth all things and doth câ—nform it self unto the shape or lâ—kenesâ— of all things And for this reason certain Philosophers say that it is made after the likeness of the Spirit of Wisdome which is known to be the Image of God For it beareth the likeness of every thing in it self Wherefore it is defined by them to be the similitude of all things And verily it hath in it self this power to apprehend and find out all things Again it is like unto all things being that it is one in all There are some of the â—â—viner sort of Mysticall Philosophers that seem to conclude mans soul more fully in this definition Anima est lux quaedam divina ad imaginem Verbi causae causarum primi exemplaris creata sâ—bstantia Dei sigilioque figurata cuâ—us character est verbum aeâ—â—num The soul is a certain divine Light created after the Image of the Word the caâ—se of causâ—s and the first exemplaâ— or image c. Another defines it thus Est res incorporea omni decore adornata Sanctae Trinitati â—ssimiâ—ata 〈◊〉 nae gloriae coaquata It is an incorporeall thing whâ—ch is adorned with all virtue likned to or resembâ—â—ng the Holy Trinity and coâ—equated unto eternall glory Some do describe it thus Est Spiritus intellectualis semper vivens semper in mâ—tâ— sâ—cundum sui operis efficâ—â—m variis nuncupatur nominibus Dicitur vita dum vegetat spiritus dum contemplatur sensus dum sentit animus dum sapit mens dum intelligit ratio dum dâ—scernit mem ria dum recordatur dum vuli voluntas at isla omnia non sunt nâ—si una essentia seâ— proprietate diversa It is an intellectuall Spirit alwaies living alwaies in motion and in respect of its divers operations in the body it hath divers appellations assigned unto it For it is called life in regard of its vâ— vificative and vegetative property It is called a Spirit as it is conversant about contemplation and is a spirituall substance and breatheth in the body it is called sense as it is imploied about the Act of sensation it is termed Animus when it operateth in Knowledg and Wisdome and it is named Mens in regard of its Divine Understanding and Memory as it doth remember again as it is affected to will any thing it is called Voluntas and all these names decipher but onely one Anima or Soul in essence but divers and sundry properties or faculties c. And these later descriptions are assigned unto this vivifying Spirit as it is conversant with the body Now if we shall duly examine all these delineations of the essence and properties of this Anima as well in her freedom from the body as when it is included in it we shall find it not to vary one jot from the tenor of my precedent assertion For first we shall observe it to be in its essentiall virtue the off-spring of the eternall emanation which came immediatly from God for the inacting of all things and then that it hath for its substantiall Vehicle the thin subtile created spirit of the world which maketh it alteritatem or a composition of two namely of the bright emanation from the eternall Fountain and therefore in the foresaid definitions it is tearmed in regard of this its interior in the first a Spirituall Substance flowing from the divine Fountain in the second mens divina in the third the Image of similitude of the divine Wisdome in the fourth a divine Light after the Image of the Word the substance of God whose character is the Word in the fifth the similitude of the Holy Trinity coaequated unto the divine Glory Secondly it participates of the mundane spirit and therefore it is by the sixth and seventh tearmed in regard of its substance a spirit that breatheth in the body and it is the Vehicle of the formall act which is in truth the divine mentall beam being considered in it self as the substantiall and materiall spirit in its simple nature it is that which participateth with the created spirit of the world The union of these two is called anima so that anima includeth mentem and spiritum or the divine and created nature in one which filleth all and animateth and vivifieth all things according to the assertion of such Gentile and Ethnick Philosophers as I have cited before which I will prove no way to dissent or vary from the testimony of the holy Text. And to make this the plainer I will compare them in order And first I will begin my relation with the Cabalists great Angell whom they call Mitaitron which by interpretation is Donum Dei the Gift of God which as they say is the catholick intellectuall Agent from the which all peculiar forms do descend The Apostle saith that the Lord doth vivifie all things And Solomon saith that the Spirit of Wisdom is the tree of life and the fountaiâ— or beginning of life and if this Spirit be the fountain of life then the Son of Syrach effudit Deus illam supra omnia opera sua supra omnem carnem secundum datum suum God poured it out upon all his works and upon all flesh in his measure And this was that catholick angelicall Spirit which God sent out as a Spirituall Messenger from himself and out of himself in the form of an emanation to move upon the waters and to inform and vivify them and give life and being not onely to the great world but also to every particular thereof and the emanation was this Word of God by whom all things were made and vivified forasmuch as in it was life I mean that Christ which filleth all things who is all in all as the Apostle saith who in the beginning made the earth and the heavens were the work of his hands and after his creation of all things he doth as St. Paul telleth us portare omnia verbo virtutis suae bear up suffer and sustain all things by the vivifying virtue of this Word Which also David confirmeth in this Verbo Domini firmati sunt coeli Spiritu ab ore ejus omnis virtus eorum By the Word of the Lord the heavens were framed and setled and by the breath of his mouth all the virtues thereof namely the life preservation and being The Apostle therefore seemeth to conclude thus Deus non aliquo indigens
therefore doth all life consist ex caliâ—o essentiali humido radicali of essentiall heat as the masculine or active and radicall moisture as the female or passive This region therefore is referred unto the vitall soul in man and hath relation unto the square as well of form as matter which is in the midst between the cube and the root The third part of the Tabernacle was the Sanctum sanctorum and doth represent the super-celestiall or intelligible soul or emperiall spirit forasmuch as his substance is almost light and fire and it is thought to be the seat of the Angells which are the ministers of their great Prince the Lord of light And this is argued by the presence of the two Cherubins or fiery Angells which with their wings do shadow the propitiatory This heaven hath his relation unto the intellect in man which the Hebrews call Nessaniah and the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latins Mens or the mentall beam which hath the dominion in mans soul. So that we may discern that in the great world the angelicall heaven being most formall and fiery is as it were the soul of the aetheriall heaven for by it and from it this region receiveth his life's motion and being as also by the like proportion the celestiall or aetheriall heaven is the soul or agent of the elementary region For by means of the Sun Moon and Starrs which dart down their beams and influences upon the earth as arrowes against a butt the earth and water and all things therein do act and live and generate and multiply so that the heavens are esteemed by all Philosophers to be the Male and the earth and other elements the Females between the which all generations are made in and upon the earth and in the sea for the earthly body cannot operate without a heavenly touch yea even man himself requireth for his generation the heavenly act and aid and therefore Aristotle concludeth that sol homo generat hominem the sun and man doth ingender a man Again all Philosophers in generall agree in this namely that superiora agunt in inferiora more maris in foeminam the superior bodies do operate upon the inferiors as the man upon the woman And the Maxim of all such Cabalists as are conversant in the mysticall Theology averr that omnes res inferiores sunt representativae superiorum sicut fit inferius sic agitur superius All inferiour things are representours or images of the superiours and such as the inferiours are such also are the superiours And in verity a notable person and well seen in this abstruce learning doth aver that the aeviall or angelicall heaven is framed after the pattern of the eternall and ideall world and the temporall elementary heaven or region is the image of the celestiall or aetheriall so that the images and the actions of the darker world have their ideall shapes in and from the lighter and starry world and the starry world's shapes and actions were first delineated in the intellectuall or angelicall one and they again proceed originally from the radicall pattern without beginning in the Archetype I conclude therefore that both Theology and the mysticall Philosophy do consent that God is well pleased with the holy ternary which is the first odd number in the Arithmeticall progression for we Christians honour a Trinity of Persons in one Deity and Aristotle saith That we are instructed by a naturall kind of instinct or habit to honour God after the number of three and he speaketh in this but reason being that in the ideall world there was three properties extracted out of one unity after whose example the reall world was afterward made so that the Trinity in Divinity was the root of all the worlds formall composition For by the root 3 the intellectuall or angelicall world was deciphered by the square 9 the celestiall world and by the cube 27 the elementary as by the Platonick learning we may gather But as for the Cabalisticall Rabbies they consider the quantitative proportions of this Ternary after another manner for as the cube of three consists of three 9 so they take these three 9 order them in this ternary position 999 which makes nine hundred ninety and nine So that after the rule of Algorism the first 9 towards the right hand is a simple digital number which because of its simplicity formality and essentiality is attributed by them unto the nine orders of Angells which belong unto the intelligible world The middle 9 importing so many Tens doth seem to partake one way of form or simplicity and on the other hand of matter and therefore they allot it unto the nine orbes or sphears of the starry heaven The third 9 which is the place of Hundreds importeth a deeper and more materiall composition belonging unto the elementary world all which do at the last terminate in Man who is as it were a passage after the figure of unity from them unto celestiall things and from thence unto intellectuall To conclude unity in whom the Philosophers Leucippe did place the soveraign good and happinesse being added unto the three novenaries will make a compleat thousand which is the cube often and the end of all numbers according to the Hebraick calculation Also the square of 3 which is 9 by addition of Aleph which is 1 produceth a Denary or the number of 10 beyond the which as Aristotle averreth no man hath ever found any number After the foresaid type therefore or image the antient Law did make a partition of the fruits and goods proceeding from the earth ordaining the centenary number as being more material and grosse unto the Laicks and proâ—ane persons the tenths it ordained allotted to the Church-men Priests or Levites but the unity or denary it reserved for Gods portion who as is proved before being all is nevertheless but one even as from the trunck of a Tree do issue many branches and from those branches again many sprigs and yet are all continuated and undevided from that one trunck from which they have their life and being or as from one body of the Sun an infinity of beams do spring not separated from the essence of that Sun But to return unto our purpose The said Cabalists have adapted and fitted the name of their great Angell which they take for the soul of the world unto this very triple ternary or formall proportion namely 999. arguing thereby his radicall his square and his cubicall extention or emission of his divine form unto the profundity of matter and consequently that he is Aâ—pha and Omega the vivifier of all and present in all and through all For the Letters of the name Mitattron sar hapanim which signifieth the Prince of Faces which is taken for the soul of the world after the calculation of the Hebrewes amount unto 999. and therefore this name with Letters befitting do import this number and yet neverthelesse with this
follow that there are differing Angelicall spirits which correspond in nature and condition unto each divine property under which they do administer in this world so that by these spirituall organs or angelicall instruments the beams and brightnesse of the eternall influence do descend first into the starry region of the temporall world and afterwards are shoured down into the elementary sphears and penetrate even into the bowells of the earth and dark abysse to operate the will of that eternall and radicall essence which sent them forth by which means the spirit of sapience is rightly said to be in the heavens above and in the abysse beneath and to fill or replenish all and lastly to operate all in all And lastly taketh into his consideration some special particular object well known unto the world that by the experimentall enquiry or searching out of his hidden nature he might practically maintain and ocularly prove that unto the incredulous world concerning the mystery of Sympathy and Antipathy which before he had onely expressed and verified Theorically or by speculation The Loadstone or minerall calamite therefore is the mark at which he aimeth or subject which he electeth for this purpose being that the effects of its secret and occult properties do most aptly correspond unto those of the animal vegetable and minerall Wherefore he prepareth in this Book a way by the anatomization and ripping up the fardell of this marvellous stone's occult nature that thereby he might with the better speed make his entry unto such experimentall conclusions and comparisons between the one and the other as shall be at large described and set forth in the third Book of this History that thereby the nature and condition of the animal may be discovered and demonstrated by that of the minerall And lastly for a conclusion unto this Book he sheweth the folly of such persons as being masked or overlaid with ignorance do imagine that any magneticall action can be effected essentially by the devills artifice or power averring confidently that the devill is able to effect nothing but by naturall means which also is rather ordained for the use of man then of the devill and consequently that man which useth the naturall creatures which the devill hath practised on to work wickednesse is no way culpable of Cacomagy as vain men would have it being that the righteous use of the creature for which God did ordain it is not therefore to be rejected because the devill with his adherents do unrighteously abuse them by converting them to mischief CHAP. I. That Sympathy is the off-spring of Light as Antipathy hath its beginning from Darkness The Etymology or true signification of both words as also the natures of them both are herein described SInce the radical and essential Unity with its two opposite branches or properties which are the characters of his Nolunty and Volunty have in generall terms been thus evidently described unto you with the two catholick effects thereof namely love and hatred and all those passions as well spirituall as corporall which are derived from them whether they be good or bad in respect of the creature that suffereth I think it now most fit to enter into our main discourse and to anatomise the secret bowels of that Sympathy and Antipathy which is not onely seen and made manifest in naturall but also supernaturall creatures by effect For no man of learning can be so ignorant and blind being instructed by daily experience which is the mother even of very fools as not to discern the hidden miracles both of heavenly and earthly things daily shining forth in Sympathy and Antipathy that is in concords and discords which are caused by reason of a secret league or friendship which is betwixt them even from their very mixtion in their first creation But before we presume to enter into this profound discovery it will be requisite to lay open the signification or Etymology of them both that thereby we may the better conceive their distinct natures and essences Sympathia is a Greek word namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est una cum or one with and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is passio or passion which pâ—oceedeth from the Verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. patior or I suffer as Antipathia is composed of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. contra or against and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that the first imports a passion bred of unity concord and love tearmed more properly compassion and the other an odible passion mooved by two resisting and fighting natures of a contrary fortitude I may therefore rightly define Sympathy to be a consent union or concord between two spirits shining forth or having their radical emanation from the self-same or the like divine property As for example All creatures that participate of those benigne emanations or beams which are sent out from God by his Angelicall Organs into the orbe of Jupiter are from thence emitted down to the earth and are conferred upon a multitude of creatures that were created under this property which for that reason do shine forth and emit their beams unto one another here upon earth lovingly and joyfully namely because they proceed all from one root which descendeth unto Jupiter also such as are friends to Jupiter or like unto him in condition send down influences in creatures which are acceptable unto such as live from their nativities and are sustained and have their complexionary faculties from Jupiter and therefore they send forth beams of friendship or benignity unto one another as are also Venus c. But contrariwise where the influences which are adverse in property or of an opposit divine emanation are sent down unto the Planet Mars which is enemy to Jupiter and from thence are poured out on creatures beneath there will be ill and unwelcome encounters made between the secret emissions of those creatures beams So that one by a naturall instinct doth seek to fly and escape the encounters of the other or to resist and fight against the other as shall more largely and plainly be expressed unto you hereafter But because the generall cause of all Sympathy and Antipathy is a hidden and secret emanation or shining forth by emission of beams from one creature unto another it will be most requisite for us to unloose the fardle of this profound business that we may the plainlier behold and contemplate the fountain and root of all beames and eradiations in generall and thereby unfold and lay open the mysticall reason of their difference and follow their extensions even from the root unto the trunâ—k and from it unto the boughs and branches and from those branches to descend even unto the individuall twigs which nourish and foster an infinity of leaves and bring forth fruit in abundance CHAP. II. How and by what Attributes or properties the Hebrew Rabbies and profoundest Cabalists do proove thaâ— contrariety of natures
upon them but are preserved by assiâ—ual succession of their beamy influence and consequently all things that are so made by the celestiall influxion is the type or image of those celestiall spirits whose beams did make them wherefore it must needs follow by Alkindus his rule that if they are the types or images of the celestiall shapes which did fashion them they must in like manner emit their beams though invisibly no otherwise then the starrs do from which they draw the influence of their beeing For we must know as I proved in my Radicall Inquisition that the essentiall beams descending from God to the Angels and from the Angels unto the Starrs and from the Starrs unto the creatures are continuall because indivisible For there is no formed Virtue issuing from God that can be separated from its Fountain which being so it must needs follow that they shine forth out of the body in which they are unto other lights which are sent out from other creatures no otherwise then one star of heaven doth behold another in this or that aspect Wherefore mark me well what I now say I told you that each star in heaven hath his friend and he â—hath his enemy I told you that the reason of this opposition as well among the Angells as starrs of heaven was the diversity of the Volunty of God which was the cause of such opposite Attributes as are by the Hebrew Text which the Cabalisticall Rabbies do approve of expressed and avouched I proceed therefore thus and say That if in the heavenly harmony it happeneth that there is a potent aspect or streaming forth of beams which concurreth with the irradiation of the aethereall or starry Lord of life of the thing generated or produced being animal vegetable or minarell And that if by Emanation the star so partaking with the Lord of Life be an utter enimy unto the Lord of Life then will the spirit of that creature so generated or made be subject to discordant passions as fear anger sadness and suspition and that especially when the enemy unto the Lord of Life being more potent in the celestiall Scheme or Horoscop doth apply unto the Lord of Life being any way debilitated by an evill aspect So that this way happeneth a kind of insensible antipatheticall perturbation unto the spirit of the thing so generated or produced Also if the thing produced or generated do begin his nativity when the enemy was most potent in heaven then when his proper Lord and he be joyned with the first Lord in any bad aspect if at that time that creature be brought into the presence of that other creature which was first mentioned there must needs be an antipatheticall distast in the spirit of the first because the Genius of the last is timorous and affraid of the Genius of the first which is his enemy being more powerfull and therefore the two earthly subjects of these different starrs being present and emitting the beams of their nature those beams must of necessity work antipathetically with one another and the strongest must prevail no otherwise than the two starrs of heaven which made the mixtion of beams were enemies But you must note and observe that though the stronger beams be antipatheticall unto the weaker it followeth not that the weaker beams be antipatheticall unto the stronger being alwaies that the stronger passion is in the weaker as the action remaineth in the stronger But if the Subject of a star in heaven be brought in on earth unto the subject of his enemy in heaven if there was not in the nativity any aspect between them they operate not antipathetically with their beams being present and yet their natures or beams will be by so much the more inclined to actuall opposition if at the time of their meeting the enemies aspect on one another with an evill aspect in heaven As for example If that Jupiter be Lord of the nativity or production of the thing and Mars do aspect him in a quadrat or opposit aspect and this creature suppose it be a Man doth meet with a Cat the Lord of whose nativity is Mars most powerfull in heaven aspecting Jupiter with a malevolent irradiation then will the sight of this Cat be unpleasant unto that Man But the truth is that there may be some fixt star which is the assigned originall or protector of the cat or animal of what nature soever which may be antipatheticall unto the fixt star with the Planet in it that have dominion over the cat But contrariwise if the beams of two Planets or signs or more do meet or concurre in one and the same generation or production of a thing where the star which hath most dominion is Lord of the thing be it animal or vegetable or mineral and these Planets are friends to one another then if any other Subject present it self which is fashioned by the beams of the other Planet these two Subjects emitting their beams upon the earth will love each other and sympathetically agree with one another and so much the greater will their Sympathy be unto one another by how much they accord unto one another in nature property and benevolence of aspect in the instant of their nativities or beginnings As for example If Jupiter be Lord of a man's nativity and aspect Venus and Venus him in a Sextil or Trine aspect and again Venus is the most powerfull in the nativity of a cat or dog and hath a relation by his beams unto Jupiter in a good aspect then I say that there will be a reciprocall affection in Sympathy betwixt both creatures Also if the like friendship be made in heaven at the bringing forth of any vegetable the man or beast will be well pleased at the presence view and tast of that vegetable and if he eate of it it will well agree with his nature And all this is to be understood in things which from their Creation were not ordained quite opposit and antipatheticall unto the creature as are vermin and such like the which nevertheless are made by these concordant irradiations of heaven more amiable and less harmfull yea and more convenient for the use of mans or beasts bodies Also there is since the fall of Adam enmity set between the Serpent and Man and yet by the like confluence in heaven some affect Serpents or Snakes some by the concurrence of contrary beams do loth and fly from them with an exceeding detestation and do abhorre them beyond all measure But to return again unto the root of this business the evident cause of Sympathy and Antipathy of things proceedeth from the radical Mystery of the opposite Attributes or properties in God which have the originall of their Emanation from the secret and hidden Volunty of Eternity as I have told you here before And yet these Astrologians have such reasons from their starry experiences that they all take their Originall of Sympathy or Antipathy from them And hereupon did the
Philosohers in generall conclude that Inferiora à superioribus reguntur that Mundus inferior sit corporibus superioribus contiguus Inferior things aâ—e governed and directed by the superior and the inferior world is contiguous unto the superior bodies And Ptolomy Vultus hujus saeculi subjecti sâ—nt vultibus coeli The effigiesses or shapes of this world are subject unto the images of heaven And Aristotle Est mundus iste supernis lationibus fere continuus ut inde vis ejus universa regatur This world is almost continuall with the supernall lations that thereby his universall power may be governed And Hippocrates De coelestibus autem rebus sublimibus mihi nihil dâ—cendum videtur nisi quatenus homines animaliaque caetera quae in terris degunt gignuntur nataque sunt principia originem inde habere demonstrabo quod anima de coelo est quod dolere languere mori denique quicquid boni malive est in homine de coelo proficiscitur Touching celestiall and Divine matters it seemeth to me that there is nothing to be said save onely that I will demonstrate that men and beasts which live upon the earth and are begotten and born have their beginning and Originall from thence and that the Soul is from heaven and to be dolorous to languish and to die And finally whatsoever is good or bad in man doth proceed from above And for this cause Haly saith Medicus qui Astronomiam ignorat est tanquaem caecus viam baculo examinans huc atque illuc miserabiliter cespitans pro qualibet boni malive-apparentia The Physitian which is ignorant in Astronomy is like a blind man which examineth and searcheth out his way with a staffe miserably reeling this way and that way according to every appearance of good or evil But to come nearer the point Cichus Eschulamus saith That every one of the twelve Signes receiveth his particular and speciall name from the nature or property of some beast because the nature of the one doth seem to symbolize with that of the other And Moses Arabicus saith That every animated thing hath a peculiar star which sendeth down his influence to defend and preserve his like upon earth and that by the divine will and command As for example The Stars which are in Aries govern and send down their influence upon the terrestriall Ram and on sheep and the celestiall Scorpion upon the terrestriall one And Reuclin saith Non est tibi ulla planta aut herba inferiùs cui non est stella in firmamento quae non percutiat eam There is not a herb or plant here below which hath not a star in the firmament to beat on it by his influence To conclude you may discern by this the Astronomers and Philosophers intention namely to take the visible bodies action for that angelicall spirit or vertue which ruleth and vivifieth all things that are beneath and breatheth forth influences out of the starry organs and not the starry sphear as the worldly Ethnicks did imagine who went no deeper into the mysteries of God and his nature than their corporall eyes and ocular experience did guide them But they which have dived more profoundly into these secrets have evidently discerned a more hidden principle in these occult influences Hereupon Hermes saith Dii in astrorum ideis cum signis ecrum conspiciebantur dinumeratae sunt stellae secundum eos qui inhabitant illas Deos The gods were discerned in the idea's of the stars with their signes and the stars are numbered according unto those gods which do inhabit them Where by the gods he meaneth the variety of angelicall emanations which proceed from one unity or he may take the Arch-angels which are the conductors of those severall emanations for gods at which the Apostle doth rightly except when he saith Dii quidem sunt qui dicuntur in coelo in terra nobis tamen unus Deus Pater ex quo omnia unus Dominus Jesus Christus per quem omnia There are such creatures as are called gods in heaven and in earth but unto us there is but one God the Father from whom are all things and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things As if he had said God the Father or the radicall Unity is the fountain from whence all things spring and his catholick emanation the immediate act by which all vertues actions and vivifications are diversly effected according unto his will which sent it out both in heaven and earth So that it is not the Angel but God in the Angel Wherefore Picus Mirandulanuâ— Ad coelum non est referendum si quid à nobis sit quod nostras vires videtur excedere sed potiùs vel ad angelosvel ad Deum If there be any thing from us that exceedeth our power it is not to be referred unto the heavens but rather either to the Angells or to God For this reason therefore Rabbi Moses Angeli non movent semper orbes coelestes eodem modo quo fit ut non semper eodem modo fiant mutationes horum inferiorum maximam namque vim atque potestatem angelica exercet conditio in res corporeas quapropter intellectus agens à quo influunt formae nominatur Angelus appellatur praefectus universitati ut dixerunt Sapientes nostri vocaturque Mitattron a quo quidem gubernantur omnes Virtutes singulares quae pariter Angeli dicuntur quorum est multitudo quoad nos infinita sed quo ad Creatorem determinata finita The Angels do not alwaies move the celestiall orbes after one manner And thereupon it commeth to passe that the mutations of inferiour things are not made after one fashion for the Angelicall condition hath a great force and power over corporall things and therefore the intellectuall agent from which the forms of things do issue or stream forth is tearmed that Angel which is the President of all the world as our wise men have testified and it is called Mitattron of whom all singular vertues are governed the which are likewise called Angels of which kind there is an infinite multitude in regard of us though unto the Creator they are limited and finite And Rabbi Bresitts doth seem to confirm thus much in these words Creator quotidie creat coetum Angelorum quos alii vocant For mas quod sint substantiae formales quibus tota sphaera generabilium corruptibilium absque numero plena est The Creator doth daily create a company of Angels which other men do call Formes because they are formall substances of the which kinde the whole sphear of generable and corruptible things are replenished without number Now by this Intellectus agens or Mitattron forasmuch as it is the President over the whole world which I said before to be that Anima mundi of the Platonists which did animate every particular thing by sending out of an
we see that as well there are good beams or benigne spirits which by a secret and hidden Emanation do stream forth from the fountain of the winds namely those which are poured out by JEHOVA's benigne Attributes as are El by Jupiter Eloach by the Sun Sadai by Venus and then Michael Raphael Gabriel c. do by their Legions execute God's Will And there are bad and corrupt or privative emission of spirits of a contrary fortitude from the winds which have their Originall from Elohim Elohim Gibbor and Adonaia which make Saturn Mars and the Moon their store-house neither would I have any one to wonder that I should derive the multiplicity of the good and the bad properties which are effected by the winds from one Divine essence which imparteth his Will by the diversity of his lively properties unto the 4 Archangells since the Prophet saith Vem spiritus à quatuor ventis insuffla interfectos istos ut revivi scant Come O Spirit from the four winds and breathe on these slain persons that they may live again Here the Prophet acknowledgeth that it is but one essentiall vivifying Spirit that effecteth all this and consequently that the four opposite properties in the four Angells which are the Governors of the winds are the influences or essentiall beams of one and the same Spirit of life in essence By reason of these spirits of a contrary fortitude in the aire sometimes good and propitious events befall the creatures of this lower world namely when the good spirits raigne and wholsome winds do blow which happen when the benign starrs and Planets have dominion in heaven and consequently their influences below and again somtimes bad and dysastrous accidents armed with privative and destructive effects befall the creatures of this Elementary region by reason of severe emissions of beams from the winds which animate those evill spirits that in infinite multitudes do hover though invisible in the aire who are rejoyced and revived at the blasts which issue from the stations of their cruell Princes and are as it were summons and all-arms to stir and excite them unto wrath and to blow the coles of their sleeping malice All this we may gather from this speech extracted out of Joseph Castaliensis A terra usque ad firmamentum non est locus vacuus sed omne plenum formis ex illis purae ex illis capaces gratiae ac mâ—serationum sunt infernis multae effigies foedae noxiae tentatrices omnes commorantes volantes in aëâ—e Et non a terra usque in coelum locus vacuus quin totum sunt species ex iis ad pacem ex iis ad bellum ex iis ad bonum ex iis ad malum ex iis ad vitam ex iis ad mortem omne id in habitatione inferiori in qua nos sumus From the earth unto the firmament there is not a void place but all is full of forms Of the which some are pure and some are capable of grace and mercy and there are beneath many foul hurtfull and tempting shapes and of all these do abide and flie up and down in the aire And from the earth unto the heaven there is not one sparâ— place but all is full of forms whereof some are enclined to peace some to war some of them are given to goodness some to naughtiness and some of them are Agents to life and some unto death and all this chanceth in the lower habitation in the which we are c. Whereby he signifieth that the whole air is replenished as well with spirits of darknesse as with spirits of light And therefore there is a continuall conflict made here below betwixt these spirits of opposit conditions Whereof the one do attend upon their Prince of darknesse being alwaies ready to accomplish his behests and consequently are very familiar unto the humid nature or matter of the world which is the child of the dark Chaos and for that cause have naturally a great dominion and power over it which by reason of its inclination unto darkness is easy to be tempted and allured from the Society of formal Light And hereupon the materiall world the flesh and the Devill are joyned together as also Satan is termed by the Apostle the Prince of the aire which is the off-spring of the waters from whence the materiall substance of the world was taken The other do wait on the Prince of Light their Master who is the eternall Wisdom which springeth from the bright word of eternity And these two dignify the world with life and do employ their greatest care to animate vivify and preserve it with such salutary beams as they receive immediatly from the eternall Emanation or fiery Word in which is the essence of life and being By this means therefore namely from the opposition of these two spirits of a contrary fortitude all the passions in the spirit and consequently of the Soul yea and body as well of the great world and all the creatures therein as of the little world have their immediate beginning namely the good passions as are joy charity hope confidence misericord humanity in the little world which are caused by dilatation of the heart and concord appetite Sympathy desire or concupiscence delight audaâ—ity jucundity caused by dilatation from the Center unto the circumference and by consequence Anâ—ipathy in the great world And again the bad passions in the little world's spirit as are sadness hatred desperatness timidity anger furor and bashfulness which arise from the contraction of the heart and in the great world and his creatures as are stupidity or congelation discord hatred irascibility fear c. and in conclusion Antipathy which comes by contracting from the circumference unto the Center All which are certain passions either well affecting and reviving the vital spirits with comfort by dilatation of those spirits with the beams of a kind of joy and delight or else choaking or suffocating them with the gloomy fog of darkness by contracting of those spirits with the mist of grief or privative sadness CHAP. V. What Actions in the Spirit or Soul in generall do produce Sympathy and what Antipathy How Sympathy or Compassion proceedeth from a certain dilatation of spirits in two or more particulars or an emitting of their internall beams of life or essence positively and benignly from the Center unto the Circumference attempting thereby to make a concord or union betweâ—â—â—wo or more like or homogenial natures and contrariwise Antipathy by contracting the said beams from the Circumference unto the Center moveth after an opposite manner namely by division or discord that is quite contrary unto the beams of the other which are emitted I Have signified unto you first in my precedent discourse that two properties were Archetypically or Ideally and after a complicite manner comprehended in one radicall Unity or Essence namely the one effected by its Nolunty the other by its Volunty Lo here
unity and consequently of sympathy namely by making the catholick child of darknesse like it self and therefore to make two to compassionate each other But contrariwise that of darknesse is evermore enclined to make duality of unity and to breed discord by violating the bands of concord and so to procreate a new antipathy and hatred thereby to destroy the fruits of love So that the spirit which light hath redeemed out of the dark Chaos is the intermediate subject betwixt both the extreams that is to say between light and darkness and therefore is the passive subject ordained by the Creator to endure the impressions of each opposite extream whereupon it becommeth sometimes the subject of sympathy namely when it is obedient unto union and light and sometimes of antipathy to wit when it rebelleth against that light Thus do we see the true subject of all passion in the soul of the world and this was the onely reason why the Philosopher Heraclitus avowed with such confidence That all things were composed of strife and friendship and Empedocles That the soul was made of amity and enmity I will now therefore expresse unto you that concordant order which that eternall love who shined out from the Father of light and love hath put and placed in each region of this world to distinguish the two different natures from one another by placing between them an intermediate subject which doth agree with each extream And first I will speak of the orders in the universall spirit of the world and lastly of every particular vivified and inacted spirit as well in the intellectuall or emperiall as vitall or aetheriall and naturall or elementary heaven and that in order We must place the two opposite principles in this world in the two extreams of the semidiameter thereof and first we imagine the seat of the God of light or of the divine act to consist in the convexity of the higher and purer Orbe of the Angells or Emperiall Heaven I speak unto the vulgars understanding that is in the circumference of the vawted world and then we deem the throne of darknesse or the divine puissance to be in the center thereof as the furthest place from its opposite in nature which is light Here you may see the two principles of concord and discord of love and hatred and consequently of sympathy and antipathy of the effects whereof all the Scripture and each member of Philosophy is full The catholick matter which was originally extracted out of darkness namely the waters which was made the materiall substance of which the heavens and the earth were framed by the divine word doth occupy all that space which the world containeth was by the celestiall Alâ—himy or spagerick vertue of the divine illuminating emanation divided according unto the contrary and discordant natures of the said two principles into the upper waters and the lower waters whereof the first or higher waters were good and obedient unto the bright Divinity and were converted into a fiery nature being thereupon tearmed the Emperiall nature for their obedience unto the bright emanation were full of intellectual fire and angelicall light And therefore this portion of the waters was ordained for the seat of the good Angells The lower waters contrariwise as being fecall gross impure and therefore more rebellious unto light and obedient by participation unto darknesse were placed next unto their dark beginning namely the earth and did possess all that space between the starry heaven and the earth which is called Elementary and for this cause is subject to all changes of generation and corruption And this was ordained to be the seat of Satan and his angels which is for that cause called the Prince of this world the Prince of the aire and his prime subjects are called Principalities Potentates and Governours of this world Lo here the two extreams in the created nature from the upper whereof a generall sympathy and love or a Symphoniacall consent of things is made and effected in this world by the other namely the lower an universall Antipatheticall jar is by turns effected and intruded into the Symphoniacall accord of things in the lower world namely when the severe Attributes of God do rain down into the starry world influences of a contrary nature which afterward by their emissions unto the lower world give liberty and power unto the bad Angells to work their destructive and Antipatheticall effects on certain creatures thereof As for example the attribute ELOHIM doth send down into the starre or Planet of Saturn the fruits of his chill and frozen effects whereby the spirits of that Sphere are corroborated the which again do pour down their Boreall or Northern nature unto the spirits which are their Substitutes in the Elementary world to wit those which have power to harm by the Northern winds Hereupon Archangelus Cabalista Hoc nomen EL quod nos Deum habemus interpretatu omnia fovet omnibus succurrit summa pietate clementia id quod est illi proprium ideo illi gratia attribuitur At per ipsum nomen ELOHIM veniunt severa punitiones strages Angeli ei inservientes dicuntur BEN-ELOHIM i. e. filii ELOHIM ELOHIM ergo terrorem significat pavorem Hinc locus Aquilonaris ei assignatur à quo procedit omne malum This name or attribute EL which is by interpretation God doth foster or nourish all things and assisteth every creature by his piety and clemency which is appropriated unto him But by the name or Attribute ELOHIM come severe punishments and Straâ—agems and the Angells which are his Ministers to effect his will are called BEN-ELOHIM that is to say the sons of ELOHIM ELOHIM therefore signifieth terror and fear And for this cause the Northern quarter of the world from whence cometh all evill is assigned unto this property c. By this therefore we may discern how the spirits which are dispensatours as well of salutary as malevolent and destructive influences are in the mass of the lower Elementary waters whereby man and the other creatures of God may be either preserved or destroyed To conclude that middle spirit in the world called the Firmament which divideth both the extreamly-differing waters from one another and is that intermediate spirit of the world which doth equally participate and behold each extreme is the Centrall mansion of that eternall Spirit which emitteth his beams from his stately Solar or sunny palace even unto the Center of darkness and extendeth his emanation even unto the seat of Light which is his root for his brightness is emitted from the attribute ELOAH by the beautifull or glorious port or gate TIPHERETH which importeth grace beauty and pulchritude by the Angelicall order of the Virtues into that purified pallace of the Sun So that by his emanating presence he penetrateth every where and filleth all things by his presence and vivifieth all things by his Virtue and is the Father of life
being too wary and listning overmuch unto the Proverb Noli alium sâ—perâ— Câ—imbe not too 〈◊〉 have their regard more pronely namely upon the earth and her effects onely and of this ranck is Fracastorius who searching after the reason and beginning of this attracting faculty doth imagine that the Hyperboreall mountaines which abound with rocks of this nature do draw these Iron-natured subâ—â—cts unto them And this his figment seemeth so plausible unto divers persons of learning that they follow it as well in their Astronomicall writings as Geographicall tables or descriptions of the world and Sea-cards or maps which if it were tâ—ue they would easily draw unto them all such Ships as pass in the Northern Seas Olaus Magnus and some other that follow his traditions say that the attâ—active force cometh from some northern Islands which abound in that Magnetick subject But leaving their fancy unto the empty wind I pâ—oceed unto others Lucretius Caâ—us a poet of the Epicurean Sect dreameth that the attraction of Iron is caused of an effluxion of atoms For saith he according unto the Epicures opinions as most subtill atoms do emanate and â—â—ow out from every thing even so do atoms â—lie out of the Iron as Magneticall seeds by a certain coition of it with the Load stone into the interposed place or space that is between them and that by the union or complication of both bodies the iron is drawn c. Unto this sense also do Aphrodiseus Joannes Costâ—us Plutarch yea and Thomas Aquinas incline when indeed they ought to know that no attraction is made by emission from the Center unto the Circumference that is by dilatation but rather by sucking in and contracting from the Circumference unto the Center and therefore the emission of atomicall seeds out of the Iron can be no reason of its Union with or moving to the stone But it must be the Load-stone that must draw the beams or spirits out of the Iron For it appeareth that the Iron doth not draw it self unto the Load-stone but is drawn unto it Thales and Anaxagoras think that the Load-stone hath life in it because it attracteth a substance like it self as lively creatures do Lucâ—etiuâ— and Orpheus think there is that Sympathy between the Magnet and the Iron which is between the male and female and in this they erre not much Averroes Scaliger and the Cardinal Cusanus would have Iron to move unto the Load-stone as unto his originall Mattix Galen thinketh that it draweth by his substantiall form And now I must come unto the opinion of my renowned Fellow or Collegue D. William Gilbert for his Magnetick skill and deep search as well contemplative as experimentall touching this Subject His mind is that this attractive virtue in the Load-stone doth spring from formall actions or originall and primary Virtues or vigours For he concludeth that the Magnetick force proceedeth from a particular or singular form differing from that formall and specifick cause in mixt bodies mentioned by the Peripateticks but saith he it is a certain form which is the proper entity and existence of the starry Globes and their homogeniall incorrupted parts which he calleth the Primarie radicall and astreall Form namely such a one as is in the Sun the Moon and other celestiall Stars And he averreth that after a like manner there is one in the earth which is that true Magneticall Puissance which is called the first act or vigor And this he saith is not derived from the whole heaven affirming that it is procreated by Sympathy through influence or occult qualities neither is it from any peculiar starre For it hath its Magneticall virtue from the earth c. This is my learned quondam Fellow-Collegue his opinion whose pains and industry in the research of this Subject's practicall conclusions as I cannot but commend and extol So on the contrary side reason will not permit me to consent unto this his speculative foundation or root of the Load-stone's virtue in all For who can believe that the earth it self much less the particulars thereof can have any Virtue radically from it self when it is evident that as well the earth as the heavens came radically out of the waters And therefore as the heaven was before the earth it must needs follow that the formall Virtue of the earth did totally descend from heaven and consequently the earth had no such property from it self But of this hereafter more at large Among the Ethnick Philosophers Plato and of the Christians Scaliger and Fernelius do think that the cause of this Attraction is Divine and from above but how and after what manner they express not And therefore though in a generality they have spoken the truth yet in these common words they seem to expresse they know not what In particular I will conclude with the last opinion which is the most idle and insufficient of all the rest and therefore is worthy to be made the last and most unworthy part namely the tayl or excrement of them Franciscus Rucus maketh a great doubt concerning the wonderfull property in the Load-stone and because forsooth the pitch of his capacity can attain no higher then unto Superficiall things and such as are subject unto sense therefore he judgeth all effects beyond his reach to be Cacomagicall and consequently he maketh a doubt whether the cause of these actions in the Load-stone be not an impostury or subtill slight of the Cacodemons or evill spirits And yet this man is more to be born withall then such as do boldly averre that the act and wonderfull effects of the Weapon Salve is cacomagicall For he speaketh not absolutely as they do who without any farther doubting do seem to attribute all hidden effects unto the Divell and so deprive God of his due but onely this man maketh a doubt whether it be so or no. CHAP. II. In this Chapter the Author's Opinion touching the originall intermediate and immediate Action or Virtue of the Load-stone is enucleated and set down at large I Am sure you do remember how in my precedent discourse I have demonstrated that God in a generality doth operate all and in all and then after what manner the self-same Unity in the Divine essence is manifested in its property according unto the multiplicity of his sacred Volunty which is therefore proved to be manifold because the particular effects of his actions which are not put in execution but by his Volunty are infinite in Variety And for this cause I shewed unto you that there are attributed unto one and the same sacred essence Ten severall denominations or Attributes whereof some send out emanations of dilatation and extension by the which the waters were expansed and spread abroad by subtiliation and shaped into bright clear and transparent heavens and of such kind of influences are those which are emitted and infused into the world by HOCHMA through JAH or by the Spirit of Wisdome and those which spring forth from ELOAH
by the Port of TIPHERETH which importeth beauty and brightnesse into the Sun who by dilatation doth clarifie and subtiliate the spirit of the world and expelleth darkness and this action doth proceed from the center to the circumference And contrariwise there are other emanations which pour out beams of attraction or contraction as doth ELOHIM by the port Binah or Prudentia into the globe of Saturn By this therefore the Spirit of God in his prudency did tie and hang the heavens as it were lincks in a chain of gold together and did bear up the elements in their places and sucked or contracted the grosser part of the waters from the circumference unto the center and there did confirm and fix them in a dark and gross manner So that the fountain of this attractive and contractive property is in the divine Attribute ELOHIM which for reasons that I have told you before is the head of the northern property namely of cold drought opacity congelation incrassation and rest which is caused in the center because it is the terminus ad quem the point unto the which the contraction or attraction is chiefly made beyond the which there can be no further penetration And for this reason the centrall vertue which is in the bowells of the earth doth draw and alluâ—e all weighty things unto this point which when they attain unto the center can passe no further for it is at that centrall butt that the property of ELOHIM doth aime and the Divinity which dwelleth in the earth's center is the divine essence under the name and property of ELOHIM the seat of whose immediate emanation is the angelicall order of Thrones which belongeth unto the earth or grosser waters his magazin or treasure-house in the starry heaven is the globe of Satuâ—n whose property for this reason is cold and dry astrictive contractive attractive and retentive for his beams contract unto the center and he is the Lord over the North-winds which are cold and dry contractive attractive sad and melancholy and it is the Planet which doth administer unto the Pole-star called by the Aegyptians Alruckaba forasmuch as it hath the nature and property of Saturn and Venus and therefore it is the principall helper and assistant in performing not onely the attractive effects of ELOHIM and for that reason doth endue the nature of Saturn which abounds in the Northern effects of ELOHIM but also it participates with the condition of Venus which is the Planet that commandeth the concupiscible faculty and for this reason it maketh a naturall coition namely it draweth with a voluptuous delight his like even as feminine matter is eagerly affected to draw or suck masculine form unto it This therefore is the reason that the earth doth attract unto it the formall shapes which descend down from above and burieth them within its womb with delight For heaven is affirmed by all true Philosophers and Cabalists to be the masculine and the earth the feminine Neither can I but consent with Lucas Gauricus the Astrologians opinion where he saith as is recited before That the star in the Tail of Ursamajor or the great Bear is President of the Load-stone as also that Saturn is the Planet which is allotted unto him and lastly that it hath an speciall relation unto the Constellation of Virgo and the rather because Virgo is that Signe of the Zodiack which possesseth the very self-same Longitude that the said star doth and for that it is of an earthly stiptick and attractive nature as also of the condition of Saturn and Venus All these reasons have been strong motives to perswade me that these are principall celestiall agents in the Northern disposition and property of this lower world and consequently in the attractive motion of the terrestriall northern Pole and every particular thereof I told you before that the eternall Unity everlastingly One in essence dividing or transforming it self by property into Trinity did shape out or describe ideally the archetypicall or internall world according unto whose example he did afterwards delineate or frame out the typicall or externall Wherefore it must follow that if the typicall or naturall world was framed after the idea in the intellectuall or mentall world then what parts or properties are made evident unto our capacity in this world were also the same in the archetype for Quod facit tale est magis tale There was no house that the Carpenter or Brick-layer builded but it was first delineated in the idea of his intellect and then drawn forth superficially in paper and so afterward put into a solid execution so also David confessed that he had the Temple which Solomon erected first drawn forth ideally by Gods finger Now when that God had in his divine counsell thus ordered and shaped out an ideal world in himself to put it in execution and as it were to make it to appear unto mans sense he emitted himself out of himself in the form of an eternall emanation called his Image which was his wisdom by which the generall world and every particular thereof was produced according unto the ideall pattern which was in it self This therefore being so and being that the divine essence can no way be divided howsoever it varieth in property it followeth that every particular beam which shineth out diversly from that catholick emanation to create differing things is one indivisible essence with the whole emanation and therefore he is said to fill all and to be all in all And that the incorruptible spirit is in all things and that he filleth the whole earth I proceed therefore thus If the created world have his shape his members and every particular property assigned unto it by that formall and vivifying world which is described and imprinted in this divine and all-sufficient and creating emanation then consequently all the members properties and natures in this world are graphically or curiously painted out in the supernaturall one it remaining nevertheless one and the same in essence And therefore as in him the catholick image of the outward world is contained so every beam or emanation that issueth from him but is not divided from him containeth the shape of the world And for this reason the wise Philosophers have said That each creature enjoyeth a proportion of the great world by which it is shaped and made in it self a little world as shall be demonstrated by the Load-stone more plainly hereafter And again man is called Omnis creatura as he doth participate of all so that his soul is said to be Ad imaginemtotius sapientiae facta omnium in se gerens similitudinem Made after the similitude of all wisdom bearing in it self the likeness of all things And therefore it is tearmed of another Omnium similitudo The likeness of all things And the reason is because it is one Unity Hereupon also it is reported to be a certain divine and individuall substance Alkindus in his Book de Radiis speaking
as is said though of two opposite conditions in which also it worketh after many diversities of degrees and therefore Solomon tearmeth it simplex or unicus simple or one in regard of his divine nature and multiplex in respect that it worketh and operateth after a manifold manner for as it worketh about the poles of the axle-tree by attracting and sucking unto it by cold and drought so about the Aequinoctiall and that more and more approching from the poles towards the Aequinoctiall it varieth in ten thousand proportions more or less in dilatation by reason of the manifold degrees of heat which this centrall Sun of life imparteth unto the aire And this is not onely manifested in the foresaid Weather-glass forasmuch as we find that by how much the more the heavenly Sun with his divine centrall agent approacheth unto us by so much the more the externall aire being dilated by his heat doth also dilate the aire contained in the neck of the mattras or bolts-head and driveth down the water that is it repelleth back the cold of winter which came in by showers of rain sent from the south unto his proper pole So that we see as the nature of the cold pole is to draw or suck unto it by condensation which is effected by contraction or made by a Saturnine faculty so the nature of the hot Aequinoctiall and his adjacent parts is to expell his opposite by dilatation which is effected by a subtiliating heat And this is the reason as is already demonstrated that the Aequinoctiall of the Load-stone detesteth to be joyned unto the pole as on the contrary side the pole abhorreth reciprocally the Aequinoctiall Also this is the reason that in the pole of the said stone there is so great power of attraction and that it sucketh the iron unto it ad angulos rectos that is after a perpendicular manner and then the nearer the needle or piece of steel or iron-wier approacheth unto the Aequinoctiall of the stone the more will his obliquity in coition or conjunction be with the stone So that when it commeth directly unto the Aequinoctiall it will lose all angular contact and lie flat as it were on its belly as you may see by this true observation following But because these demonstrations may seem unto the vulgar somewhat intricate as being ignorant of the centrall sun of the earth which the Philosophers call Archaeum naturae or The master-workman of nature As also it will be difficult for them to conceive what an axiltree of the earth may be and what his poles And again the right use of the Load-stone or practise in the Weather-glass is unknown unto many a man I will proceed unto a kind of proof and explication of this matter which is familiar unto each person of what degree soever It cannot be gainsaid but that Man and all other creatures as well vegetable as animal are composed of a living soul which is internall and a body being his externall The self-same also we ought to judge of the earth for it hath an inward spirit whereby it operateth diversly And again as there is no animal nor vegetable that can exist without the aire forasmuch as by it each thing liveth and existeth by inspiration for by that means they suck in the celestiall influence so also the aiery element doth feed the inward spirit of the earth and conveyeth from above all the heavenly influences into her body and maketh her the mother of all mineralls and vegetables I told you before that all inferiour things with their operations are the types or similitudes of things above and that God did animate the Angels the Angels did inform the stars and the starry demons or olympick spirits send down influences unto the winds and the winds do inform the catholick element of the aire four-foldly that is to say according unto the nature of the four winds which four-fold information doth give or assigne a name unto the four elements And although in the catholick aire there is but one onely substance in essence yet it varieth in nature after a four-fold condition according unto the will and property of that one Spirit which onely is the efficient actor or agent in this metamorphosis or Protean transmutation from one nature or form unto another although he useth as well angelicall as starry organs and is said to ride upon the cherubins and to glide upon the wings of the winds For this reason therefore the Prophet saies Come O spirit from the four winds and breathe upon these slain bodies that they may live He said not Come O spirits but Come O spirit whereby he argued that it is but one Spirit which bloweth essentially from the four winds and consequently that this one spirit in essence is but onely one thing though four-fold in regard of his property and that as in this archetypicall spirit the whole world was ideally divided into poles and portions distinguished by spirituall circles so also in all the regions of the world he observeth constantly the self-same character of position namely in the starry world as in the airy and in the airy as in the water and earth For in the heavens the northern pole is pointed at and marked out with the starry character which is found in the Tail of the great Bear in the aire it is manifested in that very point from whence Boreas or the north-wind bloweth which doth exactly correspond unto the pole-star Again that the earth observeth the very same order in the direction of her pole is confirmed by the conversion of the Load-stone and Iron unto the north-star Thus you see that it is one onely spirit in essence that worketh all in all I proceed therefore thus to my demonstration which is so familiar to each person that not any one who is in his senses can deny it for I am sure no man can be ignorant that when the north-wind bloweth the aire is of nature cold and dry and therefore is converted into the condition and consistence of earth namely from a clear transparent light subtle dissolved and dilated consistence of aire into a troubled opake or dark gross ponderous and contracted substance for experience doth teach us that it is transmuted into snow hail frost and ice that is from an aery spirit unto an earthly and solâ—d body from an invisible and mobile estate unto a visible and fixt disposition And in conclusion the whole aire is changed into a spirituall and corporall earth and this transmutation it hath from that cold dry and attractive form which it borrowed from the northern wind or septentrionall property of the divine spirit which ordereth all things and altereth them from one form unto another by the breath of his nostrills as Scriptures allegoriously speak or by those windy emissions or angelicall emanations which it sendeth from the four corners of the earth So that by his breath from the north he exerciseth that property in the lower world by the
which he draweth or attracteth from the circumference unto the center and so congealeth inspissateth and hardeneth soft spirits by contraction and coarctation of those parts which before were porous and dilated But some will perchance reply and say How is it likely that the emanation or emission of spirits from the port of Binah under the Attribute of ELOHIM or the streaming forth of the breath or blasts from Boreas and his two collateralls can harden by contraction or suck and draw in spirits from the circumference unto the center when their emissions are straight from the north southward and make no reflexion whereby any such motion à circumferentia ad centrum should be made I answer That this is effected after a wonderfull fashion and worthy to be pondered by the choisest wits We must consider therefore in the first place that the property of the Attribute ELOHIM was before all beginning ordained to indue the negative or contractive nature of the eternall Unity's Nolunty namely of darkness for when God will not shew the light of his countenance he reflecteth his light in himself that is he withdraweth it from the circumference to the center and leaveth onely darkness unto the creatures This property of God is antipatheticall unto such parts of the world as also unto all such creatures as have their life from a naturall heat which heat had its beginning from Gods benevolent emanation that is from the act of unity by an emission or dilatation from the center unto the circumference I mean from unity into multitude It followeth therefore that though the emission of winds from the north be streight yet their essentiall property proceeding immediately from Gods angelicall organ is contractive and attracting from the circumference unto the center seeing that it is an emission which by the divine Spirits emanation and action in the nature of ELOHIM is cold dry coagulative or congealing and apt to rest and is therefore antipatheticall and oppugnant unto the disposition of the air forasmuch as it is hot and moist and consequently is animated by the dilative action which the catholick spirit sendeth or breatheth out of the celestiall Sun and other vivifying stars as are Jupiter and Venus And for this cause it followeth that when the Boreall spirits are sent forth into the aire it must needs succeed that at the antipatheticall contract of these cold spirits the naturall heat or life of the aire flyeth or with-draweth it self from its circumference unto its center and so partly by that contractive motion in it self caused per antiperistasin or by reason of the antipatheticall occurrence or meeting of his contrary and partly by mingling of a new terrestriall form it is congealed and falleth to the earth as if it were dead because unmovable in the form of snow hail frost and ice In like manner we see that the aery life in other creatures whose formall beeing consisteth of Gods dilating property is forced to fly from the circumference unto the center leaving the externall parts chil cold and apt to a deadly congelation or lethall repose which we observe not onely in animal creatures but also in vegetables seeing that their blood as I may tearm it or vitall suck is congealed by the winter and northern cold and is as it were liveless untill by the vivifying and dilative sorce of the ensuing Vernall or Springly and Australl vertue it is resolved and melted again and the severe tye or icy knot of the northern nature undone For this reason therefore you may discern that there is but one catholick element which is partly subject and obnoxious unto the privative and dark contracting and consequently attracting property of Gods Spirit and partly capable to endue his positive and light dilating disposition and that this common subject is the spirit or aire of the sublunary world which by lesse inspissation or contraction caused by the west winds is made water and by more compression and constriction caused by the northern and winter blasts becommeth snowy or icy earth And contrariwise by lesse dilatation and subtiliation is made aery or vaporous caused by the spring season and south wind and by a greater rarefaction and exaltation it is made fire by the dominion of such spirits as are sent out from the east and summers heat and both these main two-fold divided properties belong unto one and the same Spirit as is before related Verily this common demonstration can deceive no man being that the very unreasonable creatures are moved by a naturall inclination either to sympathize and rejoyce with the clemency and comfort of the one property or to fly from or eschew the severer assaults of the other which do antipathize with their nature But to our main business It is manifest by that which is already said that the northern breath is contractive attractive inspissative and apt to darkness immobility and rest and that the south-winde or rather the winde from the Aequinoctiall is contrary in nature unto it as being ready to undo all that the north winde did effect namely to dissolve the congealed aire which was made snow frost hail ice into water and water into aire to make transparent that which was dark and render thin that which was before thick And therefore between these properties there is no more sympathy then I have shewed you to be between the Load-stones Aequinoctiall and the Pole And again that both these opposite natures proceed and spring from one and the same divine and catholick spirit which operateth all in all every where and consequently as well in earth as in heaven this testimony of the true Philosophy doth manifestly confirm and import Deo emittente sermonem suum in terram quam celerrimè excurrit qui nives emittit sicut lanam pruâ—nam quasi cineres dispergit dejicit gelu tanquam frusta coram frigore ejus quis consistat Emittit verbum suum liquefacit ista simul ac efflat ventum suum effluunt aquae God sendeth forth his word it runneth forth most swiftly upon the earth who produceth snow like wool and spreadeth abroad the frost like ashes and casteth down the ice as it were pieces Who is able to resist against his cold He sendeth forth his word and melteth or dissolveth all these so soon as he breatheth forth his wind or Spirit the congealed waters begin to flow and move Whereby it appeareth that the Word or Spirit of God congealeth by one property and dissolveth by another and consequently as God is all one in essence so it is one and the same Spirit that effecteth these four-fold alterations in one catholick spirit of the world which are by the Ancients called distinct Elements because they cuold never as yet throughly determine what was the essentiall form of the Elements But if they had well considered the four Elements of the which they spake so much and as it should seem understood essentially but little or had they well conceived that
heaven and earth were made of water and by water by the Word as Sacred Philosophy teacheth us then they would have known also that the common substantiall Subject of them all was but one created watery spirit also that this spirits four-fold information was effected by one increating formall essence or Divine Word acting and informing that universall Element by a four-fold emanation so that the will of one creating Spirit effected by and working in four Angells of an opposit nature maketh disposeth or changeth every day this one spirituall watery Subject into this or that Element according unto the Will of the Creator All which is evidently demonstrated by the wether-glass For the aire therein inclosed doth by contraction or dilatation convert it self into the form of any of the Elements and is altered therein according as the nature of the Macrocosmicall blast or wind that bloweth Now whereas it may be objectively demanded From whence then came the earth and waters that are resident perpetually here beneath I answer That they are the effects which the winds by the Will of God or ELOHIM RUACH did originally produce and these were framed first out of the aire namely by thickning it by one degree into water and ingrossing it by another into solid and fixt earth as it appeared by the third daies Creation where it was said that Aridum apparuerit ex aquis Dry-land did appear out of the waters But the Divine Philosopher St. Paul doth confirm all this where he affirmeth that we ought to believe by Faith that those things which are visible were first of things invisible and unseen And again if that the two lower bodies did not resolve themselves by little and little though insensibly into aire it would not be possible that the earth or the water could hold that abundance of Water Stones Brimstone caused of Lightnings and such like which falleth from the aire and yet we see that neither the aire nor water nor earth are at any time found bigger then their naturall accustomed proportions By this therefore I have sufficiently expressed unto you the attractive and contractive property of the Northern Pole in the aire which inferreth thus much that as the Northern blasts are enemies unto life because they contract from the circumference to the Center which is contrary unto the act of man's life therefore all things that are reduced into a chill cold and Northern property be they airy watery or earthy they draw strongly unto them as it is proved by the weather-glass For the included aire being animated by the effects of a strong and obstinate Northern wind sucketh and draweth the waters on high namely from the Aequinoctiall point of the glass unto the Center of the North Pole which is assigned by the head of the mattras and also by the same reason congealed spirits in any earthly substance do suck or draw from the exteriour to the interior as we observe that Bole Armoniack sucketh moysture unto it and also all other earth when it is throughly dry and that in his own naturall condition namely because it being of the quality of the North it sucketh and draweth strongly a watery moysture but this is by reason of his drought the attraction therefore in the Load-stone is otherwise For it having the essentiall nature of its mother Earth and the virtue of the North in his Pole draweth the masculine Sulphureous spirits out of Iron greedily and that with a feminine appetite by reason of the propinquity and likeness of one nature unto another The like regard also hath the Pole star unto the Load-stone as the Load-stone hath unto the Iron which is his like For Natura Natura suá gaudet laetatur Nature is glad and rejoyceth in her like nature as Empedocles doth truly testifie But both the Iron and the Load-stone are of one myne one vein and one nature seeing that both of them are of an earthly and boreall disposition and therefore the Load-stone and his formall included spirits being more encombred with superfluities then the refined Iron doth as it were either for their assistance namely to be delivered from that incombrance draw unto them their like out of the purified Iron or Steel by a wonderfull appetite and in this action suck unto it the Iron who as unwilling to leave its formall spirit doth follow by a naturall continuity the motion of its formall beams or else for comfort and consolation yea and formal refection's cause no otherwise then the cold materiall female doth the more formall male to be refreshed by the masculine seed or sulphureous Form which they both received from that generall Agent 's ideal Northern nature that sustaineth and animateth the earth I will prove it by a similitude but in a vegetable substance We observe that the grain of wheat not participating with the nature of the earth that is so long as it is above ground and not sown attracteth not his like from heaven but when it is committed unto the earth and the earth by corruption hath unloosed his bands his spirits suck down from above the Sun-beams and celestiall influences of his fixt constellation and erratick Planet in quantity that thereby it may be delivered and rise again by the celestiall beams of his own nature that descend from heaven and principally from the Sun so that like being added to his like becommeth the stronger in ascention For experience teacheth us that the celestiall included form or vitall beam creepeth out of the earth upwards tending by all his appetite unto its ethereal native home from whence it came but because the Element of fire is contiguous unto the aethereal spirit therefore it will not permit these aethereall or sunny-beams to ascend without it and because the aire is a near-cleaving and continued neighbour unto the fire therefore it will not permit the fire to ascend without his presence and again the water challengeth the self-same priviledge namely to ascend with the aire and lastly the earth will not let the water move upwards without her company as being next of her race and therefore will have the self-same prerogative with the other three But because the earth is ponderous and cannot ascend she holdeth it fast below and will not permit the spirit to sore higher and so those beamy spirits which seemed to descend for the freedom of their brethren are by these Elementary ties or rather the four-fold disposition of one Element detained and made to hover and hang in the aire where insteed of flying upwards to heaven they do multiply into many graines And I have noted by mine own experience namely by anatomising of corn with the fiery knife of distillation that the female in corn which sucketh down the celestiall influences of the like nature is a pure volatil Salt of a refined or aereall terrestrial condition but rich in celelestiall fire and therefore made volatil and airy by the union of both extreames so that it is this female
and odible property in Mars by her feminine embraces If we look seriously into the inward nature of Iron or steel we shall find all this to be manifested by effect for I have with a certain familiar Menstruum reduced all the body of Steel into a kind of Copperis or Vitriol which nature of minerall salt is familiar with as well to Copper as Iron for Vitriol is by the same reason extracted out of Copper Now we shall find in Vitriol or Copperis a hot burning corrosive nature and an earthy attracting sulphur which sucketh unto it as Bole Armoniack or Terra Sigillata doth moisture whereby it is evident that as well a Martiall and Saturnine as Venerian condition concur in the magneticall or ferruginous salt Again we shall find that the influxions of Mars do mingle themselves naturally with the northern wind and agree well with the nature of the earth by reason that in the circulation of elements the earth doth in regard of her siccity consent and sympathize with the fire Again Ptolomy doth ascribe those Aquilonary winds which are violent unto Mars his influences moreover that Mars his spirit is the cause of the attractive vertue in each corrosive salt and gum that is subject unto it it is well manifested in Euphorbium Scamony Laureola Flammula and hot corrosive Venomes for these as Hermes telleth us are subject unto Mars his Constellation Hereupon we finde that Vitriol is cold acid and stiptick in his externall and yet hot caustick and corrosive in his interiour And again Iron which is called Mars because it is subject unto Mars his influences is Vitriol or Copperis in his interiour as also Copper which is a minerall subject unto the Constellation of Venus and therefore is called Venus CHAP. III. Of the excellency of Man in the Animal Kingdom and of the admirable nature of the Load-stone in the Mineral I May well presume to compare the Load-stone in disposition with Man considering the admirable vertues and dignity of the one in the Animal kingdom and the miraculous operations and mysticall properties of the other in the Mineral region As for Man for dignities cause I will speak of him in the first place there is such a super-eminent and wonderfull treasure hidden in him that wisemen have esteemed that the perfect wisdom of this world consisteth in the knowledge of a mans self namely to find out that secret mystery which doth lurk within him For man is said to be the center of every creature and for that cause he is called Microcosmus or the little world Centrum miraculum mundi The center or miracle of the world containing in himself the properties of all creatures as well celestiall as terrestriall and consequently of the Load-stone He is Templum Dei the Temple of God Corpus Christi the Body of Christ Habitaculum Spiritus sancti the Habitacle of the holy Ghost as the Apostle hath taught us Neither verily may it be imagined that God would make choice of an unworthy dwelling place And therefore in the consideration thereof and our enquiry after so great a mystery we had need to proceed with our exactest discretion and judgment from the visible things of man unto the invisible that is to penetrate with the sharpest edge of our wit by demonstration à posteriori or from the externall man into the bowells of his secret mysticall and internall beeing wherefore we proceed thus Seeing that Man is rightly reported by Hermes to be the Son of the world as the world is the Son of God being that it is framed after the image of the Archetype for which cause he is tearmed the little world It will be requisite to understand that he is in like manner divided into a heaven and earth as the great world was and consequently containeth in it self no otherwise his heavens circles poles and stars than the great world doth And also as we find that the spirituall image of the heavens with their circles and poles are delineated also in the earth and every particular thereof as it appeareth in the Loadstone and Iron so the character of the inward man is deciphered and pourtrayed out in the outward man no otherwise than we may judge of the fashion of the sword by the scabbard or the kernell by the shell Concerning the re-search or enquiry after the worlds poles in man there hath risen no small difference amongst the Philosophers Pythagoraes Plato and Aristotle have ordained the east part of the world to be his right hand and their reason is because the diurnall motion of the heavens which proceedeth from the Primum mobile is effected from east to west and consequently the west must be his left hand or sinister portion and in placing man according unto this position his face must look unto the north and his posteriors unto the south But Empedocles opposeth this opinion affirming that the Aestivall Solstice o◠the Tropick of Cancer is the right hand of the world it followeth therefore that the Hyemall station of the Sun or the Tropick of Capricorn must be the left and according unto this direction man's face must behold the west As for mine own part mine opinion is adverse unto both their minds forasmuch as I being moved thereto for reasons as well Theologicall as Naturall would rather adapt mans face unto the Orient or eastern quarter and then his posteriors shall respect the west and so the north pole will correspond unto his left hand and the south unto his right That this position is not onely naturally but also divinely befitting the Microcosm we prove it thus The Patriarcks Prophets and Apostles in their devoutest prayers did use to convert their faces unto the east which is an argument that this quarter of the world was by the Creator alloted unto mans anteriour part And in Matthew we read that lightning shall come out of the east and shall passe unto the west And in another place it is said Metimin◠quamque ad plagam orientalem ad plagam australem ad plagam occidentalem ad plagam septentrionalem Measure forth unto the east and the south and the west and towards the north As if he had said Measure out plots of ground before you and at your right hand and behind you and at your left hand And Job saith Behold I go into the east and he will not be there and unto the west and I shall not find him there or unto the north where he worketh and I shall not discern him he hideth himself in the south and I shall not behold him But St. Jerom interprets this place thus If I shall go unto the east he appeareth not if unto the west I shall not understand him if unto the left hand what shall I do I shall not overtake him if on the right hand I shall not see him And Tremellius thus If I shall go forward he will not be there if backward I shall not find him when
he operateth on the left hand yet shall I not see him he will cover the right quarter of the world and yet shall I not behold him So that what Pagnâ—nâ— maketh the orient angle of the world Tremellius maketh the face or fore-part of the world and so-forth Whence it appeareth and that as I think without further controversy that the direct disposition of man according unto the situation of the great world is when his face is disposed unto the orient or east angle of the earth And for this reason are the two eyes of man disposed in the frontispice of his fabrick as also of all other creatures that they might after a long nocturnall darknesse behold with delight the orientall Sun that by the presence thereof they might adore the Creator thereof in whose power it is by his golden aspect to banish the presence of the gloomy night and consequently to salute it as being the visible type of the eternall Sun 's invisible beauty who also as Scriptures hath taught us will appear at the last day from that easterly point to renovate and purifie by fire the corrupt world If followeth therefore that mans right hand or right part must respect the south as his left hand the north All which are by so much the more apparent by how much they agree and concord with Philosophicall reason For the Liver being on the right side of man doth most conveniently sympathise with the southern nature being that it engendereth by its vertue warm aery blood and sendeth it forth by the channells of the veins every where over the microcosmicall earth to make it to vegetate even as the southern wind produceth tepid or madid showers to water the microcosmicall earth that thereby the plants and heâ—bage which groweth on it may encrease and multiply by vegetation The left side or left hand is rightly compared unto the worlds Boreal quarter or the Arctick pâ—le for as in that angle the aire water or earth is cold and dry apt to congelation of a contractive and stiptick or restrictive nature so also we find that the spleen which lyeth in the left part of mans body is the receptacle of melancholy or congealed cold black sowre and earthly humours and as the northern blasts of the macroâ—osmicall or great world do obscure and mask or eclipse oft-times the fair sun-shine of the east and by that means do procure an obscure darknesse over all the hemisphear even so in the little world the flatuous fumes sent forth from this northern splene contracteth the heart and instead of wholsome and bright passionâ— namely of joy mirth and gladness which the beauteous sun-shine of life procureth unto man it bringeth forth dark passions as are sadness fear dispair and such like yea and causeth the heart to suffer the effects of syncopes and palpitations Thus therefore you see the two opposite poles of the little world to concur in effect and that in all respects with that of the great world counting the southern pole from the Aequinoctiall For if we divide the Load-stone in the middle that part in the Aequinoctiall which is next the north-pole will serve and stand in place of the South Pole and if again that half be divided in the Tropick of Cancer the division about the Tropick of Cancer will be his South Pole But to look more internally yet into the little world we find that it consisteth on that spirituall Corner-stone by which the world was made and the earth sustained and consequently in which the world and every point thereof was ideally delineated from the beginning before it was made after the manner of the earth which is said to be full of the Spirit of Wisdom Hereupon it is termed the Temple of God the body and members of Christ and the habitacle of the Holy Spirit as is said before For this cause therefore we must think that there are secret Poles circles and starrs assigned unto man as well spirituall as corporall no otherwise then there is unto the earth and every Magneticall portion thereof So that in man is the properties of the Macrocosmicall winds and consequently in it may passions be bred and produced which are as well Antipatheticall as Sympatheticall Now verily if in the second place we shall duly observe the nature of the Load-stone we shall not a little admire at the rare and singular properties thereof yea truly we shall find it almost to passe man's reason and understanding that a hard mineral stone unmoveable and stupid should neverthelesse be possessor of such spirits which are able insensibly to display and transmit their occult faculties and virtues quite through or a travers the hardest stones the most solid and closest grained wood the thick and intranspirable plates of mettal yea the impenetrable glass it self and other such compacted stuffe which have not any sensible Spiracle or porosity and that it should work on it self and on Iron and that it should behold the Pole Arctick at so long a distance as there cannot be a greater in our regard namely from the earth unto the highest heavens or the eighth Shpere the which is almost incommensurable I mean unto the Pole-star I dare boldly say that all the Schoole of the Peripateticks who made profession to give a reason of all things and to be ignorant of nothing that toucheth the most occult and intimate secrets of nature would find themselves much troubled and puzzeled and as it were inclosed in a confused Labyrinth of phantasticall imaginations and Chimerian surmises before they could discusse and unvaile this misty business or unrip the fardill of so profound a riddle that is to say ere they could hit the mark or attain unto the wished end of this inquirie which is onely pointed at and demonstrated by the finger of a far truer and diviner Philosophy whose main Subject of all actions and power is the spirituall Corner-stone Jesus Christ in whom is the plenitude of Divinity as St. Paul teacheth us Is it not wonderfull that this spirit can pass like that celestiall one in Man where the aire is not able to penetrate Is it not an evident Argument that it is of an aethereall race which is able to operate these effects quite through such solid bodies Wherefore let not Plutarch make his brags as he hath done where he striveth to undo this intricate Gordian knot or tye reputing it a shame and defect in such learned men as have medled herein and have not dived into the depth thereof being that at last he himself sheweth palpably herein his error after he had made so strict an inquisition For he concludeth that the insensible emanations or emissions or effluxions which issue out of the Load-stone and produce his attractive effects are gross and flatuous whereas if he had a little better considered the businesse he would have found that the subtilest and most rarified aire is not able to find any porosity or spiracle to breathe through thick
compacted boards or smoothed and polished stones or plates of silver and gold much less can any passage be admitted unto gross and flatuous spirits to breathe or expire through But to return again unto the straight line of our History CHAP. IV. Of a double attractive disposition in Man and how the one agreeth with the nature of the Load-stone and the other is different from it Herein also the Reason why the dead carcass of a Man is indued with a Magnetick power or attractive nature is discovered AS in the dimension of the Load-stone there is observed to be a multiplicity in kinds or manners of attraction for the attraction of it is otherwise effected at his Poles namely perpendicularly than it is on the Aequinoctial which is flatling so also there is a great difference between the attraction which is made in man For the Spleen being of the property of the North Pole sucketh unto it by the Ramus Splenicus his like namely Melancholly or terrestriall juices directly by a Saturnine virtue and the Gall attracteth by a Martiall Sulphureous or fiery terrestriety choller unto it and the Liver by a Southern or Aequinoctial dilatation disperseth the blood which it hath rubified by veiny channells through the whole Microcosmicall earth But first it attracteth by his porous Organs the like unto it from the guts All which manner of attraction it would never effect were it not by the incitation of naturall heat which though in it self it rather dissipateth by dilatation then attracteth by contraction yet it inciteth and animateth certain corporeall instruments ordained by nature for attraction's cause namely to draw and suck by contraction and to dilate again by relaxing or dilating of themselves And for this reason is the Heart the Stomack the Intestines or Guts the Veins c. made or compacted of fibers direct for attraction transverse for retention and oblique for expulsion Again the attraction of the aire by the Aspera Arteria and nostrills could not be effected but by the aid of the Pulmones or Lungs the which would not move or work but by the animation of a dilating and vivifying heat so that in this case all attraction of externall aire which is made by the Pores into the fleshy parts and by the Lungs into the Heart and by the nostrils into the brain proceedeth from the dilatated action of heat and is effected by instruments and that properly by the lungs and heart Even as we see that the Syringe or Squirt being pulled out attracteth or draweth aire but being thrust in it emitteth or expelleth it again and yet both these opposit actions in one Organ or instrument proceed from one dilated humane spirit which acteth We must understand therefore as I have expressed before that man is composed of Matter which is his Patient and Form which is his Agent and as matter did first proceed of the watery Subject which did issue out of the dark Chaos and therefore is of it self inclinable unto a Northern and privative disposition namely to rest cold mortification and immobility so it is this Matter that maketh contraction as well in the heart and consequently in the Pulse's motion as in the other parts of the body that is to say the naturall inclination of Matter in man is apt to contract spirits from the Circumference unto the Center when contrariwise Form being derived from Light is busie in dilatation and therefore in animation and exagitation of Matter which would otherwise be sopified and as it were mortified by her mother's Northern cold And this is the reason of Systole and Diastole in the hearts motion which commeth of that action and passion or operation and resistence which is made between the Light heat or Aequinoctial form and the dark and cold or polar matter in man's composition whereby it is apparent that as the great world is said to be composed ex lite et amâ—citia of hatred and friendship so also the little world is rightly averred to be compacted of contraries namely of the children of Light and Darknesse Now in this therefore a live-man's attractive power differeth from that of the Load-stone because the Load-stone is not so appearing lively as man is but may in some sort be esteemed dead because it is divided from his ferruginous vein in the earth and again he attracteth not by any dilatation made of a vivifying heat through any organicall Substance or assistance but by an earthly and Centrall contracting disposition And for that reason his greatest power of attraction consisteth in the Pole The live man's attraction proceedeth therefore from a dilatation of lively heat from the Center unto the circumference which causeth materiall instruments ordained as well for attraction as retention or expulsion to effect their office and yet sometimes it operateth chiefly to contraction that is in motion from the circumfereâ—ne unto the Center when it receiveth by the permission of God the beams of a privative Emanation as when the heart is contracted whereupon bad passions as sadness melancholy dispair envy fear and such like do follow as we have told you before Sometimes the naturall heat reflecteth for the Senses repose and rest his beams inwardly as in the action of sleep which is a type of death and darkness but contrariwise it dilateth its self from the Center unto the circumference when it will have the animal spirits to watch and operate in their functions By this therefore we may imagine that the Load-stone's attractive nature is from the circumference unto the Center being as it were to man's externall view half dead and by that manner of attraction it draweth unto it his like namely spirits out of the Iron or steel which by reason of its refination and homogeniety in nature as being cleared from all his stony Mercury which was heterogenious unto it we may compare unto a live man which is replenished with lively emanating or dilating spirits For I would have every man to know that there is not a creature on the earth which hath not his Astrological or starry influence which though we cannot discern it doth shine forth and maketh his aspect unto the like of his kind namely unto such creatures as are of condition with the starrs of heaven from whence the creature's influence doth descend But if the two creatures be dissonant in nature then the one doth Antipathetically divert or reflect his beams from the other The Iron therefore like a vivified mass meeting with the Load-stone doth easily emit his beams of love unto the Load-stone who doth as greedily suck or draw them by means of his inward earthly Martial Spirits even unto her Center and by the attraction of the Iron 's formall beams draweth with it all the Iron body that possesseth the starry or Martial influence In like manner a strong Magnet is as it were a female unto a weaker No otherwise is it with a live man and the dead carcass of another For though that many
you say and there may be a microcosmicall Magnes or Load-stone which may be selected and gathered out of the living man without any detriment or prejudice unto his life whose vertues both in regard of its monstrous and unnaturall generation being composed of unlike parents and being compacted of two substances different in kinde as the Mule is namely of an earthly Mercury and cholerick sulphureous human spirits as also in his manner of attraction of the spirituall Mummy out of the living man yea and what is far more admirable by the transplantation of it either to the animal or vegetable kinds it worketh after a strange fashion either sympathetically or antipathetically I know that these newes will streight way be esteemed by some who are apter to judge amiss than rightly to scan to be diabolicall And why Marry because they passe the sphear of their capacities And yet I know this to be true and know them which have put it in execution not without the wonderment of many yea I know this Microcosmicall Magnet and the use thereof the which when it is tryed by wise-men and well pondered by them will appear as naturall as the effects thereof will seem strange and the reason abstruse But if that which I have said before be well understood and seriously pondered the cause hereof will not seem so hidden as that it should exceed the limits of nature Of this kind of magneticall action as well sympatheticall as antipatheticall I purpose by Gods grace to discourse more at large in the third or last Book of this Treatise or History CHAP. V. In this Chapter is expressed the secret cause why and manner how as well the Microcosmicall as Macrocosmicall Load-stone doth operate ad distans and thâ—â— unto an unknown dimension or unlimited intervall MR. Foster hath sufficiently expressed the shallowness of his Philosophy where he averreth That because the light of the Sun and Stars cannot penetrate the thick clowds and opake bodies Ergo the formall essence of a man is not able to pierce and penetrate directly in his course without being stopped or hindred by Castles Hills Woods and such like But had he been a little more profoundly seen or immersed in the bowels of true Philosophy he would have known that the Etheriall sperm or Astralicall influences are of a far subtiler condition than is the vehicle of visible light Yea verily they are so thin so mobile so penetrating and so lively that they are able and also do continually penetrate and that without any manifest obstacle or resistance even unto the center or inward bosom of the earth where they generate mettals of sundry kinds according unto the condition of the influence as the antient Philosophers do justifie The subtlety therefore of this spirit Plotinus according unto Plato's minde doth fully expresse in these words Tanta est Aetheris tenuitas ut omnia corpora penetret universi tam supera quam infera cum ipsis conjunctus aut implicitus ea major a minime reddat quia spiritus iste interior cuncta opera eorum mole minima nullum prorsus augmentum recipiente alit atque conservat The tenuity of the Aether is such that it doth penetrate all the bodies of the world as well above in heaven as below on earth and this heavenly substance being joyned and mixed with them it maketh them not a jot the bigger for all that because this inward spirit doth nourish and preserve all bodies without adding any thing unto their weight or encreasing of their substance And by reason of this heavenly natures purity or subtlety the heaven or coelum is called by the wiser Philosophers and mysticall Poets the Husband unto the earth which they tearm Vesta yea and the very stars of heaven among the which the Copernicans ranck the earth are likened unto his wife being that they are extracted out of the aetheriall substance no otherwise than Eve was out of the side of Adam for they are defined to be the thickest portions of their orbs by reason whereof they are accounted as the members of heaven and consequently there is nothing so thin subtle and piercing as is that spirit from whence by condensation they are derived This is the cause that the true Alchymists do tell such wonders of their Coelum which they call their Quintessence arguing that by reason of its purity and subtlety it is able to penetrate all things And the Philosophers say that it is their nature which they define to be Vis quaedam rebus infinita omnia permeans entia cunctas generans res easque augens alensque ex similibus similia procreans A certain infinite power in things which penetrateth and passeth through all things ingendring every thing and augmenting and nourishing them and procreating like things of their like And verily if you will be pleased to consider really what I have spoken before you will remember how I told you that the angelicall vertue proceeded from the archetypicall emanations and are the types of the divine Idea Again that the aetheriall spirit was filled with the angelicall influences which had their essentiall root from God So that in verity it is not the starry light which penetrateth so deeply or operateth so universally but that eternall centrall spirit with which his divine and unresistable essence penetrateth all things both in heaven above and in the earth and waters beneath And all this the mysticall Philosophers seemed to verifie though darkly when they called Saturn which was the father also of Jupiter or the head of the catholick emanation the father of Coelum or Heaven arguing thereby that in the emission of the spirit of wisdom he produced created or informed the heavens according to that of Job Coelum ornasti Spiritu tuo Thou didst adorn the heavens by thy Spirit And David Verbo Domini fimati sunt coeli Spiritu ab ore ejus omnis virtus eorum By the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by his Spirit each vertue thereof And St. Peter Coeli erant prius terra ex aquis per aquas existentes verbo Dei The heavens were first and the earth of water and by the waters existing by the word of God It is certain therefore that the whole essentiall act of the aetheriall spirit is the divine emanation or the bright incorruptible Spirit of the Lord and therefore of necessity that spirit which is worthy to be the immediate vehicle of so unresistible and emanating influence must be conformable to it in purity and subtility which is the informer who is said by the wise Solomon to be Omni re mobilior subtilior attingere ubique propter suam munditiam innovare omnia implere orbem terrarum To be the most active and moveable and subtill of all things and to penetrate and pass everywhere by reason of his purity in essence and to renew and refresh all things and to fill the
earth with his presence This therefore was it that made some even of our Christian Philosophers to break forth into these speeches Deus est Natura Natura Deus God is Nature and Nature is God Whereby they ment that the naturating or radicall informing nature was the eternall emanation which made and informed the humid nature of the world which for that reason was called Natura naturata or the Nature which was made naturall namely by the presence of the Naturating nature or Spirit of the Lord which moved upon the waters and imparted unto them of his fiery informing Vigor or Essence as we may find partly by Sacred Testimony and partly by the confirmation of St. Austin We must therefore after a due consideration of this which is said infer that if the influence be compleatly animated by the incorruptible Spirit of the Lord then must it be indued with the properties of that Spirit or Divine Nature and consequently it must be the most subtill quick movable and penetrating of all spirits and in that respect will be able to pass through all solid bodies without resistance and also to ingender augment and nourish all things and being incorporated or specificated it procreateth like individualities of their like and again it hath in regard of our capacity an infinite extension and therefore cannot be limited All which I purpose by experience or ocular demonstration to demonstrate in this manner We find in practice that the Load-stone by virtue of his subtill spirit which doth internally animate it is made so potent through it in his attractive virtue that it is able without resistance to display and transmit the beams of his active virtue quite atravers the hardest stones the most solid and finest grained wood through thick plates copper tin silver or gold yea and to penetrate quite through the impenetrable glass it self and other such like compacted stuff which have no sensible porosity or spiracle which is an evident Argument that this spirit is of a far more peircing and subtill nature than the sublunary aire forasmuch as it is denied passage through the slightest paper-skin or bladder In the like manner man's inward or celestiall spirit which is the vehicle of this vivifying beam is so subtil in it self that nothing is able to resist it when the inward mentall beam doth aime at any mark how far or how inaccessible soever it may be esteemed in the fleshly mans conceit For being this celestiall or aethereall spirit in man is made after the pattern of the Divine Image which it beareth it must also resemble it in its actions Now the subtilty of the Divine act in man's spirit is expressed by Hermes in these words Quicunque hac Dei Naturà fulti sunt intelligentià suâ cunctà complectuntur quae in terra sunt in mari siquid est praeter ea supra coelum atque adeo scipsos erigunt ut ipsum quoque bonum intueantur Who soever do rely on this Divine Nature may comprehend by their understanding all thingâ— whâ—ch are upon the earth and in the seas yea and besides all this any thing that is in heaven above and also they may elevate themselves in such a manner that they may behold the face of goodnesse it self c. Whereby he signifieth the all-sufficient act of penetration which is in the mentall beam by whose unresistable action the celestiall influence doth penetrate and operate without any intermediate resistance in and through all things By which it is evident that as every inferior specifick creature is indued with this essentiall spirit and doth consist and is as it were founded and edificated on it as on an essential Corner-stone or Foundation so the emission of his beams is not to be limited by any setled Sphere of activity as the unadvised and more sensuall then intellectuall Philosophers have defined it to be being that it is Vis in rebus infinita An infinite virtue or nature in things and therefore not finite or determinable For look how far it shineth or emitteth his active spirit out of the Center of the celestiall star even so far is this Centrall terrestriall bright Spirit able to make his Semidâ—ameter of extension So that as the heavenly starr's beamy influence doth penetrate downward unto the Center of the earth even after the very like manner doth each terrestriall star peirce unto the Center of the celestiall star from whence it was derived and the more rich and exalted is the starry form in the creature the nearer it approacheth unto the nature of the most exalted star in heaven and maketh his extension the more forcible Now as we see that every Astrall influence in the creature doth by a naturall inclination and that Sympathetically aspect the star or celestiall Fountain from which it did spring and likewise that star in heaven by a paternall respect doth send down his influences to feed and nourish his like filiall fire or form in the creature here below and both of them by a mutuall relation do rejoyce together at the spirituall presence of each other whereupon it is said Naturá natura laetatur naturam continet O natura coelestis veritatis naturas Dei nutu multiplicans Nature is rejoyced in nature and containeth nature O celestiall nature which by the Will of God doth mulâ—ply natures so likewise each kind or species which is indued with all one influence doth because of his likness to another send forth by a sympatheticall consent beams of one nature making an harmonious Symphony in the concourse of their beams by which they do agree in union of love And for this reason the axiom of the Philosophers before mentioned runneth in this strain Natura ex similibus similia procreare solet Nature doth use to procreate like of like And this is the cause why each specifick Form doth rejoyce in its like and is ready to produce his kind and doth not use to passe the limits of his kind as for example A Man's nature produceth a Man a Horse a Horse a fenel-seed fenel a bean a bean wheat produceth wheat c. And also the nature of each thing so created is most amiable unto the nature of his like and sendeth forth the amiable and Sympatheticall beams of his affection to concurre with the like beams which are emitted from his like so that both of them do easily consent and rejoyce at each other and by contraction of beams they indeavour to cause a union For this reason therefore the Load-stone rejoyceth at the aspect of its like for if one Load-stone meeteth with another each will aspect the other by their Saturnine Sulphureous spirits and embrace each other For by their applications they will Centrally suck and draw the one to the other with a Sympatheticall imbracing Also because that the Iron is subject unto the self-same constellation and hath his Centrall star in all points correspondent unto the Load-stone for which essentiall consanguinity
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
into a hole made in the root of a Hazel-tree and close up again the hole with the bark of the same Tree and afterward cover it with earth assuring me that it hath been tried that as the Tree groweth so will the member prosper But above all he wished me to observe the due order of the heaven and such secret and proper constellations as he hath instructed me in for without them the cure or amendment will be the lesse effectuall II. Another Magneticall Experiment to confirm the precedent Johannes Rhumelius Pharamondus cureth the Gowt by the very self-same manner of transplantaion in this manner He cutteth off the hair from the feet legs and thighs and also he pareth off the nails of the feet Then he maketh a hole in an Oke even unto the very Center or pith of the body and pulleth into it the hair and the nails and afterward he stoppeth up the hole with a peg or pin framed out of the same Tree and lastly he daubeth it without with cow-dung This Author saith that by this Magneticall experiment onely he hath cured many But if it chance saith he that the Gowt shall for all this return again within the space of three months then it is an Argument that the Oke is insufficient to draw Magnetically and then he proceedeth thus namely he boreth another like hole in a second Oke and after this he taketh the peeces of the Oke which fall out in the boring of the hole and bruiseth them and sticheth them in a little bag and applieh it unto the dolorous or infected member And this he doth three daies before the New-Moon Then in that very hour that the New-Moon is in he removeth the bag from the part affected and thrusteth it into the hole of the same Tree and stoppeth it with a pin of the same wood as before And he affirmeth that by this second practice when the first hath failed he hath cur'd many But if it happen for all this that the pain doth return within three other moneths then he cutteth of the hair and pareth the nails the second time and tieth them upon the back of a Crab or Crab-fish and so casteth it into the running waters and the sick will be cured He concludeth there that he hath cured many by the first many others by the first and second and many by the first second and third Experiments A third Experiment tried by the same Author The same Author doth verifie that by this very manner of transplantation he hath cured many of the Rupture or Hernia and his practice is after this manner He taketh a new laid Egge piping hot as they say and he rubbeth the Gowty place with it often but gently then he taketh away the bark of a good big tree and with a great auger he boreth a hole so big as that the Egge might easily enter into it then doth he lay on again the bark as before stopping well the hole thereof with it and anointing or daubing it with tree wax or caement All which businesses must be effected in due order and time And he telleth us that when the barks of the tree do grow together then also will the Hernia and rupture also close up But if it happen that the Hernia be not cured within one moneth then bore a hole in an Oke and take the pieces that fall from the hole bruise them and stick them in a small bag and apply it to the grief as is said about three daies before the new Moon and then about the hour of the new Moon put it into the hole and do in all things as is told you before He telleth many other observations as well touching the time namely if the Hernia's first increase were in the Moon 's increase or decrease which for brevity sake I here omit Lastly if the Hernia be not for all this so dered or glued up then he boareth a hole in the Oke and puts in the nail and hair of the Patient's hands and feet as also the hair of his privy parts stopping it as is before said For he affirmeth that when the hole will be grown up the Hernia will be also closed There also he sheweth the reason that he is forced to use more or less of these operations in his cure according unto the nature of the Hernia namely to the incipient Hernia one operation will serve to the inveterate more will be required And he saith that in this cure is chiefly to be obserued the time the measure of the tree and the depth or profundity of the hole Another Experiment by him Also he saith that if we take the nailes of the feet and hands of an Hydropick person and transplant them on the Crey-fish of the river and bind them unto the back of her and cast her into the river it will cure the Dropsy Whereby you may plainly observe by approved experience that the marrow and strengh of the foresaid Proposition is in every respect confirmed and again if we do but burn the nails and hair and scrapings of the skin and take by an alimbeck without a bottom the fume of it we shall find a kind of Balsamick oyle to issue from them which is very attractive drying and agglutinating of wounds And therefore it appeareth that there is a Balsamick virtue in these kind of Excrescences though unto the ignorant they appeare but of little value But this Magnetick virtue of these Excrementitious parts may in some sort be also demonstrated by the property of the Minerall Load-stone As for Example IV. A Magneticall Demonstration We may rightly compare the mass of these superfluous Excrescences unto a lesser Load-stone capped with steel For when it is transplanted into the Plant it becommeth of a greater force of attraction For as the Iron being added unto the pole of the Load-stone though it be but weak yet it doth fortifie it and maketh it able to attract a far greater weight for the Iron giveth it strength In like manner if Magnetick Excrescences be grafted in the body of the Magneticall Tree then that Tree will suck and draw his like namely the spirit of defective limbs more strongly unto it making them to become vegetative and to increase and grow which before did pine and wither For the spirit sucked and continued by dilatation from the member unto the vegetative nature of the Tree doth indue the like nature and doth by a continuity animate the fading spirits in the member to increase and vegetate or prosper in his growth Now to prove this Magneticall relation I will produce certain Problems touching the nature of the Load-stone 1. Problem There is a strong Union in a Load-stone armed with steel and heavier weight may be by it taken up than if it be not armed Application The reason is because vis unita est fortior for the Iron addeth force unto a Load-stone that is weak as is confirmed by this Problem 2 Problem If there