of Stars and the various Species in the four Worlds or what doth more ravishingly declare the Greatness Goodness and eternal Wisdom of the immense Creator This is a Book we study in which the grand Charter of Nature and the Holy Mysteries of God are recorded and we think we do not err in preferring it before the endless and contentious thwarting Volumes of the Talkative Philosophers and Wrangling Schoolmen French-man I have been told and you seem to own it That you will not Kill any of the inferior Creatures nor eat their Flesh but I pray hath not Man power to do as he pleaseth with those Creatures and were not they made for that very purpose Heathen God hath made all Creatures inferior to Man who hath freedom to use and do unto them all as he pleaseth having free will to chuse either Good or Evil but he that follows the better and leaveth the worse chuseth the better part and is made God's Friend and in Amity with all the Creation for man is a likeness of all things and contains their true Natures and Properties and therefore whatever he giveth himself unto the same becomes strong in him be it Virtue or Vice For which cause our well-advised Fathers commanded us our Wives and Children to abstain from all kinds of Violence and Oppression especially to those of our own Species that thereby our Souls might be preserved from being precipitated into wrath and so retain Humanity and the more noble Faculties of our Souls unspotted as well as our Bodies rendred wholsome clean and fit to be Temples for the Divine Spirit esteeming Abstinence Cleanness and Separation to be the true paths that lead to all external and eternal bliss it being in our opinion an unfit and altogether unworthy thing that the great noble and immortal Soul of man should so much degenerate from its high and illustrious Birth as to joyn or suffer it self to be incorporated with the low and savage Nature of Beasts Nor do we think it lawful for us to heat our Veins and distemper our blood with Wine since Water more kindly quencheth our Thirst the innocent and fragrant Herbs and Fruits of our Gardens afford us ample satisfaction and we should be ashamed to make our Bodies the Graves of the Inferiour Creatures And tho our Princes are sometimes harsh and severe to us yet we pacifie them with meek submissive and humble Behaviour And since as little as possibly we can we hurt not any thing therefore nothing hurts us but we live in perfect Unity and Amity with all the numberless Inhabitants of the four Worlds doing by them as we would be done unto whereby we dis-arm their Rage and their Fury finds no place against us French-man But pray tell me how long you have led this kind of Life and whether your Sons and Daughters do follow your Religion and Example for amongst the Europeans nothing is more common than for Youth to degenerate and wander after the Multitude and abandon their Fathers Rules especially if they should be but half so singular as you are Heathen As for the Antiquity of our Course of Life I think for the greater part I may date it from the World 's Original Your own Doctors teach that Adam the first Man was placed in a Garden and that the green Herb. and Tree bearing Fruit was to be to him for Meat and do generally agree that afterwards at least during the Old World viz. to the time of the Flood which was in the Year of the World 1656. eating of Flesh was not allowed or practised and though afterwards it was practised yet 't is probable it did not obtain with all But there is reason to believe that still the better and more reserved sort did abstain For about the Year of the World 3300. near the time that your holy Records mention Ierusalem to be besieged by Nebuchadnezzar we find the famous Philosopher Pythagoras flourishing who expresly taught his Followers which by reason of his Parts and Virtues were not a few not to eat any Flesh but content themselves altogether with Vegetables and this great Man travelling for the acquest and diffusion of Knowledge into divers parts left not our India unvisited and there planted this wholsome Doctrine which ever since hath not wanted Observers derived down by a continual Succession to our Times 'T is true our Ancestors have obliged us to some things which may seem frivolous and vain as not to kill any kind of Vermin which are very offensive to the Life of Man But indeed these Prohibitions well regarded shew their more deep Wisdom and Fore-sight for they did consider that their Philosophy would not only be embraced by Wise Men but also by a great number of Fools as the most part of all Men are in one thing or other and if they should have permitted them to have killed any kind of Creatures the Foolish would have concluded they might by the same Rule as well kill others and so by degrees come to kill men as most other Nations do Besides not only our cleanly regular temperate Lives free us from many of those Vermin wherewith others are troubled but we take it for a Rule that such as would live an abstemious separated Life from Evil and Violence must refrain from some things that are lawful as well as from those that are unlawful as one of your Prophets says excellently All things are lawful but not expedient Touching our Sons and Daughters they all constantly follow our Foot-steps and it hath very rarely been known that any of them have forsaken the Percepts of their Fathers being descended from a Root of Temperance and Equality they are naturally Sober and Temperate for they use not Tippling-Houses nor spend their Patrimony in drinking Wine Gaming Debauchery and Gluttony so that the more Children we have the Richer we esteem our selves they proving no more chargeable to us than Lambs do to Sheep They all marry Wives of our own Tribe and Religion and there is no Dispute about either Portion or Joynture Their greatest Pleasure and chief Recreation is to contemplate the Heavens and their glorious Furniture the Sun Moon and Stars in their Various Motions and Configurations as also the pleasant Gardens Groves and Fountains and to free the Inhabitants thereof from the Tyranny and Bondage of men as much as in them lies And so through the whole course of our Lives abstaining from all that tendeth to Evil and promoting what we can the good of the whole Creation we endeavour to imitate the adorable Maker and Conserver of the Universe whose Off-spring we are and in whom we live and move and have our Beeing French-man You have not only gratified my Curiosity but in several things informed my Understanding And I heartily wish that your Virtue and Morality were crowned with true Christianity and our Christianity embellish'd with the real practice of your Virtue Temperance and Moderation And so bid you Farewell To shew that the recommending Abstinence from Flesh is no new Upstart Conceit I shall here add those notable Verses of the ingenious Poet Ovid written above 1600 Years ago in his Metamorphosis as I find them translated by Sandys where he brings in the famous Philosopher Pythagoras from whom the Indian Bannians derive their Doctrine thus discoursing FOrbear your selves O Mortals to Pollute With wicked Food Corn is the generous Fruit. Apples oppress their Boughs plump Grapes the Vine Thousand sweet Herbs and savoury Roots combine With beauteous Flowers of most fragrant scent Your nice and liquorish Pallates to content The prodigal Earth abounds with gentle Food Affording Conquest without Death or Blood But Beasts with Flesh their ravenous Hunger cloy And yet not all Horses in Pastures joy So Flocks and Herds But those whom Nature hath Endu'd with Cruelty and savage Wrath Wolves Bears Armenian Tygers Lyons in Hot Blood delight How horrible a Sin That Intrails bleeding Intrails should Entomb That greedy Flesh with Flesh should fat become Whilst by the Livers Death the Living Lives Of all which Earth our bounteous Mother gives Can nothing please except thy Teeth in Blood And Wounds and Stygian Fury be imbrew'd Nought satiate the wild variety Of thy rude Paunch unless another dye That good Old Age that Innocent Estate Which we the Golden call was fortunate In Herbs and Fruits her Lips with Blood undy'd Then Fowls through th' Air their Wings in safety ply'd The Hare then fearless wandred o're the Plain Nor Fish by their Credulity were slain Nor taught was Man that fawning Treachery All liv'd secure till he that did Envy What Daemon e're it was those harmless Cates And cramb'd his Guts with Flesh set ope the Gates To cruel Crimes But first these slaughtering harms A fire of Zeal at Holy Altars warms Enjoyning Sacrifices with the Blood Of Savage Beasts which made our Lives their Food Thus the Wild Boar for rooting up the Corn And leaving painful Plough-mens hopes forlorn Was thought to merit Death Vine-brouzing Goats Do next to angry Bacchus yield their Throats What harm have poor Sheep done whose Udders swell And yield of Nectar a perpetual Well Supplying Man with their soft Wooll and are Alive than Dead more profitable far Or what the Ox a Creature without Guile Inur'd to Patience and continual Toil He most ungrateful is deserving ill The gift of Corn that can Unyoke then Kill The Husband-man that Neck with Ax to wound Is too severe that plow'd his stubborn Ground So oft till'd so many Crops brought in Yet not content therewith ascribes the Sin To guiltless Gods as if the Powers on high In Death of labouring Innocence could joy Whence springs so dire an Appetite in Man To interdicted Food O Mortals can Or dare you feed on Flesh Henceforth forbear I you intreat and to my words give ear When Limbs of slaughtered Beasts become your Meat Then think and know that you your Servants Eat FINIS Numb 11. 4 18 22.
and Communication for they saw the inconveniences and dangers that all such things brought on man but in this Dark Gluttonous and Drunken Age there is no regard had to such things every man does imagin himself to have greater Understanding than the Ancients and Prophets so that there is little or no distinction made accounting all things as it were of a like nature and operation whence doth proceed innumerable Disorders and Diseases for the total Preservation of mans Health both of Body and Mind does consist in the Quantity and Qality of Meats Drinks Exercises Communications Customs and the good or ill Properties of Food all things have a secret Power in themselves to alter and change Nature either for better or worse or to Vertue or Vice according to the Natures and Degrees either of Evil or Good in each thing Of the Flesh of Fowls There are various sorts of Fowls most of which men eat some Wild others Tame of the two the Wild are the wholsomest for Food their Nature is more airy and cleaner and of a dryer substance affording a better and firmer Nourishment better Blood and purer Spirits than the Tame the cause of this is the Cleanness of their Food great Motion and their continual being in the open pure Air next in Goodness to these are those Fowls that have free Egress and Regress and are chiefly fed with Corn such do also afford a good clean Nourishment But all such Fowls that are kept up and fatted and crambed in Coops being hindred both from Action and Motion their Flesh is of a grosser substance than the former not so wholsom hard of Concoction of a stronger Taste and Smell generates a thick gross Nourishment as indeed all other Creatures that are fed or made fat after that manner are much the Unwholsomer not being so Healthy if frequently eaten as those Creatures that are at their own Liberty for Motion and Action are absolutely necessary for to preserve Nature from Diseases and other evils not only in Men but also in all other things for it Purges and cleanses the Body from all such superfluous matter which is contracted by Meats and Drinks and other Accidents that happen to most Creatures it causeth the Blood to have its free Circulation and generates pure brisk lively Spirits as daily Experience doth teach Therefore all such unnatural ways and inventions of fatting any Creature after such a manner ought not to be if People have regard to their Health For all sorts of Flesh is in its own nature not only more Unclean but it is of a grosser substance affording more matter for the generation of Diseases than either Herbs Fruits or Grains neither is there any Art found whereby to exhale or destroy the gross Phlegmatick part of Flesh as there is in Fruits and Grains Therefore Flesh will sooner fall into Putrifaction than other things whose Humidity is exhaled by the vertue and power of the Sun and Elements It being a general mistake for to imagine that those Fowls and other Creatures that are hastily fatted by being penned up close and having superfluity of Food should have the best and most Nourishment Indeed they are fuller of gross Juices and Matter but good Nonrishment and pure Spirits and Blood do not proceed from the gross Phlegmatick body in any Creature but from the lively spirituous Parts and the more gross and phlegmy any Body is the fewer and duller are the Spirits of that thing if this were not so then Horses fed with Grass would be stronger and livelier than those that are fed with Hay and Corn. Are not all Creatures when their Bodies are fraighted with much matter disabled thereby to go through with their Labour or Exercise their Spirits quickly evaporated or spent and soon out of Breath faint and weak Which comes to pass through the super-abounding phlegmy matter which suffocates the Spirits and stops the Passages weakening the natural Heat and Action of the Stomach Therefore both Men and all other Creatures that do feed on Food that is of a dry Nature and Substance the gross Phlegm being destroyed as in Corn Hay Fruits and many other things and are inclined rather to Leanness than fulness are not only stronger and abler to endure Labour but they have far greater and more Lively Spirits are of quicker Apprehensions and fitter for Exercises both of the Body and Mind which does also further appear in all such Flesh that is so fatted it is not so sweet nor will it so readily take Salt nor keep so long without falling into Putrifaction Likewise the fat of all such flesh when salted will in a little time waste and consume the phlegmy gross part which is so strong that the pure essential spirituous parts thereof are destroyed whereas the very same Creatures being fed with Corn or dry Food having their Egress and Regress in the open Air being killed in their season and Salted will continue much longer than the former being much wholsomer and more pleasant breeding good Nâ—urishment better Blood and Spirits CHAP. IV. The Proper and most Natural way of Boyling Roasting Frying Baking c. of Flesh and other Food THE proper and natural way to Boyl Flesh and other Food that the Spirits and Life of it may be preserved is fiirst To put your Flesh into a Pot or Vessel that is large and can hold good store of Water For this Element of Water being of it self sweet and pleasant does cleanse and sweeten all things especially Flesh which is full of gross matter but you are to note that your Flesh is not to be put into your Pot or Vessel unless it first Boyl for if it lie in the Water and receives Heat but Gradually it dulls and makes flat the spirituous part thereof Likewise when your Flesh is put into your Vessel let your fire be increased that it may not lie long in the Water before it boyl and as soon as it boyls you are to uncover your Vessel and to keep it boyling quick without intermission till it is ready for eating The Pot or Vessel is not to be Covered any time of the boyling for thereby the sweet and refreshing Influences of the Air are hindered that they cannot have their free Egress and Regress which does as it were suffocate and destroy the pure and Volatile Spirits in the food for the Air is the Life and preserver of the Spirit and the Spirit is also the Life and preserver of the Balsamick Body in every thing and in what thing soever the Spirits suffer violence the sweet Body and Oyl turneth Sower as is most manifest in all fermented Liquors if such Liquors be exposed to the open Air the Spirits will evaporate and then the sweet Body turneth Sower and becomes of a heavy dull Nature and Operation but in the preparation of all gross phlegmy Bodies the free Influences of the Air keep the Spirit Living till such Bodies are digested and the Spirits set at Liberty then if
is not so to be understood but that Nature in Women does remain in a possibility of being awakened as by the ardent desires of the Mind which if kindled can easily stir up the sleeping Powers of Nature and by many other wanton ways which are used to provoke Nature beyond the proper degree or what is Natural which is not only a Sin but tends to Corrupting of mankind in the Root Which Wantonnesses and Unnatural Courses of Life are much furthered by sundry sorts of Meats and Drinks exciting Nature to her damage and corrupt the Seed as the great number of gross adulterated Foods and strange Mixture of Flesh Fish Herbs Fruits c. and the too frequent drinking of Wine and strong Drinks which heats the Seed and provokes Nature and make her lose her way which is very pernicious and dangerous to all sorts of People but more especially to WOMEN and therefore the Ancients did direct those of that Sex to observe an higher degree of Temperance and Order than they prescribed to Men as knowing that the whole Wellfare and Preservation of Mankind did chiefly depend on their good or ill Constitution The Food therefore appointed to them was Simple and Natural as various sorts of Herbs Fruits Grains and pure Water for Drink which are endued with simple and equal Natures and have Affinity with the Feminine Nature having no manifest Quality that does too violently predominate therefore have no unequal Operation but do administer both dry and moist Nourishment far beyond all high prepared Foods and strong Drinks For all sorts of Meats and Drinks do beget their Likenesses and for that Reason mean simple things have in all Ages been Commendable especially for WOMEN What we have said of Diet the same is to be understood of Exercises and therefore the Philosophical Ancients did not count it proper or suiting their Nature to put Women ordinarily upon any share or care of the Government or hard Labours because of their weak Spirits and Heats for on all occasions of Difficulty Labour and Trouble they are subject to be either too Cholerick or too Sanguine which their Nature cannot bear for all Inequality be it what it will proves Injurious to them and Children Besides it is very unseemly to see Women dirty and imployed in hard slavish Drugdery and such of them as are forced thereunto through the bad Husbandry of their Parents or Husbands do they not by following such robustick Labours become bold rude and uncivil and seem to have to put off the Womanish Nature both in Words and Works Now this Rudeness is bad in the Males but an Hundred times worse in the Females For if their sweet courteous friendly Tempers and Natures be destroyed and wounded the Generation of Mankind is thereby corrupted in the Root Therefore Men ought not to put Women to such robust Imployments and hard Labours as many do except pure Necessity compels them to it It is a common Opinion That WOMEN are more Salacious and Unchast than Men but the same is a great mistake and built only on this Ground because many Women are found easily to comply with Mens Insinuations and Temptations which does not proceed from any natural desires of Lust or Unchastity but from their friendly Tempers and sweet Sanguine Dispositions many of them being naturally so Sanguine that the very shew of Love and Friendship will presently awaken the Love-Principle in them even before they themselves are sensible of it so that if a Man do but carry himself fair courteous and kindly to them he may command them beyond what is convenient which many wicked Fellows knowing make it their Business to betray them which proves the Ruin of many Now Men finding them thus to comply they being ignorant of their Natures and also of themselves judge that of Women which they find true in themselves And to this Scandal some vile Women have also given a further occasion by prostituting themselves to all Unchastity but those Abominations do not proceed from their simple natural Inclinations and Dispositions but through their depraved Free-wills and lewd Customs whereby they have forced Nature out of her simple way and then such become worse and far more detestably Impudent than the most debauched of Men. But still Women as Women and according to their simple natural Dispositions ought by all Men to be highly esteemed and honoured and if they themselves were but in the least sensible of or understood the noble Excellency of their own Complexions Natures and Compositions they would scorn any such base Actions and loath themselves for their depraved state and condition especially some of them who have precipitated themselves into all kinds of Intemperances and superfluous Courses and evil Customs whereby they have abused their Natures destroyed their Healths and intailed Diseases and many Miseries to Posterity which is much to be pitied But to descend to more particular Directions touching Women 1. Their Food ought to be well prepared neither too much nor too little but according to the Rules in our Chapter of preparations for Food well prepared is not only of easier Concoction but breeds better Blood and finer Spirits than which nothing brings more advantage to Females by reason of their weak Hearts also such good Blood breeds most excellent Milk 2. They ought to eat and drink so moderately that the natural Heat of the Stomach may overcome and digest it without any difficuly so that there may no superfluous Dregs remain as are always wont to do where Nature is over-charged which fills the Vessels full of sharp crude matter of a griping Nature for a small quatity of Meat and Drink when well concocted affords not only a better Nourishment but also greater Strength than abundance gorged down more than Nature can manage It being a gross Error for People to imain that a great quantity must be thrust into the Belly or else they cannot subsist never consulting the strength of the natural Heat Nothing destroys the Health and breeds evil Juices in the Body more than this Intemperance which most People are subject to more or less and from hence are generated Windy Diseases and Griping Pains in the Stomach and Fumes in the Head which miserably afflict many of these Gluttonous People 3. They ought as much as in them lies to forbear all sorts of rich fat Foods that do consist of various Natures and disagreeing among themselves all such Foods are heavy of Concoction fur the Passages dull the edg of the Appetite and breed bad Blood But on the contrary all simple innocent Foods which for the most part are easie and light on the Stomach are most agreeable to the Foeminine Constitution and also for their Children as Bread Butter a little Cheese Milk Herbs variously ordered Flesh but in its proper Seasons and simply and well prepared 4. But much Flesh and the frequent eating thereof does prove injurious to Women especially those of gross Phlegmatick Complexions whose Heats are so
in Man And for that Reason the wise Ancients used so much diligence to persuade the common People from the frequent eating of it especially without distinction as well because it cannot be procured without Violence nor be eaten without being more or less infected with the Sensual and Beastial Nature for those fierce revengeful Spirits that proceed from the Creature when the painful Agonies of Death are upon it though they make no noise nor can externally be seen heard or felt yet they fail not to accompany the Flesh and especially the Blood and have their internal operation and leave their impressions on those that eat it by a secret hidden way of Simile the same whereby the Loadstone draws Iron there being naturally a most attractive Faculty or Vertue in each thing especially the Animal Life to seek out and incorporate with its Simile This being God's way in Nature to move all things by Sympathy and Antipathy the one by its attractive power draws all things that have any Affinity with it self and the other dissipates all things by a contrary opposite will And thus Men are not seldom drawn into several Inconveniences before they are sensible of it for Nature leaveth the Ways of Sense and Understanding and goes on in her common Course there is no consideration whether it be good or bad but every one of her Qualities and Properties does its own work and keeps its own way so that into whatsoever Quality Man does immerse his Will and Desires that Form or Property is presently awakened and does forcibly draw all things that have Affinity with its Nature by which it becomes through use and practice very strong and powerful As those that fear the Lord and live soberly and temperately draw Vertue and Goodness out of all things which does wonderfully strengthen and support them and on the contrary those that give their Wills up unto Ungodliness attract Poyson out of all things which does also increase and strengthen the evil Nature in them These are the two Tinctures that have power to open all Bodies whether Vegetable Mineral or Animal and to transmute and draw all things into their own Property respectively Did Men understand or consider this Power of Nature they would not so much desire Flesh without distinction nor make it their common Food but rather with the wise Ancients would have Herbs Seeds and Grains in high reputation not only for that they maintain Men in health strength and agility of Body and Mind and attribute to long Life far beyond all Flesh but also because such things have a true innocent Original being endued with neither Love Hate Fear Joy nor Sorrow but void of all Passions Sense and Perturbations and therefore not capable of enkindling any such thing in Man or awaking ought but what is like themselves Thus in their own kind they are harmless and innocent but Flesh is altogether the contrary and cannot be procured without oppressing the Way of God in Nature and causing the Creatures to sigh groan and cry to be delivered into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God and this keeps the fierce Wrath in motion and causeth it to break forth upon them in many and great Calamities 11. When the Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 15. 17. accused the Disciples for eating of Bread with unwashen hands our Saviour Christ tells them It is not that which goeth into the Mouth defileth a Man but that which proceedoth out of the Heart This the Disciples did not understand and therefore ask'd Jesus What it did mean Who answers Out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murthers Adulteries and all kind of Intemperances Now if the Fountain be bitter the Streams cannot be sweet if the Heart be defiled then all the Thoughts Words and Works are also defiled but if the Heart be clean then the Cogitations and Desires are so also for every man becomes either clean or unclean as he consents to or suffers his Will to enter into the good or evil Principle in himself Therefore no Meats Drinks Words or Works have any power to defile a Man so long as his Heart that is his Thoughts and Desires are clean for then from thence can proceed no inclination or disposition to any outward thing but what is like it self for if the divine Power and Humanity â—o predominate in a Man's heart it attracteth such Matter out of all things as is capable to increase and nourish its own Body for no Man ever did or can observe the Rules of Cleanness Sobriety and Temperance before there was an inward Work and Reformation in the Heart for all Men are first defiled in Imaginations and Desires before they bring it forth into Action Gluttony Drunkenness and all kinds of Superfluity proceed from a contaminated Heart which if it were clean then Thoughts Words Meats or Drinks Quantity or Quality would not fully him because his Desires would be bounded and contented with what was needful but when a man is corrupted within there is no end of wanton vain supersluous thoughts and desires after those things that are needful nor indeed convenient for him There is a twofold manner of Defilement 1st By Imagination and Desires 2ly The putting those Thoughts and Desires into Action which is ten-fold a greater Evil than the first All good Men that have desired to live in Self denial know this to be true fortho ' evil Thoughts and Desires will frequently obtrude themselves yet if a Man stands upon his Guard they are easily cut off in the Bud because they are not yet grown up to a Substance and therefore do not bring the Soul into such a horror as attends her when a Man pursues his evil thoughts and brings them into action In Man are the two grand Fountains viz. Good and Evil and the Scripture saith The Right-hand way and the Left Now which-soever of these two Principles do carry the uppermost dominion in the Heart of Man from thence are generated and do proceed the predominant Thoughts Desires Words and Works This is clearly manifested in all other Creatures as well as in Man though in a more especial manner in the humane Nature For do we not see that according to the prevailing Property in each Beast suitable are their Inclinations if it be the Sanguine Friendly Property of Nature then such Beasts are tame and easily tractable of friendly Dispositions and pleasant Forms and Shapes and all such Beasts were by the old Seers and Men of God pronounced clean and they desire not nor incline to any other sort of Food but what is clean innocent and of a proportionable Nature to themselves On the other side those Beasts in whom the unclean fierce wrathful inhumane Nature has dominion their very Shapes and Forms shew Fierceness their Countenances are terrible and frightful to behold and their Inclinations are both cruel and unclean they are not satisfied with innocent Food as other Beasts are because such harmless things have little or no Simile
of his Pope or the command or instigation of some bloody sottish Belly-God devilish Priest be ready nay zealous to kill burn and destroy the Innocent and lay waste whole Countries all which is contrary to all kinds of Friendliness and Humanity and also to God's Law in Nature and to the Law of God recorded in th Scriptures Which shews that Men are gone from and do trample under their feet the divine friendly Love and Light of God and all natural Affection and Humanity and have immersedtheir Wills and their whole Hearts and Souls and precipitated them into the fiery stern Wrath of God having no humane clemency but acted by the cruel fierce nature of Dogs Lions Swine c And as those savage Beasts do delight to kill hurry oppress tear and eat the Blood of their Fellow Creatures so most men place their chief delight and pleasure in hunting killing oppressing and devouring not only those of their own kind which is contrary to most of the worst of Beasts for few of them will prey upon or worry those of their own Species but all other Creatures None of the Elements are free from his Snares and Cruelties the Earth the Air the Sea cannot preserve their innocent Inhabitants from his pursuits and outrages but he rifles the whole Creation and yet still all is too little to satisfie his insatiate Mind and ungodly devouring Paunch so great a Tyrant and Devil is he become to all the rest of his Fellow-Citizens of the World 'T is this proud and troublesome Thing called Man that fills the Earth with Blood and the Air with mutherous Minerals and Sulphur no wonder then if the very sight of a Man be more dreadful to most Creatures than that of a Bear or Lion and they will flie from him as fast Those Beasts that are called clean are such as do refuse all kind of unclean Food for the predominate Quality in them consists in the friendly Nature or their Properties are nearer the Equality Therefore such Creatures as they are more clean so also are they more gentle and friendly in Inclinations and Dispositions it being contrary to their Natures to worry oppress or seek the Lives of their Fellow-Creatures but are contented with their innocent and natural Food they are the only useful and beneficial Creatures unto Man his perpetual Friends by vertue of their Fruits his Life is sustained but for the multitude of their Benefits he rewards them with Oppression and Death nor will content himself with the good things they produce for his Sustenance as Milk Butter Cheese Eggs c. but must also kill them and eat their Blood and dead Carcasses Now if Man had not suffered the Hellish Devilish Nature to have been awakened in him he then would not have desired nor longed after the Oppressions and Flesh-pots of Egypt but would have rested content with innocent harmless Food of the Land of Canaan but the wrathful Fire being so greatly moved and predominating in the Hearts and Souls of Mankind above and over the divine friendly Love of God no Food will give satisfaction unto nor answer the hunger and desires of that awakened wrathful Property so well as Flesh and Blood because it is the highest Life and hath a nearer Affinity to that predominating Quality that so bears sway in most Men's Hearts I look upon it as a great Mistake for a Man to say and believe That all these good Creatures were made to be killed and eaten and that Men's Lives should be sustain'd thereby The Lord made all Creatures for his honour and glory and for the reasonable service and use of Mankind whom he ordered to have dominion over all Creatures which Man has lost by suffering his Desires to enter into the wrathful fierce bestial nature which the Humanity ought not to have touch'd for Man is higher graduated and ought not to have bowed himself to those inferiour Powers nor suffered their low bestial Spirits to enter him for God made Man in his own Image the Horizon of both Worlds the Epitome of the whole Creation so that he is liable to be wrought upon by all inferiour things If this were not so there would not be any such danger of infecting the humane Nature by Communications oppressing killing and eating the Flesh of the Beasts for where nothing is there nothing can be awakened as our Saviour Christ said If your Children ask you for Bread will you give them a Stone There being no affinity between the Stomach and a Stone but on the contrary there is agreement between Bread and the Stomach Whatsoever Man gives way or joyns himself unto the same through a little custom and practice will have power to impose its own Property and captivate the Soul Hence it comes to pass that Butchers Souldiers and all Men that are of robustick slavish Employments are for the most part cruel inhumane subject to all the savage Bestiality that the wild Beasts and Birds of Prey are and oft-times far worse for Beasts do only live in the wrath of the outward Nature but Man does both partake and live in the operation of the outward and also of the hellish Nature Therefore 't is no fit comparison to liken some sorts of cruel Men to savage Beasts for thereby the poor dumb Creatures are abused They do according to their kind but Man was made for another Life viz. to live in the power and operation of the divine Principle of God's eternal Light and Love but he has degenerated from his first state of Innocency and many Men by giving way to Cruelty and Violence are become so bad that they cannot be compared to any Creature in Nature but merely to Devils O! how abominable and wicked a thing it is in the sight of the Lord and his friendly Love in Iesus Christ for Men to take his holy Name in vain by their Swearing Lying Stealing Cheating Circumventing each other Fighting Killing counting it no Evil to hurry oppress worry both Man and Beast spending their precious time in Wantonness and all kind of Superfluity of Naughtiness and Intemperance making it a Sport and Pastime Good-Fellowship and Civil Neighbourhood to be drunk to eat to Gluttony and to keep Tables filled with Superfluities is counted Hospitality and a Thing of State On the contrary to eat and drik only for ends and necessities of Nature of ready simple harmless Meats and Drinks is held poor base and beggarly and derided by most that have wherewithal to do otherwise making the Creator as it were the cause of their Wantonness saying Has not God given us those Creatures freely for our use May we not do what we will with them Are they not cur own These are the common Excuses of these wretched Belly-Slaves not considering that most or all those good Creatures which they spend on their Lusts and to gratifie their wicked Inclinations are gotten by their oppressing both Man and Beast eating and drinking the Blood of the poor and the
And if we may descend to grosser Pleasures have not the meanest of Men as great content and satisfaction with his poor Russet-Coated Wife as the greatest Prince with his Gayest Bride Whence the Poets always feign LOVE the noblest of the Passions to be bred amongst the Villagers and a Companion of Rusticks and Shepherdesses Nay to go higher has not the great All Wise Creator given the most friendly Element the Air in Gavil-kind to all the Sons of Men every one enjoying an equal Portion And are not the greatest of Men subject to all the Injuries of the Elements and Necessities and Accidents of Natural Life viz. Heat Cold Hunger Thirst Diseases and even Death it self as much and as frequently and as certainly as the Poor And yet still men are so foolish and so vain as to vaunt of their Great Birth and their Noble Blood Can any thing be mote extravagantly ridiculous True it is all that are Governors Magistrates and Officers of the People ought to be honoured and respected in their Places according to their respective Dignities and so much the more if they govern according to the Law of God and Nature doing every man Justice and Right and being a Terror unto evil doers and a Praise unto them that do well But this real Honour contracted on Political Considerations of Office and Vertue is nothing to that Fantastick Glory derived meerly from Ancestors and the brave Feats done by our Great-Grandsires Grand-Fathers so much boasted of by those who please themselves in being Great rather by their Mother's Labours than their own 14. It is to be noted that most sorts of Flesh and Fish as to their operations on the Body and Senses are not so innocent brisk aery and lively as Herbs Seeds Grains Fruits and various sorts of excellent Food made of them though many of our English Belly-Gods suppose Flesh to be most mighty in its operation but they are grosly mistaken and no wonder since their Brains Wits and Understandings are through Intemperance Superfluity and Gluttony sunk into their Bellies for Flesh is of a gross substance dull and heavy in its operation fills the Body with abundance of slimy corrupt Juices bad Blood and in many Constitutions too great a quantity and causeth the Animal Spirits to be very impure whence arise Boils Scabs King's-Evils Leprosies and sometimes clotted Blood like pieces of Flesh which lie in some of the Vessels of the Stomach till being gathered into hard Lumps they sorely oppress Nature and cause Distempers which are the Death of Multitudes Flesh and Blood is too near of kin to the Animal Life in Man to be a proper Food for him 't is like the Marrying of Brothers and Sisters Therefore the Ancients were curious in forbidding especially the eating of the Flesh of any of those Beasts that would naturally eat the Flesh of their Fellow-Creatures and we need go no farther than every Man's experience to know that all such Flesh and also Fish have a rank strong fulsome Taste and affords a like Nourishment Nor has Flesh and Blood grown into great reputation from the excellency of its Taste or Nourishment but chiefly as we have elsewhere observed from the near affinity it has with the awaken'd Wrath and bestial Nature which in most men predominates Hence when once Men have tasted Flesh with the Blood the Bestial Qualities are presently irritated and so pleased that nothing else will afford them such satisfaction because of its great affinity with the Bestial and Animal Life the hunger grows so strong in many that they will eat Flesh or Fish that stinks and is half putrified if they cannot have other rather than feed upon Bread Butter Cheese or the like which is an bundred-fold beyond it both as to Taste Nourishment and Vertue The same is to be understood of all sorts of unclean Birds and Beastss of Prey As for example If a Dog chance to suck the Blood and eat the raw Flesh of any Creature it does so violently open the gate of the fierce Quality that the Hunger grows so great that he becomes ten-fold more eager revenous and fierce than before This every one almost doth know and if they consider it well shall find the very same Effects in Bodies humane as each man may feel in himself if he be a diligent observer of his own Nature If this had not been so Moses and many wise men in most Ages had never made such strict Laws against eating of Flesh without distinction and that such Flesh as was allowed to be eaten should be throughly cleansed from the Blood c. Which rendered such Flesh far wholsomer and to afford a better nourishment but not so much as our way of Killing and Dressing which in truth in most Creatures as Cows Oxen c. is next door to strangling whereby the natural Spirits are suffocated and causes the Blood and fierce wrathful Spirits to centre and lodge themselves in all parts of the Body and hinders them that they pass not so freely away where the wound is made This the Apostles understood very well We have no other Commandment to lay on you but that you abstain from Blood Fornications things offered to Idols and things strangled there being more Evil in all sorts of Flesh and Fish that is so killed than most do imagine for when there is no Wound made the animal bestial wrathful fierce original poysonous Spirits become suffocated and Death's stroke brings the whole Nature into such amazing frightful Agonies as few Men or Killers of Beasts are sensible of or endued with so much humanity to consider for if they did suffer Compassion to arise in them their leud Trade of killing would not be so easie to them I say the central Poysons being awakened by the stroke of Death and finding no Passage they seize the pure Spirits whose Habitation is the Blood and then presently the sweet Oyl or Balsamick Property turns sower strong and fulsome as is manifest every where both in Animals and Vegetables whensoever the pure spirituous parts are by any improper preparation or other Accidents wounded suffocated or evaporated then in a moment's time the sweet balsamick Property is depraved and turns eager and unwholesome Hence it is that the Flesh of those Creatures that are strangled does neither look so well nor eat so sweet nor is so healthy as other Flesh for when any Creature perceives its Life in danger there is such a strugling and horror within as none can imagine but such only as have been near dead by the like means it being the very same in a Beast as in Men. This being better understood by the Ancients than now-a-days it was therefore amongst them not lawful to kill any Creature that was to be eaten without making a Wound by which means the Blood did pass freely away and with it the fierce and wrathful Spirits and Poysons and so the Flesh was purged and freed from many sorts of Uncleanness and even this
The WAY To HEALTH LONG Life and Happiness Or A Discourse of TEMPERANCE And the Particular Nature of all Things requisite for the Life of Man As All sorts of Meats Drinks Air Exercise c. with special Directions how to use each of them to the best Advantage of the BODY and MIND Shewing from the true ground of Nature whence most Diseases proceed and how to prevent them To which is Added A Treatise of most sorts of ENGLISH HERBS With several other remarkable and most useful Observations very necessary for all Families The whole Treatise displaying the most hidden secrets of Philosophy and made easie and familiar to the meanest Capacities by various Examples and Demonstrances The like never before Published Communicated to the World for a general Good By THOMAS TRYON Student in PHYSICK The Second Edition with Amendments LONDON Printed by H. C. for R. Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1691. TO THE READER THat mighty Tyrant Custom has made it fashionable and consequently to some People seemingly necessary to dedicate Books when publisht to some great Names whom Authors are wont to load with Flatteries and then beg their Protection A Course in my Opinion no less impertinent than base For if the Writer be Conscious to himself that he needs Pardon and such Supporters why does he trouble the World with his Papers If his Intentions are good and candid what need of such fawning Addresses Truth is too noble to truckle to those little Artifices and carries in the Majesty of her unclouded Brow both sufficient Pass-Port and Patronage since those that oppose her do it at their own Peril and at Long-run she is sure to be Victorious I therefore decline that vulgar Method as one that am no ways fond of running the broad Way of the Multitude To thee O Reader whoever thou art is this Book entirely dedicated and yet I shall not so much as be speak thee to be kind and courteous only for thy own sake desire thee to be just and considerate to weigh impartially what I offer I mean the Matter not the Words or Stile and if still thou wilt with the deaf Adder stop thy Ears against the Voice of the Charmer the fault and the danger will be Thine I have discharg'd my Duty The main design of this Treatise is to bring Men acquainted with themselves and recommend Temperance the most excellent though most neglected Virtue in the World to their Practice In a word to perswade them to be kind to their own Healths their own Lives their own Souls Nor will it be needful here to give you a Bill of Fare of the several Dishes which this Banquet presents you with that 's done in the Contents of the several Chapters All I shall say is that here are variety of Truths plainly delivered which I do not know are else-where in Books to be met with for I have not consulted Authors in composing this Tract to pay you like a Banker with other Peoples Coin or entertain you with a Rapsody of stolen Notions as disagreeing and trivial as the Pye-bald Shreds of a Taylors Cushion One grand Objection I fore see viz. that I am guilty of Tautology or have too oft repeated the same things To this I Answer 1. I hope you will rarely find bare Repetitions but although the same or like Expressions may occur yet still they are either attended with some Addition and Illustration or else are improved to the explaining some other Notion 2. Needful Truths are never too often repeated till they are once well learnt Many Men are slow of Apprehension and cannot reach ones meaning without a large expence of Words By these reiterated Strokes I would willingly make Impression first on thy Understanding and next on thy refractory Will to practise what is so necessary to thy Well-doing that is thy Well-being 3. This saying of one thing over and over when we treat of Nature is necessary and unavoidable for 't is her own Dialect and Method All the various Substances Forms Complexions Constitutions and Properties both in the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms have the same Basis or Ground There being but Seven grand Forms of Nature whence all do proceed An Example we have in Musick Seven perfect Notes or Sounds produce all that admirable variety of Harmony which the World admires And tho' a Man should compose as many Songs as Solomon and frame an hundred Thousand Tunes and Divisions yet these seven Notes still are the Foundation on which he builds so that to every Lesson Song or Division they must be repeated So in the Mathematicks that Demonstrative Science whereby so many rare things are effected the Number Ten is the extent of all natural Numeration and Eleven is but a beginning again And the very same Figures must afterwards continually be repeated in all Arithmetical Operations to bring greater Mysteries to manifestation In that most delightful Art of Representation there are but Seven perfect Colours and yet by these a skilful Master can paint and imitate all the Appearances in the Univese There are but Seven Metals and yet how many Wonders are wrought by and out of them In Seven Days the unbounded Jehovah created all Beings by the power and virtue of his holy Word which Word of Power does still both conserve and generate for there is no standing still of Gods power in Nature all things being continually repeated by the Revolutions and Configurations of the Coelestilas and thence it was that the Wise-man said there was no new thing under the Sun There are but seven Days in a Week which are repeated fifty two times in a year and so from one Generation to another Therefore whoever will treat aright either of divine or natural things and their occult Vertues or Vices must make the seven Primogenial Forms or Constellations his Basis or Ground-Work and in all cases have recourse to them or else he shall never truly display Natures Operations There is yet another Prejudice may be taken because in some particulars I have spoken what may seem too free and satyrical But if any with unbyassed Minds please to consider the Fopperishness of those things I speak against and withal how destructive they are to Mankind they will be satisfied that such a subject deserved no other Treatment 'T is neither out of Ill-Will or Self-Interest I have handled them at that rate but as I conceived they ought justly to be exposed to the Contempt of that part of the World which so long they have Ass-ridden and seduced That you may come to the right Understanding of Gods Law in Nature and govern your selves accordingly to the Obtaining Health both of the Body and Mind and be happy here and hereafter is the Endeavour as well as Desire of Your Well-wishing Friend Thomas Tryon THE CONTENTS Of the Ensuing TREATISE Chap. I. A Description of the four grand Qualities whence the four Complexions proceed How every Man may know his own Complexion
contrary for many thousands are destroyed both by Quantity and Quality of Meats and Drinks but they are first defiled in the Root of their Spirits But on the contrary no Meats or Drinks have power to hurt or defile that man whose Heart and Desires are governed and moderated by Wisdom and therefore saith the Apostle From whence proceed Wars and Fightings all Lusts false Imaginations and Intemperances Do they not all proceed from within For if a man be ignorant of the true Nature of things his Understanding and Soul darkened then he is subject to be defiled by every thing for if the Nature of things be not discerned nor distinguished by the Spirit such are always liable to be defiled by every sort of Food or Drink either in Quantity or Quality For where Ignorance governs the extravagant Desires are not bounded For first Every man is defiled by his desires and imaginations as our Saviour Christ saith in another case He that looketh on a Woman and lusteth is defiled thereby the very same is to be understood of all other Uncleannesses both of Body and Mind only the Evils and Defilements are greater when a man proceeds to put in practice those things which he first conceived within by Imaginations for no outward Uncleanness could ever hurt any man if the inside were kept clean If Understanding and the pure Spirit govern within then all unclean Desires and Imaginations are as it were cut off in the bud and not suffered to proceed to a substance and then a man is not desiled either by that which goes out nor by any sorts of Meats Drinks or other things that gointo the Body And so on the contrary when the evil corrupt Nature is awakened and has gotten the inward Government then all the Desires and Imaginations are formed and do proceed from the evil Principle which first defiles the Soul and then afterwards the Body This is the very Root and Foundation of all Uncleanness Superfluity and Intemperance for every property in Nature must be supported and fed on its own Food Hence all sorts of Animals whose predominant Quality and Ascendent chiefly proceeds from the wrathful and unclean Nature do desire a proportionable Food viz. raw flesh and Sordities But on the contrary those Animals whose Dignifications and chief Quality stands in and proceeds from the clean Nature such Creatures also do desire clean Food The same is to be understood in the humane Nature according to the Principle or Property that is awakened and most predominant so is the man either clean or unclean good or evil from thence are all his Desires and Imaginations framed Thus we see that Cleanness and Sobriety in Meats Drinks Exercises c. have a greater Virtue and Excellency in them than People think for their power proceeds from an inward Principle and they endow their Observers with the Riches both of Time and Eternity for Temperance makes all her Lovers truly sensible of God's blessings How sweet is every mean thing to the sober mind And how ready are such men to give the Lord Thanks and humble Acknowledgments for his Mercies They see feel and taste the most pleasant operation of the divine Hand in all things their Bodies are delighted with the meanest of Food their Minds satisfied their Beds easie and their sleep sound they are not subject to indispositions nor molested with Fevers their Heads are not dulled with Fumes nor their Stomachs oppressed with fainting Fits or windy griping Humours they rise as fresh as the Morning Sun and are fit for all Exercises both of the Body and Mind their Radical Moisture flows freely throw every part like a pleasant gale of Wind which moderates the central Fires that they burn not too violently But this excellent state it not obtainable without Self-denial and suffering now and then a little gentle Hunger which cleanseth the Stomach and Passages from all superfluous Matter frees the Spirits from all Imperfections prevents all Obstructions and preserves Health far better than any Physical Evacuations It hath a certain Occult Quality for the digestive Faculty and natural Heat is never idle therefore when the Stomach is not filled with superfluity of Food and often eating it draws away all the superfluous matter that furs and stops the Passages and which were apt to cause shortness of Breath send troublesom Fumes and Vapours to the Crown hinder the free Circulation of the Blood and make the spirits impure These Evils and many others Temperance and moderate Fastings do prevent the Stomach naturally drawing this phlegmy Substance out of all the Vessels and Passages when Meats and Drinks come not too quick and casts the lighter part thereof upwards and the more gross heavier parts downwarns into the Bowels for this reason when a man does fast a little longer than ordinary he will feel a kind of a gnawing or disorder in his Stomach for a little time and then it will cease and after some space do so again the occasion of which is this the natural Heat does very powerfully draw matter unto it self for Sustenance but finding no proper Nourishment makes a separation of the gross phlegmy substance that lodges in the Vessels of the Stomach and casts it forth both upwards and downwards and having done this craves afresh for more work and more proper matter of Aliment Nor should a little Trouble thwarting our Humours debaucht with ill Customs and Wantonness or some small Inconveniencies divert us from getting our selves possest of this Jewel Temperance the true Philosophers-Stone which turns all into the Golden Elixir of Health Content and Serenity since we see none of the little perishing Goods of this World are to be obtained without trouble and difficulty do not Youths serve seven years enduring hard Labour and many other Inconveniencies for a Trade whereby to get an outward Livelihood Do not Men Travel by Sea and Land through a thousand Miseries even to the hazarding of their Lives and Liberties for Meat Drink and a little Rayment And those few that do obtain their desired ends if Temperanee be wanting the enjoyment of them proves not only burdensom but so full of Snares that they had better been without them for Plenty has destroyed more than Necessity some say than the Sword the one having wherewithal to gratifie his superfluous desires and so destroy himself which the other has not What a deal of pains and charge are People at to please their Liquorish Pallates The Indies must be sent to for Rarities and the utmost parts of the Earth for Dainties such abundance such variety provided as if all the Beasts and Fowls in Noah's Ark with an addition of all the Fishes in the Waters and Vegetables of Earth were scarce enough to furnish one Luxurious Board And then what Curiosity in Sawces What fantastick Humors for Dressing The more extravagant and unnatural the more genteel and acceptable forsooth Whereas those things that are necessary to support and preserve the Body in perfect
if a man does leave them at the first Nature seems to want them the like effect is produced by other unnatural Customs as in taking Tobacco it being a strong Martial and Saturnine Herb of a loathsom poysonous Nature and Operation whose predominant Quality is of a contrary Nature to the Stomach and natural Heat therefore the first taking of it in Pipes is both difficult and troublesom to Nature and there is no Preparations known that will make this Herb friendly or familiar to Nature but only the continual Custom of taking it which does awaken and strengthen its own Quality in the Stomach which in the beginning was weak but by custom is become strong so great is the power of every thing in increasing its likeness and it becomes as though it were natural and there is as much difficulty to leave the use of such things if not more as there was at first to make them familiar the like is true in Brandy c. for the more unnatural and greater the extream is the more troublesom it is to leave it As for those who are used to eat hot Food and are not satisfied to eat cold a little custom will bring them to a liking of it for man being a compleat Image of the whole Nature of this World and being endued with the true nature of all Elemental things therefore Custom will make every thing whether good or evil familiar to his Nature As for my own part I have not been troubled with windy Diseases since I left eating of hot Food which formerly I was afflicted with likewise the same Quantity of any sort of Food eaten Cold when a man is a little used to it will be much easier and pleasanter to the Stomach than Hot for this swells the Body sends Fumes into the head and causeth a heavy indisposedness through the whole Body but there is such a sottishness and ignorance possesses most People that they will not go out of their old Path following their false Prophets Custom and Tradition esteeming themselves to be sufficient Judges in these things Now these windy Diseases and fiery thin salt Humours that are occasioned by the afore mentioned Intemperances are very rarely or seldom ever cured for what Medicines have power to cure when the same Superfluities are continued which were the Original of the Diseases Pray where is the Medicine that will cure the French Disease if the Person infected goes on in his old way of Wantonness The very same is to be understood in all other Distempers therefore Temperance and Sobriety are Vertues that are absolutely necessary not only to help and cure Diseases when they have invaded the Body but also to prevent the Generation of them for most Distempers with a little help of Physick might be mitigated if a sober temperate Life were observed so that by degrees little or no inconveniency would be felt but what hopes are there so long as People prefer Supersluity and the pleasure of the Taste beyond Health eating and drinking of various sorts of rich Food and cordial Drinks to the full satisfaction of their Appetites which break the bounds of Temperance the Stomach not being able to make a perfect Concoctiion so that every such Meal sows the seeds of some gross Matter and evil Juice which by degrees stops the Passages obstructs the Veins corrupts the Blood and from thence flows various indispositions according to the nature of each mans Constitution and the degree of matter There are but few that think that those Oppressions and Diseases proceed from a disordered Life and a too great Quantity of Nourishment but most will be apt to believe themselves alledging That they got Cold by leaving off a Coat or by Accidental Sweating or some other act of carelesness Which must be a mistake for such things have little or no power to hurt the Health if there be not matter before-hand for you may be sure if leaving off a Coat do occasion a Cold or any kind of stoppage there was some part obstructed before and the radical Spirits of that part were weakened by some disorder or else outward Colds would not have had any power to seize that part of the Body You may also observe that if any Member or part of the Body be weakened by any accident that part will first complain when either Cold seizes it or when there is any change of Weather from whence you may conclude that the Root of all or most Diseases is first some inward Contraction of matter caused by Superfluity or other Disorder which have weakened the pure essential Spirits and the Balsamick Oyl and Virtues in that part become as it were sower or sharp wich infects the Blood and then presently ariseth a loathing and the Palate cannot distinguish the pure Relish nor taste the goodness of any Food the Attractive Quality and also the Natural Heat of the Stomach lose their strength and power then also the Reâ—â—ntive and Digestive Faculties do cease from their natural Operations for when there does happen any Violence to the pure Volatile Spirit and Balsamick Body then presently the action of the Stomach ceases and there begins a loathing and the original Poysons and central Heats are awakened which set the whole Body into a flame which poysonous Fire lay as it were hid so long as the pure Spirit and Balsamick Body were strong and this continual fiery or brimstony Spirit was only a cause of motion giving strength and vigour to the Oyl of Life which Oyl does mix and incorporate with this sulpherous fierce Fire and makes it more gentle and friendly for this Oyl is generated from this sulpherous poysonous Spirit and is as it were its Sun and shines back thereinto and does cause it to burn more gently but if this pure Spirit and Oyl be by any kind of Intemperance wounded or suffocated by overcharging Nature then the Original Poysons and sulpherous Fires do manifest themselves in their own Forms which were captivated and moderated so long as the pure Spirits and essential Oyl were strong for this essential Oyl is the true Life of Nature and the Moderator of the original Fire even as it is in the Fire of Wood so long as the Wood remains intire and no Violence done to the pure Spirits and essential Oyl this Fire gives a most pleasant and friendly refreshing heat and light it sends forth a bright shine and wholsom smell very ageeable to the Pure Spirits of those that are near it but you will find the contrary if you offer any violence to the Pure Spirits and essential Oyl whence the bright shine and friendly nature of Wood Fire does proceed as is done in making of Wood Fire into Charcoal for these pure Spirits and sweet Water or Oyl are suffocated in all Charcoal For this cause the Fire of Chorcoal is not only stronger than the Fire of Wood but it sends forth Sulpherous Fumes which will stupifie and suffocate the pure Spirits and dull
of unfirm Nourishment and bad Blood for it too hastily slips out of the Stomach into the Bowels and has many evil Consequences causing Gripings and grievous Pains in the Bowels Few do imagin the Mischiefs that do arise from the frequent eating of bad Flesh. The Marks to know whether Flesh be good after its killed are first That the Flesh look with a brisk white colour and the lean of it with a lively bright Red not with a fading fainty whiteness nor with a dull dusky red for these last colours shew that the Creature was hurt and the Spirits wounded before it was killed or the flesh kept too long after 't was killed Another Mark to know whether the Mutton be perfectly good in every degree is when it s prepared either boyled or roasted viz. if when prepared it doth retain its perfect brisk lively colour both White and Red being plump or swelled and of a pure sweet delightful Taste as also by its sending forth a fragrant and inviting scent or smell which of all Flesh good Mutton yields the best These are essential Rules to know the goodness or badness of Flesh if the House-wife do perform her part in observing such Order as is both natural and proper to be used in the preparation of Flesh which I have sufficiently declared from the Root in another place Mutton is also made better or worse by the goodness or badness of the Ground it feeds on the best and sweetest is that of the smaller Sheep that are fed on high Hills and Pastures where the Grass is sweeter and freer from gross Juices than lower grounds and as Sheep delight most in dry places as best suiting to their Natures so they are there forced to labour viz. to continue feeding longer which motion does free the Body and pure Spirits from that gross matter which such as feed in low Pastures where Grass is more plentiful are subject to and also they are the longer before they be fat For these and the like Reasons those small Sheep if free from other disorders which they are not so subject to as great fat Sheep are do always eat much sweeter and pleasanter than great Mutton bred on low rich Grounds And therefore there is no reason why Citizens and the rich People should so much desire large great Mutton but only for Pride and State counting it a kind of Dishonour to have small Meat seen at their Table though the same is not only sweeter to the Pallate but more wholsom as being easier digested and generating better Blood and is far more healthy to all sorts of People especially for Children and People that live soft lives which for the most part eat the fattest and largest Mutton and other rich Food and cordial Drinks and for that very cause are more unhealthy than the meaner sort of People Of LAMB The Flesh of Lamb is much of the same Nature with Mutton being an Excellent Food generating a wholsom clean Nourishment as being easie of Concoction friendly to all Constitutions and Ages and much better than Veal if they be not killed too young 1st Because they are clean in their own Natures 2dly They have the advantage of sucking and running with their Dams not being altogether fed with Milk but also on Grass and Hay according to the season of the year which Calves for the most part are hindred from which renders their Flesh the more unwholsom There is no flesh either more healthy or grateful than Lamb if free from Surfeits and other disorders but their natures and spirits are so tender that they cannot endure driving or the like therefore Lambs that come from remote parts to great Cities are most of them in one degree or other surfeited or if they come thither free yet such is their bad usage between the Market and the Butchers Shop that 't is enough to spoil them and make their Flesh unwholsom Also when this sort of flesh is eaten the weather is for the most part Hot which does quickly wound their tender Spirits and cause a general faintness which renders their flesh soft and greasie generating a very unfirm Nourishment and filling the whole Body full of Venomous Juices that give a further occasion for Fluxes and Fevers to reign in August September and October in which time Lamb is much eaten But if these Creatures are killed off the Common without being prejudiced by driving or otherwise hurried it is not only the sweetest but may be eaten with as little danger as any Therefore there ought to be care and understanding used in managing them for if the Spirit in any thing be wounded or suffocated the Body presently becomes heavy dull flat and like a lump of Earth having neither its true natural sweetness smell nor taste but is dull on the Pallate heavy on the Stomach affording no proper Nourishment neither to the Body nor Spirits its venoms do by simile beget and awaken their Likenesses from whence proceeds Inequality and Discord which is the Root of most Diseases and even Death it self for every sort of Meat and Drink be it clean or unclean does by a natural and simpathetical operation incorporate its self with its likeness in the Body and powerfully strengthen it whence arise both concord and discord sickness and health as we see in Wine in which the Spirit is predominant does not the drinking of it presently awaken our Spirits and make them predominate over all other Qualities and changes the Inclinations Dispositions and Intentions during the time of its operation but afterwards it leaves a man with sowrer Spirits than it found him both because the Spirits of the Wine are not only evaporated but have caused the natural Spirits to evaporate also by its simpathetical awakening of them and as it were calling of them out of their several Centers the very same is to be understood in all sorts of Food of whatsoever Nature or Quality it is All which is worthy the consideration of all Understanding People Of the Flesh of Calves or Veal The Flesh of Veal is of a clean Nature easie of Concoction affording good Nourishment fit both for healthy and sick People if such may be allowed to eat flesh which to me seems somewhat improper especially when in their time of Health they made flesh their chief Food it being probable that the original of the Disease was occasioned by the eating of much flesh which is one reason why so many People in England when sick their Stomachs loath Flesh more than any other food for that food which a man does eat most of when in health that very same when sick he will loath especially when he feeds most on Flesh. But if this sort of flesh be eaten too young as too many do at twelve or eighteen days old then it is not so wholsom for it being of a soft slimy and phlegmatick Nature it generates an unfirm Nourishment and it quickly slips out of the Stomach into the Bowels and too
such Preparations or Digestions be continued the spirituous parts will also either become suffocated or evaporated according to the Nature of the thing as in making and preparing of Hay the gross phlegmatick Body in Grass could not be digested or exhibited but by vertue and power of the Sun and Air but when they have destroyed the gross Humidity and Phlegm if the preparation and making of it be continued that is the Hay continued in the Sun and Air it will exhale and cause the spirituous part to evaporate also The very same or like is to be understood in the preparations of Food for these fiery sulpherous Fumes and Vapours which proceed out of these Vessels all the time of the Boyling being forced back and kept in because gradually more intense and raging and because of the want of the free Influences of the Air the pure Spirits and Balsamick Body are wounded which does destroy the true Natural Colour with the pure Smell and Taste also it makes it lumpish close heavy dull and gross on the Pallate this kind of preparation is likewise heavy and hard of digestion in the Stomach and generates thick Blood and gross Nourishment from whence proceeds dull indispositions with Fumes flying into the Head For the digestive Faculty and true Virtue of all sorts of Food does consist in the Spirituous parts and if any Violence be done to them in the Preparation then such Food becomes dull and half dead for those Fumes and Vapours that Pots and Vessels send forth are of a sulpherous and poysonous Nature as you may perceive if you take up any sort of Food when boyled and presently whilst it is hot cover it close which will force those fiery Fumes back insomuch that the re-entring the Food destroys and suffocates the pure Spirits therefore all such Food will not only be heavy but it will have a dull gross Taste and Smell very unpleasant both to the Pallate and strong of Concoction the truth of this every one knows if they would be so wise as to take notice of it for those sulpherous fumes that Food sends forth as also the Vessels is altogether of a contrary nature to the Heat and genuine Virtue of the Food as you also may perceive so soon as the Food is prepared and taken from the Fire this fiery Heat will of its own accord evaporate and separate it self from the Food it dwells no longer therewith than it is forced by the continuation of the Fire it hath no natural Simile with the Food therefore it will not incorporate its self with it and nothing is more unnatural than to eat and drink any kind of Food whilst those fiery Steems and Fumes be in it for it swells the Body and generates Wind sends Fumes and Vapours into the Head it also infects the Blood with a hot sharp Humour but this unnatural Heat is made by custom the more friendly as you may perceive if you give Dogs or any other Creature Pottage or the like whilst they are Hot will cause a Mange in their Blood The very same operation it hath in men but not so violent because of the continual use of such things In this particular I shall be blamed by many For say they I have found by Experience that cold Food will not agree with my Stomach neither will it satisfie my Appetite This may be true yet nevertheless this does not make it Healthful nor Wholsom for if you use your self and Stomach to the frequent eating and drinking of Physical things your Stomach will long after them and will not be satisfied without them One Example we have amongst others in taking of Tobacco which at first is most unpleasant and loathsom but through Custom and by degrees it hath awakened its Simile in the Elements of the Body and made that Quality strong which at the first taking of it was weak or lay as it were hid under the Qualities that did predominate therefore at the first taking of such poysonous or physical things they generally disorder People but when as it is mentioned before the continual use hath made this weak Quality strong then it oft-times proves as great a difficulty to Refrain it as it was to make it Friendly at the first taking or rather more For in Men is contained the true Nature of all things only one Property does predominate and is stronger than the other which Quality hath the chief dominion in the government of Life Therefore there is a possibility in the Humane Nature to alter or change himself for the better or worse that is through Use and Custom of Meats Drinks Exercises and Communications viz. to make that Quality that in the Radix was weak to become strong and on the contrary that which was strong weak so great is the power of Custom and the continual use of things for every thing be it what it will hath a secret power in its self to awaken its Simile both in the Evil and also in the Good Likewise there ought to be a great care taken that the Food be not over nor under prepared of the two it had better be a little under for as soon as the gross Phlegmatick Body in the Food is digested the pure spirituous parts become Volatile and then if the Preparations be continued they evaporate and go backward towards the Center of Saturn and so loseth its pure Colour Smell and Taste and becomes of a heavy dull Quality and especially if the Vessel be close covered for so soon as the Egress and Regress of the Air is hindred immediately the Spirits suffer Violence For the pure essential Spirits which dwell in the sweet Oyl whence the Fire has its bright shining pleasant and friendly Quality will not endure those violent raging Fumes and Vapours their Nature being understood by their furious Motion and if those fiery Fumes be by the force of covering the Vessel kept in then they become ten-fold more Terrible and Fierce as you may perceive when any Vessel is boyling if you uncover it the Steems fly out like a clap of Thunder indeed all such Fumes and Vapours are of a dark fiery Nature and Operation for being kept in by force they seek out their Center and do by way of Simile incorporate themselves with their like spirits in the Food or whatever else it be so that those fiery sulpherous dark Spirits and Fumes become stronger and more powerful in their operation for they being of a Saturnine and Martial Nature the nature of Saturn is to contract and very vigorously draw and inclose the Spirit which Mars cannot endure and the more Saturn contracteth the more furious and raging Mars becomes as you may perceive by the fiery quick furious Motion such sulpherous Fumes have when you open such Vessels that do boyl which do wound the pure spirituous parts and the Balsamick Body becomes wounded and sick more especially if the preparation of such Food be continued too long For so soon as
so long without corrupting as at other times of the Year but on the contrary in other seasons and when the Flesh is free from the afore-mentioned Inconveniences their Blood being thin and well tempered with brisk and lively Spirits such Flesh being salted as soon as it is cold the Salt will greedily Penetrate it and incorporate it self with the well-tempered Blood and pure Supirits so that it does hold the corrupt Phlegmy part of the Flesh captive that the humidity thereof cannot turn to Putrifaction untill those brisk lively Spirits both in Flesh and Salt be through length of time wasted or suffocated which comes to pass in six eight or twelve Months more or less according to the goodness of it and well ordering and other Accidents and then it will fall into corruption and there is no recovery for it but if the Salt had cleansed and purged the Flesh from its gross humid parts as some say it does then such Flesh would have kept a longer time as all other gross Bodies will when the Sun and Elements have dryed away and exhaled the Phlegmy gross parts and left remaining the more firm and Spirituous which will continue sound and good many Years as many sorts of Corn Fruits and Hay which are altogether as subject to Corruption as Flesh when green and full of Phlegmy Juices but their Putrifaction is not so loathsom nor so offensive to Nature neither will such things generate such pernicious Vermin as Flesh will the matter in Flesh being grosser It was not without great Reason Wisdom that the Ancients commanded that Flesh should be eaten sparingly that there should be a particular care not only taken about the good state of the Bodies of such Cattel but also in the killing and preparing of it the dressing and preparing of all other sorts of Food being left to every ones discretion But the learned Prophet Moses was sensible that the common and frequent eating of Flesh was very dangerous as to the health of the Body and also of the Mind if care and understanding be not used in the Preparation thereof therefore he gave Laws and particular Directions for the ordering and preparing of Flesh but no mention made of other Food therefore Flesh in its best state and otherwise well ordered if much eaten is apt to load the Body with gross Humours and evil Juices but much more in the fore-mentioned seasons 7thly In this season all men do find themselves more subject to Indispositions the Spirits dull and heavy apt to faintness and sooner wearied with Labour than at any other time the Appetite not so quick and lively therefore all sorts of People ought to have double the care as to their Health at this time both in Meats Drinks and Labours also in Quality and Quantity for Intemperances are not so dangerous in the Winter or Spring Nature being then strong and able to bear with less Prejudice This is the time of the Year in which also most sorts of Cattel are subject to Sickness as Sheep to the Rot and other Cattel to Murrains And do not almost the double Number of People sicken and die in this season And is not the flesh of all sorts of Fowls in hot weather lean and poor altho they have more plenty of Food than in Winter But it lies not in the Quantity of Food but in the season of the Year and the Weather for all Heat when it does exceed the Medium evaporates and spends the Spirits and then Nature does presently Languish and the sweet Oyl in the Body turns as it were sower so that there is a general weakness and fainty Indisposition in all Creatures and their Flesh is rendered thereby the more unwholsom and apt to breed Diseases in the Eaters thereof If Sobriety and Temperance were observed and other Circumstances belonging to Health a little Physick would serve But in this Age men may speak and write of Temperance until they are weary for there is not one of an hundred that is willing to observe and conform to its safe and healthful Rules though it cannot be denied but that It is one of the Principal things which puts a delectable sweetness on all our other Enjoyments But few in Health consider these things most being rather of an approving and admiring than a Practising Temper especially of those things they are not in Possession of many men also slight and have no esteem for those things they do or may enjoy letting go the substance and eagerly Pursuing after shadows But seeing that in this Intemperate Age most Persons do live irregular Lives few or none being willing to observe the Rules of Health in their Meats Drinks and Exercises therefore it is convenient for the continuation of Health to take Proper Purgative Medicines both at Spring and Fall tho they are not sensible of any manifest Indisposition by which means they may easily prevent the generation of matter for when Sickness and Distempers have invaded the Body then it will be a difficult point to get such Medicines as are suitable to the Disease and can by their Vertue cure them when the Spirits are wounded and the Distempers and Obstructions in the Body have gotten great power over Nature in such cases the best Medicines do often fail most Diseases being generated gradually as the Intemperances are committed for Nature ever hides the Evil Matter whence Distempers do Proceed as long as she is able but when once the Diseases do manifest themselves with any kind of Violence then there is danger at hand most People being mistaken in Nature for they generally attribute the cause of their Diseases to the least Intemperance or taking Cold or the like never considering how many Disorders and Intemperances they have formerly committed every Act of Intemperance does in some degree obstruct Nature and by degrees sows the seeds of future Diseases not but that outward Colds and the like do hurt Nature and oft-times awaken the matter which lies in the inward Parts and bring it to manifestation but on the contrary when the in-side is clean and free from Obstructions and other Evils the body doth then very rarely receive any injury by such outward Accidents for Nature still endeavours to overcome and withstand the evil matter in the Body and makes several Essays to throw such Disorders off but if Irregularities in Meats Drinks and Labours be continued the Evil at last grows so great that then Nature must bow and Distempers take place This is always to be noted that if any Member or Part of the Body be weakened either by inward Obstructions or outward Accidents as Falls Bruises broken Bones c. and the Person be guilty of any Intemperance or disorderly Living the weak or hurted part first feels it according to the old Proverb The Weakest goes to the Wall It will be convenient if any upon particular occasions be excessive in Meats and Drinks to observe the following Rules which they 'l find to
them the effects are not better which rich compounded Meats and Drinks produce in those that are accustomed to them they weaken the Stomach and by their heat contract the Vessels of the Stomach insomuch that with a kind of nauseating they both eat and drink or rather they know not well what to eat or drink This is further manifest in those that use to drink Brandy and other Spirits for they do so consume the natural heat that after eating they feel their Food lie heavy in their Stomachs and sometimes are apt to cast the Food up again thus it is in all sorts of Intemperances and by the continuance or abandoning of the use of such unwholsome Liquors you may change and alter Nature as you please either for the better or worse But if you will be so habituated and wedded to your unhealthful Customs that you value not whether Nature be weak and impotent tender and unhealthy then you may mix your Food with all the Varieties that the East and West-Indies produce you may make your Drink as strong and Cordial as you list you make all your Preparations Ala-mode de France you may Boyl and Roast all your Food to pieces till there can be no more Nourishment then you may wrap your selves up in Furs and wear a brace of Night-Caps and bury your selves every night over Head and Ears in a Down-Bed barricado'd with a double Range of Curtains keep your House close and be sure that you skreen your selves up by a lusty Cole Fire and fortifie your Windows with those Shutters that you may see no light nor feel any Air and when it is nine or ten a Clock in the Morning look that you have a good rousing Fire in your Chambers and Breakfast ready and two or three hours after let a plentiful Dinner of varieties be made ready with strong and enflaming Liquors This is the Trade that many Thousands of this Nation use as if they studied to bring Diseases upon themselves and to dig their Graves with their own Teeth for in the midst of all their Affluences wherein they esteem themselves happy they are yet most miserable But on the contrary they who would have and preserve their Strength and a firm Health both of Body and Mind which of all Terrestrial Pleasures is the greatest will observe these Rules First Let your Meats and Drinks be simple not compounded of Variety and of things disagreeing in their Natures do not exceed the bounds of that necessary Nourishment which Nature requires lest the Natural Heat of the Stomach be thereby destroyed be sure that Nature be master not the Food use moderate Exercise and Labour for nothing does more strengthen the Body and make the Spirits more brisk and lively than pains taking As to wearing of Clothes use such as are neither too Warm nor too Thin of the two the latter is the best for it both hardens and strengthens Nature and has many other good effects before mentioned It is also convenient that the Head and Breast be kept cool for that strengthens the Stomach and all the Vessels thereof it helps Concoction and does greatly prevent the generation of Phlegms and other Crudities which are apt to obstruct the Passages from whence proceed Coughs Wheesings Shortness of Breath and other Distempers which Diseases do commonly invade those who accustom themselves to Delicacy and Niceness So on the contrary they who often go into the clear and ferene Air whose Imployments or Diversions are for the most part in the Fields have not only sharper Appetites but also are not so subject to the Distempers and Infirmities of the Breast as the former are tho' their Clothes are but poor mean often wet and their breasts bare yet it is undeniable but that they are more healthy than the other notwithstanding the Intemperances they are guilty of in Meats Drinks and Exercises for their business chiefly consisting of Exercise and lying much in motion and having the free Influences of the Air a little Intemperance does not much hurt their Spirits But such Disorders are not so easily thrown off by such as are accustomed to fine Food and rich Cordial Drinks and their Spirits and heats are not to be compared to the other and yet tho' their Clothing be thin their Houses and Beds cold their Coverings light tho' they had not quilted Caps for their Heads nor Curtains for their Windows and Beds nor it may be scarce any other Windows or Shutters than the Trees that grow before their Houses insomuch that the Fires Beds and Houses of such would kill a great many tender Gentlemen and Citizens yet we see they are far more healthy and strong and nothing so liable to Diseases as those others which are so nice and curious of themselves And tho' their Food be course and simple yet it does support Nature more than all the Superfluities of the other for this course manner of living does propagate Health and strengthens Nature because all such things are equal in their parts therefore I would advise all Citizens whose Affairs are most within their Houses to use themselves to wear thin Clothes and to keep small Fires and to let their Houses be as open as may be to the Air for where this Element has not its free Influences the Air in such places is thick the pure Spirits and thin Vapours thereof become as it were dull and suffocated that it cannot penetrate the Body by the way of the Pores whereas the Radical Spirits are in a manner supported refreshed and kept alive by a continual sucking in or penetration of that Element and if there were a total intermission but for a small time the Spirits could not subsist but Death must needs follow so where the same is in part obstructed the Spirits by reason of hot sulpherous Airs grow fainty and do in a manner die away and nothing will recover them but open clear Airs For the Support Life Strength and Vigour of the Body is the Spirit and the support and life of the Spirit is the Air therefore both Body and Spirits in Man and all other Creatures are not only supported in Health and Strength by gross corporeal Meats and Drinks but also by a pure thin spiritual substantial Life which the Elements of the Body and Spirits in man do continually suck in like Spunges from all the four Elements especially from the Air which if it be too close pen'd up and has not its free Influence it becomes sulphurous and awakens the dark poysonous fire in the body which is the original of every Life and this it does by simile as I have already at large explained Such is the pleasant and friendly Nature of the Air that it does 〈◊〉 a sympathetical operation give life and vigour to the Radical Moisture and Natural Heat for this Element hurts nothing but preserves all except those delicate tender Creatures who by a too great Indulgence of their unreasonable Appetites and foolish compliance with
Temperature and procures quieter Rest and makes People more lively and brisk preventing many Diseases and burthensom Inconveniencies But here I must be silent lest the Ladies be offended However if good Council may procure my Pardon I doubt not but to recover their good Opinion as soon as they shall have read over the following Chapter CHAP. XI Of WOMEN their Natures Complexions and Intemperatures as also of their Children Together with an account of the Generation of all Windy Diseases THe Nature and Complexion of Women doth differ and vary even as Mens some being more Sanguin others more Cholerick c. But generally they are more Sanguin than Men of weaker Heats and fewer Spirits therefore cannot endure any Inequality or Intemperances without great danger to their Health whether it be in Meats Drinks Exercises or Passions of the Mind Their predominant Quality doth stand in and proceed from the Element of Water therefore are of a finer softer yielding Temper than Men and their Love doth exceed that of the other Sex and indeed all kind of Passions do both sooner and deeper wound their Spirits Therefore all sudden surprizes of Love or Hate Ioy or Sorrow are apter to destroy the Health of Women and suffocate their Spirits stopping the Circulation of the Blood and causing the Body to swell and then abundance of Wind is generated which stops all the Passages so that People in this condition can hardly breathe Now the Original of all such Diseases which are called Vapours or Wind come thro' the weakness of the natural Heat and because the Spirits of most Women are so Volatile that every sudden Accident or Inequality doth either evaporate or suffocate them during which time the whole Operation and Circulation both of the Blood and Spirits is hindered and so the Life seems to be in danger which causeth a Commotion of the inward parts as if they did arise out of their natural places which is nothing else but certain Stoppages and Swellings of the Vessels that the Breath or Air cannot pass and then the Body is in a kind of Agony and trembles during the Fit which is never long for if it were the Life could not continue But thro' this agonous condition and strugling strife of the Properties of Nature the Element of Fire is awakned which is of a quick powerful active Quality and doth penetrate all parts of the Body and breaks open all the Passages which sets Nature into a great Heat throughout all the Body like a Fever and then this taciturn Contraction and suffocation of the Spirits does begin to cease but great dry Ardors do remain a considerable time after and by their violence do awaken the Element of Water which causes a breathing Sweat to succeed that is very beneficial to Nature and gives ease and so the worst seems to be over for the present Now all those Diseases that cause Nature to shake and tremble as Agues Vapours and the like are caused thro' the suffocation of the Spirits which does first awaken the Original Quality viz. the astringent taciturn twitching Property that does forcibly draw and contract all the inward parts and particularly the Vessels of the Stomach and in a moment stops all the Passages which Nature cannot endure and live and therefore uses her utmost efforts to get rid of those Chains by which contention the bitter Quality is awakned for that Quality above all others cannot brook Confinement but breaks open all the barricado'd Passages with its fiery and rapid Motion and awakens the hot Property which presently sets Nature into such a Flame as should it continue would soon consume her but these Heats do so violently hunger after and draw the Airy Quality as its true Life that it rouzes the Watry Element and thereby quenches that Combustion whereby Nature receives Relief and Refreshment But the Original Cause of all at the first is the wounding the Volatile Spirit which in Women is quickly done but Men are very rarely troubled with this Distemper of Vapours and the like because their Nature stands in and proceeds from the Root of the Fire and the Properties of Saturn and Mars are more predominant in them and therefore their natural or central Heats are greater and stronger than Womens and consequently are of better Judgments and Abilities both for the doing and the governing of all things For Man was made first and hath in himself the strong might and tincture of the Fire which is furious and forth driving very desirous to manifest it self But the Tincture of the Female is from the Water viz. from Venus Therefore the Males of all sorts of Creatures are far hotter and of stronger and greater Spirits and more desirous of Copulation or more unchast than the Females not subject to those Uncleannesses but fit for Generation at all Times and Seasons which Women are not And hence it is and always was accounted a greater Sin and Shame for a Woman to be unchaste than for a Man though it is not excusable in either And for the same Reason Women were never allowed those Priviledges of Polygamy as Men among the Ancients For the unchastity of Women destroys the Generation of Mankind in the Root and brings Confusion and Desolation to Families so that Wantonness in Women is a Sin against God and against Nature For the Creator in the beginning hath implanted Modesty and given the Bridg of Chastity unto Women and indeed unto the Females of all Creatures by enduing them with a cold meek Temper derived from the Element of Water which doth allay and cool them and therefore they are naturally more moderate and not so hot and desirous of Copulation as Men and when once they have Conceived are satisfied till such time as they have brought forth setting aside the Consequences proceeding from a debauched Imagination or the wanton Provocations that happen between Men and Women which force and strain Nature but as for pure natural Inclinations they cease and are as free from them as Sheep or the Females of any other Creatures These are the wonderful Works of the great Creator for if it were not so all Generation would be destroyed and corrupted even in the very Root as sometimes it comes to pass among Lascivious and Petulent Men and Women through various sorts of Uncleannesses which are against God's Law and the Right of Nature Do not all the Beasts of the Field observe their Times and Seasons And after Conception do they not strictly withstand their Males and not suffer them to touch them till after they have brought forth and also brought up their young Ones and made them capable to shift for themselves All which time they remain without Inclination because the end of Nature is answered and this is according to the first Law of God which all Creatures have kept especially the Females unviolated EXCEPT WOMEN But though I said that Womans natural Inclinations to the Sports of Venus do cease after Conception yet it
whole Creation doth groan because of their Violence and Oppression If a Man have Ten Thousand Pounds per Annum it is still as great an Evil for him to spend any part of it in Superfluity and Wantonness or to gratifie his Passions or Lusts and to live a soft effeminate idle Life as it is for a mean Person that works for his Bread for Superfluity Gluttony and Idleness are equal Evlls unto all Men to the Noble and Rich as well as the Poor and Ignoble it being the effect of a base low depraved wicked Opinion amongst Men to say I have wherewithal I will therefore indulge my self eat to Gluttony and drink to Drunkenness lie a-bed the best part of my Life and rise to be Idle I will have my Horses and my Coaches ready steep my Brains in Wine make my Guts a Magazine of Dainties and stretch my lazy Limbs on Beds of Roses and Couches of Ivory And in this heat of Lusts and Wantonness they get Children and bring them up in all kind of Superfluities Luxury and Idleness so that every succeeding Generation is more corrupt than the former sowing hellish Dispositions and entailing them on their Posterity such as the Tree is such is the Fruit an ill Bird a worse Egg for the Seed does contain the true Properties Dispositions and Inclinations and Children being begotten from such Matter and Essences those cruel and hellish Affections grow up with them and become essential Besides Children seeing the Oppressions and Excesses of their Parents do endeavour to imitate and follow their Examples so that the young idle Ones will cry What should I work for Have I not an Estate Have not I enough to keep me without taking any Pains or Care for any thing Many of this sort of Lubbers deserve to be served as Alexander the Great served a King he conquered who loved Money excessively and therefore had a Chapel which he had filled with Gold and Silver and therein placed his whole delight and Happiness which Alexander understanding put him in amongst his Money and shut him up with it bidding him eat it and so the miserable Man starved to death upon his Treasure Suppose a Man had ten Thousand Acres of the best Land in England he may starve as this Prince did if this Land be not manured by Labour and Industry All the Land in England will not afford one Bit of Bread unless pains be taken with it But here some will object and say We are of Noble Birth and Blood our Progenitors and Fathers have been great Lords Nimrods mighty Hunters they have ventured their Lives and oppressed the Poor and Weak deflowred Virgins taken away Men's Wives by force killed the Aged and carried captive the Young laid waste Cities brought desolation upon flourishing Kingdoms and killed starved ruined and undone many Thousands of People From these and the like Heroick Acts of Hellish Cruelty our Coats of Arms are derived wherein to shew our Nature and wherein our Glory consists we bear the Pictures of the most savage useless and rapacious Beasts and Birds that can be thought on as Lions Bears Wolves Tigers Eagles c. These are our Badges of Honour and hence our Noble Birth and High Blood have proceeded this being the true Foundation of most of that Gentility and Nobility which the World so much admires and that serves their Posterity to boast of But tell me I pray you Noble Gallants if ever you are at leisure to entertain one wise or serious thought tell me I say Is there not one only God that made all things Did not he make one Man out of the Clay or Dirt of the Earth and breath into him a living Soul and make him his Vice-Roy and allot him dominion over all things not one man to worry kill and destroy the Well-being and Peace of another and of all other Creatures Are not those Millions of Men and Women scattered over the Face of the whole Earth descended from this one Man As well the Caesars and the Grand Signiors the Things cloathed in Cloth of Gold and Tissue as the vilest Beggars and the poor tattered Boy that stands barefoot in Frost and Snow shivering at the foot of some Welsh Mountain Are we not then all own Couzens Our Pedigree the same and equally ancient Hath not the Lord also endued this one Man's Off-spring with equal Parts Senses and Members as to the Elements of their Bodies A fair Grecian Woman being at a Banquet and at the Sport called Questions and Commands with many others of her Sex whom she perceived to bave heightned their Complexions by Painting when it came to her Turn commanded them all to do as she did and immediately called for Water and soundly wash'd her Face which they doing lost all the artificial Roses of their Cheeks and appeared in their natural deformity which shewed that their Beauty was but adulterate hers real Just so shall we find this boasted Nobility to be nothing but Art Fancy Ostentation and Vanity if we put it to the Test. Let every man be stripp'd and left destitute of those Excrements of Beasts and inferiour Creatures which he is such a Fool to be proud of and appear in his own natural Hue and see then who can distinguish the Noble from the Ignoble my Lord frrm his Foot-man the Rich from the Poor In such a light as well as in the dark Ioan would be as good as my Lady and perhaps better because wholsomer I have enquired of Chirurgions and Chymists and they have told me they cannot find any difference in the colour nor any other excellency in the Blood of Peers above that of Peasants where then lies this famous Generosity of the red circling Iuice so cunningly close that no body can find it Besides I pray tell me Hath the Noble any more Privileges by Nature's Charter than others Has he any more Senses than his Neighbours Has he as many Palates as he has Palaces No no God hath made no more difference between the Noble as they call them and the Ignoble than there is between the poor Man's Cow and the rich Man's the latter may probably be somewhat the fatter the meanest Farmer has altogether as large a Stomach though not so large an House as his Landlord Now for certain if the Lord had made difference and created one Noble and Great and another the contrary then he would also have endued them with some peculiar Benefits and Marks of distinction by which one might be known from the other but it is not so there is no other Mark of distinction between them but as is before mentioned Oppression and Violence both to Men and Beasts killing slaughtering destroying and the like devilish Actions by which many have got Riches Renown and Authority this being the common Rule he that hath done most bloody wicked Acts and got the most Money is most Noble and the best Gentleman But if those that are possessed of the Goods of this
World and that call themselves Noble had any peculiar Marks of Dignity given them by God or Nature inseparable from their Persons there might seem something for them to boast of and yet no real ground for it even in that case because still they would be God's Gifts As suppose they were bless'd with perpetual Health and long Life or if their Natures would not be glutted and distempered with continual eating or drinking or for want of exercise or if they could lengthen out the pleasure of any of the Senses without prejudice to Nature and breaking of God's Law But alas none of all this can be as little Meat and Drink will support an Emperor as the meanest of Men all sorts are as pleasurable and grateful to one as the other or if there be any advantage it lies on the poor Man's side There is a pleasant Story of King Henry the 8th in the first part of his Reign riding a hunting and being hungry he strayed from his Attendants and came all alone to a Monastery about Dinner-time where the fat lazy Abbot welcom'd him very kindly for hearing the King was in that County he concluded this to be one of his Guard At Dinner they had great Varieties and the King fed like a Farmer on a piece of Roast-Beef but the Abbot who daily crammed his Paunch with Delicacies could scarce relish a Bit of any thing before him and pleasantly said to the King Honest Friend I would give 500 l. I could but pick so heartily as you do on a piece of Beef The King returned him some small Complement and after Dinner took his leave about a Fortnight after sends a Messenger for this old fulsome Abbot and ordered him to be carried to rights to the Tower and that he should be there kept close Prisoner and allowed but so much Bread and small Beer a day and no other Food The Abbot could not imagine what he had done to occasion such an Imprisonment and being thus dieted he soon came to have a good Stomach and after about a Month the King ordered the Keeper to carry him in a good piece of hot Roast-Beef on which the Abbot fell with such violence as if he would have eaten it all at a Mouthful The King who was planted in a Room where he could see how he laid about him at last steps in and demands his 500 l. For says he you said you would give it and I have performed the Cure and got you a better Stomach than all the Doctors in England would have done And so upon Payment of 500 l. discharged him This Story is very pertinent to our Subject the Rich with Varieties destroy both their Appetites and Tastes the poorer sort enjoy the natural pleasure of both There are in all Men but five Senses and four Elements and the Creator hath made no distinction by giving more to the Noble than to the Poor but bestows them freely and equally on all and every man has a like benefit of them and the Nobles and Grandees cannot prolong the pleasure of their Senses by possessing much viz. by great and rich quantities of Food and Drinks sumptuous Furniture gaudy Garments great Houses many Servants c. All which if great Prudence and Moderation be not observed will rather destroy the true Delight and Pleasure of the Body and Mind and render such as use them altogether uncapable to enjoy the common Blessings the Lord has given unto all men but on the contrary every sort of simple Food and mean Drink to the wise man and well-prepared Stomach is like the Honey and the Honey-comb it makes all the Senses rejoyce in each other This being the greatest advantage and privilege any mortal man can naturally enjoy in this Life to give Nature both in quantity and quality what is needful for the support of Strength and Health which very small and mean Meats Drinks Cloathing Houses will perform and such as are easily procurable with little labour to the Body or Vexation to the Mind so that a Man need not hazard his Health nor bring his Soul into Perplexity to obtain those necessary things that serve for the sustaining and prolongation of his Health and Life But on the contrary all those Supersluities which do chiefly serve to gratifie Wantonness and evil Imaginations are for the most part not to be obtained without Trouble Oppression Violence and the hazarding the Health both of Body and Mind and when they are obtained most People spend them on their Lust in a base superfluous manner filling the Body with iucurable Diseases and much more infecting the Soul It must be confessed there are some Men really and intrinsecally much more Honourable and Noble than others viz. those that obey and keep the Commandments of the Lord and have not violated his Law in Nature nor spent the good Creatures of God on their Lusts and have denied themselves Superfluities and not done violence to nor oppressed Man or Beast but have lived temperately soberly and innocently putting all things to that use for which they were made this sort of People are truly Noble without being beholden to the Favour of Princes the Breath of the Vulgar or the Mercenary Paint of an Herald But still they must not boast of it or ascribe it to themselves and their own Wisdom on pain of Death for alas what have they which they have not received Every good and perfect Gift saith the Apostle cometh from the Lord and he alone and he always ought to have the Praise the Honour and the Glory Amen If Men had conducted their Lives in this manner and not suffered their Desires and Wills to enter into the various Powers of God's Wrath in Nature the whole World had been a Paradise of Peace and Love but now most People have precipitated themselves into the Nature of Bears Tigers and Foxes and some into Dogs Cats Swine Bulls c. Hence they seek and make it an honourable Employ to kill and destroy one another and he that proves most successful in this bloody Villany dubbs himself an Hero and his Race call themselves the Brave and the Noble and have but little regard for others in respect of themselves and like Senseless Sots account it their privilege and Right in Nature to Lord it over their Fellow-Creatures than which nothing can be either mere unjust or ridiculous There is no mark of distinction no eminent Token whereby to demonstrate their Nobility for the Lord has endued the poorest and meanest of men with all the Noble Faculties of Nature both Divine and Humane as liberally as the mightiest Potentates Has not the poor Man as great Pleasure in and Refreshment and Nourishment by eating and drinking as the most Noble Is not his Sight as clear and as perfect to behold the amazing Wonders of God's Creation Do not the melodious Harmonies and charming Airs of Musick delight the Pliantasie and chear the Soul of a poor Man as much as a KING
sight or appearance of Ten would make a Thousand fly but when they did forsake the Fear of the Lord and turned the use of natural things into wantonness they awakened the Wrath by which their Enemies got many Advantages over them and overcame them and carried them away captive The very same is now-a-days amongst us this being a certain Truth that will stand for ever against all gain-sayers and evil Men viz. That all Oppression Violence and Killing doth proceed from the seed of the Serpent the Betrayer which I wish all our Hero's and Fighters and great Martial Men would well consider and turn the Eye of their Understandings inward and search themselves then they would certainly find that it is the fierce Cain-like Spirit which reigns in them and excites them to commit such Outrages When the Soldiers asked the Lord Christ What they should do to be saved he said unto them Be contented with your Pay and do violence to no Man Which is to say They should be Soldiers no longer for all Soldiers do live in the Spirit of Violence and must kill and destroy whenever their Commanders please So likewise Christ says to Peter than whom certainly never man drew Sword in a better Quarrel Put up thy Sword those that use the Sword shall perish by the Sword my Kingdom is not of this World that is My Kingdom consists in Love Mercy Meekness Friendliness Peace and good Will unto all Men. 18. It is farther to be considered that the eating of Flesh was not permitted till after the overflowing of God's Wrath had got the dominion in Man's heart and God had tried and proved them and saw that they were stiff-necked and would not be obedient unto his Commands nor enter into the holy divine Principle of Love and Peace but would live in the Power of the lordly poysonous Nature and continually lusted after Oppression and the Ways of Egypt and for this cause the Lord suffered them to be carried away into the Land of Nod and Egypt which is a Land of Vanity Oppression and Cruelty and they suffered the fierce Wrath to domineer over them but in process of time they cried unto the Lord and he had regard unto them and raised up Moses and inspired him with divine and humane Wisdom and made him their Guide for Moses doth signifie The Strength and Power of God in his meek friendly Light and Love or A Cleanser and Purger of the People from Iniquity This great Prophet by the mighty power of the Lord wrought many wonderful Miracles amongst the Egyptians which made the Wrath to bow or give way and by a strong hand caused his People to pass through the Red Sea that is through the fierce Wrath and fiery Judgment of the Lord untouch'd and unhurt whilst the same Sea of Wrath did swallow up and comprehend the Egyptians the Men of Sin and Vanity with their Horses and Chariots that is with all their strength and deeds Then the Lord caused his People to travel forty years in the Wilderness which signifies the wild Nature which they were not to stay in Likewise these forty years are an holy mystical Number viz. the Number of Regeneration during which time the Lord works many Marvels and delivers the true Israelite from inward and outward Enemies Yet still they provoked the Lord their God to wrath by lusting after the Flesh-pots of Egypt that is the Oppression and the Cruelty for the Lord did not permit them in all their March towards Canaan to kill their Flocks or Herds nor to eat any Flesh in those forty years travel for they were not to stay or continue in the wild bestial Nature but to pass through and by degrees leave it behind them and to deny themselves all those Oppressions Vanities worldly Lusts and Passions which the Men of Egypt are subject unto that thereby they might be cleansed purified and fitted to enter into the holy Land For the chief Enemies the Children of Israel met with were their inward Lusts Passions and bestial Spirits which did mightily strive in them to get the Victory over the divine Principle of God's Love and this was the main Cause of their many Lets Stops and Hinderances and the Occasion that so many Thousands did fall in the way and never entred into the holy Land of which the Lord told them That it was a Land that flowed with Milk and Honey not with Oppression Cruelty Killing and Blood but with Milk and Honey the Emblems of Innocency and Sweetness and beautified with many excellent Virtues for the maintenance of the Life and Health of Man but because they looked back and longed after the Egyptian Vanities they did fall and could not enter into the Land of Peace As in like case the Scripture saith of David That he being a Man of Violence and Blood as having been bred up in Wars and Fighting therefore the Lord would not admit him to build the Temple Which outward Temple was a true Figure of the inward divine Temple for David had awakened the wrathful Powers of Nature within and without himself and consequently was not so fit for Temple-work wherein there must not be heard any noise of Axes or Hammers much less the clashing of Swords and ratling of Spears these are the Musick of Babel's Builders But perhaps some will say Though it cannot be proved that the Children of God did eat any Flesh in their Travel towards the Holy Land yet long before that the two Angels that were going towards Sodom to destroy it did eat Flesh I Answer This is so far from being an Objection that rightly understood it confirms and illustrates all that I have been saying for first 't is plain these Words are not to be understood literally for Angels are incorporeal therefore Flesh must needs be too crude and gross a Food for such intellectual Essences void of Matter and therefore some more hidden meaning and signification is to be understood and indeed there lies couch'd a very great Mystery in this Passage The Sodomites had by their crying Sins awakened the fierce wrathful Principle in Nature even in the outward Elements which did kindle the Indignation of the Lord and draw down the Judgment Now out of this strong power of the kindled wrath these two Angels did proceed which had in them the power of the same Principle viz. the inward and outward Wrath and therefore it was no marvel that Abraham should kill and shed Blood at their approach whose travelling towards Sodom and staying here by the way does denote the gradual kindling of the fierce Wrath and their eating Flesh under a Tree or Oak does signifie the harsh wild Nature for they entred not into Abrahams Tent that is into the divine Principle but hasted towards Sodom that was in the kindled Wrath of Nature Moreover there were Three Angels appeared unto Abraham but there went but Two towards Sodom Now I have told you that the Number Two is a Number of Division
Fruits Grains or Seeds would answer the ravenous Appetite thereof and therefore it required Blood which is the highest Life in the humane Nature and cannot be procured but by Violence and has the nearest Affinity to the Wrath of any thing in the whole Creation whence it is said Blood requires Blood And this may be illustrated in every particular Man when he does suffer the fierce Wrath and Fire to burn in him he becomes like a raging Bedlam nothing can calm or satisfie him except he doth some Mischief kill and oppress for in such a Fit Blood and Revenge is sweet unto him and assoon as he has glutted himself with Blood that wrathful Property is satisfied And as it is thus in the little World the same is to be understood by way of Analogy in the great For this cause the Lord declared That whoever did kill a Man his Blood he would require at his Hands The Reason and Equity of which Law comprehends all Creatures and therefore it is said That Beast that shall shed Blood or kill any other Beast should be slain So that 't is without doubt the original cause of killing of Beasts and offering them in Sacrifice was to see whether it would have satisfied that fierce poysonous Wrath which Man had so terribly awakened by his Violence and corrupting the whole whence the Deluge proceeded But after the Flood which had so swept away all Mankind except eight Persons to prevent the like dreadful Judgment for the future Sacrifices and the Blood of Beasts was used to assuage the Wrath and to make atonement for the Sins of Men because the Blood of Beasts has both the nearest affinity to the original Properties of Man's Life and also to the awakened Wrath as well within as without him for Men cannot kindle the Wrath within themselves but they must do it without them also But â—â—ill the Scripture saith That the Blood of Bulls and the like would not satisfie the Justice and awakened Wrath of God nor make a perfect Atonement for the Sins of Mankind and therefore besides their daily Sacrifices the High Priest was once every Year to go into the second Tabernacle but not without Blood which he offered for himself and for the People Also it is said that the way into the Holiest Tabernacle of all was not made manifest whilst the first Tabernacle was yet standing whence it appears that all the Sacrifices and other Circumstances of Worship in the time of the Law did proceed from the Wrath especially Sacrifices and Killing which cannot flow from the divine Principle for that holy Principle of Love and Light was not manifest whilst the first Tabernacle did stand that is so long as the first Principle of God's fierce Wrath did predominate But all Sacrifices Violences and Killing do cease in all those whom the Lord doth appear to in the power of his Son Jesus Christ but so long as Men are captivated in the first Tabernacle of Wrath the Holiest of all is not manifest that is the holy and good Love of God in his Son is not known or manifested in them and therefore it is said Sacrifices and Offerings for sin thou didst refuse that is the divine Principle had no pleasure in Violence in the Blood of Beasts and Groanings of the Creation but then steps in the Holy Principle of Love and saith Lo I come to do thy Will O God! That is to destroy the Works of the Devil and establish everlasting Righteousness and he taketh away the first that is the kindled Wrath Violence and Oppression and establisheth the second that is his eternal Light and Love in Jesus Christ in whom alone he is well pleased which brings glad Tidings unto all Mankind and to the whole Creation especially if Men become the Sâ—â—s of God for then all the inferiour Creatures would be delivered into glorious Liberty It does appear by what the Apostle saith That all Sacrifices Killing and Blood of Beasts could not sufficiently appease God's Wrath nor reconcile Man unto God otherwise than as if one Man kill another the Blood of him that is slain doth call for Vengeance on the Slayer but all this while the Principle of God's fierce Wrath is by their violence and oppression increased and strengthened even so it was in all Sacrifices Men by their Violences had corrupted the Earth and awakened God's Wrath which called for Vengeance even as the Blood of a particular Man doth on a Beast for all kind of Violence be it either little or much doth call for vengeance and retaliation if not confessed repented of and by the power of the divine Love of God forsaken which holy Principle of God's eternal Love and Light in his Son was not manifest unto them as the Apostle saith because the first Tabernacle or Principle of God's Wrath had through their Cruelties and Evils gotten the Ascendent over them so that the divine Principle could not have its operation in them so long as they continued in their sins committing those Violences and Oppressions for the first Tabernacle or Wrath in Man must be done away before the second can take place that is before the holy Light of the Son of God can reign and rule in our hearts for nothing can allay overcome or make the stern fierce Wrath of the Father to bow or satiate its fiery hunger in Mankind but only the eternal Fountain of his meek Love in Christ from whom as the Scripture saith there does flow Rivers of living Waters which alone can allay the fiery Wrath and reconcile Men to the God of Peace and bring to nought the lofty proud violent Desires and vain Thoughts and Inclinations in Man and by its operation gives them an Eye of discerning to distinguish of God's Love and Anger in himself and makes the fierce harsh Fire of Wrath to burn more gentle so that instead of its raging Fierceness it becomes a meek and cherishing Fire which is the pleasant motion in every Life that tunes a Man up to an intellectual Harmony causing all the Properties and Qualities to kiss and incorporate with each other whence arises a most pleasant Crasis or Euphony of Temper Thoughts and Operations A Similitude whereof we have in a Musical Instrument that is skilfully tuned and plaid upon where there are various Strings and Notes whence proceed different Sounds but all conspiring to make up most ravishing and delightful Harmony the dull melancholy harsh jarring Notes of Saturn and Mars being made pleasant by the incorporating of the melodious Sounds of Venus Iupiter the Sun and Mercury Do not the Foundations of all Harmony both in Men and all other things arise from the Basis viz. from the first Principle or Tabernacle for if there were no Fire there would be no Light so if there were no Basis there could be no Trebbles or if there were yet there could be no Harmony if one were without the other What Harmony do Men make to themselves or others when
behind them a disorder'd Body and a perplexed Soul the Memory of which calls for Repentance and do ingender in the Mind Sottishness and insolency and a Forgetfulness of all Good making the Body an House of Sorrow and the Soul a Den of Thieves Intemperance never goes alone having many other Evils and perverse Companions attending her but at her first appearance doth court her Lovers with a curious painted smiling Countenance which doth allure and draw after her a great Train of young Gallants by her counterfeit Beauties but we through the good Favour of the Lord know her Snares and that she is that Woman the wise Man saith Sits in the Corners of the Streets of Man's City alluring and inviting the foolish Ones by her fading Delights and Pleasures therefore we warn our Citizens to beware of her Charms But Vertue who is our Captain though at first she do appear to us with a dismay'd Face and in modest plain Garments and neither decked with feigned Speeches nor with fading Beauties but with other most sublime and durable Riches as Temperance Cleanness Separation Self-denial which is a little austere and burthensome at first to old Adam and to those that have spent most of their days in the Intemperances and Oppressions of Egypt nevertheless a little Use Custom and Self-denial makes them most friendly both to the Body and Mind for she freeth them both from Ignorance vain Opinions Self-conceitedness and all other Snares and Troubles and crowns the Soul with eternal Felicity If our Children are gluttonous idle or disobedient to Parents our Law and Custom constrains them to make retaliation by Servitude in our publick Houses and Places provided for that purpose We do not enslave our Bodies by Labours nor put our more noble Parts on the Rack by carking Cares to maintain our Wives and Children because we observe order and count that unlawful that is not needful a little serves and supports the necessity of Nature where Superfluity is laid aside The more Children we have the richer we do esteem our selves we do not pray and wish that we may have no more Children and at the same time continue the Means neither do we hinder Conception for fear of Disgrace Trouble or that we shall have more Children than we can maintain all those things we esteem to be Sins against God and his Law in Nature We are contented and highly gratified with the most pleasant Fruits of the Gardens and desire as much as we can to imitate our first state of Innocency counting every green Herb and Seed our principal Food having a Simile with the friendly Principle in Man We fear all Inclinations after Flesh and Blood they smell of the Original Sin and of the awakened fierce Wrath of God which renders man fitter to live in a Flesh-Market and Butcher's Shambles than in a Garden there being no more affinity between Slaughter-houses Shambles Butchers-Shops and Sheep than there is between a pleasant Garden and the Fruits that grow therein and Dogs Lions Bears and the like wild Beasts of Prey We do not complain and say If we should not eat Flesh and Blood we should die as some will meaning the death of the Body this none need to fear but the main thing lies occult they are not willing to kill and destroy the Government of the violent wrathful Spirit and ravenous Nature which most Men love to practise all such things that support and keep that Spirit in motion which would quickly be weakned if Man did not supply it with its proper Food and Aliment If Violence nor Oppression did not come into the noble Tents of Men then Man would be like a pleasant Field in May where there grow various sorts of fragrant Herbs Fruits Grains and Seeds of different Forms Shapes Colours Beauties Odours and Natures but they have but one Mother whence they have and receieve Virtue Life and Power standing all in quietness and silence suffering all sorts of Winds to blow on them they complain not neither do they grutch or envy each other because they are not all alike or that one is more beautiful and fairer than another no they all thrust forth their Virtues in quietness to God's Praise and Glory even so it would be with Man if he did fear the Lord as he ought and lay aside Violence and live in Innocency then the Tempter would lose his labour 2. If any amongst us be idle gluttonous or commit any evil and will not amend his Life and become sober at the first second or third Reproof then they are committed to Houses and Places appointed for several sorts of Work and there they are put to such Labour Arts or Trades as they shall be capable of being well furnished with Meat Drink Cloathing sweet wholesome Chambers and Beds there to continue until they have made retaliation their greatest Punishment is they are confined to work double the time that is allotted for others viz. twelve hours in a day for we do not oppress our selves nor Servants with labour it being not lawful among us to work above six hours in a day which doth bountifully support us with plenty of all things where Superfluity is not there needs not much labour neither to Man nor Beast the remaining time is set apart for Prayer Meditations and Contemplations of the divine and natural Mysteries of God as Arts and Sciences and all lawful innocent Recreation We do account none capable to know the hidden Mysteries of God and the Creation but those that become even as Nature her self viz. true simple constant patient and pious no ways hurtful to any thing viz. a regenerated Man none else are fit for the search and speculation of divine Mysteries but those that are thus qualified when by an innocent pious Life we have made God our Friend then the Heavens the Earth Elements and all the Terrene and Celestial Influences are constrained to come to our help We draw Peace Love and Vertue out of all things for every Likeness doth forcibly draw proper Aliment out of all things for the increase and support of its own Body both in good and evil and for this same purpose we do often meet together for our outward occasions do not hinder us where we do speak and discourse freely like so many Children keeping nothing back or hidden whether it be good or evil but manifesting the inward secrets of our Hearts and the Mystical Operations of the various Properties of our own Nature and of the Force Power Vertue and Vice of each Quality and of their rising and continual contest amongst themselves for Mastery and also the manner and way the divine Principle of God in us doth open the seven Seals and call the Soul back out of Egypt viz. out of Discord and Inequality into Concord and Harmony We do not admit of any Discourse that is not filled with Vertue and Experience either of divine or natural Wisdom by which the low mean Capacities are rais'd by
Simile Use and Custom to some degree of Wisdom Silence being in much esteem amongst us counting it a very difficult thing to hear the Voice of Wisdom if the Ears are not first made good by Silence for he that cannot distinguish Sounds cannot tune his Instrument and consequently he can make no Harmony the like is to be understood of the various Voices in Man if he do not understand by the Sound of each Voice and from what Centre it had its Birth and what Property doth predominate in each Voice then such an one cannot rightly and properly distinguish the Voice of Wisdom from others for this cause many do take the one for the other We do not admire any Study so much as the knowledge of our selves esteeming that to be only profitable both to the Body and Soul We have but few Merchants amongst us and those that are are ready to break for their Wares have but little Credit with us We do not need Wine Sugar Spices Fruits Drugs nor indeed none of the Novelties brought from the West and East-Indies accounting them not proper nor agreeable to our Natures We know that the Herbs Fruits Grains Seeds and Drugs that grow under the elevation of our own Pole are more Homogeneal We are of the Kingly Prophet David's Mind counting all those needless Dainties the price of Blood for the most part procured by great hazard trouble and labour And if David counted Water which was procured by hazard of a Man's Life the price of Blood it being a most necessary thing for the support of the Life and he at that time in great need of it how much more then must we esteem those needless things the price of Blood that are procured by the loss of Life and Health Our married Men and Women are not like the Moon the farther she is distant from the Sun the clearer and greater light she gives but when she draws nearer her light is lessened Our Women do not spend most of their time in superfluous Dressing and decking themselves like painted or gilded Looking-glasses which present a false Face We love and marry them for Vertue more than for Money Honour or Beauty because none of these things make them so Praise-worthy as Sobriety Modesty Obedience and good Works They are so friendly to us as not to charge us or put us to that unnecessary Labour and Trouble of rich Attire or other Superfluities their modest Looks and honest Behaviours do not only engage us to love them but leads all that cast their Eyes on them to Continency and Chastity We do not know the Expences of either Apothecaries Doctors or Doctresses they prevent that by good living neither do they teach or train their Children from their Breasts to Gluttony but supply them with proper Meats and Drinks both in Quantity and Quality which makes them strong lusty brisk and healthy of clean sweet Tempers not apt to cry or be disordered but play like Lambs neither are they so subject to immature Deaths of good Genius's apt to all sorts of Learning not subject to the Ioint-Aches King's-Evil Leprous Diseases which do proceed from our well-Tillage and Manuring of our Ground in the beginning also we take care to keep it clean from Weeds and to sow good Seed in the proper times and seasons We do make it our business to understand the Nature and Quality of each Soil for some Men's Transgression the Earth is naturally subject to bring forth evil Fruit or Vegetation not so profitable for use and if there be not special care taken and industry used the good Fruit will be over-run and much weakned by the Thorns and Briars and hinder the good Seed from taking Root and so become corrupted in the Bud We do also esteem that Country most miserable that doth neglect the proper Tillage and Education of Children it being the grand Fountain of all Superfluity Gluttony Seditions and Murthers and a contempt of God's Law written in the Heart Scriptures and Book of Nature for this cause the Learned Moses commanded That the drunken gluttonous disobedient sons should be stoned to Death Therefore we have Laws and Customs that do compel all Fathers to instruct their Children in all Modesty Honesty Cleanness Sobriety and Silence before their Elders and we trust not the education of them to others for if we will not take pains with them our selves how can we believe that others will We account it more profitable for them to be educated and instructed in the Precepts of Wisdom and Knowledge of Nature than for us to spend our Time wear our Health out and perplex our Minds to get Riches and Money which for the most part are the very Seeds of Oppressions and Intemperances We do not admit the importing of Wine or any strong Drinks to be made that is capable to make Men drunk not that we do esteem those brave noble Creatures unlawful but because the young Men and simple low-spirited People have not government to use it as it ought or to the best advantage of Nature but altogether the contrary Therefore the Wise amongst us do refrain it and prohibit themselves for their sakes We had rather the excellent Fruit of the Vine should be lost than our People destroyed in the use of it therefore if any amongst us do make or invent any sort of Drink that will make Men drunk they are punished with perpetual Servitude and the Drinkers thereof with little less Drunkenness being the leading-Card to all Evils We have not forgot the many Burdens Miseries cruel Slaveries and Oppressions we endured whilst we remained in intemperate Egypt though the Foolish Ones have And if we should give liberty again to Drunkenness Gluttony and the like Vanities we may justly expect the same measure and to have no more Mercy than Pharaoh and his Troops had for wheresoever Superfluity and Gluttony is there you may be sure Oppression doth reign which doth powerfully stir up the Wrath therefore the first step towards the Land of Peace is for Men to abstain from all Uncleanness and Violence which the Prophets and Holy Men of God proclaim'd in all Ages We know that to be lawful that is needful and sutable to Nature's wants being sensible that every Extreme begets its Simile both in the Body and also in the Mind whether it be Meats Drinks Words Exercises or Communications We cannot do Violence or oppress any thing but first we must be strong in the fierce Wrath whence the Violence doth proceed neither can we do any thing whether in the Evil or Good but first we must be strong in that Principle whence the Good or Evil doth proceed therefore it may be truly said Wrath and Fierceness hurts all things and all things hurt that but on the contrary Innocency hurts nothing and nothing hurts that it being an irrepugnable Tower against all Evil and Violence Living well is the best defence against Men's inward and outward Enemies It is also a custom
in the Government and Operations of God's eternal Principle of Love and Light then he would have been satisfied with the Fruit of Paradise whose Originals sprung and proceeded from the Filial Property and therefore the illuminate Prophet Moses saith God placed Adam in a Garden which does intimate a separated place of Pleasure where all sorts of innocent Herbs Fruits Grains and fragrant Flowers do thrust and give forth their delicate Beauties ravishing Odours and excellent Virtues in silence there being no grutching envying or contention amongst them because of their different Scents Colours or Properties but all stand still and suffer the divine hand to do with them as he pleaseth Not but that in the most fragrant Flower and best of Herbs and Fruits there is the strong poysonous Root viz. Tree of Life for the Radix of every Creature stands in Poyson And therefore in what Creature soever these original fiery Properties are predominant all such Creatures are of a greedy ravenous fiery Nature If it be an Herb it is poysonous rank and fulsome as on the contrary all Things and Creatures in which the divine Principle does predominate the poysonous wrathful Tree of Life lies hid and unmanifested as in a curious Flower which is of various Colours and sends forth a most fragrant Scent here is no Poyson Wrath nor evil Quality manifest but as a Man may say a Paradisical and most pleasant Virtue the original Qualities are occult because the good Properties predominate But yet there would be no Vertue if there were no Vice for these original Forms are the cause of all Motion whence the Life and Light doth take Birth but if this original Fire do predominate in any thing be it what it will it presently becomes fierce and poysonous Therefore when Adam did eat of the Fruit of the Tree that grew in the midst of his Paradisical Garden that is in the very centre of his Life which central Fire he was forbidden to awaken and feed on he was forthwith turned out of the Garden of Pleasure which if he had not done then the blessed fra grant divine Fruit would have predominated and the evil Nature would not have been manifested and he had still continued in Paradise from whence he was now necessarily expelled for when the original Fire and strong Power was manifest in the Centre of Man's Life he would have proceeded farther viz into the very Centre of Nature and become a Formerand Figurer in the fierce Wrath and then there had been no hope of his Restauration therefore the Lord drove him out of Paradise and from the Tree of Life into the humane Nature whose operation is in Good and Evil by which Means the God of Wisdom Peace and Mercy has through the Feminine Tincture in the fulness of time restored again whatsoever Adam lost as to the Soul For the eternal Son of Love saith That he came to seek and to save that which was lost and proclaimed Peace and Good-Will unto all Men that is he invited them to come unto him and he would refresh and ease them of their Burthen for he saith My yoke is easie and my Burthen light and you shall find rest to your Souls And if this Voice of Wisdom were hearkned unto Men would no longer live in the wild Nature and bestial Qualities nor oppress God's Creation the Groanings thereof would no longer be heard nor would those that are travelling to the Land of Promise any more look back and hanker after the Flesh-pots of Egypt but would content themselves with the innocent food of Paradise nor would they murmur like the Israelites in the Wilderness Give us Flesh or else we die that is if they did not feed upon the Fruit of the forbidden Tree and bestial savage Nature and follow the Superfluities of the Egyptians the wrathful fiery bestial Life would die in them which they were very unwilling to part with therefore the Lord heard them in his Wrath for they had awakened it and in the same Principle he gave them Flesh which darkned the divine Principle in them and gave advantages to the Wrath that it got the victory over them therefore many Thousands of them were thereby destroyed in the Wilderness that is in the wild bestial Nature and entred not into the Holy Land for Bears Lions and the like Beasts of Prey are not admitted to enter there Without are Dogs saith the Apostle All that enter the New Ierusalem must leave behind them Pharaoh and all his Troops in the Red Sea and travel through all the degrees of the wild bestial Nature and return unto every Form and Constellation all such Inclinations and evil Dispositions as Men have received from them viz. Unto the first Form or Constellation called Saturn you must leave Covetousness Envy Suspicion and all dark evil Thoughts and Jealousies Unto the second Form called Iupiter you must leave all worshipping of Idols false Forms of Religion envious peevish Inclinations and Persecutions which are devilish Dispositions that do possess many from whence do proceed great Troubles and Discords When you come to the third Form called Mars you must with him leave all Wrath Passion Cruelty and Violence With the fourth Form called The Sun you must leave all Pride High-mindedness and Self-conceit all Inclinations tending to Ambition and Vain-glory. But at the fifth Form called Venus you must abandon all Desires after unlawful Beds all wanton Discourses and Enticements to fleshly Lusts. When you arrive at the sixth Form called Mercury put away all idle Jesting much Talking Lying Dissembling and carrying two Faces so as to appear good with the Good and bad with the Bad. And at the seventh Form called The Moon you must leave all unconstant Humors and fickle Fancies as also Gluttony and sottish swinish Living as to Superfluities either of eating or drinking All these bad Dispositions and Inclinations the Children of God and of the divine Principle must deny themselves and leave them behind in the Wilderness for they do belong unto the wild bestial Nature and thither ought to return and none that live under their Powers can enter into the Holy Land 19. It may be farther objected If Flesh had not been in some degree profitable unto the Children of Israel and if Killing were not lawful why did the Lord command Beasts to be killed for Sacrifices I answer The killing of Beasts for Sacrifice is a great Figure or Mystery which shews the depraved state of Man and how he is fallen from his primitive Integrity and Innocency for it signifies that Man by his Evils and Transgressions had so mightily awakened the Wrath and fierce fiery Power of God that it would not be satiated or appeased except there were Violence used and Blood spilt for all Sacrifices were made to atone and satisfie the enkindled Wrath which after the Gate of Violence was once opened nothing but Blood could allay for Man having awakened it by Sin nothing in the Vegetable Kingdom no Herbs