Qualities of even the worst of Beasts The holy Sages are wont to liken some Men to Dogs for their snarling and contention others to Wolves for their ravenous Cruelty others to Swine for their sottish Sensuality and our Saviour calls the Scribes and Pharisees a Generation of Vipers for their venomous Qualities Farthermore this Vision of Peter does declare That this evil bestial cruel unclean Nature that had gotten the dominion in Man should be destroyed through the divine Power for the Lord said Arise Peter kill and eat That is Mortifie the bestial Properties and let the unclean Thoughts Words and Works be cut off in the Bud by the Sword of the Spirit It was the poysonous Vermin and violent unclean Nature within which the Lord would have destroyed and killed not the Beasts without for Man's most deadly Enemies are those of his own Houshold inward not outward and accordingly the chief work of every good Man is internal and if the Heart and Soul be clean then the Thoughts Words Works Meats Drinks and all other things belonging to the whole Life are also clean for where the divine Principle has the Ascendent all the Thoughts and Desires are generated from the same and relish of their Original which does attract the pure Vertue out of all things because it has an Unity and Agreement with its own Nature 13. It is a grand Mistake of People in this Age to say or suppose That Flesh affords not only a stronger Nourishment but also more and better than Herbs Grains c. For the truth is it does yield more Nourishment but not of so firm a Substance nor so good as that which proceeds from the other Food for Flesh has more Matter for Corruption and nothing so soon turns to Putrifaction Now 't is certain such sorts of Food as are subject to putrifie before they are eaten are also liable to the same afterwards Besides Flesh is of soft moist gross phlegmy Quality and generates a Nourishment of a like Nature Also Flesh heats the Body and causeth a Drought Likewise Flesh does breed great store of noxious Humours And it must be considered that all sorts of Beasts and other living Creatures are subject to Diseases and many other Inconveniences and Uncleannesses Surfeits Over-driving Abuses of cruel Butchers c. Which renders their Flesh still more unwholsom But on the contrary all sorts of dry Foods as Bread Cheese Herbs and many Preparations of Milk Pulse Grains and Fruits as their Origiual is more clean so being of a sound firâ— nature they afford a more excellent nourishment and more easie of concoction so that if a Man should exceed in quantity the health wil not thereby be brought into such danger as by the superfluous eating of Flesh. Add to this That all kind of Vegetatives being well prepared and the Mixtures properly made are abundantly more pleasant and delightful to an undepraved Palate and also to the Stomach than Flesh as they are also much more pleasant to look upon What an ill and ungrateful sight is it to behold dead Carcasses and pieces of bloody raw Flesh It would undoubtedly appear dreadful and no Man but would abhor to think of putting it in his Mouth had not Use and Custom from Generation to Generation familiariz'd it to us which is so prevalent that we read in some Countries the Mode is to eat the Bodies of their dead Parents and Friends thinking they can no way afford them a more noble Sepulchre than their own Bowels and because 't is usual they do it with a little regret or nauceousness as others have when they fall aboard the Leg of a Rabbit or the Wing of a Lark Suppose a Person were bred up in place where it was not a Custom no kill and eat Flesh and should come into our Leaden-Hall-Market or view our Slaughter-houses and see the communication we have with dead Bodies and how blithe and merry we are at their Funerals and what honourable Sepulchres we bury the dead Carcasses of Beasts in nay their very Guts and Entrals Would he not be filled with astonishment and horror Would he not count us cruel Monsters and say That we were brutified and performed the part of Beasts of Prey to live thus on the Spoils of our Fellow-Creatures Thus Custom has awakened the inhumane fierce Nature which makes killing handling and feeding upon Flesh and Blood without distinction so easie and familiar unto Mankind And the same is to be understood of Men killing and oppressing those of their own kind For do we not see that a Souldier who is trained up in the Wars of bloody-minded Princes shall kill an hundred Men without any trouble or regret of Spirit and such who have given him no more offence than a Sheep has given the Butcher that cuts her Throat If Men have but Power and Custom on their side they think all is well whence one that was going to be a Soldier being ask'd What he was going to do nimbly answer'd I am going to break one of God's Commandments by the Authority of Custom and Law To such People Violence Oppression and Killing of Men and Beasts is as easie and inoffensive as plowing of the Land or gathering ripe Fruits so rarely does any consider whether it be right in the sight of God's Law in Nature and so sadly is Man depraved and Self deprived of the true Understanding of Wisdom and yet if some of these same Men happen in a private Quarrel or Contest to kill a Man although it were partly in their own defence or to have committed private Murthers their Minds and Consciences have been so loaded and troubled with a sense of Guilt that many times they have been forced to confess their Evil though they knew their own Death would be the consequence of that Discovery the chief cause of which is because Law and Custom do forbid them to kill men that way but if two Princes have ever so little difference or if there be none yet if one of them for his own Glory and to enlarge his Empire have a mind to make War against his Neighbour on pretences never so frivolous false or unjust yet at the Beat of Drum or Sound of Trumpet he shall have a great number of Men offer themselves and take delight to kill oppress burn and destroy Men Women and Children without any cause given or ever considering in themselves whether it be right in the sight of the Creator or his Law in Nature and without having any remorse or trouble of Conscience for the same but rather boast and think the better of themselves the more Murthers they have committed The very same is to be understood in most other things but more especially in Religion Shall we not see a Turk afflict himself for having tasted a drop of Wine and a Papist be mightily troubled for having eaten a Mouthful of Flesh on a Friday And yet the same Men at the word one of his Mufti and the other
natural heat burns but dully 2. But if the Sweet Quality be joyned with this and hath an equal share of government then such People are of pleasant merry tempers apt to laugh of easy Faith and a small occasion will move them out of one thing into another not fixed nor of any depth search or understanding apt to speak much but not wise being like Children laugh and cry all in a breath very good to carry Tales and Stories from one to another 3. But if the Bitter Quality doth predominate equally with this and the Sweet weak or underneath then such People are bestial hard-hearted cruel inhuman Swearers Lyars and the like fit for all robustick dirty killing Imployments but they are of stronger Constitutions than the former and healthier and also of better and quicker Apprehensions but of very ill Tempers 4. But if the saltish or astringent quality doth predominate and have an equal share in government and the Sweet Quality weak then this sort of People are not so corpulent nor fleshy but taller and more slender of Stature of sour Countenances and Dispositions cunning in Words and Deeds apt to Dissemble and Lye they are also apt to bear Malice having two Faces the Diseases they are subject to are the Stone Wind-Colick Consumptions and many windy Diseases and Infirmities if Temperance be wanting many of this sort of People are also great drinkers 5. When this Sour Quality doth predominate in any Beast then such are of a dull heavy Disposition and Spirit apt to have great bellies and slow in motion If in Horses they are neither handsom nor free dull Eyes and great Heads If in Cows their Milk is not so good as others being thin If in Herbs or Fruit then their taste is some-what unpleasant harsh and sour and their Colour is of a dark Green Of the Astringent or Saltish Quality 1. When this Quality doth predominate in any Person they are of a tall Stature and for the most part slender but of a swarthy pale or muddy Complexion rather Lean than Fat generally of hardy strong Constitutions and also of good Apprehensions when this sort of People do apply themselves to the learning of any Art they attain to an excellent Understanding therein being fixed in those things they resolve on 2. But if the Bitter Quality doth equally govern in the Body and Senses and the Sweet Quality weak then such People are very sordid Lyars Swearers Gluttons Drunkards inclined to all kind of robustick Plays and Games as Ringing Bull-baitings Bear-baitings to follow Drums and Fencers and the like evil Communications having strong Bodies and fierce savage bestial Spirits and abusers of Women 3. But if the Sweet Quality doth interpose and the Bitter and Astringent weak then such Persons are more moderate in Words and Works ingenious apt to learn of good Understandings and of handsom healthy Bodies 4. But if the Sour be joyned in government with the Astringent then such People are more gross and Phlegmatick and not so quick of Apprehension slow of Motion and of sordid Dispositions 5. Also it is to be noted when this Astringent quality doth predominate in any Beast then they are large big boned strong and heady but not free of motion but cunning and sullen When in Herbs and Fruit they are tall but not handsom their taste is harsh hard and unpleasing they are good against the Diseases of the Phlegmatick and Sanguin Complexions if the Saturnine Venoms thereof be corrected This is a short Description of the four grand Qualities and their natural Operations But this I would have every one consider and be sensible that their Influences are not compelling on Men as they are on Beasts except Men live as Beasts viz. in the power and operation of the bestial Nature as many Thousands do and far worse whence proceed those violent and cruel disorders in the World But those who do turn the Eye of their Mind inward and search and find themselves and come to distinguish the secret workings of God and Nature and hearken unto the Voice of the Divine Principle which is the holy Oracle that will teach every one in all particulars what is right in the sight of the Lord and the contrary the fear of the Lord and the true knowledg of God in a mans self and thereby furnish every one with virtue strength and power to resist every evil Influence though it proceed from the most harsh and worst of Complexions it will also teach him to tune and bring all the four Qualities into an equal accord even as a skilful Musicianer composeth a harmonious consort in the variety of parts or as he by skill tunes his Instrument for the most skilful Musicianer in the World can make no harmony if his Instrument be not in tune all the various Notes and Tones of an Instrument most incorporate in each other or else no Harmony can be made even so it is with the Qualities in a Man it is as possible for him that hath learned himself to tune himself and compose all the properties of Nature and to play on them as a Musicianer doth on his Instrument so great is the power of Man if he cast his Will and Desire into the divine Principle and Love of God which is able to tincture and change the worst Complexion and convert it into its own Nature therefore let no man dare to say and complain that the Lord hath dealt hardly by him that he hath made him of the harsh wild Nature And though it be true that many men as their Natural Qualities are sordid and wild yet nevertheless they have the true Tincture that can transmute and change all sorts of Metals into the finest Gold even that very Word of the Lord that made and formed all things which doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World and blessed are all those that are obedient and follow its Counsel of what Complexion soever they are the Blessing of the Lord is with them Thus having treated of the four grand Qualilies I shall now proceed to discover the four Complexions which proceed there from and to what Virtues Vices and Diseases each of them are most subject Of the Cholerick Complexion The Cholerick Complexion answereth to Fire and that sort of People which are dignified with it are of a strong Body and lively active Spirit quick both in doing and apprehending of any thing free in Speech and of all other action apt to Wrath and Passion quickly affronted but because the Fire in them burns fierce their Passions are quickly over not subject to retain Anger nor premeditate Revenge they are of a hardy strong Nature generally of good Apprehensions and Witty but more or less so according to the strength or weakness of the predominant Constellation at their Birth If People of this Complexion do observe the rules of Temperance and keep themselves within the bounds of Sobriety then they are some of the Healthiest of men But many
the Uncleannesses of the Multitude and hardly have had once in their whole Lives a serious thought about these sublime Matters or ever applied themselves to the Practice of them 6. By what hath been said it may sufficiently appear That all things are mov'd by Simile and every particular Property of Nature both in the Evil and Good does eagerly hunger after such Food as is proper to maintain and nourish its own Body from which ground it comes to pass that the evil and wicked Bestiality of a Nation or particular Man does sensibly move the Wrath of God in the outward Elements by the same way of Simile and strengthens it powerfully and as it were naturally kindling and drawing down the corrupt Nature in the Stars and Elements whence proceed both publick and private Calamities On the other side Iustice Clemency Ceasing from Violence and Cruelty and walking in the friendly Way of Righteousness Temperance and Purity does awaken and corroborate the benevolent Influences of the Celestial Bodies and attract Blessings and Prosperity As witness the Iews when they lived in the Laws of God and Nature they were blessed with the Dew of Heaven and the Fatness of the Earth and with Health and all other Benefits but when they broke his Commands and ate polluted things then was kindled the Wrath of God and Nature and many Calamities were showered down upon them Hence also the holy Scriptures testifie That the Prayers of the ungodly are an abomination God doth not hear or answer them because they proceed from the wrathful Fountain and have no Sympathy with the Divine Principle But on the contrary the Prayers and Desires of those that live in the fear of the Lord and are guided by that divine Principle of his eternal Love and Light are as sweet Incense in his Nostrils and he will answer them from his Holy Hill for by way of Simile they open the everlasting Doors of the Palace of Glory and draw down and are strengthned with the pleasant Fruits of Paradise Thus every thing moveth towards its own Center and powerfully attracts Matter out of all things to nourish and maintain its own Body and this was the cause why the Ancients made distinctions between clean and unclean Creatures Meats and Communications knowing that all things that a man doth touch have power to make him him either better or worse 7. Our blessed Saviour Iesus Christ saith That Man shall answer for every idle Word Which Saying does contain a great Mystery So likewise we read in the Revelations That Blessed are they that die in the Lord they cease from their Labours and their Works follow them Both these Places are to be understood alike First Every idle Word and also every good Word and Work do respectively proceed from two grand Fountains or Principles in Man Now all idle and evil Thoughts Words Inclinations and Dispositions as Envy Hatred Back-biting Violence Oppression Fighting and Killing one another do all proceed from the wrathful fierce Principle and by it are comprehended and received as similary thereunto On the other side all good Words and Works arise from the Light and Grace of God viz. from the divine Principle which does therefore likewise receive and comprehend them He that calleth his Brother a Fool shall be in danger saith the Scripture of Hell fire The Reason is Because every Word or Work that is framed or created from the Wrath in Man and received by its Likenesses if not repented of does endanger the Soul and is apt to precipitate the Man into the Hellish Nature for every Root will greedily embrace its own Fruits and every Word has a Key in it self to open the Gate of its own Principle and to awaken and strengthen its own Property as is manifest from every Moment's Experience Doth not the angry Words and Looks of one Man awaken the fierce Wrath in others to whom they are directed The very same good Words and Works will do A soft Answer says the Wise-Man pacifies Wrath. Every Word carries the Power of that Property or Principle that was predominant in it or from whence it was generated and therefore wheresoever its Sound or Voice enters and meets its Simile they immediately incorporate and joyn Forces strengthening and increasing the same If this were not so the Apostle Paul would not have said That Evil Communication corrupts good Manners nor David have avouched With the Froward thou shalt learn Frowardness Therefore 't is absolutely necessary for People to know somewhat of themselves else they cannot understand from what Property or Principle each Thought Imagination and Word does proceed and guard themselves accordingly 'T is the true knowledge of God in a Man's self that teaches Wisdom and gives understanding of Good and Evil. 8. But there are many Thousands that hardly ever in their whole Lives do so much as enquire after that true Knowledge which dwells essentially in Man or mind that internal Oracle where in Difficulties they may and ought to enquire as the worthy Prophet David said I will hear what the Lord will say in me Therefore as for those that have hearkned to the Voice of Wisdom in themselves and obtained any true Knowledge of God they contend not about outward Forms and Modes of Religion for they have a more sure word of Prophecy shining as a Light in a dark place to which you do well to give heed being a guide that teacheth all Vertues and condemneth all Vice But on the other side those that never turn their Eyes inward nor regard the Voice of Wisdom that cries in the Gate of their City as the Wise Man loves to speak but look abroad and hearken after other Voices such cannot stand alone they are meer Adjectives in Religion Philosophy and Reason and are forced continually to lean on the Shoulders of others and remain Darkness in themselves as though the Lord had not given them any Salt to savour their Ways there being no end and 't were well there had been no beginning of Man's running after other Gods and of worshipping of Idols but where the true Knowledge of God is not first attained in a Man's self there neither can any man be satisfied with what another Man knows because it cannot be essential to him but may be either true or false because such Ear-Knowledge does not arise from the Light of a Man's Life but is a thing accidental foreign and at a distance This folding up of a Man 's own Gifts and Talents which the Lord hath given every Man to profit himself withal in Napkins of a supine and careless Negligence and hiding them in the Earth has been the chief cause of Men's running to and fro and contending about other Mens God's esteeming and setting up Signs and mere Shadows and neglecting the true Substance what Aristotle held what Galen taught what Hippocrates or St. Augustin or Tho. Aquinas or twenty such noted Men have said of such or such a matter they can tell but
Blood so let forth was to be buried in the ground or burned and so the bestial Spirits prevented from Evaporations or incorporating themselves with the Air and consequently from entring into and infecting the humane Nature with their wrathful Effluviums and dreadful Species that the Blood of all Creatures are full of when killed in their health and perfect strength The greatest Excellency and common Virtue of men's eating much Flesh and Fish is that it makes them surly robustick sordid and of cruel inhumane Dispositions and Inclinations it being the most proper for Soldiers Hunters Moss-Troopers and all such as would have the bestial savage Nature strengthened and encreased and have a mind to be Lions and Devils not only to their own kind but all other Creatures and so long as People give their Wills up unto the fierce proud wrathful poysonous Nature we may not expect any other Trade to be driven amongst us whence we sind that the meek friendly Principle is trodden under foot Compassion has little or no place in Man farther than it is a Custom and he seems wholly given up to Rapine Oppression and Wickedness Whereas on the contrary Herbs Fruits Grains and many other the like innocent sorts of Food are more pleasant to the Eye of a better Scent and Smell afford a more grateful Taste to the Palate Nourishment finer and of better Substance to the Stomach they are of an easier Concoction breed better Blood are much more readily procured the Creation groans not or sighs there 's no Pain Violence or Cruelty committed in the Use of them they generate purer Spirits and make the Body lightsome and pleasant free the Mind from Dulness Care and Heaviness quicken all the Senses make a good Understanding preserve Innocency increase Compassion Love Humility and Charity give the Spirit of distinction between Good and Evil Clean and Unclean and help us with many opportunities for the study of all true Wisdom both of God Nature and our selves In a word the Virtues both Divine and Natural that follow Abstinence and Cleanness are not to be numbred many of them I know by experience through the mercy and good favour of the Lord It makes a man hate all rude vain talkative Company and the many Inconveniences that attend such a course of Life it also makes the observers thereof capable at all Seasons to speak the Words of Wisdom either divine or humane being but like large Glass-Windows to an House it lets in the pleasant light Air by giving opportunities to all the noble Faculties of man's Soul to exercise their Functions it tunes the Properties of Nature whence proceeds most excellent Harmony and whoever shall try it shall certainly find much more satisfaction and advantages than is here related or indeed than can be expressed in Words 15. It is farther to be noted that all kind of Inventions and Arts that encourage Violence and Oppression have proceeded from the fierce harsh wrath of God and the uneven properties of Saturn and Mars as Gun-powder Guns Drums and all Warlike Instruments of Musick There is nothing that does more manifest this than Gun-powder where the pure spirituous Parts and balsamick Vertues in all the Ingredients are suffocated and destroyed so that it becomes a meer composition of Wrath and Fierceness for every Property of Nature becomes fierce and terrible or strong fulsome and poysonous if the virtue and light thereofbe destroyed or separated from it for every particular Creature or Substance both Vegetable Mineral and Animal does consist of Fire and Light Love and Anger Ioy and Sorrow Good and Evil These are the Radixes of each Subject throughout all the three Kingdoms of Nature and if in any thing you violate the lovely light part then the angry Properties appear in their own Forms an Instance whereof we have before mentioned in Charcoal which is one Ingredient towards Gun-powder and all the rest are alike being of a terrible rending tearing devilish fierce nature and in it is a true Figure of the Wrath of God in the outward nature So likewise the sound of Drums and all Weapons of War and Violence proceed from the same Root of Wrath and accordingly the use of all such things do much encourage and strengthen the wrathful Properties in Mankind who if they had not or did not suffer their Wills and Desires to enter into the Wrath and fierce Properties of Nature in themselves and were not acted and influenced by it there would never have been any of those Hellish Inventions as Swords Guns Powder Drums Bows Arrows and other murthering Engines nor any thoughts of Killing Oppressing and Destroying those of their own Kind nor any other Creatures but Man should have kept that Dominion over the Creatures wherewith the Creator invested him in the beginning and no Creature should have had power to have influenced him or imposed their Properties upon him Hence then touching all Fighting Oppressing and Killing let it be little or much and the pretence what it will we affirm from a true light and ground That the same do arise and proceed from the fierce wrath of God and from that devilish hellish nature in Man which is as contrary to the friendly Love and Light of God in Jesus Christ as the Night is to the Day for if in man or any other Creature the evil Property do predominate and is most manifest there the good Qualities and friendly Light is overcome and so on the contrary For every Property and Principle does manifest and bring forth its own fruit as our Saviour Christ says Every Tree is known by its Fruits a good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit nor an evil Tree good Fruit. According to what Property does rule in the Heart of any Man such are his Thoughts Words and Actions where the divine Principle of God's eternal Love and Light doth predominate such Persons bring forth those good and precious Fruits of Love Mercy Compassion courteous Speeches Works of Charity and doing unto all men as they would be done unto but those in whom the hellish Principle bears sway their Fruits are worse than Briars and Thorns such as Back-biting Hatred Oppression Killing not only inferiour Creatures but even those of their own Kind and working all sorts of Impiety with greediness Therefore 't is of unspeakable moment to be able to distinguish in our selves the Two Principles and their respective Fruits and to be careful to deny and root out the Evil and cherish and follow the Counsel of the holy Light which if obeyed is sufficient to destroy all the mischievous Works of Self-hood and the Devil for as the more men habituate themselves to Cruelty Oppression Unmercifulness Killing and the like the stronger the hellish Principle of Wrath does grow and the worse and more cruel they become So in the practice of Vertue every Property and Principle grows strong by Use and Exercise and he that enters into the narrow Path of Regeneration and Self-denial ought always
to fear to oppress or do unto any Creature that which he would not have done unto himself for Oppression Killing wrathful Words and Works do belong to the Egyptians and not to those that travel towards the Land of Canaan An Instance of which we have in St. Iude who said That when Michael the Arch-Angel disputed about the Body of Moses with the Devil he did not dare to bring any railing Accusation not but that the good Angel might as to Justice have done it but he did not dare do it because he must first have entred with his Will into the wrathful fierce Principle or hellish nature and awakened it in himself therefore he only said The Lord rebuke thee And for the same Reason our Saviour Christ commands Men not to be angry nor call their Brethren Racha or Fools that is any Name of Wrath Malice or Contempt If this were rightly understood and regarded Men would not dare to abandon themselves to such Heats Passions and Furies as every day we behold they would not make it a Trade a Sport a Pastime to kill murther and use all kind of Violence We read in Genesis of Lot's Wife that she looked back towards Sodom for which she was turned into a Pillar of Salt she entred into the fierce Anger and Wrath of God and Nature which she was forewarned of so that she was precipitated into and comprehended in the grand Fountain of Wrath that is the original Forms of Nature of which Salt is one and therefore the Prophets and all those whom the Lord enlightned with divine and humane Understanding and whose chief business was to reclaim men from the Snares and Evils of Oppression and Violence and teach them the Ways of Mercy Clemency and Love often threatned them with the same Judgment which befel Lot's Wife it being the portion of all that live and die in the Spirit of Oppression Nay was not that great Man Moses prevented from entring into the Holy Land because he was wrath with the Children of Israel when they murmured and complained for want of Water saying Ye Rebels must we fetch Water out of this Rock for you Whereupon saith the Lord to him and his Brother Aaron Because ye believed me not to sanctifie me in the Eyes of the Children of Israel therefore shall you not bring this Congregation into the Land which I have given them Here Moses and Aaron had suffered their Desires and Wills to enter into the Wrathful Centre and Self-hood whence the Word Rebel was formed for the very Sound thereof demonstrates from what Principle it does proceed And hence probably it may be that the evil Angel did so dispute about or claim a property to the Body of Moses This therefore is a principal Point in Religion for every one to understand and distinguish in himself from what Principle every Thought and Word does proceed for otherwise Men may and do precipitate themselves into the wrath and fierce original of the hellish Nature which if once it get to reign in the Heart it quickly blisters out its Venom at the Tongue in such leud Words as Rebels Rogue Dog Devil and horrid Oaths Curses and Execrations the very sound of which is enough to declare whence they proceed whereas from the divine and truly humane Nature do arise and slow Words of Comfort and Consolation those soft Answers that turn away Wrath and all those delightful sociable obliging Charms of friendly Conversation wherein consists one of the greatest Felicities of this mortal Life and which for ought I know will be one main occasion to our Happiness in Heaven And wheresoever such Words are entertained they strengthen and increase their own Principle both in those that speak them and in those that hear them Of that great Man King David who is sometimes stiled A Man after God's own Heart the Scripture saith That the Lord did not admit him to build the outward Temple which was a true Figure of the internal and spiritual Temple And what was the Reason Because he had been a Man of Violence and Blood which had so awakened the Principle of Wrath and Fierceness as did very much impede the divine work And this it will do not only in David but all others in whom it is kindled No Man can do the Work of Wrath and not awaken and strengthen the Principle which leads to such Acts as is farther manifested by all those that are of violent Trades and killing Employments although such People do not kill the Beasts in Anger or in a way of Revenge for any Injuries pretended formerly to be done but do it meerly as it is their Occupation whereby to get a Livelihood yet nevertheless insensibly and unknown to their Reason and Intention they do by degrees irritate and corroborate the fierce Properties of Nature and become rash fierce hot and cruel No wonder then if most of the holy Men and Prophets who by a divine Eye and Understanding did pry into the hidden Mysteries of God and Nature were strict Abstainers and separated themselves from the Uncleannesses Oppressions and Violences that the superfluous worldly Belly gods do subject themselves unto whose chief care is to procure such Meats and Drinks as will gratifie their Palates and Appetites for pleasing of which they regard not whom they oppress be they Men or Beasts some of them spending as much in one day as an hundred Men can get by their hard Labour and all to please the wanton Lust and momentary Pleasure of the Throat they having but only the meer Forms and Shapes of Men and being really void both of Humanity and Christianity From this ground doth proceed all violent Courses and Contentions both publick and private which Evils will never be remedied except Men take up the Cross and deny themselves and follow the Counsel of the divine Principle and hearken unto the Voice of Wisdom which continually cries in the Gate of every Man's City and happy is he that hearkens unto her for she is a sufficient Guide to lead every one into the pure simple Way of Truth and teach us from what we ought to separate our selves whereby we may acquire Health to the Soul and Body and the Treasures both of Time and Eternity But none are or can be sensible of those Advantages but such alone as are got through thé Red Sea and the Howling Wilderness and have entred into the Land of Canaan for it seems too mean a thing and the Ways that lead to those holy Virtues are too plain for the great People of this World But our Lord and Saviour Christ saith My Kingdom is not of this World and therefore when Peter in the most just and pious Cause that can be imagined viz. to preserve his innocent Master from unjust violence drew his Sword our Lord calmly bid him put it up for the Sword cannot be drawn but by and through the Power of God's Wrath which does predominate in most Men's Hearts and this Christ
to intreat our Friends to eat or drink beyond what is needful We have not forgot the great Affliction and torturing Distempers we endured whilst we were in Captivity and under the Government of Pharaoh's Task-masters viz. under the unequal Oppressions of the awakened Wrath and divided Forms of Nature where each Property endeavours to get the Mastery and therefore we do continually shun and arm our selves with the Armour of our Lord Jesus Christ viz. by taking up the Cross and denying our selves those Egyptian Vanities and Superfluities which the common Enemy of Mankind doth seek with all cunning Inventions to enslave us again in worldly Lusts that he may separate us from our sovereign Good but the Word of Truth is engraven in our Hearts by whose Power and Virtue we withstood his Temptations and beware of his Snares in time and count it our chief Good that the Lord hath in his Eternal Mercy delivered us out of Captivity therefore it behoveth us to live soberly in this present World We desire always and in all states to submit our selves to the good Pleasure of the Lord for we do not know what is good no farther than we are guided by his Holy Spirit it belongeth to him to determine what is most expedient for us and his own Glory We all hold this Maxim That all that have throughly profited themselves in the School of Christ do daily beat down or keep under the Elemental Body by denying themselves the Worldly Vanities within We do not give Names to our Children nor imitate the Philosophical Ancients like Apes without understanding the true Nature or Genius of the Child as to call them at a venture by such Names as do express a Deity whereas this Nature and Genius of the Child is quite contrary This is not to imitate our first Parents Adam gave Names to every Creature and Thing according to their Natures that is expressing their Natures and Properties He did not give Names to wild savage Beasts that did signifie Cleanness or friendly tractable Dispositions and Natures nor call Sheep Lions nor Lions Sheep The Prophet Isaiah saith Woe unto those that call Evil Good and Good Evil being ignorant of the true Nature of things and divine Mysteries they make no distinctions between Good and Evil. Adam called his First-born Cain Why did not he call him Abel No that would be to call a Devil a Saint and a Saint a Devil Cain doth sound forth and signifie the strong Might and Power of the Wrath and divided Forms of Nature which had Dominion in him and Abel doth as we have told you before signifie the eternal Principle of God's Love viz. Cain imitates the fierce devouring Fire and Abel the Light thereof The very same is to be understood of Ishmael and Isaac and Esau and Iacob the elder doth truly signifie the consuming Fire and the younger the Light thereof the first is the Father and the second is the Son The Ancients did not therefore gather together all the good Names which do express the holy divine Power and eternal Grace and Love of God in his second Principle or eternal Light and call their Children by them at a venture no this would have been great Impiety Would not every sober Man count it sordid and vain to call an Angel a Devil and a Devil by the Name of an Angel as most of the Men of Egypt do at this day They name and call their Children by Names expressing the divine Virtue and Power when as most of them do live under the Government of the evil unclean Nature and the Spirit that doth predominate in them is fierce and wrathful so that they call Good Evil and Evil Good which is far off from imitating the holy Men of the first Ages This doth more clearly appear by Abram which doth signifie the original Wrath and wild Nature of this World Why did not his Parents call him Abraham Emanuel Grace Hope Charity Abel Iacob or Isaac No those Names were too sublime but Abram did truly sound forth and signifie his inward and outward Nature But in process of time when the Light of God's Grace and Eternal Mercy appeared to him and that he believed in God which was accounted to him for Righteousness then the Lord said unto him Thy Name shall no more be called Abram but Abraham which doth truly comprehend and signifie both the first and second Tabernacle The Lord did not destroy or annihilate the Wrath and wild Nature no that must not be if there were no Fire then there would'be no Light as our Saviour Christ saith in another Case He came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it The Lord did reinforce Abraham's Soul and replenish it with his holy divine Principle of Love and Light and therefore his Name should no more be called Abram a Thorn or wild Thistle but Abraham the Father of the Faithful The same Order and changing of Names was continued till Christ was manifested in the humane Nature and afterward by all the divine Seers Did not Christ change St. Peter's Name because of his fixed Faith calling him Sephas which signifies a Stone or Rock And was not Saul called Paul after his Conversion The Ancients never changed Names but first their Natures were changed Christ called Herod a Fox which did truly signifie his inward Nature and what Spirit did govern in him The same is to be understood when the wise Ancients gave Names to their Children Places Cities and other things which Names did always truly signifie what Property or Quality did predominate in the Child or Thing so named This Knowledge is Angelical which Man hath lost by suffering his Desire and Will to enter into Vanity and as the Name of each Creature which Adam gave them doth express their Properties and Nature so the Name of each Angel doth express and signifie their Office The understanding each Name and what is signified thereby doth remain as a Mystery unto Mankind which is the original Language or the true Language of Nature the sound of each Word or Name doth declare what Property is predominant in it which original Language of Nature Birds and some other inferiour Creatures do retain to this time because they have not broken the Law of God in Nature but have lived in the Simplicity thereof and though they are not endued with that noble Faculty of Speech nevertheless they can by their general Tone and Cry as intelligibly communicate their Desires and various Passions as Love Hate Hunger Thirst and the like as Men can by their distinct Dialects viz. by altering and varying this one simple Tone or Cry as when they are hungry or want their Fellows or if one particular Bird doth know of some Food that his Fellows are ignorant of then he sends forth such a Tone or Sound as does as intelligibly acquaint all those of their own Kind as Men can by discoursing together for every Tone and Cry according to the various States Wants
sordid Interest the chief end of their Practice as most do For Physicians of all sorts of People should be the most Knowing the most Iust the most Charitable and the most Temperate But whatever Titles men may have or how many Books soever they may have tumbled over if they abandon the study of Virtue and Piety and aim at mercenary Lucre and vain Glory instead of doing Good to men and bringing Glory to God 't is vain to expect any benefit from such Peoples hands They are all as the Scripture saith in another case Physicians of no value nay they have not that Natural Distinguishing and Sense as is common to many Beasts for the man that is not directed by the Spirit of the Lord is an hundred fold more ignorant of the Operations of Nature than a Beast that lives under the Laws of Nature and therefore we see many Dumb Creatures have more Sense to discern what is for their Preservation than Men and Men have learned the Virtues of many Physical Herbs from them as the Tortoise when hunted by the Adder is said to fortifie himself by eating of Originum and the same is said of the Stork when she has eaten Snakes she seeks for the same Herb Originum and finds a Remedy it is also related that when the Weezle goes to fight with any poysonous Creature it first eats Rue whence men came to know that Originum and Rue are good Antidotes against Poyson so in some other Animals there is an in-bred skill and Medicinal Art as when the Toad is wounded 't is said she will go to Sage or Rue and rub the Wound and so escapes the Danger We are told that Swallows first taught us that Celendine is Medicinal for the Eyes being the same wherewith they cure the Eyes of their Young Ones The Pye when sick puts a Bay-leaf into her Nest and recovers So Cranes Daws Partridges Black-birds and Crows purge their sick Stomachs with the same It is reported If a Lion be sick he is recovered by eating of an Ape The Lapwing being surfeited cures her self with Southernwood the wounded Hart runs to his restorative Ditany Swine when stung by Snakes eat the Snakes and are well and Dogs when wounded cure themselves by continual licking of the Wound also they purge their nauseous Stomachs by eating of Grass as Cats do theirs by eating the Herb Nipp Philebotomy or Letting of Blood Physitians as is written learned this practice first of a Beast call'd Hyppopotamus living in the River Nilus which being of a ravenous Nature and therefore often overcharged with much eating is wont to seek in the Banks for some sharp stub of a Reed upon which pricking his Leg he thereby easeth his full Body stopping the bleeding afterward with Mud. So that some men who are curious in Observation have learned many Medicinal Virtues of Herbs from Brutes which they are led unto by a natural inclination which we call Instinct having always obeyed the Law of God in Nature and lived under the simple Influence and Operations thereof and do therefore retain those natural Faculties and Self-preservations which the Lord endued them with in the Creation But Man that was made but a little lower than the Angels and superior to all the Creatures of this sublunary World having transgressed both the Divine and Natural Law of God has thereby corrupted the Earth and all the Elements and made all its Inhabitants to mourn and groan by reason of his Violence and Oppression by which he hath depraved himself both of the Divine and Natural Understanding and has not the common Sense of distinguishing what is for their own preservation so well as many Brutes have which is much to be lamented that man should so prodigiously degrade dishonour and incaptivate himself There is another thing worthy to be considered by all men but more especially by those that apply themselves to Physick that the most celebrated Authors of that Art and such as have written of the Nature Virtues and Uses of Herbs Drugs Fruits Seeds and Grains and whose Rules and Prescriptions our Modern Doctors make the foundation of their Skill and the limits of their Practice were born and bred and lived in places far remote from us in other parts of the World and in different Climates whose Productions vary as much in Magnitude Forms and Qualities as one Colour does from another and as the Elevation of the Pole being either more Southern or Northern alters the Language or Speech and the Nature Shape Complexion Inclinations and Dispositions of the People and the more remote each Countrey is the greater is the Variation of their Constitutions and Manners and as all their Beasts Birds and Fish do differ in Name Nature Shape and Form the very same is to be understood of their Herbs Drugs Flowers Seeds Fruits and Grains they all differ both in their Virtues and Vices from ours and tho some of theirs may be and are translated and through a great deal or Care and Industry will grow yet still they are not so Natural nor are their Virtues so Genuine as those that originally spring up from that proper matter or Salnitral Quality which our own Mother Earth affords under our own Elevation and that peculiar operation of the Coelestials under which we breathe neither are such Exotick Herbs or Plants endued with so proper or genuine Medicinal Virtue as they have in their natural Climate Now let us consider where and when most of the Great Masters of Physick who are the Beams and Eyes of our Doctors and the Foundations of our Colleges â—lived Hypocrates was a Grecian of the Isle of Chios in the Mediterranian above two Thousand Years ago Galen born at Pergamus in Asia about the Year of our Lord 140. and being Physician to an Emperor rich and high in favour at Court he scrap'd together all the Books of Physick that he could hear of and took the Receipts and most material parts thereof and set them forth as his own Works concealing the Original Authors and destroying their Works which was easy for him to do so long before Printing came up when Copies were so very few and scarce and by this fraud and base ambitious Trick he became celebrated as the only Father of the Art of Healing and to this Day remains the Idol of the Methodists as they call themselves that is the Sons of Tradition and Implicit Faith These two Authors wrote in Greek not so much to puzzle their Readers or keep up their Learning from People as our Modern Men write all their Bills in Latin meerly that the Absurdity of their Prescriptions may not appear but because Greek was their natural Mother Tongue Averroes and Avicenna were Arabians and lived about the Year of our Lord 1160. Dioscorides was of Anoharba a Town in Cilicia and lived before Christ's Incarnation so that he and the two first were Heathens and other two were Mahometans and great Blasphemers of the Sacred Writings of our
and Minerals The Salnitral and Seminary Virtues of the Earth varying also in the predominant Qualities from ours there being a concurrence in all Countries and Climates between the Influences and Operations of the heavenly Bodies and the earthy whence it comes to pass that the people of the South are black and the Northern white their Countrey generates Gold and ours Lead Tin and Iron the East-Indies yielding precious Stones which is a Degree higher than Gold and the West-Indies Silver which proceeds from the powerful Influences of the Sun and Venus but especially of the Sun its warming Beams continuing there all the year without much variation and therefore their Nights and Days are more equal than in the North where the cold harsh Properties of Saturn and Mars do bear sway Therefore the Herbs Drugs and Fruits that are brought forth in those remoter Regions are not Homogenial to our Bodies as Experience might teach us by the great numbers of new Diseases that have of late been cantracted by the superfluous Mixtures of the East and West-Indian Ingredients with our common Food as Spices Fruits Sugars as also Tobacco c. which have strangely wasted the Healths of many For the All-wise Creator of all Beings has endued both the Heavenly and Earthly bodies with an inward Virtue Power and Nature in every Climate and Country so as all places do plentifully bring forth all manner of Herbs Fruits Seeds Drugs and Grains suitable and proper for the Sustenance of both Men and Beasts of that place and also for Medicine there being a Sympathetical agreement in the Radixes between the Animals of each Country and the Vegetations thereof both being brought forth under the same Influence Do not our own Herbs Fruits and Grains growing in our own Country maintain the numerous Troops of brave Animals amongst us viz. Cows Sheep Horses and many others in plentiful healthy state without the help of Foreign Vegetatives And are there not a great number of Medicinables likewise of our own growth proper for the cure of those Diseases that are generated in our Elevation and had it not been the great happiness of England if men had known no more of Outlandish-wines Spices Sugars c. either for Food or Physick than our Beasts do which would have rendred us more healthy and sounder both in Body and mind For in the Beginning the Divine Word of the Lord that as the Scriptures testifie made all things moved it self in all Places and Climates and formed framed and figured all Bodies according to the Degrees of the Innate instant Qualities of each Place and as the property of the Seven-fold Nature and Constellation did there predominate and as the Salnitral Properties and Spirits were internally strong or weak good or evil such was the Nature Inclinations Forms and Shapes of the Creatures in each Climate for every Creature was clothed with a Body according to the Nature and Degrees of the Spirit which is the Life of all things having an innate Power to attract proper matter for a Body of a proportionable Nature And as the Internal Powers and Qualities are infinitely various so are the External forms every thing both in the Animal Mineral and Vegetative Kingdoms varying in Shape Virtue and Vice And where the Property of the Wrath did predominate in the Salnitral Quality in any Country there did arise and were made fierce wrathful wild Beasts of Prey as Bears Lyons Tygers c. On the contrary where the sweet Water and friendly Nature had Dominion there were generated Tame Mild Creatures as Sheep Cows c. the same is to be understood in the Vegetative and Mineral Kingdoms and the outward Body or Signature does in all particulars manifest and shew the inward Nature of each thing to the enlightned understanding and sagacious Naturalist whom God and Nature have made capable of such sublime Learning It is very Improbable if I had said Impossible I had not much over-shot the Truth that one Herb should have specifick virtue and power to cure so many various Diseases and Defects of Nature as the Ancients do appropriate except such an Herb Fruit Seed or the like be endued with and have the Universal Tinctures compleat which hath never been known nor is it possible that any gross Herb should have that Divine Efficacy to cure so many Different Distempers and in various Complexions except there be a Living Faith in the Patients and also in the Physician which then can make Water Wine and Clay and Spittle an Eye-Salve and as Christ saith remove Mountains as also witness the Woman that had the Bloody Issue she believed in her heart That if she could but touch the Hem of Christ's Garment she should be whole which enabled her to press through the Throng and Multitude to touch his Garment where 't is to be noted that this Woman did first press in her self by Faith through the Wrath of God and Multitude of Evil Properties and Inclinations into the Divine Power and Virtue of the Son of God which by a sympathetical Attraction and Divine Power awakened the Balsamick Virtue and friendly Nature first in her self and afterwards in our Lord for then he enquired Who had touched him At which his Disciples marvelled because of the Multitude that pressed him but Christ was sensible of the Inward Kindlings and of the secret Attractions and Influences the Wowan's Faith had in a powerful Degree awakened and as it were drawn forth and united or joyned it self with the friendly Divine Principle of the Light and Love of God in Iesus Christ which healing Virtues her earnest Faith did draw forth and so miraculously her Cure was immediately effected for Christ saith Thy FAITH hath made thee whole The truth is there is but One Way for the right Cure of all Diseases both Corporeal and Incorporeal whether they proceed from the Body or the Mind which is by the Virtue and Power of the Good Quality and friendly Nature which the Creator hath endued every Herb and other thing with for as the Sickness of the Soul or Mind is nothing else but the Deprivation of the Divine Vision viz. man's being departed from the Government and Council of the good Light and Love of God which cannot be remedied nor the Soul restored unto its first state of Health Strength and Unity with God but only by Faith and elevating the Soul to the Divine Principles which will reinforce all the good Powers and Virtues of God's Love and not only render a man sound and healthy but the same Grace-being obeyed will maintain the Soul and Spirit in serenity so the very same is to be understood of all kind of Sicknesses of the Body and Elements of the Outward Nature Diseases being nothing else but an unequal Motion or Contrarieties of the Properties and Qualities of Nature which comes to pass through various Intemperances and concurring Influences of the Elements and Coelestial Bodies which wound the pure Volatile Spirit and then presently
the sweet Oyl and Balsamick Virtues or Humour Radicalis turns sour and loseth its friendly Nature and Operation and the harsh astringent fierce original Poysons do rouse themselves raging and domineering and put Nature into an agonious Condition which can no way be allayed or moderated but either by the Secret and Divine hand of God which strengthens and raiseth up the half Dead or fading Oyl and wounded Spirit or by a Balsamick Medicine which may by simile incorporate it self with the wounded Spirits and Radical Moistures and so reinforce and restore them to their former strength and power and then immediately the raging Fury of the bitter astringent and sour Properties becomes moderated not annihilated and then the strife and contention of Nature ceaseth and the Cure is effected Therefore every Physician should understand how to prepare such a Medicine as can by its innate power and virtue thus incorporate it self and operate in raising up the languishing powers of Nature or else he is not fit to be called a Doctor The Old Physick-Mongers tell us that Mallows and Marsh-Mallows which differ but very little in their Qualities being variously applyed will cure near Fifty Diseases or Defects of Nature which are generated and do proceed from as various Causes and as Different Matters Seeds and Radixes but how unlikely improbable nay impossible it is that one Herb should effect so many Disagreeing Cures let Reason and Experience judge Infinite almost is the variety of Constitutions whence the same Intemperances that will load one man with fat and phlegmy gross moist Humours occasioning various Dropsical Diseases will in another produce Leanness and Consumption Much drinking of Wine and Srong Liquors puffs up some Bodies and wears away others And the same is to be understood of all things in the Vegitable Animal and Mineral Kingdoms therefore there is an absolute necessity to study to know the Properties and Qualities of a man 's own individual and specifick Nature and Complexion and not rely upon and trust to the adulterated Medicines ahd phantastick Directions of ignorant Physicians there being nothing that brings so many both Natural and Divine Benefits unto a man as the true knowledge of himself and is yet the least minded of any thing in this World What pains and slavery do Youth undergo to learn a few strange Words be able to tell the Name of a thing in Latine and Greek or three or four Languages and when all 's done they know not one Tittle more of the Essence Nature or Use of the Thing than if they had called it in plain English as their Granum does What Drudgery do they submit unto to learn some ordinary Mechanick Trade which yet in general are more laudable by half because more useful than many of those Crafts which idle men call Sciences others run all sorts of hazards the Scorchings of the Tropicks or the Ice of the Northern Pole cannot affright them they 'l venture into New Worlds and become acquainted with Stars that never peep'd into our Hemisphere only to get a little useless uncertain perishing and many times harmful and destructive Riches They 'l be acquainted at Iava and Iapan the Streights of Gibaltore and the Bay of Mexico but all the while are meer Strangers at home to understand their own Constitution to know what is good and profitable for the Conservation of their Being how to preserve their Body in Health and their Mind in Serenity to make their Lives truely comfortable and their Deaths happy These are things that scarce any man studies for or labours after Greedy we are to amass White and Yellow Dirt and fill our Houses with that Lumber which sillily we call Goods but utterly neglect the true Knowledge of God and Nature in a Man's self which does furnish one with all kind of profitable and permanent Riches Pleasures and Delights both of Time and Eternity and which yet are so easie to be acquired as we need not serve an hard Apprenticeship or hazard our Health or Life by Sea or Land to obtain it But the Minds of people are set wholly upon outward Trumpety admire nothing but Shews and Titles and Vanity Money and Babylonish Learning are their Idols If a Fantastical Blade in a Velvet Iacket tells the people that one Herb will cure a hundred various Diseases in as many particular people of contrary Complexions and Natures though he himself with that Herb or any other cannot cure one of them or if he bids them jumble an hundred things together most of them being of contrary Qualities and tells them 't is an excellent Medicine though he knows not the true Nature of the several Parcels much less the Qualities of the Whole yet all is swallowed as an Oracle his Authority is not to be disputed he was a great Man could speak several Languages and was such a King's Doctor and has writ abundance of Books and keeps his Coach and has got a bushel of Money by his Practice Will you question such a man's Iudgment Whereas if we may speak a bold Truth 't is certain there have been in all Ages a sort of a Letter-Learned Curers of both the Souls and Bodies of men which have proved the Pests the Vermine and Evil Savage wrathful Beasts of the Earth that have destroy'd all the good Fruits of God in this World and as soon as such good Fruits begins to bud in mankind are ready with the Beetle of Aristotle or Aquinas an Old Aphorism or a New Canon to beat it down under their feet and extinguish it These are the AEgyptian Necromancers that bewitch poor people to admire and run after them and like our common Vagabond Gypsies the intent and design of all their Canting and their Skill is to have their hands crossed with a piece of Silver or Gold and to juggle your Money out of your Pockets For to gain the greater Veneration and Esteem they have invented abundance of hard Words or speak in unknown Tongues making the people believe thereby that they know the more of God and Nature Whereas they are only Changers of Words and know nothing of the Inward Virtue and Life of things whether Divine or Natural If a man could name any particular Herb or Disease in an hundred several Languages what would this better him as to the Inward Virtue of that Herb or the Nature and Cure of that Disease All Languages are but one in the Root und therefore to speak with several Tongues has never been known to make a man wise where a good natural Genius is wanting But unto the Study and Knowledge of God and his Divine Principles of Love and Light I recommend all the Lovers of Wisdom which is sufficient to teach them all things Divine and Natural and to heal all their Diseases for so saith the Kingly Prophet David Psal. 107. 20. The Lord sent his word and healed them and delivered them from destruction And again Psal. 30. 17. I cryed unto the Lord
and he healed me So Gen. 20. 17. Abraham prayed unto the Lord and be healed Abimelech and his Wife Also Moses cryed unto the Lord that he would heal Miriam of her Leprosie and the Lord commanded That she should be shut out of the Camp seven days and then she was received in again whole Num. 12. 13. And Deut. 32. 39. God speaks thus See now I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hands And Matt. 10. 18. Christ gives his Servants power to heal the sick cleanse the Lepers and raise the dead In a word Multitudes of Examples we have in the Scriptures of Truth that all the Prophets and Holy men of God who were guided and directed by his Spirit of Wisdom in all their Troubles whether they were Diseases of the Body or the Mind always made their Application unto the Lord and he healed them and taught them what means to use that always proved effectual though seeming never so mean and simple Therefore let every one address to this Grand Physician whose Arm is not shortened nor his Mercy and Goodness diminished But if Men will give themselves up to the Spirit of Error Ignorance and Blindness and live in all Intemperance Gluttony and Superfluity which brings on them a multitude of Diseases and then enquire and run after the False Prophets and Necromancers whose Practice is meerly for Money Honour Pride and Estimation studying how to deceive the people by canting Words Plush Coats guilded Coaches great Houses c. which do amuse the Rabble and make them have great Thoughts of them though most that have tryed their Medicines might know that they are worse than the Diseases they are prescribed against I say If you follow these Courses 't is no wonder if your Lives become burthensome unto you and complicated Diseases torment you and an untimely Death cut you off For you may take a Cart Load of gross unseparated Herbs and Juices as our Physicians use with a Tun of their sick Decoctions and a whole Apothecaries Shop of their Confused Compositions and be further off from a Cure than at first Therefore the safest Course I can direct my fellow-Mortals is To fear the Lord live sober and temperate both in the Quantity and Quality of Meats Drinks and Imployments And if Diseases do at any time invade the Body by any Accidents or through the Male-Configurations of the Constellations or the like then humbly to apply themselves by Prayer to the Lord and to the Oracle of God in a man's self and then as the Mother of our Lord said unto the Servants that waited at the Marriage where he wrought his first Miracle Whatever he bids you do that do ye that is whatsoever the Divine Light or Holy Spirit of the Lord directs you to or bids you do that be you sure in all particulars to observe For the Reason Wit Skill and all Knowledge of the outward man ought to be as Waiters Tenders or Servitors to execute and obey the Commands of the Spirit of the Lord. Men ought to stand still from reasoning and Imaginations and wait at the Altar of the Lord and hear what he will teach which Directions man ought to follow and to act as this blessed Light and friendly Principle of God does excite him for in its power and virtue consists the right Cure of Body and Soul and in it is safe to move and abide Amen CHAP. XVII Of BUGS and from what Matter and Aliment they do proceed and how to prevent their Generations Of the Excellency of clean sweet Beds and perniciousness of old stinking Feather-Beds Also several Receipts how to kill Bugs and Fleas CLeanness in Houses especially in Beds is a great preserver of Health Now Beds for the most part stand in Corners of Chambers and being ponderous close Substances the refreshing Influences of the Air have no power to penetrate or destroy the gross Humidity that all such places contract where the Air hath not its free egress and regress In these shady dull places Beds are continued for many years and hardly see the Sun or Elements Besides Beds suck in and receive all sorts of pernicious Excrements that are breathed forth by the sweating of various sorts of people which have Leprous and Languishing Diseases which lie and die on them The Beds I say receive all these several Vapours and Spirits and the same Beds are often continued for several Generations without changing the Feathers until the Ticks be rotten Besides we have many Feathers that are imported from several Countries which are the Drivings of old Beds the uncleanness whereof is not considered As to the Nature of Feathers they are of a strong hot sulsome Quality for Fowls of all Creatures are for the most part the hottest and their Feathers contain the same Nature Therefore the constant lying on soft Feather-Beds does not only over-heat the Back and Reins weakening the Joynts and Nerves but they have power also not only to receive but retain all evil Vapours and Excrements that proceed from and are breathed forth by various Diseased people Hence it comes to pass that sundry Distempers are transferred from one to another by lying upon or in such Beds which Distempers do secretly steal on a man by degrees so that he cannot imagine whence the Disorder proceeds or what the cause thereof should be But I would not have the Reader mistake me all people are not subject to get Diseases this way There are some whose Constitutions are strong and their Natural Heat and Spirits are vigorous and lively by the Power and Virtue whereof they withstand and repel all such evil Vapours and Scents as do proceed from such Beds when a man is hot and sweats in them that they have no power to seize the Spirit But on the contrary when such people shall lie on such Beds whose Natural Heat is weak their Spirits few and whose central heat is not able to withstand or repel those Vapours and Scents which such Beds send forth when a man is hot in them this last sort of people are subject to receive Injuries and contract Diseases for those evil Vapours do powerfully penetrate the whole Body and if they are not withstood by the central heat and power of the Spirits then these evil Vapours do seise the Spirits and incorporate themselves with their likenesses for every particular thing does sensibly and powerfully seek out its likeness and wheresoever it finds its simile it hath power to incorporate and become essential These are the chief Reasons why one man gets Diseases by lying with Diseased Persons and in unclean Beds and others not It is a general custom when men go abroad or travel to desire clean Sheets imagining them to be a sufficient bulwark to defend them from the pernicious Fumes and Vapours of old stale Beds but it is too short For it
and coupling of Stocks as if their Bags must needs mutually Engender and breed and multiply as well as their Persons This making of Matrimony a Matter of Money and Miserly Parents sacrificing their Children to Mammon is a wretched Idolatry little inferiour to theirs of Old who offered their Sons and Daughters to Molock they made oblations of them in Flames which quickly devoured them but you deliver them up and force them into loathed Embraces where perhaps they languish out twenty or thirty Years in perpetual Vexations and Torment without one hours solid Content or Satisfaction and all this for a little Base Pelf which never has been known to make any happy where Content Sobriety and Virtue have been wanting But if God's Law and the Influences of unbiast Nature did take place in peoples hearts there would not be such over-looking those that have but a little Money the Rich and Noble then would often marry with the poor or those they now call their Unequals For where shall we find a healthy fresh rosie straight-Limb'd Angel-fac'd Innocent Virgin fit for Emperours to get Princes upon sooner than amongst the Daughters of Shepherds or the untutor'd Troops of a poor Country-Village Did men live in the Power and Operation of God's Laws and the Dictates of Nature none of them would delude the Simplicity of Virgins by Deceitful Kindnesses and when they have gotten their Lewd Desires of them then leave them and their own Off-spring to beg their Bread exposed to shame and want and all the Evils imaginable making nothing to cut off the Thread of Love and bury Affection through the power of their depraved Wills which is a Crying Sin and next door to Murther The truth is there is scarce one Person of an hundred that make his or her choice from Wisdom or a right Understanding and to answer the end for which the Lord instituted Marriage in the beginning but if a Man have but an Estate tho otherwise never so diseased infirm or unfit all is overlook'd and excused Money covers all Infirmities where the heart is degenerated from Truth and Virtue making that there Master which if well used would be a good Servant most People being so blind and stupid that they dare not cast their Care and repose their Trust in him who by his bountiful Divine Hand of Providence taketh care for all and preserveth all and from whom every good Gift proceeds both Temporal and Spiritual this trusting and relying on the Creature more than the Creator is the greatest Idolatry and that which the Lord abominates for a Curse does follow all those who prefer their devillish Lusts and foolish Passions and greedy Desires of Money before the good and holy fear of the Lord and his Innocent Law Themselves Wives and Children being afflicted with a numberless Number of Diseases and Infirmities and what Fruit can be expected from such corrupt Trees Whence think ye proceed Leprous Scabby Diseases Joint-evils and that which they call the Kings-Evil wherewith many thousands in this Nation of all sorts are afflicted as also the Gout in Youth Consumptions and other incurable Diseases Are not most or all these Evils the effect of undue Marriages Uncleannesses and Intemperances And yet if a Man ask them how came such or such a Disease they will confidently answer We do not know even as it pleaseth God we know nothing we have done which should occasion it Thus laying the Cause on the Lord of all their Infirmities and Evils never considering that it is the Reward of their own Transgression and of their own Evil Courses which have awakened the poysonous Properties in the Elements of the Body 4. A fourth sort of Blame-worthy are those who do Marry without any due Consideration of the weight and importance of what they go about sure a thing in which the Happiness or Misery of a Man's whole future Life is involved and which can be done but Once should be considered Twice before we undertake it But many People are so hurried away with the Heat and Fury of youthful Lusts Passions and Wantonness as they mind nothing but a present Satisfaction of their bruitish Desires vainly imagining that they shall never be otherwise but alas as soon as those fiery Transports are allayed their Love languishes grows cold and flat and those very Embraces wherein they placed their highest Happiness become wearisom nauseous and perhaps loathsom and then these hot Lovers become Rude Sordid Stubborn Bold Surly and Inhumane having no true Natural Affection unto nor taking any honest Care for Wife or Children but grow Dissolute Drunken and Idle as they get Childen in the heat of Drink and Lust so they make not the least Provision to preserve them How many thousands of poor Women and Children are more miserable than any Creatures on the Earth if we do but consider the Hunger Cold Diseases Griefs Vexations and Distractions which they endure from the intolerable Idleness Debauchery Crosness or other ill Carriage Words and Communications of some brutified Things whom they are obliged to call Husbands and Fathers 5. The Fear of the Lord being the beginning of all Wisdom both Divine and Humane ought to be the principal Object of every Man and Womans Thoughts Words and Actions and then they would be taught by the Spirit of Truth how they may chuse unto themselves suitable Wives and Husbands For Marriage is as it were the Foundation either to Virtue or Vice and nothing can make a Conjugal Life happy but suitable Dispositions and Virtue and where their coming together is from a well-grounded Love and natural Affections mutually combined to answer the End of that State that is to raise up Seed in the fear of the Lord and then the Blessing of the most High is with and upon them in all their Affairs and whether they have much or little of the World's Wealth they are satisfied as knowing that it is not Riches but true Love that can make a married Life pleasant or encourage Industry in the Man and Wife But where Equality in Tempers Years and Virtues meet it makes this Society the most happy of all others there Love covers a multitude of Infirmities Joys are doubled Griefs divided and all Troubles made easy 'T is true every Married Estate is followed more or less with Inconveniences for it forceth a Man to appear in the World and thrust himself into Business and attend and bow himself to those that perhaps he doth not much care for or desire their Company because they often spur him to Evil or to do that which if Interest were not at stake he would not do and where there are six or seven more in a Family there will unavoidably be committed many Disorders sometimes by Servants sometimes by Children and seldom is it that they are all in Health long together And if it happens that the Wife have a good esteem of her Doctor and his Physick then she will do nothing without his Advice
not only impose its own Properties on the Hearers but begets friendliness and concord powerfully attracting the benevolent Influences both of the Coelestials and Terrestrials changing the Affections Intentions Gestures Motions Actions and Dispositions of the Auditors quietly alluring them to its own Property The grave consorts of Musick both vocal and instrumental are true similitudes of the Harmonical state man was created in if he had not fallen there-from and suffered his desires to enter into Inequality where every Form and Property does strive with all its might to be Lord over the other and so destroys all Harmony and is the true Original of all Inequality and Discord which is the Root of all Violence and Oppression Whereas on the contrary Harmony and Concord whether it be external or internal is in its own Nature innocent and friendly the true fountain whence proceeds all Ioy and Pleasure both in Angels Men and all other Creatures because they all originally were derived from Unity All Instrumental and Vocal Musick works various effects on the Hearers according to the Equality or Inequality of each The grave Consorts of Organ Viol and Voices beget Gravity and composed Dispositions and work so powerfully on some Sanguine-tempered People as to make them forget all Troubles Sorrows and Perturbations raising up the hidden Properties of Nature and Phantasie to a state of Unity that is absolute Felicity during the time of hearing such Harmonies But others who are of unevener Tempers and further from Equality both in their Humours and Elements of their Bodies and Minds it makes worse condition'd melancholly sad and dull after a little time of hearing This new change or alteration of Disposition seeming burdensom to them therefore such never care to hear Musick long but had rather be entertained with the Noise of the Multitude the Cries of deep-mouth'd Hounds and Discourses of Vanity There are other musical Harmonies that are light and wanton as of Violins especially when they shall play such Tunes or Lessons as are composed by and proceed from the wild airy Phantasies of Venereal Musicians which the present Age is pestered with whose Imaginations are vain lascivious and extravagant and when such Airs meet with suitable wild wanton amorous youthful Hearers they have power to stir up and impress their own Properties on them by incorporating with their similies Man is capable by his Will to work and to be worked upon by all things as he immerseth his Will either into Equality or the contrary if the first then his actions words c. incorporate with all things that stand in equal weight and measure which is the joy and solace of Nature And so on the contrary Inequality and Discord move by simile likewise and therefore the holy Scripture faith The Prayers of the Wicked are an Abomination to the Lord for the God of Love and Mercy cannot be moved nor the Divine Influences attracted but only those that do imitate him by living in Unity and Well-doing and such as live under the Government of the evil unequal fiery Nature cannot either by their Words Prayers or Works move or attract any other Quality but what is alike to their own Nature And consequently the Addresses of the Wicked move God in the Principle of his Anger by simile because all their Words and Prayers proceed from an evil Root Thus Discord is the Root of all Evil and the corruption of every Life both external and internal Death it self being nothing but a Contention Strife Disharmony and unequal operation of Nature where the strong original Forms of Saturn and Mars do rage and domineer and with a fierce hunger destroy and raven up the friendly properties and preservatives of Life All Diseases and Infirmities both of the Body and Mind arise from the unequal operations of Nature and Health is nothing but Harmony or an Agreement of the parts It is also to be noted that Harmony and Concord do contain the true Properties of all Elements Forms and Constellations even those strong fierce forms of Saturn and Mars whence arises Envy Strife and Contention but when these are united unto and evenly managed by the friendly powers of Nature they are the cause of all Ioy and pleasant Melody there being no Evil but Inequality where Nature is divided and every property is in Rebellion and endeavours to be Master Therefore the Lord said in the beginning That all things that were created were good for neither the Name nor the Nature of Evil was existent nor should ever have been known if the Angels and Men had continued in that Harmony they were created in There being no Evil where the Forms and Properties of the Divine and Humane Nature are united nor any good where they are separated from the Divine Principle which is the friendly Fountain that qualifies and moderates the venomous fierce raging Properties of Saturn and Mars So that the very same Qualities that are the Root of Sorrow and Misery both of Men and Angels that live in and under the dominion of the divided Forms and Properties are the true cause of all Joy Pleasure and Content to others that live in Unity and Concord where all Forms and Properties embrace and court each other whence doth arise and proceed the most harmonious Consorts and heavenly Joy This is manifest in all Vocal and Instrumental Musick which is a lively and true Similitude of the internal and mental Harmony as that is the Root of this outward Melody Are not the Saturnal and Martial Strings and Notes as material and useful as the Iovial and Venereal The first being the Base and Radix of all Composition and the latter the Trebles the Basis gives Majesty and the Trebles Sweetness the one being the Male the other the Female and by their Incorporating or Embracing each other is begotten the true Harmony both of corporeal and incorporeal Bodies nor can it subsist or continue where there is a separation of those Properties if there were no Fire there would be no Light Hence it appears that every thing is either Good or Evil as it draws near and unites it self or is severed from that Fountain of Unity and Harmony whence it proceeds for this separation is that which is called the Degeneration or Evil. And as every Creature both in the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms stands near or afar off the Unity so are they either Good or Virtuous or Evil and Poysonous according to the degrees of the Forms and Properties of the seven-fold Nature which being near the Equality denominates Men to be Sanguine as those who are more unequal in their Compositions in several respects are called Cholerick Melancholly or Phlegmatick And so in Beasts Birds and Fish those that are unequal in their Frame are fierce cruel and ravenous but those wherein the Properties are more mild friendly tame and better tempered are called Clean and the other Unclean The same is to be understood of all Vegetables and Fruits not but that the