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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	air_n	earth_n	element_n	2,483	5	9.5484	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57597	Shlohavot, or, The burning of London in the year 1666 commemorated and improved in a CX discourses, meditations, and contemplations, divided into four parts treating of I. The sins, or spiritual causes procuring that judgment, II. The natural causes of fire, morally applied, III. The most remarkable passages and circumstances of that dreadful fire, IV. Councels and comfort unto such as are sufferers by the said judgment / by Samuel Rolle ...	Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Preliminary discourses.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Physical contemplations.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Sixty one meditations.; Rolle, Samuel, fl. 1657-1678. Twenty seven meditations.	1667 (1667)	Wing R1877; Wing R1882_PARTIAL; Wing R1884_PARTIAL; ESTC R21820	301,379	534

we commonly call Brimstone though it be not the very same for our common Brimstone is a compounded body so is not that we treat of is one of those Elements or principles with which all terrestrial bodies are made up and whereof they consist It hath pleased the God of nature who is called Natura naturans that amongst all things here below even those which go by the name of Elements as Air and Water and Earth there should be no one pure and unmixed and which is more strange that the principles of which each body is compounded should be of different and contrary natures viz. hot cold moist and dry heavy and light active and unactive weak and strong Yea that contrariety which is betwixt those Elements of Fire and Water Earth and Air which are the Ingredients of each Sublunary makes for the good of each and for the benefit of the whole so long as they quietly draw together in that yoak of mixture in which God hath placed them So that as the Apostle speaks in another case 1 Cor. 12.21 The eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee nor the head to the feet I have no need of you Fire cannot say to Water or Water to Fire or either of them to Earth I have no need of you Though some of them do curb and limit the Activity of others yea the more ignoble put some restraint upon those that are more noble than themselves yet in all this they do but what is necessary for the well-being if not also for the very being of the compositum Mercury and Sulphur would be too volatile and apt to vanish if Earth and water did not hold them in Water and Earth would be too dull and sluggish if Sulphur and Mercury did not put life into them Elements are said to abide in mixtion refractly that is brokenly not one of them being able so fully to execute its own pleasure and inclination as it might if it were all alone and it is best it should be so for if one of them get an absolute unlimited power and make vassals of all the rest presently all goes to wrack So in acute Feavers when either the spirits are too high or the sulphurious part of the blood and so in chronical Feavers or Agues when salt is become too predominant in the blood and hath sowred it like Ale in Summer you see what work it makes how it threatens no less than death and dissolution Yet give me leave to say though no one Element have unlimited power where there is a due mixtion yet neither is Anarchy or Ataxy to be found in mixt bodies no not in vegetables which have the lowest degree of life nor yet in minerals which have none For some one Element is still predominant over all the rest hence amongst men some are connted fanguine others phlegmatick c. there being no where found in bodies that which is called I empe●●mentum ad pondus that is just so much fire as water and air as earth weight for weight as if Nature were a Levelker but temperamentum ad justitiam as in a Medicine in which are scruples of gentle purgers to a few grains of those that are stronger and in each a basis which is supreme over all things in the medicine yet not put without its correctives lest it should work too violently You will see anon whether all this tends I said before that sulphur is one Element or Ingredient of all terrestrial bodies and now I shall add that it is one of the most active noble and useful amongst them all If that which is called the Spirit or mercurial part do excell the sulphur as it is said to do yet doth sulphur as much excel the other three Principles viz. Salt Water and Earth so long as it remains in a convenient mixture and dwels peaceably with all the rest It were casie to expatiate in the commendation of Sulphur so placed and qualified as God hath originally placed and qualified it in and with other Elements Sulphur say Chymists and truly is as it were the warm bosom in which the spirituous parts of all bodies do lodge the bond of union or copula betwixt spirits and more gross substances as Cartilages or gristles are betwixt hard bones and more tender parts It is that to which most bodies do chiefly owe their acceptable colour taste sent and amiable texture From thence most vegetables do derive their maturity sweetness and most other perfective qualities It doth such service in bodies as nothing doth more namely it curbs the sharpness of that salt which is in them it blunts the acrimony of the spirits by its supple oily quality it cements and sodres other elements which otherwise would never hold together being somewhat glutinous it contributes to the consistence of bodies which would be otherwise over flaid and volutile in a word it hath a faculty of resisting patrefaction more than any thing else in so much that by means thereof Ale may be kept from sowring in the midst of Summer and Juices of Plants from corrupting All this and much more may be truly affirmed of Sulphur whilst it keepes its proper place and station But when this noble and useful Element once becomes impatient of the Yoak of mixtion with other Elements and will no longer indure that water should allay it Salt should fix it Earth should clog and retard it nor yet that the spirits though more excellent than its self should govern it then doth it play the maddest pranks imaginable it breaks away from those other Elements that were joined with it like an unruly servant from his Master that flings open the doors that who will may come out or go in leaves all exposed to rapine and spoile and not content with that musters together all the debauched youth such as himself that he can come neer drawes them away from their respective Masters and engageth them in the same Rebellion with himself and by this meanes it not only ruines all that society whereof it was before a profitable member and those which it hath drawn into the same conspiracy but its self also For it can no more subsist without those Elements which it hath cast off than they can subsist without it and so it quickly vanisheth and comes to nothing I say not only the Elements which are left behinde do moulder and crumble to dust and ashes but by that meanes its sel● is quickly almost annihilated which is far worse Now methinks there should be some morality if not Divinity also to be learned from this discourse of sulphur which if I had despaired of I would never have dived so far into it How naturally then do the following considerations offer themselves from what hath been discoursed as touching sulphur viz. In the first place how useful many men of sulphurious tempers that is active subtle and vigorous might be could they but skill of it to be contented and peaceable

dream Gen 28.13 see v. 16. and 17. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep and said surely the Lord is in this place And he was afraid and said How dreadful is this place This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of Heaven The gate of Heaven and yet dreadful as God was in that place God at that time spake nothing but promises and encouragments yet did Jacob tremble at his presence Our God is fearful even in praises If Jacob did but dream of God he was filled with awe and that not only whilst the dream lasted but when he aw●ke and knew he had but dreampt If God be so terrible when he is pleased what is he when he is angry Psal 76.7 Who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry God was friends with Moses when he told him Gon. 33.20 Thou canst not see my face for no man can see me and live And v. 22. whilst my glory passeth by I will put thee in a clift of the rock and will cover thee with my hand whilst I pass by v. 23. And thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seen Much of the terribleness of God is insinuated in that strange passage Exod. 33.3 I will send an Angel before thee for I will not go up in the midst of thee lest I consume thee Here we read of God wishing the Israelites to let him go from amongst them because his terrour was such but elsewhere concerning the men of Bethshemesh sending God from amongst them like those Gadarens that besought Christ to depart their coast 1 Sam. 6.20 Who is able say they to stand before this holy Lord God and to whom shall he go up from us v. 21. And they sent to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim saying Come ye and fetch the Ark of the Lord up to you Namely because God had slain fifty thousand three score and ten of the Bethshemites for looking into the Ark. Much like to this were the words of Peter to Christ Luke 5.8 Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord. Let the Prophet Isaiah tell you how awful the presence of God is whom you finde thus crying out Wo is me for I am undone for I am a man of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts How full is the 18. Psalm of expressions setting forth the awful Majesty of Gods presence from v. 7. Then the earth shook and trembled the foundations of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth But to quote all that might be quoted to that purpose were to transcribe a great part of the Bible Of the Anger of God represented by Fire Therefore O my soul pass on and think of something else in which the parallel holds betwixt such Fire as that whereby our famous City was lately burnt to ashes and God himself who is stiled a consuming Fire Once again As the power and awfull presence of God are livelily represented to us by this material Fire so also is his anger and that both as to the essence and nature of it as also to several attributes if I may so call them of that attribute of God viz. his wrath As namely the impartialness of it like fire that spareth neither one thing nor another as also the fierceness of it and its consuming destroying nature to which might be added the intollerableness of it c. First we know it is the nature and property of Fire to act as if it were in a great passion and yet it never is in any nor is it capable of any Thus saith God of himself Isa 27.4 Fury is not in me that is I am in no passion neither can he be yet adds who will set the briars and thorns against me in battle I would go thorough them I would burn them together Such things as are the usual effects of anger are frequently done by God but such an affection as wrath in Man is can no wayes consist with those perfections which are in God no more than with the nature of fire upon other accounts I must not forget that I was even now speaking of the impartiality of Fire as one property of that Element by which it resembleth God Fire is no respecter of persons or things so their nature be but combustible it spares neither one nor the other May I not allude to those words 1 Cor. 3.12 If any Man build upon this foundation Gold Silver precious Stones Wood Hay Stubble Here are variety of superstructures mentioned but the Fire buries all in one common heape layes the gold and precious stones amongst the rubbish as well as the wood hay and stubble It mingles Flint stones and Diamonds Pibbles and Jewels in one and the same Grave As is said of Death Eque pulsat pauperam Tabernas Regu●●que turres the like may be said of fire It as soon takes hold on the Pallaces of Princes as on the Cottages of Peasants And is there not the like impartiality in the great God His anger knowes no difference betwixt small and great high and low Psal 76.12 He cutteth off the Spirits of Princes he is terrible to the Kings of the Earth Did he not sink rebellious Pharaoh as low in the red Sea as any of his common Souldiers 〈◊〉 did he not give his carkass in common with theirs to be meat to the fishes of that Sea See Isa 9.14 15. The Lord will cut off from Israel head and taile The ancient and honourable he is the head c. Isa 10.12 I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria and the glory of his high looks vers 26. And the Lord of Hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the Rock of Oreb Judg. 7.25 and the Psalmist speaking of Sisera and Jabin the latter of which was the King of Ca●●●● and had 9000 Chariots of Iron Judg. 4.3 〈◊〉 Sisera was his General saith of them that they perished at Endor and that they became as 〈◊〉 for the Earth Psal 83.10 See what God did to Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 5.21 He was driven from Men and his heart was made like the beasts and his dwelling was with the wilde Asses they fed him with Grass like Oxen and his body was wet with the dew of Heaven till he knew that the most high God ruleth in the Kingdome of Men and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will Must Jehojakim needs be buried in state because he was the Son of Josiah King of Judah and did succeed him in the Throne No saith God Jer. 22.19 He shall be buried with the burial of an Ass drawn and cast forth beyond the Gates of Jerusalem Thus the anger of the great God like fire puts no difference betwixt them that sit on Thrones and those that go from door to door Hence that in Psal 2.10 Be wise oh ye Princes c. Serve the Lord

sort ought not to be bad in contempt or to be needlesly put into a combustion Alas were it not that God had put a divine stamp upon Magistrates as he hath been pleased to call them Gods surely they could no more rule the people when in the calmest temper that ever they are in some being alwaies too rough then they could rule the Sea What wisdom can it then be to put so unruly a body into agroundless commotion If this Sea once become troubled work and rage and foam and swell how much is it to be feared it may overflow all its banks and invade us with a ruining inundation It was not cowardize but prudence in Herod to decline putting of John to death for fear of the people because they accounted him a Prophet Matth. 14.15 Likewise in the chief Priests and Elders of the people not to reply unto Christ that the Baptism of John was of men because of the people who all held him as a Prophet Matth. 21.26 For my own part I dread the Insurrection of people no less than the consequences of Fire it self the beginnings whereof have appeared very contemptible so that it hath been said as is reported that such a fire as that was at the first might be pissed out but the conclusion fatal beyond all imagination Now do I long to be at the end of this Meditation but having promised to shew what the matter of those particles is whereof Fire consists and considering with my self that some good morall may be gathered and infer'd from thence as I have already hinted that sulphurious or oily particles are those whereof Fire doth altogether or mostly consist so I shall now undertake to prove that so it is and consider how we may improve it It is manifest that all mixt bodies here below are compounded of five Elements or principles viz. Spirit otherwise called Mercury Water or Phlegme Sulphur or an Oily kind of substance Salt and Earth For each natural body be it of vegitables Animals or Minerals is by chymical art reduced or resolved into these five From any such bodie may be drawn a spirit or generous subtile liquor an Oile a Water a Salt and a kind of Earth saving that the two last are rather said to stay behind than to be drawn now if each body that is burning be as it is both its own fire and its own fuell both that which burns and that which is burnt then one or more of the fore-mentioned principles so modified must be the matter and form of fire As for the Watery and Phlegmatick part of each body no man will so confound two Elements so contrary each to other as to say that is the Fire which consumes Then as for that Salt and Earth which belongs to bodies they are not the Fire that burns them up for that which burns so far forth consumes and flies away but Salt and Earth they remain after the greatest burnings under the form of Ashes True it is that spirit or spiritous Liquor which is in Bodies is capable of taking Fire as we see spirit of Wine will burn and Feavers arise in the bodies of men by vertue of their spirits being inflamed but then we must consider that there is but little of that which is called Spirit or Spirits in Timber and such like materials of houses as are destroyed by Fire neither is the Fire of any great duration which hath only Spirits for its fuell as we see in the bodies of men that those Feavers which only fire the Spirits never last above three or four daies and many times not above one day and are therefore called Ephemeral Having therefore quitted Water Salt and Earth from being the causes of Fire and also proved that the Spirits of such kind of bodies which have but little of Spirits in them cannot contribute much to the maintenance of a desolating Fire Sulphur or the oyly part of each body will appear to be the great Incendiary and to be more the matter fuell and fomenter of Fire than any thing else And that it is so doth yet further appear in that such bodies of all others are most apt to take Fire and to burn fiercely when they have so done in which there is most of a sulphurious or oily substance as Oile it self Pitch Tarre c. Moreover we see that when any body is thoroughly burnt the sulphurious parts are all or most of them gone as if conscious of what they bad done they had fled for it and which is most of all demonstrative when those parts are once gone all or most of them what remains will burn no longer as you see we cannot make a fire with Ashes for that they consist only of Salt and Earth with little or no commixture of Sulphur Sith then Sulphur or Brimstone though in an acceptation somewhat different from that which in commonly called by that name is the great matter of Fire and the Agitation Commotion and Flight of it is the very Form of Fire I shall the less wonder hereafter to finde the Scripture still joyning Brimstone and Fire together So Gen. 19 24. The Lord rained upon Sodom Brimstone and Fire Psal 11.6 On the wicked he shalt rain Fire and Brimstone And Isa 30.33 The Pile whereof is Fire much Wood. The breath of the Lord like astream of Brimstone kindleth it viz. Tophet Fire most usually kindleth Fire A stream of Brimstone in violent motion is Fire and here you see the breath of the Lord is said like a mighty stream of Brimstone to kindle Tophet which kinde of expression is more genuine and philosophical than most men know it to be and may hint unto us that thorough our ignorance it comes to pass that many expressions in Scripture seem to us no more proper and significant than they do it faring with us in the reading of holy Writ as with those that ignorantly walk or ride over precions Mines little do they think what a world of Treasure they tread upon nor if they did could they be content till they had gotten within the bowels of that ground which now they flightly trample upon But I have been too long in this Philosophical contemplation because it was such and must endeavour to compensate my prolixity in this with greater Brevity in the rest at leastwise of that sort if any such shall occur CONTEMPLATION II. Touching the Nature of Sulphur which is the principal matter and cause of Fire and how it comes to be so mischievous in the World BEing credibly informed that the Element called Sulphur hath had the greatest hand under God in the late dismal Fire as it hath had in all other whereby Towns and Cities have been laid waste it is but fit we should take him under serious examination and strictly enquire what he is by what waies and means he brings such great desolations to pass Sulphur that is Brimstone so called by Chymists because it hath some assinity with that which

to rebate the petulancy of sulphur so are those soules lest obnoxious to the injuries of temptation that have the most grace which in scripture is compared sometimes to water and other times to salt let your words be seasoned with salt that is with grace Seeing then in this life more or less of sin will alwayes cleave to us as so much sulphur ready to set us on fire labour we to weaken the power of it by the predominancy of grace so shall the remainder of our very sins in some sense contribute to our good as sulphur to the good of those bodies it is mixed with as tending to keep us from pride security self-confidence trust in our own righteousness and such like evils to weaken in us the salt sharp humour of censuring others to make our spirits more serious and consistent by the shame and grief which they occasion in us so shall we improve them as vipers in treacle which so mixed make it the better antidote and that which was as down-right fire in the commission of it shall become as profitable sulphur in our reflection upon it and accommodating of it to the forementioned uses and purposes CONTEMPLATION IV. Of Fire kindled by Fire THe most usual way of kindling sire as we all know is by fire one fire begets another That which is actually fire makes actual fire of that which before was but potentially or rather habitually such The reason is plainly this things of the same kinde do naturally resort one to another and consort each with other as we say proverbially that Bards of a feather flock together and fire hath a name above all other things for congregating or calling together things that are homogeneous or of the same nature as also for segregating or separating things that are heterogeneous or of a different kinde in so much that that was made the very definition of fire by them that knew no better Now actual Fire when it bath once separated the fulphurious particles of other bodies from those more quiet Elements which did restrain them whilst mixed therwith and when it hath brought those wilde Atomes together which before were conveniently dispersed and dis-joyned each from other the product is this that each of these being habitually fire as flints are out of which fire may be struck what with the irritation they receive from actual fire and what with that greater strength they have acquired by being united in such great multitudes presently they begin to kindle and show themselves in actual fire and as it were to brandish their glittering swords which before they kept as it were in scabbards as by way of triumph that they had now cast off the yoak of mixtion with discenting and restraining Elements and possest themselves of that liberty which they were alwayes desirous of but could not sooner attain Here me thinks I see a lively embleme of ungodly youth some are actually so others are so but habitually as being under restraint from Parents Masters and other Governors who do all that in them lies to keep those fiery mettalsome youths from consorting each with other lest by that meanes they should inflame each other as beames of the Sun concentered in a burning glass are able to kindle fire which scattered and dispersed they could never do Now when some or more of these young men or maides actually wicked and debaucht as having already cast off the yoak of all government and run away from those that did and should restrain them either openly or secretly lights into the company of those that are habitually such as themselves and have great propensions to the same things first he tempts and inticeth them away from under the jurisdiction and society of those that have hitherto restrained them as to their lusts then he joynes them to as great a number as he can of such young ranters as themselves who mutually encourage one another in an evil way and strengthen the hand each of other to do that in heards and troops which they would dread to do singly and one by one and when it is come to that then doth the wickedness which heretofore they smothered flame out they are presently all on a light fire and so continue if God extinguish it not till having utterly consumed themselves by sin they come to just nothing or what is worse than nothing as that which we call Fire domineers a while and carries all before it but by and by it vanisheth and we know no more of it save that it oft-times leaves an ugly stink behind it To give this fair warning to young men and women ready to be debauched by the next ill company is all the use I shall make of that most known way of kindling fire which is by fire its self where the allegory you see holds in every thing and improves a truth to our hands which might seem not worth our taking notice of because every foole knowes it To which I shall add but thus much though fooles can apprchend it yet can they not apply it at leastwise to their own good and he that can do so is no fool CONTEMPLATION V. Of Fire kindled by Putrefaction THey say that fire is sometimes kindled by means of Putrefaction it seems evident from experiments both without and within our selves that so it is What are Feavers but as it were so many fires kindled in the bodies of men Else how do they make the blood to boile in our veines and so exceedingly rarisie it that the vesels are painfully distended by it and are scarce able to contain it or how come they to make such a heap of ashes in the body as appeareth to be made by that deep sediment that is in the urine when the disease begins to decline or as it is vulgarly called to break away These hints may sufficiently prove that Feavers are Internal fires and whence are most of those sires at leastwise that are of any long continuance but from Putrefaction and thence called Putrid Feavers Now as for Corruption or Putrefaction it is thus defined viz. that it is the separation of those parts and principles which were before mutually combined the band of their union being dissolved or that it is the dissolution of or resolution of a compounded body into all or most of those principles or elements of which it was compounded some taking their flight one way and some another Now this separation or divorce of the principles of bodies one from another contributeth to the inkindling fire by this means viz. because when the sulphurous particles get loose from the rest then do they combine together and break away with great heat and violence from those less active Elements to which they were joyned before and thence comes Fire Thus in putrid Feavers the due mixture and composition of the blood is very much destroyed the thicker and thinner parts affecting as it were to be each by themselves like the whey and curds in

milk that is sowred or turned which were before perfectly united Then the sulphurious or oily part of the blood thus set at liberty flies thorough the body with great violence and sets all into a combustion And this is the great instance as from within our selves of Fire arising from Putrefaction As for an experiment from without one may suffice viz. that of Dung which lying together in heaps and so putrifying more and more doth sometimes wax so hot that it sets fire on the straw that is mingled with it which is long of its sulphurious parts by putrefaction set at liberty and flying away in great troops and with much violence And is there nothing to be made of all this besides matter of Speculation You know what corruption and putrefaction doth signifie in a moral sense and sure I am that kind of corruption is the cause of all the mischievous fires that are in the world Did God drown the old world because all flesh had corrupted its self and did he not burn Sodom and Gomorrah for the same cause So likewise Jerusalem Jer. 9. v. 13. The Scripture calls sinful communication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is rotten or putrified Eph. 4.20 and saith of it that it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is corrupt or putrifie good manners Many fires are kindled by such communication viz. fires of lust and fires of anger and of revenge besides those fires of judgment and vengeance which God sends upon the world for the same James 3.6 The tongue is a fire a world of iniquity and setteth on fire the course of nature and is set on fire of Hell Moreover if we take the word putrefaction strictly for a secession or separation of principles or elements formerly united in that acception it is capable of a good moral and may serve to teach us how great the danger of perfect separation and disunion is even amongst those whose principles do so far forth disagree that they cannot be together but refractly as fire and water in mixtion Yet these in natural bodies as contrary as they seem do much better in a convenient mixture and composition than they ever can singly and apart yea when they fall in pieces though one bear a greater sway for the present than before and that the worthiest of all the rest as it might be the spirits in Ephemeral Feavers yet as well that part which rules more absolutely than ever for the time being as those parts which are more than ever subjected to it is quickly destroyed and brought to nothing Natural bodies cannot be mistaken about their own party which are really such but by a kinde of infallible instinct do draw those parts out of other bodies which are for kinde the same with themselves as the kindled fulphur that is in one body kindles and drawes forth that sulphur which is in another and yet it proves unhappy and fatal to those bodies as to sulphur in particular that they divide from all others and will unite only amongst themselves though they are all perfectly of the same species and no more than just numerically differenced How it should be more safe for men to do the same thing viz. to abstract and divorce themselves from all but those that are of their perswasion whilst mean time divers may be such only in pretence and for their own ends for ought they know and others whom they reject may heartily symbolize with them in more things I say how that can be prudent or safe I am yet to learn Those that affect that simplicity which is poculiar to God and his alone prerogative let them conceive a displeasure against the composition of their own bodies and try conclusions to make them consist but of one Element and that the noblest of all Let them quarrel four of those five principles which are the ingredients of our bodies and resolve to turn sulphur salt Earth and Water out of doors and that they will consist of meer spirits and to that end let them exalt those spirituous liquors that are in them to the greatest height that may be that so they may be able to turn those four inferiour principles out of possession and live alone in and throughout the whole body all the veines and arteries being henceforth filled with spirits only in stead of blood Try how this experiment will succeed If it do well attempt the like thing upon the Church and State bring them to the same pass But if you finde this likely to set on fire the whole course of nature to set you in a violent feaver that will soon burn you to death be so just as not to wish that should be done to others that you would by no meanes have done to your selves and suspect that may be bad for publick bodies which would be so destructive to your own private Let one principle bear rule over all the rest as in good Wines the spirituous parts are predominant and let the noblest Element sway the Scepter else things will degenerate as Wines do into Vinegar when the spirits are kept under and the saline or saltish particles exalted but let the less noble Elements not be excluded but fairly comprehended in a due mixtion and subordination otherwise if it fare with men as it doth with fire that which aspires to be all in all will soon vanish and be as it were annihilated CONTEMPLATION VI. Of Fire kindled by the collision of two hard bodies AS obvious almost as any of the former is the way of kindling fire by the collision or smiting together of two hard bodies as when slint steel are struck one against the other the reason why fire issues from thence is because by the blow given the sulphurious particles of the steel and flint are put in motion Now inward they cannot move because these bodies being hard and of close parts do suffer nothing to get within them for as much as there can be no penetrating of dimensions Therefore our they must come and if they could come out leisurely and by degrees they would produce no fire or scarce so much as heat but sallying forth in great haste and all at once as if they were affrighted with the blow they had received by virtue of their number union and violent motion they ingender sparks produce that fire which we discern to come from them Just thus it is betwixt persons of stout and sturdy spirits when they happen to clash one against another retreat and retire into themselves they cannot to deliberate and consider what they had best to do so full are they of themselves that is of their pride and passion but out they come being once put into a commotion and with all the spirits they can make muster together assaile each other and with their drawn glittering swords do as it were fire at one another and with greatest eagerness pursue a bloody duell Now oh the folly of men Do they not know that the