Beer ill brewed will not admit of Transportation for it soon takes a Ferment by the Sea and so sours and ropes When on the contrary well brewed Beer may be transported to the East Indies for having a Body and Ripeness withal the Ferment of the Sea exalts it so that it becomes in the end like Mum in comparison to the former and will remain in its full Goodness many Years and being Distilled will give the most friendly Spirit that can be by the Art of Man prepared for its Essential Sulphur is radically united and exalted Therefore ye noble English Hearts accept of Truth though by the most despiseable Instrument delivered for this is that which shall stand us all most in stead in the Day of Tryal for though the Winds beat and the Storms ascend yet shall its Foundation remain firm as being built upon a sure Rock when as those founded upon the Sands shall not be able to bear the Storm or Tempest therefore that our Foundation may be rightly established is the Desire of him who recommends his Labours to your candid Acceptance and himself to the Protection of Almighty God who hath hitherto preserv'd him in a Perverse Generation from falling into the Pit of Error which that you may all be preserved from is the Desire of him who is Your sincere Friend in all Christian Love W. Y. Worth From the Accademia Spagyrica Nova The General Contents of the Chapters of this Book CHAP. I. IN which we treat of the Art in general as also of the right way of Manuring Land and the Sowing and Planting thereof for the greatest Advantage even 10. per cent CHAP. II. In which we treat of the right way of Brewing Beer and Alt in general so as to make them the most Durable and Vertuous CHAP. III. In which we treat concerning the way used in Brewing in order for Distillation CHAP. IV. In which we treat of Fermentation the ordering of the Vessells the manner of Tunning â— and some necessary Rules whereby the Beer may be long preserved CHAP. V. Wherein we treat of Clearing of Beer and Restoring such as is Sour and Decayed so as to render it Drinkable CHAP. VI. In which we treat of Making several Physical Drinks together with their Vertues and Vse shewing the right way of Bottling Beer POSTSCRIPT Containing several Vseful Considerations concerning Thames-Water c. The particular Contents or Chief Heads of the Matter contained in this Book OF the Original of Brewing 1 From whence the Making of Malt had its Original 2 The way of Dressing and Manuring Land for the greatest encrease 4 How Cyder Wine and other Liquors might become very plenty in England 10 Beer being not well boyled soon Putrisies and Ropes 13 and 20 The Office of Water as the Menstruum of the World 15 The crackling or sighing of the Water is nothing else but the separating the Wild Gass which must be separated before the Medicinal Vertues can be obtained 16 and 45 The Right and Natural way of Preparing the Liquor or Menstruum so as to extract the full Vertue of the Grain 18 How Water being Cold and Moist is altered into a more Hot and moist Nature by the Addition of Vegetables in Decoction 19 The Air rarifies and gives Spiritual Life to Beings 21 How Water is purged by Sand 22 How Water assumes to it self the divers Mineral Tasts 23 What those Qualities are by which Waters are made more Salutiferous 24 How that Diversities of Water will cause Diversity in Beer made from one and the same Grain 26 Rules to know how far your Water will bear Decoction so as to make good Beer 27 The properest Time to take Water in for Brewing 28 The wild Gass in Water being not seperated is that which not only causes Beer to Corrupt Rope and Sour but also causes most Diseases in the Body even Sourvy Gout and Stone c. 29 Diseases have their first Original in the Spirit 33 That the Gass remains in Beer undecosted 34 Tincture manifests Health and cures many Diseases 35 That no Disease proceeds from well-boyl'd Beer 36 Decoction and Fermentation is the Foundation of Nature and Art 39 The Concentration of Beer for Transportation 43 The Extract of Malt is the Mummial Balsam thereof 44 That the Gass is the Egyptian Dragon 47 How Salt Waters are made Fresh 49 How Nauceous Waters are made Good 51 The Author's way of Brewing 52 How to brew Double Beer and Ale and their Excellency 54 The way of Brewing for Distillation 56 What Quantities may be extracted from a Quarter of Malt 61 A good Drink made from Molasses 62 The best Mum from malted Wheat 63 A good Drink made from Oats Beans Buck-wheat or Liquor of Peech ibid. That Wormwood may well supply the place of Hops 66 The Signature of Herbs must be minded 68 The Author's Recommendation of Spagyrical Medicines for the Vse of the Diseased 72 The various Vses of Signatures 73 The Preparation of the Quintessence of Malt and its Vse for the bettering of Beer 79 The Office of Fermentation 82 The Season of the Year must be minded for setting of Tuns in Fermentation 86 Glauber's Sal Mirabilis or our Sal Panaristos makes an Artificial Fermentation without Yeast 89 The way to cleanse the Vessels and sweeten those that are Fusty 90 The old Error concerning the Sap in Trees corrected by sherring that it doth not return to the Root nor congeal in the Tree as Sap but is really converted into the more essential Parts of the Tree 93 The Vse of an Hppocrate's Sleeve or a Flannel Bag in cleansing Beer and Ale 105 The way to Clear and Refine Beer 107 The way to make Sour Beer drinkable and to give it durable Qualities 109 How to make several Physical Drinks 111 A Physical Ale against the Scurvey Dropsy and other Diseases 115 The best way of Bottling Beer and Ale ibid. Considerations on the Thame's-Water 117 Some convenient Additions to Wormwood Drink 128 Books Printed for John Taylor at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-Yard MEdicina Practica Or Practical Physick Shewing the Method of Curing the most Usual Diseases happening to Human Bodies As all Sorts of Aches Pains Apoplexies Agues Bleeding Fluxes Gripings Wind Shortness of Breath Diseases of the Brest and Lungs Abortion want of Appetite Loss of the Use of Limbs Cholick or Belly-ach Apostems Thrushes Quinsies Deafness Bubo's Cachexia Stone in the Reins and Stone in the Bladder With the Preparation of the Praecipiolum or Universal Medicine of Paracelsus To which is added The Philosophick Works of Hermes Trismegistus Kalid Persicus Geber Arabs Artefius Longaevus Nicholas Flammel Roger Bachon and George Ripley all translated out of the best Latin Editions into English and carefully Claused or divided into Chapters and Sections for the more Pleasant Reading and Easier Understanding of those Authors Together with a singular Comment upon the first Book of Hermes the most Ancient Philosophers The whole compleated in three
damp and cold Fog therefrom and their Bowels are warmed with the benevolent Rays warmed with the benevolent Rays thereof for to be sure what Nature does not in this Case Art must for this before-described Gass is not only evident in Water but also in most other concreted Beings You have an Example hereof in Wheat-Corn which is the wholsomest Grain in Europe and the Staff of Man's Life in that it hath received a permanent Maturation both from the Celestial and Central Sun for if it be eaten raw or the Flower thereof it causes Diseases but being fermented and baked the Heat sends forth this said Gass as is evident in that it becomes so Vertuous the like is to be seen in Syder yea even in Wines which are not to be ripened but by a Fermentation which is even a Sparkling foaming or as I may truly call it Nature 's violent Decoction even to an Exorbitancy and all this is in order to separate that which doth not centrally agree therewith sc the wild Gass which is evident in this That if a Barrel be then closed up it will burst in Pieces for it will make its way out But as soon as this is exhaled then the Action of Fermentation ceases but where it ceases before the said Gass is fully sent forth there it causes the Liquors soon to Fret Corrupt Rope and Sour as being diseased in itself wants an internal Sanity and the best Cure in this Case is Racking it off Now it is observable That what Decoction is wanting in the Separation of this Gass Fermentation doth compleat And I wonder why this late Writer should allow a Window in the Kill to let the gross Steams sullen Damps and stupifying Vapors as he calls them to pass freely away and to let in the Air when he doth not at the same time allow the same Benefit to Water which is the Element and Vehicle which conveys the same to other compounded Beings in the Act of Generation And though Nature hath been never so bounteous in ripening the same yet is it not fully separated there-from And Fire which is in the highest degree Hot and Dry that even that contains in it this wild moist Gass as we can easily demonstrate before Men of all Qualities now if what is here said is not sufficient to demonstrate the Nature and Effect of the said Gass then let such as desire to be better satisfied apply themselves to other Volumes as our Spagyrick Philosophy Asserted as also our Trifertes Saladini But however we shall add thus much seeing this new Moddler attributes all the unhealthful Qualities to proceed from well-boyl'd Beer and principally those of the Scurvy Stone and Gout yet we say on the contrary That these rather proceed from Beer not well boyled especially where this Gass is not fully evaporated for 't is from this and only this that they proceed For this Gass is Mineral and Excrementitious and hath in it such wrathful Qualities as stagmatise the vital Functions for it is endued with a Coagulative and Forming Quality and will make Stones or Excrements and sometimes takes on the Bodily Form of Arsnick or Poison it must be doing although Evil. We read in Aventius Annel Bavar lib. 7. Anno 1343. That above fifty Men with many Cows were turned into Stone Ortelius tels the same Story of whole Herds in Russia And Camerarius reports That in the Province of Chilo in Armenia at the blast of a South Wind which happens four Times in the Year whole Troops of Horse have been turned into Statues of Stone standing in the Warlike Posture as they were before And Ovid describes the Thracian Waters which make all things Marble and turn their Guts into Stones that take them inwardly Which in plain Terms are no other than this Gass which is plainly to be demonstrated in the Vrinous Classes though not so evidently in the Vinor one because the Calidum Innatum or warmth of the enriching drying Sulphur doth so dilate it that it is easily spent in Decoction and Fermentation But the Urinous and Mercurial Qualities do rather Increase and give Strength because the Vinor and Sulphurous Qualities which are there are so small as not to be able to put into Motion so as to work its way forth now as the Vinor and Vrinous are the two general Classes of Nature in that the very Spirit of the World which nourisheth all things is Vrinous so doth the Vinor contain the Vrinous though invisibly as the Vrinous doth the Vinor in the same Nature according as the hot and moist or cold and moist Qualities get predominancy and from hence it is very evident That this Spirit is the Original Cause of many Diseases and principally by its Volatility for that Diseases have their first Original in the Spirits and that this doth remain in Beer unboyl'd is evident in this Example-Take Wash prepared by the Distillers where neither Liquor nor Wort is boyled but hastened into a Fermentation and being put into the Still and suddenly made to boyl as they do the Beck of the Still being not immediately put into the Worm till this Gass is invisibly off for if it should it would cause it violently to boyle over and so foul the Worm or else force off the Head of the Still when as Beer well Boyled and Fermented having Age to boot may be stilled without this Observation and will yield by abundance the far more wholsom Spirit The same is done in Syder Wines and other Liquors so ordered and this is one Reason why French Brandy excels English Spirits Another Consideration which is a plain Proof that this Gass remains in Beer unboyled is the Paleness of its Colour which shews it rather to have the Moist Mercurial Quality predominant than the Sulphurous and Friendly one Friendly I say because Tincture shews Sulphur and Sanity because these are the Houses of Light and so chase away thousands and legions of the dark diseasie Ideas now Decoction only is that which manifests Tincture and by consequence the Health-making Vertue And I can compare white Beer to no other than Chyle or Posset which is only made by the first Action of the Stomach which should it remain so crude by a debility in Nature all Physicians would allow to be the Author of many Diseases but when the Central Fire is strong to make a true Concoction Digestion Circulation Fermentation and Separation then Tincture is brought unto it which by the help of the Vital Flame is exalted and so from thence the Animal Spirits elaborated then doth this Tincture manifest it self in the healthful Constitution when Diseases and Death are pale and wan And what egregious Nonsense is this even a Contradiction to the Laws of Nature to make as if that which is her first Intention should be That from whence Sanity should proceed and yet at the same time not to allow the degrees of Exaltation thereunto Our new Moddler saith That to make Malt with Judgment
but is that which gives Vertue and must by consequence be united with the Centre thereof seeing Life always subsists in the Centre of every Body which cannot be touched any other way so as to be exhausted but by Fermentation and a violent Seperation which is an Exhalation of the Saline and Sulphurous Qualities thereof which is that Earth by which the said Element is Elementated which doth remain even in Rain-water after all the Moisture is evaporated and this is that in this Element together with the Spiritual Life which nourishes Beings seeing the Element it selt is only as a Menstruum or Vehicle for conveying of the same to the Centre of the Earth where the Sperm is mixed and sublimed for Vegetation and therefore if the volatile Aquacity is in part evaporated then by consequence must the Menstruum become more sharp and powerful to act on Bodies and as it is more satisfied by the radical Union of the Grain so is that Liquor so produced more durable vertuous and agreeable to Constitutions either temperately hot or cold as will be shewn more at large in that Chapter that treats of Brewing And although some as I before cited ignorant in the Law of Nature do affirm That Decoction separates the volatile brisk and airy Life drawing their Argument from the groaning cracking or sighing of the Water in Decoction when alas this is nothing else but the crackling Serpent or wild Blass which is separated by the first Action of Decoction and then ceaseth and the Water concentrates into Parts more agreeable As for Example take Water and put it on the Fire and make it immediately to boyle and violently to evaporate in such a way that all the parts may be radically opened and then immediately damp or put the Fire quite out and this wild Gass shall only evaporate and the Water become free and quiet in its Decoction and is more powerful for the extracting Tinctures as also for the making Essential Oyles or indeed any use whatsoever let others say what they will to the contrary and the more especially where the Sulphurs that are to be extracted are of an hot and generous Nature as is plain in that of making Tea and Coffee or the Infusion of Sage and Sassafrass and many others in that 't is a general Custome to boy I their Waters twenty four hours and only open the Pipe to let forth the wild Gass which is purely Philosophical Observe that this Experiment is best made in such Vessels as have a blind Head and proper beck only for Evaporation And thus having in general run through what was promised in this Chapter we shall conclude the same with this positive Affirmation sc That Decoction and Fermentation are the two Pillars on which depends Exaltation and Perfection CHAP. II. In which we treat of the right way of Brewing Beer and Ale in general so as to make them the most Durable and Vertuous to Drink THE right way of Brewing is by a true and natural Preparation of the Menstruum or Liquor by which the Vertue is extracted from the Grain which can be no other way but by Decoction which must be so artificial as to separate the wild Gass as was touched at in the last Chapter That being the Grand and Fatal Enemy to Human Life and there is no Element in Nature so much abounding with the same as Water as is plainly manifest in this That Rain-Water takes into its Womb all and every Gass that proceeds from other Elements which is the reason that those Places where Bogs abound and the Air hath not Power to penetrate the Body thereof so as to rarifie and enliven the same are so unhealthful and so often cause contagious Diseases for you must know the Motion Decoction and Rarification is the Life and Exaltation of Beings as hath been said as also the Purification thereof in that they separate heterogeneities and concatinate and ripen the homogeneous Qualities and seeing these are of such Universal Tendency in Nature why may not they be the same in Art For Decoction is here really necessary for without the same it is impossible to prepare our Food so as to make it generous agreable and healthful for our Bodies For as that Learned and profound Philosopher Bernard Trevisan saith in his Answer to Thomas of Bononia That Water which is Cold and Moist if it be well mixed with Vegetables assumes another Quality and in Decoction takes to it and puts on the Quality of the Thing wherewith it is throughly mixed And there can be no true Mixture of things of Different Textures but by Decoction and Fermentation but you are to observe That when I speak of Decoction I mean not one so violent as to evaporate the Compound but to ripen the same So then I shall come to explain what that Decoction is which best agrees with our Mind and is that upon which the whole End and Scope of our Intention is built sc a Seperation of the Wild and Unruly Gass which is the grand Enemy and fatal Destroyer of the Life of Man for reasons before rendred the manner how this is done hath been also already touches at therefore in preparing your Liquor in the Art of Brewing let the same be carefully observed For otherwise instead of having a wholesom and generous Liquor you have that which is destructive to the fermentative juices in us by its Stagnatizing quality and tho this hath been prevented by many in the Art of Brewing yet it hath been by accident the true Philosophy thereof being unconsidered For when the Wise and Prudent of this Nation have by experience found their Beer ill Brewed by making of them ill-disposed or by its soon souring or roping they have ordered that the same should be well boyled and then they have found a better effect by which boyling a separation of the Gass predicted hath been made and this might have been much more easily done and without a considerable diminution of the Liquor had but the true reason been understood sc by an immediate sudden quick and violent boyling and then an immediate damping of the Fire so that the Gass may evaporate which will be more in one half hour than by gentle simering in five or six hours for the Body of the Water is radically opened so as to let that freely pass out and then the Water attracts and receives in its place a vital and spiritual Life from the Air for there is no such thing as a Vacuum in Nature for if Nature should admit of this Beings would soon be annihilated But we se the contrary for Nature tends to the bettering of things and aims at her End rejoycing in the same as the Pismire doth and threfore is she not one moment Idle as Sandivogius truly says but many times she comes short of her end by meeting with obstructions in the way and therefore must it be the great business of Art to help her where she is deficient sc by
is no small part of Chymistry And if it should be so as he saith he must by consequence allow me one Consideration therein which is purely Natural and doth infallibly demonstrate the Office of Decoction which is That Silver is made by Nature of the same Seed and in the same Matrix as Gold is but Nature hath sooner done in Silver than in Gold and so hath she left it plae and wan and from thence will proceed a Medicine but for very few Diseases But when Nature hath by a through and longer Decoction brought it to the Maturity of Gold then doth it manifest a Tincture even a Rich and permanent Sulphur from whence may be made an Aurum Potabile curing all Diseases so that this still confirms That Tincture produces Sanity which is the conjunct Property of Health And this afore-cited Author's saying sc That the first step to the generating the Stone in the Bladder Gout and Consumptions and other Diseases is the drinking of Strong Hot Sharp Intoxieating Stale Liquors and Fiery prepared Drinks as Beer high boyled with Hops c. is a grand Mistake and really shews his Ignorance in true Philosophy for 't is not the Use of these that can cause one Diseasie Idea but the Abuse thereof so as to cause Surfeits or to over-power therewith the Natural Heat and suffocate the same And thus Food also performs the fame and indeed so doth the best of Medicines when taken in so large a Dose as to overpower the natural Strength therefore let the Vertnes of things be observed from the Temperate Use not the Abuse thereof For we see this proceeds not from the well-boyling of the Beer so much as from the wild Gass when not well boyled for we see no Men in England more healthy than the Country-Farmer who keeps a Cup of good brown Ale and a Toast and temperately will drink a Glass of Stout For my part no Man shall persuade me that any Liquors can be more wholesome to the English Constitutions than those of their own Climate amongst which good Beer is a principal one especially if it be but well and truly Brewed Fermented and kept in Age according as it hath Strength to hold its Body so that it is upon no Fret but drinks Brisk Sparkling with the Aireal Life and Richness of Spirit then and then only doth it retain all the Vertues belonging to good Beer even the Balsamick and Nourishing ones And though those that are troubled with the Stone or Gout may receive some effects of its Spiritual Action in its being too Brisk and Active for their Weak Crasy and Diseasy Body yet doth not this manifest that it should be the Author of this Disease any more than a good Medicine doth which being taken by the Diseased makes them for a Season the worse their Natures being too weak for its healthful Qualities for were it otherwise it would work the same effect on all for what is centrally destructive will certainly be always manifesting its Power for that which nourishes and hath Vertues so to do cannot at the same time poyson any other way than by that of a great Fire putting out a little one and yet doth Fire and Fire agree 'T is true we allow it may give Pain because 't is Active Brisk and Spiritual and will be doing some good Office as all pure Tinctures will but it being designed by the all-bounteous God for Food why should Men expect it generally to work the effect of a Medicine But however sometimes it may so fall out that it will work a greater than many a Medicine will and especially where Nature languisheth after it as she doth where the use thereof is with-held For we have seen in violent Burning Feavors when all seeming Hopes of means have failed that the Patient hath recovered by being admitted to drink moderately of Beer therefore in our Practice do we with-hold the Patient from nothing in Moderation It being clear to us that this Author is mistaken in the Original of Diseases as much as in the Grounds of those Arts which he seems to kerp at therefore in compassion to him for his better Information I advise him to look to our other Volumes for the Original of Diseases And leaving him there to consider his Mistakes I shall come to lay down what remains to be treated of for the Readers Information in this Chapter sc That Decoction is not only useful in the ripening and maturating of things but also that there are many degrees thereof for as that Learned Bernord Count Trevisan saith for example sake in the Art of Physick pure simple Fountain-Water by boyling in the first Decoction is joyned with the Flesh of a Chicken and thence in the first degree of Concoction we obtain a Broath a good and perfect Decoction the Humid Watry and Airy Parts of the Chicken being actually dissolved in the aforesaid Water though there be other Elements therein also actually But that it may be made a much more perfect Medicine and more generous for restoring Man's sick Body of the Chick is beat into a Mash with the said Water already altered into a Boyl'd Broath or with part of it and is distilled by a stronger Decoction whence a Broath and Decoction will be made much more Noble and Generous partaking of the whole Nature of the Chicken because by this second Decoction not only the moist Parts but the hot Parts that is its Aireal and Fiery Parts being melted into the Broath or Decoction are throughly mingled and dissolved and therefore the whole Vertue of the Chick is in such a Decoction extracted into the aforesaid Liquor So then Decoction doth not only ripen and make generous but also exalt things to their full Perfection and doth not in the least destroy their Balsamick Vertue as some ignorantly think for that consists in the Sulphurous and Saline Qualities for the Mercurial is twofold Volatile and more Fixed The Volatile consists only in a Moist Vapour interwoven with the aforesaid Gass by which 't is yet made abundantly more Volatile but the fixed is not easily to be touched by Menstruums or any other ways seeing 't is that of which the very Substance of the Texture of Bodies doth consist and though the Sulphurs may be extracted yet will the Corporality remain abundantly more Gross than before This was pointed sorth by the Famous and ever Worthly George Starkey when he said That the Central Body of Mercury is a Peerless Creature stooping to nought nought indeed but the Grand Vniversal Tinging Light which hath Power to transmute from a State of Corruption to that which is more permanent and lasting or more especially to that Grand Tincture and Divine Essence I mean the Magisterial Blood of Christ which is the Quintessence of Heaven and Earth and the Fulness of all the Glories thereof for that in him as the Apostle saith dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily and in him doth the fulness of the Power of
in touching at the Office of the Sun and Moon External and then of those Internal which are the four principal Powers of Nature whereby she accomplishes her End As to the External Sun and Moon the one by the benignant Rays and vital Warmth of his Approach heats and illuminates that which the other by her Lunar Beams hath frigified and constringed We shall first touch at the latter and so begin at the Winter For as the Sun declines his Vigour in any Latitude she is the more impowered there to shew her Activity for in the Winter Cold and Dismal Hoary and Barren Dumpish and Mournful are the Earth and Products thereof to behold for not only the Pores of its Superficies but also of Trees Plants c. are bound up and constringed with Cold which is yet more and more as that increases then doth not only the Central Sun and Archeius but also the Central and Vital Life of Beings contract their warming Sulphurs and oleous Fuel in order to preserve themselves against the terrifying Powers of Cold nay they set Centinals to keep them off from approaching their Tents that so none may pass but what know the Word for all things seek self-Preservation By this means the Centre of the Earth and Internal Powers of other things are warmer in the Winter than in the Summer as those Springs manifest even to a Vapour and in this warmth an increase of Radical Moisture is made from whence Putrifaction and Condensation in order for Vegetation which is performed as the Heat of the Sun approaches so as to open the Pores of the Earth Trees and Vegetables restoring their Barren and half-decayed Natures to their pristine Activity Then doth the Central Fire again expand itself shewing its Activity in Sublimation of Vapors in which the Universal Spirit is attracted and again rarified into that Oyly and Vital Fuel which causes the increase of Trees Grass and Flowers being attracted in at the Roots thereof ascending to the Body Branches Buds Flowers and Fruit which increases so long in Strength as the external Heat hath Power to Act or till the Form hath given an end to its determinating Power for one Fire attracts another so doth the Celestial Sun the Vapor of the Central one in this Action so subtle is Nature as to attract and lay up Stores for her future Preservation Hence it is that the sorming Sulphur congeals and maturates what is sufficient for the producing of Fruits for these standing in a Medium between the Central and Celestial have the Benesit of both we mean the specificating Power given to Seed in order for Concretion and Formation for the Celestial Sun only attracts the Spiritual Vapor which is the Vehicle for the conveying the nourishing Fuel to the different Forms which Vapor doth as it were follow the Sun as he passes through diversities of Climates and hath his Active Power there according to his preheminence in the Season and Revolution of his Motion which is the Reason why Vegetation is at one Time here another Time there sometimes in the Northern othertimes the Southern part of the World for the great God hath universally dispensed his bounteous Gifts to the whole Creation it all being the Work of his Hands and therefore in describing the Nature of Particulars we must have some Regard to the whole otherwise it may be performed but defectively Therefore we say That this Vapor not improperly called the Mercury of Life seing that therein Centrals and Celestials are united without any Determination of Form passes here and there in Search of the same sympathizing with the Heavenly Motion even round the whole Globe of the Earth in order to cause Vegetation the which is performed in every Place so long as the external Heat hath Predominancy but as that declines so comes on the Lunar Effects in producing the Winter And this is the Office of the Celestial Sun and Moon and the Reason of Winter and Summer in all Places Now as to the Internal we a little before said That the Property of these are something different to the former by their seeming Opposite yet harmonious Effects for as the External Heat encreases and dilates the Pores of Trees Plants c. so at the same Time doth the Internal Cold Congealed Mercurial Spirits ascend penetrating all Things that have a Root in Nature in Order to cause their Vegetation which is accomplished by the more Sulphurous Warmth following the same as Fire doth Smoak these being the Fuel and nourishing Vertue of the Seminal Powers yet is it but the light and undeterminated Form which as it nourishes the Seminal Vertue of the Tree or Plant is converted into its Substance and then receives the Determination of Form from the forming Power Originally given by the great Creator unto the Seminal Vertue therein contained for that every thing was to increase and multiply by means of a Seed therein inclosed and at the very same Time that the External Heat is busie to dilate the internal Warmth is ready to contract and as a Male acts in the Congelation of that Moisture in order that it may get a more Substantial Nature for Increase also for Strength and future Nourishment to the real Substance thereof that so it may defend it self against the extreme of Cold. Hence we conceive That while the internal Spirits are ascending by Sublimation which continues so long as the External Heat assists the same all this while is Nature building herself a Nest and Antlike providing her Food against Winter one Part she converts into Bark another into Wood and Substance another into Fruit and Seed by which means the subtilized Spirit that ascends is so exhausted in order to preserve the Specie that it hath none to spare for a descention and as little for a Congelation into Sap for the Sublimation of the Vapor ceases and the Bottle is then stoped and had it not an internal Nourishing Seminal Balsamick Sulphur to preserve its Strength it were impossible for it to subsist till another Supply Succour or new Sublimation of Vapor and had not the Internal Heat dryed up and corporified the said Moisture 't were impossible that the subsisting Strength should be so upheld in Nature as it is even in the Desiciency of the Benevolent Rays of the Vivifying and Celestial Sun but it is very evident and agreeable to the Laws of Nature that Driness and internal Warmth should concentrate so as to give Durability in that those which are Moist Green Young and Tender in the Winter easily Dye and Wither nay most Vegetables creep their Heads into the Earth for Warmth as the Stork slies to another Climate Hence it is evident That the Sap is not congealed in the Nature of Sap which is the Chylous Juice of the first Action but as the Chyle of Man's Body is by degrees of Concoction Fermentation Digestion and Exaltation converted into the Substance of Blood and Nervous Juices c. so is this into
taking out of the way that which is offensive to her And that you may yet the better conceive why there should be such a Gass in Waters we shall give you the reason You may remember that I said before 't was the Menstruum of the World making one Globe together with the Earth and having its centre in the heart of the Sea and as Sandivogius saith hath one Axle-tree and Pole with the Earth by which all Courses and Fountains of Water issue forth and disperse themselves through the pores of the Earth so according to more or less do Springs arise and afterwards meeting together encrease and come to be Rivers and those return to the place whence they originally came Now as the Waters pass through the pores of the Earth and through narrow and strait places where Sand is they leave their saltness there and become fresh so that 't is a certain and Infallible Maxim in Philosophy That Water is purged by Sand now afterward as they pass on further they take into their Bodies more or less of the Nature of those things which they passed through and if they come through a place which is hot and Sulphurous and continually burning they are thereby made hot and thence Baths arise for as Sandivogius saith there are in the bowels of the Earth places in which Nature Delights and separates a sulphureous Mine where by the Central Fire 't is Kindled the Waters runing through these burning places according to the nearness or remoteness are more or less hot and so break forth into the superficies of the Earth and retain the tast of Sulphur as all Broath doth of the Flesh boyled in it After the same manner it is when Water passing through places where are Minerals as Copper Allum doth acquire the savour of them as also through all the other diversity of Vapors that the Earth abounds withall so there is no wonder why this Element should be impregnated with a wild Gass as before-said seing it passes through such diversities thereof in the Bowels of the Earth and as it comes to the superficies thereof in a more immediate degree or as it passes further through such places where it is again purged so doth it retain more or less of the aforesaid Gass and this is that which causes the great diversity of Waters so that some are harsh and rough others more mild others more slippery and friendly to Nature as such which passed through Alkalisated places or where abundance of Chalk abounds And 't is observable that some Waters shall wash with half the quantity of Soap as others will which proceeds from the richness of their Abstersive virtue and Salutiferous qualities in Nature and from a Spirituous Oleous and Saline Vapour that they are impregnated withal in the Bowels of the Earth and where is that Philosopher now born that can demonstrate to us how much with this or the other quality Nature hath impregnated the same seing she works invisibly any otherwise than by the effect produced in the use thereof or who dare presume to assert that he will shew us the exact number of times that Nature hath decocted or impregnated the said Waters with different moist vapours or how often it hath since its issuing forth received its purgation or how much it must be now decocted and purged to make them equally generous seing there is such great diversities of Waters as is plainly manifest some more friendly others more austere some more agreeable to one Texture some to another and tho it is still but Water yet doth it as much differ in some Cases as if compounded of different Textures being so unlike to one another for some waters are so prepared to our hands that little or no boyling will make excellent Beer others must have a considerable time of Decoction to ripen them or else they 'l not be fit to make Beer of we have an example of this by the Waters of Roterdam of which indifferent Beer is made as those that have travelled can testifie But a certain English Brewer upon the well-boyling of his Liquor in the first place before Mashing even to a considerable consumption made excellent Beer and Ale thereof which I by my own experience can testifie was little inferiour to that of England which is highly esteemed there Here the Vertue of Decoction was manifested even by that Water which proceeds from one of the finest Rivers in Europe for that it comes from the Rhine The manifest Difference of Waters may also be discerned in most Counties of England For for Example let six Sacks of Hartfordshire Malt which was made from one Grain at one and the same Time from the Cestern to the Kill be brewed in six different Places or with six different Waters and every one of these Beers shall be discernably different in Tast although the Grain was one yet doth this Difference issue forth by the diversity of Menstruums or Liquors Therefore I would have all our English Gentry Brewers and other House-keepers that brew their own Beer if they desire their Health not to hearken to Notional Theory or to such as are swelled up with the Poyson thereof like a Toad touched by a Spider ready to burst without the Antidote of Plantine but apply themselves to Experience the only sole Mistress of true Wisdom and in the first place let them by many Tryals prove the Nature of their Water first by a more short and afterwards by a longer Decoction But in all be sure that you separate the Wild Gass the Sword of Mankind and when they obtain a Liquor most Generous and agreeable to their Constitutions let them keep to the same for in this Case every Man is properly his own Judge and there is an Ancient Proverb in England That every Man at Thirty Years of Age is either a Fool or a Physician that is he must then know what best agrees with him Now for these alledged Reasons it is impossible for any Man to prescribe an infallible Rule in Brewing any more than those general ones here by me performed therefore I apply my self to the Judicious as my proper Judges to determinate the Cause depending and to Encourage and Receive Truth according as it is delivered God knows my Heart I write not for Notions sake nor for Vain Glory but for the sake of â—ruth and the Health and Prosperity of those the inhabitants of Britain whom I so highly esteem as my daily Labours may easily demonstrate in that I cannot chuse but cast my Mite into her great Treasuries of Wisdom c. But from the Digression to the Matter in Hand I say then That all Waters are more generous that are most endued with a salutiferous Saline oleous Life and do daily receive a Rarification from the friendly Archeius of Nature as also a fresh Influence from the Starry Powers But here by the way it must be observed That Waters are best to be taken when the Sun hath exhaled the
Transmutation consist in that in him one Grain of Faith though no bigger than a Mustard-Seed is sufficient to Transmute and Change the vilest of Sinners into the best of Saints and by him shall all things be regenerated and created anew and redeemed to an Immortal State old things shall be done away and all things shall become new for do not the Scriptures say That he will create a new Heaven and a new Earth Now as a Christian I am bound in Duty to believe him to be the Imperial Panacea and Fulnese of all yet at the same Time seeing by him that all things were created we do allow that some Essential Vertue doth so remain in his created Works as if concatinated will produce a Panacea which by Mortals is not to be despised seeing it emblematically tipifies the inexpressible Glory of the Almighty Creator but of this more at large in our Ignis Astralis Adeptorum Therefore being omitted here we shall come yet farther to consider the Excellency of Decoction in this that if it is gentle after the first wild Gass nothing evaporates but the Cold and Flegmatick Nature so that the Sulphurous and Saline is ripened as is evident in this if that you make a strong Elixeration of Wort you may by a very gentle Evaporation bring it to a Sap very gumous wherein the chief Vertue of the Malt consists for if it is done gently you may at any time convert it into good and wholesome Beer again which is evident not only by our own Experience but also by that of the Famous Radolphus Glauber where he shews The Concentration of Beer and Wine for the benefit of Transportation and how the same by the Addition of Liquor may be reduced to its first State again and of equal Goodness And I say That this Sulphurous Gummosity is so manifest in the Elixeration of Malt and all other things whatsoever that even after a Fermentation that is suddenly forced and after the Distillation of its Spirit it will remain in very large Quantity in the Wash as may easily be demonstrated in the Evaporation of the same for there will remain a Gumous Extract very sweet and pleasant to Tast of many excellent Vertues being the Mummial Balsom of the Barley or Grain 'T was doubtless for this Reason that Glanber said The best part of the Malt was given to the Swine for herein is contained the Saluteferous and Friendly Vertue This being as the Body of the Chicken unto the Broath and is not united with the Menstruum or Liquor but by Decoction Neither is it Volatilized as is evident but by a more long and secret Fermentation and this is the reason why the English Spirits as now made are so unwholesome to the Body of Man they wanting the most Friendly Vertues being filled up in Place thereof with the destructive Gass the Liquor or Wort being not boyled it must remain therein For as the thrice Noble Helmont saith This Gass is not wanting even to common Water all things being subject to the Curse and so cursed Liquors produce cursed Effects But what cares the Distiller for that he himself drinks little thereof for he will go to a Glass of Sack or a Dish of French Brandy and he seeks for Quantityes and Profits from his Distillation to maintain the same this is the reason why we in our Art of waking Wines Brandy c. have commended well-brewed Beer as the true Basis on which the great Business of Distillation depends And we say That if the same be well fermented with our Sal Panaristos or some other Artificial Way 't will yield Quantity of Spirit sufficient considering the Qualityes that are so highly advanced 't is not the great Quantity of Spirits proceeding from new Beer which we esteem so much as we do the Vertues of those proceeding from the Old Let the new Moddler instance what he pleases for 't is generally agreed on by all the Ingenious That Decoction and Fermentation ripen and exalt all things and I make no Doubt but the learned Colledgiates will allow the same why then should not our Nobles Gentry c. be advertised in that wherein not only their own Health consists but also that of the whole Inhabitants For since so many new and ungrounded Inventions have been and more especially now of late how many thousands do there deplorably die away yea even to the Amazement of Physicians And I have but two things to place this on sc The immediate Hand of God's Judgment on the Nation for Sin or the Inhabitants neglecting the Means of their own Health by eating so much raw Fruits rare Flesh so called but rather raw and drinking new and unboyled Beer and poysonous Arsenical Spirits the very Bear Lyon Wolf Tyger Serpent Dragon nay the Basilisk to Man's Health We have an History That S. George killed the Dragon in Egypt from whence came the Honours Titles and Dignities to England and English Men and will you now let the like Egyptian Dragon inhabit your Houses and be harboured in your Bosome when he designs nothing else but your Lives Remember the Valour of your Ancients and let him be banished from your Land let your wise Magicians conjure him into the Black Sea his own Inhabitation and let there be a Law made upon Pain of Death that none shall harbour his Eggs for Fear of a Cockatrice Remember I say the good old way and the Health and Innocency of your Fathers who lived to a good old Age who perhaps never drank any thing else in their Lives but a Glass of well-brewed Beer or Ale which proved to them more profitable than any of these New and Late Inventions especially such as have no Ground in Truth But what says Solomon There is nothing new under the Sun what are have been and will be again so that New Truths are but the Reviving of the Old ones or a Discovery of that which hath ever been though not in general known for those that have known it have made a Secret thereof and being Envious and unwilling that their Fellow Creature should stand in equal Knowledg with them have reserved the same so that it hath died with them as is evident in that of Staining of Glass so as to bear the Fire Tyron-Purple and Transmutation of Metals c. to the great Disadvantage of Mankind for had it but been otherwise Gold might have been as plentiful as Dross Having thus run through the Theory of the Usefulness of Decoction and Fermentation I shall now come to the Practice thereof in the mode of Brewing c. But by the way I think it needful to touch how Waters may be in some Measure exalted to a more salutiferous and friendly Nature which may be of great Use to the Inhabitants especially where good Rivers and friendly Springs are not You may observe that we before hinted at the Nature of Waters now how they may be graduated and made alike is thus Seeing those
Quintessence or whole Vertue of the Malt entire which will at any Time contribute Sanity to its own diseased Species being rightly applyed Another way is The Extracting of a good Aqua Vitae from well-brewed Beer and then the Gumous and Balsamick Substance from Good Sound Malt and these united through the Medium of Nature and so preserved for use for as an Ingenious Person observes A small Dose of this preserves and is far more excellent than abundance of that wherein the Flegmatick Mercurial Vapour or Evil Sulphurous Quality or Saline Astringent one is predominant for here the pure Principles are exalted and brought to an homogenious Assinity and so stand as a Medium to oppose any contrary Quality that strives for Predominancy in the Liquors or Juices that are prepared from that Subject whose Essence this is therefore have we commended that of Wines in our Britannean Magazinc of Liquors for the curing of such as are Sick Ropy and Disseased as we do this here for Beer We may also commend the Quintessence of Metals for the bettering of Metals as also the Quintessence of Man for the preserving his Health which is the Spirit of the Blood and Bones united with the Mummial Balsam the best whereof is that from the Deserts of Arabia which every Druggist perhaps will tell you he hath but be sure you have the right if you expect to make the true Quintessence Now Quintessences are as much superior in Medicinal Vertues to the Subjects whence extracted as the Superior and Celestial Orbs are to the Inferior and Terrestrial ones but seeing we have more largely treated thereof in our Ignis Astralis Adeptorum we shall omit it here and so conclude this Chapter CHAP. IV. In which we treat of Fermentation the Ordering the Vessels the manner of Tunning and some Necessary Rules whereby the Beer may be long preserved AS to the Doctrine of Fermentation it is that which contains many High and Wonderful Mysteries although the Word only imports a Leavening or Working and puffing up or more properly the Ripening or Resolving of a thing in order for Maturation however under this Head is contained the principal Matter of the great Business both of Art and Nature for as Philalathes that Noble English Philosopher saith it is the Wonder of the World being that by which Animals Vegetables and Minerals receive their Concretion and without which it is impossible that there should be any Radical Union though of homogeneous Parts For Nature first by Decoction prepares and then by Fermentation ripens and maturates the same Now as in Nature so in Art for this tends beyond the Leavening Heightening or Fermenting Bread and Beer for no true Medicine can be prepared without the Knowledge of this Doctrine therefore do we truly say It is a Wonderful High and Mysterious one But having touched at it in our Chymicus Rationalis and more largly treated thereof in our Ignis Astralis Adeptorum we shall only treat of that part of it here which shall be pertinent to our purpose sc the Fermentation of Liquors but we cannot omit of instancing this That the Scriptures of Truth point forth the Verity of what we have here said witness Christ's Words A little Leaven leavens the whole And it is the Nature of Leaven to Ferment so long as till it hath brought the whole Lump into its own Kind And seeing it is really thus we shall a little consider by what Power this acts The Power by which it acts and is acted upon is three-fold the first and most principal is the Aireal Life as it begins to find it self opposed by contrary Particles which doth as it were expand it self for its own Defence in opposition to its contrary The second is the Internal Warmth of Sulphur which as we may truly say is the Garment and Defence of the said Spirit whereof if there be Quantity enough to supply its Action then doth it never leave operating until it hath accomplished the desired End which is a full manifestation of the Light Flowery and Froathy Part of the Principles the majority whereof is Sulphur which lay diffused in the Liquor and hindered the Maturity thereof yet being clivated and conjoyned the Acid Fire therein contained hath Power to perform the like Action even ad Infinitum Acid we say because as 't is evident Leaven and Barm soon four and it is from that as we well know that the very Root of Fermentation proceeds for it is that which hath a contrary Action to the Vinor Alkalizated Spirits in which Action it assembles together the Spiritous and Homogeneous Juices making them yet more Spiritual also precipitates the more gross and corporal Parts thereof with the which if a Liquor be overcharged the Spiritual and Homogeneous Qualities thereof will soon be eat out either by some fresh Action or other more invisible way which is the reason that Wines and other Liquors are so often wracked off from the Lees And it is observable That as Cyder begins to be upon the fret the best way to preserve the same is immediately to wrack it off but if you let the Fret get a height it will be very difficult to preserve the same The third is the Moderate Warmth of the External Heat and Air for if that stands not in a Temperament something Sympathizing with the Internal Action the same is in great Measure obstructured as is evident by the different working of Drink in Summer and Winter for the Nature of Heat is to agitate and stir up but that of Cold to Stagnatize and Coagulate wherefore Fire and Heat must be used where Warmth is naturally deficient Now from hence we may draw this Consideration sc That the Internal Heat is of the greatest Importance because that will work his way except the external Quality be upon the extreme as is evident in the difference between Strong Beer and Small the one Working and Ripening it self when the other will not therefore we said That Sulphur was the Garment of the Spirit whereby it is preserv'd from the Extremes of Heat or Cold by which its Activity is maintain'd and the External Extremes must be observed in order to quicken the same Action wherefore we set our Backs or Tuns colder in the Summer than in the Winter and so vary accordingly for the Heat of the Weather and Heat of the Wort would be two to one Odds and Nature would always be sullen where she is imposed on you must wait her Motions or else take her by the Hand and lead her gently if you expect to have your Desire answered and blessed be the Lord our God there is a Remnant acquainted with her mild and gentle Motion and daily make it their Business to be more acquainted therewith seeing it is she only as centring in the Will of the Creator that must reward us with Health Riches and long Life c. These things being premised we shall now come to touch at that which may in great