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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	line_n	page_n	read_v	5,395	5	11.3258	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19402	Cotta contra Antonium: or An Ant-Antony: or An Ant-apology manifesting Doctor Antony his apologie for aurum potabile, in true and equall ballance of right reason, to be false and counterfait. By Iohn Cotta Doctor in Physicke.	Cotta, John, 1575?-1650?	1623 (1623)	STC 5832; ESTC S117112	80,644	122

to any one particular whatsoeuer as to affirme it is in reason impossible in nature monstrous so in religion most impious Now let vs heare what the Apologist saith It is not sufficient saith the Apologist page 5 ●ine 8 to call Aurum potabile Polycreston but it must be Pancreston that is restrictiuely to be a thing having variety and multiplicitie of vses is not attribute competent or equall but it must be absolute of infinite vses excluded out of no vse In his preface vnto the Reader he tearmeth it Materia vniuersalis perse that is a thing materially or in the materiall substance by it selfe alone vniversall Behold the face of Idolatry page 61 of the English coppie he likewise aboue the capacitie or reach of reason avowcheth that his Medicine neuer hurt any but euer profited all The same he iterateth page 107 and page 122. Hee further avowcheth page 97 of the Latin coppie that if it happen into the hands of an vnskilfull dispensor it cannot notwithstanding by the most envious be once instanced in any particular to haue giuen somuch as occasion of hurt which is incident to other excellent remedies From abuse by man there was neuer as yet any sublunary thing created by God for man absolute or free how then can this Creature alone of his creation be excepted without impiety and intollerable arrogancie page 55 he appropriateth this divine and miraculous medicine vnto himselfe saying that after God it bringeth most present remedie Thus he maketh himselfe and his medicine or himselfe in his medicine solely God his second In the same place he doth proclayme it to haue place where no Physitian or Physick humane can giue remedie or helpe but onely the Celestiall and divine or heauenly page 121. of the English coppie he saith it is of generall and extraordinary effects in all diseases sexes ages circumstances The impossibility of these assertions in reason in nature in Gods decree all honest and wise men consider Now let vs duely examine whether his owne conscience also doe not check it selfe herein certainly in many places his own falfe tongue betrayeth his double and guilefull thoughts Read page 15. line 2. 3. 4. 5. of the latin coppy Nihilominus hic considerari velim caetera There he confesseth that there is no such necessity of Aurum potabile but that by other meanes as well as by it men may aspire vnto the top and perfection of physicall curation as also that there are other wayes vnto the same wood for health aswell as by that These words are left out in the english Coppie see page 18 thereof Reade his preface also vnto the Reader there he confesseth that he vseth and mixeth other Vegetables in the administration and dispensation of his Aurum potabile and he commendeth the same vse and custome vnto the rationall and learned physitian Behold how truth here vnawares stealeth out of his owne mouth How farr in divers other places his tong hath over-runne his wit in the reasonles and boundles adoration of his golden incomparable vniuersality is not before obscure Here now see how by his owne mouth that Pancreston that vnlimited vniuersality that adaequation of temper in it selfe reducing all other things into temper page 4. 5. is here contented in it selfe not to be so absolute but to borrow assistance and many vses of other discrepant and different things or natures Yea he doth in the same place acknowledge it to be requisite prudence to adioyne them vnto his vniuersall medicine and commendeth it vnto the rationall and iuditious physitians discretion therein Thus vsuall and easie is it for men who either desire to dissemble those things they knowe or intend to iustifie those things which they knowe vniust to be betrayed by their owne memory and to contradict themselues And thus by nature by reason by his owne positions and confession is the vniuersality of the Apologist his Aurum potabile from the vnlimited stiles the intollerable titular transcendence and sole supremacy reduced vnto more modest and moderate termes yea euen by pronunciates out of his owne mouth Mistake not worthy Reader I doe not denie that golde it selfe in medicine hath many excellent vses I denie not divers wayes of the profitable and vsefull preparation I doe ingeniously graunt that gold in his owne kinde although questioned in Dr Anth. his preparation may be and is an excellent medicine as divers other excellent medicines in other kinds are but his excessiue and vnreasonable extolling thereof beyond measure and meane and the slaunderous derogation thereby from all other blessed remedies vnto which God their Creator hath giuen their seuerall distinct specifical vertues aswell as vnto Aurum potabile is that which modest eares do abhorr and I cannot but iustly taxe I will therefore conclude with that necessary castigation of Libauius no obscure Alchymist and who hath described and taught divers wayes of the fabrick of Aurum potabile in divers kinds and manners Aurum dicitur saith he Alchem part 2. lib. 1. adversus omnes morbos Alexiterium catholicum Sed cum non peccetur vno modo nec morbi fint vnius naturae nequeantque omnes ad commune principium sanativum reduci apparet Paracelsicos transgressos esse veterum sensa hiperbolicâ laude aurum infame reddidisse That is gold is said a generall Cordiall against all diseases but since errors happen not all after one way or manner neither are all diseases of one kind or nature nor can be brought all into one kind principle or way of cure it is apparent that the Paracelsians haue transgressed the rules sense and meaning of the Ancients and with their vnmeasurable and hyperbolicall praises haue now procured the very name of gold to be in disgrace and infamous Looke vpon this glasse Dr Anth. and view therein the face of your owne follie Assuredly if all your pronunciats before mentioned concerning your Aurum potabile might bee in proofe and triall found true it must necessarily be convinced to be magicall Omnis materia subijcitur vicissitudini mutationum saith Aristotle that is whatsoeuer is compounded of an elementary matter is subiect vnto variation mutations and alterations of all kinds Nothing can be so generally or vniuersally vnto all vses in any kind the same but it must vary differ and be mutable in his vse and vertue according to euery circumstance which vsually doth happen vnto all things mortall Casus tempus omnibus rebus accidit saith Ecclesiastes 9.11 Chaunce time happeneth vnto all things If you will therefore proue that your potabile aurum is the same euer in all diseases not variable therein not failing or immutable alwayes by it selfe fit in all sexes ages and distempers then is it exempt from the course order and nature of all sublunarie things Vpon this ground and proposition will invincibly follow a conclusion that it is a diabolicall and inchaunted medicine Your owne lipps haue beene your accusers and out of your owne mouth men will

and distinguish when and how Nature is hereto accustomed and inabled as also when she hath power and when she hath no power thereto For where the cause of the disease is absolute Lord or Master ouer Nature as touching her owne daring to encounter or as touching her possibility to resist as also where she doth vnto her vttermost resist and striue in vaine for that the causes of diseases haue before gotten so strong holdes within her that she can neuer raise or remoue them there the power of Nature is of no force by Cordials nor can the most assiduous application of the most excellent Cordials prevaile but are in all reason vainely obtruded or at least vsed for a short time of slender releiuing only except the * Ideo in valdè acutis purgandum ait Hippocrates eadem die si materia turgeat d●fferre enim inquit in talibus malum Aph. 10. sect 4. generall remedies giue more promptly the more proper supply by the conquest remouall qualifying or at least competent diminution and lessening of the causes by which solely diseases collect hold and maintaine their vnmastered and irresistible greatnes against Nature But where the cause of the disease is not absolute Lord or Master but Nature is able in some degree or sort to struggle and contend therewith there she may be and is oft inabled by Cordials sometimes to put by the present fury and malignity of a disease sometimes to make an exchange of a more tollerable disease for a more intollerable a more dull for a more sharpe a chronick for a more acute yet still in these cases or for the most part or vsually she remaineth a prisoner vnto diseases though haply seeming sometimes somewhat refreshed or enlarged by exchange of the diseases There onely solely and truely Cordials do effectually prevaile to good or benefit where the disease is not in it selfe vnto Nature importable nor in the cause doth totally depresse and sway her downe For Cordials although they doe manifestly repaire the decayed strength of Nature yet can they not giue vnto Nature strength aboue that which radically fundamentally and originally shee before had and possessed in her selfe Nor can they inable her to beare any weight or loade of affection aboue that * Ideo pleniorem habitum bonam statim solvere monet Hippocrates tanquam periculosum vaidè Aph. 3. sect 1 her strength Nor can they by repairing or reducing her vnto her most perfect and able strength in her selfe thereby giue alwayes suffic ent provocation or needfull stimulation when she is oft-times forgetfull dull or idle to resist and expell from her those nward and secret hidden enemies of her life which remaining within her doe commonly by secret vnder-myning without their expulsion swiftly and suddainly oft strangle and kill her We see for this cause that vpon manifest comfortation and assistance by Cordials Nature is oft encouraged and lightened for a short time to make offer of resistance of expelling her disease of enlarging her selfe but in the end the † Humores copia suavires premunt suffocant temperamenti mediocritatem alterant corrumpuat hisque nominibus sunt exitiales Gal. de Meth. Med. 12. sect 5. cause of her oppression therewith the oppression it selfe remaining still vnremoued after some struggling and striuing in vaine she is conquered and yeeldeth vp the ghost He is no Physitian nor so much as a man injoyning common sense that is hereof ignorant or will deny it And thus it is apparent that vnto Cordials as touching the certaine profligation of diseases it is no prudence or wisdome ordinarily or vsually to trust although sometimes the strength of Nature when she is manifestly superiour vnto the vehemence of the disease being assisted and revived by Cordials doth casually wynde her selfe out of some imminent and present dangers If any man shall obiect that Aurum potabile hath a larger property or vertue then is comprehended in a Cordiall alone let him peruse the description which any learned Writer or Author hath giuen thereof Let him read Raymundus Lullius and Arnoldus de villa nova their descriptions alledged and produced by the Apologist Read the first in the 5. reason of the first part of the Apologie the second in the third reason of the same part Read his owne ample description also of the natures qualities and vse thereof succeeding immediatly Arnoldus his praises thereof before-mentioned Read the beginning of his 5. reason There most manifestly as also in other places of this worke and in the former Authors it ●ppeareth without all doubt or question simply and in it selfe to be solely a Cordiall Now worthy Reader vouchsafe to call to minde from the former discourse vpon what an ayrie foundation the praises of Aurum potabile in the three first testimonies hath built her nest namely the Patients flattering ease Markes his ignorant susurration and a strong opinion bewitched with Aurum potabile And thus is apparent how the Authors of the three first domesticall testimonies that they might wrest out somewhat which might sound or tune vnto the disgrace of Dr C. for his thank-worthie paines and vndeserued good-will towards the Patient haue studiously in their testimonies set nothing vpon the racke and out of nothing haue extorted nothing Their partialitie errour and wrong is not therein obscure nor can any obseruer be ignorant vpon how false things therein doth hang the supposed worth of Aurum potabile According vnto my former promise and the common rule of discretion I will intermeddle with no other testimonies of the Apologie that concerne me not These which doe concerne me whose reason and affection Authors and other circumstances are well knowne vnto me I haue here iufficiently sifted winnowed and found meere chaffe By the ignorance vntruth error in iudgment want of right distinction intemperance of passion misprision contempt and abuse of right reason manifested in them the possibility and likelyhood of the worthlesnesse trifling or insufficiency of many other is not obscure As for the maine scope whereat they all doe aime which is the boast of happie issues in Aurum potabile if all the testimonies were granted true and none were false or mistaken in that kind as I haue euidently proued some yet were not that sufficient to iustifie the common rash and precipitate trust and vse of Aurum potabile since good successes and events are alone no sound arguments or evidences of any perpetuity of excellency in any kind Neither do good successes necessarily inferre true Art or evict the merit or praise of the workeman but where therewith his worth is clearely likewise proued either directiue thereto or operatiue therein For this cause saith the Poet Careat successibus opto Quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putat Ovid. Ill him betide in his intents Who iudgeth workes by their events Nor can Dr An be ignorant that ill attempts do oft-times well prosper Prosperum ac faelix scelus Virtus vocatur saith